《The Magical Path Of The Wizard With A Biological Chip》


 Chapter 1: Leon

    It was a tall stone tower, over a hundred meters in height.Its foundation was made entirely of obsidian, so when the darkness of the night fell, the entire tower would radiate a cold, silent glow, making it especially attractive to malevolent spirits and ghosts.


    Perhaps due to a lack of maintenance and basic care, the lower part of the tower was completely intertwined with the ever-growing vines of a Demonic Rattan, making its surface appear full of wooden thorns that gleamed like metal. If any ordinary man got entangled in these vines, all the blood in his body would be drained.


    Eventually, his corpse would join the others in the huge pile of bones lining the tower''s base.


    The sky darkened as night arrived, and a candle was lit inside the tower.


    The candlelight flickered through the narrow window on the side of the tower. Not only did the light fail to bring any warmth, but instead, it sent a tremendous chill down the spine and heart.


    Leon, who was fifteen years old, sat before a worn wooden desk. There was a thick magic book spread open in front of him, from which he was silently copying. Although he had arrived in this world two years ago, the discomfort in his soul still gave him frequent headaches.


    His mind was distracted, scenes of what had happened back on Earth continually flashing before his eyes. In his distraction, the tip of his writing pen paused for a moment, causing a large blot of ink to form on the parchment, ruining it.


    "Damn! I failed again!"


    Leon''s brows tightened. He couldn''t help himself and clenched his fists. He wanted to scream in anger, but he took a deep breath and remained motionless for a while. After a long time, he finally managed to suppress the urge.


    This world was no longer the Earth he was familiar with, and the body he now inhabited was not his original body. It once belonged to an Apprentice Mage named Leon. In short, he was just a wandering soul who managed to take over this body at the moment the original Leon died.


    Retaining nothing from his original life, he had traveled from Earth, where magic did not exist, and arrived in this world of advanced magic, where demons and mindless creatures roamed freely. This world was a place where Mages stood at the top.


    The adaptation process nearly overwhelmed Lucas Tesla to the point where it almost ended there, but fortunately, after merging the memory fragments left in the body, Lucas Tesla gained basic language skills.


    Otherwise, just the strange pronunciations and grammar in this world, along with the completely different alphabet, which looked like swimming tadpoles, would have been enough to torture him to death.


    Even so, the headaches that frequently struck him deeply disturbed him.


    Here, he never dared to reveal his true identity. He could only use the name Leon, trying his best to fight for survival in this tall tower.


    Although he was simply an Apprentice Mage living under the Great Master Eclivel, his glorious status would attract the envy of most people living in this world. However, only those who truly lived in this tall tower would know that not only was this not an enviable position, but it could be considered a terrifying form of torture and punishment.


    The basic work of an Apprentice Mage was to work diligently and conscientiously, attending to the daily life of their Great Master, in this case, Great Master Eclivel. They were also tasked with cleaning magical experiment equipment, keeping the tower''s interior clean, tending to the demonic creatures outside the tower, and¡­ becoming part of Great Master Eclivel''s experiments.


    Although the last task was rare, when the wagons that brought slaves or prison convicts arrived several days late, the easily frustrated Great Master Eclivel, who lacked test subjects for his experiments, would order a random apprentice to become his temporary lab rat.


    It was said that Bleia, who came from Ante Province and lived next to Leon, was "fortunate" enough to become the experimental "partner" for Great Master Eclivel last month. She did not die from the magical experiment, though her body was seriously "contaminated," and she now had some horrible mutation.


    Since she came out of the lab wearing a thick cloak that covered her entire body, she ended up hiding in her room and never came out again.


    Many Apprentice Mages thought that Bleia might have died in her room.


    But Leon knew the truth: Bleia was still alive.


    At night, in the unnatural stillness of that tower, he could hear the sounds of agonized groans scratching against the wall. Because of this, while everyone was sleeping, he would sneak out of his room and throw some food, which he had brought into his room, into Bleia''s room through the tower''s small windows.


    Moreover, Leon would occasionally talk to her, calling her little princess, telling her she was beautiful, and promising that when she overcame whatever she was suffering, he would invite her to his room so they could have fun together.


    Although Leon had his own problems to deal with, he still felt fear deep inside. After all, if Bleia lost control, the first door she would break down in her complete madness would be Leon''s room. That''s why he invented all this, and to protect himself, he was capable of telling the sweetest lies.


    After all, even the most beastly creature would feel pain attacking someone who had a special place in their heart, even if that heart were made of stone; there were still ways to carve Leon''s name on the top of it with sweet lies.


    Today, the headache came at the wrong time. It chose to strike just when he was making a copy of the book. He was low on money, but he had wasted another piece of goatskin paper.


    Although it was just a crumpled, rough piece of goatskin paper, it was worth about two silver coins. In this world, the most commonly used currency was the gold coin. One gold coin could be exchanged for ten silver coins, and one silver coin could be exchanged for ten copper coins. Five copper coins were what most people in this world earned in a day. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Therefore, to most, a common piece of goatskin paper was considered a huge fortune. But in this place, it was just trash that an Apprentice Mage could simply throw away.


    However, inside the Mage''s high tower, nothing was truly free.


    Leon had to pay for a room, food, and counsel, in addition to the cost of learning through his own efforts. The only ways to earn money required going outside the high magical tower to feed those brutal and ferocious demonic creatures, tending to those horrible and strange demonic plants, or searching for and gathering the magical materials specified by the Grand Master Eclivel.


    One could also earn money by cleaning some of the dangerous areas within the tower.


    While performing these tasks, they would use a magical talisman made by the Mage himself, which would allow them safe passage through the magical formation around the tower. But in this mysterious and strange world, no mere talisman could guarantee absolute safety.


    Every two months, there was always an incident where some unfortunate people were devoured by creatures or demonic plants when tending to them. Sometimes, people were struck down by magical energy while cleaning up one of the Great Mage''s experiments.


    Therefore, most of the safer tasks were taken by senior Apprentice Mages, and as a result, the weaker Apprentice Mages could only choose more dangerous tasks to earn their money and knowledge points so they could continue their magical training.


    The money was, naturally, used to buy daily necessities, while the knowledge points were used to purchase knowledge. It was a monetary system created by the Mage himself. In the library within the tower, each magic book was labeled with different knowledge point values. Books to be borrowed required knowledge points, not money.


    Apprentices had to work hard to earn knowledge points, but those points only allowed them to borrow the book for a very short period. The time was so short that it was not enough for an apprentice to master all the knowledge within the book. Therefore, most apprentices had made it a habit to copy the books themselves.


    Whenever they borrowed a magic book, the apprentice would put all their effort into copying the knowledge they needed so they could continue studying in the future. Copying books required goatskin paper and ink. Obviously, these were not free either, so Apprentice Mages needed more money.


    Of course, if an Apprentice Mage came from a wealthy family, they could spend a large amount of money in exchange for knowledge points. The exchange rate between them was one knowledge point for a hundred gold coins.


    For example, the "Glossary of Demonic Creatures," which Leon had borrowed today, cost him three knowledge points. He could only borrow it for half a day. Based on Leon''s best estimate, with his copying speed, he would need to borrow it three times to make a complete copy of this book.


    That would cost him a total of nine knowledge points. Leon would have to leave the tower for two consecutive weeks to earn those nine knowledge points.


    So, he did not feel so upset about wasting a piece of goatskin paper, but he was furious for having wasted two hours of his precious time copying the book.


    Leon took a deep breath and did his best to hold back his anger, as it would help when copying his book later. However, in the next moment, a beeping sound suddenly echoed in his brain.


    "Beep!"


    "Biological energy has reached the required amount."


    "Biological Assistance Chip, initializing..."


    Leon let out a gasp of surprise.


    "Biological Assistance Chip!"


    Some time ago, when he had just arrived in this new world, Leon indulged in fantasies where he became a powerful immortal who traveled to a new world with a divine weapon. But to his misfortune, aside from giving him frequent headaches, the chip had shown no signs of activation. Surprise, surprise... it finally decided to work today!


    After the chip finished adjusting to its new state, a graceful, emotionless female voice sounded in Leon''s brain.


    "Host detected!"


    "Establishing database..."


    "please wait..."


    Eh? It can still identify its new owner? That was unexpected.


    After all, this was a world of advanced magic. The entire dimension was filled with a mystical material called Elementium. Based on the differences of these basic "elements," the Elementium was classified into types such as Earth, Fire, Wind, Light, Darkness, etc.


    Mages would have different levels of affinity with these types of Elementium, and therefore, there were different variables among Mages. Since this system was completely different from Earth''s workings, Leon was worried about how to standardize data in this world, so having the chip here to try to quantify these things brought hope.


    ...


    1952 Words


    ...


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 Chapter 2: Status

    After a long wait, the Biological Assistance Chip finally completed its first self-test.Soon, all of Leon''s basic attributes were projected in his mind.


    "Leon"


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Lawful Neutral


    Condition: Healthy


    HP: 11/11


    Apprentice Mage [Beginner]


    Experience: 614/1000


    "Attributes"


    Strength: 4


    Agility: 4


    Constitution: 3 S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Spirit: 8


    "Skills:"


    1. Copy Document


    2. Spell Reading


    "


    Personal Abilities"


    1. Burning Hand


    In this world, every normal human being was born with some basic attributes in their body. After years of research and rankings conducted by generations upon generations of Mages, they finally categorized these into four different attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit. As one might guess, Mages were distinguished based on these four basic attributes.


    Strength was primarily used to quantify a person''s musculature and bodily power. This attribute was very important for close-combat Mages. The strength attribute affected base damage when using melee weapons and also influenced melee accuracy.


    For an average man, having 3 to 4 strength was quite normal. An adult with 5 strength would be considered rather strong.


    Agility was used to quantify coordination, flexibility, reflexes, and body balance. It was extremely vital for those warriors who wore light or medium armor, or for rogues wearing leather armor and for anyone aspiring to become a skilled archer.


    Constitution represented a person''s health and resilience. Any increase in constitution would improve a person''s Vitality and Concentration. Therefore, it was very important for all professions.


    Vitality, also known as the ability to withstand poison or disease.


    Concentration. This is a very important skill for sorcerers.


    The minimum constitution for any human is 1. If a human''s constitution dropped below 1, they would die.


    Spirit determined a person''s capacity to learn and deduce. This attribute was especially important for Mages because it decided the number of spells a Mage could cast. It also made casting spells easier and increased the power of their spells.


    Most animals had a Spirit of 1 or 2, while human-like creatures would have at least 3. If a common human wanted to become a Mage, they would need to have at least 21 Spirit.


    After analyzing the effects of these attributes for Mages, Leon decided that the most important attribute for himself was Spirit. Once his Spirit reached 21, he would soar to new heights, officially becoming a Mage.


    The only way for him to increase his Spirit was through constant meditation, reading spell books and notebooks, and listening to the experiences of other veteran Mages.


    However, all of this was simply in front of him but out of his reach!


    Because, in this dark and cruel world of Mages, knowledge equaled power and was therefore difficult to find.


    Why did so many Apprentice Mages ignore the risks and remain in this place, even knowing there was great danger waiting for them everywhere? Simply put, it was because this was the only place where they could seek knowledge and resources for growth.


    Once they left this tall tower of magic, even if they possessed a fortune equivalent to a country''s wealth, they would have no way of obtaining magical knowledge and experience. Not like here, where they could obtain it systematically.


    In this fearsome world of Mages, all extraordinary spell skills and precious magical knowledge were monopolized by the Mages. It was completely impossible for common mortals to access them!


    Therefore, knowledge and resources were the wings for any Mage to fly toward their dream. Only by being a Mage could one have a bright future.


    After reading the basic attributes, Leon shifted his focus to the ''skills'' and ''personal ability'' sections.


    Leon only had two skills: Copy Document and Spell Reading. These were basic skills for all Apprentice Mages.


    One allowed apprentices to copy the magical knowledge they needed to learn, and the other allowed the user to read magical books.


    If a common man touched a magical book without having the "Spell Reading" skill, their mind would become confused by the words due to the supernatural power of the letters, and they would lose control of their body for a period of time.


    Only those, like Apprentice Mages, who had undergone strict mental training could overcome this psychic effect and access the true magical knowledge hidden within the book.


    The only skill listed under personal abilities was ''Burning Hand.'' This was the sole offensive magical skill Leon had learned in his 6 years as an Apprentice Mage. Burning Hand created a small ball of fire in the palm, allowing him to burn anyone who came too close.


    Unfortunately, Leon was still an Apprentice Mage. There was no way to fully master any spell. All he could do was follow the type of element that suited him best and try his utmost.


    And, of course, the element he had the greatest affinity with was fire!


    Unfortunately, this affinity was not well-regarded within the walls of this tall tower in the swamp. As everyone knew, the Grand Master Eclivel''s elemental affinities were Darkness and Wind. Leon''s path was not compatible with his mentor''s, making it much more difficult for him to receive guidance. Thus, most of the time, he had to rely on himself and study even more.


    In fact, this issue had been troubling Leon ever since he arrived in this world, but now that the Biological Assistance Chip had reactivated, Leon firmly believed he could find a suitable magical path for himself in the coming days.


    As for "Experience," after Leon read the chip''s related information, he began to gain a basic understanding of what it was. Through the process of organizing Leon''s past memories and knowledge, the Biological Assistance Chip identified two necessary conditions for Leon to advance and become a Mage.


    First, without a doubt, his Spirit needed to reach the minimum level for a Mage.


    For example, Leon''s Spirit Attribute was 8. This meant that he was a "wise man," much more intelligent than common people, but to advance and become a true Mage, he needed his Spirit Attribute to reach 21. That was a gap of 13 points. This could not be rushed. He would have to read a mountain of magical books to reach that level.


    Secondly, his own "Experience" had to reach a certain threshold as well.


    This meant that after Leon raised his Spirit Attribute to 21, he still needed to somehow elevate his Experience to the maximum level. Only then could he officially advance. He needed to accomplish both to become a Mage.


    There were many methods for gaining experience points. For instance, Copying Documents, Spell Reading, spending time practicing spells, crafting magical wands, identifying magical items... In short, any accumulation of knowledge involving magic would grant Leon a certain amount of Experience Points.


    All of this seemed easy, but it was actually quite difficult to accumulate Experience Points.


    Because only successful experiments or complete understanding of magic could grant Experience Points. Only after Leon fully read and mastered a magical book could he understand its use. If he read a book and still could not grasp the knowledge within, how could he grow?


    It was always easier said than done. Even with the help of the Biological Assistance Chip, Leon still needed to work hard to get what he wanted.


    Just as Leon was lost in his contemplative thoughts, the sound of footsteps came from the hallway outside his room.


    "Leon, hurry up, it''s our turn to do the tasks!" A rough voice called from outside his door.


    It was Nolan, an Apprentice Mage who was at the same level as Leon.


    Lower-level apprentices like them had to inspect the grounds surrounding the tower every seven days to search for magical materials and harvest them properly. This was also one of the daily tasks assigned to the apprentices by the tower''s master.


    Leon hurriedly tidied up his room, grabbed a black cloak hanging on the wall, opened the door, and stepped out of the room.


    Nolan had broad shoulders, a huge frame, a fierce face, and long disheveled hair. All of this made him look somewhat like a barbarian. It was said that he came from a kingdom in the Highlands of Grimm. According to rumors, people born in that land possessed barbarian lineage.


    Neither of them said anything when they met outside. They simply exchanged nods, then turned and walked down the dark hallway toward a staircase.


    Although it was daytime now, they did not encounter any other apprentices along the way. There were more than fifty official apprentices living in the tower, but most of the time, these apprentices were busy practicing their own magical spells or preparing all sorts of strange magical experiments. They rarely spoke in public places.


    This was one of the main reasons why this swamp tower always seemed so quiet.


    After walking through the long, dark hallway and descending the spiral stone staircase, they reached the main hall on the first level of the tower. Here, they finally encountered more people, as this was the space for the Approved Apprentices.


    Most of these people were actually children, between 8 and 14 years old, and there were about twenty of them.


    These young fellows came from all over, and they were all here with the dream of becoming the greatest Mage. But little did they know, the path to becoming a Mage was incredibly difficult and terrifying, and this path was all that awaited them in their future.


    In fact, there was a strict separation of the population in this tower. Generally, most of these children only had about 3 to 5 Spirit Points. Therefore, they were not currently considered real Apprentice Mages and could only be addressed as Approved Apprentices.


    All Approved Apprentices had to complete their basic training in language and writing. Additionally, they could only advance when they managed to sense their elemental affinity and gather Elementium while meditating. Only then would they have a chance to move up to the second floor and become an official Apprentice Mage.


    As for those who could never reach this basic requirement, they would be eliminated.


    Helping these young friends complete their meditation, teaching them language and writing skills, and instilling in them the basic rules of the magical world... of course, it was impossible for the Grand Master Mage to carry out these low-level tasks. Thus, it became part of the daily routine for official Apprentice Mages in the tower.


    But such an easy daily task never fell into Leon''s hands.


    After saying ''Hi'' to Ertil, who was teaching these Approved Apprentices in his language class, both men ignored the eager gazes of these young fellows and went straight to the main hall, quickly arriving at a tightly closed stone door.


    Nolan placed his right palm against the stone door and spoke in a low voice, "Curium ? Ada."


    Following the completion of the secret spell, the old-looking stone door slowly slid to both sides, revealing the dark and mysterious swamp outside the tower to the two of them.


    ...


    1834 Words

 Chapter 3: Swamp

    This was a strange and fearsome magical swamp.Although it was daytime, the thick clouds and mist meant that little light could pass through, making the world appear quite gloomy. The entire world seemed to have a dark, earthy yellow tone.


    After living in this environment for a long time, even a person''s character would change and become more ruthless.


    Both waited until the stone door behind them was completely closed, then Nolan lifted his hood and said:


    "I''m going this way."


    He didn''t wait for Leon''s response, simply turned and took a path that led to the left, which brought him to a narrow, winding trail paved with tiny white stones.


    Leon waited until Nolan''s bulky figure disappeared into the shadowy mist, then pulled up his hood, turned to the other side, and took the trail to the right.


    As he walked, he whispered, "Show me the data detected on Nolan."


    In the next second, a report on the Apprentice Mage Nolan, produced by the Biological Assistance Chip, was projected in his mind.


    "Nolan"


    Race: Human


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Apprentice Mage [Beginner]


    Experience: ¡ª


    "Attributes:"


    Strength: 7


    Agility: 3


    Physique: 8


    Spirit: 6


    ¡­


    Leon''s mouth twitched in surprise. With that Physique, why hadn''t this guy changed paths and become a Warrior? His strength and physique were double that of Leon''s. This meant that if he fought Nolan, it might only take a single punch to bring him down.


    But as an Apprentice Mage, Nolan had 6 Spirit, 2 less than Leon. No matter how hard Nolan tried, that innate advantage would be difficult to overcome.1


    Knowing this, Nolan was probably planning to follow the path of a Body Refining Mage. Using specific methods to strengthen his body, then using magical spells to aid his close-combat ability¡­ Perhaps that was the only path he could choose!


    Only by staying close to the target for a period could the Chip analyze and acquire such precise information. Monitoring the target''s movement and behavior. Undoubtedly, this allowed Leon to take a more proactive position when working with others. It also enabled him to avoid unnecessary risks.


    And that was, without a doubt, the most important thing for Leon!


    But perhaps such a method would be useless against a real Mage, as their bodies sometimes radiated strong elemental energy. This was something Mages passively gained after their body accumulated a massive amount of energy. It was also how they prevented others from perceiving their strength.


    The amount of valuable information the Biological Assistance Chip could verify when the target was under the powerful interference of energy radiation was unknown. Not only that, but Leon was concerned that Mages might be able to detect his Biological Assistance Chip, so he needed to be more cautious when using it within the tower.


    The stony trail ahead remained winding as it led deeper into the foggy haze.


    Strange plants of all sizes, barely visible on either side of the path, included small, thick, cone-shaped trees, small leafy plants curling into spirals, rattan vines brushing overhead as he walked beneath them, and mystical, incredibly colorful flowers with petals as large as big vases¡­ there was also a muddy, stinking pond¡­


    Despite all of this making it seem like this was just an ordinary swamp, Leon knew very well that he could never take even a single step off the stony trail.


    To all those animals and plants that had managed to survive in this magical swamp, they were terrifying demons that would devour any human they encountered, leaving not even bones behind.


    These short, simple-looking trees were actually quite frightening. If a person got close enough to them, their swaying branches would instantly expand, grabbing and holding the person tightly within their clutches. At that moment, the blood rattans hanging from those trees would coil around the person, piercing countless sharp thorns into their body, slowly draining the blood drop by drop.


    Once the person''s blood was completely dried up, the remaining skin, flesh, and bones would become the best fertilizer for these killer trees.


    If one could safely dig up the blood-red soil beneath these killer trees, they would surely discover a massive pile of skeletons, some human and some animal. Without doing so, there was no evidence of any prey these plants had devoured!


    There were two reasons why this tower in the swamp cultivated these demonic plants. First, it was to prevent invasion by other humans. Second, it was so they could harvest some unique magical materials from the plants.


    The root of the Killer Tree and the blood sac that grew inside the Blood-Sucking Rattans were good tonics. They were a beneficial supplement for Mages lacking a strong physique. On a regular basis, an apprentice Mage had to risk being attacked by these demonic plants to gather materials. Therefore, this was a dangerous task that had a very high death toll.


    It was probably because they smelled the blood and flesh on Leon''s body that the dead swamp suddenly seemed to come alive. Consciously or unconsciously, all these demonic plants started twisting their bodies, branches, and roots slowly toward the stony trail.


    Leon pretended not to see the movements of these demonic plants. He was not truly worried about them at this moment.


    No matter how frenzied they were, they did not dare move onto the simple, clear stony trail beneath his feet, as if there was something on the path that they feared.


    "Consult the database, record and archive all magical plants in the surrounding area!" sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Insufficient initial data¡­"


    "Root database is incomplete and unable to match species¡­"


    "Activating elemental vision, reconstructing database¡­"


    Following a series of warning tones from the chip, the image projected onto his retina began to flicker, then stabilized as a large amount of data started cascading like a waterfall before his eyes. At the same time, every object within his view was highlighted with different colored lights.


    Elemental vision? Was this a special ability he gained after the chip merged with his current body?


    The plants were highlighted with a green light, indicating that these plant demons contained many Elementium, which, surprisingly, were often found in natural plants. Other colors such as red, yellow, blue, and purple indicated the areas where respective energies were collected.


    Additionally, the humidity, temperature, wind speed, poison particle thickness, particle distribution of elements, and circulation¡ªall the data the chip could detect¡ªwere projected into his eyes in a dynamic, colorful graph.


    Leon frowned.


    This colorful, excessive retinal projection severely affected his normal vision. This was too much information.


    "Remove unnecessary colors¡­ remove scattered highlights¡­ only display vision within the most common energy bands¡­"


    After Leon issued his commands, one by one, the brilliant and colorful orb finally receded little by little, and all the items in his vision gradually returned to their normal colors.


    The thick, pale, shadowy mist now transformed into countless clumps, threads, and sheets of slow-moving elemental water particles. They were restrained by a mysterious force and couldn''t disperse, forced to cover this magical swamp month after month, year after year.


    Leon stopped moving and stood still. Hidden under the shadow of his hood was a pair of bright eyes, staring at the demonic plants beside the trail without blinking. With the help of his new vision, the true nature of these plants hidden under the guise of the swamp was finally revealed.


    Beneath the wrinkled, withered bark of the tree, there was an array of ghostly faces pressed together. These were all the souls trapped by the Killer Trees. Furthermore, Leon could "see" a green energy glow in the needle-like stingers at the edges of the Killer Tree''s branches. This energy indicated the presence of the paralytic poison the Killer Tree used to sedate its prey.


    As for the Blood-Sucking Rattans hanging from the Killer Tree, they looked utterly demonic, appearing completely red under his elemental vision. Pure blood flowed beneath their twisted, crawling green skin, and right at the point where they connected with the Killer Tree, inside a hollow cavity of the tree, numerous blood sacs the size of a human fist pulsed rhythmically, resembling human hearts.


    Caw ~ caw ~


    Accompanied by a few sharp caws, a group of Carrion Crows flew in and perched on a tree branch, shifting their blood-red eyes and staring at Leon.


    Honestly speaking, being stared at by such a group of menacing demons made Leon feel incredibly uneasy.


    In the face of these dangerous swamp demons, Leon didn''t dare to be even slightly careless. Although Carrion Crows weren''t considered strong demonic animals, their blood-red eyes possessed the ''Ruin'' ability, and there had been some horrific incidents where Apprentice Mages had been blinded by these crows.


    Seeing that these Carrion Crows were eager to attack, Leon raised his right arm and softly intoned a spell he had memorized.


    "Burning Hands, come forth!"


    "Burning Hands, I summon thee!"


    "Burning¡­"


    Five seconds after the spell was cast, a large, violent, twisting red magical fireball appeared in Leon''s hand.


    "Buzz~~"


    Leon''s entire right hand was completely engulfed by this magical fireball, yet he remained unharmed and unburned.


    This was his Burning Hand spell!


    After spending six years in the Magic Tower, this was the only spell Leon had managed to master.


    With Leon''s current ability, he could barely extend the flame up to 5 paces. That was his limit. Thus, it could currently be considered a close-range spell.


    The fiercely burning magical flame illuminated the surrounding mist. The powerful ripples generated by the fire element finally made these demons realize that this human in front of them was not someone they could easily capture.


    As for the demons that were slowly approaching Leon, it seemed they were struck by great terror, and all of them quickly fled from the sides of the trail in a panic. Additionally, the group of Carrion Crows let out loud caws as they flew into the sky, circling briefly in the air above before disappearing into the depths of the fog.


    Leon let out a long sigh of relief. With that, the pressure on him was eased.


    None of these demons dared to step onto the stony trail, but that did not stop them from using their own methods to try to lure or intimidate Apprentice Mages into leaving the path.


    If Leon had been frightened by the terrifying scene of being surrounded by demons and, in his panic, accidentally stepped off the boundaries of this stony trail¡­ even with the help of the Magic Talisman, he would likely face a terrible death.


    The soul, blood, and flesh of an Apprentice Mage. Without a doubt, they were far more delicious than common humans or wild beasts. Moreover, this did not violate the agreement between the demons and the Magic Tower. Therefore, every inspection journey outside the tower was a complete test of willpower. Once these demons found a weakness in the mind, the future of that person would not be promising.


    "Record everything you can about these demons!" Leon said calmly.


    "Beep¡­"


    "Recording completed!"


    Host, name the creatures in the order they are presented.


    Images of creatures appeared before his eyes.


    "Killer Tree¡­ Blood-Sucking Rattans¡­ Carrion Crows¡­"


    "Naming completed!"


    "New information has been recorded in the database."


    ...


    1875 Words

 Chapter 4: Return

    Change: The Biological Assistance Chip will now be called BioChip....


    While most of the demons backed away, frightened by the magical flame that had just appeared in the air, Leon jumped out of the way, dug into the ground beneath a nearby Murdering Tree, used his magical flame to burn through the thick root of the tree, and finally saw the material he came to harvest.


    Among the tangled roots and pale white human bones were some small fleshy root nodes. Some were white, some were red, and there were even a few colored violet. Leon suppressed the disgust he felt and, using a small knife he carried with him, carefully harvested three of the purple nodes and placed them in his waist pocket. Then, he quickly ran back to the road.


    If this task hadn''t been so important, he would never have strayed from the edge of the road! Even though he had moved with great speed, those demons that had already fled gathered again. Moreover, the Bloodsucking Rattans that hung from the Murdering Trees now occupied the space he had entered while digging the roots.


    If he had been a second slower, he wouldn''t have escaped without a tough fight!


    In fact, thanks to his new "elemental vision," he was able to directly find the roots of the Murdering Tree''s core. If it had been before, he would have had to make repeated trips to find his harvest. The farther he went down the road, the greater the risk.


    He continued following the mysterious path for another two hundred meters, soon leaving the main group of Murdering Trees. In front of him, he saw a horrifying ghost tree, which seemed alive as it stretched over the rocky trail; the vines and branches of trees hanging from it looked alive as they swayed in the air.


    Taking the magical talisman from under his shirt, Leon whispered the secret spell that every Apprentice Mage had to master.


    "Muhantoria ? Sinra."


    Upon completing the secret magical spell, a mysterious and invisible force erupted from the talisman, quickly covering every inch of his surroundings.


    A warning exploded in Leon''s mind.


    "Abnormal force field detected!"


    The functionality of this chip is being interfered with¡­


    The voice of the chip grew weaker and weaker. It slowly faded into a soft whimper before finally falling completely silent.


    Leon ignored the chip and began to walk forward, holding the magical talisman above his head. With each step he took, the vines and tree branches in front of him recoiled. Eventually, they parted, allowing him to pass and continue on his way.


    Now that he was done with the Murdering Trees and the Bloodsucking Rattans, it was time for him to enter what was known as a paradise for a type of being known as Demonic Baby. Leon''s heart was filled with a strong fear for this place.


    The area right after the ghost tree was filled with demons. They called it the Garden of Whispers.


    If one looked off the path, they would see fields of flowers, but all of those fields were filled with ashes, corpses, and countless demons.


    The unique environment of the magical swamp made this place a paradise for Demonic Babies, Banshees, and Flower Fairies, which were simply twisted creatures whose only desire was to fill their stomachs with the corpses and souls of the unprepared beings who entered this place.


    Whenever a fool entered this place, their fate was to collapse under the endless influences and evil illusions and become fertilizer for these unique plants, which thrived on death and despair.


    Mushrooms with human faces gathered on both sides of the path. They were all holding hands and singing a cheerful melody, warmly beckoning Leon to join them. These little things looked like small mushrooms with hands and feet. They had a pattern on their caps resembling a human face.


    Although these human-faced mushrooms had small hands and cute little feet and were no more than a foot tall, when they gathered together, jumping and laughing, it sent chills down Leon''s spine.


    "Warning¡­"


    "Warning¡­"


    "Strange energy is affecting the host¡­"


    "Recommended that the host leave this place immediately¡­"


    Leon quickly moved away from the dancing mushrooms. As he distanced himself from them, the chill running down his spine finally diminished.


    No matter how cute these human-faced mushrooms were, they were still true carnivorous demons, known for sparing no soul of their prey. The original form of these demons was actually a type of white mushroom that had been injected with vast and potent dark Elementium.


    Individually, they only possessed a weak illusion ability, which was definitely not enough for them to capture prey like a human, who was much larger than they were.


    But these creatures lived in groups.


    When hundreds of human-faced mushrooms gathered, they could form a large illusory region, causing their prey to get lost without even realizing it. Thus, if someone stumbled upon and became trapped in a large group of human-faced mushrooms, their victim might still have a smile on their face, being completely immersed in some kind of fantasy!


    For an official Mage, these human-faced mushrooms, which only possessed basic illusion abilities, were simply good material to enhance their own magic. But for an Apprentice Mage like Leon, he would face the risk of being killed by them every time he encountered them.


    If Leon could not withstand the illusory region created by these human-faced mushrooms and veer off the path of his own accord, then these creatures could enjoy a grand feast without violating the agreement made with the tower!


    Therefore, returning to these smiling yet insidious demons, who continued to approach him, Leon smiled and quickly pulled out an egg-sized stone, throwing it directly into the center of the dancing mushrooms.


    "Zosh~~"


    In the next moment, a blue flash erupted from the stone as a faint lightning bolt struck everything nearby.


    "Buzzz~~"


    "Bang~~"


    Five human-faced mushrooms lay lifeless on the ground. All the other human-faced mushrooms were frightened and fled in all directions, hiding in the nearby foliage.


    Leon walked over to the five corpses of the human-faced mushrooms, carefully picked them up, and placed them all in his waist pocket. Then he grabbed the small round stone and returned to the road.


    The small egg-shaped stone was a Thunder Stone, which he had bought from the apprentice Rick for a high price. When activated, it shook violently for a moment before releasing a small explosion of lightning that dealt 5 points of electric damage. It was the perfect weapon to deal with these human-faced mushrooms, which were quite weak.


    After all, his spell "Flaming Hand" was quite destructive, and thus he needed another method.


    None of these human-faced mushrooms dared to show their faces after being attacked. The countless glances and noisy whispers followed Leon, leaving his hair standing on end.


    The human-faced mushrooms were one of the materials he had to gather for his task. Therefore, once Leon completed this part of the task, he quickly hurried down the winding path, not daring to linger in this place any longer.


    To be honest, among all the lands around the tower, this place was known for having the highest mortality rate among Apprentices!


    Leaving the flower-filled fields where the human-faced mushrooms grew, Leon soon arrived at the region where the Demonic Babies lived.


    The Demonic Baby was a small monster with a tiny wrinkled body that resembled a human baby. They also had something like an umbilical cord trailing behind them as they moved. They crawled on the ground, but the speed at which they crawled was extremely fast.


    These Demonic Babies were not real babies, but truly horrifying monsters. They possessed an innate ability that was very similar to a "Curse." With this "Curse," their words and wills would unite to become reality. One could imagine their power as something akin to the spell "Wish."


    Unfortunately, they were all evil creatures with absolutely twisted minds, and their hearts were filled with vicious hatred. So don''t expect them to grant you good wishes; you could only reap the endless and vicious abuse of the Demonic Babies'' curse.


    When dozens of Demonic Babies gather and unleash their most powerful curses toward a target, even a powerful Earth Bear would be greatly weakened by the stacking of their evil intentions. After that, the Demonic Babies could easily kill their victim.


    Walking among this group of terrible monsters, one would need a heart and iron will, or else they would end up having their skin stripped and bones dismantled by the Demonic Babies, soon becoming one of the many wandering souls in this Garden of Whispers.


    Leon quickened his pace as he dashed through the desolate shrubs of the Garden. He didn''t have the courage to stop and simply held the talisman tightly against his chest, running faster and faster as he crossed this part of the swamp.


    The moment the sharp screams of the Demonic Babies began to fill his ears, Leon was running. Though it was terrifying, he soon left the Garden of Whispers, breathing heavily as he turned onto another narrow path.


    Although he had set out to gather materials, the most important part of this routine task was to inspect the activity of the demons near the tower and check for anything out of place, such as signs that a stranger had tried to come into this area. Every seven days, he had to take note of the activity of all the demons around the tower, properly gathering some magical materials, just as he had done.


    This was the purpose of Leon''s trip.


    In fact, the region he was inspecting was truly part of the inner boundary of the magical swamp. It was very rare for a stranger to actually come to the swamp. After all, demons created by Mages were extremely dangerous, and even using a magical talisman would not be enough to guarantee the safety of an Apprentice Mage. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for ordinary humans trying to sneak into this place to steal resources from a Mage, the chances of them getting past all these monstrous demons were almost impossible.


    To be honest, mortals would probably not even get past the outer perimeter of the magical swamp.


    But, according to Leon''s knowledge, sometimes the Mage Tower would deliberately disable some of the defense mechanisms of the outer perimeter, actively luring some ordinary humans into the depths of the swamp. At that moment, the swamp would turn into a demonic carnival while everyone enjoyed the deaths of the ignorant!


    The Mage Tower was a huge ring-shaped structure, and the landscape around its base was extremely complicated. The demons were distributed throughout the swamp in a very methodical manner. Therefore, each inspection trip would require at least two Apprentice Mages¡ªone going clockwise and the other counterclockwise. They would follow a fixed route, crossing most of the demon-infested areas.


    Starting from the front door of the tower and gathering at the back door, once they completed this circular route, their inspection would be considered complete.


    Each inspection task awarded them four knowledge points and some gold coins. Compared to other tasks within the tower, the reward for knowledge points was quite good. But even with such a high reward, most knowledge-hungry Apprentice Mages would still steer clear of this inspection task, avoiding it like the plague.


    The reason for this was obvious: the mortality rate for the inspection task was definitely the highest among all tasks in the tower! None of the other tasks could surpass it.


    For this inspection trip, Leon took the counterclockwise route, which required him to cross the grove of Killing Trees, the field of human-faced mushrooms, the Garden of Whispers, and a few other areas. As for the other Apprentice Mage, Nolan, he took the clockwise route, but it was also not a safe path.


    After all, those Giant Alligators and the Parasite Insect Sovereigns were just as dangerous as some of the creatures on his side!


    Especially when one had to gather some Alligator eggs or insect cocoons. Doing such things required entering their nests, and that was just as dangerous as the inspection task going clockwise. Therefore, when Leon saw Nolan at the back door of the tower, he felt relieved that Nolan had survived as well.


    Neither of the guys spoke much after they met. They simply nodded indifferently and continued toward the tower.


    It was the Apprentice Leader, Theodore, who was waiting for them there. After sending the necessary items for the task, the two were basically free for the next six days. As for the knowledge points, Theodore registered them on his magical talisman using a secret method.


    For all the apprentices in the tower, their magical talisman was truly a symbol of their identity.


    ...


    2142 Words

 Chapter 5: Books

    After turning in his assignment and receiving the reward, Nolan immediately ran back to his room, obviously intending to sleep and rest. After all, each inspection trip would push one''s nerves to the limit and truly exhaust one''s stamina. In contrast to Nolan''s actions, Leon hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the library.It was around noon, so there weren''t many apprentices inside the library.


    It was a simple stone room with dozens of yellowing wooden shelves placed against the walls. On top of these shelves were all kinds of magical and spell books made of various materials and in all shapes and sizes. The man who managed these books was a middle-aged Intermediate Mage Apprentice.


    For these Intermediate Mage Apprentices, who had only reached this level with the help of age-related experience, the Mage Tower would never put in more effort to cultivate them. Moreover, this group of Apprentices had abandoned their ambitions. They were unwilling to undertake these excessively risky missions, yet at the same time, they refused to return to the life of ordinary humans.


    Therefore, they had become a unique group within the Mage Apprentices.


    Although a librarian received only one knowledge point every seven days, it was an easy job with no danger involved. This was also the reason why this task had been taken on by these Intermediate Mage Apprentices. For someone like Leon, who had no one to rely on and was always alone, all he could do was take on those dangerous missions. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon did not rush to the shelves in the deeper area, as he usually did. Instead, he was browsing through each bookcase, occasionally picking up a book and flipping through a few pages. All the books in this library were magic books.


    When they were not borrowed, only the introduction was visible to a reader, while all the other content of the book was perpetually covered by a layer of dark floating mist, ensuring that no one could read it.


    Leon never dared to underestimate this dark mist because it was personally designed by the master of this tower, the formidable Mage Eclivel. Without undergoing treatment from a special magical formation, no apprentice could read the content of the book, not even a single character.


    If someone began to think about breaking this mechanism, they would trigger a hidden magical formation, attracting the wrath and punishment of the Mage himself.


    Although the consequences could be quite terrible, Leon still wanted to test whether the BioChip could give him an advantage in this situation. After all, knowledge points were very hard to gain, and currently, Leon only had 7 points. The knowledge points alone were not enough to meet the necessary requirements for Spirit growth.


    He picked up the book "The History of the Mage" and pretended to be seriously reading the introduction. But in reality, in the back of his mind, he was silently issuing commands to the BioChip.


    "Scan this book. Try to see if you can obtain the content without triggering the magical formation!"


    Command received, processing mission... initiating deep scan...


    Leon lowered his head.


    When the BioChip was scanning things outside of his body, his eyes would take on a red hue. This required him to mask his eyes to prevent anyone from noticing something abnormal through his gaze.


    After submitting his task, Nolan immediately ran back to his room, obviously intending to take a nap. After all, every inspection trip would push the nerves to their limits, and it really drained his stamina. In contrast to Nolan''s actions, Leon hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked toward the library.


    It was around noon, so there weren''t many apprentices inside the library.


    It was a simple stone room with dozens of yellowing wooden shelves placed against the walls. On top of these shelves were all kinds of magical and spell books made of various materials and in all shapes and sizes. The man who managed these books was a middle-aged Intermediate Mage Apprentice.


    For these Intermediate Mage Apprentices, who had only reached this level with the help of age-related experience, the Mage Tower would never put in more effort to cultivate them. Moreover, this group of Apprentices had abandoned their ambitions. They were unwilling to undertake these excessively risky missions, yet at the same time, they refused to return to the life of ordinary humans.


    Therefore, they had become a unique group within the Mage Apprentices.


    Although a librarian received only one knowledge point every seven days, it was an easy job with no danger involved. This was also the reason why this task had been taken on by these Intermediate Mage Apprentices. For someone like Leon, who had no one to rely on and was always alone, all he could do was take on those dangerous missions.


    Leon did not rush to the shelves in the deeper area, as he usually did. Instead, he was browsing through each bookcase, occasionally picking up a book and flipping through a few pages. All the books in this library were magic books.


    When they were not borrowed, only the introduction was visible to a reader, while all the other content of the book was perpetually covered by a layer of dark floating mist, ensuring that no one could read it.


    Leon never dared to underestimate this dark mist because it was personally designed by the master of this tower, the formidable Mage Eclivel. Without undergoing treatment from a special magical formation, no apprentice could read the content of the book, not even a single character.


    If someone began to think about breaking this mechanism, they would trigger a hidden magical formation, attracting the wrath and punishment of the Mage himself.


    Although the consequences could be quite terrible, Leon still wanted to test whether the BioChip could give him an advantage in this situation. After all, knowledge points were very hard to gain, and currently, Leon only had 7 points. The knowledge points alone were not enough to meet the necessary requirements for Spirit growth.


    He picked up the book "The History of the Mage" and pretended to be seriously reading the introduction. But in reality, in the back of his mind, he was silently issuing commands to the BioChip.


    "Scan this book. Try to see if you can obtain the content without triggering the magical formation!"


    "Command received!"


    "Processing mission..."


    "Initiating deep scan..."


    Leon lowered his head.


    When the BioChip was scanning things outside of his body, his eyes would take on a red hue. This required him to mask his eyes to prevent anyone from noticing something abnormal through his gaze.


    Upon opening the door and entering his room, the first thing Leon did was glance at the floor beneath his feet.


    On the floor, near the door, there was a faint ripple of fire elemental energy.


    The energy came from elemental fire particles intentionally placed near the door. They had no significant function, but when someone passed through that point, the elemental energy around that person would inadvertently alter the arrangement of those fire elemental particles. With this, Leon could easily tell if someone had entered his room while he was away.


    People in this community of Mages rarely revealed their true faces. Those who were not proactive in their preparations and self-defense would not last long in this tower.


    Gently closing the door, Leon impatiently infused all the magical notes he had copied over the past few years. After serious calculations, Leon believed he currently possessed five complete magical books.


    The first book was undoubtedly the "Glossary of All Things." It was the fundamental book for all Mage Apprentices.


    Leon sat down at his wooden desk, thoroughly reading this "Glossary of All Things." Although he had memorized most of the book''s content, it was inevitable that he would still forget some, especially the small details.


    At first, he did his best to recite the book as he read. He was making the BioChip copy all the content through his eyes to store, classify, and categorize it according to its specifications.


    As time went on, Leon stopped wasting his energy thinking or even reading. He simply became a human copying machine, his eyes continuously shimmering as they scanned over each word, magical inscription, and image¡­ all being copied at high speed.


    In less than fifteen minutes, the "Glossary of All Things" was completely saved in the Chip''s memory!


    Even Leon himself could not control his shock at such extreme speed.


    As the fundamental book for all Mage Apprentices, this "Glossary of All Things" recorded over ten thousand different races and unique creatures discovered on the Mage Continent. It also recorded most commonly found plants, animals, minerals, special magical materials¡­ In total, this book had over thirty thousand entries.


    During the first two years, Leon spent 17 months creating copies and memorizing the entire book, but now it took less than fifteen minutes to save it completely.


    Overcoming his shock at the Chip''s incredible speed, Leon closed the book and slowly began to recall the copied memory in his mind. Information about any species, fauna, or flora would appear in his mind as soon as he thought about it. The Chip would also project related information and data in his mind. This, indeed, saved Leon a lot of time.


    Good. This was really useful! He would never have to worry about struggling to memorize that difficult-to-understand magical knowledge.


    Being completely taken aback with excitement, Leon did not pay attention to the growing pain in his head. He couldn''t wait and quickly took out the second book, starting to duplicate it using the same method.


    "The Beginning of Spiritual Force," an orthodox book on Magic Theory. It primarily explained the raw source and application of Spirit energy used by Mages. It also contained some simple methods for exerting Spiritual Force.


    After finishing the copy of the second book, Leon gently touched his head. He felt incredibly dizzy and fatigued at the same time.


    These¡­ these were the symptoms of Spirit energy exhaustion!


    As a Mage Apprentice, he was extremely familiar with this situation. During the period when he had just learned the Burning Hand spell, since he still couldn''t master the production of his magical energy, he always depleted his pitiful reserve of Spirit energy.


    In the later stages, as he became more familiar with casting Burning Hand, he finally gained a level of proficiency in using Spirit energy without being taught by anyone. When someone controls magical energy, the Spirit energy is proportional to the strength of their soul. The stronger the soul, the more Spirit energy it could utilize. Thus, that person would be able to cast more magical spells.


    Take Leon as an example! He had a Spirit of 8, and his magical energy was ten times his Spirit. In this case, 80 points. There were some Mages who liked to refer to Magical Energy as "Mage Energy."


    In any case, those 80 points of Mage Energy were all the abilities Leon had at that moment.


    ...


    1843 Words

 Chapter 6: Killer

    A simple spell like Fiery Hands would require Leon to spend approximately 20 Mage Energy points, meaning he could cast four Fiery Hands in succession. But, of course, this was only in theory, as it was extremely difficult to achieve in reality.When a Mage had a full "Energy Reserve," their mind operated at its best. It didn''t matter if they were pondering difficult questions or casting spells; they would perform best when their energy reserve was full. However, when a Mage''s energy reserve dropped to ? of the maximum, their mind would become fatigued.


    The most significant symptom of this would be dizziness and swelling of certain tissues in the brain, causing the Mage to feel ill and start to vomit.


    If he attempted to cast a spell at that moment, even one that would normally take only five seconds, he might not be able to cast it in ten seconds, and there was a good chance he wouldn''t be able to cast the spell at all.


    Therefore, when Mages were forced to cast spells frequently, they did their best to conserve a portion of their Spirit energy to avoid all the negative side effects of Spirit Fatigue.


    From the symptoms Leon was experiencing, it was clear that his energy reserve was at less than 5%, and thus, he was suffering from Spirit Fatigue. The only solution to this was to have a good night''s sleep. After all, sleep is how the brain rejuvenates.


    The Chip was great, but it consumed a large amount of Leon''s Spirit energy when it was operating. So, once he realized he was suffering from Spirit Fatigue, Leon contorted against his bed, threw himself onto it, and immediately fell asleep.


    The rest of the day passed as he slept, and the darkness of night settled over the swamp. Now, the moon rose in the dark sky, although its surface was rarely seen through the dense clouds and fog. A deep silence reigned over the tranquil Swamp Tower, as many of its inhabitants slept.


    During this time, a tall and strange dark shadow suddenly appeared beside Leon''s bed, leaning over him and silently watching him.


    As a result of the nausea from his severe Spirit Fatigue, Leon did not sleep well. Even though he was asleep, his brows were tightly knit in a grimace, and his face was filled with anguish.


    The strange-looking human figure was backlit by the moonlight, so its entire body was shrouded in indescribable darkness. No one could clearly see its face, but no one could ignore the pair of blood-red eyes gleaming in that invisible face. Those eyes would make anyone who saw them tremble in fear.


    "Blood... blood... I need blood..."


    The dark shadow stretched out its two arms, as if to grasp Leon''s neck, but for some unknown reason, it always withdrew, as if reluctant to do what it was trying to do.


    "No! You can''t hurt him. He... He... Was the only one who didn''t turn his back on me."


    Its behavior seemed to suggest that it was experiencing a fierce mental battle within itself.


    "Remember when he called me a little princess? Besides.... He... He... Dared to say that we would have fun in his room when I got better¡­"


    "Hahaha~~~"


    "For daring to say such things, he must die¡­"


    "NOOOO!!"


    "Harming him now would be worse than a knife cutting into my flesh." S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a few minutes, it seemed to regain control of itself. It paused for a moment, then looked at Leon, who was completely unaware of what was happening around him. Moments later, it turned and leaped through the window.


    This window opened to the outside of the tower. This meant that there was a formidable Magical Formation attached to it, which would make it impossible for any intruder to walk freely in this place. But strangely, when this dark shadow grasped the wall of the tower outside Leon''s room, it never triggered the magical formation surrounding the tower.


    If Leon had seen this, he would have realized that this being was a Mage Apprentice, as only Mage Apprentices had the Magical Talismans that allowed them to travel freely through the magical formation.


    The dark shadow was climbing up the outer wall of the Mage Tower at an extremely fast speed. Its movements were quick and agile, but it appeared effortless as the shadow flowed around the vertical wall of the tower. This was an impressively impossible feat of strength and dexterity that would have astonished anyone who witnessed it.


    Surprisingly, it seemed to intentionally move through the dark corners of windows and edges, where the moonlight could not reach. This made its movements even more impressive, but also difficult to see.


    Its movement was quick and graceful, making no noise throughout its journey. Moreover, it seemed to be searching for something specific, as it deliberately avoided the rooms that were still lit by candlelight. After searching for a while, it finally seemed to find what it was looking for.


    It hung on the side of a narrow window, tilting its head slightly to one side and listening for a moment. Only after confirming that the sound of breathing coming from inside the room was steady and deep did it carefully scale the narrow window.


    For some time, nothing could be seen or heard inside the room. After a few minutes, it finally left the room, the faded smell of blood lingering around its body.


    It was obvious that the dark shadow was pleased with itself. Before sneaking away, it crouched at the narrow window and casually looked up at the sky. At that moment, the clouds had cleared enough for the moon to shine, spilling silver light from above and illuminating the face of the dark figure.


    What was revealed was the youthful face of a teenager. Her face was fair and beautiful, but if someone looked closely, they would see two sharp incisors protruding slightly from her upper lip, and if they looked even closer, they would notice blood staining those teeth.


    The beautiful young girl used her tiny tongue to gently lick both of her teeth. When she withdrew her tongue, she pursed her lips, as if savoring a fine wine. Only after sitting for a moment did she leap from the window and disappear into the dark shadows below, where the moonlight could never reach.


    ...


    The next day, Leon was awakened by a rapid knocking at his door.


    Leon shook his head, which was still a bit dazed, then got up and opened the door. To his surprise, he found three people standing outside.


    Leader Apprentice Theodore, Apprentice Brandon, and Apprentice Samuel.


    The position of Leader Apprentice was personally assigned by Grandmaster Eclivel, and Theodore was the current Leader Apprentice. Therefore, his status was supreme among all Mage Apprentices. Most of the time, he would carry out management tasks on behalf of the Grandmaster, overseeing all the Mage Apprentices within the Tower.


    Furthermore, as he possessed the strength of an intermediate Apprentice, all lesser Apprentices had to obey his orders. If anyone antagonized him, he could easily lead that person down a path to death, and they would never know how it all happened.


    As for the other two men, Brandon and Samuel, they were merely novice Apprentices like Leon, but both were good at flattery and followed Theodore day by day, licking his boots. Hence, they were considered the trusted followers of the Leader Apprentice.


    So, wherever Theodore appeared, these two sycophants would always be there. The relationship between them was similar to the symbiotic behavior between Bloodsucking Rattans and Murderous Trees. The two sycophants needed Theodore''s help. Only then would they have the privilege of choosing safer daily tasks.


    Meanwhile, Theodore needed the assistance of these two Apprentices to contain the idealists who wished for his position.


    Leon had an unsociable and eccentric character, so he rarely made contact with others. Therefore, the relationship between him and this group was not good, but it wasn''t bad either. This is why he felt truly surprised to find these guys standing at his door.


    Leader Apprentice Theodore was a young man in his early twenties. He had a hawk-like nose, a pair of thick eyebrows, and sharp eyes. Although his facial features did not make him look fierce, he still gave an imposing air to anyone who looked at him. The moment the wooden door opened, Theodore''s intermittent gaze immediately fell on Leon''s face, making Leon feel as if his skin had been burned.


    Leon felt a small shock in his heart.


    He knew this was an anomaly that only occurred when the spirit energy overflowed, and it was a sign that this individual''s overall power had reached a very high level.


    Among all the Apprentices in the Tower, there were indeed very strict divisions based on the power of the Apprentice.


    Those who had mastered only one or two spells and had a spirit level of 10 or less were all considered Beginner Apprentices, making up the largest number of Apprentices in this tower. As for those who had mastered three to four spells and had a spirit level of 11 to 15, they were classified as Intermediate Apprentices, regarded as quite powerful.


    Finally, those who had mastered five or more spells and had a spirit level of over 16 points were the elite of the Tower: Advanced Mage Apprentices.


    Once the spirit points reached 20, one qualified to become a Pseudo Mage, and the Grand Master Mage would give them special treatment, preparing them for the ceremony that would transform them into official Mages.


    It should be noted that, at present, there were no real Pseudo Mages in the Swamp Tower!


    As for Theodore, although it was unknown how many magical spells he had mastered, with the aid of some unique magical items, he was sometimes able to unleash power that was no weaker than that of an Advanced Apprentice. Within the Tower, there were only three people who had reached the level of Advanced Apprentice: Deadshot, the Worm Controller, and Super Girl.


    Of course, these were not their real names, but surnames.


    Deadshot was Evan, a scary guy from the West Coast. To enhance his own power, he had actually replaced one of his eyes with a hawk''s eye. This granted him some strange abilities.


    The Worm Controller was Blake. He was even weirder than Deadshot. He was able to create a swarm of horrific insects from his own blood and flesh. Battling him meant that a single careless mistake in the fight could end with one being devoured by thousands of insects!


    As for the last one, Super Girl had an immense thirst for violence. Armed with a huge steel sword taller than an average human, she was undefeated among all the Apprentices. She was so violent and terrible in battle that no one dared challenge her.


    The three had mastered some magical spells with tremendous power or possessed some strange and unique abilities. Regardless, they had transcended the status of ordinary Apprentices and all became candidates with the potential to break through and achieve the status of Pseudo Mage.


    Thus, faced with the blazing gaze of such a powerful Mage Apprentice, Leon''s spirit clearly was not enough to support him, and his mind was suppressed by the person standing before him.


    "Leon, something happened in the Tower last night! Do you know anything about it?" Leader Apprentice Theodore was still looking coldly at Leon without saying anything. It was Brandon who was speaking.


    "What? Something happened? Was someone killed in a magical experiment?" Obviously, Leon had no idea what was going on.


    "There were no issues with magical experiments. Someone was murdered inside their room!" Upon discovering that Leon''s intrigued eyes and shocked expression did not seem fake, Theodore spoke slowly, but his eyes remained focused on Leon''s face, certainly not missing any of his expressions.


    "Murdered?" Leon was startled; he immediately panicked and asked, "Who died?"


    Although, from time to time, Apprentices died in accidents in the Swamp Tower, most deaths occurred during dangerous missions or bizarre magical experiment accidents. There had never been an instance of a Mage Apprentice being murdered by someone else. After all, every Apprentice was a precious asset to Grand Master Mage Eclivel, and he would never allow his Apprentices to kill each other.


    Once something like this was discovered by him, those who violated his will would definitely be severely punished.


    "Muret."


    Leon frowned.


    He knew Muret. That guy was just an ordinary Apprentice who had only mastered one magical spell¡­ that was all he knew. The only thing he could remember was that this guy had a face full of freckles and was younger than him.


    "So, why are you here¡­?"


    "We need to check your room. We are not suspecting you, but we are checking every Apprentice''s room." Theodore said in a cold manner.


    "It''s true, we have to check everyone''s rooms. Step aside quickly, or we''ll tell the Grandmaster that you are guilty of this murder¡­ Do you think you''ll live long if that happens?" Undoubtedly, Samuel was the biggest annoyance here, spewing threats at Leon.


    Leon felt anger in his heart, but he gritted his teeth and slowly suppressed it.


    They were checking everyone''s rooms?


    Would you have the courage to check Deadshot''s room? And the Worm Controller''s room? Or maybe Super Girl''s room? You would turn around and walk away if Super Girl was standing in front of you!


    Although his heart was filled with anger, Leon merely frowned. He hesitated for a brief moment before finally stepping aside and allowing them to enter his room.


    ...


    2283 Words

 Chapter 7: Bleia vs Theodore

    His room was small and cramped, at most around 20 square meters. Just by standing at the door, one could see everything inside.There was a bed and a simple, old wooden desk. A few books were placed haphazardly, one of which was open, revealing strange and mysterious symbols on the exposed pages. An old chair was also visible. The paint on it had worn off, exposing the dark original color of the wood beneath.


    A wooden shelf was placed on one side of the room, with a row of glass jars resting on it. Inside these jars were some strange, semi-cultivated plants and the organs of bizarre demons.


    A wooden iron box was in the corner of the room. There was a trash bin next to it.


    Other than that, there was practically no other furniture in the room.


    A look of ridicule could be seen in the eyes of Brandon and Samuel.


    Although they were also Apprentices, both lived hundreds of times better than Leon. Not only did they have large, soft, and comfortable beds in their rooms, but the luxurious decorations in their rooms were similar to those of the human nobility in this world.


    Perhaps because they wanted to show their authority, both of them rushed into the room and began rummaging through his sparse belongings.


    The mattress on the wooden bed was thrown to the floor, the books on the desk were turned over haphazardly, and an ink bottle was knocked over, staining all the open books with a large amount of ink. The wooden iron box was opened, and all the clothes were dug out and thrown to the floor.


    The Apprentice Leader, Theodore, simply stood at the door and watched as his men wrecked Leon''s room. He looked on impassively and did nothing to stop them.


    Leon stood next to Theodore. His fists were clenching and unclenching repeatedly in his sleeves. At the same time, his eyes were filled with cold fury.


    After destroying his room, Theodore''s two lackeys finally finished searching.


    Under the triumphant and curious gazes of the two men, Leon coldly closed the door.


    He rushed to the overturned wooden box. After briefly examining the pile of dirty clothes, Leon finally couldn''t hold back and cursed in a low voice.


    Rattans Python, Grass Rat, Black Lotus Flower, Wild Steel Flower, Dark Moss¡­


    After risking his life and going through so many inspection trips, the magical materials he had painstakingly gathered from the Magic Swamp were gone. It was obvious that Theodore''s two Apprentice Overseers had taken them while pretending to search for proof.


    Although he intended to rush out and confront them, when he thought of Theodore''s insidious and dark expression, a shiver immediately ran down Leon''s spine.


    Clearly, these guys were using the excuse of investigating Muret''s death to loot all of the Apprentices'' normal resources. And because of Theodore''s status as an Apprentice Leader, no one dared to confront them to their faces. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Of course, these three bastards wouldn''t be stupid enough to provoke any of the powerful individuals in this tower; they were just bold enough to pick on someone weaker, like Leon.


    "Pah~~" After they left, Leon slammed the door shut, causing a loud sound, but Leon didn''t care about offending them.


    ....


    Soon, they were knocking on the wooden door next to Leon''s.


    "Knock!"


    "Knock!"


    "Knock!"


    Blea''s "meeting" was not a secret to these few men.


    Since she had not shown herself for a long time, they were taking this as an opportunity to check on her current state.


    Apprentice Leader Theodore also wanted to know if she was still alive or not.


    "Knock!"


    "Knock!"


    "Open the door, or we will break it down!"


    But just as Brandon grew irritated that no one was responding and was about to force it open, the door unexpectedly swung open.


    A young girl in a red cotton dress suddenly opened the door.


    "So it''s Apprentice Leader Theodore! I didn''t have the chance to thank you for arranging my last task!" The young girl''s delicate voice could easily melt anyone''s heart, but it was nothing compared to the effect of her captivating beauty.


    She had slender limbs and well-defined curves, with skin as fair as flawless jade. Her facial features were delicate and perfect, and her small red lips were graced with a smile. But the most striking part of her was her bright blood-red eyes. They were like two pure, crystalline rubies set in her extraordinary face, making her as enchanting as a fairy.


    Moreover, she wore a bright red dress that fully displayed her lovely figure and exposed a generous portion of her clear skin, dazzling anyone who looked at her.


    In this grim Swamp Tower, most Apprentice Mages wore accented gray Apprentice robes and black cloaks, making dark tones the main theme of the place. Upon meeting such a splendid and radiant young girl, these men were immediately stunned, their gazes drawn to her enchanting beauty.


    Not only that, but after witnessing the magnificent beauty of the girl before them, an inexplicable lust began to rise from the lower halves of the three men, burning fiercely and igniting their most carnal hunger.


    Theodore proved why he had been chosen specifically by the Great Magus Master himself, as his self-control was far stronger than that of the other two men. While Brandon and Samuel were overtaken by sudden lust and showed excited expressions, ready to surrender their souls to this girl, Theodore managed to break free from this "charm" instantly.


    "Who are you? Tell me your name quickly, or else¡­" Theodore''s expression shifted rapidly as he stepped back two paces and placed both hands on the pockets of his waist.


    Although the Tower was a vast place, all the Apprentices were quite familiar with each other. After all, there were only about forty to fifty people, and they had lived together for years, so it would be strange not to know each other.


    Even someone like Leon, known for being unsociable and eccentric, had a couple of "friends" he would communicate with, not to mention Theodore, who was the Apprentice Leader and had to stay in touch with every Apprentice weekly.


    It would be modest to say that with his eyes closed, Theodore could list the basic living situation and status of every Apprentice, from level one to level three, in the Magus Tower.


    But wait¡­ she came out of Blea''s room¡­


    Blea, a girl from a remote province. The most prominent impression she had left on Theodore was her exaggerated stubbornness. However, judging by her appearance, Blea, who came from a noble family, was indeed a rare beauty among all the female Apprentices.


    Too bad, she ignored her status in the tower, as she simply dismissed the numerous invitations Theodore had sent, asking her to join him in bed on lonely nights. Therefore, during an occasion when Magus Eclivel urgently needed a subject for an experiment and sought out Theodore to recommend an Apprentice Mage¡­ he enthusiastically recommended Blea for the "position."


    Could it be¡­


    Thoughts flashed through Theodore''s mind as he quickly recalled that stubborn beauty, who was cowardly and weak in any significant situation but had rejected him countless times. Comparing that girl to the vibrant girl with an imposing manner standing before him, his jaw dropped, and he let out a shocked cry.


    "You¡­ you''re Blea!"


    As if hearing the name ''Blea'' caused the girl in the red dress pain, her sweet and charming face suddenly twisted ferociously, making her small cherry-like mouth seem to stretch from the corners of her lips to her ears, turning it from a small mouth into a wide, ear-to-ear gaping maw.


    "Jump!"


    With a sudden motion, the girl leaped forward, swiftly biting Theodore''s exposed neck.


    "Bite!"


    With a single bite, nearly half of Theodore''s neck was torn away, exposing bloody flesh and a shattered trachea. His blood spurted instantly, like a fountain, soon staining the floor, the wall, and the girl''s body with crimson splatters.


    Theodore fell backward and slammed into the rigid, cold wall behind him.


    "Thud~~"


    He slowly slid down the wall, ending up sitting on the floor, shivering uncontrollably.


    "Sliding~~"


    Meanwhile, he pulled a magical item shaped like a scorpion from his waist pocket and activated it, releasing a flaming red beam toward the girl in the red dress.


    "Buzz~~"


    The beam shot straight at her chest.


    "Bang!"


    This flaming beam was a highly powerful Fire Magic, so the intense heat of the fire beam instantly burned an egg-sized hole through the girl''s body. The scorching beam did not stop after passing through her body and even left a hole in the hallway wall behind her.


    After using it, Theodore tossed the magical item aside. Then, with trembling hands, he pulled a small, fist-sized bottle containing a green liquid from his waist pocket. He removed the cap and poured the liquid onto the large wound on his neck.


    Theodore had a very strong vitality, so despite suffering a mortal wound, he did not die immediately. Instead, his half-severed neck suddenly showed signs of decay, and the exposed flesh quickly dehydrated. At the same time, the blood gushing from his wound slowed and eventually came to a complete stop.


    Partially zombified body.


    After learning about organic structures, anatomy, and necromancy, a Mage Apprentice would be able to use Magic to implant something called a "Zombie Pouch" within their body. With this, once the Apprentice suffered a serious injury, the Zombie Pouch would trigger and zombify part of their body, preventing them from dying from the wound.


    But it was only a temporary measure. Once the immediate threat of death had passed, a new danger would arise, as they would now have to find a way to rid themselves of the violent negative energy within their body.


    Yet when faced with a choice between life and death, most Apprentices would choose to save their lives at any cost. As for the dangerous negative energy, it was something they could worry about later.


    "Jump!"


    However, in the next second, a shadow lunged at his body.


    With one hand caressing his nearly broken neck and the other holding the small bottle above his open wound, Theodore could do nothing in response but turn his head to see what had happened. What he saw was the girl in the red dress with a huge, bloodied mouth full of sharp teeth. Her red dress was being stained purple by some liquid leaking from the hole in her chest¡­


    Purple-colored blood?!


    Was she even human?


    This was the last thought that passed through Theodore''s mind.


    The girl, once again, jumped forward, placing her body on top of his and sinking her gaping mouth into his wounded neck.


    "Bite!"


    The sound of her sucking his blood was loud and clear.


    "Slurp..."


    "Slurp..."


    "Gulp~~"


    "Gulp~~"


    "Gulp~~"


    "Gulp~~"


    As the girl busied herself with her work, she ignored the other two Mage Apprentices beside her. Both men had withdrawn the crude magical items they possessed and held them at the ready in their hands, but when faced with such a bloody and horrifying scene, neither could muster the courage to activate the magical items.


    Reflecting on what had just happened, even the powerful magical item of the Apprentice Leader Theodore could not cause real damage to this monster in a red dress; perhaps the magical items in their hands would not be enough to harm her at all. And if they provoked this monster?


    Perhaps she would leap onto their bodies next, feasting on their flesh, drinking their blood, and crushing their bones between her teeth...


    By the time both men had backed against the wall, shivering uncontrollably, the girl in the red dress had stopped consuming the flesh and blood of the former Apprentice Leader. She sat on his body, her back to the two cowardly Apprentices, and took out a snow-white handkerchief and a small, round mirror. She proceeded to gently wipe her lips, a satisfied expression spreading across her face.


    Under the effect of some mysterious healing force, the bloody purple hole in her chest began to close at an incredible rate. In the blink of an eye, it reverted to the same smooth, silky skin, without even the smallest scar visible.


    What a terrifying regenerative ability! Could¡­ could it be that she was the legendary, fearsome noble of shadows ¨C a Vampire?


    Through a small crack in his door, Leon witnessed everything that had just happened. As for how his neighbor, who had been contaminated by a Magic Spell, transformed into a Vampire, he had not a single clue.


    However, when it came to the death of Apprentice Leader Theodore, he was filled with genuine joy.


    "Worm! You deserved it, I hope she tears apart your henchmen too."


    Nevertheless, the struggle had lasted for some time, and even an Apprentice had been killed. No matter how indifferent the Mage of the Tower was, he must have noticed something by now!


    ...


    2168 Words

 Chapter 8: Eclivel vs Bleia

    After licking the blood from her face, the girl in the red dress turned around, once again revealing her delicate and alluring face to the two trembling Apprentices. Samuel, unable to withstand such a powerful visual impact, fainted, his arms and legs collapsing onto the floor in random directions.The terrifying and fierce appearance of ''Bleia'' was completely hidden as she shifted to the figure of the beautiful girl with the lovely face. However, her blood-red eyes and the two small yet sharp teeth protruding from her lips hinted at the dreadful being concealed behind the enchanting beauty.


    Even though nearly half of her body was splattered with blood, she somehow managed to appear as delicate and charming as a flower. It was such an intense visual impact that even Leon, who glimpsed it through the crack in his door, couldn''t control himself and felt captivated by her overwhelming beauty.


    "Bleia! I will rape her and then impregnate her, in addition I will tie her with a rope and bring her to my room, so I can rape her every night, filling the vampire womb that Mary has. Yes I will defile you so many times that my sperm will dirty the entire room."


    Soon after, he looked down and noticed that his own cock was hard as a vibrating diamond, ready to stare at Mary''s vampy pussy.


    "Slap~~" With a strong slap to his own face, Leon managed to regain control and broke free from the sexual spell.


    Leon smiled, thinking to himself, "What a terrifying monster..."


    A vampire in its early form had no fear of injury because, as long as they had blood, they could gain unlimited vitality. This was an immortal species that only existed in ancient books in this Land of Mages. When they were hunted by the Mages, their kind was nearly driven to extinction. Even if there were some survivors, they did not dare to reveal their true identity.


    That was why Leon was so shocked to see Bleia transform into a Vampire. After his initial shock over Bleia''s current racial state, Leon also felt a shiver as he pondered how powerful Mages must have been to hunt these near-extinct vampires.


    What kind of magical experience had Bleia undergone? How had an ordinary human girl become this ancient, bloodthirsty species that reveled in killing? Were the strange noises he heard at night caused by Bleia''s "mutation"?


    Just as the girl in the red dress, Bleia, moved menacingly toward the still-trembling Brandon, the torches on both sides of the dark corridor suddenly flared to life, and a mystical figure emerged from the shadows of the wall and spoke.


    "Hold your steps, my child. Today''s killing was more than enough for you to complete the final step of your evolution! From now on, you must try your best to restrain your thirst for fresh blood and sharpen your mind. Return to the path of the pursuit of knowledge!"


    The man speaking had a hunched back, and his face was full of wrinkles and loose skin. A long, flowing black cloak covered his body, and a tall, slightly wavering pointed hat sat on his head. He held a staff made of twisted roots and gnarled branches, topped with a large green crystal. Rays of light emanated from the crystal, creating layers of amber color in the air.


    This old man was the only Mage in this Tower, the great Mage, Eclivel.


    As for his Mage rank, with Leon''s current knowledge and experience, he had no idea.


    Although he knew that today''s events would alert the master of the Mage Tower, which was why Leon had deactivated his elemental sight beforehand, seeing Mage Eclivel suddenly appear in the corridor still made the powerful magical energy radiating from his body cause Leon''s eyes to burn and water.


    Leon quickly but gently closed the door as quietly as possible, hiding silently in his room. He did not dare to peek at what was happening outside. If he witnessed any secret that Mage Eclivel did not want anyone to know, his pitiful life would end swiftly.


    All the true Mages Leon knew were cruel and vicious men who did not hesitate to kill and conducted all kinds of dangerous and dark magical experiments on humans and living creatures as if it were nothing. No matter how careful he was, there was no way to hide from Mage Eclivel''s spiritual senses.


    However, by acting this way, he was signaling that he was not trying to spy and was uninvolved in the Mage''s affairs. At the very least, if he left before anything significant happened, he would be safe.


    ....


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, a fierce confrontation was underway.


    Bleia had once again transformed into a fierce and terrifying Vampire. Her blood-red eyes gleamed like those of a wild animal, and her nails began to grow wildly, eventually turning into sharp claws with gleaming tips.


    Clearly, Vampire Bleia had a beastly nature.


    "Jump!"


    Her body was pressed against the wall. Like a lizard, she climbed the vertical surface at an incredibly fast speed.


    "Rushing footsteps~~"


    She started running toward the master of the Tower, Mage Eclivel.


    Running along the wall at high speed, as she approached the Mage, Bleia leaped from the wall with her powerful legs, catapulting her slender body toward the Mage with blazing speed.


    "Buzz~~"


    While her body was in midair, Bleia stretched her claws forward, reaching out to grasp the Mage''s heart.


    Faced with this aggressive Vampire in its early form, all Mage Eclivel did was smile a sinister smile. There was not the slightest sign of panic or concern on his face.


    He waved the staff in his hand, and a small tornado appeared in Bleia''s path.


    "Zosh~~~"


    "Sucking~~"


    "Even if it''s just a homunculus, the bloodthirsty nature has truly surpassed the host''s consciousness¡­ what a pity¡­"


    Bleia''s body weight was quite light after being modified, so her attacks were focused on speed and agility. Unfortunately, in the eyes of a Mage, her innate abilities, although beyond those of ordinary humans, were not enough to cause him the slightest concern. Thus, when Bleia hit the tornado, she was immediately caught firmly and couldn''t break free.


    "Urrraaa~~"


    A second later, as the suction force of the tornado grew stronger, Bleia let out a cry of shock while her body spun around, making her ridiculously dizzy.


    Under Mage Eclivel''s control, the tornado twisted, and Bleia was flung from it, crashing fiercely into a nearby stone wall.


    "Bang~~"


    Even though it didn''t seem like Eclivel put much effort into it, the impact was enough to take Bleia out of the fight. Leon could even hear the sound of bones breaking through the wooden door.


    "Crack~~"


    "Break~~"


    "Broken~~"


    "Crac..."


    "A newborn vampire who has lost her mind¡­ Why would I keep her? Go to hell!"


    Mage Eclivel smiled horribly, then raised his thin, bony right arm, unleashing a pale white flame, filled with the aura of death, that hovered above his palm. He then turned his palm and pressed it to the forehead of the struggling, groaning girl.


    Perhaps because she felt her death approaching, this vampire, known for having extraordinary senses when it came to detecting danger, finally stopped struggling like an animal. Suddenly, Bleia let out a piercing scream, moving her body back desperately, a deep fear in her eyes as she looked at the flame. Those same eyes had changed from a vivid red to a deep green.


    "Eh?" Master Eclivel stopped pressing his arm down. The deadly fireball still burned silently, but the sound of an ordinary fire couldn''t be heard. The reflection of the dense, pale white flame made Bleia''s pale face appear even whiter, as if a thick layer of powder had been applied to her skin.


    "Oh¡­ So, the fear of death can make you regain consciousness? This is a phenomenon I have never seen before¡­ I suppose there is value in researching this." Mage Eclivel spoke to himself in a low voice. He waved his palm, extinguishing the flame. After that, he snapped his fingers, creating dozens of small vortices of air around Bleia''s neck, limbs, and all her joints, chaining her firmly.


    Then he turned and looked at Theodore''s corpse.


    Because of Bleia''s excessive bloodlust, all the blood in the body had been drained. Thus, Theodore''s corpse took on a grim appearance. What had been a healthy-looking figure just minutes before now appeared shriveled and withered, making his corpse look like that of a mummy buried underground for decades.


    "The original Leader Apprentice is dead¡­ I will replace him! Make sure to properly manage all of my apprentices." With a frown on his face, Mage Eclivel simply pointed a finger at Brandon, who could barely support his weight against the stone walls, and made his request in an indifferent tone.


    After he finished speaking, the torches on the corridor walls flickered suddenly. When they returned to their original glow, the Master Mage and Bleia had disappeared from the hallway.


    After witnessing the bloody feast and escaping with his life, Brandon was unexpectedly promoted to Leader Apprentice. His body was still shaking violently, and his pants were wet, but his face was full of a mix of shock and excitement.


    Suddenly, he thought of something. With staggering steps, he leaped toward Theodore''s corpse and began frantically searching through the dead man''s pockets.


    Since he had become the new Leader Apprentice, the Magic Talisman representing the Leader Apprentice''s status now belonged to him. He needed to find it as quickly as possible.


    Waist pocket, inner pocket, neck protector, leather boot¡­


    He conducted a thorough search through every place that could hide things on Theodore''s body. The corpse, which he previously looked at with fear and disgust, had now become his treasure chest, filling him with immense delight.


    Finally, he found the Magic Talisman on the ghastly, broken neck of the corpse. Holding it high, he laughed loudly and joyfully, completely unaware of how insane his behavior appeared to others.


    Samuel, who had fainted on the ground, moved his body, struggling for a long time to stand up.


    As he looked at Brandon, he was filled with murderous intent due to the jealousy burning inside him.


    In fact, he had woken up much earlier, but, unable to predict what might happen, he remained lying on the ground, pretending to still be unconscious.


    Who would have thought that his fear would actually make him lose the chance to become the next Leader Apprentice, a highly prestigious status for him. At that moment, he wished he could tear the flesh from Brandon''s bones!


    "Why didn''t that vampire kill him?" Samuel roared furiously in his mind.


    But on the surface, he masked the feeling of loss and fury that was so prevalent in his mind. As he got up from the ground, a flattering smile appeared on his face.


    "Leader Apprentice Brandon, quickly get up. The ground is dirty. Let me clean up the mess for you!"


    Samuel''s interruption immediately brought Brandon back to his senses.


    Brandon stood up quickly and tidied up his appearance. As he looked at the Magic Talisman in his hands, an arrogant smile spread across his face.


    "I''ll leave everything here to you! Something unfortunate happened to the previous Leader Apprentice. I need to inform everyone of this urgent news¡­ Hmm. I just remembered that it''s time to feed the giant alligators outside¡­" The last part of the sentence was said in a cruel and indifferent voice.


    "Understood! I''ll clean up this mess immediately!" Samuel couldn''t help but bow his head even lower.


    After savoring the first taste of his newfound power, Brandon couldn''t hold back and burst into another laugh. Then he quickly walked down the corridor and out of sight.


    He had looted everything from Theodore''s body, but there might still be some good things in Theodore''s room. So, after leaving the mess for Samuel, he ran impatiently toward the end of the hallway. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It took a few minutes for the sound of his malicious laughter to fade away.


    "HahHahahaHA"


    "Hahahah"


    "Hahah"


    ...


    2024 words

 Chapter 9: Manual

    At dinner, all the Mage Apprentices learned that a new Lead Apprentice had emerged.Regarding this change, most of the Apprentices showed no reactions, and no one asked what had happened to Theodore.


    Leon, in contrast to his new Lead Apprentice, Brandon, who was proudly proclaiming his new status in the cafeteria, could barely control his anger towards the new Lead Apprentice.


    Although the former Lead Apprentice had not been very nice, at least he was quite strong, having mastered three to four magical spells. He was not as strong as Fatal Shot, the worm controller, or Super Girl, but he was much stronger than most of the elementary-level Apprentices. Why would they swallow their pride silently while being relentlessly exploited by him?


    On the other hand, everyone knew Brandon''s background. He was just a rookie and had only mastered ''Wind Blade'' and ''Tornado Shield.'' He had spent most of the last year hiding in the Mage Tower, which had made his combat skills very weak. If he had to fight against them, perhaps more than half of the Apprentices could defeat him in a one-on-one.


    But, looking at the four ''friends'' around him, it was clear that this guy had a good understanding of their weaknesses and compensated by adding a few lackeys.


    Just as Brandon was proudly giving his "inaugural speech," the wooden door of the cafeteria was brutally shaken by someone, banging furiously against the stone wall.


    After that, a young man, who had his left eye covered with an eyepatch, entered the cafeteria with a grim expression on his face.


    The inaugural speech of Lead Apprentice Brandon was abruptly interrupted. At the same time, whispers about "Fatal Shot" could be heard in every corner of the cafeteria.


    The young man with the eyepatch was one of the three strongest Mage Apprentices, Fatal Shot.


    As they were the strongest, each of them had a group of subordinates who always gathered around them. Therefore, the three had never dined in this cafeteria, as all their meals were brought directly to their quarters by their subordinates.


    This is why all the Apprentices felt surprised when Fatal Shot suddenly arrived at the cafeteria.


    Of course, Fatal Shot did not come here for a meal, but to look for someone.


    Fatal Shot swept the entire cafeteria with his single eye, and each of the Apprentices lowered their heads instead of meeting his gaze. It was impossible to do anything else, as a powerful energy seemed to emanate from his eyes, suppressing anyone who dared to look him in the eye.


    Seeing Fatal Shot begin to walk toward him, Leon felt his heart stop. He lowered his head even further.


    Unfortunately for him, Fatal Shot''s legs came to a stop right in front of him.


    "Are you Leon? Come with me!" Fatal Shot didn''t say much, but the little he did say was impossible to ignore. After saying this, he turned around and left, not caring about the reactions of others.


    An ironic smile appeared on Leon''s face. He pushed his tray of food aside, stood up, and followed behind Fatal Shot.


    Without turning his head, Leon felt the irritated gaze of the new Lead Apprentice, Brandon, burning a hole in the back of his head.


    Leon had a rough idea of why this guy came for him. Therefore, after following Fatal Shot through several long dark corridors, he arrived at a certain wooden door, quite sure about what was happening.


    This was Super Girl''s room. Waiting inside were the other two strongest Apprentices: the worm controller and Super Girl.


    It was a stone room, almost as simple as Leon''s room, and it was decorated to the same level as Leon''s. There was a solid wooden bed, a desk, and a chair¡­ nothing more.


    Well, there was one more thing. In one corner of the room, there was a human-shaped practice target made entirely of metal. From the crisscrossed scars and marks on it, it might have been the most used piece of "furniture" in this room.


    Additionally, the iconic steel emblem of Super Girl was hanging on the wall across the room.


    Fatal Shot, the worm controller, and Super Girl did not have a harmonious relationship most of the time, but when something related to their personal interests happened, this small group could still work together to achieve all their goals.


    As this was Super Girl''s room, it was clear she was the one in charge here.


    When Leon, feeling he was in an embarrassing situation, stopped in the middle of the room, the person who attracted most of his attention was Super Girl, who had a muscular body resembling that of a barbarian. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Super Girl did not wear a soft, long fabric robe like most apprentices but instead wore a leather jacket and simple pants.


    The leather jacket was stretched and looked like it was about to burst when her bulging muscles pushed against it. Her muscles looked like pieces of steel, making Leon feel a bit envious. To be honest, no matter how much Leon searched his memory, he swore he had never seen a woman with such a muscular body before.


    "I heard you saw what happened this afternoon? Tell me everything you know! If anything you say is of value, we will reward you handsomely!" Super Girl''s voice was like her body, strong and powerful.


    As for what Super Girl said, the worm controller, whose entire body was covered with a thick layer, made a motion as if he were shaking his head, while Fatal Shot, who had brought Leon here, said nothing.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Leon returned to his own room.


    After he closed the door, he impatiently pressed his back against the cold wooden door framed with iron, saying nothing out loud but speaking in his mind.


    "Any results from your scan now? Quickly, show me all the data!"


    "Beep!"


    "Samples of living organisms completed."


    "The results are listed below¡­"


    After that, streams of information began to flow into his brain. It took a moment, but the information about the three strongest Apprentices started to take shape.


    Once the BioChip activated, it lacked much in reference to information about Mages, as there were no comparative data. Therefore, the organization and categorization of Mages had not progressed.


    In Leon''s brain, there was an enormous amount of information about magical spells, magical items, and conceptual descriptions of each, but he simply had not had the chance to witness and observe any current magical phenomena. As a result, the chip could not gather information about the magical things in the environment based on its current memory.


    It was such an unfortunate situation.


    However, today, with a close observation of the three strongest Apprentices, Leon undoubtedly acquired a lot of precious data. This would undoubtedly be of great benefit in defining his future development path.


    Of course, if he could personally experience the abilities of an official Mage, it would result in obtaining much better data. Unfortunately, he feared that the scanning feature of his chip would be noticed if he targeted an official Mage. Therefore, Leon could only use his passive detection ability, which was the mode he had activated when Mage Anderson had suddenly appeared yesterday.


    As for today, when the three strongest Apprentices were standing in front of him, he felt it was safe to scan them, and they did not possess very strong spirit energy manipulation skills, so they were leaking a lot of energy that the chip could scan and analyze. This was why Leon could use complete detection without fear and process all the leaked information.


    As a result, he progressed in calculating the source of the Magic.


    Evan [Fatal Shot]


    Race: Human [?]


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Mage Apprentice [Advanced]


    ? Experience: ¡ª


    Attributes:


    ? Strength: 9


    ? Agility: 7


    ? Physique: 11


    ? Spirit: 18


    These were absolutely incredible numbers. If they hadn''t been within Leon''s expectations, he might have shouted out loud. Fatal Shot was indeed worthy of being called one of the three strongest Apprentices. With just these basic body statistics, he could easily crush Leon.


    In a confrontation against Fatal Shot, Leon was weaker in strength, slower in speed, and not as physically strong. Even if both had mastered a spell, Fatal Shot would still have thousands of methods to kill Leon. Not to mention, that guy was much more powerful when using magical spells!


    But the Spirit attribute of Fatal Shot was what surprised Leon the most. Having a Spirit of 18 meant he had incredibly strong spiritual senses. He could sense the faintest heartbeat within a range of 50 meters! With such a strong detection ability, the difficulty of launching a stealth attack on him would be immense.


    However, the chip placed a question mark in the race field¡­ It seemed that there were inhuman elements found in the energy he radiated. Perhaps this had something to do with the implanted eye?


    Blake [Worm Controller]


    Race: Human [?]


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Mage Apprentice [Advanced]


    Experience: ¡ª


    Attributes:


    Strength: ?


    Agility: ?


    Physique: ?


    Spirit: 19


    Compared to Fatal Shot, it seemed that the Worm Controller was better at concealing his energy, as even the chip could not obtain his attributes from such a close distance. But his powerful Spirit of 19 points clearly could not be hidden; it was evident that, among the two, he was the one closest to becoming an official Mage.


    However, it appeared he had modified his body to a high degree, reaching a level at which even the chip could not determine his race.


    In summary, although he probably did not have the highest physical attributes, he was still one of the three strongest, as evidenced by the terrifying spells he had mastered and the modifications he had made to his body.


    Super Girl


    Race: Human [Barbarian]


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Mage Apprentice [Advanced]


    Experience: ¡ª


    Attributes:


    Strength: 15


    Agility: 8


    Physique: 16


    Spirit: 17


    Looking at Super Girl''s attributes, a feeling of helplessness welled up from the bottom of Leon''s heart. 15 in Strength, 16 in Physique¡­ Was this ''woman'' even human? With attributes like these, she might as well be no different from some demonic beasts of the swamp. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When comparing the strength of two fighters, if there was a difference of 5 points, the weaker side would be easily attacked. If the difference was 10, the weaker side would experience broken bones and crushed flesh every time they were hit. The Strength difference between Leon and Super Girl was shockingly 11 points.


    This¡­ This was ridiculous! Even if they both fought barehanded, would Leon be as fragile as glass in front of her? Not to mention that if she struck him in the face, he would probably have his skull crushed.


    Naturally, all kinds of fighting scenes flashed through Leon''s mind, but in each scene, he would end up severely beaten or dead.


    As for Physique, it simply placed a huge gap between them. Even if Super Girl stood there without moving and allowed Leon to attack her with Burning Hands for a few minutes, it still might not be enough to kill her.


    Through the comparison of these basic data, once again Leon recognized his weakness. With just his own personal effort and under the effect of amplifying his innate attributes, the difference between him and these extraordinarily talented guys would simply continue to grow larger. He did not believe there was any way he could catch up to them on his own.


    Therefore, if he truly wanted to proceed in this bizarre world, the only thing he could rely on was the BioChip within him.


    Only after reflecting on these things did Leon look at the reward he obtained from the "three strongest."


    With a flick of his hand, a thick book appeared in front of Leon.


    Thanks to his great eloquence and a clear memory of his experience from the previous day, Leon described Bleia''s movements in detail. Undoubtedly, this left a better impression on the three of them. Only then did he receive this strange book of magical knowledge.


    According to the rules of the Mage Tower, any exchange of internal knowledge was strictly prohibited. Exchanging any copied magical knowledge by Apprentices was also strictly forbidden. Anyone who violated these prohibitions would be punished by the master of the Tower. Therefore, Super Girl must have obtained this book from elsewhere; otherwise, she would not have simply given it to Leon.


    Leon held his breath in impatience and then turned to the first page of the book.


    ''Golem Creation Manual''!


    ...


    2097 Words

 Chapter 10: Solidifying

    Titan, a physical construct with powerful magic in its foundation. It is a magical automaton. It is made using mystical materials, such as the Magic-Repellent Steel from the Master Materialist of the Universe. Its main feature is its resistance to the elements. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality."Michel Darius"


    ...


    Golems are artificial self-moving objects created by Mages. The Titan was the most powerful of these golems. The defining characteristic of these Titans was their resistance to elemental attacks. In other words, only those golems that possessed resistance to elemental damage could be called Titans.


    Because of the great strength of Mages, resistance to elemental damage made the Titans considered very powerful.


    However, being able to resist elemental damage did not mean that the Titan was the best weapon of a Mage. This ability only allowed a Titan to be immune to spells that were directed at its body. For example, using a fireball on the ceiling above a Titan, causing it to be crushed by the weight of the ceiling, or casting an Acid Pool spell and making the Titan fall into the Acid Pool.


    Both spells were very effective against the Titans. Not to mention that all Titans had very low Spirit. They could only follow simple commands, which was their greatest weakness when facing intelligent life forms.


    Moreover, Titans were not completely immune to elemental damage, as using a specific elemental spell would cause a specific effect for a certain type of Titan. By properly understanding their weaknesses, it was quite simple to fight against a Titan (Note: Basically, they are not completely immune to all elements; they are immune to some and not to others).


    ...


    Thus, golems were mechanical living organisms that possessed powerful strength and were created with magic. The most significant difference between them and other golems was their strength, making them seem full of vitality. Golems receive their magical life from an elemental soul, which is usually of the Earth element.


    The process of creating a golem involved taking a soul and binding it to an artificial body. Then it would combine with this specially prepared receptacle and obey the will of its creator.


    ...


    Golems did not have their own minds, and they would not do other things unless their creator specifically gave them the command. They would follow simple and precise commands and could not accept complicated strategies or tactics. The creator could only manage a golem within a radius of 60 meters, and they had to be able to see or hear the golem.


    If no new command was given, the golem would generally strive to carry out the last command given to them. Of course, they would fight if someone attacked them.


    If the creator was not near the golem, they could previously give the golem a simple command to guide its movement, or they could make the golem follow the commands of another person. However, as the creator of the golem, they could always command the golem to not listen to the other person anymore, revoking another person''s control rights at any time.


    ...


    Somehow, once he started reading the book, Leon became instantly captivated by the content, hardly pulling away from it, and thus finished reading it in one sitting.


    Golems were truly remarkable!


    Setting aside the advanced steel golems, even the lowest level clay golem could challenge an Advanced Apprentice Mage. In other words, only a group that had good coordination and was all at an advanced level of a combat profession would have the possibility of defeating a clay golem.


    As guards for Mages, Titans and other golems were much more reliable than human guards, as they were absolutely loyal. On the downside, the cost of a Titan, or any other golem, left Leon speechless.


    Take the lowest level clay golem as an example: a clay golem, without any additional magical equipment, weighed 600 pounds (272.15 kg), stood 8 feet (2.43 m) tall when upright, and was entirely made of soft clay. This type of clay golem would take no damage from sharp weapons, but some heavy weapons could inflict physical damage on them.


    The base cost for this type of clay golem was 21,000 gold coins. As for the stone golem, which was one level higher than the clay golem, its base cost was 55,000 gold coins. And the iron golem, which was an even higher level, was a shocking 80,000 gold coins.


    This was the base cost before considering the effects of supply and demand in the market. If it were during a time of war, these golems, which were extremely suitable for use on the battlefield, would have their prices doubled, and people would still be able to afford them.


    While a small lord could purchase three to five clay golems and deploy them in his own army, he could gain a significant advantage when fighting against other neighboring lords.


    Therefore, if he could become a golem creator, money would no longer be a problem for Leon!


    Unfortunately, not only did it require a great amount of unique materials to create a golem, but it also demanded extraordinary and marvelous craftsmanship experience and the ability to create soul receptacles. If Leon''s innate elemental affinity had been the Darkness element, perhaps he could extract souls from some human creatures.


    Then he could easily create soul receptacles, which could provide basic intelligence to the golem. However, his elemental affinity was the Fire element, which eliminated any possibility of creating a golem anytime soon.


    What Leon could do now was ask the Chip to temporarily store all the content of this "Golem Creation Manual," so that he could conduct more research in the future. After considering all these things, he began to explore the new functions of the Chip.


    After the slow chanting of a magical incantation, Leon, who had stretched out his right arm, suddenly ignited a bright magical flame in his hand, covering his entire palm and part of his arm.


    As he watched the flame calmly burning in his hand, the mechanical voice of the Chip resonated in his mind.


    "Beep!"


    "A complete Spirit energy model has been detected."


    "Does the host wish to solidify it? Warning: solidification will reduce Spirit by 2 and Professional Experience by 50!"


    The same message had appeared once before when he was inspecting the exterior of the Tower. However, since he was in a dangerous place at that time, Leon did not dare to test it and therefore chose to ignore it. But today, he decided to check what this Solidification was all about!


    "Confirm!"


    "Beep!"


    "Solidification task starting now¡­"


    "Expected completion time: 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 13 seconds¡­"


    Leon''s mind trembled as the Chip began the ''solidification task.'' He clearly felt part of his Spirit vanish. After a self-inspection, he discovered that his Professional Experience had dropped from 614/1000 to 564/1000.


    His 614 Professional Experience was the result of the last six years of Leon''s efforts, including constant meditation, countless failures while practicing spellcasting, countless hours under the dim candlelight, copying those difficult-to-understand magic books, and those dangerous yet inevitable magical experiments...


    Frankly speaking, in the past, Leon had indeed been quite useless. He had become an Apprentice Mage six years ago but had accumulated only half the Professional Experience needed to become an Intermediate Apprentice, and he only mastered one spell ¨C Burning Hands.


    As for the second magical spell he was currently learning ¨C Fire Arrow ¨C he had just begun gathering preliminary knowledge for it, and he was still far from successfully casting that spell.


    After analyzing these data, he realized that among all the Apprentices of the Tower, the innate attribute of his body was considered of low grade... No wonder he hadn''t become an Intermediate Apprentice in these six years.


    But that was the Leon of the past!


    Now, with the support of the Chip, he had started a new beginning and would soon be able to overcome all the difficulties before him.


    The task of solidifying the Spirit model for Burning Hands occupied most of Leon''s mental capacity, which made him feel mentally exhausted. In that situation, it was no longer suitable for him to continue with any magical practice or reading that consumed his Spirit. Therefore, Leon simply lay down on the bed and began to meditate.


    After starting his meditation, Leon gradually calmed down. His breathing became longer and more regular, and all his spiritual consciousness was completely indulged in extending from his body.


    The once-silent room became emptier and quieter, as if everything around him suddenly faded away. The sensation of his body became indistinct, and he felt as if he were sinking into a gigantic piece of cotton candy. It felt as if his entire body were being pulled.


    Finally, his spiritual consciousness crossed the boundary of his body and entered a bizarre world.


    This was a world full of lights.


    Mystical particles, of various colors, danced in the air, completely filling every inch of the space he could feel.


    Perhaps the intrusion of his spiritual consciousness alerted these light particles, which seemed to dance irregularly and unconsciously. Suddenly, this strange world shifted and became slightly different.


    Leon''s spiritual consciousness began to swim aimlessly in this world full of bright light particles. Wherever he went, it seemed that each different point had its own independent consciousness, as each acted in different ways.


    Those illuminating particles that glimmered faintly in red showed an obvious welcoming behavior towards Leon, as if they would jump into his soul when they got close enough, giving him strands of warm sensations. On the other hand, those light particles of cooler tones, such as blue, gray, black, and white... clearly moved away from him.


    As for the neutral colors, like purple, green, and yellow, these particles neither retreated from him nor showed any passionate behavior, but when Leon''s spiritual consciousness touched them, they would still slowly merge with him. The entire process was calm and harmonious, and nothing unusual could be found.


    The bright orb representing Leon''s spiritual consciousness wandered slowly in this infinite ocean of lights, passively accepting the fusion of these light particles. Out of curiosity, he tried to control his orb and moved towards some white particles. Apparently, his arrival alarmed the white light particles, as those that were swimming relaxedly and carefree immediately fled the area.


    Finally, Leon could no longer hold back. Under a strong conscious urge, a spiritual tentacle suddenly extended from his transparent soul orb and poked through a slightly larger white particle.


    The white particle exploded, transforming into a flow of Spirit and flowing into Leon''s soul. Compared to the warm sensation he obtained from merging with the red particles, what this white particle brought to Leon was dark and silent.


    The feeling was akin to when someone woke up at midnight and suddenly drank a glass of cold water. It caused his body to shiver. Besides the sensation of shivering, Leon''s spiritual consciousness felt a shock and corrosive pain. It seemed that although it brought some advantages to his Spirit, merging with the white particles also caused him harm.


    ...


    1854 Words

 Chapter 11: Arrow

    Leon suddenly shuddered, emerging from his deep meditative state.Leon sat up in bed, gasping for breath. He could still vividly remember what he experienced in his dream. He could even feel a bit of the burning pain he had received from the white particle.


    Was it an illusion? A dream? Perhaps it was something else?


    Leon began to feel a certain sense of bewilderment and confusion.


    He had meditated countless times before, and each time had been a vague experience. He rarely felt anything, and even then, it was only slightly spiritual. As for the last dream¡­ it was as if he was in control of himself while dreaming!


    "Chip, perform a self-scan." Leon suddenly thought of something and gave an order to the chip.


    "Beep"


    "Starting host body scan¡­"


    "Scanning complete."


    "Saving self-test report¡­"


    Following the Chip''s messages, a new self-scan report projected in his mind.


    "Leon"


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Lawful Neutral


    Condition: Healthy


    HP: 11/11


    Apprentice Mage [Beginner]


    Experience: 566/1000


    "Attributes:"


    Strength: 4


    Agility: 4


    Physical: 3


    Spirit: 8.03


    "Skills:"


    1. Copy Document


    2. Reading Spell


    "Personal Skills:"


    1. Burning Hand


    As expected, some abnormal changes had occurred in his body.


    Otherwise, because the Chip could perform accurate detection down to the cellular level, Leon would never have known that the deep meditation had now increased his Spirit by 0.03 and his Experience by 2 (Note: For those who don''t remember, he had 614 Experience, lost 50 with the solidification, and now gained 2).


    This meant that the dream state he experienced was not an illusion but had actually happened.


    So what were those colorful light particles?


    The moment the question arose in his mind, the answer came to him.


    Elementium!


    Every person who had the talent to become a Mage would have a different elemental affinity. Those colorful light particles he saw during meditation were actually pieces of Elementium flowing through the world around him. As his elemental affinity was fire, those red particles, which were drawn to him like insects to a bright light, were, in fact, Fire Elementium.


    According to the classifications of Elementium made by Mages, his affinity for the red Fire Elementium was the highest. After that, it was the green Plant Elementium and the yellow Earth Elementium. As for the others, he had no affinity for them because they were repelled by the Elementium he was attuned to.


    As for the white point that Leon had captured during his meditation, it should be Dark Elementium. Since it did not match Leon''s affinity, it would be at least ten times, or even a hundred times, more difficult for him to grasp compared to the Elementium for which he had affinity.


    Furthermore, although this Dark Elementium could still slightly increase his spirit, it would also harm his body at the same time.


    In his memory, the few Apprentice Mages he knew who had Dark Elementium as their main elemental affinity did not have very healthy bodies and always seemed as if a gust of wind could knock them over. Perhaps the corrosiveness of Dark Elementium was the cause of their fragility?


    It seems that the innate elemental affinity of an Apprentice could affect the efficiency of their meditation, and this efficiency, in turn, could increase the rate of growth of the Apprentice''s Spirit.


    Leon tried to remember what he experienced while meditating, and what he recalled made him frown. According to his memory, the number of white Dark Elementium particles was clearly much greater than the number of red Fire Elementium particles. This meant that, in this environment, the meditation efficiency for Apprentices who had an affinity for Dark Elementium was much greater than his.


    How was this possible? The distribution of basic Elementium in this world shouldn''t be relatively balanced?


    Could it... could it be that the Tower Mage was doing this intentionally?


    Suddenly, Leon''s face turned a horrific shade of pale.


    He had just remembered that the master of the Tower, Mage Eclivel, had affinities for Dark Elementium and Wind.


    No wonder many of the other Apprentice Mages who joined the Tower at the same time as Leon mastered two or three spells and managed to rank up to Intermediate Apprentice, while he was still struggling on the path of a Beginner Apprentice. It wasn''t just his own innate talent holding him back. It was that damned "harsh" environment.


    Leon thought for a second, then abandoned the idea of meditating again. For a Beginner Apprentice Mage like him, although meditation could increase his Spirit, it could not replace sleep. Therefore, to restore his Spirit quickly and efficiently, calming his mind and sleeping was the best course of action.


    Looking at his own Spirit, which had been reduced by half (Note: consumption rate, not actual reduction), Leon shook his head and smiled bitterly. Then he threw himself back onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.


    ...


    The next day, Leon, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly awakened by an alarm from the Chip.


    To his surprise, the spiritual model of Burning Hand had been solidified by the chip.


    Over the next few seconds, all the data related to this spiritual model flowed into Leon''s mind.


    Burning Hand was a low-grade fire spell capable of engaging enemies offensively and defensively, but it was not considered a powerful spell. However, the spiritual model showed that it was formed by many magical words; 28, in fact. Each of these 28 magical words was nearly impossible to pronounce and had its own unique independent use.


    Although it might seem that each of them was unrelated, when gathered in a specific formation, they would become a complete magical model, capable of unleashing magical forces into the physical world.


    If this task were given to an ordinary man, asking him to memorize 28 independent yet closely connected magical syllables to recite without forgetting any¡­ Most mortals would not be able to achieve this, as merely saying a single magical word required great control and energy.


    When he arrived in this world, he did not believe he could do this. But in this bizarre world, where Elemental Energy was everywhere, he actually managed it with considerable ease.


    Of course, this had something to do with his 8 points of Spiritual Energy.


    In the past, reciting the Burning Hand spell, which consisted of 28 magical syllables, took Leon about 5 to 7 seconds. But now that it had been solidified, Leon no longer needed to waste time reciting the spell. All he needed to do was inject his Elemental Energy into the Burning Hand model in his mind.


    This meant it only took him 2 to 3 seconds to unleash a complete version of Burning Hand. Moreover, in the future, as he improved his mastery of fire elementals, the casting time would be even shorter.


    But that wasn''t the only good news.


    Since this was a spiritual model that had been pre-solidified in his mind, it no longer required as much Spiritual Energy to construct it. The result of this was that the Burning Hand spell, which used to drain his Spirit by 2 when cast, now only drained it by 1.


    Didn''t this mean that the number of times he could cast spells in the future doubled?


    This discovery brought a big smile to his face as his mind fantastically conjured many possible uses for this particular ability.


    But then the Chip resonated in his mind once more.


    "Beep!"


    "Space for improving this spell model has been discovered."


    "Please confirm if the host wishes to optimize?"


    "Attention, this optimization will cost 1 Spirit per day and 100 Experience points."


    "The estimated time for the task is 34 hours and 25 minutes."


    Let me know if you need any further assistance!


    Huh? Optimize the Burning Hand?


    It sounded like something really good. But why did it consume so much experience? If any operation related to Spiritual models cost him so many Experience points, perhaps all the Experience points he had accumulated over the past six years would be exhausted in the coming days.


    Leon calmed himself and took a moment to reflect on this optimization. After some time, he decided to decline.


    First, the Burning Hand was just a closed combat spell. It didn''t hold much value in terms of combat potential in Leon''s mind. Sooner or later, it would be replaced by other offensive or defensive long-range spells that were more valuable, making it not worth investing in at this point.


    Secondly, considering his current Spirit energy, he couldn''t have more than 3 solidified models in his spiritual domain. Under this situation, where only limited slots were available, giving the Burning Hand a slot in his spiritual domain clearly did not align with his optimized path.


    In fact, Leon himself would prefer to prioritize solidifying a long-range attack spell, and he had a specific spell in mind for that purpose.


    It was a fire spell he had studied and researched for nearly half a year¡ªFire Arrow.


    Fire Arrow, a low-grade elemental fire spell. The spell allowed him to form a magical arrow of Fire and shoot it at his target, dealing 7 points of physical damage and 18 points of fire and explosive damage.


    With Leon''s gratifying 3 Physical Points and 11 Health Points, a Fire Arrow was more than enough to kill him instantly. Therefore, throughout this time, Leon had been dreaming of learning this long-range attack spell.


    But the downside was that, although Fire Arrow was a low-quality spell, it consisted of 34 magical words. This was the reason why, despite having studied tirelessly for half a year, he still hadn''t mastered the method to construct its spiritual model.


    Leon had invested over 20 knowledge points and a significant amount of time to learn this spell. He even postponed his research on magical knowledge. However, he was still far from the threshold of success and far from becoming an elite among Beginner Apprentice Mages, mastering more than two spells.


    But now, with the help of the Chip, presumably this "threshold" was much closer!


    Ignoring the fact that it was time to make breakfast, Leon quickly washed his face, sat down at his writing desk, and eagerly opened his magical notebook. Everything related to the magical model of the Fire Arrow, its magical words, the frequency of Spiritual Energy, and the material for constructing the spell; Leon copied all of it into this notebook.


    Real magic was not as simple as ordinary people thought.


    34 syllables of magic could not be recited at once as if they were written down. A spell could not be cast exactly like that. The entire process was extremely complicated and required the perfect combination of hand, mouth, heart, and mind. It was the result of them working together. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When reciting each syllable, Leon needed to adjust his Spirit to a corresponding vibrational frequency, and both hands had to perform a specific gesture.


    Any mistake or delay in the casting process would result in¡­ a backfire of the spell.


    Although this type of casting explosion wouldn''t kill an Apprentice, it would damage their Spirit and take a long time to recover. Moreover, if someone''s Spirit was frequently damaged, there was a possibility they could suffer permanent reduction in their Spirit!


    ...


    1880 Words

 Chapter 12: Hologram

    Three days later.....


    With disheveled hair, a dirty face, and two red eyes, Leon let out a long sigh and closed the book that was on the table in front of him.


    A moment ago, the alert tone of the Chip, which he had waited for a long time, finally resonated in his brain.


    "Beep!"


    "Data Model of Fire Arrow successfully constructed!"


    Finally!


    Looking back, the Blazing Hand was a spell that Leon had completely mastered. As long as he could cast it once, the Chip could visualize its model in Leon''s Spiritual Dimension by accurately monitoring how he controlled his Spiritual Energy and the Spiritual Frequency he used.


    It had been so simple and easy.


    But Leon had not mastered the Fire Arrow spell... he still hadn''t been able to cast it even once. Thus, the Chip''s ability to record, store, and mimic his spells could not be utilized.


    So Leon had to find another method, and thus he memorized all the magical theories and casting techniques related to the Fire Arrow. Then he let the Chip proceed with arranging and sorting them, analyzing them to find the best casting technique that suited him more precisely. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Data Model that the Chip constructed with this method would not replicate a real Spiritual Model, which made it a unique experimental spell rather than an upgrade of an existing spell.


    Leon massaged his forehead and took a deep breath. After that, he said, "Let''s start the simulation!"


    "Beep."


    With a clear alert tone, an almost perfect virtual image of Leon was projected in his mind. Following the specifications of the Data Model, he began to recite the incantation of Fire Arrow in a loud, albeit blunt, voice.


    Through his connection with the Chip, Leon''s mind merged with the virtual image, following the recitation of the spell and adjusting the frequency of his Spirit to match the Data Model. At the same time, both hands of the virtual image made small gestures in the air, guiding the elemental energy attracted and shaping it into the form of an arrow.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire...."


    Unfortunately, due to his lack of familiarity with casting, when he recited the 14th magical word, his hand gesture was clearly half a second too slow. Within Leon''s Spiritual World, the half-formed Fire Arrow exploded, and a furious fireball instantly engulfed the virtual image.


    "Boom!"


    If it had been in the real world, perhaps nearly half of Leon''s room would have been destroyed, but in this virtual world, simulated with Spirit energy, after the violent vibrations of light and shadows, the simulated explosion perfectly vanished, and the entire scene was restored to its initial state.


    Although he knew beforehand that everything was just a simulation, Leon still couldn''t help but break into a nonexistent cold sweat in his spiritual world.


    Witnessing a massive fireball explode before his eyes and seeing his virtual body being torn apart, even Leon, who was not weak-hearted, felt his heart stop for a second.


    To truly allow himself to experience the complete process of casting the spell, Leon put all his consciousness into the virtual image. Therefore, you could say what happened now, although not real, could be described as an unreal reality.


    Leon did not rush back to practice but closed his eyes, meticulously studying his first attempt in his mind. After confirming the reason for the mistake, he opened his eyes and began his second simulated casting attempt.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."


    Unfortunately, it was a failure again! This time, he failed to combine his Spirit frequency with the 17th syllable. The semi-constructed spiritual model exploded once more. As a result, the enraged flames of the element again engulfed Leon''s virtual body.


    "Boom~~"


    The digitized vibration of lights and shadows slowly disappeared.


    Soon, his Spiritual World was restored to its initial state.


    Leon let out a helpless and bitter laugh, then took a moment to calm himself. Soon, the sonorous and vigorous simulated voice of Leon once again resonated throughout the empty spiritual world.


    Many explosions had occurred¡­


    Each time, his mistake was almost the same. Either his hand gestures couldn''t keep up with the syllables of the spell, or the Spirit frequency was incorrect. To simplify, no matter which part caused the issue, there was only one result: a massive explosion.


    If this had happened in the real world, Leon''s frail body would have been reduced to dust after the first explosion. But since it wasn''t, he was sitting safely beside his writing desk, staring blankly into space.


    After practicing so many times, his Spirit was finally exhausted.


    Whenever his Spirit was completely drained, he would struggle to return to his bed and would fall asleep. Once he slept and restored his Spirit, he would go to the cafeteria, order a massive meal, then return to his room and start the next round of Spell Simulation practice.


    With this incredible persistence and fortitude, finally, during a moment when everything worked perfectly, Leon successfully completed a simulated casting of the Fire Arrow.


    When the blazing elemental flame formed into a magical arrow and was floating steadily between Leon''s hands, he could barely hold back his tears. As he let himself get excited, a massive explosion once again engulfed his body.


    But this time, he didn''t feel discouraged. Instead, he let out a loud and satisfied laugh as his Spiritual World was destroyed around him.


    ...


    Leon sat directly in front of the desk, opening his eyes for the first time in several hours. A look of joy could be seen in the corners of his eyes.


    "Chip, do you have a recording of my last simulated casting attempt?"


    The video had been recorded and saved. You can play it back at any time¡­


    Leon tried his best to calm down and nodded, but the way he tightly clenched his fists revealed how excited he was.


    This new feature found in the Chip was truly a great help for him.


    Without the virtual spiritual world built by the Chip, Leon could only practice this spell in the Spell Practice Hall repeatedly. He would have to personally endure the backlash on his Spirit and body caused by his casting failures. Each backlash would require a recovery period before he could fully recuperate.


    Undoubtedly, this would severely delay the progress of learning any spell or advancing in his Spirit.


    This was why most Apprentices in the Tower had only mastered one or two spells.


    Of course, there was a possibility that some Apprentices were hiding what they knew, never revealing their true abilities. After all, the research and progress field of all Apprentices was secret, and attempting to learn about others'' particulars was a significant taboo within the Tower.


    There probably weren''t that many Apprentices who hid what they knew; with the number of unfortunate individuals who were training hard, even among Beginner Mage Apprentices, that number was indeed quite high, and therefore there was little need to hide one''s abilities. In the past, Leon had been one of them.


    But with the activation of the Chip, Leon felt it was time for him to rise into the sky.


    "Chip, show the recording of the successful casting!"


    "Beep!"


    With the appearance of data streams, a ''Leon'' who was focused on spell casting was projected in his mind. Leon put all his focus into this virtual image, repeatedly observing the entire spell casting process. He watched every detail, not missing the slightest change in his Spiritual energy.


    Although it was just a spiritual simulation, Leon''s mind followed the normal casting process and completed it. Therefore, excluding the lack of real elemental energy, nothing was different compared to casting the spell in the real world.


    It went without saying that this recording of a successful spell casting would greatly contribute to helping Leon master the magical spell. At the very least, it helped Leon save at least half a year of restless efforts and avoided the painful cycle of getting hurt, resting and healing, and getting hurt again.


    Since he had a single success out of a hundred attempts, this meant that Leon''s knowledge and skill were sufficient to meet the minimum requirement for casting the Fire Arrow spell. Thus, the only obstacle preventing him from mastering the Fire Arrow was his familiarity with casting the spell.


    And that was the power of the Chip!


    After repeatedly reviewing the successful simulated casting and ensuring he had mastered all the key elements of the spell, Leon left his room and headed straight to the Magical Spell Practice Room.


    This was also one of the inconveniences that an Apprentice Mage had to face.


    His mastery of magical spells was very low, which made practicing an unfamiliar magical spell in his own room very harsh. Thus, the only option for them was to rent the Magical Spell Practice Room in the Tower, allowing them to experiment with a new spell.


    That''s why there was a saying: the mastery of a new magical spell has always been supported by an enormous amount of knowledge¡­ and an incredible amount of money.


    ...


    The Magical Spell Practice Room was located on the third floor of the Tower and was set up to handle all the mishaps that a spell backlash could cause.


    Although it was part of the Tower, Apprentice Mages could only step on the first to third floors. The first floor was mainly for New Apprentices who had recently joined the Tower. The second floor was the residential space and recreational areas for Official Apprentice Mages. The third floor was a public area where they could experiment with magical spells and practice.


    The areas where official apprentices were allowed to go included: the Library, the Potion Manufacturing Room, the Summoning Room, the Alchemy Laboratory, the Magical Spell Practice Room, the Sealing Room, the Curse Altar, the Magical Plant Cultivation Room¡­ But, as the solitary wolf he was, the only places Leon usually visited were the Library and the Magical Spell Practice Room.


    As for all the other places, he didn''t have deep pockets to waste money visiting them.


    It was dinner time when he arrived, so there weren''t many apprentices in this place.


    After Leon impatiently paid 10 gold coins to Pedro, who was the administrator of the Magical Spell Practice Room, he received a special card. With this card, he had one hour to practice in a room.


    For an Apprentice Mage, one hour of practice was considered very long. With their pitiful amount of Spiritual Energy, they could not last more than half an hour of continuous casting. If Leon didn''t manage his spiritual energy production, he could exhaust it all within fifteen minutes.


    Leon walked to a stone door that had a number above it matching the number on his card. He raised the card and waved it gently in the air. The heavy stone door immediately opened without making a sound as it did.


    The so-called "Magical Spell Practice Room" was, in fact, a simple stone room that had about 40 square meters of space, but there was a gigantic human target made of stone placed at the other end of the room. The dark and gloomy material showed that it was made from dark augite stone, which was capable of repelling magic.


    With the ability of an Apprentice Mage, the low-quality magical spells they managed to experiment with were definitely not enough to destroy such a robust and strong stone target. Therefore, it was the most suitable target for magical practice.


    Of course, for those apprentices who needed to practice their Curses or some other unique types of magic, they had no choice but to spend money to buy some suitable demons as their practice target, or else they would have to sneak out of the Tower, where they could practice those bizarre spells in secret.


    ...


    1996 Words

 Chapter 13: Bleias Return

    After the stone door closed, the practice room became soundproof, and Leon wouldn''t have to worry about anyone spying on what he was doing outside.Leon took two steps forward, positioning himself in the center of a strange spell formation that was about 2 meters in diameter. He couldn''t recognize any of the spells drawn on it. Clearly, they were well beyond the knowledge of any Beginner Apprentice Mage.


    But today he didn''t have the time or energy to bother with all those minor details. He turned around and stood up straight, silently recalling the entire process of casting the Fire Arrow spell. Once he was sure of the casting process, he began to speak in a solemn voice: "Chip. Pay close attention to the entire process. Correct me immediately if you think I made the slightest mistake!"


    "Beep!"


    New task set, initiating real-time monitoring¡­


    As a blue light began to flicker in Leon''s eyes, a digitized scene was projected onto his retinas.


    The digitized practice room looked exactly like the physical one, but countless small blue node points appeared in Leon''s retinas, dividing the entire room into numerous small regions. Moreover, the body movements Leon needed to execute were broken down into countless virtual images, each arranged to indicate an order he should follow.


    This was exactly what he needed to do: follow the movements of these virtual images.


    Finally, Leon, who was standing still and staring blankly into space, began to practice.


    He started reciting the magic words while simultaneously making drawing movements in front of his chest at an incredibly fast speed. These movements felt strange to him, but at the same time, they possessed a certain fluid grace.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."


    As Leon progressed through the spell, his body began to flicker in red as a large amount of Fire Elementium was summoned by his spell, slowly compressing and forming the shape of an arrow between his moving hands.


    "Buzz~~"


    Perhaps the process was too smooth, but just as he recited the 32nd magical syllable, Leon''s heart surged with excitement, causing one of the nodes in the spiritual model to collapse, and the rest of the spiritual model immediately followed suit. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The furious Fire Elementium, which had been summoned and repeatedly compressed, became misaligned, and an explosion of Fire Elementium, trembling on the ground, began to erupt in front of Leon.


    "Zoshhhh~~"


    But at the moment everything started to go awry, Leon, who was prepared for the unexpected, slammed the card placed in front of his chest. The card vibrated, and a Magic Barrier arose from the formation beneath his feet, enveloping his body and the explosion of the Fire Arrow.


    Strangely, once the furious fire was covered by the magic barrier, its power was reduced by half. Thus, a potentially volatile explosion of Elementium was suppressed and transformed into a small fireworks display.


    After an annoyed noise that sounded like fireworks, Leon was enveloped in thick, dark smoke, and a small flame could briefly be seen through the smoke.


    A moment later, Leon emerged from the smoke while coughing continuously.


    "Damn¡­ I thought I was going to succeed¡­"


    His face was smeared with thick smoke, and his clothes were filled with burn marks, making him look like a homeless man who had been dragged through a fire.


    Although he had been caught in the center of the explosion, the power of the furious Fire Elementium was suppressed by the Magic Formation. Therefore, only his hands and forehead were licked by the flames. He truly suffered no injuries, except for minor burns.


    His first attempt at real selection had failed!


    And the cause of this was Leon''s weak control over his own emotions. As he felt he was going to succeed, he allowed his excitement to dominate him, and this emotional outburst disturbed the spell-casting process.


    After letting the dark smoke clear from the room, he tidied himself up and applied a medicinal paste to his wounds. Only then did he step back into the spell formation.


    Grinding his teeth tightly, Leon began his second attempt at conjuration.


    Perhaps he was being rewarded for all his perseverance over the past few weeks, or maybe fate had decided it was time for him to master the spell, but the second casting of the spell was smooth and swift. After what felt like an endless 13 seconds, Leon finally completed a successful casting of the Fire Arrow spell.


    When the furious Fire Elementium concentrated and transformed into a complete Fire Arrow in the palm of his hand, the sweet mechanical voice of the Chip resonated in his brain once again.


    "Beep!"


    "A complete spiritual model has been detected. Please confirm if the host wishes to solidify it?"


    "The solidification process will consume 3 Spirit points and 50 Experience points!"


    "Solidify!" Leon couldn''t hold back and shouted loudly.


    Please name this spiritual model.


    "Fire Arrow!"


    "Model successfully named!"


    "The solidification task is starting¡­"


    "The expected completion time is 14 hours, 37 minutes, and 21 seconds¡­"


    After settling everything with the chip, Leon still needed to deal with the "hot potato" in his hands.


    For many explosive spells, manipulation was only safe within 2-3 seconds after casting the spell. If that time was exceeded, or the conjurer moved their body, the cast spell would begin to collapse.


    If he cast a spell and let it explode within his palm, he could hardly imagine what would happen to his body.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands....


    Therefore, once Leon finished speaking with the Chip, he immediately pushed both hands forward, urging the Fire Arrow to fly ahead and hit directly into the stone target located across the room.


    "Buzz~~"


    The Fire Arrow erupted upon hitting the chest of the stone target. This time, without the suppression field of the Magic Formation under his feet, the furious Fire Elementium could finally reveal its brutal and violent nature.


    "BOOOMM~~"


    A loud explosion noise was heard.


    A fireball the size of a melon suddenly appeared, quickly spreading into a violent shockwave. The furious explosion instantly heated everything within a 5-meter radius of the stone target to quite intense temperatures.


    After the smoke dissipated, Leon could see that the chest of the stone target had been charred, and there was even a hole the size of a fingernail where the center of the explosion had occurred.


    Unexpectedly, a wall on one side of the room began to tremble like a water surface as small ripples passed through it. After a moment, some words began to appear.


    "Spell Evaluation."


    "Damage Caused."


    Physical Damage: 5 points


    Fire Damage: 16 points


    "Characteristic."


    Attack Radius: 150 meters


    Area of Effect: 5 meters


    Obviously, this specially designed Magical Spell Practice Room was very effective in its work. Although, with the help of the Chip, Leon didn''t need the limited data detected by the Magical Formation, all the other Apprentice Mages couldn''t live without it.


    Only through the evaluation and calculation of the Magical Formation could they have a more direct sense of control when dealing with the spells they were learning. Otherwise, they would have to experience it directly on a battlefield, where they had to put their lives at stake.


    In just 15 minutes, Leon achieved his goal for this trip. He happily turned and opened the door to the spell practice room. When the stone door opened, a beautiful figure was waiting outside.


    Slender limbs; perfect curves; smooth, silky skin; a delicate face¡­ But what excited Leon the most was the fiery chiffon red dress and her equally red, luscious lips.


    The only difference from the last time he saw her was that her ruby-red eyes had disappeared, replaced by a pair of turquoise-blue eyes, making Leon feel as if he were looking into a shimmering blue ocean.


    It was Bleia, wearing her vibrant red dress!


    "Ah, so it seems you really are here!" Her subtly red lips moved gently, delivering words in a voice that made Leon''s heart race. "All right, since I''ve found you, you are no longer useful to me."


    The second sentence, spoken in a tone that seemed much colder than the first, was not directed at Leon.


    Only now did Leon realize that this "neighbor" of his, who was neither tall nor short, was dragging an adult man with her right hand. It was Pedro, the administrator of the Magical Spell Practice Room.


    Bleia, dressed in red, waved her small hand, and Pedro was easily thrown over ten meters away.


    "Whoosh~~"


    "BANG~~"


    He collided with the ground, groaning and unable to get up.


    Leon felt his expression change.


    Although Pedro was not considered a robust man, his weight was at least equal to that of an average adult man. However, Bleia had just thrown him a considerable distance with just her bare hand, and she had done it effortlessly. Deducing from what he saw before him, Leon guessed she had at least 10 in strength.


    Judging by the speed of her movements, her agility was also not low. Along with the terrifying regenerative ability of a Vampire, perhaps even the three strongest Apprentice Mages couldn''t gain an advantage over her in a fight.


    Hadn''t she been taken by the tower master? How was she here, safe and sound? She¡­


    "Follow me!"


    While Leon was still pondering all of this in his mind, Bleia stretched out her delicate, silky right hand and grabbed his collar. Then she turned and walked away, pulling him along by the neck. Leon did his best to try to avoid her hand, but he couldn''t.


    Although he was only 15 years old, he was indeed a bit taller than Bleia. To avoid being dragged along the ground, he was forced to stumble after her, having no idea what was happening.


    However, as he was pulled by Bleia, he looked at the sexy and hot body of the vampire in front of him and thought. "If my sentimental manipulation worked over the months he was going through his metamorphosis, and I was the only one she talked to, certainly within a few months, my dick will be embraced by Bleia''s vampire pussy."


    ...


    In the public cafeteria.


    It was dinnertime, so most of the Apprentice Mages were gathered in the cafeteria, sitting in small groups, enjoying their meals and chatting with one another.


    From the places they sat and the way they spoke, it was possible to determine the strength of these small groups and each Apprentice Mage''s position within them.


    After all, those who were lone wolves, like Leon, were truly few in number. Most Apprentice Mages preferred to group together and form small teams, allowing them to work collaboratively and fend off those with bad intentions.


    However, just as the atmosphere in the place was warming up, a sudden loud noise was heard as the recently repaired wooden door was smashed open by someone.


    All the Apprentice Mages stared in disbelief at the two people who entered one after the other, their eyes wide open.


    Bleia?!


    Although most people here had not seen how Bleia had dealt with her "mutation" by her own means, everyone knew what had happened that day. Thus, in their minds, even if Bleia had not been sliced open by the Master Mage during his research, she would have been locked away on one of the upper floors of this Tower, forced to live as a captive forever.


    In contrast to everyone''s expectations, she had actually shown up in this place, with great audacity!


    Brandon, who was seated in the center of the cafeteria, immediately felt his expression turn serious as his eyes filled with fear.


    He had personally witnessed how brutal and terrifying Bleia was. Even if she had returned to her seemingly harmless demeanor, the horrific memory left in his mind could never be erased.


    Bleia stormed in like a whirlwind, quickly making her way to the center of the cafeteria with her arms crossed. She suddenly looked around the room, surveying slowly, before her gaze finally settled on Brandon, the newly appointed Leader Apprentice.


    "I, Bleia, am back!"


    ...


    2036 Words

 Chapter 14: Digital arena

    After proudly announcing her return from the middle of the cafeteria, Bleia moved her hand forward, pulling Leon along and positioning him in front of her."From today on, know that he is my subordinate. Anyone who causes trouble for him will have me as their enemy!"


    Once she finished speaking, she released Leon and swiped her right hand through the air. Her claws moved so quickly that they seemed to leave afterimages in the air. As the faint trails of light disappeared, five sharp sounds could be heard by the crowd.


    "What?!"


    "What insane agility, and what terrifically formidable strength."


    "With that kind of speed and attacking power, who would have time to recite a spell if they were attacked by her?"


    After estimating the attack power of Bleia''s casual strike, everyone who witnessed this scene was filled with fear, covering their faces.


    Leon couldn''t help but smile wryly at the current situation. For the first time in his life, he felt a headache caused by "good luck."


    As much as he could, he was a man striving to live a low-profile life, but in the end, he was helplessly dragged into what could only result in a fight among the strongest Apprentice Mages. Although Bleia did this with good intentions, could a simple threat of violence really deter Apprentice Mages who feared nothing?


    In this Tower of Mages, where men''s hearts were incomprehensible and everyone was scheming against one another, there were almost infinite methods to kill someone without being noticed.


    In the library, a wide variety of knowledge about evil spells and poisonous potions was available. As long as someone was willing to put in the effort, it wasn''t exactly difficult to make an Apprentice Mage meet an "unfortunate death" without anyone knowing.


    Within this mysterious and terrifying Tower of Mages, Leon would never dare let the slightest drop of blood or even the tiniest hair fall into another person''s hands. After all, there were countless bizarre spells that could be used against a person. The slightest mistake could end with him becoming a puppet controlled by someone else.


    This was also why most Apprentice Mages lived in seclusion in their own rooms, rarely having intimate physical contact with anyone else.


    Feeling the hostile glares shooting at him from all directions, Leon felt mute once again, and a bitter smile spread across his face.


    It seemed he had found a great way to make many enemies at once.


    In the past, he was merely a harmless low-level apprentice in the minds of others. Even if he had some minor arguments, no one would try to find a way to kill him. But today, he had nearly offended all the Apprentice Mages in the tower without saying a single word.


    Without needing to think twice, he knew that from today onward, he had become a different kind of bird among all the Beginner Apprentice Mages. If anyone attempted to reach out to him, they were either investigating Bleia''s information or planning his death.


    Although Leon was grumbling in his mind, at that moment, he had no choice but to put on an impassive face and face these new difficulties.


    After saying what she intended, Bleia, who had established her authority, grabbed Leon and hurried out of the cafeteria. A moment later, the proud and elegant Bleia reappeared in front of Pedro, who was still reeling from the shock of being thrown into a room.


    "Give me the Arena card!"


    Bleia revealed herself to be surprisingly domineering and tyrannical. When she slammed her small palm on the table, everything around her was knocked over. "Pow~~" A slimy, ugly toad squeezed out from the pile of books while continuously grumbling, quickly hopping onto Pedro''s shoulder and glaring angrily at Bleia, the one responsible for its discomfort.


    It was a small frog, but it had an enormous head, which was quite strange. It was slimy and covered in bumps and bubbles, all filled with green sludge. It had a huge mouth, and its eyes were situated on two prominent tentacles, giving it a truly bizarre appearance.


    Afraid, Pedro gently patted the strange head of the frog, tilting his head and speaking softly. Reluctantly, the frog opened its mouth and spat out a special card that shone with a golden sheen.


    Bleia coldly huffed, snatched the golden card from the table, turned around, and dragged Leon away.


    Before leaving, Leon couldn''t help but examine the strange frog.


    An associated beast!


    Perhaps this frog was Pedro''s associated beast?


    Apprentice Mages like them, who were still struggling on the lower floors of the Tower, were always trying to strengthen themselves. Without a doubt, increasing Spirit was the most difficult path. Without a Magical Medicine to boost Spirit, a first-level meditation method, and without a formal Mage to answer all their questions, they could only rely on themselves to progress.


    Therefore, any method that could possibly help a person improve their own power was worth pursuing, and Associated Beasts were undeniably a good supplementary method for increasing strength.


    Associated Beasts were also known as Parasite Beasts. They were a unique type of demon whose race had been altered by magic. Through a special magical ceremony, an Apprentice Mage could establish a bond between their soul and one of these beasts.


    Of course, a method like this came with its own pros and cons. On the positive side, an Apprentice Mage could borrow the innate abilities of the demon, granting them some special skills that others did not possess. On the downside, during the bonding process, the Apprentice had to cut off part of their soul and transfer it to the Associated Beast.


    Consequently, if the Associated Beast were seriously injured or died, the Apprentice would suffer the same fate.


    If the Beast were gravely wounded, it could lead to a permanent depletion of Spirit for the Apprentice, as their soul would be harmed; there were known cases where the Mage''s soul had shattered, causing them to become a complete fool.


    It was a general rule that an ordinary Apprentice Mage could only establish a bond with one Beast. But, as with anything, there were always exceptions. The worm controller, one of the three strongest Apprentices, took the path of bonding with an Associated Beast. However, he truly broke the supposed limit, and somehow, he had many strange insects within his body.


    As for how he did this, no one knew. Any Apprentice Mage who was taking the path of bonding with an Associated Beast would kill for that knowledge, but none of them had the courage to spy on his secret. Because, in the end, anyone who attempted to spy on him would end up dead in an "accident."


    Pedro, who only had the ability of an Intermediate Apprentice, chose a Poison Dart Frog, which could, unsurprisingly, shoot poisonous darts, as his Associated Beast. Besides firing poison, it also had a good regeneration ability. Perhaps this was the main reason why Pedro chose it.


    ...


    When the main door of the stone room closed, Bleia and Leon were left alone in a large room.


    This Arena was much larger than the stone room that Leon had previously rented, occupying a total of 200 square meters. Thus, this was not a place for Apprentice Mages to practice their magical spells, but a miniature fighting arena.


    If Apprentice Mages needed to settle disputes, they would usually use this Arena as a last resort. Although this place came with a rule prohibiting them from killing each other, if an "accident" were to actually occur, the killer would not have to pay with their own life. All they would have to do was pay a large fee as compensation.


    Because of this, many Apprentice Mages had a great fear of this Arena, and it earned the nickname ''Death Arena''!


    Bleia''s slender figure stood in front of Leon. She wore a strange smile on her delicate face, which Leon thought was both seductive and cruel.


    "I don''t need a useless subordinate. Show me what you''re capable of!"


    After announcing this, and without giving him time to prepare, her delicate-looking body swayed, leaving behind a trail of afterimages. Her real body was mixed in with those afterimages, rushing toward Leon at an incredible speed.


    Did she really mean that? This Bleia was truly a girl of action!


    Although Bleia had been a rather frosty beauty in the past, she had still maintained the careful and low-profile character of a standard Apprentice Mage. How had she become so arrogant and aggressive after being dethroned by the Eclivel Mage?


    Unfortunately, Leon didn''t have time to ponder this any further because Bleia''s attack was quickly closing in.


    "Alert!"


    "Initiating combat mode!"


    "The digital Arena has been activated!"


    A series of rapid warning tones resonated in his brain, almost causing him to lose focus.


    When expanded in all directions, the range of the bioChip grew like a vast digital domain.


    ''Digital Arena? What?'' Leon thought to himself, but with no time to reflect, he was flooded by notifications.


    "Attention!"


    "Attention!"


    "Target approaching at high speed¡­"


    "Initial assessment shows that the target has agility greater than 13."


    "Host, move two steps to the left."


    "After dodging, counterattack with the Burning Hands spell¡­"


    Since the solidification of the Fire Arrow was still in progress, Leon could only use one spell, Burning Hands.


    The speed of the attack was extremely fast, and Leon couldn''t even see where the real Bleia was. What he could do was put all his hope in the guidance given by the Chip, move his feet, and sidestep, quickly preparing a Burning Hands spell.


    However, as they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy.


    Leon awkwardly fell to the ground while only halfway through dodging. His shirt was completely torn at the chest, revealing three cuts. He cast Burning Hands, but his attack hit nothing.


    Leon pressed his hand against his wounds, disturbed by what had just happened. He lifted his head and shot Bleia an irritated look. Meanwhile, Bleia stood off to the side, flicking her long, flexible tongue and licking the blood from her claws.


    "So it seems you have worthy reflexes¡­ But your body is too weak. If this speed is all you''ve got, you might just suffer today!" Perhaps it was because she had tasted blood, but her completely blue eyes began to take on a shade of red, making her appear much more dangerous. "If you don''t want to die, you better move faster¡­"


    Bleia quickly crouched down after finishing her words, making her look like a leopard preparing to pounce. The next second, she was shooting in his direction.


    Damn, if that hit him, he would really die.


    As her eyes began to turn red and her fangs started to show on her lips, the warning tones vanished like crazy in his brain. Unable to tend to the wounds on his chest, Leon let out a roar.


    He struck both palms together with force, opened his mouth, and began to chant.


    "Burning Hands, come forth!"


    "Burning Hands, I summon thee!"


    "Burning¡­"


    Three seconds later, two large fireballs erupted in both of his hands, causing Bleia to retreat.


    "This is what I''m talking about! Hehe¡­ you''d better watch out!~"


    Bleia''s voice was filled with excitement. She even let out a little laugh. The next second, she leaped forward, transforming into a blue streak.


    Even within the confines of the digital arena, Leon was only able to see Bleia''s afterimages. He couldn''t find her actual position. Therefore, to prevent her from getting too close, Leon kept moving his body and adjusting his stance to keep most of her afterimages in front of him. Meanwhile, he was frantically waving his hands, trying to use the burning flames to block all possible attack routes. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Zoshhh~~"


    "Zoshhh~~"


    "Buzz~~"


    Both fireballs made noises as Leon waved them around, sending sparks flying around his body. Unfortunately, it seemed that his defense attempt was futile. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn''t figure out where she was. Instead, he would occasionally feel a sudden, sharp pain emanating from a new spot on his body, and all of this only fueled his growing anger.


    ....


    2041 Words

 Chapter 15: Promises of revenge

    As the fight progressed, Leon increasingly realized what his weaknesses were.His below-average physique was one of his greatest weaknesses. Even with the help of the Chip, he discovered that he wasn''t as strong as he had initially thought.


    His Agility of 4 defined the speed of his reflexes, movement, and flexibility of his body. Although the dynamic vision provided by the Chip allowed him to roughly guess where Bleia was moving, his excessively "clumsy" and "slow" body was struggling to keep up with the Chip''s guidance.


    Therefore, most of the time, even knowing beforehand where the attack was coming from, Leon couldn''t defend himself quickly enough. Often, when the sharp claws passed by his body, his flames were mere inches away, yet he still couldn''t touch the tips of Bleia''s dress.


    Thus, inside the massive Arena, Leon was tirelessly conjuring two enormous fireballs and doing everything he could to land the slightest blow on his enemy. However, it seemed he was incapable of doing anything except receiving wounds and groaning as the pain from all his injuries mounted.


    As for Bleia, she was like a red ghost flitting from one place to another, appearing to blink in and out of reality as she dashed around Leon. Often, the terrible flames almost brushed against her body but were unable to cause any damage, as she moved with great speed and agility.


    Fortunately, Bleia was merely playfully assessing Leon''s fighting skill, so all her attacks were causing only minor injuries to his flesh. If she had been serious, Leon would have been cut to pieces long ago. But even so, having his body scratched by Bleia''s sharp claws left Leon with numerous scratch marks and blood all over.


    Although the wounds on his body wouldn''t kill him, they brought Leon much anger and humiliation.


    A month ago, this Bleia was just a novice Apprentice and wasn''t stronger than he was. Because of this damned mutation caused by magical contamination, she was now able to twist Leon around her little finger as if he were nothing.


    This explosive anger was continuously suppressed by Leon, as he knew he was incapable of defeating Bleia, but he was still doing everything he could to pursue her red shadow with his furious flames.


    Internally, Leon''s mind was still calm as a glacier, and he was communicating with the Chip without showing any external signs. Since he couldn''t catch Bleia with his dynamic vision, he needed to find an alternative solution.


    Leon''s spirit was rapidly exhausting as he tirelessly waved both hands in the air. The terrible fireballs in his hands were growing larger and more violent. Under his eyes, a strange blue dot flickered faintly, marking an interception point that the Chip had vaguely calculated.


    When Leon sensed that Bleia was attacking head-on, he slightly separated his hands, blocking potential attacks from the left and right, leaving a weak point of half a meter in front of his body.


    Seeing this, Bleia, who had planned to attack from the left, simply let out a cold huff, stopped, and stood still, gently swaying to the side to avoid the blazing red fireball. Not only that, but she actually fell forward and attacked the small opening in front of Leon''s chest.


    "Hmph! What a careless boy, should I leave a mark on your face or your chest?~"


    Bleia, who still had plenty of time while lazily fighting with Leon, pondered why her instincts hesitated at that exact moment.


    Suddenly, her expression changed drastically, and she immediately retreated with a speed even greater than her attack. Even so, her retreating body still couldn''t completely escape the two fireballs that suddenly altered their courses.


    "Buzz~~"


    Two terrifying fireballs came from the left and right, colliding with each other and exploding, sending sparks of fire in all directions and creating a sea of flames in front of Leon''s body.


    "Boom~~" Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What happened made Bleia scream in shock.


    "Shit!!"


    In the time it took to blink, she had moved 10 meters away from Leon but still felt some pain from that attack. She lowered her head and took a look at herself. To her surprise, she discovered that her red chiffon dress was actually full of burn marks, as those random flying sparks had fallen on her and made holes in her dress, revealing what was hidden beneath.


    "You bastard¡­ How dare you damage my dress¡­"


    Bleia''s cold and beautiful face turned angry. With a cruel look, she stared directly at Leon, who was jumping for joy.


    At that exact moment, Leon was struck by an indescribable excitement, as he had finally managed to force Bleia to retreat. "Bleia, my love, I have to confess my true feelings to you, I love you... Do you remember the times I said you were my little princess and that when I was better I would invite you to my room? So how about tonight? We can play in various ways."


    Finally, he had discovered a weakness in this girl''s fighting style. When facing a high-speed enemy who fought like an assassin, a weaker spell that covered a wide area was effective in limiting where they could move, while powerful and concentrated spells were unable to touch them¡­


    As he basked in the joy of his small success, Leon suddenly felt a sinister killing intent. Shocked, he raised his head and saw a girl with a fierce look on her face.


    "I¡­"


    Knowing that something bad was about to happen, Leon quickly tried to explain his actions, but before he could say anything, a red shadow flashed in front of his eyes, grabbed him, and slammed his head against a nearby stone wall. The brutal and violent force of Bleia''s hand pierced through Leon''s entire body, but before he could feel the pain, his eyes went black, and he lost consciousness.


    And the last thought that crossed his mind was: "What a quick deposit of sperm! It won''t stay like this, I swear I will take revenge... Bleia, I swear I will rape you in such a way that you get pregnant, my revenge It will be so severe that I will tie you up for a few months and rape you every night, and I will only stop when you are pregnant."


    When Leon finally regained consciousness, he felt a throbbing pain all over his body, but he also felt a new pain. It seemed like he was being dragged by someone.


    A small, cold hand was gripping his ankle, pulling him across the floor on his stomach, which was how he was being brought back to his room. When he finally arrived in his room, his bare face was completely covered in blood, the result of having scraped his face against the rough ground.


    Leon didn''t dare to fight back, as it seemed his last attack had angered the foul-tempered Bleia. So, all he could do was close his eyes and do his best to endure the pain he felt throughout his body.


    Fortunately, he could still feel pain¡­ It was better than falling into a vegetative state!


    Leon made the Chip perform a self-test, and a huge and terrifying red warning signal appeared at the top of the report.


    HP: 03/11


    Ugh. He only had a total of 11 Health Points and had lost 8 of them. This literally put him on the brink of death. If he lost any more, he would be in serious trouble.


    Even though that damned Bleia hadn''t hurt any of his vital points and had only left some scratch marks on his body playfully, it was more than enough to reduce his Health Points to such a pathetic state. This really showed how great the difference between them was.


    A moment later, Bleia opened the wooden door to Leon''s room and threw him inside. After that, her beautiful voice said something very cruel: "Rest tonight; we''ll continue our training in 17 hours."


    Then it seemed that Bleia had noticed that Leon was awake.


    Leon raised his head, shocked that she had figured it out. What he saw was the wooden door slightly ajar and the silhouette of a slender and curvaceous young woman illuminated by the candles in the hallway.


    17 hours? Did she expect him to recover in 17 hours?


    Leon opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the wooden door was closed, leaving him in the dark gloom of his room.


    ...


    Half an hour later, with sheer willpower, Leon finally got up from the floor and lit a few candles to take a look at himself.


    He took off his short, worn Apprentice robe and discovered that his skinny body was covered in scratch marks and crisscrossed wounds. Although they weren''t deep, they were unexpectedly dense.


    Under the dim candlelight, he began to carefully tend to his injured body.


    He had some basic healing ointments in his room. After all, to survive in the Tower, healing pastes and poison antidotes were mandatory items.


    Enduring the pain, Leon applied the healing ointment to his wounds while grimacing. Immediately, a ticklish sensation that drove him crazy came from the wounds, but soon after, it was replaced by a cold feeling that calmed his mind, followed by the pleasant sensation of his flesh regenerating. From there, Leon began the slow healing process.


    After finishing applying the healing ointment, Leon decided to examine the other parts of his self-test report.


    Attributes: Strength 4.01 | Agility 4.04 | Physique 3.02 | Spirit: 8.07


    Experience: 528/1000


    Personal Skills: Burning Hand (Solidified) | Fire Arrow (Solidification in Progress)


    Surprisingly, the torture he had just endured had increased all his attributes, and it had even boosted his Experience by 12. Leon couldn''t help but let out a long sigh. Did this mean that his path to becoming strong would be filled with misery and pain?


    After agonizing in misery and having slightly suicidal thoughts, Leon took a deep breath, lay down on his bed, and began his daily meditation.


    Once again, he had arrived in the Spiritual Dimension, which was filled with countless glowing points of light. This time, the orb of light representing Leon''s consciousness transformed into a fierce monster that had hundreds of tentacles extending from its body.


    Under Leon''s control, these spiritual tentacles continued to poke and swim around, reaching out and grabbing all the Fire Elementium swimming nearby.


    In the past, Leon had only passively absorbed the Fire Elementium that came close enough to him. How could that be compared to his current efficiency, as he was actively absorbing them? With his current speed, one round of meditation would yield ten times more than the previous meditation.


    It had been a long day for him. So many things had happened, and he had been too busy to address all of them. This was the first time he had managed to catch his breath all day, and he found himself exhausted. Therefore, before he could check the results of his meditation, he fell asleep.


    ...


    At dawn the next day, Leon woke up to the sound of heavy knocks on his door.


    "Who is it?"


    "It''s me, Nolan. It''s time..."


    Leon''s lips tightened. He realized that six days had passed since his last inspection trip, and it was time to do it again!


    As he got up, he quickly glanced at the results of the previous night''s meditation. He was filled with joy upon seeing that his Spirit had increased from 8.07 to 8.15.


    A single night of meditation had raised his Spirit by 0.08¡­ Didn''t this mean that even if he didn''t spend any time studying Magic books and only did basic meditation, his Spirit would reach the level of an Advanced Apprentice Mage in three months?


    That wasn''t the only good news.


    His Fire Arrow spell would solidify in 1 hour. In 1 hour, he would become a Beginner Apprentice who had mastered more than one Magic Spell. He would no longer be a rookie who could be intimidated by anyone.


    ...


    2008 Words

 Chapter 16: Garden

    Following the same route as the previous week, Leon set out on his inspection journey.Leon quickly realized that things were quite different today.


    As soon as he set foot on the stone-paved path, Leon immediately sensed that something was amiss. Today, the demons were unusually excited and behaving in strange ways.


    The first stop on his inspection was the Ghost Tree Grove.


    Even before reaching the grove, Leon was horrified by what he saw in front of him.


    Hundreds of Carrion Crows were perched on those skinny, gnarled Ghost Trees, and each one of them had their round, red eyes fixed on Leon. Strangely, none of them made a sound, which was completely different from their usual behavior.


    Honestly, being stared at by a few hundred Carrion Crows at once would send chills down the spine of even the bravest Apprentice Mage. But what puzzled Leon even more was how quiet they were. If they were behaving normally, the loud cawing of the Carrion Crows could be heard a mile away.


    But today¡­


    Judging by their silence, it seemed as if they were all waiting for a grand feast.


    Based on the knowledge Leon had in mind, these Carrion Crows would only be so quiet and patient when they were waiting for their meal. It was said that these birds could follow a dying traveler for days without sleeping or resting, just waiting for the moment the traveler finally fell.


    Under the ''Welcome Parade'' of a few hundred Carrion Crows, Leon slowly started walking along the stone path. As he proceeded, he knew he was completely surrounded by creatures with ill intentions.


    "Chip, perform a scan of the surrounding area. I need to know what''s going on here!" Leon couldn''t bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer and whispered a command.


    "Beep."


    "Initiating real-time scan task¡­


    "Establishing dynamic monitoring for the surrounding area¡­"


    "Beep!"


    "Beep¡­"


    "Beep¡­"


    "Source of disturbance is an unknown scent!"


    "Direction: Southeast¡­ Distance: 500 meters¡­"


    Unknown scent?


    After noting the Chip''s report, Leon took a deep breath and tried to catch a whiff of this ''unknown scent.'' After a moment, he was able to pick up a faint smell of blood mixed with the rotten stench of the mist. No wonder all these demons seemed so excited today! S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If he could smell the blood, then of course these creatures, whose senses were dozens or even hundreds of times more sensitive, could smell it too!


    However, today was not the monthly ''Quiet Day'' when the tower would deliberately lower the swamp defenses to lure outsiders to ''feed'' the ''wildlife''! Could someone have actually snuck into this place?


    With questions filling his mind, Leon poured an entire bottle of potion into his mouth, pulled up his hood, and began sprinting southeast.


    An Alan Grass Potion was a special magical concoction prepared from Alan Grass. It was capable of sealing all the pores of the human body, suppressing the drinker''s body odors. But it only lasted for 30 minutes.


    ...


    In the Whispering Garden.


    The garden, which was usually deathly silent and completely devoid of life, had turned into a terrifying battlefield.


    As he approached the site, he could hear the horrific cries of the Demon Babies and the screams of the wandering souls. He also heard loud human voices, shouting in anger and fear. Apparently, this was the source of the pungent smell of blood that had caught his attention.


    Using the trees and grass as cover, Leon slowly approached the battlefield. Soon, he found a spot with a good vantage point, allowing him to observe what was happening.


    There were two groups fighting in the area.


    The attackers were, of course, the hideous Demon Babies and the other wandering souls that resided there. Then, there were 17 mercenaries battling to fend off the horrific creatures in front of them.


    They appeared to be a skilled and experienced group of mercenaries. They looked strong and vigorous, lacking neither physical strength nor bravery. Moreover, their equipment was excellent. They had large, thick shields made of solid wood, arm and shoulder guards, and each of them carried a bow. This made them capable of hunting many common demons in this swamp.


    But unfortunately for them, the demons surrounding them were some of the most fearsome creatures in the swamp: Demon Babies.


    Demon Babies had no legs and crawled on the ground using a pair of sharp claws, dragging a long organ, which resembled an umbilical cord, behind them. They were hideous, with twisted bodies, but they looked remarkably similar to human babies.


    However, their faces were not made of smooth, young flesh, but rather wrinkled dead skin, and their facial features were pinched, giving them extremely grotesque faces.


    Amid the knee-high bushes, these little demons were crawling back and forth, uttering curses and cries that echoed throughout the area. Whenever a baby''s wail was heard, it immediately caused the human mercenaries to scream in fear.


    Although these Demon Babies had small bodies, each one possessed strength of at least 5, equivalent to that of an average adult human. Not only that, but they also had a pair of deadly claws. Whenever they lunged forward and struck the large wooden shields, they left deep scratch marks behind.


    However, their most lethal weapon was their Curse.


    When Leon arrived, these Demon Babies were trying to break through the defensive shields with their bodies.


    One after another, the Demon Babies darted through the bushes, launching themselves into the air and attempting to land behind the mercenaries'' defensive shields, but each time, the prepared mercenaries knocked them down with their arm guards. There was even a Demon Baby that failed to escape in time and found itself pinned to the ground with an arrow.


    Though pinned to the ground, the Demon Baby was still ferocious, wildly clawing at the earth. It then lifted its body and let out an irritating baby wail toward the nearest human mercenary.


    "Sniff~~"


    "Waaaaaa~~"


    The cry was sharp and deafening, but while it was merely an unpleasant noise to others, when the scream reached the mercenary closest to it, he was instantly struck by the terrifying ''Curse.''


    The muscular mercenary suddenly dropped his shield and pressed both hands tightly against his ears, screaming: "Help me!¡­ I can''t see anything!¡­"


    Moments after he shouted, tears of blood poured from his tightly shut eyes, terrifying the other mercenaries.


    Before anyone could react, two more Demon Babies emerged from the bushes, vicious grins on their hideous faces. They opened their mouths and shrieked at the mercenary who had already been afflicted with ''Blindness.''


    Blindness + Madness + Confusion!


    Even an official Apprentice Mage would struggle to defend against a Demon Baby''s curse, let alone these mercenaries, who were merely ordinary humans. Before his fellow mercenaries could knock him out, the afflicted mercenary frantically pushed everything around him and dashed out of the defensive formation.


    "No!¡­ Bazar, come back!¡­"


    A middle-aged man, who appeared to be the leader of the group, immediately shouted from within the formation. But it was too late.


    If someone had looked down from above, they would have seen movement within the bushes surrounding this team of mercenaries, with numerous fast-moving lines of grass racing toward the confused, fleeing mercenary.


    "Bazar!" A bold-looking man threw away his own shield, grabbed an axe, and started running to rescue his friend. However, he was forcefully pulled back by his leader.


    "Don''t go, Tark! It''s too late now¡­" The leader gripped the bold man''s arm as he looked helplessly at the departing man.


    As if to prove his words, Bazar, who had gone mad, was overwhelmed by a swarm of Demon Babies.


    "Arrrrgg~~"


    "Help!"


    "Stop, please..."


    "No! Stop eating my intestines..."


    His pain-filled and piercing screams lasted only a few more seconds before falling silent. Then, all that could be heard was the sound of those Demon Babies tearing at his flesh and gnawing on his bones.


    Even though it was half-concealed by the knee-high bushes, no mercenary could witness the scene of those Demon Babies feasting on their friend. Just looking at the constantly shifting dry grass and hearing the terrifying, chilling sounds was enough for them to imagine the extremely horrific scene that must be happening within those bushes.


    Consequently, their long-held determination and morale began to falter.


    "Whoosh~~"


    Suddenly, a fireball the size of a human head shot out from the center of the mercenaries, leaving a long trail of dark smoke. It landed squarely in the center of the area where the Demon Babies were joyfully feasting.


    "BOOM!"


    The next second, with a deafening explosion, the terrifying fire Elementium expanded and turned everything within a ten-meter radius into a raging sea of flames.


    With just a single strike, over twenty Demon Babies were killed. Fourteen of them, caught in the center of the explosion, were turned to ash in an instant. Those at the edges of the explosion were all injured by the furious flames. For a moment, the shrill cries of the Demon Babies reverberated across the skies!


    A Fire Spell?!


    Leon, watching from the shadows, was startled for a moment. He quickly looked around, soon spotting three suspicious figures at the center of the mercenaries. They were all dressed relatively similarly to him.


    Their black cloaks and hoods completely covered their bodies, leaving not an inch of skin exposed, but judging by their body sizes, Leon guessed they were two men and a girl.


    Three Apprentice Mages who had left their homes to gain experience?


    Since he couldn''t see them directly, there was no way for Leon to discern the specific attributes of these individuals. Therefore, he didn''t dare to act recklessly. He quietly took out his Magic Talisman and reported the events happening here to the Mage Tower.


    During this time, the Demon Babies, who had suffered heavy losses, summoned all the wandering souls to aid them.


    Since these wandering souls could live among other demons, they clearly weren''t low-tier creatures like zombies or skeletons, but rather conscious bodies formed by strong resentment and malevolent intentions.


    Although they had human shapes, they lacked physical bodies, and their innate ability to freely shift between the ethereal and physical allowed them to bypass most physical attacks and defenses.


    Their forms looked like blurred shadows. Comparatively, their heads were much clearer and had facial features similar to those of humans. They had a pair of arms with sharp claws, but where their legs should have been was just a vague shadow. From a distance, it looked as though their legs had merged into the air.


    When this group of wandering souls emerged from the forest, the entire area was immediately filled with eerie ghostly wails, capable of making one''s soul shudder.


    "Come with me!"


    "Surrender your soul to me!"


    "The shadows do not forget..."


    "Darkness is eternal..."


    "I shall return for you..."


    "Feel the chill of eternity..."


    "Your time is near..."


    The temperature also dropped significantly.


    Attacked by this seemingly endless wave of terrifying wandering souls, the mercenaries'' defensive formation collapsed instantly.


    The wandering souls, which had shifted into their ethereal forms, fearlessly jumped into the group of men, completely ignoring the mercenaries'' weapons and shields. With their icy ghostly claws, these souls were busy leaving deadly scratch marks on their targets'' bodies. Some even squeezed into the mercenaries'' bodies, taking control and launching attacks on the other mercenaries.


    "Zap!"


    "Pow~~"


    "Strike!"


    Now that a breach had been created by the wandering souls, the wicked Demon Babies once again joined the battle, using their horrible curses to break the will of the mercenaries. After that, they dragged the cursed bodies into the bushes and began feasting on them.


    The scene grew even more chaotic and bloodier.


    ....


    1954 Words

 Chapter 17: Other Mages

    When they looked outside and saw the enormous crowd of demons and wandering souls overwhelming the mercenaries around them, the three Apprentice Mages were finally forced to remove their cloaks and join the battle, revealing their faces to the world.The leader of the three was a muscular young man. He had a head of messy blond hair that fell to his shoulders. Just beneath his hair, a mysterious tiara was wrapped around his head, clearly not an ordinary item. He was wearing a well-crafted leather jacket and carried a sword on his back. Judging by the size of the sword, it would be too heavy for an ordinary man to even wield.


    The other man was dressed like a noble. The delicate and luxurious clothes on his body were quite impressive, but even more striking was his head. He had dark green skin, a long, narrow mouth, and a thin tongue that kept flicking in and out... He, unexpectedly, had the head of a snake.


    Meanwhile, a little girl stood between these two men. She had an angelic face and was wearing a long, light yellow dress. She was of average height and was holding a golden cage in her hands. Curiously, not only did she show no sign of fear towards the bloody scene in front of her, but she was actually looking around with a cute smile on her face, making her simply seem like a curious young girl.


    Leon''s eyes suddenly widened.


    Through his Elementium Vision, he saw extremely bright Elementium and spiritual ripples that resembled tidal waves emanating from all three Apprentice Mages.


    According to the Chip''s assessment, these three were Pseudo-Mages or elites among Advanced Apprentice Mages. No matter who they were, they were not something Leon, a Beginner Apprentice Mage, could think of handling.


    Why had such powerful people come here like this? This place was private property of Master Eclivel and a resource site of the Sarubo Family. Except for the annual shipment of resources, this place was not open to outsiders.


    All of this made Leon really curious about the motives of these outsider Apprentice Mages.


    But after witnessing their immense skills, Leon''s curiosity instantly died, leaving him fully alert and a bit fearful.


    The human mercenaries were able to handle demonic beasts, but when faced with Demon Babies, Wandering Souls, and other similar demons, they were like sheep being led to the slaughter. When the simple defensive shield was broken, the swarm of demons began to massacre the mercenaries.


    Demon Babies were running and jumping all over the place, shouting terrifying curses to weaken their prey''s fighting abilities. Using the bushes as cover, these monsters launched surprise attacks and brought the mercenaries down. Thus, it was a scene filled with mercenaries on the brink of death.


    Additionally, those dreadful Wandering Souls circled in the air, seeking chances to snatch a mercenary into the skies. When this happened, the other demons swarmed in and tore the defenseless prey apart.


    In the midst of this chaotic scene, a Wandering Soul, with an ugly and twisted face, dove from the air, targeting those three strange and casually dressed Apprentice Mages.


    Before the young man and the little girl could do anything, the snake head struck.


    With great force, a pale green venom in the form of an arrow pierced the body of the Wandering Soul instantly, exploding on impact. The intense corrosive poison melted the ''Resentment Core'' hidden within its body, turning it into a pile of ashes with a horrible, painful scream.


    Leon noticed that the venomous ''arrow'' was not created using normal spells but was launched from that Apprentice''s mouth.


    "Buzz~~"


    And that attack was just the beginning.


    "Whoosh~~"


    "Whizz~~"


    The Apprentice did not stop what he had started and opened his mouth wide, continuously spitting venomous ''arrows.'' With each strike, he precisely eliminated one of the horrifying Wandering Souls, classified as possessing the power of an Intermediate Apprentice.


    A Lineage Mage!


    He was definitely one of those Lineage Mages mentioned in the basic book about Mages!


    Within the vast and complex hierarchy of development in the Mage World, four branches stood out: Lineage Mages, Body Refinement Mages, Principle Mages, and Deep Mages. It could be said that most other branches of Mages derived from these four main branches.


    Lineage Mages were a group of lunatics who desired to possess the purest lineages. They used the power of these lineages to enhance their own strength. Usually, they would choose some incredibly powerful creatures from another world as the source of their lineage, then improve the purity of their own blood, often through a method traceable back to some ancestor.


    After doing all this, they gained incredible abilities that aligned with those of ancient powerful creatures. Generally, their ultimate goal was to revive the glorious life of these ancient beings.


    As for Body Refinement Mages, they were another group of fanatics who strove to strengthen their own bodies. To them, all resources were just a means, a consumable supply that could be used to enhance their muscles. To stimulate their muscles, they might immerse themselves in a vat full of poisonous chemicals or implant a deadly, highly radioactive meteorite into their bodies.


    They could venture out and endure the most extreme and lethal environments¡­ And they would do all of this to strengthen their bodies so that nothing could harm them.


    Honestly, Principle Mages were the most common type of Mage in the Mage World.


    Whether it was the Elementium Mage, who pursued the ultimate powers of their Elements, the Curse Mage, who used strange abilities to kill people in hidden ways, or even the Dark Mage, who enjoyed using violent, murderous skills, often leveraging the power of souls and emotions ¡ª they all belonged to the branch of Principle Mages.


    Although there seemed to be a tremendous difference in what they did, when they reached an advanced stage, they did their best to master specific Principles or Rules of the Universe.


    They were the ones who grew by mastering the Principles of Elemental Laws. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for Deep Mages, they were the purest type of Mages. They were unwilling to ''contaminate'' their lineage just to gain a powerful ability and refused to join the Principles of the Planes and become ''Slaves to the Principles.'' They gathered knowledge, delved into the world of knowledge, and used the knowledge they learned as a weapon.


    Thus, they became a strange group among the Mages, concerned only with gathering and expanding their knowledge while completely ignoring their own development.


    With these four main branches as the backbone, an endless variety of strange Mages were born in this world. They conquered different worlds, plundered resources and knowledge, and enslaved thousands of Planes. They were the dominant force in the entire Mage World when fighting or conquering other realms.


    This was the information about the Mage Hierarchy that Leon had obtained after the Chip spent some time gathering and organizing the mass of raw data that had been input. Since he knew only a handful of people, the gathered data was incomplete and likely had significant discrepancies.


    Although he had only this small amount of simple information, it painted the outline of the enormous and fierce Mage World he was now part of.


    If he hadn''t known about these branches, he would not have been able to correctly guess the details of that Lineage Apprentice a second ago.


    But just as Leon was speculating which species of snake the Apprentice had inherited his lineage from, something even more surprising happened.


    The beautiful little girl joined the fight!


    A Demon Baby, moving rapidly across the ground, set its sights on these three people, marking them as targets and charging at them. At the same time, it kept letting out irritating shrieks from its twisted mouth full of sharp, yellowed teeth, casting its Curse attacks on the three.


    "Heheheh, let me devour you, sweet Loli!"


    Undoubtedly, its behavior provoked the little girl.


    However, not only did her immature face show no sign of anger, but it also blossomed with a sweet smile. She raised the cage in her hands, which looked like a toy, pointed it at the Demon Baby, and shook it a few times. Although no sound was heard, lights and shadows flickered, and the Demon Baby that had just been charging at them disappeared from where it was.


    At the same time, Leon, who had sharp eyesight, noticed that a miniature Demon Baby had appeared inside the cage the little girl was holding. It was only the size of a human hand, and it looked exactly like the Demon Baby that had just disappeared.


    Obviously, the Demon Baby had no idea what had caused its sudden transformation. After being stunned for a second, it became extremely ferocious and let out a shrill scream towards the little girl outside the cage, repeatedly banging its body against the bars.


    "ARRRR!"


    "Let me go!"


    "Get me out!"


    But no matter how hard it tried, there was no way to escape that birdcage.


    Spatial Magic?!


    Leon pressed his hand firmly over his mouth to avoid screaming loudly.


    Of the many Magical Principles, although each Principle would bring forth astonishing power at the supreme level, if one truly wanted to define their classification, the Principles of Time and Space Magic were among the highest. However, according to Leon''s knowledge, these two high-level magical branches were among the weakest of all branches in the Mage World.


    This was simply because these two magical branches could only rely on each individual''s innate talent.


    Even the most powerful Mage, who could destroy a world with a wave of their hand, could never make time stop for a second. Yet, some people are born with that ability, and even if they might not learn any related knowledge about Magic, they can still achieve something that even the best Mages cannot.


    And yet, just because these magics were so bizarre and unpredictable, and could only be used by someone with talent, those Mages who lacked such talent, no matter how brilliant they were, would find it impossible to produce great results through experimentation.


    Therefore, without a huge and solid foundation, it was very difficult for those who focused on the Magical Branches of Time and Space to produce top-tier Mages.


    Leon was struggling to decide whether this was the little girl''s innate ability or some bizarre magical item that allowed her to capture any enemy, regardless of distance.


    Although Leon thought he had a deep understanding of this bizarre world of advanced magic, at this very moment, he had to admit one thing: the real world of Mages was much crazier and stranger than his wildest dreams and nightmares. These three outsiders were Pseudo-Mages or elites among the Advanced Apprentices.


    If Leon were forced to fight against them while only having access to his two low-level spells, he would likely die.


    For this reason, he did not dare to continue watching. He turned around, followed the path, and silently returned to the Mage Tower.


    When he reached the main door of the Tower, the newly appointed Apprentice Leader, Brandon, was there along with the three strongest: Headshot, Worm Controller, and Super Girl.


    Leon cast a puzzled glance at Brandon but soon realized why they were there.


    The warning he sent through the magical talisman could only be received by a special magical item, which was currently in Brandon''s hands. When Brandon learned that there were three powerful Apprentice Mages in the Magical Swamp, he knew that, with his abilities, there was no way to pursue or capture these outsiders. Therefore, before Leon returned, Brandon sought help from the three strongest.


    Obviously, it had cost him something to obtain help from the three strongest¡­ But only he knew what that cost was.


    Recalling what he had just witnessed, Leon did not have much confidence in the ''Three Strongest.'' No matter how he compared them, those three outsiders were stronger than them. Perhaps Brandon was hoping that they would be enough to capture all of them?


    ....


    2018 Words

 Chapter 18: Lucy vs Worm Controller

    In less than ten minutes, the mercenary group, which had been hired by the three Apprentice Mages, was almost entirely exterminated.The last four were covered in blood from head to toe. They stood back to back, barely managing to defend themselves against the attacks from the demons surrounding them.


    On the other side, their employers, the three Apprentice Mages, stood casually by, watching the mercenaries being killed with cold indifference. Unless they were attacked by the demons, they did not interfere in the battle between the demons and the mercenaries. It was as if the deaths of these mercenaries meant nothing to them.


    While the last four mercenaries fought for their lives, the three Apprentice Mages chatted slowly among themselves.


    "The Elementium aura we sense now must have belonged to one of the local Apprentices. Why didn''t you let me capture them?" The cute, chubby girl complained to her big, muscular companion.


    "What''s the point of capturing them?" The man shook his head and continued, "Clearly this place has a well-built Magical Formation. We''ve been wandering around here for three days and still haven''t found the way in. Without one of them leading us there, I fear we wouldn''t be able to find that Tower of Mages even if we spent another three days searching."


    "That''s exactly why we should have captured them!" The little girl exclaimed angrily. Perhaps because her opinion had not been accepted, she began to unleash her frustration on the creature she had captured in the cage.


    As she murmured something softly, the space inside the cage began to shrink, compressing.


    The compression of the space soon reached the body of the Demon Baby, and some cracking noises started emanating from its body.


    "No..."


    "Please..."


    Hearing the high-pitched, painful screams from the Demon Baby, the smile on the girl''s face turned to pure joy.


    "SMASSHHH~~~"


    When the poor Demon Baby finally imploded and collapsed into a pile of meat paste, the girl immediately waved her arms in the air and stomped her feet in joy, a look of extreme excitement lighting up her little face.


    Seeing that the girl had relieved her anger with her ''toy'', the other two Apprentice Mages let out sighs of relief.


    The Snake-Headed Apprentice shook his head and approached the muscular leader, asking, "Are you sure it''s okay to let that bastard escape? I''m sure he''ll bring more mages here!"


    "Mages?" The muscular leader laughed darkly. "This swamp is just an ordinary resource spot. Do you really think the Sarubo Family would waste an official Mage to guard it? In my opinion, aside from Mage Eclivel, all that''s left here are Apprentice Mages. Do you really think we should be afraid of the Apprentice Mages we might encounter here?"


    The Snake-Headed Apprentice laughed horrifically, his forked tongue flicking in and out of his lips, creating a chilling sound.


    "This place has a bunch of rare materials I need. Anyway, it will take a while for those guards to get here. I think I''ll take a look while I wait."


    After saying this, the Snake-Headed Apprentice simply walked toward another distant marshy area.


    Something really strange was happening. Although the rocky trail wasn''t far from him, he didn''t notice it and passed right by. This was, after all, one of the many defensive mechanisms of the Tower of Mages.


    Only those inner Apprentice Mages who used a Magical Talisman could see the rocky path, while to the eyes of any outsider, the path was just another part of the swamp, nothing out of the ordinary.


    Watching one of his partners disappear into the mist, the muscular leader hesitated for a moment, then just turned around and went in another direction. It was a rare opportunity to be in a private resource location of a Mage family. If he didn''t manage to get something good before finishing his official business here, it would be a huge waste. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for that bizarre little girl, whether intentionally or not, they left her in the midst of those violent, bloody demons. Would she get hurt? That question never crossed the minds of those two Apprentices. Honestly, perhaps the biggest and most brutal demon in this swampy land was the little girl.


    Therefore, when Leon brought Brandon and the ''Three Strongest'' here, what they saw in front of them was a cute little girl with a golden cage, standing right in the middle of a crowd of blood-covered demons.


    At that moment, there was not a single member of the entire mercenary company who had not been torn to shreds and scattered all over the place. While their broken corpses were being devoured by an army of Demon Babies, the girl was right in the center of those demons. Strangely, no demon dared to come within ten steps of the little girl.


    Not only that, but when the little girl ran and jumped from place to place, those Demon Babies, who were busy eating, roared at her in anger, then moved aside and made way for her, not daring to actually get in her path.


    A mercenary, who had bloodied legs and a single broken arm, was being gnawed at by dozens of Demon Babies. Almost lifeless, he raised his bloodied and broken arm, waving to the little girl who was approaching him, and said, "Save me... Save... Me..."


    With a sweet smile on her face, the little girl crouched in front of him and asked in a gentle voice, "I can save your soul from these demons. Are you willing to let me save your soul?"


    The dying mercenary was surprised to hear this and immediately nodded his head. However, he didn''t realize that the girl had said the word ''save'' in a vague and strange tone.


    If he had known the other languages the girl knew, he would have discovered that when those strange tones came together, she actually said a word meaning ''Consume'', which came from the language of the Ancient Andes on the Mage Continent.


    After receiving the mercenary''s approval, the girl''s smile grew even sweeter. She quickly took a milky-white crystal ball from her pocket and placed it against the mercenary''s forehead. With a short and simple spell, the mercenary''s body trembled, and then the small flame of hope that had just appeared in his eyes went out.


    A white shadow emerged from his forehead and disappeared into the crystal ball.


    The mercenary''s life force evaporated, and his bloodied arm fell to the ground, never to rise again.


    The Apprentices of the Tower watched all this unfold, standing there horrified by what they had just seen.


    Their arrival caught the little girl''s attention. She walked straight over to Leon''s group, lifted her head, and gently asked, "Hi! I''m the lovely Lucy! Are you from around here?"


    Leon and the others looked at this little Lolita, who seemed to be trying to get familiar with them, and they were not fooled by her disguise. Among the population of Apprentice Mages, friendship, love, and humanity were just pretty words that had long been thrown away. All that remained within them was the desire for knowledge, resources, and power.


    Those Apprentices who were na?ve would die before even reaching the level of an intermediate Apprentice. The idea of such a person reaching the level of an Advanced Apprentice was simply too impossible to conceive.


    Noticing that they were looking at her crystal ball and cage, Lucy quickly hid both behind her, twisting her lips and saying, "All these things belong to Lucy. You''re not thinking about taking them away from me, are you?"


    Brandon looked around and then whispered harshly to Leon, "I thought you said there were three Apprentice Mages? Where are the other two?"


    "Kerry went that way... He''s a big guy and good at fighting... If he runs into that big sister, I''m sure something exciting will happen..." the little girl pointed east and spoke innocently. Clearly, she was referring to the Super girl, who also carried a huge sword on her back. "Jeffrey went that way... I think he said he wanted to look for some materials..."


    What she said shocked the five of them, and their eyes went wide.


    No matter how many demons were killed, none of them would feel the slightest pity for that, but if those secret herb plantations and gardens were discovered by these outsiders, perhaps all the Apprentices of the Tower would be punished by Mage Eclivel.


    The loud, hoarse voice of the Super girl exploded instantly.


    "I''m going that way to stop that guy!"


    After saying this, the Super girl''s bulky body began to run toward the east. As she ran, she crushed the few Demon Babies that got in her way under her feet, making the others scream in anger, though none dared to approach her.


    "I''m going this way!" Deadshot said coldly, tipping his hat and running west.


    For some unknown reason, the cawing of the Carrion Crows was heard from the sky, though they were hidden by the thick mist. The noise followed immediately behind Deadshot. The Leader Apprentice Brandon rolled his eyes and murmured, "I''ll help him!" After saying this, he simply followed behind Deadshot and left.


    In the end, only the Worm Controller, Leon, and the strange and unpredictable little girl remained at the scene.


    "Are you going to fight me?" The little girl tilted her head and looked at the two remaining men. "Before we fight, don''t you want to know where we came from?"


    "There''s no reason to ask you anything. You''ve caused chaos here, and you will be punished for it. If I capture you, you''ll have to tell me everything. If I can''t defeat you, I will bear all the consequences here. Now, show me what you can do!"


    It was quite rare to hear the Worm Controller talk so much.


    But as soon as he finished speaking, the black earth beneath the little girl''s feet exploded, and a huge number of black scorpions burst out of the ground.


    "Bang~~"


    Each of these scorpions was the size of a human palm, had a black body and a pair of claws, and on its back was a tail with a poisoned stinger. The foul smell of poison filled the air around these scorpions.


    Although there was a distance of twenty meters between them, it was impossible to tell when the Worm Controller had sent these scorpions, sneaking underground to hide near the little girl.


    This little girl shouldn''t have a strong physique. Therefore, as long as she was poisoned, she would quickly lose the ability to cast any of her bizarre spells.


    Before coming here, Leon had emphasized the strange abilities of this little girl, so the Worm Controller had no plans to test them. He just wanted to knock her out as quickly as possible.


    But what happened next likely made Worm Controller''s mouth twitch.


    An invisible barrier was created between the girl''s feet and those scorpions. No matter how much they hit it or jabbed it with their tails, there was no way for them to get through. Slowly, as more and more scorpions gathered, a wall of insects was built against the invisible barrier.


    "Boom!"


    "Thud!"


    "Clang!"


    One after another, the scorpions stacked on top of each other attacked the invisible barrier in front of them frantically, but no matter how hard they tried, they simply could not break through.


    ...


    1908 Words

 Chapter 19: Explosion

    "Protection Barrier!"...


    The worm controller kept repeating this phrase in a hoarse voice, stunned into silence by what he saw before his eyes.


    The protection barrier was a spell that could divide space and was considered one of the most resilient shields in the world. Even an official Mage would have difficulty breaking through this thin paper barrier.


    "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" The worm controller lost control and let out a scream: "Your barrier must be fake! Otherwise, it would mean you are as strong as a Mage! March, my children! Use your numbers and overwhelm our enemy''s defenses!"


    Under the control of the worm controller, thousands of scorpions immediately crawled out from under his cloak, forming armies of scorpions that marched toward the little girl standing in front of them. At the same time, the worm controller opened his mouth, spewing countless flies that swarmed like dark clouds, quickly darkening the sky and the ground as they flew toward the little girl.


    No beginner apprentice could interfere in a battle between two advanced apprentices. Thus, since the battle began, Leon had been slowly backing away, doing his best to stay out of the way so he wouldn''t be hit by a stray spell.


    Judging by the current situation, the worm controller had established a dominant position, as the little girl was trapped under a mound of his scorpions. As soon as he could find a way to get past the protection barrier, this battle would end.


    Unfortunately for the worm controller, the situation was reversed in the next moment by an apparently unintentional counterattack from the little girl.


    The little girl, who seemed to be trapped by countless scorpions, still wore the same sweet smile on her face, as if she had nothing to fear from the crawling scorpions around her. Looking at the worm controller through the growing wall of scorpions, she raised the cage in her hand and shook it toward him.


    In that moment, the worm controller felt his heart freeze.


    Leon had told him how bizarre this little girl was, so the worm controller was paying extra attention to any movement she made. When he saw her shake the cage, although he didn''t perceive any attack coming at him, the worm controller still dodged to the side as quickly as he could.


    "Urrrgg~~"


    A scream of pain came from the worm controller''s mouth.


    His body indeed moved away from where he had been standing, but for some reason, he nearly fell after dodging the movement. Then he noticed that his right leg had mysteriously disappeared. In the next second, his missing leg appeared in the cage, looking extremely small.


    The little girl looked at him in astonishment. She never expected her enemy to be able to dodge so quickly.


    Before the enemy could do anything about his leg, the worm controller let out an angry scream, causing the small leg trapped in the cage to explode into countless scorpions. The scorpions turned into a thread of dark smoke and vanished. At the same time, his black cloak began to ripple and flow. This was caused by the movement of the scorpions, which started to cling to each other to form a new leg.


    "Biological modification?" For the first time, the little girl''s smile vanished. Her small face wore a dark expression that did not match her appearance. "What a surprise, so you gave up your human body and modified yourself to be entirely made of insects. Hmph! Don''t assume you can be immortal like that. I, Lucy, will make you feel true terror today!"


    After that, the little girl stretched out her cute little hands and made a grabbing gesture toward the worm controller. In the next second, the worm controller let out a roar, pressed his hand against his chest, and staggered back, nearly falling to the ground. At the same time, out of nowhere, a pulsating heart appeared in the little girl''s hand.


    If it had been anyone else, that might have killed them. But, obviously, the worm controller had undergone complete bodily modifications and rid himself of several organs that were vital for normal humans. When he saw that his heart had been stolen by the little girl, he simply let out a shrill scream.


    Following this scream, just like his right leg, the heart in the little girl''s hand exploded into countless scorpions, rapidly turning to ash.


    "It seems you were quite meticulous with your modifications!" the little girl said savagely. In a squeaky and rough voice, she continued, "I can''t believe you replaced all your organs. I will definitely find the core that keeps your body infested with insects!"


    Finished speaking, the little girl began to recklessly attack with both hands, continuously grabbing at the body of the worm controller. Although some of her attacks were dodged, under her continuous assault, she still managed to strike her target successfully every few attacks. And whenever she did, some strange object appeared in her palms.


    Covered in blood, disgusting and sticky, no one would be able to identify where these organs came from in her body.


    But no matter what kind of organs appeared in the little girl''s hand, in the end, they always exploded into scorpions and then turned to ash.


    While she was happily pulling her organs out, the worm controller was filled with uncontrollable rage.


    As he moved at high speed and continuously dodged the bizarre, mysterious, and long-range attacks from the enemy, the worm controller kept attacking the little girl with his scorpions. However, no matter how carefully he tried, he still could not completely avoid the strange spell attacks, which gave no warning and created no ripples of Elementium.


    At the same time, when faced with the indestructible protection barrier, he truly felt a sense of helplessness, as he could not find the opportunity to attack the little girl. If this continued, even though he had high confidence in his modified insect body, he might have to admit defeat to this little girl. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just when the thought of retreating was growing in the mind of the worm controller, Leon suddenly shouted at him.


    "Mr. Worm Controller, attack the back of her head¡­"


    Huh? Attack the back of her head?


    The worm controller groaned in his mind. He had already tried the back of her head. In fact, he had tried attacking from every possible angle and position, even from underground. But no matter what he did, the paper protection barrier had dissolved all his attacks. No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not find any weak point in her protection barrier.


    But something surprised him, for when Leon''s shout reached Lucy, she unconsciously stiffened for a second. At the same time, her large purple eyes looked at Leon, who was hiding in the distance, and she began to grit her teeth silently in anger. Although no emotion could be seen on Lucy''s stiff face, the worm controller still noticed a hint of panic in her eyes.


    Could this really be her weak point?


    Although he was still skeptical about what Leon had said, the worm controller''s heart was filled with rage, as he had most of his internal organs ripped out by this little girl. So, without thinking twice, he launched a long-range attack.


    Without making a sound, the worm controller collapsed. His black cloak fell to the ground after losing support, revealing nothing but emptiness beneath it.


    At the same time, a dark figure suddenly appeared behind Lucy.


    It was a shadowy figure completely formed by countless scorpions, an insect body that had been assembled in human shape. A face could barely be seen on the head of this figure.


    Shortly after it stood up, the humanoid figure immediately leaped forward, pressing its body against the invisible barrier that it was struggling to break through. In the next instant, the scorpions around them transformed into a black wave, crashing wildly against the nape of Lucy''s neck.


    Somehow, a fist-sized ripple finally appeared in the protection barrier, right at the spot where all those scorpions were colliding.


    In fact, that region was not a Protection Barrier, but a Mini Aerial Barrier, which articulated perfectly with the Protection Barrier.


    The worm controller instantly widened his eyes, and his heart was filled with indescribably wild joy. Indeed, there was a flaw in the enemy''s defense, and the flaw was this Aerial Barrier.


    Although both were Barriers, there was a significant difference between their magical characteristics!


    The Protection Barrier was a Space-Type Spell, the main Principle among all the Principles of Mages. It was also referred to as the strongest defense within the Plans. On the other hand, the Aerial Barrier was formed from a variant of the Elementium of Wind.


    If no one noticed this weakness, it might be extremely difficult for someone to discover this small ''backdoor'' hidden in the Protection Barrier. But when the worm controller used all his effort and hit that particular point, the only unstable part of the protection barrier exploded instantly.


    "Pow~~"


    After a heart-wrenching roar, the army of scorpions shattered the ''Barrier'' and surged into the protection barrier like a dark tsunami. In an instant, Lucy''s small and cute body was covered by the rolling and crawling wave of scorpions.


    "I swear I will tear you apart!" Unexpectedly, a shrill scream resonated throughout the scene, and an earth-shaking explosion suddenly rippled from within the army of scorpions, which had piled up like a small black hill.


    Broken pieces of black scorpions flew in all directions, while terrifying-looking cracks spread out in a spiderweb pattern.


    "Crack~~"


    Whenever a scorpion was touched by these spatial cracks, its body would immediately disintegrate without making any sound. No matter how thick its shell was, no one could escape the devastating attack. This perfectly showcased the incomparable power of spatial spells.


    A furious shockwave repelled all the scorpions that had accumulated on her body. Then the ''spatial cracks'' swept through the area, violently crushing and disintegrating any scorpion that crossed their path, revealing the small form of Lucy within the mound of insects.


    Right in the center of the suddenly web of spatial cracks, Lucy was floating in the air, her long wavy hair flowing from her head. She let out a terrifying and extremely furious roar to the sky.


    Using space as her weapon, she disintegrated all the scorpions around her. Once this little girl, who possessed a great innate talent for space, became enraged, she was capable of launching such terrifying and deadly attacks. This made Leon, who was hiding hundreds of meters away, feel his heart tremble with fear.


    Was the difference between a Beginner Apprentice and an Advanced Apprentice really that vast? Although he kept reminding himself that this Lucy belonged to the higher level of Advanced Apprentices, he couldn''t contain the growing fear and shock in his heart. This group of people was simply too powerful!


    Even if they were not yet official Mages, or even Pseudo-Mages, they possessed terrifying abilities that were unbelievable!


    ...


    1845 Words

 Chapter 20: Escape

    With a single terrifying attack, Lucy covered a massive area of 50 meters with a destructive 360¡ã spell from which no one could escape. Within this area, space shattered as deadly spatial cracks swept across nearly every inch of the region.When confronted with the devastating spatial cracks that could cut through anything, Elementium was simply a joke. No Apprentice-level Personal Protection spell would provide any defense against the destruction caused by the spatial cracks. Without any unique life-saving abilities, even if ten Pseudo-Mages attempted to resist Lucy''s attack together, they would all likely perish.


    At this moment, Leon felt a bit of pity for the Worm Controller, as he was right in the center of that area and was probably killed. Moreover, Leon would have to run immediately to save his own life if the Worm Controller was dead.


    Just as Leon was about to give up on the Worm Controller, his eyes suddenly spotted something near the battlefield.


    The dirt was being pushed up in that spot, revealing a large hole underneath. A swarm of black scorpions burst forth, quickly forming into the Worm Controller.


    Fortunately, the Worm Controller was still alive!


    But just as wild joy began to rise in Leon''s mind, he was forced to discard it.


    Something was not right. It seemed the Worm Controller had truly suffered from that destructive spatial spell.


    At this moment, the Worm Controller had lost all the arrogance and high spirits he had shown at the beginning of the fight. The army of thousands of horrific scorpions had shrunk to a mere hundred, which was barely enough to form his body.


    The newly formed body was smaller than before, and his Evil Aura of Elementium could be felt, clearly showing that he had lost a great deal in that last confrontation.


    On the other side, Lucy, who had just unleashed that deadly attack, had also lost her calm and indifferent demeanor. Although those scorpions had only been able to attack her body for a few seconds, during that brief period, she was completely covered by over a thousand scorpions, crawling and biting every inch of her skin. This... simply made her seethe with extreme anger.


    When her body, floating in the air, returned to the ground, Leon finally saw how miserable her appearance had become.


    The cute Lolita had vanished. The right side of Lucy''s eye had turned into a huge bloody hole, with blood dripping down her silky, smooth skin. The terrible scorpion venom had left countless black and purple splotches all over her body. All of this, combined with her almost insane and mysterious smile... made her look on the verge of madness. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Fuck! I have to run!"


    Leon wasn''t an idiot. When he saw Lucy looking directly at him with her lingering malevolent gaze, he didn''t think twice before turning and fleeing.


    With his abilities, there was no way he could fight against this Lucy. Moreover, the Worm Controller was half-disabled and couldn''t stop this Lolita who was about to attack. So, without saying anything, Leon fled the scene.


    Initially, Blake was waiting, hoping the scorpion venom would be able to kill this formidable Lolita. But when he saw the enemy slowly turn her remaining eye towards him, he immediately dispersed his scorpion body, transforming back into a swarm of scorpions and burrowing underground, disappearing without a trace.


    Soon, a furious little girl was the only one left at the scene.


    The commotion began.


    She floated in the air and started to fly like a bird, heading in the direction Leon had run, quickly vanishing into the thick fog.


    When everything fell silent for a moment, the dirt beneath a thin Assassin Tree was pushed up, revealing the Worm Controller, who had been hiding while waiting for the girl to leave.


    He looked at the direction where Lucy had disappeared and hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he just couldn''t muster the courage to pursue the terrifying girl. Although that little Lolita was also gravely injured, she still seemed to have plenty of energy left. He simply didn''t have the confidence to face such a scary enemy again.


    After a long moment, he gritted his teeth, turned, and ran in the direction Hawkeye had gone. As for Lucy... it would be better to let someone else deal with her.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Leon was going through a tough time, but the digital arena was activated, and that helped him a lot. Previously, he discovered that this digital arena is one of several functions, like elemental vision, that the chip provides.


    Unexpectedly, that enraged Lolita wasn''t chasing the Worm Controller but was keeping an eye on him, who had only said a few words in the previous battle.


    He covered his head and ran away from her like a rat to its hole. Behind him, the small Lolita was floating thirty meters in the air, holding the bizarre cage and continuously waving in Leon''s direction.


    However, something was truly intriguing Lucy. It seemed this rascal had a pair of eyes in the back of his head. Whenever her spatial attacks got close to him, he would speed up and turn in another direction, causing her attempts to target him to go to waste.


    If it had only happened once or twice, perhaps he was just having a lot of luck today. But with her failing continuously, Lucy was certain this Beginner Apprentice could sense the existence of her spatial energy, making her want to kill him even more.


    It appeared that his finding the weakness of her protective barrier wasn''t a strange accident, but he could actually see the entire structure of her barrier by looking through her spatial energy.


    In fact, this was a weakness of Lucy''s innate spatial abilities.


    Although her protective barrier was nearly invulnerable, it had a significant drawback. Once she used spatial energy to warp the fabric of space around her into a barrier, she became trapped in a relatively small space. While this spared her from taking any damage from an enemy, she couldn''t launch any attacks while the barrier remained intact.


    Thus, to allow her to attack, she had to leave a ''hole'' in her protective barrier so she could manipulate her spiritual energy to strike an enemy. To prevent that hole from being noticed, she deliberately used Wind Elementium, which is invisible to the naked eye, and created a weaker barrier at that location.


    The Air Barrier was fully covered and invisible, about the size of a fist, and while an enemy was unaware of it, no one would ever think there was actually a hole in this Protective Barrier.


    No common enemy could defend against Lucy''s bizarre and terrifying long-range attacks while searching for weaknesses in the protective barrier inch by inch. That''s why she was able to keep this great secret and gained the confidence of being nearly invincible.


    But today, unfortunately, she encountered two special Apprentice Mages at the same time.


    One of them was an Advanced Apprentice who had completely modified his body and could transform into numerous scorpions. He also possessed an unpleasant and strange method of attack. In the end, he was simply a cockroach that was nearly impossible to kill. The other was just a stranger.


    Although he was merely a Beginner Apprentice, he was still able to expose her greatest secret¡­ Moreover, it seemed he could truly see her spatial energy.


    To capture this oddity, Lucy used the strongest energy she could muster and, in the shortest time possible, set an invisible Spatial Trap in his path. But, mere seconds before this rascal fell into her invisible trap, he suddenly changed direction and evaded it.


    Now, Lucy had no doubts about his ability.


    Thus, her desire to catch him grew even stronger!


    ...


    After running for so long, Leon was extremely tired.


    Due to his lack of training and cultivation, his Agility and Physique were very low. If he hadn''t covered his body with Wind Elementium to boost his speed, he might have been caught long ago by that terrifying Lolita. He had a feeling that if he were truly captured by her, something extremely horrible would happen to him.


    So even though he was panting, he gritted his teeth and continued running for his life.


    The graceful Wind Elementium lifted his body, reducing his weight by half and allowing him to move through the muddy swamp at a relatively high speed. Feeling his physique tiring rapidly, Leon''s face continued to contort as he began to panic. In his panic, he came up with a dangerous plan. Resolving himself, he turned right and ran deeper into the swamp.


    He would never be able to escape by running, so Leon decided to lure Lucy into the Ghost Nanny''s habitat.


    This area of the swamp was a bit different from the others.


    The rotten, foul-smelling sludge and the slowly moving muddy water mixed together, with pieces of grass growing haphazardly and other dirty debris floating all around. The water in this murky, filthy lake wasn''t completely still, but flowed at an extremely slow pace. From time to time, bubbles and half-rotten tree branches appeared on the surface.


    Indistinct wailing, reminiscent of the moans of the damned, echoed above this foggy lake, recalling the cries of the condemned and sending a cold sweat down the spine of anyone who heard that sacred music.


    There was a trail through this swampy area, but the dark path blended with the murky water, making it very difficult for outsiders to find the ruined trail amid the filthy swamp.


    Within this swampy area, covering nearly thirty square miles, lived many different groups of Ghost Nannies. The smaller groups consisted of only seven to eight members and normally resided in the more remote regions of this area. Meanwhile, larger groups could have up to a hundred members and occupied the largest region right in the center of this part of the swamp.


    Like demons, Ghost Nannies only possessed basic intelligence. They were usually transformed from those humans who accidentally drowned in the swamp. Although they had once been human, their minds were filled with intense hatred and resentment toward all of humanity.


    For months, or even years, they remained trapped on the swamp''s edges. Once a living human approached, they would leap, biting into the flesh of their target and dragging them down to the swamp''s depths to drown them. Through this method, they ensured that their population continued to grow.


    Their appearance closely resembled that of a slender human woman. However, most of their muscles were missing, and their skin had turned pale due to constant immersion in muddy water. Adding to this were their old, moldy bones, giving them the appearance of a living corpse.


    While most were naked, those who had lived a better life as humans might be wearing a tattered dress, although it was always so faded that it was impossible to tell what the dress originally looked like, or even what color it was.


    ....


    1840 Words

 Chapter 21: Sinbad

    Disheveled and dirty hair; twisted, pitch-black claws; extremely sharp fangs. All of these were typical characteristics of a Phantom Nanny.On land, their combat abilities were weaker than those of the Ghouls, but when they were in the murky waters of the swamp, their combat strength doubled, allowing them to fight on equal footing with giant alligators. Furthermore, within certain larger populations of Phantom Nannies that had survived for a long time, there might even be a leader who mastered certain Elementium abilities.


    These unique Phantom Nannies possessed advanced intelligence comparable to that of Apprentice Mages.


    Put it this way: if human Mages were willing to grant freedom to these Phantom Nanny Leaders, it would be possible for them to give birth to a pair of Mage Phantom Nannies.


    Too bad for them, this was a world of Mages where human Mages had taken the dominant position. Thus, the evolution and development of all other species were reduced to nothing.


    So, no matter how intelligent or wise a Phantom Nanny Leader became, when faced with a Mage who held the superior position, they were merely a valuable experimental target or a source of materials to be recklessly slaughtered.


    Today, the peace of this Phantom Nanny''s habitat was broken by two outsiders.


    A young man and a girl intruded upon the swampy area, one after the other.


    The young man who came first was obviously an Apprentice Mage from the Tower of Mages. Aside from his impressive Apprentice cloak, he also carried the distinct magical aura of a talisman that only Apprentices from the Tower could possess. However, this Mage underling was really an unlucky fellow, for he was being chased by someone today.


    With his weight reduced by Wind Elementium, he stumbled into the murky water, shouting something recklessly as he ran for his life.


    "Sinbad!... You miserable creature that can only hide in the mud like a rat¡­ Get over here quickly¡­ Sinbad¡­ You pathetic slug¡­ Soft monster¡­"


    Thus, the entire Swamp area became chaotic due to this frantic young man being hunted by someone.


    The common phantom nannies weren''t intelligent enough to understand what was happening. When they sensed the aura of a human approaching, they quickly struggled to rise from the mud, trying to catch Leon, who slid across their territory, and drag him into the muck.


    So, behind Leon, numerous arms burst from the surface of the water, waving wildly. One after another, Phantom Nannies were being drawn from the bottom of the lake, staggering and then rushing after him.


    But Leon''s target wasn''t them. No matter how many stupid, low-ranked Phantom Nannies he attracted, there was no way they could pose any threat to the terrifying Lolita pursuing him. Throughout the entire Swamp area, perhaps the only existence that could pose a threat to Lucy was¡­ Sinbad!


    With the help of her innate ability, Lucy was floating in the air twenty meters above the ground. Looking at the murky mud and the stinking water spreading all around, the rage on her face was building more and more.


    "Hey you! Guy! Listen¡­ Stop running¡­ As long as you take me to the Tower, I promise I won''t hurt you!"


    With a loud voice, Leon replied without turning around.


    "Right! You definitely won''t hurt me¡­ Don''t use that pretend talk on me¡­ You just want to chop me into pieces of meat¡­ Catch me if you can!"


    After that, he continued forward, shouting ''Sinbad'' repeatedly as he did so.


    "You''re courting death¡­ Kid, don''t you dare let me catch you¡­ If I catch you¡­"


    "What are you going to do? Will you kidnap me to taste my cock with your sweet, tight loli pussy? If that is the case, I can even think about your case because I am a man of culture. I would really be happy to fill your womb with my dirty sperm. "


    Hearing the filthy words Leon uttered, Lucy''s forehead began to throb, and a blood vein at the top corner threatened to burst from the horrendous hatred surging in her chest, like poison coursing through her veins. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But before she could do anything, Leon felt something grab his feet tightly as a vine suddenly emerged from the lake and wrapped around both his legs. With that, he lost the support of Wind Elementium and fell into the foul-smelling swamp water.


    While Leon struggled desperately, an enormous Phantom Nanny slowly rose from the center of the lake, mounted on an even larger creature that looked like an alligator.


    Disheveled, dirty hair; claws with pitch-black, sharp nails; a tattered, torn dress; pale but tough skin; a thin, withered body¡­ This suddenly appeared Phantom Nanny Leader held a simple whip made of vines in her hand and was mounted on a fierce-looking demon. All of this gave her a somewhat valiant appearance.


    "Sinbad! Oh Sinbad¡­ You''re finally here¡­ hurry and take me away! From now on, I belong to you!" When Leon, barely floating in the foul water, saw this fierce-looking Phantom Nanny Leader, he immediately jumped toward her, excited, as if he had just seen his best friend.


    Apparently, this young human, who always came to kidnap members of her own kind, had gone insane. Muttering angrily, Sinbad surfaced to drive away this Apprentice Mage but ended up startled by his actions. Perhaps those common phantom nannies had no idea who this Apprentice Mage was, but as a leader, Sinbad knew everything.


    After the Tower was built in the middle of this Swamp, the natives here lost control over their territories, and the place became one of the resource sites for human Mages. Under the rule of the master of this swampy area, the natives here became the human Mages'' watchdogs, working for them to drive off any intruders who dared to visit this place.


    Despite feeling insulted by their new status, they knew very well how terrifying those human Mages were. Therefore, they were forced to severely endure the fact that their territory was frequently visited by human Apprentice Mages. That wasn''t all. Occasionally, Apprentice Mages kidnapped some Phantom Nannies for their experiments, and Sinbad was forced to turn a blind eye to it.


    But today, this Apprentice Mage in front of him had gone too far, as he had actually come straight into the heart of the swampy area where most of the Phantom Nannies lived. This filled Sinbad with a whirlwind of rage.


    Looking at this young, delicate human who had come to her, Sinbad could no longer contain her hatred for living beings and her craving for fresh flesh. Stretching her pitch-black claws, she reached for his heart, intending to take a bite.


    Just as her fingers began to extend, Sinbad suddenly felt a strong and deadly killing intent. She raised her filthy head and looked straight at Lucy with her slightly glowing red eyes.


    For some unknown reasons, when Sinbad saw this little girl, she couldn''t help but drool. A powerful desire made her want to embrace the girl tightly, and then use her sharp fangs to gently prick the girl''s fair, delicate skin, letting that warm, fragrant, sweet blood flow into her cold body.


    Especially when she sensed the sweet aura of the soul hidden within the small body. It brought her an indescribable ecstasy.


    She did not have the courage to challenge a human Mage, but when an Apprentice Mage, who had such a strong soul aura, was right in front of her, it filled her with desire.


    A little Apprentice Mage¡­ If she secretly devoured one, presumably that human Mage in the tower wouldn''t become hostile to her? But if he did get angry because of it, Sinbad could still use those useless idiots on the outer perimeter as an excuse. As long as she could savor a delicious Apprentice Mage, five¡­ No, ten¡­ No, twenty.


    Sinbad was willing to sacrifice many of her subordinates for this succulent Apprentice before her.


    Compared to the floating Lucy, Leon was like old, hard cheese next to a platter full of the richest, freshest foods and was no longer of interest to Sinbad.


    Sinbad raised her right hand and slapped the back of the giant lizard beneath her.


    "ROARRRRRR~~"


    This tame demon opened its mouth and let out a loud roar, shooting a grayish ray from its yellow eyes at Leon''s body.


    "petrifying..."


    This was the innate ability of the Giant Lizard. Being hit at such a close range could turn a mortal into a pathetic stone figure forever. As an Apprentice Mage, Leon had some resistance to magical attacks, but when faced with the mount of the Phantom Nanny Leader, he inevitably turned to stone.


    Feeling the gradual numbness and stiffness of his body, Leon quickly grabbed a small potion bottle and tossed it into his mouth, gathering what remained of his energy and waving at Lucy, who hovered just above him. After that, his entire body turned a grayish color, becoming hard as stone as he sank to the bottom of the muddy swamp.


    Four Phantom Nannies turned and dove into the murky water, dragging this war trophy toward their nest, located at the bottom of the lake.


    Floating in the air, Lucy''s beautiful, well-made dress fluttered. She could do nothing as she watched that detestable scoundrel wave at her and disappear into the muddy waters. Indeed, her spatial ability was extremely powerful, but it could only show its strength after she aimed at a specific space with her Spirit.


    Since the scoundrel had disappeared into the murky water, there was no way she could target him anymore.


    When she realized that to catch that scoundrel she would have to dirty her dress with the filthy water below her, another surge of fury exploded in Lucy''s mind.


    That scoundrel would rather let those demons capture him than surrender to Lucy¡­ He must have some way of escaping the demons. There was no way she would let him go so easily¡­ She had to catch him and question him about his ability to see her spatial energy!


    Full of seething rage, Lucy stretched her right arm forward and grasped the air, aiming at the chest of that powerful Phantom Nanny Leader. Under the disbelieving eyes of her target, a smelly, shriveled, lifeless heart suddenly appeared in Lucy''s palm.


    Her beautiful, delicate palm gently squeezed, crushing the lifeless, rotten heart. As the old, black blood dripped from her hand, she looked at the Leader with indifferent and cruel eyes, then spoke softly with a threatening tone.


    "Give me that Apprentice Mage, or else..." Lucy paused, then continued, saying, "Next time, it will be your brain that gets crushed!"


    ....


    1781 Words

 Chapter 22: Potion

    Since they were immortal demons, the hearts, throats, chests, and stomachs of the Phantom Nannies no longer had vital points. However, their brains still contained their shattered souls. If the brain of a Phantom Nanny were destroyed by an enemy, they would face the risk of having their soul disintegrated.Thus, feeling the emptiness and weakness spreading from her chest, a venomous expression of hatred flashed across Sinbad''s grotesque face, and her fierce features became even more twisted and brutal.


    With her tough, taut skin, sharp poisonous claws, and her army of subordinates, Sinbad could fight on equal footing with a giant crocodile. Her deadly teeth and claws could easily tear through half-inch-thick armor, and merely touching an enemy''s flesh, the poison hidden in her black nails could instantly paralyze most living beings.


    But, like most other demons living in this swamp, she lacked any good long-range attacks. The Weakening Ray and Sleep Spell were very short-range attacks and could hardly penetrate basic defensive spells.


    Therefore, when she faced Lucy, who could fly and attack from a distance, although Sinbad''s overall attributes suppressed those of the little girl, her lack of a long-range offensive ability made her incapable of striking back.


    Afraid of the enemy''s trackless magic spell, Sinbad stomped on the beast beneath her, and the Giant Lizard immediately dove back into the muddy water, leaving only Sinbad''s head above the surface. She glared fiercely at Lucy but showed no signs of retreating.


    Lucy furiously unleashed all her attacks, but Sinbad, who had hidden most of her body underwater, managed to dodge them all. After all, Lucy''s body movements were very obvious. As long as someone paid attention and moved out of the targeted area in time, it was quite easy to avoid her spatial attack.


    Even after attacking the Phantom Nanny leader many times, Lucy''s hands still came up with only muddy water, which only made her angrier. In her fury, she ripped out eight decayed, harmful brains from some of the weaker Phantom Nannies who were merely standing by, causing the rest to panic and immediately dive to the bottom of the muddy water.


    Soon, only Lucy and Sinbad were left in that large swampy area.


    After venting her fury, Lucy took a moment to reflect on her weakness. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Indeed, her spatial spells were mysterious and powerful, but they were all single-target offensive abilities. Except for her final spatial rift ability, she had no large-area effect spells to speak of. While she was nearly invincible in one-on-one battles against Apprentice Mages of a similar level, when faced with her current situation, her abilities fell short of her desires.


    If she had mastered a simple spell like Magma Fireball, she could have turned that stinking puddle into a huge pot of boiling water in seconds, cooking all the filthy demons hidden within. But because of her passion and confidence in her Spatial Spells, she refused to study or research any of these ''simple'' Elementium spells.


    As a result, there was nothing she could do in her current situation. She truly felt powerless about how to deal with that wicked Phantom Nanny Leader, who refused to get out of her way.


    If her muscular partner were here, perhaps with the advantage of his large and strong body, he could have forcefully invaded that Phantom Nanny Leader''s nest. But Lucy was a long-range Apprentice Mage with a weak physique. Once trapped in a fierce fight with a crowd of Phantom Nannies, she was not confident she could escape this place in one piece.


    However, she decided she would capture or kill the strange rookie apprentice who could see through her spells today. After a brief moment of hesitation, she released her spatial protection barrier.


    Then, like a shooting star, she simply hurled herself into the muddy water.


    "Zosh~~"


    "POW~~"


    Apparently, Sinbad never expected that this small human Lolita who had lost one of her eyes would be so bold. She quickly controlled the Giant Lizard and dove deeper into the water, emitting a strange, high-frequency sound from her mouth and calling all her subordinates to help.


    "Buzz~~"


    The muddy water started to churn as the foul-smelling water began to flow violently. The calm swamp pond immediately started bubbling like hot water.


    Numerous moving objects could be seen swimming frantically toward Lucy. These objects were actually giant lizards kept by the Phantom Nannies. They were over 5 meters long and covered in a layer of hard scales. Besides their sharp claws, they could fire a Petrification Ray at a target within 5 to 10 meters.


    Additionally, one after another, Phantom Nannies could be seen swimming in the foul water, relentlessly attacking this brave intruder who dared to strike their home.


    Beneath the surface of that stinking lake, where human sight was reduced to nothing, Lucy was fully encased in an indestructible protection barrier. Her remaining eye glowed with hatred as she used her unique spell to kill every approaching enemy she could sense.


    There were many spells that would allow her to regenerate her eye that the scorpions had ripped out, but she simply couldn''t swallow her anger at receiving such an injury in the first place. Although it was that hateful insect that did this to her, the real culprit was this strange apprentice who had led her to this accursed stinking lake.


    Whether it was some innate ability of his or some sort of magical spell that allowed him to sense spatial energy, there was no way Lucy would let this leak to the public. If her enemies found out, the reputation Lucy had built for herself would be at risk.


    After the eruption of a chaotic and bloody war under the muddy lake, the entire swampy area turned into a fierce battlefield. However, the one responsible for all of this, the rookie apprentice Leon, was having his petrified body dragged into the Phantom Nannies'' nest.


    Once the fight began, four Phantom Nannies dragged the fully petrified Leon to the bottom of the lake. They dug a hole in the filthy, stinking mud, revealing an underwater tunnel. With Leon being pulled behind them, they squeezed into the hole. The tunnel was filled with sticky, pungent mud, but this did not slow them down.


    They swam in a straight line for several meters and then upward. Soon, they broke through the water''s surface, emerging in a damp tunnel beneath the swamp. Just as these demons started crawling forward, dragging Leon through the dark and wet tunnel, they heard Sinbad''s deep, hoarse roar from the swamp above them.


    The intense battle had caused Sinbad to start roaring furiously, summoning all the Phantom Nannies in the area to aid her. Her voice was so loud that it even made the tunnel walls vibrate violently.


    Due to their hot temper and low intelligence, the two Phantom Nannies following behind Leon became restless, letting out a few short screeches before quickly turning around and diving back into the mud. Clearly, both were responding to their leader''s call and heading out to fight the enemy.


    As for the other two Phantom Nannies, they also let out cries of anger but managed to resist the urge to fight and continued their task of dragging Leon through the tunnel.


    This muddy swamp lake was home to the Phantom Nannies. They could dive into the filthy mud and water year after year, waiting for their prey to come. But undeniably, they also needed a place to store what they considered treasures: rotten, stinking dried meat, worn-out leather armor, poorly maintained weapons full of rust, and the foul roots of plants they had harvested...


    If these items were left in the fetid water of the swamp where they lived, they would quickly rot to nothing. Thus, Sinbad dug a horizontal tunnel beneath the bottom of her swamp, boring into a place away from the damp swamp and making a drier cave to store things.


    And now, the petrified Leon was being escorted to this cave.


    Even though his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose were covered in sticky mud, and his body was as hard as a stone statue, Leon''s mind was functioning as usual. He was still able to sense everything happening around him.


    It seemed like those two monsters had finally begun fighting!


    Through the faint vibrations and roars from above, Leon could imagine how intense and bloody the battle was. Although the army led by Sinbad far outnumbered her enemy and they were fighting in their own territory, Leon still did not think they could defeat that small and terrifying Lolita.


    Having not mastered any Elementium spells and relying only on their tough bodies, when faced with Lucy''s nearly invincible protective barrier, their fighting ability was a joke. As long as they could not find the hidden ''Back Door'' to the Protection Barrier, even if they kept attacking until their hearts and lungs gave out, they would never break through that barrier.


    Unless they could force Lucy to exhaust all her Spirit Points, they would certainly lose the battle. Therefore, while they were busy fighting each other, Leon had to do everything possible to escape.


    Although Leon''s body was petrified and he could not move at all, he was still able to manipulate his Spiritual Energy. Reaching out with his spiritual energy, he opened the stopper of the small bottle hidden in his mouth, releasing a pungent, strong potion that quickly went down his throat and into his stomach.


    After many years of inspection trips around the perimeter of the Tower, Leon knew the ins and outs of the swamp demons'' abilities. Would he really go on inspection trips unprepared for the possibility of being inflicted with a strange status effect? This ''Freedom of Movement'' potion was an item he had paid a high price for, purchased from another Apprentice Mage of the Tower.


    It was effective in removing Petrification and Paralysis of any kind.


    Once the potion began to take effect, a tingling sensation gradually spread throughout Leon''s rigid body, and his body slowly came back under his control.


    After being dragged for nearly a hundred meters, they finally reached a somewhat dry cave with a decent patch of flat ground. A musty smell filled the narrow cave and nearly made Leon choke.


    After tossing Leon onto a pile of jumbled objects, the two Phantom Nannies began screeching and growling at each other. It seemed they were debating whether to go help in the battle or stay here to guard their ''food.'' But, just as the two were busy arguing, two crackling sounds flared up behind them. It was the sound of two fist-sized Elementium fireballs springing to life.


    The two Phantom Nannies were startled for a moment. Then they noticed that the petrified human had stood up, with two small fireballs dancing in his palms.


    Possessing only basic intelligence, these Phantom Nannies had no idea what was happening, but when they caught the fresh scent of flesh and blood, they immediately let out aggressive roars and leaped toward Leon.


    The next instant, the two small fireballs exploded into blazing flames, burning everything in the direction of the two Phantom Nannies.


    "Burning~~"


    Both sides collided, with Leon soon collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath.


    His shirt was torn, and four terrifyingly deep wounds could be found on his chest.


    On the other side, the two Phantom Nannies continued their momentum and slammed into the dirt wall behind Leon. Gently controlled by Leon, the two flames traveled through their massive mouths, incinerating everything within their heads. As a result, both Phantom Nannies died in the blaze.


    The air was thin in the cave and became even more depleted after being burned by the recent fire. Leon gasped for breath for a while.


    Stars danced before Leon''s eyes, and he felt very unwell. He did not feel any pain from the wounds inflicted by the Phantom Nannies, but he felt a strange tingling sensation. This made Leon''s heart sink. Damn, he had been poisoned by the Phantom Nannies'' attack!


    He searched around himself, found a bottle of antidote, and poured it into his mouth. Only then did Leon relax.


    He held his breath in deep concentration and listened to the violent vibrations coming from the tunnel. This was a sign that the battle was not over, and he still had a chance to escape, so Leon decided to rest and gathered his courage. Then he began to examine the Phantom Nannies'' nest.


    ...


    2085 Words

 Chapter 23: Bleia Again

    There was a saying: no thief leaves empty-handed!He had only reached this place after risking his life. If he simply turned and left, wouldn''t that be a waste of Sinbad''s ''Wonderful Hospitality''?


    Leon activated his Elementium Vision and began to scan the cave.


    Among the odds and ends piled up like a mountain, Leon found only a few items he considered useful. For these Ghost Nannies trapped in the swamp, opportunities to find good loot were rare, so although it seemed like there was a lot of ''treasure'' gathered here, only a handful was truly valuable.


    Seven to eight high-quality blood sacs, which looked like red spheres; a broken piece of magical equipment, so degraded that no one could tell what it originally was; a fist-sized metallic ore glowing a strange blue; a peculiar white stone the size of an egg¡­ Without a second thought, he grabbed everything and stuffed it into his waist pocket.


    All of these items were precisely picked by Leon, as he could sense the faint Elementium ripples they emanated. As for the other dirty and messy items, he simply ignored them. After all, he was in the middle of a life-or-death run. Carrying too much would greatly reduce his chances of escape.


    As the hidden nest of the Ghost Nannies, there was more than one tunnel leading to this cave. Clearly, their leader, Sinbad, knew the saying, "A cunning rabbit has three burrows." However, this clever arrangement worked to Leon''s advantage, as a part-time thief. He took a brief moment to get his bearings, then squeezed into a damp tunnel leading away from the muddy lake.


    Some time later, a strangely human-like head emerged from a small muddy pond in the swamp. As the viscous mud slid slowly off, Leon exposed only the upper part of his head, silently observing the distant movement.


    There should have originally been a few Ghost Nannies living in this muddy pond, but obviously, they had been drawn by the massive battle happening in the distance, responding to Sinbad''s furious calls and joining the fight. This allowed Leon to move freely, with no one around to oppose him. He took a deep breath and began to climb out of the pond.


    While the battle raged in the distance under the thick, sticky mud, the only signs were the roars and cries of the Ghost Nannies and the occasional bursting bubbles on the surface. Leon never wanted to see that terrifying little Lolita again. He moved away from the fight and swam toward the banks of the muddy pond.


    He bet that the Ghost Nannies were struggling under the strange, unpredictable spatial attacks of Lucy!


    "Advance~~"


    But just as he was nearing the edge of the pond and preparing to climb out, an explosion occurred in the muddy water behind him, revealing a Giant Crocodile with its mouth wide open, lunging at Leon.


    "BITE!"


    Everything happened so suddenly, and the hostile environment provided perfect cover for the Giant Crocodile, so until the moment it attacked, the only warning Leon received was a sudden beep from the Chip.


    After a series of rolls and twists, Leon barely avoided the deadly bite by mere millimeters. The massive mouth, full of sharp teeth, snapped shut next to his waist, creating a small breeze carrying a putrid stench that made Leon''s hair stand on end.


    Had he not been alerted by the Chip, just one bite from this ferocious Giant Crocodile would have easily snapped his body in half. If that had happened, all his great ambitions would have been in vain.


    Seizing the opportunity when his enemy missed its attack, Leon scrambled on his hands and knees and rushed to the edge of the pond. He turned and quickly summoned a Fire Arrow, aiming at the giant mouth that was opening for a second strike.


    "Zosh~~"


    The ''Fire Arrow'' spell, which had been in the process of solidification, was finally ready, allowing him to complete his attack smoothly.


    "Bang~~"


    The Fire Element spell exploded, engulfing the entire head of the Giant Crocodile.


    The fiery blast was followed by a rain of shattered teeth and chunks of flesh around the pond''s edge. Writhing in intense pain, the Giant Crocodile''s body thrashed wildly, creating a mud wave several meters high and turning the surrounding area into an even messier mire.


    The main reason Leon chose Fire Arrow instead of Fireball as his first long-range offensive spell was because it also dealt physical damage upon impact. This trait was especially significant when dealing with wild creatures that had high resistance to Elementium-based attacks.


    Of course, Leon would never admit it, but the real reason he gave up on learning the Fireball spell was the extremely difficult 54 Magical Syllables he would have to memorize and correctly chant to cast the spell.


    Returning to his current situation, Leon''s attack had obviously exposed his position.


    "Oh. So you were hiding there! Don''t even think about escaping from me again¡­"


    A shrill female voice suddenly came from afar. Within her protective barrier, the fearsome Lucy struggled to rise out of the muddy lake, letting out a furious roar in Leon''s direction.


    Unfortunately for her, the next moment a long whip made of some native vine shot out from the water, wrapping tightly around Lucy''s invisible barrier. Thus, the little Lolita could only show half of her body, getting stuck in the pond, unable to break free from the water''s surface.


    Countless Ghost Nannies kept battering the protective barrier like wild beasts. However, their sharp claws and aggressive attacks were futile against the Barrier, so more and more Ghost Nannies threw themselves at it, trying to use their combined body weight to drag that filthy human, who had killed so many of their sisters, back into the muddy lake.


    Like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, one after another, the Ghost Nannies kept swimming around the invisible barrier, stepping over the bodies of their allies and leaping out of the water, recklessly striking at Lucy as she struggled to free herself. The horde''s relentless actions only made Lucy even angrier.


    No longer holding back, countless visible spatial cracks appeared, slicing through everything that approached the barrier. Whenever a Ghost Nanny came into contact with these spatial cracks, whether it was an arm or its strong, resilient body, whatever touched the cracks was cut in half, sending sticky black blood splattering everywhere.


    Even so, the Ghost Nannies continued to rush in, wave after wave, never showing any sign of stopping.


    Not only that, but even Sinbad''s Giant Lizard charged at Lucy. Using its tail, it slammed against the indestructible barrier, forcing most of its body to sink back into the muddy water again. The massive impact transferred to Lucy, causing blood to spurt from her nose and mouth. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thus, a fierce battle once again erupted between Lucy and the Ghost Nannies, who swarmed like a horde of wasps. Meanwhile, Leon was trapped in a perilous fight with a Giant Crocodile.


    Although his Fire Arrow had severely injured the Giant Crocodile''s mouth and created a bloody mess inside, it was still a ferocious demon with immense vitality. This type of damage was far from fatal. As a result, the furious Giant Crocodile channeled all its pain into rage, directing it at Leon as it pulled its massive, scale-covered body from the mud and launched continuous attacks at him.


    Fearing the Giant Crocodile''s ''Slowing Ray,'' Leon ran tirelessly to save his life. Most of these swamp demons had Earth Elementium abilities, and with their thick hides, powerful bodies, sharp claws, and pointed teeth, fighting them in this muddy swamp was asking for death.


    Meanwhile, thanks to a warning from the Chip, Leon discovered that there were some underwater creatures sneaking toward him.


    Damn it. Why did he decide to come to a nest of these damned demons?


    Muttering and cursing under his breath, Leon followed the Chip''s instructions, narrowly avoiding the relentless attacks of the horrifying Giant Crocodile behind him.


    Rather than calling his current location the lake''s edge, it was more like a narrow, poorly made strip of land between two muddy lakes. The ground was soft, and every step was a struggle, as his feet kept sinking into the mud. Thus, escaping these giant crocodiles in such an environment was extremely difficult. Too bad he couldn''t fly like Lucy.


    At this very moment, it was too late to regret never trying to learn the Wind Element Levitation Spell. Leon pushed forward, doing his best to stumble his way to safety. Watching the swift approach of the sneaky aquatic beasts, his heart was now full of misery. He had activated the Magic Talisman in his hand several times, but it just didn''t seem to have any effect.


    Under more normal circumstances, a Mage''s deterrent effect was enormous against these swamp demons. But the aggression of these demons had been heightened by the scent of blood, making it very difficult to fend them off.


    A foul wind brushed against his face.


    "Boom~~"


    The water''s surface erupted as two Giant Crocodiles leaped simultaneously, their enormous jaws wide open, each capable of swallowing Leon whole in a single bite.


    "BITE!"


    Staring at the massive jaws that were now within reach, seeing the gleaming, jagged teeth and the throats leading to a digestive purgatory¡­ there was no way he could save himself from this dire situation.


    Just as Leon closed his eyes, bracing for death, something suddenly slammed into him, and he was lifted into the air.


    The heart-stopping sound of the Giant Crocodiles'' massive jaws snapping shut followed, but Leon once again narrowly escaped their bloody maws. He opened his eyes when he heard their furious roars coming from far behind. He was flying just an inch above the water''s surface at an incredible speed.


    "What was happening?"


    His heart was pounding, full of fear and uncertainty about his current situation. Leon could clearly see something reflected on the murky water''s surface beneath him, and he heard the sound of wings flapping above him.


    He craned his neck, struggling to see what was above him. To his surprise, an enormous humanoid bat was carrying him while flying strenuously.


    Yes, it was struggling to fly!


    This humanoid bat had a pair of massive fire-red leather wings, each about 4 to 5 meters long, but a rather slim and small body. Of course, its wings could carry it perfectly well if it were flying alone. But flying along with Leon clearly exceeded its strength.


    A new type of swamp demon? Of course not. Leon could sense a faint magical aura and a familiar scent emanating from its body. With the help of the Chip, and by seeing its strange but familiar face, a certain girl came to Leon''s mind.


    "Bleia?! The Vampire Pussy?"


    ....


    1806 Words

 Chapter 24: Answers

    "Bleia? Is that you, Bleia!" Leon shouted in shock.The enormous humanoid bat smiled like a human, then descended and threw Leon to the ground. After rolling a few times, Leon finally stopped, then stood up, a pained expression on his face. Meanwhile, after circling in the air one last time, the enormous bat descended and landed beside Leon.


    Miraculously, as the humanoid bat approached the ground, its form began to twist and change in a bizarre manner. The reddish fur on its body gradually disappeared, transforming into a smooth, shiny red dress. The thick, protruding cheeks tightened inward, revealing a beautiful and charming face.


    Once the transformation was complete, she gracefully turned and walked towards Leon. Bleia was back to normal.


    Bat transformation!


    This... seems to be a unique vampire ability.


    The innate abilities of a newborn vampire were gaining strength through blood consumption and regeneration. Because of these two factors, they were already an extremely frightening species. However, if a newborn vampire could take one step further, they would gain the ability to transform into a bat. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Whether transforming into a single massive bat and flying through the sky, or splitting into thousands of small bats as a means of escape, this ability performed admirably in saving one''s life.


    And, if a vampire reached a mature stage, they would be able to begin mass-producing Blood Slaves.


    So, to fight a mature vampire, one would first need to face a massive army of Blood Slaves.


    As his mind went through all the knowledge it held related to vampires, Leon couldn''t help but feel respect, and even a bit of admiration, for Bleia''s rapid progress. Only a few days had passed since she became a Vampire, and she had already awakened her second innate ability.


    "Who is that little girl? Why is she hunting you?" Bleia wasn''t looking at Leon but at the chaotic battlefield in the distance.


    Their current location was about five or six miles from the heart of the Ghost Nannies'' Lake, so the thick swamp mist was blocking their vision. However, it wouldn''t matter if they were sixteen miles away, as massive waves of Elementium were being released from where Lucy and Sinbad were.


    The battle was getting intense!


    "They''re intruders! Three Advanced Apprentice Mages attacked. That little girl, Lucy, mainly uses the Space Principle, which she is highly suited for. She''s terrifyingly strong¡­"


    As Leon was explaining this in a soft voice, a shockwave of Elementium erupted from the direction where the battle was occurring, followed by the shrill howls of the Ghost Nannies.


    "Oh no, let''s run!" Leon''s face changed dramatically. "That terrifying little girl has escaped Sinbad!"


    He had felt this frightening shockwave before and knew that Lucy was using her powerful spatial attack that could cause mass destruction with space rifts. It''s worth noting that using this ability came at a high price, but when Lucy used it, Leon was certain that Sinbad could never stop her from fleeing.


    "If we work together, do you think we have any chance of killing her?" Bleia suddenly turned, her green eyes flickering red as she looked directly at Leon.


    "This... Well... If we work together then... Maybe... Maybe..." Leon was surprised by Bleia''s unexpected question. When faced with this powerful Advanced Apprentice, all that mattered was running for his life.


    The idea of turning back and attacking the enemy was simply absurd.


    After all, with his current abilities, even if Lucy were severely injured and dying, she could still crush him easily.


    If he could keep a 50-meter distance from Lucy, Leon was 80% confident he could avoid her spatial attacks with the Chip''s help. If the distance were reduced to 30 meters, his confidence would drop to 40%, and if he were 20 meters from Lucy, he knew he would be killed instantly.


    He needed time to respond to the Chip''s warnings. Without the Chip, Leon was nothing more than a small, fragile glass figurine in front of Lucy.


    He didn''t have the strange insect body of a Worm Controller, which could still remain alive even if its heart was ripped out. Thus, once Lucy captured him with her spiritual energy, he would be dead! Therefore, Leon instinctively wanted to say no to Bleia''s question.


    But, when confronted with the unstoppable Bleia, it seemed he had no voice in the matter.


    His body began to twist bizarrely again as Bleia transformed into a small bat, just the size of a human fist. She flew towards Leon''s chest and squeezed into his shirt. She looked at him and spoke threateningly, "You''d better not reveal that I''m here! I''m determined to get the blood of that fool!"


    Faced with Bleia''s tiny furry face adorned with a ''threatening'' expression, all Leon could do was nod expressionlessly.


    "Don''t worry, if she really tries to kill you, I''ll find a way to protect you!" Although Bleia said this, Leon''s mind barely calmed. He began to ponder how he would approach Lucy without alerting her.


    However, when he turned around, his pupils contracted, and he was terrified by what he saw before him.


    A dark figure was slowly condensing in the mist about ten meters away from him. Judging by the silhouette, it was that small, terrifying Lolita, Lucy.


    "Lucy!" At that moment, Leon felt his mouth go dry and his breath shorten.


    This Lucy was like a vengeful ghost. No matter where he ran, she kept finding him. After being forced by the Ghost Nannies to unleash a second spell of Space Rifts, which covered a vast area, not only did she have no time to find a place to recover, but she came right after him. Did she not know that resting was a necessary part of life?


    Recovering from his shock, Leon realized he should be running now.


    But, before he could lift his feet, a trembling, childish voice resonated in the air.


    "If you dare to take a step, I promise I''ll teleport your heart into your stomach¡­ I dare you to force me¡­"


    Leon raised his head and watched as the dark figure gradually became visible. In the end, he didn''t have the courage to take that step.


    Damn, she was too close!


    After thinking that, he was stunned by Lucy''s face.


    In her previous battle with the Worm Controller, Lucy had lost one of her eyes and suffered many cuts and bruises, but this time, the little Lolita was in an absolutely terrible state.


    The hollow socket where her right eye used to be was still empty, but now there were three gruesome scars stretching from the bottom of the right eye to the left corner of her lips. The skin around these scars was turning black, and the exposed flesh showed obvious signs of decay. Whenever Lucy spoke or did anything that moved her face, black blood oozed from those ugly wounds.


    Moreover, the number of injuries on her body had multiplied, and there were many bite marks on her exposed skin. The small, cute Lolita had been replaced by a distorted, voodoo doll-like creature.


    An indistinct vibration of spatial energy filled the area. After struggling for a moment, Lucy managed to finish her spatial energy construction, teleporting from one area to another. Normally, she could easily complete this simple spatial jump, but now she had to push every last drop of her strength just to manage it.


    Shortly after she exited the spell matrix, Lucy''s remaining eye was filled with a blazing flame of rage, glaring fiercely at Leon, who wore an empty expression. Although she barely reached Leon''s chest, her brutal and dominating presence was crushing him.


    Leon''s heart began to race even faster when he saw a large head hanging from Lucy''s waist.


    Judging by the cruel and ugly face, it had to be Sinbad''s head. It seemed that even the leader of the Ghost Nannies hadn''t escaped from the brutal Lucy.


    "You''re good... You''re really good..." Lucy murmured. Grinding her teeth, she looked at Leon. It was easy to see that she was unable to express all the anger and frustration she felt towards Leon right now.


    When she first stepped into this Magical Swamp, she was in a good mood and filled with pride. In her mind, apart from those exalted and venerable Mages, everyone else was just a monotonous variety of trash, not even worthy of carrying her shoes. Relying on her indestructible protective barrier and her mysterious spatial cutting, she felt qualified to face a pseudo-Mage.


    But who would have thought that, within this seemingly insignificant Magical Swamp, which was just a common resource location for a Third Grade Mage family, she would actually suffer such a heavy loss? At that moment, no one could understand how depressed and angry she was! She was like an ancient brutal beast devouring all the men before her.


    All she wanted to do was peel the skin off that slippery rat and tear every tendon from his muscles, crushing all his bones one by one and smashing his flesh into a pile of meat paste.


    Perhaps, by doing all this, she could alleviate the anger in her heart.


    "Boy, tell me honestly, how did you find the gap in my protective barrier?" Lucy''s fierce face smiled as both her hands began to grasp the air in front of her. A spatial rift, constantly elongating, appeared between her hands like a tamed snake. "As long as you tell me the truth, I promise, I won''t do anything to you today. I, Lucy, always honor my words!"


    ''Only a dead man would trust you! Even if you don''t attack me personally, you could just throw me into a swarm of demons, and that would kill me. Hmm, it''s clear that I know more about dirty tricks and sinister plots than you¡­''


    Leon began to complain in his mind, then he realized he was staring at a spatial rift behaving like a tamed snake in Lucy''s small hands. He wasn''t brave enough to say a single word in the face of such a display of power. Although he appeared calm on the outside, inside his mind was overheating.


    ''Damn, she really is a genius, she''s playing with a spatial rift with her own hands! This is a spatial rift! A FUCKING SPATIAL RIFT! Even the sharpest weapons in the world can''t compare to this! No matter if it''s in front of a shield made of pure steel, or iron that has gone through thousands of temperings, as long as there is no magical protection, it will be cut like a sheet of paper!''


    Despite being an extremely dangerous spatial spell, this little Lolita held it in her hands as if it were a cute puppy. This was proof of how crucial innate skills were for an Apprentice Mage.


    "I can''t see the Spatial Energy around you!" Leon hesitated for a brief moment, then decided to tell the truth.


    "Nonsense!" Lucy shouted angrily, saying, "If you can''t see them, then how did you find the exact location of my Wind Barrier?"


    "You must know that Spatial Energy has no specific Elementium characteristics. It is part of a Principle. Those who do not have an innate talent for a principle can never see it with the naked eye. But don''t forget this, there is a huge repulsive force between the opposite Elementium, and the Spatial Energy you''re using is incredibly harsh and lonely¡­ So¡­"


    "So you determined the shape and position of my protective barrier by detecting the area where there is no Elementium and, as a result, you were able to see that they were repelled by the spatial energy? Then¡­" Lucy concluded from what Leon said and soon found the source of the gap, saying, "Damn, I shouldn''t have used a Wind Elementium spell to cover that hole.


    Next time, I''ll use a Force Field spell that doesn''t contain Elementium."


    ...


    1991 Words

 Chapter 25: Final explosion

    Lucy deserved her status as an Advanced Apprentice Mage. Although Leon had only said a few words, she was able to immediately discern what his weakness was.Her innate spatial talent was still worthy of being called ''invincible.''


    At least, she was invincible when facing enemies of the same level.


    As long as someone was unable to break through her paper-thin protective barrier, her body was completely safe. No matter what was thrown at her, there was no way to penetrate that invisible shield and harm her. At the same time, she could always casually torment her enemy with her Spatial Cut and Telekinesis.


    But no matter how resilient a shield was, there would always be a weak point, and Lucy''s Protection Barrier was no exception.


    To avoid being completely isolated from the world while the protection barrier was active, she had to leave a hole that allowed her to ''communicate'' with the outside world. This hole was how she was able to launch attacks at her enemy while her Barrier was active.


    So, to cover this ''gap,'' she purposefully studied Wind Elementium spells. After that, using invisible wind Elementium, she patched the hole. The invisible protection barrier was mixed with the invisible barrier of Wind Elementium, creating a combination that had previously deceived all her enemies, giving them the impression that her protection barrier was perfect and flawless, with no weak points.


    But she would never have thought that today, at the end of the world, she would encounter a group of such strange beings that challenged her invincible status. One was a disgusting man who had modified his body and transformed into a bug-man, while the other was a novice apprentice who could actually see Elementium in the world around him with the naked eye.


    Encountering these two strange men brought her to the unluckiest day of her life.


    If that bug had stung any other Advanced Apprentice, perhaps the enemy would have been killed by his unpredictable Telekinesis ability. How could she have known she would find someone with such a strange body modification, which gave them time to discover the gap in her defense?


    Furthermore, without this Beginner Apprentice who was able to see Elementium with the naked eye, how could her Protection Barrier have been broken, forcing her to feel the pain of a thousand scorpion stings?


    The more she thought about it, the more irritated Lucy became. She wished she could immediately rip off his skin and crush his bones, but without the information she was even more concerned about, she could only contain her rage and continue, "Is it a magical eye or some kind of special magical spell?"


    "It''s a spell!"


    "Give it to me, and I will spare your life today!"


    "Can I trust your words?"


    "Hmph! It seems to me that you have no choice! Don''t force me to rip out your soul. If that happens, I will tortuously dig through your entire brain!"


    Although Lucy''s personal image had been completely corroded by the day''s events, her pride was still present, and the threatening and domineering tone of her words told Leon that she was not accepting a no as an answer.


    Leon quickly examined Lucy''s current state.


    Either because she had suffered so much damage, or because her Protection Barrier was on standby, the Protection Barrier was nowhere around Lucy.


    Was she not afraid of a sneak attack?


    I will do it!


    Being cautious and indecisive in front of this extremely strong Advanced Apprentice was simply asking for death.


    A moment later, Leon shook his sleeve, throwing a small dark green bottle towards Lucy''s face. Not needing to activate any spell, once the bottle hit the ground, the green substance released from the bottle, and a strange smoke exploded from the point of impact.


    "Splash~~"


    A second later, an ugly, slime-covered man, about a meter tall, slowly rose from the ground.


    This low-grade humanoid puppet was only a temporary product, as it could last a maximum of seven minutes, and its only method of attack was to surround the enemy, causing them to suffocate within its slimy body. Of course, using a temporary slave to attack an Advanced Apprentice was a joke, but it could keep even a powerful enemy occupied for a second.


    Meanwhile, Leon quickly took a few steps back, both hands moving rapidly through the air as he recited magical spells aloud.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."


    A Fire Arrow began to form in front of him. Once the solidification of the Fire Arrow spell was complete, compared to the previous casting time of over 10 seconds, Leon could now cast it in 5 seconds. It was obvious that this was a significant advancement in his combat power.


    But, what a pity, what he did made no difference in front of that terrifying little girl. An invisible protection barrier instantly appeared between the puppet and Leon, severing the spiritual connection between them. In the next second, the slime creature fell to the ground and simply disappeared.


    This was the greatest weakness of Summoning Spells.


    Once the spiritual connection between the summoner and the summoning was lost, under the effect of the Principles of this world, no matter how strong the summoning was, it was forced to return to where it came from. Therefore, before that cheap doll could do anything, it transformed into a puddle of acidic liquid.


    As for the Fire Arrow that Leon had launched with great effort, Lucy simply responded with a look of disdain; she didn''t even try to stop him from casting.


    "Buzz~~"


    Soon after the Fire Arrow left Leon''s hand, it instantly struck a small ''Mirror Space'' hanging in the air in front of him.


    Blocked by this small protective barrier that reflected energy, the Fire Arrow simply exploded.


    "BOOM~~"


    Clearly, this explosion was happening very close to Leon. In the next instant, the raging flames were reflected by the ''Mirror Space'' and sent back toward Leon, engulfing the body of the young Apprentice.


    Although Leon could sense any change in the area with his Elementium Sight, he was unable to react to this type of sudden change in the space around him. He could cast a familiar magical spell in 3 to 5 seconds, but Lucy could unleash her innate spatial magic in less than a second.


    The enormous gap between them allowed Lucy to sit back and watch as Leon completed his spell-casting process. She had plenty of time to decide whether to block him or launch a counterattack. Not only that, if she wanted, Leon would never be able to finish casting any spell that took more than 3 seconds.


    As she watched the flames engulf the Beginner Apprentice in front of her, a look of disdain appeared in Lucy''s one remaining eye.


    How dare a Beginner Apprentice take the initiative to attack an Advanced Apprentice? This guy was simply asking for death!


    Suddenly, she felt something was wrong.


    A pebble the size of an egg suddenly shot out from the rolling flames, racing toward Lucy. At the same time, Leon also emerged from the flames, both hands covering his head.


    The raging fire obviously didn''t distinguish between friend and foe, and thus Leon suffered great pain forcing his way out of hell. His body was severely burned by the flames, and both exposed arms were covered in burn marks and blisters.


    With a cruel and hideous smile on her face, Lucy gently waved her fingers, sending some barely visible streaks flickering through the air. The flying stone was cut into four pieces upon contact with the streaks.


    "Lightning Strikes~~" S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Violent blue lightning spread through the air for a second and then disappeared.


    Her attempt to use the Lightning Stone to attack was a complete failure.


    Without hesitation, Leon pulled out another blackened object and threw it toward Lucy. After that, he simply turned and ran, as if trying to escape another explosion.


    "Didn''t you hear what I said before? You''re forcing me to cut off your legs! Well, if that''s what you really want¡­" Lucy spoke mockingly, but before she could finish, her expression suddenly changed, and she immediately turned to face the approaching object, as it had just dodged one of her casually cast Spatial Cuts.


    A small bat made a quick loop in the air and avoided the Spatial Cut aimed at it, flapping its wing at an incredible speed. It quickly reached above Lucy''s head.


    A summoning? Was it a contracted creature or some kind of demon?


    Lucy couldn''t immediately identify the origin of this strange bat that had come to her. Shrugging, she waved her hands, unleashing a pair of spatial cuts and completely sealing off any path that the palm-sized bat could take. After doing this, she felt at ease, thinking the bat would be no more trouble.


    But in the next second, something happened that made her scream in surprise.


    "Holy shit!!"


    Quickly transforming, the tiny palm-sized bat inflated like a balloon, turning into a tall, slender human girl wearing an impressive red dress. Not only that, but she didn''t make any evasive moves and simply fell directly toward the spatial cuts, aggressively leaping over Lucy''s body.


    Enjoying Lucy''s terrified expression, claws appeared on the fingers of the girl in red, becoming extremely sharp and pointed, gleaming indistinctly like molten metal. Furthermore, as she fell, the look of this young woman changed dramatically, her green eyes turning blood red, as if blood were going to drip from them.


    When the red-eyed girl was caught by the spatial cuts, the sound of flesh being torn by the spatial attack echoed through the air.


    "Ripping~~"


    A huge amount of blood sprayed from the back of the girl in red, and several cross-shaped holes could be seen in her body. The series of cuts transformed her beautiful milf body into that of a masochist.


    But the girl in red didn''t stop or retreat when her bright red lips were opening wider, revealing two terrifying fangs. When she finally reached Lucy, she simply bit into her exposed neck.


    Damn, she was a vampire!


    Like everyone else, she had heard of these damned beasts before, but as an Advanced Apprentice Mage, Lucy immediately realized what she was facing.


    "Bite~~"


    Like a mosquito biting her neck, a tingling sensation was felt, which quickly transformed into a pleasurable feeling that made her feel as if she were walking on clouds.


    Following the drawing of her blood, she clearly sensed her life force rapidly fading away.


    "Drinking~~"


    "Sucking~~"


    Her body felt drowsy and was so comfortable that she just wished she could let everything go and fall into a deep sleep.


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    But no matter what, Lucy was an Advanced Apprentice with a strong will, and she had high resistance to the paralytic poison being injected into her body through the vampire''s fangs. After being dazed for only a brief moment, she managed to regain control of her will.


    For the first time in her life, Lucy felt as if death were knocking on her front door.


    In her two previous battles, although he had managed to harm her, the worm controller was no match for her. As for Sinbad, if they hadn''t fought in her swamp, the leader of the Ghost Nannies would have been killed instantly.


    But at this moment, Lucy truly felt the threat of death.


    If she didn''t properly manage her current situation, she¡ªwho was very likely to become a great Mage¡ªwould die in this filthy land.


    With no other options, Lucy gathered the last drops of her strength and once again let out a terrifying scream that shook the world around her.


    "Space!"


    "Listen to my desire!"


    "Space, break and destroy my enemies!"


    "Spatial Crack~~"


    "Tremor~~"


    In the next second, the space shattered, and everything around her was crushed to dust!


    "BOOOOMMM~~"


    ...


    1994 Words

 Chapter 26: Recovery of a vampire

    This was the third time Lucy used her Spatial Shatterer ability.As she had an innate talent for using spatial magic, although she was still an Apprentice, she was able to cast terrifying and devastating spells. However, it was clear that her body was not strong enough to endure the repeated use of these high-level spatial magics.


    Therefore, after tearing and shattering everything within a fifty-meter radius, part of her body disintegrated as well, showing how much damage she had suffered from the day''s events.


    Taking the opportunity to escape while the girl in red was being sliced apart by her devastating ability, Lucy struggled and squeezed herself into a spatial tunnel that suddenly appeared behind her, disappearing without a trace. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As blood gushed from every inch of her body, Bleia remained standing where she was, her body broken. There wasn''t a single piece of unbroken skin on her body. In her entire life, she had never seen anyone in such a miserable state.


    It was as if she had just been thrown through a turbine, as all her skin was torn apart, and her flesh was severely mutilated. Blood continuously streamed from all her wounds, of various sizes, staining her pale white skin a deep red. Beneath her feet, a small puddle of blood was forming.


    Leon slowly approached the battlefield.


    "Hey¡­ Are you still alive?" Leon asked, his voice trembling.


    The bloodied figure trembled, moving her blood-red eyes to look at Leon. A look of extreme thirst completely filled her eyes, which had turned as red as her blood.


    "Blood¡­ I need blood¡­ Quickly, give me blood¡­" The figure spoke in a deep, hoarse voice. If Leon hadn''t been paying extra attention, he wouldn''t have heard what she said.


    Just saying those few words, the movement of her lips caused the muscles in her face to tear again, causing more blood to gush out.


    "Don''t tell me you want my blood!" An ugly expression immediately appeared on Leon''s face.


    Judging by the severity of Bleia''s injuries, even if she drank every drop of blood in his body, it probably still wouldn''t be enough for her to fully recover!


    Just when Bleia could barely control herself and was preparing to lunge at Leon, he remembered something. Without hesitation, he pulled out eight bags of blood, which looked like red spheres, from a pocket on his waist. This was something he had "earned" from the Ghost Nanny''s nest.


    Bleia instantly grabbed the bags of blood and began to swallow them frantically, one by one, proving how terrifying vampires, a species that had inherited from the ancient era, could be. The terrible wounds all over her body began to heal at an incredible speed, and the whole process was so miraculous that Leon simply couldn''t believe his eyes.


    A second ago she had been dying, looking like she might faint at any moment, but now, it was as if someone had just cast a magical spell that could turn back time. She was recovering at an unbelievable pace.


    After devouring three bags of blood, all the small and tiny wounds on her body disappeared, and the larger wounds began to stitch themselves. After swallowing the fifth bag of blood, none of the terrifying-looking wounds on her body remained, and once again her skin, although covered in blood, became smooth and clear.


    After the seventh bag of blood, her entire body began to glow in blood red, and finally, Bleia came back to life.


    When she was about to swallow the last bag of blood, she hesitated, then turned and tossed it back to Leon. She was now fully recovered, so it seemed unnecessary to waste another bag of blood. Looking at Leon''s heartbroken face, it was easy to tell that these bags of blood were probably very valuable.


    After tossing the bag of blood, a multitude of small cracking sounds came from her body. This was the sound of the crystallized blood in her body starting to crack, falling from her slender and shapely form and revealing her perfect, curvy, seductive, and incredibly naked body to Leon.


    Even having lived two lives, at that moment Leon had a strong erection.


    Although he tried his best to control himself, he looked at Bleia''s body, just as she had looked at him moments before.


    Although it seemed she really didn''t care.


    For some unknown reasons, the chip completed a deep scanning process on its own. Although Leon only took a brief glance at the report, all data related to Bleia was saved in his mind. Furthermore, the Chip thought ahead and saved a 100% accurate and realistic model of Bleia''s current appearance...


    Name: Bleia


    Class: Apprentice Mage (Advanced)


    Attributes: Strength: 9 | Agility: 17 | Physique: 10/12 | Spirit: 17/18


    Innate Abilities: Vampiric Regeneration and Bat Transformation


    Ugh¡­ Just reading those ridiculous numbers made Leon feel like his heart was going to stop beating.


    Her agility was 17, which meant she had extraordinary reflexes, and that was why she was able to move so quickly. No wonder that even when she wasn''t moving at full speed, she could still produce numerous afterimages to confuse her enemies.


    In contrast, her Strength was her weakest attribute, but it was still quite strong.


    With a Strength of 9, she could easily wield a two-handed sword with one hand and could send a large man flying with a single punch.


    As Leon delved into the world of numbers, Bleia donned her stunning red dress. In fact, her method of dressing seemed impossible. With just a snap of her fingers, the blood beneath her feet began to swirl around her body, moving like a wave of flexible snakes. When they finally stopped, a beautiful red dress appeared on her body.


    A round object hit Leon''s chest.


    Startled, Leon looked down at the object. He was instantly taken aback by the twisted, ugly, and terrifying face in his hands and almost threw it away in fear. But in the next moment, he realized it was Sinbad''s head.


    "That girl had to make a hasty retreat, but she left this behind. Consider it compensation for all those bags of blood you gave me!" Bleia said, showing a carefree expression as she curled her lips as if she didn''t care.


    "You¡­ After suffering such a huge defeat, did you get what you were looking for?" Leon couldn''t help but ask. When he thought about how she had been so corporeal and disfigured just seconds ago, his heart nearly stopped in shock.


    "Hehehe¡­" Bleia let out a laugh of extreme pleasure when Leon mentioned that, blinding him with an incredible smile and saying, "I devoured a bit of that girl''s blood essence, so it will take her at least two or three months to recover! Besides, I have a feeling that the blood of that girl is going to help me make significant progress¡­ Haha..."


    Leon was shocked; he was finally beginning to clearly understand why vampires were considered so incredible.


    From what the Chip had detected about Bleia''s attributes, her Physique was 10/12, and Spirit was 17/18. The first number was her current attribute, and the second value was her potential. Originally, Bleia had a maximum of 10 in Physique and 17 in Spirit. Now that she had fed on that scary Lucy''s blood, she was able to rapidly increase those attributes.


    Although they were still the same, as long as she continued her training over the next few days, she should be able to raise both her Physique and Spirit to their maximum potential, and only then would today''s harvest be considered complete.


    A vampire who could increase her personal attributes just by sucking the blood of others¡­ Just thinking about it made Leon feel dizzy. Once again, it proved how powerful innate abilities could be!


    Judging by her appearance, that terrifying Loli, Lucy, was at most thirteen or fourteen years old. At that age, if she didn''t have an innate talent for Spatial Magic, she might just be a novice who had just entered the Beginner Apprentice level. But the reality was quite different, as she was a terrifying Loli with high intelligence but low emotional control.


    Because of her innate talent for Spatial Magic, she became an elite among all the other Advanced Apprentices.


    It was the same for Bleia.


    Before that, she was just a Beginner Apprentice who had only mastered two magic spells. But after she was transformed into a vampire, her overall ability skyrocketed immediately, and she became one of the strongest Advanced Apprentices.


    Analyzing the data, Bleia had a 60% chance of defeating the Fatal Shot and a 30% chance of defeating the Super Girl. As for the Worm Controller, Bleia had less than a 10% chance of defeating him.


    After all, no matter how incredible her vampiric abilities were, they would only be effective when she had a supply of blood. Additionally, her desperate fighting style could be used against the Fatal Shot. If she broke through his defenses, no matter what kind of injuries she suffered, she would be able to recover.


    But if she used the same method against the Super Girl or the Worm Controller, Leon saw no hope for her victory.


    The terrifying metal sword of the Super Girl was not just for decoration, and with her Strength of 15 and Physique of 16, she had more than enough to unleash brutal physical attacks. Perhaps her 8 in Agility was her weakness, but with the help of magic spells, it would be very difficult for ordinary enemies to exploit that weakness against her.


    And although the Worm Controller didn''t perform so well when confronted with Lucy, that didn''t mean his actual fighting ability was weak. Furthermore, since his body was made up of scorpions, didn''t that mean there was still blood for Bleia to use her vampirism on?


    Thus, in conclusion, while Bleia gained strong abilities, she had not reached the incredible stage that Lucy had.


    Since Bleia was willing to protect him, Leon hid nothing and, like a loyal military advisor, shared all his analyses with her, so she could abandon any unrealistic fantasies she might have.


    After becoming a vampire, Bleia''s temperament changed dramatically. It was not hard to see that the strength of that foreign lineage had profoundly affected her mind and consciousness. She was being nice to Leon, but that was mainly because, during the mutation of her lineage, he showed her compassion.


    But feelings did not last forever, and they would quickly fade in the harsh, rational, and cruel daily life of an Apprentice. Therefore, he had to demonstrate his abilities to avoid giving the impression that he was simply hiding under Bleia''s wings.


    ...


    1787 Words

 Chapter 27: The tower master

    Leon needed time to grow.Although he firmly believed that, with the experience of having lived a previous life and the help of the Chip, his growth rate should not be lower than those geniuses born with extraordinary innate talents, he still needed time to grow.


    Just like a young beast, even if Leon received a pair of wings, his growth would still require a tremendous amount of time and the investment of significant resources.


    Currently, he was weak. If he had someone to protect him, he could grow much faster in the safety provided by that person. Therefore, when Bleia took the initiative to spread her wings and offer him shelter, although her approach was unsettling, he now gladly accepted her protection.


    But Leon wished he could show his worth, trying his best to make this "relationship" seem more like a form of alliance that would benefit both partners, and not just him, as Bleia will still be useful, even when he violates her. Her value in Bleia''s eyes has to be immense to make her think twice before protesting against the forced motherhood to which she will be imposed.


    Leon gave a long look at Sinbad''s head, which was in his hand. If he was right, Sinbad''s soul was still trapped in that head, and if he didn''t manage it properly, the quality of his prize might be reduced.


    In any case, this was the head of a Leader of the Ghost Babysitters, comparable to some Advanced Apprentices. Thus, no matter how he could use it, this was excellent material for experiments.


    There were a total of three outsiders who had intruded into the Magical Swamp. Although they hadn''t killed Lucy, they had at least made her suffer. At that moment, that spoiled and arrogant girl was either dead or in very bad shape. As for the other two intruders, Super Girl and Deadly Shot should be dealing with them, so it wasn''t something Leon needed to worry about.


    As for Bleia, she was clearly more interested in the blood of the other two intruders because, without saying goodbye to Leon, she transformed into her bat form and shot off into the misty fog. In the end, Leon was left alone in the swamp.


    After recovering from the shock of finally having a moment of calm on this hectic day, he stealthily made his way back to the Wizard''s Tower, wanting to safely take his loot back to his room.


    ...


    A dazzling light show was flashing before her eyes. At the same time, an intense dizziness made it difficult for her to identify directions, or even where she was!


    But, with the help of her spatial senses, Lucy struggled to free herself from the chaotic spatial storm, opening a spatial rift and returning to the physical world.


    A twisted spatial rift appeared in the air, and soon after, Lucy emerged from it upside down.


    "Ouch!"


    Lucy, who was completely exhausted, hit her head on the hard, cold surface of a rock, and then she cried out in pain and surprise.


    Damn scoundrel. Damn vampire. You''d better not let me recover fully. Once I''m fully healed, I will definitely¡­


    As she cursed madly in her mind, Lucy suddenly froze completely. With her intact eye wide open and filled with great fear, she looked directly at the terrifying figure that had suddenly appeared in front of her. The fear made her stop, forcing her to refrain from acting recklessly.


    Lucy examined her surroundings in confusion. Only now did she realize that she was in a dark, enclosed stone room. This place was not the safe zone she had established beforehand, and the person standing in front of her was no Apprentice Mage she was familiar with.


    Looking at the thin, almost skeletal body of the man, his long gray Mage robe, his old wizard hat, and that mischievous, sinister smile¡­


    Lucy finally realized who was in front of her and couldn''t help but let out a scream of shock, "Mage Eclivel!"


    The thin old man standing in front of her was none other than the master of the Tower, First-Rank Mage Eclivel.


    He was the highest authority of the Tower. Thus, as soon as Lucy used the Teleportation spell and retreated, her destination was altered, bringing this little Loli, who had already suffered so much, straight to his doorstep.


    The terrifying ability of a true Mage was not something any common mortal could comprehend.


    Honestly, from the beginning of their training, many Apprentice Mages began to modify their bodies. In their minds, the appearance of their body and face was much less important than their overall power.


    If someone thoroughly examined everyone in this city, of the more than fifty Apprentice Mages, perhaps less than half of them still had pure human bodies.


    Lineage modification, biological modification, spell contamination¡­ All of this was the direct result of their tireless efforts to become stronger. The boundary between human and inhuman was not so significant in this world of Mages.


    Knowing that even the Apprentice Mages were heavily modifying their bodies, one can only imagine what the full-fledged Mages must do with their bodies.


    Capable of enduring the cruel and painful modification process, able to persevere in the solitary lifestyle of the pursuit of knowledge, capable of using any means to become stronger¡­ After going through all this suffering and finally becoming an official Mage, do you think they would still have a kind and compassionate personality?


    When mentioning these Mages in the Magical World, what most common people thought of were powerful, unscrupulous, malevolent beings who were sensible in all scenarios. Although they declared themselves slaves to knowledge, always walking the path of knowledge-seeking, their methods of gathering that knowledge could never be described as merciful or moderate.


    In the entire multiverse, being one of the rare large-scale planes, it was inevitable that the Magical World had enslaved over a thousand medium and small-scale planes. They had brutally "appropriated" all the resources and knowledge of the planes they conquered, using them to arm themselves and grow stronger.


    If a Mage family did not have its own particular plane, they weren''t even considered at the lowest level of Mage Families.


    The central force of the army representing the Magical World was made up of members of these Mage Families. If a First-Rank Mage like Eclivel were placed on the limitless battlefield of the endless conquering expedition, he would simply be cannon fodder.


    Yes, the entry requirement to be in the army of the Magical World was to be a First-Rank Mage. As for Apprentice Mages, they were merely novices without experience in the Principles of the Planes. They weren''t even qualified to be cannon fodder.


    Thus, after encountering so many Mages, Lucy held a deep fear and respect for these powerful individuals.


    Although her innate Spatial ability made her an extraordinary talent, when faced with these official Mages, even with her incredible protective barrier, she was just trash that could be killed by them at any moment. In the Magical World, innate talent represented potential, not strength. Over the past millions of years, countless geniuses had lost their lives to stronger Mages with lesser potential.


    Therefore, when Lucy realized she was facing an official Mage, her arrogant and violent attitude immediately vanished. Even though the severe injuries to her body caused her to feel intense pain, so much so that she was drenched in cold sweat, she still acted as if nothing was wrong, slightly bending her body forward and patiently waiting for the man to question her.


    "I''m in a really bad mood today. It seems some insects have intruded into my garden while I was busy with experiments. So, stinky little girl¡­ Who gave you permission to enter my territory?" Mage Eclivel''s face was completely emotionless, and his cold voice sent shivers down Lucy''s spine.


    "The honorable Mage Eclivel, my mentor, the great Deborah, sent me here to deliver a message." Lucy did not hesitate and immediately declared her purpose for coming here.


    "Deborah, the Insane?" Eclivel frowned: "So, you''re that brilliant Apprentice that Deborah got three years ago? Then what the hell is this? Are you trying to show off in my home after learning some tricks from her? Hahahaha¡­ Little girl, didn''t your mentor tell you that I don''t like to be disturbed? Oh, right, the other two little insects are from the Fragrance House as well?"


    Cautiously rising while keeping her back straight, Lucy quickly replied, "No. We met outside the swamp area. We''re all here for our respective missions. One of them is from the Mandasor Academy, the other from the Black Glove Association."


    "Mission? You all came to my Magical Swamp for a mission?"


    "Yes! Each of us received training missions from our own organizations. That''s why we came here uninvited!"


    "Damn it, damn it¡­ I knew those damned Zhentarim would never stop trying to take this place. This is the Magical Swamp! My territory! How dare these guys define this place as one of their mission locations. At the next Mage meeting, I will definitely report your damned behavior to the council¡­"


    Perhaps what Lucy said was a delicate matter for Mage Eclivel, but even though he had already been acting crazily, upon learning about the situation, he became even more insane. Almost shouting, he began to curse and swear at someone in some distant land. At one point, Eclivel started speaking in several different languages, and Lucy could only identify no more than three of them.


    At some moment, Mage Eclivel calmed down and suddenly fell silent. Once again, his empty eyes locked onto Lucy''s face.


    "Because you showed respect, I won''t keep you here. But since you intruded into my garden and caused havoc, I can''t let you go without punishment. This will serve as your lesson!" Mage Eclivel gently pointed his staff at the air and released a small, bright green point, which shot directly into Lucy''s empty eye socket.


    At the same time, a bizarre ring suddenly appeared beneath Lucy''s feet. After blinking a few times, a bright light flashed, and Lucy disappeared from the stone room.


    Almost at the same time Lucy was expelled, the same teleportation ring also appeared beneath the feet of the other two Apprentice Mages, who were still searching in the depths of the swamp. With a flash, they too were expelled from the Magical Swamp.


    ...


    At the entrance of the Magical Swamp.


    It was a small, desolate slope that looked miserable.


    Facing the slope was the Magical Swamp, shrouded in thick fog. Looking out from the top of the hill, beyond the numerous muddy lakes, one could only see a hint of tattered foliage. Otherwise, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.


    After a dazzling flash, Lucy was thrown onto the ground of the empty space.


    Before she could get up, two more flashes of light occurred, and two familiar figures appeared in the space around her.


    While whining, Lucy rose from the ground, hurriedly pulling all sorts of bottles from the pockets of her waist and starting to heal herself restlessly. Although she had left the confines of the Magical Swamp, she did not dare to utter any curses against that Mage.


    Who knew if that damned Mage had any way of spying on them? If he heard her say anything bad, they might be killed right where they were¡­


    ...


    1908 Words


    S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 28: Crystal

    "Urrrr~~"Moaning non-stop, the two newcomers dropped to their knees.


    Compared to the spatially talented Lucy, the other two rarely teleported, so besides the usual dizziness that accompanied teleportation, both felt nauseous, almost to the point of vomiting. However, both had extraordinary physiques, which made them quite adaptable. Thus, after a brief moment of rest, they recovered.


    Apparently, before being teleported to this place, these two had been in fierce battles, as both their bodies were covered in scars. Even now, they were holding their weapons tightly, as if they thought they could be attacked at any moment.


    When they saw Lucy, who looked incredibly unhappy, the two men exchanged glances, incredulous expressions in their eyes. Before entering the Magical Swamp, the three had fought, trying to determine who would be the leader of this temporary team.


    Although both were very confident in themselves, they were both defeated by Lucy''s mysterious telekinetic ability. If they were being honest with themselves, this Lucy definitely had the ability to kill them instantly.


    But unexpectedly, after separating for a short time, Lucy suffered very serious injuries. Compared to her, their injuries were not worth mentioning.


    "Lucy, who were you fighting? Was it a Pseudo-Mage?" Hesitant, the muscular man with a huge sword on his back asked the terrifying Loli what was wrong. The man with the snake head, standing next to him, also showed a worried expression, silently waiting for Lucy''s response.


    "Kerry, don''t get involved in my business¡­" Lucy didn''t want to answer the question and simply continued focusing on healing her own wounds.


    Lucy secretly felt a great fear in her heart. She wasn''t worried about her injuries; she had suffered worse wounds before. What she feared was what the Eclivel Mage had done to her when he threw that bizarre green light into her eye. No matter how much she examined herself, she couldn''t find anything unusual in her body, so she had no choice but to focus on healing her wounds.


    After drinking all kinds of potions, the wounds on her body finally stopped bleeding. Then Lucy began to apply a dark purple, foul-smelling medicinal paste to her injuries.


    Strangely, the result of this seemingly insignificant mud-like paste worked very well. No matter how terrible a wound was, as long as it was covered by the paste for a short period, the skin would be restored to its former state.


    After she finished healing all her wounds, Lucy began to heal her right eye.


    If a normal human lost a part of their body, it would be a scar for life that could never be healed. But for these Apprentice Mages, who had stepped into the realm of mysticism and supernatural forces, restoring lost body parts was quite possible.


    From a black clay pot, Lucy carefully picked out a strange-looking creature that resembled a small snake. Squeezing its tail, she carefully placed it into her empty eye socket.


    This strange creature was tightly held by Lucy so it couldn''t move, causing it to continue spinning in the air while making a sharp, whistling sound. It had a head that resembled a meatball and a mouth that opened like a flower. Inside this oddly-shaped mouth were many tiny, sharp teeth.


    "Serpentine Sakura Herb!"


    Obviously, the muscular man knew about this creature and couldn''t help but sigh at its value.


    "What is this thing?" The snake-headed man had never seen anything like it before.


    "It''s a sacred healing remedy, capable of replacing any missing vital organ in the body. Don''t judge by its ugly appearance. It''s a mutant plant specifically cultivated for this purpose. Its base price is about 70 Magic Crystals." The muscular man explained briefly. At the same time, his face was full of envy.


    "70 Magic Crystals?" The snake-headed man was shocked, and he instantly grasped the value of this item.


    Numerous large-scale Mage associations existed in the Mage World. There were simply too many to count. Internally, each of these organizations and associations implemented a system of knowledge points or exchange points, none of which were interchangeable. Thus, to facilitate trade between organizations, Magic Crystals were born.


    This was an advanced magical universe with countless planes. Every space in each of these planes was filled with magical energy. Normally, this magical energy was evenly distributed throughout the space, but on rare occasions or in unique environments, very dense clusters of magical energy could be found.


    Therefore, in these unique environments, the excessively dense magical energy would infest the surrounding minerals, transforming them into crystals. These crystals were unique items that allowed Mages to quickly replenish their Elementium consumption. Hence, it became an item that gained acceptance from all users across all major planes.


    As a result, Magic Crystals became an important strategic resource for the Mage World, as they were constantly conquering other worlds. Thus, it was used as the basic currency for the entire Mage World.


    The snake-headed man couldn''t help but swallow hard.


    For example, in the Black Glove Association where he came from, after successfully completing this training mission, he would receive 15 knowledge points and 30 Magic Crystals. To obtain 70 Magic Crystals, he would have to complete two ''Dangerous'' missions or seven ''Difficult'' missions or thirty-five ''Normal'' missions.


    So, when he saw Lucy use the Serpentine Sakura Herb without hesitation, which cost 70 Magic Crystals, the muscles in his face began to twitch uncontrollably.


    Despite its fierce and strange appearance, the Serpentine Sakura Herb was just a special mutant plant. Once Lucy placed it in her empty eye socket, it immediately coiled its body and centered itself. Its viscous body began to break down, transforming into tiny threads that looked like micro-sized snakes. Countless threads began to twist and intertwine, soon taking the shape of a human eye. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But just a moment before the eyeball formed by the Serpentine Sakura Herb was about to finish, a bizarre green light suddenly shone around it. In the next second, the Serpentine Sakura Herb went completely berserk.


    Countless tiny tentacles began to pierce Lucy''s eye socket and continued to grow, flailing violently. Soon, some of these tentacles expanded to the size of Lucy''s arm and continued to stretch further.


    After a long period of healing, most of Lucy''s wounds had fully recovered. Thus, her beautiful Loli appearance had returned.


    But at that moment, a gigantic and terrifying ''living octopus'' was emerging from the eye socket of the small, cute Lolita; anyone who witnessed this would definitely tremble in disgust at the scene before them.


    Lucy''s flesh stimulated the disorderly growth of this Serpentine Sakura Herb.


    Under the influence of a mystical curse, Lucy''s newly recovered body began to wither rapidly, and almost half of her flesh was devoured by the rapidly expanding Serpentine Sakura Herb.


    Without hesitation, and using all her strength, Lucy was able to forcefully pull out the Serpentine Sakura Herb that was currently occupying her right eye socket. Raising the twisted, octopus-like monster into the air, Lucy let out a deep, hoarse roar to the sky while blood gushed from her eye socket.


    "Damn¡­ You bunch of damned scoundrels¡­ I will kill all of you!"


    The unusual situation startled the other two Apprentice Mages. Although they had no idea what this little Lolita had experienced in the Magical Swamp, they could still clearly feel a deep hatred in her furious roar.


    Judging by what had happened, it must have been the Mage who did this personally.


    That Eclivel Mage, who led a sedentary life in this Magical Swamp and didn''t even show respect for the mage Deborah, who was Lucy''s mentor, how could he let them go so easily? Because they were both expelled by the Eclivel Mage personally! Who knew what he had cast upon their bodies?


    Just as they were struck by these doubts, the lewd moan of a young woman suddenly reached their ears. Soon, two vague and indescribable Enchanted Souls emerged from the ground beneath their feet, transforming into two magnificent girls that perfectly matched their tastes, clinging tightly to their bodies.


    Well, things would have been better if they were just two illusory souls, but as soon as they were grabbed by these animated beings, their Spirits began to gradually deplete.


    "Spirit-Sucking Demons!"


    The snake-headed man was the first to identify these enchanting spirits, and his loud shout was filled with unmistakable fear.


    Spirit-Sucking Demons were very frightening souls. They consumed a person''s Spirit, which was obtained through meditation. As long as someone''s Spirit wasn''t exhausted, they could survive being attacked by these terrifying demons. But once their Spiritual Points were depleted, the demons would start consuming the life force of their target.


    The snake-headed man went wild.


    He began to roar and scream, and his slender body started to stretch higher and higher, quickly becoming covered in dark green scales. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a huge, furious serpent that was nearly ten meters tall.


    But what a pity; no matter what he transformed into, the bizarre Spirit-Sucking Demon still clung tightly to his body, continuously draining his Spiritual Points.


    Roaring, thrashing, shaking, rolling¡­ He tried every kind of highly difficult movement, wreaking havoc on this small hillside with his giant body. He even turned his head back and spat poisonous liquids at his own body, but all his attempts failed to rid himself of the Spirit-Sucking Demon.


    No magical spell could do anything, no physical attack could touch them; it was as if this demon were merely an illusion that didn''t exist. It was as if it were all just his own fantasy. However, his Spirit was truly depleting. And with the restless and brutal movements of the giant serpent, his Spirit was being diminished at an accelerated rate.


    The muscular man did not foolishly try to remove the demon from his body, as his high Physical Points gave him better magical resistance than the snake-headed man; thus, by avoiding unnecessary movements, he lost Spirit at a slower rate.


    When dealing with a curse cast by an official Mage, these Apprentice Mages had no means to remove it. Therefore, he didn''t dare to stay any longer and began to run away.


    Only by returning to his own organization as quickly as possible could he seek help from his mentor; otherwise, he would die at the hands of this terrifying demon.


    After numerous failed attempts, the snake-headed man had no choice but to revert to his human form. Only then did his Spirit depletion slow down. He cursed angrily in his mind and then took a Magic Crystal from his pocket, absorbing its energy. He then did as the muscular man had done, relying solely on his muscular strength, he ran away.


    He also realized that as long as he didn''t use any magical spells, the rate of Spiritual Point depletion would be slower, and with the replenishment from the Magic Crystal, he could sustain himself for a long period.


    After the two male Apprentices plunged into the jungle and fled, Lucy used her Spatial Energy to crush the monstrous creature in her hand. But she immediately felt a subtle tingling at the back of her eye as another new tentacle appeared in her empty socket.


    In the moments before, Lucy may have only felt hatred and anger, but now indescribable fear arose from the depths of her heart.


    With an explosive noise, Lucy disappeared from her location, reappearing in a distant place. And just as her body solidified, she disappeared again¡­


    She was running out of time.


    If she allowed this terrifying curse to remain, she would soon be out of flesh. She had to return to her mentor as quickly as possible; only then could this frightening curse be removed.


    Therefore, even if it completely depleted her Spiritual Points, Lucy still had to do her best and run back to the House of Fragrances.


    Soon, peace returned once again to the hillside near one of the entrances to the Magical Swamp.


    ...


    2001 Words

 Chapter 29: Mages

    Leon was completely unaware of the events that occurred after he returned to the tower.As expected, whenever something good happened, it was almost always accompanied by misfortune.


    Before today, he thought he would have time to develop slowly and quietly, but after the events of the day, he realized that things wouldn''t be so easy for him. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His previous peaceful life made him think that his life as an Apprentice could continue forever at a gradual pace. But after the exciting encounter today, he recognized the vast gap between a Beginner Apprentice and an Advanced Apprentice.


    Having witnessed the extraordinary potential of Advanced Apprentices and how they utilized magical spells that perfectly aligned with their talents, Leon realized how slow and delayed his progress was.


    Following his original development path, it might take him three to four years of daily meditation and relentlessly pursuing the accumulation of magical knowledge before he could become an Intermediate Apprentice. To become an Advanced Apprentice, Leon would need at least another ten years of hard work. As for becoming a Pseudo-Mage?


    With Leon''s current potential and innate talent, he had little hope of reaching that level.


    As an Apprentice Mage, each small increase in his Spirit was unimaginably valuable to him and resulted only from much hard work. His innate talent was no better than others, so if he wanted to grow faster than the other Apprentices, the only way was to leverage more resources and acquire enough magical knowledge.


    Beyond these, there was no alternative solution.


    And to enhance the power of his magical spells, his first priority was to improve the quality of his body. All magical spells, whether support spells or long-range attacks, were backed by the caster''s body. Magical spells could only unleash their full strength when used by a user who had improved the quality of their body.


    After safely returning to the Tower from the jaws of death, Leon immediately locked himself in his room and began to reflect on his future path.


    Thinking about the four main branches of Mages, Leon carefully pondered the advantages and disadvantages of each, associating them with his own abilities and silently assessing his future.


    Body Refinement Mage.


    To become a Body Refinement Mage, the first requirement was a firm will, which had to be as solid as steel. To stimulate and strengthen the body, these Body Refinement Mages had to be willing to do anything.


    As an example of a training method for Body Refinement Mages, they would soak in a container filled with toxins every day. Venoms from Scorpions, Snakes, Spiders, Poison Herbs, Nightmarish Herbs, Zombie Dust¡­ In short, no matter where the toxin came from, they would use anything they could get their hands on.


    From mild to strong, from weak to powerful, using all kinds of deadly toxins, they would continuously stimulate every cell in their body, forcing it to release its potential and gradually strengthening it.


    Of course, while doing this, survival was definitely the most important thing. They would have to discover the maximum amount of toxin they could endure so that they wouldn''t die from it.


    As they progressed in the body refinement process, as they surpassed the beginner threshold, they gained resistance to certain toxins, and perhaps no common toxin in the mortal world could harm them. If they wanted to go further, the only way was to tirelessly seek rarer and more powerful magical toxins.


    Thus, as a Body Refinement Mage, perhaps the first half of their life would be spent discovering the maximum amount of toxins their bodies could take and hunting for those rare magical toxins that worked best for their bodies.


    Of course, there were also some Body Refinement Mages who used objects with horrifying radioactive characteristics to stimulate and refine their bodies, and some specifically sought out hostile natural environments, using the terrifying forces of nature to advance.


    Overall, there was a variety of methods to train in this branch. But no matter the method used, a Body Refinement Mage would have to endure constant pain and hardships. Only then would they have a frightening body that no ordinary man could ever compare to.


    If Leon wanted to become a Body Refinement Mage, he would first need to find a complete body refinement method. After that, he would have to gather all the poisonous items he would need to use over the long refinement process. Furthermore, during the body refinement process, he would become extremely weak, so he would need better and more nutritious meals to nourish his weakened body.


    Additionally, he would also need to find some suitable fighting techniques so that he could unleash the power of his enhanced physique and strength.


    After analyzing these basic situations, Leon felt extremely doubtful about becoming a Body Refinement Mage. Setting aside the extreme difficulty of the body refinement techniques, it would be challenging to acquire the precious nutritious foods needed to complement the body refinement process.


    "Lineage Mage."


    Obviously, this was the easiest choice to gain a strong short-term combat capability.


    When talking about Lineage Mages, biological modification was a quite common topic, as it was the most popular method among Apprentice Mages. With just a ''small'' magical ceremony, they could transplant a highly efficient organ from a powerful demon, potentially granting them special abilities in the process.


    Most Apprentice Mages would never turn down such a simple method of strengthening themselves whenever the conditions allowed, and they would always perform certain degrees of modification on themselves. However, this was easier said than done! It came with the risk of having their lineage contaminated, losing vitality, or transplanting a faulty organ that didn''t provide good abilities.


    For Apprentice Mages like Leon, who lived in the Magical Swamp, isolated from the outside world, what kind of powerful demons could they encounter? With their skills and status, it was simply impossible for them to acquire organs from those truly frightening demons.


    Therefore, if these Apprentices could find a usable piece from a demon that matched the level of an Advanced Apprentice, it would be incredibly valuable.


    It was said that the lethal shot Evan, one of the three strongest Apprentices in the Tower, had transplanted the eyeball of a ''Red-Eyed Crow King'', which granted him the ability to control Carnivorous Crows.


    Leon felt that this decision was shortsighted.


    Perhaps this demon organ would allow him to reach a higher level in a quick step, becoming one of the Advanced Apprentices, the elite among all the Apprentice Mages in the Tower. But at the stage he was currently at, the potential brought by biological modification had reached its limit.


    If he were lucky, he might become a Pseudo-Mage in five years and begin his preparations to break through to the level of an official Mage. But if he were unlucky, he might never become an official Mage.


    After all, for anyone whose lineage was contaminated, the difficulty of becoming an official Mage would become exponentially harder!


    So, compared to a Lineage Mage, biological modification was a wasteful path that led nowhere, a deceptive power that would ruin one''s future.


    However, in comparison to biological modification, the path of a Lineage Mage was much, much harder.


    To become a Lineage Mage, one would have to find a creature with ancestral lineage, using a large amount of its blood, and a process called blood purification, to obtain the inherited power hidden in its blood.


    If he chose this path, there would be many challenges he would have to face.


    First, many of the known powerful lineages were controlled by different families of Mages.


    These Mage families were descendants of some original Bloodline Mage who had become powerful in the past. As descendants of someone with a strong lineage, they naturally inherited the superior lineage of their ancestor. To ensure the continuity of their family lineage, they refused to marry anyone outside their own family, maintaining a closed circle to protect the purity of their family lineage.


    Besides these known powerful lineages, if any other Apprentice Mage wished to pursue the branch of Lineage Mages, they could only try their luck with the lineages of other inexperienced demons.


    If they happened to obtain a Third Grade lineage, perhaps their descendants wouldn''t even become Second Grade Lineage Mages, and those Second Grade Lineage Mages would be lucky if their descendants became First Grade Lineage Mages.


    So, for junior members of families with strong lineages, if they did not possess powerful abilities, once they left their homes, they would be attacked by others. Some unscrupulous Apprentice Mages would happily capture them, trying to squeeze the essence of their lineage, in turn granting themselves some powerful abilities.


    But to achieve this, a huge amount of blood from the lineage Apprentice was required, and the success rate was quite low. Another thing to consider was that this was a great taboo for these lineage families.


    With the incredible resources and strengths of these lineage families, would they simply sit by and let their lineage be obtained by others? Thus, even if they had to pay a high price, they would hunt down the culprit and kill them. Hence, in the history of the Mage World, there have been many incidents of great turmoil caused by the theft of a lineage from a powerful lineage family.


    In fact, perhaps the Serpent Head Apprentice from earlier today was also a descendant of a lineage family, or else he wouldn''t have displayed such distinct characteristics of a demon. Perhaps Leon could have obtained his blood¡­ but he did not.


    Of course, he did not regret it.


    This descendant of a Lineage Mage was merely an Advanced Apprentice, so he wouldn''t have a very strong lineage inherited in his blood. To ensure that Leon became a Pseudo-Mage, he might need at least a dozen of these descendants. Only then could he extract enough blood to purify his lineage.


    This would be as difficult for Leon as fighting a Mega Dragon!


    Moreover, according to what Leon had learned from the books, currently, among all the Lineage families still active at the center of the Mage Continent, the highest level among them was only Seventh Grade. The Ninth Grade was the current pinnacle of the structure of Lineage Mages.


    As a Lineage Mage, there was no need to do much cultivation or knowledge accumulation. All they needed to do was continue purifying their own lineages, and eventually, they would be able to obtain the abilities of their ancestral lineage.


    For example, let''s say a Mage was the heir of a Fifth Grade lineage; just by being a Lineage Mage, he would be able to level up at a speed that was dozens to hundreds of times faster than that of the other branches. This allowed him to advance with an indomitable spirit during the first half of his life and live a life of glory.


    Furthermore, the Mage who possessed a unique lineage might have some special abilities as well, giving them an advantage when fighting against a Mage of the same grade.


    However, the peak of the original lineage was also the end of their path as a Mage.


    When a Mage with a Fifth Grade lineage finally became a Fifth Grade Mage, he would be forced to face the fact that the road ahead of him was completely cut off. He would never be able to progress further after reaching that point.


    This was the saddest thing about these Lineage Mages!


    Once they chose to follow this path, and picked the wrong lineage, the chances of reaching the top of the Mage World were lost forever.


    ....


    1944 Words

 Chapter 30: Golem

    Since the path of a Lineage Mage was so difficult to enter and the fact that, although they could grow quickly, their growth was limited from the start, Leon decided to eliminate that possibility.So, all he had ahead of him was to become a Principle Mage or a Deep Mage.


    Among these two choices, Leon strongly preferred the Principle Mage. Whenever he envisioned those powerful Elementium spells capable of such vast destruction, and the bizarre and frightening curse spells, Leon yearned for that power and truly wanted to master some incredible spells.


    However, the path of the Principle Mage was also the hardest, as it had no shortcuts. In order to ascend the higher tiers of the Adept hierarchy, a Principle Mage had to take one step at a time, diligently improve their elemental affinity, and then master any related Elementium spells. They also had to have a strong understanding of the Central Principles of the Planes.


    Only when he became the master of a principle could he proudly announce that he was a Principle Mage.


    This was generally something that could be achieved after reaching the seventh rank.


    If he didn''t have the Chip, Leon would never choose this path. Because, if he did, it would also mean that he would have to spend a lot of time meditating and improving his elemental affinity.


    In fact, in order to gain better elemental affinity, many Mages would go to great lengths to replace their body with the Elementium to which they had the greatest affinity, even if it turned them into a form of Elementium life.


    Analyzing from all aspects, undoubtedly, the path of the Principle Mage was an obvious choice for any Mage, as it was the path with the greatest potential to reach the pinnacle of the Mage World. So, with the plan set by the Chip, Leon felt that this was the best path for him.


    However, before truly becoming strong, Leon would have to find ways to compensate for his weakness, or else how could he survive the intense and brutal competition among the Apprentices?


    Thus, after deciding to become a Principle Mage, Leon also planned to learn some of the skills of the Deep Mages to support the slow growth of his main path. And undoubtedly, the ''Golem Creation Manual'' he obtained earlier was one of those Deep Mage methods that could help improve his current combat ability.


    "Chip, what is the progress on organizing the data from the ''Golem Creation Manual''?"


    "Beep"


    "The copy of the spellbook ''Golem Creation Manual'' has been completed¡­"


    "The data has been optimized, and useless content has been removed."


    "The list of suitable Golems has been constructed¡­"


    Leon''s eyes sparkled instantly as he heard the message.


    "Send me all the data!"


    "Beep" A stream of data was immediately transferred. Closing his eyes, he silently absorbed the additional magical knowledge that suddenly emerged in his mind.


    Strictly speaking, it was a list of items.


    "Clay Golem"


    "A basic life form that fights using its core to manipulate Earth Elementium."


    "Estimated Attributes: Strength: 11 | Agility: 4 | Physical: 13 | Spirit: 4"


    Innate Abilities: (Passive) The Earth is in the Air (Regain 5 health points every minute within a location rich in Earth Elementium)


    Magical Resistances: Curse Resistance | Piercing Resistance | Cutting Resistance | Acid Resistance | Earth Elementium Resistance


    Materials: Core of an Earth Elementium Demon (Advanced Apprentice) sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Knowledge Required: Basic Golem Creation Skill | Basic Runes Inscription Skill | Energy Transfer Circuit System | Elementium Life Grant | Mental Control Printing System


    "Acid Golem"


    "A simple life form that uses its core to fight by manipulating Water Elementium."


    "Estimated Attributes: Strength: 8 | Agility: 7 | Physical: 10 | Spirit: 5"


    Innate Abilities: (Active) Acid Spray (Single Target) | Acid Pool (20 Meters AOE Range)


    Magical Resistances: Curse Resistance | Piercing Resistance | Cutting Resistance | Acid Resistance | Water Elementium Resistance


    Materials: Core of a Water Elementium Demon


    Knowledge Required: Basic Golem Creation Skill | Basic Runes Inscription Skill | Energy Transfer Circuit System | Elementium Life Grant | Mental Control Printing System


    Previously, it was a long list, but after the Chip removed the Golems that were beyond Leon''s current abilities and other useless content, all that remained were these two elemental Golems, which had been repeatedly optimized.


    Yes, the Chip recommended a Golem instead of a Titan.


    Comparing their combat abilities, undoubtedly a Titan, which had a fixed body, was stronger than a Golem, which was more like a summoning. But, with the scarce resources that Leon currently possessed, it might not be realistic to expect him to gather enough resources to create a Titan.


    Take the most basic Clay Titan as an example.


    An eight-foot-tall Clay Titan weighing 600 pounds was made entirely of soft clay. This didn''t take into account the manufacturing cost in construction. Just the soft clay alone would cost him nine thousand gold coins. For everything he would need to make a Clay Titan, the base price was twenty-one thousand gold coins.


    In contrast, the Golem suggested by the Chip was much cheaper, as the only raw material required was a core from an Advanced Apprentice-level demon. Although a lot of magical knowledge was needed to successfully create one, the total cost was around seven thousand gold coins.


    By his calculations, Leon would be able to save a significant amount of money, which was a great relief for him.


    Leon couldn''t create an Acid Golem now because he didn''t have a suitable Water Elementium demon core. But the Clay Golem was a perfect choice, as he had just obtained the head of an Earth Elementium demon, which would be a perfect core for the Clay Golem.


    When he thought of this, Leon quickly walked over to the wooden shelf in the corner of his room.


    A large glass jar sat atop a wooden tray. It was covered with a black cloth so that no one could see what was inside.


    Leon gently lifted the black cloth, leaned forward, and silently gazed at the head of Sinbad, which was soaked in a yellowish liquid. Perhaps sensing Leon''s gaze, some indistinct spasms could be seen on Sinbad''s face, and he felt the weak soul pleading for mercy.


    A strong odor, reminiscent of formaldehyde, lingered near the jar.


    Scientifically speaking, the Ghost Nanny was not considered an immortal creature, so its organs had to be carefully preserved after being removed from its body, or else their usable value would quickly diminish. Although Sinbad''s head had not originally been acquired by Leon, it was clear that Lucy had taken good care of it. She had also trapped Sinbad''s soul within it.


    Of course, Leon had no idea whether this was because Lucy wanted to vent her anger by torturing Sinbad, or if she had other plans, but no matter what, this gave him a huge advantage. At least he didn''t complain about not having obtained Sinbad''s heart.


    To maximize the benefits brought by this head, Leon even sought out some Apprentices who were specialists in anatomy and borrowed a complete set of tools.


    To protect his secret, Leon was forced to use his room as a laboratory.


    A few minutes later, Leon had prepared everything for the operation. He donned a sterile, non-magical white cloth and stood in front of the operating table. Sinbad''s head was also removed from the liquid and lay on the table with its eyes wide open, angrily cursing the human in front of it.


    Since Leon had been working to become a Mage for the past few years, he was mentally prepared for this type of surgical operation. Even though it was his first time conducting a biological experiment, he remained calm, in control, and well-prepared.


    Ignoring Sinbad''s malevolent glare, Leon calmly gave a command to the chip.


    "Chip, perform a deep scan of Sinbad''s head!"


    "Beep" "Mission received¡­"


    "Starting scan¡­"


    With the blue light glowing in his eyes, a unique spiritual wave began to scan up and down Sinbad''s head, revealing the secrets hidden within it, centimeter by centimeter.


    Most demons, due to their strong life force mixed with their bizarre innate abilities, formed an energy field similar to a shield. Thus, Leon normally could not scan beneath their skin with his Elementium Vision and Spiritual Vision, making it nearly impossible to analyze what was inside.


    But because Sinbad had lost all his strength, and his life force was nearly exhausted, the energy field that would have blocked Leon''s vision was now ineffective. After probing and scanning several times, a three-dimensional image of Sinbad''s head was constructed in his mind.


    A hard skull wrapped around an emptied brain. The brain, cerebellum, and brainstem were hidden deep within the cranial chamber. This complete model of Sinbad''s brain was presented right before Leon''s eyes. And right at the center of the emptied brain, a yellowish crystal the size of a thumb could be seen.


    Since Sinbad was a Leader of the Ghost Nannies and had mastered some Elementium abilities, a unique core had grown in his brain. Thus, his heart, brain, throat, and stomach were no longer vital organs. As long as this core and his soul still existed, his damaged organs could always be restored.


    Without hesitation, Leon plunged his sharp scalpel into Sinbad''s head. When the skull opened, a putrid dark purple blood instantly sprayed out, staining Leon''s clothes. But he didn''t care and continued adjusting the depth and angle of his cut. With the help of a hammer, chisel, and other tools, Leon carefully dismantled the skull.


    With dozens of large candles lit, the room was ablaze with light. Covered in sweat, Leon stood firmly in front of the operating table. With the sound of a chisel cutting through flesh and bone echoing in the room, he slowly broke apart Sinbad''s skull.


    Finally, under the flickering light of a candle, Leon extracted a light yellowish transparent crystal that smelled of decay and held it up against the light for a closer look.


    At the same time, a message from the Chip resonated in his mind.


    "Beep" "High-energy demon core detected. Type: Elementium Earth Creature¡­"


    A relieved smile finally appeared on Leon''s bloodied face.


    He now had a core from which he could create a Clay Golem!


    ....


    1698

 Chapter 31: Creating a Golem

    It was impossible to create the equipment needed to summon a Clay Golem in Leon''s room. So, he left and ran to the Alchemy Laboratory located on the third floor of the tower.After paying three Knowledge Points and thirty gold coins, Leon was allowed to use the most sophisticated alchemy station available for three hours. This was nearly half of Leon''s savings, so if he didn''t have the highest success rate for this first Golem, he would never have been willing to spend so much money.


    The floor was clean and tidy, and the walls were smooth and shiny. Wooden shelves lined the walls, holding all sorts of items. There were labeled containers for all commonly used magical materials, and Elementium rods used to detect the Elementium characteristics of an item. There was a complete set of metal armor used to test the strength of a magical item...


    In addition to all that, there were many items whose purpose Leon had no idea about.


    But Leon didn''t care about any of that. What interested him most was the gleaming Magical Alchemy Station at the center of the room.


    Metal chains hung from the ceiling. A glowing stone was attached to the end of each metal chain. Eight metal chains; eight glowing stones. They formed a perfect circle around the Alchemy Station. With this, the operator could focus entirely on creating a magical item without being disturbed by shadows.


    These were essentially magical versions of astral lamps!


    And the Alchemy Station was, in fact, a magical version of an industrial workbench.


    The Alchemy Station was an 8 x 4-meter object with some elevating platforms and indentations on its surface. It was covered with mystical equipment beyond the imagination of ordinary people. To be precise, the station''s surface was divided into sixteen work areas, each capable of performing a specific crafting task.


    For a master alchemist familiar with the crafting process, they would be fully competent with all this equipment and able to conduct a well-planned experiment seamlessly. But for someone new to this Alchemy Station, it might take several days just to get used to this magical equipment.


    However, this was not an obstacle for Leon, who relied on the Chip''s help.


    "Chip, start scanning this Alchemy Station. Analyze the procedures for a crafting experiment!"


    "Beep!"


    "Mission created¡­"


    "Commencing scan¡­"


    When a flashing blue light appeared in his eyes, all the equipment placed on the Alchemy Station, as well as hidden magical mechanisms and formations within the Alchemy Station, were scanned by the Chip and stored in Leon''s mind.


    Combining the previously analyzed data with the on-site scan task, the equipment placed on top of the Alchemy Station was quickly stored in the Chip''s database. Then, they were projected onto Leon''s retina.


    Now, whenever Leon looked around the Alchemy Station, whenever a strange or mysterious item came into his view, a clear annotation would appear next to it.


    In simpler terms, the Alchemy Station was an amalgamation of many of Earth''s forging and crafting machines, all merged into one convenient platform.


    A magnifying glass was mounted on a movable mechanical arm. It didn''t use the same concave-convex lens as he had on Earth but rather a glass engraved with a special magical formation. Leon had chosen the highest-standard Alchemy Laboratory, so this glass could give him a magnification power of 300-500x.


    If he had chosen a regular Alchemy Laboratory, perhaps the maximum power of the magnifying glass would only be 150x.


    This was so important because, when creating most magical items, microscopic engraving was necessary. Typically, in a specific region of the magical item, it would be essential to engrave some independent but highly interconnected magical formations. Some experienced alchemists could even engrave more than a hundred magical formations on a fist-sized ruby crystal.


    As a beginner, Leon was not capable of accomplishing this, but he only needed to carve seven magical formations into a thumb-sized demon core.


    The Summoning Rune was mandatory, as it was the most integral rune necessary to summon the Clay Golem. It was found in every magical summoning item.


    The Elementium Body Construction formation was also essential, as it would weave the magical forces of this world to construct an Elementium body for the Golem. His current design was to build a body of soft clay.


    The Mental Control System Imprint was the most important among all the formations because, during the crafting process, Leon had to leave an imprint of his own soul on the formation. This would make the Clay Golem obey his commands.


    To allow the Golem to freely control the constructed Elementium body, the necessary energy nodes and circuits would also have to be carved, as they directly affected the mobility and combat capability of the Golem. Obviously, he couldn''t afford any mistakes with them.


    Of course, Leon did not understand these highly complex runes, but, fortunately, he had the Chip, which helped him complete the design and optimization. Therefore, all he needed to do was follow the plan established by the Chip.


    But even with that, the difficulty of Leon''s work was still beyond imagination.


    Over the past six years, Leon had conducted only a handful of alchemy experiments and had only performed some common experiments, like purification and Elementium extraction. Honestly speaking, he was still a novice in the field of alchemy.


    But today, he had no resources for a trial, because he only had one demon core!


    If he failed, his dreams of an army of Golems would be shattered.


    ...


    Leon stood in front of the Alchemy Station for almost fifteen minutes without moving an inch. In his mind, using a simulation, the Chip was repeatedly showing him the procedure for creating the Golem core. It only stopped when he could vividly recall every detail.


    Leon, after standing still for over fifteen minutes, finally moved.


    From his waist pouch, he took out a bar of Magic Black Iron and tossed it into the crucible. In the next second, he sent his spiritual energy to the controlling magical formation of the Alchemy Station. A cracking sound was heard as an Elementium fire ignited beneath the crucible.


    If he worked without this magical alchemy station, he would need to create his own Elementium fire to heat and melt the Magic Black Iron. Throughout the entire process, he would have to maintain a stable output of Elementium fire for more than fifteen minutes; otherwise, it would not melt properly.


    And now, with the help of this Alchemy Station, he only needed to activate the hidden magical formation beneath it, and the equipment would automatically heat and melt the crafting material according to the temperature and time he set. And while waiting for the Magic Black Iron to fully melt, he could take the time for other preparations.


    This alone fully demonstrated the benefits of using a Magical Alchemy Station.


    After carefully placing the core taken from Sinbad''s head on top of the Alchemy Station, Leon adjusted the magnifying lens to an appropriate position and the correct power level. Only then did he start preparing the equipment for microscopic carving.


    The tool used for microscopic carving was a special magical item. Depending on the strength of the magical energy injected into it, this tool could produce a heat beam similar to a laser as fine as a mosquito''s leg. This heat beam was specifically modified and adjusted by the master Alchemist. Although it was small, it excelled at cutting.


    Not to mention those commonly used magical metals, even Grade Eight Gold, Refined Subterranean Iron, and Kryptonium Steel, which were all unique metals with hardness beyond the imagination of any ordinary man, were easily carved by this heat beam.


    What Leon needed to do now was use this equipment to carve the seven required magical formations into the thumb-sized core: one summoning formation, one mental control system imprint formation, one Elementium life-granting formation, four energy nodes, and some additional energy circuits...


    All of this was easier said than done. Leon calmed his mind, then leaned forward and placed his eyes above the magnifying lens, finally starting on the project he had been preparing for.


    Under the 300x magnification power, the thumb-sized crystalline core became a massive object, its surface entirely covered by coarse bumps. Following the Chip''s instructions, Leon controlled the magical formation, adjusting the core to the perfect position and angle. Only then did he activate the heat beam.


    A heat beam, only a tenth the width of an ox''s hair, hit the core, turning the spot red and soft, gradually creating a recess the size of a quarter of a human hair. After that, Leon moved the heat beam with his spiritual energy, slowly traversing the core''s surface. As this happened, a narrow, straight line appeared.


    Everything, from the beam''s position to the depth of each cut, was marked in different colors in Leon''s mind. All he needed to do was control the heat beam with his Spirit energy and draw according to the layout and speed given by the Chip, meticulously completing this highly focused task.


    One by one, magical runes, which looked like scribbles, were engraved in a cross-pattern and surrounded by magical formations. All four corners were left empty so he could carve the necessary energy nodes and create an energy circuit in the center to connect them all...


    After an hour and a half of concentrated effort, all seven magical formations were interwoven onto the core''s surface, forming a flawless magical formation as a whole.


    The first step had been completed.


    The next step was to connect these magical formations, which also required patience and precision.


    The microscopic carving only produced the outlines of these magical formations. Magical energy would never flow through these recesses by itself, so a medium was needed that could respond to magical energy and allow it to flow freely.


    This medium was the Magic Black Iron that had been melted into a liquid form.


    Of course, if it were a wealthy official Mage, the medium would be replaced with Mithril. But Leon did not have such resources or money, so he could only use Magic Black Iron, which was what he could afford.


    Although using it would cause significant energy loss as it conducted magical energy, for a simple Clay Golem that did not require advanced crafting skills, it was more than sufficient.


    Thus, Leon had to endure another hour of spiritually exhausting work. Though he was only using a tiny bit every second, after an hour of constant expenditure, blue veins began to appear on his forehead.


    With the help of the magical formation, Leon slowly poured the melted Magic Black Iron into the grooves carved by the heat beam. He had to be careful not to leave cracks or let anything spill outside the marks. For a Beginner Apprentice, this extremely difficult task was simply a powerful miracle that seemed impossible to achieve.


    But with the powerful Chip''s assistance, Leon truly turned this impossibility into reality.


    When the last thread of the Magic Black Iron liquid fused into the groove, Leon cut the magical formation, pushed the magnifying lens aside, and silently looked at the Golem core, which was now floating atop the Alchemy Station. At that exact moment, his mind was reeling with thundering waves, and he felt like he was being torn in two.


    His first Golem was complete! Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ....


    1901 Words

 Chapter 32: Missions

    Leon left the Alchemy Laboratory. Originally, he had planned to sneak away and test the combat strength of the Clay Golem in the swamp, but he was distracted by a large crowd of people running through the tower''s corridors."Hurried footsteps~~"


    "Voices of many people~~"


    Not once in Leon''s memory had the Tower been so lively.


    Usually, everyone was busy with their own affairs. Those who received tasks would go about their business; those without tasks would meditate, copy books, or work on some magical experiment¡­ Every day in this Tower, except during mealtime, very few sounds could be heard. Even when two Apprentices met in a hallway, they would just nod at each other and move on.


    But today was an exception, as almost all Apprentice Mages were running down the hallway in the same direction.


    Leon was surprised and confused. He called out to his ''friend'' Benson, whom he barely knew, who was also a Novice Apprentice.


    "What''s happening? Where are you going?"


    Right after Leon asked this, Benson responded with a surprised voice, saying, "You don''t know? Haven''t you checked your magic talisman? Master Eclivel is summoning all official Apprentices for a meeting in the auditorium. Don''t be late!"


    Benson ran down the hallway after saying this.


    Master Eclivel calling a meeting?


    Leon was shocked by this rare event.


    According to the proposal of the Zhentarim Association of the Mage Continent, as the Mage stationed in this Swamp Tower, Master Eclivel was required to give a free magic class every three months to the Apprentices in the tower. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And normally, if an Apprentice had a question about magic, they would need to pay knowledge points or magic crystals in exchange for the right to ask Master Eclivel privately.


    But unfortunately, in this Swamp Tower, which was almost isolated from the outside world, Master Eclivel was the supreme authority. Thus, he simply ignored all the rules and regulations set by the Zhentarim Association.


    Over the last six years that Leon had lived in this Tower, Master Eclivel had given only a handful of open lectures¡­ In fact, it couldn''t have happened more than four times. The rest of the time, he hid in the upper floors of the Tower, rarely interacting with any Apprentice.


    So, upon receiving this news, Leon was simply amazed.


    Quickly pulling out a magic talisman from around his neck, Leon noticed that it was blinking with a red glow and felt slightly warm to the touch.


    It seems that while performing the alchemy experiment just now, to avoid any interruptions, he had temporarily turned off the communication ability of the talisman. When he turned it on now, a deep and hoarse voice immediately came out of it.


    "All Apprentice Mages who hear this message must proceed to the auditorium immediately! If you do not reach it within fifteen minutes, I will revoke your Apprentice status!"


    Leon shuddered violently. He quickly put away the magic talisman and joined the running crowd.


    The seats in this lecture hall were similar to the theaters of Earth from his previous life, but the raised round stage at the front of the seats was replaced by a high platform. With this arrangement, no matter where an Apprentice sat, they had to tilt their head slightly upward to look at the Mage teaching.


    Apparently, the person who designed this lecture hall refused to allow any Apprentice to sit higher than the Mage, even if it was only a physical position in a space.


    The spacious classroom held more than two hundred people, but the Tower had only about fifty Apprentices, so everyone sat scattered. Three well-defined groups were seen, with the three strongest apprentices at the center of each group. Additionally, a fourth group gathered around the new Lead Apprentice, Brandon. The rest of the Apprentices sat alone, showing their status as ''Lone Wolves.''


    In the past, Leon had been one of those ''Lone Wolves.''


    As he observed the situation in the classroom, Leon saw a figure that stood out from the rest of the crowd.


    A striking red dress. A cold and arrogant face, yet beautiful and alluring¡­ The owner of this face was waving for him to join her.


    Naturally, Bleia, sitting alone, was the focus of almost everyone in the hall, and, without a doubt, her action had made Leon the sworn enemy of most of the male Apprentices in the hall.


    Countless stares were landing on Leon, causing his expression to change.


    That Bleia really knew how to stir things up!


    But at this moment, he had no room to hesitate. He walked over to Bleia and sat next to her in silence.


    "Remember, you''re my subordinate. Arrive earlier next time!"


    Bleia leaned toward Leon, placed her charming face next to his ear, and whispered her threatening speech. Leon felt a terrifying killing intent accompanied by her voice. It seemed that Bleia was genuinely satisfied with this outcome. With an expression resembling that of a cat that had just eaten a canary, she straightened up in her chair.


    Leon sighed and thought. "I will still violate you, you bitch... Just wait... Just... wait..."


    Bleia''s green eyes scanned the entire hall, enchanting all the male Apprentices who met her gaze, only to make them shudder, quickly lower their heads, and avoid her eyes.


    At that very moment, Leon felt another ''strong'' gaze land on him, making his hair stand on end.


    Shocked, he lifted his head and realized who it was!


    The man who was staring at him was one of the three strongest, the Worm Controller, whose real name was Blake.


    Two bizarre green lights could be seen under his hood, looking coldly at Leon. Although no words came from him, an invisible pressure began to fill the air around Leon.


    Facing a guy with a Spirit stat of 19, Leon was obviously at a complete disadvantage. If they fought, Leon couldn''t guarantee he would be able to complete a magical incantation under such powerful spiritual pressure.


    But when he remembered the fierce battle that happened yesterday, and the look of panic in Blake''s eyes as he ran for his life from the terrifying Lucy, the fear in Leon''s mind immediately diminished.


    ''You covered your head and ran like a rat to its hole, but I saw you flee before me. Maybe you haven''t even fully healed from your wounds! Covering yourself so tightly with that hood, I guess you''re just trying to hide all the scars on your body, right?''


    Internally, Leon was giving himself a pep talk. Whenever he thought of Blake''s disfigured face hidden behind the hood, a sense of pride immediately surged in his mind, boosting his confidence and allowing him to return the Worm Controller''s stare.


    The Worm Controller''s gaze grew colder.


    Though no words were exchanged between them, both could clearly sense the slightest changes in the opponent''s emotions. Blake could even see the mocking smile hidden behind Leon''s stern and feigned expression.


    In an instant, two flickering green flames flared up under the shadow of Blake''s hood, and condensed spiritual energy began to surge violently around him, almost spilling into the surrounding area.


    But in the next second, Leon, who had been locking eyes with him, disappeared, replaced by a charming face.


    Bleia stepped in front of Leon and relentlessly stared at Blake. Her lips moved, but no words could be heard. Although there were a dozen meters between them, Blake could still read her lips.


    "He is my man! If you dare touch him, I will kill you one by one!"


    It was a short speech but depicted her fierce and authoritative nature clearly.


    The Worm Controller''s eyes grew even colder.


    Judging by all aspects, this Bleia, who had just reached the level of Advanced Apprentice, was no match for him. Most of her abilities were countered by his. But¡­ Apparently, Blake wasn''t in his best shape at the moment. To be frankly honest, his combat strength was pathetic right now.


    He would need a few more days to replenish his dead scorpions. If he were forced to fight Bleia now, even if he could win, his vitality would be greatly reduced.


    However, the Worm Controller was a patient man who knew when to retreat. He shifted his eyes away, avoiding Bleia''s challenging gaze, suppressed all thoughts of anger, and stayed silent.


    "You''re a real troublemaker! How dare you offend the Worm Controller!" Satisfied that she had forced her opponent to retreat, Bleia turned to Leon and teased him in a tone of mock threat.


    Leon smiled wryly to himself.


    I was forced into this situation, okay?


    But faced with the domineering Bleia, he had no resentment or complaints. Because, between the two, he could feel an indescribable trust and¡­ Dependence.


    Dependence?


    Leon shook his head, once again feeling that his thoughts were absurd. Bleia depended on him? Probably because he had exhausted his Spirit during his alchemy experiment. That must be why he had such a ridiculous thought¡ªor was it?


    Obviously, the delicate interaction between the Worm Controller and Bleia attracted the attention of the other two Advanced Apprentices, as they continued glancing between Bleia and Leon.


    Like a mother cat trying to defend her territory, Bleia kept showing her fierce and dominant expression to these guys, giving them a look that said she would never yield to any threat.


    As the atmosphere in the hall grew tense due to the interaction between the Worm Controller and Bleia, a shadow was suddenly seen swaying at the top of the high platform. Soon, the thin form of Mage Eclivel emerged from the shadows.


    Holding his Magic Staff in hand, Mage Eclivel looked around the hall with his indifferent eyes. After a brief moment of silence, he finally spoke.


    "Today, I have both good and bad news for you!"


    Everyone in the hall immediately held their breath and focused on Eclivel.


    "The good news is that you will all receive a batch of resources, which will be the most generous gift you have ever received in your entire lives." Casting a wicked glance around the hall, he noted that these Apprentices remained focused on him, even though he had said something shocking.


    Eclivel nodded in satisfaction, then continued, "And the bad news is¡­ Each of you will have to take on a mandatory mission!"


    "Zap!"


    Mage Eclivel struck the floor with his staff, and a semi-transparent image was immediately projected at the top of the platform. Numerous green characters were seen flickering on the surface of this projection.


    ...


    "Investigate an abnormal creature in Red Forest Village."


    "Acquire a Bellflower from the Tower."


    "Defend Fort Fir."


    "Guard Twilight Vale."


    "Eliminate an enemy in the Whispering Hunting Grounds."


    "Hunt and find a low-level Succubus."


    "Investigate supernatural occurrences in Black Crow Forest."


    ...


    Line by line, most of them were Apprentice-level missions within the territory controlled by Zhentarim.


    Originally, as Apprentices of the Swamp Tower, they were only required to complete the inspection mission of this resource site, which meant they were living a relatively isolated life. But now, Mage Eclivel had opened up all the Apprentice-level missions from the entire Zhentarim territory to them¡­ Could this mean that significant changes awaited them?


    Some of the older Apprentices couldn''t help it, and their eyes clouded over as they got lost in thought.


    ...


    1889 Words

 Chapter 33: About the missions

    After spending so many years facing life-and-death situations around the tower and dealing with others, most of these Apprentice Mages had long understood one thing: pies don''t fall from the sky, and nothing is ever truly free. If something claimed to be free, it was definitely a trap!As they looked at the green-colored missions in front of them, they sensed something suspicious.


    As expected, with a wave of Mage Eclivel''s hand, most of the words colored in green instantly vanished, being replaced by orange text, representing dangerous missions, and red text, representing extremely dangerous missions.


    "These green missions that you saw earlier are Apprentice missions you may take on in the future. But before that, each of you will have to complete a mandatory mission! You have three months to complete any one of these mandatory missions, and if you fail... Hehehe... You will be punished with the loss of your Apprentice status!"


    At this moment, the expressions of all the Apprentices changed.


    For the Apprentices who trusted in their own abilities, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity to earn Knowledge Points and resources. But for those weaker Apprentices, perhaps all that awaited them was death.


    Everyone quickly scanned through the list of mandatory missions. At the end of the list was the only green-colored mission.


    Swamp Tower Garrison: This mission required ten apprentices, one librarian, one lab administrator, one tutor for apprentices, and two tower inspectors...


    A glimmer of hope rekindled on the faces of the few new novice apprentices, who were the weakest of the entire group, and they quickly turned to their leader apprentice, Brandon, who coincidentally had a joyful expression on his face. Meanwhile, the four ''good friends'' surrounding Brandon had triumphant looks, holding their heads high.


    Leon''s gaze briefly paused on that green-colored mission before moving on to thoroughly examine the list of mandatory missions.


    With his skills and qualifications, he knew it was impossible for him to become one of those ten lucky ones. Perhaps, after today''s meeting ended, many Apprentices would immediately begin covert negotiations among themselves, and some might even meet with Leader Apprentice Brandon privately, submitting to him in exchange for access to the safe mission.


    After all, out of the 57 official Apprentices present, there were 4 Advanced Apprentices, 21 Intermediate Apprentices, and 32 Novice Apprentices, including Leon.


    Looking at the list of mandatory missions, an orange mission could be dangerous even for an Advanced Apprentice. How difficult must the blood-red mission be? Perhaps only a Pseudo-Mage could complete it safely!


    No wonder that, after all the Apprentices saw the list, the room immediately filled with somber expressions.


    "Hmph! I''ll go to that Brandon and force him to give you a spot in that safe mission. If he refuses, I''ll¡­" For some unknown reasons, Bleia became quite angry. Although she was baring her tiny canine teeth and had a fierce look on her face, her actions were cute to Leon, making him feel warm inside.


    Leon grabbed her arm.


    "No! You have to trust me. I can handle these orange missions!" At that exact moment, a firm and calm look could be seen in Leon''s eyes.


    "Well, since you''re so confident, then you should focus and choose a good mission!" Bleia was very good at changing the pace and continued, saying, "Oh, right, what do you think of my skin? Is it delicate and smooth? I can feel that my skin condition is getting better and better!"


    Seeing how Bleia gently licked her lips and showed an arrogant expression, Leon shuddered. He knew that Bleia was testing him, so he quickly released her arm and did his best to focus on the list in front of him.


    After all, being a man full of hormones, he could end up getting an erection.


    ...


    Clearing the Great Cemetery (3/10) Orange Mission


    Mission Details: Elite-Level Undead Creatures have been found in the Great Cemetery, located to the south of the Tiga region. Ten Apprentice Mages are needed. During the mission, Viscount Gary will send a squad of two hundred elite guards to assist with the clearing.


    Mission Rewards: 30 Knowledge Points, 3 Magic Crystals, 10 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    ...


    Abnormal Creature in the Lands of the Giant Willow (2/3) Orange Mission


    Mission Details: Traces of an abnormal creature have been found in the Land of the Giant Willow, located near the southern border of Talion Forest. Eleven local residents are missing. Three Apprentice Mages are urgently needed for an expedition deep into the mountain to find the source of this abnormal creature.


    Upon completion of the mission, the local base of the Zhentarim Association will issue a certificate of mission completion.


    Mission Rewards: 20 Knowledge Points, 1 Magic Crystal, 5 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    (If the Apprentices completing this mission can resolve the source of the disaster, based on the evidence provided, the reward will be considerably increased.) S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    Cliff Griffin Taming Mission (0/3) Red Mission


    Mission Details: The Cliff Griffin, located in Rahia. The expertise of three Apprentice Mages is urgently needed to assist Beast Master Hank in the capture of Griffins. The mission will be concluded upon the successful taming of ten Griffins.


    The mission completion certificate will be issued by Beast Master Hank of Rahia.


    Mission Rewards: 50 Knowledge Points, 10 Magic Crystals, 30 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    (Upon mission completion, the Hamilton Company will provide a private reward.)


    ...


    Subterranean Cave Investigation Mission (4/10) Red Mission


    Mission Details: Traces of subterranean creatures have been found in the Subterranean Cave of Nigond. An investigation team of ten Apprentice Mages is urgently needed. The team will be required to venture at least sixteen kilometers underground, investigating the activity of living creatures in that area.


    The mission status will be determined by the Zhentarim Association base in Nigond.


    Mission Rewards: 70 Knowledge Points, 12 Magic Crystals, 50 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    (The Subterranean Cave is well known for being rich in Black Herbs, Poisonous Mushrooms, and Night Eye Stones. If any of these materials are collected during the mission, you may keep them.)


    ...


    ...


    Line by line, a list of missions occurring in almost all dangerous regions controlled by the Zhentarim Association was presented to them.


    In the center of the Mage Continent, in order to protect the ecosystem that nurtured the demonic resources of their home Plane, all Mage associations and alliances strictly prohibited high-ranking Mages from engaging in any development that would devastate the continent. Thus, humans only occupied about 35% of the land, with the rest being boundless wildlands, devoid of human activity.


    Countless demons and strange creatures roamed freely in these places.


    When confronted with some of the more commonly seen wild beasts or demons, the local inhabitants were capable of defending themselves or driving these creatures away by force. But when they encountered those terrifying demons, possessing frightening abilities... small villages being massacred overnight was not uncommon in this world...


    Thus, whenever something like this occurred, to eliminate these terrifying demons that encroached on the human world, these local authorities would need the help of powerful and supernatural Mages.


    Naturally, these Mages would never travel such distances for these petty matters. Therefore, most of these supernatural forces were dealt with by Apprentice Mages. Through all sorts of missions, they obtained the resources they needed, training themselves while helping to maintain the safety of human society along the way.


    And that was how the Mages maintained this world.


    Leon carefully examined every message he found on the list of mandatory missions. At the same time, the chip, which Leon had ordered to deactivate its scanning capabilities, was sorting and summarizing each mission, quickly copying all the data into its memory.


    Among all these mandatory missions, Leon was only able to take on Orange missions. He would never dare touch the red missions.


    A legend at the top of the list stated that Orange missions were only suitable for Advanced Apprentices. Apprentices below that level would have to be prepared to face a certain degree of danger. As for red missions, they were prepared for Pseudo-Mages. Perhaps even an Advanced Apprentice would have slim chances of surviving those missions.


    But, obviously, this was a bizarre and fantastical world of Mages. There was enormous uncertainty in any of these missions¡­ Even those simple ones labeled as ''safe.''


    Take, for instance, investigation-type missions, the most common type on this list. Venturing deep into a dangerous area was extremely risky, yet these investigation missions in ''safe'' regions were also not places where one could relax. The demons that typically appeared around mortal villages were low-risk creatures, such as Swamp Slimes, Gnomes, or Stirges.


    A Novice Apprentice could handle them with ease.


    But if luck was against them, they might have to face Wyverns, Stone Monsters, or Forest Spirits. All of these were extremely frightening creatures. Even an Advanced Apprentice would be in a life-threatening situation if they actually encountered these demons.


    Thus, choosing a mission was like gambling, as no one knew when bad luck would strike. Every year, 13% of Apprentice Mages died while trying to complete missions.


    After a quick selection process, the Chip chose an Orange mission that was a perfect match for Leon. It examined each mission and removed those with the most uncertain elements.


    ---


    **Training Apprentice Alchemist Mission from Klage (1/3) Orange Mission**


    **Mission Details**: An Apprentice Alchemist from Klage is completing his training mission. He urgently needs three Apprentice Mages to accompany him to the Treasure Pit.


    The mission will be considered complete once the Apprentice Alchemist''s training mission is finished. The mission completion certificate will be issued by the Apprentice Alchemist.


    **Mission Rewards**: 20 Knowledge Points, 3 Magic Crystals, 1 Tranquility Potion, 1 Invisibility Potion.


    ---


    The difficulty of this mission was not high. The Treasure Pit was a training field that all Apprentice Alchemists had to visit. It was a place filled with countless ''trinkets'' that had been casually placed by master Alchemists over thousands of years, waiting for newcomers to unearth them.


    Although they were just small trinkets, no matter what, they were created by master alchemists. Each one held great research value. Some might even find the legacy of a master alchemist in a random object.


    Therefore, this Treasure Pit was the traditional treasure-hunting site for all Apprentice Alchemists.


    But every Apprentice Alchemist could only enter that place once. They could bring one item from the location but also had to leave an item behind. This was the true purpose of the Treasure Pit.


    There were all sorts of items created there, and most were quite dangerous. For example, if an Apprentice Alchemist wanted to bring out a created Golem, the only way to obtain it was by defeating it. Since most Apprentice Alchemists were quite weak at the elemental stage, the Alchemist Association allowed these Apprentices to hire three helpers.


    However, these three helpers were not allowed to take anything from that place.


    It seemed like a relatively easy Orange mission, as long as that Apprentice Alchemist wasn''t excessively greedy and didn''t try to challenge one of those truly dangerous items, this mission could be completed without much trouble.


    Additionally, the mission reward of 1 Tranquility Potion also attracted Leon. It could increase the Spirit of an Apprentice who had less than 10 Spirit by 1. It was considered a supreme treasure among all Beginner Apprentices! (This item could only be used once. Afterward, it would have no further effect!)


    After making his decision, Leon whispered it to Bleia, and she also felt it was the right choice after assessing the risks. As for Bleia herself, she simply chose the Red mission to investigate the Underground Cave.


    Relying on her Vampire traits of flying, fighting, and regenerating, she was confident that she could stay alive, even when confronted with some fairly dangerous demons. Thus, she purposely chose the mission where she had the highest chance of encountering many different species of demons.


    It was not hard to tell that Bleia was in a stage of exponential growth, and what she needed most was the blood of powerful creatures!


    ...


    2022 Words

 Chapter 34: Trap

    Now that he had decided on the mission he was undertaking, he needed to register quickly.After all, each mission noted how many apprentices had currently applied and how many total spots were available for that mission. These numbers were listed in parentheses. Once a mission filled all its spots, it would disappear from the list. If he arrived too late, his preferred mission might slip away right before his eyes.


    After making the announcement, Mage Eclivel disappeared without saying another word. Naturally, all the clerical work was left to the Apprentice Leader, Brandon.


    As expected, Brandon immediately took the garrison mission for the Swamp Tower, which was also the only Green mission on the list. His ''Followers'' also joined that mission. Although the mission still had room for a few more apprentices, Brandon had already claimed the dominant position, wearing a look that said whoever paid the highest price could get a spot in the mission.


    Feeling indignant but not daring to speak, some weak Novice Apprentices gathered around Brandon, lowered their voices, and tried to bargain with him. Some beauties even gave him appreciative glances, clinging tightly to Brandon''s arms. However, most of the Novice Apprentices actually gathered around the three strongest apprentices, talking amongst themselves as if they were discussing something. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Obviously, they couldn''t decide what to do.


    Bleia grabbed Leon and approached the crowd surrounding Brandon. Raising their eyebrows, those softly speaking companions immediately moved aside, revealing Brandon, who sat comfortably in the middle.


    Although Brandon maintained a distant look in front of these apprentices, when confronted by the three strongest and Bleia, he didn''t dare to act tough.


    The three strongest were Advanced Apprentices, recognized by all apprentices. If a confrontation arose, Brandon, who was barely an Intermediate Apprentice even with the help of magical items, would never stand a chance against them.


    As for Bleia, Brandon was truly afraid of her.


    Even after becoming the Apprentice Leader, whenever he recalled his previous encounter with Bleia, with her fierce, terrifying face and blood-splattered body, Brandon couldn''t stop the shiver that ran down his spine.


    Moreover, after being taken by Mage Eclivel, Bleia was released safely. It was clear that she was being groomed by Mage Eclivel at the Tower. Without sufficient excuses and reasons, Brandon would never want to cross Bleia.


    Looking at Bleia, who now approached him, Brandon tried his best to maintain a calm appearance, but his pale face and wandering eyes betrayed what he truly felt. Faced with this terrifying vampire, he felt an intense fear in his heart!


    "I''m applying for the Underground Cave investigation mission. Register me now!" Bleia never took him seriously and acted with a domineering attitude.


    Without a word, Brandon took the Apprentice Leader''s magic talisman, infused it with his Spiritual Energy, and a small screen immediately lit up above it. The content displayed on the screen was the Underground Cave investigation mission that Bleia chose.


    Bleia took her magic talisman and pointed it at the screen. Immediately, the number of apprentices registered for the mission changed from (4/10) to (5/10). It seemed that four apprentices had registered for this mission before her.


    Now it was Leon''s turn to register.


    "I would like to accept the Klage''s Alchemist Apprentice Mission!" Leon spoke in a calm voice.


    Brandon glanced briefly at him, then silently adjusted the screen''s content. With the screen''s shift, the mission chosen by Leon appeared.


    Leon said nothing. Without hesitation, he took his magic talisman and pointed it at the screen. But something unexpected happened. Just as his magic talisman was about to touch the screen, the mission on the display suddenly flickered in an odd way and reverted to the previous mission Bleia had chosen.


    Caught off guard, Leon''s magic talisman touched the screen.


    The next second, the number of participants for the Underground Cave investigation mission changed from (5/10) to (6/10).


    This unprecedented occurrence surprised everyone present, and even Brandon seemed puzzled by it. With an ironic smile, he said, "Aiyaya¡­ What''s going on? It looks like the magic equipment malfunctioned! What should we do now¡­ Uh¡­ Would you like to see the Master Mage? Maybe he can cancel this mission for you?"


    While everyone was still in shock, Bleia erupted. "Brandon. I will kill you!"


    Without warning, Bleia''s sharp nails began to shine as they slashed through the air toward Brandon''s heart with a discordant noise.


    "Buzz~~"


    It was a short distance, and given the huge gap in their Agility, Brandon might not have even realized he was being attacked until Bleia was crushing his heart in her hand.


    But when Bleia''s deadly claws were halfway to Brandon''s body, a huge, dark hand that gleamed like chain mail suddenly stretched out from the side, both hands colliding instantly.


    "POW~~"


    It seemed like the two hands had collided only once, but for some unknown reason, in an instant, the massive hand, resembling a monster''s claw, shattered. In fact, it was sliced into pieces by Bleia''s sharp nails.


    Although it seemed like Bleia was at an advantage in that exchange, there were no pieces of flesh or blood from the shredded hand; the small fragments turned into countless black scorpions, quickly clinging to Bleia''s arm.


    Bleia stepped back and swiftly moved her arms, quickly killing all the scorpions that were trying to attack her. At this moment, Worm Controller, whose body was completely covered by a cloak, was seen next to Brandon.


    The huge hand belonged to him.


    Buzzing as they flew, the swarm of scorpions soon returned to Blake''s sleeve like bees to their hive. In the next few seconds, peace returned to the area. A bizarre scene unfolded before them, showcasing Worm Controller''s terrifying abilities.


    Leon''s pale face gave one last glance at the screen, turned around, grabbed Bleia, who acted like an overprotective mother cat, and left quietly. Strangely, the aggressive Bleia did not act recklessly this time. That was because, with her keen senses, she noticed that the other two Advanced Mages had silently risen and were stealthily approaching the scene.


    No fool could become a Mage Apprentice, and those Advanced Apprentices were as cunning as foxes. Except for a few oddballs, most Advanced Apprentices knew how to restrain themselves to ensure their survival.


    Bleia, a girl who suddenly rose to Advanced Apprentice, clearly posed a serious threat to the position of the top three. Thus, intentionally or not, the three grouped together in an attempt to elbow Bleia out.


    ...


    Before parting at Leon''s door, Bleia seemed like she intended to say some words of comfort but stopped when she saw his sad smile.


    Back in his room, Leon closed the wooden door softly and remained silent in the dark for a long time.


    He was clear about what happened today, and it wasn''t entirely Bleia''s fault. If he really thought about it, Leon was sure it must have been Worm Controller who ordered his mission to be switched to Bleia''s. Whether it was because of the intruder incident yesterday or the top three trying to intimidate Bleia, in short, Brandon''s little trick was likely authorized by Worm Controller.


    Conflict between the powerful brought disaster to the powerless!


    A situation like this was, indeed, the sad reality of the powerless.


    Leon had no intention of seeking the truth about today''s misfortune, as he decided to work hard for his future.


    The red Underground Cave Investigation mission was a dangerous one. If he were a Pseudo-Mage, it would be a challenging mission. If he had the skills of an Advanced Apprentice, it could be fatal. But he was only a Novice Apprentice!


    Mixing with a group of Advanced Apprentices while being so weak... Although Bleia would definitely look out for him, he would still need some usable skills. Yes, perhaps Bleia appreciated his kindness during her hard times, but that wasn''t enough for her to risk her life to save him.


    Considering everything he was about to face, what Leon really needed was a skill to protect himself.


    In the dark, Leon took out the newly created Clay Golem from his waist pouch. The thumb-sized core glowed faintly with the light of Earth Elementium. The four energy nodes carved into it could continuously absorb Earth Elementium from the world around it, converting it into usable energy and storing it for future use.


    Out of the four energy nodes, two were lit, indicating it was 2/4 charged with Earth Elementium, which should be enough to conduct some tests.


    Leon tilted his head to listen for any movement outside his room. Then he gently opened the door and snuck out.


    At that moment, most of the Apprentices were still gathered in the lecture hall, dealing with the frustration of the mandatory mission. Therefore, Leon did not encounter any Apprentices as he stepped out.


    ...


    Fifteen minutes later, Leon was once again walking along the familiar rocky path outside the tower.


    The fierce battle among the Advanced Apprentices yesterday had clearly killed many of the demons in this swampy land. Along the way, when he saw the scattered demons, an unusual sense of pity actually arose in Leon''s mind.


    Although these demons usually looked truly terrifying and evil, once confronted by Mage Apprentices stronger than them, they immediately became trembling cattle, unable to resist the oppressive forces of the Mages.


    Perhaps, in the eyes of these demons, these Mage Apprentices were the real monsters, even crueler than them!


    Quickly traveling along the rocky paths, Leon soon arrived at the testing ground he had chosen ¨C the Muddy Swamp.


    Sinbad was dead, having been transformed into the Clay Golem in his hand. Now, the Phantom Nannies had no leader, meaning it was the perfect time for him to train here.


    Standing firmly at the edge of the Muddy Swamp, five steps from the filthy, stinking lake, he could faintly sense the weak soul waves of three Phantom Nannies hidden beneath the muddy water.


    Leon casually threw the Clay Golem''s summoning core to the edge of the lake. When the light yellow core touched the mud, a faint vibration reverberated from it.


    "Tremor~~"


    Guided by Leon''s Spiritual Energy, no activation spell was necessary, and a large amount of earthy yellow smoke began to form around the core. Driven by strange forces, the clay on the ground started to twist, quickly shaping into a form that was roughly human.


    Leon closed his eyes and sensed the Clay Golem, quickly locating the core he had created in the chest of the clay being.


    He opened his eyes and gave it an examining look.


    He was placing his trust in this Clay Golem to change his destiny!


    ...


    1776 Words

 Chapter 35: Golem Abilities

    The Golem in front of him weighed about 90 kilograms and was 1.7 meters tall.The yellow surface of its body was constructed from loose, damp clay. It had four distinct limbs and a head, but all were very poorly made. Additionally, it did not have as many joints as a real human. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Its legs were two thick columns of clay that seemed to merge with the ground beneath its feet. Its arms appeared capable of moving in any direction, and on those arms were a pair of giant hands, which were likely capable of gripping things with force. It had no face, but there were some protrusions where a face would normally be.


    From a distance, this Clay Golem looked like a bald man wearing yellow leather armor. If a cloak were draped over its body, it could be used to deceive an enemy.


    Leon commanded the Clay Golem to approach and stand in front of him.


    This Clay Golem was indeed a creature made of earth, as it could move its heavy body over soft ground without making a single sound. Its movement was faster and lighter than that of a leopard, and no trace of its passage could be found on the ground. However, it left strong traces of Earth Elementium in its wake!


    When Sinbad''s core was obtained, his soul was captured within it. As a direct result of being made from a high-quality demon core, this Clay Golem possessed intermediate intelligence, which was not as rigid as other Titans and Golems. Through the mental control runes he had carved into the core, Leon only needed to give a command, and it would do its best to fulfill the order without issue.


    Looking at the Clay Golem standing in front of him, Leon stretched his arm out and touched it. Its skin was rough and solid. Although it was built from soft clay, it still had decent defense.


    He picked up a dagger and stabbed the Clay Golem''s waist a few times.


    "Zap!"


    "Zap!"


    "Zap!"


    The dagger simply penetrated the skin and left a few marks, which soon disappeared as a faint yellow glow appeared around the mark while the Golem regenerated.


    Well, it had basic defense, was mostly immune to piercing damage, and could heal itself. In summary, the basic defense of a Clay Golem was equal to that of a human fighter wearing a full set of leather armor. Of course, it couldn''t compare to a Stone or Iron Golem, and the only noteworthy feature was its self-healing ability.


    Leon walked in a circle around the Clay Golem. He thought the Golem''s 1.7-meter height didn''t make it look powerful enough.


    So, he tried to make the Clay Golem bigger.


    Following Leon''s command, the silent Clay Golem began to grow taller and larger. However, the once solid clay body became soft and light. When it finally reached a height of four meters, its entire body looked like a cluster of gray mist. The once solid clay body had turned into a gaseous Earth Elementium body.


    What was wrong?


    After communicating with the Chip, Leon finally understood. The demon core used to create this Clay Golem only had the ability of an Advanced Apprentice. Therefore, it could only control a total of ninety kilograms of Earth Elementium. Once this weight was exceeded, it lost any substantial form it previously had.


    The 1.7-meter height was the most optimized size after extensive calculations performed by the Chip. At this size, the density of the Earth Elementium was at an optimal level, giving it maximum defensive capability. If he tried to make it taller, the total volume of Earth Elementium remained unchanged, causing the defense strength of the Clay Golem to drop significantly.


    Thus, although it looked taller, its density decreased. As a result, it would be difficult to protect the core hidden within its body.


    Sighing helplessly, Leon had no choice but to let the Clay Golem revert to its previous form.


    Next, he needed to test the few basic abilities that came with this Clay Golem.


    Although weakened, the Earthquake ability that came with this Golem was still an offensive skill.


    "Tremorr~~"


    When activated, the ground around trembled as the Clay Golem moved. Leon tested it, and the vibrations had a greater impact on smaller creatures, as they could barely remain still around the Clay Golem, let alone launch attacks against it. It could also be used decently against medium-sized creatures. As for larger creatures, this ability was useless.


    The second offensive ability to test was Mud Clump.


    To test it, Leon made the Clay Golem lure three lurking Ghost Nannies from a nearby lake. As a result, the Clay Golem and the three Ghost Nannies engaged in a ''great fight'' on Leon''s behalf.


    Strictly speaking, compared to a Ghost Nanny, which barely had decent offensive or defensive abilities, the Clay Golem, which was the equivalent of a pseudo-summoned demon, could easily suppress them in every aspect.


    No matter how these three Ghost Nannies continued scratching or biting its solid skin, all scratch marks would disappear in the blink of an eye. But when the Clay Golem attacked with its heavy fists, the Ghost Nannies would be knocked down, suffering greatly.


    Following Leon''s orders, the Clay Golem grabbed a Ghost Nanny with one of its hands and squeezed until a cracking sound could be heard.


    "Crak~~"


    Then, it threw it far away.


    "Zosh~~"


    While the Ghost Nanny was still flying through the air, the Clay Golem grabbed at the air above its head, and immediately, a one-meter-long spear of hardened mud appeared in its hands.


    "Transformation~~"


    "Buzz~~"


    It threw the spear through the air, penetrating the weak body of the Ghost Nanny and pinning it to a Murderous Tree growing at the edge of the lake. As a demon itself, the Ghost Nanny had strong vitality. Although its body had been pierced by the spear, it still struggled tirelessly, trying to break free.


    "Bang~~"


    A second spear was thrown, hitting the Ghost Nanny''s head, leaving it hanging lifelessly on the Murderous Tree.


    At that moment, the remaining two Ghost Nannies clung to the Clay Golem''s body like two mad dogs on a meaty bone. With both arms, the Clay Golem forcefully pulled them away from its body and threw them to the ground. As they struggled to get up, the Clay Golem raised both arms in the air. The next second, countless earth spikes emerged from the ground, turning them into two chicken skewers.


    "Xink~~"


    In a brief moment, all three Ghost Nannies were annihilated, and the Clay Golem remained intact.


    Throughout the entire process, Leon remained an indifferent spectator, letting the Chip collect real-time battle data to devise a better-optimized strategy for using the Clay Golem in combat.


    Soon, detailed battle data of the Clay Golem was projected in Leon''s mind.


    Clay Golem


    A simple life form named Pseudo-Summoned Combat Golem


    Overall Combat Strength: Advanced Apprentice (Low Level)


    Attributes: Strength: 12 | Agility: 4 | Constitution: 14 | Spirit: 7


    Innate Abilities: (Active)


    Earthquake (Weak)


    Area of Effect: 5 Meters


    Vibration Magnitude: Excellent against small creatures, moderate against medium-sized creatures, and ineffective against large creatures


    Cooldown: None


    ...


    Mud Clump (Single Target)


    Damage: 12 Physical Damage (Based on Strength), 7 Earth Damage (Based on Spirit)


    Range: 5 ¨C 80 Meters


    Cooldown: 3 Seconds


    ..


    Spikes (AOE)


    Damage: 7 Physical Damage and 5 Earth Damage


    Range: 10¡Á8 Meters


    ...


    Innate Abilities: (Passive)


    Earth is in the Air (Recovers 7% health per minute)


    Through these detailed data, Leon was able to better understand this Clay Golem he had created.


    Judging by this data, the Clay Golem was only comparable to an Intermediate Apprentice. However, considering its self-healing and lack of fear of death, it could unleash a basic combat strength similar to an Advanced Apprentice.


    According to Leon''s understanding, the damage that could be inflicted by a spell cast by an Advanced Apprentice Mage was around 20-30 points, varying according to the caster''s Spirit. As for an Advanced Apprentice''s defensive spells, they had a defensive value of about 30-40 points, so two attacks from an opponent of a similar level would be enough to break a defensive spell.


    In this aspect, the offensive strength of a Clay Golem was rather weak. If confronted by an Advanced Apprentice, the Clay Golem would need offensive support from Leon. Only then would it have the chance to defeat the enemy. After all, Leon''s Fire Arrow spell could deal 13-18 points of Fire damage and 6-7 points of Physical damage.


    If he and the Clay Golem worked together, they could break through an Advanced Apprentice''s defenses in a single round of attacks.


    And once the enemy lost their magical defenses, unless they were a Body Refinement Mage, they would be like a meek sheep that Leon could easily kill, not even worth mentioning. So, as long as he didn''t have to face someone like the worm controller or that scary little Loli, the combination of Leon and the Clay Golem was enough to threaten even an Advanced Apprentice.


    But, unfortunately, the mission for the Underground Cave Investigation exceeded the abilities of an Advanced Apprentice. Most likely, he would be working with a group of Pseudo-Mages, so, even with a Clay Golem now, Leon was still too weak.


    According to the mission requirements, they had to depart in half a month to reach the mission location. So, Leon was left with fifteen days to prepare. Such a short period was clearly not enough for Leon to improve his magical abilities. Therefore, he had to continue exploring the potential offered by Golems to increase his strength while he still had the chance.


    Leon stood where he was, pondering what this meant for him. Finally, he looked far into another area of the swamp, which was obscured by a thick mist.


    He was looking at the habitat of the Giant Alligators, which he believed were also Earth demons.


    If he could kill the Giant Alligator King there, he would probably acquire another useful Earth Elementium core. As for a Water Elementium core, Leon simply couldn''t think of a demon in this swampy land that met the requirements.


    "Alright, I''ll spend the next few days fighting those giant alligators!"


    With a fierce look gleaming in his eyes, he spoke maliciously while gazing in the direction where those Giant Alligators lived.


    After that, he pointed at the Clay Golem, causing the human-sized Golem to collapse. Freed from the constraints of the Earth Elementium, a large amount of clay formed a pile where the Golem had stood.


    Leon grabbed the summoning core, rolled it in his palms, and examined it closely. Initially, there were two lit energy nodes, but now, one of them was slightly darkened. Based on this rate of consumption, with all four energy nodes lit, this Clay Golem could probably only fight in an intense battle for fifteen minutes. If it wasn''t a fierce fight, it might last longer.


    Since the energy stored in the Clay Golem wasn''t suitable for hunting that Giant Alligator King today, Leon put away the summoning core. Then, using Burning Hand, he ignited all three destroyed Ghost Nanny bodies. He pulled up his hood and disappeared into the dark mist.


    ...


    1878 Words

 Chapter 36: blood bag

    Once Leon was gone, all that remained was a pile of earth and three charred bodies. At the top of a slanted Killer Tree not far from the scene, a Scavenger Crow with blood-red eyes let out a soft caw and flapped its wings, taking flight in the misty air."Caw~~"


    But at that very moment, a smooth, snow-white arm suddenly extended, firmly grabbing the Scavenger Crow before it could get too far. Without allowing this foolish creature to struggle, the small hand casually clenched, and then one of the demons titled the ''Swamp Butcher'' was crushed into a mess of flesh, sending tiny splashes of blood in all directions.


    "Splash~~"


    The curvaceous and alluring figure of Bleia appeared on the highest branch of the Killer Tree. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She stood there gracefully, gazing in the direction Leon had left. A faint smile appeared on her face. Then, as suddenly as she had appeared, she vanished.


    Although Leon considered himself clever, he had underestimated how bizarre and unpredictable spells could be. There was no place in this Magical Swamp where one could conceal their movements. The Scavenger Crows, found everywhere, were, in fact, spies of Fatal Shot, secretly watching the actions of every Apprentice for him.


    In the dead of night, when Apprentice Mages hid in their rooms, conducting all kinds of strange magical experiments, they would never suspect that, in the nighttime sky outside the Tower, a pair of blood-red eyes was spying on them.


    As for this flying spy, only those with keen and sensitive Spiritual Senses could detect its presence.


    Had this spy not been killed, Leon''s trick would have been reported to Fatal Shot within half an hour. Therefore, although Fatal Shot had the weakest combat power among the Advanced Apprentices, his information-gathering abilities were, without a doubt, the highest.


    Thus, the only way any Apprentice could keep their secrets safe was to ensure that these ''spies,'' found everywhere, were removed from the equation.


    ...


    Leon had no idea what had just happened behind him. Although his Elementium vision had detected the Scavenger Crow, he hadn''t thought to associate it with Fatal Shot.


    After sneaking back into his room, Leon couldn''t help himself and started organizing his belongings.


    In addition to Sinbad''s core, he had gained a few items from the events involving the battle with Loli the other day. Since he was hurrying to transform the best resource he had into his personal strength, Leon focused all his attention on Sinbad''s core and hadn''t had time to properly examine the other items!


    The core of Sinbad was the most valuable among them and had been transformed into the summoning core for the Clay Golem. Of all the eight premium-quality Blood Sacs he found, Bleia devoured seven, leaving him with only one. Such a delicacy could only be sustained by a Master Mage like Eclivel without considering it a waste.


    As everyone knew, aside from Body Refinement Mages and Bloodline Mages, most Mages had very weak bodies. Constantly dealing with Corrosive Elementium and spending long hours reading spellbooks and magical scrolls¡­ A lifestyle like that would only lead to a frail body. Thus, although most Mages weren''t so fragile as to be blown over by a gust of wind, almost all had weak constitutions.


    If one focused too much on utilizing and strengthening their Spirit but neglected their body, they would often have a very frail physique and would be forced to take extreme measures, using tonics to strengthen their bodies.


    The Blood Sac, harvested from the root of the Rattan, was an excellent supplement to nourish blood and qi. However, if someone could find an Alchemist to help them create a ''Bloody Banshee Potion,'' it could increase a Mage''s weak Physique by up to 2. Of course, this Potion only worked for those with 10 or fewer in Physique, and it only worked once.


    Obviously, Leon didn''t have the resources or skills to get an Alchemist to make a Bloody Banshee Potion for him! So, although he knew that consuming it directly would waste most of its essence, Leon drank the Blood Sac.


    When the soft, gelatinous Blood Sac burst in his mouth, a strong, bloody, and sweet taste exploded on his tongue. As the sticky essence of the blood began to flow down his throat and into his stomach, a warm sensation began to spread within Leon''s body.


    "Beep!"


    "Unknown energy detected in Host''s body, unable to predict what changes this energy may bring to Host''s vitality."


    "Would the Host like to cleanse it?"


    "If no response is received from the Host, the cleansing procedure will begin automatically in 5 seconds..."


    ¡­


    "5... 4... 3..."


    "Cancel the cleansing procedure!"


    "Host command received, cleansing procedure terminated¡­ Would the Host like to monitor internal body data in real-time?"


    "Yes!"


    "Host command received. Initiating real-time monitoring of internal body data..."


    A series of indistinct beeps followed, and then his body data was projected in his mind.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human


    Attributes: Strength: 4.03 | Agility: 4.07 | Physique: 3.05 (Changing) | Spirit: 8.20


    Alignment: Loyal-Neutral


    Class: Apprentice Mage


    HP: 11/12 (Changing)


    Experience: 650/1000


    Status: Healthy


    Skills: Scroll Copying | Spell Reading


    Personal Abilities: Burning Hand (Solidified) | Fire Arrow (Solidified)


    As he examined the information about his body, Leon discovered something unexpected. Beyond the Physique and Health Points, which were gradually increasing, it seemed that his experience had also gone up. If he remembered correctly, he had only around 530 experience points during his last self-inspection, but now it had risen to 650. This... was a significant jump of over 100 points!


    Where did these points come from?


    Ignoring the changes the Blood Sac was causing, Leon dedicated his full attention to reading the Chip''s records. He quickly found a message he had previously missed.


    "The Host has successfully created the first Clay Golem, earning 120 experience points."


    So they came from the creation of the Golem!


    It seemed he had found a suitable secondary class, as it could provide an additional way to gain experience. In the past, he had always feared that learning a magical spell would consume a significant amount of his experience points. But with these supplemental experience points, the pressure of learning magical spells would be slightly reduced.


    Strictly speaking, Leon was only 15 years old now, which meant he had plenty of time before reaching his peak, leaving him ample room for self-improvement. This could be easily seen from the slowly but steadily growing attributes he had recently acquired.


    But, unfortunately, living in such a dark and oppressive environment had altered his character, inclining him slightly toward darkness. Utilitarianism and materialism were all that occupied his mind. As for those seemingly beautiful emotions, like compassion and love, he had long since abandoned them for their uselessness.


    Before one could truly become powerful, they needed to be cautious and meticulous to guard against threats. But even with this mindset, he still couldn''t escape the power struggles of those Advanced Apprentices...


    He had a favorable impression of Bleia, and from what he observed, Bleia seemed to think positively of him. Although she appeared a bit arrogant, she always tried to protect Leon.


    But with Leon''s cautious and modest nature, he was obviously unwilling to place his safety in someone else''s hands. So, making full use of this period of security, he would dedicate all his efforts to growing as quickly as possible. This was his top priority. As for his future? Leon had no idea what the future held.


    He had no idea how he had arrived in this place or why he was here, if there even was a reason. So far, all he had done was drift with the tide, avoiding getting entangled in any intrigues. His current status and identity limited his vision, making it difficult for him to perceive the true nature of this world.


    Perhaps leaving this place wouldn''t be a bad thing¡­ At the very least, he could truly experience this strange world!


    And perhaps he could discover which path he should follow in this life.


    While his mind was preoccupied with imagining his future, the blood essence from the Blood Sac finally merged with his body, tinting his pale skin with a red aura and filling his body with a strength that couldn''t be exhausted.


    As he watched, the number representing his physique on the self-test report began to rise, eventually stopping at 4.37. Just as when the river rose, the boat floated higher, his digitized Health Points rose to 14.


    His Physique had changed from 3.05 to 4.37, an increase of 1.32 points. Although it wasn''t the result that a Bloody Banshee Potion could bring, it still exceeded his expectations. Perhaps this was related to his previously low physique.


    However, even though his Physique had increased to 4.37, it was still on par with other Apprentice Mages his age, and he still couldn''t withstand a single blow from those Body Refinement Apprentices.


    As for the 14 Health Points, this was merely a digital model constructed by the Chip based on the characteristics of life forms in this magical world. It wasn''t truly related to reality. It was more of a representation of Leon''s current vitality.


    Moreover, with Leon''s frail physique, if he had no protection against an offensive magical spell, any spell that directly struck him would kill him on the spot. Therefore, in the coming days, aside from relentlessly pursuing the potential of his Golem, he had to find a defensive spell.


    If he didn''t, when he faced wars in the future, let alone participate in them, even the shockwaves caused by battles among those powerful warriors would kill him.


    After he finished with the Blood Sac, Leon resumed his inspection of the rest of his loot from the previous day.


    A broken piece of magical equipment, degraded to the point that no one could tell what it originally was; a fist-sized piece of metal ore shining in a strange blue; a peculiar white stone the size of an egg.


    That magical equipment was obviously a low-quality item, made from the most common material, Thorium. It likely belonged to an Apprentice Mage who had been devoured by those Phantom Nannies, and it was almost useless. Leon tossed it aside.


    The egg-sized white stone was indeed a valuable find. After several tests, he finally identified what it was.


    A giant lizard''s egg!


    Giant Lizards were demons resembling a crocodile, like the one Sinbad had ridden. Their natural habitat included places like small lakes or swampy areas, and they had the innate ability to petrify things with their Petrifying Ray skill. If it weren''t for its short range, it would actually make a good contractual companion.


    He sensed the egg''s vitality, indicating that it was still alive. If he could trade it with other Apprentices, he should be able to get something useful in return.


    ...


    1819 Words

 Chapter 37: Little revenge

    As for the last item, which was a fist-sized ore, after a few seconds of analyzing it, Leon realized it was Magic Iron.With proper smelting, refining, and forging, weapons made from this ore would stand out from standard iron weapons, exhibiting improvements in sharpness or penetration capability. Among mortals, this was an incredible treasure, but among Apprentice Mages, who possessed supernatural powers, it was just a common item.


    After briefly examining all the items, Leon picked up a magic book and began reading. In truth, he wasn''t in the mood to immerse himself in the atmosphere of researching magical knowledge. But he needed to make use of every second he had.


    When his Spiritual Energy was full, he practiced magic spells. Although he could solidify useful spells with the Chip''s help, he still needed to practice them. Additionally, he had the capacity to learn a skill. Whether it was ''Spellcasting Mastery,'' ''Walking and Reciting,'' or even ''Wondrous Item Crafting,'' all were excellent options for him.


    Only by purposefully strengthening a specific skill could he obtain abilities that would complement his current capabilities, allowing him to survive the next mission.


    ''Spellcasting Mastery'' was a skill that decreased the casting time of an Apprentice Mage. He only needed to recite up to 80% of a spell, then it would be cast automatically. Although it only reduced the casting time by 20%, it was a prerequisite skill for the ''Quick Spell'' ability.


    The value of the ''Quick Spell'' ability was immense for Elemental Mages. But it was beyond Leon''s current skills.


    ''Walking and Reciting'' was the Apprentice-level skill that Leon most wanted. It allowed an Apprentice Mage to cast a spell while moving. Without it, whether it was an offensive or defensive skill, he could only cast them while stationary.


    Thus, this skill was mandatory for all combat Mages.


    ''Wondrous Item Crafting'' was a skill necessary for Apprentice Mages who wanted to create potions, artifacts, or magical equipment. Only by mastering this skill could someone further develop their abilities in crafting magical items.


    As for the process of acquiring these skills, most magic books did not mention it in detail. However, they all mentioned the term ''Will of the Mage World.'' Leon had always been skeptical of this.


    Regardless of the kind of knowledge or technique one knew, as long as they could practice it diligently, the body would remember it and it would eventually become second nature. But, depending on feedback from the ''Will of the Mage World,'' one could gain some mysterious skill without doing anything. It was like a pie falling from the sky and landing perfectly in someone''s hands.


    Leon couldn''t understand how this could work.


    Could this boundless world truly have its own will? Was there some supreme divinity dwelling in this world, paying attention to each individual living within its body, and when an individual did something it approved of, would it reward them at the right time?


    If this Will did indeed exist, what did it look like? And where was it hidden? Furthermore, what kind of power did it have that allowed it to overcome everything and control this universe?


    However, regarding this extremely mysterious and obscure testament, Leon couldn''t guarantee that it didn''t exist. After all, the Mage World, where he currently lived, was a large-scale Plane surrounded by a vast magical ocean. With such an abundant amount of magical energy, it was not surprising to see all kinds of mystical events occur. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So, before uncovering the forces behind this mystical world, he had to maintain a reverent and respectful attitude toward everything. And that was the right approach for an Apprentice Mage seeking knowledge and universal truths.


    Leon continued copying the knowledge from the book into his database until he was left with 1 Spirit point. Then he stopped ''reading.'' He couldn''t use up all his Spirit because the Fire Arrow spell was in the process of optimization and would use 1 Spirit point every day.


    He looked out the window and saw the dark sky. He quickly realized it was already past midnight.


    Leon closed the book, exhausted, stood up, and stretched his body, making cracking sounds as he stretched. Then he went to his bed.


    But he still wasn''t going to sleep because he hadn''t completed his daily meditation!


    Thus, within his quiet, silent room, his breathing slowly stabilized as his conscious soul plunged into the spiritual world, filled with glowing ''points.''


    This was one of the harsh realities an Apprentice Mage had to deal with.


    Every day, from the moment they opened their eyes, they had to face a full schedule. Even when they finally returned to their beds after being completely exhausted, what awaited them wasn''t sweet dreams, but tedious meditation. And only by meditating daily could they increase their Spirit little by little.


    ...


    However, as the candles within the Tower went out one by one, eventually leaving the tower in complete darkness, except for the faint moonlight that could penetrate the mist and clouds above the tower, a strange figure suddenly appeared on one of the Tower''s outer walls.


    On an almost perfectly perpendicular wall; countless hidden and mysterious magical formations lay in place, yet none of them were obstacles, for it was still crawling around the tower faster than any ordinary person. From its movement, you could tell it had a target in mind. It continually passed by many open windows, never stopping even once, moving from shadow to shadow at an incredible speed.


    It wasn''t a type of shadow creature that could leap freely between shadows, but its extremely high agility gave it fantastic mobility. For it, walking on the perpendicular wall of the tower was like walking on a flat road, and it could do it all without making a sound. It was like an assassin thriving in the shadows.


    Finally, it found its target.


    With a leap, the figure quickly jumped from the outside of the narrow window, hiding its body in the shadow where no light could reach. It seemed to be listening to something.


    No sound could be heard from the room, except for a steady and long breath. Obviously, the Apprentice inside was in deep meditation. An Apprentice Mage in a meditative state was defenseless. As long as a thief, or someone of a similar profession, could sneak into their room, they would be able to easily kill a future ambitious Mage.


    But, clearly, the figure hanging outside the window was experienced, as it didn''t impatiently jump through the window. It examined the window carefully.


    Calm! Silent! As still as death!


    Everything around seemed perfectly normal, but, for some unknown reason, a sense of apprehension grew within it.


    It didn''t sense anything, but it had a premonition, from the depths of its strange bloodline, as if there was something truly dangerous waiting inside the window.


    Though it truly hated this damned bloodline, which made it partly human and partly inhuman, as a Vampire who had undergone the awakening of its bloodline, it had absolute confidence in anything that came from it.


    That bastard dared to go against it earlier that day, and now he was in deep meditation, seemingly defenseless. This Apprentice Mage was truly careless!


    Within the dark shadows below the window, parts of a bizarre smile could be seen in a pair of glowing eyes. Bleia gracefully waved her arm, tossing a round, fist-sized object through the narrow window, then she immediately transformed into a black bat and merged into the dark night, flapping her wings and flying away.


    Just as the round object crossed the window, a hidden magical formation on the inner side of the window was triggered.


    A blue ''Stunning Thunder'' instantly swept across the area the round object passed through. As it was electrical energy, even if she doubled her speed, Bleia wouldn''t have been able to dodge this trap.


    Not only that, in the darkness of the room, a pair of bizarre, colorful magical spells suddenly shot from an empty spot, instantly striking the round object that had safely passed through the Stunning Thunder trap.


    After all, the round object was just a hard shell made of common clay. It stood no chance against so many magical spells and thus immediately shattered!


    The outer shell was broken, revealing the gelatinous goo trapped inside. It was actually a living creature, and a human face could be seen on its pale green body, which seemed to be made of mud, human excrement, and foul water.


    "Oh crap, it''s the Sludge!"


    "Damn, it''s the Sludge¡­"


    "Everyone, run¡­"


    "..."


    As they were intelligent Apprentice Mages, they all recognized this ''terrifying'' demon, which was truly infamous within this Magic Swamp. Those who had experienced its terrifying ability would be overwhelmed with sorrow. On normal days, if someone encountered it in the Magic Swamp, they would definitely stay far away from it. This included even the three strongest.


    Because it was the filthiest demon living in the swamp: the Sludge.


    The Sludge was a super disgusting demon with a soft and flexible body. It looked like a strange organic object with soft, slimy tissue, messy teeth, and a pair of eyes. Its pale green body looked like a pile of mud, but it was actually more like a goo.


    Its offensive strength was so weak that it could be easily ignored. But it had a ''terrifying'' ability that brought pain to those who faced it: ''Acid Vomit.''


    This strange creature contained a certain amount of Elementium within its body, but it had been contaminated by a chaotic force. If any object or creature became stained by its vomit, they would suffer a bit from the corrosive acid¡­ But there was also its incredible and terrifying stench.


    This filthy smell could not be removed by any magical spell. Those who made physical contact with this ''Acid Vomit'' would have to endure it for ten to fourteen days! During this time, anything the person touched would also pick up the stench.


    Imagine this: if an Apprentice Mage who had touched this ''Acid Vomit'' tried to eat, even if it was the most delicious delicacy in the world, it would smell like sewage that had been soaking in filthy water for a thousand years. The torture, the ridicule from people who avoided them like the plague¡­ it would simply drive an Apprentice Mage mad.


    And now, the Sludge, which had previously been trapped in a hardened clay shell, was broken open by the spells. Then, what followed was a very entertaining scene!


    When the pale green acidic liquid splashed across the room, sounds of vomiting immediately echoed.


    "Ble-¡­ Ugh¡­ Bleia¡­ I¡­ Urrgh¡­ Haven''t finished with you¡­ Blargh¡­"


    An extremely tragic and furious roar escaped from the mouth of Apprentice Leader Brandon. But before he could finish, his voice was drowned out by the loud sounds of vomiting.


    ...


    1814 Words

 Chapter 38: A stupid alligator

    The next day, Leon encountered two smelly Apprentice Mages.Clearly, they were two unlucky guys who had been attacked by the Sludge, which seemed to have hit them with both ''Acid Vomit'' and a ''Shrink'' curse, transforming them into their current forms. But before Leon could learn how it had happened, the two, upon noticing his presence, clenched their jaws and glared at him.


    Faced with their furious glares, although completely confused as to why they were doing this, he quickly handed his list of items he wanted to exchange to Danny, turned, and left.


    Danny was considered one of the friendliest guys among all the Apprentice Mages in the tower, and he had established an underground market selling information on supply and demand. Leon had come to tell him he was selling a Giant Lizard egg and some Magical Iron Ore. If any Apprentice Mage was interested, they would come to him for a trade.


    At the same time, he bought a few useful items from Danny at a high price.


    Compared to previous days, the Tower was quite lively today. Most of the Apprentice Mages had left their rooms, going out and conversing with their familiar ''friends'' about everything that had happened the day before. The mandatory mission that Mage Eclivel had set for them was like a bomb, bringing a massive storm into these Apprentices'' once peaceful lives.


    All the Apprentices were forced to discontinue their research projects and pay attention to the latest developments, as their very status as ''Apprentices'' was at stake.


    After all, only a handful of Apprentices had immediately decided on their missions yesterday, and most of them were still hesitant. In fact, everyone could tell that these missions had been issued by the Zhentarim Association. This also meant they would have to form a temporary team with Apprentice Mages from across the Zhentarim region to fight together.


    This was a situation that had never happened before, so while the uniqueness of this event in their previously monotonous lives was refreshing, it also terrified and unsettled most of them.


    Walking slowly in the second-floor public hall, Leon passed by all these disturbed Apprentice Mages. When these Apprentice Mages saw him pass, they immediately fell silent, casting him a ''not welcome here'' look. Even some of the ''lone wolves,'' who usually conversed with him, avoided him, their faces filled with mixed emotions.


    Leon was like a lone wolf who had just been rejected by the wolf pack, slowly wandering across the grasslands. Pulling his hood up and covering his head, Leon turned and left the hall.


    Only the three strongest could make everyone stay away from him. Brandon couldn''t do that.


    Leon had no intention of finding out why the three strongest were being so hostile to him. In any case, it was probably because of Bleia. What he cared about most was how to improve himself in the shortest possible time, so he could survive the next mission.


    Taking advantage of the moment when no one was watching, Leon once again slipped out of the Mage Tower.


    Returning to the muddy swamp, Leon suddenly felt how desolate this place had become.


    Originally, no matter how desolate this place seemed, Leon could always sense a group of ghost nannies hiding around the muddy lake shores, waiting for their prey. But now, after conducting numerous scans, he simply couldn''t find the red dots representing the ghost nannies in his Elementium vision.


    In his line of sight, there were about four to five large, stinky ponds. According to the habits of the Ghost Nannies, each pond should be inhabited by a group of them, at most thirty, at least seven.


    But now, after going through all those intense battles, the largest group of Ghost Nannies that had inhabited the largest pond had suffered greatly, causing the groups living near the borders to weaken, making their lives seem truly miserable.


    However, this was better for Leon, as it saved him some effort.


    Today, Leon had purposely come here to kill demons, so he really needed a large battlefield. If any ghost nannies from previous days remained, they would be killed by him today.


    After inspecting the area once more and checking all the surrounding areas (he had the Chip record the terrain data), only then did Leon take out the core of the Clay Golem.


    After more than ten hours of recovery, all four energy nodes on the summoning core were lit up, indicating they had been fully charged with Earth Elementium. The Golem was ready to display its power!


    Leon tossed the summoning core onto the muddy shore of the lake.


    "Boom~~"


    Just like before, when it touched the muddy shore, an enormous amount of yellow smoke instantly exploded. This wasn''t real smoke, but rather dense Earth Elementium burning around the core.


    The Earth Elementium quickly gathered. Driven by invisible forces, the damp soil began to rise and twist, quickly forming a humanoid Golem about Leon''s height.


    Too bad it wasn''t a Stone or Iron Golem; otherwise, its defense would be strong enough that it might be able to fight head-to-head with the Giant Alligator King, Leon''s target today. You get what you pay for! Indeed, the Clay Golem was cheap, but its defense was only on par with that of a human fighter in full leather armor.


    It could hardly withstand the sharp fangs and powerful tail of a giant alligator.


    But the Giant Alligator had a weakness, or else, with its formidable strength comparable to an Advanced Apprentice, it would only be a dream for Leon to battle it.


    ...


    In the early morning, the muddy swamp was still peaceful.


    Less than 800 meters from the stinking lakes where the Ghost Nannies lived, there was a vast area inhabited by Giant Alligators. Some terrifying giant alligators were just lying among grass bushes, lazily sleeping.


    But as they enjoyed their quiet, leisurely lifestyle, a loud noise was heard, and a crooked figure was seen jumping into the lake where they lived.


    Looking at its disheveled, moss-covered hair, pitch-black filthy claws, and thin but vigorous body¡­ It was actually one of their neighbors, a Ghost Nanny.


    As a native creature of the Magic Swamp, all the strong demons had their own fixed territories, and the borders of these territories were distinct. No one was allowed to enter another''s territory. But today, this smelly, filthy Ghost Nanny dared to invade the Giant Alligators'' territory, and this made the Giant Alligators, who had just been rudely awakened from their sleep, extremely angry.


    Without making a sound, seven to eight giant alligators left the grassy bushes, sank into the water, and disappeared. The only signs of them were a few lines of fast-moving water heading toward the Ghost Nanny. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Somehow, the Ghost Nanny had all her arms and legs broken by someone. So, even with a strong body, she simply couldn''t do anything to save herself. Soon, a large, fierce mouth leapt from the water and bit down hard on the upper part of her body, dragging her under as it dove back into the water.


    More giant alligators arrived, causing water to splash everywhere and mud to churn furiously. Once these alligators tasted blood, they entered a Berserk state and began to relentlessly tear the Ghost Nanny apart.


    A massive Giant Alligator appeared on the lake shore.


    Unlike the other giant alligators, it didn''t rush to devour the intruder who had invaded its territory. Instead, it raised its upper body, like a true king, and slowly surveyed the surroundings.


    These ghost nannies had their own leader, so it was impossible for them to invade another''s territory without a reason. Could that Sinbad be trying to provoke a war between them?


    As a demon leader that had undergone a unique evolution, this Giant Alligator King obviously possessed some basic intelligence. Thus, it was able to rationally ponder a few simple issues.


    But as it was still wondering, another Ghost Nanny came flying through the air, drawing a strange arc as it fell into the depths of the swamp. After tearing an intruder to pieces, the alligators were completely enraged, and the noise immediately attracted those Giant Alligators, causing them to swarm toward the new "arrival."


    Only the Giant Alligator King, standing firm on the shore, could see that this new Ghost Nanny had been thrown here by someone, and that "someone" was hiding behind a Killer Tree not far from the lake.


    Without hesitation, the Giant Alligator King moved its short but powerful legs, beginning to waddle toward the Killer Tree. To avoid alerting the "enemy," it deliberately moved around the lake, hiding in dense waist-high weeds as it stealthily approached its target.


    Obviously, it had a massive body, but it still attempted to sneak around like an assassin. Hidden behind another Killer Tree in the distance, Leon couldn''t help but shake his head.


    Even though it had evolved and possessed some basic intelligence, it was still a mere demon. Compared to deep human intelligence, its limited mind was nothing more than a joke.


    Even with its stomach nearly touching the ground, the Giant Alligator King''s enormous body still stood over two meters high. No matter how dense the weeds were, they barely covered its legs and stomach. Its gigantic body was fully covered in hard scales, and sharp spikes stood high on its back, easily visible from afar. In such a situation, it still thought it couldn''t be seen.


    This situation was simply laughable.


    What was even more ridiculous was its enormous body, weighing over thirty tons, causing the ground to briefly tremble with every step it took. Yet, it still tried to sneak, as if it would really launch a stealth attack. It seemed to have no idea how much it shook the ground with each step it took.


    Having maneuvered smoothly past several obstacles, the Giant Alligator King finally spotted a suspicious figure behind the Killer Tree.


    It was a hateful human dressed in an Apprentice''s robe. He also had a few immobilized ghost nannies beside him. Every so often, "he" would toss one into the distant lake. Thanks to "him," the once peaceful and quiet swamp had become a lively, bloody battlefield, with the frightening sight of giant alligators ripping apart their prey everywhere.


    The Giant Alligator King glared angrily at this wicked Apprentice, and to prevent the enemy from escaping, it patiently, slowly, but steadily advanced toward him.


    100 meters...


    70 meters...


    50 meters...


    20 meters...


    Today was its lucky day.


    It had almost reached the back of that vile Apprentice, and "he" still hadn''t sensed anything unusual coming from behind.


    While congratulating itself on how well it had closed in on its target, the Giant Alligator King lowered its body, making the final preparations for a devastating attack.


    Time to die, human! I''ll have Apprentice Mage for dinner!


    Moving explosively, the Giant Alligator King lunged at its target.


    ....


    1826 Words

 Chapter 39: Golem vs Alligator

    When the Giant Alligator King opened his mouth fully, it was even taller than an adult human. Terrifying-looking teeth were chaotically scattered across his upper and lower jaws, each resembling a sharp dagger."Bite!"


    With its incredible biting force, this unprepared Apprentice might have been immediately torn in half.


    But something surprising happened. The human Apprentice turned, throwing the Ghost Nanny in his hand directly into the Giant Alligator King''s mouth. Then, twisting and spinning in a strange way, he escaped the frightening bite of the Giant Alligator King at lightning speed.


    "Splat~~"


    The thin, resilient body of the Ghost Nanny was instantly torn in half, causing coagulated, foul black blood to ooze between its sharp teeth.


    The Giant Alligator King let out a disgusted roar.


    "Roarrrrrr~~~"


    Like a demon itself, it was never picky about food. However, it would definitely refuse these neighbors without hesitation. Even from a demon''s perspective, these Ghost Nannies really stank. Only when food truly ran out would it consider eating one or two of these Ghost Nannies.


    The Giant Alligator King spat out the torn body from his mouth. The next second, he spotted a fleeing human figure. He could tell that this human Apprentice couldn''t run very fast, as he was stumbling and tripping through puddles.


    With a gleeful roar, it moved its gigantic body and charged forward toward its target, like a small mountain.


    "Rushed footsteps~~"


    Due to the terrain in this area, the Giant Alligator King actually moved faster than that human Apprentice, quickly catching up from behind.


    Although he kept running, the bizarre human constantly dodged miraculously out of the path of its giant mouth. This made the Giant Alligator King even more furious, and it became increasingly reckless as this went on.


    Finally, in a successful attempt, the Giant Alligator King crushed the human''s arm with a fierce bite. But strangely, there was no taste of blood or flesh in its mouth. In fact, it seemed as if it had just bitten into a mouthful of clay.


    Furthermore, after the Apprentice''s cloak was torn away, it revealed that the being in front of it wasn''t a human Apprentice at all but a strange humanoid Clay Creature.


    The Giant Alligator King immediately realized it had been tricked. Enraged, it pounced on the unlucky creature that had lured it here, preparing to tear it into a thousand pieces.


    Now that its true identity was exposed, the Clay Golem had no need to continue acting.


    Tearing off the troublesome cloak, the Golem was finally able to reveal its full power. It began to fight this clumsy Giant Alligator King in an orderly manner.


    After all, the Giant Alligator King was a water demon, which meant it could move like a fish in the swamp''s muddy water. But when it came to land movement, its massive body was extremely clumsy.


    With its entire body covered in hard scales, it continued pushing forward like a frenzied war machine, sending grass flying everywhere, breaking trees, and leaving a deep trail in the ground.


    "Pow~~"


    "Crack~~"


    "Tremor~~"


    But its attacks were overly focused on its head and tail.


    Most of its offensive abilities could strike within a fan-shaped area around the front of its head. Within this area, its fierce bite could easily destroy an enemy. Furthermore, whenever it used its long tail to attack, it would shatter the enemy''s bones.


    However, the region between its front and hind limbs was its offensive weak spot, as neither its head nor its tail could reach it. If an enemy hid within this area, it would have to slowly shift its massive body to position the enemy where it could strike.


    And this cursed Golem had clearly found its weakness, as it dashed straight into that area and continued attacking its body madly.


    "Bang~~"


    "Bang~~"


    "Bang~~"


    Using its heavy and powerful fists, the Clay Golem continued pounding on the hard scales that lined the Giant Alligator King''s ribs.


    In addition to physical attacks, the Clay Golem also used Mud Spear to support its offense. But all of this was useless. With its body fully covered in thick, hard scales, the Giant Alligator King didn''t even care about these ineffective blows. It simply kept twisting its body, tirelessly trying to shake off this unpleasant enemy that dared to fight so close to it.


    But the Golem kept close to the Giant Alligator King, ensuring it couldn''t be struck.


    The thick, resilient scales served as a defensive mechanism for the Giant Alligator King, but they also limited its offensive reach to its mouth. The enemy was so close, yet it simply couldn''t do anything.


    Although the Golem was dominating from a position of advantage, Leon, who was controlling it remotely from a distance, didn''t feel pleased at all.


    This wouldn''t work!


    Without penetrating the enemy''s scales, there was no way the Golem could deal enough damage. If this continued, the battle would end in a stalemate, as neither side would be able to harm the other.


    The Giant Alligator King was blinded by its rage now, which was why it kept fighting the Clay Golem. Once it regained its senses and returned to the swamp water, there would be no way for the Clay Golem to fight it.


    Fortunately, before Leon came here, he had done a complete analysis of the Giant Alligator''s strengths and weaknesses, so he had an idea of how to defeat it. After receiving his command, the Golem stopped wasting its energy attacking the opponent''s body with its fists and began releasing ''Spikes'' under the Giant Alligator King''s body.


    Most parts of the Alligator King''s body were covered with a thick layer of scales, which provided excellent protection against physical attacks. But there was one area these scales didn''t cover: its abdomen.


    These spikes not only caused physical damage but also inflicted Earth Elementium damage. Since the Giant Alligator was an Earth Elementium demon, it had significant resistance to Earth Elementium damage, so it suffered no harm from this part of the spike attack. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nevertheless, the pure physical damage still caused the Giant Alligator King pain, making it continuously groan in agony.


    "Urrr~~"


    Throughout the entire Magic Swamp, no demon could pierce its thick scales and attack its weak spot, and this had made it the Lord of this vast swampy land. But today, this unpleasant Golem had truly upset this king.


    Only after feeling pain did the Giant Alligator King remember that it had a similar innate ability. So, with an enraged roar, a thick concentration of Earth Elementium immediately began to gather around its body.


    "Mire Mire Spell!"


    Leon clenched his fists tightly as he watched the Giant Alligator King''s innate ability activate. When he confirmed that it was indeed the ''Mire Spell,'' he couldn''t contain his excitement and let out a loud cheer.


    Excellent! The Giant Alligator King was as good as dead now!


    To be honest, if this Giant Alligator King had the innate ability to use offensive spells or those supplementary spells that could provide additional defense, Leon would have called back the Clay Golem and left immediately. But since it was only the Mire Spell, the success rate for today''s battle shot up to 70%.


    As expected, just as Leon was jumping with joy, a rather amusing scene unfolded on the battlefield.


    "Hahaha¡­"


    "What a stupid creature!" Leon thought.


    Less than 50 meters from the Giant Alligator King, the ground had turned into a thick, deep mire, acting like quicksand. If other creatures fought him, they might be caught off guard and trapped in the quicksand. It was a type of restriction spell that covered a large area. This, combined with his terrifying physical abilities, brought the Giant Alligator King to a dominant position in this land.


    Unfortunately for him, the Clay Golem was an Earth Elementium creature!


    While other creatures would be trapped by it, the Golem stood in this constantly shifting mire as if it were solid ground; nothing actually happened. It seemed as though the Golem''s heavy, solid body had suddenly lost all its weight, as it moved easily through the quicksand, showing no signs of sinking.


    Thus, on this slowly shifting quicksand, an intense yet strange game of cat and mouse erupted between two Earth creatures.


    The Clay Golem gave up on attacking with Mud Spear, which hadn''t caused any real damage, and continued releasing Spikes beneath its opponent''s body. On average, it could cast this once every 11 seconds. After all, Spikes was an AoE spell.


    Although the Clay Golem couldn''t see the exact weak spot on the Giant Alligator King''s abdomen or gauge the attack''s effectiveness, as long as the attack was focused under the Giant Alligator King, it would be enough to hurt it.


    After fifteen minutes of this intense battle, it was obvious the Giant Alligator King couldn''t hold on much longer, as its movements became slower than before.


    Not only was it unable to strike the enemy, but it also continued to feel immense pain in its abdomen. This frustrating battle had left it furious. As a demon with basic intelligence, it realized that if things continued like this, it would indeed be killed by this creature.


    Thus, the Giant Alligator King decided to stop bothering with this Golem. It turned its body and started moving toward a distant lake.


    However, this was within Leon''s expectations. When it began to turn its body, it noticed another human blocking its retreat. Moreover, the human was holding a strange-looking object that resembled a spider.


    Relying on its keen sense of smell, the Giant Alligator King sensed real blood and flesh from this obstacle. Unable to contain its rage, it let out an enraged roar. "Roarrrr!" Before the true culprit behind today''s sinister scheme, it lunged forward ferociously, planning to take down this enemy and return to its home territory.


    In the next moment, a white spider web covered its head, sticking to its short, thick front paws. At the same time, a blazing fire arrow shot forth, quickly embedding itself in the upper part of its long, narrow snout.


    "Zoshh~~"


    This was where its head was located and also the area closest to its eyes.


    The Giant Alligator King closed its eyes, and a layer of small scales appeared on its eyelids. It felt a sharp pain on its forehead as a violent flame erupted across its face.


    "BOOM~~"


    With its front paws tangled in spider webs and both eyes forced shut by the fire, it couldn''t see anything and had to slow down. As a result, the Clay Golem, which was accompanying it, began to increase the frequency of its attacks.


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    To win this battle, Leon was almost broke.


    These one-time-use spider web items weren''t cheap. Every time he used one, his heart bled. But to prevent the Giant Alligator King from escaping, he had no choice but to keep using them to restrain its legs.


    The Giant Alligator King had overwhelming strength. According to Leon''s preliminary estimate, it had at least 14 in Strength. With that incredible power, each spider web could only hold it for six to seven seconds.


    If it weren''t for Leon continuously attacking its eyes with Fire Arrow, preventing it from finding its way back, it might have forcefully pushed through these obstacles and returned to its lair.


    Thus, with careful and precise planning, after nearly seven to eight minutes of relentless attacks, the abdomen of the Giant Alligator King was finally pierced by the Clay Golem''s Spike spell.


    ...


    1925 Words

 Chapter 40: Merging golems

    The Giant Alligator King had died, and at the hands of two seemingly insignificant beings!Leon ordered the Clay Golem to explore the corpse of the Giant Alligator King so he could gather some important materials, including an Earth Elemental core the size of an egg. After that, before all the other giant alligators could bother them, they hurriedly left the area.


    After Leon disappeared at the end of the path, behind a Killing Tree less than 800 meters from the battlefield, Bleia was distractedly watching the giant alligators roaring furiously in the distance. Around her on the ground, fourteen broken bodies of Carnivorous Crows lay scattered.


    She had witnessed the entire course of Leon''s battle now, and she was filled with mixed emotions.


    The Giant Alligator King was a terrifying demon that even she had not dared to provoke!


    Although the Giant Alligator King was considered to be on the same level as an Advanced Apprentice, this was not a good representation of his true fighting ability. With his high agility, even if the Giant Alligator King had a pair of wings, he still wouldn''t be able to think of catching her.


    However, the thick and tough scales of the Giant Alligator King were also not something she could break through, as she was ''weak.''


    If they fought, the Giant Alligator King wouldn''t be able to do anything about her speed, and she couldn''t do anything about his defense.


    Bleia was aware of the limitations of her abilities. While they were weak, she might be able to intimidate most of those Apprentice Mages. But after the inevitable improvement, her advantage was, in fact, diminishing.


    And now this seemingly insignificant ''subordinate'' Apprentice of hers had actually been able to use that strange Clay Golem to kill the Giant Alligator King.


    This¡­ This brought a great confusion to her!


    Turning her eyes back to those broken crow bodies, her eyes clouded, and her mind wandered.


    He was a ''subordinate'' that she had personally subjugated! Since when had he become the main combat force, and she had become the slave responsible for clearing out the spies in the perimeter? A flame of anger erupted in Bleia''s mind, and a blood-red thread appeared in the middle of her green eyes.


    She was the boss, and he was just a weak subordinate. That relationship could never be changed! It seemed it was time to teach this arrogant brat a lesson. Although he had treated her well in the past, she wouldn''t allow him to take her to the top¡­ Yes, she would give him a lesson when she got back! S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Suppressing the growing anger and frustration in her mind, Bleia leaped into the air, transformed into a small bat, flapping her wings as she flew toward the tower.


    When Bleia knocked on Leon''s door, furious anger in her heart, she was surprised when the door opened to reveal Leon''s dazzling smile.


    Pulling Bleia into his room, Leon presented his gift to her as if offering her a precious treasure.


    "Bleia, look at this! I know you like the blood of strong beings, right? Would this be useful for you?"


    Pungent, sticky blood was inside a small jar. With both hands, Leon extended it toward Bleia. His face shone with anticipation, his expression like that of a small child begging to be praised.


    "This¡­ What is this?" Bleia stammered.


    Somehow, even though she had come here to teach Leon a lesson, her anger instantly vanished, and she even stammered while speaking to him.


    "Don''t ask. Just try it first and see if you like it! I collected many of them this time. If you like it, I''ll go to the lab to purify them and get rid of the pungent smell, and I''m sure it will taste better!"


    Making a poker face, Bleia criticized him to cover her surprise at the situation.


    "Who would give such a gift? You didn''t even wrap it properly. You just put it in a rough ceramic pot. At the very least, you should pour it into a crystal goblet! And how did you get this blood? Don''t you know that the sweetest blood of a creature is the blood from the heart?


    For your sincerity, I''ll forgive your rudeness this time. Remember! Next time, prepare your gift properly before presenting it to me!"


    "I understand¡­ I totally understand¡­ But¡­ Bleia! Look, it''s going to take me a long time to prepare all this, and I think I don''t have enough Knowledge Points at the moment¡­"


    Her beautiful green pupils constricted, and a dangerous glint shone in her eyes.


    "So¡­ are you trying to ask me for a loan?"


    "No¡­ Well, yes, but just temporarily. As soon as I sell all the items I''ve listed, I''ll pay you back." Leon couldn''t help but smile awkwardly. The quality of the Earth Elemental core he harvested this time was better than the first, and thus he had more space to incorporate Magic Formations into it. So, he was worried about how to use it fully.


    He didn''t have much time until they had to leave for the mission, but he still had some urgent matters that needed to be resolved.


    The newly harvested Earth Elemental core was definitely one of them.


    Leon had come up with a unique plan for this new core. Since it was also an elemental core of earth, why couldn''t he connect the energy of both the summoned Clay Golems? When separated, each Golem would work on its own, and when connected, they would share their energy. Wouldn''t that be better?


    Thinking about this, Leon had the Chip perform some preliminary calculations. What he needed now was to learn about energy connections and soul synergy. Once he acquired that knowledge, he should be able to create this new Golem.


    Leon also needed to find a suitable defensive magic spell.


    At present, he had mastered two Fire magic spells: one used for close combat with minor defensive uses, and the other was a pure long-range offensive spell. Thus, he still had a significant weakness in dealing with his defense. If he didn''t resolve this issue, he would likely die on the next mission.


    Using his insect fusion ability, Worm Controller was like an unbeatable cockroach, and he never feared enemy attacks.


    The Super Girl had an incredible physique, and her offensive strength was nearly invincible, so she never had to worry about her own safety.


    The abilities of Fatal Shot were unknown.


    Bleia possessed inhuman agility and the frightening ability to suck blood, which granted her powerful regeneration. Therefore, she was also as invincible as a cockroach.


    All these Advanced Apprentices had their own complete and systematic paths of magic. It didn''t matter if it was offensive or defensive; they possessed their unique skills and therefore differed greatly. But regardless of whom he had to face, Leon had no confidence in surviving their attacks.


    This was Leon''s current weakness.


    Due to a lack of knowledge and resources, Leon was considered an underdog, even among the Beginner Apprentices, and he had yet to decide on his development path. Thus, he had not developed a systematic way to cultivate his magical ability.


    Although he had wished to become a Principle Mage before this and had even learned some Deep Mage skills, the damn mandatory mission had interrupted his original development plan.


    According to his initial plan, he was supposed to invest most of his resources in learning elemental knowledge and theories of Fire Elementium magic spells, trying his best to increase his Spirit so he could reach the same level as most of the other Apprentices his age, advancing to the Intermediate Apprentice grade. By his estimates, this process would take at least three months.


    But now, that mandatory red mission was pressing down on him like a nightmare. If he didn''t have any appropriate countermeasures before starting, he might die in that terrifying Underground Cave. Because of this, Leon had no choice but to readjust the allocation of his resources, putting all of them into the Golems.


    As a direct result of this, Leon was nearly bankrupt!


    He didn''t have enough Knowledge Points to rent the Alchemy Laboratory; he didn''t have enough Knowledge Points to learn defensive spells; and he didn''t have enough gold coins to buy suitable items for anything¡­


    Setting aside the gold, without enough Knowledge Points to support the creation of a new summoning core, Leon had no hope of surviving in that cave. If it weren''t for this, he would never have swallowed his pride to try to obtain something from Bleia.


    Bleia looked directly at Leon''s face with her dazzling eyes. Finally, she nodded without saying anything.


    After receiving an ''investment'' from Bleia, and unaware of the beating he had narrowly escaped, Leon rushed to the Alchemy Laboratory and, like a spendthrift, rented the high-quality Alchemy Station for seven hours.


    The Earth Elemental Core obtained from the Giant Alligator King was as large as a pigeon''s egg. According to the Chip''s designs, in addition to some basic magical control formations, he could add a few more energy nodes in the extra space. Thus, while the previous summoning core could only have four energy nodes, this one could have nine.


    More energy nodes meant a more complex magical formation and countless modifications throughout the structure. So, from the moment Leon obtained the core, the Chip had been busy calculating and testing the design.


    When Leon finally prepared all the magical materials, the Chip completed the task.


    "Beep!"


    "The latest structural design for the Golem summoning core has been completed."


    "Start data transfer?"


    "Transfer!"


    After the data transfer was completed, Leon closed his eyes and saw the customized three-dimensional design of the magical formation.


    After these calculations, he needed to carve fifteen magical formations of all sizes onto the surface of the pigeon-sized summoning core. He also needed to connect them all together, forming them into a larger and more complex magical formation. A design task like this could only be completed by the Chip in such a short time. For Leon, he could barely recognize any of the runic structures on it.


    After spending a few minutes trying to understand it, Leon stopped trying and turned his attention to the problems he would face later during the carving process.


    With the help of the Chip, Leon was able to completely avoid the issue of insufficient knowledge and skill and was capable of breaking down the entire complex task of creation into numerous simple and straightforward operations.


    Through these small and trivial operations, Leon, who was just a novice in Alchemy, could complete the intricate runic structures all at once, something that would typically only be possible in the hands of those Master Alchemists.


    Therefore, at this moment, what Leon was concerned about was not whether he was competent enough to complete this project, but whether his Spirit was strong enough to withstand the enormous strain he was about to place on it.


    But he had no alternatives.


    He had to build his army of Golems as quickly as possible to optimize his offensive capability. Then he had to find time to learn a suitable defensive magic spell to give himself both offensive and defensive advantages. And this was the key to his survival in the mandatory mission!


    Leon took a deep breath and once again stood before the Alchemy Station. He cleared his mind of any disturbing thoughts and focused entirely on creating the new summoning core.


    ...


    1921 Words

 Chapter 41: Pedro

    Several hours later, when Leon exuberantly ran back to his room, he found an Adept Apprentice waiting for him.To his surprise, after putting up the ''item for sale'' notice, the first person to come and see him was actually Pedro, the manager of the Magic Practice Room. Although Leon had barely had contact with anyone, he had heard that this Pedro had not managed to squeeze onto the list of ten men for the mission to guard the Swamp Tower.


    This also meant that Pedro, who was an Intermediate Apprentice, had to face the risks brought by the upcoming mandatory missions.


    "I heard you have a Giant Lizard egg in your possession?" Upon meeting Leon, Pedro didn''t hide his purpose for being there. With the ticking of the clock, all beginner and intermediate Apprentices were gripped by a sense of urgency, seizing every second they had to strengthen themselves.


    As a result, items very useful for small-scale battles between Apprentices, like potions and scrolls, had skyrocketed in price. They were so expensive that even the wealthiest Apprentices felt a pang in their hearts when buying them.


    If it weren''t for this, Leon wouldn''t have nearly gone broke just for purchasing a few single-use spider webs.


    But this wasn''t all bad either.


    From the ''black market'' list provided by Danny, Leon saw many rare materials that he could hardly find under normal circumstances. These items were definitely the treasures of other Apprentices, many of which were set aside to be used when they advanced to the next level in the future.


    But what a pity¡­ Due to this mandatory mission, which was a life-or-death matter, they were forced to give up on their future, selling these treasures in exchange for items that would instantly boost their combat abilities.


    Leon politely invited Pedro into his room.


    As Pedro stepped into the room, the strong smell of blood and the pungent scent of formalin filled his nose. Glass jars of all sizes could be seen placed on a shelf in the corner of the room. They were filled with light green liquid, and all kinds of demon organs floated inside these jars. Hearts, stomach pouches, brains, eyeballs¡­ Many of them still had blood within and on them.


    Clearly, they were freshly harvested.


    A lively croak resounded in the air from Pedro''s companion beast, the Poison Dart Frog, as it suddenly appeared on his shoulder, croaking restlessly at these materials. After Pedro finally calmed it down, it crawled next to his ear and began whispering something.


    "Looks like you''ve got some new materials. Why don''t you sell them to me?" Pedro quickly made a demand.


    "All these materials were harvested from the Giant Alligator King. I think there are people out there eager enough to improve their ability that they wouldn''t mind implanting the Giant Alligator King''s heart into their bodies. If you really want to buy it, you''d better give me a good price!" Leon remained calm and reminded Pedro.


    In this unique period, anything that could enhance one''s battle ability could no longer be traded at a reasonably normal price. As for the price hike, it was actually proportional to the quality of the item and also depended on the urgency of the individual who wanted to buy it. Therefore, faced with a desperately needed item, anyone would have to be prepared to go broke.


    "The Giant Alligator King? That''s even better!" What Leon said made Pedro feel his heart burn with desire, but then he paused, puzzled. He looked at Leon, asking, "Were you able to kill the Giant Alligator King?"


    Leon shook his head briefly and pointed to the wall between his room and Bleia''s.


    Pedro quickly realized what that meant and nodded, obviously believing that it was Bleia who had killed it.


    When a Beginner Apprentice tried to challenge the Giant Alligator King, it was no different from courting death. But if it was an Advanced Apprentice, who was also a Vampire, attempting it, it was a totally different story. Although it still seemed uncertain, it wasn''t hard to accept.


    In the minutes that followed, the two Apprentices haggled intensely with each other. Although one was eager to buy and the other was impatiently trying to sell his items, neither was willing to give up their profit so easily.


    Finally, after two hours of intense negotiations, Leon sold all his organic materials in exchange for seventeen Knowledge Points, three Magic Crystals, a ''Screaming Tree Gramal,'' and a Weak Invisibility Potion.


    As for the scales, fangs, and claws of the Giant Alligator King, Pedro showed no interest in them. However, Leon considered selling them to some of the Apprentices who were preparing to follow the Body Refinement Adept path.


    If it weren''t for the difficult times, Leon had actually planned to extract the Giant Alligator King''s spine and tendons, as both were in high demand among Body Refinement Apprentices. But if he really ran back to the scene, the Giant Alligator King''s corpse might already have been devoured by the other Giant Alligators.


    Pedro took a few trips to move all the materials, and as soon as he was done, Leon immediately rushed to the library with his newly obtained Knowledge Points.


    He was searching for a good Fire Element defensive spell.


    ...


    Infernal Force Field, a basic fire magic defensive spell capable of forming a high-temperature field around the body, scorching any enemy that entered the region and causing them to suffer rapid bodily dehydration. Effective Range: 10 meters. (Note: This is a prerequisite magic spell for Fire Ring, an advanced Fire Element defensive spell.)


    ...


    Fire Burst, a basic fire elemental defensive magic spell capable of placing Elementium orbs rotating around the body. Any enemy that touches the Elementium orbs will suffer a Fire Burst, dealing 3-5 Fire damage. Effective Range: 8 meters. Number of Elementium orbs: 17.


    ...


    Infernal Body, a fire elemental defensive magic spell capable of temporarily transforming part of the body into Elementium to avoid a lethal offensive attack. Significantly enhances Fire Elemental resistance for the caster. Effective Range: 0 meters. (Note: This is a prerequisite magic spell for Fire Elementium Body Modification.) Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    Fire Shield, a basic Fire Element defensive magic spell capable of forming a small fire shield in front of the caster''s body. It can block most long-range magical spells and melee attacks. Any enemy that attacks the shield will receive 1-2 points of fire damage. Effective Range: 3 meters. Defensive Strength: 35 points. (Note: This is a prerequisite magic spell for Infernal Shield.)


    ...


    Infernal Shield, an intermediate fire element defensive magic spell capable of forming three rotating fire shields around the caster''s body. Before the shields are broken, they can block all long-range and melee attacks. Deals 3-5 Fire damage to melee attackers. Effective Range: 5 meters. Defensive Strength: 80 points. (Note: Requires Fire Shield as a prerequisite magic spell.)


    ...


    Fire Ring, an intermediate fire element defensive magic spell capable of using a large amount of Elementium to form a ring of fire around the caster''s body. It inflicts 5-7 points of fire damage per second on any enemy that enters the ring. Effective Range: 15 meters. (Note: Requires Infernal Force Field as a prerequisite magic spell.)


    ...


    ...


    This dazzling array of Fire Element defensive spells presented a tough choice for Leon. Each of these magic spells had its own pros and cons, so to choose a suitable spell, he needed to carefully identify their differences and weigh them against each other.


    Furthermore, since most defensive magic spells came in sets, some intermediate and advanced defensive spells required a caster to master certain basic prerequisite spells. So, if he chose the wrong spell and later wished to learn other advanced spells, it would take more time and energy.


    Infernal Force Field and Fire Ring were part of sets, both being field control spells. They didn''t provide substantial individual defense, so they couldn''t block any long-range attacks. However, when faced with melee attacks, their field control was quite effective.


    Especially the intermediate spell, Fire Ring, which could deal 5 to 7 Fire damage every second¡ªagainst enemies who only possessed melee abilities, it was almost impossible to endure. Take Leon, for instance: he currently had only 14 Health Points. If he entered the Fire Ring, he might be burned to ash within three seconds.


    And what could he do in three seconds? If he hadn''t solidified any magic spells, he might be killed by the fire damage before he even cast a spell.


    Imagine this: within a group of Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices, a Pseudo-Adept who had mastered Fire Ring suddenly appeared and cast the spell on these novices, subjecting them to intense pain. Not only that, he might not even need to attack personally, as the Fire damage alone would be enough to kill any novice without Fire elemental resistance.


    Whenever Leon pictured this breathtaking scene, he couldn''t help but shiver with excitement. But when he remembered that Fire Ring couldn''t prevent an enemy from attacking, his excitement quickly turned to dislike.


    On the other hand, Fire Shield and Infernal Shield were more discreet.


    Forming a dense shield of Fire Elementium and having it hover around the caster''s body to block any potential direct spells and melee attacks¡ªand if an enemy dared to get close before the shield was fully broken, it could also inflict some Fire damage.


    In general, it didn''t have any obvious offensive abilities, but it possessed excellent defensive qualities.


    So, as expected, Leon borrowed two spell books: Fire Shield and Infernal Shield.


    In this place, it cost fifteen Knowledge Points to purchase the Fire Shield spell book, but only three Knowledge Points to borrow it once. Thus, most Apprentices preferred to borrow it a few times and take their time copying it rather than spending so many of their precious Knowledge Points on buying a book.


    It was time for the Chip to shine.


    Leon only needed to borrow the book once, and the Chip would be able to scan all its contents and store them in his mind. Then, he could take his time studying them, saving a huge amount of Knowledge Points that he could use to borrow more books.


    Moreover, he couldn''t master a defensive magic spell just by reading. He still needed to do a lot of preliminary studies. Clenching his jaw and strengthening his resolve, Leon borrowed all the necessary books at once.


    ...


    ''The Influences of Fire Element Density on the Effectiveness of a Magic Spell''


    ''Elementary Fire Control Techniques''


    ''Analysis on the Usage of Fire Shield''


    ''Characteristics of Fire Element Distribution''


    ...


    ...


    Carrying a tall stack of borrowed books, Leon once again dashed back to his room. As he reached his door, he heard the neighboring door open and saw Bleia''s cold, elegant face appear behind it.


    "Where''s my gift?"


    "Uh¡­"


    Suddenly, Leon was at a loss for words, feeling like he was glued to the spot.


    Since he''d been so focused on his summoning core, he had completely forgotten about Bleia!


    Seeing Bleia''s darkening expression and realizing she was about to lose her temper, Leon quickly let out a loud plea.


    "One hour¡­ Just give me one more hour. The gift will be ready soon!"


    With that, he rushed into his room.


    ...


    1879 Words

 Chapter 42: Preparation

    After making sure Bleia was appeased, Leon was finally able to finish preparing for the upcoming mission.In order to better protect his life, Leon had nearly used up all his resources adding all kinds of items to his inventory, each capable of helping him handle different situations.


    The ''Screaming Tree Branch'' that he had received when trading with Pedro was one of them.


    The Screaming Tree Branch was a unique item produced by nature. If one cut a branch from it and tied it to their skin, it would let out a shrill scream when the holder was struck by a curse. The one Pedro traded with Leon could still be used three times, and was vital for the mission. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before leaving the Tower, he had to prepare quite a lot of similar items.


    Blood coagulating medicinal paste, which made wounds heal more quickly; Purple Wistaria, which could reattach an amputated limb; basic antidotes for common poisons; Absinthe Powder, which could repel insects and snakes in the wild; a talisman that could detect spiritual creatures...


    Being away from the tower, besides forgetting all those strange and unpredictable demons, beasts, and monsters, the most troubling of all were other Apprentice Mages. who possessed all sorts of fanciful abilities. The more thoroughly he prepared, the more likely he could save his own life at a critical juncture. Therefore, during the preparation of these items, Leon tried his best to take into account all possible situations so as to be ready for anything.


    Most importantly, as the mission was taking place underground, Leon purposely studied the information related to the Underground Cave. So he had gained a basic understanding of the location.


    To Leon''s surprise, the underground of the Mage Mainland was not entirely hard rock and soil, but included vast networks of underground caverns and karst caves, and twisting tunnels that connecting them together. In this underground world, one could find glowing rocks, crystals, and phosphorescent mosses, lichens and fungi. Compared to the world above, strange plants were very common in this place. Without using any magical methods, it would be impossible to identify which of them were poisonous and which were edible.


    However, these mutated plants and creatures weren''t the most frightening things in this underground world, but the countless monstrous, evil, dark creatures and Fallen Mages who had separated themselves from the path of official Mages.


    Most of these Fallen Mages had committed serious crimes against the Mage Mainland. In order to escape being hunted down by Mage Associations, they were forced to hide in the underground, choosing to live among all those ugly and twisted creatures. Some said that these Fallen Mages had actually built a small city for themselves. It was a lawless place where evil ran rampant, a true city of crime.


    As the underground world had a complicated terrain and countless tunnels, although the major Mage Associations had organized numerous clean-up operations, never once had they been able to completely wipe out these dark Mages. Thus allowing these criminals to grow stronger. By now, this underground city of sin had several hundred official Mages, and were considered an abnormal branch of official Mages: the Fallen Mages.


    The Underground Cave, where Leon going to investigate, was just one of the entrances to the underground world, of which there were dozens. Although an Mage Tower had been built there, and was guarded by an official Mage, they still couldn''t stop those Fallen Mages from trying to sneak through this cave with all kind of methods.


    With the abilities of Apprentice Mages, such as Leon, there was no way they could fight with those Fallen Mages. Thus, they were only required to investigate the distribution of demon creatures within ten miles of the surface. Also, they needed to report if they found any traces of Fallen Mages.


    The first mission was easy, but the second one would bring them great danger. If they actually ran into Fallen Mages during their investigation trip, even those Pseudo-Mages would find it hard to escape.


    Therefore, knowing he might face such a situation, Leon had to specifically prepare some unique items.


    Since the place was filled with rough, twisting tunnels and caverns, any creature from the surface world would find it hard to see things in the dark. So, the first thing Leon had to solve was how to maintain his vision when traveling underground.


    In order to solve this problem, there were two solutions.


    The first solution was to purchase some crafted items which came with the effect of Low-light Vision. Of course, it would be better if it carried the function of Dark Vision. But taking his finances into consideration, Leon had no choice but to lower his expectations.


    Low-light Vision allowed the bearer to maintain normal vision in a dusky environment, and Dark Vision was an enhanced version of it, allowing the bearer to have a perfect vision, even in total darkness.


    The second solution was to implant an ''Eye of Void'' or ''Thousand Eyes Bug'' in his body.


    Using some techniques from biological modification, replacing one of his eye with an ''Eye of Void'', which was an eyeball modified with a magical spell. With that, he would possess the ability to see invisible objects and vision in total darkness. But as this method involved biological modification, the purity of his bloodline risk being contaminated.


    As for the latter, he had to swallow a ''Thousand Eyes Bug''. After that, the bug would live in his body, and a compound eye would grow on his forehead. After the Thousand Eyes Bug integrated with a body, it would form a symbiotic relation with the host and thus the host would gain its special vision: Infrared Senses.


    This parasitic method did bring an amazing effect, but, at the same time, it came with some irritating side effects. Every day, the host had to consume moth larvae, which was the favorite food of the Thousand Eyes Bug. Without it, from time to time, the parasite bug would feed on the host''s blood essence and flesh. According to the description in the book, those larvae looked nearly identical to silkworm in his past life, which made Leon nearly thrown up when reading about it.


    After taking all situations into consideration, Leon felt his priority would be on those supplementary crafted items. If he really couldn''t find anything, then he would have to force himself to use the Thousand Eyes Bug.


    After taking care of his vision problem, Leon started to ponder about the issue of mobility.


    That place was underground, fully surrounded by wet soil and hard rock. Any intense fights could cause a devastating collapse. How was he going to rescue himself if he was trapped in a pocket cavern?


    Leon''s mind was deeply troubled by this question. However, the Chip gave him the answer. The Clay Golem!


    Leon''s elemental affinity was Fire Elementium, but the Clay Golems he owned now both had an affinity for Earth Elementium, and all Earth creatures were experts in traveling underground. With help from the Clay Golems, there shouldn''t be any earthen place that could trap Leon.


    But after all, this supposed to work theoretically. In order to get first-hand information, he had to test it out himself. Therefore, after meeting with Danny and telling him he was looking for a Low-light Vision talisman, Leon once again snuck out from the Tower.


    To be honest, after the compulsory mission was announced, most of the Apprentice Mages were busy preparing. Hence, the inspection mission of the tower had temporarily been halted. With that, Leon didn''t have to worry that someone would disturb his practice.


    Following the familiar path that led to the outer perimeter of the swampy area, Leon found himself a flat field, planning to practice the offensive model he envisioned. The reason he chose this pace was because Sinbad, the leader of Ghost Nannies, had been killed. Without their leader, and with all the recent deaths, no Ghost Nannies would come and disturb him.


    He casually threw out the two Clay Golem summoning cores. When they touched the ground, two totally different looking Clay Golems immediately appeared in front of Leon. The core obtained from Sinbad summoned a human-shaped golem that was nearly two meters tall, and the newly crafted Giant Alligator King core actually brought forth an alligator shaped golem. Aside from being smaller than the real Giant Alligator King, they looked nearly identical.


    Leon narrowed his eyes and pondered on this for a brief moment.


    Both cores were extracted from demons heads, so it wasn''t surprising that they contained part of the demon''s soul. So, when the summoning core gathered Earth Elementium and formed a body, the conscious of the former demon, before they were killed, decided the final shape of their body after being crafted into a golem.


    Of course, as this body was formed with Earth Elementium, as long as Leon gave a precise order through the Mind Control Imprint System, the golems could still change into any shape Leon wanted, by adjusting their distribution of Earth Elementium. But this process would consume a certain amount of their energy reserve.


    Staring at his two subordinate golems, standing side by side in front of him, Leon couldn''t control the excitement growing in his mind. Three days ago, he was still a lone wolf that no one seemed to care about, but now he had completed the first steps of building a loyal army of golems. Although the number of his subordinate was still small, he still took heart in his progress.


    The Chip had gathered statistics on this new golem, so Leon focused his attention on the data.


    As expected, as the Giant Alligator King was way stronger than Sinbad, as the attributes of the Clay Alligator Golem totally surpassed his first Clay Golem, excluding Agility. Also, all its fighting skills were perfectly matched with Leon''s abilities. At a glance, it looked like it was perfect for melee battles.


    But Leon didn''t bring them out to show off their muscles, as he wanted to practice the first combat tactics he had envisioned in his mind.


    Taking a brief moment to calm his mind, Leon howled, giving a battle command to both golems.


    "My golems! Use your braveness and fearless to open up the path to victory! Now, follow my command! Combine!"


    ...


    1728 words

 Chapter 43: Carnage

    Following Leon''s order, the humanoid Clay Golem trembled, like a statue that had its internal supports taken away, and collapsed. At the same time, an earthy yellow dust exploded from the back of the Clay Alligator Golem, which quickly molded itself into the shape of the humanoid Clay Golem.Therefore, the previously separated humanoid Clay Golem and the alligator Clay Golem merged, transforming into a strange looking ''Demon Alligator Hunter'' form.


    From a far distance, they looked like a masculine hunter riding on a nearly three meter long demon alligator, holding a dirt spear in his hand. As the summoner of both golems, Leon was able to clearly see this newly formed golem. Actually, the hunter was not riding on top of the alligator, but its entire lower body had merged with the back of the alligator.


    A Clay Golem could never detach themselves from the ground, or else they would lose their endless supply of Earth Elementium. Now that they had merged, most of their abilities had been combined. The dense Earth Elementium had formed a layer of sparkling and crystal-clear Earth armor on their body, showing some signs of being similar to stone armor.


    Demon Alligator Hunter!


    Through extensive calculations performed by the Chip, and the merging of magical formations, two Clay Golems, with nearly identical sources, had been merged together, giving birth to a brand new golem.


    Leon strode forward. Following his arrival, the Demon Alligator lowered its body, gently coiling its long tail around Leon''s body and lifting him onto its back. The spikes on its back wriggled, transformed into the shape of a chair.


    Placing his body firmly into the clay chair, Leon lightly tapped his feet.


    "Let''s go!"


    Following his command, the Demon Alligator opened its mouth and let out a deep howl as it began to waddle its huge body toward the Ghost Nanny''s nest in the distance.


    Actually, those Ghost Nannies resting in the muddy swamp not far away had noticed their presense. But after going through two devastating mass killings, they had become like birds which jumped at the mere twang of a bow-string ¨C badly frightened. Thus none of them dared to come out and look for trouble. However, having such a large Demon Alligator intrude into their territory and begin to wreak havoc to the muddy swamp they lived in, no matter how weak they were in comparison, these Ghost Nannies had no choice but to force themselves to face this foul intruder.


    Sharp, shrill howls, like night owls call, started ringing through the air of the muddy swamp. Skinny, yet surprisingly strong, figures kept squeezing out from the muddy pond, one after another one, letting out sharp cries and crowding in from all directions.


    Their hair was dirty and disheveled; their bodies pale and wrinkled; their nails pitch-black and razor-sharp... Like frightening ghosts, these demons charged toward the intruders while letting out terrifying howls. If an ordinary Apprentice Mage was here, perhaps he would have scurried away at this frightening scene, but Leon was just the opposite.


    Today, he was testing the strength of his newly combined Golems. How could he be scared at such a small scene?


    After ran his eyes over the swarm of Ghost Nannies storming in from all directions, Leon had a cruel smile come over his face as he stomped his feet.


    "Kill! Kill them all for me!"


    Upon receiving Leon''s command, the seemingly stiff and dumb Demon Alligator Hunter suddenly ''woke up''. Although it didn''t have clear facial features, a strange ''roar'' actually rang through the air, causing ripples to spread across the water.


    Biting with its mouth; ripping with it''s sharp claws; swinging around its long and powerful tail, the Demon Alligator dashed into the swarm of Ghost Nannies while launching frightening attacks. Though walking on the muddy, stinking water, its gigantic body moved like it was walking on flat ground. Shock waves could be seen spreading out from underneath its body, causing any Ghost Nanny that came within 5 meters of Demon Alligator to tremble, barely able to stay on their feet.


    Any Ghost Nanny who fell into the sharp claws and gigantic mouth would be ripped into a bloody mess in an instant, staining the water with their stinking, black blood. But even so, wave after wave of Ghost Nannies still broke through Demon Alligator''s head and tail attack, successfully squeezed themselves into both sides of its body, restlessly climbing up onto its back, trying to pull Leon and the ''Hunter'' into the muddy pond.


    Faced with few hundred black, dirty hands clustered below its body, the Hunter showed no fear at all. Holding the spear in its hand, the Hunter kept piercing through the heads of Ghost Nannies. Since the Ghost Nanny was a demon and not an immortal creature, once their head was pierced through by the spear, they would die. Thus, ugly, twisted bodies of Ghost Nanny continuously fell off from Demon Alligator''s back, sinking to the bottom of the muddy pond.


    When the fight became furious, the Hunter would wave its arms, unleashing countless Spikes in a 10 x 8 meter area, puncturing the bodies of Ghost Nanny on the ground.


    On his side, Leon clapped his palms before separated them, shooting out two frightening flames. In an instant, the Ghost Nannies, who had nearly reached his pant legs, were drawn into the scorching flame.


    Burned by the intense heat, the Ghost Nannies started screeching. For a moment, countless flaming bodies rolled off the back of the Demon Alligator, struggling in the muddy pond while letting out miserably cries, turning the entire muddy swamp into a living hell.


    Moving forward while growling aggressively, the Demon Alligator ripped apart everything that got in its way. Located at the highest point of its back, the Hunter attacked anything that got too close, while occasionally throwing its spear at a long range target. If there were too many enemies, it would unleash a Spike spell, causing Ghost Nannies to shed blood like fountains.


    Even though both Golems had combined their strength, they were nowhere near as flashy as Leon, who had transformed fire wielding maniac. He sat firmly on the rear end of Demon Alligator''s back, both arms slightly stretched out, shooting two frightening flames out a few meters, causing any Ghost Nanny who got too close to be caught up in a terrifyingly hot inferno.


    Following the reckless charging of Demon Alligator in the Ghost Nanny army, Leon''s frightening flame had nearly set the entire muddy pond on fire. Moments ago, these Ghost Nannies were still leaping to them crazily, but they were now filled with great terror, each and every single one was screaming and swimming away from the battlefield. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Within the blazing, scorching hot muddy pond, the putrid smell of burnt flesh filled every inch of the air, making anyone who smelt it feel like throwing out. Leon had transformed into a frantic demon lord, controlling his frightening flames arbitrarily, killing every single enemy he could found on his way, totally had no idea that all the enemies around him had been turned into charcoal.


    When the blazing flames formed by Burning Hand finally died down, Leon finally woke up from the satisfying slaughter. After waking up, the first thing came to his attention was the pungent smell that filled his nose, which nearly made him suffocate.


    Stamping his right foot a few times and giving the golem a mental command, the Demon Alligator moved. Though it looked slow, it actually left the muddy pond at an incredible speed. When they finally left the pond, Leon looked over his shoulder, a miserable scene immediately revealed in front of his eyes, and he was filled with a great shock.


    Just a brief moment ago, when he was recklessly killing all those ''weaklings'', countless terrifying, horrible consciouses had swarmed into his mind, making him frantic and crazy. Although it had been satisfying, it went against the elementary Mage teachings, which said all Mage had to keep calm and rational at all times.


    "Chip, activate Elementium Vision!" As if Leon had sensed something, he gave out his command with a soft voice.


    *Beep* "Elementium Vision activated."


    The multi-colored Elementium Vision projected into Leon''s eyes. Looking around, he found the entire sky above the muddy swamp was full of broken souls, who were howling and groaning endlessly. No wonder his conscious had been occupied by something else just now. It was all because of these broken souls!


    If he was an Apprentice Mage who had an affinity Darkness, he would definitely have been struck with a wild joy, skipping around as he gathered all these broken souls. For them, these high quality broken souls were the best materials for their experiments. But Leon was unable to do these things.


    Without protection from Dark Elementium, if he got too close to these broken souls, who mainly comprised of negative energy, his Spirit and body would suffer a certain degree of corrosion. If this situation persisted, his body would become skinny, as his blood and soul were slowly corrupted by the negative energy. Therefore, Leon always kept a safe distance from any souls.


    Just now, he was immersed in a satisfying emotion of slaughter, forgetting his original purpose in coming here. Now, thinking back, he started to ponder on the combat performance of his Demon Alligator Hunter.


    Overall, the Demon Alligator Hunter possessed the ability of an Advanced Apprentice, thus it had no problem suppressing an Intermediate Apprentice. Leon even had the confidence to fight the strongest three, but, of course, it was tough to tell if he could actually beat them in a fight.


    Among all the Advanced Apprentices Leon met before, perhaps only the frightening Loli, Lucy, would be able to suppress his Demon Alligator Hunter. As for the other Advanced Apprentices, he could only evaluate their abilities after fighting with them.


    Actually, the real weakness of this Demon Alligator Hunter was Leon.


    As the Demon Alligator Hunter was summoned by Leon, as long as the enemy took care of Leon, it would no longer be a threat. So, when a real fight erupted, perhaps most of the enemy''s offensive attack would be aimed at Leon. If he couldn''t withstand another Mage''s massive firepower, no matter how tough was his Demon Alligator Hunter was, he would have no chance of winning a fight.


    Therefore, Leon had to find a way to solve this weakness, and this was also the second test would run today.


    "Demon Alligator Hunter! Dive down!"


    Following Leon''s command, the small ''throne'' he was sitting on started to move forward. At the same time, the Hunter golem in front of him started to expand as Leon slowly merged with it.


    When Leon''s body finally disappeared into golem''s body, the Demon Alligator underneath let out a short growl, and an earthy yellow smoke started emitting from its body. In next moment, the entire Demon Alligator Hunter disappeared without a trace.


    As if suddenly he had sunk into a pitch black abyss. Leon''s breath suddenly stopped, being replaced by the strong smell of dirt. All of his senses had vanished, but there was a massive external force pressing onto his body. The force was so strong, it nearly made all his bones start to crack.


    But following the dispersion of Earth Elementium around Demon Alligator Hunter''s body, this external force started to subside, eventually disappearing.


    Although he couldn''t see with his eyes, nor hear with his ears, Leon slowly sent forth his Spirit energy, using it as a replacement for his eyes and ears, allowing him to sense everything around himself.


    He was traveling underground! Although he was not moving at an incredible speed, Leon still felt like he was riding on the clouds. It was like Demon Alligator Hunter was floating within a pool of sticky, heavy liquid, continually consuming the Earth Elementium energy stored within its body and breaking through the dirt around him, traveling by slipping through the earth.


    ...


    2003 Words

 Chapter 44: fire spear

    Leon was ''swimming'' three meters underground, like a fish in the water.His Spirit energy went through the dense fog of Earth Elementium surrounding him, showing him the surrounding earth. Twisting roots of old trees; coarse sand and rocks; wriggling insects; gophers hiding in their nests; rotten tree branches, and some other unidentifiable things...


    It was only a short journey, but it allowed Leon to glimpse a completely different world that had always been right under his feet. In this secret world, Leon was like an untouchable king overlooking his kingdom, not caring about anything. If he really wanted to do something, with just a command, Demon Alligator Hunter would be able to wreak havoc in this place.


    Although he wished he could spend a little longer traveling underground, but after merely seven to eight minutes, he could no longer stand it anymore.


    It was not because he had depleted his Spirit, but because he was out of breath.


    As an Apprentice Mage who worked with supernatural forces every day, no matter if it was resistance or endurance, Leon''s body was way stronger than an ordinary mortal. Any ordinary human would go into a coma after holding his breath for a few minutes, but he was able to hold his breath for nearly eight minutes before needing to catch his breath.


    Following his command, the Earth Elementium around the outside of the Demon Alligator Hunter''s body started to vibrate, pushing away the thick and heavy soil above its head and slowly squeezing its way to the surface.


    The sudden arrival of the Demon Alligator Hunter had shocked the surrounding demons. Numerous sharp cries rung through the air, as curses poured onto them like rain.


    "Damn it! We surfaced in the nest of the Demon Babies!" Leon cursed, driving the Demon Alligator Hunter forward and breaking his way out of the swarm of Demon Babies.


    Although the Demon Babies'' Curse spell was unpredictable and hard to defend against, they were just low-ranked demons. Faced with the Elementium formed Demon Alligator Hunter, the success rate of their curses was not very high. Instead, two Demon Babies were killed by spears thrown by the Hunter, causing the rest of them to scurry away, hiding in nearby bushes and daring not to move the tiniest bit.


    At this moment, Leon had dimly tasted the mentality of Lucy and the other two Advanced Apprentices when they intruded into the Magical Swamp. Once a person possessed the abilities and resources of an Advanced Apprentice, ordinary low-ranked demons were no longer a threat to them. As they were only faced with a bunch of ''ants'' they could kill easily, no wonder that, even they knew this was a forbidden place, they could still behave so recklessly.


    To be honest, if Mage Eclivel hadn''t done anything, with just the Apprentice Mages and demons of the Magical Swamp alone, there was no way they could''ve stopped the trio.


    As for Lucy''s sad encounter, it was completely by accident.


    Just because Lucy possessed an overpowered skill and a frightening ability, it had forced Worm controller to fight her with his life. Then she had chased Leon all over the swamp and suffered a great loss at the hands of Bleia.


    In the past, these hateful Demon Babies were a group of frightening and hard to deal monsters. If he had been surrounded by them, even with the protection of his magical talisman, he would have faced miserable consequences. But now, with the help of the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon could actually kill them easily, and no longer feared them.


    Unknowingly, Leon''s mentality had started to change.


    Use one''s strength to bully the weak; the weak are easy prey to the strong; be pushy and overbearing... all these phrases sounded nasty to the ear, but, now that he was in the position of the strong, it was rather an enjoyable experience.


    Driving his Demon Alligator Hunter forward and rushing out from the Garden of Whispers, Leon came to the stony trail and jumped off his Golem. He dispersed the Earth Elementium and picked up the two summoning cores. He was quite close to the entrance of the Tower, thus, Leon decided to try to appear like his former weak self.


    Pulled his hood up and covering his face, Leon stealthily returned to the Tower.


    The experiment had been successful, and Leon''s confidence had grown. But, at the same time, it had exposed some problems, the most serious of which was how to handle long periods of time underground.


    Perhaps the Demon Alligator Hunter didn''t need to breathe, but Leon did! Deep underground, protected by the Earth Elementium emitting from the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon had been given the ability to travel through the Earth. However, there was no air underground. If he didn''t solve this breathing problem, he would never be able to stay underground for more than 8 minutes.


    Hence, after returned to the Tower, for the next few days Leon spent most of his time running between different Apprentices, searching for a solution that would allow him to have dark vision and breath underground. When he had some spare time, he would sneak out from the Tower to hunt for suitable demons that he could use to craft new Golems.


    But too bad, up until the last day before he had to set off, he still couldn''t find any suitable demons.


    After all, this Magical Swamp was just an extremely common resource site of an Mage family. It was all ordinary demons and plants being raised and planted here, where they were all easy to maintain and harvest. Therefore, it was just a fancy dream to harvest a large quantity of demon cores from this place. In fact, both Sinbad and the Giant Alligator King were rare advanced demons of the Magical Swamp, which only leveled up in the past hundred years. If not because of this, Leon would never have found any demon cores he could use.


    But though he didn''t find any new demon cores, Leon still harvested a bunch of magical materials and ingredients for magical medicine. Using these materials, Leon was able to exchange for some rather useful items from other Apprentices.


    Out of these items, Leon was most satisfied with an exquisitely made Circlet of Nobility.


    Wearing the Circlet of Nobility on his head, the crystal clear diamond socked right in front of the circlet was pressed against Leon''s forehead. Besides making him look a little regal, it also increased his Spirit by one.


    For an Advanced Apprentice, this circlet was unable to supplement their Spirit. But for Leon, who only possessed 8 Spirit, it brought him a rather significant improvement.


    Also, his dark vision problem had been solved.


    The solution? A pair of Gnome Goggles!


    According to the explanation he had received from the Intermediate Apprentice who had sold this item to Leon, the goggles were a product from another Plane. It was made from combining a black leather belt with two transparent crystals. Wearing it, Leon had clear vision in low-light environments.


    Leon had the Chip run an analysis when he returned. This strange object was supposed to be a product of a mechanical civilization. The Chip couldn''t sense any Elementium ripples coming from it, as if it was just an ordinary item used by mortals. It was made from a type of underground crystal and was polished using a special method. This allowed the wearer to pierce the veil of low-light environments.


    The Chip had also performed an analysis on the composition of the crystals. They were not a product that could be found in the World of Mages, and should be a unique material that only existed in the plane of that mechanical civilization.


    As a major scale Plane, the World of Mages had conquered countless small and middle sized Planes. These Gnome Goggles most likely came from a secondary Plane that had been conquered.


    It was common knowledge in the Mage World that only those who were official Mages were qualified to travel between Planes. Anyone below this level, even those Pseudo-Mages who possessed extraordinary talent, were not allowed to participate in the conquering war for other Planes. Therefore, Leon could only let his mind run wild as he tried to imagine what this mechanical civilization was like. Meanwhile, he carefully placed this Gnome Goggle in his waist pouch.


    As for the problem of breathing underground, Leon had also solved it by employing a biological method.


    Within the Tower, some Apprentices were experts in biological modification. Using ''Snake Vine'' and ''Purple Left Flower'', together with ''worm ointment'', toad poop, and some other bizarre items, an Apprentice had produced a bulbous looking breathing organ. When Leon needed to travel underground, he just had to place this biological apparatus into his mouth and he would gain the ability to breathe through his skin.


    As it was only a supplementary organ, and not a replacement for his own organs, the risk of having his bloodline contaminated was non-existent.


    After solving all these problems, Leon could finally put his heart to rest. He spent all his day on either meditating or restlessly researching those magical books he had just copied.


    On the fifth day after signing up the compulsory mission, Leon finally received the message he had been waiting for from the Chip. The optimization of Fire Arrow spell had finally been completed!


    "Beep"


    "Optimization for the spiritual model of Fire Arrow has been completed."


    "Does the host wish to see the optimized content?"


    "Show me!" Leon yelled out in impatience.


    Following a long stream of data, the look of his long-ranged offensive spell, Fire Arrow, after extensive optimizations done by the Chip, was projected into Leon''s mind.


    If the look of Fire Arrow before this was a magical arrow, it had now transformed into a flaming spear. The seemingly tame flame had formed into a blazing spear. With a thought from Leon, it would shoot out with an incredible speed, dealing twice the damage the Fire Arrow had.


    While wearing the Circlet of Nobility, Leon had a total of 9.37 Spirit, giving him a little less than 94 Mage energy. As the Flaming Spear used 24 Mage Energy every time it was used, his Spirit would be depleted after using it four times. Thus, a skill like this would have to be reserved, only being used at the most critical moments. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, with the offensive strength of the Flaming Spear, he could easily break apart an Intermediate Apprentice''s magical defenses. Even if he had to face an Advanced Apprentice who had mastered defensive magic spells, the Flaming Spear would still be able to put a dent in it.


    To be honest, only now did Leon feel that he had finally mastered a good skill. With it, he felt a slight bit of confidence in surviving the mission he was going to undertake.


    Finally, after a nerve-wracking few days, it was time for the mission.


    ...


    1834 Words

 Chapter 45: Ship in the sky

    To Leon''s surprise, it was not a long parade of coaches that came to pick them up, but a flying ship that descended from the sky.Of course, it was not the same as a ship that sailed on the ocean.


    It had a wide, flat bottom and an exquisitely built and spacious three floor tower, but there wasn''t any mast or sail to be seen. This meant it was not an air powered ship. When the hundred meter long, thirty meters wide ship came thundering down, all the Apprentice Mages waiting in front of the Tower were filled with fear, their breath catching at the sight of, seemingly, impending doom.


    Leon had no idea what any of the other Apprentices were feeling. Through his Elementium Vision, he saw the bottom of the ship had been carved with runes and strange magical formations, and a massive magical energy was flowing rapidly between these lines. From what he saw, the Elementium was no longer a singular and isolated particle, but had been kneaded together by a mystical and majestic force, transforming into a mighty magical melody of energy that could no longer be differentiated into different elements.


    The reason why Leon paid so much attention to it was that this magical energy had mysterious and strange characteristics. As they came out of the runes, they showed no specific attributes, but when they passed through certain magical formations, they started showing signs of specific Elementium.


    For example, the billowing wall of air that was surrounding the flying ship had been shot out after the energy passed through a magical formation. Carried by this powerful wind, the flying ship could gracefully and firmly land on the large empty area in front of the Mage Tower.


    Mage Eclivel, who rarely showed his face in public, was standing in front of the Tower. Wearing a resentful expression on his face, he was staring at the flying ship landing in front of him. When he saw a figure flying off from the flying ship, his expression became even more incensed.


    "It really is you. I was still wondering why we suddenly have to visit one more mission site, but now I understand. Now you can''t hide from us anymore." It was a burly man who came flying from the ship. His defining features were a pair of thick eyebrows and the shining, luxurious, golden armor he was wearing. His bulky muscles were so large they looked to be trying to burst from his armor.


    Waving the magical staff in his hand angrily, Mage Eclivel let out a raging roar.


    "You bunch of damn thieves! You bandits! I have emphasized it many times... this is my private territory and place of residence, you have no right to turn it into a mission site... Regarding this, I''ll keep complaining to the Zhentarim Association..."


    Disdainfully, the masculine guy saying,


    "What are you scared of? Afraid your petty tricks would be discovered by the association? Hahaha... don''t forget, you''ve just been stationed here and this piece of land is still owned by the Sarubo Family. Now that the head of the Sarubo family has agreed to open this place up, can you stop him? Let me give you a friendly reminder, you better hurry up and clean up your mess. Don''t let those inspection Mages find your dirty secrets!"


    After saying that, the masculine man turned around and swept his eyes over the Apprentices waiting in front of the Tower. An ''as expected'' expression appeared on his face.


    "So, this is the result of you garrisoning this place for twenty years? Three half-Advanced Apprentices and not a single Pseudo-Mage! En, that little Vampire does seem to have potential, but why is her foundation so weak? I can smell that she is still acclimating to her bloodline!" With his sharp vision, the masculine man ran his eyes over the few Advanced Apprentices. Those who met his eyes would feel a prickling pain and quickly lower their gaze.


    The guy had briefly looked at Bleia, said a little, and moved on. He didn''t even look at Fatal shot and went straight to Worm controller. The moment he saw Worm controller, a disgusted and disdaining expression covered his face. Only after he saw Super girl, a girl with a similar body structure to him, did his expression relax.


    As for all the other Intermediate and Beginner Apprentices, the guy simply turned a blind eye to them, not showing the slightest interest in checking on them.


    "Looks like the association should''ve made this place a mission site long ago. Look at you. After being stationed here for so long, and you were only able to cultivate three advanced Apprentices?"


    "Let me emphasize this one more time. This place is my private territory. According to the aLeonent signed between me and the head of Sarubo family, I..." The gloomy faced Mage Eclivel was still raging.


    "Haha... you better tell that to the association! My mission is to bring all the Apprentices of various mission sites to their respective destinations. I am not troubling with any other matters. Oh right, I heard you had taught a lesson to Deborah''s apprentice a few days ago? That woman said she is not finished with you..." Delighting in Mage Eclivel''s future misfortunes, the guy grinned evilly.


    "That crazy woman, Deborah? She dared to say that? Her apprentice intruded on my resource site and wreaked havoc. If not for Deborah''s sake, I would have used that little wretch as an experimental specimen... I only gave her a petty punishment, and that crazy woman still wants to look for trouble..." As he mentioned this, Mage Eclivel''s face filled with rage.


    "A petty punishment? I heard that you planted a Blood Worm in her body, and nearly sucked all that little girl''s blood essence out? She is a valuable individual that possesses an innate talent for spatial magic, and also the only one who has been found in the past hundred years of the House of Fragrance. Why would Deborah not be angry with you? Also, they said you had given a good torture to the other two apprentices, which made their mentors very angry. In my opinion, you''d better be very careful the next time you leave this swamp!"


    "You think I''m afraid of them? If they are capable, let them come to this Magical Swamp! I, Eclivel, have never feared anybody!"


    The masculine guy laughed, then ignored ''tough guy'' Eclivel and turned to face the awaiting apprentices.


    "This ship is going to Erathia, Bracada, and Dagon. Apprentices who are going to attend missions in these places, board the ship now. If you miss this ship, you''re going to travel by foot. For those apprentices who don''t arrive at their respective mission site on time, the association will revoke their Apprentice status!"


    Leon was shocked, but he quickly calmed himself.


    The mission he ''chose'' was located in the Dagon region. It looked like he was among the first batch of apprentices to leave this Magical Swamp.


    After the masculine man waved his hand, a couple dozen apprentices started hurrying towards the flying ship, carrying simple luggage on their backs. Walking along a wood plank lowered from the ship, the group boarded this mystical vehicle in an orderly manner.


    The spacious deck of the ship was crowded with people. Judging from their dress, all of them were Apprentice Mages as well.


    As late comers, when the apprentices of Swampy Tower boarded the deck, they were welcomed with countless demeaning gazes and criticisms. Although none of them could hear what was said, but, just from their disdainful expressions and exaggerated tones, clearly they were not saying anything positive.


    Since all three destinations of this ship were advanced mission sites, the majority of the passengers were Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices. There were even a few Pseudo-Mages with extraordinary bearing hidden among them. On the flip side, most of the Swamp Tower apprentices who boarded the ship were Intermediate Apprentices, and only three of them were at the Advanced Apprentice level: Super girl, Worm controller, and Bleia.


    When Leon followed the group and boarded the ship, the crowd suddenly heated up.


    "What? A Beginner Apprentice is going to an advanced mission site? Is he looking to die?"


    "Yeah... I bet he must be an idiot that performed too many experiments on himself!"


    "Perhaps he will piss his pants when we arrive!"


    "..." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Countless discussions were resounding across the deck. Anyone who saw Leon would have a disbelievable expression come over their face, as if they had suddenly discovered an underground dwarf in a kingdom of giants.


    Leon''s expression went rigid for a second, but he had no choice but to lower his head and followed the group to a corner of the deck.


    Intentionally or unintentionally, even the apprentices of the Swamp Tower, including Super girl and few others, kept a distance from Leon. Bleia didn''t move away, and she still stood firmly beside Leon, responding to those ill-intentioned gazes with her normal, overbearing manner.


    For some unknown reasons, Fatal shot actually chose an orange mission. Thus, he hadn''t boarded this flying ship.


    As the crowd was measuring up the newcomers, the masculine man boarded the ship once again. Throwing a fierce gaze at all the Apprentice Mages, he saw Bleia and Leon being isolated by the crowd, and his gaze paused.


    "Why is there a Beginner Apprentice here? Didn''t those old men who released the compulsory mission label them correctly?" Muttered to himself, then, with a serious expression, he continued speaking, "I don''t care which institute or region you are from, as long as you are on this ship, you better behave for me. Arriving at your destination safely is the only request I have for you. If anyone dares to cause trouble on the ship, don''t blame me for being cruel!"


    As a powerful Body Refining Mage, when the masculine guy made no effort to hide his strength, a powerful aura came from his body, making all the Apprentice Mages tremble.


    "You live on the deck, and no one is allowed to step into the cabin. Anyone who disobeys the order will be thrown off the ship. You hear me?" Sweeping his fierce gaze around, when the masculine man saw the crowd remaining silent, like cicadas in cold weather, he felt satisfied. He retracted his aura and entered the cabin.


    Following this, loud yells from dozens of boatmen, who dressed like sailors, the flying ship trembled, and a loud buzzing noise came from the bottom of the ship. At the same time, a pressure started building on all the apprentices.


    The ship gradually ascended into the sky.


    Looking at the people on the ground getting smaller and smaller, Leon was struck with a brief thrill. He was finally going to the outside world.


    There was no hypocritical affection between Apprentice Mages, hence, Leon had no intention to wave goodbye from the side of the ship. But he saw a female apprentice of the Swamp Tower rushing alongside the ship, continually waving her hand at someone down below while crying.


    This made all the Apprentices on board look at her with disdain.


    ...


    1867 Words

 Chapter 46: Traveling

    The flying ship streaked through the air, leaving a cloud-like trail of Wind Elementium behind it.Anything on the ground, no matter if it was a human, a beast, or a tree, had become a tiny little black dot. Even the magical swamp, which Leon had spent the past six years in, just looked like a filthy pond covered by a dense fog.


    After staying in the magical swamp for so long, Leon felt that the outside world was quite strange.


    After the ship ascended to cruising altitude, Leon walked over to the ship''s side to have a good look at the land below. Asides from the magical swamp, Leon saw a few human villages and a small city.


    There were pale yellow wheat fields everywhere, each decorated here and there with thumb-size windmills. On the road, which stretched on and on like a silver belt, he could also see some ant-sized coaches.


    The flying ship was heading South.


    The further South they got, the greener the earth became, but human activities were still rare. Whenever they approached a human colony, Leon could always see vast, thick forests around it, and the lively activities of the wild beasts within them.


    This was the current situation on the Mage Mainland.


    Every human colony was surrounded by a boundless virgin forest and savage woods. Countless wild beasts, demonic beasts, and demons were living within them. The human forces of the colony could deal with those ordinary wild and demonic beasts, but when they were forced to face those strange and unpredictable demons, they would have to rely on the help of more powerful forces.


    And these forces were, obviously, Mages.


    As powerful individuals possessing supernatural powers, Mages were the true masters of this land. Although they had ceased to be normal humans, most official Mages were willing to contribute part of their strength to allow ordinary humans to continue live and multiply in this land.


    Ordinary human society was like the sheep living in captivity, and the Mages were the shepherds who looking after these ranches, looking forward to new blood joining their ranks. In the eyes of ordinary humans, Apprentice Mages like Leon had powerful, mystical, and bizarre abilities, but in the eyes of official Mages, they were still just ants.


    As long as they hadn''t crossed the threshold and become an official Mage, these apprentices were still creatures that couldn''t be mentioned in the same breath with official Mage.


    As he saw the world unfolding in front of his eyes, his desire to become stronger rose in Leon''s mind alongside a sense of urgency.


    Although he had poured forth a lot of effort recently, that was more because of habit and had been required for survival. But today the desire of becoming stronger actually came from the bottom of his heart.


    This was a mysterious, profound, and strange world, totally different from the Earth, where he had come from. Back on Earth, the strength of an individual was insignificant, and one could only grow stronger by relying on the strength of the masses. But in this world, which had an ocean of magical energy, the strength of an individual had great meaning. Things that couldn''t be achieved on Earth were possible here.


    For the first time, Leon couldn''t restrain his desires. He wanted to stand at the pinnacle of this world with his own strength, so he could the real shape of the world. Perhaps this was the why the mighty Will of the Mage World had drawn him from Earth, a world where no magic existed, into this world of advanced magic.


    A bitter wind scraped it way up the side of the ship.


    Although the deck was protected by a Barrier, sparing these apprentices from the brunt of the gale-force winds, the temperature was still very low on deck.


    Leon only had a Physique of 5. Obviously, he couldn''t withstand the changing temperature with his body alone, thus, he pulled his robe tight to keep warm. Bleia was still wearing her same iconic thin red chiffon dress, exposing a large amount of her fair skin, yet she didn''t seem to feel the chilling breeze.


    With more than 10 Physique, an Apprentice Mage would never be affected by the temperature changes caused by the seasons. For Leon, it was a freezing wind, but for Bleia, it was just a rather cool breeze. When an Apprentice Mage had more than 15 Physique, those ordinary harsh environments would no longer be impossible places to live.


    Beyond 20 Physique was a frightening level that only Body Refining Mages could attain. If someone really reached that level, he would be tough to kill even by being thrown into a pit of lava or an extremely cold abyss.


    Although much weaker than Body Refining Mages, Principle Mages would also gain some resistance to the elements when became official Mages.


    As it was his first time seeing it, the scenery outside of the ship was indeed breathtaking, and was too beautiful to be absorbed all at once. But after looking at it for quite some time, it became boring. Thus, Leon laid out a cloth and invited Bleia to sit together with him, stealthily measuring the crowd with his eyes as he did so.


    He had a feeling when he boarded the ship that he was the only Beginner Apprentice on board. Now, through the passive probing with his Elementium Vision, he was able to get a clearer understanding of the situation.


    Striking red glows, which represented danger, were spread out amongst the crowd. There were even a few people who glowed purple, which meant extreme danger.


    The Chip quickly presented the actual statistics of the crowd to Leon.


    There were a total of 317 Apprentice Mages on board. 11 Pseudo-Mages, 92 Advanced Apprentices, and the rest were Intermediate Apprentices. Leon was excluded from the statistics. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Those Pseudo-Mages were the big shots among the population of Apprentices. Each of them was surrounded by a large group of opportunists. But, the relationship between these Pseudo-Mages was cold and detached, as if there was a clear distinction between them, and no one wanted to communicate with the other.


    Actually, this was understandable.


    At their current level, as long as they could break through the frightening barrier, they would be able to have a meteoric rise, becoming supreme existences that stood out from the crowd. At that point in time, these opportunists surrounding them would become disgusting flies, which they would never take seriously.


    They were not willing to spend time in making friendly contacts with other Pseudo-Mages at the same level. After all, there was a huge risk they had to face during the ceremony of becoming an official Mage. If the Pseudo-Mage they had established a friendly relationship failed in breaking through the barrier, then the previous investment of affection would be wasted. At that point in time, one person was an official Mage, while the other was still an apprentice, and so they wouldn''t be able to communicate as peers.


    As for a true relationship, they could totally have it after both became official Mages. Presumably, no newly promoted Mage would reject a friendly relationship with same level Mages!


    Therefore, influenced by such proud and aloof, yet narcissistic mentalities, all eleven Pseudo-Mages had divided into their own factions, each showing no intention of communicating with others. The lively communication between Advanced Apprentices was in sharp contrast with the Pseudo-Mages.


    Across various groups of all sizes, Advanced Apprentices were the group had the liveliest and most frequent communication. While the Intermediate Apprentices, who was also the largest group, kept silent or simply agreed with what other people said. They were like green plants that accented the beauty of red roses, insignificant and unworthy of being mentioned.


    By contrast, Bleia, who quietly sitting beside Leon had become the perfect target for a friendly relationship. Even a few male Pseudo-Mages were peeking at her.


    A female Advanced Apprentice who excelled in both appearance and body shape, even though she always wore a cold and aloof expression, she still attracted frequent glances from many male Apprentices.


    "Don''t you want to make a few friends?" Trying hard to hold his smile, Leon continued whispering, "I can tell many of them really wish to get to know you!"


    Bleia opened her green eyes and swept across the crowd. She chuckled disdainfully, then said, "Too bad, I have no interest in their filthy blood. If they bother me, I''ll let them know how the Bloody Queen handles annoyances!"


    "Bloody Queen? Is this a nickname you came up with yourself?" Leon chuckled, "That''s rather appropriate. I wonder when I will have the honor of experiencing it?"


    "You?" Bleia coolly gazed at Leon''s face with her beautiful eyes, saying, "You''ll have to work really hard for that!"


    After that, she stretched her curvy body, laid on her side, and placed her head on Leon''s lap, started her daily meditation.


    Leon sighed softly.


    After hearing her words, he realized that had definitely come from Bleia''s heart.


    From the day they stepped onto the path of becoming Mages, strength became the only measurement of status. When looking for a lover, even if Bleia had a favorable impression of Leon, the huge difference between their strengths had become a gap, and Bleia didn''t want a ''partner'' who was too weak.


    Leon had a feeling that, if he had pushed for it, Bleia wouldn''t mind playing with him in bed. But if she was truly looking for a partner to spend the rest of her life with, Leon was only a weakling in her eyes, and would never be a candidate in his current state.


    This cold reality watered down the joy of having a beauty sleeping on his lap. Leon shook his head and smiled wryly. Then he took a book out from his luggage and started to read.


    But as he read, he thought. ''Well, when I rape her, it won''t matter!''


    In the current situation, where everyone was talking, meditating was rather rude. Therefore, Bleia had used meditation to isolate herself from the crowd, avoiding the trouble that came from rejecting their invitations. It was actually a rather brilliant method, but now Leon had become her temporary guardian, and had to endure hostile glances from the crowd.


    Worm controller had sat down cross-legged near Leon and Bleia. His face was covered with a hood, making sure that nobody could see his current expression.


    No matter what, there was no serious resentment between him and Leon. He set the trap for Leon out of a dispute caused by personal feelings. If not because he had promised Brandon, the new Apprentice leader, that he would protect his safety, Brandon would never have had the guts to provoke Bleia.


    Regarding how he felt about setting this trap, perhaps Worm controller had no feelings at all.


    In his mind, Leon was just a roadside ant that he could kill at anytime. Not worth his time remembering. Perhaps, when he returned to the Swamp Tower after finishing his compulsory mission, the person with the name ''Leon'' would have long since vanished, never to be seen again.


    Therefore, For Worm controller, Leon had never been his enemy. Only Bleia was qualified to be his enemy.


    ...


    1870 Words

 Chapter 47: Continuing the journey

    Life on the flying ship was monotonous and boring.Though there was magnificent scenery underneath, it eventually got boring, causing some to even turn a blind eye to it.


    As the deck was packed with over three hundred apprentices, it was not a comfortable place to stay. But fortunately, around noon the next day, the flying ship had arrived at the first mission site, in the Erathia region.


    It was a stronghold built in the middle of the mountains, fully surrounded by dangerous high peaks that stretched far into the sky. Clouds were floating within deep valleys, making sure no one could peak through them and get a glimpse at the ground below. The flying ship docked at a massive thirty-meter-tall tower in the center of a stronghold.


    The entire tower was built with huge logs, all of each were at least half a meter thick. Although it looked rough and simple, it had a touch of solidarity that would give one the feeling that nothing could destroy it.


    The flying ship didn''t land on the ground, but hovered on the side of the tower. A wood plank was placed between the ship and the tower, allowing apprentices to leave the ship. Wind Elementium was swirling around the flying ship violently, creating a small windstorm. Therefore, all apprentices who needed to disembark here would have to withstand the strong wind as they walked along the trembling wood plank before arrived at the top of the tower. As the result, when each and every single apprentice walked on the wood plank, their heart was trembling just like the wooden plank.


    Lying on the side of the ship, Leon glanced down beneath the flying ship. He saw numerous hardworking figures within the stronghold.


    No matter whether it was the masculine guy carrying huge wooden logs and walked through the empty field, or the guards who had bows and arrows on their back and spear in hand as they patrolled the top of the outer wall, the majority of them were not human. Some had the heads of lions, some had the heads of tigers, and others the heads of wolves. They were not human.


    Humans only accounted for a small portion of the population of this place, and most of them were supervisors.


    Looking at these weak human supervisors, a few of whom were waving their whips and yelling at a ferocious looking ''beast man'', who was far larger than them, Leon couldn''t help but be impressed with their courage. Judging from the muscles of these beast-men, perhaps even without using any weapon they could easily squeeze and crush these supervisors'' head with a single hand! However, these supervisors showed no signs of fear, instead, they held their heads high, yelling and scolding these beast men as if they were lowly ants.


    Also, from time to time, people wearing the gray robe of Apprentice Mages would appear around the stronghold. Their status was clearly higher than the human supervisors. Wherever they went, those human supervisors would bow to them act in a flattering manner, while the masculine, tall beast men would have frightened expressions appear on their faces as they clumsily bowed to the Apprentice Mages.


    Most likely these beast men were slaves brought from some secondary Planes which had been conquered by Mages! No wonder they were acting so tame!


    Leon suddenly realized something.


    Although these beast-men had great physical strength and constitution, and tall, muscular bodies, they didn''t possess any supernatural powers. So, they didn''t have any way of countering apprentice Mages who had mastered mystical forces. Perhaps, even a beginner apprentice could kill dozens of beast men without too much trouble. That''s was probably the reason why they were so respectful to apprentice Mages.


    Actually, this place was considering a small mission site, and only around twenty to thirty apprentices left the ship. Most of them were intermediate apprentices, and two were advanced apprentices. No Pseudo-Mages left the ship.


    Soon, under the submissive yet numbed glances of countless beast men, the flying ship once again ascended into the sky, flying along the steep and rough mountains as it continued heading South.


    ...


    After passing countless mountains and rivers and a vast virgin forest that stretched tens of thousand miles, the flying ship finally arrived at another human colony. The slope of the terrain gracefully flattened out, and large scale of human activities could be found around the place. But too bad, as most of the mission sites picked by Zhentarim Association were at the borders of the colony, the ship never went too deep into the heart of the Erathia region. Instead, it turned its nose, started to fly along the edge of the colony.


    Over the next two days, the ship visited five mission sites. Nearly half of the apprentices had left the ship by this point. The third day after Leon boarded the ship, it adjusted its course to South West and left the Erathia region, quickly approaching the Bracada region.


    Compared to the warm sunny days in Erathia, Bracada was simply a world covered by freezing snow.


    As the flying ship entered the region, the greenery started to diminish, being quickly replaced by a boundless land of white snow.


    Pure white snowflakes were swirling in the air as the temperature started to drop significantly.


    Some apprentices with high Physique still had their shirt loosened, happily exposed their ripped muscles. On the flipside, those with low Physiques had pulled their robes tight, using all kind of methods to keep warm.


    As Leon only had a Physique of 5, he hadn''t reached the level where he could ignore this extreme cold. Hence, he summoned Fire Elementium and had it hover around his body, warming him up.


    But fortunately, the flying ship never visited the deepest area of this realm of ice and snow, but kept flying along it''s edge. It visited three snowy remote towns along its way, and, by the end, had dropped off most of the apprentices.


    As the flying ship turned its nose and adjusted its course to fly East, there were less than fifty apprentices left on the deck. Five Pseudo-Mages, twenty-seven advanced apprentices, thirteen intermediate apprentices, and the one and only beginner apprentice, Leon.


    After spending a couple of days on the ship, with regards to the world outside the Magical Swamp, Leon was no longer as ignorant as before.


    The world Leon was currently living in was an Mage World named ''Lethon''.


    Throughout the entire multiverse, the Plane of Lethon was a rather rare major scale Plane. It was a Plane with a single political system, led by Mages, which made it a pure Mage world. Their enemies were other major scales Planes. For example, the Plane of the Gods, which was guarded by deities; the Plane of the Dragon, which was protected by Divine Dragons; The Plane of the Gnomes, which was a highly advanced mechanical civilization; The Dark Plane, which was filled with foul demons and evil spirits...


    All major scale Plane had mature civilizations. The Mage World of Lethon had established a complete framework for Mage development, with it, batch after batch of qualified and powerful Mages were cultivated. Afterwards, they used these new Mages to expand their territory, invading intermediate and small-scale Planes.


    In order to seize the resources and intellectual property of different Planes, there would be violent conflicts and wars between all major Planes. Therefore, if one wanted to describe it, the Mage World was a powerful and aggressive civilization that loved engaging in wars.


    This was the current state of the Mage World''s foreign ''policies''. Internally, there wasn''t a single clan powerful enough to unify all the Mages. Thus, according to territories and regions, many clans of Mage had formed. Among them, four of them held the most dominate positions. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Northern Witches occupied the northern region of the Mage Mainland, controlling a land that covered more than six million square kilometers, which was then divided into dozens of human kingdoms of all sizes. The rulers and nobles of these kingdoms were ordinary humans, but they all recognized the Northern Witches as the guardians of their kingdoms.


    In fact, whenever a mighty female Fourth Grade Mage came into power amongst the Northern Witches, she would call upon a group of followers and venture out into the vast wilderness, blazing her way through all manners of obstacles and established a great kingdom that would only belong to her.


    Relying on the constantly emerging, powerful female Mages, the Northern Witches were constantly fighting for living space in this savage world. Whenever a new kingdom was born, and a magnificent Mage Tower was built, it also meant that another Female Mage has risen to power.


    The Northern Witches were experts in Curses and Prophesy, thus they were all Principle Mages.


    The South West side of the Mage Mainland was mainly the territory of the Silver Alliance.


    Strictly speaking, it was the haven for Profound Mages.


    The Silver Alliance was made from a group of Profound Mages who were notable for always wearing silver robes. Using alchemical knowledge and resources gathered from countless Planes, they constructed a magnificent and majestic floating city in the sky and countless fortresses which they used to invade new Planes.


    In brief, most of the crafted weapons used by the Mage World when invading new Planes were supplied by the Silver Alliance. They were like a group of crazy, yet amazing, engineers, machinists, and alchemists. Using massive amounts of resources and tremendous knowledge, they invented all sorts of creatively crafted machines, providing the Mage World with powerful devices.


    The eastern region of the Mage Mainland was the territory of the United Mage Association. Nearly all kinds of Mages could be found in this association. By utilizing a systematic cultivation road map, and a shareable knowledge system, it had attracted many Mages who possessed powerful abilities. These Mages had formed an association governed by strict rules, yet emphasizing impartiality.


    Aside from these three major Mage associations and clans, within the center of the Mage Mainland, which was also the region with the densest population, there was a rather loosely organized Mage association: The Zhentarim Association. Honestly speaking, unlike the other three major Mage forces, the Zhantarim Association didn''t have a clear direction of development or core bond between its members. It was more like a consortium of Mage families.


    Actually, it had something to do with how Mage forces were distributed in the center of the Mage Mainland.


    The center region of Mage Mainland was a vast land with abundant resources, but the human colonies here were scattered. Each human colony was a small kingdom, usually guarded by at least one Mage family. Therefore, the center region was made up by many Mage Families.


    In order to counter the invasion from all three major Mage forces toward the center region, Mage families of all sizes had grouped together and formed the Zhantarim Association, combining their might to ensure they maintained their place in the world.


    Therefore, the Mage forces that Zhentarim Association could call upon were definitely stronger than the other three surrounding forces, making them the strongest of the three. But, unfortunately, as the internal workings of the Zhantarim Association were quite loose, and there were too many different families, which prompted many internal rivalries, whenever they were in a battle, the Zhentarim Association could never be as effective as the other three major forces.


    In light of this, the newly elected top management of the Zhantarim Association had decided to strengthen the intensity of their Apprentice Mage training, and thus Leon was forced to face this dangerous training mission.


    ...


    1945 Words

 Chapter 48: Arrival

    According to the annals of the Mage Mainland, the Zhentarim Association controlled thirty-one regions. The smallest region covered seven to eight hundred thousand square kilometers, while the largest occupied more than a million square kilometers. It was a boundless area rich in resources. These areas contained 60% of the entire Mage Mainland''s population.Leon''s mission site was located in the Kerala mountain range, northeast of the Dagon region.


    After discovering an entrance to the Underground, the Zhentarim Association had constructed an Mage Tower nearby, and sent a powerful Second Grade Mage to guard it. Ninth Grade was the highest rank in the Mage hierarchy, so a Second Grade Mage sounded like a weak entity, hardly capable of shouldering such an important task, but, as a matter of fact, within the Mage Mainland, which was the source of most of the Mage population, the highest grade Mage one could get in touch with, or even hear about, was a Fourth Grade Mage.


    Even for Zhentarim Association, the highest grade Mages on duty were Fourth Grade Mages. As for all the higher graded Mages, rumors said they had left the Mage World, to explore and conquer worlds in the vast ocean of stars.


    This had led to the current power structure of the Mage Mainland: First Grade Mages were crazily gathering knowledge and enriching themselves so they could grow, and were the most numerous grade of Mage across all the major clans; Second Grade Mages were the backbone of all different institutes, and most of them were able to undertake tasks alone; Third Grade Mages could gather a group of followers and build themselves a small Mage clan or family.


    As for Fourth Grade Mages, they were powerful entities that all major clans wanted. Of course, if a Fourth Grade Mage had the will, he could always explore a new region and establish an Mage kingdom that belonged to himself.


    Therefore, the ranking of all Mage associations and clans were based on the number of Fourth Grade Mages they had.


    As for the Fallen Mages in the Underground, Second Grade was as high as they went. Thus, by sending a Second Grade Mage to stand guard at the Mage Tower, it was more than possible to resist surprise attacks from those Fallen Mages.


    No matter what, the war between these official Mages was not something an apprentice Mage like Leon could involve themselves in. So, this mission was more about investigating the distribution and activities of the underground creatures, and noting signs of Fallen Mage activity.


    Whether intentionally not, within the shallow area of the Underground Cave, the most active Mages presence were the apprentice Mages cultivated by the Fallen Mages. Also, the Zhentarim Association rarely sent official Mages into that area. The missions were mostly carried out by apprentice Mages.


    Therefore, not surprisingly, this place had become a slaughterhouse for apprentice Mages, as brutal battles happened nearly every day. A lot of Apprentice Mages had gone through life and death battles here, hardening themselves for their futures.


    ......


    When the flying ship started descending to the mission site, Leon was shocked by what he saw.


    Their mission site was actually a small city.


    Considering their proximity to the Underground Cave, from time to time, rare resources from underground would be found and traded here. So, upon introspection, it wasn''t actually that strange for so many merchants and black market ''tradesmen'' to be found in this place.


    As the flying ship landed on a large square outside of the city, a man could be seen waiting for them. He had an uncaring expression on his face, and reeked of the smell of blood. Judging from his Spirit Energy, he was an Advanced Apprentice.


    While staring at the five people coming down from the ship, this man wore a strange smile on his face, portraying a disdainful and proud look, like an experienced veteran looking down on some weak rookies. But when he saw the masculine Mage jump off the ship, he retracted all unnecessary expressions and bowed respectfully.


    "Alright, alright! Save yourself the trouble. This batch of apprentice Mages is for you. You guys better use them carefully. The next batch will come in two months time. If you kill them all, it will cause trouble, and you will have issues with the Association!" The masculine man waved his hand unconcernedly, pushing the last five Apprentices off the ship, like shooing chickens.


    "Don''t worry, master Sammir. The underground activities have been rather calm lately, and it has been more than two weeks since our patrol team has encountered any of those black bastards. Oh, the ''Black Wood Lotus'' and ''Night Eyes Stone'' you ordered have been prepared, and are waiting for you." The ferocious looking male apprentice smiled politely as he said this.


    Finally, Leon and the other apprentices knew the name of this Body Refining Mage, Sammir.


    "En. You go ahead and settle these new apprentices, I''ll make a trip to the city. After you are done with them, find me at Old Kerry!" Without waiting for the male apprentice to reply, Mage Sammir strode off into the distance.


    As the rest bowed as master Sammir left, only the ferocious looking male apprentice stood tall. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "All of you, follow me!" The male apprentice quickly ran his eyes over these five apprentices. His expression didn''t change when saw the two Pseudo-Mages, but frowned when he saw Leon, "My name is Kevin. You can call me Black-hand Kev."


    It was a rather simple introductory, but judging from his proud undertone, it seemed he preferred his nickname over his real name.


    "Black-hand Kev? Don''t tell me you have a brother called White-hand?" A young man laughed. He was wearing a short yellow robe, and numerous magical items could be seen on his exposing skin. He was one of the Pseudo-Mages, and, obviously, he was dissatisfied that this ''Black-hand'' Kevin didn''t respect him.


    Surprisingly, the Pseudo-Mage started preparing a spell to strike out at the ''rude'' Black-Hand Kev.


    Nearly at the same moment he began to chant, Black-hand Kevin disappeared. In next second, a vague figure appeared behind that young Pseudo-Mage. Each of his hands held a dagger. Black-Hand Kev aggressively leaped toward the Pseudo-Mage.


    As a Pseudo-Mage with 20 Spirit, even the slightest changes in his surroundings could be detected. Although he was shocked by Kev''s sudden strike, that didn''t stop this young Pseudo-Mage from reacting.


    A series of zapping noises rang through the air, as a blue colored electrical defensive web appeared behind his back. The Pseudo-Mage remained calm and turned around, shooting out two thick lightning beams from both of his palms, aiming right at the advanced apprentice who was surrounded by an electrical web.


    "BUZZZZZZ~~"


    Right at the very moment when he was launching the attack, this Pseudo-Mage hesitated.


    This was the first time here, and he was about to kill a ''teammate''? That might get him into trouble!


    When he was wondering whether he should reduce the strength of his ''Electro Charge'', a sharp pain suddenly came from his back, and a pitch-black dagger came out from his chest. Only now the vague figure who was struggling in the electrical web transformed, shattering, like glass in front of them. At the same time, a cruel and hoarse voice spoke into his ears.


    "In this place, Pseudo-Mage means nothing! Remember, next time, don''t make fun of that which you don''t know!"


    Finished speaking, Black-hand Kevin pulled the dagger out from the young Pseudo-Mage, took two steps back, and coolly gazed at him.


    The Pseudo-Mage''s face was bathed in sweat, due to pain. He was shocked by Black-Hand Kev''s great dexterity and preternatural swiftness. Suppressing the intense pain, he took a purple potion from his waist pouch, drank half of it and poured the other half into the wound on his chest. Strangely, in few seconds the punch-through wound healed, leaving nothing but bloody crust.


    The young Pseudo-Mage wiped off the blood crust, revealing smooth and fair skin underneath.


    "Hell!" Kevin whistled, "A Bloody Mary? You Pseudo-Mages do have a lot of good stuff, don''t ya! I should''ve given you a bigger wound just now! Now you know why they call me Black-hand Kevin, because I always like to attack the enemy''s back. Next time you are looking for trouble, remember to watch your back!"


    The suffering young Pseudo-Mage clenched his jaw tightly, but had no intentions of provoking him again. On the other side, the other Pseudo-Mage furrowed his brows, obviously, he too was startled by the aggressiveness of this place.


    But what really frightened these two men was not Kevin''s aggressiveness, but his bizarre ability.


    Firstly, he was not using any sort of spatial attack, or else, they would have sensed the ripple of the spatial. Secondly, it was also not a shadow clone technique, because there was no sign when Kevin revealed his true self at the end, and they could still sense the spirit ripple of him from the vague figure which served as a lure. How could that young Pseudo-Mage be deceived so easily?


    For the moment, the group was pondering what just happened in front of them, but no one had any clue on how Kevin did that. Though he was just an advanced apprentice, he was able to easily defeat a Pseudo-Mage. Of course, it was partially because it was a surprise attack, but more was because of Kevin''s unpredictable and strange magical ability.


    Before getting to the root of Kevin''s abilities, the young Pseudo-Mage decided not to agitate him anymore.


    Although Bleia was an assassin who fought in close combat with her high speed, she was unable to see how Kevin had done that. This made her knit her brows in a tight frown.


    While she was frustrated by this, Leon gently nudged her arm and mouthed the word: ''Illusion''.


    Perhaps only Leon could clearly saw the entire process of that extremely short battle.


    The Kevin''s ability was the rare ''illusion''.


    While all the other apprentice Mages were going after for more powerful magic spells, Kevin was emphasized on combining his innate magical ability and his own combat ability. Just now, using his illusion to deceive the enemy''s five senses, he never moved, but simply covered himself with an illusion.


    While the young Pseudo-Mage was deceived by the illusive figure, which looked like a real human, and turned his body around, he had exposed his defenseless back to Kevin, who was also an assassin who fought with his high Dexterity. Judging from the swiftness of his movement, Kevin''s Dexterity was just slightly lower than Bleia, perhaps around 13 to 15.


    If a guy like this was moving with his full speed, without Elementium Vision, perhaps Leon couldn''t even find out where he actually was, let alone counter the full force of his attacks.


    Thus, among all Body Refining Mage, a high agility assassins like Bleia and Kevin, were the biggest threat to apprentices who fought with offensive magic spells.


    ...


    1833 Words

 Chapter 49: Meeting

    Led by Black-hand Kevin, the group of Apprentices soon arrived at a rather shabby stone room located on the first floor of the Mage Tower. There, they finally met the other mission members.Out of ten apprentices who signed up for the Underground Cave investigation mission, three of them were Pseudo-Mages. They were Leo, from the Mushroom Forest of the Rofen region, Sabrina, from the Tracy family of the Woodrow region, and Marcus from the Black Forest Institute of the Sidney region. Leo was the young Pseudo-Mage who was wounded by Kevin previously.


    As for the six advanced apprentices, Shila, Matthew, Leander, Bleia, Isaac, and Bruce, four were male and two female, and they all came from different regions and families. The magical spells they studied were different in a thousand ways, but now, because of the mission, they were grouped together in this room.


    As for Leon, the only beginner apprentice within the group, he was elbowed out from their interactions, as if he never existed. As one of the members of a ten man team, no doubt Leon''s existence would lower their overall strength. Thus, when facing Leon, no one would give him face.


    And there was no way Leon could explain why he was here. So, he just kept his mouth shut and listened to their conversation, all the while secretly having the Chip gather basic information on these people.


    All ten apprentices were brought here via three different flying ships. The earliest had arrived two days ago and, after spending a few days in this Mage Tower, they were rather familiar with this place. Hence, they were now briefly talking about the details of the mission site.


    But as they were talking, a middle-aged male Mage wearing a white robe and a pointy hat, rushed into the stone room.


    "Looks like all of you are here. This is perfect, I don''t have to explain this for the second time. Wait, why there is a beginner apprentice here? Alright, alright, this must be the mistake by the old fools of the association. Heh... since all of you are here, you will have to resign yourself to your fate! Those Hooked Horrors in the Underground are going to have a lovely feast..."


    A vicious grin followed his words, sending chills up everyone''s spines. But obviously, no one would dare refute his terrifying comment.


    "Fine, fine... apparently you''re a group of boring fellows, none of you even dare to get declare otherwise... but this may not be a bad thing, as you, likely, won''t get yourself killed in the dark underground because of your arrogance. The duration of this mission is six months, and the ten of you will be a team. Every ten days, you need to patrol the underground, and you''ll have to visit five inspection sites every time. They are all located in different locations."


    "Therefore, if you don''t want anything bad to happen to you, you''d better move in a full group of ten, following the provided route and inspecting these five mission sites in order. If you''re quick, you can complete it within five days, and then you''ll have five days to rest. Of course, you can split your team up, and that way you might even finish the inspection trip within two days. But if you bump into those black bastards in the underground area, you''re on your own. Hehehe..." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The explanation of the mission brought unsightly expressions to all ten apprentices, but at this point, the middle-aged Mage introduced himself.


    "My name is Angus. You can come to my residence to complete the mission later. Remember, no matter what kinds of dangerous situations you encounter in the Underground, you''re on your own. No one will be there to save you. If you''re lucky and kill some stupid black bastards, remember to bring their heads back. You can exchange them for rewards from me!"


    "......"


    Faced with a group of silence apprentice Mages, this Mage Angus had no interest in providing further explanations. He turned around and quickly left.


    Now, there weren''t any outsider remaining in the room. The ten apprentices, who were thrown together by the compulsory mission, had no choice but to sit down together, beginning to discuss how were they going to complete the mission.


    The young female Pseudo-Mage, Sabrina, who had arrived two days earlier, became the primary source of information for the group. She began to explain the mission in greater detail.


    She had long dark hair, which flowed down to her waist. The left side of her face was covered with a silver mask, but the other side of her faced showed that she was a fairly pretty girl. But strangely, under the silver mask, her left eye was replaced with a mechanical mechanism. Her left arm was also mechanical. When she moved, metal noises could be heard coming from her body.


    All five mission sites were located fairly close to the surface, and the furthest one was around ten miles away from the entrance. If this distance was on the surface, it wouldn''t take more than seven to eight minutes for these few Pseudo-Mages to complete the patrol. But when it was in the underground world, this distance amounted to quite the challenge.


    From the entrance of the cave to the last mission site, the linear distance was ten miles. But, between them were rough mines, tunnels, rift valleys and large cracks. Asides from some rather safe routes, which had been found, the underground was filled with twisting and turning tunnels. If they followed the safe route, they should only bump into lesser underground creatures. But if they struck out in a random direction, perhaps all that would await them would be something nasty.


    "The first patrol will start in three days, so we need to come up with a detailed plan today. With that, we can prepare ourselves." Sabrina concluded her explanation of the mission with this, which brought deep frowns to everyone''s faces.


    Three days? This was such a short amount of time to prepare!


    "Did you guys forget that we have a burden on our team?" One of the male apprentices, Isaac, gazed at Leon discontentedly. Clearly, he wasn''t happy that Leon was dragging down the strength of the entire team.


    "I brought him here, I''ll be responsible for his safety!" Bleia''s green eyes brightened suddenly, glaring at Isaac as she spoke with a cold and stern voice.


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    "If that is the case, I suggest we''ll split up for the mission. Let this beautiful lady bring her knight along. With this, we''ll be more efficient in completing the mission, and we''ll have more spare time to study and rest!" Isaac spoke with a cold grin.


    "Are you sure about this?" Sabrina shook her head, then said, "Don''t think that we can just ditch this burden. Since we''re a team, we need to take the whole situation into account and plan accordingly. Every time we patrol, if we miss two sites, our earnings will be cut in half, and if we miss three, we won''t receive any earnings at all. If two people are assigned to a mission site, of course we can complete the patrol quicker. But if a small team is too weak, they might not come back..."


    "What''s wrong? Are you feeling sorry for the rookie?" Obviously, Isaac had decided that someone on the team had to be the realist.


    "It''s not that I feel sorry for him, but, if we follow your suggestion, that also means we might need to complete the ten men mission with just eight of us the next time. And the time after that, we might need to complete it with just six of us. With this, even if you are strong individually, in the end, you might still end up getting killed while between all mission sites!" Sabrina spoke with a cold tone.


    Obviously, for the past two days, she had thoroughly studied their mission, and had clearly analyzed all the possible traps hidden within it.


    She felt she this was a dilemma!


    If they carried out the mission as a team, as all five mission sites were scattered in different locations, it would take them extra time to travel between them. But there was strength in numbers, and they could face all possible dangers with ease. If they split up, unavoidably, their overall strength would be diluted. If they were unlucky and had one or two small teams annihilated, they would suffer over the next few months!


    For the moment, everyone was lost in deep thought, and even Isaac, who was upset of Leon''s presence, kept his mouth shut.


    For any simple task flow, not only did they had to consider the time efficiency, they also had to give consideration to the balance of strength. Even if some Pseudo-Mage thought he had a superb ability and left his companions to die, he alone wouldn''t be able to complete the patrols by himself, and would tire out before the end of the mission.


    They had to carry out their mission underground, so no matter how strong an individual was, there was no way he could spend seven to eight days without resting. Wandering through the underground alone would never be as relaxing as having a group of people together. That''s the reason why the Mage association created this mission, not only was it was an assessment of their teamwork, but it also served as an examination of their individual combat abilities.


    "I think we should split up! All of us are here to train and improve ourselves. We''re not here to relax and enjoy ourselves. I''ll team up with Bleia, we should be able to handle one mission site, I have confidence in this." Leon spoke.


    Hearing what he said, many people silently breathed out sighs of relief.


    After all, if they had to bring a burden into the dark and bizarre Underground, even those three Pseudo-Mages would be troubled.


    "Alright, so be it. Everybody use the next two days to rest and prepare yourself with the items needed for our mission. Three days from now, we''ll meet up here." All three Pseudo-Mages couldn''t help but look at Leon, once again reconfirming that he was only a beginner apprentice. Obviously, that Sabrina intended to become the leader of this team, which is why she promptly concluded the meeting.


    Silently, everybody nodded their heads, then left the stone room one after the other.


    When they were the only ones left in the room, Bleia teasingly asked, "Why are you so sure I''ll team up with you?"


    "Heh. You want blood; I want demon core. We''ll split up any other materials we find later. There is no conflict in this, so it''s a win-win situation for the both of us." Leon stretched his right hand out towards the blood-loving girl with the green eyes.


    "Hmm! I want first pick of the loot!" Bleia placed her soft, fragile-seeming palm into Leon''s and shook his head. Then she turned around and left the room.


    They only had three days, and she needed to prepare a few more items. After becoming an apprentice Mage, this was the first time they had left the Magical Swamp, so Bleia decided to go for a walk...


    After the room became completely quiet, Leon closed his eyes, pretending he was thinking about something, while, in fact, he was communicating with the Chip in his mind.


    "Chip, have you gathered all the data on those people just now?"


    "Beep!"


    "Data sampling has been completed."


    "Transmitting..."


    Following a series of beeps, data starting flowing into his mind.


    ...


    ...


    This data really showed him nothing...


    Left speechless, Leon breathed out a long sigh. It looked like, without witnessing them actually fight, it would be really difficult for him to get data on the actual abilities of his teammates.


    ...


    1981 Words

 Chapter 50: Cave

    Within the dark underground tunnel, a perfect silence prevailed.Originally, there weren''t any routes in the Underground world. Only irregular rock fractures and water channels formed after thousands of years of water erosion. However, through the endless excavating efforts by many generations of underground creatures, the winding cave system with many chambers, large and small were interconnected by tunnels of all length, forming an awe-inspiring three-dimensional tunnel system that extended in all directions.


    There weren''t any straight paths down here, like the ones back on the on the surface. All the passages were meticulously excavated along rock fractures. Stretching through those ancient water channels, twisting and turning. Sometimes, when the walls between caves were relatively thin, you could hear sound from other passages, but they were still forced to travel a long, winding passage of tens of miles in complete darkness, before reaching their destination.


    Countless stalactites were hanging from the ceiling of caverns; stalagmites protruded unevenly from the damp floor. Water continually dripping down through the uneven rock formations, allowing for the ground to be damp and covered with moss.


    To be honest, when traveling in such an isolated and quiet environment, it was very easy to feel a creeping sensation. Thinking that just the few hundred tons of rocks and soil on top of your head could collapse at any time, and in turn, crushing you.


    Everyone was holding a torch in. The group of ten, including Leon, were formed in a long line, walking slowly and difficulty in the underground tunnel. Stay updated with §Þ??


    The glow of their torches could only light up a region of five meters. From time to time a bone chilling breeze would squeeze out from some unseen cracks in the rock wall, causing the torches to flicker in the wind. The flickering projected their shadows on the other side of the rock wall.


    Although they had tried their best to keep complete silence while walking. But the indistinct noise of their footsteps and the sounds that came from their bodies scratching against the rock wall, all of them were still echoed far away in this dark and quiet tunnel. And, this would bring them so much more unexpected dangers in their journey later.


    After walking continuously for three hours, the team finally arrived at their first stop on the inspection route.


    Strictly speaking, the first three hours journey was just a small assessment before they truly entered the Underground Cave. The real starting point of their investigation and inspection mission started here.


    "Alright, this is where we split. Try your best to complete the mission as soon as possible, then we''ll meet back here again. I wish you all the best!" The clear and melodious voice of Sabrina became hollow in this oppressive cavern.


    Ten Apprentice Mages split into five small teams. All traveling to different sites to complete their own mission. The deepest mission site was taken care by Sabrina and Shila. Of course, no one would have any objection when she volunteered for the most dangerous mission, thus, they too had tacitly approved her leadership.


    As for the team of Leon and Bleia, although everyone was jealous, but they had no choice and gave them the easiest mission. Because if the rest of the group sought momentary satisfaction and gave Leon''s group a tougher mission, which eventually brought them to death. Next time, they would have to complete the ten person mission with only eight members.


    Every single person was wearing a thick black robe, which fully covered every single inch of their skin. This was to prevent their aura and body temperature from exposing their positions in the eyes of those underground creature who possessed infrared vision. After whispering wishes to each other, five small teams disappeared themselves into the darkness, heading to their respective destination.


    After split up, Leon and Bleia continued walking in the dark tunnel for nearly seven to eight minutes, then they stopped.


    Leon listened for any sound that might be audible. When he finally confirmed there wasn''t anything nearby, he casually killed off the torch in his hand. When the last glow of light faded into the darkness, a mystery and bizarre world was made revealed in front of Leon''s eyes.


    The illuminating mosses on the cave walls were glowing coldly in the dark. Drawing out a completely different yet bizarre scene in Leon''s eyes, which had temporarily been granted with the ability of low-light vision. Lit up by this faded glow, darkness gradually retracted, replacing by a mysterious world of glittering.


    The color of the cold, gruesome-looking cave wall was black, and the region where water gathered was gray. Within Leon''s Elementium Vision, besides from a large patch of green illuminating glow, the world in front of him was full of black and gray colors. However, hidden in a dark corner not far from where he stood, he could barely see a few creepy moving red dots. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Red dots represents the leaking life force.


    Judging from the size of the red dots, they should be some tiny creatures. Perhaps Rock Scorpions or wall lizards.


    Leon turned around and saw Bleia. She was still wearing the same bright red chiffon dress, exposing a large area of her fair skin. But strangely, even though Leon was only three steps away from her, but he couldn''t sense any temperature that all living beings had. If just looking at her with infrared vision, perhaps Bleia was no different from a human shaped stalagmite.


    Alright, a Vampire''s ability was indeed unpredictable.


    With infrared vision, able to hide her vitality aura, and together with her supreme agility, the dark Underground was a perfect place for an assassin like her.


    Leon pulled down his hood, took up the lead and resumed their journey, walking along the winding rough slope in front of him.


    Their mission site was near an underground pond located seven miles away. They might pass by a couple of Underground creature habitats along their way, but there wasn''t too much of a risk to worry. As long as they paid more attention to their surroundings, they should be able to walk passed them without any issue.


    ...


    Although both of them possessed powerful magical abilities, yet when traveling in The Underground world where dangers were everywhere even Bleia, who was an advanced apprentice, was still like a toddler who just started learning how to walk.


    Leon thought he had been well prepared, but before he reached one hundred meters from starting point, he was met with the first ambush in this Underground world.


    Yes, an ambush!


    When Leon was passing by a rock crack, a Rock Python who was hiding within it suddenly darted out, opening its stinking and ferocious mouth, biting toward his neck.


    "Bite~~" He was caught off guard.


    The cold, hard rock wall had provided a well cover for this Rock Python''s indistinct vitality aura. So, when Leon saw a red dot suddenly jumped into his vision, the venomous fangs of Rock Python had nearly reached his face.


    If Leon had 10 or above Agility, perhaps he could respond on time. But, his 4 Agility had severely limited his instinctive reflex, forcing him to shut his eyes in great fear while waiting for the brutal bite to hit him.


    A Rock Python wouldn''t kill him, but a painful wound was inevitable.


    A shrill whistling sound of object piercing through the air beside his ear.


    "Zosh~~"


    "Zap~~"


    Bleia, who was apparently walking behind of him second ago, suddenly jumped in front of him. With her fingers pointing like a blade, she sliced through the air with incredible speed. In just a split second, the Rock Python had been sliced into seven pieces.


    A pungent smell of blood filled the air within the tunnel.


    Leon took a few deep breathes, finally making his racing heart beats returned to normal. His body was wet with cold sweat. Damn Underground creatures, they sure knew how to pick a perfect spot to ambush!


    Although the tunnel was dark, Leon felt his face was burning.


    He was overconfident. A theory was always just a theory. He thought he had stored a huge amount of skills and experiences required for the adventure, but in real life there was always traps that he could never predict.


    After the first setback, two people exchanged their position.


    Nimble and noiseless, Bleia took the lead. No Underground creature that tried to ambush them could escape from her sharp magical weapon-like nails. Even if it was an extremely close range ambush, she could always slice the enemy into pieces with her supreme Agility.


    Thus, within just an hour, eleven Underground creatures were killed by her.


    Indistinctly, Leon heard the noise of creatures fighting from the tunnel far behind him. It seemed like a small scale of war was inevitable. In this Underground world, no matter how loud noise was or how small of a wound is, they were both a huge taboo. As both could easily lure bigger and more aggressive Underground creatures.


    Although with Bleia and Leon''s overall strength, they had no fear in these weak creatures, but they could still bring Leon and Bleia unnecessary troubles for their journey.


    The first real trouble occurred at the seventh hour after they entered the Underground world. A group of eleven Hooked Horrors struck them.


    Hook Horrors were widely distributed in all parts of Underworld world. They looked rather similar to a small dinosaur with its body fully covered in hard scales. When they stood straight, they reached the height of two meters. Although they weren''t considered a large creature, but they had a strong bone, and a mouthful of big, shining, sharp fangs. Their sticky saliva was dripping down from this brutal mouth, looking like they were going to have a big feast.


    Unlike other smaller creatures, they didn''t use ambush as their strategy, but patiently waited until Leon and Bleia entered their encirclement, only then did they steadily walked out from the darkness. Before seeing their body, Leon was greeted with pairs of pale yellow eyes.


    A hard-skin creature like this was tough to deal with, at least, Bleia''s sharp claws couldn''t penetrate their strong scales. Without hitting their armpit, eyes, or neck, the weak spots of their defense, Bleia''s attack was harmless to them. On the opposite, their slim but sharp upper limbs, located on their chests, could cause her devastating damage.


    Together with the tremendous slamming force that came from its heavy body, plus the Paralyze and Slowing effect that was innate to all Earth Elemental creatures, this all made it really tough for an ordinary Apprentice Mage to escape safely with such limited space.


    A wry smile emerged on Leon''s face, he shook his head, quickly took out two summoning cores and threw them onto a nearby dirt patch.


    Although majority of the underground tunnel was excavated on the solid rock wall, utilizing the hardness of the rock to prevent the tunnel from collapsing, but there was always dirt and sand to be found everywhere. Thus, Leon never lacked the material to shape his Clay Golems.


    A soundless roar rang through the air. The Demon Alligator Hunter gradually took its shape beside Leon.


    "Oh, good kid! You have a hidden trick!" Bleia''s voice came from the darkness.


    With Bleia''s 17 Agility, freeing herself from these Hooked Horrors was a piece of cake. If not because of Leon, it would just take her five seconds to pass through the enemy''s rather shabby encirclement.


    After a few failed random attacks at those Hooked Horrors, Bleia gave up trying. She returned to Leon, started to give an examining look at this new, strange golem.


    This... it seemed different from the one she saw last time! Could this clay alligator a new golem he obtained, after killed the Giant Alligator King? Apparently, this kid wasn''t as weak as she imagined!


    Filling her mind with countless questions, Bleia saw Leon walk up to the clay alligator''s back and sit down. Following a mild vibration, the clay alligator moved its huge body, crushing its way to those Hooked Horrors who starting to tighten up the circle.


    ...


    2021 Words

 Chapter 51: This golem is a real help

    The clay alligator charged forward, and, with the breeze it caused sweeping up dead leaves, it looked as if it were invincible. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.It was worth mentioning that the build of the Demon Alligator Hunter had entered the scope of large creatures. In comparison, the ferocious Hooked Horror was only considered a medium size creature.


    Fights between demon beasts always came down to strength, and no doubt, the size of their bodies was the most direct method of showing off their strength.


    Facing the charging Demon Alligator Hunter, the Hooked Horrors, who even Bleia couldn''t harm, had transformed into a group of terrified little bunnies putting up a deathbed struggle.


    "Smash~~"


    One after another they were thrown to the ground by the Demon Alligator, who used his powerful jaw to shred them into little pieces.


    "Bang~~"


    "Bang!!"


    At the same time, the hunter, who sat up high, kept throwing spears down. Each spear pinned the Hooked Horrors, who tried to leap onto the Demon Alligator''s back, to the ground.


    Although Hooked Horrors were also Earth Elemental creatures, which granted them immunity from the Earth Elemental damage brought by the Dirt Spear, they couldn''t escape from the brutal physical damage. Hence, while charging towards their enemy, many Hooked Horrors were nailed into the ground by the spear, putting up a useless struggle.


    A few of the lucky Hooked Horrors managed to land beside the Demon Alligator. They vented their anger by using the most powerful attacks they could muster. They tirelessly hit the thick, tough clay armour covering the top of the Demon Alligator''s body. They attacked aggressively.


    "Pow~~"


    "POWW~~"


    "BANG~~"


    Their scratching and biting caused dirt chunks to fall off continuously. But from time to time, an earthy yellow ring of light would burst out from the Demon Alligator''s body, bringing the Demon Alligator another layer of new clay armour.


    The hunter who sat high up would never let the enemies who tried to destroy the body of the Demon Alligator go. The dirt spears, that were fired from close range,


    penetrated the Hooked Horrors'' skulls instantly, making them fall to the ground while letting out miserably cries.


    In just ten minutes, this group of Hooked Horrors had been wiped out completely by the Demon Alligator Hunter.


    Once the battle was over, Leon started to clean up the battlefield. But the result, once again, made him scorn these Hook Horrors who died miserably. Even amongst this rather large group of wandering creatures, there wasn''t even a single demon core to be found. Leon hastily harvested some of the still intact razor sharp claws. After harvesting, Bleia and Leon climbed back up onto the Demon Alligator and ventured deeper into the Underground World.


    In around half day, the broken bodies of the Hooked Horrors they had left behind would be digested by other Underground creatures. The other creatures would be lured in by the smell of the dead bodies. Within the Underground world, there were plenty of ''natural scavengers'', as food was extremely scarce, and anything that could be eaten would not go to waste. These ''natural scavengers'' would wander around the dark and quiet Underground world all day looking for food that would cure their hunger.


    However, something happened that Leon hadn''t considered. Not long after they left the battlefield, a short stalagmite in a corner of the cave suddenly trembled and transformed into a weird-looking human figure who had, what seemed to be rock-like skin. It was staring blankly in the direction in which Leon and Bleia disappeared, seeming like a lifeless object. The creature then sent a strange wave forth and, by using a secret message, transmitted it far into the distance.


    Only after transmitting all the information, did the stone figure difficulty and slowly merge back together with the short stalagmite, leaving no trace that it was ever there. It was such a strange life form, that, even if Leon had the intention to find it, he would find it really hard to differentiate it from other ordinary stalagmites.


    ...


    Deep down in the Underground world, within a secret cave.


    A bonfire was brightly burning in the centre of the cave, spreading its toasty warmth throughout it. Four bizarre-looking figures, covered in black cloaks, were standing in a circle around the fire. They remained quiet, as if they were waiting for something.


    In order to prevent their aura from leaking out, the placed a thick, transparent barrier at the entrance of the cave.


    All of a sudden, a strange croaking sound was heard from one of the members.


    Apparently, this figure was female, as her arm, that stretched out from underneath the black cloak, was very slim. An extremely ugly toad was squatting in the middle of her palm. It kept letting out jarring, croaking sounds by squeezing and expanding its huge yet half-transparent stomach.


    "There is also activity detected in sector seven! Including sector four and five, which were triggered moments ago, this makes three sectors in total. We can be sure that they''re from the outside," The lady finally spoke.


    "Jajaja... We had just received the news that a group of delicious prey are coming from the outside, and now we''ve finally detected their whereabouts. What a bunch of fearless rookies! Since the triggering time of these few sites are so close to each other, they must have split up. Jajaja... this is the best news we''ve heard all day!" A sinister laugh came from another man in a black cloak.


    "Can you find anything out about the overall strength of each small team? I heard that there are a few Pseudo-Mages in this group? I just need one more Pseudo-Mage soul to complete my corpse puppet!" Another man in a black cloak spoke. From his lofty and domineering voice, it wasn''t hard to tell that this guy was the leader of this four-people group. This man also had the strongest treacherous undertone.


    "It is really tough to tell! After all, any overly aggressive spying methods would be easily detected by them. Therefore, the message I received only tells me that some


    creatures, who have fulfilled the preset requirements, passed by. However, we can''t confirm their actual strength and numbers," The same lady replied.


    "Hmm! Once they split up, they are not far from meeting their death. According to their tradition, most of them will probably form a two-person team, and, at most, a three people one. We have four people here and three of us are Pseudo-Mages. Can''t we capture one of their small teams?" Grinning hideously, the black cloak leader continued saying, "Let''s go to site number four first, as that''s the closest site from here. If everything goes smoothly, we can visit a few more sites afterwards, and try our best to capture few more teams!"


    "Let''s go!"


    The group put their words into action immediately. They were a group of people who handle things with resolute and cruel means. After a short discussion, they had given up this temporary camp and started squeezing their way out of the cave, relinquishing themselves to the eternal darkness outside.


    ...


    At the same time, Leon was enjoying a relaxed journey. He absolutely had no idea that great danger was approaching from a far distance.


    He and Bleia had become indifferent spectators who did nothing. The Demon Alligator Hunter alone was able to make a clean sweep of all Underground creatures who kept leaping out from the darkness. Marching and crushing all in their way, they had virtually turned this extremely dangerous mission into a relaxed and peaceful sightseeing trip.


    But, a discovery had brought all sorts of feeling to his mind. The Underground world was a place where all dirty things hid, and a place where different species crossbred with each other. All sorts of messy bloodlines could be found here.


    The aggressiveness and cruelty of these Underground creatures were stronger than those on the surface. Sometimes, even though they knew they were not the match of Leon and his minions, they still launched an attack on him.


    They attacked in such a way that they seemed to not take their own safety into consideration. In fact, some hunters only needed to throw their spear at the weaker charging creatures in order to kill them. As for those stronger creatures, before they could break up Demon Alligator''s tough clay armour, it''s sharp and powerful front legs would have crushed them into meat paste.


    Facing such an enormous creature, who could absorb Earth Elementium from the surrounding environment and continuously self-heal, these creatures'' attacks could never bring any threat. If they really wanted to defeat the Demon Alligator, they would have to use a devastating magic spell and crush the summoning core that was buried deep inside its body in one go. The only other option was to use a continuous amount of super energy to smash its tough shell. But, obviously, none of these small Underground creatures was capable of achieving either one of the options.


    Actually, this was related to the environment they were living in.


    The Underground world was full of long, narrow tunnels, caverns with protruding stalagmites on the ground, and countless stalactites that hung from the ceiling of caverns. Living in such environment, an overly grown body brought two major harms. Firstly, it was very hard to find sufficient food to sustain their life, and, secondly, it was very difficult to pass through all the narrow tunnels without getting stuck.


    Therefore, in order to adapt to such an environment, the majority of the Underground creature had evolved. Although they became cruel and aggressive, their bodies were short and flat. This meant that they when faced with the Demon Alligator, who was clearly a massive monster in this Underground world, were suppressed in both Strength and Physique.


    As the golem was moulded from Earth Elementium, the size of the Demon Alligator was controlled directly by the summoning core. When it was required to face battle, it would charge in with its biggest form. However, when it was required to travel underground, it would adjust its body shape according to the shape of the tunnel.


    For example, when travelling in some really narrow and rough tunnels, it could even adjust itself into the shape of huge Rock Python, which allowed it to squeeze through the tight space more easily. The two ''masters'' who owned this self-moving golem, who was capable of changing its shape, needed only to sit on its back and allow the golem to do all the work. Was there anything else that could be more relaxing than this?


    In order to see throughout their long and boring journey in the dark, Leon and Bleia even lit up their torches on the back of Demon Alligator. They tried to overcome their own boredom by studying their own magical topic. As for those Underground creatures, who had eyes but failed to see Mount Tai, they just let their dedicated Demon Alligator Hunter handle them!


    Therefore, the mission which initially required them to embark on a tiring seventeen-hour long journey, only took seven hours before they arrived at their destination.


    It was an enormous limestone cavern and was filled with all kinds of strangely shaped stalactites. In a lower region in a corner of the cave, water fell off the cavern wall and formed a small pond. The pond made this place become one where surrounding Underground creatures always visited.


    The team stopped in this dark limestone cavern. Lit up by the dancing flame of the torch, the huge body of the Demon Alligator appeared even more frightening and ruthless. Frightened by it, most of the Underground creatures who came here for water immediately scurried away, and only a handful of creatures who didn''t possess sufficient intelligence initiated their attack. Of course, these poor fellows were all killed on the spot.


    Leon''s soft, thick and waterproof black deerskin boots stepped onto the muddy and slippery stone path. As Leon climbed down from the Demon Alligator Hunter, he pushed back his hood. He quickly started scanning the mission site through his strange goggles.


    It was unexpectedly calm, a mission like this was considered an Orange mission? Continue your adventure with §Þ??


    But, before he could continue pondering this strange occurrence, an extremely gentle and lovely female voice suddenly rang out from behind him.


    "As an elegant gentleman, don''t you think you should help the beautiful lady get down from the vehicle?"


    A cold shudder suddenly went down Leon''s back. He was taken aback by Bleia''s ''frightening'' voice. To be honest, Bleia always showed him the brutal and aggressive side of hers during a fight. By suddenly portraying the look of a gentle lady, clearly, because of boredom, she was once again trying to fool him.


    After knowing her for a long time, he now had a clearly understood Bleia''s temper.


    She was an extremely dangerous girl; she was a wounded girl who lacked trust in the outside world.


    Leon had absolutely no idea how Bleia endured all those frightening magical experiments done by Mage Eclivel. However, Leon was sure of one thing: the current Bleia was showing signs of having split personalities. One was the original Bleia, who was a shy and introverted girl, while another was the cruel vampire Bleia, whose mind was twisted. The two totally opposite personalities were placed in the same body, producing a Bleia who always felt insecure.


    She was like a mind twisted dowager. On one hand, she wanted to use her beautiful and sexy appearance to make everyone crazy about her. Whilst, on the other hand, she couldn''t restrain her desire for fresh blood and wished she could rip every single human into pieces, pouring their blood onto her beautiful body.


    Therefore, her behaviour swung between seduction and cruelty. Even a slight mistake would trigger the pain hiding deep within her heart, causing her to transform into the ''Bloody Queen'' that she always dreamed of!


    In brief, it was extremely rare to see a perfect human being to walk on the path of Mage!


    ...


    2334 Words

 Chapter 52: A lizard man

    The biggest benefit of owning the Chip was the near encyclopedic knowledge it granted him.After searching through its database, the Chip transmitted the most appropriate action into Leon''s mind.


    After receiving this data, Leon bowed like a noble. He bent down on one knee and offered Bleia his hand, allowing Bleia to use his knee as a way to dismount the Demon Alligator.


    Bleia was obviously satisfied with Leon''s sweet and considerate behavior. She gracefully turned, her soft, striking red dress contrasting vividly against her delicate and fair skin. Under the reflection of the dim torchlight, she seemed to become the most dazzling object in the eternal darkness.


    "If I were powerful enough, I would rape you right here in this exact place." Leon thought as he looked at Mary.


    "I like this place and wish to take a bath here. So, I''ll need to trouble my honorable knight to stand guard for me!" Bleia gave her wish, once again portraying the lofty manner of a noble lady.


    "As you wish!"


    Clearly, when compared to Bleia, Leon seemed much more familiar with these types of role-playing games. Leon placed his arm on his chest and bowed. He then grabbed the Demon Alligator Hunter and left to patrol the surrounding area.


    They were sent here to complete their mission and, coincidentally, the mission site was located in the middle of that water pond. So, after leaving Bleia behind, Leon couldn''t refrain himself from starting to search for the biggest benefit of this trip.


    There was a reason why this Underground Cave was so famous. This Underground Cave produced some rare and special resources that couldn''t be found anywhere on the surface. An example of one such resource was the Soul Mushroom.


    The Soul Mushroom was a kind of white mushroom, which existed in two different forms: its incorporeal form and its corporeal one. It was one of the main ingredients used to produce Invisible Potion and Shadow Perish Enchantment. They grew in shady and cool places and were able to feed off of negative energy. Therefore, Soul Mushrooms were frequently found growing near evil spirits. This was the reason why normal people couldn''t see them. Only apprentice Mages who possessed supernatural power, like Leon, were qualified to harvest them.


    Before they left, Mage Angus had told them about these Soul Mushrooms, promising that if anyone was to find some on their mission, he would purchase them off them for a good price. From his desire for the mushrooms, Leon believed that Mage Angus had decided to become a pharmacist.


    It was because of this that Leon showed great enthusiasm for this additional job, as he could easily accomplish it. After all, in order to prepare himself for this mission, he had depleted nearly all of his accumulated resources and savings. Right now, apart from some necessary spell casting materials and travel kits, the only things left in Leon''s waist pouch were three Magical Crystals. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With just this meager wealth, it was impossible for him to buy anything good in this place.


    As Leon was traveling further and further away, Bleia had just reached the edge of the pond.


    Here in the Underground world, everything was covered in an oppressive, eternal darkness. From time to time, indistinct noises were even heard echoing throughout the caves.


    If any ordinary human had found themselves in this place, perhaps they would have long screamed their lungs out by now, frightened by the terrifying and gruesome environment. But, Bleia was the complete opposite to them. She inserted her torch into a crack in the wall, and, while humming a joyful tune, she slowly peeled the thin red dress off her body. She tested the temperature by


    placing her perfectly shaped leg into the water, and, finding it to her liking, she cheered and dived in.


    The water splashed in all directions, presenting a barely visible beautiful body. If this sight was not seen in the Underground, it would definitely be called a seductive and magnificent wonderland.


    But, whilst Bleia was happily swimming in the water, at the ceiling, where the light of the torch couldn''t reach, a pair of bizarre eyes lit up.


    Clearly, those pair of eyes belonged to an intelligent creature. They were fluttering from side to side, looking puzzled and undecided.


    To be honest, this Underground world was a land where darkness was eternal and slaughter and blood were as common as flies. Nothing in this land could be related to the words ''beautiful'' and ''warm''. Although he had learned about the free and peaceful life on the surface from books and knowledge shared by wandering travelers, he had never believed in any of those fairytales.


    He knew that the surface was cruelly and brutally ruled by frightening and evil human Mages. Since this was the case, how could the humans on the surface live a free and peaceful life? Those fairytales must be the lies that the evil Mages used to deceive the weak-minded humans. From what he could tell, they had seemed to work, as the foolish humans had fallen hook, line, and sinker, into believing them.


    This was something that he firmly believed in, so, when suddenly seeing a beautiful naked girl bathing in his hunting zone, he was struck with uncertainty.


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    The numerous ferocious actions, performed by apprentice Mages, had caused a wariness to develop in him. Thus, without making any noise, he started to crawl along the ceiling, inching closer and closer towards the beautiful girl.


    His delicate and flexible body enabled him to perform extraordinary movements, so, even if he was moving along a surface covered with slippery moss, he was still able to move as if it was flat ground. He moved silently, and, like a spider


    creating its web in darkness, he slipped down a crack in the wall. He hid behind the various stalagmites and stalactites, and, unseen, he approached the edge of the pond.


    Bleia had just finished swimming and was now sitting on a rock at the edge of the pond, slowly and gently squeezing out the water from her hair. Her long, dark hair flowed down her body and reached just below her perfect asset. Her hair covered her body perfectly, preventing anyone from witnessing the ultimate beauty. What a sad moment!


    The perfectly hidden humanoid figure stealthily arrived at Bleia''s red dress. After searching for a while, he found nothing that seemed to be a storage pouch or a magical weapon.


    Could this beautiful girl not an apprentice Mage?


    After stealing a glance at the barely visible beautiful body, he couldn''t help but gulp. As he watched her an evil thought arose in his mind.


    Regardless of whether she was an apprentice Mage or not, shipping such a high quality ''product'' to Elysium city would definitely result in a high profit. If he could get that profit he would be able to live a nice life; he wouldn''t have to run around in the oppressive tunnels all day trying to make his living


    The person who had left earlier was definitely an apprentice Mage. A man who was able to control such a frightening Golem monster was obviously something that he, as an Underground Rogue Hunter, could possibly deal with. However, since the beginning, this lady never showed any special ability. It was likely that she was just a mistress the male apprentice had brought along. If she was really a normal human, then it was possible that he could successfully abduct her.


    After making up his mind, the shadowy figure hid behind the rock that the naked lady was sitting on. He quietly pulled out the leather pouch that was tied onto his waist. A palm-sized green object climbed out of the leather pouch and quickly moved onto the rock, climbing towards the naked lady.


    After a brief moment, Bleia cried out.


    "ARG~~... what??!"


    As soon as this happened, the shadowy figure instantly bolted out, like a lightning strike, and placed his two bent blades against her neck.


    The tiny green lizard opened its mouth, draping itself over Bleia''s naked body and sticking its tongue out. It had actually bitten Bleia''s sexy butt! Greenish liquid oozed from the small wound, and Bleia seemed to be paralyzed, looking as if she could hardly stand by herself.


    The shadowy figure had no use but to use one of his hands to hold up Bleia''s body. He had to do this in order to prevent Bleia from slipping into the pond.


    "You better make sure to hold her tight. If you tear any of her skin then you''ll suffer some nasty consequences." A deep and steady male voice suddenly rang out throughout the cave, scaring the shit out of the shadowy figure.


    Somehow Leon had returned from patrolling and was leaning against a stalagmite. He was watching the scene with a smile on his face. Behind him, the frightening Demon Alligator Hunter walked out of the darkness. The noise it made as it walked was comparable to a giant.


    The shadowy figure seemed not to have expected this situation. He stepped back and positioned his body behind Bleia''s. He then raised one of his bent blades to Bleia''s throat and gripped her arm with his other hand. He looked like he was holding Bleia hostage.


    However, the figure was puzzled, as the male apprentice didn''t seem to want to rescue his companion. On the contrary, he seemed to be preparing himself to watch a good show.


    ''Her... life... is in my hands, don''t...try... anything rash!" The shadowy creature was speaking in the Salus language, which was different from the universally used human language. However, this didn''t stop Leon from understanding what it was saying. Language, with the help of the Chip, was perhaps the easiest thing for Leon.


    Leon, still leaning against the stalagmite, watched the scene before him.


    The perfectly curved, seductive body of Bleia was a magnificent view and Green would never miss such a good opportunity to enjoy it. Also, as Leon was extremely interested in this creature, he ordered the chip to scan it.


    "Beep! Scanning of creature completed. Found a matching species in the living beings database. Does the host wish to view it?"


    "Yes! Show it to me!"


    After Leon''s aLeonent, the detailed information on the creature in front of him was sent into his mind.


    The Lizardmen race are intelligent creatures found in the Underground. They possess the bloodline of both a lizard and a human. They are mutated creatures and are able to move stealthily, and control their body temperature. In the Underground world, they are found in every major region working as assassins.


    Lizardman?


    While studying the information, Leon quietly matched the shadowy figure in front of his eyes with the one in his mind.


    The creature had a skinny, human-like body and wasn''t wearing any clothes. Dark green lumps could be found everywhere on its rough, thick skin. It only had four fingers, and its hands were like webbed like a frog. It also had long and curvy nails, which looked like razor-sharp blades.


    The creature seemed to have human-like facial features, but, as its skin was too dark, no one could clearly see its expression. Its transparent eyelids kept blinking, allowing its protruding eyeballs to focus freely and turn in any direction it wanted.


    Judging from its voice, it should be a man, no, a male.


    However, this was beside the point. In any case, it was an ugly fellow who made Green feel disgusted after just one look.


    Especially, after it recklessly abducted Bleia!


    Inwardly, Leon gave out his final verdict.


    If it wasn''t for the advantage it had in this environment, it would only be able to, at most, match up to an intermediate apprentice. Leon scoffed. With this little ability, it still dreamed of abducting the frightening Bleia?


    A faint smile emerged on Leon''s face. He really didn''t know whether he should give a three-second tribute for its unfortunate encounter.


    Leon only hoped that it wouldn''t come to regret its decision.


    ...


    2017 Words

 Chapter 53: Explosion in the cave

    Leon''s overly calm attitude had caused the Lizardman to start to doubt the value of the hostage he held in his hands.But, before he could do anything, the frail Bleia moved first.


    With just a few twists, her fair and slippery naked body was freed from Lizardman''s control. Bleia then dodged nimbly, suddenly appearing behind the Lizardman. Leon could see that the Lizardman''s arms were hanging limply by his sides, and he seemed to have lost the ability to defend itself.


    Blood was oozing out from the joints of the Lizardman, dying his dark green scales red. It seemed that Bleia had cut his muscle tendons using her sharp nails.


    Any ordinary human, when getting wounds like these, wouldn''t be able to fight, however, Lizardmen were different. They had a strong vitality and excellent resistance, so, to them, it was simply a minor injury. After all, although the Lizardman couldn''t move his limbs, he still had a mouth full of sharp fangs.


    But, because Bleia was hiding behind him, all of his attacks had failed.


    As he was trying to detach himself from the frightening lady, his body turned numb and, like a robot losing power, he stiffened. A smile graced Bleia''s features as she slowly pulled her long, sharp nail out of the Lizardman''s back.


    In close combat, by using the gap between the Lizardman''s scales, Bleia could sever his neck instantly. At this moment, the Lizardman was completely powerless and had no way to fight back.


    "What? Are you going to stay here and watch?"


    After ridiculing Leon, who was in a rather embarrassing situation, Bleia draped herself over the Lizardman''s body, gradually moving her tender lips towards his fragile neck.


    "Beauty and the Beast!"


    "Little Green Man Fighting the Vampire!"


    It was such an erotic drama, that Leon hoped he could enjoy it close-up. He wanted to clap excitedly.


    However, whenever he imagined the potential scene that was going to unfold, he felt that it was better to just avoid it. Unlike those vampires who, in his memory, would gently poke their sharp fangs into their lover''s necks, Bleia obviously preferred to ravage her meal and enjoy it completely.


    Leon felt that if he saw the scene of fresh blood mixing with organs, he would lose his appetite. Therefore, he just spun around and sulkily left.


    As he passed by a stalagmite, he heard the frightening sound of muscle ripping, followed by Bleia''s excited moans.


    "Bite~~"


    "GLUB~~"


    "Sucking~~"


    "Break~~"


    "Crak~~~"


    As Leon heard the weak cries of a creature in the throes of death, he couldn''t help but shudder and increase his speed.


    After nearly half an hour, Leon saw Bleia fixing her dress as she walked out of the cave. It seemed that she had enjoyed her ''restaurant''.


    Anyone looking at her beautiful face brimming with energy, wouldn''t be able to tell what had just happened.


    "Have you taken the sample from the mission site?" Leon closed up his magical book and asked.


    "This is just a small matter, so obviously it''s completed!" Bleia said contentedly. After agreeing, she casually tossed a Rune Crystal to Leon.


    Leon cast a verification spell, and, after finding it suitable, he placed it into his waist pouch.


    Every pond located in the mission sites had a small magical formation placed at the bottom of it. These formations helped the Mages on garrison duty grasp the situation in the Underground Cave. It enabled them to observe the terrain without leaving their Mage Towers.


    The duty Leon and the other apprentices were given was to collect the information stored in the formations by using a custom-made Rune Crystal. After completing this duty, they were free to use their spare time to harvest some rare Underground resources.


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    The team, after splitting up, had agreed to reunite in three days. Thus, they had plenty of time to harvest all the resources located around the mission site. Since both of them had completed their mission in half a day, they had some spare time they could use to leisurely travel around.


    However, while both of them were traveling around, a heart-pounding battle was occurring in another cave just five miles away!


    Leo, the apprentice Mage from the Mushroom Forest in the Rofen region, was fleeing. Two black-robed Pseudo-Mages were chasing after him. Matthew, the other advanced Mage in Leo''s team, was nowhere to be found. It seemed that he had been struck with great misfortune.


    Leo truly deserved to be the young Pseudo-Mage his family had high hopes for. It could be seen that he had extraordinary talent in Thunder Elemental magic spells. Although he didn''t have great Agility, he could move freely thanks to the layer of white Wind Elementium surrounding his body. In fact, one could even liken his speed to that of a feather or a fast stallion. If it wasn''t for the winding tunnels and stalagmites, Leo probably would''ve already escaped his pursuers by now.


    Whenever he ran by some narrow areas, he would stretch both his hands outward and form an arc of blue electricity, allowing it to dance violently between his palms. Then he would toss it over his shoulder and, without even bothering to check the result, continue onwards. After throwing it, within ten seconds, a loud boom would ring out from behind him, followed by a bunch of cursing.


    Following that, two sorry-looking, burnt figures would emerge from the dust. This happened so often that, every time they exited, the small Lightning Storm would''ve ripped off a bit more of their black robes. Their robes were falling off like butterflies.


    After one of the black robes was completely torn to pieces, it revealed a man wearing pitch-black, soft leather armor. He carried a snake-headed staff and had bloodshot vertical pupils. He was absolutely terrifying.


    "Are we still going to chase? This guy is a tough nut to crack!" A middle-aged man asked through clenched teeth.


    The figure on the left pulled off his hood, revealing a malicious and cruel looking face.


    "Chase! This guy isn''t familiar with the surrounding terrain, and, once he runs into a dead end, we''ll teach him a slow lesson." Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Where are Anna and Gary? Why aren''t they here yet? Do they really need to take so long just to settle an advanced apprentice?" The man with bloodshot eyes asked, looking over his shoulder.


    "They changed their route! They''ve already sent me the details about the enemy team''s situation. They sent me all the information they got from that advanced apprentice. I think that they''re on their way to sector seven right now in order to search for the weakest team." It seemed that judging by the way he gave orders, the middle-aged man was the leader of the group.


    "Damn it! I knew this was going to happen! It looks like we have to try harder. If we let this guy go, then we''ll have to return empty-handed." The man with bloodshot eyes cursed with clenched teeth. After hitting the ground with his staff, he transformed into smoke and merged with the cave wall, disappearing without a trace.


    The black-robed leader grinned somberly, and a ring of black light flickered out from his body, doubling his running speed.


    A moment later, a ground shaking boom echoed out from a tunnel far away.


    "BOOM~~"


    The brutal and violent shock wave swept across the winding tunnel, crushing everything in its way. Anything that stood in the way of it, be it stalagmites, stalactites, sand, stone or dirt, was all swept up and thrown in a random direction. The residue magic energy caused the debris to act like sharp arrows, shattering the cave in a violent explosion.


    The battle of life and death that had occurred between the Pseudo-Mages had brought about devastating damage to the Underground tunnel. It had even caused widespread damage within a two-three mile radius. A large amount of the area had collapsed, causing rocks to shift positions and block tunnels. This caused many tunnels to become unavailable for usage, however, at the same time, new passages were being formed. The old saying "When one door shuts, another one opens" had never been so true before.


    Of course, such a massive commotion could never escape from the eyes of the apprentice Mages in this region. After witnessing the destruction, they all quickly found themselves a stable spot and hid. They were all quietly wondering what had caused this huge turmoil.


    Within a dark, quiet and broken cave, a soft popping sound was heard, and a huge, dark figure suddenly emerged from underground. The figure nearly occupied the entire space in the cave.


    "Damn it! Why is there suddenly an earthquake? Could those other Mages have stumbled upon an active region during their inspection? Damn it..." Bleia''s sweet and seductive voice echoed throughout the darkness of the cave.


    "I''m afraid this earthquake isn''t a natural one!" Leon''s stable and calm voice quickly followed. His eyes flickered with an intelligent expression as he continued saying, "The source of the quake is located five miles to the south-east of us, and is around twenty metres deeper than us. If this was a natural earthquake, the focal point wouldn''t be so close to the surface, so..."


    "So... someone caused it!" Bleia looked over her shoulder at Leon. Obviously, she was surprised by the fact that Leon could still remain calm in such an situation. She was also surprised that he could have such an accurate sense of direction, even though they were in an underground area with no light. After thinking these thoughts, she continued with her speech, "Are you saying one of our teammates has met with enemies?"


    "That''s highly possible!" Leon analysed. "Firstly, because the source of the quake is so close to us, it is unlikely that it has no relation to our team. Besides, you know the strength of the Underground creatures in this place, and, except for a few rare creatures, it is impossible for any of them to harm us. Therefore, the earthquake cannot be because of a Pseudo-Mage going all out against a creature. Since that isn''t a possibility, there can only be one logical explanation!"


    "En!" Bleia nodded her head in aLeonent. "It should be those black-clothed bastards from before. The only thing is, is that we have no idea who bumped into them. Truthfully, I really want to test out their ability. I mean, with your golem we can travel underground, so maybe we can launch a sneak attack!"


    "We were overconfident on this mission. After all, this is our first mission and the first time we''ve come to the Underground. Hence, before we understood the unique environment and the new style of fighting here, we shouldn''t have split up. We should''ve completed our mission together and waited until the next mission to split up. Also..."


    "Also what?"


    "Also, don''t forget that we''re the weakest team amongst all of them. If the enemy really wants to ambush our group, we''re the most likely to be targeted!"


    "So what? I really want to test out their ability. Since you claim your Earth Elemental golem is so amazing, can you sense the surrounding enemy''s activities? I''ll tell you what, if you help your sister catch one of those bastards, I''ll spend the night with you. What do you think?" Bleia trailed her finger across Leon''s lips and giggled carefreely.


    For some unknown reason, Leon suddenly shuddered. He couldn''t help but feel heartache due to Bleia''s naughty behaviour.


    Bleia''s interest in teasing men had grown stronger, and she never forgot to keep flirting with Leon. However, after noticing that her bloodshot eyes would grow darker when she got excited, Leon had no choice but to use his powerful will to suppress his lust. He did this because he didn''t want to become Bleia''s lab rat and someone she could just toy with whenever she wanted.


    ...


    1987 Words

 Chapter 54: A trap

    After trying his best to get rid of the thoughts brought about by Bleia, Leon used the chip to connect his mind with the controlling core of the Demon Alligator Hunter.Leon''s surroundings seemed to suddenly dissolve into complete silence, and, by using the golem''s crystal core, Leon found himself looking at a whole new world. In this strange new world, Leon could see the all of the Earth Elementium in his surroundings. By using this feature, Leon could observe any movement made on the ground, as even a slight movement would cause ripples in the surrounding Earth Elementium.


    However, these ripples were extremely weak, and only occurred in the Earth Elementium. So, anything that wasn''t an Earth Elemental creature would find it extremely difficult to sense movements happening far away.


    But, Leon had actually done it!


    While he was immersed in that strange world, he could sense movement from as far away as a hundred metres! Not even the sounds of snakes crawling or scorpions nesting could escape his notice. He could sense all of these movements through the delicate spiritual connection between each Earth Elementium. He could then project these movements into his mind, forming an image that looked almost identical to the real world.


    As he was limited by his Spirit, the maximum distance he could sense was only one hundred meters. If he tried to sense anything beyond one hundred meters, he could only roughly sense the direction where the vibration originated. In addition to this, he couldn''t picture the exact scene in his mind like he could when it was within his range.


    When on the surface, observing a distance of one hundred meters was an easy thing to do. In fact, any apprentice Mage could see dozens of miles by simply standing on high enough ground. If the apprentice was capable of flight, then they could see over an area of nearly one hundred miles. However, when this one hundred meters was placed within the Underground world, where everything was coated in thick rocks, sand and dirt, it became really impressive.


    After all, whilst in this Underground world, even if two men were separated by a ten meter thick rock wall, it would still be very hard for them to discover each other. The Underground Cave was a strange place, because there was more metal the deeper you went. This metal greatly interfered with spiritual sense and detection magical spells. Therefore, unless a special method was used, it was near-impossible that these two men would discover each other.


    Either way, the ability to move stealthily and to see in the dark were basic abilities for all intelligent Underground creatures. Without these abilities, it would be very hard for them to earn their living in this eternally dark place.


    Like a man talking in their sleep, Leon kept muttering things under his breath, describing everything he was sensing. Suddenly, his body trembled violently and he whispered urgently into Bleia''s ears.


    "There are two human-like creatures located one hundred meters down, at an angle of seventeen-degrees south-east. I''m sensing a strong Elementium aura. It is highly likely that they are both apprentice Mages."


    Bleia''s body went stiff, and her bloodshot eyes narrowed.


    The source of the quake had originated from that same direction, and, now there were two apprentice Mages emerging from there. It wasn''t hard to put two and two together. They both knew that there was a higher possibility of it being a bad situation than a good one!


    "Can you identify who they are? It would be best if you could get a clear sense of their strength!" Bleia whispered, placing her lips beside Leon''s ears.


    It seemed that Leon hadn''t heard what she said, as he continued immersing himself in his detection. "They are heading in our direction right now, but there is a four-degree deviation... between us, there are three tunnels and two caves. They are ninety-three meters away... they have arrived at the first cave, however, the cave has collapsed. There is no tunnel leading to where we are. Wait... it seems that they are casting some kind of spell, as I can sense a strong Elementium ripple. It seems that they''re holding something in their hand that can pinpoint our location... that is..."


    Leon suddenly opened his eyes, a shocked expression emerging on his face. He whispered, "It''s a communication crystal! They have the communication crystal we were all given before we split up! They''re using it to track us!"


    After arriving in the Underground Cave, each person, in order to make communication easier, had exchanged their respective personal auras. The fact that the enemy had gotten hold of a communication crystal meant that one of their group members had already been caught by them.


    Leon took out a fist-size blue crystal from his waist pouch and prepared to toss it far away, but before he could, Bleia stopped him.


    "If they are really locating us through the personal aura in the communication crystal, then why don''t we just prepare a trap for them...?" Bleia asked. It seemed that whenever slaughtering was involved, a strong killing intent would always leaked from her eyes.


    Both of them were scheming and merciless people, so, after a short discussion, Bleia took Leon''s communication crystal and hid in the darkness. Leon grinned evilly before kicking the Demon Alligator and sinking into the soil.


    ...


    Anna lead the way as they wormed their way through the broken and winding tunnel.


    Before entering the next cave, she quickly scanned the surrounding area.


    Her eyes swept across the silent tunnel before stopping. She looked far into the distance. Broken rocks and stalagmites were scattered around at the edge of the winding tunnel. Dimmed light, coming from unknown sources, was shining through the gaps between them, resembling the sharp fangs of grinning devils.


    She tilted her head slightly and listened to any audible sound. She heard a muffled rumbling coming from the beneath her. Sprays of mist were constantly bursting out from the cracks in-between the rocks; while the glow of illuminating fungus shone onto these mists, created a strange and unusual illusion-like scene.


    In such an environment the difficulty of hunting enemies was huge.


    The battle that had happened previously had caused a lot of damage to the surrounding terrain, resulting in many passages becoming hard to recognize. This caused the natives'' advantage to weaken, as they no longer had a solid grasp over the area.


    As the enemies they were hunting were very cunning, Anna made sure not to leave too many traces in the air. It was because of this that, after travelling a certain distance, she had to reconfirm the enemy''s location.


    Anna placed the blood-stained communication crystal on the ground and began to softly recite some strange, unintelligible spells. After she had finished casting, a pale, long-haired women, who didn''t have any facial features, manifested itself in front of her.


    "The great ancient banshee, please show me the location of our enemy!"


    After hearing her request, the faceless banshee, who was hovering above the communication crystal, slowly turned her head before stopping when she faced a certain direction.


    "Looks like they''re moving towards sector eleven!" Gary, the black-robed Pseudo-Mage, who was following behind Anna, said excitedly.


    Gary''s interruption had clearly caused the summoning ceremony to rebound. The faceless banshee''s head turned around until her gruesome face faced Gary. A mouth appeared and opened up on her face. It seemed like she was preparing to let loose a howl and devour Gary''s soul.


    Anna, who was an advanced apprentice, abruptly bit the tip of her tongue. She immediately spat out a mouthful of warm blood. An extremely miserable cry rang through the air as the banshee instantly disappeared.


    At the same time the banshee disappeared, Anna gave out a muffled grunt. It was clear that she too had suffered some backlash.


    Gary, showing no remorse for his reckless actions, flapped his robe and transformed into a strong wind, disappearing from where he was. His voice rushed into Anna''s ears and lingered there for a while.


    "I''ll go ahead and hunt for those enemies. Take your time and catch up quickly!"


    As soon as Gary had left, a hateful and venomous expression leaked out from Anna''s cold eyes. However, she knew, that with her status of only an advanced apprentice, there was no way she could offend those Pseudo-Mages. If not for their need for her ''summoning'' abilities, perhaps these Pseudo-Mages would never even have allowed her to join in their hunting group in the first place. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Their target was only a beginner apprentice and an advanced apprentice. Why did they dare traverse this Underground world with such weak strength? Sometimes Anna really wondered whether there was something wrong with the brains of the Mages on the surface. How could they send such weaklings to the Underground world? This was no different than sending them to their death!


    Anna hastily grabbed the things she had left on the ground, before pulling her black robe tightly against her and rushing through the dark tunnel. If she was late, then that Gary would never leave anything good for her. Now, Anna''s only wish was that the enemy''s advanced apprentices could hold on for a little bit longer. If they did that, then she might have a chance to capture the beginner apprentice.


    In Elysium City, the city of Fallen Mages, resources were extremely scarce. The resources she could get in exchange for a beginner apprentice from the surface could let her relax for nearly a year.


    The abyss-like tunnel didn''t seem to have an end. The winding passages full of obstacles made it difficult for her to run at full speed. Fortunately, there was still some residue Wind Elementium, left behind by Gary, in the tunnel. This not only prevented Anna from getting lost but also saved time.


    Anna had almost arrived at the huge cavern in sector eleven, however, she stopped in the middle of the last tunnel.


    For some unknown reason, her intuition was warning her that there was danger.


    Rumble...


    Find your next read on M V L


    The ground suddenly shook, causing Anna to be terrified, as she felt that the source of the quake came from right under her feet.


    The violent quake caused the tunnel ceiling to collapse and huge amounts of sand and rocks to pour down from the ceiling. Soon, Anna was forced to retreat to the cave she had previously entered.


    In the dark and cold cave, a bizarre human figure silently waited for her.


    For any outsider, the darkness was the source of terror. However, Anna had lived in this Underground world for her entire life, so, for her, it was the best source of protection. But, right at this moment, she couldn''t help but be shocked. She stared at the apprentice Mage, who was standing far away.


    Anna used the enemy''s spiritual ripples to quickly identify them.


    It was actually that advanced apprentice! She couldn''t believe that he actually dared to confront her face to face!


    "Just let your companion show themselves!" Anna''s clever mind had quickly analyzed the whole situation. She continued by saying, "I can''t believe this! A beginner apprentice actually has the ability to travel through the earth! It looks like he really is suitable for living in this kind of place!"


    The mild earthquake just now had happened at the perfect time. It executed just the right amount of force to it had utilize the surrounding terrain and separate Garry and her. It looked like her enemies had chosen to ambush them and had picked her as she was the weakest. She scoffed. They actually dared to try and seek advantages over her, an advanced apprentice.


    A cruel grin lit up Anna''s face. She bent down and charged towards the girl in the red dress.


    ...


    1977 Words

 Chapter 55: Leon and Bleia vs Anna

    As Anna was charging towards the enemy, she quickly tossed a few bizarre magical rings onto Bleia''s body.Confusion spell!


    Slow spell!


    "Zoshhhh~~"


    One spell could confuse the target''s mind and cause there to be a delay in their reactions, while the other one could reduce the target''s movement speed by nearly half. If the target didn''t have immunity or couldn''t quickly dispel them, then these two simple curses could lower their strength by more than thirty percent.


    But, Anna wasn''t done yet! She cried out and stretched her arms out, facing her palms towards the sky. A strange-looking, glowing green rune soon appeared on each palm. Almost as soon as those runes appeared, the lower section of Anna''s arm began to transform into green vines. These vines brought about a fierce gale and began to whip Bleia, who was standing there, motionless.


    It was Spirit Summoning.


    However, Anna''s Spirit Summoning spell was quite unique and could massively enhance her combat ability. This was because she could actually let a part of her body merge with the summoned spirit.


    The powerful whip smashed into the ground, causing two large cracks to branch out like a spider web.


    "Pow~~"


    "Pow~~"


    As the debris shot in all directions, Bleia''s body suddenly turned into a series of after-images, and, within a split second, she appeared beside Anna.


    Anna couldn''t help but be shocked by Bleia''s ghostly speed.


    In actual fact, Bleia''s after-images were formed under the effect of the Slow spell. Anna shuddered as she realized that if the Slow spell wasn''t activated Bleia probably wouldn''t even have left after-images at all. As soon as she realized that she was facing an opponent who possessed super speed, Anna couldn''t help but curse at her reckless and impulsive actions.


    Damn it! She shouldn''t have tried to start a melee fight with an opponent like this!


    However, it was too late to pull back the whip now.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


    Anna cried out loudly as she unleashed a dazzling ring of green light that started to spread around her body. Soon, the light transformed into a thorny set of armor that perfectly covered her well-rounded body. After ensuring that she had a proper defense, Anna restlessly swung the whip above to protect her head, shattering all the after-images that had appeared in front of her.


    "Zosh~~"


    Although Anna had a nearly impenetrable defence, ripples still continuously appeared on the surface of her armor. A few crisscrossed scratches were seen on the armor near her chest and ribcage. Also, after suffering a few hits from the enemy''s sharp nail, a long strand of the vine had been cut off from her left arm. Despite the fact that only green liquid was oozing from the wound, Anna couldn''t stop herself from taking a step back and letting out a painful groan.


    Anna crazily forced a new strand of the vine whip to regrow. After regrowing, it once again began swinging violently in all directions, brutally attacking every possible enemy that appeared.


    As a matter of fact, she had absolutely no idea where the true form of the enemy lay. The only thing she could catch was the bizarre after-images that were left behind by the enemy attacking at their top speed.


    It was clear that Anna wasn''t familiar with melee fighting, and she could only decently attack by using the summoned spirit. Thus, when comparing Anna, a beginner-level melee fighter, with Bleia, who was a master of melee combat, it was obvious that she would suffer a tragedy today!


    Her whip vine, that she crazily swung from side to side, couldn''t touch Bleia at all, and her body armor could only barely spare her from Bleia''s attack. However, despite this, she was still hanging on. At least, under Anna''s crazy offensive strikes, Bleia found it rather tough to get close and attack the body armor. Although from time to time, Bleia could successfully attack it, it still wasn''t enough to deal a deadly blow.


    At the same time, far behind them, sudden, rapid booms were heard from the other side of the tunnel.


    "Bang!"


    "Tremor~~"


    "This tunnel had been clogged up by countless rocks and sand. It was obvious that the black-robed Pseudo-Mage, who was led down the wrong tunnel, had discovered that something was amiss. The rapid booms were probably caused by him crazily attacking the clogged tunnel.


    The raging magic spells that the Pseudo-Mage was unleashing caused a large amount of rock debris, and countless stalagmites and stalactites to fall down and break into pieces. They were falling apart in haphazardly, filling the entire battlefield with smoky, rock dust.


    If that Pseudo-Mage was given sufficient time, it was likely that he could really break through the cave wall and open a new temporary passage.


    Anna knew that her reinforcement would soon arrive, so she gave up on attacking and just focused on defense. Anna ignored the fact that Bleia kept leaving bloody scratch marks on her body and just kept crazily swinging her whip.


    Indeed, it seemed that none of these advanced apprentices could be taken lightly.


    Although the magic spells they had mastered hadn''t yet reached an extravagant stage, they still covered all the aspects of combat: offensive, defensive, distraction and self-enhancement. This meant that the outsiders barely any weaknesses to exploit. This eventually led to the outsiders gaining a quick win.


    Anna and Bleia were both advanced apprentices, but, judging from the situation, Anna was clearly weaker than the quick and aggressive Bleia. Although Bleia wished to end the fight as soon as possible, it was something that was easily said but not done. At the very least, Bleia couldn''t do it without paying a price!


    Bleia''s attacks had caused the cave wall to be on the brink of collapse, with many cracks decorating it. After seeing this, Bleia gave up on killing Anna alone.


    "Rascal! Don''t just hide there and do nothing! Quickly come over and help me!"


    After dodging the vine whips attacking her sides, Bleia once again waved her hands. She then left two deep, bloody scratches on Anna''s body. However, as Anna had quickly regained the initiative and had begun to attack again, Bleia was unable to attack any more. She quickly dodged the vine whip that curled backwards. When she once again broke Anna''s defence and managed to move closer, she found that both the wounds had been completely covered by the thorny armor.


    It had happened again and again. Eventually, Bleia couldn''t tolerate anymore and called for help.


    Anna''s face turned pale in an instant.


    Anna was already struggling with fighting Bleia alone. She was absolutely convinced that, if she had to face the combined attacks of two people, she would face disaster.


    Anna didn''t dare to neglect this thought, so she immediately bit off half of her tongue. As she spat out a mouthful of blood, her body suddenly became taller.


    Before this, only a small part of her arms had been transformed into green vines. But now, her body started to expand and her skin started to break apart, exposing countless green vines worming in between.


    By forcefully increasing her summoned spirit''s level, Anna had completely transformed her body into a frightening Man Eating Flower. Her feet had transformed into green roots that dug their way into the ground, her arms were fully transformed into whip-like green vines, and her body played the part of the thorny flower stalk. However, her head, the only thing left that resembled a human, was surrounded by a countless number of huge flower petals.


    After transforming into the carnivorous, violent "Flogger", all of her vital organs had disappeared from her body. She knew that as long as she could hold on until Gary arrived, all the energy spent on performing the secondary transformation of her summoned spirit would be worth it.


    Leon, who had been hiding in the dark, dared not to neglect the fight anymore. He finally made up his mind and got himself involved in the battle between the two advanced apprentices.


    A vibration suddenly resonated through the ground. The ground underneath the Flogger''s feet had turned into a slippery, muddy swamp-like area. Before Anna could flee from this area, a huge and frightening figure emerged beside her. It opened up its huge mouth and bit on the flower stalk that made up her waist.


    Anna let out a jarring shriek as the pain hit her. She violently waved her two thick, long vine whips, hitting the Demon Alligator''s clay armor over and over again. Debris and clay flew across the room, turning the cave into a violent battlefield. At the same time, behind the heavy protection of the huge petals, she opened her mouth and spat out a clump of sticky, stinking, green, acidic vomit.


    The acidic vomit sprayed at the Hunter who was riding on the back of the Demon Alligator. The vomit instantly corroded and melted its upper limbs and skull. If the crystal control core of the Hunter wasn''t located at its chest, it would have likely been completely destroyed in this attack.


    Leon, who was lurking in the shadows, was struck by terror. Your next read awaits at M V L


    It was as expected. The battle between advanced apprentices was not something he, a beginner apprentice, could easily get involved with. If it wasn''t because he was being cautious, and only let the Demon Alligator Hunter ride on the Demon Alligator instead of him, he probably would have been killed.


    He hadn''t mastered a defense magic spell, so, when facing a furious counterattack by an advanced apprentice, he had no trump cards that he could use to bring him out alive.


    But, the Demon Alligator Hunter, controlled by Leon, only needed to briefly restrain Anna''s attacks. That was more than enough to turn the tides of battle.


    Before Anna could save herself from the Demon Alligator''s gaping jaw, Bleia''s attack had arrived.


    The sound of flesh being cut rang through the air.


    "Zap!" S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Splah~~


    Bleia bent over and stared at Anna''s head. She reached out and, using her sharp nails, she sliced through Anna''s firm skin. Then, she sunk her fangs into the area where the head and the stalk met.


    The quick, sucking motion made Anna go berserk. She struggled desperately, waving her arms and using them to violently whip Bleia''s mutilated back. However, no matter how hard she tried, there was no way to stop the vampire from wildly sucking her blood.


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    As more of her blood essence was drained, the power behind Anna''s whip began to shrink. Finally, her arm dropped and her body began to quickly dry up. Her eyes, hiding behind her petals, began to hopelessly close.


    As her life force was quickly departing from her body, Anna could no longer maintain her summoned spirit body transformation. Her body kept shrinking


    and transforming and finally returned to her original human form. Just as she died, Leon ordered the Demon Alligator to open its huge mouth and swallow Bleia and the dead body into its body. It then turned to Leon and did the same before quickly descending into the earth again.


    The moment after they had disappeared, a loud boom was sounded out from a cave wall on the far side. Parts of the cave wall crumbled, resulting in a huge hold. A Pseudo-Mage, whose black robe was covered in a mist of green, illuminating light, sprinted into the cave.


    As he stared at the remains of, what seemed to be, an incredibly tumultuous battle, and smelled the stinking vomit that had spilled all over the cave, Gary unintentionally let out an extremely angry roar.


    He didn''t roar because he was heartbroken about Anna''s death. He simply hated the fact that the enemy had used the simple method of luring the strong and striking at the weak to eliminate his partner. This... this action simply displayed contempt towards him!


    "You bastards! Come out and fight me now, damn it! I''ve remembered your auras. You better not let me bump into you again. I..."


    After spending a long time furiously roaring into the cave, Gary had never sensed any abnormal auras. Left with no choice, Pseudo-Mage Gary turned around and dissolved into the darkness of the tunnel.


    ...


    2044 Words

 Chapter 56: Loot

    [WOODD here! We''ve decided to change the term "Elemental" to "Element" when talking about a specific element to avoid any confusion. For example, Saying Fire Elemental could give an entirely different meaning which could mean a being made of fire. So in this case, Fire Element or the Element of Fire is going to be used. Also, we''ve changed "Blood Clotting Medicinal Paste" to "Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste". Sorry for the inconvenience and enjoy the chapter below. :D]...


    After travelling for nearly two hundred meters underneath the earth, Leon was forced to resurface.


    After all, traveling underground underneath the earth''s surface wasn''t as easy as it is on the surface. Areas full of rock formations and random patches of sand had brought no small amount of trouble for the golem. For this very reason, Leon had immediately ordered the Demon Alligator to resurface by making their way out of a random tunnel just after they had left the danger zone.


    Leon closed his eyes and used his senses to probe things out. Inside the Demon Alligator''s stomach, Leon found Bleia breathing rapidly, her body as hot as boiling water. As for Leon''s reaction to this, he just shook his head and sighed.


    The ancient bloodline of the vampires was, as expected, quite incredible. Just by sucking blood alone, their strength would continue to soar into greater heights.


    During the previous battle, Bleia had forcefully sucked the blood essence of the enemy advanced apprentice, filling her body with great amounts of blood energy enabling her to, once again, undergo another round of evolution.


    Due to the lack of necessary information pertaining to Bleia''s situation, Leon did not dare to disturb her natural evolution. What he could do, however, was to find a relatively safe place, he then made the Demon Alligator spit her out and placed her on a warm and cozy blanket. After that, he excitedly started to search the dead body for treasures it won''t need anymore.


    Before he started, he clasped both of his hands together forming a posture of a prayer, closing both of his eyes as he prayed to all of the gods he could think of. After he finished praying, Leon rubbed his palms excitedly, kneeling besides Anna''s miserable-looking body and started to conduct a search for possible loot.


    Being an advanced apprentice, she must have some magical items she carried with her. No matter how poor she was, she should at least have some magical books or notes containing valuable magic insights. Even if she didn''t brought those with her, Leon still hoped he could at least find some magic crystals or magical materials.


    When Anna was still alive, she was beautiful while also having a well-developed body which added another level of attractiveness towards her. Unfortunately, the last battle was incredibly violent, resulting in most of her skin being torn into bloody scars, making her current looks a far cry to her previous one. Despite her body being in such a state, most of her clothes and equipment were still intact.


    The very first item that Leon looted from her body was a bracelet Anna had worn on her right wrist.


    Through his Elementium Vision, he could see that the bracelet emitted a bright green glow making it obvious it was indeed a unique magical item. Leon spent quite some time in identifying it and found out that the bracelet could swiftly unleash a plant element armor made of countless thorns.


    Although the plant element was not in line with Leon''s elemental affinity, as long as there is energy stored in the bracelet, Leon could still forcibly use it. Having mastered not even one defensive magic spell, being able to use it as a substitute for such spells brought him a great sense of happiness. He even gave the bracelet a few kisses out of joy and wore it on his wrist with not an ounce of hesitation.


    The next item Leon looted was Anna''s leather boots.


    After going through identification, Leon found out it was a pair of magical boots made from Lantern Grass and the leather from a Demon Flower. The boots had the magical effect of being unhindered when walking through a forest. When wearing them, one wouldn''t be stopped by the bushes,vines and brambles when walking through a virgin forest. Even if it was in an impassable forest that no one could walk through, these boots would allow the wearer to pass through it as if he was walking on flat ground.


    Unfortunately, it was a lady''s boots!


    Leon had tried putting it on a few times, but it clearly wasn''t suitable for him. Left with no other choice, he set it aside for now and decided to go and ask Bleia in the future to see if she has any interest in them.


    The third item he discovered was a pair of magical earrings.


    It had the effect of self-recovery magic of the plant element. By wearing these earrings while standing still in a place filled with lush vegetation, the wearer would recover approximately ten health points every fifteen minutes. Although it comes with a strict condition, it could still help during certain types of situations.


    After all, just using Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste would only heal external wounds but not provide any restoration to health points. For this very reason, wearing these earrings might be able to save his life in precarious situations.


    With Anna''s status of an advanced apprentice, owning three magical items was considerably good. Soon, Leon stripped off her waistband and quietly identified it while holding it within his hand.


    It was a well-made and luxurious-looking waistband. A bunch of bizarre runes were engraved at its inner side. Leon spent a decent amount of time reading them but he could only recognize four of them from the eleven runes present. Read new chapters at M V L


    Feeling hopeless, Leon borrowed the strength of the Chip.


    "Chip! Scan these runes!"


    "Beep. Scanning of storage waistband completed... discovered eleven Ancient Mage Runes, initial result shows they are the activation spell of the waistband... the content of the spell is..."


    Following the data transmitted by the Chip, Leon furrowed his brows and imitated the pronunciation of the eleven Ancient Mage Runes.


    Right after the spell was recited, Leon sent out his senses and discovered the existence of a small spatial space from the waistband. Within this tiny space, dozens of unknown items floated around.


    A storage waistband! It really is a storage waistband!


    Leon had long coveted a convenient treasure like this one.


    Although the storage waist pouch was quite common among apprentice Mages, it wasn''t a spatial item, that''s why it wasn''t capable of eliminating the weight of the items stored within and it was also unable to isolate the magical ripples emitted by magical items. While the waistband was considered to be of the lowest grade of spatial items, anything stored inside would no longer weight anything and no outsider would be able to sense the magical ripples inside.


    Therefore, he was pleasantly surprised for being able to harvest a luxurious treasure such as a storage waistband. For his very first battle in the underground world, it was considered to be really good.


    Leon carefully looked over his shoulders and realized Bleia was still in a state of deep meditation. He immediately put on the storage waistband carefully hiding it beneath his waist pouch.


    This precious treasure cannot be exposed!


    This was an incredibly amazing item. Leon already had one even though not all pseudo-Mages have the fortune to own one!


    After glancing at Anna''s corpse several times, making sure there weren''t any leftover magical items on this Fallen Apprentice Mage''s body, Leon went on to inspect the contents of the storage waistband, taking them out one by one.


    Inside, he found seven magic crystals, a notebook about magic spells, a Croaking Frog used for special magic spells, a communication crystal, a crystal green wooden stick which was as long as his arm, a magic mythril the size of a thumb, and a wooden statue normally used by priests.


    ...


    Including today''s loot, Leon currently owns a total of ten magic crystals indicating how rich he had become with this small fortune of his.


    The notebook about magic spells recorded Anna''s insight and her experiences on her learnings of plant element magic spells. It also contains incomplete knowledge concerning the use of summoned spirits to possess and strengthen the summoner''s body. Unfortunately, all of these weren''t of much use to Leon because of his magical affinity towards fire which contradicts the element of plant. It looks like he has to find a way to trade it for something else of use after his return. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Croaking Frog was a common magical material. It''s primarily used for setting up alert-type magic arrays which belongs to the auxiliary magic array type.


    The communication crystal Leon found was obviously from one of his groupmates who was captured by Anna. By sensing the personal imprint stored inside it, he knew the unlucky owner of it was in fact, Matthew, an advanced apprentice.


    Both the crystal green wooden stick and the magic mythril were rare magical materials. The former was a semi-finished product, a plant element magical item Anna was crafting but only managed to finish halfway. The latter was a high-grade material used for crafting magical staves, which could greatly improve the conductivity of magical energy. Effectively reducing the loss of energy when casting spells.


    The amount of magic mythril Leon has on hand was enough for him to craft a small-sized single-handed magical staff.


    Leon was uncertain about the purpose of the last item, the wooden statue. A magical aura exuded from it but there wasn''t any magical runes or characters engraved on this item. It looks like he has to return to the Mage Tower and have an expert appraise it for him to know what exactly it is used for.


    While Leon was observing the wooden statue and silently pondered, a soft and warm body suddenly assaulted him from his back.


    "Hehe, my dear, handsome Leon! Since you treated me so nicely, how do you want me to repay your kindness?" A sweet and seductive rang beside Leon''s ears. After that, Bleia squeezed her arms beneath his armpits, gently stroking the area around his chest.


    Ugh...


    This sudden and unexpected lustful development instantly made all of Leon''s hair on his body stand on ceremony, also causing his body to become as stiff as a stone statue.


    "Do you want me to give you a kiss?" Bleia''s sweet voice lingered in his ears.


    "I..."


    Just when Leon was about to say something, a fragrant but sloppy tongue forced its way inside his mouth.


    It was as if a Magma Fireball spell suddenly exploded in Leon''s mind, blowing all other thoughts away! His mind lost on cloud nine, losing himself over the blissful moment of the present.


    A fairly long time had passed by, and only then did Leon finally struggled to get his mind out of this dream-like state. At this moment, Bleia could be seen sitting beside him, holding a pair of magical leather boots in her hand.


    "Chip, tell me what happened just now? Why does Bleia affect me so deeply?" Leon secretly asked the Chip this question.


    "Beep. Detected traces of a magic spell... Host might have been charmed by a spiritual magic spell. Judging from the experience the host went through just now, it should be the ''Natural Charm'' spiritual spell..."


    Natural Charm?


    Leon couldn''t help having his lips twitch.


    Damn! This particular one is extremely effective!


    Ultimately, most magic spells of the spiritual type would show obvious spirit ripples when being casted. So long as one paid close attention, it''s rather easy to guard against them. But, what makes Natural Charm a cut above the rest lies in the word ''Natural''.


    This spell cannot be learned at all, as it only awakens in a limited number of species. Once it was awakened, it would bring the host a tremendous but hidden benefit.


    Whenever a creature possessing the ability of Natural Charm entered a dangerous region, it would not gain the hostility of those neutral creatures as long as the creature didn''t have any destructive behavior.


    If Bleia does indeed possess this ability, then every word and action from her would be more seductive and charming compared to before, making it harder for enemies to be on guard against her.


    Leon couldn''t help but start to doubt, did Anna possessed some kind of special bloodline in her body, for example, that of a Demon Flower or a Demon Tree? If not, how could she bring out such a weird ability by having her blood absorbed by Bleia?


    "You''re awake now, Leon?" Marry seemed to be fully satisfied by how the situation turned out.


    "I never thought just a single kiss from me could bring your head up in the heavens! Looks like you really have to temper your willpower more often!"


    Leon stared at Bleia with a distressed expression. He noticed that Bleia is still unable to properly control her newly obtained ability, that''s why each and every word and action of hers carried a strong power of suggestion and seduction.


    "We already killed an advanced apprentice Fallen Mage, should we continue looking for more resources or return back as soon as possible? Leon can only try his best and divert Bleia''s attention.


    "Let''s go back!" Even though Bleia was an overenthusiastic, her mind was still clear and logical saying, "We have created more than enough of a racket here. Maybe the other teams are already rushing back to our base as we speak. And so, I''ve decided we should be heading back too! I don''t want any more of this underground world place crawling with those black-robed Pseudo-Mages!"


    "Yes!"


    Leon nodded his head, fully agreeing to Bleia''s suggestion.


    ...


    2320 words

 Chapter 57: Return

    When Leon and Bleia finally arrived to where the groups had split apart, there were four people waiting for them already.Noticing the weakest team had successfully returned safely, a relaxed smile simultaneously appeared on the faces of Marcus, Leander, Isaac, and Bruce as their hearts finally felt at ease. If something happened to the Leon and Bleia duo, someone would have to do investigation missions all alone.


    But before they could ease their blooming smiles, they were slack-jawed after seeing the dead body Bleia had brought back with her. Seeing the black-colored Mage robe with distinct characteristics from the ones they''re wearing, they all came up with an idea... this apprentice Mage''s corpse belonged to a Fallen apprentice Mage.


    While the three advanced apprentices could still remain impassive, the Pseudo-Mage Marcus sported an unnatural expression on his face.


    "Did that body belonged to an advanced apprentice or a Pseudo-Mage?" Marcus asked in a deep voice.


    "Of course she''s an advanced apprentice. If she was a Pseudo-Mage, we won''t be standing here before you, safe and sound." Bleia said naturally.


    Hearing her answer slightly relaxed Marcus'' stiff expression, but he was still unable to get rid of his unnatural expression. If he didn''t experienced going to the underground world himself, he might not even be the slightest bit interested regarding this kind of result. But if there was one thing the cruel experiences of the underground world had taught him, it would be that using any kind of elemental magic spell in a place like this would be catastrophic. He knew their victory didn''t come easy as most apprentices only know a few elemental magic spells.


    Elemental magic spells could inflict a massive amount of damage within a large area of effect, thus making them stand at the very forefront among all other kinds of magic. This made apprentice Mages who mastered elemental spells to be likened to a magic cannon with frightening firepower, able to bombard the battlefields with magic spells and cause mass slaughter. What limited their potential was not the number of enemies but the very little amount of magic energy they had.


    However, in this underground environment, all of these skills would no longer be of much use.


    In the event of an unexpected fight occurring underground, the fiery elemental spells would destroy not only the enemy, but also the area around them. With that said, immeasurable amounts of dirt and sand would pour down from above. Even if it was a Pseudo-Mage, once he''s trapped in this dreadful situation, escape would have an extremely slim chance. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What apprentice Mages want in this location was not some kind of magic spell that has a highly destructive power, but one with just enough power to defeat their foes. An apprentice Mage can only be called a qualified spellcaster when he/she is able to both control the power and effect of the spell, and efficiently cast it towards the enemy accurately.


    Put it this way, a swarm of Rat Men ambushed you amidst the darkness, it''s not them that is more likely to kill you, but the explosive fireball you nonchalantly sent to the enemy. After being viciously swarmed by the underground creatures and being ambushed by strange demon beasts of the darkness, apprentice Mages who had gone through this stressful and miserable situation would slowly adapt, shrugging off their previous arrogant and pretentious attitudes. Becoming someone ruthless but calm, yet smart and shrewd.


    These few apprentice Mages experienced firsthand how painfully hard it was to fight an enemy of the same level in this underground world making them feel shock over the corpse of an advanced apprentice brought by Bleia.


    Not one Body Refining Mage was present among the apprentices who signed up for the Underground Cave exploration mission. But why is that? It is because the deep and narrow underground tunnels aren''t suitable for Body Refining Mages who fought with pure strength. When fighting in this kind of environment, mini magic spells with moderate power and quick casting speed would be preferable.


    In a fight between apprentice Mages, the two parties need to constantly change their battleground and slowly accumulate advantages to devour the enemy one bite at a time. Once either side realized the situation wasn''t looking good for them and decided to flee, it would be incredibly difficult for the chasing side to entrap the enemy without having any special ability.


    But this red-dressed Bleia could actually accomplish this feat, showing that she must have some kind of strange magic spells that are extremely suitable for use in this types of places. What would that be?


    The group couldn''t help but ponder upon this.


    At this time, thirty-four hours had already passed since they decided to split up. From what they could infer from the distances from here to the paths each of them took, even Sabrina''s group who took the toughest mission site should have returned by now. When they connected the dots between their absence and the violent ''earthquakes'', the group was struck with worries.


    Fortunately, the worst case scenario never happened. After three hours of waiting, Sabrina and Shila returned in a relatively bad shape.The mission site they chose was located nearly ten miles deep beneath the ground, thus being greatly affected by the violent earthquake earlier. If it wasn''t for Sabrina mainly studying mechanical spells, having replaced a few of her vital organs with powerful magical machinery, perhaps it would be very difficult for them to break through the collapsed underground passages that led them back to the surface.


    Out of the five teams that had gone here, only four had returned safely. Hence, it was painfully obvious who among them were attacked.


    Right when the group was about to bitterly accept the loss of two fellow members in their very first trip to the underground world, the young Pseudo-Mage named Leo fled back to their camp, bathed in blood. Your journey continues at M V L


    His gray apprentice robe had torn apart here and there, his skinny body full of crisscrossing wounds. Dark smoke emanated from these wounds, staining the flesh around them in pitch-black color. Leo''s face had also been hit by an Acid Arrow, with half of his face making a sizzling sound resulting from the corrosive effects of the strong acid. If not for his distinct spiritual ripple revealing his identity, the group would''ve treated him as an enemy.


    Although he was severely wounded, Leo still refused his teammates'' treatment. Especially because they were yet to truly establish trust between each other. He does not want his body''s secrets to fall into the control of any outsider.


    Hiding in a corner alone, Leo hastily treated his wounds. He then came back to the group with a gloomy expression, prepared to be questioned by his teammates.


    When they heard there were three black-robed Pseudo-Mages and one advanced apprentice attacked Leo and Matthew''s group, even Sabrina couldn''t help but ponder in silence. If she was the one who bumped into the enemy group, maybe she herself wouldn''t escape uscathed. Seeing Leo was able to preserve his own life, it meant he possessed good enough ability to do so.


    "How was the overall strength of the enemies you guys encountered?" Sabrina asked Bleia after she was done with Leo.


    "We met two enemies, one Pseudo-Mage, and one advanced apprentice. We set up a plan and lured away the Pseudo-Mage then ambushed this advanced apprentice. Leon and I cooperated to kill her!" Bleia described lightly.


    Although she told them it was her and Leon together that killed the enemy, whether it was intentional or not, the group naturally ignored Leon''s existence.


    No way, a beginner apprentice who had less than ten Spirit points and only mastered a spell or two, could a guy like this really participate in a battle between advanced apprentices? The group had a hard time imagining this.


    It was only at this time that Leo noticed the female corpse lying besides Bleia''s feet. Immediately after, he shrieked out loudly.


    "S-she... she was among the four who attacked us. After Matthew and I split up and fled on our own, two Pseudo-Mages went after me while this girl and the other Pseudo-Mage chased after Matthew. I only managed to escape from their pursuit after a bitter fight."


    Although Leo spoke evasively, the group didn''t really care much.


    Split up and flee separately? Hmph. Under such perilous circumstances, would a mere advanced apprentice like Matthew even have the courage to flee on his own? Leo must have realized the situation wasn''t looking too good, thus he ditched Matthew and ran for his life. By doing that, he divided the enemy''s strength and attention.


    Although everyone had already guessed what probably happened, no one blamed Leo for his actions. If they were in his shoes, they might have done the same thing as him.


    Matthew''s inability to escape can only be blame to his own lack of ability. Who gave him the audacity to take on this Red Mission without any life-preserving methods?


    After gathering information from both teams, Sabrina finally concluded the intelligence gathering about the enemies.


    There were three Pseudo-Mages. The first among them took the path of Bloodline Mages possessing the frightening bloodline of the Demonic Serpent; the second one took the path of Profound Mages able to summon some corpse puppets with powerful battle power; the last Pseudo-Mage walk the path of Principle Mages having an elemental affinity with Wind Elementium.


    With this intelligence in their hands and the dead body of an enemy advanced apprentice, the group received rewards from Mage Angus when they returned to the Mage Tower. Although Leo was ambushed on his way back, he was still able to return and complete his mission, thus he also received his share of the reward.


    As for Bleia, the girl who got lucky and was able to kill an enemy of the same rank all alone, she obtained a special reward from Mage Angus. But no one knows what kind of reward she actually received since the process of giving out rewards was done with utmost secrecy.


    At the time the group was about to leave, Mage Angus warned them in a ghastly voice saying, "Little apprentices, you better not regard yourselves as veterans already after only one successful trip from the underground world. In the upcoming mission you will have, you''ll be met with more difficulty with the frequency of attacks from the enemy will rise. Only those who are cautious and prepared will live longer lives. So take advantage of the few days of rest you have, otherwise, you won''t be as lucky as you are now in your next trip."


    "Moreover, the intelligence you brought back is useful. I''ll pass them onto the hunting team here. I assure you, the ones who attacked you wouldn''t have a peaceful trip back towards their base. Jajaja..."


    From the hidden meaning faintly revealed by Mage Angus'' words, the group finally understood the importance of the few apprentice teams that only consisted of pure veterans.


    If we were to talk about it figuratively then, them, the new team would be the bait to lure out the prey. While the team of Blackhand Kevin would be the harpooner that strikes down the enemy. One acting as a prey to lure out the strong enemy apprentices, while the other acted as the hunter, specialized in hunting down these black-robed Pseudo-Mages who took the bait and exposed themselves.


    In fact, when those black-robed Pseudo-Mages failed to kill Leo and Bleia, they had also exposed their whereabouts. With just a send of a message, the hunting group who had roamed the underground world for many years would immediately pursue them.


    Upon imagining the possible cruel fates the ones who ambushed him and made him flee in desperation, a savage smile emerged on the Leo''s half-festered face.


    ...


    1998 Words

 Chapter 58: Another Core

    The reward they received was directly tied to the difficulty of the mission they turned over.The mission that Bleia and Leon completed together had the lowest degree of risk, so the reward they received was much lesser compared to the others. But the special reward they got from bringing back an enemy''s body made them smile widely. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After they returned to their residences, Leon was planning on having a good rest in his room. But Bleia stopped him and threw an object at him.


    It was an Earth Element Crystal Core the size of an egg. An earthly yellow halo can be seen floating around the brownish yellow core with bits of tiny bright specks of light emitted from it. When he was holding it in his hand, It shined beautifully like a bright and shimmering star!


    Leon could not help but hold his breath.


    Through the rhythm of the undulating elemental ripples, he could clearly see that it was a Pseudo-Mage level Earth Element Crystal Core.


    "You deserve this. I had already savored my reward by sucking dry all the blood essence of the enemy. Let this be the reward for your hard work!" Bleia was still as generous as always and with that said, she turned towards her own room and went in.


    Leon was pleasantly surprise and hesitated for a while but finally decided to keep the gift and went back to his room.


    Leon waited for a bit to ascertain the surroundings were safe and calmed his mind. He remained silent as he started communicating with the Chip.


    "Chip, can you digitize Bleia''s attributes?"


    "Beep. Data collection has been completed... Detailed information is as follows..."


    Ugh... She does indeed have a powerful ability that allows her to evolve just by sucking blood. Leon wondered what kind of magical experiment Mage Eclivel, one who had resided in the Swamp Tower all these years, did to Bleia. How is he able to create such a frightening magical puppet?


    If Leon guessed correctly, Mage Eclivel must have placed some kind of controlling mechanism in Bleia''s body, deeply rooted in her Vampire bloodline. Although Mage Eclivel might be lenient towards Bleia now, once she matured sufficiently to his taste, perhaps that will be the time he will come and harvest what he had fostered.


    What was the limit of Bleia''s growth? Pseudo-Mage or official Mage? Could it be, Mage Aderson is planning to use some kind of method to create an Mage-level magical puppet?


    Most importantly, once Bleia becomes a Pseudo-Mage, she would have the terrifying ability to produce blood slaves. At that time, if Mage Eclivel really wants her to, Bleia could give him a loyal army of blood slaves. For a first grade Mage like him, this would be an excellent trump card against his enemies!


    Bleia might already be aware of her own situation which is why she was rather self-indulgent in both her actions and words. She did everything arbitrarily, unrestrained by her own natural instincts. She probably isn''t able to distinguish whether her thoughts was coming from her true self or from the will Mage Eclivel planted deep within her soul using magic.


    That''s why even though the relationship between Leon and Bleia had been rather good as of late, he still harbored vigilance deep within his heart because he did not know when the trigger hidden in Bleia''s body would be activated.


    But this was a ''small problem'' that can be solved with time. So long as Leon successfully become an official Mage, that Mage Eclivel would no longer be a superior existence he couldn''t reach. Perhaps he could even solve Bleia''s problem through exchanging benefits or other means.


    Leon sat comfortably in front of the wooden table in his temporary shelter. He took out the spoils of the previous underground trip examining them one by one.


    Naturally so, the thorny armor bracelet and the storage waistband he looted from Anna had to be kept for his own use. As for the earrings that has a self-healing effect, he would put it up for sale in exchange for magical equipment that''s more suitable for him. Since he already scanned and copied the contents of the notes about magic spells, it was no longer valuable to Leon. He would sell it too and see if anyone was interested.


    The crystal green wooden stick and magical Mythril looked like the materials Anna had prepared to craft her future magical staff. Too bad though, as she hadn''t collected all the required materials, so she had to carry them with her which ended up as loot for Leon.


    After having Mage Angus identify the crystal green wooden stick, he found out it was a tree branch from an Mage-level Treant that boosts the power of all Plant Element magic spells. Regarding the magical Mythril, it was a native product of the underground world, unable to be found above the surface. The thumb-size Mythril Leon found can easily fetch a price of more than a thousand magic crystals. It''s also quite rare and highly demanded that once it was sold, it can''t be bought back with the same price.


    This is only natural as magic Mythril is a high-class consumable product and those who already got it after spending a hefty amount of money will also soon use them up. So a situation of high demand but low supply persisted.


    Therefore, if Leon really wanted to craft his first-ever magic staff, he doesn''t have to find magic Mythril anymore. Though he needed to replace the material used as the main body of the staff. In the end, Leon''s elemental affinity was Fire and not the Plant Element.


    Concerning the last item, the wooden statue, Mage Angus identified it as a spiritual beacon used to communicate with creatures from other planes. According to Mage Angus'' explanation, that female apprentice Fallen Mage that they killed could establish a stable and strong connection with an unknown powerful being from another plane through the ritual of Spirit Summoning. And it seems that from time to time, they would exchange items from the other''s plane that they needed.


    However, for this matter, Mage Angus expressed serious contempt.


    The World of Mages itself is a major plane that attracted the universe''s attention, dominating more than thousands of small and medium-sized planes. And thus, no matter what kind of resources one needed, anyone could obtain it through the local trading system. There wasn''t any need to use the backward method of communicating with other planes. Because each and every one of these planes have their own respective principles, added to that the severe interference caused by the tidal waves of energy from the oceans of stars, the resources consumed by a successful long-range item exchange would be three to five times higher or more, in contrast to the cost to get it via the normal method.


    If it wasn''t for some extremely rare types of resources, no one would use such a primitive method anymore. As for the reason why that female apprentice still kept this communication beacon, it is most probable that she wanted to exchange knowledge with that existence.


    And this was strictly forbidden by the entire Mage society!


    Most importantly, if a native Mage carried out such scornful behavior that betrays the Will of the Mage World, then it would essentially reduce the beneficial response that person gets from the Will itself. As a result, it would become progressively harder for the Mage to advance to a higher grade compared to others.


    That''s why there are not that many official Mages who would do something like this, an act that would give them more losses than what they would gain. Probably only those Fallen Mages that were banned by official Mages would be willing to use this inefficient and harmful method similar to quenching thirst with poison.


    Being just a mere beginner apprentice, Leon still haven''t qualified to get in contact with the Will of the world in a direct and clear manner. So, regarding the Will that Mage Angus had revered in utmost respect, Leon''s mind was filled with curiosity. Even though he has no specific plan to use it for magic experiments, he still kept the wooden statue with him.


    Maybe, just maybe, when his ability has improved a bit allowing him full control of his own life, he might consider exchanging something that he''s interested in with the powerful beings that existed in other magical and mysterious planes.


    As for the Pseudo-Mage level Earth Element Crystal Core he got unexpectedly, Leon did not dare to deal with it carelessly. He ordered the Chip to give it a full scan then have it draft a plan for a custom golem modification.


    After Leon was done with all these, he took out a magic book and began his daily routine of studying while working with the Chip to run simulated experiments within his spiritual domain. When his Spirit was at the brink of depletion, he lied down on his bed and started to go in a state of deep meditation.


    Now, with the help of the Chip, he could enter into a deep meditative state whenever he wanted. Every meditation would give him an increase of 0.08 Spirit and four experience points. This was very important for any Mage since it could increase their maximum level of Spirit. While there are many Mages who would consume magic medicines or special potions to increase their Spirit, this isn''t an option for those ordinary apprentices without the support of a wealthy family who would offset the astronomical cost of the said special consumables.


    For example, the ''Mind Concentrating Potion'' which was very effective in increasing the Spirit of any apprentices below the level of advanced apprentice. The list price for it in the Potion Hall of the Mage Tower was five merit points plus five magic crystals for every bottle. A bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion could bring an increase of 0.5 to 0.7 Spirit to a beginner and intermediate apprentice. Despite the fact that the number wasn''t that remarkable, it was still a precious item for those ordinary apprentice Mages.


    After all, before Leon had the help from the Chip, he could hardly enter into a deep state of meditation. Besides, normal meditation could only bring an additional increase of 0.01 to 0.02 to Leon which was vastly inferior to his current rate of growth from his deep meditations.


    Strictly speaking, merely a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion could save two full months of strenuous meditation for an apprentice Mage. By looking at its wondrous effects, even if the price of Mind Concentrating Potion was rather expensive, it was still sought after by countless apprentices. Experience tales at M V L


    Merit points is used to purchase most of the resources in this place. It was completely different from the knowledge points Leon gained back in the Swamp Tower. The knowledge points he knew of were merely a currency implemented by Mage Eclivel solely for use inside the Swamp Tower. On the other hand, merit points implemented by the Zhentarim Association could be used in any area that was under them.


    As for the other three major Mage associations, they also have their very own independent currency system. There is clear dissimilarity between them and they also couldn''t be exchanged with one another.


    After risking his life through the completion of his very first underground inspection mission, aside from the rewards he got, Leon also received five merit points which was just enough for him to buy one bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion.


    It was already midnight when he was done meditating. After verifying the results from his meditation, his body was wracked with exhaustion. Leon shook away all other thoughts and went to a deep slumber.


    ...


    1974 Words

 Chapter 59: Selling item

    Built by the Zhentarim Association, the Mage Tower garrisoned in the Underground Cave was considered a small one. It had seven floors aboveground and two floors below, making it a building that consisted of nine floors.It''s worth noting that the structure of the building was also similar to the Swamp Tower which Leon had stayed before.


    The first to third floors above the ground was a public area. They were open to all apprentice Mages, functioning as the main area of activity for them. The public facilities available for them covered nearly every field of study an apprentice could ever be involved in. On the other hand, the fourth to seventh floors were only available to official Mages, serving as their living quarters and a site for experimentations. If any apprentice intruded in these places without special permission, they would be mercilessly attacked by the defensive mechanisms of the Mage Tower.


    Currently, Leon was out on a stroll around the public hall located on the first floor of the tower.


    Unlike Swamp Tower, the Underground Cave was an open territory, allowing apprentice Mages to form their own items to visit different areas in search of materials and harvest resources. That''s why the materials and resources available in this place was many times more abundant compared to the Swamp Tower.


    In addition to the gloomy and dark underground world, there''s also the resource-rich Kerala Mountain Range in the surface. Within the confines of these steep mountains, countless exotic flowers and rare herbs can be found growing healthily. While numerous powerful magic creatures were hiding in their respective nests deep within mountains.


    Actually, the surrounding area of the Underground Cave was perfectly suitable in nurturing apprentice Mages.


    For beginner apprentices, they could team up together and venture into the wild forest around the Mage Tower to harvest the resources they need. They could even practice their magic spells while they were at it at the animals that can be commonly found in the woods. Intermediate apprentices could venture deeper, able to set foot into the depths of the mountain range and go for solitary training. As for advanced apprentices, they could journey to the upper regions of the underground world, fighting Ratmen, Hooked Horrors and many more undead creatures.


    An apprentice Mage who honed his skills through these methods would be far more brutal and strong-willed than an apprentice from the Swamp Tower who only know how to grow with time through long-term meditation. In other words, Leon gave off the impression of a typical apprentice that came from a low-tier Mage academy, while the others seemed to be battle hardened apprentices who learned from real combat. There was too much of a difference between them that they cannot be compared at all.


    Early in the morning, the public hall had already been packed to the brim with apprentice Mages who are seeking for new additions to their teams. Most of them were beginner and intermediate apprentices with a small number of advanced apprentices can be found among them. Even more apprentices were on the corners of the hall with black cloth spread out on the floor, with a couple of strange looking items on top of it, all the while holding a book in their hands. When an apprentice came up to them, only then would they lazily answer a few words. They would just read their books quietly most of the time.


    Continue your story on M V L


    This lifestyle was completely different from the Swamp Tower making Leon feel envy but helpless before it.


    After all, before they entered Swamp Tower to learn, all apprentice Mages were required to sign a magic contract with Mage Eclivel, making them lifetime apprentices of the tower. In order to break free of this contract, there were only two methods: Either obtain Mage Eclivel''s permission or become an official Mage.


    If any apprentice bound by the contract secretly escapes from the Mage Tower he belonged to, he would lose his status as an apprentice, becoming a traitor that will be sought after by hunters. Truth was, among those Fallen Mages living in the depths of the Underground Cave, majority of them were traitors before they became Mages. However, with their status as an Mage not being approved by the Zhentarim Association, they could only conceal their identities and become stray Mages.


    Although Leon envied the lifestyles of apprentices in this place, he could only shake his head and sigh as he felt sad for his fate.


    Taking cover within the crowd of apprentices, Leon browsed through the stalls located on the sides of the road while secretly examining these apprentice Mages of the Underground Cave.


    From the apprentices who were recruiting members in the center of the main hall, Leon found out something about them. He noticed that even a beginner apprentice here would be fully equipped with decent magic equipments and magical items. The magic wand that can hasten casting speed, a waist pouch full of magic scrolls and potions, a dazzling display of tiny decorations... each and every one of them here was considered a mini arsenal. Although their individual battle power wasn''t strong, but with the help of so many items to supplement them, they would be able to bombard the enemy with a plethora of magic spells. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In Leon''s eyes, these apprentices were walking human gold coins. From top to bottom, inside and out, every single inch of their body was giving off the strong smell of money. Comparing himself to them, Leon can''t help but feel ashamed of his own unbecoming, quickly erasing the proud feeling he had after the small victory he accomplished.


    Possibly only the beginner apprentices who ran stalls while reading books would be the only people as poor as Leon. Anyone can easily tell they just became beginner apprentices, the rookies who are still unqualified to venture into the wild.


    Leon circled around the public hall and when he had stored enough information, he stopped and came to a rather lively stall and interacted with the owner.


    The owner of the stall was a young man. He looked quite heavy, donning a poorly fitted short apprentice robe provided by the Mage Tower. This gave him a funny appearance. Together with his facial features that kept changing while he was talking, all of these had made his stall the liveliest place in this area.


    "Hello, my name is Leon!" Leon walked up to the owner and introduced himself.


    "That... hello to you too, my name is Sam." The fatty responded with humorous atmosphere. He continued, "Is there anything I can help you with?"


    "Hello, Sam. I would like to inquire, is there any special procedure that I have to go through to become a vendor here?"


    "Ugh...


    Sam stared at Leon from top to bottom and asked curiously, "You''re a new beginner apprentice here, aren''t you?"


    "That''s right! I just came here two days ago." Leon replied vaguely. He didn''t want to waste any energy in explaining why he, a mere beginner apprentice, would come to this place and carried out a deadly mission here in the Underground Cave.


    "You poor thing! You must be a newcomer who was ditched by your mentor. I knew it at first sight! But don''t worry, just follow your big brother Sam and sooner or later, you''ll be like them, armored to the teeth with all kinds of magical equipment.." Unexpectedly, Sam was actually a warm-hearted person, as he quickly activated his enthusiastic brother mode.


    But when Leon had glanced on this guy''s face, he was left speechless after seeing the data detected from Sam in his mind.


    This person who proclaimed himself as big brother was actually a super rookie, a beginner apprentice who only has six Spirit points. This had nearly driven Leon insane.


    "Ugh...Sam, I just wanted to ask you... Can I also put up a stall here to sell a few items?"


    "No problem, it''s not a problem at all! I, Sam, is known for taking good care for all newcomers. Come here... I still have some extra spare space here, you can just place your things here!"


    After he obtained Sam''s permission, Leon quickly paced a tray-sized black cloth on the ground then took out five items from his waist pouch, placing them on top. There was the Plant element self-healing earrings, the crystal green wooden stick used as the body of a magic staff, leather boots that has the ability of "Jungle Walk" that enables the user to walk unhindered in jungles or woods, the Croaking Frog and lastly, the notebook of magic spells he got from the enemy.


    The leather boots were here too, and the reason why made Leon angry. The reason was simple, Bleia didn''t like it as the magical pattern on top of the boots wasn''t exquisite enough for her taste. So, early in the morning, she simply threw them back to Leon asking him to get rid of it himself.


    Leon totally could not understand this reason at all. And thus, he labeled Bleia as one of the most incomprehensible creatures of this world.


    Watching how Leon had made a fuss while setting up his stall, Sam, who sat beside him wasn''t able to hold his laughter. He gave Leon''s shoulder a pat and warmly said, "Yo brother. Don''t blame your big brother for not reminding you. You''re going to have a hard time selling your item by doing that."


    "Take a look at me! My stall is so big while yours is very small. With what are you going to attract people''s attention? Look, my stall even has a superb collection of beautiful things, but you only have... wait, what''s that?"


    No matter how weak Sam''s Spirit was, he was still able to quickly sense the distinct magical ripples from the items that Leon took out. Good heavens! He had a total of five items, and four of them were obviously magical items! From the design of those items and the magic runes carved on them, they clearly looked like items from the underground world.


    Puzzled, Sam stretched out his arm and picked up the pair of magic earrings and carefully gave it a look. In an instant, he let out a cry full of shock, "Recovery Earrings! This is a pair of Recovery Earrings!"


    Although his voice wasn''t that loud, it still alerted a few apprentice Mages who happened to pass by. One after another, they stopped by the stall and turned their eyes to the earrings held in fatty''s palm.


    "Fatty, what are you shouting at? Can you really get yourself a pair of Recovery Earrings? Don''t try to bluff with us!"


    "That''s right! Sam, you must have gone mad from wanting a pair of Recovery Earrings! Can a poor vendor like you really find yourself a pair of Recovery Earrings? Hahaha..."


    Ridiculed by the surrounding crowd, Sam''s face flushed with embarrassment but he never loosened his tight grip on the pair of earrings.


    Among the crowd, a girl with delicate features and a sweet smile suddenly walked towards the stall.


    "Sam, can you let me have a look at those earrings?"


    "This... the muscles on the fatty'' face twitched as he showed a look of wanting to give himself two slaps on his face.


    In the end, he had no choice but to helplessly open his palm revealing the beautifully crafted earrings in front of this female apprentice.


    Curious, this female intermediate apprentice picked up the pair of magical earrings and examined it. After that, a pleasantly surprised expression was portrayed on her face. Under her skillful control, a bright green glow quickly and flashily emitted from this seemingly unimportant looking magical item. A faint fragrance of vegetation spread out and filled the surrounding air.


    A series of gasping sounds could be heard.


    "There really was a pair of Recovery Earrings!"


    "Heavens! Someone is selling a tier-3 magical item in the main hall..."


    "No way! I have to inform Lina quickly! She had always wanted a pair of Recovery Earrings!"


    "You''re right! I have to inform my boss too..."


    "..."


    Within the crowd, many people hastily took out strange looking communication devices. In an instant, sounds of frogs croaking, birds chirping, insects calling, wolf howling... all kinds of weird animal noises reverberated in the entirety of the main hall.


    ...


    2062 Words

 Chapter 60: Tier-3 magical item!

    Leon rubbed his nose, clearly taken aback by the massive uproar. On the other hand, the fatty Sam couldn''t help but keep whispering to himself."This is bad... this is really bad... if I knew beforehand that it was truly a pair of Recovery Earrings, I wouldn''t have shouted out loud with my big fat mouth! If boss Kern knows about this, he''ll surely give me a good scolding..." after he finished saying that, he also took out a round crystal ball and used it to call someone.


    The messy situation made Leon''s brows furrow. He had no idea what had caused this commotion. It was just some ordinary self-healing earrings, how was it able to cause such a commotion? However, through the help of his sensitive senses, he soon heard a keyword from the conversations between the surrounding apprentices.


    Tier-3 magical item!


    Leon had only read a few books of Alchemy before and had never comprehensively learned or researched much about the classification of magical items. That''s why he was totally unfamiliar with the term of Tier-3 magical item.


    Right when he was hesitating while thinking, the delicate looking female apprentice finally asked her question.


    "Pardon me, between the two of you, who is the owner of these Recovery Earrings?"


    Meanwhile, fatty Sam had gloomily set aside his communication crystal and with a discouraged look, he pointed his finger at Leon.


    Left without any choice, Leon nodded his head and rubbed his nose saying, "I own this item!"


    "How much are you selling it for? How many magic crystals?" The female apprentice asked, full of anticipation.


    "I''m not selling it!"


    "Not selling? Then why did you display it?"


    "Instead of selling, this item can only be traded. Items of the plant element doesn''t suit me, so that''s why I planned to exchange it with...:"


    Before Leon was able to finish his words, an uproar suddenly broke out from the crowd. Soon, a few men covered in sweat pushed through the crowd and arrived in front of him.


    These men were shocked to see each other in front of the stall and glared at each other furiously.


    "Boy from the Patton family, it''s you again? One of my man saw this item first today, don''t you go on thinking you can seize it from us!" A burly man said in an imposing manner. He was also carrying a broadsword strapped on his back, wearing a finely made leather armor.


    On the other hand, while showing a sinister expression and unwilling to be outdone, an apprentice in a gray robe who had rushed here responded disdainfully, "Your man saw it first? Hmph. Just with that childish thinking alone makes you unworthy of my time. Whoever bids the highest price will get the item, this is the rule of this place. If you''re so great as you say, why don''t you buy everything you see here?"


    Apparently, both men were team leaders of two established teams with both possessing the ability of advance apprentices. Therefore, when they started to challenge each other, the raging killing intent they exuded gave made everyone suffocate to the pressure. Since this place was the inner area of the Mage Tower, none of them dared to start a real fight. What they could do, however, was to keep pressuring the other side using their powerful spirit.


    "Alright, alright! Why are you two doing this every time you meet? Since all of us came across the Recovery Earrings together, let''s name our prices. We''ll see who get''s it at the end!"


    The voice came from a young man dressed in a red robe who pushed his way out through the crowd.


    Although he looked young, he had a calm and cold expression, like someone who had been through many things. He didn''t have a handsome face but he wasn''t ugly either, his looks were quite common, a faint smile formed from his slips.


    "What a surprise, Boss Kern is here too!"


    "This is going to become lively!"


    "Don''t push me aside! I still want to see what will happen!"


    ...


    ...


    The crowd''s commotion was getting louder and louder.


    The man in the red robe turned around, sweeping his eyes over the crowd that had gathered. They quickly settled down when his glanced passed by them. Afterwards, he gave the crowd a warm smile.


    "Alright, let''s stop making a racket. It''s quite rare to encounter a pair of Recovery Earrings here, and we all know everybody would want to get their hands on it, but we''ll see who has the fortune of becoming its owner in the end!"


    Being suppressed by the man in the red robe, the two team leaders had no other choice but to retract their spiritual pressure. Together, they all went in front of Leon''s stall, casting greedy looks towards the earrings resting on the female apprentice''s palm.


    This female apprentice was clearly a team member of the guy with the broadsword as his brows quivered with extreme pleasure when he saw her.


    "Heidi, you truly have a good pair of sharp eyes. How is it? Are you able to buy this pair of earrings? If you don''t have enough magic crystals, the few of us together can go gather more. You have to buy it, no matter what!"


    The man in the gray robe and Kern furrowed their brows at the same time.


    "But he doesn''t want to sell, he only wants to trade it with something else!" Heidi couldn''t help but stomp her foot.


    "Trade?" All the three leaders were struck dumb and immediately asked, "Trade with what?"


    "Trade it with fire element magical items!"


    The three men simultaneously became silent.


    Where was this place? It was the Underground Cave!


    Fire element materials were extremely rare in this place. As a result, all Fire element magical items were considered a rare commodity.


    However, all three of them were obviously not someone who would give up easily. One after the other, they all secretly communicated with Leon through Spiritual Whisper, seeking for an alternative deal but Leon was firmly turned them all down.


    Right when the three leaders were calling their men to help out and look for fire element magical items, Leon found a chance to ask fatty Sam and learned the main reason why Recovery Earrings was a sought after item by many people.


    For most of the beginner and intermediate apprentices here, although the resources and materials found in Underground Cave had a high value, the risk from obtaining them was consequentially enormous. So most of their training and the areas of activity were carried out in the Kerala Mountain Range. Catching demon beasts, harvesting magical medicines, exploring secret places, all of these were always accompanied with unpredictable dangers. Therefore, if a team could have a member with them who was well-versed in healing during their trip, it would definitely bring massive benefits to any apprentice team.


    That''s because if they only use Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste and Health Potions in healing their injured team members, the expenses they would incur would be too much, cutting down their earnings. Under such circumstances, a plant element Recovery spell would definitely help them save a large amount of additional expenses. Also, one advantage of the Recovery earrings was that, once the plant element energy stored within it ran out, they only have to stay within a place filled with lush vegetation for a period of time and the energy would be refilled automatically.


    This, without a doubt, gave it a higher value!


    As for the so-called tier-3 magical items, it was actually a classification of magical items given by apprentices. Magical items that could provide an effect 10 to 20 energy points were classified as tier-1. Most small decorative items crafted by apprentice Mage belong to this category.


    Meanwhile, items that could provide 20 to 30 energy points of effect were tier-2 magical items. Sometimes, a few top quality items that were crafted by apprentices would be able to reach this tier as well.


    As for the tier-3 magical items, their effects had reached an outstanding 30 to 40 energy points. Most of these items were crafted by official Mages, usually as the products of their alchemy training. But when it falls to the hands of an apprentice Mage, it would become their trump card that can increase their strength.


    After listening to fatty''s explanation, Leon was confused and said, "This is impossible! I have tested it myself and these earrings can only provide me at most 10 green life energy. It can''t be a tier-3 magical item!"


    Hearing what Leon had said, fatty couldn''t help but pat his shoulder.


    "Don''t tell me you were using your own energy to test it? In order to activate the Recovery Earrings'' maximum healing effect, there are two conditions. Firstly, you have to use it at place filled with vegetation like for example, a forest. Secondly, the user must also be a plant element apprentice. Since you''re a fire element apprentice, the effect would surely be reduced!"


    At last, Leon was lit with a flame of comprehension.


    No wonder these earrings gave him such a weak response when he tested it. Although the female apprentice only gave it a brief test, it instantly showed a distinct green glow. Apparently, he had used the wrong energy for it!


    Glancing at the noisy scene, fatty shook his head while saying, "This have become such a mess... if this continues, those bastards of the enforcement force might be drawn to the commotion here soon..."


    Maybe fatty was truly a real jinx or bad things were really just supposed to happen. A commotion broke out from the crowd once again as two intermediate apprentices wearing blue uniforms rushed in through the audience.


    "Who was the one? Who dared selling tier-3 magical item in this place? Who gave you the audacity to do this? Don''t you all know tier-2 and above magical items and equipment can only be traded by us, the Murphy Association?" Showing a fierce expression, the young apprentice who was in the lead viciously glared at fatty Sam upon his arrival, convinced that the guy was the culprit.


    "Sure enough, it''s you again! Sam! How dare you!" S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His face covered with fury, Sam refused, "Ryan, you better not speak without knowing the truth. This thing doesn''t belong to me. No matter how unreasonable you are, you can''t incriminate an innocent man!"


    The enforcement guy named Ryan moved his somber glance away from Sam''s face and came to a stop on Leon who was wearing a calm and relaxed expression. He was suddenly hit with uncertainty.


    Although there were many apprentices in this Mage Tower, he knew who possessed strong abilities among them. However, he never once saw this beginner apprentice before, and from where did this guy found a tier-3 magical item?


    "Kid, I think you don''t probably know the rules in this place!" Ryan stood loftily in front of Leon and continued, "As I said earlier, in this Mage Tower, any tier-2 and above magical item can only be sold to us, the Murphy Association. This is the magic contract that was signed between our association and Mage Howard. If you don''t obey the rule, you''ll risk having your apprentice status being revoked! Hmph..."


    After he finished saying that, he timely snatched the earrings away from the female apprentice''s palm and held it in front of his face. After inspecting it, he nodded with satisfaction. Read new chapters at M V L


    "The quality of this earrings is pretty good. According to the rules of Murphy Association, I''ll buy it from you using the market price. The price is..." Ryan rolled his eyes and added, "Fifteen magic crystals!"


    Ryan actually only wanted to say twelve magic crystals but he realized there were too many apprentices gathered around. He had no choice but increase it by a tiny bit.


    But even so, when the price of fifteen magic crystals was heard by the crowd, an uproar quickly ensued.


    "Why don''t you go and rob someone else?"


    "Heavens! Only fifteen magic crystals! This price can''t even buy a mere tier-1 magical item!"


    "That''s right, this is robbery in broad daylight!"


    ...


    ...


    The agitated replies of the apprentices obviously made Ryan angry from embarrassment.


    "Shut up! This is the aLeonent between our association and the master Mage himself! Who dares to question me? If any of you still make irresponsible remarks, I''ll immediately report you to the Mage on duty!"


    His blunt threats eventually quieted down the crowd. Even the three leaders who were standing in front of the stall were wearing annoyed expressions, suppressing their fury.


    ...


    2108 Words

 Chapter 61: Training camp

    After finding out that the crowd had become quiet, Ryan nodded in satisfaction.Right at this moment, a servant who had followed him here suddenly pulled on his sleeve from behind, pouting his lips at Leon''s stall.


    "Master Ryan, why do I have a feeling that those other items aren''t ordinary things too?"


    Ryan leaned his face forward and gave those items a careful look. Indeed, it was as the servant had said. He discovered some rather uncommon characteristics among them.


    "Croaking Frog, Elven Boot, Treant Branch..."


    Your next journey awaits at M V L


    For every name he called out, the crowd would gasp in amazement. And when the name of Treant Branch was called out, a few apprentices who were experts in plant element magic spells couldn''t help but place their palms against their chests, as if they couldn''t withstand the intense shock with their heart breaking into pieces.


    At the same time, fatty Sam was wearing an unsightly expression. He was portraying a look as if his heart had died, much like the look one would have if their father had just passed away.


    As for the other few team leaders, they had totally given up their intention of owning these treasures. They called their men back and walked away from the stall, becoming one of the bystanders instead. They had a clear judgement. If a beginner apprentice was struck by luck, it was possible that he could find himself a tier-3 magical item. But if this beginner apprentice was able to take out a couple of tier-3 magical items together, then it wasn''t luck anymore.


    Only a beginner apprentice who was backed by a powerful clan or one who was exceptionally powerful could do so. Either person was not someone they could afford to offend. Perhaps it was only Ryan, who was blinded by his own greed, who could not see such a simple fact!


    Indeed, upon seeing so many tier-3 magical items, Ryan could no longer maintain his calm. He immediately stretched his arms forward and tried to snatch all of them away.


    "holding~~"


    A large hand reached out from the side and grabbed his wrist.


    "Mister, I don''t think you have the right to forcibly buy my items!" Leon could no longer stand the lousy show this clown was putting on, so he decided to stop this man from continuing to behave recklessly.


    "Why? You dare to disagree with me? Every single apprentice who lives in this Mage Tower knows that all tier-3 magical items are traded solely by us, the Murphy Association. You''ve already violated the rules for trading in this place, so you better be careful or else I''ll put you into custody!"


    "Haha, mister. I think the agreement signed between your Murphy Association and master Mage himself is only limited to the members of this Mage Tower, right? However, I''m not an apprentice of this place. Furthermore, these items weren''t produced by your Mage Tower. Therefore, what gives you the right to forcibly buy them off me?"


    "Kid, don''t try to fool me. If you''re not a part of this Mage Tower, how did you enter this place? Hmph. You better let go of your grip, or else..."


    "Or else what?"


    "Or else, I''ll take you to Enforcement Quarter and teach you a good lesson!"


    "Hehe, if you really plan to do so, you should prepare to be humiliated!" Leon laughed through clenched teeth. He was finally unable to take it anymore and was completely pissed off by this idiot.


    "What? Are you going to assault me?"


    While saying that, Ryan slapped on his waist. In that instant, black and thick hairs suddenly burst out from his once fair and clean face, and his body vaguely started to expand.


    Beastialize! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A frown appeared on Leon''s face. He took two steps back, and swiped his fingers across his waist pouch, taking out two summoning crystal cores.


    Right when he was hesitating about whether or not he should really fight, a cold voice could be heard from the middle of the crowd.


    "Stop right there!"


    The voice sounded familiar to Leon.


    Leon immediately recognized him after being hinted by the Chip.


    A thought came over him, so he clenched his right palm tightly and didn''t throw the summoning crystal cores out.


    To be honest, this place wasn''t suitable for the Demon Alligator Hunter to fight. Firstly, there wasn''t any clay in the public hall. The only way to get the Earth Elementium was to try and absorb it from the surrounding air, however, this wasn''t an easy task. Also, as the Demon Alligator Hunter was his trump card, the better he kept it a secret, the better the result would be in a real fight. Thus, unless it was a critical moment, he didn''t want to expose this secret.


    Right when both men were confronting each other aggressively, a man strode out from the crowd. Judging from the way the crowd parted to make way for this man, it was obvious he was quite well-known.


    "Master Kevin!"


    ...


    One after another, the apprentice Mages bowed and greeted the man. Soon, Blackhand Kevin, the advanced apprentice who Leon had run into once, arrived next to both the men.


    "Master Kevin, why are you here?" Ryan, the blue-robed law enforcement, nodded while bowing towards Kevin.


    The young, yet prestigious, Kevin wouldn''t even bother responding to Ryan. Instead, he nodded his head at Leon. He then squatted in front of Leon''s stall and examined the items.


    "Elven Boot, Croaking Frog, Treant Branch... good stuff, they''re all tier-3 magical items. No wonder these guys are so crazy about it. But, I thought I heard someone say that there was a pair of Recovery Earrings here?"


    "That... that... master, the Recovery Earrings are here!" Ryan hesitantly handed over the Recovery Earrings.


    "Alright!" Kevin took over the earring and tossed it back to the stall. Then he assumed a serious attitude and grabbed the magical notes. He gave it a few flips and briefly read through.


    Finally, Kevin raised his head and lightly sighed.


    "Just as I came back, I received news that the Demon Vine Lady was killed in the underground world, but I didn''t believe it. I''d never have thought that you''d even brought back her notes about magic spells. I suppose these items are taken from her, too? You''re really one of the younger generation who is worthy of respect!"


    "Demon Vine Lady? Are you referring to the girl who can transform her body? She was killed by Master Bleia, and it was her who ordered me to sell these equipments!"


    "Bleia? The girl who can transform into a vampire?" After pondering for a few moments, Kevin chose to believe Leon''s explanation. After all, no matter how he looked at it, it was impossible to believe that a beginner apprentice would have the ability to kill a notorious advanced apprentice Fallen Mage. "Pack up all your things and follow me! You won''t find anything you want here. I''ll bring you to the place you''re supposed to go!"


    After finishing speaking, he helped Leon roll up the cloth before striding away. Throughout the entire process, he simply ignored the existence of Ryan.


    After both men finally disappeared from the sight of the crowd, an uproar once again broke out from the public hall. The few team leaders even dragged fatty Sam to a corner to thoroughly question him about the background of that mysterious young man.


    But those questions had lost all meaning to Leon. He was totally struck dumb by what he saw now.


    Kevin had brought him to a small training camp outside of the Mage Tower. In order to reach the camp, they had to fly. Therefore Kevin led him to a flying demon beast. For the first time in his life, Leon had the chance to ride on a flying demon beast. The demon beast Kevin had led him to was referred to as a ''Socrates Condor''.


    Socrates Condor was an advanced apprentice level Wind Element demon beast. It stood three meters tall and had a full wing span of five meters. It had a big, strong body and possessed the ability to cast Wind Blade, Wind Vortex and a few other basic Wind Element magic spells. It was a rare flying creature that dominated the forest region.


    Because of its great physical strength and incredible flying speed, they were often captured by Mages and tamed into excellent flying vehicles.


    It was the first time he had the opportunity to fly on a demon beast, so he was rather nervous about the experience.


    When the majestic looking condor soared up into the sky, its golden feathers sparkling in the sun, Leon couldn''t help but grip the soft feathers behind the condor''s neck. He felt like his heart was beating so fast it would jump out of his chest.


    Whilst riding on the other condor, and leading the way, Kevin looked over his shoulder. He saw Leon''s nervousness and simply let out a loud laugh. Clearly, this wasn''t the first time he saw someone behaving like this.


    Leon had his eyes closed tightly. It was only when the condor stopped its acceleration, and started to cruise steadily in the bright blue sky, did he finally let loose of his sweaty palms and tried his best to open his eyes.


    For the first time, Leon felt like he was so close to the sky. Those pure white, fluffy clouds were hovering over his head like cotton candy. Below him were steep and tall mountains, valleys and woods that rolled through the land, and a dense forest littered with wild animals. From time to time, he could even see some birds chirping on treetops...


    All of these had brought light to Leon''s mind, who had been spending too long in a dark and treacherous world. To be honest, after staying for a while in that gloomy and bizarre Swamp Tower, Leon had felt his body and mental state become rotten. He could no longer retain the relaxed and easy-going attitude he had when he just arrived in this world.


    Following the relaxation of his mind, the feeling of nervous he felt from his first time flying gradually subsided. Leon folded his legs and sat on the back of the condor. He started to enjoy the magnificent scenery he saw underneath the condor.


    It was lucky he wasn''t afraid of heights! Or else, if a future great Mage was afraid of heights, it would become lasting stain on his mighty reputation.


    The training camp wasn''t far and was located approximately thirty miles from the Mage Tower. It was situated right in the middle of a serene valley.


    The two Socrates Condors flapped their wings and slowly descended from the sky. Although Leon still had a pale face, his performance descending was much better compared to when he was ascending.


    After getting off the condor, Kevin casually tossed out a magic crystal. His condor immediately grabbed it with its mouth and swallowed it. At the same time, the condor ridden by Leon was staring at him with a cold gaze.


    This was probably the fee for riding this flying creature!


    Leon copied Kevin and tossed out a magic crystal, which made the condor previous anger turn to joy. After swallowing the magic crystal, it slowly walked to an empty field beside them.


    "Let''s go. I''ll bring you to a real circle of friends. We and those people in the public hall are from two different worlds! You''ll get nothing good by hanging around with them. Besides, what you really want can never be found in that place!" Kevin spread out his arms and said, "Only here can you find the true value of yourself. And this place is the future that belongs to all combat Mages!"


    Ugh... what a dramatic opening speech! But too bad there wasn''t a round of applause. Instead, there was a rather awkward silence.


    But before Leon could think of a way of handling such a situation, a haughty laugh was heard coming from a far distance.


    "Cheesy Kevin, you''re giving the same speech again. Who are you trying to fool into your team? Quickly bring him to me, the bald Hulk, and let me have a good look!"


    The fervent and excited Kevin''s enthusiastic expression was completely crushed. While cursing under his breath, he and Leon walked towards the man who just undermined him.


    ...


    2072 Words

 Chapter 62: Duel

    The entire training camp occupied a vast tract of land, however, there weren''t many buildings that could be found in this place.On the east side was a row of solidly built wooden cabins. They were all built with huge logs. Although they looked simple and primitive, they were extremely sturdy. While on the west side, a number of tents were found scattered around. Judging by the size of them, each could only house one to two people and were used for resting.


    In the entire camp, the thing that drew one''s eyes the most was a large area occupied by a training ground. Countless apprentice Mages were using this training ground and were seriously fighting each other. Yes, they were all apprentice Mages. They weren''t some ordinary human fighters. Looking at those bowl-size fireballs that dashed through the air like shooting stars and the frightening figure of a man, covered in raging lightning, raising his axe high up, made Leon''s heart, once again, start to pound fast.


    All this while, the impression Leon had toward apprentice Mages was rather dark and crafty, with many of them having a twisted mind. Thus, this was the first time he saw something like this. Out in the broad daylight, these apprentice Mages were fighting each other, face to face, with their raging magical spells.


    At the edge of a large training ground, a group of men could be seen gathered together, watching the fight between two advanced apprentices. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One was like Leon, a long ranged spell caster who had mastered Fire Element magic spells.


    The other took the path of a Body Refining Mage, a frightening god of war who possessed the powerful ability of thunder.


    Both men were exchanging attacks in the field, locking themselves in a fierce battle.


    Three Inferno Shields were spinning around the body of the Fire Element apprentice and helped him block most of the dirt and sand that splashed into his direction. The thunderbolts flew towards the Fire Element apprentice like huge silver serpents. At the same time, a strange magical array could be seen flickering under his feet.


    Apparently, this magical array had some sort of quickening effect, which allowed him to run at a speed not slower than those apprentices who had high Agility. In addition to this, a fireball, which was enshrouded between his palms, kept spitting out continuous fireballs. He was bombarding his opponent like the pouring down of a heavy rain of flames.


    On the other hand, the wrathful Body Refining Mage, with the help of his intrepid physique and the lightning web that covering around his body, had withstood the continuous bombardment of fireballs. He kept letting out raging roars before charging forward, trying his best to follow after the Fire Elemental apprentice.


    Frightening thunderbolts kept bolting out from his giant axe. If he was allowed to get closer to his opponent, even if it was just by a little bit, then he would be able to throw out the thunderous axe and instantly inflict severe damage on his opponent, as they had a weak physique.


    Following behind Kevin, Leon came to the edge of the battlefield. Before he arrived, he could already smell the pungent smell of lightning burning through the air. His ears were also filled with loud booming sounds coming from the explosion of those fireballs.


    Although the field was large, it appeared to be too small to accommodate the overly brutal and violent magic spells. Previously, a few fireballs even flew out from the battlefield and shot towards the crowd of bystanders. Whenever this happened, everyone would cheer like it was a great party.


    Some would take out their magical staffs, shooting out freezing beams to freeze the fireball into an ice cube. Meanwhile, some would jump up in the air and slash through the fireball that passed besides them, breaking it into small fireworks. No matter who stood out and showed off their incredible magical ability, the crowd would always respond with loud cheers and applause.


    The man who had jeered at Kevin was seen standing in the middle of the crowd. He was a bald man with a burly body, with chunks of muscles that looked like pieces of metal filling every inch of his body. Although he was standing there bare-handed, he was releasing a mighty air of indomitable spirit.


    He was a Body Refining Pseudo-Mage. The enormous pressure he gave off had almost turned into a physical pressure. Standing right beside him, Leon felt that he was having a hard time breathing normally.


    His mind had been bombarded by a series of warning tones given by the Chip.


    "Warning! Warning! A high-frequency spiritual radiation is detected... The host needs to leave the source of said radiation immediately, or else, signs of Spirit decay will appear in three seconds. Countdown started: 3... 2... 1..."


    Leon couldn''t help but wear a bitter smile on his face.


    In this Mage World of advanced magic, all apprentice Mages had accumulated magical Elementium in their body by constantly meditating and consuming magical medicine. The more Elementium that was in one''s body, the stronger their spirit radiation would be. For them, perhaps this was something normal, however, for ordinary humans, this spirit radiation was the equivalent of the nuclear radiation that could be found on Earth in his previous life.


    Apprentice Mages could only be considered as nuclear material or nuclear waste, as, although they were dangerous, there was a limit to the damage they could inflict. However, those official Mages had crossed the line of qualitative change and had transformed from nuclear material to a nuclear reactor. Thus, their hazardousness was brought to another higher level.


    This burly bald man who always wearing a smile on his face was definitely a Pseudo-Mage who could break through the line of official Mage at any time. Even though Leon had just gotten a little bit closer to him, as a beginner apprentice, he nearly couldn''t withstand the frightening spirit radiation he unintentionally emitted.


    After greeting Kevin, the bald Hulk''s eyes rested on Leon''s face. However, after a brief gaze over at Leon, his metal-like square face showed a curious expression.


    "How come he is only a beginner apprentice? Don''t tell me that those black bastards of the Underground world were fed with Corpse Worms, which caused them to be defeated by a mere beginner apprentice? You, Dark Wood, go and test him out!" Clearly, Hulk was the true leader of this training camp, as he simply picked an opponent for Leon without asking for anyone''s permission.


    "Hey, both of you, don''t you feel tired after jumping around in the battlefield for so long? Hurry come over here, we have a new game now!"


    Soon, following Hulk''s shout, both advanced apprentices left the battlefield. They were bathed in sweat and their bodies were full of wounds. You could tell this wasn''t the first time they had fought each other. It seemed that both of them had fully understood each other''s ability. Although, before their opponent revealed any significant weakness, both of them did have the chance to defeat each other. However, it wasn''t easy to grab hold of this winning chance.


    The burly man who possessed thunder elemental ability had his body fully covered in burned marks of all sizes. While receiving treatment from someone, he asked with a loud, hollow voice, "Where does this beginner apprentice come from? Chief, are you trying to get him killed by asking him to fight? Look at his tiny body that is as weak as a bean sprout. I''m scared he won''t be able to withstand this torture!"


    Hulk threw his head back and let out a ground shaking laugh.


    "Mark, you better not brag without feeling shame! Do you have any idea what this little guy did? This tiny beginner apprentice is the guy who killed the Demon Vine Lady. So, among all of you advanced apprentices, who of you dares to slam their chest and guarantee that they can defeat that Demon Vine Lady?"


    Hearing what Hulk said, the confused crowd instantly threw their glances over to Leon, who was currently smiling wryly. They tried to figure out what made this tiny man so strong.


    Leon opened his mouth, wanting to say a few words to cover his secret. However, Kevin immediately patted his shoulder lightly. He moved closer to his ear and whispered, "Little man, let me teach you a lesson today. If you don''t want others to spy on your secret, then, next time, remember to destroy your enemy''s soul!"


    Leon''s mouth hung open for a minute before he finally realized what gave himself away.


    Damn it, the dead body of that Demon Vine Lady.


    Indeed, he and Bleia had killed her, but they never extracted and destroyed her soul. After submitting her body to the Mage Tower, those Mages must have learned his secret by studying the memory that remained in her broken soul.


    Fuck! Damn!


    Right at this very moment, Leon wished he could give himself a really good slap. He wanted to cry and shed bitter tears for his thoughtless mistake. At the same time, he felt a sense of powerlessness when he thought about the bizarre magic spells that existed in this strange world of Mages.


    There were all kinds of magic spells, and, while no one could really tell how many spells were out there, their bizarre results were simply impossible to guard against. It looked like his plan of hiding behind Bleia and earning his fortune secretly had just burst. Today, in this place, he had to show out his true ability.


    Fortunately, his strongest ability was something that none of these guys could ever spy upon. In actual fact, the ability that they thought he possessed was actually the tiniest part of it and was not worth of mentioning.


    After making up his mind, Leon decided to give up the idea of concealing himself anymore. A wicked smile emerged on his face. Your next journey awaits at M V L


    "Alright, since you guys want to see my true ability, then send your fighter now! Let him show himself. I wonder who my opponent will be?"


    "Err... excuse me. I''ll be your opponent! My name is Dark Wood!" A rather deep, hoarse voice came from the crowd. After that, an old, skinny hunchback, walked out from the crowd. He was carrying a staff made from black wood.


    He had loose and wrinkled skin, a skinny and shriveled body, a somber and ferocious expression and a head full of dried and yellow disheveled hair. His hands and legs looked dark and dirty, and his pitch-black curved nails looked like the sharp claws of an eagle. He gave Leon a gruesome smile, revealing a mouthful of brown, broken teeth.


    On top of the black wood staff, he carried in his left hand, were chains of teeth and miniature skulls. Whenever a shivering breeze blow by, they would produce a rattling sound that sent chill down one''s back.


    Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be approaching the end of his life, as he looked like a skeleton with one leg already in the grave. But, upon seeing this man, Leon''s pupils contracted, and his expression gradually turned dignified.


    Although this guy only had the spiritual ripple of an advanced apprentice, the threat of death he brought to Leon was distinct and straightforward. If Leon''s guess was correct, this frightening guy must be someone with the elemental affinity of negative energy. The only thing he didn''t know now was whether this guy was one who played with dead bodies or a frightening one who played with curses.


    Perhaps, in order to understand his real ability, Leon would have to experience it personally on the battlefield!


    "Hehe! Don''t you think it''s unfair to let an advanced apprentice, fight with a mere beginner apprentice like me? Since you guys wish to see my real ability, you''ll have to pay a price. Before we start the match, I need to know what I''ll be earning when I win the match?" Leon folded his arms in front of his chest, portraying a look of confidence.


    "Kid, you''re pretty cocky!" Dark Wood once again showed his insidious smile, saying, "Initially, Master Hulk only wanted to see how long you could hold out when facing my attack. So, do you still think you have the chance to win this match? Jajaja..."


    "What if I really win this match? Do you dare to bet with me?" Leon took the opportunity and counter-checked the guy.


    "Why not? For the sake of your courage, I can give you odds of ten to one. No matter how many magic crystals you bet, as long as you can defeat me, I''ll pay ten times back!" The insidious smile of Dark Wood, along with his skeleton-like head, made him looked really frightening.


    "Who else wants to bet with me? Come on, show me your courage!"


    Leon yelled out loudly and tossed out all his belongings.


    He offered all the contents wrapped in that black cloth and the last nine magic crystals he had.


    He had instantly kindled the atmosphere of the scene!


    ...


    2197 Words

 Chapter 63: Leon vs Dark Wood

    They had seen many arrogant people before, however none were as arrogant as this guy!How dare a mere beginner apprentice provoke and challenge a group of elite enforcers who were, at the minimum, advanced apprentices? No doubt this was an act that truly provoked the ire of the crowd.


    While grinning viciously, one after another elite apprentice accepted this bet. At the same time, they kept cheering, encouraging, threatening and teasing Dark Wood, wanting him to teach this unbridled rascal a good lesson. Following the piling up of the bet, the crowd became more excited. Eventually they even pushed Hulk aside, and started clustering around both men to escort them into the battlefield.


    Watching his enthusiastic peers, Hulk''s expression couldn''t help but turn strange. He secretly pulled Kevin into a corner.


    "Kid, you''re the one who referred this guy here. You better not give me trouble. Do you think he has a chance of winning?"


    "Ugh... according to the memory that Mage Angus extracted from her soul, this Leon owns a pretty powerful Earth Element Golem. Perhaps... maybe... if he brings all his ability into play, I think there is a possibility he can save himself from losing. However, it is absolutely impossible he can defeat Dark Wood!"


    After obtained a satisfying answer, Hulk couldn''t help but feel excited too.


    "Guys, get your ass out from the field and leave them alone! I don''t want that kid to have any excuse for his defeat later. Mensa, come here and help me calculate the total bet. Don''t forget to include my bet. I''ll bet two hundred Magic Crystals on Dark Wood!"


    Hulk''s loud roar resounded throughout the entire place and further ignited the atmosphere of the scene.


    Weird yells and roars of the name ''Dark Wood'' echoed around the field and lingered in the air.


    Right at this moment, Leon and Dark Wood had entered the battlefield. They facing each other with a distance of a hundred meters between them.


    While he was staring at how Leon calmly and unhurried began preparing for the battle, Dark Wood grinned broadly, exposing his broken and brownish teeth. He grinned and said, "Kid, you do have guts! But I hope later you won''t be howling sorrowfully of your own blood, with a rotted body. Don''t worry, as long as you are willing to lie flat on your face and admit your defeat and ignorance, I''ll consider sparing you! Jajaja..."


    In regard to his opponent''s offensive remark, Leon simply responded with a cold gaze, before continuing his preparation and tossing out the summoning crystal core.


    It was a perfect battlefield for him. Although the ground he was stepping on a was made by magically hardened dirt, it they was still dirt!


    In next moment, a huge amount of Earth Elementium gathered around the summoning core. It gradually revealed a vague, mammoth figure in front of the crowd.


    Ugh... wasn''t this a little too oversized?!


    Staring at the huge Demon Alligator Hunter who slowly making its debut, the exciting clamor from the edge of the battlefield starting to subside, while a feeling of doubtful starting to rise in the heart of these bystanders.


    Was this kid a summoner? Why did he summon such a huge creature?


    Following the condensation of Earth Elementium, the body of Demon Alligator Hunter became firmer and sturdier. It continued like this until its massive body and ferocious appearance had finally revealed itself in front of everyone. Leon strode forward and climbed on top of the Demon Alligator''s back, sitting there comfortably.


    Damn it, this kid surely had remarkable skill! S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Dark Wood cursed inwardly and quickly preparing his own magic spells.


    As this was a battle under the watchful eyes of the crowd, both parties were allowed to prepare themselves with some supplementary magic spells. However, they were forbidden from launching an attack in advance. Thus, the magic spells Dark Wood prepared were mostly assisting and summoning type spells.


    When Dark Wood waved his black wood staff in the air, the little decorative items tied on top of the staff hit with each other and produced a clanking noise. Numerous white illuminating balls burst out from the sharp teeth and miniature human skulls. They soon formed into two frightening bone shields that floated beside his body.


    The bone shield was assembled by countless pale white bones, and there was even a ferocious-looking skull protruding on the surface of the shield. Two pale green flames were floating in the eyes of the skull and the skull kept moving its jaw, portraying a frightening look of being constantly ready to devour someone.


    At the same time, Dark Wood was reciting some magic spells quickly. A bizarre- looking dark halo, whose purpose was unknown, began emanating from his right palm.


    "Have both of you prepared?" Hulk''s loud roar echoed throughout the entire battlefield.


    Upon seeing both men quietly nodding their heads, Hulk then yelled out loudly, "Then, I hereby announce that the battle has begun!"


    Right at the very moment when the announcement was given, the dark halo floating in Dark Wood''s palm trembled in a strange manner. On the other side, Leon, who had been on full alert, immediately noticed the incoming attack through his Elementium Vision.


    It was a curse attack!


    Only a curse attack could be so incorporeal, making it hard to defend against.


    Leon sat high up on the back of Demon Alligator. His apprentice short robe began to wave lightly in the breeze. Below his exquisite Circlet of Nobility was a pair of eyes, flicking with a blue glow. These eyes stared at Dark Wood, who was standing a hundred meters away.


    If it was another apprentice, perhaps he would''ve been hit by Dark Wood''s dirty trick without knowing anything prior. But Leon''s Elementium Vision allowed him to see all magical Elementium, so he could see this dirty trick vividly. An incorporeal, bizarre-looking dark lasso coiled out from the dark halo in Dark Wood''s palm and flew towards him.


    At this moment, the Screaming Tree Branch, which Leon had brought along, was sounding a constant alarm.


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    But Leon''s mindset wasn''t disturbed at all by the Screaming Tree Branch. Instead, he had all his attention focused on the hints that the Chip was transmitting into his mind.


    "Warning... warning... A hostile Spiritual lockdown is detected... Host, please move away from this spot immediately... Failure to do so will result in host being attacked by any subsequent curse spells... Upon matching the spells with current magic spells database, possibility of Spirit Confusion is 71%, possibility of Spirit Slow is 26%, possibility of Soul Borers is 3%..."


    Apparently, all curse spells needed to first lock down on the victim with spiritual energy, before they could establish the hidden spiritual tunnel that allowed the curse spells to reach the body. This method saved the time, as the curse spells no longer needed to fly through the air. Perhaps this was the main reason why all curse spells were so difficult to intercept or counter!


    Leon soon understood this fact. As soon as the Demon Alligator''s mind was interlinked with Leon''s, it instantly took a step back, dodging the curse by a split second. Leon used the Hunter as a replacement for himself and let the black lasso trap it.


    In next second, the dark halo in Dark Wood''s palm vanished after a flash. As soon as it disappeared, a clump of smoke bursted out from Hunter''s body, transforming into a black skull that flew a half circle around its body, before finally penetrating into the Hunter''s body.


    Damn it, it had failed!


    That guy had summoned an Elementium Golem.


    Through his Spiritual Sense, Dark Wood instantly realized his curse spell had never actually hit an actual Spiritual entity. This led him to curse under his breath. Without hesitation, he raised his right arm, which looked like a ghost claw, and began to draw in the air, preparing himself to cast his next spell.


    But, right at this moment, Leon''s attack had approached him.


    The Hunter mounted on top of Demon Alligator kept waving its arms, and threw out strong spears made from Earth Elementium onto Dark Wood. This caused his bone shields to violently tremble. Right after that, a Fire Arrow, which contained pure, high-concentrated Fire Elementium, broke through the air and pierced the bone shield.


    In the next second, the raging explosion of Fire Elementium had flooded the tiny region where Dark Wood was standing.


    "Eh..."


    At the same moment, the elite apprentices outside of the battlefield couldn''t help but exchange an astonished expression with each other. The strength of the attack and the attack pattern of magic spell didn''t look like something a beginner apprentice could do! The spell was casted quickly and had an offensive strength that was as high as 32 points. Were all these something a beginner apprentice could achieve?


    No sound could be heard coming from the crowd, as they started to treat this half playful battle with a more serious attitude.


    Even those apprentices outside of the battlefield could sense something. Dark Wood, who was being attacked by Dirt Spears and Fire Arrows. had an even stronger feeling. Damn it! It was a combined attack of Earth, Fire and Physical damage! The trembling bone shield, that was being burned by a raging flame, started to show signs of collapse.


    A gloomy expression emerged on Dark Wood''s face. Using his conscious, he quickly drove away the other bone shield and replaced the one that was defending all the attacks. Meanwhile, clenching his jaw tightly, he took out a few chunks of black, stinky, rotten meats. He conveniently tossed them beside his feet.


    In next moment, Leon drove the Demon Alligator and strode forward. He planned to use the massive body of the Demon Alligator to crush his opponent. Suddenly, a bizarre figure dashed out from the raging flame and threw itself on the ground. It used a totally weird style of running and sprinting around Demon Alligator.


    It was a frightening corpse that stood two meters tall. It had a pale body, two heads, five arms and seven legs. The entire body looked like a monster that had been messily pieced up together using a few broken human bodies. It crouched on the ground and moved forward using all five arms and seven legs. This made it move in an unpredictable pattern. It swiftly dodged a few dirt spears that were aimed at its body and soon approached the Demon Alligator who was coming in its way.


    The heavy front legs of Demon Alligator pounded on the ground forcefully, causing the ground to keep violently shake. The misshapen corpse, who had just arrived in front of him, was affected by this immediately. It staggered and seemed like it could no longer stand firm.


    The Demon Alligator moved aggressively and opened up its huge mouth. It leaped forward and pulled the corpse into its mouth. With a powerful clench, the razor sharp fangs instantly crushed its target into meat paste.


    But, a muffled boom suddenly rung through the air. The corpse surprisingly exploded into a huge amount of black blood, which stained the Demon Alligator''s head. After that, under the shocked gaze of Leon, the Earth Elementium that had molded with the Demon Alligator''s head collapsed within a split second. Tons of dirt lost their bond with the Demon Alligator and splattered all over the place.


    Damn it! What powerful corrosive black blood. It could even corrode and neutralize Elementium!


    But obviously, the controlling crystal of Demon Alligator wasn''t located in its head. If it was, then, perhaps Leon''s trump card would''ve been destroyed in an instant.


    Although it lost its head, the Demon Alligator still moved forward vigorously. Strong Earth Elementium once again gathered in front of its body, revealing the outline of a new head.


    The self-healing ability of Demon Alligator was pretty convenient, as, as long as its body was still in touch with earth, it would be able to heal 10% of damage every minute. This was one of the biggest reasons why the Demon Alligator Hunter was so hard to defeat!


    ...


    2028 Words

 Chapter 64: Victory

    Just as Leon was feeling proud of Alligator''s strong recovery ability, he suddenly heard strange noises. One after another, frightening misshapen corpses suddenly leapt out from the flames, sprinting their way towards the Demon Alligator while letting out terrifying groans.Damn it! There were too many of them!


    Moving as nimbly as squirrels, eleven of the misshapen corpses swarmed up in a fan shaped formation.


    Without hesitation, Leon quickly activated his bracelet, which unleashed body armor made up entirely of thorny vines. It blinked with a bright Leon glow as it covered his entire body.


    What happened next was a bloody and savage close-range battle between the Demon Alligator Hunter and the group of misshapen corpses.


    Although the misshapen corpses appeared to be attacking Demon Alligator, anyone could tell that their actual target was Leon, who was sitting high up on its back. This tactic was the go-to for most apprentices who primarily used summons as weapons when attacking their opponents.


    Compared to the powerful combat strength of a summon who was unafraid of death, the summoner himself had much less defence. Therefore, rather than waste a huge amount of energy trying to defeat the summon, it was easier and far more effective to just defeat the summoner. Thus, after he used his blood essence to create the eleven misshapen corpses and entangled Demon Alligator in the fight, Dark Wood stealthily moved far away to once again start casting the long-range curse spells that he was an expert in.


    While controlling Demon Alligator Hunter and trying to deal with the crazy attacks of the misshapen corpses, Leon also needed to focus his mind to defend against the mysterious dark lassoes that Dark Wood kept attacking him with. He was suffering greatly!


    Many of the misshapen corpses in close range of the Demon Alligator were being killed, but the death of each corpse would result in a large explosion, which would destroy a large part of Demon Alligator''s body. After the third corpse exploded, the front of the Demon Alligator, which had looked so strong and mighty before, was in a disastrous state.


    He couldn''t let this continue!


    A trace of a smile appeared on Leon''s lips, then he quickly put something into his mouth and lightly stomped his feet. The Hunter, who was mounting in front of him and kept throwing dirt spears at the enemy, expanded its body and moved backwards, swallowing Leon''s body into its own.


    In the next second, like a giant whale, the massive Demon Alligator Hunter sank into the ground and disappeared without a trace. The eight remaining misshapen corpses immediately stormed forward, restlessly digging into the hardened ground, but failed to find anything.


    Damn...


    Instant uproar from the side of the battlefield.


    The damn kid could actually travel under the ground? This was going to be fun for Dark Wood!


    To be honest, when Dark Wood saw his opponent and the summoned golem disappear from his line of sight, he was also filled with questions and frustrations.


    Damn it, how was he going to fight this battle? If he couldn''t see his opponent, how was he going to lock down the target with his curse attacks?


    While he was looking for a solution, his spiritual senses suddenly discovered something under his feet, bringing a dramatic change to his expression. Without hesitation, he forcefully hit the ground with his staff.


    A huge dirt claw suddenly stretched out from the ground beside Dark Wood. With tremendous force it slapped onto Dark Wood and crushed him into a pile of meat paste. After that, the upper body of Demon Alligator Hunter unearthed itself.


    Although it was a successful strike, Leon''s face on the Hunter didn''t show any sign of joy. Instead, he threw his gaze like two lighting beams into the far distance.


    He saw a misshapen corpse suddenly thrown itself onto the ground, violently twisting and struggling.


    In just a couple of seconds, Dark Wood had replaced the misshapen corpse and was standing where it had once been.


    The Hunter''s expression changed slightly and it started to squeeze back into the ground, but it was too late. Explore stories on M V L


    The pile of meat paste under the Demon Alligator''s giant claw suddenly exploded, staining the exposed body of Demon Alligator Hunter with a large amount of a gray-colored substance. Hearing the sizzling sound of corrosion made Leon''s heart pound.


    Through the Hunter''s eyes, Leon viciously gazed at Dark Wood, who was standing up again. Without saying anything, he once again sank into the ground. The misshapen corpses who had fast been approaching once again missed their target.


    Fuck... staring at the emptied battlefield once again, except for the remaining seven misshapen corpses and the broken ground, there wasn''t any trace of that hateful kid. Dark Wood was furious.


    Under the command of Dark Wood, the seven misshapen corpses were stationed around his perimeter. With this, not only could he could instantly block that bastard from retreating the next time he tried to attack, the formation also allowed him the flexibility to shift himself to any of the corpses as needed.


    However, just as Dark Wood retracted his spiritual senses to the vicinity of his body, quietly observing every slight change under the ground, the ground under the feet of a corpse standing at a far distance suddenly started to boil. Countless dirt spikes poked up through the ground and turned the corpse into shish kabobs.


    Once again, the misshapen corpse exploded. But this time, the gray substance splashed onto the ground harmlessly. As the attack had been launched from beneath the ground, the Demon Alligator was never exposed. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Dark Wood, standing on the battlefield, together with the audience at the side, gasped in astonishment.


    Damn it, it was hard to tell the outcome of today''s battle!


    In the next seven or eight minutes, Leon cunningly stopped launching any attacks at Dark Wood. Instead, he kept moving around Dark Wood''s perimeter, finding opportunities to kill the remaining misshapen corpses. Clearly, he wanted to destroy all Dark Wood''s minions.


    If they were all slaughtered by this kid, how was he going to shift himself to another corpse when he was again faced with danger?


    Left with no alternative, Dark Wood called all four remaining misshapen corpses to his side, having them surround him in a circle. With this, if Dark Wood was under attack, he could shift himself to another corpse, but he would still be inside the attack radius of his opponent, which significantly increased his risk!


    But under such circumstances, he had no choice but to take this risk. He was trying his best to lure that bastard from the ground, then he''d seek his winning chance, despite the great danger.


    At the thought of himself being forced into such a messy state by a Beginner Apprentice, a shivering ghost flame instantly ignited within Dark Wood''s gloomy eyes. He wished he could instantly capture the bastard and torture him good.


    But too bad, you couldn''t always get what you wished for, as it was Dark Wood himself who was being tortured by this mere Beginner Apprentice.


    In the second half of the battle, the hateful bastard never showed his face, but instead kept attacking from under the ground using long-range magic spells. Although most of the magic spells were noticed by Dark Wood before they hit him, two misshapen corpses had been miserably killed by the combination of a Quagmire Spell and dirt spikes.


    The sorrow of getting attacked but failing to catch the enemy was perfectly expressed by Dark Wood.


    As he witnessed one corpse puppet after another, each meticulously made by him to possess the fighting strength of an Advanced Apprentice, be destroyed by the ''enemy,'' Dark Wood''s emotions moved from anger to frustration to sadness until he nearly burst into loud sobbing from Leon''s torture.


    When Hulk finally shook his head, sighed, and announced the winner, Dark Wood, who had remained standing through will alone, immediately fainted from anger.


    The crowd gazed at each other helplessly. Although they wished to say a few words to comfort Dark Wood, no one seemed to know how to start.


    Without the ability to attack underground, no matter who encountered such an enemy, he would land himself in serious trouble. This situation could only be blamed on Dark Wood''s bad luck, as he was picked by Hulk to fight with this freak who had brought him such a miserable ending.


    Wearing a gloomy expression, Hulk pulled Kevin in front of himself, asking with a ferociously, "I thought you said he doesn''t have any special abilities? How did we end up with this kind of result? Tell me honestly, if you are fighting with an opponent like this, can you defeat him?"


    "Ugh..." Kevin gulped, then continued, saying, "If it is not a fair match, and the venue is a desolated wood, give me half day and I''ll be able to kill him in the dark. But if we were to fight in an emptied field like this, I... I wouldn''t have a chance of winning, because I can''t cause him any damage."


    Right at this moment, Leon carefully poked his upper body out from the ground. Once he determined that he had won, he squeezed out from the ground.


    After spending so long underground, all the outer wounds of the Demon Alligator had fully recovered and it looked exactly like it did before the fight began. The crowd felt wonder at the sight, but when they recalled the bets they had placed before the fight, no one could maintain a happy face.


    Looking at the young guy striding towards him, Hulk had no choice but to bite the bullet. With a loud voice, he asked, "Mensa, give me the number! I want to know how much we need to pay this guy?"


    Mensa wore black clothes and had a noble appearance. Without hesitation, he loudly read out.


    "Mister Leon pledged nine magic crystals, two tier-3 magical items, one tier-4 magical item, one tier-1 magical item, and the magic notebooks of the Demon Vine Lady. Estimated total is 417 Magic Crystals. According to ten to one odds, we need to pay him 4170 Magic Crystals. However, combined, we all only bet 3270 Magic Crystals, so..."


    "So we still owe this guy 900 Magic Crystals!"


    "Yes!"


    The crowd stared speechlessly at each other, before they couldn''t help it and moved their gazes to Kevin, who had brought this bastard here.


    In that instant, the generally calm Kevin had a forehead bathed in sweat.


    Leon, who stood beside him, was grinning from ear to ear as he quickly stepped out to ease the situation.


    "It''s good to have the love of all my Senior Apprentices. As you have given me the chance to prove myself, how dare I collect this debt from you! This amount is more than enough. I, Leon am not a greedy man!"


    Upon hearing Leon''s rather flattering speech, all the Advanced Apprentices and Pseudo-Mages shook their head and sighed. In fact, Dark Wood wasn''t weak. He could be considered as having middle tier strength within all the Advanced Apprentices in this training camp. But due to lack of preparation, he was defeated by this foxy kid, and fainted on the spot. Everybody really was frustrated.


    "Hey, you crafty kid, don''t get carried away. The reason you had such an easy win is because your ability naturally oppressed Dark Wood. We''ll pay those Magic Crystals we owe you, but do you have the guts to fight again with us? A fight between you and me, what do you say?" The man who said this was the violent burly man who Leon had seen carrying a thunderous axe when he had arrived. Obviously, this man had taken the path of a Body-Refining Mage, and used Thunder Element magic spells as his supplement ability.


    Leon grinned, saying, "Why not?! But my golem is damaged from today''s battle. I need time to readjust and fix it. Why don''t we fight tomorrow?"


    Hearing this, the violent burly man became extremely happy. The eyes of the surrounding men also brightened. Clearly, they were tempted as well.


    With the time of one night, they believed they could help Mark find a way to defeat this guy. This hateful kid only had a special ability in summoning his golem, which allowed him to hide underground and attack his enemy. As long as they could find a way to stop this ability, how could a rubbish made from dirt be the match of Mark, the man known for a mighty strength? It was simply a silly dream!


    Perhaps imagining some scenes that could vent their anger, all of the apprentices couldn''t hold themselves back and grinned coldly.


    In that moment, a shivering breeze blew through the scene, making one''s hair stand on end.


    ....


    2145 Words

 Chapter 65: Trusting

    Finally, as the sky darkened, Leon safely returned to his residence in the Mage Tower.Upon entering the room, he immediately locked the door. Then, he carefully took out all of the good items in the pouch at his waist and lined them up on the wooden table in his room. Looking at his trophies, he excitedly rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. He felt excited and restless. He was beyond words.


    The ten small bottles on the left were Mind Concentrating Potions, which he had always dreamed of having. They were even the high quality products that were only internally available to the elites of the training camp. They provided 20% better results than the potions found on the outside. Each bottle was sold for 200 magic crystals, so just these ten bottles would have cost Leon two thousand magic crystals. Thanks to today''s unexpected windfall, Leon didn''t have to spend a single crystal of his own to buy them.


    These Mind Concentrating Potions were more than enough to allow Leon to break through the barrier of Beginner Apprentice, and would immediately bring his Spirit to the level of peak Intermediate Apprentice. Whether he could easily enter the realm of Advanced Apprentice depended on Leon''s personal potential.


    His eyes lingered on the Mind Concentrating Potions for a long time before Leon reluctantly moved on to the next item.


    It was an azure magic crystal core. After Leon took it out from his waist pouch, he was finally able to see the tiny electric arcs lingering on its surface. It looked like the magical crystal possessed its own unique life force, as it was able to absorb the lightning energy hovering in the air. It produced a mystical realm that perfectly suited for Lightning Elementium.


    Judging from this, this was definitely a magical core taken from a Pseudo-Mage level Storm Giant.


    Based on their characteristics, Storm Giants should be categorized as Elemental beings. However, the only Storm Giant population that existed in the Mage World had a rather strange bloodline. It was said that in the ancient era, a Great Mage once conducted some extremely risky bloodline experiments. He used some kind of magical method to merge his bloodline with a group of Wind Elementium. He intended to increase the size of his heir, who had the same bloodline.


    In the Mage Continent, those called Great Mages were all Mages of the third grade and above.


    It was worth mentioning that his experiment was a huge success. He managed to create a species new to the World of Mages: the Storm Giants. They were powerful magical creatures who had the bloodline of an Mage and the body of an Elementium.


    Sadly, these Storm Giants experienced an identity crisis. Apparently, they preferred to be friends with their own kind, the Wind Elementium, who were rather simple and biddable. Therefore, a huge number of Storm Giants escaped the control of the Great Mage and gathered together with Wind Elementium found in the natural environment. In the end, they established a small Storm Giant Kingdom in the Emerald Hills at the center of the Mage Continent.


    Due to their special identity, and the fact that they possessed the double characteristics of both Mages and Wind Elementium, they were eventually able to summon countless Wind element creatures from the Element Plane after constructing a huge Storm Altar. As a result, they became a powerful middle-sized clan located at the center of the Mage Continent.


    It was likely that the Lightning crystal in Leon''s hand was a product from the Storm Kingdom.


    The Storm Kingdom and the Zhentarim Association had signed a magical contract.According to the magical contract no clans within the central region of the Mage Continent were free to hunt Storm Giants with intention of obtaining their Elementium core. However, such magical contracts could never prevent the existence of the black market and hunters. Privately, similar rare resources were still secretly traded by many parties.


    The Pseudo-Mage level Earth element core Leon obtained last time might only cost 500 Magic Crystals to buy, however, this Lightning element core would cost Leon 1200 Magic Crystals. The reason was simple: it was rare.


    Perhaps in terms of pure combat strength, an Earth element core would bring Leon more direct and powerful improvement. But since Leon wanted more diversified combat tactics, he felt it was better for him to have a Lightning element core. Since the Clay Golem brought Leon the ability to travel underground, how about a Lightning Golem? Maybe it would allow Leon to fly in the sky!


    To be honest, after he had taken a ride on Socrates Condor and soared freely through the sky, Leon had fallen in love with the feeling.


    But, in order to maximize the yield of this Lightning element core, Leon would need the Chip to perform tedious calculations and adjustments and, through the use of magical formations, uncover the true potential of this crystal. So he had no choice but to temporarily hoard it on the shelf and wait until the Chip had finished its calculation. Only then could he consider how he was going to craft a new Lightning Golem for himself.


    As for the third item lying on the table, it had been traded for the Demon Vine Lady''s magic notebook. It was a powerful Fire element treasure produced from an underground magma volcano: a Fire Diamond. Sadly, a Fire Diamond was a magical item and not the magical core of a Fire Element creature. It was very difficult to use it to craft a Fire Element Golem.


    Although it couldn''t be used to craft a golem, a Fire Diamond was also a magical item Leon had been eagerly looking for. With this item now in his possession, he was one step closer to the staff of his dreams.


    By using a Fire Diamond as the focus gem for his magic staff, not only would it hasten the gathering speed of Fire Elementium, it could also bolster the strength of any Fire element spells Leon cast. Therefore, the benefits it brought were not any less than those a golem would have.


    Currently, Leon had found the focus gem and the mithril used to create the runes on the body of his future staff. The only thing left was to find a magic staff that suited Leon the most. In order to craft the magic staff of his dreams, Fire Dragon Wood was the most inferior option, Fire Coral was the second best, while the backbone of a Fire element demon beast was the perfect choice.


    But the problem was, such rare resources could only be found accidentally and not by searching for them. How was Leon going to find a backbone of Fire Element demon beast? Leon had been worrying and hesitating recently. He didn''t know if he should wait until he found the perfect material, or try to find some Fire Corals to meet his urgent need.


    Pondering on such a question would never lead to any real answer.


    Left with no choice and with a wry smile on his face, Leon placed all the items back into his storage waistband.


    Although he was eager to try out the effect of those Mind Concentrating Potions, he couldn''t do it now. He had an important mission to accomplish tonight. The mission was directly related to the other bet he faced tomorrow.


    So, after briefly admiring his war trophies, Leon rushed to the third floor of the Mage Tower. He plunged into the Alchemy Experiment Room, only returning to his residence the next morning with a completely burned out body and mind.


    Sadly, before he could get even two hours of sleep, someone came knocking on the wooden door of his residence.


    It was Kevin.


    It seemed like he wanted to keep a close eye on Leon, as if he thought that Leon was afraid and was in danger of running away from the fight.


    But when he saw Leon''s relaxed face, he couldn''t stop himself and asked, "What were you doing yesterday night? Don''t tell me you totally forgot you have a very important battle today?"


    "Ugh... I was overexcited because of the sudden windfall yesterday, and was having a hard time sleeping." Leon simply made up a reason to explain the dark bags under his eyes.


    Kevin''s face showed that he obviously didn''t believe Leon. But out of curiosity, he asked the following question: "Are you confident about today''s battle? Let me tell you, in order to stop you, a kid who suddenly appeared and suppressed the head of those veterans, they spent the entire night working busily. Possibly, they''ve come up with all kinds of solutions to deal with your Earth elemental golem. You... are you really confident about fighting Mark today?"


    "Do you want me to win or lose?"


    "That... Kid, to be honest, I see a good future ahead of you. I''ve never seen any apprentices with abilities similar to yours. If you put them to good use, you''ll be do really well in the Underground Cave. And that''s why I''m so eager to get you into the elite group! But... your debut yesterday was offensive and conspicuous. Boss Hulk only intended to let you put on a show of your ability and introduce you to the members of the elite group, but... you went straight in and defeated Dark Wood, a veteran member."


    "Was it a big deal?" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "More than big! I''ve never seen the members of the elite group bound by a common hatred for the enemy. Because of you, they''ve all contributed their strategies and their weapons, and have brought out all of their methods of dealing with an enemy who can travel underground. So, you better be extra careful today. I''ve reminded Mark; as long as you admit defeat, he''ll stop attacking at once. He won''t leave you with any permanent damage!"


    "Master Kevin, do you trust me?"


    "What?"


    "No matter how much they''ve prepared for this battle, I''m still confident about today''s battle. So... if you do trust me, why don''t you place your bet on me? What do you say?"


    Kevin was instantly silent. He stared at Leon, who was looking back at him seriously, and felt puzzled.


    Leon''s opponent was a unique, strong guy in the training camp: the Thunderous Axe Mark. Unlike Dark Wood, the guy didn''t have any significant weakness. After all, Dark Wood was a dark spell caster who spent his days with corpses. Once his curse spells and the army of monster corpses failed, he would have no more arrows left in his quiver. After all, Dark Wood himself was like a skeleton ¨C so weak that couldn''t even stand a gust of wind.


    But Thunderous Axe Mark was a totally different opponent. His mighty strength was more than enough to fight equally with Leon''s Demon Alligator, while his excellent Physique had brought him magic and a physical resistance that caused his opponents to despair. As long as he had ways to force Leon out from the ground, or had the ability to attack him underground, Leon''s Clay Golem wouldn''t even be able to last for three to five minutes.


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    Under such circumstances, why was Leon still so confident?


    This huge mystery bugged Kevin for the entire journey. He was still pondering the answer even as both men stepped down from the condor and once again entered the training camp.


    Staring at the ocean of people, who were waiting at the side of the battlefield, Leon smiled and leaned over to speak into Kevin''s ears. He whispered, "Master, why are you so confused? You''re the one who brought me to this training camp yesterday, and that means you''ve also offended every single man in this place. Why don''t you place your bet on me today? Once you win, what can they do to you? Who will have all their money? Why are you still hesitating?"


    The distressed expression on Kevin''s face grew stronger.


    He really had boarded a sinking ship! Now, it would be difficult for him to disembark from this situation!


    ...


    2024 Words

 Chapter 66: Leon vs Mark

    When Leon stood once more in the middle of the battlefield, he was immediately overwhelmed by Mark''s imposing aura.Back when he was still on Earth in his previous life, being overwhelmed by a person''s imposing aura might just only be a metaphor. But in this world of highly advanced magic where even spirit and faith could become some kind of force, one can actually feel the intense spiritual pressure and the aura emanating from another person.


    Through the Chip''s feedback, Leon realized that his opponent had at least seventeen points in both Strength and Physique with a tiny bit lower amount of Spirit which was at least sixteen points.


    It was a powerful aura forged from an intrepid physique and powerful spirit. It made Leon have difficulties in movement making him feel as if he was standing right in the heart of a powerful storm from Mother Nature. He even felt a slight burning sensation of pain on his skin.


    Leon knitted his brows in a tight frown.


    Looks like he has to improve his Spirit as soon as possible, or else he would have to endure the intense suffocating pressure given off by advanced apprentice whenever he had to face one.


    This was all due to Leon''s rank being too low. If he had at least the overall strength of an intermediate apprentice, he would be capable of integrating his elemental energy and spirit to form a protective shield similar to that of an energy field. In that case, if he was to face an enemy stronger than him, he would not be like the way he is now who was similar to a man standing naked without any cloth.


    Thunder Axe Mark was a burly man who stood at 2.5 meters tall. He had broad shoulders and a muscular body. Although his axe was still strapped on his back and not in his hand, it still didn''t reduce the violent aura he was giving off.


    At the moment he saw Leon who seemed to have a poor physique, he wasn''t able to hold himself back and bursted out in a fit of laughter.


    "Kid, you''ve got guts! You already know you''re going to be tortured today but you still come out here and face me, hahaha... I like this!"


    Leon narrowed his eyes. While he was enduring the uncomfortable feeling brought by the gap between their ranks, he refuted vaguely.


    "It''s still too early to tell who will be the winner. I hope master Mark will be nice to me later!"


    "Haha... I wish I could. Despite the fact that these guys asked me to break both of your arms and legs and crush half of your bones, I, Mark, am rather fond of you. Good kid, I really didn''t expect you to be able to make Dark Wood, that living corpse, faint because of anger. Honestly, it was pretty enjoyable to watch that. Hehe, since I''m really happy today, I''ll just break both of your legs then. Take this suffering as the welcoming gift from our training camp!"


    "Ugh..." Although having both arms and legs being broken wasn''t an injury that couldn''t be healed in the first place, one would still have to go through a painful healing process. So, upon listening to how Mark talk about this "painful" topic with a rather ''charitable'' tone, Leon simply rolled his eyes taking all of this as a fart.


    "Hey, are you guys ready? Once you''re done with calculating the bets, I''ll start the fight! How long do you want me to wait?" Mark shouted at the side of the battlefield as he rubbed his palms together. Obviously, Mark was a hot-tempered man.


    Meanwhile, it was a lively scene at the side of the battlefield.


    There were oceans of apprentices and pseudo-Mage surrounding Messa who was eagerly shouting out their bets.


    "One hundred and seventy magic crystals! I bet on Mark!"


    "Two hundred and thirty magic crystals! Me too, will bet on Mark!"


    "Ninety magic crystals on Mark''s victory!"


    ...


    ...


    A large illuminated stone slab was erected at the side of the field, showing the bets on the fight. The number of magic crystals that had wagered on Mark was stacking up really fast, soon stopping at a total of 3680 magic crystals. On the other hand, below Leon''s name, it only showed merely 700 magic crystals.


    This actually included Leon''s own bet, otherwise, the bet would collapse with everybody only betting on one side.


    Today''s odds weren''t as exaggerated as yesterday. After being carefully considered and agreed on by everyone, Hulk had taken charge and hosted the bet, the ratio he gave out was four to one. With the odds like this, if Leon was defeated by Mark, aside from the pain and wounds he will be receiving, he would also have to owe a hefty debt. In that case, he would have to sell himself out to the camp, working restlessly in order to pay back his debt!


    For those fighting maniacs of the training camp, being able to profit or not was just a small matter. But pushing the newcomer off the edge was the entertainment they were all looking for.


    However, while the commotion was gradually subsiding and Hulk was about to announce the start of the battle, a deep and hoarse voice suddenly sounded through the scene.


    "Three hundred magic crystals, I bet on Leon!"


    Although the voice wasn''t that loud, it was like a cold breeze suddenly freezing the lively atmosphere. Everyone was stunned for a brief moment and only then did they remember to turn their heads and find out where the voice came from.


    Dark Wood?!


    It was Dark Wood!!!


    In that instant, everyone felt as if their world as they knew it, was suddenly turned upside down. This... how could this be possible? No one would find it strange even if everyone in the training camp had placed their bets on Leon, but it shouldn''t be Dark Wood! Didn''t he know they were actually helping him to vent out his resentment?


    Right when everybody still had their mouths wide open while gazing at each other, speechless, another voice came from the middle of the crowd.


    "I also bet on Leon, two hundred and seventy magic crystals!"


    Kevin! It was Blackhand Kevin!


    Everyone inhaled sharply while showing all kinds of expressions. As the host for today, for the first time, Hulk felt today''s sunlight was rather offending to his eyes. The magic crystals piled up beside him didn''t look so loveable anymore. Although he never had the time to study the art of prophecy, he still had the feeling that today''s wager had gone beyond his control.


    He glared at Dark Wood and Kevin then eagerly shouted with a loud voice.


    "The bet is decided and so I announce, the fight begins now!"


    Following the announcement of Hulk, both men standing inside the battlefield promptly moved.


    The burly man named Mark stretched out his arm, pulling out the giant axe from his back and then held it tightly with his giant palm. At the same time, cracking and popping sounds were heard coming from his body as countless blue electric arcs lingered around him.


    The electric arcs created a powerful chain reaction, causing Leon who stood a hundred meters away, smell the putrid odor of air being burned by electricity.


    Even though he had great confidence in the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon still did not dare to wait for Mark to gather enough energy for a power strike. He quickly stomped his right foot, rushing the Demon Alligator Hunter to sink into the ground with the fastest speed possible.


    Having his strength accumulated to the maximum, Mark threw his head back and let out a raging war cry, striding with steps that shook the earth while charging towards the Demon Alligator Hunter which was descending into the ground. He didn''t use too much of his strength on his feet but every step he took would leave behind a shallow crater full of cracks. Also, despite not charging at them with big steps, Mark still managed to arrive in front of Leon before the Demon Alligator Hunter completely disappeared to the ground below.


    A strong gust of wind brushed past his face as the Demon Alligator''s bulky tail full of spikes and lumps swept by, landing right onto Mark''s axe that was covered with raging electric arcs.


    A loud boom rang out, immediately followed by dirt scattering in all directions. A mini lightning storm then suddenly exploded.


    Leon, who had his body hidden within the Demon Alligator Hunter, sank underground just in time, successfully evading the shower of debris and the lightning storm. However, the crowd clearly saw that before the Demon Alligator was able to completely sink into the ground, a large portion of its long had already disappeared making it look really miserable.


    Concurrently, Mark crouched down and forcefully jumped up with both of his legs, borrowing the force from it and leaped high up in the sky. While his body was still in the air, he let out another raging cry. He used all of his strength and threw his axe down, aiming at the very spot Leon had disappeared to.


    Another earth-shaking explosion could be heard. Carrying with it a dazzling lightning storm, the axe forcefully struck the surface of the ground, shattering the ground and producing a large crater half a meter deep. The exploding lightning storm kept flaring violently at the the bottom of the crater, burning all the dirt into pieces and shaping the sand into molten glass.


    It was such a vicious strike. Let alone resisting it directly, even the shockwave alone would be enough to kill a beginner apprentice.


    In the sensitive spiritual senses of the crowd, Leon''s life force had significantly dropped. In just an instant, he had already lost two-thirds of it.


    Fortunately, the earth had helped Leon block most of the damage, making him suffer only a fraction of the damage from the shockwave. And so, Mark''s thunder strike wasn''t able to defeat him within a few seconds. This made the crowd feel pity and shock then they all sighed.


    If Mark was able to move just a bit faster, or if only he could strike with an even stronger force, perhaps he had already killed Leon who was still in the shallow level under the ground.


    A beginner apprentice challenging an advanced apprentice? What a joke! If the strike landed right on the target, Leon wouldn''t even be able to withstand a single strike from Mark. Maybe only a useless fool like Dark Wood would be defeated by a mere beginner apprentice!


    Enduring the gazes of either wonder, mocking, or disdain, Dark Wood hid his face under the shadow of his hood, showing only a pair of pale green ghastly flames dancing unclearly. No one knew what he was thinking about.


    Only Kevin''s expression changed following the situation of the fight.


    The vicious first strike of Mark nearly scared away Kevin''s soul. His bet of two hundred and seventy crystals was his hard-earned savings for two or three years which he had hoped to use to buy a nice, enchanted dagger. If his rash decision caused all of his savings to disappear, he would be crying out loud.


    What kind of trump card did that Leon have? If it was that Demon Alligator, once it shows up again, it would only be crushed into a pile of clay by Mark''s formidable strength. Kid, oh kid, you better not cheat me, or else I''ll go and bother you every single day!


    At this time, Leon was hiding underneath the ground and spitting blood.


    The enemy''s powerful strike had given him serious injuries. If not because he was able to act just in time, hastily diving deep underground, maybe with just the first strike alone would force him out. Even so, the tremendous shockwave that he felt from the squeezing of the ground had him coughing up a few mouthfuls of blood, nearly making him unable to recover.


    While he was moving quickly in the darkness of the underground, Leon hid inside a small space created within the Demon Alligator Hunter''s body and hastily treated his injuries. After he was done with that, he had a ferocious expression on his face as he tossed out a new golem he had created from the strenuous effort of a whole night. He then drove the Demon Alligator Hunter to slowly ascend to the surface.


    Sure enough, Mark had been on guard against Leon''s sneak attack from underground. On his foot were a pair of strange leather boots that were able to unleash bizarre magical ripples, enabling him to turn the ground underneath his feet into a hard rock, effectively blocking all the earth element spells casted by the Demon Alligator Hunter.


    In the end, Mark simply sat down and crossed his legs while wearing a disdainful look and he shouted, "Kid, from now on, any attack of yours coming from under the ground is useless to me. If you wish to fight me, show yourself now! If you want to prolong this battle, I have no problem doing this with you. I don''t believe your golem will be able to let you hide underground for so long!


    Before he finished speaking, Mark abruptly stood up and pulled out his axe again.


    At a spot nearly a hundred meters away from him, the Demon Alligator Hunter slowly emerged to the surface. Leon stared at him coldly. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Good kid, so you do know what you should do. Today, let your master Mark teach you what a true battle is!"


    After saying that, Mark covered his body again with countless arcs of blue lightning. He wielded his axe and charged towards Leon while howling out loud.


    "Didn''t you want to see what my trump card is? Fine, I''ll show it to you now". Leon grinned. With both hands raised up, he shouted, "Show yourself, my raging fighter!"


    Following his summons, the ground on the battlefield crumbled. Experience more tales on M-V-L


    ...


    2351 Words

 Chapter 67: Golems and their capabilities

    At this moment, the entire battlefield collapsed.In between the locations of Mark and Leon, a large portion of the ground suddenly crumbled and caved-in, revealing a large and terrifying pit. At the heart of this hole, one could see dirt tumbling violently while clouds of dust rose to the surface. A massive figure could be seen gradually emerging from the depths of the pit.


    Mark was forced to give up on his assault. A dignified expression was present on his face as he stared hard at the frightening figure that was slowly coming into view as dust settled down and it revealed its features.


    The first thing he saw was a bizarre looking pair of fiery scarlet eyes, and after that he saw that its body was made up entirely of hard rocks. The triangle-shaped snake head which was molded from Adamantine Rock seemed to be indestructible, while a narrow seam can be found on its pointed snout. In fact, anyone blessed with a sharp vision would easily be able to tell that this gigantic snake, which was constructed entirely from rocks, even had a thin tongue and a pair of very sharp fangs.


    Beyond the snake head was a strange body made from countless rocks of all shapes and sizes stacking onto each other, layers and layers of this formed the intimidating body of this giant rock snake. Since only a part of this snake''s body showed up from the cover of the dust cloud, no one could get a full glimpse of it with most of its body still hiding underground.


    But from what Mark could tell from the body parts that were exposed, looking at it from the ground up to its head that was held high up in the air, he estimated it to be at least twelve meters tall. If its entire body was truly made up of those rocks with high metallic content that were commonly found underground, then with just its frightening weight along with its indestructible body would be enough for it to become the greatest nightmare of most of its enemies.


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    This... was this terrifying Rock Snake one of that guy''s golems?


    Before he could dismiss his thoughts from his mind, the super Rock Snake had opened up its mouth wide, initiating a long-range attack named Gravel Spray at Mark. A vast amount of gravel and dirt was extracted from the end of its tail, channeling through a long winding tunnel inside its body and afterwards it shot out from its mouth, splashing Mark with a massive wall of dirt. From what they could tell, this Rock Snake didn''t bother filtering the things it absorbed from the ground. There were many dried branches, grass and plant rubbish mixed in the dirt that was used in this nasty attack, along with countless underground insects, rats, earthworms and other unknown creatures.


    Such a filthy attack made Mark feel stressed out.


    While letting out an angry roar, he gathered up all of the thunder energy he has and directed it in front of his chest, forming them into a large web of lightning big enough to protect his body. The spray of dirt full of filth that impacted on the finely and closely woven lightning web produced a hissing noise that resounded throughout the entire place. A pungent odor of something burning lingered in the air afterwards.


    In the moment Mark was using all of his strength to hold back the Gravel Spray attack, the audience located at the sides of the battlefield suddenly let out shocked cries.


    "Careful..."


    "Quickly, put up your defenses..."


    ...


    Since Mark''s line of sight was blocked by a huge amount of dirt, he wasn''t able to see beyond the Gravel Spray. However, in a small time frame within a split second, his formidable combat instincts and abundant fighting experience allowed him to react quickly, raising his axe and placing it in front of his chest.


    Puff!


    A muffled explosion sounded out as the web of lightning scattered.


    The terrifying and sturdy triangle-shaped snake head pierced through the dirt wall breaking the lightning web into tiny sparks. It then opened its large ferocious mouth and forcefully bit into Mark''s battle axe.


    An earth-shattering explosion echoed out to the surroundings. The Rock Snake clenched its huge mouth, using the sharp fangs made from tiny pointy rocks to tightly clutch onto the thunder axe, all the while taking advantage of the powerful thrusting force to crazily knock Mark far into the distance.


    If it was another advanced apprentice and not Mark, this tremendous body slam alone would be enough to break their bones and crush them into a meat paste. Fortunately, Mark was a rare apprentice Body-Refining Mage of this training camp, his overall strength second only to Hulk, who was a Pseudo-Mage. Therefore, instead of being turned into a human paste, he could be seen letting out continuous wild roars. His body being stimulated by berserk strength resulted into cracking and popping sounds that could be heard coming from his own bones, and his muscles started to expand and become more robust at an incredible rate. Countless thick snake-like blood vessels crazily twisted and crawled under his metallic muscles...


    The frantic Mark had one of his legs slightly bent down at the front while the other leg stretched out straight to support him from behind. His burly arm which had suddenly doubled in size held tightly on the axe. He had successfully blocked the full force of the Rock Snake''s thrust.


    Although he had succeeded in holding his ground, the land underneath his feet failed him.


    Following the violent thrust of the Rock Snake, Mark''s body kept being pushed backwards. His legs that were like pillars went through the hard ground, producing an increasing pile of dirt being accumulated behind him.


    When the violent strike of the Rock Snake finally had its strength depleted, Mark''s body had already been pushed back for more than twenty meters. The dirt that had piled up behind him became so tall it nearly drowned out his big burly body. The lower part of his body became completely submerged in dirt though.


    "You must have used up all your strength already, huh? Now it''s time for you to taste mine!"


    Mark suddenly raised his head up staring right in front of him at the frightening head of the snake which was still biting on his axe while making eerie sounds. He roared out loud as fury welled up within him.


    He forcefully knocked away the giant Rock Snake, and took advantage of the opportunity when its head drew back slightly. Mark suddenly jumped up with both feet while holding the axe with both hands, brutally chopping into the forehead of the Rock Snake.


    Just like before, another loud explosion exploded out which sounded like metal striking metal ringing through the air. The giant Rock Snake had a ring-shaped body with a circumference of two meters which was entirely composed of Adamantine Rock that can be found underground. The snake was forced back by Mark''s rapid chopping attacks causing huge amounts of rock fragments, dirt and sand to fall from its body like a waterfall.


    Together with the audience, Leon''s face twitched after witnessing how a muscular giant of a mere three meters high kept striking down on the gigantic rock monster which was many more times bigger than Mark. If this Rock Snake was a living creature, all of its bones would have been broken by now. It was a rock monster though and obviously not a living organism. Thus, that amount of damage wasn''t enough to kill it.


    Accordingly, under the long-distance control of Leon, the Rock Snake crazily twisted its body, coiling up into a dirt pillar that towered up in the sky. While that was in action, it retracted its body back into the dust cloud then prepared for another vicious thrust.


    Mark, who had been able to attack it unceasingly before, wouldn''t just let this go. He roared wildly and formed a lightning storm over his body as a protective shield, bending down and then sprinting right into the dust cloud to continue the intense fight he had with the Rock Snake in a chaotic fashion.


    The massive dust cloud was stirred up and wasn''t restrained anymore.


    The air was full of dust that covered everything, blocking the vision of everyone. The chaotic and violent clash of Earth Elementium and Mark''s lightning storm produced disruptions in their surroundings and isolated everything inside from the audience''s spiritual senses. No one was able to bypass those by-product barriers which made them unable to find out the actual situation in the heart of the battlefield.


    From time to time, large chunks of rocks would shoot out from within the dust cloud and sudden explosions of thunderclaps could be heard as well. Judging from these, the audience could infer indirectly how chaotic and intense the fight must be inside.


    Meanwhile, Leon, who was riding on the Demon Alligator Hunter which was standing far from the center of the fight, had a more vivid and direct perception towards the situation inside the dust cloud, compared to the those other people. Under his skillful control, the rapid firing of Dirt Spears from the Demon Alligator Hunter and the Fire Arrows he casted towards the dust cloud would always inflict great damage to the enemy.


    The furious roars that continued to sound out from within were the biggest evidence of how effective his attacks were.


    It was such a remarkable battle which was like that of monsters fighting. It brought an indescribable sense of shock to the onlookers at the sides. Countless eyes of different colors filled with variety of expressions rested on Leon''s face. They had changed their view towards him a lot of times already, previously from disdain to looking down and disregard but now, they had been startled after they examined him to be a rather dignified figure.


    This was a fucking beginner apprentice!


    Even so, he could still engage Thunder Axe Mark in such a fierce battle!


    Although he wasn''t fighting directly in person, but a summon was still part of an apprentice Mage''s strength!


    They couldn''t help but try to imagine. If it wasn''t Mark, who had a strong physique and muscles and clearly a man with powerful combat power that was fighting right now but them... Many elites among the people in the training camp showed painful and struggling expressions. Even though they didn''t want to admit this, but if they were the ones there instead of Mark, maybe they would be struck down on the ground by a mere beginner apprentice, unable to get up anymore.


    This mighty Rock Snake was just too strong!


    It''s overall strength was perhaps not weaker than that of an advanced apprentice of the path of Body-Refining Mage. If taken into consideration, the snake''s frightening rock armor and its fearless onslaught would probably make even those Pseudo-Mages in the camp hesitant to face this monstrosity!


    At the time when everybody still had their minds filled with troubled and distorted thoughts, a ground-shaking eruption flared up through the air. Mark, who had been transformed into a muscular giant, was thrown out of the dust cloud and flew away like a cannon ball, slamming into the ground with tremendous force.


    The crowd was shocked by this and hurriedly turned their eyes over to Mark. They instantly discovered countless frightening wounds covering the entirety of Mark''s body.


    Mark''s left arm was broken and twisted into an unnatural angle while his right arm still looked to be in a good shape, barely able to hold on his axe. The battle axe forged from multiple special alloys had become out of shape while its body was full of deep scratches and bite marks.


    Mark''s body also had the same type of scratches on his axe.


    When he tried to stand up on his feet while ferociously laughing, blood gushed out from the countless wounds he had, making his entire body bathe in blood. A terrifying cut from the bottom of his left eye to his right chin nearly ripped his face into two, of which the exposed flesh turned into a shade of earthly yellow color. A clear sign of being contaminated by Earth Elementium.


    If Mark doesn''t try to remove this Earth Elementium, a wound like this wouldn''t completely heal even with his astounding self-recovery brought by his high Physique.


    "Cough... good kid..." Mark stood still at the place where he landed and coughed up blood then said, "This fellow is really strong! If not because I made a mistake of having few of my helpful magical equipment exchanged for all of these rubbish, you wouldn''t have been the one that had the advantage today... cough..."


    The dust cloud dispersed, revealing the gigantic snake.


    The crowd''s eyes shrank.


    The Rock Snake''s condition wasn''t any better than Mark''s.


    The gigantic snake with the size of a normal human house was now left with only one-third of its original size. Debris kept falling apart from its skull which had been crushed by Mark. The surface of the entire snake''s body was covered fully with black burn marks resulting from the violent lightning strikes. Many rocks on its body had melted and dripped down like hot wax.


    Right in the middle of the broken skull, behind the many layers of Adamantine Rocks, an egg-shaped summoning core could be vaguely seen.


    Although the Rock Snake was pretty much in a very bad shape, that didn''t hinder or cause any problem to its movement, offensive power, and defensive ability. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Some people blessed with keen perception even saw through the cracks of its body how huge amounts of Earth Elementium carried a lot of rocks and sand all around its interior restlessly fixing up all of the damages it sustained. Even the massive damage that was on the head of the snake could be seen closing up at an incredible pace.


    It only took fifteen minutes for this Golem of the earth element to completely fix all of its injuries.


    ...


    2354 Words

 Chapter 68: Food

    Enjoy exclusive chapters from M-V-LLooking at the ferocious Mark who was able to remain standing, Leon secretly felt respect for the man but that doesn''t mean he eased up his vigilance on Mark.


    Clusters of earthly yellow smoke gathered at the severely broken parts of the Rock Snake. Using the Adamantine rocks it got from underground as materials, and the sticky Earth Elementium as the bonding agent, it only took a few seconds for the exposed summoning core to once again be concealed within.


    After it completed its self-recovery, the frightening Rock Snake stood erect and coiled up its long tail made from rocks then thrusted itself to the enemy. The broken mouth opened up widely, revealing a pair of sharp fangs formed from pointy rocks, aiming right at Thunder Axe Mark who could barely stand straight.


    The distance of under thirty meters took only a split-second of time.


    But right before the Rock Snake''s ferocious mouth and its sharp fangs reach its target, a taller, burlier and more terrifying human than Mark appeared in front of him.


    He had the same human body, the same muscles and bones, but this tall man only briefly clenched his fist and lightly punched the snout of the Rock Snake who approached him with a tremendous force. The Rock Snake which had put up quite a fierce battle with Mark shattered instantly into tiny bits, sending fragments everywhere.


    It seemed as if there was an invisible air barrier around this tall man as nothing of the flying debris was able to get close to his body. He was standing right there at the heart of the explosion of dirt and debris but he was still firm just like Mount Tai. He still even had the strength to slowly retract his outstretched right fist that he then pointed at the depths of the dirt storm, performing a grabbing gesture.


    A light puffing sound was heard, as the summoning core that dropped down between the slits on the ground was transported by a powerful force and it fell right into the tall man''s palm.


    The tall man raised his right hand up, and carefully examined the eye-catching core through the light from the bright sunlight.


    What was once a brownish crystal clear surface of the core was carved fully with countless micro runes and arrays with each magical rune emanating strong Earth Elementium and glimmered, forming a three-dimensional micro magical array in front of his eyes.


    To be honest, he was able to clearly see every single rune there is that was carved with lines a few hundred times finer than threads of hair, and he could also roughly identify each individual magical runes. But when he pieced them all together, Hulk could only scratch his bald head as he couldn''t understand how these runes were able to project and shape the incorporeal Earth Elementium into the powerful and ferocious Elementium Golem.


    After he spent an ample amount of time but still failed to comprehend the essence of the magical knowledge behind it, Hulk had no other choice but to secretly sigh for his own lack of talent concerning magical arrays. Meanwhile, Leon had led his Demon Alligator in front of Hulk, staring right at him anxiously.


    Appropriately tossing the summoning core back to Leon, Hulk wore an expression full of disdain as he said, "Look how panicked you are. Do you think I can break it just by staring at it? Alright, alright already! I''ll consider you the victor of today''s bout. I''ll even help Mark admit his defeat! Now you go and redeem your war trophy."


    Leon retrieved the summoning core in a flurry, and then immediately placed it in front of his eyes for a careful inspection. After it suffered violent impacts multiple times, Leon was worried the overpowering shockwave would damage the fragile magical arrays carved on the core.


    Fortunately, after having it carefully examined by the Chip, this summoning core which was able to summon a ferocious Rock Snake from underneath the ground, was still intact. This had eased Leon''s mind.


    As for Hulk''s unexpected interference, Leon did not dare sound any dissent.


    Although the chief of the training camp could easily stop the battle effortlessly, he deliberately used such a violent and savage method to destroy the rocky body of the Rock Snake. This was obviously Hulk''s way of giving a warning towards Leon.


    It looks like he had performed too well today, forcing the chief to use that kind of method to warn Leon not to overdo things. It was the ''gentlest'' method of cowing Leon into submission.


    Nonetheless, the strength of a Pseudo-Mage that Hulk showed truly shocked Leon. The pure power of his muscles and the mastery of such strength, Leon could totally sense something different between Hulk and the other apprentices.


    People had always said Pseudo-Mages were the ones closest to Mages, could this peculiarity be the origin of an Mage''s qualitative change from an apprentice Mage?


    Leon silently lowered his head and diligently remembered what he had comprehended into his heart so that he could take his time in analyzing it in the future.


    "It seems all of us here had really underestimated you!" Hulk said as he supported the wobbling Mark from the side. He continued, "Looks like you are quite reliant on Golems for most of your battle power. Indeed, this will allow you to gain a huge boost of your overall power. Alright, follow me. A talented man like you is needed in this camp. Let me see if I can find a suitable position for you!"


    After he finished saying that, Hulk carried Mark and turned, running towards a large wooden cabin that was quite far. Smiling wryly, Leon touched his nose and followed closely behind Hulk.


    Absolute silence was widespread among the onlookers that were on the side of the field, each and every one of them wore complicated expressions. It was clear that none of them was able to accept that kind of a surprising result. There were even a few advanced apprentices donning long faces, showing miserable looks that was as if their parents just passed away.


    When Hulk passed through the crowed, he suddenly stopped and turned to Dark Wood who also had a complicated expression.


    "Hey dead man, why did you bet on Leon?" he asked loudly.


    Dark Wood pulled down his hood and covered his skeleton-like face. A trembling voice came out from within his shadowed face.


    "If Mark won, wouldn''t that mean I''m useless? Isn''t this outcome better? Now, who would dare to say I was defeated because I''m useless?" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Hulk''s mouth hung open for a while which seemed as if he had something to say but failed to think of any.


    Damn it, although this guy''s answer was rather disparaging, it was still an honest answer. It made the chief of this training camp unable to find a suitable reason to vent his anger on this person.


    "How about you? Why did you bet on him?" Hulk turned to Kevin and asked.


    "This kid told me he was confident in this fight and since I''m really poor, I thought why not try my luck!" Kevin''s nswer was also straightforward and honest.


    "Ahhh..." Hulk was at a loss for words and finally gave up on his intention of venting his anger on someone. "You two lucky guys, why didn''t anyone tell me about this earlier? Hmph. Go and get your rewards now. Hey kid, you follow me, I''ll be treating you to a meal..."


    Hulk really meant what he said.


    Different from what was common formalities where the host would welcome his guests and talk for a bit, a few burly men immediately came in while carrying heavy food boxes in their hands right after Hulk brought his guests in and made them sit comfortably in front of a long wooden table.


    An exquisitely made silver tray was placed in front of Leon. It had some simple but elegant decorations and the words carved on it looked quite mysterious as well. But Leon wasn''t interested in them at all. Instead, he kept staring blankly at the thick roasted meat that was on top of the tray.


    It was a very huge piece of roasted meat weighing at least two kilograms. There were still traces of blood and smoke that could be seen from them. A large glass was placed right beside the tray, the contents of it was some crimson, sticky liquid. Leon tried to sniff it and a pungent smell of blood invaded his nostrils.


    "Eat up!" Hulk said with a sinister and hideous smile, "I rarely treat someone to a meal, don''t tell me you''re not going to be giving me face!"


    The severely wounded Mark was supposed to find a quiet place to treat his serious injuries, but strangely enough, he, too, had struggled for the long table. The bloody meat ribs that was placed in front of him weighed nearly ten kilograms, and the wine glass that came together with the meal was replaced by a large copper basin.


    Leon then turned his head towards the host of this meal, Hulk. Right in front of Hulk was a large piece of medium rare animal rib and judging from its condition where it still had some blood, it seemed to be quite fresh as if it was just newly sliced from the body of some large wild beasts.


    Meanwhile, inside his mind, the Chip gave enlightened him from his silent inquiry.


    Underground Fire Dragon!


    This was the rib coming from an Underground Fire Dragon!


    The Underground Fire Dragon was a type of dragon who lived in the lava region deep within the ground. It possessed a little bit of the bloodline of dragons but didn''t possess frightening abilities like those mega dragons. They also loved to eat sulfur and the Dragon Fruit, therefore they were also a kind of Fire Element demon beast.


    While Leon was still hesitating, Mark had already started to indulge in his huge meal. He had tossed away the huge silver cutlery and used his bare hands to tear apart the rib, gobbled it while ignoring its raw taste.


    Hulk shouldn''t use this to harm him!


    After he ordered the Chip to give the rib a thorough scan and found that there was no problem, Leon finally took the cutlery and tried to cut through his meal. He wasn''t really paying any attention to these utensils but when he grabbed the knife, he realized that this seemingly insignificant silver knife was unexpectedly a magical item. It held two magic effects of Penetration and Sharpen. The silver fork he was holding on his other hand also had the magic effect of Pierce and Strengthen.


    Fuck, these were only cutlery used for cutting through the rib but the magic effects they had were so much better than those defensive magical items owned by most of the intermediate apprentices. Leon couldn''t help but marvel at the gap between different ranks of apprentices.


    Leon sighed and cut out a small piece of meat after considerable effort. He picked it up with the silver fork and placed it in his mouth.


    To be honest, for the very first time he tasted the meat, Leon nearly spat it all out. It tasted raw and bitter but Leon still tried his best and gave it a good chew until he felt his jaw become sore and reluctantly swallowed it into his stomach. When the meat had reached the inside of his stomach, a warm sensation then swiftly surged from his lower abdomen, causing his body to have a reaction towards this burning sensation.


    It was as if Leon''s body suddenly entered into a state of extreme hunger, a strong desire to consume food resonated from his entire body and mind, challenging his will.


    "What''s happening to me? Chip, activate dynamic body scan!"


    "Beep. Dynamic body scanning initiated... traces of Fire Element energy detected... host''s body is absorbing them in a high speed..."


    Accordingly, a dynamic body attribute sheet was projected in Leon''s eyes. Both his Physique and Spirit started to increase slowly. Although the gain was only three to four digits after the decimal point, at least it was still gradually increasing.


    Leon''s eyes flickered.


    Tonic food?


    Could this be the tonic food of this world?!


    ...


    2059 Words

 Chapter 69: Full of energy

    The meat of Underground Fire Dragon tasted bitter and tough.Although the thing placed in front of Leon was technically considered cooked meat, he was still having a hard time ripping, chewing and swallowing it. He glanced towards the other two men who were happily gobbling up their own meal. Leon couldn''t help but wonder whether these two had enhanced their teeth with a Piercing and Tearing spell. Without it, how could they actually manage to chew this meat, which was tougher than cow leather?


    Leon was eating very slowly, but resolutely.


    After switching part of his attention to his increasing Physique and Spirit, he became even more determined to finish this piece of meat. However, it seemed that he was the only one who could have done this. After all, not everybody was able to detect such tiny changes to their attributes.


    The second piece of meat was served right after he finished the first one. The total size of both pieces was at least three times bigger than his stomach. But he still swallowed them down through clenched teeth. At the end, he had even given up trying to taste the meat. He had to rely on his strong will to force them into his mouth and desperately swallow them into his stomach.


    As every single piece of shredded meat and every single chunk of meat cube fell into Leon''s stomach, he found that they were all gradually, yet constantly, emanating an Elementium aura that brought Leon joy. It was the taste of Fire Elementium!


    Normally, if Leon wanted to increase his Spirit, he would have had to rely on his daily four hours of meditation to slowly absorb the Fire elementium freely swimming in his Spiritual domain. Usually, this process would increase the maximum level of his Spirit. It was as if his Spirit was a small pond, and his daily rest would refill the pond to its maximum level while meditating would help him expand the pond''s boundary.


    Leon had previously thought that the only way one could expand the upper limit of their Spirit was through some specially concocted Spirit Potions. However, today''s ''delicacy'' had made him think differently. He now knew that, apart from meditation and Spirit Potions, there was another method which could slowly improve the quality of an Apprentice Mage''s constitution.


    Although consuming a large amount of these potions could quickly increase the upper limit of one''s Spirit, the increase would usually result in some side effects. This method would bring harm to the normal functions of other body attributes. However, the ''delicacy'' that he had just eaten came with no side effects. It would increase his Spirit slowly and would show the same results as meditation.


    Leon had been told before that the Mind Concentrating Potion, like the one he had just bought, would increase one''s Spirit at the expense of one''s Physique. Therefore, this potion had to be taken in moderation or else Leon would become like Dark Wood and turn into a living skeleton.


    While pondering about how he could combine the delicacy and the Mind Concentrating Potion to yield the best result, a cube of meat suddenly got stuck in Leon''s throat. He couldn''t swallow it or cough it out, so he just picked up a glass of crimson liquid and gulped it down.


    As if a flame had entered his mouth and was flowing into his stomach, Leon''s face suddenly turned purple. It seemed as if blood was about to burst from his face.


    This... this was the blood of Underground Fire Dragon!


    Fire Elementium kept emanating from the meat of Underground Fire Dragon and was absorbed and merged into his hungry body. With great effort, Leon managed to swallow the last piece of meat. He finally couldn''t hold up anymore and lay his face on the dining table. His Spiritual conscious had become totally muddled and paralyzed because of the huge amount of Fire Elementium. He found himself being unable to think clearly.


    "Hehe, kid, this is the first truth I wanted to teach you." Before falling unconscious completely, Leon vaguely heard the loud voice of Hulk. "Only by knowing how to eat properly, can an Apprentice Mage, become a better fighter! Remember this!"


    Green didn''t remember a single thing that happened after that. The Fire Elementium exploded in his body like scorching lava melting its way to its destination. It was recklessly rushing through every single blood vessel and vein within his body. The overly-strong Fire Elementium had painted his skin fiery red and made his skin hot enough to burn one''s finger when touched. He was like a human shaped furnace that was on full power.


    Clearly, these Fire Elementium, that were full of strong bioactivity, were extremely suitable for human absorption. They were present in a huge amount and pounded through every single inch of his muscles, bones, tendons and blood. They continuously merging themselves into Leon''s body, bathing his entire body in a grand feast of Fire Elementium.


    Leon was drunk! He was drunk off Fire Elementium!


    ...


    When Leon finally woke up, seventeen hours had passed.


    The time was accurate to the millisecond, as he had been informed by the Chip.


    When Leon awoke, he found that he was lying on a warm, cozy blanket inside of a small single tent.


    As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt like he was going to explode.


    An unprecedented feeling of satisfaction from his bloodline flooded most of his conscious. Leon felt as if his entire body was trembling and moaning in enjoyment. He felt as if every single bone and muscle were cheering, eager to try out their new strength. His bloodline was fully satisfied for the first time ever. It kept urging him to fight and expel the steady flow of raging strength in his body.


    "Chip, what has happened to me? Why am I feeling this way?" Leon had always been a calm man who valued reason before everything else, so he was not accustomed to this unusual impulse.


    "Beep. Detected that the Host''s body attributes have all reached the upper limit... also detected a large amount of unabsorbed bioactive Elementium within the Host''s body... The abnormal feeling the Host is coming from the stimulation of these bioactive Elementium... It is suggested that the Host performs fire spell practice at once so that the accumulated bioactive Elementium can be absorbed..."


    Damn, it was all because of the overly low endurance limit of his body. It seemed that he just couldn''t bear the excessive nourishment he gained from the delicacy!


    Leon instantly bolted up from the blanket. He lightly clenched his fist and immediately felt explosive strength start to gather around his shoulder. For a moment, it made think that he had switched his path to one of a Body Refining Mage.


    He lifted the tent flap and exited from it. He realized that he was still in the training camp and had just been thrown in a tent on the west side. It was opposite from the wooden cabin in the east. With his sensitive senses, he could tell that some of these tents were empty, while others were occupied by men who were either meditating or sleeping soundly.


    It was the morning of the next day. Many elites in the training camp were conscientiously practicing their magic spells at the edge of the large training field. As Leon watched at the skilful and free way they practiced their instantaneous casting, he couldn''t help himself from starting to want to try out his spell too.


    As a matter of fact, instantaneous casting was an ability for matured spell casters. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When an apprentice reached to a certain degree of mastery with a magic spell, they would try to compress or even skip a part of the incantation, while still keeping the continuity of spell casting. The final goal of this laborious training was to be able to cast the spell instantaneously.


    Some powerful Mages didn''t even need to chant the dozens, or even hundreds, of words in a chant. Instead, a few short incantations were all they needed to say to instantaneously cast the spell.


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    However, compressing a long chant into a short one required the spell caster to spend hours upon hours of restless practice. In addition, a secret magical spell legacy was required.


    That was why an Mage family was so important to an Apprentice Mage. Each Mage family would have their own magic spell legacy. Only an apprentice belonging to that Mage family would be able to enjoy the legacies and techniques that were handed down by generations of senior Mages. This would result in making their path smoother and easier.


    Or else, without the aid of such ancient knowledge, an apprentice would have to grope in the dark for everything he tried to achieve. With that, even an apprentice with extraordinary magical talent would still have to waste the precious time he had.


    Take Leon as an example. Currently, if he recited one-third of a magic spell, the spell would enter into an irreversible molding process. If this process was interrupted or he stopped casting midway, he would have to withstand a certain degree of backlash. But, for those apprentices who had the legacy from their family, it was like they were cheating. They knew which part they had to stop, and they knew how to stop casting halfway while avoiding the backlash.


    Just this alone wasn''t something that Leon could learn by himself. He wouldn''t be able to learn it even if he spent countless years practicing spell casting.


    Therefore, this was the advantage of having legacies as their knowledge.


    Those apprentices who had learned ''Free Cast'' could practice their magic spells randomly, and when the spell had almost activated, they would dispel it. They would be able to improve their mastery of the magic spell by repeatedly practicing in this way.


    After all, there was a limit to an Apprentice Mage''s Spirit. Without using instantaneous casting or free casting, they would find their Spirit depleted after casting a dozen magical spells. After that, they could only sleep in order to restore their Spirit. But, by using instantaneous casting, they could practice a hundred or even a thousand times every single day.


    Hence, the progress of an apprentice who had access to a legacy and Leon, who seemed like a feral child, was vastly different.


    Right now Leon didn''t have the time to feel envious or jealous of these apprentices. He brought himself to a corner of the training field and found a large rock as his target. He started to repeatedly cast the latest solidified spell he had: Flaming Spear.


    In comparison to the quiet and calm free casting that was going on beside him, Leon''s spell casting practice was like a wild bombardment. Following his loud and clear reciting, he kept firing one Flaming Spear after the other. Things that looked like burning spears kept appearing in his hand and, while making a hissing noise, flew into the large rock that stood a hundred meters away. It exploded and filled the air with loud booms.


    The Flaming Spear''s swift and violent physical damage, along with its powerful explosion, instantly flooded the large rock target in a fierce and raging sea of flame. The ear-piercing noise of explosion never stopped even for one second.


    If the situation was normal, Leon''s pathetic nine Spirit points would have been depleted after four Flaming Spears. But for some unknown reason, the violent and raging Fire element energy kept emerging from his body. It was so strong that he even felt like his Spirit was going to explode.


    Therefore, Leon had no choice but to keep firing Flaming Spears in order to release the tremendous pressure he felt on his Spirit. This resulted in the entire training camp being shocked by him!


    ...


    1985 words

 Chapter 70: Magical Families

    Countless napping apprentices roared furiously as they jumped out of their tents, dark shadows under their eyes indicating their need for sleep, cursing their inconsiderate peer in loud voices. But when they saw the young man in front of a large rock target, they had no choice but to halt their actions and angrily return back to their tents.Soon, countless magical glows sprung up on the top of the tents. The sleepless apprentices had no choice but to use magic spells to shield themselves from the disturbance outside in order to return to their sweet dreams.


    After a full half hour, Leon was breathing heavily and his Spirit level was very low.


    Through his delicate senses, he could feel a steady stream of Fire element energy from the depths of his bone and flesh resupplying him with Spirit. This process was much slower than before, and finally at a rate that he could endure.


    "How is it? Do you feel better now?" A deep voice suddenly came from behind him.


    Leon looked over his shoulder and found Kevin standing there.


    "Do you know how many people in this training camp are jealous about the big feast you had yesterday?" His arms crossed, Kevin spoke with a smile on his face. "What you had yesterday was a grand feast of Underground Fire Dragon, which is something many people in this camp dream of having but never even have a chance of tasting. Being treated to a meal by Hulk is something that you should feel proud of, rather than return like a champion from the Underground World!"


    "I suppose that the meat is really expensive?" Leon asked, while scratching his head.


    "Expensive? Not really! In the market, you can buy 500 grams of fresh Underground Fire Dragon ribs with 100 magic crystals, and a glass of dragon blood only costs 200 magic crystals."


    Though Kevin said in a rather relaxed manner, Leon felt like the man was actually talking through his tightly clenched jaw.


    Leon was no longer the same young and inexperienced rookie. He could now clearly understand the true value of magic crystals.


    For an apprentice like him, who had come here while carrying out the simple Underground World inspection mission, each trip to the Underground World would bring him a reward of five merit points and ten magic crystals. For an elite apprentice like Kevin, the reward for each mission was roughly ten merit points and 30 to 40 magic crystals.


    Taking away the basic expenses of purchasing materials and necessities, an elite apprentice with savings of 200-300 magic crystals was considered a rich man. Otherwise, after yesterday''s bet, why had there been so many elite apprentices clenching their teeth tightly and wishing they could devour him alive?


    To be plain honest, after two bets, Leon had taken nearly all of the savings of every single elite apprentice in this training camp. If Hulk had not given out his order, perhaps right as Leon stepped out from this training camp, he would be greeted by countless apprentices waiting to knock him out and rob him!


    Even though he had won himself a huge sum of ''ill-gotten gains'', when Leon heard the actual price of Underground Fire Dragon, he still couldn''t control himself and his face twitching violently.


    After holding back for quite some time, Leon finally couldn''t contain himself and let out a raging roar into the sky.


    "If I had known that thing was so expensive, I would''ve... I would''ve.. definitely..."


    "Definitely not touched it at all?"


    "I would''ve definitely eaten more of them!"


    "..."


    After making fun for a bit, when both men looked at each other again, they actually felt closer.


    In fact, since the first day they had met, Leon had been in secret awe of these elite apprentices who had gone through life and death training. Though he had defeated two rather famous Advanced Apprentices, they were actually fighting publicly in an open field. If there hadn''t been a limitation because of the fighting ground or a restriction to the magic approach they could use, Leon, who was just a beginner apprentice, was still too weak.


    He was strong because of his Golems; he himself was just too weak.


    If he and Dark Wood had been in a thickly forested mountain, Dark Wood, who was an expert on curse spells, would have thousands of ways to drive Leon crazy. And if his opponent had been Kevin, Leon would have definitely died instantly.


    There was no way he could have hidden under the ground all day, trying to avoid the enemy''s attack. No matter what, he needed to come back to the surface to eat, drink, and sleep. When he relaxed his vigilance, the enemy would stealthily kill him.


    Therefore, though his fighting ability had gained acceptance from most people, Leon knew himself. Maybe he really could pose a threat to most of the people in this training camp, but it would not be fatal, and that''s why the members of this training camp could accept him rather leniently.


    If Leon had really been deceived by the glory of his own victories and tried to interact with these people arrogantly, all he would end up with is endless hostility and hatred.


    For this very reason, when Kevin expressed his kindness, Leon immediately repaid that with ten times the enthusiasm.


    Though Kevin was much older than Leon, he was only about twenty-seven, and was still a young man. Hence, they weren''t too different from each other.


    After talking for some time, Kevin pulled out an old sack and gave it to Leon.


    "This is your portion after yesterday''s victory. It''s inconvenient to carry so many magic crystals, so I exchanged most of them into a magic crystal card. It can be used in exchange of magic crystals in all Mage stations belonging to the Zhentarim Association. This is much better than carrying a few thousand magic crystals and swaggering through the streets!" S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon was pleasantly delighted and expressed his gratitude fervently.


    "It is just a small matter, there is nothing to thank me for. In fact, I should be the one to say thanks to you! If not for you, yesterday I wouldn''t have been able to earn a small fortune. Haha, you didn''t see how jealous those guys were; it was such an enjoyable moment!"


    Leon rubbed his palms, but didn''t know how to continue this conversion. Although it was nice to be friends with Kevin, it seemed that Leon had offended many more guys in this camp!


    "Don''t worry, Hulk''s given his order. From now on, you''ll be part of my team. But maybe you didn''t know that, since when Hulk mentioned this, you had passed out and were being carried away from the wooden cabin." Kevin couldn''t help but let out a loud laugh. Though he was teasing Leon, Leon could still hear an undertone of envy from Kevin''s words.


    "Brother Kevin, can you explain the responsibility and power of a camp apprentice?"


    "Haha, no problem! Come, let me bring you back to Mage Tower. I''ll tell you the actual situation of this training camp on our way back!"


    When Leon took his huge fortune and safely returned to his residence at Mage Tower, he finally had a better understanding of what a training camp was.


    The training camp, just as its name implied, was a training camp used to train elite apprentices. But, it was also a collaboration used to maintain the interest of the small size Mage families.


    After all, though it was called the Underground Cave, along with the dark and deep Underground World, it also covered the Kerala mountain range and a vast forest full of resources that spanned thirty thousand miles of land. It was also one of the richest regions throughout the entire Dagon region.


    Also, the Second Grade Mage who had been sent here by the Zhentarim Association had lived in seclusion inside of the Mage Tower and rarely showed himself in public. As long as it wasn''t a major incident, like the Fallen Mages that had attacked them on the surface, he never really interfered in anything regarding the Underground Cave and only focused his attention on his own magical experiments.


    Occasionally, he would secretly venture into the Underground World, but it was mostly to harvest the knowledge and resources required by his experiment. He rarely got involved in the battle between Mages from the surface and the Fallen Mages.


    Truly, all seventeen of the First Grade Mages who ran the Mage Tower of the Underground Cave were the decision makers in every single affair. And behind each of them was an Mage family who was significant in the Dagon region.


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    Of course, the overall strength of these Mage families was insignificant in the eyes of the Zhentarim Association, as they were only considered small Mage families. But in the Dagon region, they were the local villains who controlled everything. Ordinary human nobles and merchants could only seek the protection from the Mage families; only then could they make their living, bringing in endless profit from the Kerala mountain range.


    Herbs, woods, special plants, leather, the cores of demon beasts, mysterious demons... no matter what kind of material or resource, you could always find it here. Countless hunter groups, exploration teams that ventured between the steep mountains within the Kerala mountain range, brought a steady supply of precious resources out and gave the lion''s share to the investor who had supported them.


    But these were low-grade resources. The real items that made the Mage families so filthily rich were the magical materials that came from the Underground World. Dark Grass, Phantom Mushroom, Nine-Eyes Stone ¨C these items that could tempt even official Mages were the main reason why the Mage families could last for hundred or even thousands of years without decaying.


    No ordinary human had the ability to venture into the depths of the Underground World and harvest these resources. Only the mysterious existences who possessed all kind of special approaches, Apprentice Mages, had the ability to venture into the territory of underground creatures and bring back the rare and precious resources from specific regions.


    All seventeen stationed Mages represented the seventeen top Mage families in the Dagon region. As long as they still existed, no outsider could interfere in the interests of these Mage families. As official Mages, of course, they didn''t get themselves involved in such laborious yet time-consuming task. The junior apprentices from each family acted for them in order to complete this harvesting mission.


    In doing so, not only could they ensure the continuity of their family''s interest, they could also train the best juniors of their family. Eventually, the training camp was born.


    If all of the seventeen stationed Mages were the representatives of their respective Mage family, then all of the elite apprentices in this training camp were the hatchet men for their respective Mage family. Once something that would hurt the interests of their family happened, they would be the executioners who stood out to protect the interests and the face of their own family.


    Of course, if the exploration team who was sent out or invested in by a family discovered a rare demon beast or devil that they failed to capture, the apprentices stationed in the training camp would contribute their strength and provide the exploration team with the powerful support of magic spells.


    However, the most important activity for the elite apprentices still lay in the Underground Cave.


    Because that place was the lifeline for the Mage families, a resource they would never give up.


    ...


    1941 Words

 Chapter 71: Level Up

    Since the existence of the Underground Cave was very important for all of the Mage families in the Dagon region, foreign elite apprentices such as Leon became their favorite target for recruitment.First, having some foreign recruits wouldn''t cause too much of an impact on their current interests. Without the support of an Mage family, the Apprentice Mages wouldn''t have the guts to offend the official Mages openly. So, the recruited elite apprentices could become their most capable hatchet men, but were unable to become one of their competitors.


    Second, the Underground World wasn''t a peaceful place. The rare resources sought after by Mages from the surface were also the target for the black bastards of the underground. Therefore, the start of every single underground expedition trip and harvesting trip was also the beginning of a chaotic battle between the two parties.


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    Due to extensive exploration and development, all of the rare resources produced in the Underground World had been excavated and their locations marked down as resource sites. What time these resources were matured and what time they needed to be harvested, these things both parties knew very well. Therefore, whenever it was time to harvest, a deadly slaughter would occur in the surroundings of these resource sites.


    Neither party would send out their official Mages in this chaotic battle, but restricted the battle to the level of Apprentice Mages. Only the winner of the battle had the right to enter the resource site and harvest the resources. As for the loser, either they escaped with wounds or they would have been killed in the battle.


    Like this, a bloody slaughter had been ongoing for more than three hundred years in the Underground Cave, and it had become an unwritten edict in this place. Using their strongest apprentices as their token, both parties would fight for the fixed resources every month. The winner took it all, while the loser got killed miserably. It was an arena where all Pseudo-Mages could put on a good show.


    Now, because of the uniqueness of Leon''s ability, he was chosen by the training camp under the lead of Hulk, and was fortunate enough to become a member together with the other elite apprentices. With this, he became busier, as apart from carrying out the apprentice mission organized by the Zhentarim Association every fifteen days, he also needed to join the underground patrol of the training camp intermittently.


    With this, Leon''s speed of obtaining merit point was definitely faster than all other ordinary apprentices.


    After gaining a basic understanding of the situation at the training camp, Leon left Kevin and returned to his residence.


    Having entered his room and properly locked the door, Leon made sure his surrounding was safe. Then he started to take out all of the magical and wondrous items from his body.


    Circlet of Nobility, Thorn Armor Bracelet, Hasten Boot, Screaming Branch, Gnome Goggle...


    When he was sure there weren''t any magic spells still affecting his body, he inwardly gave out an order.


    "Chip, run a scan on the current situation of my body..."


    "Beep. Mission accepted. Commencing scanning of Host''s body..."


    After the slow yet meticulous spirit frequency spread across his body, Leon''s latest stats were projected into his eyes.


    As he stared at the statistics, a smile emerged from Leon''s face.


    Compared to his previously frail body, all of Leon''s attributes were now on a new level. Physique was the attribute with the most outstanding improvement, as it had jumped up by two points. After all, just one month ago, Leon had only had three points in his Physique. Compared to the other Apprentice Mages, he was too frail to stand even a gust of wind.


    Though the other three attributes hadn''t increased by a big margin, they all had a significant improvement, and were no longer in the stagnant state like the past.


    After he browsed through his own attributes, Leon sat comfortably in the chair. He casually pulled out a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion from his storage waistband, held it in front of his eyes, and examined it silently.


    The light blue potion was wobbling within the tiny bottle and some tiny blue pellets could be vaguely seen swimming within the liquid. But as their aura was isolated within the bottle, it was very difficult for the Chip to get an accurate analysis of the ingredients contained in this potion.


    Leon gently pulled out the cork and a unique smell of the sea instantly came to his nose. Without hesitation, Leon threw his head back and gulped down the potion in one go.


    Just as the potion entered his mouth, a light blue mist suddenly sprayed out from his nostril and formed into a thumb-size piteous mermaid in front of his eyes. The tiny mermaid quickly withered and aged in the air, and when its incorporeal body had nearly vanished, a sharp and miserable shriek suddenly resounded throughout the entire room.


    The shriek didn''t last long, and the image of mermaid quickly vanished, followed by the dissolving of the blue mist. But the mermaid''s sharp cry had penetrated Leon''s mind with a grieving and pathos curse.


    "Chip, what just happened?"


    "Beep. Detecting the existence of ''Flesh Curse''... Preliminary estimation shows it is the potion''s negative side effect. By dispelling it, the effectiveness of the potion will be lower... Does Host want to use Spirit and dispel this Flesh Curse?"


    Leon sighed inwardly.


    Before, he had heard that the Mind Concentrating Potion had a strong negative side effect; looked like the rumor was real. In order to increase his Spirit, he had no choice but to endure the ravages of this Flesh Curse.


    "Negative. Just keep the dynamic scanning going!"


    "Command accepted. The effect of the potion is starting..."


    On the attribute sheet projected in front of Leon''s eyes, the number representing his Spirit slowly started to rise. At the same time, his Physique also started to drop.


    8.43... 8.44... 8.47... 8.53... 8.62...


    4.98... 4.97... 4.95... 4.92...


    Fortunately, yesterday''s grand feast of Underground Fire Dragon meat had brought Leon plenty of vitality, which minimized much of the pain on his internal organs, though it still felt like being bitten by thousands of ants at the same time. Otherwise, even he himself couldn''t be sure if he would able to endure this painful process till the end.


    While enduring the heartbreaking pain coming from all over his body, he was only happy because of the ever increasing Spirit.


    8.98... 9.03... 9.08...


    Even in pain, Leon smiled as he witnessed his Spirit finally stepping over eight and successfully becoming nine.


    Finally, when his Spirit stopped at 9.27 and didn''t move again, Leon let out a muffled groan and gave out a command, "Chip, dispel the Flesh Curse!"


    "Command accepted! Releasing Fire Elementium..."


    A warm burst of energy started to flow through his entire body and the aching and tingling sensation gradually subsided before disappearing completely. Leon was more focused on the attributes that had changed:


    Ugh... this bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion had brought an increase of 0.85 to Leon''s Spirit. At the same time, his Physique had dropped by 0.77 and even his Strength had dropped by 0.05.


    Leon stood up and exercised his body. Though the feeling of emptiness brought by the reduction of his Physique was still there, it wasn''t as strong as he had expected. It seemed like the grand feast he had yesterday brought him some hidden benefits! Meanwhile, the increase of his Spirit brought Leon an improvement of his overall ability. Both the speed of his thought or the profoundness of his spirit senses had significant improvement.


    Tempted by the result, Leon hesitated for half a second before he took out another bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion, pulled out the cork, and gulped it down.


    Leon strenuously endured the huge negative effects of the potion: the same pain, the same Flesh Curse, the same anticipation. The only focus of his attention was the Spirit, which was constantly increasing.


    9.29... 9.33... 9.46... 9.52...


    ...


    Suddenly, the trifling tones of the Chip chimed out, "Warning, Host''s muscle damage has exceeded 17%."


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 19%."


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 21%."


    "Beep... warning! Muscle damage has exceeded 21%. Non-interference will result in Host entering a temporary state of decay. Does Host want to interfere?"


    Leon lightly clenched his jaw and replied with a deep voice. "Negative!"


    The original aching and tingling sensation had turned into a severe pain, like his heart were being sliced through, and beads of sweat started to roll down his forehead. On the chair, Leon twisted and struggled through the pain, relying on his strong will so that he wouldn''t pass out. If he passed out, he would lose control and the Flesh Curse would wreak havoc on his body before it dissolved itself. No doubt, that would bring even more damage to his Physique!


    So, even if it only spared him losing 0.01 Physique, Leon still tenaciously kept himself awake.


    9.87... S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 22%."


    9.93...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 23%."


    9.99...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 24%."


    10.03...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 25%."


    Sensing that his Spirit had stopped moving, Leon finally shouted, "Dispel!"


    As the warm burst of energy once again flowed through his body, the severe pain subsided entirely.


    Leon placed both hands on the armrest of the chair and tried to push himself up, but he failed twice in a row. The severe pain numbed his body and stopped it from responding to his control.


    Just at that moment, the latest attributes refreshed in front of his eyes.


    It finally broke through ten!


    As of now, Leon was honored to be an Intermediate Apprentice.


    From a Beginner Apprentice, who only had eight Spirit, to an Intermediate Apprentice of ten Spirit, it had only taken Leon one and a half months, but he had spent six whole years in the past just to increase from six to eight Spirit. This was clear evidence of the huge difference between someone with sufficient resources and someone without.


    But in order to achieve what he had now, Leon had paid a huge price with his body.


    His Spirit had increased from 9.27 to 10.03, a small change from single digit to two digits, but his Physique had shrunk back to 3.17 from 4.21, a jaw-dropping reduction. Along with that was a 0.01 reduction in his Strength and a reduction of 0.08 in his Agility.


    The damage caused by the Mind Concentrating Potion increased progressively!


    ...


    1785 Words

 Chapter 72: Spirit 10

    To be honest, Leon was acting rather impulsive by consuming the Mind Concentrating Potion!According to the process he had understood earlier, a time interval of at least three to four days was required between each intake of the potion. This was so that he could avoid the cumulation of damage. But, because he thought that he was a young, strong and growing man, he decided to take the second potion right after the first. After all, he didn''t have the patience to wait.


    The consequence brought about by his reckless decision was obvious.


    After the first potion, his Physique was only reduced by 0.85, but the second potion had brought it down by another 1.05. If Leon had taken the third potion, perhaps his Physique would''ve taken a nose dive of nearly two points.


    After all, the parameters calculated by the Chip were just the digitized representation of his body''s attributes. All four major body attributes weren''t isolated but supported and influenced each other. For example, Spirit and Agility influenced the hitting accuracy of long range attack and the frequency of attacks. Spirit and Strength together influenced reflex and explosive force. Meanwhile, Physique was the foundation for all attributes. It worked with other attributes and influenced a person''s amount of health, their physical and elemental resistance, evasion, and many other aspects.


    When Leon''s Physique dropped from 4.98 to 3.17, the reduction of two points not only lowered his health points, but also caused a decay to his entire life system.


    At this moment, Leon felt as if his entire body was empty.


    The feeling of emptiness and hunger brought by the quick decay of his Physique kept bugging him. It was a really uncomfortable feeling and made all his internal organs feel like they were being burnt by fire.


    As he was left with no other option, and temporary had no strength to stand up, Leon reached his hand to a small copper bell on his table and rung it.


    Following that, a unique soundless wave rippled through the air, and a wooden, human-like face suddenly protruded from the empty surface of the table.


    "Mister Leon, may I know what special service you need?" Surprisingly, the wooden face spoke.


    "Food! I need food right now! Now, immediately, right away!"


    Find adventures at M-V-L


    "May I know what grade of food you need? We offer an ordinary set meal of nobility. The degree of luxury is guaranteed to be the ultimate enjoyment among human noble. Each set only costs one magic crystal. We also provide a magical energy set meal. All the ingredients are taken from intermediate to advanced level demon beasts found in the depth of Kerala mountain range. Each set only cost five magic crystals."


    "Magical energy set meal. I want it right now!"


    "Understood! Your order has been accepted, please place the meal fee inside of my mouth!" Following what it said, the protruding face opened up its mouth.


    Leon took out five magic crystals from his waist pouch and placed them into the mouth of the human face. It was originally a solid wood carving, but now it had turned into a crack that led to a secret place. It quickly swallowed the magic crystals.


    After the wooden human face swallowed the magic crystals, it suddenly expanded and transformed into a square wooden box. When the wooden box finally exploded into countless wooden fibers and retracted back into the table, a steaming hot rib placed on top of a silver tray was revealed in front of Leon.


    A set of exquisite cutlery lay next to the meal. The meal consisted of an appetizing fried rib, garnished with red, blue and white vegetables along with some tasty sauce. It was paired with a glass of fragrant grape wine.


    As Leon wasn''t a picky man, he didn''t pay too much attention to his meals. However, he had to admit that for the Apprentice Mages who had been immersed in a boring routine, a meticulously prepared meal like this was considered a huge mental compensation.


    Wasting no time on table manners, Leon savagely exterminated the fried rib like a hungry ghost rushing for his food. When the entire rib finally rested in his stomach, the burning hunger had finally subsided.


    "Chip, can you identify what this meat is?"


    "Beep. The possibility of Iron Rhinoceros is 87%, Berserk Beast is 10%, Gray Pocket Beast is 2%..."


    The Chip showed Leon a long list, but the possibility of the last seven to eight were so low that they could simply be ignored. Only the first few had the highest possibility.


    Leon moistened his hungry lips, threw his head back and gulped down the grape wine.


    He could clearly felt that the magical energy meal he had just now was far inferior to the Underground Fire Dragon meat he had yesterday. Also, the Iron Rhinoceros, who the meat had the highest possibility of coming from, should''ve just been an intermediate Earth element demon beast. The Elementium contained within the meat was totally unmatched with his elemental affinity. Although it could still bring him a huge amount of health points, it didn''t provide any benefit to his Fire element innate ability.


    It looked like if he wished to replenish both his health points and Fire element innate ability at the same time, he should choose meat from those Fire element demon beasts. The higher grade, the better.


    Therefore, urged by his hunger, Leon once again rung the copper bell.


    As expected, when Leon mentioned straight away that he wanted the Fire element demon beast as his meal, the wooden face immediately offered him a long list of delicacies.


    Flaming Tiger ¨C 15 Magic Crystals per 500 grams Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Fire Lizard ¨C 20 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    Inferno Hound ¨C 25 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    Fire Swallowing Sparrow ¨C 30 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    ...


    Leon quietly listening with his eyes closed. From time to time, he would ask for more information. Soon, he made up his mind and picked a delicacy that suited him the most: Fried Heart of Inferno Hound.


    After paying 25 magic crystals, the wooden face quickly swallowed the dishes on the table and revealed another luxurious meal.


    This time it was not a rib but a fresh heart that was still pumping lightly. It seemed there was a fire source concealed within the fist-size heart. It was still raw and fresh when it appeared, but following an explosion of the fire source, a scorching hot flame soared up to the roof before disappearing in an instant.


    When the enshrouding heat finally vanished into the air, a fresh and fragrant fried heart of Inferno Hound was revealed in front of Leon.


    Leon first used the table knife and poked a small hole on the surface of the heart, then suck all the warm blood inside of it in one go. When the warm and appetizing liquid flowed through down his throat and reached his stomach, a raging and explosive sensation made Leon so happy that he couldn''t help but close his eyes in enjoyment.


    Soon after wolfing down everything in his mouth, Leon sliced the heart of Flaming Hound into small equal sizes and tucked in one after another. Whenever a piece of heart exploded in his stomach and began to emanate a raging Fire element energy, Leon had the impulse to moan because of the pleasure feeling.


    The raging Fire element energy kept flushing throughout his entire body. Although it made him drenched in sweat, it was an extremely refreshing.


    After he finished two sets of Flaming Hound meals continuously, he finally managed to replenish part of his Physique, which had been reduced a lot. In addition, there was a slight increase to his Spirit.


    Strength ¨C 4.04, Agility ¨C 4.30, Physique ¨C 3.34, Spirit ¨C 10.07


    After the wooden face cleared up the leftover dishes on the table, Leon placed both palms on his big belly. He struggled his way to his bed, before starting his daily meditation routine.


    After experienced a targeted food tonic, today''s deep meditation had brought Leon''s Spirit the unprecedented increase of 0.11, which was an additional 0.03 comparing to the normal 0.08 increase. Judging from this alone, if he was able to increase the density of Fire element energy in his body or his surroundings, it would also increase the efficiency of his meditation.


    Leon ordered the Chip to record this finding, so he could use his free time to research for the best meditation formula. After finishing with all these, Leon breathed out a long sigh of satisfaction and sunk into a deep slumber.


    ...


    It was a good sleep!


    After a long hour of sleep, when Leon finally woke up from his sweet dream, he found that his entire body was filled with a powerful yet inexhaustible strength.


    Of course, this was only a sensation of fullness after his Strength had reached the maximum level. After all, he only had 3.34 of Physique and 4.04 of Strength. For a Beginner Apprentice, numbers like this weren''t considered a shame, but if it was an Intermediate Apprentice, it was considered rather ''frail''.


    Even though an Intermediate Apprentice didn''t take the path of Body Refining, he should also make his Strength, Agility and Physique reach the minimum level of five. It was only a body quality like this that wouldn''t hinder their Spirit, placing themselves in an unbalanced course of development. Of course, those like worm controller and Dark Wood were extreme examples and couldn''t be judged by this standard.


    For people like them, their bodies could no longer be judged by normal standards, as they had transformed into completely different body constitutions. The bug''s body of worm controller clearly showed the miraculous signs of vitality and damage sharing, and he could be considered an undefeated cockroach.


    Meanwhile, although Dark Wood''s Physique was extremely low, he obviously possessed some unspeakable special abilities. At least, Leon''s Demon Alligator had attacked him multiple times with Paralyze Gaze during their battle, but it seemed like he wasn''t affected at all. Clearly, his strange body constitution had an immunity toward such spell.


    Leon briefly exercised his body. Right when he decided to pay a visit to the library in this place, someone came knocking on his door.


    It was Bleia.


    When Bleia strode into his room with rather charming steps, her eyes were instantly filled with unconcealed puzzlement.


    "You... your Spirit has reached ten?"


    The strange feeling coming from Leon''s body made Bleia think that there was something wrong with her senses, as it was obvious that the spiritual ripple could only be owned by an Intermediate Apprentice.


    "Yes, I just made a breakthrough yesterday. Oh, right. I suppose you''re here for the war trophies? Let me tell you some good news, I successfully sold all those war trophies, and I got us these treasures!" While saying that, Leon took out a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion from his waist pouch.


    Bleia took over the potion and gave it a closer look. An expression of sudden comprehension emerged on her face. She then gave it back to Leon.


    "You can keep this yourself! A low-grade potion like this has no effect for me, but it can still provide some benefits to you. Remember, don''t consume them continuously, and don''t forget to recuperate after having it. Or else, the condition of your body will become really bad!"


    Leon was startled.


    Although he did expect that Bleia wouldn''t care too much about this potion, but her indifferent attitude of giving it back still surprised him. After all, a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion was five merit points and five magic crystals in this Mage Tower. Anyone who went to the Underground World at least once would understand how valuable a merit point was.


    Therefore, Leon was left speechless.


    ...


    1981 Words

 Chapter 73: Underground World

    Unlike the eternal darkness, the Underground Cave was never a calm place.Because most of the regions had only been vaguely surveyed, even the native underground species who had occupied this domain for a long history, didn''t own a completely reliable map.


    The underground tunnels could stretch for miles; sometimes they expanded into massive caverns more than a thousand meters wide and sometimes they narrowed so even the Cave Dweller couldn''t squeeze through. The biggest cavern was like a miniature surface world: there were hills, valleys, an underground river, and lakes. In this three-dimensional environment, most of the species could utilize the cavern ceiling and walls, using their innate ability or a magic spell to fly, hover, or even ride on some of the creatures who could walk on walls (like the giant spiders or some kinds of lizards) and travel freely in this domain.


    As the only city built in the Underground World by the exiled Mages, the location of Elysium City was top secret. The rock stratum, rich in metal, could easily isolate any ill-intentioned probes from the outside world, and, together with the dark and deep caves scattered across the entire Underground World, the creatures of darkness hiding in the tunnels, Golems, and underground natives, made it so no outsider could distinguish the single passage that led to Elysium City from countless winding tunnels in the darkness without being led by an Elysium City resident.


    Some said the mighty Second Grade Fallen Mage of Elysium City had set up a massive formation of illusion outside of the city, and it was able to wipe out every single trace of Elysium City''s existence. With that, even if an enemy really did find his way to the area, he still wouldn''t be able to identify the exact location of the city, even if he left no stone unturned. Explore new worlds at M-V-L


    Elysium City, Catsear Tavern.


    When the huge firestone hanging high up on the cavern ceiling started to go off, the tide of darkness flowed on.


    For the Fallen Mages who lived in the dark Underground World, there wasn''t a clear difference between day and night. Without using something to reference the time, their life would become muddled and it would become tough to arrange everything in a regular manner. Thus, having inherited some habits from the surface, the Fallen Mages with powerful abilities and a bagful of amazing tricks mined a huge number of firestones from the underground and used a magical array to make them light up according to the time on the surface world.


    Thus, Elysium City finally attracted a large group of Apprentice Mages who had been driven into a corner and made them the city''s first batch of loyal residents.


    When the night screen was down, the streets and alleyways of Elysium City lit up with torches and bonfires and a dimmed oil lamp hung on the door of Catsear Tavern.


    Pushing the dilapidated and dirty door open, a long-faced Langdon came through the door. Having entered, the noisy and lively atmosphere immediately brought a frown to his face.


    It was only seven in the evening, but the tavern was fully packed with drunkards of all species. Basically, all of the famous underground species had representatives here. Of course, this didn''t include the lower class species.


    Inferior species like Hooked Horrors and Petrified Lizards would definitely not have the status of an Elysium City resident. Instead, there were mostly demi-human or intelligent species, who looked human. For example, Lizardmen, Gnolls, Dwarves, and Ratmen.


    As he stared at a group of large-size rats walking upright in front of him, looking at their ugly hairy faces, Langdon''s mind filled with disgust. He was a genuine human being, after all.


    Of course, an ordinary human wouldn''t be able to survive in Elysium City, which was dominated by demons and monsters, but Langdon had no fear at all. He even ferociously kicked away a Ratman who got in his way. He could do this because he was an Apprentice Mage, a Pseudo-Mage.


    In Elysium City, aside from the Master Mages who rarely showed themselves in public, a Pseudo Fallen Mage like him was considered a supreme existence. Wherever he went, countless underground natives would give way to him in a rather flattering manner.


    His light blue apprentice robe was decorated with countless mysterious and undecipherable golden runes that blinked sometimes as he moved, giving him a magical and mysterious air. Combined with a handsome appearance and his cultural and elegant bearing, Langdon looked like a noble. But too bad, the once elegant face looked extremely gloomy right now.


    After he kicked away the Ratman who got in his way, and totally ignoring the squeaking protest, Langdon strode to the counter, forcefully slapped the counter-top, and let out a raging roar.


    "Give me a bottle of Flaming Wine!"


    The noisy and lively tavern suddenly became dead silent.


    Old John, who was leisurely cleaning wine glasses on the other side of the counter, rolled his eyes, murmured, and pulled out a bottle of wine from under the counter and slid it over the smooth counter top.


    Once the bottle was uncorked, the strong, spicy smell of wine immediately filled the air inside the packed tavern. Countless hairy faces poked their nose into the air and their shining saliva started to drip from their lips.


    Breathing heavily and with a pair of bloodshot eyes, Langdon, who rarely drank, threw his head back and ferociously gulped down a few mouthfuls of the hard liquor. The spicy liquor rushed into his stomach like raging flames and made it so he couldn''t hold it and burst out with a few dry, hoarse coughs.


    A splash of liquor danced in the air.


    Most of the liquor he had drunk was coughed out.


    The Ratmen, who dressed in old cloth, mimicked humans, and walked upright, immediately flocked up, lay down on the floor, and stick out their big wet tongues, savagely licking the liquor spilled on the stone floor. Though normally they behaved like humans, once they saw something that was good and cost nothing, they would immediately throw away their deceiving behavior and once again expose the true instinct as low-intelligence creatures.


    Elysium City was under strict governance: only intelligent creatures were allowed to become its residents, and they had to appear human. In order to get themselves status in the city, many Ratmen, Gnolls, Lizardmen had no choice but to dress in dirty cloth which they simply picked up from piles of rubbish, stand upright, and walk with strange and staggered steps, as if pretending they were some demi-human.


    In this mini city ruled by Fallen Mages, these creatures had no means or methods to earn their living. They ate the rubbish of the Mages. Of course, sometimes they would resort to dirty businesses like stealing from someone; only by that could they gain a better life.


    Looking at Ratmen punching and biting each other for his vomit, Langdon clenched his jaw tightly and wished he could kill them all with an Acid Pool spell.


    He was a distinguished Pseudo-Mage; how he had he ended up spending his days with a group of demons and monsters?! An unspeakable feeling of grief and hatred filled his mind with anger that couldn''t be vented. Langdon threw his head back and gulped the remaining Flaming wine in a swallow, casually tossed out a magic crystal, and staggered out from the tavern.


    "What happened to master Langdon? I think this is the first time we''ve seen him behave abnormally like this?" In a dark corner, two shadows whispered to each other.


    "What? You don''t know?" Another shadow said under its breath. "I heard that his partner is dead."


    "Demon Vine Lady?" The first shadow let out a shocked cry. "You said the Demon Vine Lady is dead?"


    "Quiet..." The first shadow looked around uneasily, realized no one was watching them, and then warned with a low voice, "You just came back from the west, that''s why you don''t know. The east region was rather lively in the past few days. I heard quite a few Pseudo-Mages were having a fierce fight there. They even collapsed a few tunnel levels."


    "Just now you said the Demon Vine Lady was dead? Who killed her?"


    "Who else? Of course she was killed by those bastards from the surface. I hear those Mages on the surface had nothing else to do, so they sent a group of apprentices to our world to seize our resources. The Demon Vine Lady was killed by this group of rookies. Rumor says..." The shadow paused and looked around, lowered its voice, and continued, "Rumor says that she was killed by a Beginner Apprentice whose name is Leon! She..." S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before the shadow could finish its words, a ground shaking boom drowned out its voice. The rock wall beside them had been punctured by a frightening fist and a large hole was left.


    A huge figure, over three meters tall, dashed through the large hole. With both hands, he forcefully pulled up the two shadows, who had been conversing secretly in the darkness.


    Light from the blazing stove in the room shone onto these two shadows. They were Gnolls.


    "You damn inferior creatures, who gave you the audacity to secretly talk about the matters of me, Langdon? I hate hearing the name of Leon. Whoever dares mention it again, this will be an example!"


    After the angry roar of the huge figure, an azure ice energy started to gather within his palms. Within the time of a breath, the two Gnolls froze into two ice statues. Right after that, the huge figure used all his strength and threw both ice statues onto the ground, shattering them into tiny pieces and splashing throughout the entire floor of the tavern.


    "All of you damn dregs, hear my words and remember. Nobody mention that damn name again! Anyone fails to obey this, I, Langdon, will remind them with their own death!" Langdon, who had transformed into a frightening giant, roared out furiously.


    "Leon! You damn bastard, I''ll be waiting for you in the darkness of the underground..."


    ......


    Having no knowledge of what happened in the remote Underground World, Leon was extremely busy for a few days.


    He had finished reading all the books from the Swampy Tower. Only the long-drawn-out process of magical knowledge accumulation and magic spell model analysis were left.


    For the first defensive magic spell he was going to possess, Leon poured in a hundred times the enthusiasm.


    Fire Shield, that was the first defensive magic spell he chose for himself. But, in order to truly master it, Leon first had to master four to five elementary subjects and a huge amount of magic spells. From the to the , and to ...


    Leon was required to master dozens of magic spells knowledge and techniques before he could learn Fire Shield. Though he was assisted by the Chip, it was still an extremely tough mission in order to thoroughly master them one by one.


    But according to the calculations and estimations of the Chip, Leon was delighted to learn that he would be able to bag this Fire Shield magic spell before his next trip to the Underground World.


    This was a great news!


    ...


    1881 Words

 Chapter 74: Training

    After discovering that the food tonic could bring great benefits to an apprentice Mage''s body, the magical energy meal which he only eats once a day became an essential part of his daily life.After being inspired and guided by him, it didn''t take too long for Bleia to become a slave of this "delicacy" as well, accompanying him in indulging in a frenzy eating spree. If not for having to carry out appropriate ''exercises'' after each meal to help in the digestion of bioactive element substance, Leon would surely change all of his regular meals into magical energy meals.


    For the following days, every morning was spent on studying for magic knowledge, be it rain or shine. Leon utilized fully the help of the Chip, instilling the huge amount of knowledge he learned into his brain, then saved them in a systematic manner.


    Noon time was the most important time of the day, being the time to enjoy the various delicacy available to them. Both of them had already tried every single one of the magical energy meals that was provided by the Mage Tower, but chose to eat the one that suited them the most. Leon still preferred the Fried Heart of a Flaming Hound while Bleia enjoyed drinking the blood of a Wyvern.


    The insanely high daily meal expenditure of fifty magic crystals had caused their Physique to skyrocket. Currently, Leon would have daily increase of 0.3 to his Physique. As for Bleia, although she didn''t experience such an incredible development, she was still euphoric, showing a look of satisfaction and contentment.


    After they finished eating, it was finally time for appropriate "exercises" where Bleia would give Leon a good beating. Leon practically turned into a high quality human punching bag, brutally tortured by Bleia.


    Facing Bleia who had used her full speed from the get-go, Leon was forced to wear his Circlet of Nobility and only then can he barely make out her flickering figure. Whenever his palms holding scorching flames moved slower, he would be rewarded with five bloody shallow scratches on his body.


    For the first three days, Leon''s body would be full of wounds after every fight. His body which had just grown a bit sturdy looked like it had been used as a scratching post by more than a hundred catwomen at the same time, was full of crisscrossing scratch marks.


    Leon had a sorrowful discovery that, without the help from his Golems, fighting Bleia all alone was as if he was inviting torture. Bleia could even use the gentlest ''touch'' to reduce his health points to one, while his flaming palms couldn''t even touch the corner of her dress.


    Initially, he thought of suddenly changing the direction of his flames to give Bleia a surprise attack, but the same technique had become useless the second time around when dealing with Bleia, who was an agility type assassin Mage. Without a suitable defensive magic spell, Leon would never be able to withstand Bleia''s attack just with the Burning Hand alone.


    As for the reason why he didn''t want to use Fire Arrow and Flaming Spear, the answer was too obvious. Even the Burning Hand, the type of magic spell that could be casted with just a thought, couldn''t intercept Bleia in such a close distance, how much more for the Fire Arrow and Flaming Spear which required three seconds of casting time.


    In order to save a little bit of his face, Leon was forced to break his personal vow, secretly ordering the Chip to perform a scan and save Bleia''s attack pattern and habits. After that, he asked the Chip to construct a mini battlefield spellcasting assist system. With the help of this system, the Chip could capture Bleia''s movements, using its incredible calculation speed to derive possible positions she would appear, and also the possible spots she would attack.


    Later, Leon followed the calculations of the Chip and finally caught Bleia.


    Unfortunately, Leon''s temporary success angered Bleia, and he received a continuous and brutal beating from a red figure who suddenly rampaged. Leon didn''t even last for five seconds with his body fully bathed with blood.


    Leon couldn''t help but think Bleia was a lunatic who would be a crazy sex machine in bed, as she could control her attacks at a very precise level without the help of something like the High Precision Chip. This... this shows fully how perfect her control over her enemy''s life is, and her aggressiveness that can overwhelm the enemy with grief.


    The Mage Tower''s arena also comes with various functions beyond an outsider''s imagination. Any apprentice Mage who fought inside it could choose between two modes: Training Match or Death Match.


    Under the training match mode, once an apprentice Mage had their health reduced to a dangerous level, any attack from their opponent would immediately trigger a defense mechanism of the arena, putting up a strong protective barrier that would protect the wounded apprentice inside. Meanwhile, the death match mode didn''t come with any life-preserving defense mechanism.


    This was where Bleia''s remarkable control stand out. Every time they fought, she could make Leon be covered in blood all over with her ferocious attacks, while never triggering the automatic defense mechanism of the arena. This really frightened Leon!


    Therefore, every afternoon had become the hardships of Leon''s painful journey. The match would always end with him being covered in blood and being dragged out from the arena by Bleia. The only difference was how long he could last.


    The first day, he lasted for seven minutes.


    The second day, he lasted for fifteen minutes.


    The third day, he initially had a chance to last for much longer but since he provoked Bleia, he was defeated close to five minutes.


    The fourth day, he lasted for half an hour. It was also the first time he and the Chip worked together flawlessly.


    The fifth day, he managed to last for one full hour without being hurt at all because his Fire Shield had finally appeared. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That''s right, it was really a surprise!


    Under the tremendous pressure from Bleia, the frightening Blood Queen, Leon actually managed to master all of the preliminary knowledge required for Fire Shield one day ahead of schedule, and he was also successful in casting it before the match began.


    The Fire Shield was a shield-shaped defensive magic spell that was composed entirely of Fire Elementium. When successfully casted, it would automatically revolve around Leon''s body in a radius of one meter. The area the spell can defend covered 1.5 meters tall and 1 meter wide. Not only does it provide an excellent physical and magical defense, it also has the Reflect Damage effect during a melee battle.


    Bleia had once tried it. Using her super high agility, she came closer to Leon from the side but no matter how hard she tried, her razor sharp claws couldn''t break through the defense of Leon''s Fire Shield. The small Fire Shield actually had its own intelligent sensor capable of automatically moving by itself to the appropriate positions to block all attacks.


    So far, Bleia hadn''t master any close combat skills that had a name. Her offensive methods were primitive, mostly relying on her high agility, attacking the enemy with her strong body. If we were to talk about any special ability that was worth mentioning, it would be the the ability to infuse her blood element magic energy into her claws, making her every attack draw blood from her enemy that can also replenish herself.


    But the damage inflicted by that kind of offensive method would never be great. In fact, each strike would always inflict just nine to thirteen points of damage. Meanwhile, the defensive strength of the Fire Shield was thirty five points, making it obvious that it would take more than a single strike from Bleia''s attacks.


    That''s why when Leon mastered the Fire Shield, he was able to turn the tables of the battle to his favor.


    Originally, it was Leon who tried hard to defend, having his health reduced bit by bit from the raging attacks of Bleia. The situation would''ve been better if he didn''t try to counterattack since he could last longer. But once he gave up on his defenses in order to have a chance to hit Bleia who moved swiftly like a ghost, he would be defeated by Bleia instantly, resulting to a miserable ending for himself.


    But now with the help of the Fire Shield, not only did Bleia fail to break through his defenses even after multiple tries, she also had her claws burned by the sudden explosions of flames from the Fire Shield. Her dress which didn''t come with any defensive magic wasn''t spared from being burned causing it to have a few large scorched holes.


    Finally! He finally got the upper hand for once and this brought great joy to Leon.


    While comfortable appreciating Bleia''s hot and seductive body, he was reciting the chant of Fire Arrow with a loud voice, manipulating the explosive flames to chase after her. For the first time ever, he never had to worry about suddenly getting scratch marks appearing on his body.


    Leon''s relaxed method of attack greatly angered Bleia. That''s why, after thirty seven seconds of complacency, he was once again bloodied all over after receiving the furious attacks of Bleia. Surprisingly, the defense mechanism triggered this time. A transparent protective barrier tightly covered around Leon''s body. Bleia was knocked away by it, showing her skin that had turned black because of the flame.


    Looking at the bloodshot eyes of Bleia who kept gazing at him savagely through the transparent barrier, Leon couldn''t help but sigh deeply.


    As always, Bleia would never let herself be outdone by someone else!


    With the current strength of Bleia''s melee attacks, there wasn''t any possibility she could pierce through the Fire Shield. It was at least correct according to theory!


    But when Leon met Bleia, a girl with a tremendous desire to excel over others, even the theory calculated by the Chip had become unreliable.


    Driven by anger, Bleia actually withstood the fire element damage from the Fire Shield and didn''t even back off. She also withstood the double fireball attacks from Leon''s Burning Hands and used an attack that was beyond anyone''s imagination. Forcefully hitting thrice on the same spot of the Fire Shield and took advantage of the cumulative damage to successfully break through Leon''s tough protective shell.


    What happened afterwards was a terrifying experience for Leon!


    The pain of having one''s flesh burned by elemental fire wasn''t something anybody could endure. Although Bleia could use her incredible regenerative ability and blood sucking to restore her health, there was no way she could avoid the pain from using those methods, and thus, she could only endure using her strong will.


    It was all due to her stubbornness, not wanting to let Leon suppress her in their daily practice. Even if it was just once, she refused to accept that. This mentality made her willing to endure such a tremendously painful torture, her firm and outrageous attitude had deeply moved Leon.


    Looking into his own heart, if he was in her position, he would definitely be unable to achieve this!


    Having to face this firm girl who was fierce towards her enemies but even more fierce towards herself, Leon could only continue to think about what it would be like to be hugged by and squeezed by a vampire pussy in a violent and crazy way.


    But at the same time, Leon secretly gave the Chip another research topic to work on.


    How to manipulate the Fire Shield using his Spirit, so that he would be able to avoid the cumulative damage caused by the enemy''s multiple attacks on the same spot?


    Unfortunately, ever since the fifth day of their training, Bleia had stopped dragging Leon over to the arena. Contrary to her normal behavior, she immersed herself in the public library of the Mage Tower, spending every day and night reading through books, searching for the possible methods of breaking through Elementium magic shields.


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    This made Leon''s heart fill with anxiety once more!


    ...


    2042 Words

 Chapter 75: Returning to the underground

    Once again Leon returned to the Underground World. He was no longer nervous like the first time, instead, he was filled with anticipation.For all the elite apprentices of training camp, every single progress they made on the path of maturity was made by stepping on the bones of those Fallen apprentices. Therefore, if Leon really wanted to rise up in rank as soon as possible, he needed to feed on the flesh and blood of his brethren who lived in the Underground World. This was the only way he could make himself stronger.


    After grouping up in the mission hall, the team of nine members once again set out on their dangerous Underground World journey.


    The accidental death of Matthew and the severely wounded Leo had let the team to realize how dangerous the Underground World really was. Thus, while having a temporary rest at the front line camp, the team had an intense quarrel over how to accomplish their mission.


    Currently, Leo was still burdened with injuries.


    Of course, those flesh wounds had long been recovered. But, some of the treacherous curses were deeply rooted inside his body. These had caused him to suffer badly. Nevertheless, after spending the last couple of days healing himself, he had finally dispelled all the curses. But still, it was tough for him to restore his severely damaged body to its peak in such a short period of time.


    This also meant that the team had one less Advanced Apprentice. In addition, currently, Pseudo-Mage Leo could only be considered as an Advanced Apprentice.


    The weakening of the team''s overall strength had shaken their courage. A few of the conservative members kept voicing their desire of finishing the mission as one whole team. Even though it would mean tripling or quadrupling the time to finish, it would no doubt be the safest approach.


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    Presumably, those underground black bastards wouldn''t have the courage to ambush a mission team consisting of three Pseudo-Mages, and five Advanced Apprentices.


    This suggestion was voiced by Isaac, and the majority of the Advanced Apprentices immediately agreed.


    The dancing light of the temporary bonfire shone onto the faces of each team member, leaving behind patches of shadows on their finely chiseled features. Everyone was hiding their facial expression behind the shadows, leaving Isaac alone expressing his opinion in an impassioned tone.


    "... We cannot take any more reduction in our overall strength again. If we lose another team member this time, our situation would be worst next time. So, wasting some extra time is necessary. It is only with that that we have a guarantee of finishing this mission properly! ..."


    "Agreed!"


    "I think Isaac is right!"


    "Agreed!"


    Three Advanced Apprentices, Shila, Leander and Bruce quickly approved the suggestion. Meanwhile, the only Advanced Apprentice who hadn''t voiced her mind was Bleia. She was standing soundlessly and motionlessly in the shadow of a large rock, where the light of bonfire could never reach.


    Hence, everybody couldn''t help but turn their glance to Sabrina, who had been acting as the team leader. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Sabrina raised her head and looked around. As she rolled her eyeballs, mechanical noises could be heard.


    Compared to last time, it was rather obvious that some minor and strange transformations had occurred to her. They could be traced to her head, which had gone through some mechanical magic spell modifications. However, no one seemed to be able to identify where the transformation was, and which part brought them the strange feeling. It was more of a subtle feeling they had!


    Sabrina retracted her glance. Just when she was about to announce something, a rather strange voice suddenly rang throughout the temporary camp.


    "If you wish to carry out the missions in a big group, go ahead. But Bleia and I will only carry out a single mission."


    The voice was clear and firm, but, when everyone turned their eyes to the source of it, they were all struck dumb. This was because the speaker was a burden they had never regarded as one of the team. It was Beginner Apprentice Leon!


    No, they could no longer address him as Beginner Apprentice Leon. It should now be Intermediate Apprentice Leon.


    In regard to Leon''s improvement, no one seemed to be bothered at all.


    In this gloomy and bizarre Underground World, even an Advanced Apprentice couldn''t keep himself safe when facing a dangerous situation. Let alone an Intermediate Apprentice who just broken through. Perhaps he couldn''t even escape the shock wave coming from the battle between those stronger apprentices. That''s why the group had always excluded him from the discussion.


    Bleia, who hid in the darkness, still didn''t say anything. It was clear that she had tacitly approved Leon''s answer. No doubt, this had puzzled the rest of the team members.


    "Are you sure you know what you''re saying?" The deep, strange voice of Sabrina rung through the scene. Although what she had said didn''t sound menacing, but it was clearly accompanied by a tyrannical aura.


    "Kid, keep your mouth shut and stand aside. This is no place for you to talk. If you really wish to carry out the mission alone, why don''t you go to the deepest cave?" Isaac wasn''t as reserved as Sabrina and roared at Leon in a threatening manner.


    "Fine, we''ll go to the deepest cave!" Leon''s answer was simple and direct.


    "You... what did you just say?" A bewildered expression emerged on Isaac''s face.


    "I said, Bleia and I will complete the mission in the furthest cave. We''ll return to Mage Tower straightaway after completing the mission. You guys can take your time and slowly visit all the other four mission sites!"


    "You..."


    Now not only Isaac, but even the other two Pseudo-Mages had raised their heads. They once again carefully examined this Intermediate Apprentice who was shamelessly bragging. But, no matter how they probed with their senses, the spiritual ripple feedback from this young kid seemed pretty weak. It was totally not like the disguise of a random strong man.


    Was there something he could rely on, or was there something strange with that Bleia?


    Finding no answer from Leon, everyone couldn''t help but turn their glances towards Bleia, who was hiding in the shadows.


    ''Hmph. This bastard only know how to put up a show, using me as his cover every single time!''


    Deep inside her mind, Bleia was roaring furiously, but on the outside, she still looked calm and peaceful. Nevertheless, it was hard for the three Pseudo-Mages to see under her foggy, blood red aura, and was near-impossible for them to use her blood element magical energy to see her overall strength.


    "You agreed to his suggestion?" Although Sabrina was sitting on the floor, an aggressive aura began to emanate from her and began crushing towards Bleia.


    "Yes! Give us the mission object!"


    Bleia left the shadows and moved towards the Pseudo-Mage, Sabrina. She spread her dazzling, pale right palm outward.


    After remaining silent for a brief moment, a magical item, that looked like a magic wand, was tossed into Bleia''s palm.


    Bleia focused her mind and verified the genuineness of the item, before nodding her head satisfyingly. She put the item away, turned around, and walked towards the dark, winding tunnel in front of her.


    "Hold on! Take this as well."


    What Sabrina gave her this time was a crystal ball.


    Bleia once again focused her mind and verified it. But, upon realizing what it was, her beautiful face startled. She nodded her head at Sabrina with a meaning only both of them could understand.


    "Thanks! I owe you a favor." Saying nothing else after that, Bleia brought Leon and dissolved into the darkness in the far distance.


    As the left side of her face was covered by a silver mask, no significant expression could be found on the other side of her face. Despite this, a scorching hot glow was seen shooting out of the left eye that had been modified with a mechanical eyeball.


    "We should be moving now! There''s a long way ahead of us."


    After a long moment of silence, the deep voice of Sabrina once again rung throughout the scene.


    At the same moment, Leon and Bleia were traveling the Underground World in a total darkness.


    For the first time, the Demon Alligator Hunter actually swallowed both of them at the same time, before submerging itself into the total darkness found underground. Following the indication given by the magical item, it started traveling through the numerous dark caverns and tunnels.


    Fortunately, Bleia wasn''t someone with an oversized body. Instead, after holding her in his arms, Leon actually felt that Bleia was overly slim and soft. Nevertheless, the silky smooth feeling came from his touch, and the fragrance that filled the darkness brought him an amazing experience.


    What to do? The Hunter could only create a limited space inside of its body, thus both Leon and Bleia had no choice but to tightly hug each other.


    Perhaps their current posture might seem romantic and erotic to an outsider, but in fact, Leon was unable to take advantage of it. All ten of Bleia''s razor sharp nails were moving around his back. In addition to this, her tiny yet frightening fangs were placed against his neck. If Leon had any evil intentions, Bleia would probably move without thinking and definitely leave Leon with a profound memory permanently engraved in his mind!


    Perhaps, this was the personal code of conduct which Bleia had been implementing on herself: I can flirt with you, but, if you tried to move recklessly, I''ll leave you with a bone-deep memory!


    So, although their bodies were tightly pressed against each other, Leon had to clench his jaw tightly. He was scared that slightly losing control would bring about an undeserved catastrophe. But, thankfully, there were plenty of things that could distract his focus. Therefore, when he focused solely on the unique vision of the Demon Alligator Hunter, he was able to temporarily forget the awkward position he was in. In addition, he was able to devote himself to controlling the traveling direction of his Golem.


    The crystal ball, Sabrina had given Bleia before they left, stored the route she had verified in their previous trip. It also stored the underground creatures they might bump into and the distribution of demons.


    With the help of this clear three-dimensional map, along with the precise direction control from the Chip, the trip was uneventful. Most of the time the Demon Alligator Hunter would travel through underground holes, and, if there was a rock in-between, it would choose to travel through the dirt. It was only when they bumped into a large area of solid rock would they would consider taking a longer route.


    Therefore, the mission site that took Sabrina twenty-seven hours to arrive last time, only took Leon four hours this time.


    The Demon Alligator emerged from the ground within a small, dark and quiet cave. Leon scooped Bleia up in his arms and jumped down.


    They used the magic item once to verify the exact location of the mission site. They only set their minds at ease when they realized it was indeed only two hundred away from them. But, soon after that, both of them quickly returned to a vigilant state.


    Those underground black bastards knew countless strange and bizarre magic spells. Who knew if they had set up some traps around the mission site? If Leon''s trace was noticed by them, then his return trip would be ten to a hundred times more dangerous.


    But Leon was rather unperturbed by this.


    For today''s trip, besides from the completion of the compulsory mission given by the Mage Tower, there was another more important mission he needed to accomplish.


    The elite mission of training camp!


    Besides from fighting each other for rare underground resources, the elite Apprentice Mages would normally try to ambush and kill the opponent''s other teams.


    Within the deeper region of the underground, apart from rare resources, there were many other unique metals that were rarely found in the surface world. However, most of these mines and resource sites were controlled by Fallen Mages, with each site being heavily guarded by five to ten apprentice teams.


    Today, the elite apprentice mission Leon received was: ''Raid the mine pit number seven!''


    ...


    2057 Words

 Chapter 76: Blood Stone

    The mine number seven was a Blood Stone mine that was located deeper than the deepest mission site.The most abundant resource in that place was a unique mineral called a ''Blood Stone''. By itself, a Blood Stone didn''t have much use, but it was frequently used as a catalyst in all kinds of magical experiments. The powdered form of Blood Stone was highly sought after in the black market, since it purified and extracted magical medicine.


    However, apparently, the training camp wasn''t looking for Blood Stones. The ambush planned by Kevin''s team was actually for the gem that accompanied Blood Stones: the Blood Garnet. As a kind of gem, once Blood Garnets were given to Master Jewelers, they were modified into all sorts of magical accessories. The jewelers did everything possible to draw out the mysterious energy contained inside of the gem, which provided the magical accessories with marvelous power.


    For example, the Resuscitate Earring which Leon had found previously was crafted from Deep Peridot, which was another kind of magical gem.


    Blood Stone, even if it was only the elementary Blood Stone that went through the initial extraction, would sell for 10 magic crystals per kilogram in the black market. In order to become rich by trading it, the elite apprentices of the training camp would have to hire a large group of underground merchants. Only then could they carry them away.


    The accompanying gem, Blood Garnet, was only the size of an egg, but was sought after by swarms of merchants and Mage families, who were willing to purchase it at the price of 200 magic crystals per kilogram. So, after evaluating the profit, Hulk decided to launch an ambush to the mine number seven and set their goal as looting the Blood Garnet supply, which had been stockpiled for nearly half a month, but not the overly heavy and cheap Blood Stone.


    In the past, the battle of the Underground World was more like a chess game.


    The resource sites and mines occupied by both parties were almost fixed, and both parties had a clear understanding of each other''s overall strength. Therefore, it was like ''you brought your team and ambushed one of my resource sites today, tomorrow I''ll bring my men and ambush your team on their way back.'' The roles switched sides every time and both parties fought savagely in the dark underground tunnels, shedding blood like water.


    But, there was one rule both parties followed strictly; never once had they broken this rule. No matter how they fought, no one was allowed to maliciously destroy any resource site or mine!


    Strictly speaking, for both Mages from the surface and Fallen Mages, a large portion of their interest depended on the constant supply of these resources and minerals. Once somebody set an example by maliciously destroying the opponent''s resource site, it would also be hard to keep their own resource sites from being destroyed at the same time. Therefore, in order to avoid a total disaster, through the constant battles over more than few hundred years, both parties had developed a kind of unspoken rule.


    ''You can seize my resources. As long as your elite apprentices can defeat my defenders, then the resources are yours. But, you can never destroy the environment of the resource site!'' Once any malicious destruction of a resource site was found, the apprentice who did that would be hunt down by Mages from both sides.


    Hence, taking the opportunity of the last 200 meters, while proceeding with high vigilance, Leon told Bleia everything he had learned so far regarding the situation of the Underground World. By pulling Bleia into Kevin''s team, he wanted to use this trip to the Underground World to make her one of the elite apprentices as soon as possible.


    But in order to accomplish this, he had to let Bleia distinguish herself in this mission. From what he heard from Kevin, the training camp had started to get in touch with the other Pseudo-Mage of their team, Sabrina. As for the other team members, before they showed any outstanding performances, they were only on the observation list, as they still hadn''t attracted Hulk''s interest.


    After all, there were three Pseudo-Mages in their team!


    For now, Leon was considered one of the members of the training camp, while Sabrina was in the process of getting in. As for the other two Pseudo-Mages, Leo and Marcus, none of them had hit Hulk''s liking. Therefore, in order to get Bleia into the training camp, she had to show an outstanding personal performance on this ambush mission.


    To be honest, Leon didn''t need to encourage or instigate Bleia. After knowing that damn training camp had made Leon one of their members without her, Bleia was already in a state of tantrum. But for someone like her who had an uncertain temper, the angrier she was, the brighter her smile.


    Perhaps, only at the very moment she was hunting for prey would she show her true color!


    ...


    In a serene, deep underground cavern:


    The peace had just returned not long ago, but five strange figures of all shapes had once again intruded into the place.


    The leading man was a tall, intrepid man. A pale blue ring of light made up of ice crystals hovered around his body. Wherever he walked, the wet air would freeze through the sudden drop of temperature and turn into ice crystals that fell to the ground.


    Clearly, he was the leader of the five man team. As he looked at the emptied underground cavern, the once silent atmosphere instantly filled with echoes of his angry roars.


    "Where are they? Someone told me they discovered some intruders here? So, tell me where are those damn intruders?"


    Judging from his deep, hoarse voice, he was the Pseudo-Mage Langdon. Explore new worlds at M-V-L


    "Langdon, calm down. Since we promised to help you in your revenge, we won''t give up halfway. Something''s not right today, so we need to think," a black robed man said.


    "That''s right! This is rather abnormal. Since we got the news, we''ve been waiting for them. No matter which route they take to this mission site, there is no way they could hide from our probe. But..." The other man in black robe voiced out his doubt.


    "But they bizarrely bypassed our intercept. Gary, could he be the beginner apprentice you mentioned last time, the one who can freely travel in the ground?" The third black robe man questioned calmly.


    Upon hearing what he said, Langdon''s body shook briefly and the temperature of the air dropped by a few more degrees. Right after that, Langdon''s cold roar rang through the cavern. "I can still sense the aura of Elementium in this place, which means they just left. So long as we move faster, we might be able to intercept them. Philip, we''ll count on you now!"


    Philip was also a Pseudo-Mage. In fact, all the members of Langdon''s team were Pseudo-Mages.


    Being able to gather four Fallen Pseudo-Mages to help him in seeking revenge, Langdon was a man with extraordinary ability. But, to be more precise, these men were helping him because of the face of his master. That was why they willingly accepted such a dangerous mission of revenge.


    Respected and feared by a group of Pseudo-Mages, obviously, his master was one of the few well-renowned Fallen Mages in Elysium City!


    Dark Light! This was the name known by every single being in Elysium City. As a mighty Fallen Mage, even in the Underground Cave region, Dark Light was an illustrious name. As his disciple, Langdon too was a man who had a strong calling power among the apprentices in Elysium City.


    Called out by him, though Philip was rather reluctant, he still stood up from the group.


    "Stand around me!" Philip instructed coolly. Then he lightly poked the staff in his hand into the hard rock under their feet.


    After the injection of a steady stream Earth element energy, the fist-size, earthy yellow crystal on top of the staff started to emanate a dazzling Elementium halo. Meanwhile, covered by this Elementium halo, a vague, mysterious looking magical array emerged on the floor underneath their feet.


    "Come closer to me, we''re going to be teleported soon!"


    After Philip''s reminder, the group quickly moved closer to him, placing themselves within the boundary of the mysterious magical array.


    "Prepare yourself! Don''t resist the Earth element teleportation energy. Let''s go!"


    Following a loud shout from Philip, a copious amount of Earth Elementium suddenly burst out from the mysterious array underneath their feet. The Earth Elementium was so dense it looked like a thick cloud of dust hovering around them. Soon, a bizarre earthy yellow ring of light flickered, the dust suddenly solidified, and the men turned into clay statues in an instant.


    When the mysterious magical array disappeared, the five clay statues shattered immediately, breaking into dirt debris that scattered across the floor. Not flesh nor bone could be found among the debris, and the five Pseudo-Mages had completely vanished from where they had been standing.


    ...


    Langdon had guessed wrongly by thinking Leon would rush back to the surface after he completed his mission, which eventually led them in the wrong direction. They were now on their way to bumping into Sabrina and the other team members.


    Using Philip''s Stratum Teleportation magic, the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages went straight to the upper-level tunnels close to the surface. Leon and Bleia were hiding in a place near the mine number seven, which was much deeper.


    The rest of Kevin''s team members hadn''t arrived, so working together, Leon and Bleia started to put their capabilities to use and investigate the situation surrounding the mine.


    Leon worked as transportation by using Demon Alligator Hunter''s ability to travel under the ground and send Bleia into the mine. Bleia transformed into a bloodsucking bat that flew without noise and surveyed the entire mine without alerting anybody. Surprisingly, Bleia, who flew around openly, even noted down every single tunnel, miner, and the position of every defending team of Fallen Apprentice Mages, and she stored the information into a crystal ball.


    When Kevin and the other five team members arrived at their secret rendezvous point, they were greeted by this extremely accurate three-dimensional image of the mine.


    The miners were all comprised of Ratmen, and there were more than two hundred of them within the entire mine number seven. Meanwhile, the defending force was made up of seventeen underground mercenaries and six Fallen Apprentice Mages. During the battle, the Ratmen would never get involved, so they only needed to consider the defending force in their plan.


    After all, for the Ratmen, no matter who controlled the mine, would always obey commands. So long they were provided with sufficient food every day, they didn''t care who they served! Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Staring at the panoramic image of the mine pit provided by the two new recruits, Kevin couldn''t help but feel a chill run down his back.


    Leon''s ability was a total cheat. In the Underground World, so long as a place wasn''t protected by any magical arrays, he would be able to infiltrate it in a way that was nearly impossible to guard against. Bleia''s ability of Bat Morphing made her able to come and go like a shadow, as no one could be on guard against a cold-blooded creature who could roam freely on the cavern ceiling. Through the infrared vision and life force sensing ability of the vampire, any arrangement of the enemy was transparent.


    With these two new recruits in a team, if the opponent didn''t have a way to guard against them, they could even find out what color underwear their opponent was wearing!


    ...


    1960 Words

 Chapter 77: Fallen mages

    Aside from the meager garrisoned force, Kevin was also concerned about the overall might of the Fallen Apprentice Mages.According to their standard practice, out of six Fallen apprentices there would be at least two to three Pseudo-Mages, with the rest being Advanced Apprentices. However, today''s situation was a bit abnormal. Out of the six Fallen apprentices, there was only one Fallen Pseudo-Mage. This seriously puzzled Kevin.


    After all, the circumstances surrounding the Fallen apprentices was completely different from the orthodox Mage Tower. The number of apprentices from the tower was basically a pyramid shape. In order to cultivate a Pseudo-Mage, it required at least five to ten advanced apprentices as backup. Advanced apprentices, on the other hand, also needed five to ten intermediate apprentices, and so on...


    The Mage Tower relied on a method of allocating more resources to those who showed more potential. When they combined this method with the vast amount of apprentices, it allowed them to cultivate elite apprentices out of the hundreds and thousands of apprentices. These elite apprentices possessed extraordinary potential and innate talent, and could be further trained and cultivated.


    However, for Fallen Mages who hid in the Underground World, the structure of their apprentices was completely different.


    In the Fallen Mage camps, there were next to no Beginner or Intermediate Apprentices. In their eyes, they didn''t need trash like this, as they weren''t worth wasting resources on. All of their resources could instead be focused on those apprentices who had potential, resulting in a strong overall strength. Many were eliminated by this law of the jungle, which was inherently cruel and savage. Therefore, the ratio of the Pseudo-Mages among the Fallen Apprentices was really high. Sometimes, they could even reach the ratio of one Pseudo-Mage per every Advanced Apprentice!


    This was also one of the things that brought the most headaches to those elite apprentices of training camp!


    When both parties came across each other, they could still put up a fight if the number of Pseudo-Mage was similar. But, once their Pseudo-Mages were outnumbered, then the battle would become a lopsided loss. After all, for any Advanced Apprentice from the surface, a Fallen Pseudo-Mage, who wasn''t tied up by an opponent at the same level, was like a fierce wolf. When facing this fierce wolf, the surface Advanced Apprentices found thay were like tame sheep. No matter how well the sheep equipped themselves, and even though they had twice the number of the fierce wolf, they still found themselves unable to resist when facing the fearless wolf.


    But surprisingly, out of six Fallen Apprentices in this mine today, only one of them was a Pseudo-Mage. This allocation was obviously lower than their normal standards. On the contrary, there were two Pseudo-Mages in Kevin''s team of six people, while the rest were all strong Advanced Apprentices.


    With their overall strength, it was more than enough to easily suppress the opponent!


    As for those seventeen underground mercenaries, besides a few who appeared to be strong and needed special attention, the rest could be simply ignored by these apprentices. If a battle between Apprentice Mages really erupted, no matter how many mercenaries there were, they would just end up as a bunch of suicidal corpses.


    According to Leon''s assumption, when a battle like this happened, where one side had a clear upper hand, it would probably be a battle filled with ambushes, assassinations, and all sort of treacherous approaches. But when the battle truly erupted, he was dumbstruck.


    So, this was how a battle was carried out in the Underground World!


    Without concealing their suppressive force, Kevin brought five of his team, including Leon and Bleia, and quickly blocked off the mine. After that, they threw two deterring Elementium fireballs into the mine, causing all the defending forces of the enemy to be ejected from the mine pit.


    It was a natural cavern that was nearly the size of three football fields. It was the perfect battlefield for slaughtering.


    It wasn''t tough to tell this place was well used. The place was cluttered with broken stalagmites and stalactites, and the cavern wall was marred with black burn marks. In addition, the ground was stained with old patches of blood that had never been washed off.


    At either ends of the cavern, both groups hastily arranged themselves in their own respective formations. They faced each other with a distance of two hundred meters in between.


    Naturally, it was the group of underground mercenaries who stood before the Fallen Apprentices.


    Most of these mercenaries didn''t even wear a complete set of leather armor. They simply walked into the battlefield with their shabby cloth. Out of these seventeen mercenaries, three of them were Gnoll assassins, two were Lizardman Beastmasters, one was a Soul Hunter, and eleven were Werewolves.


    The only ones that required some extra attention were the three Gnoll assassins and the Soul Hunter. The rest of them were just used to attract the attention of the enemy. They were just flesh targets used to absorb the firepower.


    The Fallen Pseudo-Mage, who hid behind the formation, was a dark, skinny middle-aged man. When he saw two Pseudo-Mages from the surface standing on the enemy''s side, his expression turned gloomy and dark.


    ''Damn it... Damn it... Damn it! That bastard Philip! He''s the one who said there wouldn''t be any problems even if he was away for one or two days! If that was truly the case, then how did this strong team break through the upper tunnel interception and reach this depth? Philip, you bastard! If this garrison mission fails, you''ll be the one who shoulders all the responsibility!''


    Although inwardly he was furiously roaring, this Fallen Pseudo-Mage still remained calm on the outside. He began to give out battle commands.


    ...


    Different colors of Elementium shields sprung up on the bodies of these Apprentice Mages. There was a bright red Fire Shield, a Lightning Shield, that kept sputtering violently, a powdery dust that hovered around someone''s body, a set of freezing Ice Crystal armor, and a vibrant green armor of thorns...


    In just split second, all Apprentice Mages had covered their body with Elementium protection that came in all different colors, shapes, and effects.


    Of course, this was a luxury that belonged only to apprentices. Those mercenaries, who served as flesh shields, wouldn''t able to enjoy it at all.


    Unnoticed, three enemy Gnoll assassins had managed to vanish from where they were. Two Lizardman summoners were loudly reciting some hard to understand chants in their language. They quickly summoned four Petrified Lizards, who had muscular bodies and tough skin. The eleven Werewolves fighters had their bodies covered with broken leather armor, a flail or wooden club in one hand and a crude wooden shield in the other. They savagely yelled as they charged their way towards the enemy.


    Behind them, after the Fallen apprentices had completed their personal defensive spells, they quickly followed with another round of loud chants of magic spells. But this time, all of them were reciting magic that would unleash offensive magic spells.


    "Leon, you can handle those trash!" Although Kevin was an Advanced Apprentice specializing in melee combat, he, after giving Leon an order, immediately joined his peers and began countering the enemy by using long-range offensive magic spells.


    After Bleia had mutated into a vampire, it seemed that she had forgotten all the magic spells she had learned in the past. She now only owned some innate passive abilities from her own species. Therefore, when faced with such a situation, she simply dissolved into the surrounding darkness and disappeared without a trace. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Numerous colorful offensive magic spells flew past each other in the midair of this spacious cavern. They intercepted and clashed with each other, turning the scene into a glorious sea of Elementium. The raging and unregulated Elementium exploded and swept across the center of the battlefield, flooding the group of Werewolves who were charging the enemy.


    Less than half of the eleven Werewolf fighters managed to survive this devastating explosion. Even the remaining five of them could be seen to have suffered different degrees of injuries. A shocked expression covered their faces. However, they were just too unlucky. Before they could regroup and initiate the next charge, a massive figure suddenly revealed itself in front of them.


    With the rapid firing of Dirt Spears and a large area of Spikes, all of them were sent to meet their maker in an instant. This was how fragile these common underground creatures were when facing a spell caster.


    Leon sat on his Demon Alligator and remained on the spot. He didn''t dive right into the enemy.


    The formation of the Fallen Apprentices on the opposite looked rigid and disciplined. If he recklessly charged into them, all it would take was a simultaneously-casted magic spell for him and his Demon Alligator to instantly shatter into pieces.


    Leon had learned something new today. It was no wonder Apprentice Mages used the formations, that even ordinary humans used, in their battles. The offensive strength of the Elementium spells was just too terrifying! Even though those Pseudo-Mages could act lofty and slaughter a couple of Advanced Apprentices in a small scale battle, they couldn''t when they fought this kind of battle. No matter how conceited or unbridled they were, they didn''t have the courage to run into the enemy''s formation.


    The basic defensive strength of those Pseudo-Mages'' personal defensive magic spells mostly hovered between eighty to one hundred points. A strength like this could be easily broken with just a simultaneous firing of magic spells from three Advanced Apprentices. Therefore, before advancing into the realm of an official Mage, where their bodies could resist this simultaneous attack, none of them dared to take the risk.


    So, even though they had outnumbered the enemy in terms of their Pseudo-Mages, Kevin still opted for suppressive combat tactics. This was the safest approach and involved using the overwhelming advantage of their magical power to crush the enemy''s team.


    After two round of exchanges in magic spells, the gap between both side''s magical strength was evident. Although many of their magic spells were still being intercepted halfway, the number of magic spells that landed in the enemy''s camp was clearly more than theirs.


    As they were flooded by waves of glorious magic spells, the team of Fallen Apprentices started to panic.


    Most of the defensive barriers surrounding the Fallen Apprentices'' body had faded. Some of them were even wounded. Contrary to them, Kevin''s team still maintained a neat formation. All their defenses were still intact and they looked rigid and impenetrable.


    Sitting high up on Demon Alligator, Leon ordered the Hunter to keep firing Dirt Spikes at those Petrified Lizards who were slowly crawling in his direction. As he ordered, he also followed Kevin''s command and contributed a Flaming Spear. It hit an enemy Advanced Apprentice and made him miserably scream.


    As he was sitting high up, he had a clear sight of the entire battlefield. Soon he noticed Bleia''s whereabout.


    At the edge of the battlefield, within a patch of dark shadow, a muffled snort suddenly exploded.


    Right after that, a vague image of a Gnoll assassin suddenly emerged from the darkness. It held clutched its throat and staggered a few steps forward, before finally collapsing onto the ground. Blood kept bursting through its fingers, despite how hard he tried to stop it from leaving its body.


    Right when it was struggling to catch its last breath, a few clanging noises rang out from the darkness next to it. Soon, another Gnoll was forced out from the shadows. Both of its eyes were blinded and its body was fully covered with frightening scratch marks. Unwilling to admit defeat, it furiously swung its dagger into the air, while letting out wild roars. But, unfortunately, it could no longer see the enemy.


    When nearly all of the blood in its body was drained, it finally collapsed while groaning under its breath.


    The continuous death of its two peers had frightened the third Gnoll. This last Gnoll suddenly revealed itself and turned around to flee into a far direction, with the fastest speed it could. But, before it could reach the distance of ten meters, a dazzling red light flashed out. As it flashed out, the Gnoll''s head flew up into the sky, and the headless body was left running. It managed to run a few steps more, before falling to the ground.


    The skinny and ugly body twitched unconsciously a few times, before lying motionlessly in the dark.


    ...


    2099 Words

 Chapter 78: Confrontation

    Beautiful, beautifully done! Vampires truly deserved to be known as the nobles of the dark night! They could even kill in such a graceful and elegant manner, making it full of artistic flair. Magnificent!Leon couldn''t help but mutter some praise under his breath. He then refocused his mind and threw out the Flaming Spear in his hand. This time, his target was an apprentice who had five skulls hovering around his body!


    The Flaming Spear that suddenly exploded destroyed two skulls of the target. It also managed to trigger the apprentice''s anger. He kept waving his pitch-black staff at Leon, throwing curse spells one after the other at Leon. These spells were all invisible to the naked eye.


    After receiving the order from Leon, the Hunter took his position and blocked off all the curse spells. With the Hunter taking care of this, Leon focused his mind and kept launching attacks at the apprentice who appeared to be a necromancer.


    All kind of curse spells were launched. There was Scavenger Bugs, Voodoo Skulls, Bone Spears, and even Unnerving Gazes. The magic spells this necromancer apprentice demonstrated had really widened Leon''s horizons. If not because of the fact that he had activated his Elementium Vision, he knew he wouldn''t be able to match this apprentice. He wouldn''t be able to even if he was given nine lives.


    Meanwhile, the only threat he brought to his enemy was his Flaming Spear and the Hunter''s Dirt Spear. The lack of long-range magic spells had made Leon realize something. Maybe he should find some time to develop a Golem which specialized in long-range attacks.


    Even though Leon''s overall strength was insufficient to break through the necromancer apprentice''s defense, the team members behind Leon could do that. After establishing an advantageous position in this battle, the reckless bombardment of magic spells had brought about tremendous pressure to those Fallen Apprentices.


    A few of these Fallen Apprentices started to slowly fall back, as they found it hard to withstand the massive suppressive force.


    This was also the basic pattern of the battle between both parties in the past.


    They started the battle by lining up in their formation. Both sides would launch long-range magic spell attacks, just like normal human soldiers did. They kept doing this until one side couldn''t withstand the attack and showed signs of defeat. Next would be a small scale of pursuit and annihilation. Small battles would normally occur between two to three Apprentice Mages anywhere in the surroundings.


    Finally, following the powerful sweep by two Pseudo-Mages from Kevin''s team, the team of Fallen Apprentices fell apart!


    Losing all their confidence in victory, the wounded Fallen Apprentices turned around and scurried into the surrounding underground tunnels. It wasn''t tough to tell they were all fleeing in a disorderly manner. Each of them just went their own way, with no one trying to cover their peers or trying to support each other.


    Also, all six Fallen Apprentices had actually fled in separate directions. They showed no signs of fleeing as a group.


    The distance between this place and Elysium City was long. Perhaps they found their peers with ulterior motives much more frightening than the enemy chasing behind them!


    Kevin whistled, splitting eight members of his team into smaller teams. They started to fiercely pursue those fleeing Fallen Apprentices.


    Kevin and a Pseudo-Mage had set the enemy''s Pseudo-Mage as their target. The other Pseudo-Mage in their team remained solo, while the rest of the team members had split into a few smaller groups. They all started to chase the enemies'' butt into the darkness.


    Leon didn''t team up with anybody. He wore a ferocious smile as he drove the Demon Alligator into the tunnel. He began to chase down the same opponent he was fighting with just now.


    ...


    In the darkness of the tunnel, there was a perfect silence.


    Aaron once again activated the Hasten Ring on his right pinkie, desperately trying to make his fleeing speed faster.


    The rough terrain in the darkness was never an obstacle for him. It seemed his skinny body never ran out of stamina, supporting him in rushing through cave after cave.


    The underground passage was forever winding and twisting. It came in a very complicated formation. In every single smaller cave or cavern, there were always countless narrow tunnels that could barely allow a person to squeeze through.


    Utilizing his knowledge of the surrounding terrain, Aaron had fled three miles in just ten minutes. He had travelled through dozens of tunnels and caverns.


    When the glow of the Hasten Spell was dismissed from his body, Aaron finally stopped. He leaned against a large solid cavern wall, panting for breath. His skinny chest was seen pumping rapidly, as he breathed like broken bellows.


    Although he was surrounded by silence, Aaron still had his hand tightly clenched around his pitch-black staff.


    So long as any noise or movement happened around him, he would be able to launch the bone spear that was stored in the white crystal on top of the staff within half a second.


    After catching his breath for a few minutes, Aaron finally managed to regulate his breathing. He listened for any sound that might be audible from the passage he had just come from, but he heard nothing abnormal.


    Could he be really so lucky as to not have an enemy following him?


    Aaron smiled coldly in self-mockery.


    After becoming a necromancer apprentice, his luck had never been good. It was as if the Will of the Mage World hated him, turning him into a sad child abandoned by destiny.


    Although he didn''t sense any unusual activity, Aaron was still overwhelmed by anxiety. He felt like a ferocious monster was hiding somewhere in the dark, eyeing him greedily. It was only waiting for the perfect moment to devour him in one brutal bite.


    No way! He had to get out of here as quick as possible!


    Right when Aaron had made up his mind to leave, he realized the wet soil underneath his feet had turned into a slow moving acid pool. Both his legs had sunk into it without his knowledge.


    Damn it, it was an Acid Pool spell!


    Aaron forcefully patted his neck, making the bone necklace on his neck flicker. He unleashed two skulls who hovered around his body. These skulls provided him with both offensive and defensive effects. When he was fleeing just now, in order to avoid attracting any attention, he had shut this personal defense mechanism down. This was why he was now caught in the trap by that enemy who hid in the dark.


    After he went through the tough battle previously, his defensive skulls were now at the lowest level of performance!


    As it was corroded by the strong negative energy, hissing noises was heard coming from the acid pool underneath his feet. This helped Aaron to quickly free himself from it.


    Two muffled booms were heard coming from the darkness not far away. A shadow that looked like a small hill started to march forward. The strong aura of Earth Elementium could be vividly identified from afar.


    Damn it! It was that bastard who rode on a clay alligator!


    What a brave kid. He was only an Intermediate Apprentice, yet he dared to chase after an Advanced Fallen Apprentice!


    A hideous smile emerged on Aaron''s face. He opened his brownish, dirty mouth and sprayed out a huge clump of black bugs. They turned into a large black cloud in an instant and swarmed towards the location of that large shadow. After that, he quickly recited some magic spell chants with his hoarse and jarring voice. He revealed fist size skulls in his hand from time to time and promptly them at the enemy.


    These were the Voodoo Skulls that he had made himself. They would explode violently when coming into contact with something. They would not only inflict massive physical damage to the enemy, they also carried a magical poison. This frightening magical poison was a type of mixed poison that could even melt down hard rocks.


    Yet, while he was waiting for the enemy''s miserable shriek, something happened. A flaming spear, that suddenly lit up the dull cavern, appeared on the opposite side of the cavern. A handsome young man, surrounded by raging flame, smiled at him. He carried the deadly flaming spear in his hand.


    "No... please don''t kill me, we can talk..."


    Aaron''s face was covered with panic. He watched how the Flaming Spear shot towards him and nailed one of his defensive skulls into the wall. It exploded violently and flooded him with dazzling flame and scorching heat. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Three seconds later, Aaron staggered out from the sea of flames. He looked extremely miserable right now! The thin skin and flesh of his were burned by the flame and charred. Half of his remaining magical items were destroyed, and the white crystal socketed on top of his staff had shattered, releasing all the souls trapped by the Soul Spell.


    "Hmph. Kid, do you really think you can kill me like this? We''re not finished today. Wait until the next time we meet again, I''ll..." While cursing furiously, Aaron used his charred hand to slowly start digging into the ground. His pinkie started to emanate with a white glow.


    It was the glow of an Escaping Spell!


    This magic spell, which he had hidden inside of his pinkie, might have been his last life-saving trick.


    In two more seconds, he would be able to escape from this place. A ray of hope suddenly burst out from Aaron''s bleary eyes. But right at this moment, he suddenly felt the rock wall beside him move.


    When he turned around in astonishment, he was horrified to discover a pair of huge eyes gazing coldly at him. It had a huge triangle shape snake-like head, a wide, ferocious mouth, crisscrossing fangs, and a tongue that kept darting out. All of these were entirely made up of rock! Cold hard rock!


    When he finally realized this, the giant snake had opened its mouth and devoured him in one gulp.


    After a long time, peace finally returned to this cavern.


    Leon quietly stood at a corner of the cavern. He didn''t ride on the Demon Alligator. Just now, he had used the Demon Alligator Hunter to lure most of the enemy''s attack. While this was happening, he took the opportunity to break through the enemy''s defense with a sneak attack. However, the one who finished the enemy was his Giant Rock Snake, who made its first debut.


    A light vibration came from the dark. The Demon Alligator Hunter came to him with its body charred black. Half of the Hunter''s body was melted down by the enemy''s attack. On the other side, the giant Rock Snake crawled on the rock wall and crawled towards him. It opened its mouth and spat out a broken body.


    Haha! He had pocketed the head of an Advanced Fallen Apprentice!


    But the corpse of a necromancer was also very frightening. Therefore, Leon didn''t do it himself. He waited until the Hunter fixed itself, before letting it search the enemy''s body for any possible loot. After that, he let Demon Alligator swallow the dead body into its stomach, before swaggering back to the previous battlefield.


    Some of his teammates had returned. Only a few of them had actually come back with fruitful results. Most of them just returned empty-handed.


    What to do? The environment of the Underground World was perfect for fleeing. All they needed to do was cause a collapse in a random place. This was enough to cause the pursuer to fail. Also, all Fallen Apprentices were experts in staying alive. Thus, although it was easy to defeat them, it was far tougher to kill them.


    The Pseudo-Mage and Kevin had failed to capture the enemy''s Pseudo-Mage. However, the other Pseudo-Mage had managed to bring back an enemy''s head. All the remaining Advanced Apprentices harvested nothing. Therefore, when Leon''s Demon Alligator spat out an enemy''s corpse, everybody couldn''t help but look at him with different eyes.


    This was different from the battle in their training camp. Although Leon utilized an opportunity where everybody was unfamiliar with his abilities to ''luckily'' win two battles, this didn''t mean that he was really strong. But the appearance of this Fallen Advanced Apprentice''s corpse had caused the way these guys looked at him to completely change.


    This... this meant that he possessed enough strength to kill an Advanced Apprentice! This was a trait that everybody valued the most!


    ...


    2103 Words

 Chapter 79: Trap

    Right when everyone was praising Leon, a red figure flashed by. Bleia had returned.Upon her arrival, she forcefully flung an ugly and haggard head in front of everyone.


    Although Kevin was just an Advanced Apprentice, he was able to command two Pseudo-Mages. This showed that he was a man who possessed special abilities. However, today''s situation had put him in a rather awkward situation.


    The elite apprentices, who were specifically trained by the training camp, had only managed to get one head. This was out of all six of them. However, both new recruits had brought back one each. This made Kevin, the elite leader, secretly remark about the new recruits'' aggressiveness!


    Half of the six Fallen Apprentices who were guarding on this mine pit had been eliminated. This was a rare result and deserved praise. However, as they had spent more than an hour in battle, they didn''t have much time left to plunder the resources in this mine.


    After all, this mine number seven was located deep in the Underground World. It was tough for them to protect it. Once reinforcement from Elysium City arrived, perhaps a new round of catch and kill would occur.


    In regards to the arrival of Kevin''s team, those Ratman miners showed no sign of fear. Their queen even flung herself at the team for negotiation, suggesting that if any apprentice was willing to spend the night with her, she would exempt all of the mining fees, and even give them a small ''treasure'' that the Ratman tribe had saved for one whole year.


    But when they stared at the small and furry face of the Ratman queen and eyed her plump body and pair of big, saggy breasts, all these elite apprentices couldn''t help but feel disgusted. When her bean-sized, flirting eyes rested on any apprentice''s body, the apprentice would instantly feel a chill run down his back. They couldn''t help but feel like vomiting.


    As the result, after Kevin paid a double price of five hundred magic crystals, they finally received twenty-six Blood Garnets from the Ratman queen. Each of these Blood Garnets was the size of a chicken egg. They had an estimated worth of about four thousand and eight hundred magic crystals. If they could bring them back smoothly, each member would be able to receive two to five hundred magic crystals.


    The amount they earned was directly proportionate to the contribution of the person. People like Leon, Bleia, and the other Pseudo-Mage, who had each brought back an enemy''s head, would have their income definitely be more than others.


    After Kevin and the other two Pseudo-Mages had a discussion, they quickly decided on a solution. Pseudo-Mage Grimm received three Blood Garnets, Kevin two, Leon two, Bleia two, and the remaining three Advanced Apprentices received one each. As for the remaining twelve Blood Garnets, they had to be submitted back to the training camp. Hulk would have the Turlock Merchant who supported him purchased all of them. The profit would then be equally split amongst the team members.


    As for the Blood Garnet they received, they could settle it by themselves. Presumably, those filthy rich Mage families would definitely find them to discuss purchasing these precious treasure.


    Since they had completed the mission, it was now time to worry about how they would safely return to the surface.


    According to their past experience, the return journey would be the most dangerous journey. Most of the casualties the mission team had suffered were from this period. Thus, whether they could stay alive to enjoy their hard-earned fortune was still a very cruel question!


    Should they traveled together in a big group and returned to their camp? It was a rather objectionable thought, as there was no doubt that they would be ambushed by the enemy. No matter if it was those treacherous underground devils or the Fallen Apprentices who had gotten wind of their arrival, all who would make their return journey would have to face risks and obstacles.


    Therefore, the best solution was to split up and return to the surface using their own means. If they failed to return, they could only blame their own lack of strength. By doing it this way, it was no one''s fault but your own!


    Hence, once they were done with sharing their loot, they wished each other luck and went their own ways. After all, there were plenty of passages that led to the surface. So long as they were not struck by bad luck, their chances of bumping into the enemy would be low.


    ...


    Once everybody dissolved into darkness, Bleia leaped onto the Demon Alligator. She gazed around with her bloodshot eyes and shouted impetuously, "We better get moving quickly! I keep feeling that there are some risks to this mission. It''s as if someone is keeping an eye on us. We better be careful during our way back!"


    Leon''s heart suddenly sank. He couldn''t help and knitted his brows in a tight frown.


    In this era where sense topped everything else, Leon never dared to neglect any symptom of danger. Especially one from Bleia, who inherited her ability from a mutated bloodline of an ancient species. Her grasp of the Principle of Plane was much more profound than his. If even she had a bad feeling about the mission, then it was almost determined that something bad going to happen.


    Leon once again carried Bleia in his arms and merged into the body of the Hunter. He controlled the massive body of the Demon Alligator and slowly sunk into the ground, disappearing without a trace.


    By utilizing the Earth element magic energy of the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon gave the surrounding terrain a brief scan. But he didn''t find anything suspicious. After eliminating the possibility that this mine number seven was a trap, Leon had no choice but to half skeptically drive his Demon Alligator Hunter towards home.


    If he followed how they came here, Leon would travel through the underground tunnel at a high speed. He would only travel in the ground once they bumped into terrain which required a long detour. With that, he could minimize the consumption of the Demon Alligator Hunter''s Earth elemental magic energy.


    But since he was warned, he didn''t mind wasting more magic energy. He chose to travel underground for the entire journey, stealthily ascending to the upper layer.


    As their journey back was full of large stretches of metal ore or solid rock, they were required to keep making detours. This made it so they couldn''t travel at a high speed under the ground.


    Three hours later, they had traveled more than half of their journey. Leon finally relaxed his mind a little bit.


    But, right when he drove the Demon Alligator Hunter through the soil between two huge rock layers, he felt as if the body of the Demon Alligator Hunter had just passed through a quiet water surface. The Earth element magic energy that ran through its entire body suddenly became berserk.


    It''s a trap!


    He felt something amiss almost instantly. But, right after the Earth element magic energy started to rampage, the pressure coming from the huge amount of soil around them suddenly became stronger.


    Leon''s expression suddenly changed dramatically. He quickly drove the Demon Alligator and squeezed into the nearest underground tunnel.


    It was a dark, quiet and oppressive tunnel.


    The tunnel meandered gently into the darkness. It was as if it was the intestinal canal of an enormous monster and full of unknown danger.


    Most of the tunnel was excavated between the rock layers. Only a tiny portion was made up of wet and black soil. But right at this moment, this patch of soil wall suddenly began to boil. With a loud boom, a massive object invaded this quiet tunnel. It came with a large amount of dirt that splattered around.


    Soon, two human shaped shadows dashed out from this massive object.


    "What''s wrong? What happened to your Golem?" Bleia''s urgent voice came through the darkness.


    "We''re being ambushed! There is a special magic array in the region we passed through just now. It messed up the Demon Alligator''s Earth element magical energy! We have to get out of here as soon as possible!"


    Bleia was stunned, her bloodshot eyes looked dazzling in this total darkness.


    "Which way should we go?"


    "..." Leon''s eyes flickered under the cover of his goggles. He glanced over to the ends of the dark and unpredictable tunnel. He couldn''t make up his mind.


    "Hmph!" Bleia snorted coldly, saying, "Let me do this!" Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She suddenly stood up with her back straight. She faced one end of the tunnel, took a deep breath and let out a loud roar. Her voice was piercing and sonorous. Leon felt a buzz strike his brain before he lost his hearing totally.


    Following the strange sound wave that quickly rippled through the tunnel, Bleia stood quietly with her eyes closed. It was as if she was focusing her mind on listening to something.


    "The tunnel''s length is three hundred and twenty-seven meters, heading upwards. There is a small cavern at the end of it, and inside of the cavern..." Bleia paused for a brief moment, before her voice suddenly turned shrill, "Two men! There are two men coming our way at high speed!"


    Leon''s eyes instantly turned fierce and aggressive.


    Two men? They were rushing their way here brazenly? Needless to say, they must be thinking that they got two easy targets. Even without meeting them face to face, Leon was sure that they must be the two Pseudo-Mages.


    Since the enemy was so well-prepared, it was highly possible that the few surrounding tunnels weren''t safe either. Leon waved his hand and disintegrated the Demon Alligator Hunter. He picked up both summoning crystals from the dirt pile and turned around. He then sprinted towards the other end of the tunnel while dragging Bleia.


    The ground of the tunnel was always rough and wet. The uneven surface and small rocks that were scattered around made Leon, a guy who had less than five Agility, stumble along his way. One would be able to slip even when walking at a steady pace in a passage like this, let alone running at full speed.


    In fact, not only the ground was uneven, there were also obstacles that came from above.


    Numerous stalagmites of all sizes hung down quietly from the roof. If someone was only looking at the ground, it was very easy for him to knock his head into one of these obstacles.


    Therefore, for the first half of their fleeing journey, it was Leon who dragged Bleia and ran at full speed. But before they reached a ten-meter distance, it became Bleia who carried Leon in her arms while running full speed.


    The wet and cold air brushed against his face. It entered his mouth, nose and reached his rapidly pumping lungs through his windpipe. It brought down Leon''s body temperature, yet made his mind calm down. Under his low-light vision, the dark passage flashed by in an incredible speed. One after the other, stalagmites appeared right in front of Leon''s eyes, however, before he could cry out, Bleia dodged them.


    Bleia had transformed into a ghost who traveled through the darkness. All it took was a brief step with her soft and agile feet to make both of them glide through the air at an amazing speed. Every single overhanging stalagmite and every narrow passage was like a broad, smooth highway. She could always pass through noiselessly and agilely with just a gentle step of her feet.


    Perhaps Bleia had gotten used to such a high speed. However, for a rookie who only had less than five Agility, Leon''s mind was filled with panic. This panic was stronger than the type one gets by riding on the craziest and riskiest roller coaster. If not for the wind pressure that filled his throat, he probably would''ve vomited by now!


    Right when both of them were running through the dark underground at high speed, the tunnel in front suddenly contracted. It became so narrow that only one person could pass through. And, at the narrowest part of the tunnel, a lightning web suddenly appeared and stopped them from moving further.


    This lightning web covered the tunnel from the top to the bottom. It completely sealed up the entire passage. At the part where the lightning web connected with the cave wall, dazzling arcs of lightning could be seen dancing around violently.


    The popping noise of the electricity was clear and audible.


    It was a dead end!


    ...


    2109 Words

 Chapter 80: Desire for revenge

    With just a brief moment of hesitation, the tunnel behind them started to fill up with a cloud of dust, a strange-looking magic array could be seen vaguely surfacing on the ground.Soon, two tall figures emerged from the magic array.


    It was a Teleportation magic spell, not underground travel!


    A blue light flickered in Leon''s eyes, and with just one look, he already identified the method that was used by the enemy.


    Even though they used a Teleportation magic spell, there were no traces of spatial ripples. But he could sense a strong Earth element magic energy instead. It was as if this Teleportation magic spell was driven by Earth element magic energy!


    But this was not the right time to give it a thorough analysis. Currently, they were being chased by someone at their backs, while there was an ambush in front, this was a nasty situation!


    "You''re Bleia, am I right?" One of the men that were behind them slowly walked forward, saying with a cold voice, "Excellent. So the two who murdered Grier are here. I''m going to pull your souls out from your bodies, imprison them in the Soul Trapping Corpse and let the both of you howl painfully for more than ten thousand years!"


    The one who talked was a noble youth, tall and handsome. His light blue robe shimmered with multi-colored runes in the dark, while the frightening energy of frost started to spread throughout the entire tunnel.


    "Grier? Who''s that?" Bleia was perplexed.


    "If the name Grier is unfamiliar to you, then how about Demon Vine Lady?" The handsome face of the noble youth started to contort, showing a ferocious expression.


    "Demon Vine Lady!"


    "Demon Vine Lady!"


    Both Leon and Bleia let out cries of shock at the same time. They couldn''t help but feel that their unexpected calamity wasn''t just an accident after all!


    So they actually bumped into an old enemy! Judging from his age, he was most probably the companion of Demon Vine Lady. Things have now become interesting!


    "What''s that Soul Trapping Corpse he just mentioned?" Bleia wasn''t able to dispel her curiosity and whispered.


    "That''s an undead creature created using a living person. Before the enemy is dead, they will draw special magic arrays on the enemy''s body, so when the enemy is finally dead during the sacrifice ceremony, the soul would be trapped within the undead body, becoming the eternal slave of the spellcaster." Leon quickly answered her question.


    With the help of the Chip, Leon was gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory, thus he was able to remember a lot of elementary knowledge and seldomly used topics of this magical world.


    The noble youth strolled forward, and supplemented Leon''s answer by saying, "What you said is just the lightest punishment. Once both of you become Soul Trapping Corpses, I''ll find a remote place rarely visit by everybody. I will then bury the both of you deeply in the soil, and let you maintain your consciousness while painfully spending the next hundred years in complete darkness! Don''t worry, I''ll pay the both of you a visit from time to time, making sure your souls will stay forever intact, your memories stay clear, and your mind can''t become insane! Hahaha..."


    Ugh... Leon couldn''t help but feel a chill run down his back. He had underestimated the level of enemy''s evilness and madness!


    "Which way?" Taking advantage of the opportunity while the guy was still laughing wantonly, Bleia whispered to Leon.


    "In front!" Leon replied with a low voice, "There are two Pseudo-Mages behind us. But I only sensed one soul aura in front of us, that''s where we''re going!"


    "Alright!"


    Right after they ended their conversation, a raging flame bursted out from Leon''s body, revealing a Fire Shield shrouded in scorching flames. Bleia spread her arms and clung onto Leon, pressing her body closely with his. Without any hesitation, they turned around and propelled themselves into the lightning web that kept producing buzzing noises of electricity.


    "Still trying to run away from me?"


    The blue-clothed noble youth roared furiously. His body suddenly expanded a few times bigger than it was, and he stretched out his thick hand full of wiry hair and forcefully grabbed towards his enemies.


    The giant hand of the blue-clothed noble youth missed his targets. However, his fingertip touched the lightning web, and was instantly turned black by the noisy Paralyzing Lightning.


    Struck by the pain, the blue-clothed noble youth roared furiously again and retracted his giant hand. Within a split second, the giant hand which looked similar to a stone pillar returned to its original shape. Only a trace of burn mark could be seen on his fingers which emitted black smoke.


    "Damn it, Hegel, retract your lightning trap at once!" The blue-clothed noble youth roared out loudly, and obviously, the target of his roar wasn''t standing in front of him.


    Meanwhile, Bleia and Leon were about to throw themselves into the lightning web, and once they did, the violent and raging electricity immediately came surging through their bodies.


    Of course, the first target who bore the brunt of all these was the Fire Shield summoned by Leon.


    The violent electric arcs hit the Fire Shield producing countless dazzling sparks, the frightening electricity which had enough power to burn an ordinary human into charcoal caused the Fire Shield to keep making buzzing and crackling noise. The overly dense energy of electricity even gathered into some frightening blue plasmas, hovering at a distance less than a meter from Leon''s head, slowly moving toward its target.


    An ordinary Fire Shield only had thirty-five defensive strength, but as Leon''s element affinity was Fire, he was able to increase the defensive strength of his Fire Shield to fifty points. But this was still insufficient to protect them through their short journey of ten meters.


    10 meters!


    With Bleia''s extraordinary Agility, she could actually flash through this ten meters of distance within a blink of an eye. But right at this very moment, this short distance seemed so long and dangerous!


    The Fire Shield vanished into thin air before it could last for half of the distance. The scorching plasmas which had been waiting around them immediately swarmed their target. It would only take half a second before Leon would be turned into a thread of smoke by them. Since Bleia''s Physique was higher than Leon''s, she actually had a higher chance to survive the second half of a lightning-filled passage.


    Everything happened within just a split second of time! Right when Leon''s body trembled violently, closing his eyes and waiting for his death to come, Bleia suddenly shouted out, unleashing a vast amount of blood from her body that instantly covered both of them.


    No matter how pure was these Blood element energy, they just couldn''t withstand such a violent and raging plasmas. Both of them were like the raw meat placing on top of a roasting pit, countless Blood element energy that hovering around them were instantly devoured by the ferocious plasmas. At the end, the thin Blood element energy could no longer provide them with a full protection. Unexpectedly, Bleia clenched her jaw, shifted most of the Blood element energy to Leon, allowing most of her body exposed to the electricity and plasmas.


    The frightening noise of flesh being burnt by electricity could be continuously heard at the scene. The exposed parts of Bleia''s body quickly turned into charcoal, before crumbling into ashes that flew in the air.


    On the other side of this narrow tunnel, a short midget was staring in bewilderment, a look of disbelief present on his face to what just happened in front of him.


    What happened inside of the lightning web was clearly seen by him. Although he had witnessed it personally, but he was still unable to believe what he saw. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Someone really had the courage to run through his lightning death trap!


    This... how could this be possible?


    Whether he believed it or not, this just actually happened. And right in front of him, a large charred object dashed out of the lightning web, forcefully slamming onto the ground.


    "Little kid, you''re pretty tough, huh! But this is better, as Langdon would owe me two big favors later!" Although the short midget looked skinny and ugly, he was surprisingly an actual human. When he saw the preys that brought themselves in front of him, he quickly leaned forward and tried to catch them using his hand.


    His palm could be seen being covered with a glove made up entirely from a dense layer of tame electricity.


    If any living being was touched by this Paralyzing Lightning, they would lose all their strength for fifteen minutes.


    An indistinct noise rang out in the air, as a crystal clear Elementium core fell on the ground.


    The midget became startled for a brief moment but decided to pick it up. But before he could get close to it, a dense cloud of Earth Elementium suddenly bubbled up and covered the core.


    "Eh, what is this thing?"


    The midget was struck with curiosity. At this time, Langdon''s loud roar could be heard through the lightning web and was heard by this midget.


    The midget hesitated, wondering if he should capture these two preys first or turned off the lightning web. A loud rumble suddenly came from the place where the thick cloud of Earth Elementium appeared. And a massive monster suddenly squeezed its way out from under the ground, moving its huge and long body, thrusting it ferociously into the midget.


    Its body was made entirely of rocks, a rocky snake head, tongue, and fangs... this... this was clearly a Rock Snake!


    With just a flick, the midget suddenly vanished from where he previously stood, only to reveal himself again behind a huge rock some twenty meters away. Meanwhile, with the use of its rock-solid mouth full of sharp fangs, the frightening Rock Snake forcefully slammed on the ground where the midget once stood at just mere moments ago. In just an instant, a powerful quake spread throughout the entire tunnel, causing the rock bed to shift, causing huge amounts of rocks to fall from the ceiling.


    The Rock Snake pulled out its head from the piles of stones, and once again held its head up high. With not even a second had passed by, it''s earthy yellow eyes had already locked down on midget located not far away from it, and readied itself to violently thrust again to its target.


    Damn it! What exactly was this?


    Taken aback by the surprise attack, the midget stamp with rage and cursed. He quickly rubbed his palms and unleashed a raging lightning, striking onto the snake head who was coming fast in his way, trying his best in holding it back. The wantonly splashing electricity burned the snake head of Rock Snake, producing a thick cloud of smoke, while the skin made from tough rock had also starting to melt like hot wax.


    However, the Rock Snake''s strength was on it''s tough skin. It wasn''t bothered by these damages and still charging toward the enemy savagely.


    Left with no alternative, the midget once again used his Lightning Jump ability and brought himself to another spot.


    "Hegel, what the hell are you doing there? Quickly turn off the lightning trap!" On the other side of the tunnel, Langdon became even more impetuous when he heard the violent rumbles.


    After not receiving a response from his peer after a long time, his eyes turned bloodshot. Langdon turned around and asked furiously, "Philip, can you bring me over there?"


    Holding his staff firmly, Philip, who stood behind Langdon, focused his mind and sent out his senses. Soon, he shook his head, saying, "The changes of terrain are really intense on the other side. The aura of the rock layers aren''t stable. I can''t establish a stable stratum node!"


    Damn it...


    The angry Langdon couldn''t wait any longer. He let out a furious shout and once again transformed into a giant three meters tall. A crystal clear blue armor was seen forming outside of his body. After that, he crazily shot himself into the lightning web.


    The raging electricity kept wreaking havoc on his body, while the blue plasmas restlessly destroying his ice armor. However, he used his hands and protected his eyes and face. In addition, with the help of the copious Ice energy that kept bursting out from his body, he managed to withstand the attack of the lightning. He then strode out from the lightning web.


    Revealed in front of his eyes was a broken tunnel with many parts collapsed. The original cavern was no longer there. Only broken ruins were left after the intense battle. An enormous rock snake was seen lying on the ground, motionless. Thick and pungent dark smoke was seen lingering around the over thirty meters long body. The position of the snake head was now replaced by a pool of flowing magma, while a crystal clear, earthy yellow core flashed a few times, before finally dimming down completely.


    The midget was squatting beside the snake head. It seemed as if he was examining something.


    "Where are the enemies I asked you to intercept? Where are the two bastards!?" Langdon, who had transformed into a blue giant, roared crazily.


    "Aren''t they there?" The midget turned around and pointed to a spot. "Eh? Where did they go?"


    The midget had finally realized that both charred humans had vanished without a trace!


    ...


    2259 Words

 Chapter 81: Blood for bleia

    Within the soil, the Demon Alligator Hunter was traveling at high speed.After they went past the lightning trap, the unusual interference affecting the Earth Elementium had disappeared.


    In order to save their life, Leon had no choice but to give up his Rock Snake. He had ordered it to trap the super frightening Thunder element Pseudo-Mage, while he secretly summoned the Demon Alligator Hunter. He then brought Bleia and fled for their life.


    Currently, Bleia couldn''t be referred to as a human. She seemed to be more like dark charcoal just pulled out from the fire.


    All of her skin was charred. Countless ashes would peel off with just a slight touch. Once the charred ashes had peeled off, her steaming hot, half-baked flesh was exposed. Apparently, the high heat brought by the raging electricity had killed most of Bleia''s bones and flesh.


    If it was any other ordinary human, a severe injury like would have long since killed the person!


    However, Bleia had proved herself as a Bloodline apprentice who had gone through a mutation. Her vampire bloodline had gifted her with an amazing ability. As long as her heart core wasn''t destroyed, her soul would be maintained intact. Within her charred and cooked body, a weak soul aura could still be sensed.


    "Chip, scan Bleia''s current condition. Provide me with the most reliable treatment!" Although Leon''s heart was trembling, his voice was still calm and cold.


    "Beep, scanning commence... Warning! Warning! The survival rate of the target is less than 7%. The core consciousness has shown signs of damage... Warning! Warning! Target''s life aura is deteriorating. If this is not treated then the heart core will start to break down..."


    "Don''t tell me all this crap! Just give me the best solution!" Leon interrupted impatiently.


    "Blood, a huge amount of blood... The target has the body constitution of a mutated vampire. As long as the target is provided with sufficient blood, it will survive. Even if the entire body is disintegrated, as long the target''s core consciousness touches fresh blood, they would be able to rise once again!"


    "Blood?"


    Leon shook his head, cursing inwardly at his own stupidity. Bleia was a vampire, what else could save her apart from blood?


    "Change our course immediately. Find me a region where there are abundant underground creatures. Quick!"


    A couple of minutes later, at a colony of green-skinned Goblins, the giant body of Demon Alligator Hunter suddenly emerged from the ground.


    Green-skinned Goblins were a subspecies of demi-humans and had the average height of one meter. Their green skin was as tough as cow leather, and they had a pair of donkey-like big ears. Their diet consisted of everything and anything. To be specific, in this Underground World, apart from rock and dirt, they could eat almost everything.


    But, as their individual strength was extremely weak, they had the habit of living in groups.


    In this Underground World, these Goblins were at the bottom of the food chain. However, they were widely distributed and had the largest population out of everything. Their biggest characteristic was their ability to eat anything. They also had an incredible rate of reproduction.


    Normally, such weak creatures wouldn''t be able to survive in this harsh environment. Despite this, they could be found in every region of the Underground World. The reason was actually rather simple.


    Food was a rare resource in Underground World, and it was extremely tough to find a stable source of food. Therefore, these Goblins were bred like livestock by the other underground creatures. When they lacked food to survive, they would come to a colony of Goblins and eat one or two in order to cure their hunger.


    To be honest, the meat of these Goblins was tough and bitter. It also came with a stinking smell that was hard to get rid of. Therefore, unless the hunger really drove them nuts, no underground creature would be willing to torture their stomach like that.


    Perhaps, this was the main reason why Goblins never went extinct.


    But today, this colony of Goblins had been struck with a great misfortune!


    Within a narrow cave, over one hundred Goblins were gathered in their camp cooking some ''delicacies''. The shabby condition of this camp looked absolutely hopeless. Besides from the crushed rocks scattered around the place, the only other things present were countless piles of dirt. Even though there was a tent found in this place, it was just a dirty cloth. It was supported by a wooden stick, and no one could tell its original color.


    This was a tent that even the homeless guys in the human society wouldn''t step into. But it was, in fact, the home of the Goblin who had the most prestigious status: the clan chief!


    It was dinner time for these Goblins. Goblins, who had gone out hunting, had returned to their base. They chattered on their way and threw their spoils (which were things like wall lizards and other small insects) into the large stone pot in the middle of the camp. The fire was burning brightly under the stock pot. The color of the liquid inside of the pot looked green and muddy. In addition, countless strange objects were seen floating inside of this nasty liquid.


    There were bones of unknown origin, strange-colored chunks of meat from unknown creatures, sharp teeth of demon beasts, small bugs that were struggling and crying violently and pale white eyeballs that looked really frightening...


    A few Goblins were standing on a platform, holding a wooden stick in their hands. These goblins kept stirring the bottom of the stone pot, bringing up many unknown objects from it. This was a pot of meat filled with poison and harmful ingredients, however, to these goblins, it was the most sought after ''delicacy'' of the day.


    Countless Goblins held a stone bowl in their hands and gathered around the bonfire. There were pushing each other and trying to fight for the forefront position while waiting for the arrival of their clan chief. As the chief of Goblins, it was natural that he held the right of enjoying this ''delicacy'' first.


    Therefore, right in the middle of this noisy scene, the Demon Alligator Hunter made its debut.


    Leon carried Bleia in his arms and squeezed out from Demon Alligator. He coldly gazed at this ugly scene, saying with a low voice, "Kill them all!"


    After saying that, he ignored everything and walked away.


    After finding a rather clean place, Leon gently placed Bleia on the ground.


    Just this gentle movement alone had made countless pieces of ashes fall off from Bleia''s charred body.


    Leon pulled out a dagger from his waist, poking it into Bleia''s chest without hesitation. He cut away her half-baked flesh while paying no attention to the steaming heat. Leon pushed aside her flesh, exposing the dying ''heart'' within her chest.


    This was Bleia''s heart and was also where her core conscious stayed.


    As long as her core conscious was still intact, even if her body was badly mutilated, she could still regenerate through the method of rising from the blood.


    After exposing Bleia''s heart, Leon cut his wrist without the slightest hesitation. As soon as his blood dripped onto the withered heart, a small amount of vitality was instantly brought to it. The once pale and earthy yellow flesh instantly turned red. Tiny blood vessels started to regrow like tree branches from the flesh, stretching out crazily.


    Soon, these blood vessels formed into a thin layer of blood film and covered the entire heart. They kept stretching outward, following the dripping of Leon''s blood, and moved to all the other parts of her body like some strange-looking tentacles. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With incredible speed, Bleia''s heart soon restored its original look.


    The blood was still dripping. Whenever each drop of blood hit her heart, it would be absorbed instantly. Finally, following a light pumping sound, Bleia''s heart had once again resumed its pumping motion.


    "Blood, I need more blood..."


    Bleia''s charred lips moved, exposing the dark and red flesh inside her mouth.The hungry moaning of Bleia could be heard coming from her throat.


    His blood was far from enough!


    "Why is it taking so long!?" Leon roared with a deep voice.


    Meanwhile, the Goblin camp was in a state of chaos. Blood was being spilt everywhere.


    Using its Quake spell, the Demon Alligator had collapsed the entrance to this cave and was moving its massive body around. It was using the Spike spell to slaughter these green-skinned creatures. The Hunter had separated itself from Demon Alligator and strode to Leon. It was carrying a long dirt spear in its hand, which had two Goblins hanging off the tip of it.


    The Hunter waved its hand. It revealed a half a meter deep hole in the ground. It then it ripped apart the Goblin''s body and threw it into the edge of the hole. Following that, a huge amount of blue blood sprayed out from the broken body of Goblins. The bottom of the hole started to turn wet and muddy.


    The Demon Alligator handled the task of slaughtering, while the Hunter worked on draining blood from the Goblins. Within just a few minutes, the hole was fully filled with blue colored blood. Meanwhile, a large pile of dead bodies was seen at the edge of the hole. It was made up of all sorts of strange-looking Goblin corpses.


    Leon carefully placed Bleia''s body into the blood pool. Soon, her body was completely covered, and the pool of blood started to boil violently.


    The level of blood pool was lowering fast.


    "Hurry! I need more blood!"


    Urged by Leon, more Goblins were thrown to the edge of the pool. The blue colored blood flew over the ground like water. The blood that was being injected into the pool was just enough to support the consumption of Bleia''s resurrection.


    Fifteen minutes later, the sound of water splashing rung throughout the hole. A naked and perfectly-curved female body flew out from the blood pool and started hovering in the sky.


    An obvious look of confusion appeared on Bleia''s face, who was just raised from the dead. She suddenly opened up her greenish eyes, looking around in a confused manner. Her fair and silky smooth skin radiated with a brilliant glow. Her sexy body looked tender charming, seductive and delicious, all at the same time!


    She blinked her eyes and spent a few moments trying to recall her memories. Soon, Bleia had remembered everything.


    "You... You''re Leon? I... I''m Bleia!"


    Within just three seconds, the same Bleia had returned.


    "Damn it, how can you use such dirty blood to resurrect me!? Bastard! Don''t you know I hate the blood of low-grade creatures the most?" Before Leon could come forth and greet her, Bleia sniffed and immediately began screaming and complaining.


    Ugh... fine, Leon had no choice but to admit that he had too little understanding regarding the Vampire. He found that the combination of both vampire and woman made for the most frightening combination under the heavens. It made it a mysterious creature that was extremely hard to predict!


    "Welcome back! Thank you!" With utmost sincerity, Leon stepped up and bowed. His words carried two meanings, and the actual meanings could only be understood by the both of them.


    If it were not for Bleia protecting the fragile Leon in the previous battle, Bleia would have been able to go through the lightning trap by herself easily. However, she chose to use everything she had to protect Leon. This caused her to gain the most severe injury she had ever had. It was so serious that even her core consciousness was nearly broken.


    Leon wasn''t a cold man whose heart made from stone. He was truly touched by Bleia''s action. But, as an Apprentice Mage who had to maintain their calm and merciless behaviour at all times, he preferred to hide his true emotions deep in his heart. He would only bring them out when they were alone and lonely.


    ...


    2016 Words

 Chapter 82: Snorlax

    Regarding Leon''s gratefulness, Bleia expressed her disdain.Bleia lightly snorted, then the remaining pool of blood entwined her body fully, transforming into an exquisite red dress.


    Leon called back his Demon Alligator and decided to rush back to Mage Tower but Bleia, who had just recovered suddenly turned her head and stared at a random direction with her emerald green eyes.


    "Wait, what is that thing?"


    Leon was startled for a moment. He followed Bleia''s line of sight and his glance moved over. He saw a yellowish green rock with a circumference of 1 meter, placed right in the center of camp.


    Ugh... a rock?


    Leon''s eyes scanned the surrounding area. Aside from the small and shattered ones that scattered across the entire camp, there wasn''t any large rocks that could be found. But now, a large rock suddenly appeared beside the only broken tent in this camp. It was rather strange and and abrupt.


    Previously, Leon had all of his focus on saving Bleia therefore he didn''t really bother paying attention to anything that was present in this place. But since what they noticed is clearly abnormal, he quickly activated his Elementium Vision.


    Under the observation of the Elementium Vision which allowed him to see through every Elementium, the handsome face of Leon twitched a few times for reasons known only to him.


    Damn, this isn''t a rock, but it''s a...


    After his careless mistake of being deceived by the enemy, Leon angrily snapped his finger and commanded the Demon Alligator Hunter to stride towards the ''rock''.


    The ''rock'' clearly knew it''s trick was already exposed, that''s why before the dirt spear of the Hunter impaled it, this ''rock'' instantly disintegrated. Actually, it wasn''t disintegrated, but just a Goblin, slightly over one meter tall, putting away its cape, revealing its true form.


    "Spare my life, oh great one! Mighty master Mage, please spare my life! Please forgive this Snorlax! This Snorlax is willing to be your slave! Just please, don''t kill Snorlax!"


    Upon revealing its true self, the Goblin quickly threw itself onto the ground and kowtowed again and again, begging for his life while miserably howling to no end.


    "Ugh... wait!" Leon stopped the Hunter, and said, "You know how to speak in human language? A low-grade creature such as goblin possesses intelligence?"


    "Master, Snorlax is no ordinary goblin! Snorlax is the smartest goblin in the world, Snorlax can serve you tea and meals, prepare your sleep bed, and Snorlax can even guard the door for you. Snorlax is the most capable creature!" Realizing this young ''malefic'' person showing interests on it, the goblin quickly promoted itself.


    "What was the trick you used just now? If not because of my sharp vision, I would have been deceived by you."


    "That''s one of the tricks I secretly learned, a combination of a camouflage spell and a partial transformation spell, they are nothing much, really."


    "You know how to cast magic spells?" Leon''s face was plastered with astonishment, "Moreover, you know two magic spells!"


    "A-Actually, I-I know three magic spells!" The goblin who called itself Snorlax stammered.


    "Three? What''s the third spell you know?" Leon felt the world as he knew it, had turned upside down.


    Even a mere goblin could master three magic spells, but he... up until now, he seemed to have only mastered four, no, the Flaming Spear was just a variance of Fire Arrow. Therefore, strictly speaking, he only mastered three magic spells!


    Not knowing the complicated thoughts this young apprentice had on his head, Snorlax said under its breath with an embarrassed tone, "I... I also know I-Invisibility."


    Leon was completely speechless!


    A goblin, which was regarded by the entire Mage world as the weakest demon beast, could actually possess its very own intelligence, and even master three magic spells. What were all these spells? Invisibility, Camouflage, Partial Transformation... these skills made it an expert in stealth. If not because Leon had the Elementium Vision, and Bleia had the ability to sense life aura, perhaps this little guy with the name of Snorlax would really be able to avoid today''s unexpected calamity!


    Leon cupped his hand under his chin, and contemplated.


    At the time when he was still pondering what should he do to this strange goblin, Snorlax became frightened by Leon''s serious expression and quickly waved its hands around and exposed a bigger secret.


    "Your mightyness, you don''t want to kill Snorlax! Snorlax knows a secret treasure of a master Mage. Snorlax can bring you there!"


    If there was still anything that could move Leon today, what Snorlax said just now was definitely the one.


    Leon''s pupils contracted, and he clenched his jaw tightly and said the following words with a cold voice, "Looks like you are an escaped magical slave from an Mage Tower. Tell me, which Mage Tower did you come from?"


    Leon finally understood. How could a wild goblin suddenly be blessed with basic intelligence? Even if it did have it, from where could it get in touch with the mysterious and profound magical knowledge it possessed? Therefore, putting all those clues together, Leon came to the conclusion that this must be a magical slave who accidentally escaped from its Mage Tower that belonged to an unknown official Mage.


    Snorlax hesitated for a few moments. Its tiny eyeballs could be seen moving around, but seeing the razor sharp dirt spear of the Hunter pressing against its shoulder, it realized there wasn''t any possibility of escape from this situation.


    Probably thinking that it didn''t have any chance of surviving if it didn''t tell the truth, Snorlax bowed his head down in sorrow and said out a name.


    "Elysium City! Master Mage Pridka!"


    "Mage Pridka from Elysium City? This name sounds unfamiliar! Leon, have you heard it before?" Bleia asked, perplexed.


    Leon had a cold face, squeezing out shivering words from his tightly clenched teeth.


    "Bleia, you really should pay more visits to the library. Understanding our enemy is essential to protect oneself."


    "Is this Pridka really famous?" Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Of course. Because Mage Pridka is a Second Grade Mage!" Leon spewed out the last few words with great force.


    Hearing this, Bleia immediately drew in a sharp cold breath.


    Although Bleia behaved willfully and unscrupulously in normal times, but there was still a limit to her unbridled personality. When faced with an official Mage, she wouldn''t be as reckless as how she used to be, but instead, she would offer her respect wholeheartedly. Because she knew how frightening the existences known as an Mage are. They could easily kill her with just a wave of a single hand.


    As for a Second Grade Mage, perhaps that would be a frightening existence even an official Mage would tremble with fear upon meeting!


    Bleia and Leon exchanged glances, and understood each other''s thought with just a look.


    They have to make this Snorlax fall under their control!


    This was a goblin who once served a Second Grade Mage! Any magical knowledge or special information dug out from its mouth would be enough to bring great benefits to both of them. As for the secret treasure of the Mage mentioned by Snorlax, they simply forgot about it and never bothered again to ask any further.


    They weren''t idiots! Could a frightening Second Grade Mage really tell a mere goblin about the whereabouts of their treasure? This was a joke to an intelligent and experienced mighty Mage! Maybe this Snorlax had taken those magical experiment wastes the Mage casually threw away as treasure!


    With his mind filled with endless speculations, Leon held Bleia in a princess carry and climbed up to the Demon Alligator, also bringing along the goblin whose name was Snorlax. They, once again, submerged into the ground.


    ...


    Within the broken-down tunnel.


    Three figures of varying heights could be seen squatting in front of the remains of the Rock Snake, silently examining what''s left of it in front of their eyes. The broken core that had lost all its light and Elementium was now held in Pseudo-Mage Philip''s hand, as he gave it a thorough observation.


    "How is it? Did you find anything?" The short Pseudo-Mage, Hegel, yawned and asked impatiently, "You have spent the last half an hour just looking at it, just tell me what''s so unusual about it?"


    "This is an Elementium core taken from a Pseudo-Mage level Earth Giant!" After pondering for a long time, Philip finally voiced out his findings with a deep voice.


    "Garbage! Anyone can tell that easily. If that''s the only thing you can tell, why do we still need you, an expert in Earth element, to give us your insights about this thing." Hegel rudely said.


    Meanwhile, Langdon was standing quietly on the side. His eyes were filled with a frosty glow. It''s obvious he still hadn''t gotten rid of the anger caused by letting his enemies escape.


    "There''s a total of fourteen special rune arrays engraved on it, most of them are magical arrays used to absorb and store Earth element energy, while the rest have the purpose of Elementium Grant Life, Elementium Summoning, Mind Control Imprint System, and Elementium Tempering. Through a unique method, all these independent arrays are interconnected, transforming into a brand new three-dimensional magical array! This is the reason why this Rock Snake possessed such an incredible strength, able to trap a Pseudo-Mage which enabled their escape."


    Hearing the mocking words of the guy, Hegel was lit with the flames of anger.


    "Damn it, can you really blame me? You told me to stop an Advanced Apprentice and a Beginner Apprentice from leaving this place, but you never told me that guy owned a large beast like this! Hey Philip, with your amazing magical knowledge, do you know any Beginner Apprentice who can control a Pseudo-Mage level Golem? Do you think this is logical?"


    "Hmph. He''s an Intermediate Apprentice now!"


    "Alright, alright! Even if he''s an Intermediate Apprentice, don''t you think this situation is rather abnormal?"


    "This is nothing abnormal. If he can find a master Alchemist, drew out enough power from the core and utilized it, the amount of Spirit he will need in order to control it would be greatly reduced. It isn''t something unbelievable for a Beginner Apprentice to control a Pseudo-Mage level Golem. It''s just that with his Spirit, it''s very difficult to fully unleash the combat strength of the Golem!"


    After listening to the conversation of the two, Langdon finally spoke.


    "If these Golems were crafted by that Leon himself?"


    Philip was stunned for a brief moment, but shook his head before saying, "Then he must be a genius alchemist of this generation! If not, then I can''t think of any other method that can utilize an Elementium core up to such an incredible level."


    "As for the answer, we will know the next time we meet him again. No matter what, he still has to come back to the Underground World. And at that time, we''ll know all the answers we want after capturing him." Hegel said with a carefree manner, "Oh right, Langdon. Since I followed you for this mission, Mine No. Seven that I was supposed to guard had been robbed by those bastards from the surface. I''m afraid you will have to recompense for the losses! Also, if we are questioned by master Mage Puner, I hope you can calm down his anger!"


    Upon hearing what Hegel said, the handsome face of Langdon had twisted once again.


    The temperature of the cave dropped down by a few degrees!


    ...


    1925 Words

 Chapter 83: Guilty?

    Half a day later, Leon and Bleia finally returned to the Mage Tower.Upon their arrival, they were notified that their compulsory task force had lost another member, Shila, while the rest of the team were all wounded. The team suffered a great losses.


    What caused all of this was four Fallen Pseudo-Mage who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    After they were ambushed, Sabrina and the other two Pseudo-Mages fought against three of the enemies, but the remaining Fallen Pseudo-Mage put up a fierce fight with Shila, causing them to be at a disadvantage. Because of that, Shila and the other three had to flee in desperation. Shila was killed during their escape by her enemy.


    Before those Fallen Pseudo-Mages attacked them, they were told that they were here to seek revenge from Leon and Bleia. Therefore, after they managed to escape to the surface, the team members who were still suffering from the shock had pushed all the blame to the both of them. A few Advanced Apprentices even kept asking them to be responsible for Shila''s death, wanting the duo to bear all of the responsibility for their failure in completing their mission.


    Thus, when Mage Angus, who came to receive the mission item, arrived at the main hall, Isaac started to jump up and down furiously.


    "Master Mage, it''s all because of them... they insisted on leaving the team, which eventually attracted the revenge of four Fallen Pseudo-Mages, that is the reason why we failed in this mission. You have to punish them!" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leander and Bruce were also yelling out loudly, filled with righteous rage.


    As for the other two male Pseudo-Mages in the team, both of them were having long faces while not saying a single word. Even though they didn''t try to pin the responsibility to others, in their minds, they were still filled with dissatisfaction towards Leon and Bleia. Due to the difference between their levels, they were defeated in a fair fight with those underground Fallen Pseudo-Mages, and returned with bodies full of wounds.


    The only team member who was able to return unscathed was Sabrina.


    "Hahaha..." Mage Angus responded with a cold sneer then said, "Stop playing your childish tricks in front of me. I''ve seen too many internal discords between team members all these years, I have no time for your petty thoughts and plots. What I really care is, what have you brought back to the Mage Tower?"


    Everyone''s heads turned to Sabrina at the same time.


    Wearing an indifferent expression, Sabrina stretched her hand out and handed over four mission items. Out of all four of them, only one mission item was lit.


    "You only completed one mission? Where''s the other mission item?" Mage Angus''s expression turned cold in an instant.


    "It''s with me!" Bleia took a step forward and extended her palm.


    A brightly lit mission item was revealed in front of everyone.


    "Out of five missions, you only completed two. According to our agreemen, you''re spared from the punishment of failing the mission. But you can also forget about the rewards."


    When they realized that they were spared from the punishment, some of the Advanced Apprentices of the team relaxed their expressions. But what Mage Angus said afterwards came as a shock to them.


    "Also, I want to announce an internal decision of the Mage Tower Council. Considering that Leon and Bleia showed outstanding performances in the elite mission of the training camp, the council had decided to transfer them into the training camp. From now onwards, they don''t have to participate in any more compulsory missions."


    Although Mage Angus said it with a deep and hoarse voice, it sounded like a sudden thunder clap in the ears of all team members, greatly stupefying every one of them.


    "This... how can this be?" Seized by terror, Isaac yelled out loudly, "Master, this is unreasonable! Our team is left with only eight members, if you transfer two of them away, how are we going to complete the remaining missions? We want to protest..."


    Before he could finish his words, a black chain suddenly shot out from the void, tightly tying Isaac up in a bundle.


    "What? Is there anyone else who dares to challenge the authority of the Mage Tower Council? Kid, let me tell you, no matter what, don''t challenge the authority and dignity of an Mage. This is a lesson for you, next time, I will not be as nice today and won''t spare you as easily!"


    Following Mage Angus''s stern warning, the black chain suddenly turned red, transforming into a long chain of scorching hot metal, burning Isaac''s skin and flesh making them produce hissing noises. When Angus''s voice turned louder, the chain started to tighten, digging deep into Isaac''s flesh, causing his bones to produce cracking noises as well.


    It was as if Isaac''s magic resistance had suddenly disappeared, making him unable to withstand the fire chain punishment from Mage Angus. After letting out a few miserable shrieks, Isaac fainted as a result of severe pain.


    With a snap of a finger, the fire chain vanished out of thin air, just like how it appeared.


    Mage Angus then moved his dazzling eyes across everybody''s faces. When he did that, every team member felt a sharp pain in their eyes, and couldn''t help and lower their heads.


    "This is just a small punishment to all of you. Your purpose here is to train yourself and complete missions assigned to you, not blaming each other and putting up a stupid show of internal discord! If you''re lacking in strength in order to crush those black bastards, then be smarter, use your strategies and unite to defeat the enemy to complete your task. You don''t have enough manpower? Then go to the main hall in the first floor and get some new recruits! See for yourself if any fools are willing to be hired by you!"


    After a rare long-winded speech, Angus turned his eyes to Leon.


    "Kid, I heard you''re really good in hiding your ability! Haha, looks like you know how being lowkey is important in keeping your life safe. But sometimes, burying your strength too deep isn''t good as well. A strong man should show his bearing and dignity. If you showed your ability earlier, perhaps all the members of this team are now your minions, and the girls would''ve been your exclusive sleeping buddies, isn''t that more meaningful than laying low all by yourself? Come, show me your loot this time!"


    Ugh... Looks like Mage Angus was also a restless guy when he was still an apprentice.


    While helplessly complaining inwardly, Leon and Bleia took out their war trophies from their underground trip. Two people brought back two heads of Fallen apprentices, and both were at the level of Advanced Apprentices.


    An unsightly expression surfaced upon the faces of the others who were watching quietly beside them. Only Mage Angus laughed out loud in satisfaction.


    "Not bad, not bad at all! You only visited Underground World twice, yet you brought back two heads already. Indeed, you possess the magical ability that is suited perfectly to the Underground Cave. Kid, you have a bright future, I have confidence in you! Now tell me, what kind of reward do you want to exchange for these heads?"


    The near death experiences of this trip had filled Leon''s mind with great anger. A Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake he just crafted had been destroyed by the enemy. This, without a doubt, deeply angered him!


    "Elementium core with life aura, it''s better if it''s of the Earth element, and it should also be at Pseudo-Mage level." Leon gritted his teeth and decided not to hide his talent in crafting golems. After all, he had already exposed the Rock Snake previously. So long as someone paid enough attention to him, that alone was more than enough for them to make some assumption.


    If he still laid low like how he did previously, perhaps he wouldn''t be as lucky on his next trip to the Underground World.


    "Hahaha... two heads, you can exchange them with two Pseudo-Mage level Earth element cores, here you go..." Angus grabbed the two heads, and casually tucked them into a bowl-sized spatial crack that suddenly opened up in front of him. He then pulled out two Earth element cores flashing brightly and tossed them over to Leon. After doing all that, he turned around and left.


    The host was now gone, leaving behind the group who were gazing at each other awkwardly.


    Leon nodded his head to Sabrina, pulled Bleia away, and returned to his very own residence.


    Their last journey had made Leon and Bleia realize their weakness. Therefore, for the following days, both of them started to get busy on their own, trying all they could in order to supplement their weaknesses.


    What Leon could do now was feed himself with the best food, strengthen the foundation of his constitution, and consume a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion every three to five days so that he can restlessly increase his Spirit. As for the two Pseudo-Mage level Earth element cores, they had long ago turned into two brand new Rock Snake Golems.


    Bleia on the other hand, felt the lack of power behind her attacks and the vulnerability of her resistance. Thus, she spent a huge amount of magic crystals to purchased a pair of ''Cruel Claws'', using it to improve her offensive power.


    This pair of Cruel Claws was a set of melee finger-cot magical items. The effect attached on the left hand was tearing, while the right hand gave her attacks the effect of bleeding. They were considerably a perfect match to Bleia''s current abilities. In the middle of a fight, Bleia could inject her Blood element energy into these finger-cots, giving them a +2 effect of sharpness.


    Besides that, Bleia was also wringing her brain out concerning her magic resistance.


    It would take a long time for her to train to increase her magic resistance, that''s why Bleia purchased some small decorative items that could bring her additional magic resistances. If she had an Electric Resistant Necklace which could bring her +2 in electricity resistance, she wouldn''t be burned into a big piece of charcoal when she forcefully penetrated through the lightning web in the Underground World.


    Leon had given all his magic crystal cards to Bleia, therefore Bleia, who had her desire of spending unleashed completely, used this fortune and brought back a lot of magic resistance jewelries and magic potions. While Bleia was crazily spending Leon''s magic crystals, Leon was having a ''passionate and friendly'' conversation with the Snorlax in his room.


    Snorlax still looked like a green-skinned goblin. The only change it had was a magical collar on its neck, which a few runes could vaguely be seen on top of the collar. It was a special magical item used specifically for imprisoning those demi-humans who refuse to obey its master''s command.


    A ring of runes was engraved on the inner side of the collar. Three tiny needles that poked into the wearer''s neck were present, slowly drawing the magic energy of the wearer in keeping the collar''s normal functionality. Any action that causes any damage to the collar would immediately trigger a powerful lightning attack. The same effect applies to the wearer if it moved too far away from its master.


    The only way to remove this collar was for the caster to recite a magic spell according to a specific order.


    Therefore, after putting the collar on Snorlax upon their return, Leon finally had his mind relax.


    It was clear that this extremely intelligent goblin named Snorlax had long gotten used to the life of being a slave, and for that reason, it didn''t show any resistance to what Leon had done to it.


    ...


    1978 Words

 Chapter 84: Pridka

    This was an extremely clever little guy who knew how to understand people''s thoughts.Upon entering Leon''s room, it quickly carried out its duty. Taking care of the room''s cleanliness, organizing books on the table, wiping off ink stains, washing the quill pen and cleaning the remains of magical experiments, and even helping Leon take off his thick and heavy traveler robe...


    In short, all the tasks that a magical slave could do, it had completed them within a very short period of time after it came into the room. After that, it stood politely beside the table, awaiting Leon''s command.


    Carrying a smile in his eyes and watching how Snorlax completed all these tasks, Leon finally gave out his order in a rather cold manner.


    "Tell me about that Mage Pridka!"


    The goblin''s body trembled slightly, raising its head and taking a peek at the young apprentice who stood opposite to it, but its gaze was caught by Leon''s cold and calm glance. This made it shudder, quickly lowering its eyes and began to speak in a stuttered manner.


    The story was more or less as what Leon had been expecting. This green-skinned goblin who had the name of Snorlax was indeed a very lucky escaped slave.


    In order to tell the whole story, it had to start from fifteen years ago.


    To put it simply, that Second Grade Mage Pridka wanted to carry out some kind of soul experiment, so he captured a large group of underground creatures to serve as his magic spell experiment subjects. Like most of the magic spell experiments, this soul experiment was extremely dangerous and difficult to control, thus most of his test subjects eventually died painfully, while only this green-skinned goblin survived. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With regards to the soul experiment, Snorlax didn''t have many memories, and most were not complete. But through its brief description, Leon suspected that Second Grade Mage Pridka was trying to perform a soul transfer experiment.


    As soul transfer was the only lead to immortality, it was a magic topic that must be researched privately by most of the Mages who wished for immortality.


    As for the Mage''s treasure mentioned by Snorlax, it was just one of the many laboratories Mage Pridka built in the Underground World. Since Snorlax accidentally awakened its intelligence during the soul experiment and managed to survive, in order to better observe any changes to its soul, Mage Pridka promoted it to become his personal slave. And out of curiosity, he taught it some magical knowledge.


    So, that was when Snorlax learned all three magic spells it knew.


    Despite only having the most basic intelligence, Snorlax was actually smart in its own unique way. The reason why it chose these three spells was so that it could escape from the Mage! Even though it didn''t have a brilliant brain and vast knowledge like an Mage, but it also knew as a test subject, sooner or later it would have to be cut open on an operating table.


    Since the day its intelligence awakened, it had been preparing for its grand escape.


    After listening to Snorlax''s story, Leon couldn''t help and speculate how this goblin must be a very lucky creature that was blessed by the Will of Mage World. After it served the Mage for eleven years, it finally found an opportunity for its great escape.


    It happened five years ago during an Underground World clean up mission. The Zhentarim Association sent a large group of Mages and ambushed Elysium City. Mage Pridka was forced to bring most of the Fallen Mages and moved to a deeper place underground, while Snorlax was abandoned in the laboratory.


    According to normal circumstances, Snorlax would disappear together with the self-destruction of Elysium City. But surprisingly, this lucky fellow was able to escape before the city was destroyed. And so, not knowing anybody, Snorlax had once again become a wild creature that roamed the Underground World.


    As for its situation after that, it was rather easy to guess.


    Despite the fact that Snorlax mastered a few peculiar magic spells that didn''t have much fighting ability, it was not something that could be easily captured by ordinary underground creatures. After wandering in the wild for some time, through its peculiar abilities, Snorlax actually gathered a large group of goblins and established a camp in the shallow region of Underground World, becoming the leader of a goblin colony.


    After he listened to Snorlax story, Leon sighed emotionally inside of his heart. This was simply a motivational story of this strange world. But too bad, no marvelous or extraordinary story could move him now. Leon snapped his finger angrily, causing the tiny needles that poked into Snorlax''s neck to inject a powerful electricity into its body.


    In next moment, dark smoke started to billow out from Snorlax''s body, as it fell to the ground, its body twitching.


    "Hmph, your story is indeed motivational, and is pleasant to hear. But tell me, what benefits can I get after putting all that effort to save you? Do you think I just want to listen to your fucking fantasy story?" The enraged Leon kept roaring at Snorlax, showing a look that seemed as if he was about to rip this goblin into pieces.


    "Mas... master... I.. I can... I can give you a magic spell laboratory of a Second Grade Mage!" Snorlax proved itself to be a tough creature who had both thick skin and strong guts, even though it was facing a threat to its life, its eyes and mouth twitching due to the electricity, it was still able to smoothly say its life-saving statement.


    "Where''s that laboratory?"


    "In Elysium City!"


    "Fuck! Damn you, goblin! Do you think a surface apprentice like me can freely enter Elysium City, the place where all Fallen Mages come together in crowds? Do you want to taste electricity again?"


    "Master, I was referring to the ruins of the old Elysium City, not the current one!" Greatly terrified by Leon, Snorlax nearly used up all of its strength in yelling out this sentence.


    "Oh? Give me more details!"


    "I didn''t really understand what the exact scenario was, but all I know is one thing, Elysium City had been destroyed three times before. Whenever the surface Mages came to the Underground Cave, the Elysium City would be destroyed. After that, those Fallen Mages will find another location and rebuild a brand new city. The Elysium City I mentioned to you just now is the ruins of the previous Elysium City after it was destroyed in the last war. The current Elysium City is built after that."


    "After it went through a massive self-destruction, would there still be anything left?" Leon pretentiously said in a disdainful manner.


    "Master, master! The laboratory built by Mage Pridka was protected by the strongest magical arrays. Although it''s impossible for it to remain completely intact, but I''m sure there will be some leftover resources. The resources that can be found there are left by a Second Grade Mage, though it might just be in a small quantity, but it''s still worth the risk!"


    Leon quieted down.


    "Chip, analyze the truthfulness of what Snorlax said."


    "Beep. Data analysis completed... Preliminary results show what it said is true... The reference data included: ''The Chronicles of Underground Cave'', ''The Secrets of Underground Creatures'', ''Bibliography of Fallen Mages''... Note: When the creature mentioned the laboratory in the ruins, an abnormal spiritual ripple was detected. The analysis shows there is something it needs in that place..."


    "Hmph, it can also be the chance for it to once again escape from the hands of someone else!" Leon had this thought in his mind.


    Of course, all these were secrets that was hidden within Leon''s mind. Externally, he had his face covered with a bright smile and raised Snorlax from the ground, vowing solemnly that, so long as it could bring Leon to the laboratory, he would set it free and reward it with a huge sum of magic crystals.


    In order to win over the heart of this new minion, Leon spent a big sum of his fortune and ordered the daily noble meal set for it. Therefore, while Leon was happily enjoying his magical energy meal set, Snorlax was also squatting at a corner of the room, devouring the delicacies like a wolf.


    After both of them came to an aLeonent, Snorlax had also ''committed'' itself to become Leon''s servant. After it was promoted, the first thing Leon did was threw it into the bathroom and gave it a thorough wash.


    In the Underground World, all resources were rare and precious, and these goblins had no habit of washing themselves regularly. That''s why Leon wasn''t able to stand the stinking smell that continuously emitted from its body. In order to get rid of this pungent smell, Leon had purposely purchased a bottle of deodorant, using it to thoroughly wash Snorlax from top to bottom.


    Afterwards, when Snorlax stood in front of Leon, it actually looked cute and adorable like those green-skinned cartoons in Leon''s previous life.


    "Alright, now show me all of your abilities!"


    "Master, which one do you want to look at first?"


    "Show me your Camouflage Spell!"


    Snorlax pulled out a small old wooden stick from its waist, then quietly recited some magic spells, and afterwards used the stick to point at its own body. Following the radiant glow of magical rays, the skin color of Snorlax turned exactly like the color of the floor. When it lied down on its stomach at a corner of the room, one could easily overlook its existence.


    "How about the Partial Transformation spell?"


    Hearing what Leon said, Snorlax made its ears stand erect as they slowly twisted and transformed into a withered flower. Although it wasn''t flawless, but it still looked like the real thing. It wasn''t easy to tell the difference with just one look.


    "Good!" Leon nodded his head, and then said, "Invisibility?"


    Snorlax shook its body, dismissing all abnormal transformations present. Following a murmur of an invocation, its wooden stick flickered as its body suddenly turned incorporeal. Five seconds later, it simply vanished into thin air.


    Leon turned his head over and gave it a careful observation. If he didn''t have his Elementium Vision and if Snorlax could move more nimbly, the result of this Invisibility spell would be pretty good.


    "Take a few steps!"


    A row of marks of water suddenly appeared on the floor. Snorlax took a bath previously, and that''s the water that remained on its body.


    Tracing its movement, Leon could vaguely see an abnormal reflection of light. But when it stopped, the abnormality instantly disappeared.


    "Here, hold this book!" Leon directly grabbed a book and gave it to Snorlax.


    Initially, the book floated all alone in midair, making it look really bizarre. But after five seconds passed by, it started to turn intangible and finally vanished without a trace.


    "Oh? You can also hold foreign objects and make them invisible as well! Are there any limitations to such foreign objects?" Leon asked curiously.


    "Firstly, it can''t be a living object. Secondly, its size cannot be bigger than one fifth of my body size." Snorlax''s answers didn''t go beyond Leon''s expectation. A magic spell with such excellent results always come with very strict restrictions.


    Leon hesitated for a moment, and then finally decided to give up the idea of learning this Invisibility spell.


    ...


    1908 Words

 Chapter 85: Flame Body

    The most orthodox path that was directly in front of Leon was doubtlessly furthering his research on the magic spell knowledge related to his elemental affinity ¨C Fire. Understanding this knowledge could help him when he breaks through the threshold of an Mage in the future. Meanwhile, the ability to craft golems, which currently was the greatest help to him, was considered unorthodox, as it deviated from the right path he chose.The relationship between them was like the relation between ''Dao'' and ''Technique'' in his previous life.


    The ''Dao'' was the path of development he chose for himself and was also the ultimate goal he would spend the rest of his life with in restless exploration. While ''Technique'' was merely the tricks used in order to achieve some smaller goals, it was just an auxiliary method.


    Although Leon only mastered a handful of fire element magic spells at this point of time, and their power wasn''t sufficient to deal with the current enemies he had to face, but that was still Leon''s ''Dao''. In order to avoid any deviation happening in his future Mage path, Leon had to spend a huge amount of time immersing himself in studying them, trying his best in mastering the characteristics and rules of the Fire element. Only by doing so, could he get hold of his very own ''Dao''.


    As for the Golem, for a short period of time, maybe it could allow Leon to rise above his peers, bringing him limitless glory with its formidable power. But after all, something like this was just a trick, it did not conform to his ''Dao''. Therefore, he could use it to his heart''s content or use it to seize the resources he needed, but if he really wanted to become an Mage in future, he couldn''t slack in his research of Fire element magic spells.


    For most people, it was tough to have both the Dao and Technique in their path, thus they could only choose one. But for Leon, there wasn''t any problem at all. After all, he had the help of the Chip. The most time-consuming task in magic spells research was the accumulation and analysis of data, which he could leave for the Chip to handle. What he just needed to do was wait for the final essence of knowledge derived by the Chip, and merge them into his own path of magic.


    Therefore, the difference between the Dao and Technique wasn''t that obvious when it comes to Leon.


    Leon''s Spirit had reached the level of an Intermediate Apprentice, which allowed him to have six solidified magic spell models in his Spiritual Domain. Currently, he already had four solidified magic spells: The Burning Hand, Fire Arrow, Flaming Spear, and Fire Shield.


    Therefore, it became difficult to decide which way he should go in researching Fire element magic spell. Currently, Leon took fancy to two magic spells, Flame Body and Molten Ball.


    Flame Body allowed Leon''s body to house more Fire Elementium, while it would greatly improve his Fire element resistance, it was also the only path which leads him to the advance magic ¨C Fire Elementium Modification. But in order to master this spell, besides from the continuous research of Fire element magic, he also needs to learn the knowledge of anatomy and its variation.


    Molten Ball, as the name implied, was a magic spell that merged a huge amount of Fire Elementium and Earth Elementium together, forming into a huge fireball of one meter in diameter. It could inflict Earth element damage to the enemy during its flight, and had the effect of knockback. And once it was detonated by the spell caster, it could also inflict a massive Fire element damage. Thus, it was an AoE, dual element damage magic spell.


    But in order to master it, Leon also needs to have some understanding of the Earth element.


    If only taking the offensive aspect of a magic spell into consideration, no doubt Molten Ball was the most appropriate choice. Leon had already mastered the Burning Hand, which was a close-ranged magic spell, while he had Fire Arrow and Flaming Spear that covered his long-ranged offensive ability. Unfortunately, both of them were magic spells that only attack a single target, that''s why he really need an AoE spell to supplement his lacking offensive strength.


    But considering his future, if Leon really wanted to have some achievements in the path of a Fire element Mage, he would need to have both Focused Wizardry and Elementium Body sooner or later. Thus, laying a proper foundation now could bring him greater help in the future.


    With just a slight hesitation, Leon made up his mind and chose the Flame Body.


    If it was any other Apprentice Mage, when faced with a similar situation, aside from considering their future, they also had to take their current situation into consideration. Flame Body could bring an improvement to his Fire element affinity and also a rapid increase of his Fire resistance, but it didn''t bring any notable help to magic battles between apprentices.


    Once an apprentice is killed in battle by an enemy of the same rank, there would be no future left to consider. That''s why even though the right path of magic was clearly in front of them, in order to survive in the endless battles many apprentices were forced to give up on their future, choosing to maximize their battle power.


    But this wasn''t a problem for Leon at all.


    Because of the Chip, crafting Golems which seemed profound and difficult to master to others was a piece of cake for Leon. So, with the protection of his Golem army, he could totally ignore the threat brought by his enemies, while optimizing his path of magic as much as he like.


    Since he had made up his mind in learning Flame Body, Leon had to pay a visit to the library of Mage Tower, and purchase some books for elementary knowledge of anatomy and variation. Fortunately, this type of knowledge were only the elementary subjects for Necromancer, so long he had enough magic crystal, he would be able to purchase them. If it involved the more profound and advance knowledge of Spiritual Mutation and Spiritual Elementium, perhaps Leon would have to pay a visit to those official Mage, and only then could he gather the relevant knowledge he needs.


    Throughout this hectic process, Snorlax had been reverently holding all magic spell books its master purchased, following behind Leon like a loyal servant. Though some Apprentice Mage who passed by were greatly puzzled by the presence of this green-skinned goblin in the Mage Tower, but when they saw the glittering collar worn on Snorlax''s neck, they immediately understood its status.


    For the sake of offsetting their magic spell weakness, some apprentices would gather and enslave some demon beasts or demons. But most of them were creatures with powerful combat ability such as the Nightsaber Leopard, Rock Tortoise, Flaming Tiger, Socrates Condor, etc. It was rare for someone to have a green-skinned goblin as his servant.


    As Snorlax had been the servant of a Second Grade Mage, clearly it had the experience in facing such situations. Thus, not only did it not look nervous, instead, it immediately put itself into the position of a loyal servant. It even went as far as helping Leon negotiate the price with the vendor, and find pleasure in it.


    After having experienced a similar situation a few times, Leon was surprised to find out that not only does Snorlax have a good grasp of the market prices, it also had a very good eloquence, both abilities could absolutely make it into an outstanding profiteering merchant.


    Since the discovery, Leon simply delegated his authority to Snorlax. Whenever he had anything he needs, he would just give Snorlax a list of items and his magic crystal card, asking it to be fully in charge of the purchase. After that, Leon would shut himself in his room, spending all of his time in studying the magic knowledge transferred to him by the Chip.


    Also, in order to improve its enthusiasm, Leon even had an aLeonent with Snorlax, he would pay all the items he needed according to the market price, and any discount Snorlax obtained after the negotiation with the merchant would become its personal reward.


    With this reward scheme, Snorlax who never owned anything personal had instantly turned crazy, transforming itself into the greatest profiteering merchant in this Mage Tower. Everyday, it would spend all of its time befriending with a group of Beginner Apprentices.


    Surprisingly, Snorlax did have its own unique ideas and innate talents with regards to the price fluctuations in the market. Buying at a low price and selling at a high price, hoarding and profiteering, jacking up prices... all these complicated commercial approaches only a human could master, it had learned them within just a few days, using them to thrive in its own business. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Soon, all of the Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices in the first level of Mage Tower were aware of this goblin merchant whose name was Snorlax, and it even carried an array of unique items that can hardly be found by ordinary people. Consequently, it had further set off its mysterious and strange background.


    What to do? Both underground guys killed by Leon and Bleia were Advanced Fallen Mage, thus their equipment and magic items weren''t something ordinary Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices would normally see. So when Leon gave all these items to Snorlax and asked it to settle them itself, it became even more confident in running its business.


    Yes, after Snorlax became well-known in the apprentice market located on the first floor, it had bought itself a full set of costume using the magic crystals it earned. An exquisite, luxurious magical robe, a full set of glittering magical equipment, though they were mostly equipment of low quality primarily used by Beginner Apprentices, but having a full set of this costume could still dazzle the eyes of the general public.


    Together with a finely made magic wand and a magic cape that trailed behind its body. Whenever it appeared in the apprentice market, it would always attract waves of greetings.


    The reason why so many Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices became its fans was because of the Third and Fourth Grade magical items it took out occasionally. As these were all premium wares that no ordinary apprentice could easily find.


    During the course of running its business, it was naturally greeted by a few market enforcers that came aggressively and asked Snorlax to pay taxes. But when Snorlax hinted at them the name of its master, the guy named Ryan had no other choice but to go away in dejection. Obviously, through the family that supported him, that Ryan learned the glorious story of Leon in the training camp. That''s why so long as Snorlax don''t push things too far, Ryan wouldn''t find fault with it as he didn''t want to let the family behind him offend an elite apprentice who was rising fast like a rocket.


    But there was no way ordinary apprentices could have known this. Instead, Ryan''s unusual behavior further attracted the curiosity of the public, making them continue finding out who master behind Snorlax was. But no one seemed to know the answer.


    Consequently, a rumor suddenly spread secretly between apprentices, that this Snorlax might be the servant of an official Mage. Hence, encouraged by these strange rumors, Snorlax''s business became extremely prosperous!


    Leon, who knew nothing about all of these, was currently shutting himself in his room, seriously working out on his future path.


    Since he had decided to study Flame Body first, thus in the short run, there wouldn''t be any notable improvements to his combat strength. If he wanted to maintain his advantage in the Underground Cave, he has to fully dig out the combat potential of his golems.


    Serving as his ride, Demon Alligator Hunter''s excellent ability to travel beneath the soil had let Leon established his competitive advantage. But the lack of offensive ability was still its weakness. It was more than enough to deal with an Intermediate Apprentice, but when it comes to an Advanced Apprentice, its ability falls short. And if were to face a Pseudo-Mage, the overly loose body structure made it unable withstand even just a single blow.


    Now, the arrival of the Rock Snake had made up for the weakness of having insufficient offensive power. A Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake alone might not be enough to fight with an agile Pseudo-Mage, but how about two Rock Snakes? Or maybe three?


    With a great determination and effort, it only took Leon three days to turn two new Pseudo-Mage level Earth element cores into two brand new Rock Snakes. With the protection from both of them, if he were to face with the very same Fallen Pseudo-Mage from the previous encounter, he wouldn''t be beaten into such a sorry state like last time, which nearly cost him his life in the Underground World.


    ...

 Chapter 86: Goblin Dreams

    After a period of research, Leon had roughly discovered some new techniques in using his Golems.The Demon Alligator Hunter was an Advanced Apprentice level Golem; using it would occupy two points of his Spirit. Such occupancy would last as long as the Golem is still in use. Meanwhile, the Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake would occupy three points of his Spirit. This also meant that if Leon go all out in battle, with his eleven points of Spirit (Circlet of Nobility gave him +1 in Spirit), he could only maintain one Demon Alligator Hunter and two Rock Snakes in the battlefield.


    After all, he still needed to conserve some Spirit in order to cast necessary magic spells.


    This was the best result after extensive calculations of the Chip and the advantage brought by the unique magical arrays, which had greatly reduced the Spirit requirement of the golems. If it was some other magical golem that was ordinarily made, with Leon''s current Spirit, he would only be able to maintain a single Rock Snake for his battles.


    One of the main reason for such situations is often caused by the unique characteristics of a Golem.


    Golems and those commonly seen Titans were different.


    Titans were human-liked creations with a fixed body created using huge amounts of rare resources. Because they have massive builds, there''s plenty of space on their bodies allowing the creator to draw all kinds of magical runes and special magic arrays. Naturally, a creation produced with this method had the Spirit requirement for its user reduced to the minimum level.


    In most cases, during a battle, the user only needed to give the Titan the simplest commands which it will follow unless otherwise ordered, and then the user could relinquish his control afterwards.


    But Golems were different. Before they were summoned, they didn''t have a fixed body, its manifestation was similar to magical summoning, with the only difference of having a Golem replacing the random outworld creature that would have been summoned. This was the reason why a Golem would consume Leon''s Spirit when it was in use.


    Also, a Golem doesn''t have a massive body that could let its creator freely put his talent in magical arrays to use. In order to carve a sufficient amount of control-type magical arrays and energy system in the chicken egg-sized Elementium core, it was simply an extremely strict challenge to the skill of the Golem creator.


    To be honest, with the help of the Chip, Leon being capable of creating powerful Rock Snake Golems was already a jaw-dropping achievement.


    Comparing the combat strength of both creations, the Titan, which possessed a unique body was no doubt stronger than a Golem who was summoned temporarily. But since the beginning, Leon could only create Golems but not a Titan, the main reason was... Titans occupied a huge amount of space, and it was not convenient to carry around.


    Take the cheapest Clay Titan as an example. A Clay Titan which wasn''t equipped with any magical equipment already weigh three hundred kilograms, standing at 2.4 meters tall. A giant like this was indeed powerful, but how was Leon going to bring it into a battlefield?


    Even in non-combat mode, a big guy like this was near impossible to pack and carry around. Also, its massive weight would mean a consumption of a lot of magic energy, thus, depending on the Titan''s ability to absorb the magical Elementium in the air wasn''t dependable as it wasn''t enough to supply its need in combat.


    Therefore, a Titan which possessed a fixed body was more likely to be used as a guardian for an Mage Tower or some important magical equipment. During normal times, they would be hidden in a secret spatial void, motionless. Making their magical energy consumption be at the lowest level. Whenever they were needed for a battle, the preset alert mechanism would then activate them, and then churn them out from the void in order to repulse the enemy or annihilate the intruder.


    To achieve all these, it required the support of a massive energy storage inside of an Mage Tower.


    With all these characteristics, it has been decided that Leon could only fight with the help of Golems. After all, bringing an egg size core everywhere he went was so much easier and concealable than bringing along a Titan which could shake the earth with every step it takes.


    As a result, in order to maximize the help of the Golems, while Leon continued to improve the fighting potential of his Golems, he''s also trying his best in increasing his Spirit. After all, his Spirit was directly related to the number of Golems he could use in his future battles.


    That''s why, on the fourth day after his safe return to the Mage Tower, and after his Physique increased to 3.82, he consumed another bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion. This time, it added 0.7 to Leon''s Spirit, slightly lower than the previous increase of 0.75.


    By continuously consuming the same type of magic potion, the result it yielded the next time would be lesser, until it had no more effect to its consumer. This was a normal phenomenon that had been thoroughly researched by Mages, and no one could do anything about it.


    The reason behind this phenomenon was because of the body''s natural resistance to drugs. After consuming the same type of magical potion for a long period of time, the residue of the drug that was hard to remove would accumulate in the body, reducing the magical effect of the same drug. Though this was a progressive process, but it did exist.


    So, after consuming the Mind Concentrating Potion, Leon''s body attributes were as below.


    Compared to last time, Leon''s Spirit had gained an increase of 1.07. 0.70 was gained through the Mind Concentrating Potion, while 0.37 was earned through the magical energy meal set and his daily meditation. Based on a rough calculation, if this 1.07 of increment was exchanged into magic crystals, it would cost around 350-400 magic crystals.


    This numerical figure had made Leon believe that a successful Apprentice Mage was indeed fostered by a huge amount of magic crystals.


    ...


    It was noon time. After finishing a tiring business deal in the morning, the most successful goblin merchant in the Mage Tower could be seen walking at a brisk pace toward its own room.


    Ever since it earned its first barrels of gold from Leon, Snorlax had rented a room beside its master''s residence as its own cozy home. Every day, it was only to report the daily result to its master at the evening, then it could spend the rest of the day at its leisure.


    Having a good night''s sleep, counting the money until its hands cramp.


    To be honest, a pleasant life like this was the perfect lifestyle it had always dreamed of. However, this dream was never realized when it was following the Second Grade Mage, it also never came true when it was still roaming in the Underground World, but instead, its dream was actually realized after it became the follower of an Apprentice Mage.


    For that reason, for the past few days, it had become totally insane, spending all its day bustling around.


    During daytime, it would spend all of its time in the apprentice market, using its eloquence and innate talent to earn a steady stream of magic crystals. At the evening, after enjoying its meal, it would dwell inside of its simple room, counting all the magic crystals it earned during daytime over and over again. In fact, every night it was sleeping in the middle of all the magic crystals it earned.


    But the smart Snorlax also knew one thing, it was that mysterious master behind it that gave it all these. Without the financial support and total delegation of this mysterious master, it was just a green-skinned goblin that was looked down by all Apprentice Mages. It wouldn''t even have the right to yell in the middle of these apprentices.


    Despite spending all day and surrounding Snorlax with honeyed words, it could still see that deep inside of the Beginner Apprentices'' eyes, there was still a hint of disdain that cannot be hidden by them. What they respected was not Snorlax, but the mysterious master was behind it. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite having extraordinary talent, without a powerful master as the clever goblin''s backup, the only ending for it would be being pushed onto the ground, having its face branded with the mark of a slave, then thrown into the dark and wet dungeon, feeding on the leftover food of humans, yet carrying out tedious and laborious jobs.


    Snorlax was aware of all these, because before it was chosen as the test subject by the master Mage, that was the life it went through!


    Compared to that, although its current master wasn''t as powerful as the previous one, but after indulging in such a lifestyle, it had never even thought of escape anymore. Most of the time, it even kept hoping that a lifestyle like this could last forever!


    Filling its mind with endless fantasies, it used the rune talisman tied around its waist and a magical password to open up the door of its room. But upon entering, it was immediately stopped by a strong smell of blood.


    In just one morning, its room had transformed into a bloody and frightening slaughter house. Meanwhile, its lovely yet mysterious master was seen standing in front of a bloody autopsy table, seriously examining a strange body that had been dissected completely.


    He was seen holding a dissecting knife, wearing a pair of deerskin gloves fully stained with blood, and a long white robe that was covered in blood as well. It wasn''t hard to tell that he was busy working on an autopsy experiment.


    It looked like its master was a rookie in the biological autopsy.


    Even though Snorlax never personally dissected any creature, but it had spent a long time in the laboratory of a Second Grade Mage. Influenced by what it saw during that period of time, Snorlax actually possessed a richer knowledge in autopsy than Leon. If it was a necromancer apprentice, he would never make an autopsy experience into such a bloody scene.


    Which part to cut, how to avoid the blood vessels of the creature, all these were the basic skills of a necromancer apprentice, thus it was impossible to drag himself into such a messy state. Therefore, Snorlax was sure that it must be the first time its master carried out such an autopsy experiment.


    As the loyal servant of its master, how could it just sit back and ignore the awkward situation its master was facing right now?


    Moving over a small stool, Snorlax climbed up on it and started to passionately give advice and suggestions to its master, it wasn''t even afraid of being dirty and personally helped out to move the body of Lizardman so that its master could dissect the creature on a better position.


    Surprisingly, Snorlax actually turned into a tutor who possessed an excellent magical knowledge, wittingly or unwittingly starting to guide Leon on his first ever autopsy experience. Of course, because of the patience of the teacher, and the devoutness of the learner, none of them actually felt anything wrong with their current roles.


    Therefore, with the ''assistance'' of Snorlax, Leon smoothly completed his first autopsy exercise.


    It was right until Leon satisfyingly removed his deerskin glove, throwing them together with his long white robe into a dustbin beside the autopsy table, did Snorlax suddenly realize its ''rude'' behavior. It quickly rush off the small wooden stool, squatting down beside the stool and waited for the punishment of its master.


    "You''ve done great today. It looks like you learned quite a lot of things from that Second Grade Mage. I''ll have you as my assistant in my future autopsy exercises." Leon gave Snorlax a warm smile, and then continued saying, "Get up! Do you really think I''ll punish you for something that you never did wrong, just because of my pride? Alright, clean up the place, it''s time for lunch!"


    Conveniently tossing away the rubbish in his hand, Leon turned around and returned to his own room, leaving behind Snorlax who had a blank expression.


    Looking over its shoulder at the bloody ''slaughter house'', it sniffed the pungent smell of blood and after thinking for some time, Snorlax finally understood why its master didn''t want to put this autopsy station in his own room.


    He must be afraid the smell would affect his appetite!


    This was a really special master. Snorlax murmured inwardly.


    ...


    2124 Words

 Chapter 87: A Fire Lords Scepter!

    The Underground World had been in turmoil recently.This was the message that Kevin had specifically brought when he had paid Leon a visit.


    Of course, Kevin hadn''t visited him just to inform him of this message, but to also bring along the chief officer of Lothar Merchant who had been stationed in this place. The purpose for their visit was to purchase those Blood Garnets that had been awarded to Leon and Bleia in mine number seven.


    Having spent some time identifying them, Leon determined that these Blood Garnets were rather special magical materials. Those that were mainly used in crafting some types of unique magical items, however, they were of no help to the Golem that he needed now. Perhaps because of this, Leon briskly gave all six Blood Garnets that he and Bleia had owned to the Lothar Merchant and let them handle the sale.


    As for the fee, Leon had not asked for magic crystals, but instead had requested them to exchange all the profits into Pseudo-Mage level Elementium cores. In response to his request, the chief officer had agreed with a smile all over his face.


    Since Leon had been willing to give away his Blood Garnet, the chief officer was able to complete his half-yearly target. Additionally, since Leon didn''t accept the magic crystals and was willing to exchange them for Elementium cores with Lothar Merchant, the chief officer was able to complete two transactions in one go! How could he not be happy?


    The reason why Leon had acted so briskly earlier was because he had found out that this Lothar Merchant was supported by the Mage Angus whom he had been dealing with this entire time and that both Kevin and Mage Angus had belonged to the same family ¨C the Byron family.


    Due to these two reasons, Leon had agreed to the request of this chief officer without any hesitation, as it would also serve as a friendly gesture towards the Mage Angus.


    To reciprocate Leon''s friendly gesture, before leaving with satisfaction, Kevin showed a warmer attitude to their friendship. Secretly, he told Leon that if there was anything in the future that Leon wasn''t able to solve by himself, Leon could definitely pay a visit to Mage Angus. Regardless of whether it was the purchase of knowledge or exchange of resources, Mage Angus would be sure to give him the best discount!


    In less than half a day, the Pseudo-Mage level Elementium cores that Leon had requested were delivered to him. There was a total of four Elementium cores, one of the Earth element, two of the Water element and one of the Wind element. In addition to the cores, he also received map of the entire Underground World which clearly marked every detail that had been discovered so far. However, this map could only be used as a reference, because it was very tough to perfectly line it up with the actual terrain and one needed to consider the changes in terrain.


    Leon had finally understood that the only thing that could help him establish the competitive advantage in future battles was a large quantity of Golems. There were many benefits that the Golems brought: they were convenient and fast, easy to hide, and could be owned in large quantities. If the conditions permitted, Leon even wished that he could build an army of Golems that would obey his every single command.


    If anyone so much as looked at him the wrong, he wouldn''t need to take care of them himself. With just with a signal from his eyes, a swarm of Golems would flood the enemy in an instant.


    Of course, such fantasy could only be realized in the distant future. As for now, however, he could only continue carefully crafting his team of Golems.


    Yes, Leon had already had a tentative idea ¨C using a variety of Golems and combining different tactics to effectively use the full combat force for each type of Golem. Since he had spent most of his time in the Underground World recently, he preferred to craft more Earth element Golems. However, considering the potential changes to the future battlefields he would encounter, he would have to prepare in advance.


    The Water and Wind element Golems were in preparation for his future.


    Especially a Wind element Golem, owning one of them meant that Leon would had a free flying demon pet, thus he would no longer have to worry about traveling long distances anymore.


    After the Chip had scanned those Elementium cores, Leon ordered it to start drafting the most suitable design for the Golems. Once this had commenced in an orderly fashion, Leon took the crystal ball and quietly gave the data and records stored inside a thorough study.


    Within the dark screen, he could only see bright dots on the uppermost layer. Even though it was just the uppermost layer, it had still been completely formed by numerous winding and twisting tunnels, cracks, secret passages, valleys, and water channels. Countless caves and caverns were marked in between making them look like the dazzling stars in the night sky. While there were innumerable passages that connected all locations, most of them were impassable by normal human beings.


    On this map, the spaces where one was only allowed to stay temporarily were marked in green, while the passable passages were marked with tiny blue lines. In between those dense and complicated arrays of blue and green were countless glowing red dots. These were the rough distribution of the currently known underground creatures, colonies and demons.


    Of course, in this three-dimensional map of the uppermost layer of Underground Cave, Leon wasn''t find any information related to the ruin of Elysium City.


    For this reason, Leon called upon Snorlax and asked it to point to the exact location of that Mage treasure. After spending half a day seriously studying the map, Snorlax finally pointed to a region. Leon didn''t see any indication of a city in that region. Instead, he saw a large patch of red that represented danger.


    In the Underground World, there were many regions filled with dangers that made no outsider want to step into them. Usually, either those regions had a harsh natural environment that no apprentice would be able to endure or they housed some extremely dangerous demons. No matter the reason, they were all dangerous regions that all Apprentice Mages had to handle with extreme care.


    Looking at the dazzling red glow on the map, Leon couldn''t help but start to hesitate.


    Judging from the brightness of the color, the region was a dead zone where even Pseudo-Mages would be faced with danger. Hence, when Snorlax pointed at it without the slightest hesitation, it seemed rather logical that it was the right place.


    Since the ancient era, Mages liked to build all sorts of laboratories in their own residence. From Snorlax''s description, Leon could tell that this Second Grade Mage had been an expert in biological modification. However, once his laboratory was abandoned, there was a very high chance that those mutants, golems and the magical energy that had been stored in the laboratory could irreversibly contaminate that particular region.


    It would have been fine if those mutants or modified creatures had died, but if a powerful fellow was lucky enough to have survived, those Apprentice Mages who went to explore the region would be facing a frightening monster similar to an Mage. Though Snorlax claimed it knew the magical password for some of the laboratories, the potential risk still held Leon back.


    While Leon was hesitating, a message from Snorlax boosted his confidence to take the risk.


    A Fire Lord''s Scepter!


    There was actually a Fire Lord''s Scepter in a secret chamber of that Second Grade Mage!


    For others, this Fire Lord''s Scepter was merely a powerful magical item that could summon three Pseudo-Mage level Fire Spirits every day. But for Leon, it had an inexplicably special use.


    With Leon''s elemental affinity of Fire, he could totally use this scepter to construct a Teleportation Gate to get to Fire Elementium Plane. By doing so, he would have an endless supply of Fire element cores. And once his overall strength reached a powerful stage, he could even try to occupy a territory in the Fire Elementium Plane and become a true Fire Lord himself.


    Putting aside everything else, just take those Elementium cores that Leon had been gathering. Perhaps most of them weren''t even produced in his own plane, but were harvested from those other Elementium Planes.


    The entire multiverse was boundless and deep. It was completely filled with elemental energies that came in all forms, which would eventually compose into a vast ocean of energy. Meanwhile, different planes were like islands ¨C isolated from each other and floating in this vast ocean of energy.


    Each plane was a completely different world of its own ¨C from earth, mountains, rivers to oceans, sky and living beings, nothing was lacking. But, when each plane was born, they were mixed with an imbalanced Elementium energies, thus making each plane show a totally different and unique characteristic.


    The plane where the world of Mage resided was a major one that was extremely suitable for the survival of living things. However, when the control of the plane fell into the hands of Mage who rose abruptly, the characteristics of the plane had changed as well and deviated towards the chaotic yet powerful energy of magic.


    And as for the Elementium Planes mentioned just now, when they were born, they resided in a region where a single Elementium gathered. Hence, when these planes had matured, they became a plane with a single Elementium.


    In an ordinary material plane, the distribution of Elementium matters would be nearly balanced. Earth Elementium gathered together forming mountains, hills, plains and different terrains. Water Elementium gathered together to form into streams, lakes, and ocean. Wind Elementium brought clouds, rains, thunder and lightning to material planes, while Fire Elementium brought lava, volcanoes, and life.


    Due to the collection of these Elementiums, it gave birth to numerous perfect material worlds that flourish and became the breeding ground for all living things.


    Elementium Planes, on the other hand, weren''t like these worlds.


    Take the Fire Elementium Plane that attracted Leon the most. Although there were mountains, hills, oceans and lakes, the basic Elementium that constructed them all were Fire Elementium. Inside of that plane, the mountain, the ocean, even the sky was on fire.


    Of course, a world like this was not suitable for the survival of normal living things, but it actually gave birth to Fire element creatures that used Fire element energy as their source of life: Fire Spirits, Fire Giants, Lava Hounds, Fire Deities, Fire Hawks, Magma Core Giants, Fire Demons, Fire Element Elders, Fire Lords, Fire Kings... It was a world ruled by Fire element creatures and similar to the human world, they also had a well-structured ruling hierarchy, based on the overall strength of each individual.


    If Leon really wished to have a great achievement in the Fire element, then sooner or later, he would have to visit the Fire Elementium Plane. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The World of Mage was, after all, a major plane in itself. As invading and occupying was an Mage''s second nature, an Mage loved to search for new material planes in the vast ocean of stars. Once they found one, they would invade them straightaway, pulling them onto the bandwagon of planes that kept expanding at a rapid rate.


    Even with the cruel and ruthless characteristic of Mages, though they had long found the coordinates of these Elementium Planes, not even one Mage ever dreamt of conquering an Elementium Plane and making it into an auxiliary plane of the Mage World. The reason was that all these Elementium Planes were frightening major planes. Just judging from their overall strength alone, if the Mage World really connected these Elementium Planes, perhaps the happiest party would be those unambitious Elementium creatures.


    At that point in time, perhaps it would not be not the Mages who would happily carve up the massive resources of Elementium Planes, but the countless Elementium creatures who would swarm into the Mage World and turn this place into a brand new Elementium Plane.


    Therefore, in the rules of the Mage World, all Mages held a very careful attitude when managing the Teleportation Gate that connected to any major plane. Because even the slightest mismanage could have devastating consequences!


    ...


    2083 Words

 Chapter 88: Looking for

    Although it was impossible to verify in the meantime if the treasure of the Mage that was mentioned by Snorlax was real, it was still totally worth it to take some risks just for it.After all, for Leon who was giving his all in becoming an official Mage, an item which a Second Grade Mage turned his nose up might be a priceless treasure that he couldn''t even buy with a hefty price. Therefore, after roughly determining the location of that ruined Elysium City, Leon started planning on how he could go there and find out the actual situation on site.


    Judging from the location displayed on the map, it was located in the innermost area of the shallow layers in the Underground Cave. The distance between it and the surface was just seventeen miles as the crow flies, but it was deep within core area with abundant underground creatures. According to the data on the map, there existed a few large colonies of underground creatures that could be found at the surrounding area of the suspected site, including many powerful underground creatures which wandered around in the Underground World.


    (DragonFly: As the crow flies means the shortest path between two points in a map, disregarding the vagaries of intervening terrain)


    If he really wanted to explore the area, lacking a proper preparation wouldn''t be anything different from putting himself on a silver plate and placing in front of those evil and cruel creatures!


    For the past few days, Bleia was quite busy in strengthening and improving her overall strength, and had been running her feet off all day. When Leon finally found an opportunity to tell her about his plan, unlike her usual impulsive temper, she didn''t jump on board and agree to Leon''s idea. Instead, with a very calm manner, she told Leon that she had found herself a way to improve her combat strength, and was currently busy working on it, thus she couldn''t join him in this mission.


    Therefore, Leon naturally handed over the control of Snorlax to Bleia, asking her to keep an eye on this cunning little guy, while he focused all of his attention on preparing the resources he needed for the Underground World expedition.


    When he finally had everything ready, Leon paid a visit to Kevin, informing him that he was going to find some Dark Grasses in the Underground World, using it as an excuse to sneak into the Underground Cave.


    ...


    Honestly saying, the Underground Cave wasn''t a place suitable for travel and sightseeing.


    For any surface creature who were still mentally sound that stepped into the Underground Cave for the first time, the biggest change in behavior they showed was an extremely oppressive emotion. Whenever they thought of the possibility that there were thousands of tons of dirt and rocks above their head which might collapse and flood them at any moment, no creature could remain calm as they usually do in the surface. Meanwhile, in the Underground Cave, any irrational behavior would have the possibility to expose one''s whereabout, which in turn would attract a swarm of predators.


    For the sake of this trip, Leon had gone all out. Besides from the Demon Alligator Hunter he was riding with, he also had three Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snakes placed in his waist pouch. If he really bumped into some enemies that he need to fight, he would risk his life and unleashed all three Rock Snakes at once. With that, he didn''t believe there would still be any enemy that could stop him from fleeing with his life intact.


    As for the two Water element cores and two Wind element cores, Leon was still in the process of refining the design for their magical arrays. He estimated that he would have some results after the end of this trip to the Underground World.


    Upon entering the boundary of Underground Cave, Leon immediately summoned the Demon Alligator Hunter and sunk into the soil, following the direction shown on the map and kept venturing deeper into the ground. Every time after he traveled for some distances, Leon would always drive Demon Alligator Hunter to squeeze out into a random dark tunnel, making sure he was still on the right course.


    Using such method, in just slightly over three hours, Leon had already reached the depth of about ten miles under the ground. But the deeper he went, the slower the speed he could travel underground.


    Huge chunks of metal ores, large stretches of rock formations, all these had become the obstacles that Leon couldn''t penetrate through while he was traveling in the soil. Inside the soil where no light was present, Leon''s spiritual sense could, at most, cover a distance of nearly twenty meters. Trying to find a path that led straight to his destination under such circumstances was no doubt extremely difficult.


    Therefore, after running into rock walls several times, Leon had no choice but leave the soil and enter into a random tunnel. What to do? When traveling in a totally unfamiliar region like this, using the ready-made tunnels that were excavated by the underground creatures was so much more easier than poking his nose randomly in the pitch-black sea of soil.


    Inside the dark and wet tunnel, Leon took out his crystal ball, and used it to once again confirm his current position. After that, he continued his journey following the path of a tunnel descending into a path of darkness.


    Sitting high up on the flat back of the Demon Alligator, Leon could be seen wearing a thick and sturdy traveler robe, with the Circlet of Nobility mounted on his forehead, while his eyes were hidden behind a pair of strange looking Gnome Goggles. Through the night vision of the goggles and his Elementium Vision that could see through all Elementium, the tunnel had turned into a totally different and bizarre world inside of Leon''s eyes.


    The background color of his entire field of view was green, and even though everything seemed dark, he could still have a very clear vision on every single object. Within his field of view, everything that had the Elementium aura would glow with their own unique Elementium color, even though they were hiding behind a big stalagmite, or stuck inside some rock cracks. Physically, they might have an excellent disguise, but there was no way they could hide their colorful glows from Leon''s eyes.


    According to the brightness of their glow that was represented in the Elementium Vision, Leon could easily estimate their strengths even from a very far distance.


    Those weaker creatures would be handled by Demon Alligator Hunter. With just a few dirt spears, their concealed bodies would be instantly impaled. When their warm blood burst out of their broken bodies, the last trace of their life aura would soon vanish from Leon''s vision. If they bump into stronger creatures, Leon would summon his Rock Snakes, using their extremely strong body to crushed their enemies into meat paste.


    That''s why along their journey, those underground predators that were scattered around had finally met their slayers. Before they could wait for their prey to get closer, every single one of them would be killed at the place where they were hiding for an ambush.


    Although these solo predators were relatively easy to handle, but the underground colonies which gathered in a large group around the passage Leon must pass through were much tougher to deal with. For example, the Tunnel of Gnolls, the Nest of Lizardmen, even Leon wouldn''t dare to provoke them easily. Or else, if they come out in full force, even though he could still defeat them, he would have alerted all the monsters who lived in this region.


    Yet, without Leon''s knowledge, when he stealthily passed through the Tunnel of Gnolls, right at a dark and wet shadowy corner where he just went passed, a skinny body suddenly stood up from the ground.


    This was an old Gnoll who had one foot in the grave already. There wasn''t much muscle that could be found on its skinny body, and an antique looking black dagger was hanging down on its waist, while its old body could barely stand straight. But when it narrowed its murky yet cold eyes and looked into the direction where Leon disappeared, an awe-inspiring aura of a strength gradually emanated from its body, nearly freezing air in the surroundings.


    "Leader, that human has headed towards the direction of the ruins!" A dark figure suddenly emerged from the shadows.


    "Let him be! He is just merely an Intermediate Apprentice, there is nothing much he can do there." Two tiny flames could be seen igniting within the bloodshot eyes of the old leader of Gnolls. "Further down is the territory of the Lizardmen. Using their advantage in numbers, these damnable fellows kept us from getting close to the ruins. We''ll let this small bug in, perhaps he could cause some troubles for them!"


    "I understand! Your subordinate will make the necessary arrangements now, I''ll let our brothers at the sentry post to let him pass." The dark figure bowed, and soon dissolved into the darkness again.


    Leon was still slowly moving further down in the darkness. For some unknown reasons, he kept feeling a chill on his back, as if a shivering breeze was able to penetrate through his thick coat and entered his body, which caused him to tremble slightly.


    Damn it, where did this bad omen come from?


    Never once in his life did Leon wished something very much. He wished he knew some magical knowledge about predictions and whatnot. Even if he just knew the tiniest bit of it, he would be able to briefly predict which direction the danger was coming from. That would allow him to make some preparations beforehand.


    Leon even secretly took out the Screaming Branch and examined it a few times but he didn''t find anything unusual on it. This meant the danger was on its way, but the target wasn''t necessarily him. Could the danger come from inside the ruins?


    While he was pondering quietly, Leon put up an even more rapid scan at his surroundings that was hidden in darkness.


    By right, with the see through ability of his Elementium Vision, no Elementium user could get near him without alerting him. But in this Underground World, besides from those frightening demons, what kind of creature could pose a threat to his life? S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon''s brain was spun at high speed as he kept pondering about his situation. Various data of powerful underground creatures that was stored in the Chip flashed through his mind one after another. Suddenly, a few creatures aroused Leon''s vigilance.


    Gnoll Hunter... Lizardman Assassin...


    It seems that this region is part of their territories. As these two bizarre underground creatures weren''t classified as demons, that also meant there wasn''t any Elementium energy present in their bodies. However, in the list of dangerous underground creatures of Underground Cave, their names were still listed at the top. This meant even without relying on the power of Elementium, they still possessed enough fighting ability that could make just about anyone tremble in fear.


    Leon''s heart became heavy.


    With regards to these creatures who became excellent fighters just by using their intrepid bodies, it was very difficult for the Elementium Vision to detect them, while night vision fared even worse. Perhaps even Bleia''s infrared vision would not be of too much use here. So, how could he detect these bizarre and nasty fellows?


    When Leon was panicking, the Chip finally came out with useful information.


    The ability of Full Matching Field of View!


    This was a method of using spiritual sense that only Leon could achieve.


    For every short distance he traveled, Leon could always make a backup of the terrain feedback coming from his night vision and Elementium Vision. After that, using the incredible Field of View Matching ability of the Chip, he could find out the slightest difference in two terrain images that were captured in different times.


    If there was really a cold-blooded assassin hiding around Leon, so long as it moved along with him, there would be a slight difference in the shadow where it was hiding. Nobody could detect such difference with just their naked eyes, but nothing could escape from the Full Matching Field of View provided by the Chip.


    So long as he discover them, the threat they posed to him would be reduced by at least 80%.


    At that time, it would not be them who can create trouble from the dark, but instead, Leon would be able to give their arrogance a fierce punishment!


    ...


    2116 Words

 Chapter 89: Lizardmen vs Demon Alligator

    The darkness was filled with twisted shadows, stalagmites, stalactites and rocks of all shapes and forms that occupied nearly every part of one''s vision. Inside the spacious and quiet cavern, even the slightest of noise would ripple through the winding tunnel and reach a very far distance.From high up on the back of the Demon Alligator, a grim blue light could be seen flicking through Leon''s eyes.


    Though he had been surrounded by complete silence, Leon''s mind was filled with a streak of warning tones. It seemed that a large group of enemies were approaching!


    An indistinct crackling sound rang through the air, as the fiery red Fire Shield made its dazzling appearance and started to hover around Leon''s body. The Chip was busy calculating in Leon''s mind and matching countless real-time images with each other. Numerous tiny differences that no naked eye could ever detect were found by the Chip''s incredible ability and projected onto Leon''s retina one after another.


    Leon turned his head towards a hanging stalactite on his left. He saw a shadow there that seemed thicker than before. Following a gentle stomp of his feet, the Hunter who was mounted in front of him raised its hand into the air and formed a razor sharp, earthy yellow dirt spear in its grip.


    With a twist of its body, the Hunter threw out the dirt spear in its hand using all its force. The spear instantly turned into a yellow bolt of lightning and nailed into the shadow in an instant.


    From Leon''s field of view, he hadn''t noticed anything at that spot, neither any reaction of Elementium nor any life aura. However, following the piercing of the dirt spear, he heard a muffled sound of flesh being pierced through, immediately followed by a shrill cry that rang out through the once dead silence.


    A commotion broke out through the darkness, as a human-like figure with tiny dark green scales completely covering its body suddenly showed up. The dirt spear had pierced through its chest and nailed it onto the stalactite.


    Warm blood was dripping down from the tip of the dirt spear. The human-like figure started to struggle restlessly. However, the more it struggled, the bigger the wound formed by the piercing of the dirt spear became and the fiercer the blood burst out.


    Pop!


    A second dirt spear sliced through the air, piercing through its head straightaway.


    The movement of the figure came to a complete halt instantly. It was now hanging on the stalactite motionless, leaving behind only the crystal clear sound of blood dripping down in this quiet cavern.


    In the next moment, Leon raised his head and looked up at the ceiling of the darkened cave.


    The height from the ground to the ceiling was over tens of meters long. Due to the lack of light, even with him vision, Leon could only see a vague image. However, following the Hunter''s throwing of two dirt spears, another skinny, yet robust figure was seen falling down from the ceiling.


    The two dirt spears had pierced through its right chest and left leg, but hadn''t been able to claim its life. However, as it was lying on the hard cold ground painfully giving its dying kicks, the gigantic foot of Demon Alligator suddenly appeared in its line of sight.


    A muffled boom broke out through the silence, followed by the sound of a watermelon being crushed was heard in the cavern.


    Leisurely and slowly, the Demon Alligator continued its movement and strode away. Once its leg left the ground, the place where the human-like creature had been lying was instead replaced by a pile of crushed meat, making it impossible to identify its original shape, species or even gender.


    A sharp whistle suddenly echoed in the darkness.


    When the whistle resounded throughout the entire cavern, from the far-reaching darkness, countless shadows approached him at high speeds. Judging from the size of the group, perhaps there were more than hundreds of them.


    Twangs of bowstring burst out through the darkness, as noises of sharp object piercing through the air rang out from all directions. The arrows sliced through the air and were targeted at Leon who was covered by a raging flame all over his body.


    Aww! So they were going for a gang fight!


    Leon dared not underestimate his enemy. Without any hesitation, he dispelled the Fire Shield that was hovering around his body and then merged himself with the gigantic body of Demon Alligator ¨C it looked as if he was sinking into a muddy swamp.


    Right when Leon had disappeared, countless sharp arrows instantly struck at the back of Demon Alligator where he had been previously standing. All the arrowheads were flickering with a greenish glow; clearly, the arrowheads had some unknown poisons applied onto them.


    Like the Demon Alligator, the Hunter''s body had also been stuck by multiple arrows, however it showed no concern at all. With both hands continuously grabbing into the air over its head, it kept forming one dirt spear after another. Each spear had a length of one and a half meter. Without stopping its movements, it fired these dirt spears into those Lizardmen who had shown themselves in the far distance.


    Some of the spears were dodged by the Lizardman hunter and assassin, some shattered after hitting the stalagmites that blocked their path, and some hit right on target, eliminating the enemy in the total darkness.


    It was worth mentioning that the bodies of the Lizardman were overly delicate and slender. In order not detract from the agility and speed of their movement, their body hadn''t evolved with thick and dense hard scales like some of those huge size demons. Instead, they were given layers of tiny, light, dark-green scales, whose function was only to prevent the leaking of their body temperature.


    This evolution had given them with the incredible ability to move stealthily in the darkness of the Underground Cave, but it also made their defense so weak that they couldn''t even withstand a single blow. Regardless of which part of their body had been pierced through by the cup-sized dirt spear, it would instantly become a frightening injury. Their delicate bodies just weren''t able to withstand an attack like this.


    As they were facing of against an Elementium Golem, made entirely of clay, the poison arrows they usually used couldn''t bring them their desired effect. Left with no other option, these Lizardman hunters were forced to pull out their short daggers and run through the rock walls and stalagmites to leap onto the giant Demon Alligator that kept pushing its way forward.


    At this moment, their weakness ¨C the lack of a magically enhanced weapon ¨C had become clear.


    Though the weapon produced from the unique underground metal was extremely sharp, most of them were overly thin and short. A weapon like this could never break through the clay armor of Demon Alligator. Numerous Lizardmen surrounded the Demon Alligator and kept attacking it, using their dagger to shed off countless dirt chunks from its clay armor. However, within seconds, following the flash of an earthy yellow light ring, the clay armor had once again been restored to its original condition.


    They weren''t to defeat Demon Alligator, but Demon Alligator could easily kill them off.


    Though the attack frequency of Demon Alligator was rather slow, every time it cast an AoE Spikes spell, it would always claim the lives of three to five Lizardmen. The Demon Alligator was like a massive tank that kept moving forwards, while the Lizardmen were like a group of ignorant natives who carried bamboo sticks in their hand and bamboo arrows on their back. The gap between their strengths was simply huge. Thus, the massive casualties caused by this gap was reasonable.


    Finally, after more than half of the Lizardmen were either wounded or killed, a shrill whistle once again echoed out in the far distance from the darkness.


    Following a few deep and hoarse roars, the Lizardmen began to retreat.


    After peace had once again returned to the surroundings of the Demon Alligator, from under the covering of its thick coat, Leon finally emerged. He hesitated for a brief moment and decided not to drive Demon Alligator to pursue after the Lizardmen.


    Apparently, all of the underground populations had a very strong sense of territory. Perhaps it was because he had come too close to their habitat, that caused the Lizardmen to orchestrate their violent attack. Having suffered such a huge loss, it looked like these Lizardmen had returned to their nest to focus on defense. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, right when Leon drove Demon Alligator to continued his journey, he, due to his sensitive hearing, heard the miserable shrieks of Lizardmen coming from the far distance. It seemed as if a new round of battle had erupted in the darkness.


    Nevertheless, Leon showed no interest in this. He just stood up on Demon Alligator''s back, threw a few glances over into the far distance, before continuing his journey.


    Amidst a pitch-black shadow, the old Gnoll leader was hiding behind a rock pillar, looking at Leon as he strode away into the far distance. His skinny, gray, furry face showed an unconcealed expression of shock.


    Behind him, one after another, the vigorous Gnolls ran through the dark and rugged cavern as if they were on a flat surface, before leaping fiercely onto the group of defeated Lizardmen. Both parties were chasing and slaughtering each other within the darkness filled with countless rock pillars and stalactites. The muffled sounds of daggers slicing through throats kept ringing in the air.


    If this ambush mission had been carried out smoothly, maybe they would have at most been able to chase away that damn Lizardmen tribe from this region. At that point in time, all the profits found in the ruins would have belonged to the Gnolls.


    However, Gray Ear''s mind was still felt with scruples in regards to that surface apprentice who had suddenly intruded onto the inner area of the ruin.


    It waved its hand and a minion of the same species emerged from the shadows behind him.


    "Go and inform Cracked Tooth in Elysium City to pass a message to his master Fallen Mage that someone is trying to enter the ruins. Tell him that the tribe of Gray Ear had failed to stop the enemy and that we''ve suffered a huge loss, while the Lizardmen tribe of Dark Scale had been totally wiped out by the enemy!" From within the darkness, a shivering gleam flickered in the bloodshot eyes of that old Gnoll, with its pale white fangs looking extremely frightening.


    "Understand. Your subordinate will carry out your order now!"


    After slightly bending its body and bowing, the dark figure turned around and dissolved into the vast darkness.


    ...


    The further inside he went, the stronger the worry in Leon''s mind became.


    Front and back, left and right, even above his head and under his feet, the metal contained within the soil was getting denser and denser, while the exposed soil was becoming lesser and lesser. This also meant that if he encountered a frightening enemy in this area, it would be tougher for him to escape like how he usually did.


    For him, this was bad news that he really didn''t want to hear.


    But Leon had to admit, this was the perfect region to build a city.


    In order to build a city once and for all in the Underground World, in addition to taking into account living resources, mineral resources and water source in the surrounding area, the most important factor to consider was the stability and toughness of the geological structure. It was really rare to find a region like this in the Underground World, which was surrounded by countless metal ores and large stretches of stable rock stratum.


    Being able to find metal ores meant that the place would had a constant supply of resources which could attract the wandering merchants. The existence of a water source meant the place could support more lives. However, none of these are comparable to a stable ''sky''. No one wished to be crushed into meat paste by millions of tons of rock and sand during his sleep!


    Thus, when Snorlax had pointed out that this area was where the ruins of the previous Elysium City were, judging by just the terrain alone, it made perfect sense.


    Leon had passed through several habitats of different underground creatures. Perhaps as a result of the Lizardman''s defeat, all these underground creatures gathered in the far away darkness, but no one recklessly launched an attack.


    Under this intense threatening situation, the Demon Alligator had finally reached the end of its long and tiresome journey.


    When Leon passed through a huge arched door riding the Demon Alligator, the space in front of him suddenly expanded, revealing a gigantic cavern filled with bizarre and fantastical colors in front of his eyes.


    ...


    2162 Words

 Chapter 90 Forest

    A Forest!There was a forest in this Underground World!


    When Leon first saw this flourishing green forest, he felt dumbfounded.


    His first reaction was to use a spell to check whether it was actually real. The result assured Leon and confirmed that what he saw wasn''t caused by any illusion, but was instead an actual, genuine space within this Underground World.


    Leon stood at the cavern entrance and scanned the boundless and dense forest. He instinctively sensed a strange and twisted smell lingering in the air. He was standing on the dividing line. Taking a step back would bring him to a hard rock layer that was painted with darkness and a weak glow of metal; while taking a step forward would let him be greeted by greenish grass that touched his ankle, and tall trees and dense vines that tightly barricaded the passage. In addition to this, there were also rose and fruit bushes.


    Vaguely, through the greenery, Leon could even see the shadows of small, tiny animals that were sprinting through the forest. In the far distance, within the depths of the forest, tree branches and leaves were swaying up and down, and the howls of monkey and roars of tigers echoed across the place. This resulted in an extremely vigorous atmosphere in the forest.


    However, behind this flourishing scene, a strange energy aura could be sensed. This aura made Leon''s heart tremble.


    After three seconds, Leon had come to a conclusion. This place must be the ruins of the previous Elysium City that was mentioned by Snorlax. After the Mage Tower was destroyed, a huge amount of magical energy leaked. This frightening leakage was the direct cause of what was presented in front of Leon''s eyes.


    Every Mage Tower had an Elementium Pool built within it. It served as the source of energy for all their magical equipment. But once the Mage Tower was destroyed, the leakage of these energies would cause a tremendous and irreversible contamination to the surrounding environment. The abnormal energy level in this region was so strong that it had even caused the birth of this mutated forest.


    Yes, this was a mutated forest. However, but not those virgin forests which could be found everywhere on the surface world.


    When infected by such a strong energy, any plant or creature would violate the natural law, and grow at an incredible speed, before mutating into a totally different species. Therefore, although the forest looked normal on the outside, it was just a disguise.


    This place had become the paradise for demons!


    Leon took off the thick and sweltering traveler''s cloak from his body and wiped the sweat off his face. He took out his water bag and replenished his body with some water. After that, while sitting high up on the back of Demon Alligator, he slowly and carefully continued his journey by entering the forest.


    From the first step into this forest, anything around him could no longer be trusted.


    In fact, this seemingly blooming, evergreen demonized forest was far more fearful than the dark underground tunnel. There were far more menaces that lurked everywhere. Yet, Leon had no idea what kind of demons were waiting for him inside of this forest. However, since he had come this far, no matter what was hiding in this place, he still needed to give it a try!


    It was worth to mention, that, with the support of three Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake Golems, Leon''s heart had become bolder.


    No doubt, walking in a forest that never been explored before was really tough.


    The ground was choked with weeds and wildflowers. Shrubs could be seen everywhere, roses and vines climbed wantonly and some of the large tree branches stretched many meters long! All of these plants grew disorderly, tightly knitted into each other. These plants filled up every single gap between the tall and old trees. Without the Demon Alligator, it would be difficult for Leon to move even a single step in this forest.


    But now, relying on the gigantic body and powerful muscle strength of the Demon Alligator, Leon was like someone who just had joined a demolishing team: crushing and ripping everything in his way. This resulted in a smooth and flat path being made in this densely grown forest.


    With every step the Demon Alligator took, wildflowers, weeds, shrubs, and bushes would turn into powder. As long as a tall and old tree got in the way of the Demon Alligator, it would be knocked down and crushed. Old trees were falling down, vines began to break off and colorful leaves flew in the air.


    However, countless bizarre scenes were hiding behind this seemingly normal situation.


    Whenever the huge feet of the Demon Alligator crushed a patch green grass, countless indistinct and strange noises could be heard coming from underneath its feet. They sounded like the cries of a baby, yet also resembled the shrill howls of bizarre demons. It was rather unsettling and forced people to cover their ears.


    When the Demon Alligator raised its feet again, Leon could see dozens of emerald green sprouts in the disc-shaped hole that was made. All the other weeds and wildflowers were crushed into a pile of greenish liquid, yet they were the only thing that survived. Not only did they survive, they even coiled up their green sprouts, like a living creature, and began to change into mouths full of sharp teeth. They began to tightly cling to the Demon Alligator''s feet and started biting like crazy.


    Under their insane attack, pieces of dirt kept falling off the Demon Alligator''s feet. In addition, its feet had started to suffer some damage.


    Meanwhile, right in front of Demon Alligator, some towering old trees were seen arduously pulling out their roots. They slowly ran away from the path the Demon Alligator would take later. However, there were still some fearless mutated plants who valiantly launched attacks at the Demon Alligator.


    These mutated plants strongly resembled a sunflower. The only difference was the middle of the petals. At the end of the thin stalk, where the bright yellow petals were blossoming, a woman''s face could be seen mounted right at the center. Their method of attack was rather primitive, as they kept spraying out venom from their tiny mouths. This venom was not only acidic, but was smelly and sticky as well.


    Many overhanging vines started to twist crazily. A frightening large mouth suddenly broke out from the end of these vines. It was full of countless tiny teeth that look frightening and sharp. If any creature passed by them, it might only take a single leap to bite off the creature''s head.


    A disgusted expression emerged on Leon''s young face.


    This forest was just like a gigantic beast in disguise. Once the Demon Alligator intruded, it instantly triggered all the snakes hiding in the bushes. If someone without sufficient strength came here by accident, they would probably find it difficult to keep even their corpse intact!


    Imagine this: without the Demon Alligator, those mutated sprouts, that hid between the ordinary grass, would cut through the soles of one''s feet. They would then squeeze into the body of the creature and begin to feast on the delicious flesh. Those old trees, who could walk freely, were most probably the Dryads who existed in the legend. Once an ordinary creature was entangled by their roots, their only ending would be suffering through the pain of having their flesh devoured by these frightening trees.


    As for those terrifying plants and snakes in disguise, they were just the companions of the Dryads. Although their individual strength wasn''t worth mentioning, there were a lot of them. It would be rather troublesome if Leon was caught by them.


    Leon slightly tilted his head upward and pointed with his finger. Beside him, a long vine, that hung from a tall and old tree, was nearly touching him. However, with this point of a finger, a flame suddenly broke out and coiled up the vine. Within the towering and scorching flame, the vine kept twisting and struggling violently, while its ferocious mouth started letting out a strange hissing sound that made one frown.


    But it was too bad. No matter how crazily it struggled, it just couldn''t escape the fate of being annihilated. The scorching flame soon devoured its body, transforming it into ashes that fell from the sky.


    Perhaps realizing this intruder was tough to handle, indistinct whispering noises could be heard coming from the depths of the forest. With great effort, countless mutated plants started to flee from the area around the Demon Alligator.


    After efficiently frightening these demonized plants, who had no idea of their limits, the Demon Alligator slowly and leisurely continued its journey into the depths of the forest.


    After they continued for a short distance, Leon looked over his shoulder. The path they came from had once again been blocked off by those strange plants. It looked like these demonized plants were not willing to let their food slip away. They still wished to feast on Leon''s corpse.


    The next wave was coming from the demons who lived in the demonized forest.


    The species who were affected by the environment the most were creatures of the forest. When they absorbed the Elementium energies that lingered in the air, they would evolve into frightening demon beasts who possessed the ability to use Elementium. However, demons and demon beasts were different. Demons weren''t the result of natural evolution. They were more like monsters created by the abnormal contamination in the environment.


    Their species were complicating and confusing and their abilities were wild and mystifying. So far, no Mage could slam their chest and brag that they understood every single demonic species. So to speak, in every unexplored virgin forest, there was a possibility of finding some new demon species.


    And usually, compared to demon beasts, they were much more frightening and bizarre!


    The first wave of attackers that dashed out from the depths of the forest was a pack of mutated wolves.


    The bodies were as large as an adult cow and was dark red and bizarre looking. Most of their hair had fallen off, exposing countless lumps and dark spots. Even more strange was the fact that all of them had two heads. These heads were gruesome and frightening. They had pale white fangs and gigantic mouths. Green slime kept dripping down from the edges of their mouths, and a strange glow could be found at the end of its throat.


    Their movements were vigorous and agile, while their burly body could be compared to tigers and lions. When they leaped out from the forest in a large pack, howls that sent chills down one''s back immediately rung throughout the entire sky.


    Continue your journey on empire


    A chain of half-transparent Wind Blades and a rain of snake-shape lightning instantly flooded the huge body of the Demon Alligator.


    Some of these double-headed wolves were prowling the outer perimeter. They kept casting spell after spell at the Demon Alligator. Some would howl and dash to the side of the Demon Alligator and use their half-inch long, sharp nails and their glowing fangs to crazily attack the clay armor of the Demon Alligator.


    Leon''s face turned slightly pale.


    With just one round of attacks, a large portion of the Demon Alligator''s clay armor had broken. If it were not for the protection of the Hunter, Leon would probably have had to face enemy''s attack directly.


    The individual overall strength of these double-headed wolves wasn''t too strong. They were, at the most, at the level of Intermediate Apprentices. But when more than a hundred giant wolves came together in a massive army, even the Demon Alligator Hunter, who had the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, would find it hard to defend against this frightening enemy!


    Leon gritted his teeth, pulled out an Elementium core and gently tossed to the ground. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When it touched the ground, a Rock Snake, that was more frightening than the Demon Alligator, squeezed out from underneath the soil.


    The robust body of the Rock Snake was formed entirely from rocks. The internal diameter alone was slightly over two meters. When a massive object like this jumped into the pack of wolves, it signified the start of a reign of terror.


    Although the elemental and physical attacks of the double-headed wolf could shatter the Demon Alligator''s defense, they just couldn''t move or bite off anything from the rock solid body of Rock Snake. Thus, the battle between them was more like a one-sided slaughter, with the wolf pack having the miserable fate of being completely wiped out!


    ...


    2116 Words

 Chapter 91 Fairy

    Right at the heart of the forest, the ruins of an Mage Tower could be seen, the previous majestic building has now turned into a huge pile of rock fragments and debris.The once seven floors tall Mage Tower was now left with only the bottom three floors intact, and the collapsed brick fragments had buried all of its entrances. Meanwhile, large wild vines and flower bushes had littered all over the ruins, blanketing the entire place under a dense green foliage.


    Even so, wisps of light green smoke still rose continuously from under the debris, and the demonized plants present here in this area had become so much thicker and stronger than those outside.


    The muffled sound of footsteps came from the end of the street. Afterwards, a giant alligator appeared and strode forward, the green vines that blanketed the streets and the roof of houses could be seen retracting, revealing the traces of human activity in the past in front of the intruder.


    Following the noise of collapsing houses, an even more larger and stronger Rock Snake broke through these dilapidated houses and slithered away all over the place. Various things left a mark on its body, there were corrosive traces due to the green acid, burn marks caused by lightning strike, scars that was cut by Wind Blades, charred marks left by a fire burn... all these traces could still be evidently seen by one''s eyes, and they were the proof of how tedious and frightening the five miles journey was in the forest!


    If not because the Chip learned the elementary knowledge of Golem creation prior to this excursion, and enhanced the core of the Earth element Golem with a tempering magic array, thereby making the Earth Elementium dense enough to form hard solid rocks, just with Demon Alligator Hunter alone would be impossible for Leon to fight his way out, eventually arriving safely in the heart of this area where the ruins of the Mage Tower was situated.


    Behind their backs, the continuous roars of demons could still be heard from the forest. But strangely enough, as if they were frightened by the ferocious slaughter of Rock Snake, none of them dared to step into the innermost area of the ruins where Leon and his Golems are.


    Leon furrowed his brows, a gloomy expression surfacing upon his handsome face.


    Those were the type of demons which aren''t afraid of death. They would never allow any outsider come to this place and disrupt the source of magic energy which could give them a tremendous benefit. So the reason they dared not to pursue further was not that they were fearing at Leon''s group, but...


    Leon turned his head over and sent his glances towards the ruins blanketed in layers of demonized plants and his heart suddenly started to feel heavy.


    Could there be several stronger demons hiding in the ruins, which is why those fellows at the outer perimeter dared not to intrude in this territory? Even though it was just a speculation, but deep within Leon''s mind, he had a hunch that this was the most logical reason!


    Looking at the wisps of light green smoke, Leon suddenly had an idea.


    Although the Mage Tower looked like it was thoroughly destroyed, but part of its Elementium Pool still hadn''t completely lost its functionality. Many years had already passed but it was still working properly tenaciously. It''s a pity though that the Elementium energy gathered by it couldn''t be stored properly, that''s why they dispersed in the surrounding area, causing a tremendous transformation.


    "Go, dig out that place for me!"


    With Leon''s order, the Rock Snake moved its massive body and darted into the collapsed tower.


    Suddenly, an explosive sound burst out of nowhere, followed by a green beam piercing through the air and forcefully nailing the Rock Snake''s in the forehead. The sudden explosion of green energy quickly corroded away a fist-sized hole at the point of contact. Furiously, the Rock Snake let out a loud hiss, retreating to where it was with an incredible speed and coiled up its body.


    Leon was briefly overcome with panic. Tracing back the faded trail left in the air by the green arrow, he quickly found the attacker.


    It was a beautiful girl with a pair of translucent wings of light on her back. She had a perfectly curved body, a short dark green hair, and a small face with two emerald eyes. She was naked, with only her important body parts covered with brilliant rose branches and green vines, barely hiding her seductive figure.


    Right at this moment, she was hovering above the collapsed Mage Tower, a magical bow engraved with strange patterns held in her hands, she was staring angrily directly at Leon.


    Leon slowly gulped his saliva.


    An extremely strong green Elementium glow had flooded his Elementium Vision. If not because he had reduced the brightness of it, perhaps he wouldn''t be able to stare right at this extremely beautiful yet frightening demon.


    "Chip, can you detect the source species and overall strength level of this creature?" sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Beep. Gathering energy aura..."


    "Analysis of the data is as follows:"


    "Source species of the demon: Fairy ¨C 70%, Flower Spirit ¨C 17%, Forest Genie ¨C 9%..."


    "Overall strength level: Mage level."


    "Elementium spectrum: Plant Element."


    "Scan results of magical item: Green Magical Bow. Able to unleash Elementium arrows that inflicts 30-40 points of damage. Attack Method: Single target. Also able to unleash Elementium Arrow Rain which inflicts 8-10 points of damage. Attack method: Area of Effect (30-50 meters)."


    "Scan of magical item: Armor of Rose. Seven mysterious flower branches were found growing on it. Each is capable of defending 60 points of physical damage and 40 points of elemental damage. When the damage is beyond the defending limit of the mysterious flower branch, it will be destroyed and vanish. Only when all of the flower branches disappear will the creature suffer the external attacks itself. Note: When mysterious flower branches are destroyed, a new flower branch will regrow every five minutes. Note again: Fire Elementium and Negative energy can inflict double the damage to the creature."


    When the data flowed into Leon''s mind like a waterfall, he finally couldn''t hold it in and drew in a few sharp cold breaths.


    This was extremely frightening; this was a formidable demon who had reached the level of an Mage! Also, judging from her powerful aura, perhaps even among all other demons in the area, she could be considered the most supreme existence.


    Especially when Leon found out the powerful AoE offensive ability that the magical item in her hand had, his mind was immediately filled with a raging storm, making him feel like abandoning this mission.


    Different from the magical items crafted by Apprentice Mages, the magical items that grew together with demons were the most frightening weapons. When an Apprentice Mage crafts a magical item, he would be constrained by the lack of materials and resources, thus it was impossible to use all ingredients that suited their innate elemental affinity. As a result, the final product would have limited power and doesn''t possess the characteristics of continued growth.


    As for the magical items used by demons, most of them were produced using part of the demon''s body and some rare resources. Not only were they powerful, they could also keep growing stronger following the improvement of the demon''s overall strength.


    Thus, it was pretty obvious which was a better weapon when comparing them together!


    Right when Leon was still hesitating, the powerful ''Fairy'' hovering in the sky suddenly spoke.


    "Hehehe... What a surprise, after so long, there''s still an Apprentice Mage who dares to seek his doom here! Little guy, could your master have forgotten to tell you there are some places you just can''t simply visit? But it''s too late to regret now. Be nice and surrender your flesh and soul, it has been a long time since I tasted the delicious flesh of humans... hehehe..." Upon speaking, it immediately revealed a mouth full of sharp fangs, exposing the true nature of a frightening demon.


    Damn, although it had an appearance of a beautiful woman, but it actually had a masculine and hoarse male voice. Within a split-second of time, the last bit of liking Leon had for it had vanished into thin air.


    However, before Leon could give out a response, the Fairy with indistinguishable gender had already pulled back the bowstring with its right hand, gathering the surrounding green plant element energies onto the string in an incredibly fast speed. In the next moment, more than thousands of glowing green Elementium arrows had rushed towards Leon like a raging storm.


    Not even three seconds had passed by, the Fire Shield that came out from Leon''s body and the clay armor outside of the Demon Alligator''s body already shattered from the spine-chilling attack. If not because the Rock Snake darted back to where Leon was standing and used its large and strong body to block in front of Leon, perhaps just this attack alone would bore through thousands of holes on Leon''s body.


    But even so, a glowing arrow still pierced through Leon''s shoulder. There were even some faint green energies attached to the finger sized wound, corroding his flesh and producing hissing sounds, making his forehead covered in sweat because of the severe pain.


    Leon endured severe pain and produced scorching hot flames from his fingertip, poking it in his wound. The strong Fire Elementium quickly neutralized the green energies that was left behind on the wound. After that, with his jaw tightly clenched, Leon pulled out bottles upon bottles of magical potions and medicinal paste, pouring them directly on his wound.


    The dizziness caused by the loss of blood, the feeling of weakness brought by the corrosion of green energy, the severe pain coming from the burn he himself inflicted, and the tingling sensation brought by the regeneration of his flesh as the result of magical medicines... all kinds of strange sensations mixed together, restlessly attacking Leon''s mind. Experience more tales on empire


    Not daring to hide his true power anymore, Leon crazily tossed out the other two Elementium cores. Following a frightening loud boom that shook the earth, two brand new Rock Snakes squeezed out from the ground.


    Currently, Leon had 11.19 Spirit. Together with the +1 enhancement brought by the Circlet of Nobility, he had a total of slightly more than 12 Spirit points. Meanwhile, summoning a Rock Snake would consume 3 Spirit points, while the Demon Alligator Hunter would take 2 Spirit points. With the total Spirit he had now, he was barely able to support his troops.


    The Demon Alligator Hunter was carrying Leon and slowly retreated, while three gigantic Rock Snakes crazily rushed into the enemy, using their strong bodies and incredible physical damage to fight with the frightening Fairy.


    As if the sky was falling and the earth was opening up, the entire place was shaking violently!


    As usual, the Rock Snakes fought savagely and brutally!


    Their wicked attacks had made the ruins of the city deteriorate in a speed faster than normal.


    But even so, three powerful Rock Snake Golems were still not enough to overcome the terrifying ability of the Fairy. No matter if it was the glowing arrows that attack a single target or the AoE Arrow Rain, they always inflicted heavy damage to the bodies of the Rock Snakes.


    And it was clear that the Fairy was a demon possessing great agility. While flapping its wings, it was flying in between the three Rock Snakes with an incredible speed. No matter how they tried to bite or slam their foe using their bodies, they always failed to touch even slightest trace left behind by the Fairy. The only attack that could inflict a huge amount of damage to it was the AoE Sand Spray.


    Nevertheless, with the blossoming of beautiful roses on the Fairy body, a mass of green light continued to emerge around its body, helping it to block all of the physical and element damage it was supposed to receive.


    Also, this Fairy had a pretty strong melee ability. Whether it be punching or a palm strike, its tiny hands covered in a layer of greenish halo could always shatter the solid rock armor covering the Rock Snakes'' bodies easily, as if those rocks were made from tofu.


    Therefore, under the suppression of such an imbalance combat power, soon all three Rock Snakes had their bodies fully covered in scars, while you could see through the countless holes in their bodies!


    ...


    2102 Words

 Chapter 92 Strategies

    This was the first situation Leon was forced to throw away everything and flee by something other than Fallen Apprentices; a frightening Mage level Fairy had forced him scurry out of the demonized forest.Obviously, that frightening Fairy was a demon who was very territorial, so it just gave up the pursuit after Leon left the demonized forest. With that, Leon was fortunate enough to keep all three Rock Snakes of his, and hadn''t suffered any unrecoverable losses.


    Looking over his shoulder into the dense forest, Leon''s eyes couldn''t help but twitch. With a deep voice, he commanded the Chip, "Chip, create a mission file for Transvestite Fairy, find out the feasibility of defeating or killing it!"


    "Beep. Mission accepted... Mission File Name: Transvestite Fairy... Drafting feasible solution..."


    "Predicted offensive strategies to inflict substantial damage to Transvestite Fairy include:


    Curse Magic Spell;


    Group Attacks;


    3: Activate Project Lightning Giant;


    Destroy the True Form of the Fairy."


    Leon wrinkled his brows, then whispered, "Explain the practicality of these strategies."


    "Beep. First strategy, Curse magic spell. The target, Transvestite Fairy, is still a life form, curse magic spells can partially reduce its fighting ability. With that, Rock Snakes would have more time to break through its personal defense protecting its body.


    Second strategy, attack in a group. With the current fighting strength of the team, it is insufficient to defeat the Mage level Transvestite Fairy. In order to defeat it, it is necessary to have team members, who have strong overall strength, fighting it with each individual''s strength. The predicted combat mode is as follows...


    Third strategy, activate Project Lightning Giant. In order to stop the Transvestite Fairy from dodging Rock Snake''s attack with its incredible speed, it is necessary to have team members pin it down from close range. The members with whom this is possible include: Bloody Queen Bleia and Lightning Giant. If we choose Bloody Queen Bleia, based on the pre-battle evaluation, her mortality rate is more than 89%. Suggest Lightning Giant as the first choice.


    Fourth strategy, destroy the frue form of the Fairy. The Transvestite Fairy that appeared this time was just a parasite form. Its true form hadn''t shown up. Based on the biological characteristics of such demons, so long as the true form of the Fairy is found, with the support energy cut off, the fighting ability of the Fairy will decrease significantly."


    Leon closed his eyes and listened carefully, and kept throwing out questions after he thought about it.


    "With regards to the project Lighting Giant you mentioned, what stage are we at now? How long does it take to complete?"


    "Beep. The design of Lightning Giant has been completed. We currently lack the necessary magical materials to craft it."


    "What else do we need?"


    "Five Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores!"


    "After being successfully crafted, what will be the overall strength of Lightning Giant?"


    "Based on all the Apprentice Mage levels we know so far, upon completion, the Lightning Giant will possess the basic overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage."


    "How about in comparison to Hulk?"


    "According to results derived from basic statistics, out of one hundred matches between the completed form of Lightning Giant and Hulk, Lightning Giant would be defeated and killed in seventy-three matches, defeated and severely damaged in eleven matches, and end in a draw in sixteen matches. Based on preliminary estimates, the complete form of Lighting Giant can only use guerrilla tactics. Only by keeping an appropriate offensive distance with Hulk and attacking with lightning in between will the possibility to inflict sufficient damage to the enemy exist."


    "That means it totally can''t defeat a top level Pseudo-Mage!" Leon muttered to himself, then quietly recalled the short moment when Hulk struck.


    Though the battle was very short, but with the Chip''s function of image saving and replaying, Leon could still clearly and directly felt the frightening fighting strength Hulk showed. Extremely tough muscles and their brutal aggressive strength had given Hulk unapproachable power.


    With just one strike, he had broken Rock Snake''s base defense like it was nothing, and transferred extremely violent and powerful force into the inner body of Rock Snake. Otherwise, it was impossible for him to shatter Rock Snake''s body with just one punch and capture the summoning core straightaway.


    To be honest, after the Chip had scanned the Transvestite Fairy today, though its overall strength was Mage level, if it was to fight against Hulk, Leon wasn''t sure if the Fairy could still keep its dominating fighting style.


    If he had someone who was as strong as Hulk and could stand in front as the shield, and pulled together another four to five Pseudo-Mages who specialized in long-range magic spells, then the percentage of winning this battle would be around 20-30%. Of course, if Leon included all of his three Rock Snake Golems, the percentage would straightaway climb up to 50-60%.


    Therefore, the key to the battle was how to inflict sufficient damage to the Transvestite Fairy effectively and in a timely manner. Otherwise, if he just fought with his three Rock Snakes, the enemy would be able to rip them into pieces easily.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t get the help from Hulk, but if he did that, maybe he would have to give away most of the profits he found to someone else. According to Snorlax, there were several magical treasures that Leon was determined to get. Therefore, after giving the idea some thought, Leon decided to rely on his own strength for this mission.


    Since he couldn''t get the help from Hulk, he would have to find something else to substitute for Hulk''s position.


    The Lightning Giant project was a summoning core enhancement project that had been tailored to the Storm Giant core he obtained previously.


    For a simple Elementium core, due to its size, there was a limitation to the magical arrays that could be accommodated. It was impossible to add more powerful magical arrays on it without restriction. Therefore, currently, all the Golems that Leon crafted using Pseudo-Mage level cores were rather weak. Though they were enough to bully lower ranked opponents, once they were to face a similarly ranked opponent, the fighting strength they put out was just not satisfactory.


    In light of this, after being prompted by Leon, the Chip started enhancing the procedure of Golem crafting by trying to split the magical arrays that were all crafted on one single core to multiple cores. At a point in time, one core would serve as the bearer of the Golem''s conscious, while, using the method of energy sharing and magical arrays distribution, the rest of the cores would serve as the key nodes that constructed a brand new type of Golem. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With this method, Leon would be able to maximize the limited space on each core by fitting more enhancement magical arrays onto each one of them, and eventually produce an even more powerful Elementium Golem.


    Of course, in this way, it was impossible to summon a complete Golem with an individual core. A Pseudo-Mage level core of a Storm Giant plus six Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores; each of them would bear part of the functions, and would use the method of consolidated cores and three-dimensional magical arrays to construct the Lightning Giant.


    However, though this project had been worked on for half a month, the Chip was busy calculating the distribution and connection between the primary core and node cores, so it hadn''t come out with a specific design solution. But since the Chip had included this project in the strategy today, it meant the calculations had completed, and the design solution of the Lighting Giant was done.


    This place was, after all, not rest stop. Thus, after having a short break, Leon quickly resumed his return journey. While he was leaving, some ignorant Gnolls actually tried to intercept him, which made Leon, who was filled with pent-up anger, explode. He commanded all three Rock Snakes to crush their nest straightaway.


    Faced with three near invincible super monsters, the arrows, daggers, and short spears of the Gnolls were useless. If not for the fact that Leon had no desire to continue fighting, with a single charge, this renowned Gnoll tribe of Gray Ear would have lost thirty percent of their members.


    Hence, when the two Pseudo-Mages sent by Elysium City, Langdon and Philip, arrived hurriedly later, all they saw was dead Gnolls and the Lizardman tribe who had been completely wiped out. Leon was long gone.


    With a gloomy expression, Langdon listened to the bloody story told by the leader of the Gnolls. He didn''t pay any attention to the story''s fishy details, but instead, focused all of his attention on the other side of the demonized forest.


    There many strange rumors were told in the Elysium City in regards to that place. Even his master, Mage Dark Light, once warned him not to simply try to seek the treasures inside of the ruin, as if there were some secrets hiding in it. As a result, he only had a superficial knowledge about the demonized forest, as he hadn''t spent any time trying to understand or explore it.


    Impatiently, Langdon interrupted the weepy complaint of the Gnoll leader, and asked with a cold voice, "Have you entered this demonized forest before? Is there anything inside of it?"


    He was not an idiot.


    In regards to the completely wiped out Lizardman tribe, many of their adult fighters had been killed by element damage caused by a throwing type of attack, which made Langdon think of the Clay Golem of that bastard. But the rest of them had been killed by sharp weapons at close range. Also, he didn''t believe that kid from the surface would have the patience to venture deep into the nest of Lizardmen, slaughtering every single woman and juvenile of the tribe.


    This place was the best habitable area closest to the demonized forest. For the underground creatures, having control of the magical materials harvested from that place would bring them tremendous benefit. Thus, it was understandable what kind of role the Gnoll had in wiping out the entire tribe of Lizardmen.


    But Langdon wasn''t interested in being the judge on this. He only wanted to find out why that bastard had been in the demonized forest.


    Could that guy intruded on this place by accident? Or, did he come here with a purpose and was searching for something?


    Having these questions in mind, Langdon invited Philip to explore the demonized forest. Therefore, the two Fallen Pseudo-Mages who thought they were strong enough simply walked into the demonized forest. But, not even half an hour later, both men were forced to run out from the forest in a sorry state.


    Their bodies were full of bloody holes, pierced through by the element arrows. Infected by bizarre and nasty energy, the blood dripping out from the wound had turned green. While they were fleeing, many lower grade demons had taken the opportunity to attack them as well, leaving more scars and wounds on their body.


    After Philip left a Teleportation mark at the edge of the forest, both men rushed back to Elysium City.


    Obviously, they had found some clues in the demonized forest. Judging from what they had found, they believed that the bastard must have gone straight to the ruins of the Mage Tower located in the depth of the forest. And since that guy had such a clear and precise target, clearly he wouldn''t abandon what he was looking for just because the place was guarded by a frightening Mage level demon.


    So, both men arrived at the conclusion that the kid must have temporarily withdrawn after learning of the difficulties, and would return once he got more help.


    That was why Philip had left a Teleportation mark behind. With that, they would be able to launch a surprise attack once Leon returned to the forest. If they were able to intercept them on their way back, with an advantage in the number of Fallen Apprentices and that frightening demon who lived in the demonized forest, it was highly possible they could destroy every single person in the surface team in one clean sweep.


    Even in the bloody battle history of Elysium City, that stretched more than hundred years, a result like this was extremely rare!


    ...


    2065 Words

 Chapter 93 Lightning Giant

    After smoothly returning from the Underground World, Leon busied himself once again.However, different from his usual, currently he was busily working towards a goal and was well-directed.


    After he returned, the first thing he did was pay a visit to the Lothar Merchant. By the time he left them, he had five Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores in his waist pouch. Nevertheless, a big purchase like this would mean a sharp decrease in Leon''s stash of crystal cores.


    In the blink of an eye, he had spent more than half of the over 3000 magic crystals he had won from the bet previously. Currently, Leon''s magic crystal savings had dropped below 800. Considering that he and Bleia had become ravenous beasts who had to have the daily magical energy meal set, he had to save the remaining magic crystals to support their daily consumption. Therefore, earning a lot of magic crystals in a short period of time had presently become a pressing matter.


    After he returned from the Underground World, the trio who had temporarily formed a treasure hunting alliance gathered together and had a meeting. When Leon briefed the team about the situation he had seen in the ruined Mage Tower, both Bleia and Snorlax were stupefied.


    An Mage level demon!


    This... was this something their small team could ever handle?


    Although Bleia had a high opinion of herself, in the end, she was just an Advanced Apprentice Vampire. If she were to fight that frightening Fairy, she would be instantly killed by it. As for Leon, so far he was still just an Intermediate Apprentice, even though, under the double tonics of the magical energy meal set and the Ming Concentrating potion, his Spirit was rising quickly every day. If they really were to fight an Mage level demon, not only could he not provide any help, it was possible that even the shock wave of the battle would cause him deadly injury!


    As for the mighty Goblin merchant Snorlax, though its unconventional ability of invisibility and ability to stay concealed was pretty amazing, they could not fight. Therefore, besides what little bit of help the memories that reside in its brain could provide, there was nothing it could do to help.


    Noticing the frightened expression on both his teammates'' faces, Leon let out an understanding smile. He then soberly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages between themselves and the enemy. Following his lead, both his teammates gradually overcame their fear towards the Mage level monster, and started to seriously and carefully plan out how to defeat the frightening Fairy.


    First of all, the three of them were sure of one thing. If they allowed that Fairy to keep its overall strength at Mage level, planning this treasure hunting mission was no different than planning their own death. Therefore, they had to find ways to weaken the overall strength of that frightening Fairy.


    There were two possible ways to do so. First was using curse magic spells, and secondly, targeting the true form of the Fairy.


    Leon could find a way to purchase some curse magic wands or one-time use magic spell scrolls. But they didn''t know if the inferior products produced by Apprentice Mages could penetrate the magic resistance of the Fairy. So, they couldn''t place too much hope on this.


    While they were discussing the issue, Leon secretly hinted that he could get in touch with Mage Angus, and maybe he could obtain some Mage level magic spell scrolls from him. But in order to trade with an official Mage, Leon had to produce something that could attract his interest.


    Therefore, Leon had to figure out this new problem!


    As for the true form of the Fairy, Leon''s predicted (actually it was the Chip''s prediction) that there was a high chance it was hiding close to the broken Elementium Pool. At this point, Snorlax finally came into play. Its familiarity with the Mage Tower let it quickly draw out the inner structure of the place, and it was able to precisely point out the location of the Elementium Pool.


    According to its description, the Elementium Pool was located in the second underground floor beneath the ruins of Mage Tower. In order to get there, they had to go through numerous magical secret doors and arrays. Though it was highly possible that most of these mechanisms had stopped working, if there were still a couple of them still functioning, it would cause immense problems for Bleia''s infiltration. So, upon Leon''s request, Snorlax had to follow Bleia when she snuck into the ruins of Mage Tower.


    In regards to this, Leon showed an unprecedented firm attitude. Left with no room to argue, Snorlax fearfully agreed.


    In order to achieve the above two things, Leon needed to have the overall strength to fight or pin down the Fairy. Being able to do so would heavily rely on the near completed Lightning Giant. Only when the Lightning Giant had the expected strength would Bleia and Snorlax have more confidence in this treasure hunting mission!


    With that in mind, in the following days, Leon, Bleia, and Snorlax became really busy. Leon lived night and day in the Alchemy Laboratory, crafting his new Golem, while Bleia would go out early and came back at dusk, covered in scars and wounds. Even with the extraordinary regeneration of Vampires, she still had so many scars. This showed how incredibly dangerous her training was, that it had gone beyond what even her body could endure. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Snorlax, who dreamed of becoming the greatest Goblin merchant, was rarely seen in the public hall on the first floor of Mage Tower. Instead, it was wearing old and torn thief equipment, and spent all of its time in the Magic Spell Practice Room, practicing its stealth. As for its original glittering magical equipment, it had no choice but to lock it away in a wooden chest while crying.


    During this period, Leon and Bleia managed to find some time to participate in an Underground World ambush mission organized by the training camp. However, after the miserable defeat last time, the Fallen Apprentices had strengthened the defending forces in all of their resource sites. This caused the team, led by Kevin, to get entangled in a bitter battle.


    In this tough war, when two of the Pseudo-Mages from Kevin''s team became locked in combat with the Fallen Pseudo-Mages, Leon was forced to send out Rock Snakes in order to defend against the bombardment coming from an extra Fallen Pseudo-Mage.


    In the situation where the number of their Pseudo-Mages was outnumbered by the opponent, and the overall strength of their Advanced Apprentices wasn''t too strong compared to the enemy, for the sake of avoiding an ambush by the enemy''s reinforcements, Kevin had no choice but to abandon the mission.


    Even with such an ending, all of the team members had a calm attitude. In their usual battles with the Underground World enemy, a result like this was perfectly normal. With regards to Leon''s performance in the battle, no one seemed to have any opinion. With the overall strength of an Intermediate Apprentice, he was able to withstand bombardment from a Fallen Pseudo-Mage for more than fifteen minutes. A result like this could simply shut anyone''s mouth.


    It was because his firm standing that Kevin''s team hadn''t been defeated from a shortage of Pseudo-Mages. Otherwise, once their team had been scattered by the attack, among all of the Advanced Apprentices, who dared say he could escape from the enemy''s pursuit? As a matter of fact, it wasn''t rare for many ambitious and genius apprentices to get themselves killed in the dark and quiet underground tunnel.


    Every year, there were always more than a couple of Advanced Apprentices who died quietly in some random dark corner of the Underground Cave. Even an incident as big as the death of Pseudo-Mage wasn''t rare news. In fact, the root cause of the destruction of the previous Elysium City by the surface Mages was because a surface team consisting of six people bumped into a Fallen Mage while they were patrolling in the Underground World.


    No one knew what exactly happened, because all of the two Pseudo-Mages and four Advanced Apprentices were killed silently in the Underground World. With reinforcements sent by the Zhentarim Association, the raging surface Mages stormed into the Underground World and forcefully destroyed the stronghold of the enemy ¨C Elysium City.


    But too bad, the Second Grade Mage of the enemy, Mage Pridka, had self-detonated the Mage Tower, taken some of Fallen Mages, and escaped from Elysium City, which allowed them to escape from the catastrophe. Consequently, within just a few years, a new Elysium City had been built up once again.


    The more understanding they had about this history, the more alert the elite apprentices were for a major scale conflict. Once either side pushed too far, it was highly possible that it would attract a strong reaction from the other side.


    In the unique environment of the Underground Cave, no matter how talented or how strong an Apprentice Mage, once they provoked their opponent''s Mage, the inevitable result would be death. Therefore, after bringing back three Fallen Pseudo-Mages'' heads in their previous mission, Kevin''s team had anticipated danger in every sound. Thus, their latest mission''s defeat had instead let both Pseudo-Mages in the team breathe out a long sigh of relief.


    As a passing traveler in the Underground Cave, Leon wouldn''t spend too much of his time in this place, so he didn''t really understand the petty thoughts behind their action. The only reason he didn''t fight with everything he had was simply that his Spirit and Physique were in a weak state.


    A few days ago, Leon had consumed another bottle of the Mind Concentrating potion, which only brought an increment of 0.51 to his Spirit. In relation to that, his Physique had dropped below 3. As a result, the Chip had revised his body''s status from healthy to weak.


    Under the circumstances, Leon had to temporarily stop consuming the Mind Concentrating potion and focus on tuning his body. With the vigorous vitality of a fifteen year old youth and the strengthening effect from the Spirit to his muscles, the normal level of his Physique should be between 4 ¨C 5.


    But this was a common failing for all apprentices who took the path of Elementium, as they usually only focused on cultivation and training their Spirit, either they were meditating or studying magical knowledge, spending long hours copying magical books, and exposing themselves to dangerous magical materials which could harm their body in the long-term. These unhealthy habits led all the Elementium apprentices to have the same unhealthy appearance. They always looked skinny and sick.


    If they were able to advance and become official Mages, they would have plenty of time and countless methods of finding some miraculous items that could remedy the weakness of their body. But for now, they could only clench their jaw tightly and endure with a strong mind. They kept damaging their body in exchange for every little bit of increase in their Spirit.


    The failure of the mission didn''t affect Leon. Upon his return from the Underground World, he immediately rushed back into the Alchemy Laboratory. He spent most of his time in there, meticulously and carefully crafting his number one Golem ¨C the Lightning Giant.


    Finally, after torturously working for dozens of days, Leon waved his hand and killed the magical flame on on the Alchemy Station, brought the primary core that he used as the bearer of the Golem''s conscious in front of his face, narrowed his eyes, and gave it a thorough look over.


    Right at this very moment, he finally breathed out a long sigh of relief, because...


    The Lightning Giant was born!


    ....


    1974 Words

 Chapter 94 Does anyone want Bleia?

    This was a magnificent piece of art that would subvert the knowledge of all the Magical Automaton Crafters!The dazzling primary core looked nearly transparent under the bright light. On its irregular surface, countless magical micro runes that looked like tiny spider webs were engraved following the shape of the core, making them look like natural blood veins of the core. Following the rippling of the surrounding Elementium energy, tiny golden electric arcs started to appear, moving around on its clean and sparkling surface.


    For every rotation these electric arcs made, more roaming electric Elementium were absorbed in from the surrounding environment and the bigger these golden electric arcs grew, interlocking with each other. Finally, the crackling and dazzling lightning storm started to roll up around the primary core. Though the aura didn''t carry a strong force, anyone would be frightened by the concentrated aura emanating from it.


    Leon held the primary core with two fingers. The more he looked at it, the more he liked this core. Meanwhile, a vast amount of pride flooded his mind.


    This primary core was the key to constructing the Lightning Giant. For the sake of leaving more space for both tempering and strengthening arrays, the energy storing and energy forming magical arrays had been shifted to the other five Wind element cores. Even so, when the primary core was exposed in the air, those roaming Lightning energies still couldn''t be controlled and were absorbed, leading to the strange scene that was happening now.


    Leon clenched his right palm and conveniently dispersed the disorderly lightning energy. Then, he placed his right hand which was holding the primary core in front of his forehead, quietly connecting his mind with the Mind Control Imprint System on the core. From the entire primary core, it could be said that this Mind Control Imprint System was the most important part, as this was the magical array that Leon would use to take control of the future Lightning Giant.


    Leon''s Spirit energy smoothly penetrated into the Mind Control Imprint System, resonating with the tiny thread of Spirit energy that he placed there while crafting the core. Once he had finally finished with this action which was similar to ''consecration'', the Mind Control Imprint System on the primary core had officially been activated. From this point onwards, no one would be able to seize the control of it from Leon.


    Of course, this was a compulsory process for all privately owned Golem. On the other hand, for those Titans or other automatons crafted by a Magical Automaton Crafter, as the person who controlled them frequently changed, most of them had their Mind Control Imprint Systems replaced with Rune Controls. The Automaton Crafter would then craft the Controlling Rune into something that was easier to transfer and carry around ¨C for example, a plaque or talisman. Then, they would sell them to the public, so that, anyone who held the Controlling Rune in their hand would be able to give commands to the Titan or Automaton.


    As a result, a Titan''s ''loyalty'' was far less than that of a Golem''s!


    Right when the fully satisfied Leon had arrived at the entrance of his room, he bumped into Bleia who had also returned looking worn out. Though covered by her red dress, the frightening scars and wounds on her body could still be clearly seen; even her pretty face was covered with crisscrossing wounds.


    "You... what happened to you?" Leon had been busy working on his Golems in the past few days. Thus, he just hadn''t had time to pay close attention to Bleia''s every move, which was why he was so shocked seeing her condition.


    "Hmph. These are just some small wounds, that bastard is suffering from injuries worse than mine! If not for the fact that it could help me master magical combat skill, I would have long turned him into dried meat!" Bleia waved her hand fiercely, cursing through her tightly clenched teeth. Though she sounded like she had had the advantage, as Leon was very familiar with her character, he was sure that Bleia must have been defeated by someone in a match.


    "Bleia, since you always seem to visit the Kerala mountain range recently, perhaps you could find me an appropriate training opponent? Preferably a Pseudo-Mage level opponent and more importantly, someone who can keep a secret!" Leon said hesitatingly.


    "You''ve successfully crafted the Lightning Golem?" Bleia''s eyes flickered.


    "Yes! But I haven''t run a field test yet, to test its overall strength..."


    "Excellent. Let''s go, you can also help me get revenge!"


    Bleia had been suffering a lot recently, as her mind was consumed by the flames of revenge. Nevertheless, she had never had the idea of bringing a group of men and fight the enemy as a gang. So, after suddenly hearing Leon''s request, she simply gave up all intentions of healing herself in her room and instead, turned around and dragged Leon out of the Mage Tower.


    Completely ignoring the strange glances coming from the surrounding Apprentice Mages, Bleia immediately transformed into a giant blood-sucking bat upon rushing out of the Mage Tower. She, then, grabbed on Leon''s shoulder and soared into the sky.


    It was late in the afternoon, the dusky sky could seen filled with the last orange rays for the day. The Kerala mountain range in the far distance looked like a sleeping giant, as it stood in the darkness and in the far end of the sky.


    Bleia was flying deep into the mountain range.


    After Bleia had sucked Lucy''s blood, her Strength and Physique had experienced a significant improvement. Back in the days, it was rather laborious for her to carry Leon while flying and she could only fly nearly at the altitude of treetops. But now, while restlessly flapping her leather wings, she was actually able to carry Leon up to the altitude of nearly hundred meters in the air, and was able to fly forward like a sharp arrow piercing through the air.


    The wet and cold night breeze fiercely slapped Leon''s face, the strong wind pressure forcing him to narrow his eyes and making it difficult to maintain his normal vision. Left with no other alternative, he once again put on the Gnome Goggles and only had he felt much better.


    With the help of low-light vision from the goggles, he looked downwards at the earth and saw that at the edge of the dusky forest, there were long lines formed by countless torches rushing towards the Mage Tower.


    These were probably the expedition teams that ventured deep into the mountain range every day, hunting demon beasts and harvesting magical herbs.


    While Leon was pondering, Bleia had carried him and streaked through the night sky at an incredible speed, passing over those expedition teams.


    The sky had yet to turn completely dark and obviously, some expedition teams had discovered the abnormality in the sky. Following their shouts, a few of their leaders had also tilted their head up and looked into the sky. But, before they could spot the tiny black dot, it dissolved into the dusky night sky as Bleia and Leon squeezed into the depths of the forests of the mountain.


    The distance between Bleia''s destination and the Mage Tower as the crow flies was about seventy miles. If they had traveled by foot through the forests, it would have taken them more than half day to reach their destination. However, when it came to Bleia, it had just been a forty-five minute journey.


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    Their destination was a small hill that connected to a huge mountain range. When Bleia and Leon approached the hill, she slowed down and started to descend. On top of this small hill, there was a flat and emptied field the size of two football fields. Though there were some wild bushes and weeds growing on top of the field, they were scattered around and one could tell with just one look that this place must have gone through a great amount of torture.


    Casually throwing Leon onto a patch of grass, the blood sucking bat exploded into a clump of blood mist and transformed into the red dressed Bleia within a blink of an eye.


    "Toril, you bastard! Show yourself quickly! I, the red-dressed Bleia, am back for revenge again!" Upon being restored to her human form, Bleia stood there with her hands on her hips and let out a furious roar. Her shrill voice kept echoing through the dusky mountain forest. Indistinctly, the reverberation of her voice could be heard coming from a far distance.


    What was she doing?


    At this moment, Leon''s mind was fully bewildered and he found it funny to see Bleia acting like that.


    He had long heard that Bleia had been searching everywhere for an appropriate opponent to train her melee combat skills with. However, no matter how pressing the matter was, she wouldn''t have come to a remote and desolated mountain forest like this to try and search for the right candidate! In this place, besides those wild animals and demon beasts in the forest, what else could she find? Could she had been training with a demon beast?


    Having his mind filled with endless fantasies, Leon shook his head and let out a wry smile. Right as he was about to ask Bleia to stop making fun of him, a deep sigh rang out, followed by a robust and burly body squeezing itself out from the forest and revealing itself on this small hill.


    Dark clouds hovered in the sky, while the silver moon jumped out from behind these clouds, pouring its bright light onto the body of this figure.


    This was a strong man with a perfectly fitted and well-balanced body. He had a pair of dark green eyes, a somber face, and was wearing a full set of green armor on his body. With just one look, one could tell he must be a strong man who focused on melee fighting.


    The guy came out with a warmth smile on his face, clearly, intending to have a good talk with Bleia. However, when he realized that Bleia wasn''t the only person on this hill, his expression immediately turned cold. He threw his glance over at Leon from a far distance and remained silent, looking like he was pondering over something.


    "Toril, I have told you before, if you want me to be your woman, you have to truly defeat me! I''ve found you an opponent today. As long as you can defeat him, I''ll agree to your request! What do you say? This isn''t too strict of a condition, right? Don''t tell me that you''re scared of an Intermediate Apprentice?" With her hands on her hips, Bleia clamored in high spirits, totally ignoring Leon who had an expression showing that he didn''t know whether to cry or to laugh.


    Since when had Bleia had an admirer? Judging from the look of that guy, he should also be an Apprentice Mage, but Leon had no idea why this guy wanted to live in this wilderness. As for his overall strength level...


    Leon couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    The wave of this guy''s spirit was rather strange, but from the information feedback from the Chip, he was verified as a genuine Pseudo-Mage.


    As Leon stared straight at this guy and kept examining him, the green armor guy was also silently giving Leon an examining look.


    "You kept telling me that you already have a boyfriend, could he be that little guy who can''t even stand a gust of wind? The wave of his Spirit is so messy and heterogeneous, I supposed they were forcefully increased using some kind of medicinal potions, huh? I don''t see anything how this weakling could be worth your love. Can he endure your enchanting kiss? With his weak and frail body, how many kisses can he even withstand..." The more the guy spoke, the angrier he became. By the end of his rant, he could barely control his anger.


    Awww, so this guy was his rival in love! Bah! This was absurd, what was this nonsense about a rival in love? At most, he and Bleia had a little bit of dubious relationship; they couldn''t even be considered a pair of lovers. So, where had him being a rival in love came from?


    Wearing a strange smile on his face, Leon stared at this green armor guy. But, before he could tease the guy, an unbelievable, miraculous transformation started to happen on this guy.


    His body started to expand slowly, pushing the loose armor on his body causing it to produce cracking noise. Countless dark hairs squeezed out from underneath his skin, while his face started to twist and protrude. Two razor sharp fangs had poked out from his lips. The most attracting part was his eyes, as the two dark green glows became brighter and brighter. By the end, they had even become brighter than the silver moon in the sky, making Leon feel a tremendous pressure.


    Within just five seconds, the green armor guy had transformed into a giant raging ape with an extremely masculine body that stood more than four meters tall.


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    2209 Words

 Chapter 95 Fight

    Bloodline Transformation?He was a Pseudo-Mage who had taken the path of a Bloodline Mage!


    It would have been a lie if he said that he wasn''t nervous at this moment. After all, in the eyes of all apprentices, the overall strength of a Bloodline Apprentice was considered the strongest among all other similarly ranked apprentices.


    Take the guy in front of him as an example! According to the records of history, the Giant Raging Ape was a powerful Grade Five demon beast. This also meant that as long as this guy kept purifying the bloodline of Giant Raging Ape in his body, then he would have the potential to become a Fifth Grade Mage.


    If he really was fortunate enough to reach Grade Five Mage, perhaps he would have to worry about his future development. But as for now, he could enjoy the tremendous benefits that were brought to him by the bloodline body transformation. The intrepid physique, strong strength, tall and masculine body, and a fighting style that would that let him fight continuously, only stopping once he was killed, without any fear of death...


    Stimulated by the bloodline of the Giant Raging Ape, the consciousness of the green armor guy had become rather disordered and confused. He kept slamming into his chest with both of his huge hands, while letting out a series of furious roars at Leon.


    Alright, perhaps this was the only weakness that was brought upon by the path of the Bloodlines. The person could rather easily be immersed into a restless state by his bloodline, causing him to lose the proper sense and calm sober mind. Of course, there was some bloodline fanatics that didn''t regard this as a weakness. In their minds, the raging inner state could further stimulate their desire for a fight and would allow them to unleash an even more powerful combative strength. When compared to that, losing a little bit of sense didn''t mean anything!


    "Don''t you need to prepare yourself? Be careful, once this guy transforms, he will attack anyone he sees!" Bleia chuckled and left the hill, while saying, "I am looking forward to your great performance!"


    Leon raised his head upwards to look at the Giant Raging Ape who stood tall in front of him and shook his head, letting out a wry smile on his face. Finally, he took out a small leather pouch from his waist and tossed it onto the ground. Once it hit the ground, the neck of the pouch opened up, as a dazzling magical glow shot out from inside the pouch.


    Five crystal clear Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores flew out from inside the pouch and gradually hovered in midair. When they revealed themselves in the air, shrill sounds of wind suddenly rung through the air on this small hill. Drawn in by a mysterious force, a huge amount of Wind Elementiums started to swarm into the hovering Elementium cores crazily, surrounding them as they started to revolve around the cores while continuing to produce shrill noises.


    Wind was invisible.


    And Wind Elementiums couldn''t be seen with naked eyes as well.


    But when such a massive amount of Wind Elementiums gathered together, a green vortex had become visible to the naked eye.


    These Wind Elementiums came at an incredible speed, causing the night sky to be sliced into thousands of tiny threads. Soon, with the five Wind element cores as the center, the gathered Wind Elementium formed into a human-like body with four limbs.


    A green body, green hands, and green legs.


    When the body of this green giant was successfully formed, a new element core flew out from inside the pouch and threw itself into the broad chest of the giant. In next second, a green head struggled out from the top of this burly giant. Nevertheless, it didn''t have a vivid facial appearance ¨C no eyes, no ears, no mouth, and no nose.


    If the previous five Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores had been used to construct the body, then this Pseudo-Mage level Wind element core was used to support the entire body, as the bone of this green giant.


    But, this was not yet the end.


    A mini sun gradually rose up from the pouch.


    The Elementium let out a dazzling glow, while the lightning barrier let out crackling noises. When this last priBleia core merged into the body of this green giant, it brought about an incredible and mystical transformation to the Golem.


    The giant which had looked rather lifeless previously, in this moment, had become alive!


    It had a massive body that stood five meters tall and brilliant green skin, covered by a layer of golden armor. Though its limbs didn''t look as slim and agile as a human''s, it had arms, palms and fingers. Even so, when the two mini golden suns on its face lit up, a magical shield entirely constructed by static electricity emerged on its giant left hand, while a dazzling lightning spear had appeared on its right palm.


    Counting the Wind Vortex Shield and Lightning Armor outside of this giant''s body, the personal defense mechanism of this Golem could make anyone''s jaw drop.


    The Lightning element was in fact, a branch of the Wind element. Thus, there weren''t any obstacles stopping the both of them from merging with each other. The five Wind element cores that scattered across the body and limbs of the giant kept drawing Wind Elementium to the body. Besides using some to form the physical Wind body, all the other Wind Elementiums had been used by the primary core to strengthen and temper. The core turned them into lightning energy to supply the bottomless energy demanded by the Lightning Giant.


    On one side was the Giant Raging Ape who stood four-meter-tall and on the other side was the Lighting Giant who stood five meters tall. Two massive objects stood facing each other with a distance of nearly forty meters in between.


    Though the green armor guy who had transformed into the Giant Raging Ape had appeared to be savage, when it came to facing a formidable opponent whom he had no idea of the true overall strength of, he showed a rather dignified and good control of himself. Nevertheless, the tremendous pressure that the Lightning Giant brought to him had also further stimulated him and made him even more maniacally. White gas could be seen spraying out from his nostrils, as he kept slamming the ground with both giant arms and making loud noises.


    Finally, unable to contain the near boiling fighting spirit in his body, the Giant Raging Ape let out a furious roar that echoed throughout the forest and moved its gigantic body, charging towards the opponent while roaring violently. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon kept backing away from the battlefield. While he was doing so, he continued staring at the Giant Raging Ape, with his eyes flickering with bright blue light. Rows of numbers were pouring down in front of his eyes, flooding his vision with a vast amount of data.


    Soon, most of the irrelevant data had been removed, leaving behind only the data that was provided by the Chip after having scanned the Giant Raging Ape.


    "Target: Toril. Gender: Male. Mage path: Bloodline. Body attributes: Strength ¨C 20 (+2), Physique ¨C 20 (+2), Agility ¨C 11, Spirit ¨C 17(-3)"


    Upon reading Toril''s body statistics, Leon was struck with awe inspiring envy.


    20 points of Strength! A Strength like that could probably defeat every single demon beast who was well-known for its Strength in this Kerala mountain range!


    20 points of Physique! With such Physique, even if this Toril didn''t wear any armor, just the strength of his muscle alone, he could defend himself from all the common weapons used by normal humans in this world. Those common weapons that don''t possess any supernatural force could no longer inflict any damage on him.


    Leon even speculated that with 20 points of Physique, even if there was really someone who could chop off one of Toril''s arms, he would probably be able to regrow it in just a few days, because it seemed as though all creatures who had their Physique reach the level 20 would possess the passive ability to regrow their limbs.


    Analyzing the data provided by the Chip, the normal body attributes for Toril should be: Strength ¨C 18, Physique ¨C 18, Agility ¨C 11, Spirit ¨C 20. Once he had completed his bloodline body transform, then his Strength and Physique would be boosted to 20, however, it was surprising that his Spirit had dropped to 17.


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    Perhaps, this was one of the weaknesses of the bloodline of Giant Raging Ape!


    Though it seemed as if Leon had spent a long time in thinking all this, in reality, it had all happened within a split second.


    While Leon was backing off, the Lighting Giant chose to charge at the Giant Raging Ape.


    With a wave of its hand, the Lightning Spear held in the right hand of this Lightning Golem had disappeared, flying out with a speed that no naked eye could detect and nailed into the broad chest of the Giant Raging Ape. The spear suddenly exploded and the mini Lighting Storm instantly flooded the body of the Giant Raging Ape.


    From the projection of Leon''s vision, the basic strength of this mini Lightning Storm was 21 points.


    However, a lightning damage of this level was insufficient to stop a powerful magical creature who had both its Strength and Physique reach level 20. Through the body transformation, Toril was temporarily given the intrepid body and magic resistance of the Giant Raging Ape. Besides bringing him intense pain, these crackling electric arcs would never be able to halt his movements.


    A loud boom rung in the air, as the massive body of the giant ape pierced through the Lightning Storm, spread out its large palm and forcefully waved toward the Lightning Giant. Compared to the savage and brutal manner of a giant ape, though Lightning Giant had a bigger body, its movements were rather nimble.


    With just a slight dodging movement, the Lightning Giant avoided the large palm of the Giant Raging Ape and reappeared behind its opponent within the blink of an eye. It then shook its right arm and unleashed a lightning whip that coiled around the Giant Raging Ape''s waist. Through the lightning whip, streaks of brutal and violent high voltage electricity instantly transmitted over to every single corner of the giant ape''s body, causing it to continuously let out a furious roar into the sky. Soon, the smell of burning flesh emitted from the point of contact.


    The failure in executing its first strike and the severe pain coming from its body both greatly agitated the Giant Ape, causing it to become even more maniacal. It stretched out its hand, grabbed the long whip on its waist and with just some light force from its hand, it simply shattered the whip into pieces. Having freed itself from the trap, the Giant Ape turned around and punched out both fists at the same time that came crushing towards the Lighting Giant, while producing two loud booms that pierced through the air.


    Though it had a double the defense from the Wind Vortex Shield and the Lightning Shield that carried in its left hand, under the heavy blow of the extreme raging force of the Giant Ape, the outer defense of the Lightning Giant was shattered in an instant.


    A loud boom rang through the air.


    The Lightning Giant sailed through the air and drew out a pale green trail in the sky, flying away nearly hundred meters before it could stabilize its body once again. At this very moment, the end of its left arm had disappeared, while a huge dent could be seen on the chest part of its golden armor.


    Leon, who had back off to the edge of the forest in the far distance, knitted his brows with a tight frown.


    Compared to the bloodline transformation which possessed a physical body, the body of Lightning Giant formed by pure Wind Elementium was rather fragile. Therefore, during the a melee battle with a big guy like this whose body emphasized Strength and muscles, obviously it was at a disadvantage.


    But because of the two-layer defenses, the iron fists of Giant Raging Ape couldn''t penetrate the basic defense of the Lightning Giant, or else, it would have been too troublesome for it to recover.


    Within a few blinks of an eye, followed by the golden flashes on the huge dent on the Lightning Giant''s chest, it was once again restored to its original shape.


    And right at this moment, the raging and furious Giant Ape had once again charged towards it with tremendous momentum.


    "Don''t fight it in such a close range, keep a distance of thirty to fifty meters and attack it with lightning!"


    From the far distance, Leon transmitted his thoughts to the primary core of the Lightning Giant.


    ...


    2166 Words

 Chapter 96 A little blood

    Within the spacious field shrouded in darkness and silence, two giants were fighting each other restlessly; it was a fantasy that had never appeared in Leon''s memory before.But today, in this mysterious and bizarre outworld, such a fantasy had become reality.


    Like a bulldozer that never got tired, the Giant Raging Ape forcefully leveled the forest surrounding this small hill; even the ground was completely filled with deep footprints and cracks, making the ground look like spider webs.


    Meanwhile, the Lightning Giant with a green body and golden armor was like a nimble spirit. It kept dashing around the perimeter of this giant ape, luring its opponent into launching attack after attack, while continuously throwing Lightning Spears and Wind Blades at the giant ape.


    As the battle progressed, the data gathered by Green''s eyes had become more vivid and direct. Though the Lightning Giant was personally crafted by him, throughout the entire process, he was working like a human spirit energy projector, as he knew nearly nothing about all the theories and knowledge in crafting it. Therefore, with regards to the fighting abilities and body attributes of the Lightning Giant, the Chip had only given him a vague estimation. In comparison, the data he had gathered in the battlefield, which was much more direct and detail.


    The Lightning Giant with the overall strength of peak Pseudo-Mage, had the combined element characteristic of both Lightning and Wind. Body attributes: Strength ¨C 12, Physique ¨C 18, Agility ¨C 18, Spirit ¨C 20. Skills: Wind Vortex (Passive), Thunder Armor (Passive), Lightning Shield (Active), Lightning Spear (Active), Lightning Whip (Active), Wind Blade (Active), Thunder Storm (Active), Chain Lightning (Active), Lightning Jump (Active).


    It was a long-range Golem focused on agility. Though it was rather weak in Strength and Physique, its dazzling array of offensive skills made up for these weaknesses, making it the strongest Elementium Golem that Leon owned currently.


    Also, its overall strength had not disappointed Leon''s expectations. In the second half of the battle, relying on its nimble movement, the Lightning Giant kept moving around the giant ape and attacked it by throwing Lightning Spears and Winds Blades. No matter how the Giant Raging Ape leapt at it furiously, there was no way it could catch up to the Lightning Giant.


    Nevertheless, after failing to catch up with the enemy several times, the Giant Raging Ape quickly showed its frightening innate combat ability, as it started to attack using ''Soul Crunching Roar'' and ''Rock Throwing''. The former attack consisted of a raging roar that instantly stunned the surrounding enemies, causing the enemies to be struck into a soulless state for three to five seconds. Of course, this skill could also instantly kill those ordinary humans who had no magical protection. This skill covered an area of fifty meters.


    The second skill allowed the Giant Raging Ape to form an irregular shaped rock with a diameter of two meters between its palms and then throw it at the enemy. The rock was enchanted with a raging force, which could easily smash into the gigantic body of the Lightning Giant.


    Though the Giant Raging Ape only possessed a few bloodline abilities, they were all perfectly matched with its incredible Physique and Strength. Once any enemy was struck by its Soul Crunching Roar, as a result of the brief moment of soullessness, the enemy wouldn''t be able to escape from the brutal melee attack from this Giant Ape.


    But too bad, such kind of offensive Spirit skill was useless against an Elementium Golem.


    Therefore, the Giant Raging Ape could only futilely chase behind the Lightning Giant. Although the Giant Ape continued leaping and charging forward, knocking down countless trees in its stead like a crazy monkey, it still failed to even touch the shadow of the enemy.


    Right when Leon thought that he could win today''s battle with such a method, the Giant Raging Ape transformed from the green armored man, Toril, who suddenly ditched the tough to catch Lightning Giant, roaring furiously and leaping into Leon''s direction.


    Leon silently sighed.


    Not any idiot could become an Apprentice Mage. This guy had just been unable to control his anger because of the enticement from the Lightning Giant and his mind was further disturbed by the force of bloodline. Now, having yielded no results for such a long time, Toril''s consciousness had once again obtained control of the Giant Raging Ape''s body. Thus, he had given up chasing behind the Lightning Giant like an idiot and switched his target to Leon, the mastermind behind all this.


    As long as he could defeat Leon, the bastard who kept escaping him would vanish into thin air. Even if his attack couldn''t reach Leon, at least he could lure that bastard to Leon''s side and with that, he could finally put his raging force into use.


    With such a simple thought in his mind, the Giant Raging Ape''s eyes turned bloodshot, as he slammed into the ground with both hands and jumped towards Leon.


    Leon was easily able to tell the petty thoughts his opponent had in his mind.


    Indeed, the Lightning Giant had an excellent fighting ability, but it also had a deadly weakness ¨C the person who controlled it was too weak! Thus, Leon was the weak link that anyone could use to defeat the Lightning Giant!


    Relying on the Lightning Giant to block off the assault was no doubt the worst decision. With the melee offensive ability of the Giant Raging Ape, perhaps it would only take it a few dozen of seconds to smash the Lightning Giant completely, which would eventually damage to the Elementium cores hiding inside of its body.


    Leon checked his own body attributes, the summon of Lightning Giant had consumed seven Spirit points, which left him with less than six. Staring at the Giant Raging Ape who had lept at him with tremendous momentum and feeling the violent shakes on the ground, Leon once again tossed out a crystal clear Elementium core.


    "Show yourself, my Rock Snake!"


    Following Leon''s loud roar, a wide, bottomless trench suddenly broke out in the ground in front of him and a frightening giant snake made up entirely of rock slithered out from the cracks.


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    The place where the Rock Snake had come out from was right in the charging path of the Giant Raging Ape. With a coiling movement from its massive body, the Rock Snake climbed up and entangled itself with the Giant Raging Ape''s body.


    In next second, the frightening scene of ''King Kong'' fighting a giant snake unveiled in front of Leon''s eyes. Too bad, the violence and savageness brought him no interest in watching this cool battle unfold at a close distance. Instead, he crazily fled from the center of the frightening battle.


    Sand flew into clouds, pebbles swept along the ground, debris of grass flew in the air and huge clouds of dust dispersed quickly in all directions, while countless rock fragments shot out from the battlefield like bullets and smashed into the surrounding forest.


    When the dust cloud had settled down a little bit, Leon finally stopped running further away. The green glow on the his Quicken Boots gradually faded away, as he had ran to a place half a mile away from the battlefield.


    Throwing a glance over his shoulder and staring into the shaking battlefield, Leon saw that the Lightning Giant was hovering in midair and had lifted both arms in the air. Over its tall body, a funnel shape, slow revolving Thunder Storm was forming at an incredible speed, while the tail of the Thunder Storm was pointing directly at the Giant Raging Ape who had been violently fighting on the battlefield.


    Though it was in the middle of a violent battle, the Giant Raging Ape had quickly noticed the abnormality over its head. With great efforts, it tried to move away from the location the Thunder Storm had locked down on. However, the Rock Snake, who had had its body nearly broken into pieces by the Giant Ape''s earlier attack, had tightly tangled with the giant ape''s feet. No matter how the giant ape tried to attack it, it showed no signs of letting go.


    Soon, after over twenty seconds of brewing, the Thunder Storm had been finally completed.


    A sudden streak of huge lightning strike sliced the dark night sky into two and filled the entire place with undying flashes of radiance.


    The raging, violent, and scorching hot electricity wantonly slithered around the body of Giant Raging Ape and Rock Snake. The tremendous lightning energy instantly broke through the crimson colored life barrier outside of the Giant Raging Ape''s body and had penetrated straight away into its huge body.


    In next second, the raging energy exploded inside of the Giant Raging Ape''s body and burst a huge bloody hole in its broad back. Blood sprayed out like a waterfall, but before it could touch the ground, it had been simply evaporated by the violent lightning energy that was wreaking havoc in the air.


    It was a brutal attack, one the Giant Raging Ape couldn''t withstand even with its tough Physique.


    Under the uninterrupted attack from the Thunder Storm, it threw its head back and let out a furious roar into the sky. The Giant Raging Ape finally fell down to the ground and the masculine body starting to shrink slowly until the original look of the green armor guy was revealed.


    "Quick, quick... ask your Golem to gather some of his blood for me!" Not knowing when, Bleia suddenly appeared beside Leon. She looked at the scene where the dust had finally settled, actually showing a more joyful expression than Leon.


    Ugh...


    Leon turned around and looked at Bleia whose face had turned red from excitement and finally realized that he had been used by her. Nevertheless, an ending like this was not bad either ¨C she got the blood she had wanted and Leon had obtained the most satisfying data from the battle. It was a win-win situation! Perhaps, the only one who suffered from all this was that Pseudo-Mage Toril who had possessed a powerful bloodline!


    Leon totally had no intention of killing Toril. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This place was within the coverage of Mage Tower''s power. Since Toril was able to have his secluded cultivation here, he must have had some kind of connection with those Mages in the Mage Tower. It was a little bit over to severely wound this guy for no reason. However, if Leon had taken the opportunity to kill him, perhaps before Leon could even return to the Mage Tower, he would be greeted by someone on his way back.


    Secretly giving out his order to the Lightning Giant, Leon turned around and dragged Bleia before running from the scene.


    He had very sensitive senses. While two monsters were fighting, he had detected seven to eight indistinct, yet powerful Spirit waves hiding around the battlefield. Out of all these Spirit waves, one had actually belonged to someone whom Leon was rather familiar with ¨C Mage Angus.


    Hence, the Lighting Giant hovering in the air waved its arm and dispersed the Thunder Storm, before transforming into a dazzling lighting streak and following Leon. As for the Rock Snake who had been left behind on the battlefield, after struggling and freeing itself from the fainted green armor guy, it dragged its broken body and slithered through the grass and also chasing Leon and left this place.


    Without anyone''s knowledge, before the Rock Snake left, it had secretly swallowed a mouthful of dirt underneath the body of the guy, dirt which was mixed with a huge amount of his blood.


    When peace had once again returned to the place, two dark figures suddenly emerged beside the green armor guy.


    Leaning forward and giving the guy a look, one of the dark shadows shook his head, sighing.


    "Toril is a junior from your clan. So, are you going to let that kid leave just like that?"


    Another dark shadow was seen hiding behind a dense black cloud, only showing two bizarre looking flames in his eyes. With a cold voice, he said, "Hmph, if not for the fact that Angus had stopped me, do you think anyone can leave this place alive even after bullying a member of the Wharton family?"


    "Angus? Oh right! It is his turn on duty at the Mage Tower now. Could this kid be a new junior from his family?" The first dark figure asked wonderingly. "Why would he just let his junior to cause trouble freely like this? Don''t tell me he is not afraid of stirring up a war between Mage families?"


    "Hmph, that kid is not from his family. I think he was sent by the Zhentarim Association. He is just a little guy who is training here."


    "Eh, there is such a good seed among the newcomers? Once I finish with my magical experiment, I''ll thoroughly examine him."


    After a short conversation, both men nodded their heads and departed.


    The first dark figure quickly dissolved into the forest, while the other leaned down to pick up Toril into his arms. Following the spread of the dark cloud, they too vanished into thin air.


    At last, the forest had truly become quiet, leaving behind only the messy battlefield, which quietly showed the miserable experience it had just went through!


    ...


    2228 Words

 Chapter 97 Contract

    Though their minds were filled with worries, the return journey back to the Mage Tower had gone rather smoothly.After Leon used a secret magic word to disperse the huge Wind Elementium body of Lightning Giant, within the blink of an eye, the massive monster simply turned back into seven crystal clear, dazzling magical cores.


    Before Leon could put them all away, Bleia had leapt forward and placed them in her palms, giving them a good fondle and careful examination, while showing a look of great affection. After some time, as if just looking at them wasn''t enough to express her love, Bleia actually brought the primary core to her face and kept stroking it gently, quietly feeling the slight tingling sensations caused by the tiny electricity sparks on her face.


    Ugh... looking at this scene, Leon couldn''t help but feel helpless, as some black lines appeared on his forehead.


    Come on, though these cores looked beautiful and glittery like some pure and magnificent objects, they were actually a fighting Golem that killed without blinking its eyes! After Bleia had witnessed the savage and brutal performance of the Golem, she actually showed great attachment to it. This... Leon couldn''t help but sigh with mixed emotions, telling himself that most of the people who took the path of an Mage were those who had some sort of weird mentalities.


    Suppressing the complaints he had in his mind, Leon finally took back his number one Golem from Bleia''s hand. At the same time, he tossed a blood-colored crystal over to her. With Rock Snake''s ability to control Earth Elementium, it wasn''t too big an issue to filter out blood mixed with the dirt. His only hope was that after losing such a huge amount of blood, Toril wouldn''t have his overall strength drop too much, or else, for no reason, Leon would have to face another deadlier enemy in future.


    Even after such a violent battle, all the summoning cores of Lightning Giant were still intact, but the summoning core of Rock Snake had suffered a lot of damage, which was the result of getting an Advanced Apprentice level Rock Snake to risk its life to pin down a formidable Bloodline Pseudo-Mage. After Leon dispersed the Golem''s body, only then had he realized that the Elementium on this summoning core was in a state of disorder and the magical energy was leaking uncontrollably. It simply looked as if it couldn''t be used anymore.


    Leon took some time and examined it thoroughly. When the Chip finally confirmed this summoning core could no longer be repaired, he had no choice but to put it away regretfully.


    And after tidying up themselves at the edge of the mountain range, both of them finally returned to the Mage Tower stealthily. However, as they were about to step into the main entrance of the Mage Tower, the two rock ghost statues placed on either side of the entrance suddenly moved.


    Following a creaking noise produced by their movements, the rock ghost statue on the left, while maintaining their standing position on top of the tall rock platform, leaned forward and laboriously moved its rock eyes to stare into Leon''s face.


    "Hey, little guy, the enforcer, Master Angus asked you to pay him a visit at his residence."


    After saying that, it retracted its body and once again resumed its original leaping posture ¨C motionless and noiseless.


    Leon was suddenly startled.


    During his stay in this place, he had passed by this entrance many times and every time he would see this pair of rock ghost statues guarding the entrance. But, he never thought they were actually automatons. Not only that, they were... Mage level automatons. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It looked like this seemingly defenseless public Mage Tower wasn''t as fragile as he had initially thought!


    Therefore, the journey that followed was a terrifying one that made his hair stand on end. Wherever Leon and Bleia seemed to go, no matter if it was those lifeless statues or the shepherdess in the oil painting that hung on the corridor wall, they all had become alive and continuously repeated the same words.


    "Quickly pay a visit to Mage Angus!"


    With regards to these repeating messages, if both of them still had no clue that they were being watched by Mage Angus, then they really were idiots. But this also struck fear into their minds, because they weren''t able to tell what kind of method Mage Angus was using to watch them.


    Hence, immersed in the oppressive atmosphere, both of them soon arrived at Mage Angus''s residence which was located on the fifth floor of the Mage Tower.


    Mage Angus met with them in his laboratory.


    Compared to their imagination, this place didn''t look as frightening, ghastly and filled with blood a they as they had fantasized. It was a clean and tidy private laboratory of an official Mage; the entire place was brightly lit and looked rather like an advanced laboratory. However, from the many jars that were placed around the laboratory, Leon could sense a dazzling red glow. From the living and kicking tiny creatures to the magical organs, all of them emanated a strong aura of energy.


    And clearly, Mage Angus was in the middle of concocting some kind of special potion, as the table in front of him was fully covered with small bottles and test tubes of different shapes. When the both of them have arrived at the laboratory, Angus was seen gently shaking a test tube in his hand, and from time to time, he would bring it in front of his eyes to give it a careful examination.


    A mysterious, azure potion was contained in the test tube. Every time Angus shook the test tube, there would be countless tiny bubbles bursting out from the azure potion, and transforming into all sorts of marine creatures. Sometimes it was a mermaid riding on a seahorse, sometimes it was a magical Narwhal flipping its tail and swimming around or sometimes it was a swarm of Silver Swordfish leaping and chasing each other around... In short, whenever he shook the test tube, they would transform into another creature, giving it a touch of bizarreness and mystery.


    Bleia always had little resistance to something as peculiar as this, but since they were in the laboratory of an official Mage, she just couldn''t act as recklessly as she usually did. Thus, she could only throw her question to Leon using the movement of her lips. Perhaps Bleia''s rank was way beyond that of Leon''s, but in terms of magical knowledge and their application in real life, Leon could defeat her easily.


    The blood of a deep sea mermaid!


    Likewise, Leon replied her question moving just his lips. Only the blood of those deep sea mermaids who lived in the deepest area of the ocean could have such a unique illusive effect. That''s right, what they saw just now was not real, but just the illusionary force ignited by the shaking of the azure colored blood. Experience new tales on empire


    After a long time, Mage Angus finally put down the test tube in his hand and turned around to stare at both his visitors.


    "Moments ago, the leader of Wharton family lodged a complaint. He thinks your reckless behavior has seriously damaged the honor of their family and asked me to hand you over to them. So, tell me, should I listen to his request?"


    Bleia frowned, as she had no idea how to answer this question. She tilted her head and threw her gaze over to Leon and hinted at him to answer the question.


    Leon smiled and bowed deeply, saying, "Your respectful Master Angus, to my knowledge, the leader of Wharton family is just an ordinary human! How can a mere mortal with no special status give you an order? If they really wanted me and Bleia to atone for our mistakes with our life, then the Master Mage behind the family will definitely give out his order personally."


    Mage Angus narrowed his eyes, staring at the duo with a tilted glance.


    Vampire + Golem Controller!


    And that too, they were an Advanced Apprentice level Vampire and Intermediate Apprentice level Golem Controller!


    But there was one thing surprised him ¨C this team was actually headed by the Intermediate Apprentice who was much weaker!


    Could it be because of the excellent potential of Golem Controller put out by this kid or was there another reason? Or else, why else would that little girl, who was an Advanced Apprentice level Vampire, be willing to give up her authority between them?


    After all, not one of the apprentices who took upon the path of Mage had a kind heart. Instead, their mind was completely filled with arrogance and pride. They were just a group of self-centering people with wild ambitions. It would be absurd if they had willingly treated weaker peers with modesty and an amiable attitude.


    As the result, when any Mage had the need to team up with someone else, the team would usually be headed by the strongest amongst them, while the rest of the team members obeyed all his commands. This situation was even more obvious amongst the Apprentice Mages. Therefore, Angus showed great interest in the duo in front of him.


    "Kid, being a good talker is useless. The man you provoked this time was Toril, the member of Wharton family who has the highest chance of becoming an official Mage. I heard that because of your willful action, the time for that guy to become an official Mage was pushed back by three years! Hahaha... now all the members of Wharton family are showering in flames of anger and they are searching for you two everywhere. Perhaps, once you two leave this place, there will be a large group of people waiting for you outside, wanting to capture you and exchange you for a reward!" A treacherous smile emerged on Mage Angus''s face.


    Leon''s heart began to race, as he felt helpless about their current situation.


    If that Wharton family was really as aggressive as Mage Angus described, perhaps before both of them could even enter the Mage Tower, they would have already been captured. Since Mage Angus said it like that, based on the strong implication of a warning in his words, perhaps he was just intimidating them and forcing them into a trap. Facing the intimidation of an official Mage, what options did these two little Apprentice Mages have?


    "Your respectful Master Angus, Bleia and I are just two mere Apprentice Mages, naturally, we''re willing to follow anything you say. I wonder is there anything we can offer you our services for?"


    Seeing as Leon had behaved as he had expected, Mage Angus let out a satisfied smile.


    "Show me your Golem!"


    Without saying another word, Leon presented the summoning cores respectfully with both hands.


    Using his fingers, he pinched each core a few times and gave them all an examining glance; the smile on Angus''s face grew stronger.


    "It looks like they were all personally crafted by you!"


    "Yes!"


    "If you''re given with three years, can you become an official Mage?" Mage Angus suddenly changed the topic.


    "Ah..." Leon was dumbstruck and didn''t know what to say. Even Bleia couldn''t control herself, as her eyes went wide.


    "There is nothing to feel surprised about! Because I can only protect you for three years. If that Toril becomes an official Mage before you, then I have no reason to stop him from seeking his revenge. As for the complaints coming from his family, they won''t affect me at all. After all, you defeated him in a fair match. If a defeat like that causes the family to jump onto their feet, then the Wharton family will have lost all face completely. But..."


    "Bleia and I are willing to pay any price in exchange for your protection, is there anything we can do for you?"


    "Hahaha... talking to a smart kid like you really saves me a lot of trouble. Here, this is a magical contract, I want both of you to sign your name on it! Don''t worry, with your current overall strength, I don''t need anything from you. Once you''ve signed the contract, it also means you have signed a contract with my family, the Byron family. With that, I can use the name of the Byron family and provide you with three years of protection and spare you from the retaliation and harassment of the Wharton family."


    "What do I need to do in exchange for the protection?"


    "You need to become an official Mage in three years. After that, you have to represent the Byron family and participate in a competition. A competition that only Titan Controllers, Golem Controllers and Automaton Controllers can participate in."


    ....


    2138 Words

 Chapter 98 Competition

    "You mean, the minimum requirement to join this competition is being an official Mage? Could it be... could it be..." Leon spoke hesitatingly, as he recalled some relevant content from the vast information about the Mage World he had stored in his mind."That''s right. The competition I want you to participate in is the Advancement Competition of Profound Mages, which will be held in the Sky City in five years. As long as you can help us, the Byron family maintain our selling rights in the Sky City, when everything is over, our family will also reward you with a great gift."


    "I see what you mean now, what you need is a promise. As long as I can promise you that I''ll become an official Mage within three years and represent the Byron family to participate in that competition, you''ll provide us with three years of protection. This is a deal where both of us benefit and fulfills the usual practices of fair deals between Mages. Hence, I accept the deal!"


    "Hehe, excellent! Remember, you will only have three years. Once that Toril becomes an official Mage, the agreement between us will be voided. After all, no one is willing to had a fall out with a Bloodline Mage who is a good fighter."


    "I understand. I''ll definitely become an official Mage before he does!" Leon pledged with sincerity and seriousness.


    Looking at Leon''s seemingly sincere expression, Mage Angus waved his hand, and a clump of gray smoke instantly exploded in front of Leon, before condensing into a magical contract within a split second.


    Leon took a step forward and seriously and detailedly read the magical contract multiple times. After making sure there weren''t any wording or style traps, he carefully inked his magical mark.


    Under normal situations, when a spell caster signed a contract, they disliked leaving behind their soul mark. Though that provided a higher binding effect, it made it rather easy for an outsider to obtain his soul aura. Therefore, in order to deal with such situations, Mages had created the magical mark. It was a special mark formed with the individual''s unique Spirit wave and the energy of their element.


    With that, not only did they not have to worry about someone obtaining their aura and using it against him, it was also impossible to fake by someone else. That was why it had become accepted by all spell casters.


    The magical seal Leon that designed for himself was a tightly clenched fist, covered in flames and soared up into the sky.


    The flames surrounding the iron fist represented his element affinity of Fire, while the iron fist represented strength. His magical seal also represented the wild ambitious that starting to burgeoning deep inside Leon''s heart.


    After putting away the contract, Mage Angus tossed over a chest badge that represented the Byron family over to Leon.


    "By wearing this, as long as you''re in Dagon Region, no one will take the initiative to provoke you. Alright, you can leave now!"


    Upon completing the deal, Mage Angus simply turned Leon and Bleia away from his laboratory. For him, this was just one of the backup plans he had prepared for his family. While there were countless other measures he had prepared, it hadn''t reached the level where he needed to handle it solemnly.


    Hence, before that little guy became an official Mage, everything was just casual preparation!


    After Leon and Bleia left Angus''s residence with great respect, they were shocked to find that more than twenty elite apprentices had gathered outside of Angus'' residence. They had split into two groups and were confronting each other. When Leon made his appearance, the leaders of both groups immediately rested their eyes on his face.


    When their eyes gazed over the badge pinned on Leon''s chest, the leaders of both fractions had their expressions change at the same time. One gnashed his teeth angrily, while the other''s face was covered with a bright smile; he even took the initiative to hug Leon''s shoulder.


    "So? Now you have seen it for yourself." A gloating expression could be clearly seen on Kevin''s face. "Leon is part of the Byron family now. Stop wasting your time here and leave. Why are you still standing around here?"


    Leon roughly remembered that he had seen the leader of the other group in the training camp before. It seemed like his name was Hamill and he was also a Pseudo-Mage. But judging from his unconcealed Spirit wave, obviously, his overall strength was so much weaker compared to Toril.


    "Leon... very good..." With a ferocious manner, Hamill threatened, "You''re smart, kid, knowing to hide under the protection of Master Angus. Or else, I, Hamill would have definitely let you known the serious consequences of provoking the Wharton family."


    Leon let out a somber smile.


    "The reason I joined Byron family is because of the care from Mage Angus, as he didn''t want me to be defeated by the crafty plot of a shameless person. However, for someone like you, a coward who only knows how to show his aggressiveness with his mouth, I''ll never be afraid!"


    "You..."


    "Since you have the desire to seek revenge for that Toril, why don''t we find a chance tomorrow and have a fair fight? As long as you can defeat me in a fair match, I''m willing to give up the protection from Master Angus. So, do you have the guts to accept my challenge?" sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You..."


    "Arrogant...!"


    "This is absurd...!"


    For the moment, all those elite apprentices who followed behind Hamill couldn''t control their anger anymore. Each of them kept scolding and yelling out with a loud voice. Though Hamill was also letting out furious shouts, his eyes flickered and his face looked gloomy. Obviously, he didn''t have the courage to accept Leon''s challenge.


    Leon laughed scornfully.


    "Same goes to all of you. For those who want to seek revenge for Toril, I''m open for a fair bet with anyone. As long as you can come out with a satisfying stake, I''ll fight with you right away. So, is anyone willing to have a fair match with me?!"


    Leon asked with a severe countenance and a harsh voice. As he glared at this group of guys who appeared to be tough outwardly, but actually were timid inside, an indistinct bright light could be seen flickering in his eyes. Even Kevin, who was standing closest to him, was secretly shocked by the aggressiveness emanating from Leon''s eyes.


    Though the group had been here to capture the wild kid who had offended the dignity of Wharton family, when they stared into the aggressive glances of their target, those who kept yelling angrily just now actually had shut their mouth. Some even turned their head sideways to avoid being directly gazed at by Leon.


    At that moment, tens of Advanced Apprentices and Pseudo-Mages were stuck in an awkward situation, brought on by Leon who was just an Intermediate Apprentice.


    Though they knew by losing their face like this, they would definitely be punished by their family when they returned, no one was willing to stand up and fight this mad guy who was in high spirits.


    Now, they were losing their face as a group, which allowed them to still have room to turn the situation around when they returned. But, if anyone accepted the challenge in a moment of madness, the problem they faced would not only be losing their face anymore. It was very likely that they might also have their reputation crushed, which was something they had been building restlessly for the past seven to eight years, and eventually become the laughing stock of everyone.


    If their opponent was someone else, they wouldn''t have behaved so cowardly, but this kid in front of them was too strange. He... he actually defeated Toril, who was about to hold his advancement ceremony, also... also they heard he had done that in a fair one-to-one fight.


    When Toril was severely wounded and thrown to the ground, the official Mage sent by Wharton family and stationed in the Underground Cave was right at the spot, but it hadn''t been convenient for him to capture this rascal personally. If this Leon had the courage to directly offended the dignity of an official Mage, no one would stop a Master Mage from killing him personally.


    But... but the problem was, this kid actually beaten Toril to coma in a fair match. If the Master Mage struck at that point in time, other families would have definitely been laughing at him, teasing him for not having any other successors in his family, as they even needed an official Mage to handle something as petty as dealing with an Intermediate Apprentice.


    Therefore, after weighing and considering the situation, this group had come here together to question Leon and capture him in the name of their family. However, since this guy was now part of the Byron family, it was impossible for them to give him a serious beating without any forethought. But... in order to capture him with a one versus one fight, none of this guys had the confidence.


    Depressed, extremely depressed! Indignation, an indescribable indignation!


    Tens of elite apprentices from Wharton family had their face turned livid with rage. It was as if their bodies were attacked by hundreds of thousands of ants; it was an extremely awkward situation for them.


    "Let''s go, we''ll settle this score with him in future!" Realizing that the situation was going out of his control, Hamill furiously waved his hand and took all his men and quickly left the scene.


    Watching how the group of elite apprentices had come in a threatening and ready to fight manner, but eventually left sheepishly, the members of the Byron family remained at the scene and kept exchanging glances with each other speechlessly. They were all veterans of the training camp. Although because of the competition, both families didn''t have a concord relationship, actually, both groups were pretty familiar with each other. If their positions were reversed in this situation, perhaps their performance wouldn''t have been better than those from Wharton family.


    It was not because they were incompetent, but because this rascal had strange abilities!


    Since Kevin was experienced in such scenes, he pushed Leon and brought him out from the place. Continue your adventure at empire


    "Brother, since you have become a part of us, then as your brother, I''ll not regard you as an outsider anymore. Don''t worry, in Dagon region, as long as you show the badge of the Byron family, no one will give you any trouble. If someone does, tell me and I''ll bring our men to annihilate him!"


    A big smile was immediately brought to Leon''s face and he expressed his gratitude to Kevin.


    Kevin was not bragging, what he had said was actually real.


    According to the Chronicle of Mage Families, there were more than twenty Mage Families with the proper name who could be found in this Dagon region. Among these families, the Byron family, which Kevin was working for, could easily be ranked among the top three of all Mage families in this region. Also, the Byron and Mises family had supported a small human kingdom which had occupied a huge area of fertile land in the central area of the Dagon region.


    Therefore, the promise of providing him protection within the entire Dagon region wasn''t a lie at all.


    In fact, not only the entire Dagon region, this kind of situation was common throughout the entire Zhentarim territory. In this world ruled by Mages, the noble or even imperial families of human were just tools and servants who helped Mage families manage ordinary mortals. If any of them offended the Mage family who supported them, even if he was a king of a human kingdom, he would have to step down from his throne or even die of ''sickness''.


    For Kevin, as the nephew of Mage Angus, if he paid a visit to a human kingdom, he would be welcomed with the most luxurious, grandest reception and treatment. As long as he nodded his head slightly, even if he wanted some princesses to serve him on his bed, those kings would personally send them to his bed with a bright smile on their faces.


    This was in fact, the most realistic yet cruel reality of the current Mage World!


    ...


    2072 Words

 Chapter 99 Invasion

    Right from the start, the Underground Cave was a place where one was apt to get into trouble.Though no one had purposefully spread the news, early next morning, nearly the entire Mage Tower was startled by a frightening news that had spread like the plague.


    In a fair one-on-one match, an individual who had recently broken through to Intermediate Apprentice Mage had defeated Toril, the member of the Wharton family who had the highest chance of becoming an official Mage in the shortest amount of time. When the news was freshly heard, countless Apprentice Mages simply sniffed at it to show their contempt.


    In the World of Mage, even within the same grade, but just different by one or two minor tiers, let alone the gap between two major grades, there would be a jaw-dropping difference between their overall strength. Some busybodies actually performed a statistical study before. In a normal battle, a Pseudo-Mage could easily defend himself from the joint attack of two to three Advanced Apprentices and could just as easily defend himself against the joint attack from a double digit number of Intermediate Apprentices.


    Therefore, when they heard the news for the first time, most of the people just treated it as a lousy lie used by an enemy of the Wharton family to bring shame to them. But as time went by, the ''lie'' had grown hotter and hotter, so much so that many guys who were well-known among the elite apprentices vowed solemnly that it was real.


    As the result, a massive storm broke out in the circle of Apprentice Mages within the Mage Tower of Underground Cave!


    Countless Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices ran around, spreading the news, while inquiring about the genuine version of that ''rumor''. Soon, all the rumors gathered through the grapevine had pointed to a name that everybody was unfamiliar with ¨C Leon. Hence, more news about Leon was dug out.


    For example, when Leon had arrived at the Underground Cave, he had just been a Beginner Apprentice. Also, during his first trip to the Underground World, he had killed the frightening Demon Vine Lady and gotten himself the first head of a Fallen Apprentice. Not only that, when he was invited to join the training camp, he actually had defeated two elite Advanced Apprentices...


    When the series of outstanding results were pieced together, every single apprentice who heard about it was struck with astonishment.


    This... how could this be possible?


    Everyone was very familiar with the overall strength of an apprentice who had just become an Intermediate Apprentice. During this stage, their overall strength was in a rather awkward situation, as usually they had only mastered two to three offensive magic spells. Some with a stronger overall strength would master a defensive magic spell in advance, while those ordinary Intermediate Apprentices would have to fight nakedly for a long period of time before they mastered the first defensive magic spell in their life.


    Comparing an overall strength like this to an Advanced Apprentice who been thoroughly tempered or even those Pseudo-Mages who had nearly reached the pinnacle of apprenticeship, it was like the difference between a five to six year old toddler and a youth who had nearly become an adult. Most of the time, a gap in overall strength like this could never be covered up by skillful techniques or experience.


    But they soon learned that, it was highly possible that this man of marvel, Leon, was a Golem Controller who had extraordinary talent. He was able to overstep the constraints of his level and control many powerful magical Golems. After this news was spread, it immediately made the few rare Golem controllers within the apprentice circle feel proud of themselves; they even walked and talked with a higher spirit as compared to before.


    However, none of them knew at this moment when they were discussing about this miraculous Golem Controller with much warmth, Leon, whose face would have blushed because of the discussion, had brought Bleia and Snorlax and ventured deep into the Underground Cave. They followed the path he found on his previous trip and stealthily traveled towards the ruins of the Mage Tower.


    To be honest, with regards to this treasure hunting trip, though Leon had prepared numerous plans and strategies in his mind, when his opponent was an Mage level demon, it was unknown whether these plans and strategies would work as they were designed to.


    Riding on the back of the Demon Alligator Hunter, the trio had a meeting and repeatedly cross-checked each other''s tasks. In order to defeat the Transvestite Fairy, not only Leon had to face a tremendous amount of pressure, he even arranged an extremely important task for both Bleia and Snorlax to complete.


    As the main force for the war, Leon''s existence was used to attract attention. Only by luring the frightening Fairy away from the entrance of the ruin could Bleia and Snorlax have the chance to sneak into the place and search for the true form of the Fairy.


    And only by finding a way to cut off the spiritual connection between the Fairy and its true form would Leon have the possibility of defeating it face-to-face. Or else, if he had to fight a complete Fairy, even if Leon sacrificed all of his Golems, he might not be able to obtain any advantage.


    Perhaps the previous lesson was overly painful as all the Gnolls that had been prowling at the outer perimeter of the ruin had actually disappeared. This really surprised Leon who had planned to make a clean wipe of the outer perimeter first.


    When Demon Alligator Hunter once again arrived in front of the demonized forest, both Bleia and Snorlax had their jaws dropped in amazement. They wouldn''t be so surprised if what they saw was on the surface world. However, when they were at nearly twenty miles underneath the surface, yet were still able to see such a wild profusion of vegetation. This really astounded both of them who had got used to the desolate and lonely environment of the Underground World!


    "Let''s move, and don''t forget about your task. Once that Fairy leaves the place, both of you need to act fast, because I can''t stand against it for a long time!" Before they separated, Leon couldn''t help but urge once again.


    A sweet smile emerged on Bleia''s pretty face. Her slim body leapt into the air and within a split second, she had transformed into a fist-sized red bat and flew into the forest.


    Leon didn''t have too many worries for Bleia. Both her overall strength of an Advance Apprentice Vampire and her new ability, Natural Charm were the biggest guarantees for her survival. Especially the latter, in a chaotic demonized forest such as this, as long as she didn''t actively attack the enemy, ordinary demonized creatures and plants wouldn''t attack her actively either.


    In fact, the ability of Natural Charm could actually ignore the species, genders, factions, and some other factors, and directly influence the subconscious mind of any intelligent creature. Thus, it could simply be regarded as the best innate ability for treasure hunting in the wilderness. Allegedly, the advancement requirement for this very unique class actually needed the ability of Natural Charm as a foundation.


    The current Snorlax was seen wearing a torn and tattered leather armor, while having a perfectly matching old cloak flinging behind its back. Also, the short wooden stick that it always carried around was found in its hand.


    "Master, rest assure, I''ll try my best to complete the task!" Snorlax bowed respectfully before jumping off from the Demon Alligator. It moved its short legs and strode into the depths of the forest.


    Though the demonized forest was a place filled with dangers, for a goblin who had mastered Invisibility and Camouflage, those low ranked demons could never threaten its life. Also, with Bleia protecting it in the dark, even if some demons had discovered Snorlax, they would be ''lucky'' enough to have gotten themselves killed.


    When both peers disappeared, only then had Leon dispersed the Demon Alligator Hunter and freed up two Spirit points used to summon it. For the upcoming battle, he needed his most powerful combative force, thus every single Spirit point was extremely precious and couldn''t afford to waste any of them.


    After adjusting and calmed down his Spirit, without any hesitation, Leon summoned the Lightning Giant and a Rock Snake. It took seven Spirit points to maintain the existence of the Lightning Giant, while Rock Snake occupies three Spirit points. Currently, Leon''s Spirit had reached 13.25 (including the +1 effect from the Circlet of Nobility), if he was pushed to his limit, he could summon another Rock Snake or a Water Elemental. Explore more stories with empire


    This was the strongest battle group Leon could achieve after pushing himself to the limit.


    Nevertheless, considering the surrounding environment in this place wasn''t suitable to let out his latest golem, the Water Elemental, to unleash its strongest combative strength, Leon preferred the former option.


    Upon the appearance of the Lightning Giant, deep and muffled thunderclaps immediately echoed throughout this spacious underground space. With its entire body covered by a crackling lightning storm, the Lightning Giant opened up its dazzling eyes and hovered in the air over ten meters from the group. It took the lead and charged into the demonized forest.


    Leon gritted his teeth and briefly organized the equipment on his body, before following behind the Lightning Giant without another glance backwards. Meanwhile, the massive Rock Snake was slowly slithering behind Leon, keeping its high vigilance towards any possible attacks that might come from his back.


    A man and two monsters were slowly walking in the demonized forest.


    Leon didn''t need to waste his time or effort cleaning any of those troublesome vines or bushes on their way, as the Lightning Giant''s tall body flashed through any plants that got too close to it, turning them into a pile of ashes by the sudden strike of the thunderstorm. Even those little animals hiding in the dense woods couldn''t escape from it! As long as their life aura was detected by the Lightning Giant, they would be greeted by a lightning strike.


    With the peak Pseudo-Mage level overall strength of the Lightning Giant, even those Iron Rhinoceros who were known for their strong vitality couldn''t withstand the lightning strike it casually unleashed, let alone those small demons who only had with their strange abilities and the ability to hide!


    Completely advancing while crushing everything in their path!


    Wherever they passed, everything would be turned into ashes, even the ground was filled with burned cracks caused by the lightning strikes!


    Though the demons wished to protect the magical source which brought them endless power, when the largest pack of violent wolves were totally wiped out by the Lightning Giant, these demons had finally become scared and started to crazily flee from the messenger from hell who could bring death upon all of them.


    At the same time, right in front of the collapsed Mage Tower where Leon had visited last time, the seductive body of Fairy was seen gradually emerging from thin air.


    It was overlooking the rocking dark cloud that had formed above the forest. From time to time, a dazzling lightning strike would struck out from it, following by a series of muffled thunderclaps. Though it couldn''t see the numbers of the enemy from here, but judging from the power of this summoned thunder cloud, the Fairy had furrowed its brows slightly, as if trying to make a tough decision.


    Looking at the direction where the thunder cloud was headed, it seemed its destination was right where the Fairy was.


    If these intruders were allowed to bring those flames of war to this place, perhaps they would cause an inestimable damage to the life source hidden underground. Finally, a firm expression emerged on the beautiful and delicate face of the Fairy. With its hand making a grabbing movement in the air, the magical bow that it had owned since the day it had been born appeared in its grip.


    Following a whisper from the Fairy, the demonized plants around the ruins started to grow crazily and soon a dense green foliage had totally covered up the secret entrance to the ruin. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After finishing all these, the Fairly shouted angrily, flipping its near transparent wings, before leaping towards the enemy with tremendous speed.


    ...


    2078 Words

 Chapter 100 Pow

    The Fairy had an incredible flying speed. It actually intercepted Leon and his golems in the middle of the demonized jungle."It''s you again? You don''t know the difference between life and death! This time, don''t even think about leaving this place alive!"


    Looking at the rather familiar face of Leon, two Spirit flames of anger immediately shot out from the Fairy''s eyes. Even though there were nearly a hundred meters of distance between them, the intense Spiritual pressure still cause Leon''s heart to tremble violently. He struggled to maintain a calm mentality.


    Damn it! As expected, he couldn''t handle an Mage level demon at his current level of strength!


    Leon kept backing off. It was only when the Rock Snake coiled its body around Leon and protected him inside its coils that he could calm his panicked mind down and regain his thoughts.


    ''Lightning Giant, engage it. Don''t let it have any opportunity to attack me!'' Leon transmitted his order through a hidden Spiritual channel.


    Almost straight away, the Lightning Giant placed its palms together and unleashed a huge lightning strike that had the diameter of a washbowl. It flew straight at the Fairy, who was hovering in the air.


    Obviously, the Fairy was very confident in its Rose Armor, since it actually didn''t speed up and dodge the attack. Instead, it pushed through the raging Elementium Lightning and ferociously leapt onto the Lightning Giant, who was in the middle of attracting lightning.


    While it did so, numerous rose stalks burst out from its body and started twisting and interlocking with each other. The stalks formed an exquisite looking rose armor that protected its body within. After that, it braved the splashing electric arcs, stretched out one of its hand, and forcefully pierced toward the target''s chest.


    The Fairy had extraordinary combat instinct, which allowed it to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Lightning Giant.


    When fighting an Elementium Golem like this, reducing its strength slowly was definitely not the best method. Though doing so would allow the Fairy to suffer less attacks, it would also drag the battle into an unpredictable and tough to control fight of attrition. Therefore, it had to kill the Lightning Giant using the least amount of time possible, even if that would consume some of its defensive strength. This was, in fact, the best method of preventing the enemy from controlling the pace of the battle.


    In the face of the enemy''s solo onrush, the Lightning Giant showed no emotion at all. A sudden thunderclap emanated from its body, and immediately, the Lightning Chain unleashed from its palms became thicker. Also, half a second before the sparkling arm of the Fairy drilled a hole through its chest, the electricity surrounded the Lightning Giant''s body flashed, and it suddenly vanished from the scene.


    Lightning Jump!


    Though it had ''jump'' in the name, the actual result was no different than a short distance teleportation.


    A loud thunderclap was heard from hundred meters away. With its body shrouded in violent electricity, the Lightning Giant reappeared where the noise had originated. There wasn''t any delay or hesitation. Right as it reappeared, a brand new Lightning Chain streaked across the hundred-meter distance and struck the Fairy''s delicate body.


    It was worth mentioning, among all of the Elementium magic spells, Lightning element magic spells held the top position in speed. It had nearly reached the stage of reaching the enemy with just a thought. Only those who had Agility at level 20 could dodge an attack with such incredible speed.


    A joyful expression emerged on Leon''s face.


    But, before the smile could fully bloom on his face, Leon couldn''t help but show a bitter expression.


    Indeed, with the overall strength of the Lightning Giant, it was more than enough to deal with the frightening Fairy. But, it was also because of the extraordinary overall strength of the Lightning Giant, that it had clearly portrayed the weakness of its master, Leon. Thus, when the frightening Fairy couldn''t find any loophole on the Lightning Giant, perhaps it would switch its attention to...


    While Leon was pondering silently, as expected, after quickly exchanging a few rounds of attack with the Lightning Giant, the Fairy suddenly halted, slowly turned its head, and looked over at Leon.


    Damn it, damn it, damn it...


    Without saying another word, Leon simply turned around, taking the Rock Snake, and fled into the distance.


    ...


    While the thunder cloud hovered over the demonized forest and the loud boom of lightning strikes echoed throughout the entire cavern, at the edge of the forest closest to the cavern entrance, a dense clump of Earth Elementium suddenly sprayed out from underground. It quickly formed into a ring-shaped magical array with a three meter diameter.


    A massive gray dust cloud burst out from the magical array. Soon, five incorporeal, strange looking human figures formed.


    Following a muffled boom, a light yellow ring made of Earth Elementium flashed and the dust pillar hovering in the air suddenly exploded, revealing five Fallen Pseudo-Mages, who had arrived via teleportation.


    Langdon, Philip, Hegel, and the other two Fallen Pseudo-Mages whose names were unknown.


    All five men were swaying, but, relying on their powerful Spirit, they quickly dispelled the Earth Elementium which had invaded into their body and once again calmed their minds.


    Though Stratum Teleportation provided greater speed compared to running on their feet, they experienced a short period of dizziness after each teleportation. Thus, it was totally unsuitable to use in a sudden ambush, but instead, a supplementary method when traveling long distances.


    When the group of men finally got rid of the dizziness caused by the teleportation, they started glancing over to the forest not far away. They were immediately attracted by the deafening noise of the violent thunderclaps. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Clearly, that place had turned into a frightening killing field!


    Standing straight and tall, Langdon looked over at the thunder cloud in the far distance. His gaze followed two vague figures who were flying at top speed and attacking each other under the thunder cloud. A strangely satisfied emotion surged up in his mind.


    Damn kid, let me see where can you run this time! No matter how many people you brought here, I want all of you to die in this demonized forest!


    "Let''s go! It is about time for us to make our debut!" With a hideous smile, Langdon took the lead and walked into the forest. Behind him, the remaining four Fallen Pseudo-Mages exchanged glances with each other, said nothing, and followed his footsteps. Enjoy new tales from empire


    ...


    While thunderous rumbling was heard in the distance, a red bat was flapping its wings and approaching the entrance of the ruin.


    Upon sensing the life aura that came from the body of the red bat, a long thin vine suddenly shot out from the dense bushes that tightly blanketed the entire ruin. It coiled towards the red bat, who was flying at low altitude but with incredible speed.


    Bleia let out a loud shout. Her body instantly transformed back to human form, and she used her pair of razor sharp claws to swing fiercely in the air. Within the time of a few blinks, the demon vine''s tentacle was sliced into countless pieces.


    It was like she had stirred up a nest of hornets! In the next second, countless vines shot out from the foliage, forming into a dense green forest, crazily piercing and coiling towards Bleia.


    A hideous expression came on to Bleia''s face. She then turned into crimson lightning, savagely streaking into the heart of the green forest. She kept swinging her razor sharp claws. Each strike cut through a thick vine, causing sticky green liquid to spray out from the broken vine.


    As Bleia was restlessly fighting with the vine forest, a bizarre demon vine poked out from a huge green leaf, pointing its end right at Bleia from a distance. The end of the demon vine spread out like a flower and revealed a strange eyeball that looked steadily at Bleia. No matter how she twisted and turned, she just couldn''t escape from the eyeball''s vision.


    While fighting in another battlefield in the far distance, the Fairy recieved the projected image of Bleia restlessly slaughtering the demon vine, causing it to slow down its movements slightly.


    For other people, such a slow down was nearly impossible to detect, but in the eyes of the Lightning Giant, it was distinct and clear. A crackling lightning spear instantly hit the flower armor of the Fairy.


    The sudden mini lightning storm flooded the Fairy and fully tested the magic resistance of the Rose Armor.


    So far, though the Lightning Giant had fought with the Fairy for such a long time, it still hadn''t broken through the defense of the Rose Armor. It was like those flower stalks could regrow forever. Whenever one was burned off, soon another would regrow.


    Though the Lightning Giant had tried its best, it still hadn''t inflicted any actual damage. At most, it only managed to destroy some of the Fairy''s defensive magical equipment.


    The new enemy in the distance distracted the Fairy''s mind, making it let out a furious roar and want to leave the battlefield. Therefore, the Lighting Giant, who had been fighting with guerrilla tactics, immediately charged forward, pushing through the violent arrow showers of the Fairy, and entangled them together.


    Meanwhile, at the ruins of Mage Tower, because of Bleia''s daring and savage attack, the ground was fully filled with countless twisting and struggling broken demon vines. When the number of demon vines was reduced to a certain level, a concealed dark hole was revealed.


    While the demon vine forest and Bleia were fighting with all they had, a gray rock that no one noticed was seen moving toward the hole, one step at a time.


    Carefully dodging the demon vines that rolled all over the ground, trying its best to avoid being stained by the green liquid, Snorlax kept scanning for danger around its body through the opening of its cloak. Then, moving one step at a time, it slowly approached the entrance to the ruin.


    Bleia knew what it was doing, and was working hard to attract all the attacks of the demon vines to one side, allowing the goblin, Snorlax, to infiltrate the heart of the enemy using its camouflage skill.


    Finally, after journeying over numerous obstacles, Snorlax arrived at the hole.


    Hesitating for a few seconds, Snorlax touched the magical collar strapped around its neck. Sensing the magical contract that was taking effect in its body, it finally made up its mind to complete the task given by its master.


    What to do? Before they had come, in order to ensure the success of the mission, Leon had purposely paid a visit to Mage Angus and purchased a magical servant contract from him.


    The magical servant contract was currently taking effect on Snorlax. Once it thought or behaved in a way that betrayed its master, that young man could sense it. And at that point in time, all he needed to do was recite some secret magic words, then the magical collar strapped on Snorlax''s neck would instantly crush its head.


    Therefore, if Snorlax wished to live on, it would have to complete its task, according to the order of its master!


    Throwing away all of the unnecessary fantasies in its mind, Snorlax gently shook off the magical camouflage from its body. Then it waved the short wooden stick and cast an Invisibility spell on itself. Finally, it dashed into the hole without looking back.


    Just as Snorlax dashed into the hole, at the far distance, a few of the main characters of the event were instantly struck with a vague feeling. All of them sent a glance over to the location of the ruin''s entrance at the same time.


    ...


    1977 Words

 Chapter 101 Magic demons

    Within just five minutes, the Lightning Giant had been hurt by an unprecedented torture.Though it had the overall strength to crush the strongest Pseudo-Mage, its weakness was as vivid as its strength ¨C its defense was overly weak!


    The Wind Vortex surrounding its body could deflect an enemy''s attack using its powerful airflow, while the Lightning Shield and golden armor also effectively reduced the strength of an enemy''s attack. With these three layers of magical defense, the Lightning Giant could audaciously launch attacks at the enemy and dodge the enemy attacks with its lightning speed without too much worry.


    Due to the Lightning Giant''s Lightning Jump ability, not many enemies were able to catch up to its movements.


    But when using to intercept the enemy, especially the Fairy who had a stronger overall strength than the Lightning Giant, its'' fatal weakness of rather a fragile individual defense and the lack of a solid body had been revealed. Within the period of five minutes, the magical defense outside of its body had been broken through seven times, while multiple parts of its tall, mighty and cloud-like body had been ripped apart by the Fairy.


    If Leon had not sent the Rock Snake as reinforcement in time, the Lighting Giant probably would have been forced to abandon a part of its body in order to protect the two most critical cores inside of its body.


    Nevertheless, the Transvestite Fairy was, after all, an Mage level demon. Thus, any offensive magic spell or physical attack casually unleashed by it would always cause frightening damage to the Rock Snake or Lightning Giant. Since the Rock Snake had a body made of a thick and dense underground sedimentary rock, even if faced a Pseudo-Mage opponent, as long as it didn''t let the opponent hit the same spot multiple times, it did not have to worry about its rocky body being broken by the enemy.


    But when facing against the Mage level Fairy, the rocky body had not been tempered and the magical defense was overly fragile. Struck by the rain of greenish arrows, the entire body of the Rock Snake looked like it was soaking in a highly concentrated acid, as its surface corroded with countless holes of all sizes. And due the lack of Earth Elementium, the bonding agent on many parts of its body, the rocks on those parts had started to fall off its body.


    The entire body of the snake had become three sizes ''skinnier''.


    As the offensive strength of the Light Arrow Shower had exceeded the self-regenerating speed of the Rock Snake, thus, it was only a matter of time before the Rock Snake disintegrated completely.


    But in this tough battle, Rock Snake was not the main force. It was only responsible for assisting and supporting the attacks and defenses of the Lightning Giant. Thus, just the shock wave from the battle of those two mighty monsters had nearly made it break down. From this, one could easily imagine how tremendous the pressure the Lightning Giant was enduring right now.


    The once dense and solid green body was filled with holes now, the cloud-like Wind Elementium that had been torn and ripped into shreds were lingering around its body. These Wind Elementiums were originally part of the Lightning Giant''s body, but they had turned green as the result of being corroded by the mutated energy of the Fairy and thus could no longer be recalled to use again.


    The golden armor had also fallen apart, as threads of lightning energy continued to dissipate into the air ¨C a clear sign that the Lightning Giant''s ability to restrict its own energy had been reduced to the lowest level.


    However, the beautiful Fairy, who had the upper hand and was in an advantageous position in the battlefield, actually looked restless and feverish. In fact, many times it had been able to push the Rock Snake to a corner. With just another round of fierce attack, it would have been able to pierce through the triangle-shaped head of the Rock Snake and crush the crystal core hiding inside its skull. Instead, it behaved like it was rushing for a very important date. As whenever there was a chance, it would turn around and try to leave the place, wasting the best opportunity to kill one of its enemies.


    Therefore, relying on just the alternating cover fire, while being desperately held down by the Rock Snake and Lightning Giant, the Fairy continued to retreat while counter attacking. However, it just wasn''t able to get rid of these two super glues even after spending fifteen minutes.


    Explore hidden tales at empire


    Yet, right at this moment, the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages from Elysium City had suddenly appeared at the edge of the battlefield.


    No doubt, for both parties in battle, their arrival was a massive storm.


    The Fairy was struck by a sudden sense of danger. It had felt with its own strength, it was probable that it wouldn''t be able to chase these group of enemies out of here today. Meanwhile, Leon''s heart started to race as he was hiding outside of the battlefield. He realized there was a huge loophole in his plan and thus, it looked like there was going to be a long day ahead.


    Upon stepping into the battlefield, the faces of all five Fallen Pseudo-Mages showed a horrified expression.


    Previously, when they had sensed the uproarious battle happening in the demonized forest from a far distance, they thought that Leon had invited a whole group of surface Apprentice Mages to jointly attack the Mage level Fairy. Who knew that when they came to the scene and took a look, it was actually... just Leon''s Golem team that was fighting against the frightening Fairy. The discovery had no doubt made them more fearful of this strange kid, who appeared to only possess the overall strength of an Intermediate Apprentice.


    There was absolutely no way they could allow someone like this to continue to grow!


    Facing the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had come in a very threatening manner, Leon waved his hand and called the Rock Snake and Lightning Giant back, before turning around and starting to flee.


    The miserable looking Rock Snake caught up to Leon, opened its giant mouth and swallowed him, before simply diving into the ground and disappearing without a trace. At the same time, enshrouded by crackling and dazzling electricity, the Lightning Giant vanished from the scene, and in next second, suddenly reappeared at the far end of one''s line of sight. But before they could catch up with it, the muffled sound of thunderclap rang out once again and the Lightning Giant had disappeared again without a trace.


    Freed from the tangles of the Lightning Giant, the frightening Fairy completely ignored these few newcomers, flapped its wings and rushed back to the entrance to the ruins.


    When it finally returned to the ruins, the Fairy found that the entire demon vine forest was in shambles.


    Scattered, broken branches of demon vines and stinky, sticky green acid decorated this place and making it look like a miserable battlefield. Yet, the culprit behind this, the red-dressed Bleia had long disappeared from the scene.


    The Fairy let out a furious roar, retracted its wings and dived into the dark entrance.


    Originally, there hadn''t been any passage under the ground. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the self-destructing magical array of the Mage Tower had been activated, by a series of explosions, most of the magical equipment in this place had been turned into broken gravel and debris that scattered everywhere, burying everything under the collapsed rocks and sand. However, a Human-face Flower that originally planted in the magical garden had been fortunate enough to survive the explosion.


    After sensing the huge amount of green Plant element energy leaking out from deep underground, the Human-face Flower had commenced the tireless journey of digging. Supported by its wild hunger for the Plant element energy, it had actually bored through the dense and solid heap of rubbles as far as dozens of meters underground, before setting its root into a surviving broken Elementium Pool inside of the Mage Tower.


    Dominated by and by absorbing the mutated energy, the Human-face flower was able to step over numerous thresholds that ordinary demons could hardly overcome and eventually became the first frightening demon in this demonized forest to possess the overall strength of an Mage.


    Although its overall strength had skyrocketed, it had been still lacking in intelligence and magical knowledge. As a matter of fact, this was the weakness of all wild demons. Even though by using the method of seizing resources, they were also able to become formidable existences that could compete with human Mages, because they lacked the legacy of a magic spell, it was tough for them to fight against a human Mage of the same grade.


    And, once they exposed themselves, often times they became prey hunted by human Mages. Where had all the rare materials in the Mage World come from? They actually came from these wild demons who had never gotten acceptance from human Mages.


    Of course, there existed some foreign species Mage that were accepted by humans.


    According to Leon''s knowledge, in the World of Mage, the number of marine species Mages was nearly equal to the number of human Mages. Apart from that, there was also some foreign species who possessed strange innate abilities who were also accepted by the World of Mage and become part of the population of official Mages.


    Take this frightening Fairy as an example. If there was a human Mage family who was willing to accept it and taught it some of the customs and knowledge of the Mage World, then it would have had the possibility of being accepted by human Mages. Unfortunately, in this uncivilized and dark Underground Cave, it could only mix with a bunch of low-grade demons who had low intelligence and had only come to evolve by slaughtering, which caused it to fear contact with any humans.


    Driven by its fear, this demonized forest dweller had developed the xenophobia and aggressiveness toward any outsider. Those underground races who had lived in the surrounding areas of the demonized forest kept coming here to harvest some of the materials that Mages wanted, had further intensified its feelings of confrontation and conflict.


    In the eyes of humans, this demonized forest was like a magical treasure vault containing numerous magical materials. Yet, in the eyes of the Fairy and all other demons in this forest, the humans and underground creatures were the fresh food that could satiate their hunger.


    As a result as this hostile relationship, any foreign species who intruded into the demonized forest would immediately attract a violent response from the demons.


    Flying down the dark and narrow tunnel in top speed, the Fairy''s mind was completely filled with anger. It wished to charge into the place and slaughter everything in sight and cruelly kill every single enemy who dared to intrude on its territory.


    But before that, it had to guarantee the safety of the source of its power.


    It had personally excavated the dark and deep tunnel; it was a winding tunnel that twisted and turned in all directions and its diameter was just enough to allow the Fairy''s slim body to travel through. The entire stretch of tunnel was filled with countless openings, most of them led to some crafty trap or a dead end. There was only one path that would lead to its nest directly.


    Though most of the upper floors of the Mage Tower had collapsed, in the first and second underground floors, there were still some magical equipment that were preserved in good shape. After coming out of the dark tunnel, one would come upon a broken corridor which had originally belonged to the first underground floor. Most of the stone rooms and magical secret rooms on both sides of the tunnel had been broken through by force. Looking through the broken stone doors, it was evident that there was nothing left inside.


    Originally, this place had been used as a storage warehouse for the Mage Tower, thus there were many spare resources. However, throughout the years, they were all breached by the Fairy and it had looted everything stored inside.


    The Fairy hadn''t stopped here and had continued to rush through the corridor, following the spiral stone stair located at the end of the passage and leaping towards the second underground floor, where its true form was located.


    However, without its detections, right inside of an emptied stone room, in a dark corner where no light could reach, a pair of crimson eyes had suddenly opened.


    ...


    2115 Words

 Chapter 102 Alchemy Bomb

    The second underground floor, which served as the energy room for Mage Tower, was a huge and spacious space.The collapse of the above-ground buildings had caused an immeasurable amount of damage to this floor. Out of the five Elementium Pools, four of them had been completely destroyed by the devastating explosion. The last Elementium Pool had suffered some damage as well, as the supposedly balanced magical elementium contained within had skewed. It now contained primarily Plant Elementium.


    Every Elementium Pool was a huge pool. The pool wall was completely engraved with countless magic spell runes and magical lines. The energy gathering array at the bottom of the pool constantly absorbed magical Elementium from the surrounding space and filled the huge pool.


    Four of the Elementium Pools had collapsed and broken down. The debris and rock fragments that had fallen from above had fully filled the pool, and the remaining magical arrays had stopped giving out the glow which meant the magical energy was functioning. The surviving Elementium Pool was functioning, but one could see a huge crack in the pool wall.


    Elementium water was leaking out from the crack and was diffusing into the surrounding air.


    Clearly, the dissipating magical energy was mainly Plant element energy, for an indescribably pleasant scent of vegetation had filled the entire underground floor.


    Right in the middle of the remaining Elementium Pool, there was a huge, ancient looking tree that filled every inch of the pool with its sprawling roots. Its trunk took five men to encircle. On top of the ancient tree was a huge room made up of pink flower petals, and inside was a warm and sweet little bed made of fragrant and soft flower pistils. All of it emanated a luscious scent that could make anyone drunk.


    Although it looked like a tall and ancient tree, in fact, it was not a real tree, but the true form of the Fairy, who was originally a tiny and delicate Human-faced Flower. Because it had absorbed a huge amount of Plant element magical Elementium, it had grown explosively into its current form.


    Honestly speaking, from its current looks, perhaps even the most knowledgeable Mage would have a tough time identifying its original species. After all, it was extremely rare to see a demon who had solely occupied an Elementium Pool!


    After it had rushed to the underground floor, upon realizing nothing had happened to its true form, which occupied almost 1/5 of the underground space, the Fairy finally breathed out a sigh of relief. But when it communicated with its true form''s sleeping consciousness, it suddenly let out a shrill roar.


    It had a jarring and sharp voice, a combination of male and female, that was noisy and unpleasant to the ears.


    "You damn bastard, get out here! What have you done to my true form?"


    After the Fairy waved its slim arm, countless green acid arrows shot out instantly, targeting a seemingly insignificant rock at the corner of a far away wall.


    "Don''t hit me, don''t hit me! I''m coming out now!" A panic-stricken cry was heard, and then the short and green body of Snorlax rolled out from where the incorporeal rock had been.


    The powerful acid arrows pierced through the rock, which was actually camouflage from the gray cloak, and right into the wall behind it. A hissing sound betrayed the presence of the corrosive acid as a large patch of the wall simply melted like hot wax, exposing the magical runes and lines that were engraved on the wall''s insides.


    Taken aback by the power of the acid arrows, Snorlax kept jumping up and down while swinging the short wooden stick in its hand. With a loud voice, it threatened, "Stop attacking me, or else I''ll detonate the alchemy bomb I placed inside the Elementium Pool!"


    "Alchemy bomb?!" Worried, the Fairy immediately stopped its movement.


    The events of the past half day were quickly transmitted to it from its true form. After the damn goblin had intruded, it had spent a long time searching for all of the hidden places. Then it climbed into the Elementium Pool and tossed in quite a few strange cylindrical scroll-like objects into the pool. Not only that, the fellow had also stuck many of the cylinders into different parts of the true form''s body.


    The Fairy opened its soft and fair hand, and the root of its true form pushed up a cylinder and placed it onto the Fairy''s palm.


    What was this object?


    Curiously, the Fairy flipped it around in its palm and spent some time looking at it, but it just couldn''t figure out the exact function of the cylinder. There weren''t any identifiable magical patterns engraved on top of it, and there weren''t any Elementium crystals that could be used as a source of energy. How could something like this cause any damage to it?


    Just as the Fairy''s face showed perplexity and it decided to capture the goblin, Snorlax raised the short wooden stick high and let out a stern shout, "Explode!"


    In next moment, under the Fairy''s disbelieving gaze, the cylinder in its hand exploded.


    A huge fireball instantly swallowed the upper body of the Fairy. The raging airwave blew away all of the debris and rock fragments around it, shooting them out in all directions, and a mini mushroom dust cloud bloomed. When the dust gradually settled down and the fireball slowly disappeared, the smoky black body of the Fairy finally was revealed.


    However, after a bright green ring of light flashed, the fair and beautiful face of the Fairy had returned and it didn''t seem to be hurt by the explosion.


    Clenching its jaw tightly in anger, the Fairy crushed the remaining half of the iron tube in its palm. It decided to straightaway kill the damn goblin who dared to provoke the almighty.


    But, before it could charge towards its target, Snorlax suddenly pointed its short stick in the direction of the Elementium Pool. "Don''t move! If you move a little bit, I''ll detonate the alchemy bomb placed in that place!"


    Coming from Snorlax, it was a rather weak threat, but it caused the Fairy to change its expression instantly.


    The power of the previous explosion wasn''t really strong ¨C trying to use it to kill a formidable Mage level demon was no different than an ant, ludicrously ignorant of its own weakness, trying to topple a huge tree. But it was strong enough to destroy the Elementium Pool.


    The Elementium Pool had been damaged into a very fragile state. With one wrong touch, it could be destroyed. Even the Fairy''s true form had to be careful when growing in it. It was afraid that it might burst the pool wall and destroy the energy source which had brought it the power it now had.


    It wouldn''t take many of those alchemy bombs. Just one or two would be sufficient to inflict massive and irreversible damage to the Elementium Pool. If that really happened, the Fairy''s ability to continue growing strong would disappear. The Fairy cried out in terror but didn''t dare move anymore.


    "Can you please not destroy my home?" Its eyes damp with tears, the Fairy begged in a soft voice. "I''m willing to pay any price."


    The Fairy spoke with an affectedly sweet voice. Together with its ethereal beauty, it could easily make any male creature in the world desire to indulge in its delicate appearance.


    Perhaps living together with a Fairy like this was not a bad choice. It would no longer be the green-skinned goblin who was looked down by everybody, but a...


    Before the perfect lifestyle in Snorlax''s imagination completely unfolded, Leon''s cold snort suddenly rang out in its mind. Snorlax shuddered, recalling the magical collar strapped around its neck and the magical slave contract binding it.


    "Ugly, don''t think that you can seduce the great Snorlax. If you don''t obey me, I''ll detonate all of the alchemy bombs at the same time!" After being warned by its master, Snorlax, angry from embarrassment, jumped up from the ground and waved its fist angrily at the Fairy. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Oh dear, in front of Snorlax was an Mage level demon Fairy! Normally, a frightening demon like this could vanish Snorlax with a single finger. But now, this demon could only swallow the insults and humiliation silently and flatter Snorlax in a hundred and one ways. The indescribably pleasant feeling coming from the situation was more enjoyable than having ten goblin girls giving it a massage.


    Any other time, if an insignificant green-skinned goblin-like this one was served as food to the Fairy, it would complain about the stinking and sour meat which was tough to chew. But now, with the goblin''s dominating position in the situation, it actually kept yelling and shouting at the Fairy.


    The Fairy''s face turned red from anger, then it gradually turned pale green, and eventually became as dark as the bottom of a used pot.


    However, as it was a demon by nature, it didn''t care about the virtue and dignity that normal human held so dear. In an instant, it had brought up a smiling face and said, "Since your honorable self has risked your life and intruded into this place, I supposed you''re looking for the treasures buried deep under the ruin, huh? I''ve saved the trouble for your honorable self, because I have cleaned up that place, and found some pretty good treasures. Here!"


    Following the sweet chuckle of the Fairy, the tall and thick trunk of the Human-faced Flower, which looked like an ancient tree, suddenly trembled slightly, and the exotic little bed placed in the flower petal room split open, revealing a pile of magical gems and magic spell materials.


    Damn it, no wonder all of the treasure vaults and secret rooms along the way were empty. The Fairy had transferred them here!


    When Snorlax''s eyes came to rest on the splendid gems, gold coins, mithril, diamonds, and crystal essence, it could no longer move its glance away. Deep in its mind, countless greedy voices were hysterically howling.


    Mine... mine... they are all mine!


    The deafening howl of its soul deeply shook Snorlax''s mind, causing it to sink into a state of ecstasy. It never noticed the bright flicker that flashed in the Fairy''s eyes.


    "Die now, you damn goblin!" As it roared out the words furiously, the voice of the Fairy suddenly changed from a delicate female voice to a hoarse and masculine male voice.


    As the Fairy suddenly turned hostile, countless thick and strong roots shot out from the rubble around Snorlax, crazily piercing toward it from all directions.


    With such a sudden change, Snorlax was caught unprepared and didn''t even have time to respond. It could only helplessly stare at countless roots, with their end shining brightly like metal, piercing toward its body.


    The sound of objects slicing through the air was heard from around its body. The strong wind caused by the razor sharp roots swept across its body and face, causing pain like someone was slicing it with a knife. Snorlax closed its eyes and waited for death, but it suddenly felt itself flying through the air, dashing and darting in between the crisscrossing web woven by the roots, dodging every single attack by a matter of inches.


    Snorlax turned around, only to see the beautiful face of its female master. Bleia was right by its side, holding on to its body and dashing through the root forest. But she was having a tough time dodging all of the attacks!


    "You fool, hurry up and tell it to stop the attack!" Noticing that the stupid goblin still hadn''t realized the situation, Bleia wished she could just throw it right into the root forest.


    "Oh." Finally, Snorlax awakened, turned its face, and pointed its finger at the huge tree sitting far away from where they were.


    A loud boom echoed through the air. A fireball erupted from the center of the huge Human-faced Flower''s trunk. A bowl-sized amount of skin was broken by the explosion, causing sticky green liquid to spray out like a water fountain.


    "Are you going to stop? If not, I''ll detonate them all in a row!" Snorlax shouted out in a loud voice.


    Furious, the Fairy finally stopped all of its attacks.


    ...


    2059 Words

 Chapter 103 Treasures

    An absolutely stagnant atmosphere reigned in the place.After its true form had gotten hurt, the Fairy continued roaring out raging curses. Its jarring and delicate feminine voice overlapped with a hoarse and deep masculine one, causing nearly no one to understand what had been it roaring about.


    Finally, after venting the pent-up anger in its chest, the Fairy who had a slender and delicate female outlook flapped its transparent wings and hovered midair in the second underground floor, firing its question furiously.


    "You damn intruders, why did you invade my home? Tell me your purpose!"


    "Your honorable, we''re just a group of people who came here for treasure hunting. As long as we can find the treasures we are looking for here, we have no intention of becoming your enemy!" After Bleia dropped it on safe ground, Snorlax eagerly commenced a negotiation.


    Although it was not an expert in fighting, when it came to commercial negotiation, Snorlax actually possessed some excellent talents which in no way matched its status and position.


    In regards to Snorlax''s hateful flattering appearance and guileful words, Bleia showed a disgusted manner and she felt disdain for the negotiation. Thus, she simply handed the whole negotiation to Snorlax, while maintaining a high vigilance for any possible sudden attack coming from the Fairy.


    All negotiations needed a trump card!


    There was absolutely no need for a negotiation with an imbalance strength to be carried out.


    If not for the protection from Bleia, the Fairy would have just need a quick sudden attack and it would be able to completely wipe out the body and soul of this disgusting goblin merchant, sparing itself from stiflingly and depressingly negotiating with the goblin.


    To be honest, not many of those materials, resources, and treasures looted from the ruins of Mage Tower were suitable for its use. The reason the Fairy had gathered them together was purely for the purpose of appreciating them, with the intention of using them to decorate its flower room. Even if it gave out all of them to these intruders, it wouldn''t have felt too much pity either. However, the depressing emotion of being robbed by some lower class creatures just kept bugging it.


    During normal times, it had always regarded itself as the master of this demonized forest. Countless demonized plants and creatures in the entire demonized forest had to obey all its command. Those who could flatter it in a good way would be able to occupy a piece of land closer to the ruins, while those wild and stubborn demons could only live at the outer perimeter and absorb the rarefied demon energy that had been filtered multiple times by others.


    When it was in a good mood, it would leak out slightly more Elementium aura. And just with this tiny bit of bestowment, it could always make the demons in the forest struck with extreme joy and shed tears of gratitude. When it had a bad mood, it would occupy all the demon energy, causing all the demons outside of the ruins to scratch their ears and cheeks in anxiety, immersing themselves in a restless state and start killing each other.


    Just with an approach like this, throughout the entire demonized forest, it had been worthy of the title of the strongest existence, the king whom all the demons had to flatter!


    But today, the ''king'' was forced to control its temper and negotiate with a low and degrading green-skinned goblin and the topic of their discussion was actually how much of its collections it had to give up to fill the seemingly bottomless greed of the opponent.


    Right when both parties were restlessly tussling with each other, the lower level of these ruins suddenly shook violently, as huge amounts of stone slabs immediately fell off from the shaky ceiling, bringing dust clouds into the air, impairing their vision.


    "Damn it... damn it..." The anger of the Fairy was approaching the boiling point. "There is another group of bastards wreaking havoc above, I..."


    It wanted to rush out and drive away that group of invaders, but it also felt worried about leaving behind these two time bombs in its home. Therefore, it became even more fidgety and restless.


    As a feral demon, it didn''t have sufficient magical knowledge to repair the broken Elementium Pool. Once the last Elementium Pool had totally broken down because of the fighting by those invaders, then the hope for it to continue growing stronger would be completely cut off.


    Right as it was hesitating, another ground-shaking quake came from above, causing the rock wall of this second underground floor to burst with a massive crack.


    "You group of damn bastards... Once I go up, I''ll catch you and kill you with the cruelest of torture..." After letting out a furious roar, the Fairy waved its hand, and the huge flower room wriggled, sending out dozens of vines which moved flexibly like human fingers, cupping a large pile of secret treasures and throwing them in front of both the outsiders.


    "Take these with you and get the hell out of here now! Next time, if you dare to intrude this place again, I''ll kill you even if that means I''ll have to lose this nest! Leave behind that magical wand and scram!" Losing its patience, the Fairy started to chase away its guests.


    "You asked us to hand over the controlling magic wand now? Aren''t you asking us to get ourselves killed here? Who knows if you will even keep your promise!" It looked like Snorlax was pushing all the way through to be a bad guy. Since it was a one-time deal, it did not care about the impression the Fairy had of it.


    "Take these things and give me the controlling magic wand once you leave this territory, hurry up!" The Fairy was so angry that even its beautiful face had started to twist.


    Snorlax was indeed a talented goblin, as it placed its hand on its body and actually pulled out a huge bag full of patches and placed all the dazzling magical gems, precious diamonds, magical materials, and some peculiarly shaped magical items into it.


    Snorlax in burdensome manner carried the big bag on its back, while urging Bleia to leave this place quickly.


    Under the hostile gaze of the Fairy, Bleia transformed into a huge bloodsucking bat and grabbed onto Snorlax, before flying out from the second underground floor. Once they left the place, the Fairy immediately waved its hands, and the crisscrossing demon vines and rose stalks instantly occupied all the empty space of the place.


    Meanwhile, it was seen flapping its wings and followed closely behind the two outsiders, flying towards the upper level of the ruins. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For every short distance it had traveled, the Fairy would cast a spell, using the dense flower stalks and vines to seal off the path leading to the lower ground. From now on, it would never underestimate these lower class creatures who had a weak overall strength, but possessed quick wits and a crafty mind.


    One after another, when the three of them flew out from the entrance of the ruins, they were shocked to find out that the demonized forest had turned into a tattered battlefield of slaughter. It looked like before driving away all the intruders, the Fairy had no intention of returning to its nest.


    The Fairy gently pulled the string of the magic bow in its hand and unleashed more than hundred green light arrows, instantly destroying the temporary tunnel that led to the lower ground.


    "Once you give me the magic wand, you can leave this place immediately. I still need to settle the score with those few bastards for destroying my territory!" Frost starting to condense on the Fairy''s beautiful face, as it spoke with an extremely cold voice.


    Snorlax and Bleia exchanged a glance, communicating soundlessly.


    Eventually, Snorlax carefully pulled out the magic wand, lightly tossing it over to the Fairy.


    "One more thing, that Intermediate Apprentice who can control the Lightning Giant is my master. As long as you can help us defeat those few Fallen Apprentices, we promise to never step into your territory in future!"


    The Fairy snorted and took the magic wand and sensed it briefly. Once it had sensed there was some magical connection between the wand and a place at the lower ground, it set its mind at rest and tucked the magic wand into its rose armor.


    "Leave here now. If I ever see you again, you''ll be sorry!" After leaving behind a threatening word, the Fairy suddenly transformed into a trail of green light and rushed towards the battlefield not too far away.


    Meanwhile, Leon was currently experiencing a rapid feeling of despair.


    What kind of a feeling was brought by suffering from the bombardment and being chased by five Fallen Apprentices? Leon was feeling that very deeply right now.


    Both the legs of the Lightning Giant had disappeared. The two crystal cores hiding inside that were used to gather Wind element energy had been destroyed. The disorderly and messy Wind Elementium that was gathering underneath the lower body of the giant could barely keep the shape of a wind vortex. The tattered and torn golden armor was falling off from its broken body, exposing the Wind element core that had been hiding inside of the mist form green body.


    After having its combative strength greatly reduced, the Lightning Giant dared not meet the attacks coming from five Fallen Apprentices head on. Instead, it kept flying and flashing in the sky, dodging the magic spell attacks that came in succession.


    However, its condition was considered good. The Rock Snake where Leon was hiding inside, was dragging its half broken body and kept digging into the soil, but it wouldn''t take long before it was forced out from underground by that hateful Philip. And when it showed itself, it was the moment when all five Fallen Apprentices would launch a massive attack.


    The violent quake the Fairy sensed in the lower ground was the result of the combined raging attacks of five Fallen Apprentices.


    Meanwhile, there was another thing that looked as tattered and torn as the Rock Snake ¨C the most innocent demonized forest!


    Clearly, the Fallen Pseudo-Mage, Langdon, had taken the path of a Bloodline Apprentice and the magical bloodline he had chosen was the Frost Giant.


    When he went all out and revealed its magical transformation, Leon could clearly feel the surging energy of frost emanating from his tall and burly body.


    After the transformation, the Frost Giant stood over four meters tall. It had light blue skin and countless icicles hanging on the Frost Armor on his muscular body. Every movement of his brought forth a freezing breeze that sent chills down one''s spines. The Snow Storm spell covered a large area and the Ice Spear that he threw also had brought tremendous damage to this land. Whenever a magic spell was cast, the ground was always filled with broken and fallen ancient trees and demons, frozen in transparent ice crystals.


    Obviously, the other Fallen Pseudo-Mages weren''t fighting with all they could like how Langdon fought, but even so, the powerful Elementium magic spells still brought about frightening damage to the Rock Snake where Leon was hiding.


    Nevertheless, the person who had threatened Leon the most was that Philip.


    By now, Leon could be sure that he must have been the mysterious guy who had forced him out from the soil last time.


    He was a Pseudo-Mage level Earth element expert. Though he seldom directly attacked at Leon, he could always use the Earth element ability he had mastered to isolate the deep connection between the Rock Snake and Earth Elementium. As the result, after traveling for a short distance in the soil, the Rock Snake would be forced out to the surface by the Earth Elementium that squeezed it from all directions.


    If previously, the Earth Elementium was like an ocean that the Rock Snake could travel through freely, now, this ocean had actually become solidified, preventing it from traveling through it freely.


    The lower half body of the Rock Snake had been broken off by that Thunder element Pseudo-Mage, Hegel. He had used a lightning chain and trapped the Rock Snake, then all five of them launched a combined attack and broke it. If not for the fact that Leon had summoned another Rock Snake on time that attracted their firepower, perhaps he would have long died in the besiegement of the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages.


    Nevertheless, as he was persisting through the extremely painful experience, a message came from Bleia through the magical seal, which had finally let him breathe out a sigh of relief.


    The Fairy had returned!


    ...


    2135 Words

 Chapter 104 Brutal

    When the frightening Fairy had arrived with its chest filled with anger, all five Fallen Apprentices were launching a violent bombardment at the Rock Snake who had just been squeezed out from the ground.Ice blades and snow swords that covered a large area, an unbroken lightning chain, a volcano that shook the earth and sky, and shadow arrows that blotted out the sky and the land...


    It was true that these raging magic spells had caused tremendous damage to the Rock Snake inside which Leon had been hiding, but they had also took this demonized forest into an abyss of misery. Looking around, one-third of the demonized forest had been leveled by the raging magic spells. Hovering high up in the sky, when the Fairy saw this scene of devastation, it could no longer control the flames of anger that were boiling in its heart.


    Since he had received the message from Bleia, Leon would rather scurry around dodging the enemies'' attacks, rather than simply launching a counter-attack recklessly. Even the Lighting Giant who was seen flickering frequently in the sky had put away all the magic spells that covered a large area. Instead, it was just using the lightning strike which only attacked a single target and barely dealt with the attacks coming from the enemy.


    Therefore, when the Fairy had arrived at the scene, the first thing it saw were five Fallen Pseudo-Mages in the middle of brazenly launching full-blown attacks, which was turning the entire forest upside down with their bombardment.


    The Fairy shouted out loud as it moved with the speed of lightning. It chose Philip, who was standing at the tail of the group, as its first target and initiated a deadly attack.


    In the previous battle, all the other guys were responsible for attacking, while this Philip was responsible for forcing Leon out from underground. Thus, in contrast, he was standing at a rather far behind the others, causing him to encounter the frightening Fairy who had just launched an attack out of anger.


    How frightful was an Mage level demon who attacked with all its power? One would have a rough idea just by looking at this strike.


    The bowstring of the magical bow held in its hand was instantly pulled to its maximum length. The powerful Plant element magical energy that made one''s heart tremble had quickly gathered around the fingertip of the Fairy, condensing into a small bright green arrow. Aghast with horror, when Philip turned his head around, the bowstring was released and the arrow left the string like a lightning, nailing into his chest in an instant.


    A stone armor had been quickly formed, but was instantly shattered by the arrow beam upon contact. If Philip had not tried his best to stop and instead had moved a little bit to a side, perhaps this arrow would have pierced through his heart.


    But even so, the frightening arrow beam which pierced through his right shoulder had also blown half of his body away. Under the corrosion from the green energy that suddenly exploded, the flesh on the right side of his body started to melt. His bones were destroyed, exposing most of his vital internal organs in the air, which were also making a hissing noise as the result of being corroded by the mutated energy.


    With just one move, Philip who had been taken by surprise was seriously injured and dying!


    Only now had the remaining four men turned their heads around furious and shocked. But right at this moment, the Fairy''s devastating arrow showers had approached them. It came towards them with incredible momentum and tremendous force causing the four men to instantly sink into a situation of restless defending and counter-attacking.


    Philip was first beaten until he was half dead by the full power attack of the Fairy, then he was plunged into an abyss of misery as a result of the shower of frightening arrows. Suffering from double the injuries, Philip dared not to hesitate anymore. He immediately detonated the long magical staff in his hand, causing a huge clump of earthy yellow dust in the shape of a cloud to rise up from the ground. When the dust cloud was quickly dispersed by the shower of arrows, his trace was nowhere to be found at the scene.


    Struck with the feeling of anger and astonishment, the remaining four Fallen Pseudo-Mages dared not hesitate as well. Almost instantly, they displayed all their incredible skills and vigorously threw out the fiercest magic spells they knew onto the delicate body of the Fairy.


    Ice Blast!


    Electric Jail!


    Shadow Invasion!


    Fire Blast!


    Four distinctly different Pseudo-Mage level magic spells, the most powerful single target magic spells they could cast, were thrown at the Fairy. Actually, they knew other major scale magic spells, but when fighting with a demon leader who had incredible speed, it was still these magic spells that focuses the attack on a single target that would yield the maximum results.


    It was worth to mention that although a wild demon like the Fairy had an Mage level body constitution, it didn''t actually possess the true ability of an Mage. Although the body constitution of human Mages was weaker than demons, relying on the magic spell legacies that had been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years and their accumulation of knowledge, they could unleash those terrifying magic spells that were many times stronger than their ''frail'' body.


    Hence, despite these Fallen Pseudo-Mages being one grade lower than the Fairy, their offensive magic spells weren''t as weak as one might expect.


    Four raging magic spells that represented their strongest combative ability were crazily wreaking havoc on the Fairy''s body. Green rings of light continuously flickered and exploded on top of the rose armor which was protecting the body of the Fairy. One after the other, rose stalks that stretched out from the armor vanished as a result of the attack from the magic spells, but they still dedicatedly protected the Fairy''s body.


    In some area, the raging magic spells broke through the defense of the rose armor, causing the violent Elementium to explode on the Fairy''s body. For the first time since the battle had commenced, the Fairy had blood spilling out from its mouth, as it had been truly hurt this time.


    The Fairy became berserk, flipping its wings in the quickest speed it could and hastily brought it out from the region where the firepower was concentrated at. At the same time, the arrows shower unleashed from its hand was getting more intense, as it intended to break through the defensive magic spell of the four men with a full blown attack.


    Langdon, who had completed his bloodline transformation, let out a loud roar. An angry expression could be seen covering his azure blue face. One after another ice spears quickly condensed in his palm. Using the fastest speed he could, he continuously threw them at the Fairy who was in turn, dashing around and dodging the attacks.


    The bloodline of Frost Giant had given him the ability to cast Ice element magic spells limitlessly and also strengthened each of the Ice element magic spells unleashed by him to the maximum power. Although all the ice spears that exploded around the Fairy''s body hadn''t hit right onto the target, the dissipating frost energy still invaded its body, covering its rose armor with a thick ice crystal that slowed down its dodging and flying speed.


    The other three Pseudo-Mages saw this opportunity and immediately increased their attack frequency. The magic spells blotted out the sky and pierced through the air, continually shooting at the Fairy.


    The reward was limited if they just killed an Intermediate Apprentice from the surface. But if they could kill an Mage level wild demon leader, then just by splitting the Mage level magical materials they had obtained ¨C it would be enough for all four of them to laugh for an entire day!


    However, right as both parties were locked up in a fierce fight, Leon who had previously fled to a far distance, had come back after taking a short break. Of course, the target he chose for himself were the Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had brought him into a sorry state.


    Hovering high up in midair and quietly brewing for seventeen seconds, the major scale thunderstorm of the Lightning Giant had once again circled all four Fallen Pseudo-Mages in the attack range.


    The suddenly denseness of Lightning Elementium in the air had squeezed out all the other Elementiums. Thus, except for Hegel who was also an expert in Lightning element magic spells, all the other were facing difficulty when casting their respective element magic spells. Also, the lighting strike that had come down in a row had brought the effect of paralysis, interrupting the casting of their magic spells.


    Though they knew that by standing close to each other, they would have to face large area offensive magic spell attacks from the enemy, however, when facing a frightening Fairy who could move like the wind, though all four Fallen Pseudo-Mages had confidence in themselves, they dared not stay too far away from their peers. Or else, if the Fairy ignored the damage inflicted on it and forcefully launched an onrush assault, neither of them had the confidence that they could withstand it unless their peers came to the rescue.


    Except for the Frost Giant that Langdon had transformed into that possessed some melee abilities, the rest of them were purely element apprentices. Once they let the enemy get closer to them, though they would not be at a loss of what to do, their combative strength would be greatly reduced.


    Realizing they had been attacked from both the front and rear, Langdon who was leading the team let out a furious roar, "Hegel, you go and fight with that kid''s golem, the three of us will hold up against this crazy woman!"


    Hegel answered the call, turned around and unleashed a chain lighting, forcing the Lightning Giant who had continued to approach to back off. After that, he and the golem started a fierce exchange of attacks.


    Meanwhile, relying on the toughness of the rose armor and the powerful magic bow in its hand, the Fairy was dashing around through the massive showers of offensive magic spells and continued to reduce the individual defense of those few Fallen Pseudo-Mages using guerrilla methods. Under its continuous attack, the Pseudo-Mage level defense could not last more than thirty seconds. Whenever a defensive magic spell was broken, it was the dangerous time for that Pseudo-Mage to hide behind his peer and recast a defensive magic spell for himself.


    Nevertheless, by the mutual support and cover fire of the three Pseudo-Mages, they actually were able to put up a fierce fight against the Fairy. They were even able to add a few more new wounds onto its body.


    As a wild demon, besides a few limited magical spells, the Fairy had nearly no other offensive approaches. In order to quickly penetrate the enemy''s defense, it would have to take the risk and fight in close range. However, this meant that the attack it would receive would also increase significantly, while the guerrilla-style right now was much safer.


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    Of course, it could also hold up against the enemy''s attack and unleash another full blown arrow showers. But in a battle like this where every second counted, the casting time of seven seconds just seemed unrealistic. Hence, it could only rely on its fast and rapid attacks by moving around at top speed while slowly reducing the enemy''s strength.


    Nevertheless, opportunities always came at the least expected moment!


    When the Inferno Shield hovering outside of the Fire element Pseudo-Mage had once again been shattered by the Fairy, he quickly hid behind Langdon who had a tall body, while reciting the magic spell incantation that summoned the Inferno Shield with a loud voice. Meanwhile, though the Fairy had already discovered his weakness, it had to face both the rapid fire of Langdon''s Ice Blast and a crafty and strange Dark Curse from the other Pseudo-Mage. Thus, it had no choice but to let him recast his defensive magic spell.


    Right when the casting of the Pseudo-Mage''s Inferno Shield had been nearly completed, the ground underneath their feet suddenly trembled violently. The once solid hard rock layer actually burst out and cracked, and a giant snake poked its head out from the crack.


    The expressions of these Fallen Apprentices instantly changed!


    The violent changes in the terrain forced them to keep dodging and jumping around, it also meant their mutual dependence on their defensive formations had been broken. In this chaotic situation, each of them could only take care of themselves and had no time to look after their fragile peers!


    The other Pseudo-Mages were in a better condition, as they were protected by their own defensive magic spell. So, while continuously attacking the enemy, they also quickly dodged the scene and safely escaped the attack range of the Rock Snake. But this was not the case for that Fire element Pseudo-Mage, his near complete Inferno Shield had been forcefully interrupted and as he was busy fleeing away from the scene, he just didn''t have the chance to recast the spell. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While he was running away restlessly, he suddenly felt a strong wind come from behind him. The Fire element Pseudo-Mage''s heart immediately sank. With no time to consider any other options, his eyes went wide as he let out a loud shout, quickly forming a temporary Fire Shield behind his back.


    But it had been too late, before the Fire Shield could fully reveal itself, a super sharp slim hand pierced through the enshrouding flame and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him into midair.


    Damn it, it was that Fairy!


    Realizing this instantly, a couple of magical items hanging on the Fire element Pseudo-Mage lit up at the same time, a Fire Field covered his body immediately turning his surroundings into a realm of flame.


    In the raging and soaring flames, Fire Crows flew around happily, some partly hidden and some partly visible Fire Spirits...


    At that moment, countless Fire element creatures revealed themselves within the Fire Field, instantly igniting everything around the Fire element Pseudo-Mage!


    However, following the sound of an exhale, another slim hand pierced through his shield and poked into his body. When both slim hands let out a powerful force, a loud tearing noise was heard ¨C the Fire element Pseudo-Mage had been torn into two by the Fairy!


    ...


    2438 Words

 Chapter 105 The death

    When the steaming hot small and large intestines, heart, liver, lungs and all sorts of internal organs fell from the sky along with a shower of blood, all of the human apprentices standing on the battlefield couldn''t help but have their minds go blank from shock.That was a Pseudo-Mage! A Pseudo-Mage was killed this time!


    All of the Fallen Apprentices were yelling crazily in their minds. On their twisted faces, besides their anger, there was also a slight expression of fear that couldn''t be concealed.


    If... if in the previous moment, it was them whose defensive magic spell had broken, then perhaps the broken corpse falling from the sky right now would be theirs! Upon thinking about this, all of the Fallen Apprentices had their mind fully filled with a shivering sensation. For the first time, all of the Fallen Apprentices were in awe of an Mage level demon.


    Without saying anything, Hegel fully wrapped his body in a dazzling electric web and instantly disappeared from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was at the far edge of the demonized forest. On the other side, the Dark element Pseudo-Mage''s body exploded into a large clump of dark smoke which sank into the ground underneath his feet. Right after that, a small mound was seen moving quickly towards the outer perimeter of the forest.


    Langdon, who had transformed into the Frost Giant, instantly changed his expression. He took a small step back, squatted down, and placed both arms on his chest. In an instant, a large chunk of crystal clear ice surrounded him until he resembled an ice cube. Judging from the thickness of the ice and the magical runes flashing within it, perhaps even the Fairy''s strongest attack would not be able to break it in a short amount of time.


    What to do? The transformation into a Frost Giant had given Langdon an powerful body and incredible muscle strength. It also brought him an extraordinary talent in Ice element magic energy. But too bad, none of this had anything to do with speed! Once he was defeated in a battle and tried to escape, such a huge body would instead bring him even more enemies.


    Therefore, Langdon could only use the Wall of Ice to protect his safety temporarily. Meanwhile, within the transparent ice cube, the tall and burly body of Langdon had started to shrink quickly and once again was restored to his normal shape. Standing inside of the transparent ice cube, he took out a magic spell scroll, fully inscribed with ancient looking patterns, threw a furious glance over at the Fairy and Leon a few times, and finally had no choice but to activate the scroll.


    Following a flash of bright light, a violent spatial ripple reverberated within the battlefield. When the bright light faded out, Langdon had disappeared from the ice cube.


    The escaping scroll! It was not something an ordinary apprentice could buy by paying a hefty price. Usually, it could only be produced by official Mages, and the destination was most likely some safe and hidden place!


    Leon didn''t try to break the Ice Wall. Instead, he carefully commanded the Lighting Giant and the other two Rock Snakes to surround him and slowly left the battlefield.


    The few Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had been used as buffers had run away, leaving only him and the Fairy on the battlefield. With the demon''s bad habit of seeking revenge for the smallest grievances, perhaps it would not regard him as its ''comrade'' who just fought together with it. Therefore, it was best to...


    Too bad, just as Leon reached a hundred meters away, a green light suddenly flashed in front of his eyes, and the Fairy, whose body was covered in scars, blocked his path.


    Leon silently sighed.


    Though the Fairy had gained a huge advantage in the previous battle by severely wounding, killing, and scaring off three Pseudo-Mages, it had paid a serious price for it.


    Weakened by countless powerful magic spells, the Rose Armor on its body looked dull. Its slim and delicate body was covered in traces left behind by the magic spells, especially from when it had launched an ambush at the Fire element Pseudo-Mage. Although the battle had only lasted a very short period of time, the counter attack he had unleashed before his death had still caused tremendous damage to its body.


    From what Leon could see, its short green hair was a hideous mess from being burned by fire and countless burn marks and blisters could be found all over its seductive and tender body. Burn marks could also be seen on the corners of the transparent wings on its back, causing it to fly unstably, and its speed had greatly reduced as well.


    "So, after wreaking havoc in my territory, you still think to leave just like that?" The Fairy''s beautiful face was covered in a ferocious and twisted smile. It continued, saying, "You better stay back obediently. Use your flesh and soul as the compensation for my loss!"


    After it finished saying that, the Fairy immediately prepared to attack.


    Without hesitation, Leon quickly shouted out, "Hold on! Honorable Fairy, we were fighting side by side just now, weren''t we?"


    "Hmph, all of you are damn intruders, and you all deserve to be killed. They paid their price. As for you... you have to pay the price as well!"


    "Honorable Fairy, you really need to consider carefully. Now you''re seriously wounded too, and if you want to defeat me, the price might not be something you can withstand currently! Why not..."


    "You''re dreaming! No matter how high the price I have to pay today, I still want to tear you to pieces!"


    Looking at the resolute expression of the Fairy, Leon simply showed a look of ''you''re the one who forced me.'' He suddenly stood up with his back straight, gazed straight at the approaching Fairy, and shouted out with a stern and loud voice, "Since you insist on fighting, I''ve no choice but to keep you company. Detonate! Detonate everything for me!"


    Obviously, the last words were not intended for the Fairy.


    Hearing the sharp and stern shout of this wildly arrogant kid, a bad feeling suddenly surged up in the Fairy''s mind.


    Indeed, as Leon''s shrill voice dissolved into the air, a loud rumbling suddenly came from the ground underneath their feet. Following a violent shake of the ground, the earth where the ruins were located suddenly rose and immediately collapsed into the ground. The same process repeated three times. Only then did the frightening shock wave from the explosion completely vanish.


    This time, it was the Fairy''s turn to let out a shrill cry.


    Because, just now, the inseparable spiritual connection between it and its true form was completely cut off. It was not concealed or interrupted by something, but it was... it was completely cut off.


    Without the endless energy transmitted through the soul layer of its true form, the soul aura of the Fairy started to weaken significantly. "You damn human. What have you done? I''m going to kill you!"


    The Fairy pulled out the short wooden stick, only to realize it had broken into pieces and turned into ash in an instant. As the ashes flew away, an enshrouding curse shot right into the Fairy''s body, causing its aura to become even weaker.


    Despite suffering from a series of attack, the Fairy''s soul still hadn''t dropped below Mage level. From this, one could tell it had stored a vast amount of soul energy after occupying an Elementium Pool. But when its true form and the Elementium Pool exploded into thousands of broken pieces from the alchemy bomb, the Fairy''s soul pressure suddenly disappeared.


    Looking into the distance at Bleia, who was flapping her wings and quickly flying to him, Leon waved his hand and ordered the Lightning Giant and two Rock Snakes to leap toward the Fairy. In an instant, the flame of war, which had just settled down, reignited.


    The brutal and intense battle lasted for two hours before it ended. In truth, the result of the battle had been decided when the Fairy''s true form was destroyed. If the Fairy had been a demon with sufficient intelligence and a crafty mind, it would have immediately escaped from the place when it had lost the connection with its true form.


    But obviously, the Fairy hadn''t learned the cunning and treachery of a human. Hence, when it made its desperate assault, intending to perish together with Leon, it actually allowed Bleia to latch herself to its body and savagely bite into its neck.


    The vampire''s hunger for blood was unimaginable. This was especially true for an Advanced Apprentice level vampire!


    Without the lighting whip of the Lightning Giant, perhaps Bleia would have been destroyed by the final counter attacks of the Fairy. But with the help from the Lightning Giant and Rock Snakes, Bleia simply clung onto the Fairy''s body regardless of her own safety, crazily sucking out all its Plant element energy-filled blood.


    While resisting the attacks coming from golems, the Fairy crazily tore Bleia''s body apart. However, no matter how she was attacked, Bleia didn''t stop, but kept sucking the blood of the Fairy.


    Meanwhile, the blood swallowed by Bleia brought her tremendous benefit. Besides fixing her broken body at an incredible speed, the spirit wave emanating from her became stronger and her soul aura also became more powerful. On the opposite side, the spirit wave and soul aura of the Fairy were decreasing at a constant pace. Eventually, its breathing was as thin as a thread.


    Initially, it was Bleia''s tiny body coiled up on the Fairy''s body, but later, as the Fairy''s body became weaker and lost all of its strength, Bleia had to hug it tightly to prevent it from collapsing.


    When the last thread of soul aura vanished from the Fairy''s body, only then did Bleia loosen her arms, satisfied. The slim and tender body of the Fairy was like a drooping leather pouch that had lost all its air. It was now lying motionlessly on the floor.


    Bleia let out a loud belch. Her beautiful face turned red from abundant vitality. She only had the time to give Leon a sweet smile before she fell down beside the Fairy''s body. She actually fell asleep!


    Damn it! It was really troublesome when a woman went crazy! Couldn''t you just wait until we returned to the Mage Tower, and only start your enjoyment once we confirm everything is safe?


    After silently complaining in his head, Leon had no choice but to carry Bleia with one arm and pull the Fairy''s corpse with the other. Then he started to command the Lightning Giant and loot the battlefield.


    The dead Fire element Pseudo-Mage''s body was scattered across the place; perhaps he could find some useful treasures among the broken bodies. Of course, Leon really wanted to find the magic spell notebooks that may have been in the guy''s waist pouch.


    As Leon was busy working, a grass bush not far from him split apart and Snorlax squeezed out from under it with a huge bag on its back. "Master, master! There are still some treasures underground!"


    Leon gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, then ferociously said, "I''ll have Rock Snake help you. Get everything you can ¨C you only have fifteen minutes!" Discover exclusive tales on empire


    A Rock Snake hastily slithered over, opened its huge mouth, and swallowed Snorlax. After that, it raised its head high before slamming it into the ground, digging out a huge hole, and diving into the soil. Breaking through all kinds of soil and rock strata, the Rock Snake rushed towards the second underground floor with incredible speed.


    With the raging energy that had leaked out as its beacon, there was no way they could go in the wrong direction!


    .... S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    1984 Words

 Chapter 106 Object Fire Lord’s Scepter

    Most of the time, Leon was too busy to individually identify what kind of objects were hidden inside the grass, like which of them were useful and which weren''t. As long as he sensed an element aura lingering in a certain spot, he would let the Rock Snake swallow the object together with a large patch of dirt. He would then store them inside of the Rock Snake''s stomach and slowly identify them when they returned to safety.Fifteen minutes later, the ground shook violently before bursting apart. The Rock Snake that had squeezed underground had smoothly returned.


    "Let''s go, quick!" The more rewards Leon harvested, the faster his heart raced. Without saying another word, he jumped into the stomach of another Rock Snake and left the place straightaway.


    Half an hour later, a bizarre looking dark figure suddenly appeared at the destroyed battlefield.


    Through his strong spiritual sense, he walked with light steps on the battlefield like a wandering soul. Soon, he stopped at the spot where the Fairy had died. Quietly, he sensed and identified the traces of elemental aura in the air.


    For others, the remains of aura didn''t have any meaning, but they provided him with a vast amount of information and critical data about the battlefield. Soon, scene after scene of the battle started to play in his mind, and eventually assembled into a complete scene.


    He showed no emotion in regards to the violent battle that had just happened. He even maintained the same indifferent expression when he realized a Fallen Pseudo-Mage was killed in the battle. However, his body slightly trembled when he saw Leon order the Rock Snake and take away the dead body of the Fairy. A frightful, bright beam suddenly shot out from his eyes, which were hidden behind his drooped hat.


    Since the most valuable Fairy was gone, there wasn''t any need for this place to continue existing!


    Following a deep voice''s reciting of an incantation, countless ghost-like dark shadows shot out from his body, charging in all directions within the demonized forest. Soon, the entire forest became dead silent and no life aura could be sensed anymore.


    The demonized forest had become something that only existed in the past. Once again, this place would become a dead zone where no life could exist!


    After finishing with all of this, like how he had appeared, the dark figure simply vanished into thin air! Throughout the entire process, no living creature or thing could sense his existence, as if he was just a soul that wandered in this world.


    ...


    Leon didn''t rush back to the Mage Tower. But instead, after he brought his team of golems to the surface, immediately snuck into the Kerala mountain range. They found a secret place and dug out a cave. Only then did they started slowly organizing their war trophies for this trip.


    The first object Rock Snake spat out was Bleia, who was sleeping soundly, and the Fairy who had become mummified.


    Once again, Leon gave Bleia a thorough examination. She was just overstuffed with a huge amount of blood from a mighty existence, and had no choice but to sleep to slowly digest the energy contained within the blood. According to the Chip''s estimation after it gave Bleia a scan, she had earned a good fortune this time. Most probably, she was going to advance into the Pseudo-Mage realm.


    Leon placed a thick and warm blanket in a corner of the cave and carefully placed Bleia on top of it. She was wearing a sweet and calm smile on her face, her rosy cheeks looked like a ripe apple, her lips were juicy and delicate, and her beautiful eyelashes were moving like butterflies... The sleeping Bleia was showing the rare, gentle, and serene look of a young girl, so Leon couldn''t help but gently kiss her forehead, but then doubts crept into his mind.


    Would this be the perfect time to rape Bleia?


    Swallowing hard, he shook his head and trembled in fear, after all even Bleia''s vaginal contractions would be enough to break his human dick.


    He needs to strengthen his physical body before raping her.


    After he settled Bleia, Leon moved his glance over to the Fairy''s corpse.


    After losing the support of endless energy and having all of its blood sucked out, the shriveled corpse of the Fairy looked like a deflated leather skin. Nevertheless, both the Rose Armor, that fully covered its body, and the magic bow were still the items attracted Leon the most. In the previous battle, those two items had given Leon a really hard time.


    Holding the magic bow in his hand and spending some time in examining it, Leon finally heard the exciting ''beep'' sound in his mind.


    "Beep! Scanning of the object completed!


    A magic bow is found. Detail information as below: ...[omitted]...


    Modifiable!"


    Leon was very excited. He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes.


    In his first battle with the Fairy, the Chip had roughly scanned the basic information of this magic bow. Now it was adding more detailed information about it. There wasn''t anything to be excited about this information, however. The only thing that made Leon really excited was the conclusion just given out by the Chip: the magic bow was modifiable!


    As the Fairy was the only user of this magic bow, the energy spectrum used to unleash light arrows was also Plant element. This meant that the magic bow couldn''t be used by anyone else! But now, since the Chip had determined that it could be modified, it also meant the energy spectrum used to drive it could be modified as well, so it could be changed to Fire element or Blood element...


    When Leon thought that in future battles, he could just sit high up on the Rock Snake''s head and pour down countless light arrows to the enemy just by moving his fingers, Leon just couldn''t help but feel really excited.


    Gently placing the magic bow aside, Leon murmured under his breath, "Calm down, calm down... let me see if there is a magic staff that I can use. If there is one, I''ll give this bow to Bleia. If not, hehehe..."


    The second item pulled from the Fairy''s body was the Rose Armor.


    Leon really wanted to keep the protective gear for himself. But, at the thought that once the Rose Armor was attacked by the enemy, his body would be covered by countless rose stalks, Leon instantly felt no love for it. Fuck, a grown man wearing Rose Armor and fighting with the enemy... Upon thinking about that peculiar scene, Leon just couldn''t accept it.


    Never mind, just give it to Bleia after modifying!


    As a wild demon, the Fairy only had these two magical items with it. Looked like it was really poor.


    After the Rose Armor was stripped away, the petite body of the Fairy was totally naked. However, after losing the nourishment from its blood, the once silky smooth and glittering skin had dried and shriveled like an eighty year old granny. It was no longer as beautiful as before and felt like a dried bark upon touching. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although the Fairy was dead, Leon could still sense an extraordinary, powerful aura coming from all of its organs. Should he slice it into pieces and harvest the magical materials? Or keep the corpse intact and find a way to maximize his profit?


    Leon hesitated for a moment before he decided to put it aside for now. He would make the decision after he consulted with some professionals.


    If he was a necromancer apprentice, for sure he would use the Fairy''s corpse and produce a powerful corpse automaton. However, as he was a fake and inferior golem controller, it would be tough for him to squeeze the value of this Mage level demon to the last drop!


    He ordered the Chip to give the body structure of the Fairy a detailed and complete scan. After that, he extracted the flesh and blood information from some critical parts of its body, handed them to the Chip, and let it analysis slowly. Finally, Leon started to organize all of the other war trophies.


    Snorlax, who had been attentively serving its master, carefully placed a huge bag in front of Leon. Following the opening of the bag, countless colorful lights immediately shone upon Leon''s face, forcing him to close his eyes.


    Shadow Stone, Tiger''s Eye Stone, Malachite, Green Agate, Lesser Moonstone, Emerald, Topaz, Aquamarine, Blood of the Old God, Ruby, Opal, Sapphire, Azure Moonstone, Deep Peridot, Flame Spessarite, Golden Dranite, Blood Gem, Dawn Stone, Talasite, Night''s Eye, Noble Topaz, Pyre Stone, Living Ruby, Lion''s Eye Stone, Crimson Spinal Stone...


    Leon couldn''t help but be overcome with emotion. He firmly believed that the Fairy must be a gemstone collecting maniac. Nearly every magical stone and gem he had ever heard of could be found in this bag. Any gemstone taken out from this bag could be exchanged for dozens of miles of lands and peasants in a mortal kingdom. Especially the few with higher values, they could even be used in exchange for the title of Count.


    But in the eyes of an Apprentice Mage, they were only consumable magical materials. Nevertheless, only official Mages could use these expensive magical materials without changing their expression.


    Leon lightly fiddled with the gem stones. Occasionally, he would pick one up and give it a careful look. After all, he only knew most of these magical stones from books, it was far less direct and clear than holding them with his own hand.


    Standing beside Leon, Snorlax too was breathing heavily.


    Looking at the colorful reflection of these gemstones, it felt it was getting harder to breathe smoothly, and its heart was pounding extremely fast.


    Leon casually picked a few gemstones that he could put them to a good use, then pointed the remaining gemstones and said lightly, "I''ll let you settle with these gemstones. You can take 1/3 of them. That''s your reward for this adventure. You''ve done great today, especially the loophole you left on the controlling magic wand, it was brilliant. You deserve all of this!"


    After it heard what Leon said, Snorlax''s green face started to twitch. Before a smile could bloom on its face, its eyes rolled up and it fainted.


    Leon shook his head, never paid any attention to his minion who just begun to show its value, and continued to glance through the gem stones. Very soon, he pulled out a fiery red magic scepter, which looked like it was made from the Fire Coral found in the bottom of the ocean.


    A Fire Lord''s Scepter!


    When the scepter revealed itself, Leon immediately sensed the surging Fire element energy hiding within it. Before he could put his hand on it, Leon could also felt the scorching hot element fire from it. However, when he finally gripped on the scepter, the heat disappeared without a trace. The scepter had become warm and nice to hold, and a warm stream of energy kept flowing into his body.


    At the same time, the Fire element energy gathering in Leon''s body started to become restless, and became at least three times more active than before.


    "Chip, scan this Fire Lord''s Scepter!"


    "Beep. Task accepted! Commencing scanning operation... beep! Operation completed. The result of the scan is as follow:


    Object: Fire Lord''s Scepter


    Attribute: Fire Element


    Secondary Skills: Added Fire Resistant (Intermediate) to Bearer. Immune to any lower grade Fire element damage. Fast Cast. [Fire Element]


    Ability: Inferno Shield (3 times / day), Summon Fire Deity (Pseudo-Mage level) (1 / day)


    Additional functions: When placed on top of a special magical altar, it can be used to establish a small teleportation gate to the Fire Element Plane. Able to summon a Fire Deity (Pseudo-Mage level) every day without any consumption, or two Fire Giants (Advanced Apprentice level), or five Lava Hounds (Intermediate Apprentice level), or ten Fire Spirits (Beginner Apprentice level).


    These Fire element creatures cannot go beyond 1000 meters from the magical altar. Once the Fire Lord''s Scepter is taken away from the altar, all Fire element creatures will be repatriated to their original plane."


    Ugh... Leon couldn''t help but draw in a sharp cold breath.


    This Fire Lord''s Scepter was much stronger than his original estimation!


    ...


    2060 Words

 Chapter 107 A Old book?

    It was a powerful magical item, and it was almost like it was specifically made for Leon.Leon held the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand and kept inspecting it over and over. He could hardly tear himself away from it.


    The scepter consisted of three parts: The tail, body, and head. It had a one-meter long body, which was entirely made from a bright fiery red material. Although it was glowing red, it felt warm upon touch, and felt comfortable when held in the hand.


    A magical gemstone with no attribute was socketed on the tail of the scepter. Obviously, it was a design used to allow the scepter to be placed on a Fire Altar. Three inter-coiling Fire Dragons were engraved on the head of the scepter. A Heart of the Fire Lord was placed in the middle, where the three dragon heads met.


    It was a unique magical gemstone that came from the Fire Element Plane and possessed a thread of Source Energy of Fire Element. With this magical gemstone, the bearer of the scepter would be given with the ability of fire resistance. Of course, the fire mentioned here should be the ordinary fire found in the natural environment, not the Elemental Fire created by magic spells.


    By just holding the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand, Leon was given the ability to take a bath in the magma pool of a volcano.


    After fiddling with it over and over for a long time, Leon finally placed it into his storage waist belt with reluctance. From now on, he finally owned a suitable magical item for himself. It was not surprising that the Fairy only kept this extraordinary item but did not use it, as the element spectrum was totally different from its own!


    Leon glanced through the pile of gemstones again, and this time, he pulled out two strange objects: a test tube containing a mysterious purple potion, and a magical book that had a gruesome ghost head drawn on its cover.


    Leon picked up the mysterious test tube with his fingers, uncorked it ,and gave it a brief smell. A pungent smell, like a mixture of fish and pepper, immediately brought a frown on his face. The test tube was fully filled with a purple colored magical potion. With a gentle shake, the potion immediately began emanating a purple glow.


    Bloodline Strengthening Potion?


    Leon''s eyes brightened. He couldn''t bear it and brought a tiny dot of the purple potion up to his mouth with a fingertip. After a brief moment, the Chip gave out a confirmed answer.


    Bloodline Strengthening Potion!


    Maybe for Leon, who aimed to take the path of an Elementium Mage, this item didn''t serve too much of a purpose. But for Bleia, or other apprentices who took the path of the Bloodline, it was a priceless treasure. Its biggest value was that it could provide a preliminary purification of the bloodline of an apprentice, allowing the apprentice to take a step closer to the source of their bloodline.


    Therefore, after confirming the ingredients of the potion, without saying another word, Leon immediately poured it into Bleia''s mouth. After all, Bleia was using sleep to digest the surging energy of blood that came from the Fairy. In another word, it was also an evolution of the innate talent of her vampire bloodline. Therefore, if she could receive some external help at this moment, it would no doubt help make the breakthrough easier!


    Devouring the blood of stronger existences was an effective method to improve the grade of a vampire, while the Bloodline Strengthening Potion could further stimulate the evolution of a vampire. With these two factors complementing each other, it was a huge boost to Bleia. Hence, after pouring all of the potion into Bleia''s mouth, Leon rubbed his palms excitedly, his mind filled with anticipation.


    He just couldn''t wait to see what Bleia would looked like, after having both her overall strength and bloodline improved!


    After dealing with the Bloodline Strengthening Potion, Leon calmed himself down and started to give the gruesome magical book a thorough examination.


    When Leon rested his gaze on the horrendous ghost head drawn on the cover of the book, a pale white mist suddenly diffused from the book itself, and the ghost head became alive within the mist.


    It was a ghastly and bloodcurdling ghost face that hid within the shadows, so no one could see the expression on it, as sight was impaired by the mist. Just as Leon knit his brows in a tight frown, a strange, indistinct, and near inaudible voice suddenly rung up in his mind.


    "In accordance with the ancient will, following strictly with the principle of equivalent exchange! Little guy who is walking on the path of an Mage, do you want to obtain the mighty and mysterious knowledge from the ancient era? Then open me up quickly!"


    Leon was slightly shocked.


    He had heard of this kind of magical book, that had its own consciousness. Most of them were produced by Mages of the ancient era. Inside of these books, it was highly possible one would find some unique magic spell or mysterious knowledge that no one knew. Of course, it could also be a prank left behind by an ancient Mage. There were even funny, true stories of official Mages being fooled by such pranks!


    In order to open up such magical books protected by a demon spirit, not only would one have to follow the will left behind by the previous owner of the book, he also needed to fulfill some random in-bad-taste requests given out by the demon spirit itself. Therefore, it was a ''fair trade'' that really depend on the luck of the person.


    "Your honorable demon spirit, if I really want to read the contents of this book, what kind of price do I have to pay?" Leon wasn''t fooled by the flowery words and cunning statements of the guardian demon spirit, but instead, he soberly asked the most critical question.


    From the relevant knowledge Leon had studied before, it was mentioned that when some Apprentice Mages with insufficient overall strength found a demon spirit book, they couldn''t wait and opened it up straightaway, only to realize the price they had to pay after reading the book was not something they could afford, but it was all too late! Not only did the unlucky fellows not learn any ancient magic spells, they even paid the price with their own precious lives!


    Therefore, in the fundamental code of practice for Apprentice Mages, when they bumped into some living creatures from the outerworld or demon spirits, they had to be really careful in any choices they made. Once they fell into these creatures'' word traps or were bound with a mandatory contract, getting themselves killed was, in fact, the lightest consequence. The most frightful was having their soul became these creatures'' war trophy.


    In the aspect of toying with someone else''s soul, these demon spirits could even be compared with a powerful existence, such as an official Necromancer.


    Perhaps realizing its small trick was discovered by Leon, the gruesome ghost face turned listless. "As expected, you''re a hateful boring guy. Aren''t you excited by knowing that you can learn ancient magic spells and mysterious knowledge? Why are you fussing with these boring questions!"


    "Your honorable ancient demon spirit, please answer my question!"


    "Alright, alright! If you wish to read this book, you need to give me 15 points of your Physique..." The demon spirit''s voice was getting lower and lower. The last few words sounded so vague it was as if it was the snoring of a kitten. Leon nearly didn''t hear what it said.


    Leon broke out in a cold sweat, nearly couldn''t hold himself back from throwing the demon spirit book from his hand.


    Damn it, 15 points of Physique!


    No wonder this book wasn''t opened up by the Fairy. Presumably even it grudged the loss of a precious 15 points of Physique. For Leon, he only had three points in Physique. If he had accidentally opened this book, the mandatory contract between him and the demon spirit book would be taken effect immediately. And since he couldn''t fulfill the requirement of the contract, let alone anything else, the only consequence would be an inevitable death, by having his soul extracted from his body!


    Just as Leon raised the book high up and want to forcefully throw it to a corner of the cave, a stream of data transmitted from the Chip stopped his movement.


    Within the on-site data, which had been restored and magnified a few times by the chip, the last few vague words spoke by the demon spirit book were clearly presented in front of him.


    "... or replaced with something of equivalent value!"


    It was spoken in an ancient language of ''Amarr,'' and had been spoken with a weird tone by the demon spirit. Perhaps, most of the targets it ever spoke with had been deceived by this petty trick.


    Though the ancient Mages had forced demon spirits to guard the inheritance of their knowledge, and had laid down the strictest rules for them, as long as any late-comers could achieve the requirement of reading the book, the demon spirit had to follow the will of the Mage and hand over the knowledge without hiding anything. But no matter how strict the rules, the crafty and cunning demon spirit could always find a workaround. This demon spirit had found a loophole in the contract, not only it increased the requirement of reading to a jaw-dropping condition, it had also hidden the most critical rule of the contract.


    Yes, even if that ancient Mage could come back alive, he couldn''t accuse the demon spirit for violating the contract. It had acted according to the contract between it and the ancient Mage! As for whether can you understand the ancient language of Amarr, it had nothing to do with the demon spirit! It is you who are lacking knowledge, and never serious in handling the situation.


    Leon wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead, and with a serious tone, he told the ghost face, "Your honorable demon spirit, please tell me what are the substitute requirements. I want to give it serious consideration!"


    The ghost face on the cover of the magical book suddenly became extremely angry, ferociously letting out a raging roar at Leon. However, as Leon had gained insight into this seemingly ferocious appearance, he just narrowed his eyes and enjoyed the demon spirit''s performance.


    Realizing that the threatening was ineffective, and its previous petty trick had been exposed, it knew by dragging anything further, it might trigger the frightful ancient contract. Left with no alternative, the ghost face of the demon spirit dully told Leon the real requirements of reading the book.


    "With 15 points of Physique, you can have a total control of this magical book. With 8 points of Physique, you can read all of the contents of this book. With 5 points of Physique, you can read any content that is below the grade of Mage, 3 points of Physique allow you to learn a specific magic spell, 1 point of Physique gives you a random magic spell."


    "Substitute objects, I was asking about substitute objects! What kind of objects can be used as the substitution?" It was Leon''s turn to interrogate the demon spirit.


    "Magical gemstones, magical materials, any mysterious knowledge which is not inside of this book... anything and everything. As long as they are related to magic spell, they could all become the substitute objects, but the required amount would be a lot!"


    "How about this?" Leon tried his luck by placing an Emerald on top of the magical book.


    It was a large Emerald with a size similar to a human heart. It would cost at least 230 magic crystals in the Mage market.


    "0.3 Physique."


    The answer given by the demon spirit shocked Leon.


    If calculated based on this, then if he wanted to gain total control of this book, 15 points of Physique would be equivalent to twelve thousand magic crystals! Maybe for an official Mage, this price was nothing, but for Apprentice Mages who were constantly in need of resources, it was simply an astronomical figure.


    The corner of Leon''s eyes twitched. He tilted his head and looked at the pile of gemstones, which he had thought were plenty moments ago. But now, he felt that even if he had more of them, it was still not enough for him to spend.


    Placing the demon spirit book on the ground, Leon started to place magical gemstones on top of it. Every time after he placed one gemstone, the demon spirit would tell him a small figure.


    Shadow Stone, Tiger''s Eye stone, Malachite, Green Agate, Lesser Moonstone, Emerald, Topaz, Aquamarine, Ruby, Opal, Sapphire, Azure Moonstone, Flame Spessarite, Golden Dranite, Dawn Stone, Living Ruby, Noble Topaz...


    Following the piling up of the magical gemstones, the figures eventually reached 11. The remaining gemstones were all top grade. For example, Blood of the Old God, Blood Gem, Deep Peridot, Dawn Stone, Talasite, Night''s Eye, Lion''s Eye Stone, Crimson Spinal Stone. All of them were gems which Leon felt reluctant to give away.


    ...


    2220 Words S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 108 Voodoo

    Leon hesitated for a brief moment, then waved his hand, ordering the Rock Snake to a corner of the cave to spit out a huge amount of dirt, gravel, weeds, broken vines and other debris. Afterwards, he started to thoroughly search through the messy pile to find some magical items that had been left over by the Fire element Fallen Pseudo-Mage. Experience tales with empireSnorlax had awakened long ago and was cleverly squatting beside Leon, helping him accomplish the dirty job.


    After searching through the entire pile, Leon had found three magical items.


    One was a necklace that allowed the bearer to unleash Flame Balls instantly, another was a bracelet that could improve the efficiency of Fire element meditation, and the last one was a magical staff made of Fire Coral.


    As effects of all three magical items were for Fire element apprentices, they were suitable for Leon as well. However, since he had found the Fire Lord''s Scepter, they would no longer bring him those huge benefits.


    Gnashing his teeth, Leon placed all three magical items on top of the demon spirit book.


    "14 points." The number announced by the demon spirit made Leon clench his jaw forcefully.


    It only needed one more point!


    Leon searched through his storage waist belt and waist pouch, he couldn''t find anything else that was suitable. As for the remaining items, he felt reluctant to give up any of them!


    Right as he was hesitating, a goose egg shaped Opal suddenly fell into the pile of gemstones.


    "15 points, you have reached the upper limit for unsealing the demon spirit book. The book will now start unsealing!" At this moment, the ghost face had finally shown the frightful manner of an ancient demon spirit. Soon, numerous magical arrays started to emerge on the cover of the book. Following a barely audible muttering voice, one after another, the arrays disintegrated and vanished along with those gemstones and magical items which had been used as substitute objects!


    After the ghost face had gradually faded away from the book cover, the real appearance of this magical book was finally revealed.


    Struck by surprise, Leon gazed at Snorlax who had an aching heart expression on its face. A smile emerged on Leon''s face. He nodded his head praisingly at Snorlax, before switching his focus back to the magical book.


    This book was called a demon spirit book initially, because the entire book was concealed by the demon spirit and one had to achieve the basic requirement to read it. But now, as the requirement of reading it had been achieved, according to the ancient contract, the demon spirit had taken the war trophies it deserved and disappeared from this world. That was why the magical book was now present in front of Leon.


    The book had a black cover and was made of leather. The corners of the book were installed with golden frames, giving it a touch of a dignified and ancient look. Leon tried to weigh it in his hand, though the book was at most thirty pages, it weighed a whopping three to four kilograms.


    When Leon used his finger and gently stroked the rather coarse hardcover, the name of the book condensed from greenish ghost flames and was revealed. It was written in the ancient language of Amarr ¨C The Secret Scroll of Voodoo.


    As Leon had unsealed the book with the highest requirement, when he held the book, a feeling of kinship immediately filled his mind. He didn''t even need to flip the pages with his own hands, as when he penetrated the Scroll of Voodoo with his Spirit, the book started to flip the pages by itself and stopped at any page that Leon showed an interest in.


    After giving it a brief read, Leon was instantly shocked by the contents of the book.


    The entire Scroll of Voodoo was simply an encyclopedia of voodoo, compiled by an ancient Mage. From the origin of voodoo to the prevalence of voodoo, records of different voodoo ceremonies, and detailed process of creating a voodoo doll... this book had them all in extreme detail.


    Besides the vast knowledge of voodoo, it also included many bizarre and unpredictable voodoo curses from the ancient era. For example, Scourge Cauldron, Curse of Bloodline, the Spell of Great Pestilence, Kiss of Death, Spirit of Pestilence... Just hearing their names alone would be enough to make one''s hair stand on its end, but casting them was surprisingly simple. The materials used were not rare resources or expensive materials, but... humans.


    To be more precise, the casting required a large amount of humans, including their souls and flesh!


    The entire Scroll of Voodoo seemed to be teaching someone how to use the simplest method to create the Scourge Cauldron. Then how to use the Spell of Great Pestilence to produce a deadly pestilence that could wipe out all living being in an entire continent. After that, gathering all the variants of pestilence and merging them together to eventually produce the mighty Spirit of Pestilence.


    And this Spirit of Pestilence would be the strongest warrior working for the owner of this secret scroll.


    By sending it out, Pestilence would wreak havoc to wherever it went, causing death to spread across the land. Any living beings without a proper defensive magic spell would unable to stand against the invasion of this Pestilence, which had been mixed with a small percentage of source rules of Voodoo.


    Since the ancient era, the Spirit of Pestilence had been the best agent in warfare and was used by Mages to deal with those lower grade Planes who put up a desperate struggle. For smaller scale Planes, they just need to throw a Spirit of Pestilence onto it, and they would be able to have their harvest one month later. The entire Plane would have been filled with howling souls that wandered everywhere, and they could seize any materials and resources they had wanted from that place. Compared to sending a large army of Mages to eliminate enemies everywhere and repress the revolts from the natives of the place day and night, this method saved a lot of time.


    However, this method was overly evil, and frequently it would evoke a strong reaction from the Will of the Plane that was being invaded. After all, the Will of the Plane was the collection of every single material and living beings'' wills. When all the living beings on a Plane were wiped out, the Will of the Plane would perish altogether. Therefore, those who possessed the Spirit of Pestilence would often receive a curse from the Will of Plane which had perished and would become an enemy of that particular Plane.


    Once an Mage was labeled as the enemy of the Plane, he would be disgusted by all the Planes, including the origin Plane where he was born and raised. And when someone like that entered into a random Plane, he would immediately be welcomed by the wrath of everything in that Plane, as all the living beings within the particular Plane would advance wave upon wave, launching attacks at him without any fear of death and would only stop once one side was dead!


    Hence, as he was holding a weapon of mass destruction like this in his hand, even Leon couldn''t remain calm anymore!


    Leon restlessly connected his mind with the Scroll of Voodoo, asking the Chip to make an identical copy of the content in his mind, then ordered it to slowly organize and analyze the data. He wanted to know if the Chip could find something suitable for him to use from these ancient voodoo magic spells.


    Once Leon had established a deeper spiritual connection with the Scroll of Voodoo, to his surprise, he found out that this Scroll of Voodoo could be used as a magic spell book. He could store six spiritual models of magic spell in a secret space within the book. This also meant, as long as he held the book in his hand, he would have six free magic spells which he could instantly cast.


    Of course, he had to store the spiritual models of these six magic spells in the book first.


    Damn, wasn''t this just like the cache in his Chip, but an outworldly version? S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At this point in time, Leon couldn''t help but feel respect towards those ancient Mages. Though they were fighting alone, and they didn''t have a complete education system which allowed one to slowly accumulate knowledge like how it was done back in the Earth, with just a tiny little spark in the mind of a random and unknown genius, they could actually create a mysterious space like this, which looked like an advanced technology from the modern world.


    With regards to this, Leon couldn''t help but admire them speechlessly!


    Initially, he thought he was the only one who had the technique to solidify magic spells and stored their spiritual models in his mind. But judging from what he had just discovered, this mysterious world did indeed have a similar technique. The only difference was, once the spiritual model stored in the mysterious space of the book was used, it would vanish, and would once again need to be re-injected before it could be used again. Based on this point alone, it was not as effective as the cache in his Chip.


    It looked like he was going to have an additional magical equipment ¨C an extremely powerful magic spell sequencer!


    In future when fighting with enemies, without using any of his Spirit, Leon could use the advantage of instant casting brought by magic spell sequencer and shower the enemy with a raging bombardment.


    Upon thinking about this, Leon couldn''t help but feel really excited.


    In order to express his love towards this Scroll of Voodoo, he purposely found a half meter long silver chain from his storage waist belt and used it to tie the magical book around his waist. After tinkering with it a few times, he was very satisfied with the results. Now, with just a thought in his mind, the magical book would automatically fly into his left hand, flip through the pages by itself and stop at the page where the magic spell Leon wanted to use was located.


    As for keeping it a secret, Leon had no worries at all.


    He had gained total control of this book, and it had a constant hidden connection with his spirit. Thus, even if it fell into the hands of an outsider, what the outsider would see would be the pages of totally emptied goat skin. Without Leon''s permission, no one could overtake him and read the contents of the book.


    Perhaps, this was the biggest benefit of unsealing it with the highest requirement!


    Right as Leon was showing his fondness towards the magical book and could hardly tear himself away from it, Snorlax was keeping itself busy as well. It kept searching through the dirt pile that the Rock Snake spat out. Eventually, its hard work did pay off, because it really found something surprising.


    The partial fragment of the Fairy''s true form!


    Among some of broken pieces of dried up tree skin, a sticky green liquid and some strange broken pieces of what looked like internal organs of a human could be found. It looked like during the evolution of the Fairy''s true form, some unexpected mutation had happened.


    However, when Leon picked up those fragments in his hand and gave them a careful look, his mind was immediately filled with a series of messages from the Chip.


    "Beep, unique active molecules of bloodline gene is detected, data saved..."


    "Beep, unique active molecules of bloodline gene is detected, data saved..."


    "Beep, unique active molecules of bloodline gene is detected, data saved..."


    ...


    ...


    A series of prompting sounds rang through Leon''s mind and also caused his eyes to be filled with unconcealed awe.


    It was not because the Chip had crashed that the messages kept repeating themselves, but because every new prompt meant that the Chip had found another new bloodline gene in the fragment of the Fairy''s true form. Eventually, a total of twenty-seven brand new bloodline genes were found. The discovery had suddenly made Leon feel that something was not right.


    A demon leader who was trapped in a small place like that. Where had it gotten in touch with and devoured so many bloodline genes? After all, among the population of Apprentice Mages, these bloodline genes were priceless treasure that one couldn''t even purchase with money! With just a small bottle of purified ancestor''s bloodline, any apprentice would be able to step onto the broad road of the Bloodline Mage.


    With twenty-seven brand new bloodline genes, it also meant that frightening Fairy had once devoured twenty-six creatures who possessed mutated bloodline genes! Could there be twenty-six Bloodline apprentices from different species that had visited the demonized forest and gotten themselves killed there?


    Of course, it was impossible!


    Even by searching all the Bloodline Apprentice in the Dagon region, it would not possible to find twenty-six different species.


    So, how had this frightening Fairy achieve something that even an official Mage would find tough to do?


    ...


    2225 Words

 Chapter 109 Level 2 Mage?

    He sort of had the feeling that he had unintentionally intruded into a dangerous domain that he shouldn''t have stepped into at all!It was impossible for the Fairy to have absorbed so many bloodline genes just by relying on its own ability. So there was only one possibility: the fragments of bloodline genes were being stored by the Mage Tower. When that place had been abandoned by the Fallen Mages, the Human-faced Flower that was lucky enough to survive had absorbed the other bloodline genes, and so had grown into an Mage level Fairy.


    After all, due to the mightiness of Mage''s bloodline and the powerful strength of the family behind them, in the entire Mage Continent, any behavior that led to the stealing of Mage''s bloodline was forbidden and any research related to that was totally prohibited as well. Therefore, that within an Mage Tower built by Fallen Mages, Leon had actually found the trace of so many bloodline genes, perhaps... there was a severe secret hiding behind this!


    On instinct, the first assumption Leon had was that Second Grade Fallen Mage Pridka had carried out a secret experiment related to synthetic bloodlines. And it was highly possible this assumption was real! After all, for a First Grade Mage, carrying out any research related to bloodlines was nearly impossible.


    But the deeper Leon dug into this matter, the more he just couldn''t help but gulped a mouthful of his own saliva as his mind was overcast by a huge patch of shadow.


    Could a Second Grade Fallen Mage complete bloodline research on such a huge scale alone?


    After all, Bloodline Apprentices were high-quality resources that were sought after by clans of all different sizes. The treatment they received was much better than that given to Elemental Apprentices, Body Refining Apprentices, and Profound Apprentices. If more than double digit numbers of Bloodline Apprentices had been murdered or went missing in the Dagon region, a massive storm would have long broken out.


    However, Leon had been in this place for quite some time but he had never heard any rumors or news regarding this.


    Could this mean that the Second Grade Fallen Mage had handled this matter brilliantly and kept it well hidden, or there was an unknown, yet powerful, clan that was hiding this for him? In the Dagon Region, a couple of small Mage families wouldn''t be able to achieve that; even the big families would not be able to keep this matter very secret.


    If that was the case, then the only possibility would be...


    Leon turned his head slightly, looking into the direction of the Mage Tower of Underground Cave. Sudden comprehension bloomed in his mind.


    Only the Zhentarim Association had the ability to cover the matter up to the level of no leakage!


    Based on this assumption and extrapolated further, the purpose of designing the Underground Cave was rather thought-provoking.


    On the face of it, it seemed like a few Fallen Mages had fled to the Underground World, engaged in guerrilla warfare, and fought with the surface Mages for rare and precious resources. But if one looked from a higher perspective, that place did look like a conflict zone purposely created by someone, with the hidden purpose of training their minions through constant battles.


    If the higher grade Mages who managed this region truly had a selfish motive, were taking the opportunity to secretly carry out forbidden research, it could actually be covered up with a good reason. After all, the place was in constant warfare. From time to time, many apprentices would get themselves killed. At most, people would felt pity for their death but it was tough for them to relate their deaths to something else.


    If Leon were the true mastermind behind this, he would just need to assign more Bloodline Apprentices when announcing a mandatory mission, then purposely create some conflicts during their mission. With that, the death of the Bloodline Apprentices would become well-reasoned and no one would notice anything fishy.


    Leon recalled, among the ten people on the compulsory mission team of his, four of them were Bloodline Apprentices, including Bleia. So far, out of two Advanced Apprentices who were dead, Shila had been a Bloodline Apprentice. Also, it seemed like the Demon Vine Lady killed by Leon had also been a Bloodline Apprentice.


    He had never felt anything wrong before this. But thinking back now, as the superior existence among same level apprentices, the death rate of Bloodline Apprentices was extremely high! This... this told him something was not right.


    So how were they going to handle Leon, an outsider who accidentally intruded onto their secret experiment field? Were they going to assign him a highly dangerous compulsory mission without his knowledge and have him killed in the Underground World? Or maybe the mastermind would settle this matter personally, killing Leon straightaway and shutting his mouth? After all, he was just an Intermediate Apprentice who had no background, and no one would confront a Second Grade Mage for the death of a mere apprentice!


    Quietly, from his waist pouch, Leon took out the chest badge that represented the Byron family, which he had been given by Mage Angus, and carefully pinned it onto his chest. For the first time, he realized the tremendous benefit of having support from an Mage family!


    ...


    One hour later, when Leon, carrying the sleeping Bleia, and Snorlax, who was carrying a huge bag on its back, approached the entrance of the Mage Tower, they were blocked by a magical golem.


    With no explanation, they were brought to a huge secret room on the ninth floor of the Mage Tower.


    They were greeted by a young Mage who looked only a few years older than Leon. He had a delicate and handsome face and a tall and strong body. He was wearing a luxurious Mage robe with a pointy Mage hat on his head. Standing in front of them, he sent forth a youthful aura that felt rather strange.


    If not for the powerful spiritual pressure indistinctly leaking out from his body, perhaps Leon would thought this Mage was disguised by an Apprentice Mage. But when he sensed the pure and reserved spiritual wave, Leon immediately felt like he was staring at a dazzling sun which made his eyes sore. Under the brilliant radiation of such strong glow, he nearly turned into a blind man.


    Leon immediately lowered his head, bent his back slightly, and expressed his respect. At the same time, he quietly unleashed some Fire Elementium and covered his eyes. Only then did he feel the pain in his eyes relieve a little bit. In his arms, as if the sleeping Bleia had also sensed some threat, she restlessly moved her body and buried her beautiful face under Leon''s arms.


    At the same time, Snorlax, who was standing behind Leon, shrank its body away from fear, lying on the ground with its face down, and did not dare stand up again. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a demon, Snorlax''s sense of danger was more direct and sensitive compared to human beings, so the spiritual pressure it felt was much stronger than anybody else.


    This was a simple and rather crude meeting room; the wooden table and chairs placed inside had never gone through any polish, as they still had the original color of the wood.


    The young, evil looking Mage was sitting in one of the chairs, holding a cup of a steaming hot beverage in his hand. He was none other than the Second Grade Mage who controlled this Mage Tower, Master Andre.


    After all, he was in a bizarre world, which was totally different from the Earth in his previous life. Though the appearance, behavior, and habit of the people here were pretty similar to Middle Ages Europe back on Earth, there was still a huge difference. The most obvious difference was their name.


    In Leon''s memory, Europeans always had complicated names that were used to indicate the origin of their family. But in this world, where the strong would gain authority, the family influence had been weakened. A new type of family was found here, which was established around a powerful Mage.


    Usually, the leader of the family would not be the strongest of that family, but an elder of the family who was an expert in managing their territory. The direction of development of the family was actually held in the hand of the higher grade Mages, who hid behind curtains and possessed powerful abilities.


    The Mage and the family were like twin trees that supported each other; when the family was strong, the Mage of the family would become the vine that parasitized the tree. And once the Mage became stronger, the family would, in turn, became the accessory of the Mage, allowing him to demand anything he wanted.


    Therefore, many mighty Mages didn''t have a family name. On the contrary, his family would felt honored to have his name as their family name. It was a reversed relationship of dependence.


    Since the first day Leon had arrived at the Mage Tower of the Underground Cave, he had memorized the name of Master Andre. But with his status and position, there was no chance he could have met with such mighty existence.


    Apparently, today was obviously an exception!


    Therefore, Leon lowered his head and bent down his body, waiting quietly and never showed any disrespect.


    After a long time, after Mage Andre had slowly finished with the hot beverage in his hand, he placed the cup down gently and moved his glance over to Leon, who was standing respectfully.


    Without raising his head, Leon could feel the scorching hot glance. It didn''t mean Mage Andre''s element affinity was Fire, but that the element energy soaking his eyes was too dense. When he moved his glance over to Leon, the sudden increase in element density had caused element damage to him.


    This was why Leon felt like he was burning!


    "Have you gone to the Underground World recently?" Mage Andre finally spoke.


    Leon''s body trembled slightly. He lowered his head further and said, "Yes, master. I just came back from the Underground World!"


    "Did you find anything?"


    Leon moved his head a little, as if he had tried to raise his head to have a look but quickly held down the impulse.


    "Yes, master. I did find something on this trip!"


    A wondering expression emerged on Leon''s face, which was still pointed at the floor. Clearly, he was puzzled about why a Second Grade Mage would show concern to a mere Intermediate Apprentice. Of course, Leon had purposely put on this expression!


    With the powerful Spirit of a Second Grade Mage, perhaps the entire Mage Tower was under his control and senses. Therefore, though Leon had lowered his head, any changes on his face would still be sensed by Mage Andre.


    Leon had to put on a real show!


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    Since the moment he had stepped into Mage Tower, Leon had been hypnotizing himself restlessly, disguising himself as a reckless boy who knew nothing.


    After all, the information he had obtained previously was based on the data gathering, information summarization, and analysis of the powerful Chip. If any ordinary Apprentice Mage had wished to dig out the hidden secret from the Fairy''s body, perhaps he would have needed to use the precise equipment found in the Alchemy Laboratory.


    Therefore, if Leon wanted to lower the risk he would face, he needed to pretend that he knew nothing about the secret!


    Also, Leon had tried to sound out Snorlax secretly, but the goblin had shown no knowledge of the bloodline experiments. It didn''t even have an idea about how it possessed such bizarre abilities.


    This had strengthened Leon''s decision to play stupid!


    ...


    1968 Words

 Chapter 110 Convincing

    "What did you find? Show me!" Mage Andre ordered.Without any hesitation, Leon respectfully bowed and gently placed Bleia on the floor beside him. He then turned around and asked Snorlax to bring the bag over. But too bad, his order had already lost its effectiveness, as Snorlax had collapsed on the floor and couldn''t get up.


    Left with no other choice, Leon walked over to the huge bag and arduously dragged it to the center of the meeting room. He opened up the bag and poured everything out on the floor.


    Immediately, precious stones, dazzlingly magical gemstones and an exceptionally designed rose armor and magical bow rolled out onto the ground. Meanwhile, the Fairy''s body which looked like a saggy leather pouch and the broken stalks of its true form were mixed among them. They looked like they hadn''t gone through any sorting. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Looking at the scene, Mage Andre who looked like an evil youth narrowed his eyes, showing a ruminating expression. But when he gazed at the bright chest badge on Leon''s chest, the smile on his face became stronger, while the oppressive atmosphere that had suffocated Leon instantly disappeared.


    "An Mage level demon leader! I never expected an Intermediate Apprentice like you could harvest a prey of this level, no wonder Angus was so impatient to recruit you into his family!"


    "It is all because of the care Master Angus has shown for me. Actually, we were able to defeat this frightening Fairy because of Bleia; she had risked her life for this. Also, we were helped by a few Fallen Pseudo-Mages!" An excited expression immediately appeared on Leon''s face. Without waiting for Master Andre to ask the questions, he started to narrate the battle of the demonized forest in a detailed manner.


    He had no idea whether this Mage Andre had any methods of learning the truth of what had happened in the Underground World. Out of careful consideration, Leon chose not to tell any lies, and he told the entire process without covering anything up, expressing how proud he was for participating in such an incredible battle.


    It was a rare occurrence, as Mage Andre patiently and carefully listened to everything Leon had to say. From time to time, he even nodded his head praisingly.


    Leon was able to fight an Mage level demon for such a long hour, employing some tricks, he even dragged a few Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had come to ambush him into the battle, and eventually became the final winner who looted everything. To be honest, when such crafty planning and strategy was seen from an Intermediate Apprentice, it clearly showed his amazing ability to control a battlefield.


    "You only found these after killing an Mage level demon?" Mage Andre''s eyes kept lingering on the magical book tied to the side of Leon''s waist. It was not until after Leon finally took out a strange looking, fiery red scepter from his storage waist belt, that his expression had relaxed a little bit, "So it is a Fire Lord''s Scepter! Not bad, with your Fire element affinity, currently this scepter is the perfect magical item for you!"


    Andre lowered his head and pondered for a brief moment, he then raised his head and said, "I need some magical materials for the experiment I''m working on right now, so, I''ll purchase all your war trophies. And since you''ve risked your life to find all these items, I''ll not seek profit at the expense of a little guy like you. Here are a few items, the value of each is higher than your magical materials. You can pick which one you want for yourself."


    Following a wave of Mage Andre''s hand, though it was mixed with all the other war trophies, the Fairy''s corpse and the fragments of its true form started to fly up into the air by a mysterious force. In an instant, they were thrown into a dark rift that suddenly tore up in midair. After they disappeared, three small bubbles flew out from the dark rift, each of them was holding a bizarre magical item of peculiar design.


    One was a narrow-necked flask the size of a human palm, containing a mysterious, light-blue potion.


    Another one was a pair of red colored wings. It shone with a cold metal glaze, and a special glow kept circulating on top of it.


    The last one was a token engraved with mysterious and complicated patterns, the purpose of which was unknown.


    "The value of these three items are not lower than that of your demon corpse. The first one is an ''Elementary Intelligence Potion'', with the current level of your Spirit, it will increase your Spirit by three points without causing any harm to you. The second item is an Mage level Wing of Flamingo, with a simple transplant operation, you''ll be given the ability to fly freely in the air. And the last one is a Token of Permit, with it, you can visit the World of Deep Red once, a place where you can improve your Fire element affinity."


    Leon''s body shook, his eyes instantly went wide, as he greedily stared at the three peculiar items floating inside of the bubbles. A wild beast was making an uproar in his mind, asking him to pull over all these items and make them his.


    Clenching his fist tightly, after put in a huge effort, Leon finally pressed down the restless emotions in his mind. He raised his head and asked with a stammering voice, "Your respectful Master Andre, I... can I chose more than one?"


    "You can only pick one! The value of your demon is only worth one."


    Leon fixed his bloodshot eyes on all three items in front of him. Meanwhile, his mind was spinning fast to decide the right choice.


    Though the Elementary Intelligence Potion was a good item, it was only effective for apprentices below the Pseudo-Mage grade. Also, using it just to increase Spirit was rather wasteful, as the biggest purpose of it was used to bring enlightenment to one''s intelligence. As the matter of fact, not everyone who lived in the Mage Continent was given the ability to study magic when they born. Even when two official Mages got married, it was also possible that they would give birth to an ordinary child who had no talent in magic at all. In that situation, the purpose of Elementary Intelligence Potion had come into play.


    It could promote an ordinary child into a Beginner Apprentice Mage straightaway. This was the biggest value of it!


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    The Wings of Flamingo, it was a pretty good assisting magical organ. And best of all, it was an option that brought the least amount of bloodline contamination. After owning it, Leon would have the ability to fly freely in the air.


    Also, for this kind of transplanted magical organ, usually it would just be a small bloodline mark that solidified on the body. From the face of it, no one could tell any difference. Only when he recited a simple magic incantation would the magical organ activate and a pair of magical wings would stretch out from his back.


    For him, whether for pursuing enemies or for fleeing at high speeds, it was an excellent option!


    But, after clenching his jaw tightly and hesitating for some time, Leon eventually stretched his hand towards the third bubble.


    Though the first two items were extremely rare and precious, but if he was willing to spend some magic crystals, he could still find them in the market. But for the third item, which would allow him to improve his Fire element affinity, it was something that could hardly be found anywhere else!


    The bubble burst, and a cold metal token fell into Leon''s hand.


    "Good, very good! The deal is complete, and you can leave now. As for how to use this token, you can go and ask Angus!" Andre waved his hand after finished saying that. In an instant, Leon felt the sky and the earth spinning around. When his mind had finally settled down, he realized he had returned to his own room located on the second floor.


    Right beside him, he saw Bleia who was sleeping soundly, Snorlax who was struggling in getting on its feet again and the opened bag with glows of gemstones all over the place, the Rose Armor shining brightly, magical bow and the Fire Lord''s Scepter... after a careful counting, none of them was missing. Everything was lying on the floor, emanating its own glow quietly.


    Haha, it looked like these items couldn''t enter the eyes of a Second Grade Mage. He was being overly worried previously!


    Before Leon returned to the Mage Tower, he had successfully hypnotized himself to forget every single assumption he had made before this, and only made a backup of them in the storage area of the Chip. Now, after leaving the control of that Second Grade Mage, the backup data stored inside the Chip had once again transmitted into his mind, allowing him to remember those memories he had forgotten.


    He had no choice, as when faced with a Second Grade Mage, he had to be extremely careful.


    Leon carefully placed Bleia on the bed, before putting all the gemstones into the bag and tossing it over to Snorlax, asking it to find a way to settle them. As for himself, after putting away those magical items, he turned around and left his room, rushing toward Mage Angus''s residence.


    It was hard to describe what kind of strange expression Mage Angus had when he saw the mysterious token. However, after he listened to Leon''s much-varnished explanation, though he still had his brows knitted in a tight frown and felt puzzled, he just couldn''t find anything wrong with it.


    Angus dared not show any hesitation with regards to the order from a Second Grade Mage. He stomped his feet lightly, and immediately, a mysterious magical array that covered the entire main hall emerged on the hard rock floor.


    "Insert that token into the center of this magical array!" Angus ordered with a low voice.


    Only now Leon had noticed that right in the center of this magical array which was entirely made up of element energy, there was a round shaped notch, and the size which perfectly matched the bottom of the mysterious token.


    After Leon inserted the token, Angus, while slowly activating the magical array, exhorted Leon with a deep voice, "The place you''re going to visit is the World of Deep Red. It is a small space created inside of an underground volcano by the Mage Tower. A place suitable for those apprentices with Fire element affinity to train. After you arrive there, do not do anything extra, as the place is heavily guarded by numerous magical automatons, also... in a few simple words, just follow everything ''she'' says!"


    Angus''s voice became slightly hesitant at the last few words. Especially when he mentioned ''she'', his face was filled with a strange mixed expression of envy and hatred.


    This had caused a nervous feeling to slowly enter into Leon''s mind.


    Could that place have something special or strange?


    However, before he could ask any other questions, the magical array had activated. Once again, Leon was forced to go through a violent dizziness that overwhelmed all his senses. Everything in front of his eyes had been stretched out and became a vague image. The space around him would sometimes elongate and sometimes compress ¨C it just looked like a dough that anyone could knead freely.


    Leon had no idea how much time had passed.


    According to the Chip, the entire process only lasted five seconds. However, Leon himself felt as if it had lasted for one whole day.


    When the dizziness brought by the disorientation of space finally faded away, Leon rolled his eyes and leapt out from the magical array, throwing himself onto his knees to retch. Never in his life had he hated this simple space teleportation so much! He didn''t possess the integrated and near materialized Spirit like an official Mage, thus without the protection from the magical array, there was no way he could defend himself from the invasion of the spatial force.


    Yet, while he was cursing inwardly, a pair of slim and soft long legs suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. After that, a female''s charming, seductive voice rang into his ears.


    "Eh, how come this time it is a handsome boy? I thought that old man Angus has finally come to see me! Handsome boy, what''s your name?"


    To his horror, Leon raised his head!


    ...


    2110 words

 Chapter 111 New#1

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 Chapter 112 succubus

    She was a very graceful and charming lady, and a bantering smile could be found on her juicy lips.Her skin was silky smooth and as white as snow, some tiny purple colored freckles could be seen indistinctly spread across them. Her sexy hot body made her the most beautiful creature Leon had ever seen in his entire life.


    A pair of curving horns stretched out from her forehead, and her purple colored long hair was hanging loosely down her back. A dangerous look of lust was lingering in her narrow yet charming eyes, making any man in the world want to indulge in her magnificent beauty upon staring at her face.


    On her back were a pair of large bat wings with distinct joints, one could even see sharp claws poking out from these joints. A flat and slender bone tail stretched out from her lower back, glowing like a metal. All of these gave her a touch dangerous, yet inviting look ¨C it was like a forbidden excitement.


    She was wearing a curvaceous silk gown with a leather belt with silver ornaments strapped around her waist. She leisurely fiddled with a long whip made from wrought gold chain which produced electric sparks when it swung around.


    The devil''s horns, those flaming lips, and the signature bat wings, long tail and hoof legs, this... She was an abyss creature that shouldn''t appear in the Material Plane ¨C a Succubus.


    Right when Leon saw this Succubus, his thoughts had nearly stagnated. In a trance, he thought the previous teleportation had transported him into the horrible World of Abyss. When he recovered from his shock and glanced around, only that had he realized that he was in a unique space that was trapped by some sort of magical spells.


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    In front of Leon was a spacious and deep hall of lava. Nearly half the space of this hall was occupied by a huge lava pool. The pool was filled with slow-moving molten lava and scorching hot white lava stones. A three acres'' stone platform was found on a corner of the hall, on top of it was a simple stone cottage, a simple stone table, and chairs ¨C everything looked so simple and crude.


    Leon was now kneeling on this platform. Behind him was the teleportation magical array with its glow slowly fading away, and in front of him was... an Abyss Succubus with a charming face and sexy body.


    With Leon''s vast knowledge, he roughly understood the layout of this place with just a brief glance.


    Fuck, what bullshit World of Deep Red. It was merely a small living space established within the inner part of an underground volcano! And, the reason why those old goats had established this space wasn''t for any magic spell research at all, but purely... to house this seductive Succubus of the Abyss.


    After all, the Abyss Succubus was the native creature from the World of Abyss, which was a lower grade plane. Though they didn''t possess a powerful combative strength, relying on their sexy and charming bodies and their extraordinary smart brains, they had been the favorite concubines and advisers of many powerful Devil Lords of the Abyss.


    Though they could also enter into a material plane, the perfect living environment for them was still a hot and harsh world like the World of Abyss. Meanwhile, a primary material plane, like the World of Mage, would seriously reject the chaotic and brutal aura emanating from the body of these creatures from the Abyss.


    Therefore, since those old goats wanted to let this Abyss Succubus survive in this world, they had no other option but to establish a ''World of Deep Red'' near the underground volcano, which had a similar environment to the Abyss Plane.


    To put it plainly, this was a ''recreation and entertainment'' place those Mages had set up for themselves. And judging from what this Succubus had just said, perhaps she was not even the exclusive concubine for someone, but...


    Leon shuddered suddenly, quickly stopped himself from pondering further.


    When Leon was curiously measuring the surrounding with his eyes, the Succubus was also staring at him in wonderment!


    To be honest, only those human Mages could enter this place at their pleasure. And as for any existence below the grade of Mage, Leon was the first to come to this place!


    Right when Leon was contemplating how to introduce himself, a tall humanoid stone figure suddenly walked out from a wall beside the stone platform. A low, muffled voice came out from its bee hive-like face full of holes.


    "Outsider, according to the message transmitted from the master, you can only stay in this place for two hours. Please do not display any behavior that will harm the stability of this space, or else, you''ll be killed!"


    Having finished saying that, the huge humanoid stone figure took a step back, before once again merging back into the stone wall. No one could see any difference from the spot where it came out.


    An Mage level magical automaton!


    With just one gaze, Leon had determined the overall strength of this huge humanoid stone figure. And with such a mighty overall strength and within this tiny space, a magical automaton would be able to kill him easily. Even if he had summoned all his Golems, he would not be able to save his life, because there wasn''t any space he could run to, to get away from the attack!


    Leon finally sensed the unique environment of this place.


    The dried and hot fire air made it extremely difficult to breathe. It was as if there was a fireball residing in his lungs, every inhale and exhale was a scorching hot airflow. As Leon''s element affinity was Fire, within his Spiritual Domain, his entire body and soul were rejoicing for the dense and active Fire Elementium found in the surrounding environment. However, his overly frail body just couldn''t withstand the harsh environment. Indistinctly, signs of self-destruction had appeared on his body.


    With no time to interact with the Succubus standing beside him, Leon immediately sat down folding his legs and started cultivating his Inferno Body.


    For any Element Mages, if they wish to maximize the power of their element magic spell, they had to carry out a magical modification to their body. And, having the body totally transformed into Elementium was an inevitable path! It was an extremely slow process and also consumed a huge amount of resources.


    They had to consume Fire element demon beasts'' meat on a regular basis and use it to slowly and gently stimulate their body to allow their body to get used to the gradually denser Fire Elementium. And the cultivating of Inferno Body was just the first step to transforming the body into Elementium, and it was also the initial threshold.


    Only once he had completed the cultivation of Inferno Body, Leon would have the ability to travel to some unique environments which were rich with Fire Elementium and continue his meditation and cultivation. While his innate talent might have welcomed these rich Fire Elementiums, his body wouldn''t be able to withstand the entire cultivation process.


    Leon closed his eyes, calmed his mind and entered into deep meditation. Before, he had to use his Spiritual tentacles to capture those Fire Elementiums, but now, they were flooding into his Spiritual Domain like they had just burst out from a huge dam. Also, because of the overly dense Fire Elementiums, the incorporeal process that normally only happened in his Spiritual Domain had become visible to the naked eye.


    Countless flickering tiny red dots were lingering around Leon''s body, constantly merging into his body, penetrating into his bones and tendons, flesh and blood, some even penetrated into the source of his Spirit.


    However, this process didn''t bring him only benefits.


    Following the penetration of countless Fire Elementiums, within his flesh, blood, bones, tendons, internal organs and some other parts of his body, Fire Elementiums started to pile up and couldn''t be absorbed in a timely manner. They started to show their active, unstable and destructive characteristics, as they had begun to erode Leon''s body.


    Looking from a far distance, it was like an invisible furnace was burning violently inside of Leon''s body. His skin turned red and just as his sweat had emerged, they immediately evaporated before they could roll off his skin. Leon''s breathing became heavier, and even the air he let out had turned into a scorching hot flame.


    Due to a lack of magic spell protection, Leon''s cloth had started to burn off, enshrouding him within a huge fireball. However, as the flame didn''t possess any supernatural power, obviously, it couldn''t hurt Leon at all. Instead, it was giving him a touch of mystery.


    Though Leon''s mind was indulging in the deep meditation, his brows started to furrow, and his mind slowly retracted from the Spiritual Domain.


    His body constitution was too weak, so there was no way he could withstand a Fire element cultivation of this level. Usually, he could maintain three hours of deep meditation, but in this place, he was forced to stop before reaching fifteen minutes. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he regained consciousness, two totally opposed logical judgments came out from his burning hot body. Guided by his Fire element innate talent, the Spiritual Domain had become unprecedentedly strong and nourished. The raging Fire element energy kept storming into it at a constant pace, bringing tremendous benefits. On the other side, the body which had suffered a constant erosion from the Fire element energy was moaning and howling miserably. While the body had undergone the tempering process, it was also being weakened at the same time.


    The corner of Leon''s eyes twitched.


    Could this be the end of his rare opportunity of being able to cultivate in the underground lava? After he was transported to this place, the mysterious token had disappeared. Apparently, it could only be used one time. If he was forced to leave this place now, he wouldn''t have any more opportunities to visit this place!


    This was an extremely unique environment, and it would be extremely difficult for him to find a similar place to continue his cultivation.


    "Chip, is there any solution to the current situation?"


    "Beep, Fire Lord''s Scepter..."


    The Chip''s answer was simple and straightforward. Leon forcefully slapped his forehead, cursing his own stupidity.


    With a flip of his palm, the Fire Lord''s Scepter, placed inside his storage waist belt, appeared immediately. Upon holding it, the painful and numbing sensation he had felt throughout the entire body disappeared instantly. Even the flames that had tortured him previously had become a suitable temperature.


    Leon lifted his fair right hand; he saw numerous blazing red fireballs ragingly burning the surface of his skin. The dancing flames and the scorching hot blaze now looked like a crimson outfit, completely covering his entire body, making anyone who saw this admire the miraculousness and bizarreness of the magic spell.


    With the help of the Fire Lord''s Scepter, Leon was now spared from the harm that might come about from those low-intensity flames. With that, he was tempted and moved his glance over to the boiling lava pool not far away.


    Since it was a rare opportunity for him to come here, he had to maximize the gains no matter what!


    Leon gritted his teeth and stood up suddenly. The few remaining magical equipment detached from his body automatically. Fully naked and holding only the Fire Lord''s Scepter, Leon strode to the edge of the lava pool.


    He had no choice; perhaps with the Fire Lord''s Scepter, his body would be able to withstand the lava pool, but his magical equipment wouldn''t. If they were destroyed in the lava pool, it would be a huge loss for him! Therefore, Leon could only carry out the experiment with a naked body.


    As for the Succubus who had been standing beside him smiling, Leon simply ignored her existence!


    At this moment, Leon''s thoughts of becoming stronger were extremely firm and tough ¨C the petty charm spell of the Succubus couldn''t affect him.


    Standing at the edge of the pool, normally the burning hot air wave would have been enough to half-cook him, but now, it felt like a warm breeze.


    Leon poked his toe lightly into the boiling molten lava. Judging from the feeling, it felt like a hot water with a temperature of fifty degree Celsius. Though it felt hot to the touch, he could still bear it.


    Leon clenched his jaws, gently placing his first leg into the pool, then the second leg. Marching forward step by step, soon his entire body had submerged into the boiling molten lava.


    Sensing the increasing temperature right in front of him, Leon stopped moving forward and stopped at a position where his head was just barely under the surface. Once again, he started the cultivation of his Inferno Body.


    ...


    2156 Word

 Chapter 113 Lava Pool

    As the matter of fact, the cultivation of Inferno Body was more of a process of attracting the Fire Elementiums in the air and making them merged into the cultivator''s body. Using them, the cultivator was able to temper and strengthen his Fire element innate talent.Thus, during the cultivating process, the density of the Fire Elementiums in the surrounding environment played an important role in the speed of the cultivation!


    If Leon was placed in a wet and cold environment like the Swampy Tower, the speed of his cultivation would be at least ten times slower. On the contrary, when he was cultivating in this underground lava pool where Fire Elementium was in an extreme majority, his progress in cultivation had simply skyrocketed.


    The comparison between two different environments couldn''t even be calculated with mere numbers!


    Countless Fire Elementiums kept pouring into Leon''s body together with some mysterious lava materials. They were condensing his flesh and blood, tempering his bones and strengthened his tendons, helping his body which had become corroded by the Mind Concentrating Potion, become strong once again.


    Washed by the slow-moving molten lava, Leon''s bones and tendons had started to produce cracking noise, a sign of their growing and becoming stronger. At the same time, his blood and flesh had become sturdier and filled with more vitality. His dark long hair which had once hung loosely on his shoulders had been completely burned off by the lava. However, they were now slowly regrowing while making a strange hissing sound. Surprisingly, the color of his hair had changed to dark red and was glowing now with magical luster!


    Within Leon''s mind, the dynamic data about his body attribute was refreshing at a crazy speed.


    Before he could get a glimpse at the rows of tiny green characters that were pouring in with insane speeds, they were immediately flooded with new prompts given out by the Chip.


    "Beep. An incoming unusual foreign material detected. It will increase host''s Physique by 0.01 points..."


    "Beep. Merging of a foreign Fire element energy into the Spirit source detected. It will increase host''s Spirit by 0.01 points..."


    "Beep. An incoming unusual foreign material detected. It will increase host''s Physique by 0.01 points..."


    ...


    ...


    Two different messages kept alternating off his vision. From time to time, a message that prompted the successful cultivation of Inferno Body would mix between them.


    "Beep. The host''s body and Spirit have reached the lowest requirement of the cultivation of Inferno Body. Current progress: 1%."


    When Leon finally stepped over the threshold for cultivating the Inferno Body, the temperature of the lava, which had caused him to reach the limit of his endurance, suddenly dropped. He felt that he was able to handle the extreme temperatures better now.


    A thought suddenly struck Leon, and he couldn''t hold himself and took a step forward. He wanted to keep himself at the border of his limits, and force himself to endure the painful torture throughout the entire cultivation.


    "Beep. The Inferno Body has been strengthened. Current progress: 2%."


    Your journey continues at empire


    Trying his best to ignore the tremendous pain resulting in his body going through the tempering process, Leon diverted his attention by staring at the rolling text in his vision. Only by doing that could he feel an excitement filling his mind, making the pain he was suffering endurable.


    Following the strengthening of the Inferno Body, the enduring limit Leon had towards the high temperatures of the lava had become higher, and he himself also moved deeper into the lava pool.


    The Succubus was standing on the edge of the lava pool, overlooking at the rocking and burning hot lava. Her green glowing eyes were filled with strong surprise and a look of disbelief! How could this be possible? That kid who had just came in was only a mere Apprentice Mage, how could he directly touch the frightening underground lava?!


    Could it have been because of that mysterious looking magical scepter? Or, he was a kid with extraordinary innate talent, having amazing potential in his bloodline?


    The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. The Succubus couldn''t help but lick her juicy flaming lips in a seductive manner. A hot stream suddenly surged in her heart, as the once charming eyes turned watery.


    Although she was a Succubus from the World of Abyss and was regarded as a Fire element demon by the common people, when facing a underground lava at this degree, she only dared to play with the fire at the edge of the pool. She could only cup a handful of white and boiling lava, pour them on her curvy and perfect body, and let them roll off her silky smooth skin freely. But if asked to dive deeper into the lava pool, even she couldn''t withstand the devastating and deadly high temperatures. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, she was just a Succubus, not a Flaming Demon who could dance with fire. She could only endure the fire, not like it from the depths of her soul.


    After more than an hour, following the splashing of fire sparks, Leon poked his head out from the lava near the edge of the pool. He started to walk slowly back to the platform.


    A moment ago when he was at the bottom of the lava pool, he had received a prompt from the Chip.


    The Inferno Body had reached to the maximum level that he could withstand currently. His tempered body had started to show signs of decay as a result of over cultivating. Therefore, he had no choice but to leave the lava pool slowly and prepare to cool down his body that had been constantly been in extreme limits.


    Previously, Leon had looked like a slightly skinny, immature youth of sixteen years. But now, he actually possessed a muscular body that would make a lot of people envious.


    With just an hour of tempering, his body had grown to the height of two meters. His burly body was now filled with toned muscles that popped right out, and together with the long dark red hair hanging loosely on his back, he was sending forth a devil-like charisma.


    When remaining standing in the boiling hot lava pool that had reached his waist level, the Chip had finally refreshed the latest body attributes in Leon''s mind.


    "Leon (Advanced Apprentice): Strength ¨C 7.12, Agility ¨C 7.35, Physique ¨C 9.17, Spirit ¨C 16.25."


    Without any notice, Leon had grown to the Advanced Apprentice level that he once had looked up to. Also, his Physique and Strength had finally crossed the threshold of five points, matching the grade of his Spirit.


    Clenching his fists slightly, for the first time, Leon felt that his body was filled with mighty forces that he could never deplete. At the same time, the raging Fire element energy was pushing around violently within his body, making it hard to sit still and urging him to smash something to release the active energy.


    Leon lowered his head and looked at the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his left hand. He couldn''t help and sigh with mixed emotions at his heaven-defying luck. Without this scepter, at most he could only have a short moment of meditation right beside the lava pool. And if he had wanted to cross into the threshold for the Inferno Body, it would have been simply impossible without tens of days of restless cultivation. Because of this scepter, Leon was given with the ability of intermediate level Fire resistance, allowing him to be spared from the Fire element damage caused by the scorching hot lava.


    Just because of this, the progress of his cultivation had skyrocketed. Without it, he would have had to express his thanks to heaven and earth just for having a one-point increment in his Spirit!


    Right when he had all his attention focused on his brand new body attribute, a soft and warm body suddenly attached onto his back and was stroking up and down slowly. At the same time, a sweet, seductive voice suddenly squeezed into his ears.


    "My handsome boy, I just losing sight of you for a short time, I never thought that your body would become so strong, so attractive! Do you want this sister to accompany you for a lava bath?"


    After that, two tender and lovely arms stretched out from his back, gently and slowly stroking on his toned chest. In an instant, the marvelous sensation of being touched by silky smooth skin had filled Leon''s mind.


    Right at this very moment, the Succubus who had her charming fame spread across the universe had fully revealed the tenderness and agileness of her body. While sticking out her flexible tongue and lightly licking on Leon''s neck, she pressed her curvy body tightly onto Leon''s back, at the same time her hand were skillfully flirting and stroking his chest.


    Inside of the lava pool where no one could see what happened, her long bone tail gently coiled up around Leon''s ripped thigh like a nimble snake, using the huge contrast between the touch of coarse bone and sensitive skin to further provoke this young man''s ''anger''.


    For an evil creature like this Abyss Succubus, the concept of chastity and dignity was something that would never cross their minds. In the World of Abyss ruled by the jungle rules, the mighty strength that brutally destroyed everything was the only thing they were after and also the ultimate guide of the Will of Abyss World. Since Succubus don''t possess a strong body constitution or powerful magic spells, attaching themselves to mighty existences became their only method for making a living.


    The material world wasn''t a place suitable for their survival, yet they still stubbornly tried to come to a material world. What they wanted was in fact, the bloodline and soul of a mighty existence.


    The reason those human Mages summoned and imprisoned this Succubus in their own plane was for nothing more than to enjoy her wonderful body and her wild techniques when making love. Although this Succubus knew this clearly, she still came to this place without any hesitation, because she was proud and had confidence in her body.


    Once she was allowed to spend a long time with an Mage, she would use her own ways to make the Mage fall in love with her uncontrollably. At that point in time, not only she would gain control of huge sum of fortune, she could also devour the Mage''s body, and return to the World of Abyss with the soul of a mighty human.


    For the Will of Abyss, any behavior regarding bringing back the soul of a mighty existence from a primary plane was well worth the praise. If these Abyss Succubus couldn''t improve themselves by slaughtering, then carrying out the business of smuggling the souls of mighty existences was still beneficial!


    Only through this method, would she have the chance to grow into an advanced devil ¨C a Pleasure Devil, which was the advanced shape of Succubus.


    It was worth mentioning, the flirting techniques that the Succubus knew were most effective!


    In nearly a few seconds, Leon''s face became flush.


    But at the moment this Succubus had attained her success, she had failed at the same time. Because the huge humanoid stone figure hidden inside of the stone wall had once again revealed itself.


    "Time''s up! Outsider, you have to leave here at once. Or else, you''ll be attacked by all the Lava Guards. Countdown starts now! 10... 9... 8..."


    Fuck! The time was up!


    The intense sense of danger brutally pulled Leon out of his lustful fantasy. He forcefully shook off the Succubus clinging on his body and rushed towards his magical equipment that were scattered on the ground and picked them up. When he had finally rushed into the center of the teleportation array, he saw the Succubus standing in the lava pool, breaking into a furious rage.


    She had already bitten the well-cooked duck, however, it had just slipped away because of a stupid reason. How could she not get angry?


    Surrounded by her furious roar, the attractive and inviting body of Succubus gradually rose from the lava pool. The widespread bat wings on her back kept flapping in the air, while the raging aura of Abyss emanated from her body like a blood mist, covering a large area.


    But too bad, before she could increase her power to the maximum level, two tiny, delicate and mysterious looking magical arrays suddenly emerged on her round and smooth shoulders. Under the suppression of the two mysterious magical arrays on her shoulders, the power gathered by the Succubus suddenly dispersed without making any noise. From a brutal and violent Abyss Devil, she was once again transformed back to the little Succubus that could be freely toyed with by anybody.


    She let out a shrill curse, before throwing herself back into the lava pool.


    ...


    2158 Words

 Chapter 114 Bleia

    One month later, Bleia finally woke up.Because the energy level of the blood she had drunk was way beyond her vampire grade, she had been forced to continue her sleep in order to digest such powerful blood energy. Of course, this was also an innate ability unique to the vampire!


    If it were any other creature devouring so many different mutated energies in one go, it would be very easy to contaminate the direction of its own bloodline. But it was a completely different case for the vampire. No matter how many different mutated energies they were fed, after digestion, they would all become nourishment for the vampire''s bloodline. Their bloodline being contaminated would never happen.


    But this time, her evolution was clearly different. After she woke up from her deep sleep, Bleia felt like she was dying of starvation.


    The feeling greatly frightened her.


    In the past, when she devoured some blood energy and went to sleep, she would always have the feeling of repletion and satisfaction coming from her bloodline upon waking up. But for some unknown reason, after devouring all of the blood from an Mages level demon, she actually felt hungry when she woke up. She was so hungry that her stomach was beginning to gurgle. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Also, the feeling of hunger was coming from the deepest part of her body, from the source of her bloodline. As if... as if, after this evolution, the progress of her bloodline was greater than the progress of her body constitution, and in a more radical manner.


    Could there be a factor that stimulated the growth of bloodlines hiding within the blood of that Fairy? Bearing the heavy question in her mind, Bleia moistened her lips and opened her eyes.


    This was not her room! There was somebody else in this room!


    Without making any noise, Bleia sat up on the bed. Her bloodshot eyes stared straight at the back of a stalwart figure.


    She was in Leon''s room. However, the figure sitting in front of the writing table and reading a book quietly was obviously not him. The broad and ripped body was rather strange to her. But the familiar soul ripple and the familiar aura emanating from the body... eh, something was not right! Why was there a pungent smell of sulfur mixed with that familiar smell?


    Bleia drifted into the air noiselessly. In a flash, she arrived at the back of that familiar yet strange figure. The nails on her fingertips stretched out with incredible speed, and with a crimson glow, they turned extremely sharp. Meanwhile, her bloodshot eyes were on the figure''s neck. She could give it a ferocious bite any time she wanted.


    Following Bleia''s movement, two objects that had been placed on top of her body fell to the ground, producing a crystal clear noise.


    Alerted by the noise, the burly figure turned his head. When he saw Bleia, a delighted smile immediately emerged on his face.


    "You''ve awakened?!"


    It was a sincere smile; a smile full of delight!


    Bleia stopped her leaping movement. She narrowed her bloodshot eyes, asking with a cold voice, "Who are you? Why do you smell like Leon?"


    Looking at how nervous and panicked Bleia was, an expression wavering between laughing and crying appeared on Leon''s handsome face. It looked like after her long period of sleep, both of them had changed a lot, resulting in Bleia suspecting her own eyes.


    Leon stood up from the chair. In the past, he used to be as tall as Bleia, but now, he was a head taller than her. With his burly body, when both of them stood face to face, the pressure unintentionally caused by his body actually forced Bleia to take a step back.


    "To determine the real identity of a person, the best proof is his soul ripple. Bleia, can you sense my soul ripple now?" Leon asked in a calm manner.


    At the moment, he didn''t want to overly provoke Bleia, because she was like a strictly vigilant leopardess, looking as if Leon did something wrong, she would leap onto him and give him a fierce bite. Although his increased overall strength had given Leon more confidence, when they were in a tiny room with limited space, even five of him tied together would not be enough to hold against the ripping of a Pseudo-Mages level vampire.


    Yes, as Leon was very sensitive, he could tell that Bleia was a Pseudo-Mages level vampire now! According to the classification of Vampires from the books he had read, Bleia should possess her own noble title now.


    The titles of Vampire nobility were not the rankings used by ordinary mortal kingdoms. They were a form of hierarchy used by the Vampire clan based on the overall strength of their members. Due to the fact that vampires loved to stay hidden within human society, they disguised themselves as human nobles to conceal their true identity. Therefore they had adapted the same rankings used by human nobles.


    With Bleia''s current level, perhaps she could be given the title of Baron!


    Vampire, Knight, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, Duke, Grand Duke, Prince! These were the noble titles used by the vampire clan. Yet sometimes, the grade of their bloodline was not accurately reflected by the grade of their overall strength.


    For example, Bleia''s current grade of bloodline made her a Baron, but her overall strength was Pseudo-Mages. If she were met with a vampire who owned the best blood of the orthodox vampire family, it was highly possible that his overall strength would only be Intermediate Apprentice level, but he had already been given the title of Viscount.


    For any race other than the vampire, the title didn''t carry any meaning. But within the vampire clan, it would bring tremendous benefit. At least, for that Intermediate Apprentice level vampire Viscount, when he was faced with Bleia, it was highly possible that he would use the suppressive effect coming from the bloodline and force Bleia to become his slave. As to whether he would succeed or not, that would depend on the level of suppression from the bloodline and the fight between their wills.


    Bleia once again stared at Leon''s face wonderingly. She couldn''t stop sniffing the smell coming from Leon''s body. It was indeed Leon''s soul ripple! After making sure of this, the nervous expression on her face finally eased up a little bit. But, where did that pungent smell of sulfur and the feeling of sweetness come from?


    Once again, Bleia brought herself closer to Leon''s body, opened up her juicy lips, ready to give him a small bite so that she could taste his blood. But just as her tiny fangs approached Leon''s neck, a small fireball suddenly exploded and blew her away.


    With just a small swaying movement in the air, Bleia returned to Leon''s side. She stared right at a small flame that had suddenly burst out from Leon''s neck.


    It was a golden flame the size of a human thumb, quietly hovering on top of Leon''s skin and burning soundlessly. It did not produce the crackling noise of ordinary flames. After five seconds, perhaps not sensing any foreign hostility or intention of attack, the golden flame simply submerged into Leon''s skin without leaving a trace.


    Now Bleia finally understood. The fireball hadn''t been summoned by Leon using a magic spell, but was a self-defense mechanism put out by the instincts of his body.


    Curiously, Bleia stretched out a finger and pressed the spot where the flame had emerged from. But this time, though she pressed and stroked Leon''s skin with her silky smooth finger for quite some time, no flame appeared. Bleia startled for a brief moment. After that, she seemed to have learnt something.


    A shivering killing intention suddenly filled the air, and crackling noises were heard as Bleia''s nails started to grow longer. Filled up with Blood element energy, the tip of her nails became extremely sharp. Nearly at the same moment, right at the spot Bleia had her finger pressed, a golden flame burst out and ignited her finger.


    Her mind filled with curiosity, Bleia brought her hand to her face and looked at it. The flame actually detached from Leon''s body, stubbornly burning her fingertip and continuously causing damage to her.


    A blood red beam shot out from Bleia''s fingertip. Very soon, the Blood element energy neutralized and annihilated the flame. After that, she turned her head and looked into Leon''s face.


    "What exactly is this? It looks pretty amazing!"


    "The combination of Inferno Body and Fire Shield."


    "Where did you get that smell of sulfur on your body?"


    "It is the aftereffect of soaking in underground lava. I''m looking for a way to get rid of it."


    "Soaking in underground lava?"


    "You know, you''ve been sleeping for 32 days without waking up!" Leon spread his arms helplessly and continued, saying, "During this time, many things have happened and you need time to understand them all!"


    "Then tell me from the beginning!" Bleia''s furrowed her brows and curled her tiny lips. "I want you to tell me while I''m eating!"


    Within two hours, Bleia had swallowed five magical energy set meals continuously. Only then was she able to barely stop feeling the hunger from the depths of her soul. Meanwhile, Leon sat by her side, watching her wolf down her food, and he started to tell her what all had happened. Find more to read at empire


    Of course, Leon only told her what had actually happened. As for those speculations and doubts he had derived at the cave, he said not a word. After all, they were at the Mages Tower, which was controlled by others. Who knew if that Second Grade Mages Andre was watching them secretly. Therefore, to be on the safe side, he decided to keep the secret to himself!


    When Bleia finally stopped eating, Leon brought out the two presents and gave them to Bleia once again.


    Touching the exquisite Rose Armor and magical bow that she only had a vague impression of, Bleia tilted her head up and waited for Leon''s explanation, puzzled.


    "Both of them were the Fairy''s magical items, but I''ve modified them. Now you can use them with your Blood element energy. In the past, you were lacking a long-range offensive approach. Now with these two magical items, we''ve fixed your weakness!"


    Leon had always complained about Bleia''s simple approach to using her bloodline power. Although she had such an amazing innate talent, she still fought like a mad dog, trying to hurt the enemy by risking herself at the same time! If she was faced with an enemy who had the ability to stop her bloodsucking and regenerating ability, her fighting style was simply an act of courting death!


    Now, with the Rose Armor, her vulnerable defense had been patched up. And with the crimson magic bow, her lack of long-range offense had also been repaired. With both magical items, she could make use of her high agility, fighting with guerrilla style and slowly biting away the enemy''s offensive and defensive approach. If she was required to fight close-range, she could also put away the magic bow, change her weapon into her cruel claws, and lock the enemy in a close fight.


    Essentially, not only was she well-equipped for long-range and close-range battle, she also now possessed the necessary defense. With all of these, Bleia''s full combative ability was able to be unleashed!


    During this period of time, Leon had also been working busily on something else.


    After he completed the modification of Bleia''s magical items, he spent all of his time mastering Fire element magic spells and restoring his golems.


    The Inferno Body was just an elementary threshold on his path to the Focused Fire Element. Although it didn''t give any direct combative ability to Leon, it was the best foundation for all Fire element magic spells. For example, the combination of Inferno Body and Fire Shield had given Leon the self-defense mechanism that triggered automatically upon touch. Any behavior that would harm him at close-range would immediately be countered by the self-activating flame, and it brought three to five points of damage.


    Although the damage inflicted by the flame was not strong, it didn''t require him to cast any spell, and it also didn''t consume any of his Spirit. It was considered a pretty nifty self-defense ability!


    ...


    2069 Words

 Chapter 115 New Status

    Recently, Leon had been carried out an in-depth research on the Inferno Force Field.He had completed studying all prerequisite knowledge related to Inferno Force Field. Currently, he was able to cast it and maintain it for ten minutes. However, regarding combining his Inferno Body and the Inferno Force Field, there were still many tough questions to solve.


    According to the best scenario Leon had thought of, he wanted to make the damage caused by the auto triggering self-defense flame to be reflected onto the force field. With that, once any enemy entered his Inferno Force Field, the enemy would have to constantly suffer from the damage caused by the flames. This was almost equivalent to a small Ring of Fire magic spell!


    Leon had estimated this before, if he wanted to fully master the Ring of Fire, he would most probably have to wait until after he became an official Mage. As for now, he was trying to achieve it with an irregular way ¨C using a combination of Inferno Body and Inferno Force Field to eventually yield a result similar to that of the Ring of Fire.


    Yet, in order to achieve this, he still needed a huge amount of magic spell knowledge and analysis, and he also needed to further optimize the control of the Inferno Force Field''s nodes. In short, most of his energy had been reserved for the Chip, so it could perform the heavy load calculations. Meanwhile, Leon only needed to work on some simple tasks like reading, meditating and the restoring his golems.


    After the battle in the demonized forest, Leon''s team of golems had suffered heavy damage.


    The Lightning Giant had lost two auxiliary cores; it would be able to restore to its full power once they were replenished. However, out of the three Rock Snakes, two of them had been completely destroyed beyond repair. Therefore, during this period, besides hiding in his room and studying some related magic spells, Leon had spent most of his time in the Alchemy Laboratory.


    Through the enthusiastic promotion of Snorlax, those magical gemstones they had brought back from the Underground World had all sold out, bringing Leon a huge amount of magic crystals and handy magical equipment.


    Also, Leon had acquired a completely new body attribute, as his combative strength had skyrocketed.


    Name: Leon


    Species: Human


    Attributes: Strength ¨C 7.32 (+1), Agility ¨C 7.51 (+1), Physique ¨C 9.47 (+1), Spirit ¨C 16.67 (+3)


    Profession: Apprentice Mage (Advanced)


    Health Points: 34/34


    Experience: 871 / 1000


    Status: Healthy


    Skills: Scroll Copying, Spell Reading, Golem Crafting (Intermediate), Casting Mastery


    Personal Abilities: Inferno Body (Passive), The Burning Hand (Solidified), Fire Arrow (Solidified), Flaming Spear (Solidified), Fire Shield, Fire Damage Reflect (Proximity Passive)


    Magical Equipment: Fire Lord''s Scepter, Storage Waist Belt, Secret Scroll of Voodoo, Circlet of Nobility (Spirit +1), Ioun Stone (Spirit +2), Boots of Speed (Agility +1), Talisman of Force (Physique, Strength +1), Wand of Dispel, Wand of Healing, Wand of Prophecy, Green Spirit (Curse Resistance +5), Screaming Tree Branch.


    After spending a huge amount of magic crystals, Leon finally experienced the huge gap in overall strength by having most of his magical equipment replaced. There was a Star of Felune gemstone among the loot he had brought back from the Underground World, after having it cut and crafted by a Jewel Master, he had acquired an Ioun Stone which had the effect of Spirit +2. Together with the Circlet of Nobility that gave him +1 in Spirit, although Leon only had 16 points of Spirit, he was able to unleash a frightening combative strength of 19 points.


    This also meant, if Leon had pushed all the way to his limits in a battle, he would be able to simultaneously control six Rock Snakes, or two Lighting Giants and one Rock Snake. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire


    Nevertheless, crafting a Lightning Giant would require a Pseudo-Mage level core from the Storm Giant, which was a prohibited item that he could only obtain by luck, not by searching for it. Therefore, even after Snorlax nearly visited all the merchants within the surrounding regions of the Mage Tower, they never found another one.


    During this period of time, the name of Snorlax had become famous in the middle and lower tiers of the Mage Tower. Nearly all the merchants supported by Mage families had learned of its existence.


    In fact, within the Underground Cave region, all high-end materials and resources were almost monopolized by these merchants supported by Mage families. They purchased every single local product that was produced in the Underground Cave and sold them to other regions, earning a huge amount of profit through the price differences.


    Although other ordinary merchants or traveling tradesmen tried to achieve this as well, they just didn''t possess the abundant economic capabilities and a communication network that spread across the entire Mage Continent like those Mage Families'' merchants. There was no way they could compete with these giants. As the result, just by selling off a Night-Eyes Stone and a Talasite gemstone, Snorlax had quickly won over the hearts of these small merchants and traveling tradesmen.


    And perhaps, these powerful merchants had received a warning from the Mage families that supported them, though Snorlax had undercut them and sold off these high-end materials and resources, it didn''t face any attacks from anyone. With that, it simply created the mysterious and mighty image of Snorlax. Most of the mysterious magical equipment Leon acquired actually came from these traveling lower grade tradesmen.


    Leon was the one who had the most understanding about his own overall strength. Currently, a large percentage of his overall strength was focused on golems. At least, until he could complete the framework of his Fire element magic spells, he could only rely on his golems to maintain a powerful offensive strength.


    Since he didn''t have to worry about his offensive strength, Leon had shifted the focus of his research in Fire element magic spell to defensive magic spells. Whether it was the Fire Shield, the Inferno Body or the Inferno Force Field, all of them were Fire element defensive magic spells. As long as he wasn''t facing an Mage level opponent, even if he had to fight a Pseudo-Mage, it would be very difficult for his opponent to bypass his multi-layers Fire element defense when surrounded by a group of golems.


    But, as there were numerous magic spells of all kind, and most of the lower tier magic spells were invisible, incorporeal and tough to predict. Therefore, in order to avoid any accidents, Leon had crazily purchased some higher grade magic wands.


    The Wand of Dispel could eliminate some abnormal statuses that could be applied to his body. For example, poison, slow, frost, paralysis and some others.


    The Wand of Healing could help cure some obvious injuries in his body.


    The Wand of Prophecy could predict the direction where the dangers might come from in advance.


    Aa the Dagon region was a place with an abundant choice of items, Leon even planned to prepare a preventive measure or healing approach for each possible magic spell attack that he might have to deal with in the Underground Cave. Preparedness prevents calamities, this was the core belief that Leon had in his life!


    After equipping himself, Leon was confident that he could even fight against those Pseudo-Mage level experts. Of course, not an ultimate expert like Hulk! When faced with an ultimate expert like Hulk, the golem crafted using an advanced apprentice level core was still too fragile. It was really difficult to use the characteristic of element golems to reduce Hulk''s overall strength.


    If Leon really wanted to fight with Hulk, perhaps he would have to promote the level of all his Golems to the Pseudo-Mage level and use two Lightning Giants as his primary combat force. Therefore, though with his current combative strength, Leon already had the ability to imperil Hulk, he still lacked the confidence to defeat him!


    As for those apprentices under Hulk, Leon wasn''t being arrogant, but if they were to fight fairly, no Apprentice Mage would be his match!


    Nevertheless, though his overall strength was improving at a steady pace, Leon dared not stepped into the Underground Cave again. The reason was simple. After the battle of demonized forest, one Fallen Pseudo-Mage was killed and the others were severely wounded, and the Elysium City had announced a kill order toward Leon. As long as he stepped into the Underground Cave, Elysium City would try to kill him at all costs!


    This also meant, at that point in time, it was highly possible that he would see a Fallen Mage from the group who ambushed him halfway.


    For this reason, after Leon learned the news from Mage Angus, he was left completely speechless. He had no choice but obediently throw himself in secluded cultivation, never stepping out of the Mage Tower.


    Though the surface Mages had occupied the dominant position in this region, when those Fallen Mages were determined to kill an Apprentice Mage, they would have hundreds if not even thousands of methods to achieve their goal. Therefore, after Leon offered a few of his most precious gemstones to Angus, his name was finally removed from the compulsory mission and the training camp missions. Now, he could just spend his sweet time in the Mage Tower until the compulsory missions had ended.


    What to do? This Mage Angus was the appraiser for their compulsory mission!


    While Leon and Bleia were spending their days leisurely, other team members who had come here together with them were in a bad situation. After two Advanced Apprentices had died and Leon and Bleia dropping out, the team of six remaining apprentices tried to recruit some temporary teammates in the Mage Tower, hoping to get some help in completing their mission. But too bad, no one answered their call.


    Left with no alternative, they could only stick together, spending days and nights rushing between five mission sites. For the mission duration of fifteen days, they would have to spend eleven to twelve days to visit all five mission sites. And after they returned, they were only left with two to three days of resting time, before they needed to attend the next mission.


    Also, after the death of a Fallen Pseudo-Mage, the attacks coming from the Elysium City directed at the surface apprentices had become more frequent. Nearly every day, the six-person team would have to face all kinds of ambushes and traps. If not for the strong overall strength of three Pseudo-Mage working hand-in-hand, perhaps it would have been extremely difficult for them to stand up to these frightening attack that kept repeating day after day.


    But as the result of going through this intensive battlefield and warfare training of magic spells, all six of their overall strengths had grown at an incredible speed. Compared to when they had just arrived this place a few months ago, though they still maintained the same grade, their true combative strength had doubled.


    It was especially true for Sabrina, who was the leader of the team. Vaguely, she was now portraying a slight fiercer killing intent and a ferocious manner, just like the Black-hand Kevin they had met when they just arrived.


    There was one time that Leon and Bleia had bumped into the team who had just come back from their mission in the Mage Tower. The hostility between them had reached to a level where no hiding was needed.


    Although they had heard that Leon had put out an astonishing combative strength in this place and even defeated a Bloodline Pseudo-Mage who was about to advanced into an official Mage. But, after experiencing the tough life in the Underground World, they thought their combative strength had improved a lot. Hence, when they bumped into each other, a fight had nearly broken out.


    The location they had bumped into each other at was right outside Mage Angus''s residence. Leon and Bleia were here to ask some questions related to magic spells, while the team was here to submit their mission items after completing another round of Underground World training.


    The team members who had had a hard time kept staring at both Leon and Bleia angrily, but not their leader, Sabrina. She was seen wearing a smile on her face as she greeted both of them.


    When Leon and Bleia had left the place, Sabrina was still looking at the direction where they had gone. She didn''t say anything and was pondering about something in her mind.


    "What''s wrong, chief? Why are you caring about two bastards? If not for their dropping out from our team halfway, our training mission wouldn''t have become so tough!" The Thunder element Pseudo-Mage, Leo came closer to her and whispered. From the way he talked, it wasn''t tough to tell he had truly submitted to Sabrina.


    Hiding under her silver mask, Sabrina''s mechanical eyes were glowing greenly. With a cold voice, she said, "You never noticed that, didn''t you? One of them is a Pseudo-Mage now, and the other is an Advanced Apprentice!"


    The team members who had just crowded around were immediately dumbstruck!


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    2191 Words

 Chapter 116 Tower Again

    Two months later.The gradual descent of the flying ship in the center of the square signaled that the compulsory mission of the Underground Cave had come to an end.


    Just like the time when they came here, it was the same masculine guy wearing a golden armor who was in charge of escorting them back.


    When he saw Leon and the other apprentices, a smile with unknown meanings emerged on the masculine man''s face.


    "Hahaha, little bastards, how was the life in the Underground World? Let me see... not bad, not bad at all! Out of ten apprentices, there are still seven of you left. It looks like those underground fellows are being courteous to you. Eh? How come there is one additional Pseudo-Mage? It seems someone is doing pretty well! Haha, is that little beginner apprentice the first one to get killed? How brave is the mere beginner apprentice to come to this place, he was just courting death! Hahaha..."


    Hearing how the masculine man lectured them with a self-entertaining manner, an unsightly expression appeared on the faces of these few apprentices.


    During the last underground patrol for the mission team, they were struck by a planned ambush from the Fallen Apprentices. The Advanced Apprentice, Bruce, was killed on that trip, while the rest managed to flee with different degrees of injuries. Hence, when they heard the mocking words from the masculine man, they immediately lowered their heads, as their eyes were filled with flames of anger.


    With a bitter expression, Leon bowed slightly and greeted, "Master Sammir, I''m the Beginner Apprentice you mentioned!"


    The haughty laughter of Sammir suddenly came to a stop.


    His eyes went wide as he stared right at Leon''s face. Since Leon had changed tremendously, only now could he slightly see Leon''s previous look.


    "You''re an Advanced Apprentice now! Kid, so you''re the one who had the best luck from this place! Alright, alright! I don''t care a shit about how you live your life here, I want everybody aboard the ship now! I still need to rush back and report the completion of the task!"


    Without saying anything else, the group started to board the flying ship one after another one. As Leon''s contracted servant, after paying one magic crystal, Snorlax was allowed to board the ship as well.


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    After an indistinct swaying movement, the flying ship rose high into the sky. The group of apprentices leaned on the side of the ship and stared at the crowd and buildings that became smaller and smaller. Their mind was filled with complicated feelings. Like birds that had managed to escape from the cage, everyone''s minds relaxed. Those who were familiar with each other even gathered in a group, happily sharing their experiences while laughing.


    However, huge gaps between each team still existed. The team of seven apprentices was split into two distinct groups.


    During the last few days before leaving the Underground Cave''s Mage Tower, Leon ordered Snorlax to sell off all magical gemstones and materials that he wouldn''t be using in the coming days, while purchasing a huge amount of demon beasts'' meat, magical knowledge and element crystal cores that they could find in the market.


    He knew very well that comparing to this place, the Swampy Tower was simply a desolate land. Once they returned to that place, they wouldn''t be able to enjoy the daily magical energy meal anymore. Not only that, there wasn''t any apprentice markets, so no more merchants that provided them with numerous resources. At that point in time, even if they wanted to be well-fed and well-clothed, they would have to depend on themselves!


    The huge amount of resources and goods had completely filled his storage waist belt. In order to bring everything they had purchased back, Leon even purchased another five to six storage waist belts. But even so, there was still many materials that couldn''t fit. To solve this problem, Snorlax simply placed them into a huge bag and carried it on its back. No matter where it went, it just couldn''t tear itself away from the huge bag.


    The flying ship continued to fly high in the sky. As they were at the inner area of the well-developed human colony, the ship was flying with its top speed. When they had come here previously, the Underground Cave was the last stop, but now it had become the first stop. Therefore, as the ship stopped at the mission sites in different regions, more and more apprentices were boarding the ship.


    Compared to the arrogant manner these apprentices had when they first came, it seemed the hardship had rubbed off their sharp edges. They had become more reserved and composed. But once there were more than a hundred apprentices aboard the ship, it was inevitable that the ship had become a noisy scene.


    The group that kept walking around the deck and made the most clamor were those Advanced Apprentices. Although Intermediate Apprentice had the most numbers here, most of the time, they would just serve as the backdrop. But still, the real stars among the apprentice circle were those Pseudo-Mages.


    After their training, these Pseudo-Mages would certainly become the future hope of their families who received focused cultivation. Therefore, taking this opportunity, they would also like to get in touch with their competitors of the same rank.


    In the eyes of a Pseudo-Mage, he or she could only see another Pseudo-Mage!


    When the flying ship had passed the Dagon and Bracada region, there were more than ten Pseudo-Mages gathering on the ship, including Bleia, who was a Blood element Pseudo-Mage who had just made a breakthrough and... Worm controller Blake.


    Yes, unfortunately, that Worm controller Blake had also successfully leveled up as Pseudo-Mage during his training!


    Perhaps he was satisfied with his own progress, when he boarded the flying ship at the Bracada mission site, he didn''t cover his face with the cap like how he usually had. Compared to before, his face had become uglier. The complexion of his face was dark and dull. Also, an array of tiny, bizarre looking eyes surrounded his purple pupils. All the eyes were blinking at the same time, sending chills down one''s spine. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His mouth had replaced by a lotus shaped organ that looked like the mouthparts of a beetle. Whenever the black mouthparts moved or opened, one could even see the blood red mouth cavity and green saliva inside.


    It wasn''t hard to tell that Worm controller had gone deeper in the modification of his own body. Currently, he could even be addressed as a ''half-bug man''! Though Leon had felt disdain in regards to such behavior of abandoning a human body totally, he had to admit, among all the apprentices he had met, Worm controller was the only one who treated himself in the cruelest manner!


    The overall powerful strength had given Blake strong confidence, allowing him to ignore the eyes and judgment from any outsiders. It was easy to tell from the way how he stepped onto the ship with his head held high in the air. His purple compound eyes gazed across the lively crowd, before finally resting on Bleia and Leon''s face. The Advanced Apprentices who followed and regarded him as their chief actually sensed a feelings of anger coming from Blake.


    When they followed the gaze of their chief and saw Bleia, who was wearing a red dress and red armor with a red bow on her back, a captivated and intoxicated expression immediately appeared on their faces. However, when they sensed the reserved yet powerful spiritual ripples emanating from Bleia, they were struck by awe. Without hesitation, they quickly put away their lustful looks and bent their bodies slightly to show respect to Bleia.


    A cold and strikingly pretty woman like her was actually a Pseudo-Mage? This group of men couldn''t help by sigh emotionally inwardly, complaining about the unfair treatment that the Will of the World had shown.


    After gazing at Bleia coldly for some time, finally, Blake pulled down his cap and covered his face. Silently, he walked over to a corner. Throughout the entire process, his gaze had never stopped on Leon''s face for more than one second.


    "Looks like we''ll have more fights when we return! This Blake seemed to also have gained a lot during this trip." Leon wasn''t bothered by the disdain Worm controller had for him, instead, he banteringly spoke with a smile on his face.


    "Hmph. No matter how deeply hidden his abilities are, he is no way a match for you. Among all many people I''ve met so far, you''re the master in the art of disguise! It is undisputable that you possess such a powerful ability, yet you just pretend that you''re a harmless apprentice, waiting for some idiots to poke their heads in front of you and only to get themselves killed by you. Are you addicted to self-torture?" Bleia refuted in a rather discontented manner.


    She was feeling doubtful now! By pushing her up to the position of Pseudo-Mage, was this damn bastard doing it for her own good, or just out of his usual habit of pushing her to the front so he could hide behind and plan evil plots against the enemy?


    At the last mission site of Bracada region, Super girl had boarded the ship too.


    When they suddenly met, not only did they not have any joyful feeling of reunion, the atmosphere seemed to have turned heavier and more bizarre.


    Super girl was still at the same rank ¨C an Advanced Apprentice. But during the training mission, she had also had significant growth in her overall strength. But compared to Worm controller and Bleia, obviously, she was out of luck.


    Previously, in order to stand up against Bleia, an ''outsider'' who had suddenly emerged, the relationship between Super girl and Worm controller had been rather harmonious. But now, since Worm controller had become a Pseudo-Mage, an estrangement suddenly occurred between her and Worm controller. Super girl walked alone to a corner and found herself a resting spot, showing no intention of congratulating Worm controller on his breakthrough.


    Her behavior had puzzled Leon. He started to ponder about the true relationship between both of them.


    Soon, when the flying ship entered the Erathia region, more than two hundred sixty Apprentice Mages had boarded the ship. As for those who didn''t board the ship, most probably they were killed during the mission.


    There was a total of eleven Pseudo-Mages when they first came, but on their return trip, the number had reached to fourteen. This also meant, during the training mission, three lucky Advanced Apprentices had taken the leap and became the fortunate ones. Everyone was looking at these three lucky apprentices, casting countless glances of unexplainable envy and hatred, buried deep in their minds.


    After tens of days of flying, when the ship entered the center region of Zhentarim, one after another, the apprentices started to leave the flying ship. Eventually, Leon and few others had smoothly arrived at the Swampy Tower.


    As their group was heading to the Dagon region, which was the most remote area of the Zhentarim territory, they were the last group of apprentices that had returned to the Swampy Tower. As the result, those apprentices that gathered at the entrance of the Swampy Tower represented nearly all the official apprentices of this place.


    While he was still on the ship, Leon gave the crowd a rough gaze. Within seconds, the Chip had given him the numbers of apprentices he saw: thirty-seven apprentices. Including the nine apprentices on the ship, the total was only forty-six. Comparing to sixty-two apprentices that had attended the mission, one-third of the apprentices were gone.


    Presumably, among all Mage Towers, a depletion ratio like this was considered the highest. And obviously, the reason for this was closely related to the slacking off of Mage Eclivel, the master of Swampy Tower. In the previous years, Leon and all the other apprentices were locked up in this magical swampy land, a place with sparse resources. During normal days, in order to carry out a magical experiment, they even had to restlessly harvest the materials themselves or exchange with other apprentices.


    As the result, compared to those apprentices from other Mage Towers, the overall strength of the apprentices from Swampy Tower was shockingly weak, and they were poor to a jaw-dropping extent. And by participating in the dangerous apprentice training with such overall strength, any minor accident would be a life-threatening event for them!


    Even for those apprentices who had lived through the training mission, most of them completed their mission with the poorest results, hence their improvement wasn''t much. On the contrary, led by Ellen, the ten apprentices who stayed back were covering their face with a flattering smile. Facing with these apprentices who risked their life but harvested a little, they felt that they really had great foresight and had made a wise decision.


    But, when the last batch of nine apprentices stepped down from the flying ship, everyone at the scene couldn''t help but change their expressions drastically!


    ...


    2192 Words

 Chapter 117 Experiments

    Bleia had become a Pseudo-Mage?!Though everybody was surprised that Worm controller Blake had a breakthrough, it wasn''t something unexpected. After all, he had been one of the strongest three in the Swampy Tower!


    However, Bleia''s breakthrough had confounded these people, and they simply felt it hard to believe.


    Therefore, overshadowed by Bleia''s huge glory of becoming a Pseudo-Mage, the fact that Leon had also made the leap and become an Advanced Apprentice was merely discussed among the Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices. For those Advanced Apprentices who held the discourse power of apprentices, they just locked their gazes onto the two brand new Pseudo-Mages.


    Virtually overnight, the power structure of Swampy Tower was going to change!


    As the newly appointed Apprentice Leader, Brandon had prepared a long welcoming speech full of beautiful words and affection. But when he stood right in front of the evil looking Blake and the ghostly Bleia, he was instantly pressured by the shivering aura emanating from both of them. His body started to tremble, and he couldn''t utter out a single word that would be fitting for the atmosphere.


    "We''re tired, and we need rest. Everybody just go back to where you belong!" Bleia, in the same self-centered manner, said with a cold voice.


    Only when she was facing her prey would she let out a pretty and coquettish smile that came from the bottom of her heart. As for these people of no importance, to be honest, even if they stretched their neck and placed themselves in front of her, she would be too lazy to take a bite.


    Faced with such an overbearing ''subordinate'', Brandon''s overall strength was simply not enough for him to do anything. As a result, he wittily moved aside, clearing the path that led to the entrance.


    Following behind Leon, Snorlax was seen having six to seven fully packed waist pouches tied around its waist, and carrying a huge bag on its back, as it also staggered into the Swampy Tower.


    According to Mage Eclivel''s temperament, it was obvious that he wouldn''t waste any time in welcoming the apprentices'' return. Of course, if he was informed earlier that two of his apprentices had successfully become Pseudo-Mages, perhaps he might have changed his mind and showed his face, trying to win over their hearts.


    After all, Pseudo-Mages were a unique group of apprentices! If someone was lucky enough to make the breakthrough, that Pseudo-Mage would instantly become an existence of the same grade as him. If Sarubo family knew he had conveniently ''wasted'' drawing in Pseudo-Mages, those advanced Mages of the family would have definitely invited him for a ''polite'' discussion.


    Therefore, in this isolated and private resource site, even Advanced Apprentices were mere targets he could torture and bully as he like. But when it came to Pseudo-Mages, it would be a totally different case. Any damage done to Pseudo-Mages was behavior that strangled the future of the Mage Families.


    Instead, as long as Eclivel reported the news about the two Pseudo-Mages to Sarubo family, the management of the family would definitely reward him handsomely for the ''cultivating'' credit he had put out. Also, the yearly resources, materials he received from the family would also be increased significantly.


    Of course, if Blake and Bleia wished to gain a further support in resources from the Sarubo Family, they would have to sign a magical contract with them, using the years of service they could provide to the family after they became an official Mage in exchange for a portion of resources. The longer they served, the more resources they would receive. If they were willing to join the family, they could even receive the best cultivation conditions from the family.


    Hence, the same night after Leon and the others returned to the Swampy Tower, Blake and Bleia were called up to the fifth floor of the tower by Mage Eclivel. There, they met another official Mage from Sarubo Family, Mage Keoghan.


    From the introduction given by this Mage Keoghan, both of them had roughly learned the basic situation of Sarubo Family.


    One thousand three hundred years ago, Sarubo Family was established by a great Fourth Grade Element Mage, Sarubo. During that period, Sarubo was the deputy chairman of the Zhentarim Association and had a great reputation in the center region of the continent. And just five hundred years ago, this founder of the family had even made a breakthrough and became a Fifth Grade Principle Mage. After that, he had traveled to the Ocean of Stars and was never seen again.


    As the matter of fact, in the Mage Continent, this was the most common situation for the nearly all Mage Families!


    Every single Mage Family was founded by a mighty Mage. If this Mage stepped into Fifth Grade successfully, he would inevitably have to travel to the Ocean of Stars, searching and conquering those weaker planes in the vast ocean of stars. Any Mage who failed to attain Fifth Grade would have to face his death one day.


    When an Mage Family lost the deterrent force coming from a powerful Mage, their inevitable fate would be devoured by other Mage Families. Those families who had a Fifth Grade Mage conquering the weaker planes elsewhere were considered stable, after all, though the Fifth Grade Mage wasn''t allowed to return to the World of Mage personally, he could still supply the family with the resources he found at the outside world.


    With these premium resources coming from other planes, the family would be able to maintain their power, while constantly cultivating new blood to supply the vacuum left over by the departure of the family''s experts. On the other hand, the reason those Fifth Grade Mages were willing to supply the hard earned resources to their families, was so that the family could cultivate more Mages that he could use to conquer new planes.


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    When they were on a major scale conquering mission at another place, the Mages coming from their family would be the main force used to expand their kingdom.


    Therefore, when Blake and Bleia signed the family contract with the Sarubo Family, after they became an official Mage, unavoidably, they would have to participate in the plane warfare initiated by the Sarubo Family.


    According to the introduction by Mage Keoghan, currently Sarubo Family didn''t have any Fourth Grade Mages. They only have one Third Grade Mage, one Second Grade Mage and seven First Grade Mages. Among the regions ruled by Zhentarim Association, an overall strength like this was only considered an intermediate force.


    Sarubo Family was stationed at Feidnan City, two thousand six hundred miles from the Swampy Tower. Meanwhile, this place was just one of the four major resource sites of the family and was stationed by Mage Eclivel.


    After briefly explaining the situation of the family, Mage Keoghan started to ask about their decisions. They had to choose between exchanging their portion of resources with the years of service, or joining the family in order to receive full fledged support. Unexpectedly, Blake chose to join the family, while Bleia went for ten years of service.


    Actually, if there were shorter years of service, Bleia would have rather chosen that, as that was also the decision that she made after discussing with Leon. But too bad, the minimum years of service Keoghan gave her was ten years!


    Soon, both of them left their own magical seal on the magical contract drafted by Mage Keoghan. From now onwards, their status and position would be completely different than that of other apprentices.


    As they had made different choices, the treatment they received was also completely different!


    After Worm controller Blake made the decision, he was immediately given a family chest badge by Keoghan, and was urged to move his residence up to the fourth level of the tower as soon as possible. That was a region that no ordinary apprentice could set their feet on! Though Bleia was also allowed to temporarily stay at the fourth floor, she had to pay a fee of two magic crystals every day.


    As for the reason, the density of a particular Elementium at the fourth floor''s residence could be controlled, which had a tremendous benefits for their meditation and the modification of their body. As Bleia was only employed by the family, obviously she couldn''t enjoy this benefit exclusive only to the members of the family.


    After Mage Keoghan left, Bleia and Mage Eclivel carried out an in-depth discussion. And through a tedious bargain, both of them eventually came out with a fair deal where both parties were satisfied. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After agreeing to give a huge bucket of her own blood, Bleia got herself and Leon the right to move their residence to the fourth floor. Along with that, Bleia also promised after she became an official Mage, she would not seek revenge against Eclivel. She also promised to provide her Mage level blood sample, allowing Eclivel to complete his research.


    Strictly speaking, the experiment Eclivel carried out on Bleia was in fact, a bloodline experiment that couldn''t be known by the public. Thanks to Bleia''s good fortune, she was able to survive the painful bloodline modification that could get her killed, and was lucky enough to become a mutated vampire.


    She was a mutated vampire because the vampire bloodline Mage Eclivel possessed wasn''t of pure blood, and the source was somewhat dubious. Therefore, after repeatedly being preached at by Leon, Bleia expressed her willingness to forget the grudge from the past, but with the condition that she needed some samples and data of the source bloodline.


    As a result, everybody was happy with the outcome, and both parties had obtained the things they wanted the most.


    Bleia vacillating and staggered her way back to Leon''s residence, threw the things in her hand over to Leon before she threw herself onto the bed and fainted. What to do? She had lost a huge amount of blood, even with her body constitution, she would need a good sleep before she could recover.


    After settling Bleia in a good position, Leon calmly sat back on his wooden table and started to give the small test tube in front of him a careful and serious examination.


    It was a glass test tube the size of a human finger, and wasn''t too long either. Bringing it in front of his face and staring at it seriously, Leon could only see some nearly dried up blood at the bottom of this test tube.


    Actually, that Mage Eclivel was a half-baked bloodline researcher. During an occasion, he was sent to investigate a haunting event in a territory ruled by Sarubo Family. He was met with a vampire who had hid deeply in the human society.


    Though three Mages of the family were working hand-in-hand, they still couldn''t defeat this powerful vampire. At the end, the Second Grade Mage of the family struck personally, only then they were able to expel that fellow from their family''s territory. When they searched through the mysterious castle where this vampire lived a secluded life, Mage Eclivel accidentally found a test tube containing highly concentrated vampire blood.


    Obviously, that escaped vampire was also carrying out some kind of secret research related to bloodlines.


    Hence, Mage Eclivel secretly concealed this war trophy, and hid in this remote and desolate Swampy Tower. Without anybody else''s knowledge, he conducted research regarding the mutated vampire.


    But too bad, most of his initial experiments had failed miserably. All the creatures injected with the vampire blood were dead because of the disintegration of their genes. Among all bloodline creatures, the bloodline gene of the vampire was considering tyrannical. When any other bloodlines tried to merge with it, they would always become nourishment to it, and it was impossible to have the situation where both would co-exist.


    Initially, Eclivel thought it was because those test creatures he used had an overly weak body constitution, making them unable to withstand the violent bloodline modification. Therefore, he used the authority he had and started to run the experiment on apprentices of the Swampy Tower.


    Three Intermediate Apprentices were injected with the source vampire blood sample; Bleia was the only survivor. Undoubtedly, she had become the key to his future experiments.


    When it came to vampires, locking them up and conducting the research would yield no results. Because vampires needed to keep sucking the blood of experts to purify and cleanse their own bloodline. That was the reason why Eclivel had set Bleia free, with the intention that she could evolve by herself and complete the purification of her vampire bloodline.


    It was worth mentioning that his view on this matter was accurate. At least, Bleia''s current progress had gone way beyond his expectation. Presumably, through analyzing and experimenting with both the old and new vampire blood, he would be able to make a step forward in his research of mutated vampires.


    Therefore, since he was given with new experimental material, Mage Eclivel generously gave Bleia a drop of the source blood. Nevertheless, this drop of source blood was almost reaching the end of its life expectancy and would soon lose all its gene activity!


    ...


    2201 Words

 Chapter 118 A meeting

    The next day.It was a rare occasion, as Mage Eclivel had called all the Apprentice Mages of the Swampy Tower together. In front of everyone, he announced the new statuses of Blake, Bleia and Leon. From now onwards, the three of them would no longer be bound by the system of apprentices, and could arrange their lives according to their own will. Also, they had become the people who had the highest authority in the entire tower, under Mage Eclivel.


    Within the crowd, the newly appointed Apprentice Leader, Brandon''s expression turned extremely awful, but at the same time, was mixed with a helpless look.


    Pseudo-Mage!


    They were a group of monsters standing between Apprentice Mages and official Mages! S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was tough to predict which of them would have a greater chance to become an official Mage smoothly. Therefore, for all the lower ranked apprentices, offending any one of them could turn into a future catastrophe!


    But... but Brandon had deeply offended one of them.


    Hence, right when the meeting was dismissed, Brandon immediately paid a visit to Blake, while bringing along all the resources he could find.


    Since Blake, Bleia and Leon had moved their residences to the fourth level of Mage Tower, even Brandon, the Apprentice Leader, had to send a visiting request prior to meeting Blake. Then, he had to stand mortifyingly at the entrance to the fourth floor, waiting for approval from Blake.


    And this was still considering nothing! What angered him the most was that that damn Leon had actually brought his contracted creature, a goblin, to the fourth floor without feeling ashamed, and made it one of the residents there. This had further stirred up Brandon''s hatred!


    A goblin, a cheap, insignificant, dirty, cowardly... goblin, how could it rise above his head? Whenever this thought came into Brandon''s mind, he felt like his heart was filled with weeds and felt extremely depressed!


    No one knew what had happened during the secret meeting between Brandon and Worm controller. But when Brandon left Blake''s room, he was seen holding his head high and once again resumed the arrogant and lofty manner he had previously.


    While Brandon''s mood had transformed, a small meeting was carried out inside of Super Girl''s room. There were only two participants, Super Girl and Fatal Shot Evan.


    It was not long before this, in order to keep the same pace and protect the interest of their minions, the strongest three of the Swampy Tower had a regular meeting like this. But today, after Worm controller Blake had become a Pseudo-Mage, the once harmonious circle of strongest three had become a past tense. Everything had changed from the root!


    "How is it? Is your circle still stable?" A shivering glow could be seen filling Super Girl''s eyes. She had shed off her previous violent and reckless attitude and was now portraying the calm and intelligent nature of a proper Advanced Apprentice.


    "Benson and Carl made the call for a meeting, those few fence-sitters used the excuse of conducting an important magic spell experiment and didn''t turn up. Looks like they are going to switch sides." Fatal Shot Evan let out a helpless and bitter smile, before continuing, "One of the hardcore fans of Worm controller, Chris, is recruiting new followers, those fence-sitters might have been getting in touch with him secretly. Hmph..."


    Having finished saying that, Evan raised his head and gazed at Super Girl, asking, "How about you? What is the situation from your side?"


    "Hmph... not any better than yours! Donna can''t make those few subordinates listen to her anymore and was complaining to me just now!" Experience exclusive tales on empire


    Both apprentices sat facing each other in silence, with their minds filled with disconsolate emotions.


    At the beginning of the compulsory mission, they had been underestimating this training mission, and didn''t push themselves too hard. Super Girl only chose a Red mission, which was not really dangerous. On the other side, Evan even chose a lower risk Orange mission. Now, faced with two new Pseudo-Mages who had raised up abruptly, as the veteran Advanced Apprentices, they felt discontented and helpless about changing the situation.


    After remained silent for a brief moment, Evan finally spoke again.


    "Judging from the current situation, the relationship between Blake and that Bleia is rather hostile. In your opinion, do we need to decide which side we should join?"


    "Between the two of them, who do you want to join?" Super Girl''s face darkened. As the most experienced and oldest Advanced Apprentice, asking her to put down her face and became a minion for someone else, she... she just couldn''t imagine the horrifying and humiliating life she was going to face.


    "Perhaps, if we wait for a few more days, we''ll not be able to make the decision ourselves." Evan was rather calm and realistic. "Bleia is too arrogant. Besides her peacock, she never cares about other people''s feelings and face, and she won''t be taking care of our current interests. So..."


    "So you want to get in touch with Blake?"


    "Yes! Although Worm controller has a slightly extreme mind, after all, we had been getting along for a long time. As long as we give up some of our interest, I think he''ll accept us. No matter what, if he wants to deal with that Bleia, he will need the help from both of us. No matter how many insignificant apprentices he recruits, they are completely useless in fighting when with a Pseudo-Mage. We are the only ones he could use!"


    Super Girl snorted depressingly, holding back her anger, as she nodded in aLeonent to Fatal Shot''s opinion.


    However, before she could say anything, the deep, hoarse voice of Worm controller suddenly rang out through the secret room that only the both of them were in.


    "I certainly didn''t expect that Fatal Shot could still judge the hour and size up the situation so accurately. You''re right, I really do need the help from both of you!"


    Both apprentices were aghast.


    Super Girl widened her big eyes and quickly gazed at surroundings of her own room.


    Under the restless glances of both apprentices, some noises suddenly came out from the shadow behind Evan''s back. Soon, a strange looking scorpion with peculiar appearance squeezed out from the shadow, waving its huge pincers towards both of them. On the black crust behind of this scorpion, a pale human face emerged, it was the ugly face of Blake after his mutation.


    "Hello, long time no see! How come you never informed me about your meeting?"


    Super Girl and Fatal Shot remained silent and didn''t respond to Blake''s question. However, their flickering eyes had betrayed the nervous emotions hiding in their mind. They hadn''t expected this at all, with just a small tier difference between them, they could no longer detect Worm controller'' magic spell approach.


    "You don''t have to be panic. Just as Fatal Shot said, I''m in urgent need of your help. If you can condescend to me and join the Worm controller''s alliance, I, Blake, will welcome you with open arms!"


    The corner of Super Girl''s lips twitched violently a few times.


    She was not an idiot, since this so-called alliance was named after Blake''s title, then he would be the true master. To say the least, they were his allies, but as the matter of fact, they were just his advanced level hatchet men! Though they were discontent by this, Super Girl still wanted to hear the true motives of Worm controller.


    "What do you need us to do for you?"


    "Help me watch every single move of those two. When times come, help me in fighting against them. Don''t worry, I won''t make you fight face-to-face against that Bleia. If we really engage in a fight, I''ll just need the two of you to pin down that Leon. I''ll handle Bleia myself!"


    After hearing what Blake said, a hardly concealed shocking expression emerged on their faces. Evan couldn''t bear himself and asked, "You only need both of us to pin down that Leon? He... he only just became an Advanced Apprentice! For a newbie like this, even I alone should be able to defeat him, right?"


    "Hehehe..." The human face on the back of the scorpion let out Blake''s signature gruesome laugh, "Fatal Shot, don''t think so highly of yourself! Perhaps, both of you haven''t found out this. In that team of Bleia and Leon, it is obvious that Leon is the mastermind behind everything. Or, put this way, he is the key person on their team!"


    "What?"


    "Impossible!"


    The response Super Girl and Fatal Shot gave out was exactly the same as the one they had when they first heard Worm controller had become a Pseudo-Mage, extreme shock. Worm controller Blake, who was now a Pseudo-Mage, actually gave such serious consideration to the once little Beginner Apprentice. This... this was really out of their expectations.


    Could that Leon really have some strange abilities?


    "Don''t you forget this, after all, Bleia is just an inferior vampire who had her bloodline mutated! With such a lousy bloodline and innate talent, wanting to have quick progress in her rank is just like a fat hope. So, the only possible reason that brought her such a mystical transformation would be that strange boy whose overall strength had skyrocketed. This Leon is the only person on their team whose true strength I can''t tell!"


    Evan remained silent for a while, before asking, "Bleia is now a Pseudo-Mage, will Master Mage agree to your behavior of publicly attacking her?"


    Right after he finished his words, Fatal Shot immediately heard the arrogant and gruesome laugh of Blake.


    "Hehehe... I''ve signed the family contract, yet she only signed on an employment contract. So, if something really happens, who do you think the family would help? Also... if there aren''t any orders coming from the top, why do you think I would be so passionate about fighting against a Pseudo-Mage, who is the same rank with me?"


    "What you are saying is... the person who wants to deal with Bleia is Ander..." Evan cried out involuntarily.


    "Shut up! Fatal Shot, if you don''t want to get killed in the dark, then stop these damn words in your mouth. There are things you just have to do and don''t have to get to the bottom of and will bring no good to you!" Worm controller Blake hurriedly interrupted Evan, a threatening expression finally showing up on his ugly bug-like face.


    Evan arduously swallowed a lump in his throat. He exchanged a glance with Super Girl and eventually, nodded his head silently.


    "Hehehe... I knew you''d make the smartest decision. Alright, when the time comes, I''ll contact you again. Fatal Shot will keep an eye on them, as for Super Girl, you''ll train those Intermediate Apprentices, so we can put them to good use later. Hmph, once I find the right opportunity, we''ll teach both of them a good lesson!"


    After saying that, the evil and arrogant cries of bugs echoed out in the room. In an instant, the black scorpion exploded into a puddle of poisonous liquid, before slowly submerging into the floor and disappearing without a trace.


    Inside the room, Super Girl and Fatal Shot sat facing each other in silence!


    Meanwhile, inside a secret room within the fourth floor of the Swampy Tower, the scorpion who had suddenly disappeared from Super Girl''s room squeezed out from the floor, climbing onto a somber looking figure who had his body completely covered in a black cloak.


    The somber figure suddenly stretched out a bizarre looking huge hand, half flesh and half shell, picked up the scorpion and shoved it into his mouth. After the scorpion was crushed into a puddle of blood and fragments by his razor sharp teeth, only then did Worm controller tilt his head up and reveal his face.


    Within just a few days, one could tell that the degree of bug transformation on his body had gone deeper.


    Now, rather than referring to him as a human apprentice, he was more like a bug man who had the identity of a human.


    He had transformed into ''it''!


    ...


    2034 Words

 Chapter 119 Lucy and her master

    From within the darkness outside the tower, a red-eyed crow flew into the night sky without a sound.Suddenly, from a brightly lit room located on the fourth floor of the tower, a crimson glow ignited, shooting through the window and hitting the crow, making it explode into a huge clump of blood mist that covered the night sky.


    "Hmph, this is the fourth one! What exactly does that Fatal Shot want to do?" Bleia gently put away the crimson bow in her hand, cursing angrily, "Does he wants me to have a heart-to-heart talk with him now?"


    "It looks like few of them have collaborated again!" While busy with his own stuff, Leon casually responded.


    Bleia tilted her head and gave it a thought, before nodding her head, agreeing to Leon''s opinion.


    Though part of previous strongest three, Fatal Shot, was at most an Advanced Apprentice now. If he really provoked Bleia, she could rip his crow''s nest up at any time! Since he was brave enough to keep sending his minions to watch them, there must be someone else backing him. And currently, the only apprentice who could be doing this within the Swampy Tower would be Worm controller, Blake.


    Most of the residences located on the fourth floor were for official Mages. That was why not only had they had a super luxurious and comfortable bedroom, they were also equipped with their own study and small laboratory. At this moment, Leon was meticulously leaning onto a micro alchemy station, watching the transformation of the drop of source blood through a special magical array.


    During the last few days, in order to activate the gene activity of this drop of source blood, Leon had tried nearly all magical approaches he knew. Eventually, he learned that only the blood full of energy aura could save this drop of source blood. Therefore, Leon cut his own arm, pouring his blood which was full of Fire element energy into the cultivating test tube.


    Soon, he obtained a test tube full of boiling blood which was slightly mutated.


    No, strictly speaking, it didn''t look like a test tube of blood, but more like a blood monster that had been held captive within the test tube.


    After the blood injected by Leon was devoured by the source blood, it had quickly contaminated and mutated into the same vampire blood as the source blood itself. Though the Fire element energy contained within Leon''s blood had killed a lot of vampire blood gene, under the constant attack from the newly contaminated blood genes, the Fire element energy had been neutralized, causing all of Leon''s blood to be contaminated and mutated.


    After that, the test tube of blood transformed into a blood monster that seemed to have its own consciousness. Needle-like tentacles kept stretching out from the sticky blood, crazily poking at the strong surface of the test tube. If not for the fact that the toughness of the test tube was not weaker than magical alloy, perhaps this blood monster would really escape.


    While observing its behavior, Leon kept praising it unstoppably.


    Miraculous, this was absolutely miraculous! In this world of advanced magic, even a drop of advanced grade vampire source blood could portray such a terrifying destructive force. Imagine if a vampire injected this kind of blood gene into its prey, perhaps the life of its enemy would be in its hand completely.


    Could this be the secret behind why those advanced grade vampires were able to produce large armies of blood slaves?


    After the drop of source blood had assimilated so much of blood, it had hidden deep inside the lump of blood. If wasn''t for the help from the Chip which had attached a spiritual label to it, perhaps Leon wouldn''t have been able to find its exact position within the lump of blood which kept changing its shape and surface structure.


    The energy used to support the violent activity of the blood came from the nutrients after the blood gene had self-decomposed. Hence, the more violent its activity was, the smaller its size became. It was like a raging burning flame, and the fuel was coming from its own mass.


    Eventually, when it finally realized it couldn''t escape from the test tube, the lump of blood finally quiet down, entering into a hibernation state. Also, from the size of a chicken egg, it had turned into the size of a thumb. According to the Chip''s calculation, this thumb-sized blood lump was sufficient to support its life for half a year. Only when it was stimulated by some external forces, would it be reactivated.


    Did all the vampires in this world possess the same frightening ability? Or was there something special about the vampire that Eclivel and the other Mages attacked?


    No wonder after Bleia was mutated into a vampire, her intelligence seemed to suffer some damage, and she became rather ill-tempered and irritable. As a matter of fact, no matter who had this kind of blood in his or her body, which was one that could self-burn and boil at any time, he or she wouldn''t be able to maintain a calm and delicate manner.


    According to the characteristics portrayed by this drop of source blood, Leon even suspected that when the original owner of the blood got close enough with it, it was highly possible he could regain the control of this blood, and eventually gain control of the consciousness and life of the one who had this blood in the body.


    In connection to this, Leon performed a thorough search through all the records and experiments related to vampires, bit by bit he puzzled together the direction of evolution and strengthening path for vampires, arduously finding ways and approaches that could allow Bleia to break through the current bottleneck in her bloodline.


    After all, Bleia was a mutated vampire. In a way, she was just an advanced blood slave. Once that higher-order vampire appeared in front of Bleia, perhaps she wouldn''t have the chance to control her own fate anymore. Therefore, the reason why Leon became so obsessed in carrying out research on the source blood was to cut off the spiritual connection between her mutated blood and the source blood, making her the true master of her own body!


    ......


    At the entrance of Magical Swamp.


    It was still the same small, desolate and miserable looking hillside.


    Following an ear-splitting cry, a witch, wearing a gray Mage robe and a pointy Mage hat, rode on her flying broom and descended from the sky, setting her feet on this desolate land.


    When she got down from the broom, a lovely, active and pretty little girl who looked like a doll jumping out from her back. She was wearing a light yellow dress, had a baby face, wasn''t tall, and was carrying a golden bird cage in her hand. She was none other than Lucy, the little girl who had suffered a great deal last time she visited the Magical Swamp.


    "Great Granny, here it is!" Though Lucy had a sweet and beautiful look, when she was looking at the familiar scene in front, her azure blue eyes immediately shot out two bright glows of hatred.


    "Those rascals who bullied me are living inside this place!" She said.


    The witch, who Lucy addressed as her Great Granny, had a really old face. Stay connected with empire


    Under the crooked and dirty hat was the ugly and aged face of a female. Her face was fully filled with wrinkles making her skin look like that of a dried and withered tree. She had a hook nose that looked like the hawk''s beak, a pair of murky gray eyes, and a mouthful of brownish and broken teeth. She was bending her body while holding onto the flying broom, and after every movement, she would stop and pant for a long time.


    However, this old witch, who looked so weak as to be unable to stand any breeze, as if she would collapse and die at any moment, was actually emanating a powerful spiritual ripple that could send a chill down anyone''s spine.


    After she held the broom and panted for some time, she took out a dirty and black biscuit-like object from her pocket. With a cold voice, she said, "Go, Lucy. Crush this into powder and sprinkle it into the swamp!"


    Although the old witch had an aged voice, her words carried an authoritative air that no one could disobey. Even Lucy, who was a cunning and wicked girl, dared to not refute her will. Obediently, she took over the biscuit-like object and walked in front of the Magical Swamp, crushed it into powder and sprinkled it into the pond which was blanketed by a thick fog.


    While she was doing that, Lucy even covered her hands with a thin layer of spatial barrier, to avoid touching the insignificant looking biscuit. As it was an object taken from the pocket of Endor, the infamous ''Poisonous Witch'', it was definitely something that came with a deadly poison!


    As expected, not long after the powder was sprinkled into the water, a new clump of mist was seen rising up from the wet pond. Bit by bit, it merged into the misty fog of the Magical Swamp. Following the spreading of this mist, all the demons living in this region were struck with a deadly calamity.


    A Red-eyed Crow, which had just landed on top of a Killer Tree at the border of Magical Swamp, tilted its head and watching wonderingly at these two outsiders who appeared out of nowhere. But suddenly, its fluffy dark feathers exploded without making any noise. The broken flesh and bones soon transformed into new bloody mist that merged into the air.


    Following the flow of the mist, all living beings who possessed magical element in their body, be it plants or animals, exploded when they were touched by the mist. However, those ordinary plants right beside them were not affected by it at all.


    As the incorporeal mist spreading across the land, Red-eyed Crows, Killer Trees, Bloodsucking Rattans, Green Spot Snakes, Ghost Nannies, Demon Babies, and even those parasitic demon worms, all exploded while they were moving freely within their own habitat. After a huge amount of demons were killed, the remaining creatures were those who had a very sensitive sense of dangers. They ignored the territory of other demons within the Magical Swamp and rushed towards the direction opposite to the mist using the fastest speed they could.


    At the beginning, the clamor was only limited to within the outer perimeter of the Magical Swamp. But when the mist slowly pushed through and penetrated into the inner area of it, a large group of escaping demons finally broke out. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And right at this moment, the inspecting Apprentice Mage had finally realized that something was wrong. The news was spreading quickly, and the entire Swampy Tower had been lit up, floor after floor.


    Compared to those standard Mage Towers like the one at the Underground Cave, the tower at Magical Swamp was clearly weaker and cruder. Although the internal facilities were rather complete, it was weak in terms of the surveillance throughout the entire swampy area.


    Although Sarubo Family was once prosperous, following the absence of that Fourth Grade Mage for a long time, and with no new Fourth Grade Mages, the prestige and influence of the family could no longer be compared to what they had before.


    For a small resource site like this, the Sarubo Family didn''t even have the financial capacity to build a proper Mage Tower, and could only substitute with a weaker version of the tower. Therefore, when faced with the invasion of a powerful enemy, their response was slow and clumsy.


    When the Magical Swamp plunged into a big mess, Mage Eclivel, the man who controlled the Swampy Tower, finally walked out from his magic spell laboratory. Very soon, he had locked down on the enemy''s position.


    Following a muffled ''clang'' noise, dust and grass blew upwards at the small hill near the entrance of Magical Swamp. Mage Eclivel had traveled through the space of nearly ten miles and suddenly appeared in front of the old witch.


    ...


    2040 Words

 Chapter 120 A promise

    "So it''s you, Endor! I don''t think there are any old grudges between us, is there? Why are you causing problems at my place?" Stepping out from the vortex, Eclivel immediately saw the old witch with a peculiar look. Unable to press down his anger, he roared, "Don''t you forget, this is the territory of the Zhentarim Association! You, the Northern Witches, have no right to show your arrogance here!"Still holding onto her broom, the old witch let out a shivering laugh that sounded like the cries of a night owl. She looked at Eclivel, who appeared to be ferocious in appearance but feeble in essence, with a disdainful expression, and said, "Zhentarim Association? Would they publicly drive off us, the Northern Witches, just because of your tiny little resource site?"


    "Then why are you here today? Don''t tell me you''re here to be a guest?!" Eclivel still roaring furiously, nevertheless, he had lowered his voice. He was facing at a Combat Witch from the Far Land of North, although he had the topographical advantages, if a fight really broke out between them, perhaps the chances of him winning would be slim.


    Though these Northern Witches looked weak and ill, they were able to open up new worlds in the Land of Far North, a place with extreme cold temperature and harsh environment. They had a strong will and frightening approaches that no male Mage could ever compare with. Putting others aside and just talking about this Endor, she was sent to station at the Zhentarim region for merely seven years, before she had brought herself the famous title of ''Poisonous Witch''.


    According to rumors, once there was a wandering Mage who had recruited a group of bandits and robbed a company of traveling merchants sent by the Northern Witches, they also killed an Apprentice Witch who had followed the merchant. When this Endor heard the news, she struck immediately, and found that group of bandits just after half a day.


    She didn''t charge into the group and slaughter everyone in her sight. She just sprinkled some poisonous stuff around their camp site. Virtually overnight, all the bandits, including the wandering Mage, were killed by the horrifying, deadly poison. Just with this warfare alone, this ferocious, tough and old witch from the Land of Far North had killed nearly three hundred men with her poison, causing her reputation of ''Poisonous Witch'' reach to ultimate heights. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was a Northern Witch, yet she had killed so many people in a region ruled by the Zhentarim Association. Her actions had immediately evoked a strong reaction from some Mage Families at the center region of Mage Continent. But with regards to this matter, after all, the old witch had the valid reason for seeking revenge for her disciple, hence, no matter how discontent those Mage Families were, they had no choice but acquiesce her action.


    Therefore, whenever the name of this poisonous witch was mentioned, all the Mages from center region of the continent would feel a headache. After all, in the center region of the continent controlled by the Zhentarim Association, there weren''t any major scale of invasions coming from demons, and the conditions of the natural environment were so much better comparing to the Land of Far North. As the result, most of the Mages here had spent too much time carrying out magical experiments, which caused their combative abilities and approaches to recede. That was why they were not as ferocious and brutal as those Northern Witches.


    If not because Zhentarim Association had controlled a huge area with abundant resources, which allowed them to produce countless Mages, with the quality of the Mages in this place, there was no way they could compete with the other three major Mage powers that surrounded them.


    The Magical Swamp was, after all, a private resource site for Sarubo Family. If it were any other Mage of the same grade who had come and gave him trouble, Eclivel would have attacked him or her without another word. But when facing this infamous ''Poisonous Witch'', even with his unsociable and eccentric temperament, he wouldn''t initiate any attacks easily.


    Faced with Eclivel''s question, the poisonous witch let out a few ghastly sneers, turned behind her and said, "Lucy, come out and show yourself to this master Eclivel, so he can save his breath in uttering that nonsense!"


    When Eclivel saw the little girl who had jumped out from behind the poisonous witch, his gloomy face turned as dark as the bottom of a used pot. "Endor, who is this little girl to you? I remember she is Deborah''s disciple."


    "You do have a good memory. She is doing her apprenticeship under Deborah currently. But she is also my blood descendant! She is an Apprentice Witch with the most potential from my family, Moya Family! However, she had suffered a shameful ambush and humiliation from you! Today, I''m here to settle the scores with you!"


    Fuck! Right at this very moment, who knew how many times had Eclivel cursed in his mind! Who would know by simply teaching a lesson to an Advanced Apprentice who had intruded Magical Swamp, he would provoke a junior from the clan of the ''Poisonous Witch''? Could what he had done disgusted the Will of the Mage World, causing it to bring him such punishment?


    While cursing his bad luck inwardly, Eclivel roared out furiously with a cold expression, "I did teach a lesson to this little girl! So what? Are you going to fight me just because of her? Endor, don''t you forget you''re just a representative sent by Northern Witch, attacking me would stir up a clan war between our families!"


    "Clan war? Hmph. Would the family behind you, Sarubo Family, declare a war against my Moya Family just because of such a petty matter? But, you don''t have to worry, my purpose today is not to teach you a lesson, but to let Lucy vent her spleen." Hearing what the poisonous witch had said, the doll-like Lucy''s eyes immediately turned red, as she threw herself into the old witch''s arms and acted like a spoiled child. She even turned her head and gave Eclivel a fierce gaze.


    "So what exactly do you want? I was just punishing a little fellow who was rude to me, do you really want me to pay a price for that?" Eclivel''s voice lowered by a few degrees.


    "Hmph, I can accept your action of teaching Lucy a lesson! But your apprentices had jointly attacked Lucy, and we need to settle this score in a proper manner! I''ll not bully the weak by being strong, so get those few fellows who had hurt Lucy before and let them have another fight again. If your apprentices win, I''ll leave immediately. If your apprentices lose, hehehe... they will have to face their death!"


    The gloomy face of Eclivel twisted violently a few times. He then waved his hand and recited some incantations that no one could understand. Following an enshrouding magical ring that flashed through the top of this small hill, three figures of different appearances appeared in midair.


    As Mage Eclivel owned the highest control power of the Swampy Tower, therefore, without communicating with Leon and the others, he had used his right and forcefully teleported Acteon, Bleia and Leon over to this small hill. Obviously, the three of them still had no idea what was going on, they were busy with their own matters in their own residences, but with a magical ring that suddenly flashed underneath their feet, they had come to this wilderness for no apparent reason.


    The three of them were first struck with bewilderment, then they were startled. And when they saw Mage Eclivel, they quickly bowed deeply and paid him respect, waiting for his orders quietly.


    "They are the ones! All of them are bad people, they had hurt me repeatedly! Especially that disgusting vampire, she even sucked away a lot of my blood..."


    Right when Lucy jumped out and scolded angrily, the poisonous witch who had brought her here knitted her brows in a tight frown.


    Two Pseudo-Mages and an Advanced Apprentice!


    How came their rank was slightly different from what Lucy had described?


    "Lucy, are you sure they are the ones? Why they are different from what you told me?" The poisonous witch''s expression turned cold.


    "Yes, I''m sure! But last time two of them were only Advanced Apprentices, and this..." Lucy pointed her finger at Leon, a vicious glow could be seen flickering on her cute little face, "This guy, he was only a Beginner Apprentice last time!"


    They had been promoted?


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    Facing two Pseudo-Mages, even the Poisonous Witch Endor started to worry.


    With her overall strength and the aggressiveness of Moya Family that supported her, it wouldn''t be a big deal if Lucy killed two Advanced Apprentices. But when it involved Pseudo-Mages, things became a bit trickier to handle!


    For any Mage Family, Pseudo-Mages were the backup force they prepared for their future, and they wouldn''t give any of them up. According to Endor''s understanding, this Sarubo Family didn''t even own more than a two digit number of Pseudo-Mages, if she killed two of them at the same time, even though Sarubo Family was a weak family, perhaps they would still declare a war to the Moya Family!


    "Lucy, you can''t touch those two Pseudo-Mages! I thought you said you hated that kid the most? Go challenge that Advanced Apprentice! Kill him and vent your spleen, I''ll find a way to settle the other two." Showing no changes on the outside, Endor had transmitted her thought over to Lucy''s mind via telepathy.


    Lucy, who was in the middle of yelling and scolding, stopped for a brief moment. Then, she pointed her finger at Leon and announced her challenge.


    By right, a meaningless challenge like this would not be approved. As the apprentice of Swampy Tower, Mage Eclivel was obliged to provide protection to Leon. But obviously, today was an exception. When Lucy announced her challenge in front of everyone, Mage Eclivel never said another word, clearly, he had tacitly assented such behavior.


    Leon sneered a few times inwardly.


    Though he only arrived here for a very short amount of time, but right when he saw Lucy, he had grasped the reasons behind this farce. Therefore, when confronted with Lucy''s challenge, Leon took a step forward.


    "After beating you last time, I never expected to see you back for revenge so soon! So, if I beat you again this time, when are you going to come back for your revenge?"


    Though Lucy was a black-hearted and merciless girl, she still took her honor seriously. When she heard the ridicule coming from Leon, she immediately jumped up and down from anger, screaming furiously, "Do you really think you can defeat me? Last time, if it weren''t for the fact that you all had taken turns attacking me and had gotten help from the sneak attack of that vampire, do you really think you could live until today?"


    "So, if I really defeat you this time, what are you going to do?" Leon was waiting for these words from her. Without hesitation, he immediately countered her statement.


    "If I''m really defeated by you, my life will be yours, and I''ll be your slave forever! But if you''re defeated by me, your life will be mine!" In a towering rage, Lucy roared out this statement without thinking twice.


    Endor, standing behind Lucy, furrowed her brows. For some unknown reasons, an inauspicious feeling suddenly surged up in her mind. This young kid, who was going to fight Lucy, portrayed an overly calm and peaceful manner. Could he really possess some powerful trump cards?


    Secretly, a tentacle stretched out from Endor''s powerful spirit, slowly but surely it reached Leon''s body, and gave its target a serious examination. Overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice and ordinary Fire element innate talent. The magical equipment on his body could be considered as finely made. But, with such overall strength, it was far from enough to defeat Lucy.


    Since she stepped into the path of an Mage, Endor never saw anyone possessing a more powerful innate ability than Lucy''s spatial innate ability. No matter what kind of powerful magic spells those elemental apprentices mastered, when facing against Lucy, an opponent who had total control of the spatial aspects of the battlefield, nothing would matter when they couldn''t hit her with their spells.


    As for Body Refining and Profound Apprentices, in front of Lucy, they were as fragile as scarecrows. Only those Bloodline Apprentice with extraordinary innate talents would be a threat to Lucy.


    But, after the last defeat, Lucy had gone through a painful torture, which eventually made her skyrocket in her mastery in short distance teleportation. When facing against Lucy, who could now travel freely within a battlefield, Endor couldn''t think of how those Apprentice Mages could defend against her Spatial Cut that was capable of destroying anything, and how were they going to capture Lucy who kept teleporting across the battlefield!


    After making sure the overall strength of Lucy''s opponent, Endor let out a shivering sneer, saying, "Kid, save your breath, go inside and have a fight with Lucy!"


    Having finished saying that, she stretched her arm and took the golden bird cage from Lucy, then waved it towards both Leon and Lucy.


    In next second, both Leon and Lucy had disappeared from the scene!


    ...


    2253 Words

 Chapter 121 Lucy vc Leon

    When Leon finally got a hold of himself, he discovered that he was standing right inside of the golden bird cage.Through the fence of the bird cage that now looked like rows of stone pillars poking into the sky, Leon could vaguely see the view outside of the cage. Especially when the frightening poisonous witch was leaning close to the cage, her enormous eyeballs that nearly occupied half of the sky simply sent chills down Leon''s back.


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    When he looked into the distance, right at the other end of the cage, nearly three miles away from him, the petite figure of Lucy was seen continuously teleporting her way and rushing in his direction.


    Leon knitted his brows into a tight frown.


    At this moment, he wasn''t sure on whether this place was just a small space in a different dimension or if old witch really did transform him into a smaller size. Nevertheless, now was not the right time to research further on this. In less than ten seconds, that Lucy who had gone berserk would arrive in front of him.


    Previously, he had been concealing his capabilities and avoided the limelight, so he could further polish his own overall strength, and design a set of combat tactic that suited him the most. It seemed that now was the perfect timing for him to test if those combat tactics were suitable!


    Leon started to equip himself swiftly.


    While remained standing at where he was, he touched his waist belt with his right hand. A strange scepter with peculiar designs immediately appeared in his grip. At the same time, he stretched out his left hand, the magical book, tied by a silver chain that was hanging on his waist automatically flew into his hand, and started to flip through the pages by itself.


    Following one after another the fiery red ring flashed out from Leon''s body, Inferno Body, Inferno Shield, Inferno Force Field, Fire Damage Reflect, multiple Fire element defensive magic spells had revealed themselves. After finishing preparing his defense, Leon pointed in front of him with the Fire Lord''s Scepter, and started to recite with a loud voice, "Redmond Carina, Anya Roset, in the name of flames..."


    From all directions, countless fiery red flames started to gather in midair. Within the blink of an eye, a tall Fire Deity over seven meters stood right in front of Leon. It was surrounded by raging and boiling flames, and the color of the flames had turned from ordinary fiery red into flame with a purple colored core. This also meant that this Fire Deity possessed the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage.


    But, this was not the end!


    Countless brilliantly lit objects flew out from Leon''s storage waist belt and scattered around. After a burst of furious crackling coming from the explosions of Elementiums, these objects formed into different elemental golems with a variety of heights, shapes and looks.


    The most attractive among them would be the Lightning Giant. Every time it made its debut, it would always bring forth a frightening scene, where the sky would be filled with raging thunder strikes. Also, the tall, green body which was completely covered in the golden armor, the lightning serpents that kept bolting out and lingering around its body, all had given it a touch of mightiness.


    While the Lightning Giant slowly ascended into the sky, the Fire Deity strode toward Lucy and the Water Elementiums started to gather on both sides of Leon at an incredible speed. Soon, two Pseudo-Mage level Water Elementals had emerged out from thin air.


    Leon stomped his feet on the ground with great force, though they looked like they were made from stone, they were actually transformed from the Protection Barrier. Since he couldn''t squeeze into the underground, there was no need to summon the Demon Alligator Hunter or Rock Snake. Leon gave up on the thought of summoning Earth element golems and switched his attention to the battle that was happening in the far distance.


    The summon of Lightning Giant had consumed 7 points of his Spirit, while two Water Elementals took away 6 points of his Spirit. As for the Inferno Shield and the Fire Deity, both of them were abilities brought to him by the Fire Lord''s Scepter, thus they didn''t consume any of his Spirit. With Leon''s total Spirit of 19 points, he still had 6 points that he could use in case of emergencies, and, judging from the development of the battle later, only then would he decide which golem to summon next.


    The Lightning Giant was focused on offense with the Fire Deity as its assistant, and two Water Elementals handled both offense and defense at the same time.


    These Water Elementals were the brand new golems crafted by Leon using Water element cores. They had an appearance that resembled a large clump of water that could stand straight and walk around. They didn''t have feet, so their lower bodies were just thick water pillars, and water could be seen kept splashing around from the bottom of these water pillars. Their upper bodies had the vague look of a human, there was a body, a head, and even two arms. But all these body parts looked rather crude, there didn''t have any facial features on their heads, and both arms were just two thick water pillars.


    Though these Water Elementals had a humble outlook, their strange abilities could cause eyebrows to raise.


    Right after both Water Elementals appeared, they immediately waved their arms several times in the air. After each wave, there would be a smaller size Water Elementals pulled out of their bodies, and within a blink of an eye, the smaller Water Elementals changed their appearances into that of Leon''s. They even had the same magical equipment as Leon had.


    Nearly in an instant, two Water Elementals working together and produced twelve ''Leon''. And, after all thirteen Leon switched their positions in a messy order, the real Leon, who was now mixed among the other ''Leon'', had a bright smile blooming on his face.


    There were so many ''Leon'' that looked exactly like him, to be honest, when he saw he was surrounded by copies of ''himself'', even he nearly burst out into laughter.


    And, this was not the end. Following the waving movement of both Water Elementals, a large sheet of billowing water vapor emerged, blanketing this group of ''Leon''. From the outside, one could only see some wobbling figures behind this sheet of water vapor, and couldn''t get a glimpse at the true scene at all.


    Right at this moment, not only Lucy, who was standing right opposite to Leon, nearly collapsed by what she was facing, even both Mages who were standing outside of the cage and were observing the situation had their expression changed slightly, each portraying a different look on their faces.


    Of course, Mage Eclivel showed a surprised look at first, then it was replaced by a delightful expression. Initially, he thought it would be a one-sided slaughter, but because of the sudden explosive performance put out by this mysterious kid, everything became unpredictable. Though he could sense that because of Leon''s existence his control over Bleia had weakened, the thought of killing Leon in the dark had long hatched in his mind.


    But, on an occasion like this, Eclivel preferred to see that cute little Lucy having her head severely beaten. After all, he still had plenty of time to deal with that kid. Therefore, Mage Eclivel simply eased his mind, and for the first time, he was praising at Leon in his mind.


    You just can''t keep all the people happy at the same time!


    When Eclivel brought upon a bizarre smile on his face and quietly watched the battlefield, a complex look could be seen in Endor''s eyes, as she seemed to dither over her decision.


    Damn it, what kind of abilities did this kid possess! Lightning Elementals, Water Elementals, Fire Elementals... each and every single one of this element golems possessed the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage, were these something he could own and control? Could it be that old rascal, Eclivel, knew that she would come and passed these advanced magical items to this young kid? But this didn''t make sense either. How could an Advanced Apprentice control so many Pseudo-Mage level element golems at the same time?


    You couldn''t blame this Poisonous Witch''s bewilderment, after all, summoning ordinary element golems would consume a huge amount of Spirit. If not because the golems owned by Leon had been optimized and used the special magical arrays designed by the Chip, perhaps just one Lighting Giant alone would occupy more than half his Spirit, and he would have no way to fight against Lucy using a small team of golems.


    Meanwhile, right at a corner outside of the cage, Worm controller was watching Leon''s approaches without making any noises. However, a huge wave that could devour his entire body and soul had been rocking violently in his mind.


    Damn it, damn it! How did this bastard own such frightening approaches?


    If he placed himself in Lucy''s position, even Blake would feel a headache if he had to face more than one Pseudo-Mage level element golems, let alone Lucy who would always fight alone.


    Right when everyone outside of the battlefield was watching the intense battle that nearly broke out inside of the golden bird cage, Lucy, who was supposed to fight against Leon, nearly broke out into a rampage.


    Last time, this was just a poor guy who had to cover his head and scurry away from her, but this time, he was actually able to summon so many different element golems. Apparently, he was going to gang fight her! Lucy felt as if her heart had been thrown into boiling oil, it was going through all sorts of torture right now. She just couldn''t believe this was real.


    But, the situation simply didn''t permit her to ponder further. The Lightning Giant, whose body was surrounded by raging lightning serpents, was charging towards her. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Within a tiny fraction of a second, the powerful high-voltage current had filled her entire field of view. Lucy didn''t want to fight face-to-face with a mighty element golem, so, with a flash of her body, she had disappeared from where she was.


    This time, her destination of teleportation was right above the head of that damn bastard.


    She had made up her mind, once she got rid of those troublesome element golems, the first thing she wanted to do was cut that bastard into tens of pieces with her Spatial Cut.


    But, something horrifying had struck Lucy. When she stepped on the vibrating spatial and squeezed out into mid air, the Lightning Giant, together with a suddenly exploding thunderclap, had appeared beside her at the same time. A crackling noise echoed out from the scene, as a Lightning Chain covered with violent electricity was whipping toward Lucy''s body in a ferocious manner.


    Bastard, how had this Lightning Giant caught up with her speed?


    The thought flashed through Lucy''s mind, but before she could come out with any answers, with a sway of her body, she once again disappeared from where she was.


    It must because she had been obvious about her motives and target, that was why the Lightning Giant could find out her teleportation destination. There was no way it could guess where she was going this time!


    Having the thought of making fool of this Lightning Giant, this time, the destination Lucy chose was thirty meters behind Leon''s group. Right as she came out to the normal spatial, Lucy spread her arms and prepared to pull out a Spatial Cut, hoping to give this group of ''Leon'' a brutal attack.


    But, before the spatial crack appeared between her hands and stabilized into an ideal Spatial Cut, the terrifying Lightning Chain had once again coiled up and forcefully slapped onto her back.


    @#&%£¤...


    Right at this very moment, Lucy''s mind was filled with infinite anger. But at the same time, she felt a shivering sensation that was creeping up from the bottom of her heart.


    How was this possible? How did this lightning man, who apparently had no brain, accurately grasp her destination, twice in a row? This was simply something impossible to be accomplished!


    Filling her mind with endless resentment, Lucy disappeared from the scene once again.


    This time, Lucy emerged at a short sixty meters to the left of Leon, and she didn''t rush in launching an attack like last time. She patiently and carefully monitored the activity surrounding her. As expected, within seconds after she teleported, the powerful lightning man had also emerged after a flash of electricity.


    And, the spot it emerged was still the same five meters behind of her!


    Even for someone with a scheming mind like Lucy''s, she also couldn''t control herself and nearly cursed out some bad words. Because when she gazed at the group of ''Leon'' who were hiding behind the layers of the water barrier, she discovered that each of them was secretly holding onto a Wand of Prophecy, and was murmuring something while facing in her direction.


    Damn it, so it was you that kept playing tricks on me!


    ...


    2215 Words

 Chapter 122 Win

    At this moment, Lucy''s anger had reached an uncontrollable degree.When she let loose of herself and attacked in rage, Lucy, who possessed the spatial innate talent, had perfectly exhibited the frightening ability of the spatial magic spells.


    With her delicate, fair and tiny little hands, she performed a gentle ripping gesture in the air. In an instant, one after another spatial crack, which looked like black pearls necklaces, were produced between her palms. After that, this pair of little hands started to knead them in the air, transforming them into all kinds of weapons that beyond anyone''s imagination.


    An arc-shaped ''Moon Bent Blade'', a ''Dark Spear'' that looked like a throwing spear, a perfectly round ''Explosive Ball''...


    And, following Lucy''s shrill screams, one after another bizarre weapon was thrown at the group of Leons at the same time.


    The cutting and piercing abilities of these spatial cracks were simply incredible.


    A ''Moon Bent Blade'' streaked passed Leon silently, on its way, two mirrored Leons were cut into halves. Also, the Inferno Shield and Inferno Force Field were both missing a chunk, after being grazed by it. Judging from the size and shape of the missing parts, it was identical to that Moon Bent Blade.


    It looked like when facing the spatial magic that Lucy was an expert with, these ordinary defensive magic spells would hardly function as they were supposed to! As the matter of fact, in front of spatial magic, which had a higher order in the source of their principles, any element magic spell was like a bubble that could be burst easily. Both of them were simply not on the same level.


    If Leon allowed Lucy to keep bombing savagely like this, even if he summoned all his golems, he wouldn''t be able to keep his life safe. Realizing he couldn''t hold up against Lucy''s attacks, Leon clenched his jaws tightly and ordered his team of golems to counterattack, so that he could suppress Lucy''s attack frequency.


    Therefore, a magnificent show of firework had broken out within the ''tiny'' space of the bird cage.


    Nearly every single time when Lucy teleported to a new location, the Lightning Giant who followed right after her would flood the region with its raging lightning attack, immediately followed by a Flame Throwing launched by the Fire Deity and the Frost Nova unleashed by the Water Elemental.


    Though in the past, the Protection Barrier covering outside Lucy''s body was ''indestructible'', when facing Leon, who had the ability to pinpoint her ''weaknesses'', and together with a group of mighty fighters with no fear of death, whenever a new Protection Barrier was created, it would be shattered into pieces after one round of violent attacks.


    And, within such a short period of time, she only had enough time to complete a long-range attack.


    Although every time she was able to teleport away before the Protection Barrier shattered, such a frequent teleportation and attack routine was a heavy burden for Lucy.


    Whenever the Protection Barrier was broken, she had to teleport herself to a far distance and fix it, only then could she launch the next round of attacks. And when she teleported herself to Leon''s side, even with her high casting speed and the powerful Spatial Magic of hers, she would have to run away after launching a single attack. If she made any mistakes in her move, she would have to face the miserable fate of being burned by the explosive fireball and frozen by the azure ice ring.


    But that was not the worst, as the most frightening attack was the strike of high voltage electricity!


    As the result, just after seven rounds of attack, Lucy''s cute, light yellow dress had turned into broken rags, while her precious golden hair was standing up on its end and became a dark and fluffy bird nest after being burned by the raging electricity. Also, her skin was completely covered in burns and frost marks, dark and green patches could be seen everywhere.


    Meanwhile, out of twelve mirrored Leons, nine of them had been destroyed, leaving only three that mixed together with the real Leon, and no one could tell which one was his true form. As for the team of golems, they were now standing around Leon and protecting him with high vigilance and waiting for Lucy to come forth and meet her death.


    The Lightning Giant was hovering in midair with its body covered with raging lightning that producing loud thunderclaps, from time to time, dazzling electric arcs would bolt out from its green body. A huge thunderstorm was brewing right above its head; the funnel shape dark cloud had covered nearly half of the space of the cage.


    Staring at this Lightning Giant who portrayed a mighty bearing, Lucy angrily clenched her tiny fists, wishing she could use the most violent spatial magic and wipe it off the face of this world completely.


    It was all because of this hateful Lightning Giant that she was now suffering from a very serious injury.


    It was worth it to mention that the speed and frequency of the Lightning element magic spells were the fastest among all other magic spells. Every time, right when her Protection Barrier broke, that damn lightning strike unleashed by the Lightning Giant would always lock onto Lucy''s whereabouts and land right on her body. Not only that, the arc-shaped lightning of the Lightning Giant actually... actually brought a slight paralysis effect.


    This had caused Lucy''s dodging movements to become slower and resulted in her facing the shower of elemental magic spells.


    As the blood descendant of Endor, Lucy had countless magic spell and element talismans with her. But even so, she also couldn''t withstand the damage brought by such violent element magic spells.


    The magic spell talisman used to isolate herself from element attacks exploded before it could even last three rounds of attack.


    The element talisman, which was used to increase her element resistance, had also shattered into pieces after being tortured by a massive amount of elemental magic spells.


    In the end, after her element resistance was reduced to a very low level, Lucy had to fight the battle using purely her strong will.


    Whenever her Spirit had depleted, she would run to the outer perimeter and gulp down a large bottle of magic potion. With that, she would become brimming with Spirit seconds after, with her Spirit restored to the maximum level!


    And, whenever her magical energy had depleted, she would once again run to outer perimeter and drink up a bottle of magical energy potion. Right after that, she would once again have vigorous magical energy!


    With the help of these bottles of magical potions, Lucy was like an undefeatable cockroach, crazily charging into Leon''s team of golems, again and again.


    The Fire Deity was shattered into pieces twice by the raging spatial cuts and had been summoned by Leon for the third time.


    The bodies of both Water Elementals were full of holes now. If not for the fact that they were element golems with the ability to absorb the wandering elementiums in the air and fix their own body, perhaps they would have long disintegrated into a puddle of water.


    The only member of the golems team who was still in a good shape would be the Lightning Giant.


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    But even so, after going through many rounds of spatial magic attacks, its body had also been badly mutilated, as many parts of it had been hanging and falling off. When Lucy realized it was extremely difficult for her to attack the real Leon, she eventually switched her target, placing the focus of her attacks onto the Lightning Giant, who had posted the biggest threat to her safety.


    The adjustment in her tactic had soon brought her the best results!


    One of the Lightning Giant''s arms had disappeared.


    The Wind element core hiding inside the arm was shattered by a spatial cut, resulted in the total disintegration of that part of the body and was no longer able to restore its original shape.


    But too bad, the changes made to her guerrilla tactic had come too late.


    Right when Lucy smoothly destroyed the left arm of Lightning Giant, her Protection Barrier was broken by the incredible fast lightning chain, and her petite body was coiled up by the same lightning chain.


    In next second, the furious flaming pillar and the frost nova had flooded the region where she was trapped.


    Before Leon could see the result of this massive attack, an egg-shaped shock wave as violent as a sudden thunderclap burst out from where Lucy was. The shock wave swept across the area, shattering the spatial of the area like a thin sheet of glass. The spatial was broken, and the air was shaking violently. All the materials within the area had been annihilated and reassembled, yet any living creatures within the area would be wiped off completely and turned into a puff of smoke. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Lightning Giant was standing closest to the attack. Though it had noticed the attack and fled with top speed, half of its body was swept across by the broken spatial. A sudden lightning flashed by with a loud boom, the Lightning Giant reappeared at a random place some three hundred meters away. The once burly and tall body was left with a half and a head. As for the rest of its body, it was all cut off by the spatial cracks.


    The body of the Fire Deity, who had suffered badly from the attack, had collapsed onto the ground once again.


    Hiding at a far distance, Leon''s facial muscles kept twitching uncontrollably. He had reached the summoning limit of the Fire Deity using the Fire Lord''s Scepter. He couldn''t summon it again today.


    The violent spatial shockwave expanded outward at an incredible speed. As Leon''s speed had been enhanced with the Hasten spell, he barely managed to escape from the attack boundary.


    Both Water Elementals had transformed into two water lines and fled from the battlefield. But too bad, one of them had been caught by the spatial shockwave, and exploded into a splatter of water that splashed into all directions. The last one managed to escape from the attack, and had reformed its body while standing beside Leon, putting up a high vigilance.


    When the spatial crack at the heart of the shockwave started to heal slowly, only then Leon stopped from running. He turned around, and through the dense spatial fragments, he saw Lucy.


    Right at this moment, Lucy looked so ferocious and violent, as if she was a mighty deity that had just descended from the heavens!


    Her dress had been shattered into pieces, exposing her petite and cute body in front of everyone. Her eyes were closed, her fists clenched tightly, and she threw her head back and let out shrill cry into the sky. The Spatial Shockwave that swept across half of the space within the cage just now, was the last attack she unleashed after being agitated by the intense sense of danger.


    After unleashed this last attack, the Spatial Energy contained within her body had been depleted completely.


    Two streams of blood suddenly flowed down from the corner of Lucy''s tightly closed eyes. Meanwhile, her delicate and fragile body was shivering like a dried body left in the cold breeze, eventually, she drifted down from midair without making any noise.


    She was defeated!


    She was defeated, in the middle of a fair match and by an enemy she had looked down the most!


    The cruel reality had deeply pierced through Lucy''s heart and soul, causing her who had lost all strength, to wish that she was killed by having her head slammed onto the ground in this cage, so that she could be spared from facing the reality that she never wanted to accept!


    But, in next moment, her cold and weak body was cupped by a pair of warm arms. And after that, a long robe, which had an unfamiliar smell, was placed on top of her naked body.


    She opened her blurred eyes, staring at the silhouette that had been inscribed deeply in her mind, before murmuring, "You... bastard..." Finally, she passed out completely. At the same time, Leon was looking at the weak little girl in his arms, inwardly, he kept roaring out furiously, "You can''t die like this! You can''t die here! Or else, your Granny Witch would definitely go berserk..."


    A sudden shake struck the spatial.


    The scene in front of his eyes changed, and Leon felt the burden in his arms was lifted as Lucy was taken away by that Poisonous Witch Endor.


    Endor placed Lucy on the ground, and after thoroughly examining her a few times and making sure that she had only passed out as the result of depleting all her energy, Endor finally set her mind at rest.


    She turned around and stared at Leon''s face for a long time, until he felt a chill running down his spine, only then had Endor let out a frightening smile, which was uglier than someone who was crying out loud. "Kid, you''re very good! You''re very good... I''ll remember you!"


    Having finished with her words that were buried with some unknown meaning, Endor carried Lucy and mounted her flying broom, and with a blink of an eye, they disappeared into the sky.


    Leaving behind a group of people who were exchanging glances with each other, not knowing what to say.


    What happened today was too damn strange!


    ...


    2264 Words

 Chapter 123 Conspiracy

    In just a short amount of time, the disturbance brought forth by Lucy had died off.As a matter of fact, before most of the apprentices within the tower had gotten to the root of this matter, it had passed away into silence. Not to mention that Mage Eclivel, who rarely showed himself in front of his apprentices, and even Worm controller Blake, who had witnessed the entire process himself, had become very quiet.


    With regards to Leon''s performance, except Bleia who didn''t express any surprise, the other two had been struck with awe. It was especially true for Blake, the degree of his shocking emotion had even elevated to a state where he felt uneasy to even eat or sleep.


    Although Leon never publicly exhibited any hostility towards Blake, as a Bloodline Apprentice who had taken a mutated path and took the initiative to strike at any potential enemy, the guideline Blake had been practicing all his life was put all his efforts to construct an aggressive position in his living circle, which could bring him all the benefits.


    In the past, as he was constrained by his overall strength, he had no choice but to keep a relatively balanced relationship with the other two strongest. But after his breakthrough in the recent training mission, he could no longer hold down his true nature and had stood out, ''subduing'' both Super girl and Fatal shot.


    If he hadn''t witnessed the battle of that bizarre kid, perhaps, he would have thought the scale of victory had skewed to his side. Bleia, who was only an expert in running fast, had nothing worth mentioning in her defensive and offensive ability and was not his opponent. As for Leon, a mere Advanced Apprentice, how big a storm could he bring up?


    However, the battle in the bird cage between Lucy and Leon had deeply touched Blake.


    From that day onwards, he kept asking himself inwardly. If he and Leon had fought in the bird cage, could he break through the line of defense formed by the group of golems and land his attack onto Leon? Obviously, the answer was something that he didn''t like to hear.


    Therefore, since that day, he had become extremely reticent!


    ...


    Within a dark secret room.


    Blake, wearing a black robe, was sitting within the shadow of a corner, pondering himself while remaining silent.


    Throughout the entire secret room, there was only a magical torch lit up, and was placed on a wall in the far distance. Not only was the dimmed, jumping flame not able to bring any significant light to this space, instead, it gave a touch of gruesomeness and fear to the place.


    There wasn''t any furniture or decorations in this secret room, not even the commonly seen table or chairs. Even Blake was sitting on the cold, hard surface of the floor with his legs folded. Behind him, in a corner of the room where light couldn''t reach, a mysterious cocoon was seen hanging down from the roof, and was expanding and creeping in a creepy manner.


    Rather than referring to this place as a secret room, it was more like a bug''s nest.


    Right beside Blake, countless black bugs were swarming across the floor like a dark wave. Sometimes they would move to the east, and sometimes they would move to the west, the buzzing noise of their legs scratching the floor was incessantly lingering in the air.


    As if affected by these bugs, Blake''s body which hid underneath the black robe started to move restlessly, as if there were hundreds of thousands of bugs trying to rush out from within, wanting to mix together with their peers which were crawling outside. Right when these black bugs nearly went out of control, finally, Blake raised his head up, and within the shadow of his hood, two bright green glows ignited.


    A sharp, ear-piercing cry of bugs echoed out from within the secret room.


    Blake opened his mouth widely. Right at the center of his mouth, which was formed with layers of lips, a peculiar head of bug suddenly poked out. The bug cry just now was let out from the mouth of this bug. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Upon hearing the cry, the restless bugs had returned to a calm state once again. All the black bugs now surrounded Blake, like people worshiping their king, they all held their heads low and remained silent, waiting for the order of their master.


    Blake casually picked up a black bug and threw into his mouth, starting to munch on it and producing the crystal clear sound of biting and crushing. The stinking green liquid leaked out from his lips, and the pungent smell of it had made the air in this secret room even more filthy.


    "So, this is the path you picked for yourself? It is really unique!" An old voice suddenly rang out from within the secret room.


    "Master Eclivel, you''re finally here!" Eclivel lightly raised his head, as if he wasn''t surprised by the voice that suddenly broke the silence of the room.


    "You knew I''ll be here?" The old voice sounded surprised. It was the voice of the master of this Swampy Tower, Mage Eclivel.


    "Of course! As long as you''re still the true master of this tower, I know you will contact me sooner or later!"


    "So, I assume you have also guessed my purpose in contacting you?"


    "You wish for my help in dealing with that Leon!"


    "Hmph, you''re a clever kid. Indeed! I need you to stand out and get rid of that hateful kid. And, I believe you''re willing to do this!"


    "Your respectful master Eclivel, can I ask you a question? Do you really need help killing an Advanced Apprentice? Can''t you just kill him straightaway? Could that bring you any consequences, unbearable even to you?" Clearly, Blake wasn''t an idiot. Without knowing the answer to this critical question, he wouldn''t want to become the gun held in someone else''s hand!


    "Because I still want to control that little vampire. She is the key sample to the next step in my blood research. Based on the relationship between her and that kid, if I do this myself, perhaps it would be extremely difficult for me to control her again." Mage Eclivel remained silent for a brief moment, before finally saying the reason.


    "With the combative ability that kid showed us yesterday, do you think I can defeat him?" Eclivel was never bothered by Mage Eclivel''s answer, instead, he quickly threw out the next question.


    "With my judgment, it is extremely difficult. If you''re fighting him alone, you''ll face an inevitable death. But, it seems you have formed an Worm controller Alliance. If you can bring in the strength of this alliance, perhaps it will be enough."


    "But, by doing all these, what kind of benefits would I be getting? Instead, I''ll be offending Bleia, a Pseudo-Mage for no apparent reason!"


    "What if I say I can make you stronger?"


    "..."


    "I suppose your contracted partner is that Queen Bug? The queen of Carrion Beetle, hehe, you''re really lucky to bump into such a great fortune. It looks like you did have pretty good luck in the past!"


    "..."


    "Right now, probably you''re worrying about how to improve your overall strength. You have tied your life with that Queen Bug, as the result, not only do you have to fulfill the level up requirement by yourself, you also need to fulfill the level up requirement of the Queen of Carrion Beetle. With that, though the half-bug body has given you an advantage when facing an opponent of the same rank, the speed of progress has also dragged you down."


    "..."


    "How many Pseudo-Mages had you devoured in your training mission? One or two? Without such lucky encounters, there is no way you can become a Pseudo-Mage smoothly. So, what are you going to do after that? In order to level up as an Mage, how many Mages are you planning to devour?"


    "Master Eclivel, I''ve understood what you mean. So, with regards to my current situation, do you have any better suggestions?"


    "It is no doubt you have to strengthen yourself first!" With a disdainful voice, Eclivel gave his lecture, "Although currently, that Queen Bug is your contracted creature, and you two are sharing a life together, however, there is an issue of dominance that resides within your relationship. When you become stronger, naturally, it will be your best servant. But if it evolves faster than you, though there is no risk in terms of your life, but when it comes to the true master of this body, perhaps most of the time it will be controlled by the Queen Bug!"


    "Then, how can I strengthen myself even faster?"


    "Hehehe... kid, most probably you have forgotten that I turned Bleia into her current appearance! As long as you''re willing to participate in my magic spell experiment, I can promise you, I''ll give you an intrepid body that is not weaker than Bleia''s!"


    "I agree to this condition. What do you need me to do?"


    "First, I need a drop of blood from your Queen Bug! Only by obtaining its blood can I accurately concoct the mutated blood most suitable for your body constitution."


    After remaining silent and pondering for a long time, Blake finally nodded his head in aLeonent.


    And after obtaining Blake''s aLeonent, Mage Eclivel immediately urged him to hand over a drop of Queen Bug''s blood.


    Blake gritted his teeth and opened his lotus-shaped mouth, the bug resided inside once again poked out part of its body. Upon revealing itself, the bug immediately let out a miserable cry, causing the dark Carrion Beetles surrounded Blake to become restless and furious. But after forced by Blake, the Queen bug had no choice but opened its mouth and spat out a drop of strange liquid, which was extremely stinky and sticky.


    The air within the secret room briefly vibrated. When the drop of liquid left the mouth of Queen Bug, before it could reach the ground, a spatial ripple appeared at the right time cupping it from below. A bright light of teleportation flashed through the room, the liquid had disappeared in a strange manner.


    Blake''s compound eyes flickered. Obviously, he was frightened by how tight a control Mage Eclivel had on the tower.


    "Kid, you have made a wise decision! Alright, with this thing, I''ll be able to concoct a mutated blood soon. Once you have also owned the bloodline of a vampire, that will be the moment for you to shine!"


    Sensing that Mage Eclivel''s powerful Spirit had gradually withdrawn from the secret room, only then Blake blended himself back into the vast darkness. Within the dark shadow where no one could peek through, the chirping of beetle could be heard without end, no one knew what was the contents of the violent communication between Blake and the Queen Bug.


    The entire space was filled with a ghastly and wicked atmosphere!


    ...


    After returning to his residence, Leon once again dwelled into the secluded lifestyle he used to have.


    Deep meditation, reading books, magic spell experiments... All these boring yet fixed routine had filled up his daily life. For some unknown reasons, a deep sense of danger had been enveloping Leon''s body and soul, urging him to keep accumulate knowledge and strengthening himself.


    He had a feeling, if he didn''t put in all his effort to run faster, some frightening events would happen on him. Although it was tough to explain where or who these dangers would come from, Leon believed in his instincts without a shadow of the doubt. And he had put out real action as preventive measures.


    Also, the magic spell study he carried out in succession had brought him tremendous benefits. Having been organized and classified by the Chip, all those magic spell books he had read in the past had transformed into the mystical knowledge that he could use at anytime he wanted. The vacancy of his elementary knowledge about Fire element magic spell had now been filled up.


    Therefore, unknowingly, both Inferno Shield and Inferno Force Field had become skills in his bag, while the mastery of Inferno Body had increased to 41% from 37%.


    Strictly speaking, currently, the fundamental knowledge in Fire element that Leon had was not weaker than that of any official Mage''s!


    ...


    2069 Words

 Chapter 124 Shop

    Since the last compulsory mission had been completed, the Swampy Tower was like a clogged up water channel that had suddenly opened up. In a natural way, the fresh water from the outside world started to influence the life within the isolated world.And obviously, Mage Eclivel wasn''t happy to see such changes. However, when he was faced with the will of the entire Zhentarim Association, which was a clan that even the Third Grade Mage from Sarubo Family dared not disobey, there was just nothing he could do to change the situation!


    Therefore, when the apprentices that had attended the training mission made their return, the Mission Hall of the Swampy Tower, which had not been used for a very long time, once again opened up. Every day, the mission board placed in the hall refreshed with countless new missions, from advanced missions like hunting feral demons of Mage level, which only Pseudo-Mage could participate in, to petty missions like gathering resources, expelling demons, and investigating abnormal events. It all refreshed in real-time.


    Put it this way, even at the center of the continent, the well-developed region and the priBleia colony of human society, every day there would be hundreds of thousands of bizarre incidents happening. Either it was the discovery of demon traces near a small town located at the border, or a village near the wilderness was attacked by some unknown beings, or some expedition team had discovered an uncultivated resource site.


    Without exception, whenever something like this happened, the Zhentarim Association would bring the matter in, and announce a time-limited mission to all the Apprentice Mages within the entire central region of the continent. With this method, they could bring all the apprentices within the center region into play. Not only could they train these apprentices, they could also solve the problem occurring at the border of their territory. In another way, they used these apprentices to shoulder the heavy burden of defence missions instead of official Mages.


    Leon could hole himself up in his residence and improve the foundation of his magic spells bit by bit. But, Bleia and Snorlax couldn''t behave like that. Hence, during this time, they were like prisoners who had bloodshot eyes, hanging around all day inside of the Mission Hall, quietly filtering through the missions and finding ones they like the most.


    After all, Bleia had taken the path of a Bloodline Mage, and it would slow her progress to just rely on the accumulation of magic spell knowledge. Only by constantly devouring the blood of experts would ensure her quick progress. Therefore, she had shown enthusiasm when picking her missions, and she had been working hard in completing them. Within just a month, she completed two missions and earned herself twenty merit points.


    But it was too bad that all the missions she chose were located within the perimeter of the Swampy Tower. It was a region where human society was well-developed. Though sometimes demons intruded into the place, it was just impossible to have any Pseudo-Mage level monsters. Therefore, she had no alternative but to look for a distant location.


    Very soon, a suitable mission jumped into her eyes.


    At the Timbermaw Hold, located seven thousand miles away, a camp of Lycanthropes who moved from the depths of the jungle was suddenly discovered. Therefore, the local authority had announced a mission to recruit Pseudo-Mage or Advanced Apprentice and was preparing to eliminate this camp.


    When Bleia enthusiastically invited Leon to join her in this mission, she was turned down straightaway.


    As an Element Apprentice who prepared to take the path of Focused Fire Element, Leon felt he needed to be more focused on the mission of his choice. Last time, he had gained tremendous benefit by soaking himself inside the underground lava pool in the Underground Cave region, so he wished to find another place which had a similar environment like the volcano, so he could make further progress with his Inferno Body.


    He had a feeling that in order for him to advance into the realm of official Mage steadily and surely, the Inferno Body played a very important role.


    Fortunately enough, on the third day after Bleia left excitedly, Snorlax, who had been spending all day in the Mission Hall, rushed back to Leon. The mission that suited him the most had appeared!


    It was a mission to gather resources, which had a rather low risk, and the location of the mission was right within a volcano which would erupt on a fixed interval. Cotopaxi Volcano was located near the border, east of the Sidney region. It was a place rich in Fire Diamonds of premium quality, and was one of the main incomes for the local Mage Family.


    Cotopaxi Volcano was a very powerful active volcano. Out of the twelve months in a year, it would be in a dangerous active period for nine months. During this period, even Mages wouldn''t risk their life by stepping into it. Only during the three-month resting period would the Cotopaxi Volcano calm down slightly and give the nearby Mage Family a chance to harvest the Fire Diamond that could be found underneath it.


    Even during the resting period of the volcano, the temperature inside was still incredibly high. Also, as most of the Fire Diamonds were found at the edge of lava pool or floating inside of the pool, no ordinary humans could harvest them, and only Advanced Apprentices who had element resistance could achieve this seemingly impossible mission.


    Therefore, in order to increase the productivity of Fire Diamonds during this resting period, aside from sending their own family members to harvest the Fire Diamonds, the local Mage Family would also announce a mission publicly. Any apprentice that entered the Cotopaxi Volcano just needed to submit a fixed portion of Fire Diamonds at the end of their mission, and they could keep the rest as a reward for their mission.


    As a result, every year before the volcano entered its resting period, it also was the time to announce this mission!


    Leon rushed to the Mission Hall. Without hesitation, he immediately undertook the mission of harvesting Fire Diamonds. Looking at the message of the mission, it was only open to twenty apprentices and Leon was the nineteenth apprentice who undertook the mission. Nearly at the same time that he accepted the mission, it disappeared from the mission board.


    The quota of twenty apprentices had been completely filled up!


    The mission required Leon to report to the mission site located in the Sidney region within fifteen days. Time was pressing, so Leon immediately started to arrange all the necessary matters.


    The first issue was how to settle Snorlax.


    Snorlax had a timid and cowardly character, which made it not fit for a fighter''s position. Instead, it showed great interest in becoming a goblin merchant. For this reason, Leon decided to leave Snorlax in the Swampy Tower and gave it all of the resources he wouldn''t be using temporarily.


    The magical gemstones he had brought back from the Underground Cave, the magical equipment he stripped from the dead bodies of Fallen Apprentices, and the remaining four Mind Concentrating Potions he had ¨C none of them fit in the path Leon was currently taking. So he simply handed them to Snorlax, making them the highest quality treasures for the newly opened Goblin Shop.


    In the eyes of the Pseudo-Mages that came from some big family, perhaps the items were worth nothing. But when they were placed in Swampy Tower, a place where all resources were scarce, nearly on the first day that the Goblin Shop opened for business, it became a mystical place passionately sought after by all Beginner and Intermediate apprentices.


    Mind Concentrating Potions?! S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What kind of miraculous item were they? Why they never heard of it before? A bottle of it could bring an increment of 0.5 ¨C 0.7 in their Spirit? This... how could such miraculous magical potions exist in the world?


    As for the side effects of the Mind Concentrating Potion, in the eyes of the apprentices who could go to every extent just to improve their overall strength, it was simply nothing! After all, inside of the Swampy Tower, through their daily meditation, most Apprentice Mages could only obtain a tiny fraction of increase in their Spirit.


    In the end, only a handful of apprentices could enter a deep meditation state every single time like how Leon was able to. Thus, an increment of 0.5 in Spirit would also mean three months of restless meditation for most of them.


    In the past, they had to laboriously meditate for three months in order to achieve the same result, but now, it could be obtained with just one single bottle of potion. How could a miraculous result like this not attract their craziness?


    Unfortunately, the high price of it had made them shrink back at the sight of it, and they could only jealously watch as Fatal shot purchased all four Mind Concentrating Potions in one go.


    Clearly, the results brought by the Mind Concentrating Potion to an Advanced Apprentice weren''t as significant as when it was used by an Intermediate Apprentice, however, for Evan, any tiny bit of increment in his Spirit was extremely valuable. It was because he had eighteen points in his Spirit now. So long as he could increase it just by a little bit, perhaps he could become a Pseudo-Mage.


    Most of the Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices couldn''t get their hands on a top grade product like Mind Concentrating Potions, but their eyes were dazed by the dazzling arrays of magical resources and materials. Perhaps Leon only put his concern towards the Fire element magical equipment he could use but Snorlax was never picky.


    Using the first pot of gold it had saved, Snorlax purchased a lot of local products from the Underground Cave. Now, by putting them on display in its own Goblin Shop, they immediately attracted a crazy spending spree from the apprentices within the tower.


    Ironwood Branch that brought the effect of +1 in the speed of vitality restoration, the Mantle of Intelligence that brought the effect of +1 in the speed of Spirit restoration, Ogre Gauntlets that brought the effect of +1 in Strength, Boot of Haste that brought +1 in Agility, Minor Antidote, Gem of True Sight that could detect any invisible creature...


    Although the magical equipment wasn''t of a high grade, they were perfectly suitable to be used by Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices, and their price was within a range they could afford. As the result, once they were put on sale, a great rush for them broke out within the Swampy Tower.


    With that, Snorlax was catapulted into the limelight!


    A Goblin that was able to possess such a ''massive'' fortune, of course, it attracted jealousy from outsiders. However, anyone with a sensible mind would know that behind this goblin was a Pseudo-Mage and an Advanced Apprentice. So long as their brain wasn''t damaged by fever, they would know that by offending this goblin, they would also provoke the Bloody Queen and the frightening malefic Leon.


    Therefore, after settling with Snorlax, Leon packed his luggage and left Swampy Tower without alerting anyone.


    If Leon traveled 7000 miles by foot or coach, he would be lucky to arrive at the mission site before the mission ended. So, after Leon left the Magical Swamp, he found himself a public flying site at the nearest city.


    There, he could get a ride on a flying boat!


    The so-called flying boat was a vehicle that was at least few times inferior to the flying ship used by the Mage Association. However, it was the most common and convenient method of travel within the center region of the continent. When Leon saw the flying boat for the first time, his facial muscle twitched uncontrollably.


    This... wasn''t this the hot air balloon back on Earth in his previous life?


    A huge, long, cigar-shaped balloon was floating above. Apparently, it was made from the leather of a unique demon beast. A large cabin was hanging under the balloon: the bottom level was used to house cargo while the upper level was the place where the travelers would stay. Nevertheless, it did send forth a mystical aura.


    Of course, the fee of riding the flying boat wasn''t cheap either, and ordinary cargo wouldn''t be shipped using the flying boat. Same goes with the travelers. The only ones who could afford to rent a whole room on the flying boat and experience a luxurious and romantic flying trip would be either the nobles from human society, rich merchants who traveled between places, or Apprentice Mages who were rushing to different mission sites.


    ....


    2128 words

 Chapter 125 Volcano

    Palmyra Town was the resource supply point nearest to Cotopaxi Volcano.It was also the place where all visiting apprentices reported for duty.


    When Leon arrived at the town, riding on a leisurely moving coach from the outpost, it was dinner time.


    Palmyra Town was a remote but not quite desolate town. It was not a big town, and there was only a main street that cut through the center of it. It was a small place where one could glance over the entire town just by standing at the street corner.


    Dozens of wooden houses were built along both sides of the main street. Just with one look, one could tell they were all ordinary folk houses. In addition to that, there was also a tavern, a grocery shop, and a shabby, wet, little hostel. Together with a population of around a hundred, that was everything one could find in this tiny town!


    Right after Leon came down from the coach, he vaguely heard a loud yet muffled noise that kept coming from the volcano located in the far distance. The noise didn''t come at random intervals but had always lingered in Leon''s ears ever since he had approached the region. When at the outer perimeter, it wasn''t that clear, and was just like the muffled thunder one could hear in the wilderness during winter. But, when he came into this tiny town, he was immediately amazed by the mightiness of Mother Nature.


    This, perhaps, was the noise caused by the restless underground activity of the volcano!


    At the thought that the residents of the town had to live in such an environment year in and year out, Leon just couldn''t hold down his curiosity. What was the reason behind them willingly enduring such a harsh environment and staying in this place?


    Although currently, the resting period of Cotopaxi Volcano was approaching, the dense dust cloud was still bursting out from the crater that was located in a far of distance at high altitude. The town was built fewer than seven miles from the foot of the volcano and because of volcanic activity the sky was forever hazy. No matter if it was outside or inside the town, whether it was in the buildings or on the stony pavement, everything was blanketed with a thick layer of volcanic ash.


    Inside the hostel, there was an Advanced Apprentice waiting for Leon. His name was Ivan. Judging from the badge pinned on the chest of his gray long robe, he came from the local Mage Family, the Zuber Family. The Cotopaxi Volcano was a family resource site they owned and no visiting Mage could step into the volcano without getting their permission prior. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When Ivan saw Leon was just an Advanced Apprentice, he could hardly believe it and was unable to hold down his emotion. Then, with a cold voice, he said, "Even during the resting period, the inner area of the volcano isn''t a safe place. It is filled with terrifyingly hot airflow and Magmakin. Are you sure you can survive in a place like that?"


    In an indifferent manner, Leon ran his eyes around the main hall of the hostel. He then casually waved his hand a few times in the air, revealing a magical talisman burning with fire element hovering in midair. Of course, his behavior attracted the eyes of everyone at the scene. The people who were sitting around the six to seven tables in the hall immediately turned their gazes over to him.


    Honestly speaking, after Leon had stepped over the threshold of the Inferno Body and after he was injected with the energy from the underground lava pool, his more than two-meter tall body was rather offending to the eyes. Yet, his long, dark red hair, and the reserved aura of cruelty and brutality had also given him an extraordinary bearing that could easily attract people''s gazes.


    "Eh, so you''re a Fire Element Apprentice! Then the hard underground environment will bring little effect to you. So long you can avoid those hateful Magmakin, perhaps, you can pay a visit to a deeper area!" Ivan nodded his head, took out a white stone, and handed it over to Leon.


    It was the visiting permit for him that allowed him to enter the inner area of volcano a few days later!


    "Go and talk with them! All the people you find in this hall are visiting apprentices who have come here for the mission. If you can form a team with them, it will be easier for you to complete the mission!" Since he had discovered that Leon was a Fire Element Apprentice, Ivan displayed a warmer reception.


    Leon nodded his head to express his understanding and then slowly walked toward the hall, gradually gazing at all of the unfamiliar faces who were chitchatting across the tables in low voices. At the end, he decided to sit at a table alone.


    For this underground trip, his primary goal was to complete his Inferno Body, and he wasn''t too eager to get the rewards of the mission. Therefore, he had no intention to form a team with other apprentices. That was also why he had been putting up a cold look upon his arrival. It prevented any strangers from talking with him, as he wanted to avoid any unnecessary trouble.


    All Apprentice Mages were acute observers. Since Leon had put up an invisible barrier around him, naturally, no one would come and bother him. Meanwhile, Leon took the opportunity to slowly observe the entire situation around this group of apprentices, so that he could make any necessary preparations for future.


    The main hall of the small hostel wasn''t big and it was dim. There were approximately seventeen Apprentice Mages; only two of them were Pseudo-Mages and the rest were the same as Leon, Advanced Apprentices. In fact, this demographic matched the characteristics of this mission.


    In order to harvest the resources at the underground volcano, on one hand, they had to endure the influence from the extreme environment, on the other hand, they had to deal with Magmakin, Fire Spirits, and other elemental creatures who inhabited the place. Therefore, Advanced Apprentice was the lowest requirement for this mission!


    Leon came to a conclusion, that among all these Advanced Apprentices, more than half of them must have Fire as their affinity element. While the rest of them may not be Fire element apprentices, they would be fellows with extreme confidence in themselves. And, the reason why there were so few Pseudo-Mages? It was because resource harvesting missions like this depended largely on one''s luck.


    If they were lucky, they might bump into a Fire Diamond mine that was exposed after the lava subsided. But, if they were out of luck, the story of someone returning with empty hands after three months of the mission was not a rare occasion either.


    At that point in time, not only would they not receive any mission rewards, they even had to compensate the portion of resources required by the mission from their own stores.


    Therefore, if not for a special need, no Pseudo-Mage would visit the underground volcano and test their luck.


    After getting hold of the rough situation of the mission''s apprentices, Leon hurried through a meal before he went in his own room and never came out again. He had arrived rather early, and there were still five days before the resting period of the volcano. So, for the next few days, he never stepped out from the room and even asked the servant to send his meals straight to his room.


    Using the few days of spare time he had, Leon put in all his effort and arduously researched about the Ring of Fire. He had a feeling that the advanced Fire element defensive magic spell was the perfect match to his Inferno Body. If he could master it sooner, it was highly possible that he could form a Protective Flame similar to that of a Balrog of Abyss. If he really succeeded, anyone who tried to attack him would have to first suffer from constant fire damage. It fit better with his treacherous mentality of killing the enemy in the dark.


    During this period, there were a couple of Apprentice Mages who paid him a visit, trying to pull him into their exploration teams. Leon turned all of them down. Therefore, after a few rounds of rejections, all of the Advanced Apprentices who would visit the underground volcano had learned about the guy who had the intention of visiting the volcano alone.


    As they were all able to become Advanced Apprentices, none of them were people with simple minds. They realized that a guy who had the courage to do that was someone who had extreme confidence in his trump cards. As a result, no one made any thoughtless comments about him. However, many of them were secretly waiting to see some shit happen to Leon!


    Soon, the day everybody was waiting for arrived!


    On this very day, the loud rumble that kept lingering in everybody''s ears finally came to a complete stop.


    The towering dust pillar in the far distant sky started to scatter and the shower of volcanic dust that had never stopped also reduced gradually and eventually came to a complete stop.


    Leon, who was quietly studying a book in his room, felt the changes in the outside world. He pushed open the wooden window pane and looked into the street. Without hesitation, he packed everything around him and walked out from the room. Similar to him, many apprentices prepared themselves, and they nodded their head at each other in the corridor as they gathered in the main hall of the hostel.


    Ivan, who was responsible for leading the group, was waiting in the main hall.


    After another fifteen minutes, when all twenty apprentices had arrived, the group left the hostel, following behind Ivan as they rushed to the foot of the volcano.


    For this group of Apprentice Mages, a distance of seven to eight miles was nothing. In less than fifteen minutes, the group came to a natural cave located halfway up the volcano. Two Pseudo-Mages from Zuber Family were waiting for them here. After verifying everybody''s visiting permit, only then did they let them into the cave.


    It was not a big cave and it only occupied around seventy square meters of area. Inside the cave, countless rocks with sharp edges and limestone were arranged in a crisscross pattern. Most probably, it was the tunnel that led to the depth of the volcano, as no moss, lichen or any similar things could be found here. Large cracks and deep trenches filled the wall on the both sides, and frequently, hot airflow that could cook a person instantly would burst out from them.


    Perhaps because the underground lava had just subsided not long ago, even the ground in the cave was boiling hot. The air inside of the tunnel was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur. Without a unique approach, when an ordinary human stayed in this dirty air for more than ten minutes, his body would be invaded by the poisonous fire, turning his trachea and lungs into a sack full of blood.


    But, no hardship in this environment could bring any harm to the apprentices who had the courage to visit the place. One after another, protective barriers of different colors emerged and covered them inside, isolated from any distraction coming from the outside. Leon didn''t show off his Inferno Body, but instead cast an Inferno Force Field around him.


    Quietly, he looked to the left and right, noticing eight apprentices had cast a similar Fire element defensive magic spell. They occupied nearly half of the entire twenty apprentices. Yet, the rest of them were either Earth or Wind element apprentices, and he couldn''t find any Water element apprentices. Presumably, those apprentice with Water as their affinity element wouldn''t want to suffer in an environment like this.


    Explore more at empire


    Compared to other spectrums of the element, when residing in a harsh environment like this, not only those Water element apprentices would have a hard time in gathering Water Elementiums, the strength and effect of their magic spell would also be reduced by at least seventy percent. So long their brain was functioning properly, none of them would come to this place and torture themselves!


    When the group arrived at this place, they split up into their own smaller teams.


    Few apprentices who had formed a team gathered together, and the Fire element apprentice among them cast a Fire element resistance spell on everyone in the team. After that, they simply squeezed into the tunnel without saying anything else. The residual temperature within the tunnel was still very high. In a narrow space like this, if they encountered an unexpected hot airflow burst of a major scale, even Advanced Apprentices would have to face a life-endangering situation.


    Therefore, after wishing everyone good luck, the group split up and entered different tunnels, disappearing into the depths of the volcano.


    Leon noticed that the Apprentice Mages from the Zuber Family didn''t follow any visiting apprentices into the tunnel. It looked like they were more familiar with the terrain of this area, and they had a more convenient destination to visit. There was no need to try their luck by poking around like the visiting apprentices.


    Leon shook his head and sighed. Then, he scrunched his body and squeezed into one of the lava tunnels.


    .


    2258 Words

 Chapter 126 Spa

    Compared to the Underground World at the Underground Cave region, the volcanic cave in this place was more dangerous and frightening.All the tunnels were created by the violent geologic activity of the volcano, they were actually cracks and channels made for lava to flow freely. Thus, it was a place filled with uncertainty.


    Perhaps, when you were walking in the middle of a red-hot tunnel, a sudden burst of hot air from a crack in the wall could bake you into a pile of charred bones. You might also take a wrong step and fall into a bottomless valley, eventually diving into a lava pool that could melt you entirely in seconds.


    Though the volcano had gradually entered its resting period, at some random areas, violent geologic activity still existed. And if the sudden sinking of strata happened right next you, it was most probable that you would be crushed into meat paste by the cave that suddenly closed up or by the shifting of the stratum.


    Therefore, when walking around in a place like this, one would really have to pay extra attention to the stability of the surrounding rock strata.


    Absolute safety never existed here, each and every single apprentice had to be extreme cautious, so that they could avoid getting themselves dragged into sudden changes of the terrain.


    However, danger not only came from the shifting of terrain in this volcano, most of it were actually coming from the unique creatures that inhabited this region ¨C Fire Spirits, Lava Hounds, Fire Lizards, Flame Imps, Guardian of Flames... one could easily find more than dozens of Fire element creatures that were named here, yet, there were still countless unnamed creatures hiding in every corner of the place.


    These Fire element creatures who lived by fire and feasted on fire had called this volcano their home, constructing a unique food chain in this world of lava. Of course, the ones who stood on top of the food chain would certainly be the dreadful Molten Giants. They were like a group of flaming giants who possessed a high intelligence, and owned some frightful element abilities that were not weaker than human Mages.


    It was a pity that they were overly dependent on the environment to live their lives, as once they left the world of volcanoes, their overall strength would be slowly, but constantly reduced. Therefore, all Molten Giants lived in the deepest areas of this underground volcano, and could hardly be seen in the outside world. With the abilities of ordinary Apprentice Mages, it was insufficient for them to visit such a deep area within the world of volcano, thus, it was nearly impossible for them to bump into each other.


    And yet, the ones who took the place at the bottom of this food chain would most probably be those disgusting Flame Imps. They look similar to Goblins, but their skins were red. Also, they didn''t have any flesh or blood, but were a product mixed from balls of source flames and some broken consciousnesses.


    They would shuttle back and forth between lava tunnels while chattering like magpies, searching everywhere for the area dense with Fire Elementiums. They would also attack any outsiders who intruded into the areas where they were residing, and their attack methods were rather primitive ¨C by shooting fire arrows. Once they realized they couldn''t defeat their opponent, they would simply dive into a random lava pool or hot flame and flee to another place within split seconds.


    If a treasure hunter let a Flame Imp escape in front of him, then within a very short period of time, his surroundings would be flooded by a swarm of Flame Imps.


    But, these Flame Imps were extremely poor. When you exhausted all mental efforts and eliminated them, what you would most probably get was a pile of volcanic ash, and there wouldn''t be any other war trophies you could find. On this point alone, the value of Flame Imps was far lower than that of Fire Spirits. Though Fire Spirit were also stood at the bottom of the food chain in this volcano world, once they were eliminated, you could at least obtain some broken element cores, far better than Flame Imp who gave nothing. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Flame Imps possessed the abilities of Fire Arrow and Fire Teleportation, if they were placed in the outside world, they would be a nasty type of element creature. However, in this volcanic world where everything had a very strong fire resistance, their bizarre abilities were useless when using against other fire element creatures.


    And this, was the root cause as to why they were reduced to the bottom of the food chain!


    Leon chose not to travel with others. Alone, he squeezed into one of the lava tunnels and ran with quick steps through the passage that led downwards. There weren''t any straight paths in this place, and no tunnels with regular shapes could be seen either. Every path would wind and twist following the changes in the terrain, and there were many forks along the way.


    This world of volcano was like an enormous beehive, the paths within were rough and rugged, and between each tunnel were caves of different sizes. When walking in this place, if one didn''t have any method to identify his way, it was really easy to get trapped in this gigantic maze, and eventually be killed by the heat after depleting all food and water.


    Nevertheless, this was not a problem for Leon at all. Not only that, the deeper he traveled into the world of volcano, the more active and restless the blood and flesh of his entire body became. They were rejoicing and cheering for how dense the Fire Elementium in this place were. Even without putting up an element protection, the misty red glow lingering about his body would never bring any harm to him, instead, they actually brought him some benefits.


    But, for the sake of appearances, he had to put up his Inferno Force Field, so that his clothes wouldn''t be burned off by the high temperature. After all, he was a human, and he didn''t have the habit of running naked like those Fire element creatures!


    He had no map, yet he didn''t need one. Leon never showed any hesitation when he arrived at all forks on his way, he just kept striding forward and heading deep underground. In fact, the beacon that guided his way was the density of the Fire Elementiums in the air! He hadn''t come here for treasure hunting, but to go to a ''spa''. Thus, wherever Fire Elementium were denser, he would head that way.


    The twists and turns in passages might fool him, but the Fire Elementium hovering in the air would never lie to him. Hence, without missing any turns, he arrived in front of a small lava pool.


    This place was not considered the depths of the volcano world; it was just a sunken region that existed naturally. Thus, after most of the molten lava subsided back into the underground, a small portion of it was trapped in this hole, forming a small lava pool.


    Right now, a group of Flame Imps and a Lava Hound were seen gathering in this place, swimming and floating in the lava pool, and pouring the boiling hot lava onto their body happily.


    Within this group of monsters, it was obvious that the Lava Hound had a higher status, as alone it had occupied nearly half the space. While the rest of the Flame Imps could only squeeze together on the other side of the pool, none of them daring to step closer to the Lava Hound.


    When they saw that a human had suddenly come through the tunnel and stood in front of them, the Lava Hound, who had a very strong sense of territory, became the first to jump out from the lava pool, blocking Leon. It slightly crouched down its body, opened up its huge mouth where scorching hot flame could be seen dancing inside, and let out a deep growl in a threatening manner.


    So, this was the Lava Hound?


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    Leon stopped, blue light could be seen flickering in his dark eyes, as he kept scanning on the internal structure of this peculiar creature in front.


    It was a Fire element creature whose size similar to that of a tiger''s back on Earth in his previous life. Most parts of its body were molded from boiling hot half-molten lava, and scorching hot flames enshrouded the surface of its body. When this Lava Hound opened its ferocious mouth and howled at Leon, the searing lava that dripped from its sharp fangs could even pierce small holes on the ground.


    This was a sign that the lava found on its body was stronger than that found in the natural world, and the Fire Elementium soaking in them was more violent and more corrosive.


    A moment later, the biological information about this creature as scanned by the Chip was projected into Leon''s mind.


    Lava Hound. A unique half-element creature of the Underground Volcano World.


    Overall strength level: Intermediate Apprentice.


    Body Attribute: Strength ¨C 9, Agility ¨C 13, Physique ¨C 10, Spirit ¨C 8.


    Abilities: High-speed Charge, Flaming Jump, Flame Throw, Ferocious Bite.


    Part of this information was constructed after analyzing the body structure of the Lava Hound, while the other was supplemented by the information found in books. When both informations merged, all its secrets were completely revealed in front of Leon.


    Though the Chip labeled this Lava Hound as having the overall strength of an Intermediate Apprentice, in this unique environment, an ordinary Intermediate Apprentice would find it tough to defeat it.


    Right when Leon had found out all the secrets of this Lava Hound, his silence had completely provoked the creature.


    The powerful hind leg of Lava Hound forcefully kicked on the ground, catapulting its large body into the air and leaping towards Leon and forcefully slammed into the Fire Shield that Leon had just summoned.


    A deep, muffled boom echoed out.


    The Lava Hound''s body brushed the Fire Shield and dodged to Leon''s sides, with just a twist of its heavy and agile body, it had once again repositioned itself, and leapt towards the opponent once again. Yet right at this very moment, four vividly deep claw marks hadn''t completely faded away from the Fire Shield.


    The Lava Hound forcefully slammed onto the Fire Shield once again!


    This time, the Fire Shield could no longer withstand the attack from the flaming claws and the powerful impact coming from the heavy body of Lava Hound. With a loud rumble, it exploded into fragments of fire that shot in all directions.


    Following the waving movement of the Fire Lord''s Scepter in Leon''s hand, a new Inferno Shield popped up from his body, knocking back the Lava Hound who had taken the opportunity to launch another attack.


    Leon frowned. It looked like the Fire Shield of Beginner Apprentice level could hardly help in the current battle of such magnitude. Even an ordinary Lava Hound could break it with just two rounds of attack. Presumably, if he was facing with stronger Fire element creature, this Fire Shield wouldn''t be stronger than a soap bubble.


    Yet, the Inferno Shield had proved itself to be the upgraded version of Fire Shield, as its defensive strength was at least five to six times stronger. Leon remained standing where he was, letting the Lava Hound continuously launch attack after attack. The Inferno Shield took nearly ten rounds of attacks before its energy was depleted to a stage of near collapse.


    Through his experiences from the battle, Leon modified some necessary parameters of his strategy. After that, he had no mood to keep ''playing'' with this Lava Hound anymore. An element core was tossed out, and a gigantic Rock Snake, nearly occupied half of the space in this cave, immediately poked its head out from the ground.


    Looking at this new intruder who appeared out of nowhere, the Lava Hound still leaped forward without caring about its own safety, wanting to defend its own territory to the last drop of its blood. But too bad, when facing against the Rock Snake, who had the advantage of a bigger body, the offensive ability which the Lava Hound was proud of was just a joke. Before it could bite off a few chunks of rock from the Rock Snake''s body, its body had fallen by the brutal bite of the Rock Snake, resulting in total disintegration of its body.


    After the Lava Hound''s body fell apart, from the lava rocks that scattered around, Leon picked up a Fire Stone that was still burning violently. This, was the only valuable thing he could find from the body of this Lava Hound!


    Leon stayed at where he was and examining the Fire Stone, while the Rock Snake continued its way and slithered towards the remaining Flame Imps.


    A shower of Fire Arrows fell onto the grayish green head of the Rock Snake, only managing to leave behind holes the size of a chicken egg. For the Rock Snake whose entire body made from hard rock, a damage like this could even be compared to a gentle tickle. It slithered in front of them, using its huge mouth to chomp, its long tail to slam, and its body to crush. Very soon, most of the Flame Imps were eliminated.


    Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, the rest of the Flame Imps quickly dove into the scorching flame dancing above the boiling lava pool, disappeared without a trace. Soon, the entire cave had finally become quiet!


    ...


    2276 Words

 Chapter 127 Deep

    Once peace and quiet returned to this place once again, those disturbing Fire element creatures had long left the scene.Dragging its heavy and long body, the Rock Snake was slithering around the outer perimeter and on high vigilance. Meanwhile, Leon took off all his clothes and while fully naked, walked into the lava pool step by step.


    The boiling molten lava quickly flooded to his ankles, then to his calves and then his thighs. Whenever a bubble stirred up by his movement broke, steaming hot airflow with the temperature of at least few hundred degrees would burst out from it. And yet, it seemed like Leon couldn''t feel anything, as he continued to march deeper into the pool, allowing the sticky and scorching hot lava to devour his body, and eventually, his head.


    Following the injecting of the frightful high temperatures into his body at a steady pace, Leon felt as if every single cell in his body was cheering and rejoicing. However, though the Fire element energy inside of his body was soaring at an incredible speed, he couldn''t felt the same pleasure he had last time, where both his body and Spirit were improving at the same time.


    As if... as if this lava pool was lacking a fundamental element that allowed his Inferno Body to progress.


    Leon stood up from the lava pool, wonderingly, he ran his eyes around the area. Finally, he couldn''t hold on anymore and asked out his question, "Chip, give this situation a thorough analysis. Tell me what is the reason that is preventing Inferno Body from continuing its progress?"


    In next second, countless messages of analysis rolled off his vision, and disappeared at the end, leaving behind only the final conclusion. The most possible reason why this lava pool couldn''t accelerate the progress of the Inferno Body was that it wasn''t connected to the volcano core located at the deepest level. This lava pool was just a small region of leftover lava after all the lava had subsided to the underground, and it had lost direct connection to the core of the lava.


    Seemed like it was meaningless for him to keep visiting the outer perimeter. Only by traveled deeper underground and finding the lava lake that directly connected to the core, would this trip be well worthwhile.


    Nevertheless, it didn''t mean by having a bath in this lava pool brought no benefit to him. Leon sent out his spirit and penetrated through the sticky and scorching lava, and very soon, he discovered some strange objects underneath the pool.


    Leon walked into the direction of South East within the pool, using Inferno Force Field he pushed away the surrounding lava, exposing the red-hot pool wall. He passed the Fire Lord''s Scepter to his left hand, while gathering some violent Fire element energies on his right hand. Then, he forcefully pierced his right hand into the spongy pool wall.


    When he pulled his right hand out from the wall, a chicken-egg-sized rock was seen tightly gripped in his palm. Following the injecting of raging Fire element energy, the outer layer of the rock started to melt like hot wax, eventually, revealing a dazzling red glow together with a sizzling heat wave.


    An underground Fire Diamond!


    It had only been the size of a human thumb. Judging from its color, it was merely an intermediate quality Fire Diamond. However, just an ordinary Fire Diamond like this could be sold at a hefty price of 120 magic crystals in any arcane shop. Also, for all Apprentice Mages who visited deep into the volcano, they just needed to submit five similar Fire Diamonds, and they would be considered as fulfilling the portion of resources required by the mission. As for any other things they harvested, they could be treated as personal rewards for the apprentice.


    Since this place brought him no significant help, Leon had no intention of staying any longer. He hurriedly put on his clothes, took the Rock Snake and rushed to the next destination with a high density of Fire Elementiums.


    One hour later, there was still not a single soul in this underground cave, but, bizarrely, a light sound of footsteps suddenly echoed out.


    A moment later, a vague figure with the shape of a human was revealed within the boiling heat wave right beside the edge of the lava pool.


    This was a young male with a long brown hair hanging loosely on his shoulders. He had a somber and stern face. Mystical and profound magical runes were seen fully drawn on his exposed neck, giving him a touch of wickedness.


    He was one of the visiting Pseudo-Mages who Leon paid special attention to previously.


    He seemed startled right when he arrived at the cave. As a Pseudo-Mage, he always acted alone, as he felt disdain to be in the same group as those rookies. Relying on his strange ability of invisibility, most of the Fire element creatures in this place couldn''t find any trace of him, allowing him to avoid most of the unnecessary battles, eventually arriving at this cave smoothly.


    However, from the burning fragments of lava rocks left over by the Lava Hound, and the volcanic ashes of the Flame Imps, together with the traces found on the ground left behind by some large crawling creature from the surface, he came to a conclusion that this place was visited by someone else before.


    Quietly, Tamora stood at the edge of the lava pool with his back straight, using his spirit to give the surroundings a quick scan. He found nothing. It looked like even if there were creatures here, they had become the war trophies of the person who had come before him.


    How could it be possible that someone was faster than him? Could it have been the other Pseudo-Mage?


    Having his mind filled with questions, Tamora had no choice but made a last-minute change to his route. He didn''t want to follow behind another expert and feast on the crumbs from the table. He had three months of time, and it was more than enough for him to dig out sufficient magical crystals to support his two years of consumption.


    ...


    During the second half of his journey, Leon had stopped behaved timidly like he had previously, and became bold and enthusiastic.


    Sitting high up on the body of Rock Snake, he let it crush through one after another lava tunnel like a bulldozer. When a tunnel was large enough, they would charge through it. When a tunnel was too small, once the Rock Snake squeezed through, it would become big enough.


    Anyhow, with the self-repairing speed of Rock Snake, the mild scratching and damage on its body could cause no real damage to it.


    Throughout their journey, when they encountered some smaller sized Fire element creatures, the Rock Snake would simply crush them. If it were some middle-sized creatures, it would first forcefully slammed and break the creature''s body, then continued by crushing over it. As for the desperate counterattacks put out by these Fire element creatures, they could barely bring additional tiny wounds onto the Rock Snake''s body, let alone stop it from pushing through.


    Leon didn''t even bother to come down and pick the Fire Stones or broken cores that fell out from the bodies of these Fire element creatures. He just let the Rock Snake swallow them straightaway, and only when he needed to organize them in future, would he sort through and filter them slowly.


    Also, for every place with a high density of Fire Elementiums, basically there would be a big or small sized lava pool. The only thing Leon needed to do was using his spirit and penetrate through the sticky and scorching lava, and find out those Fire Diamonds buried deep inside of rock stratum or covered inside some of the hard rocks.


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    Of course, occasionally, he would discover some other magical gemstones or unique metal ores.


    Then, in the course of marching forward at great speeds, Leon saw another common Fire element creature.


    Fire Spirit was considered the natural spirit that numbered the greatest in this world of volcano. Usually, they took the form of a humanoid flame that stood over one meter tall and could walk around freely. They didn''t have any eyes, ears, mouth, nose, or internal organs. Their bodies were totally made up of steaming hot fire, and they couldn''t be too far away from a lava pool.


    For these fellows who had no corporeal body and were just a collection of Elementium, the Rock Snake could easily crush them just with its heavy and rock solid body, saving the time of putting out an intense fight. And, from penniless vagrant like these, Leon would never find anything useful.


    Fire Lizards were a type of Fire element demon beasts. They did have flesh and blood, and similar to those ordinary large-scale lizards, they liked to hide in the dark and sneak up on their enemies. However, these underground Fire Lizard had rough skins and thick muscles, and they also possessed the ability to spit out flames from their mouth. Not only that, they also had excellent fire resistance. They had a habit of lurking at the edge of a lava pool, waiting for Fire element creatures to fall into their snare.


    The Fire Stones with a high density of Fire Elementium and the conscious cores found inside the bodies of Fire element creatures were their favorite food.


    Before came to this underground world, Leon already had an initial understanding about this world of volcano. In order to save the maximum amount of time, he had decided not to leave this place until the end time of the mission. With that, the issue Leon needed to solve urgently was regarding food and water.


    As for water, besides having a water sack in his storage waist belt, Leon could always collect it by gathering Water Elementiums. Although his element affinity was Fire and he was in a volcanic environment, which could be extremely tough to summon his Water Elementals, he could still solve his water issue easily.


    So, the next issue he needed to solve was food!


    The food Leon brought with him could only last him for one week. No matter how much more food he brought, it would be really difficult to keep it for a long time in such an extreme environment. Also, as Leon couldn''t consume fire as his food like how those Fire element creatures could, searching for a new food source in this underground world had become an inevitable task.


    Yet, in this world of volcano, only Fire Lizards who were made up of flesh and blood could be used as a food source. Nevertheless, the meat of Fire Lizards was tough and tensile, and its blood had a stinky odor and was hot. If not for the fact that the Fire element energy contained within would bring a tremendous benefit to his body, Leon would never torture his stomach with this nasty food.


    Basically, these middle and small sized Fire element creatures couldn''t pose any threat to Leon. But, those Magmakins and Guardian of Flames who had a stronger overall strength were difficult to handle.


    Both Magmakins and Lava Hounds were actually two different creatures with the same foundation, it just that one of them took the shape of a human, while the other looked like a hound. When facing a Lava Hound, a Rock Snake could tear it apart with just a powerful slam and a ferocious bite. But when facing a Magmakin, the same tactic was completely useless!


    Magmakin was a humanoid monster who possessed an intermediate intelligence. The outer layer of its body was underground lava stone of all sizes, ordinary offensive magic spells could hardly penetrate this layer of extremely tough rock armor. Also, they were extremely cunning creatures, and would never act like the Lava Hounds who couldn''t even judge the overall strength between itself and its enemy.


    The Magmakin liked to tenaciously defend the lava pool it took it as its home, and would never allow any outsider took a step into its territory. Also, its offensive methods were rather similar to that of a Fire element Mage. For example, it would use an endless shower of spells ¨C Firestone Throwing, Ignite, Flamestrike or some other similar spells ¨C when it fought. Frequently, it would use these Fire element spells that blotted out the sky and turned the lava cave into a sea of fire.


    When Leon bumped into a fellow like this who hid in a far distance and kept launching long-range offensive magic spells, he had no choice but to command the Rock Snake to charge into the lava pool and engage the enemy in a melee fight. Though both Rock Snakes and Magmakins were Advanced Apprentice level creatures, as the Rock Snake had the advantage of a bigger body, it had a stronger strength compared to the opponent.


    A fierce melee battle would always break out within the lava pool. Eventually, the final victor would always be the Rock Snake, who had a bigger body, a greater strength, and a better Physique.


    Nevertheless, whenever an intense battle was over, the burly body of Rock Snake would always be slimmed down. After all, it was just an Earth element golem, thus, when fighting against the same grade opponent, in the opponent''s territory, just soaking its body in the lava pool would bring a huge damage to itself.


    Therefore, every time after it killed a Magmakin, the rounded and thick body of Rock Snake would always slim down by at least three times.


    The Rock Snake could defeat these Magmakins after a fierce fight, but when facing the Guardian of Flames, the outcome would be near impossible to predict.


    ...


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 Chapter 128 Lava ocean

    If the appearance of Magmakin could still be considered human-like, then the Guardian of Flames would be purely a Fire element creature who had reincarnated from an evil creature.It had a tall and ferocious stature. Countless sharp rock peaks or spikes had covered the entire surface of its body. It had a strength similar to that of the Rock Snake, hence, when it wielded its huge rock fists and fought against the Rock Snake, the entire lava cave would shake and sway violently.


    Two huge monsters clashed against each other, rolling on the floor and punching each other fiercely. The massive activity and noise produced by them was not weaker than a remarkable battle between two world-class monsters. Even Leon was forced to step back, so that he could avoid the flying debris and rocks that kept falling off from above.


    After nearly ten minutes of violently battling, the Rock Snake finally showed slight signs of defeat.


    After all, the rocky body of Rock Snake was temporarily molded using ordinary underground rocks. In comparison, the Guardian of the Flames'' steel body was made up of hard ore and special steel rocks it gathered from different places, when it was wandering in this underground world. Hence, when the Rock Snake lost its advantage in body size and strength, there was no way it could withstand attacks from a relentless opponent like this.


    For Leon, however, he always scored his victory through numerical superiority of his golems. Since he couldn''t defeat the enemy with one golem, then he could just send two of them together!


    As the result, a moment later, the second Rock Snake made its debut with a loud rumble.


    Following the debut of the second Rock Snake, the previously brutal and oppressive Guardian of Flames was defeated swiftly.


    What to do? No matter how brutal and violent it was, there was no way it could withstand its body coiled up and trapped by one Rock Snake, while the other focused on biting at its head ferociously. Each Rock Snake had a clear task of their own, with their ingenious teamwork, they cut off the control this Guardian of Flames'' conscious core had on its body with one blow.


    A man would die when he lost his head; a snake would lose its direction when lost its head!


    Though this Guardian of Flames had the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage, once its conscious core was pulled out from its body, its gigantic body made from steel rock instantly became a mere skeleton and tumbled down within split seconds.


    Recently, Leon had been collecting Pseudo-Mage level Fire element core. However, it seemed pretty difficult to find something that could satisfy his requirement. One of the main reason was the toughness of these Fire element creatures!


    Taking this Guardian of Flames who he had just killed as an example. It owned an absolutely intrepid body made from steel rock, which ordinary magic spells could not harm at all. Along with that, it also possessed an array of powerful Fire element abilities and melee skills that brought despair to its opponent. When both of them combined together, even if a human Pseudo-Mage bumped into it, he would have to find a way to bypass this Guardian of Flames and wouldn''t waste his time and energy to risk his life and fight a fruitless battle.


    Therefore, when facing a frightening fire monster like this, excluding an official Mage who had the ability to kill them surely and steadily, among all Apprentice Mages, only those Pseudo-Mages who stood at the pinnacle could defeat it after suffering a mild degree of losses. Also, within the body of this Guardian of Flames, the only valuable item would be the Pseudo-Mage level conscious core. If these human Pseudo-Mages didn''t kill it swiftly and quickly with a thunderous approach, then it would be end up being a miserable event, as they usually would obtain a broken conscious core.


    All in all, because of these factors, the Pseudo-Mage level Fire element core had become scarce.


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    However, with the help of two Rock Snakes, Leon had just obtained one smoothly. The joyful emotion in his mind had made his face melt into smiles.


    Currently, besides making a great effort in expanding his knowledge regarding magic spells, he had used the rest of his time to craft a team of golems that were loyal only to him, trying his best to standardize, quantify and systematize them.


    The most vital advantage of a team of golems was their numbers, then only came the comprehensiveness of their types and the cultivation of elite fighters. When having battles in different kinds of terrain, the combative ability put out by different types of golems could differ greatly.


    Like when he fought the Fairy in the Underground Cave region last time. If Leon only had Rock Snake, then even if he summoned a couple dozens of them, he wouldn''t be able to bring any harm to that Fairy who could fly in the sky. Thus, in a situation like that, the Lighting Giant had used its high-speed movement to its advantage and had put its fierce long-range firepower into play.


    But in today''s situation, no matter how powerful the Lightning Storm and high-voltage electricity of the Lightning Giant was, most probably, it also couldn''t penetrate the thick skin of the Guardian of Flames which was made from steel rock. Once element magic spells were useless against the enemy, the effect a peak Pseudo-Mage level Lighting Giant could bring wouldn''t be able to compare to that of a Rock Snake''s, who only had the overall strength of Advanced Apprentice.


    Thus, predictably, when he had to fight with an enemy on the surface of the ocean, the golems who could bring the maximum combative abilities would be those Water Elementals.


    For this reason, increasing the number of golems and diversifying their types had become the direction that Leon was arduously working on going towards recently.


    Leon already had a certain number of backups for Earth, Wind and Water element golems, and only the team of Fire element golems took forever to build. The main reason was the lack of Pseudo-Mage level Fire element cores. But after obtaining this Fire element core today, Leon had seen the light of hope in constructing his future army of Fire element golems.


    Therefore, under the deliberate control of Leon, two Rock Snakes slithered everywhere in the underground lava tunnel, one behind the other. When they came to an ordinary lava pool, they would just skip it without taking a second look, never wasting their time on those ordinary Fire element creatures, instead, they were focused and determined to hunt for Guardian of Flames.


    As the result, along their way of traveling deeper, besides obtaining two Fire Diamonds, seven Fire Stones and a large pile of different gemstones and ores, Leon also found himself four Pseudo-Mage level Fire element cores. And this, was the thing that made Leon go wild with joy! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After running around madly for two days in this world of volcano, Leon merely passed through the shallow region of this place and set foot into the core region of this underground volcano for the first time. From this moment on, Leon couldn''t be as bold and as wild as before, because he had come to the habitat of those Molten Giants. Once he provoked them, even with the help of a team of powerful golems, the torture would be more than Leon could ever stand.


    Basically, a Molten Giant who had just been born would possess the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, while those adult Molten Giants were mighty existences comparable to human Mages. If not because their survival solely depended on the endless supply of Fire element energy from the underground volcano, perhaps there would be another species of Mages that would appear on the Mage Continent.


    Undoubtedly, there was an Mage level Fire element core found in the body of an adult Molten Giant, which was a rare treasure coveted even by Leon! But, dealing with Molten Giants wasn''t as simple as dealing with the Guardian of Flames. Though Guardian of Flames had a strong combative strength and a smart mind, they, after all, were living in the wild and were always alone. Thus, it was pretty easy for a group of apprentices to beat them in a group.


    Yet, the intelligence of these Molten Giants was not weaker than human Mages, and they had inhabited the core regions of the volcano in the form of a big clan. So, if any one of them was attacked, it would immediately attract a group of Molten Giants who came to help.


    At that point in time, it would not be the golem team who was beating the Molten Giant in a circle, but instead, them being circled by a swarm of Molten Giants!


    Whenever the vision of such terrifying scenes came into his mind, Leon just couldn''t help but tremble with fear.


    Upon entering the core region of the volcano world, the first thing Leon saw was a boundless ocean of lava. As if an enormous empty space suddenly opened up in the underground world, and the matters that filled this empty space was the slow-moving, sticky and glowing red hot molten lava.


    Throughout his journey in this place, Leon had witnessed countless lava pool of all sizes, however, this was the first time he saw a lava region where a vast amount of lava formed a boundless ocean.


    To be honest, when Leon took his first step out of the tunnel and saw the quiet, red hot ocean of lava, he nearly forgot how to breathe.


    Inside an enormous space stretched as far as eyes could see, an ocean made from steaming hot lava of black and red color was moving slowly. There was over one hundred meters of distance between the surface of the lava ocean and the cave ceiling, those thick flame jets frequently burst out, brightening the entire space, casting an unchanging tone of red in this place.


    Inside of this lava ocean, besides the molten lava which was at an astonishing temperature, there were also some rock blocks with peculiar shapes floating around. Some only was the size of a washbowl, some were the size of a house. They bobbed up and down in the molten lava like islands.


    Yet, on top of these big and small islands were numerous rock pillars with strange gemstones of different colors mounted in them, shimmering like stars in the night sky. Many of them were actually Fire Diamonds the size of a human fist. One could even find Fire Diamonds the size of a human head.


    As far as the eye could see, this lava ocean was virtually a massive magical treasury vault, lying quietly here, awaiting for one to visit.


    Nevertheless, the environment here was exceptionally dreadful.


    According to the Chip''s reading, the temperature at the border region of this lava ocean had approached one thousand degrees Celsius, yet the temperature at the inner region had reached a jaw-dropping two thousand degrees Celsius. In an environment such as this, once an apprentice lost the protection of his magic spell, even a Pseudo-Mage would face the fate of turning into a pile of charred bones in an instant.


    For Leon, he was relying on the double protection of his Fire Lord''s Scepter and Fire element affinity, only then was he able to survive in this harsh environment. Or else, not only would he be unable to dive into this lava ocean and cultivate, it would also be extremely tough for him to even get close to the region.


    Leon waved his hand and dispersed both Rock Snakes, then he picked up the two golem cores and put them away. After giving the surroundings a thorough examination and making sure it was safe, he hid all his equipment and clothes behind a pile of rocks. Then, with his jaw clenched tightly, he dove into the lava ocean.


    Painful... a pain that went straight into his heart!


    Right when he stepped into the lava ocean, the terrifying high temperature had brought a pain that nearly killed Leon instantly. It felt like his body was stabbed by hundreds of thousands of steel needles at the same time, the severe pain had clouded Leon''s conscious immediately.


    Like a fresh steak was placed on top of a frying pan, his skin and flesh was made sizzling noises inside of the boiling hot molten lava. Leon''s entire body was fuming with dark smoke and a burned smell started to linger in the air.


    Contrary to the torture his body was facing, Leon''s Spiritual Domain had shown an unprecedented activity. Like the flood that had just breached the dam, Fire element energies kept injecting into his body violently, washing and cleaning his body at a constant pace and at the same time, improving his Spiritual Domain bit by bit.


    Apparently, there were some mysterious, unidentified, and tough to capture elements that had entered Leon''s body together with the Fire element energies. They were strengthening Leon''s innate talent in the Fire element and forging a brand new Flame Body for him. This method of injecting energy was usually used by those Element Mages after they successfully advanced into the Mage realm, as once they had a powerful Spirit to control their body, only they could withstand the violent process of body modification.


    And this, was the inevitable course for an Element Mage to transform his body into Elementium completely. Only when his body and spirit were at the same frequency and essence, could he lay a solid foundation for the future, which was transforming his spirit into Elementium.


    So, when Leon, with the weak overall strength of an Apprentice Mage, tried to set foot in a territory that only official Mages could handle, it was inevitable that he had to suffer some torture!


    ...


    2329 Words

 Chapter 129 Enhancement

    Only by facing calamities could a person truly grow!At the edge of this lava ocean filled with infinite and copious fire energies, what Leon obtained was not only being able to gather the Fire element energy. His innate talent affinity to Fire element was like a stranded fish put back into the water, allowing him to sense the progress of his Inferno Body at every single second.


    If not because deep in his mind, the real-time data transmitted by the Chip was refreshing the progress of his Inferno Body continuously, perhaps Leon would have long given up and back off from the lava ocean, as he couldn''t endure the severe pain that made him feel like he was being cooked by the raging flames.


    Under the impact of an even more violent Fire element energies, the Inferno Body, which had stopped its progress since Leon had left the World of Deep Red in Underground Cave Region and had been stuck in the progress of 17%, started to skyrocket, placing him in both a state of pain and of joy!


    18%...


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    19%...


    20%...


    ...


    ...


    The strengthening of his Fire element innate talent had also spurred the self-evolution of his corporeal body. Under the scrubbing from the raging Fire element energy, some internal organs, flesh and tissues that didn''t match with his Fire element innate talent were baked into coke and incinerated into ashes. Meanwhile, with the support of the powerful energy, new body parts had quickly regenerated, replacing the position of those old ones.


    Originally, this was a chaotic and disorderly process, and was basically carried out automatically by body instincts. However, with the refine control the Chip had over the body, Leon was able to overcome the severe pain he felt on his body, and focus his spirit on the balance between the speed of the Fire element energy entering his body and the speed of regeneration on his body parts.


    No doubt having both Spirit and body evolving at the same time was a good thing, but it had to be controlled to an appropriate rate. Without a strong Physique, no ordinary apprentice could withstand this overly violent modification of body. Hence, only after soaking his body in the lava ocean for two minutes, after the progress of Inferno Body increased from 17% to 23%, Leon had no choice but to grit his teeth and get out.


    When he climbed out to the shore filled with rubble, the boiling hot half-molten lava was rolling off his body, making the volcanic rocks underneath his feet burn and produce sizzling noises. When all the lava left his body, an ugly body of black and red was revealed.


    The darkened part was his skin that had turned into coke and started to peel off within the flames of frightening temperatures. The red part was his newly regenerated flesh, the crimson tissue was exposed directly under the high temperature and heat, but clearly, they possessed a higher resistance and endurance toward the deadly fire.


    Though, the body in the past was part of Leon, but obviously, it wasn''t fitted perfectly for his Fire element energy. Now, after going through the modification as the result of having copious Fire element energy injected into his body, together with the help from his powerful flesh-regeneration ability, it had formed into a brand new body that perfectly matched with his innate ability.


    However, a body modification like this couldn''t be completed in one go!


    After all, Leon''s Physique was still very weak. Doing it in one go would be an overly brutal process, and it was very easy for the balance of the body to collapse. That was why he only scratched the surface of it. When the Chip detected his body had reached the limit of his endurance, it immediately gave him the warning, which led him to halt the cultivation of Inferno Body at once.


    Right at this very moment, his body looked slimmer than before, however, it had become dapper. Nevertheless, compared to the glorious look on the outside, all his internal organs, bones and tendons were now fully filled with cracks and wounds of different sizes. Before he could fix all these injuries, he had to temporarily stop this overly violent body modification.


    He had given himself a brief moment to rest at the shore, once he finally got used to this body, Leon put on his clothes, squeezed into one of the lava tunnels in the wall without looking back.


    At a place half an hour distance from the lava ocean, Leon found himself a half-isolated lava cave. After modifying it slightly, he had turned it into his temporary base camp. Perhaps, within this period of time, he would have to dwell here days and nights, waiting patiently for his body to recover.


    He summoned a Rock Snake, using its thick body to block off the only entrance to the cave. With that, he wouldn''t have to worry about enemies sneaking up on him when he was sleeping. After all, the Rock Snake''s body was made up of rock, as long as it coiled up its body, and reduced the frequency of its consciousness, it could disguise itself well as a rock wall.


    Leon took out a small pile of Fire Stones and placed them inside a small hole located at the center of the cave, using them as his fuel, he started to cook a magical energy meal set himself. As his ingredients were the flesh of a Fire element creature, it only required a simple roasting. After he was done, Leon immediately wolfed down to heal his hunger.


    It was worth to mention, following the improvement of his Physique and Strength, those meats of demon beast which were overly tough and sour to him in the past, had become one of the recipes of his diet. Though every time after he finished eating them, his cheek would hurt for quite a long time. However, whenever he sensed the comfortable energy slowly released inside of his body, he thought that the torture wasn''t that hard to endure at all!


    When he finished eating the magical energy meal set, Leon poured another gallon of clean water into his mouth, only then he satisfyingly laid down on a soft blanket placed beside and went into deep slumber. This time, he didn''t perform his meditation. His broken body could no longer withstand any more changes, and only the soundest sleep would bring him into the state of worried-free, which was the thing he needed the most now!


    While indulging in a sound sleep, little to his knowledge, right at this moment, within the lava ocean, something related to him was happening.


    Not knowing which time of the day, an extremely bizarre battleship had drifted into this lava ocean.


    Why was it described as bizarre? Because this battleship was modified from a floating rocky island. The rugged and rough rocks made the ship look tattered. There weren''t any sails on the ship, and vaguely, there were some tall and burly figures onboard.


    It was a group of tall rock men that looked rather like rock golems. Their bodies were entirely pieced up together with granite of high hardness. Numerous large cracks could be found on the surface of their bodies which stood four-meters-tall, high-temperature flames could be seen leaking from these cracks, forming into balls of frightening flames which took different colors.


    For those adults, the flames protecting their bodies were the color of gold, while the juveniles had a crimson color flame.


    They had the body and limbs that looked exactly like those of a human, and had rugged heads. However, their facial features weren''t arranged in a regular and neat pattern like those on a human''s, but more like messily placed rock formations.


    At the position of their eyes were two deep holes, vaguely, one could see the gleams of magical gemstone shining from them. Their nose and ears looked exactly like black beehives, while their mouth was simply large rifts that stretched across their faces. If they were fully opened, they could easily swallow a wild boar in one bite.


    This mysterious battleship was swiftly sailing through the sticky molten lava, avoiding those big chunks of floating islands on its way. As for those smaller rocks, they simply crushed through them, smashing them into pieces and turning them into debris that floated on the surface of the lava ocean.


    From time to time, the tall giants on the ship would bow down on the side of the ship, poking their large palm into the high-temperature lava, and scoop up one after another magical gemstone or metal ore that emitted a unique element rhythms.


    For these guardians who were patrolling the lava ocean, not all things could meet the fancy of their eyes. Whenever they scooped up one object, they would bring it in front of their face and give it a careful examination and would only toss those with excellent colors into ship''s deck. The entire deck of the massive battleship had been fully filled with a thick layer of war trophies.


    As for those magical gemstones or metal ores of ordinary colors, the tall giants would toss them back into the lava ocean, let them eventually melt down and became part of the vast lava ocean. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The lava ocean was like a super gigantic furnace, sinking all the waste and sediment to the bottom, yet pushing the most beautiful treasures to the surface, waiting for the arrival of these Sons of the Flaming Ocean.


    As the Sons of the Flaming Ocean who had lived their entire lives in this world of volcano, the Molten Giants were the natural rulers of this realm. Not only did each of them possess a formidable overall strength individually, each also had a high intelligence and relatively complicated social structure.


    There were seven Molten Giants onboard this battleship of lava rock. Two of them were at Mage level, while five were at Pseudo-Mage level. This also meant that the basic deployment for a lava rock battleship was two adults and five juveniles.


    The nest of these Molten Giants was located on a ring-shaped reef at the heart of this lava ocean. In order to avoid the intrusion of human Mages, they had organized four to five patrol teams who spent all day patrolling this vast lava ocean.


    During ordinary times, when the volcano was at its erupting phase, their life would be rather calm and peaceful. But once the volcano entered its resting phase and the waterline in the lava ocean reduced, numerous tunnels that led to their nest would be exposed. And whenever this period of the year arrived, it was also the time those human Mages sent their minions into this world of volcano.


    Those countless Fire element creatures found at the outer perimeter were actually intentionally driven out by the Molten Giants, to use as the cannon fodder to block off the path of Apprentice Mages. But there were many times, some fearful humans would still intrude into their home, stealing the supreme quality delicacies they had gathered laboriously (Supreme Fire Diamonds), and killing their juveniles that hadn''t reach their mature phase.


    Hence, whenever the resting phase of the volcano arrived, it was also the time when these Molten Giants underwent a lot of stress, as it was the dangerous period when they would increase the frequency of patrol.


    But for this time, when this lava rock battleship was slowly sailing forward along the shore of the lava ocean, a tall Molten Giant, who was standing at the bow of the ship and kept sniffing with its nose, before suddenly letting out a loud roar.


    "Halt... halt... I can smell a human! Quickly stop the ship and check it out!"


    With the work put in together by all Molten Giants, the lava rock battleship stopped near a pile of rocks on the bank.


    A few tall, heavy figures jumped straight onto the shore, starting to seek the trace of the scent left over by a human and any other clues.


    Soon, the place where Leon dove into the ocean and the spot where he hid his clothes were identified by them.


    "Arghol, it looks like some human had intruded into our world again! What should we do now?" In a low, muffled voice, a juvenile Molten Giant asked.


    One of the adult Molten Giants was seen touching its chin with its large palm. A pondering expression emerged on its face. Finally, in a resolute manner, it said, "Send someone and report this to the Elder, ask the elder to send more help here. Three of us will stay here and search for traces of that human. Since he could bypass the blockade of Fire Beasts in such a short amount of time, he is surely a guy with bad intentions. We can''t allow him to keep wandering in our world!"


    Another adult Molten Giant agreed, so he said, "Then let me bring two little ones and bear the task! It had been many years since those human Mages invaded the lava ocean, and this time, it is highly possible he is just an Apprentice Mage. I can handle an intruder like this!"


    After obtained the approval from Arghol, the leader of this group of Molten Giants, the second adult Molten Giant raised its flaming arm in the air, with a soft voice, it read, "In the name of the Mighty Lord of Lava Rock, my servants, awake now!"


    Following with its loud roar, not far away from them, the lava ocean started to roll and rock violently, over thirty strong and vigorous Lava Hounds made their debut by squeezing out from the surface of the lava ocean, and gathering in front of the Molten Giant.


    "Go now, my servants, and help me find that damn human!"


    Upon hearing the command from this Son of the Flaming Ocean, these Lava Hounds threw their heads back and let out loud and sharp howls, pressing forward and sprinting into the complex lava tunnels.


    Without Leon''s knowledge and sense, a great hunt targeted at him had begun!


    ....


    2360 Words

 Chapter 130 Worlds

    Leon was awoken with a start by a noisy clamor.Outside of the cave, a commotion had broken out. Even the Rock Snake, who was supposed to guard the cave entrance, had poked half of its body out and was ferociously attacking something, only blocking off the entrance with its thick tail.


    When Leon packed everything and walked out from the cave, the battle outside had ended.


    Within the not so spacious cave, seven broken Lava Hound bodies were scattered on the ground and red-hot half-molten lava was running freely everywhere. For the Lava Hounds, if rocks were their body, then the molten lava would be their blood.


    Since there was so much of their ''blood'' flowing everywhere, the chances of their survival were rather slim!


    Why were there so many Lava Hounds? Could the small cave Leon occupied be their nest?


    A bunch of questions appeared in Leon''s mind, but very soon, he rejected them.


    Yesterday, when he was looking for a place as his temporary shelter, Leon had put in quite a lot of effort. He had avoided most of the areas of activity for Fire element creatures. Under such circumstances, why was he still attacked by this pack of Lava Hounds? Also, the order he gave the Rock Snake was to defend and fight back only when it was under attack. This meant that it was the pack of Lava Hounds who had initiated the attack!


    The more he thought about it, the tighter Leon''s brows became. He had a feeling, this was not an accident, but...


    Indeed, after the Chip performed a quick search, from the description of Molten Giants, Leon saw their ability to summon and command Fire element creatures.


    And just as he made up his mind, the noisy howls of Lava Hounds could be heard coming from a few lava tunnels. Judging from the volume of noise, there was a large pack of Lava Hounds sprinting towards him.


    Damn it, the enemy had come to him! He just wondered if there was a Molten Giant in this group of approaching enemies.


    With no time to ponder further, Leon turned around and jumped into the large mouth of the Rock Snake, quickly squeezing into the tunnel that led to the upper level of the volcano. No matter where the enemy came from, the further he distanced himself from the lava ocean, which was the claimed home of the Molten Giants, the better!


    Moving its thick and long body, the Rock Snake forcefully squeezed into a rather narrow lava tunnel. The protruding rocky scales on its body brushed across the rock wall and produced a lot of sparks, sending broken stones flying in all directions. After its entire body squeezed into the tunnel, the Rock Snake swung its tail with a tremendous force. In an instant, the entrance of the lava tunnel collapsed and the falling rocks quickly sealed off the entire entrance.


    At the same time, tens of Lava Hounds leaped out from nearby tunnels, yet they were blocked from going any further by the falling rocks. Like a bear with a sore head, the Lava Hounds immediately let out furious roars. While arduously digging at the piles of broken rocks, they sent out a warning to their master, who was at a far distance.


    A moment later, an adult and two juvenile Molten Giants came to the scene with heavy steps. What could they do? As their bodies were overly huge, they just couldn''t squeeze through the ordinary and narrow tunnels. Most of the time they could only travel through the large tunnels produced by the erosion of underground lava. As for enemies who hid in narrow spaces, the Molten Giants could only rely on their Fire element creatures to chase them out.


    Upon seeing the collapsed tunnels, a sudden comprehension struck them.


    Under the orders of the adult Molten Giant, Alexios, the remaining Lava Hounds gave up the decision of digging a path, turned around, and leapt into a few nearby lava tunnels which were still in a good condition with the intention of intercepting the enemy by taking a circuitous route.


    Alexios turned around and gave its order to the two juveniles of its clan. "There is only one enemy, and he is a mere human Apprentice Mage, so there is no danger ahead. Bring my message to Arghol: he needn''t belabor our people. I''ll hunt him down myself."


    Having finished saying that, it turned around and walked towards the tunnel that had been completely sealed off. Following its striding, a scorching hot flame of extreme temperature burst out from its body. And, right in front of it, the once rock solid piles of broken rocks started to soften and melt, and eventually, turned into boiling lava that flowed all over the place.


    Unobstructed, using the fearful flame, Alexios had melted a human-shaped tunnel in front of it, allowing it to keep striding forward at high-speed. Yet, it left a path full of lava behind, so no outsider could follow.


    However, at that time, Leon had fled to some five miles away. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nevertheless, in this underground world filled with twisting and winding tunnels, although he had fled for five miles, if it was measured in a straight line, it might just be a distance of four to five hundred meters. Also, the Fire Elementium contained in the rock strata here was extremely high. If the Rock Snake wished to travel through the ground like it did in the Underground Cave, it would have to consume a jaw-dropping amount of Earth Elementium.


    Therefore, before reaching the most critical moment, Leon didn''t want to waste the Rock Snake''s energy.


    The pursuit lasted only an hour before it ended, and it was the Molten Giant who gave up the hunt. It was as if there was a clear-cut line in their mind; once the fleeing enemy crossed that line, they wouldn''t take the risk and continue the pursuit beyond that boundary. Explore stories on empire


    Sensing the intense source of Fire chasing behind him was departing, Leon finally breathed out a long sigh of relief. He was pretty sure that it must have been an adult Molten Giant of Mage level. If he was forced to fight with a big fellow like this, even if he summoned all his golems, he would end up with a miserable defeat.


    He lacked a big guy of Earth element that could stand up against this Molten Giant, and he didn''t own any element golems that could provide maximum power in this volcanic environment. It looked like there was still a huge gap before he could construct a fully fledged golem army.


    Moreover, he could tell the Molten Giants showed great care for the younger generations of their clan. With his senses, he discovered that two little Pseudo-Mage fellows hadn''t participated in the hunt and they didn''t travel alone. Undoubtedly, this increased the difficulty of capturing one of them.


    After all, with Leon''s current overall strength, he didn''t have the courage to plan anything against adult Molten Giant of Mage level. Yet, there was some hope for the little guys of the Pseudo-Mage level!


    Since he had been driven off from the core region of the lava ocean, Leon had nothing else could do but wander around the upper region. While waiting for the full recovery of his body, he was searching for a new route that led to the lava ocean. After all, for years, this enormous volcano had been corroded by the underground lava and hundreds of thousands of lava tunnels had been formed and interconnected like a complicated spiderweb. Thus, nearly all of the tunnels would point to the miraculous and profound world of lava. It was impossible for the Molten Giants to block off every single route.


    Without wasting any more time, when his body had fully restored to its best condition, Leon once again snuck into the lava ocean. This round, he doubled the time he spent soaking in it and the progress he achieved surprised him.


    The modification progress of his Inferno Body had skyrocketed to 37%, from the previous 23%. Yet, Leon''s body had once again gone through great torture, as 1/7 of his flesh was burned off. But his booming Physique had stimulated the quick regeneration of new flesh and blood.


    His body was like a factory that kept being pushed down and rebuilt. Every time, the delicate balance constructed by the regeneration of his flesh would be broken by the strengthening of his Fire element innate talent. And when everything was pushed down, new internal organs and flesh would regrow slowly, so that they could match the latest state of his Inferno Body.


    And, within the progress of this seemingly endless loop, those modifications, that perfectly matched with his Inferno Body constitution, remained. And yet, the temporary unfitted modifications would be placed in line, waiting to be modified again.


    Initially, Leon wanted to let the Chip to participate in this process of body modification and reconstruction. But after a few small scale experiments, he had no choice but to give up the idea. Due to the constraint of his experience and vision, it was impossible for the Chip to predictively leave appropriate room for the future strengthening of his Fire element innate element. Yet, it was marvelously achieved by the instincts of his own body, amidst obscurity and out of chaos.


    Also, under the instruction from the instinct of his body, many tiny changes made to his organs were determined as useless or redundant by the Chip. However, after going through another couple rounds of body modification, to Leon''s surprise, the portions which had been deemed useless and redundant actually turned into the flawless foundations for the latest modification.


    If such discovery only happened once in awhile, Leon wouldn''t be so surprised. But, following the Chip''s overall monitoring of his entire body, a similar discovery could be found in almost every modified part of his body.


    At this point, Leon was forced to stop the Chip from meddling in the process and let the instinct of the body lead the entire process. The Chip would be a general observer, recording the entire process with detailed and accurate data.


    The more he observed the process, the deeper he pondered it. And that brought Leon more understanding about the ''Will of the World'' he always heard from Mages.


    The world Leon was staying in right now was just a large-scale plane inside of the enormous multi-verse. Yet, a boundless world with abundant resources like this was merely a tiny grain of sand within the depths of the vast ocean of stars.


    If Earth, and the universe where Earth was located in Leon''s previous life, was referred as a world of low-magic, then in this life of his, the Plane of Mages and the multi-verse would be referred to as a world of advanced-magic. Countless energy tidal waves fully filled every inch of space in this world.


    Influenced by the copious energy tidal waves, Occultism itself had transformed into a frightening force. Any world, any plane, any human, could unleash fearful power far beyond the limit of their own ability. And all this could be put together under the scope of mighty Occultism!


    Back on Earth in his previous life, if someone claimed that the Earth had its own conscious and possessed its own will, it would simply be a joke that made people laugh their heads off! Because the mass of the Earth was too huge; for a massive object like this to produce its own will, it was far from enough just to rely on the materials and energy contained within itself.


    Therefore, in the world of low-magic, it was impossible for a planet to produce its own will!


    But... but Leon was living in a world of advanced-magic. The mighty energy tidal wave was everywhere. And this had given a solid foundation for the planet to give birth to its self-conscious. Of course, in this multi-verse, there weren''t any planets, only planes!


    At all times, one after another, floating continents covering the insides of plane barriers were soaking in immense energy. Using their own body of boundless land, they carried massive amounts of dirt, sand, rocks, trees, woods, forests, mountains, lakes, oceans, metal, mines, minerals, and last but not least, hundreds of thousands of living creatures of different species. No matter if it was just an ordinary rock or a mighty Mage who stood at the pinnacle of the world, they were all part of the plane.


    Innumerable materials, millions upon millions of living beings of different species, together with the immense energy tidal wave; all of these had provided a solid foundation for the birth of the collective consciousness. Perhaps the prime form of the Will of the World was this collective consciousness, as it was the grand fusion of the countless living beings and elementary materials found within its body. But, as time went on, the plane became stronger, and a vague, incorporeal conscious of the plane was born, virtually.


    ...


    2179 Words

 Chapter 131 Cemetery

    With the massive scale of a plane, the Will of the Plane born within could never be as nimble and as witty as a human brain, which answered to every single plea it received.Nevertheless, the basic likes and dislikes were no different from a normal human!


    Every single individual who lived in its bosom, regardless of if they were living beings with consciousness, or rocks and woods without any consciousness, they were all humble existences that formed the entire Will of the Plane. If a plane was completely sealed off and the resources and living beings contained within maintained at the same volume, then the Will of the Plane would lose its opportunity to evolve and become stronger.


    Only by diligently keeping what it owned and seizing the resources required for its growth from outside of its own body could the Will of the Plane continue to grow stronger. Eventually, this would allow it to awaken and become an even mightier existence.


    As a major scale plane, obviously, the Mage Continent had long given birth to its own mighty conscious that solely belong to itself, which had then transformed into the Will of the World that perfectly matched the Mage Continent.


    And, after the birth of this Will, the only method to control this plane was using the Hand of Principle that took no shape and was nothingness. Thus, every single material and living being that existed in this plane was bound by the power of countless principles.


    Wood could produce fire, fire could melt metal, metal could chop down trees and break rocks, while earth bore the weight of everything, dirt gave birth to life, and water nourished and cherish all things... yet all of this was just the surface of the world. The ultimate hand that controlled and guided everything behind was the ubiquitous invincible Principle of the Plane.


    Even the supreme Mages, who claimed they could conquer every plane and were formidable enough to compete with deities, couldn''t ignore the existence of the Principle of the Plane and act wantonly.


    Therefore, the stronger an Mage became, the deeper comprehension he had for the Will of the World, while weaker living beings would only have a vague feeling towards everything. Just like the evolution of Leon''s Inferno Body, at a given time, the Will of the Plane had shown its existence.


    There was no God nor Deity here, but a selfless Will of the Plane hiding in the depths of the plane, quietly but surely pushing the course of the world in an orderly fashion. Any behavior that was of benefit to the evolution of the plane would receive positive feedback from the vague Will, which eventually improved the individual''s degree of mastery and control toward the Principle of the Plane.


    As for the behavior which defied the Will of the Plane, it would attract ''its'' dislike, and thus make the individual a target that was hated by every single living being of that particular plane.


    And yet for Leon, it was through the monitoring of and analyzing the overall data of his body that he noticed that there was a huge, invisible hand who controlled everything inside of the plane. Otherwise, if he had really thought this was just an unconscious behavior that was put out by the instinct of the body, it would be an insult to his intelligence.


    And if an Apprentice Mage wished to become an official Mage, it seemed that one of the thresholds he had to step over was the understanding of the Principle of the Plane. Otherwise, why was there such a huge gap between a Pseudo-Mage with 20 Spirit and an Mage with 21 Spirit?


    His mind filled with questions, when Leon finished soaking his Inferno Body, he hurriedly left the lava ocean to avoid being caught by the patrolling Molten Giants.


    After rushing to the safe zone in one go, Leon found himself another place as his temporary shelter.


    After some time, the food and water he had brought were nearly depleted. Having no other alternative, Leon had to live a primitive life of eating raw meat and blood. His food source were the Fire Lizards he hunted, while the water came from condensing it using magic spells and Fire Lizard blood. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In order to make the best of his soaking time, every two days, Leon would change the location of his temporary shelter. With that, the time and location he appeared at the lava ocean would be completely different. Using this method, he managed to avoid several ambushes and traps set by the Molten Giants, making them really angry. But there was nothing they could do about it.


    Through the countless times he ''communicated'' with the Molten Giants, even though they had never met face to face, Leon had quickly figured out his enemies'' way of thinking and acting. Also, through the countless probes and results, he finally broke through the blockade of the Molten Giant patrol team at the outer perimeter, and successfully drew close to their nest ¨C the Ring-shaped Reef.


    Although it was referred to as Ring-shaped Reef, it was in fact, a chain of interlocking huge rocks floating on the surface of the lava ocean. Using a thick alloy chain, the Molten Giants had tied them together, forming into a large floating island anchored right at the center of the lava ocean.


    The nest of the Molten Giants was placed on top of these floating islands.


    So to speak, from the womb to the tomb, a Molten Giant spent nearly its entire life in this boundless lava ocean. This resulted in the fact that though they had the overall strength of an Mage and high intelligence, they didn''t own the advanced wisdom that matched it.


    In brief, they were smart, but hadn''t reached the state of ''cunning!''


    That was the reason why, though they had such formidable overall strength, they were thrown into unrest by a mere ''Advanced Apprentice,'' Leon.


    Of course, an Advanced Apprentice who was like Leon was rather rare to come by.


    Through secret observation of the Molten Giants, a thief-like thought arose in his mind. He actually intended to rob the Molten Giant''s clan treasure vault. The Molten Giants were born and brought up here, and they had been patrolling the lava ocean every single day. Nearly all the advanced magical gemstones and top grade magic spell materials that one could find in the underground volcano had to be piled up like a mountain in their treasure vault.


    If he could rob a clan treasure vault of this magnitude, Leon felt that he wouldn''t have to worry about harvesting resources himself for the next few hundred years. Just doing it once was more than enough to fill his need to the maximum!


    However, after a few more times of careful survey, Leon was discouraged once again.


    As expected, the Molten Giants attached a very great importance to their treasure vault. Not only had they built the treasure vault on the largest floating island, it was placed right next to the residence of their elders. Also, round the clock, two elite level Molten Giants guarded its entrance with high vigilance to make sure there would be no leakage of any kind.


    Leon had the Chip design him countless plans, but still he couldn''t find a safe and sound method that allowed him to sneak into the treasure vault under the watchful eyes of two elite level Molten Giants.


    Nevertheless, during the fruitless course of finding his path to the loot, unintentionally, Leon made another discovery.


    He discovered the graves of the Molten Giants!


    Although Molten Giants could live more than 2000 years, as time went by, unavoidably, they still had to face their deaths. In order to give their deceased people a place to rest forever, the Molten Giants had built a graveyard on one of the floating islands amidst the Ring-shaped Islands. Whenever a Molten Giant was facing its own death, it would enter this graveyard and wait there quietly for its death to come.


    Once they were dead, their huge and flaming hot bodies would cool down gradually, and eventually solidify into a stone statue that stood quietly. Hence, in this graveyard stood great numbers of stone statues, and many of them were the dead bodies of formidable existence that stood seven to eight meters tall.


    No doubt the Molten Giants had put a heavy guard on their treasure vault, to stop any human Mages or some Fire element creatures from sneaking into it and stealing their treasures. But for the clan graveyard, Leon didn''t find any real safety precautions.


    Actually, this was understandable. After all, no one or creature would have improper thoughts toward a lifeless stone statue! But when the Molten Giants were met with Leon, an expert who could even squeeze oil out of stone, their clan graveyard was facing great peril.


    Leon was after the element core that remained in the dead bodies of the Molten Giants. Of course, the element cores which had been dead for a long time had no soul aura and couldn''t be used anymore. However, among the element cores from Molten Giants that had been dead for less than one hundred years, Leon might be able to find some which could be used as the conscious core for his golem.


    After all, the Molten Giants who had the right to enter their clan graveyard were all old fellows, so the lowest level element core he could find would be of that of Mage level. If he was lucky enough, perhaps... perhaps he might even find a Second Grade Mage level core.


    Whenever Leon thought of owning a golem of such level, his heart raced and he couldn''t hold down his emotions. He wished he could just bolt into the Ring-shaped Islands, crush all of the giant dead bodies, and seize all of the element cores into his arms.


    It was a pity that such thought would always remain a mere fantasy. If he really put it to action, he would face his death, as the Molten Giants would definitely skin him and swallow him alive!


    Approximately, there were over two hundred Molten Giants living on the island. Around seventy of them were juveniles of the Pseudo-Mage level, yet more than one hundred forty of them were adult Molten Giants. In this environment where they had no natural enemy and no worries about food, their defensive mechanism wasn''t considered too strong.


    If it weren''t for Leon''s level being too low, the stupid giants who only possessed a large body and strong overall strength would definitely become his best prey. But as for now, even if it was just a juvenile Molten Giant, Leon would have to put in huge effort in order to defeat it.


    Hence, if he wanted to pull chestnuts out of the fire, the only way would be to fish in troubled waters.


    After he tentatively drafted out his plan, he wasn''t in a hurry to provoke the Molten Giants. Instead, he became quieter than before. Every day, he only traveled and hunted at the outer perimeter of the volcano world, took a bath at the border of the lava ocean every three to five days, and stealthily scurried away.


    Relying on this regular mode of action, Leon successfully deceived the Molten Giant patrol teams, causing them to loosen their vigilance and not consider him as an enemy that could pose any threat to them. Although the hunt for Leon was still going on, it was more like a routine activity; every couple of days, the game of cat and mouse would be carried out.


    Of course, Leon wasn''t in a hurry.


    The duration of his mission was three months, and if he wanted any progress in his Inferno Body, he needed time to accumulate the energy. What he needed to do now was wait for the breakthrough of his Inferno Body. When the day came, that would be the moment he put his plan into action.


    Finally, two months after he entered the volcano world, the Inferno Body he had anticipated for long made the breakthrough.


    When the progress projected into his mind by the Chip jumped from 99% to 100%, Leon felt a tremendous transformation suddenly happen to his body.


    Everything had become different from the past!


    Flame Body!


    He had finally stepped over the stage of Inferno Body and owned a Flame Body of his own!


    ...


    2081 Words

 Chapter 132 Apprentice Mage (Pseudo-Mage)

    There was a huge difference between Inferno Body and Flame Body.If with Inferno Body, Leon''s body was still considered flesh and blood, then now, after having evolved into Flame Body, he could be considered truly immune to fire. Even without relying on his Fire Lord''s Scepter, he could now swim freely in the lava ocean anytime he wanted and he wouldn''t be hurt by the high temperature.


    After all, the so-called fire immunity cast externally could only spare him from lower grade Fire element damage. Once an element flame went beyond a certain degree, he would still bear some damage caused by the flame. Previously, during the strengthening process of his Inferno Body, his body was easily damaged by the brutal modification performed by the Fire element energy. The strength of the Fire element energies had gone beyond the maximum endurance limit of his fire immunity.


    Now, after having completed the modification of his Flame Body, he could transform parts of his body into Elementium any time he deemed it was necessary, which gave him immunity from all Fire element damage. In the future, even if he was facing a Second Grade Mage, he wouldn''t be hurt by an element fireball cast towards him. However, such damage immunity was limited to only the Fire element. If he was attacked with a mutated Fire element magic spell, he would still be hurt by it.


    For example, a Magma Fireball, which was a magic spell that combined the damage of both the Fire element and physical damage. Although Leon would be immune from the Fire element damage, he could not escape from being hurt by the physical damage. Yet, a mutated Fire element magic spell like that composed more than half of all magic spells, as it was a common counter measurement employed by Mages so that their element attack would not be totally ignored by their enemy.


    Previously, if Leon had gone too deep into the lava ocean, he would have had to face the possibility of being hurt by the flame. But now, with his Flame Body, any region with dense Fire Elementium would become his home. No matter how high the temperature of an element fire, he would not be hurt by it anymore. In fact, they became the biggest tonic for him.


    With the lava ocean, the topographical advantage of Molten Giants had evened out!


    For the Leon of the past, if the controlling of element fire was a superb magical skill, then the same ability had now become an instinct. From now onwards, he didn''t have to dive nakedly into a sea of fire, because he was fire, and fire was he. Thus, under his control, no element fire could burn off his clothes anymore!


    In addition to that, the biggest advantage brought by Flame Body was Focused Fire Element. All of the offensive strength of Fire element magic spell doubled, casting time reduced by half, and the cost of Spirit halved as well. In any region rich in Fire Elementium, the recovery speed of his Spirit would double, and the Flame Body would self-heal the damage on his body.


    But, there was a trade-off for this!


    It was not all benefits brought by the Flame Body. At least, if Leon was hurt by Water or Ice element magic spell, the damage would double. Also, when he was in a region rich in Water Elementium, the recovery of his Spirit and self-healing would also be repressed.


    Nevertheless, Leon knew this in advance, so he didn''t feel surprised at all. Currently, he was more concerned about his overall strength. After the Chip performed a thorough scan of his body, the latest data of his overall strength was projected into his vision.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human (Half-Elementium)


    Attribute: Strength ¨C 9.24 (+1), Agility ¨C 7.87 (+1), Physique ¨C 13.22 (+1), Spirit ¨C 20. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Profession: Apprentice Mage (Pseudo-Mage)


    Health Points: 62/62 (Healthy)


    Experience: 927/1000


    Skills: Scroll Copying, Spell Reading, Golem Crafting (Intermediate), Focused Fire Element.


    Personal Abilities: Flame Body (Passive), The Burning Hand, Fire Arrow, Flaming Spear, Fire Shield, Fire Damage Reflect (Proximity Passive), Inferno Force Field.


    Magical Equipment: Fire Lord''s Scepter, Storage Waist Belt, Secret Scroll of Voodoo, Boots of Speed (Agility +1), Talisman of Force (Physique, Strength +1), Wand of Dispel, Wand of Healing, Wand of Prophecy, Green Spirit (Curse Resistance +5), Screaming Tree Branch.


    Upon reading the latest body statistics produced by the Chip, even if Leon had a steady and resolute mind, he couldn''t hold down his surging emotions. He had finally become a Pseudo-Mage! From now onwards, he was no longer a rookie apprentice whose fate could be freely decided by anybody!


    However, it was a pity that since his Spirit had skyrocketed from 16 to 20, the Circlet of Nobility that brought +1 to his Spirit and the Purple Ioun Stone of +2 Spirit had lost their effect. His Spirit had now reached 20, which was the maximum Spirit for an Apprentice Mage. If he wished to increase it more, then he would have to gain understanding in the force of principle and aided with the ceremony of advancement.


    No doubt this had to come later. But as for now, the most important thing about becoming a Pseudo-Mage was that he could finally put the plan he had plotted for a long time into action!


    After obtaining the Flame Body, the human aura on his body had faded. So long as he carefully disguised himself, with the harsh and cruel environment of the lava ocean, it would be extremely difficult for those Molten Giants to find any trace of him.


    Leon returned to the shore and equipped himself with all of his magical equipment. Then he dove into the lava ocean once again, disappearing without a trace.


    ...


    Over the last few days, Elder Nimr had felt ill at ease.


    As the leader of the surviving Molten Giant clan, Nimr was obliged to use its intelligence and life to safeguard and continue the existence of the Molten Giants.


    This world didn''t belong to them!


    Although Molten Giants had a large body and formidable individual overall strength, as a special race that couldn''t survive outside of the volcano world, they could only firmly stay entrenched in their own environment, avoiding any intrusion from outsiders.


    This was a world that belonged only to human Mages.


    With regards to this, even the first Molten Giant born from the depths of the earth core had realized it. The human Mages tolerated the existence of their unique race so that they could enslave them and loot their treasures.


    The volcano world belonged to them, yet they belonged to the Zuber Family.


    Bonded by a 1000 year old magical contract, the mighty clan of Molten Giants had become special miners who worked for the local human Mage family. Every five years, they had to hand in a long list of resources. Yet, even they, who were Sons of the Flaming Ocean, had a headache over the required numbers of resources on the list.


    As a powerful and proud race, they did try to revolt. However, the power of human Mages was not something they could stand up against. Without experiencing it personally, no one could imagine how frightening the ability of a Third Grade Mage was. As a direct result of their rebellion, 1/3s of their clan members had been wiped out completely. It was a severe loss that took them nearly four hundred years to recover.


    Before the rebellion, though the human Mages had treated them cruelly and harshly, they wouldn''t enter their territory. However, for the past few hundred years, the Zuber Family had been pushing them more and more. Frequently, when the volcano entered its resting period, they would send some Apprentice Mages to train down here.


    It might just be training for the human apprentices, but for the Molten Giants, the apprentices were actually slaughtering their enslaved beasts. Not only that, sometimes they even besieged a juvenile Molten Giant who had been leaving them alone. This further attracted the anger of Molten Giants.


    However, though Elder Nimr had negotiated a few times with the Third Grade Mage of Zuber Family, it was always warned not to randomly hurt the Zuber Family apprentices who had their training here. But visiting apprentices were excluded.


    But too bad, in the eyes of the Molten Giants, human apprentices were nearly impossible to differentiate. Hence, they had no choice but to swallow insult and humiliation silently, organizing their own patrol teams to prevent any human apprentices from getting close to their habitat. Fortunately, the human apprentices who came for training weren''t too strong. Also, by intentionally driving Fire element creatures towards the outer perimeter, thereby forming a blockade, someone disturbing their life in the lava ocean was rare.


    Nevertheless, this year''s situation was obviously different from the past.


    This time, there was a mysterious guy among the human Apprentice Mages who had breached the borders of lava ocean several times. It seemed like he was researching some kind of unknown magic spell. Due to his treacherousness, they had failed to intercept him even after sending a couple of patrolling teams. Therefore, Nimr could only order his clan members to heighten their vigilance and ban their juveniles from leaving their habitat alone.


    In order to avoid any outsiders from casting their covetous eyes on their harvested gemstones and materials, Nimr even deployed two more formidable fighters to safeguard their treasure vault. But from time to time, even when it was comfortably soaking in a lava pool, a feeling of fear still surged up in its mind, as if it had missed something really important.


    Nimr was an enormous Molten Giant who stood at seven meters tall and was the oldest member of their clan. It had turned 1815 years old this year, and its overall strength had reached the pinnacle of Molten Giant. If it was converted into the hierarchy of human Mages, it had the mighty overall strength of at least a Second Grade Mage.


    But, as a special race who relied on their strong bodies and innate talent when fighting, it had mastered less than ten powerful Fire element abilities. Yet, the same grade human Mage could have nearly one hundred incredible magic spells, which they could use freely.


    They lacked the profound accumulation of knowledge with the history of over hundreds and thousands of years like human Mages, lacked the endless bizarre magical equipment which human Mages owned, and did not have the massive numbers of minions who could be called for freely. By just relying on the powerful innate abilities gifted by the Will of the Plane, the Molten Giants would never escape their fate of being enslaved by human Mages!


    With the overall strength of Nimr, so long as that frightening Third Grade Mage of Zuber Family didn''t come personally, in its home of the lava ocean, it never feared, even when faced with an opponent of the same grade. But, for the past few days, a frequent chill had been flowing through its mind, as if something bad was going to happen to its clan.


    For this reason, it felt uneasy even when eating and sleeping. Every single day, it urged its clan members to patrol every region and inspected all the islands regularly, causing everybody to be busy and tired. But it felt rather relieved, as after this restless period, the three month resting phase of the volcano was approaching its end. Upon sensing the rumble coming from the earth core that became louder gradually day by day, its mind calmed down slightly.


    But as the ending of resting phase approached, the more its fear grew. Stay tuned for updates on empire


    Yet today, the uneasy feeling in Nimr''s mind had reached maximum level, so that it could hardly sleep in the lava pool within its cave. It couldn''t stop itself from walking out from its residence, placing itself at the edge of the island that it had taken as its home, and quietly watching any surrounding activities.


    ....


    2006 Words

 Chapter 133 Profane

    The inner ocean, which was enclosed by the Ring-shaped Island, covered an area of five miles in a straight line. While Nimr stood at the edge of its own island, it could barely see the outline of the island to its opposite. It threw its glance over to the islands one after another and could see the busy figures of its clan members everywhere, yet it saw more juveniles who were swimming in the inner lava ocean, playing and chasing with each other. Though it was a little bit noisy, it actually made the clan look more lively and full of energy.Right as it was about to shut its eyes, trying to sense the possible direction where the danger might come from, far at the Southeast border of the Ring-shaped Island, an unprecedented explosion suddenly broke out. A rock wall of nearly one hundred meters in circumference shattered into pieces, shooting countless rocks fragments and debris like a shower into the lava ocean and causing a massive flame and dust pillar to rise up.


    Nimr sprinted with big steps. One after another floating island flitted across under its feet. In less than fifteen minutes, it had arrived at the floating island located nearest to the explosion. Standing at the edge of the floating island, half of its body was submerged in the boiling hot lava. Using its right palm that was as large as a coach, it scooped up a huge pool of molten lava and poured it onto its body, while reciting a series of profound, obscure and strange incantations. After finished with that, an enormous Eye of the Flame appeared right in front of it.


    "The mighty Spirit of Fire, please show me what happened at that place?" Using its deep and hoarse voice, Nimr spoke out its request.


    Supported by the powerful Fire element energy, the Eye of the Flame trembled, soon, the scene located dozens of miles away was projected in front of it.


    "These damn intruders! It must be them who are destroying our home and profaning our holy ocean! Elders, follow me to banish them from our land!"


    Nearly one hundred strong giant fighters saw the scene as well, and the air filled with their furious roars. After greeting each other, they quickly boarded one after another primitive looking lava rock battleship and sailed towards the place of the explosion at top speed.


    Elder Nimr was controlling the Eye of the Flame and kept watchful eyes on any activities happening in the region afar. Though there was a huge commotion, but it just couldn''t find any traces of the intruder. This... no doubt had made Elder Nimr more worried!


    What exactly did these intruders want? Could it be merely an act of vandalism?


    With the understanding Nimr had toward those Human Mages, regardless of what they did, they were all well-targeted with hidden motives. It was rare that they would meaninglessly destroy something, just to vent their anger!


    If their true motive wasn''t to destroy the lava ocean, then...


    A shudder struck Elder Nimr''s mind. It turned around and roared at the remaining clan members, "I want a total locked down on the entire island! All adult giants must act right now..."


    Before it could finish its word, a huge dust pillar suddenly arose from an island located at the Northwest corner of the Ring-shaped Island, as if something with a gigantic body was rolling on the ground and wreaking havoc.


    That island... that island was their clan graveyard!


    "Damn it, those foul humans should be devoured by the Spirit of the Flames, how dare they make trouble at the place where our ancestors are sleeping! Quick... hurry up... I want everyone to go there right now!"


    Hearing the roar of their Elder, all the remaining Molten Giants immediately strode in the direction of the graveyard in top speed. At the same time, some giants who possessed the ability of Fire Teleportation were even seen slightly squatting down and immediately disappeared within a towering fiery explosion. And a moment later, at a distance of two to three hundred meters, a similar fire pillar appeared, revealing the body of the same giant.


    After pausing for four, five seconds, once the surrounding Fire Elementiums was back in its control, the giant would initiate Fire Teleportation once again, bringing it three hundred meters closer to the destination.


    Although Molten Giants owned an intrepid body and physique, agility was never their strong point. Those giants who possessed the ability of Fire Teleportation could still put out a considerable speed, as each time when their body flickered and reappeared, they always drew themselves closer to the island destination. Yet, those ordinary giants could only run past island after island using their feet, causing a great commotion along their way.


    And, right at this very same moment, Leon''s eyes shined brightly, while busily looting the mighty war trophies that he dared not imagine in the past.


    This was an island with an irregular shape that occupied nearly one hundred acres of land. The shore of the island was fully filled with rocky peaks and stone pillars arranged in a crisscrossing pattern. On the empty field within the island, nearly forty dead bodies of Molten Giants who had completely solidified into stone statue were seen standing quietly.


    If it was according to Leon''s initial plan, he would come to this island stealthily without alerting anybody. But too bad, though the plan was well-designed, when he finally swam his way to this graveyard of giants, he realized that it was extremely difficult to harvest everything here without making any noise.


    When alive, these Molten Giants had been known for the hardness and high-density of their bodies. After they died, the Fire Elementiums inside of their body would fade away, and their conscious core would be tightly trapped inside of the stone statue who served like a super thick armor. These rocks were the toughest steel rocks or granites found in the underground, and they even mixed with Black Iron, Wrought Gold, and Mithril which had the hardness beyond one''s imagination.


    Not only a stone armor like this possessed a fearful strength in physical defense, it also carried an excellent resistance against magic spells. Hence, since Leon came to the island stealthily, he had broken three enchanted longswords but failed to even crack a stone statue.


    Looking at the precious treasures that spread out everywhere over the hills and dales, yet unable to make them his, had nearly driven Leon insane!


    Also, the practical environment didn''t allow him to spend a long time to slowly chisel away the hard shell of the giant. Once those giants who went out patrolling returned after hearing the news, perhaps he, a mere Fire element Pseudo-Mage, would be skinned alive and swallowed by over three hundred giants.


    Left with no alternatives, Leon summoned six Rock Snakes in one go, using their savageness to put out a show of ''hit, slam, rob'' that shook the heaven and startled the earth in this graveyard of the giant. Six Rock Snakes pulled out all tricks in their bag, either using their rock solid body to crazily slam, or coiled up a stone statue and kept smashing it onto the ground. In short, they resorted to the most violent methods they had and used the craziest manner to achieve their goal!


    So, the huge dust pillar Elder Nimr saw just now, was actually the result of the violent actions put out by the team of Rock Snakes!


    While directing the Rock Snakes to restlessly destroy the dead bodies of the giants, Leon kept running his eyes nervously at the surroundings.


    Due to the fact that this island was the clan graveyard, rarely anyone chose to live on the surrounding islands. Also, the massive explosion that happened previously had attracted most of the giants to the other side of the Ring-shaped Island. Hence for time being, this place was still considered safe.


    However, following the huge dust clouds and noise caused by the activities of Rock Snakes, the figures of giants who were running wildly at top speed could now be seen at the far side of the Ring-shaped Island. Yet that was not the most frightening part. A dozen of Molten Giants who stood over five meters tall were driving on flames that kept leaping up and approaching to the graveyard at incredible speeds.


    It was an enormous Molten Giant with the height of seven meters that led the pursuit. The powerful Fire and Earth element energy contained within its body had reached to a dazzling stage that could blind anyone''s eyes just by staring into it.


    Damn it, damn it... this was a Second Grade Molten Giant!


    While calculating the enemy''s'' speed, Leon kept urging his minions of Rock Snakes to make the best use of their time and work harder. After all, for those who were eligible to enter the graveyard of giants, the weakest would also be the mighty existence of that Mage level and many of them were even Second Grade Molten Giants.


    In a treasure vault like this, even if he spent one more second in it, and grabbed one more handful of treasures, it would become the mightiest opportunity for his future debut!


    While throwing an examining look at the enemy''s besiege, Leon kept crazily slamming and smashing the rock statues. His heart was racing so fast it almost jumped out of his mouth. Even with his Physique, cold sweat started to exude from his palm and back.


    "Beep..."


    Upon hearing the dangerous warning tone sent out by the Chip in his mind, without the slightest hesitation, Leon turned around and jumped into the mouth of one of the Rock Snake, brought his dismantling team and dove into the lava ocean in lightning speed. Then, each of them simply fled into different directions on their own.


    Naturally, the Rock Snake who carried Leon was the only one with all the war trophies. Once it entered the lava ocean, it immediately sunk deeper into the half-molten lava that hardly flowed, swaying its body and bolting toward the nearest escape route. Meanwhile, the other five Rock Snakes were swimming on the surface of the lava ocean, creating a huge uproar and fleeing in different directions.


    A moment ago, it was a calm and peaceful world of flame; a moment later, it had transformed into an explosive ocean that rocked violently.


    When they were hiding inside the graveyard of giants, these Molten Giants dared not attack them using violent long-range abilities, fearing that they might destroy this holy island of theirs. But once they left the island, these Molten Giants wouldn''t be easy with them anymore. While getting closer to them in high-speed, they kept crazily launching long-range Fire element abilities to attack at the Rock Snakes.


    Flaming Storm!


    Lava Flare!


    Fire Stone Shower!


    Hellfire Pulse! Experience tales at empire


    ...


    ...


    One after another Fire element abilities of massive power had stirred the lava ocean into a rocking sea of fire, and a violent explosion of energies immediately swept across the entire space. Elementium storm visible to naked eyes quickly spread out on the surface of the lava ocean and soon covered all Rock Snakes who were fleeing.


    Though a Rock Snake had a thick and large body and its Strength and Physique was considered superb among all element golems, when it was facing a tyrannical and brutal attack that saturated every inch of the space like this, the body made up of hard rocks still melted like hot wax.


    The bodies of two Rock Snakes were broken into half from the middle and were swept up into the sky by the Elementium storm like a whirlwind that swept away scattered clouds. The broken bodies flew high up above the sea of fire. And in next moment, more raging energies had rolled them up like a mat.


    At the same time, though the bodies of the other three remaining Rock Snakes were badly damaged as well, they still desperately fled towards the outside of the storm. However, before they could run to a far enough distance, a series of fire explosion came into the scene, which brought a Molten Giant who had a tall and mighty body beside them. Upon making its debut, it raised its huge stone fist and simply punched the Rock Snakes'' bodies.


    Sensing the conscious nodes that died off one after another on his back, Leon''s heart was pounding violently. He had completed half of his plan, and what was left would be how he could make his escape!


    In the beginning, Leon''s existence wasn''t noticed by any of the Molten Giants. But following the annihilation of the Rock Snakes and the help from its Fire Sense, Elder Nimr who possessed a formidable overall strength had finally discovered the Rock Snake that had hid deep inside the lava ocean and was fleeing at top speed.


    But right at this moment, Leon had fled some seven miles away.


    The miserable situation of their clan graveyard had completely infuriated this group of Molten Giants. Whether they were sailing on lava rock battleship or swimming in the lava ocean, they used all their efforts to chase Leon. In addition to that, each giant had summoned a large group of Fire element creatures and organized them into an army of fire that consisted of an insane number of soldiers, vowing that they would capture the foul human.


    But too bad, due to the disadvantage in their speed, they were extremely furious and helpless at the same time. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The little human thief who had robbed their clan graveyard, had smoothly escaped the lava ocean and rampaged his way towards the outer perimeter of the volcano world.


    The greatly angered giants no longer stayed within the restraints of the contract they had signed with the Human Mages. Riding on the rocking lava they stormed into the lava tunnels, following that little human thief and pushing their way to the upper level of the volcano. Yet, on this route, there were many human apprentices who came here for training, and was laboriously searching for magical gemstones and underground materials that had been washed up to the upper level by the lava.


    As the result of being caught unprepared, these apprentices had suffered a great deal.


    A dozen of Advanced Apprentices failed to escape in time and were killed by the besiegement of Fire element creatures who flooded them like a tsunami. The other apprentices put out every single skill and approach they knew and only managed to miserably escape this world of volcano which had gone on a rampage.


    ...


    2444 Words

 Chapter 134 Outworld

    As for what had happened exactly at the depths of the volcano, no one really knew.Nevertheless, the volcano world which had gone fully rampage was no longer a place suitable for treasure hunting, and it was a fact that everybody knew. Hence, Leon too, mixed among all other visiting apprentices and expressed his anger, before submitting his required portion of mission item and leaving Palmyra Town without alerting anybody.


    When Leon returned smoothly to the Magical Swamp with his brand new status as a Pseudo-Mage, a massive storm immediately broke out in the entire Swampy Tower.


    Once upon a time, Leon was just a nobody among the apprentices of the Swampy Tower and many people hadn''t even realized his existence. But now, following his mighty rise, those experts who Leon used to look up to had been ditched at his back and became the group who had the most dejected emotions.


    And right when a portion of apprentices was still doubting on the authenticity of the news, Mage Keoghan, who represented Sarubo Family had visited Swampy Tower once again and had a meeting with Leon at the fifth floor of the tower. As expected, Leon''s decision was exactly same as Bleia''s ¨C he chose to serve Sarubo Family ten years in exchange for the resources required for his level up. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Of course, if Leon had the confidence to find all resources required for the official Mage Advancement Ceremony by himself, then he could always choose to leave Sarubo Family and become a wanderer. However, with the current development situation of Zhentarim Association, they had employed a rather hostile and oppressive policy towards any wandering Mages and apprentices who didn''t belong to a family. Thus, if Leon wished to spend his apprenticeship smoothly, unavoidably, he had to join an Mage Family.


    As for the Byron Family''s chest badge that Leon had obtained at the Underground Cave, it only meant the Byron Family was willing to protect him at the Dagon region, as he hadn''t sign any magical contract and officially joined the Byron Family.


    After meeting with Mage Keoghan, Leon was immediately dragged into Bleia''s room, by the vampire girl who had heard the news of his return.


    "Tell me now, what had you done during the mission? How is it possible that you made the breakthrough and became a Pseudo-Mage?" With Bleia understanding of Leon, this guy could never complete a mission smoothly, as every time he would create big troubles halfway.


    Leon responded with a big smile on his face, but said nothing. However, after he stroked his hand across the tabletop, he left behind one big and four small, a total of five mysterious, dark red gemstones.


    "What are these?" Curiously, Bleia stretched her hand toward the biggest gemstone, but right when her little hand touched the mysterious gemstone, she retracted it instantly.


    A light crackling noise was heard, as a small flame ignited on top of the gemstone and ferociously burned her fingers.


    Even with Bleia''s body constitution of vampire, her fingers which had touched the gemstone had turned dark. But she wasn''t bothered by it, with a gentle wave of her palm, the burn marks immediately disappeared and her fair and delicate fingers had returned.


    Bleia didn''t act recklessly this time, but stood still and pondered for a moment.


    Obviously, the flame wasn''t controlled by someone, and it wasn''t the result of some magical arrays. It was a defensive mechanism initiated by the instincts of the gemstone. It was like as if... as if it possessed its own consciousness!


    "What exactly is this?" Bleia asked the question once again, but this time, she wore a fierce expression on her face and revealed a pair of her sharp fangs. She had a look as if to say that if Leon didn''t give her the answer, she would leap onto him and gave him a brutal bite.


    "Second Grade Core!" A weird smile emerged on Leon''s face, as he spoke the answer one word at a time.


    The juicy red lips of Bleia murmured the same answer a few times, before she came to a rude awakening. "Second Grade Core? Did you kill a Second Grade demon? Where is the corpse? Did you extract its blood? Hurry up... tell me quickly!"


    "Ugh..." Leon spread his arms and expressed his speechless at Bleia''s response. "If I really meet with a Second Grade demon, do you think I can still come back alive?"


    "You''re right!" Bleia smiled slightly and felt surprised for losing her cool just now.


    She just couldn''t help it. She was at the most important transition period throughout the entire life of a vampire, and the fastest method for increasing her overall strength was being fed the blood of experts. With these two reasons combined, it was more than enough for Bleia to become nervousness enough to lose her cool and become restless and passionate upon hearing news about a powerful creature!


    Of course, in the eyes of Bleia, the current Leon could barely be considered an expert. Nevertheless, no matter how much Bleia tried to convince Leon until the roof fell down, Leon would never agree to let her suck his blood. Because according to the Chip''s analysis, any individual who had his blood sucked by a vampire, would always suffer from a different degree of decay in his overall strength.


    And, this decay was most likely the key to why the vampire could evolve by sucking blood!


    To put it simply, if Leon allowed Bleia to suck his blood, most probably his attribute would drop, and it would effect his Physique and Spirit, which were the attributes he cared about the most. With regard to this, Toril, the Bloodline Apprentice they met at the Underground Cave, was the perfect example.


    Originally, that guy had reached the pinnacle of his apprenticeship, and was about to hold his official Mage Advancement Ceremony. However, he was miserably defeated by Leon''s golem team. Such injuries would only take him one to two weeks of resting to fully recover. However, from the news from his family, the Pseudo-Mage Toril had experienced a decay in his Spirit. Though it hadn''t dropped below 20 points, it was more than enough to affect him from advancing normally.


    Hence, after summarizing from so many bloody examples, Leon had reason to believe that through sucking the blood of others, the race of vampire could extract the bloodline factor of the host and use it to strengthen themselves and weaken the enemy. Try to think about it, under such circumstances, how could Leon let Bleia suck his blood?


    After exchanging the latest developments of each other, Bleia rushed back to the Mission Hall, continued searching for apprentice missions that suit her the most. As for Leon, he returned to his own room and started listening to the briefing of the goblin merchant, Snorlax.


    During the three months that Leon was not here, following the injecting of information and resources from the outside world, the Swampy Tower had become livelier, no longer a place of stagnancy and dead quietness like how it was in the past. With Bleia''s backing, Snorlax had opened the first Goblin Store in the tower.


    There weren''t many items available to buy in this little store, yet they were all rare resources that could hardly be found in the outside world. Also, recently Snorlax had put its eyes on those Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices and had started to purchase magical materials and ordinary resources that they wouldn''t be using for now.


    Nevertheless, in order for such a little store to operate in full scale, it needed an endless supply of high-grade items, or else, it would be pretty tough to attract these apprentices.


    After finished listening to Snorlax''s briefing, Leon nodded his head satisfyingly. Then, he casually poured out a large pile of magical gemstones and materials from his storage waist belt, and most of them were Fire Diamonds. After all, compared to those apprentices who spent all days wandering at the outer perimeter of the volcano world, Leon had ventured into the depths of the lava ocean countless of times and the chances of him finding high-grade magical gemstones were much higher.


    Also, those Fire Diamonds and magical gemstones were mostly washed out from the lava ocean during the active periods of the volcano. And, after going through the filtration of Fire element creatures, the leftover would be all of that lesser quality materials. Yet, the Fire Diamonds Leon brought back from the lava ocean were at least supreme grade Fire Diamonds, the size of a human fist. Leon even tossed a huge human skull-sized Fire Diamond over to Snorlax, asking it to find someone to craft it into the shape of a jade pillow.


    With that, when Leon laid his head on top of it and meditated in the future, the result would definitely be better!


    After Snorlax left happily with a packed waist pouch, the smile on Leon''s face gradually subsided. He started to ponder seriously on some very important information.


    During his absence of the past three months, Mage Eclivel had actually publicly announced that he would take Worm controller Blake as his disciple. And according to what Snorlax told him, nearly every day of these past three months, Blake had dwelt in the fifth floor of the Mage Tower, and no one knew what he and Mage Eclivel were doing up there!


    Facing two enemies who might have joined forces, Leon''s feeling of joy after becoming a Pseudo-Mage immediately vanished in a flash. Once again, he felt the pressure of time that waited for no man. Though, after he made the advancement and became Pseudo-Mage and managed to obtain the protection from the family preventing Mage Eclivel from harming him openly, it was still possible the Mage would have planned something treacherous in the dark.


    And by getting so close with Worm controller, could Eclivel use Blake to deal with Leon?


    Leon let out a bitter laugh.


    Since the day he had a thorough understanding of the conflict of interest between Mage Eclivel and Bleia, he knew sooner or later, he would be hated by Eclivel. He just didn''t think that the enemy would move so quickly, so pressing against the time!


    In the eyes of these treachery and cunning Mages, all apprentices were merely a bunch of materials who knew how to walk by themselves. If not for the fact that the top management of the Mages had put a constraint on their behavior, perhaps these selfish fellows would never allow the rising of new Mages, who would stand up and fight for rare resources against them.


    Nevertheless, no matter what the enemy was planning, as long as the speed of his progress went beyond their expectations, any dangers and traps would pass away like a cloud, and none of them could shake the direction of his progress.


    After giving the current situation a thorough analysis, Leon immediately drafted out a long working plan for the time to come. Under his arrangement, perhaps for the next half year, every single day would be filled with numerous tasks and no time for leisure.


    In this mysterious world, in order to keep his life safe, Leon had poured all his energy and time in the learning and researching magic spells.


    ...


    Inside Snorlax''s room.


    After coming back from its master''s room, Snorlax had been indulging in an enthusiastic stage.


    Every time when it took out a magical gemstone from its waist pouch, it would always dance with joy, repeatedly kissing and stroking it, before using its magical probing stick to verify the element and quality of the gemstone.


    Staring at the pile of gemstones which was getting taller and taller, Snorlax''s heart was filled with wild excitement. At this time, it just wished it could run back to its master and passionately kiss his shoes. Perhaps, only by doing this it could let its master experience the passion and loyalty of Snorlax!


    But, during this delightful process, a small setback had struck Snorlax.


    Within the pile of gemstones its master had given it, Snorlax discovered a mysterious, white stone the size of a human fist. No matter what method it used to verify the stone, it just couldn''t find out its element, and couldn''t confirm whether it was a magical gemstone, material or egg of demon beast!


    Even after using its magical probing stick to test it, the message it got in its mind was a simple ''unknown item from Outworld''. Since the magical probing stick confirmed it was an item rather than a living being, it also meant it wasn''t an egg of some demon beast. Yet, its master had included the white stone in the pile of gemstones, it told Snorlax that this was an item of great value.


    The info Snorlax concerned the most was the word ''Outworld''.


    Could this white stone be a mysterious gemstone from another plane?


    Snorlax scratched its head and had no choice but to put the mysterious white stone back onto the table and turn around and continue to organize the rest of the gemstones.


    ...


    2193 Words

 Chapter 135 Giant bloodsucking bug

    Right when Snorlax was busy settling the large quantity of Fire Diamonds and gemstones brought back by its master, Leon had also started to seriously go through the loot he had brought back during the trip to the volcano.A Second Grade Crystal Core of Molten Giant, four First Grade Crystal Cores of Molten Giant.


    Perhaps, even an official Mage would felt jealous of a loot like this!


    However, with Leon''s current ability of golem crafting, he still couldn''t work on this Second Grade core. After all, any external modification would mean damaging the core itself and the self-defense mechanism initiated by this Second Grade core alone was enough to give Leon a huge headache. It was impossible for him to focus all his attention on controlling the alchemy station, while keeping a lookout on the rampaging behavior put out of the core itself.


    If anything unexpected happened during the critical moments, it was highly possible this hard to come by supreme treasure would be destroyed!


    As a result, before he could improve his overall strength to another level, he had no choice but to put this precious core aside and only work on it once he had the confidence to do so in future.


    As for the other four First Grade cores of Molten Giant, they were the focus of Leon''s work.


    Using the most primitive method, Leon meticulously and carefully scanned every single aspect of each core into his mind. The data gathered by the Chip included the hardness of each core, the flatness of each side of the core, the direction of every single thread of crystal grown into and the distribution of their thickness... and it put the utmost focus in scanning the surface area of each core that it could use later.


    Using this complicated and vast statistical data, the Chip would design the most appropriate three-dimensional magical array for each of the core, then through multiple optimizations, make the arrays able to fit perfectly onto the core.


    As Molten Giant was a double-elements magical creature of Fire and Earth, no doubt, by only utilizing one of the element would be a huge waste. Therefore, in order to dig out their potential to the last drop, the Chip would need a long time to calculate and analyze before coming out with the best solution.


    After handing this tedious task to the Chip, Leon spent all his time busily working on learning Fire element magic spells. Since his body transformed into Flame Body, the time took Leon to learn these Fire element magic spells was cut into half. In the past, it took him one to two months to learn a new magic spell, but now, his list of personal skills was refreshed with a new skill on a daily basis.


    Nevertheless, for magic spells which could give him multiple effects and required different magical knowledge, Leon still needed to put in a huge amount of effort in order to master them.


    During his previous trip to the volcano world, Leon''s newly constructed team of Earth element golems was nearly wiped out completely, and it would take him some time before he could restock the loss of five Rock Snake''s cores. As the Swampy Tower didn''t carry the huge resources of core Leon needed, hence he could only ask Bleia to buy some when she was out for her mission.


    But, this could at most bring him Pseudo-Mage level cores, and each of them cost a hefty price. After all, Leon had a higher requirements about the quality of the cores. And, though he hoped to find some Mage level cores at the apprentice market, it was merely wishful thinking!


    According to the normal system of administrative, if Leon needed any high-level Mage resources, the most convenient way would be through the help of Mage Eclivel. But too bad, it was obvious that Mage Eclivel was just a selfish guy, as he only concerned on his own magic spell experiments and would never show concern to any of his Apprentice Mages.


    As the result, by compared to apprentices from other Mage Towers, the apprentices of Swampy Tower were so much weaker.


    ...


    On the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower.


    In the depth of night, Acteon came to this place once again.


    Inside the large stone hall, a huge magical array was seen drawn on the rock solid surface of the floor. It was an array constructed from numerous strange and profound magical runes and lines. No matter how hard Acteon tried to recall his knowledge, out of so many runes, he could barely recognize a couple of runes that he felt familiar with.


    They were all mysterious runes related to bloodline, souls, and fusion. As for their specific usage, it was sad that with the knowledge of an Apprentice Mage, there was no way he could decipher any further.


    In addition to that, what really startled Acteon was the strong scent of blood inside of the magical array, and the dark blood stain on the floor that couldn''t be washed away. All this was the direct evidence to the torture he had suffered in the past few months. If not because he was supported by a crazy will of becoming stronger, even with his body being half-bug, he wouldn''t be able to withstand the process of bloodline quenching and fusing that went on repeatedly.


    Clad in a dark Mage robe, Eclivel was seen adjusting the magical array. His lips moved as he murmured, his ghost-claws like fingers streaking through the air in a mysterious manner, and with that, one after another profound magical rune emerged out of nowhere and kept merging with the magical array lying quietly on the floor.


    As the result, all energy nodes of the magical array lit up in an orderly fashion.


    "Take off all your clothes and stand in the magical array!"


    The order from Mage Eclivel was straight and clear, but his words carried an undertone of authority that allowed no one to disobey.


    With a pale face, Acteon followed his orders.


    After the robe clad on his body was taken off, exposing in the air was a twisted, fearful looking body that was half-bug!


    On his body, the part that belonged to human was rare to see, as most of his body part portrayed the obvious characteristics of bugs. A pair of colorful, hue-shifting eyes, countless tiny compound eyes surrounded his pupil, a layered, lotus-shaped mouthpiece, a black hard shell that formed a layer of protection on his entire body, and the pair of sickle shaped arms that folded on the side of his body...


    Since he transformed himself into a bizarre look of half-human, half-bug, Acteon had never revealed his body in front of anyone. Put it bluntly, anyone who had the privilege of witnessing his true form had been devoured by him, became the nourishment of this body of half-bug.


    But for today, he was forced to expose his body, in the most humiliating manner!


    The gruesome and shivering air, the icy cold stone floor that sent a chill down his spine, all made him felt extremely uncomfortable. Yet, he still stood with his back straight in the center of the magical array, inside a magical ring that could only be occupied by a single person.


    "Good... excellent..." Within the spacious hall, the cold voice of Mage Eclivel sounded out like the curse coming from the misty void. "Although the function of your body has decayed slightly, the result of bloodline infusion is coming along well! Kid, if you can survive this round of magical experiment, you''ll definitely become the one and only one giant bloodsucking bug in this world!"


    Hee hee hee...


    Following the near insane howl let out by Mage Eclivel, the surging energy within the magical array started to gather toward the magical ring at the center of it. The bright glow of the intense magical energy even illuminated Acteon''s body, making it half transparent and allowing anyone to see his internal organs and bones. Within the intense light, a vague, incorporeal yet broken figure of soul emerged out of nowhere, standing right at the position where Acteon was at, throwing a blank look at the surroundings.


    At the same time, right above the magical array, a crack was broken out on the ceiling, and a human fist-sized, crystal clear Soul Diamond was seen gradually making its descent. With the help from the strong glow emitted by the circulating of the magical array, one could even see through the Soul Diamond and see a glittering and translucent crystal of crimson rolling within the core of it. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Step by step, Mage Eclivel controlled the Soul Diamond, making it attach to Acteon''s forehead slowly. In an instant, a burning smell filled the air, as the Soul Diamond radiated a high temperature and scorched Acteon''s forehead, burning it and producing dark smoke. Finally, the Soul Diamond successfully socked itself onto his forehead.


    The crimson crystal was revolving swiftly. For each turned it revolved, it would shot out a tiny crimson thread. Guided by the Soul Diamond, this tiny crimson thread merged into Acteon''s body slowly. At the beginning, the transformation wasn''t that clear. But following the merging of more of these threads with him, Acteon''s body started to turn dark red and crimson demonic runes could vaguely be seen on the surface of his body.


    No doubt, for Acteon, such degree of body modification was frightfully torturous. His half-bug body which had taken a deep root in the control would never allow his bloodline to be contaminated by any external bloodline. At the depths of his bloodline, a place where no outsider could ever take a peek of, a battle of life and death had broken out, and the situation could be described as intense and severe!


    Suppressed by the magical array, the home advantage of half-bug bloodline was reducing at a constant speed. On the other side, supported by the endless energy from the Mage Tower, the weak vampire bloodline was doing its job with ease, as it kept expanding its territory inside of Acteon''s body, seizing one part at a time.


    His body had become the battlefield of life and death between two bloodlines. Right at this very moment, Acteon was like an ordinary mortal who had all his mysterious and powerful abilities stripped away, the cold air of the hall even made him tremble, as he could hardly endure the cold temperature.


    Both bloodlines had shown the same overbearing manner, and both had regarded the other as a contaminant, making it impossible for either one of them to compromise and co-exist with the other. Whenever a bloodline became weaker, it would find a way to invade those body factors, and produce more peers by contaminated them, bringing in more soldiers into the battle.


    Yes, it was a battle! A battle fought for dominance between half-bug bloodline and vampire bloodline! Unless one side completely defeated the other side or the body of the host was too weak for the battle to continue, the battle would continue like this forever.


    Following the progress of the battle, black, pungent and sticky liquid started to ooze from Acteon''s eyes, ears, mouths, nose, and all parts of his body, flowing across his skin and dripping onto the floor.


    The liquid was actually his life factors that were killed in the battle of the bloodline.


    Meanwhile, Acteon''s life aura had started to turn lifeless.


    Upon sensing the body of the host had become extremely weak and could die at any time due to the battle that happened at the depths of bloodline and soul, both mutated bloodlines had finally compromised. They retreated to their own source territory, slowed down the speed of pressuring the host''s body and put out a high vigilance at any movement of the enemy bloodline.


    Using the Queen Bug as its base, the half-bug bloodline retreated and hid in Acteon''s brain, while the mutated vampire bloodline had modified Acteon''s heart, and placed its home there. Although the initial planning of having both bloodlines merged as one didn''t happen, but having them co-exist had worked out smoothly.


    Mage Eclivel, who had been focusing all his attention on watching every activity happened inside of Acteon''s body, finally let out a long sigh of relief. With a thought of his mind, he shot out a hidden spiritual ripple.


    Taking the opportunity when Acteon''s soul, body, and bloodline were all at their weakest moment, a soul contract hidden inside the Soul Diamond had snuck its way into Acteon''s body.


    "You..." After all, Acteon did own the Spirit of that Pseudo-Mage level. Though he was weak now, he would still notice any danger that came to him. However, before he could plan his counterattack, the soul contract had seared deeply into his soul.


    As the result, in next second, the naked Acteon had become as obedient a puppet.


    "Waiting for your order, my great master Eclivel!"


    Upon hearing the expected response, Mage Eclivel couldn''t control himself anymore and let out a loud laugh. The entire hall was filled with cruel and high-pitched laughter that sounded like cries of the night owl.


    ...


    2200 Words

 Chapter 136 Goblin Empire

    Snorlax was very upset!And, the thing upset the optimistic Snorlax was actually that mysterious white stone.


    Since it couldn''t figure out the actual usage of the white stone, Snorlax had put it aside and continued busying itself with its Goblin Store. It just had no time to find an expert to identify what it was. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But unexpectedly, after spent two busy days, it suddenly discovered the white stone was glowing.


    The white stone was lying quietly on the wooden table near the window. Under the shine of the fading moonlight, it was emitting with a faint white glow.


    Yes, it was a glow emitted by the white stone itself and not the reflection of moonlight. Snorlax was certain about this!


    Step by step, Snorlax drew closer to the white stone, and carefully, it touched the stone with its hand. It was neither warm nor cold. The white glow wasn''t caused by a heat source, but from some kind of mysterious magical energy inside the white stone. Based on the fact that the stone could absorb moonlight and transform into energy of its own, Snorlax determined it was possibly a special magical equipment that came from another plane.


    Once it had reached this conclusion, merely for experimentation, Snorlax took out a magic crystal. To its surprise, when it placed the magic crystal near the white stone, the white stone actually dismantled and transformed. After a series of dismantling and assembling movements that dazzled Snorlax''s eyes, a mysterious magical machine that looked similar to a communicative mirror was unveiled in front of its eyes.


    A mechanical arm stretched out from this magical machine, clamped onto the magic crystal and placed it onto a hole located at the lower part of its body. Right after that, a strange mechanical voice echoed out in the room.


    "A mutated entry level energy crystal is detected. It can be used as energy source. Magical Kernel serial number 03768, estimated recovery of function reached 17%. Initiating now..."


    After that, following a series of peculiar noises, this Magical Kernel transformed from the white stone actually stood up, tilted a screen that was located at the top part of its body and pointed it right at Snorlax.


    A violent distortion of images flashed through the screen, and suddenly, an enormous glass eye appeared on it, followed by a noisy and hoarse voice.


    "Peculiar... this is peculiar... why did a Magical Kernel that had not show any activity for more than two hundred years suddenly activate? Hey, little guy, are you the one who activated this Magical Kernel?" Snorlax was certain that the language spoken by the voice came from the Magical Kernel was something that it had never heard or learnt before.


    "Who are you? How did you squeeze into this tiny object? This... what is this... what exactly is this object?" The naturally timid character of Snorlax had struck again. Judging from the size of the eyeball, Snorlax bet it must be a terrifying and enormous giant. If it jumped out from this tiny object, how could Snorlax escape from its death?


    Right at this very moment, Snorlax was seized with remorse. Why hadn''t it mentioned this discovery to its master earlier! Perhaps, only that miraculous master of its could save it from the giant mouth of this giant.


    Right as a fierce mental struggle was going on inside of Snorlax''s mind, the glassy eyeball on the screen backed off some distance, and eventually, allowed Snorlax to get a clear look at the appearance of the giant.


    Fancy that! The ''giant'' was actually someone with a near identical appearance and build like Snorlax! It had a similar height of around one meter tall and had green skin, a pair of large ears, a long and pointy nose, and disheveled, fluffy, short yellow hair. The enormous glassy eyeball that Snorlax saw just now was actually a special goggles.


    Yes, this fellow was actually a goblin too!


    The goblin on the other side was clad in a dirty white coat, a drawing pen was placed in one ear, and it was wearing a high-power magnifier on its eyes. That was why it looked so strange. However, no matter how strange it looked, Snorlax was certain that this fellow was a... goblin!


    After bent over the screen and spending some time looking left and right, obviously, the goblin on the other side never expected it was also a goblin who had just sent a request for communication from a far distance plane. Therefore, after murmuring some complaints for some time, it finally became friendlier, and commenced a warm interaction with Snorlax.


    "You... are you a goblin too?" Snorlax asked timidly.


    "Little guy, you are now meeting with the greatest chief inventor of the Goblin Empire, Duke Gazlowe. So, before you ask any question, you better add in the proper honorifics!" On the other side of the screen, the yellow-hair goblin was seen waving its arms dissatisfied and speaking in a threatening manner.


    "Oh, the Great Duke Gazlowe, could you tell me what exactly is this object? Also, why is that I can understand your words?"


    "Damn you #%@£¤%... it looks like you this little guy had not understand anything yet." The yellow-hair goblin crazily cursed, before it explained to Snorlax with a helpless expression. "What you''re looking at right now is the Magical Kernel I invented: the Super Long Distance Magical-Mechanical Communication and Transmitting Machine. To put it simply, it is a little equipment that allows two goblins to communicate and transmit items across a super long distance.


    As for why you can understand my words, it is because you''re a goblin too! As long as you''re a goblin, no matter which plane you are living in, it is natural that you can understand the Goblin language, as it is one unique to Goblins!"


    Snorlax''s eyes went wider and wider, as it hardly believed what it had just heard.


    "If this machine was invented by you, why was it stranded in this place?" Snorlax asked wonderingly.


    "Since this machine is called Super Long Distance Magical-Mechanical Communication and Transmitting Machine, it is of course used to carry out trading of items between planes! When I was young, I produced a few hundred of them at one go, and randomly tossed them into different places in the multi-verse. So, when the local experts picked up this machine, they could become my customers. If my memory served me well, last time, it was a powerful Molten Giant who used this machine with the serial number of 03768 to communicate with me. But too bad, that giant was really poor, and didn''t own any good stuff that met the fancy of my eyes!"


    "You... you are actually a Mighty Transplanar Merchant?" The greedy-in-nature, keen on receiving petty advantages Snorlax had its eyes pop out instantly. For Snorlax, obviously, compared to the status of Chief Inventor of the Goblin Empire, the yellow-hair goblin''s status of a transplanar merchant was so much more respectable.


    "Certainly! As the greatest engineer, inventor and transplanar merchant of the Goblin Empire, I, Duke Gazlowe, am well-known throughout the entire multi-verse!"


    "You''ve mentioned many times about Goblin Empire? This... what is it then?" Snorlax asked curiously.


    Gazlowe said out loud with a proud voice, "Goblin Empire is, of course, the empire of Goblins! It is a kingdom built by us, Goblins, after occupying an entire plane. In this kingdom, we, the Goblins are the true master of the plane. Since you''ve asked this question, presumably, in the plane you''re living right now, goblins have an inferior status?"


    Hearing what it said, Snorlax clenched its fists tightly in excitement, while both of its eyes were filled with tiny sparks of envy. However, it soon recalled its current situation and couldn''t help but lower its big ears dejectedly.


    Gazlowe sighed silently.


    It had seen many situations like this. In most of the material planes, Goblins were discriminated against and lived miserable lives being bullied by everybody. They didn''t possess any ability in fighting, and they didn''t have any extraordinary innate abilities. Even among all demons, their place belonged in the bottom of the food chain.


    Nevertheless, with regards to this goblin who had accidentally activated the Magical Kernel in another plane, Gazlowe expressed its extreme curiosity. After patiently questioning Snorlax, it was told that this dejected little goblin was actually a slave who served a mysterious Mage.


    And when Gazlowe couldn''t bear itself and suspected that Snorlax was just a penniless vagrant who owned nothing, the angry Snorlax opened up its waist pouch and revealed all its treasures to Gazlowe.


    Human fist-sized Fire Diamonds; Sapphire, Ruby, Green Agate, Topaz, and Beryl which sent forth a powerful aura of magical element, and rare Night-Eye Stones, Pyre Stones, Crimson Spinel Stones and other treasures which could only found in certain planes...


    A little, seemingly insignificant goblin actually took out so many rare gemstones in one go, this had made Gazlowe nearly dropped its eyes out. It paid no attention to those elemental gemstones, because at the plane where it was living, it could find plenty of them easily. However, the Night-Eye Stones, Pyre Stones, Crimson Spinel Stones and few other special gemstones and materials that Snorlax took out the last were something it had never seen before, and it took a great interest in a few of them.


    In the Goblin Empire where it came from, the one single most powerful creation was all kind of magical machines. And, the energy that drove these magical machines would be a huge amount of energy crystals and distinguished magical gemstones. If it could bring all these special magical gemstones back to the Goblin Empire, figured out the mode of existence and the method of sharing the special energies, no doubt it would bring a tremendous help to the development of the magical machine.


    Thus, the more this two goblins talked, the friendlier they became with each other. By the end, they actually reached a trade agreement, planning to carry out a transplanar barter trade in secret.


    The trade list drafted by each of them was extremely long.


    For Snorlax, it had listed every single magical gemstone, magical materials and some unique Mage resources it heard or seen before in the World of Mage. As for Gazlowe, its list comprised all sorts of powerful yet dangerous magical machines and some local resources produced in the Goblin Plane.


    While browsing through the trade list provided by the other party, when one of them was interested in some random item on the other''s list, it would offer a price and started the negotiation process. Sure enough, Goblins deserved to be generally regarded as a race that cared about nothing but profit, and they were also the greediest race in the world.


    When it came to the price of the item, this pair of Goblin brothers who were happily chatting with each other moment ago immediately turned into someone as mean as a miser, fighting over the smallest trifles. Because of a difference in one or two magic crystals, they would rage at each other, cursing loudly all the familial relatives of the other goblins, and portray a fierce look of ''take it or leave it''.


    Therefore, Snorlax didn''t sleep for the entire night, spent all its effort and more than twenty hours fighting with Duke Gazlowe, who was a greedy, stingy, shameless, selfish, narrow-minded... goblin. In addition to that, it also paid no attention to hygiene and carried a pungent body odor. As for the result? Two transplanar deals that were worth less than five magic crystals.


    And yet, in order to maintain the smooth communication, Snorlax had literally spent three magic crystals in just one night.


    But with regards to this, none of them actually felt strange. Snorlax was dancing in joy as it was able to negotiate a discount of one single magic crystal for the deal. On the other side, Gazlowe was seen roaring furiously, cursing Snorlax as the most shameless and despicable green-skinned goblin it ever met.


    Finally, both ended their first communication in such ''friendly'' atmosphere!


    ...


    2020 words

 Chapter 137 Infusion

    Three months laterWhen Leon woke up from a long period of meditation, he couldn''t help and have a worried expression on his face.


    "Chip, how efficient is this meditation?"


    "Calculating... Spirit has increased by another 0.007. According to the current progress, in order to reach the maximum of 20 points, an estimated 139 days will be needed."


    The muscle near the corner of Leon''s lips twitched.


    His body had turned into Flame Body and he had also used his authority in the Mage Tower to make himself a room with abundant Fire Elementiums. In addition to that, his daily meals were all magical energy foods that would bring great benefits to his body and Spirit. Even combined with the Fire Diamond pillow and Deep Sea Flower, he had actually just gained an increment of 0.007 in a day. Compared to the past, where he could easily gain 0.05 increment in every meditation, Leon felt it difficult to adapt to the situation.


    Since he had become a Pseudo-Mage, Leon had discovered that the increase in Spirit brought by basic meditation and studying magic spells was not as significant as in the past. Because he had the help of the Chip, he was able to detect the increment of his Spirit on a daily basis. Yet, for those Pseudo-Mages who didn''t own such ability, their productiveness was ten times lower than his. What was the thing that they relied upon in order to go through this painful period?


    Leon closed his eyes and pondered for a brief moment. Only then did he realize something.


    It seemed like those Pseudo-Mages rarely stayed in their own rooms and meditated days and night. Instead, they spent most of their time bustling about, training themselves laboriously through different missions. In the past, Leon had thought they did this for the sake of getting more resources. Now, looking back and pondering deeper, it was more likely that due to the slow progress in their Spirit, they were pushing themselves to the brink of death as a method of stimulating their Spirit.


    This might not be a bad idea!


    "Chip, you spent quite a long time doing analysis. Have you found out why there''s such a slow progress for Spirit?"


    "Beep. The modeling of the mission has been completed. The result shows that during the period of apprenticeship for humans, the primary task is to arduously increase the density of Elementium in the body and strive for a qualitative change that comes from quantitative accumulation. The ultimate goal is to rise and become a magical creature: Mage.


    After entering the grade of Pseudo-Mage, the increase of Spirit becomes slower because the accumulation of element energy is approaching its bottleneck. Due of the lack of traction from a vital core, and because of the characteristics of elements, the energy accumulated in the early state will cause an unpredicted distraction to the energy that comes in later. This causes the efficiency of energy accumulation in the later state to weaken significantly."


    The Same-Element Attraction and Universal Repulsion of element energy?


    Both of them were elementary theories of elemental magic spells that had long been known by all senior Mages. To put it simply, among the different types of Elementiums, it was easier for the Elementiums with the same element to gather together and produce a homogeneous region. The Mages referred to this phenomenon as Same-Element Attraction!


    However, there was a limit to such aggregation. Once it reached or exceeded this limit, Mages had discovered that it would become extremely difficult to bring in more Elementium of the same element. It was as if there was a powerful repulsive force between those Elementiums of the same element which caused them to reject each other. As a result, Mages had referred to this phenomenon as Universal Repulsion.


    The characteristics of Same-Element Attraction and Universal Repulsion existed within all Elementiums at the same time. The key was the regional density of the Elementium. If the density was lower than the limit, they would portray the characteristics of Same-Element Attraction, but when it was higher than the limit, they would show the characteristics of Universal Repulsion. The Mages didn''t know the details and exact theory for this phenomenon, or perhaps they did have a conclusion but magical knowledge of such an advanced degree was not something Leon had the right to know right now.


    "Chip, do you have any workable methods that can solve the current problem?"


    "Beep. Data analysis complete. There are two workable solutions:


    Solution number 1: Core Transplant.


    The Spirit of Apprentice Mages is scattered, as it is not bound by a vital core. Transplanting a Fire element core into the brain can reduce the repulsiveness between Fire Elementiums.


    Pros: Able to solve the issue of having Spirit increase at a slow rate, and eventually increase the success rate of official Mage Advancement Ceremony.


    Cons: The transplanted Fire element core cannot compare to the Element Core formed by oneself and it will restrict the possibility of future development.


    Solution number 2: Stimulate the Spirit.


    Bypass the weak stimulation toward the Spiritual Domain which is caused by the accumulation of Elementium. Instead, use a more direct approach which can stimulate the source of the Spirit, using the method of reducing the tenacity of the Spirit to obtain increments of the Spirit''s maximum limit."


    Leon knitted his brows in a tight frown.


    Ugh, restricted to the knowledge mastered by the Chip, Leon didn''t like either of the solutions it provided. The first solution was a method that attended to the superficials and neglected the essentials; it was the lousiest approach that could destroy his future totally, and was only useful to those Pseudo-Mages who had no more hope of becoming an official Mage. As for the second solution, it wasn''t too dependable either. It was still unknown whether this method could really cultivate an official Mage, but it for sure could give birth to a freak.


    Since the crooked ways weren''t feasible at all, Leon had no choice but to focus all of his attention on the source of Mages.


    Spirit! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The reason for human Mages to set 21 points of Spirit as the basic threshold of breaking through the limits of humans and becoming official Mages was most probably because 20 points was the maximum limit of Spirit a human''s body could ever achieve!


    Once they stepped over this threshold, there would be some essential differences between a human Mage and an ordinary human, as the human Mage would become more like a magical creature. Therefore, the reason why there was such a huge gap in the overall strength between an Mage of 21 points Spirit and a Pseudo-Mage of 20 points Spirit was most probably because the basic data of their bodies had become totally different!


    With the aid of so many outside advantages, without the need to participate in any life and death training, Leon could still achieve an increment of 0.007 in his Spirit on a daily basis. If this was known by any other Pseudo-Mages, for sure they would be extremely jealous. For Leon, however, it was still very slow!


    Because... because the recent transformation of Worm controller Blake had made his heart tremble!


    Initially, he had thought his progress had gone beyond all other people. Thus, catching up or even suppressing Blake was just a matter of time. But, after he had accidentally bumped into Blake in the Tower a few days ago, such thoughts had become rather inconclusive!


    That Worm controller nearly had a new transformation every single day and his massive Spiritual pressure had become more visible. After having the Chip perform a scan on him, Leon knew that it was highly possible Worm controller''s Spirit had gone beyond the half-mark of a Pseudo-Mage. That meant his Spirit must have reached beyond 20.50. Yet, he had only become a Pseudo-Mage less than half a year ago!


    This proved that the increase rate of Worm controller Blake''s Spirit was not weaker than Leon''s.


    Of course, it might be the result of Blake visiting the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower every couple of days. From the scan results of the Chip, it was highly possible that Mage Eclivel was performing a bloodline infusion experiment on Blake, because the Chip had detected the familiar scent of blood from Blake''s body.


    Although the smell of blood was rather faint, with the Chip''s gene detection approach that scanned up to the cellular level, it was still detectable and was presented in front of Leon. He was really angry with such a discovery, as the source of the bloodline factor was actually pointing directly at Bleia.


    This meant that the blood sample Bleia had given Mage Eclivel was being used on Worm controller. Having two different bloodlines that kept fighting each other inside of Blake''s body was no different than placing him at the brink of life and death every single day. No wonder his Spirit was increasing at such an incredible rate.


    There was no room for reconciliation between Worm controller Blake and Leon. And yet, there was one thing that worried Leon the most. If Blake was able to stand at the pinnacle of Pseudo-Mage before him, then it was highly possible that something he didn''t want to see would happen.


    From the information publicly available in magical books, he knew that the success rate of becoming an official Mage in the Zhentarim region wasn''t that high. Basically, out of ten Pseudo-Mages, if two or three of them could become official Mages, that would be something worth a grand celebration. During an official Mage Advancement Ceremony, though the innate talent of an apprentice played a big role, a large part of the success rate was actually pure luck.


    Indeed, a Pseudo-Mage with a powerful innate ability would have a higher success rate than those Pseudo-Mages of that weaker innate talent, however, it was not absolutely certain. Even a Pseudo-Mage with extraordinary innate talent would still have to face the possibility of failing when advancing into the realm of official Mage! Yet, for some fellows with lousy innate talent, if they were lucky enough, they might take the leap and rise to be the master of this world ¨C an official Mage!


    Therefore, in the Mage Continent, every single Pseudo-Mage felt nervous during the official Mage Advancement Ceremony, fearing they might miss their steps and became a total failure for their life. After all, once the advancement ceremony was failed, there would be a significant decay in the Pseudo-Mage''s Spirit and the success rate of next advancement would drop by 50%.


    Hence, except for those favored children who received special attention from big families, no Mage Family wanted to pour another round of new investment into a Pseudo-Mage who had failed once.


    And this was what worried Leon the most!


    If... if Blake reached the top of Pseudo-Mage first, he would only have to tell those Mages who were in charge of the advancement ceremony that his success rate of advancement was 100% if he could devour Bleia. Then... what kind of outcome would happen?


    On one side was a Pseudo-Mage who had signed an Mage contract with the family, and on the other side were two Pseudo-Mages who had only signed the servicing contract. One had a 100% success rate of advancement, the other side had two Pseudo-Mages who had an uncertain success rate of advancement...


    If it was that situation, together with the involvement of Mage Eclivel, Bleia would face a life-threatening situation!


    Leon hadn''t told Bleia about this. Before he had a method to solve this situation, telling the situation to the irritable Bleia would be no help at all. Unless Leon could capture tens of Mage level demons at one go and give them all to Bleia as a supplements, he would have to depend only on himself in order to change the situation.


    Leon lowered his head and looked at his right palm. On top of it, there were two black fragments of bugs. Through his powerful Elementium Vision, Leon could barely see some constantly changing Musta scripts on top of the fragments. On one of the fragments, he read ''save me,'' while the other was ''devour Bleia.''


    The two fragments of bugs didn''t come to him at the same time. The first one had arrived during the night, one month ago. When he had been meditating, a fingernail sized black bug had crawled through the window into Leon''s room. It had exploded upon touching on Leon''s wooden table, leaving behind only a bizarre shell covered with words. As for the second one, it had appeared one week ago.


    It was only because of the clues brought by these fragments that Leon had drawn the conclusion that Blake had the intention of devouring Bleia. Otherwise, no matter how profound his intelligence, there was no way he could have thought of such an absurd conclusion.


    ...


    2165 Words

 Chapter 138 Slave

    No doubt, the bugs had been sent by the Worm controller Blake himself!Save me?


    Could he really be pleading for help?


    Devour Bleia?


    Why would he leak his best workable plan to Leon?


    After posting a bunch of questions to the Chip and having it analyze the possible answers, a terrible plot was soon discovered, and it simply left Leon chilled to the bone!


    Most probably, Worm controller had been totally controlled by Mage Eclivel until now, and that had forced him to seek help from his enemy, Leon. As for how a Pseudo-Mage who was under the total control of an Mage was able to deceive his master and retain his soul consciousness, perhaps that had something to do with his unique bug body!


    Though he was fortunate enough to retain his self-conscious under the evil plot of Mage Eclivel, obviously, there was no way he could escape from the control. Therefore, he used the method of leaking their treacherous plot in exchange for Leon''s interference.


    However, even though Leon knew all this, was there anything he could do about it?


    Should he lodge a complaint with Mage Keoghan, who was also an Mage from the Sarubo Family, and tell him about the impudent behavior of Mage Eclivel? That might make Mage Eclivel suffer some punishment, but it wouldn''t change the situation at the root, as Blake would be still under his control. And if Eclivel made it clear that he was willing to give up the right of control, perhaps the Sarubo Family would take over the control of a family Mage who obeyed all their orders, wholeheartedly.


    If that happened, Bleia still wouldn''t escape her tragic destiny!


    Defeat and kill Eclivel? This was simply something impossible to achieve!


    If all of the four formidable golems anticipated by Leon were ready and he could lure Mage Eclivel to some pre-set place, together with the help from Bleia and Blake, they might have a slight chance of killing him. However, the success rate for a plan like this would never exceed 12%, according to the Chip. Leon would never take such a huge risk!


    In the past, whenever someone had mentioned how powerful an Mage was, he had only had a rather vague and general idea. But through the training he had gone through in the past half a year, Leon finally had a basic outline in his mind.


    Take Beginner Apprentices as an example. Their bodies were nearly identical to a normal human; the only difference was that they had mastered one or two magic spells of average power, and that was a really low number. With this grade, if an apprentice went to carry out a mission, they usually hired some human mercenaries to protect them from being hurt by ordinary humans, such as damage coming from arrows, flying daggers, traps, and other similar weapons.


    Once they had managed to become an Intermediate Apprentice, the power of an Apprentice Mage would start to show up. At this grade, either they had chosen their direction of future development or they possessed some approach that would bring them strong power; no ordinary human could compare anymore. Even the militia organized by the common cities would not provoke anyone from this group of fearful existences. However, so long as they employed an appropriate approach, the possibility of ordinary humans killing Intermediate Apprentices still existed.


    But, once an apprentice entered the Advanced Apprentice realm, then even a mortal army would not be able to defeat him anymore. Imagine this, a person who possessed the vigorous vitality of a wild buffalo, was able to run as fast as a cheetah, and could put out the formidable strength that was no weaker than a burly adult. For an existence like this, even without using any magic spells, they would be able to wreak havoc within the mortal army. If he was aided with magic spells, annihilating an army of two hundred men would be like cutting through butter with a hot knife.


    Of course, if a human noble was willing to pay a huge price to equip an army of fearless soldiers with the finest weapons and armor, it was still possible to defeat an Advanced Apprentice by sacrificing the lives of over three hundred soldiers.


    But once an Apprentice Mage became a Pseudo-Mage, then the army of an ordinary human noble would lose any effectiveness. If this Pseudo-Mage was shameless enough to conduct guerrilla warfare, he might even be able to collapse some small kingdoms. In order to deal with a Pseudo-Mage, it would need the life of at least 1000 elite soldiers. As for whether could they kill the Pseudo-Mage, it would purely depend on their luck during the battle!


    Of course, the comparison of overall strength mentioned was derived from a situation where the mortal powers weren''t aid by any mysterious forces. Yet currently, throughout the entire Mage Continent, if a kingdom didn''t seek protection from an Mage Family, there was no way it could survive. Many Kings or Grand Dukes of human kingdoms were actually agents sent by Mage Families, random mortals who were experts in managing and running a territory, or Apprentice Mages who had lost all hope of advancing further.


    In brief, mortal power was always a tool for Mages, and the relationship was never reciprocal.


    So, in order to deal with an Mage, mortal forces would never be dependable.


    Only an Mage had the possibility of killing another Mage!


    This true saying had been deeply engraved into the bones of all mortals. No human nobles, big and small, who were protected by Mage Families would want to offend any Mages, even if the one in question was the lousiest Mage. After all, the power of an Mage was extremely dreadful!


    Therefore, after estimating the overall strength of both sides, Leon quickly gave up the stupid idea of fighting Mage Eclivel face to face.


    Although Mages were dangerous and fearful, so long as one could find the right way, an Mage was rather fragile!


    Every year, there were a bunch of Mages who accidentally died in magical experiments and there was also many of them who ventured deep into a savage forest and never came back. But most of them actually died in the conquering warfare of the Mage Families.


    Sometimes, it was the war for territory between different Mage Families of the original plane, sometimes it was the conquering and colonization warfare the Mage Family conducted in the other planes. In brief, if Leon and others became official Mages, they too would probably have to participate in many bloody wars.


    However, sitting back and waiting quietly for Mage Eclivel to kill them was an absurd thought. With the nasty character of Mage Eclivel, where he would spend years dwelling in the Swampy Tower and never go out, one could easily tell that he was a research type Mage and not an expert in battling.


    But even so, Leon still didn''t want to fight him face to face!


    Since he had no intention to fight head on, then the only option left would be scheming.


    Therefore, during this period of time, aside from spending all day arduously improving his overall strength, Leon also quietly planned and prepared for something. However, because the target of his scheme this time was an official Mage, Leon had to consider carefully before making any decisions. After all, if Blake wished to reach the pinnacle of the Pseudo-Mage stage, it would take another three months, so Leon still had some time to plot his scheme.


    ......


    Inside Worm controller Blake''s room.


    It was dark and wet like the true nest of a bug. White cocoons could be seen all over the floor. Some of them were broken, with numerous larvae crawling out from these broken cocoons and their body covered in sticky, yellow slime. Whenever a rune was lit from within a magical array engraved on the floor, bright light would shine upon the intact cocoons, turning them transparent, and one could even see countless larvae inside of the cocoons.


    There was the mutilated dead body of a wild buffalo on one corner of the room, and traces of bug bites could be found on top of it. The black blood of the buffalo oozed from the dead body and spilled all over the place, sending forth a pungent and foul smell.


    The air within the room was extremely filthy. It smelled like strong acid mixed with blood and a rotting scent. Yet, it was as if Blake never noticed it. He was sitting on the floor, both legs folded, his body bent forward and stock still. Though he didn''t move his body, subtle movement could be seen within the gray robe on his body. From time to time, it would bulge for a brief moment before returning to its original shape.


    This was a sign that within his seemingly calm body, it was not as peaceful as the outside indicated.


    Since he had come back from the bloodline infusion ceremony carried out by Eclivel, most of the time, Blake would sit quietly like a dead man, not moving at all. Yet, inside of his body, a bloody war without any physical expression had just come to a temporary stop.


    Every day, the Half-Bug Bloodline, lead by the queen of Carrion Beetles, and the Vampire Bloodline, lead by the Heart of Bloodthirsty, would use his body as a battlefield and fight an intense war. Both parties wished to devour the other and use the other as nourishment to strengthen themselves. Hence, in this war of bloodlines where the winner would survive and the loser would die, neither of them was willing to compromise and co-exist with the other.


    If two mutated bloodlines could be fused together easily, there would be plenty of Bloodline Mages in this world. Why would there be still so many Mages who dwelt deeply in dark and wet towers, carrying out frightening experiments that mostly yielded no results?


    If the potential of two separate bloodlines was imbalanced, then the inevitable outcome would be having one devoured by the other. Yet, if the potential was balanced, it would end up with both being losers and cause the body of the host to disintegrate. All in all, in order to make two incompatible bloodlines coexist harmoniously, it seemed like a key neutralizing agent was missing, which meant that the Mages couldn''t create the results they wanted through any bloodline experiments.


    If the development followed such trend, Blake would eventually face the miserable outcome of being killed.


    Initially, the Half-Bug Bloodline had occupied the home advantage in his body and had had the absolute advantage in the war with the Vampire Bloodline. However, whenever the Vampire Bloodline was going to be defeated, Mage Eclivel would always call him to the secret room located on the fifth floor of the tower and inject a new dose of the source blood into his body.


    It was all because of this endless supply of new blood that the Vampire Bloodline was able to contaminate a vital organ of Blake; it had modified Blake''s heart into the Heart of Bloodthirsty. With the aid of the Heart of Bloodthirsty, the Vampire Bloodline had gained the upper hand in the war of bloodlines for the first time. The obvious symptom of this was that Blake''s bug body had deteriorated and his skin had started to turn dark red.


    Blake''s head had sunk to his breast. Even when the battle of the two bloodlines caused a significant decay in his vitality, making him stand at the gates of death, he still didn''t move. However, right at this moment, in the depths of his Spiritual Domain, on top of the source of his soul, an even crueler and brutal battle was happening.


    The conscious seal formed by the soul contract was deeply seared on the source of Blake''s soul. But strangely, some cracks surrounded the part of his soul which bore the soul contract, and it seemed that part of his soul had almost departed from the entire source of the soul.


    By hiding most of his consciousness in the queen of Carrion Beetles'' body and escaping from the control of Mage Eclivel, Blake was able to barely maintain the independence of his own consciousness. At this point in time, he dared not let his primary consciousness to return to the source of the soul. Once it made the return, the fact that he still had an independent consciousness would be sensed by Mage Eclivel through the soul contract.


    Therefore, currently in his body, Mage Eclivel was only controlling his secondary consciousness, which he had broken up earlier. But his primary consciousness was hiding inside, waiting for the perfect opportunity to seize back the control of his body. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was extremely tough to escape from Mage Eclivel''s control just by relying on his strength alone. That was why he had secretly sent a few of his bugs to seek help from the enemy he hated the most. But too bad, both distress calls he had sent were like stones dropped into the sea, producing no response at all. With that, Blake couldn''t bear it and became restless with anxiety.


    ...


    2210 Words

 Chapter 139 Confession

    The third floor of the Swampy Tower, inside of the Alchemy Laboratory.After occupying the highest standard Alchemy Laboratory alone, Leon had made it his home and hadn''t stepped out from it for three days and three nights.


    The first day, he hadn''t done anything. He had just held the core of the First Grade Molten Giant, which would become the target of his experiment, and turned it round and round for careful examination, allowing the Chip to finish its final molding and design.


    Through the powerful see through ability provided by Elementium Vision, he could see every single crystal that formed the entire crystal core, every single thread of crystal, from the direction of where they stretched to the distribution of Earth and Fire Elementium, together with each part''s hardness; every single detail, every single node, was stored in his mind without leaving out anything. The gathered information was then turned into groups of data and eventually transformed into a three-dimensional and detailed virtual model.


    After finishing with all that, without saying another word, Leon simply laid down on the floor inside the Alchemy Laboratory and went into deep slumber. He only woke up early morning of the next day. He stretched his back and yawned, standing up from the floor.


    He washed his face with some fresh water summoned using a magic spell and tidied himself up. When he felt his Spirit had freshened up again, Leon once again stood in front of the Alchemy Station with a solemn expression.


    After going through so long a period of preparation and brewing, the design of a brand new golem was deeply engraved in his mind. Today, he would turn them into reality.


    He curved the corner of his lips upward a little bit, giving himself encouragement with a brief smile. Gradually, the hesitation and worries in Leon''s eyes faded away and were replaced with resolution and confidence.


    Without hesitation, Leon waved his hand and activated the Alchemy Station.


    A brand new golem with a brand new design concept. In order to exert the power of this double-element core of Earth and Fire to the fullest, the Chip had specially designed a brand new three-dimensional magical array for them. Five Energy Gathering Arrays, three Elementium Strengthening Arrays, two Elementium Switching Arrays, two Energy Force Field Arrays, one Lava Armor Activator, one Summoning Runes Array, one Elementium Life Granting Array, several energy nodes and circuits...


    The Beginner Apprentice level clay golem only had seven magical arrays. While the Lightning Giant employed the decentralized approach of a three-dimensional magical array, it only had nine magical arrays on top of the priBleia core. Yet, for this core of a First Grade Molten Giant, which was only the size of a chicken egg, Leon planned to carve sixteen magical arrays in one go. Not only that, he also needed to connect them together and eventually make them into one massive and compact entity.


    Back on Earth in his previous life, he could let the smart computer control and finish such microscopic carving work on the molecular level. However, in this miraculous and mystical world, the only thing Leon could rely on was the guidance and assistance of the Chip, and he had to personally complete all of the tasks himself.


    Throughout the entire three hours of the rune carving process, not a single careless mistake or slack behavior was permitted. If the carving of any rune deviated from the original design, even if it was just the distance of a single crystal thread, it would cause significant influence on the finished golem. Yet, if the deviation went beyond the distance of two crystal threads, it meant that the Mage level core he had obtained by risking his life would be destroyed.


    In addition to that, during the carving process, he needed to maintain a stable and constant output of his Spirit. If the output was too low, it would affect the circulating efficiency of the Elementium energy and if it was too high, it might poke through the surface of the crystal core and damage the inner core. As for stopping half way during the crafting process, it was a huge taboo. He had to complete the entire process in one go, and had no room for any hesitation.


    In order to make the crystal core unleash its full power, it must be matched with sufficient magical arrays. Yet, more magical arrays meant there was little room for mistakes during the crafting process, as any slight mistake would cause the crystal core to be destroyed. Therefore on the Mage Continent, anyone who could carve more than ten magical arrays on top of an Mage level crystal core was regarded as a Master Alchemist. Meanwhile, only a Grandmaster of Alchemy could carve sixteen magical arrays on top of a single core in one go.


    Therefore... naturally, the first Mage level golem crafted by Leon was a total failure!


    During the carving process, the heat beam controlled by Leon''s Spirit had stopped at a spot for an additional 0.7 seconds. It poked through the surface of the crystal core and when the internal core was touched by the heat beam, it instantly exploded and disintegrated.


    A crystal core worth more than 4000 magic crystals was destroyed just like that!


    With no time to feel upset or regret and no time to sigh with emotion or indulge in sorrow. Leon simply threw away the residues of the broken crystal core in his hand and waved his arm to shut off the Alchemy Station, laid himself on the floor, and sunk into deep slumber once again.


    If time were with him, he could have performed this task after becoming an official Mage. At that point, with the help of his Spirit which would have multiplied many times, it would be easier and more relaxed than now.


    But time was pressing on him!


    The feeling of urgency had forced him to reinforce his overall strength as soon as possible. Yet, trying to challenge a task at the Mage level with the ability of Pseudo-Mage, he faced unimaginable risks. However, he had no alternative but to choose now.


    Seven hours later, after freshening his Spirit, Leon stood back up, once again in front of the Alchemy Station bravely.


    But too bad, just two hours later, the second crystal core was still a failure.


    This time, Leon didn''t rush to lay down. He sat on the cold stone floor with his leg folded, took out some food, and ate it quickly. When he finished his meal, he laid flat on the blanket and sank into a deep sleep. Two teardrops rolled off his face silently, but he wasn''t aware of that.


    Ten hours later, right after his Spirit had been restored to its maximum level, prompted by the Chip, Leon opened his eyes. Inside of his black and crystal clear eyes, there was no hesitation or helplessness, or even any remorse or regret. There was only tenacity and perseverance with no chance of turning back.


    After thirteen seconds, Leon once again stood in front of the Alchemy Station.


    Perhaps it was because no difficulty was insurmountable if one set his mind to it, or maybe everything would come easy at the right time, the third crystal core was completed just like that!


    Leon didn''t roar out loudly and he didn''t cheer with tears bursting out from his eyes. As calm as ever, Leon carefully placed the crystal core in a safe place. Then he once again laid down on the blanket and went into a deep and sound sleep.


    Fifteen hours later, the fourth crystal core was a success too!


    Not until the last magical rune was carved, the entire set of three-dimensional lines composed into a perfectly intact and closed magical array, and the Elementium energy absorbed from the air started to flow freely in the magical rings, did Leon''s rigid face start to have a slight expression.


    He couldn''t tell whether he felt joy or heartache and couldn''t tell if his mind was filled with pleasure or sorrow. The repeated process of having his Spirit depleted and refilled multiple times had long wearied him.


    After cleaning up everything in the Alchemy Laboratory, he shut down the Alchemy Station, walked out from the laboratory, and returned to his room. Upon reaching his room, Leon simply let go of everything and fell into a deep sleep.


    He was asleep for a full day and night before he could get rid of the fatigued feeling and escape from a dark nightmare where he kept falling off a cliff into a bottomless abyss. But before he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the delicious aroma of food.


    He opened his eyes and saw that a familiar face was bowed over the bed, looking at him. The pretty face displayed confusion and bewilderment, but most of it looked thoughtful. She carried a wooden tray in her hands. A plate of beef fillet dressed with juicy gravy and a few sweet, fluffy white buns could be seen on the tray, along with a plate of assorted fresh fruit.


    "Are you hiding something from me?" Bleia asked slowly.


    Though the man in front of her looked only 16 or 17 years old, he actually possessed a staid and tactful temperament, which even many adults didn''t have, and he always had a look of perfect calm, as if he could accomplish any task with ease. Although a man like this could bring confidence and a feeling of dependability to his peers, she just felt that the man had buried his true feelings very deep.


    The current exhausted look was rare for the man. Every time he looked like this, it meant that they were facing a tough issue that was beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What kind of tough issue had forced him to this degree of exhaustion?


    Bleia was greatly puzzled.


    By rights, now was the period they had the most freedom and leisure! Since both of them had become Pseudo-Mages, many restrictions that had shackled them in the past had vanished like mist and smoke. Even Mage Bleia had been solicitous and become friendlier.


    As long as they followed the current path and walked steadily, relying on their innate talent and potential, stepping to the pinnacle of the Pseudo-Mage stage was just a matter of one or two years. At that point, if they tried their luck, they might even have the possibility of becoming noble Mages who could control their own fates!


    When that moment came... it would be when they could always keep each other company, like birds flying and nesting together, and the moment they officially became spouses!


    Since everything seemed so beautiful, Bleia was greatly puzzled about why Leon was still working so hard. With her knowledge about Leon after spending so much time with him, she was sure that there must be a new crisis of a great magnitude ahead, and it was a crisis that she couldn''t sense at all. Otherwise, there was no way this man would work like there was no tomorrow!


    Of course, with Bleia''s temperament, she would straightaway ask anything that came to her mind.


    Leon let out a wry smile. He took the meal tray from Bleia, staying on his bed, and polished off the foods.


    After he finished his meal, his face filled with a bright smile, Leon grabbed Bleia''s tiny palm and started asking about her training. However, secretly, he quickly told Bleia everything through Spiritual Whisper.


    Since Bleia had noticed something, Leon had no intention of keeping her in dark anymore. He would need her to participate in many things to come, so it was vital to tell her early so that she could mentally prepare.


    Initially, after telling her everything he knew at one go, Leon had prepared to use force to prevent Bleia from going on a rampage. But unexpectedly, after learning everything through his Spiritual Whisper, Bleia, who supposed to blow a fuse, was actually rather calm. She even... even stared at his face with an interesting expression.


    Could the Bleia in front of him be fake?


    Just as Leon started to suspect that he was talking to a dummy, Bleia finally chuckled and asked, "You did all this just because of me? They just want to claim my life. Why are you making such a desperate effort?"


    Although she was talking about a topic concerning her life, looking at her face, which was melting in smiles, it was as if she wasn''t concerned at all.


    Did she know exactly what they were facing? Why wasn''t she showing any concern over her own life but wandering from the subject and talking about something else?


    Leon startled for a brief moment, speechless, and said, "You... because I want to Rape you and impregnate you with my dirty sperm forever.."


    Before he could finish his words, a pair of sweet, juicy, and soft lips had locked onto his lips.


    ...


    2172

 Chapter 140 Again

    The man was masculine and hearty and the girl was seductive and charming; a grand show of eroticism was about to occur.But the two performers didn''t throw themselves into the show enthusiastically, and the words quickly exchanged between them would make anyone who heard them speechless.


    "Hey, that thing on your body is so hard! You''ve hurt me..."


    "Hmph! If you dare to bite me, I''ll blow you away from here!"


    "Alright, alright! Don''t be mad... anyhow, the smell of your blood is getting sweeter, I just can''t help but wish to taste it!"


    Bleia was now kneeling and sitting intimately on top of Leon''s body, while he was sitting half way up from the bed. Her juicy lips had just left his shoulder and she was touching her pair of tiny fangs and complaining about the pain. Meanwhile, a small Fire Shield that had suddenly burst out was hovering on top of Leon''s shoulder; the fierce flames had just subsided.


    One of Leon''s hand was gently stroking Bleia''s back while the other hand was pressing against her lower abdomen. Both hands were now glowing faintly with red light. With a single thought, the explosion of Fire Elementium could blow Bleia away from his body.


    "Leon, the smell coming from your body is getting tastier! Couldn''t you please let me taste just a little bit? Just one tiny little bite will do..." Bleia brought her tongue to her lips. She couldn''t bear it and kept trying to enchant the man.


    But too bad, Leon had long become immune towards her tactics.


    "Hmph. I''m sorry, I don''t have the luck to enjoy it. You female vampires are simply too terrifying! I''m scared that if I really received an ecstatic kiss from you, by the time I stepped down from this bed, I would have dropped back to Advanced Apprentice from Pseudo-Mage! Do you know the situation right now? Don''t be ridiculous!"


    "I just can''t stop myself!"


    "Ugh... this vampire race''s illness of biting someone when they get excited has really gained a deep root in you..."


    "Alright, let''s call a stop for now. Since we still have some time, I''ll need to improve my strength as well!" After she finished saying that, a pair of large leather bat wings spread out from her back. Following a gentle swinging motion from the wings, she gracefully leapt into the air, flying backward and out from the narrow room.


    She gave Leon a beautiful smile before turning around and leaving.


    As Bleia disappeared from his sight, Leon finally breathed out a brief sigh of relief.


    He couldn''t help it. The power of Bleia''s charm was getting stronger and she had better learned how to use her innate Natural Charm. Although Leon had confidence that she wouldn''t hurt him, the habit of female vampires where they would simply bite someone when they were aroused really made Leon''s hair stand on end.


    Although both he and Bleia were Pseudo-Mages, once he allowed Bleia to bite through the protective layer of Fire Shield, the sharp fangs would release a frightening hallucinogenic agent upon contact with his blood. It was a hallucinogenic agent that even he as a Pseudo-Mage did not have immunity for. That was the reason why the fellows with weak resistance factors in their body couldn''t struggle, even as they were killed by Bleia''s bloodsucking ability.


    Leon also didn''t have confidence that he could survive the ecstatic kiss of a Pseudo-Mage level female vampire!


    Even though they were having fun just now, the information Leon wished to tell her had been transmitted into her mind using Spiritual Whisper. Yes, Bleia was a hot-tempered person, but when she was faced with a life-threatening situation, she still showed prudent behavior. If during normal times, she behaved like a hot-tempered and irritable person, it was because she believed she could solve everything with her sharp fangs and claws, and therefore, she was too lazy to employ any treacherous plot or scheme.


    However, when her enemy was an official Mage, the profound knowledge and life experience she had accumulated during her apprenticeship would instinctively tell her what to do. This was also a must-have survival skill for every single Apprentice Mage!


    When fist and fireball could solve everything, using force to break through the tough situation was the easiest approach! And when fist and fireball couldn''t crack the nut, the smart brain of an Apprentice was something that no one could underestimate!


    Leon stepped down from his bed and walked slowly to the living hall. He recited a short incantation and summoned a smooth mirror of water. He took a few slow turns in front of the mirror, giving his own body a serious look.


    After he had gone through the washing in the underground lava ocean, his current body was completely different from the past. The tall and burly body was now clad in a simple long robe; by putting out slight force, bits of lean muscles would poke right out. He had dark red skin, long dark red hair, and there was even a ring of tiny dark red spots surrounding his black pupils.


    Flowing under the tough muscle was a copious amount of bodily strength. With his current muscle strength, he could fight face to face with an Iron Rhinoceros. With his Physique and the toughness of his muscle, he could resist the piercing of some small sharp weapons. Taking the super high resistance and personal protection of his Flame Body into consideration, he could even take a walk naked in the Magical Swamp and only a handful of demons could hurt him.


    And that was not because the level of demons in the Magical Swamp was not high!


    Although he was only 17 years old, his two meter tall burly body and the glossy skin hardly anyone would believe that he was just a teenager who hadn''t reached adulthood. Both the firm muscle and the dark red skin tone had given him an impressive touch of evilness and charm.


    Just as Leon was admiring his near perfect body, a chuckle that spoiled the pleasure suddenly broke out from the side.


    "Eh, I never know you had such a hobby? You''re growing into a narcissist now!"


    It was Bleia!


    Leon rolled his eyes. Only Bleia could enter his residence freely and never knocked the door before she came! Also, she could move at high speeds and lightly; on many occasions, even the Chip could hardly detect her until she drew very close.


    Embarrassed, Leon waved his hand and dispelled the water mirror. Then, with a shake of both arms, all of the magical equipment scattered over the floor flew back onto his body, armoring him rapidly.


    "I thought you had gone for training? Why did you come back?" Leon asked grumpily.


    As he had just gone through a few days of painful torture, he was planning to give himself a half day''s break so that he could just relax and enjoy the happiness and joy brought by his skyrocketed overall strength.


    "Hmph! Do you really think I like to watch how you pose yourself in front of a mirror? Your old friend is here; that''s what I''m here to tell you about!"


    "Old friend?"


    "That Lucy who was defeated twice by you. She is now standing right in front of the Swampy Tower main entrance and is demanding to see you in person!"


    Leon drew in a cold breath instantly. He had just begun to feel the beauty of the life, but now he was struck with a headache.


    ...


    At the main entrance of the Swampy Tower.


    Clad in a long princess dress, the petite doll-like Lucy was standing right in front of the main entrance, expressionless. Even though she didn''t express any emotions, there was an oppressive and low-pressure force field that kept emanating from her tiny body, pressing against the two Advanced Apprentices in front of her and making them furrow their brows.


    A Beginner Apprentice, Nolan, who used to be rather ''familiar'' to Leon, lay in pain at her feet. Both his arms were twisted like dough. If he didn''t go through a full healing, it would likely be extremely tough to recover.


    Though it was Super Girl and Fatal Shot Evan who blocked Lucy, they showed no intention to attack the little girl. It was because they actually sensed a Pseudo-Mage level spiritual ripple come from the ''petite and cute'' Lucy.


    This was the only kind of spiritual ripple that made them hate with gnashing teeth!


    Because... because in just the short period of half a year, they had repeatedly sensed it at least three or four times!


    Damn it, since when did the Pseudo-Mage stage became so easy to achieve? How were there so many new Pseudo-Mages appearing in front of them!


    To be honest, Super Girl and Fatal Shot had no opinion with regards to any outsiders who became Pseudo-Mages. However, when, one after another, ''familiar'' people around them suddenly became Pseudo-Mages, yet it had been so long for them and they had hardly obtained any critical breakthroughs; this was the main reason why they hated and were jealous to their bones!


    Just as they joined forces and barely held up the brutal and violent spiritual pressure coming from Lucy, they heard footsteps coming from inside the tower behind them. It was Leon and Bleia who walked out side by side.


    Lucy suddenly retracted her spiritual pressure. Then she threw her cold glance onto Leon''s face like a razor-sharp blade. Super Girl and Fatal Shot, who were struggling miserably from the pressure, instantly felt the burden lift. Without hesitation, they quickly moved backwards and gave way to Leon. Though their hearts were filled with hate, when the two Pseudo-Mages, Leon and Bleia, made their appearance, they couldn''t help but breathe out a sigh of relief.


    The spiritual ripples of Lucy and Leon collided in midair. Then they retracted it at the same time.


    She had become a Pseudo-Mage!


    He had also advanced into the realm of Pseudo-Mages!


    An astonishment of unknown sentiment surged up in both hearts at the same time.


    Compared to the past, both of them had significant changed, from their outward appearance to their temperament. However, there was no way they could fake their spiritual ripple. Therefore, just through brief contact, they immediately realized the transformation of their opponent. Of course, what had changed and what remained the same was still obvious, as always, which made both of them gnash their teeth in hatred!


    "Are you here to have another fight with me or are you here to fulfill your pledge?" Leon crossed his arms on his chest, touching his clean chin with one hand. Following the improvement of his overall strength, his self-confidence had taken a leap; together with that, his personal charisma had increased significantly as well.


    "I''m here to, of course, I''m here to... to..." Initially, Lucy, who had come with an imposing manner, had intended to flaunt her prowess. However, when faced with Leon, who was not any weaker than her, for some unknown reason, she actually lost some of her confidence. "Last time was just an accident, this... if you can defeat me this time, I''ll be sincerely convinced!"


    "Are you sure this is the last time? And there won''t be a fourth time, or fifth time..." Leon tilted his body forward slightly, so he sent forth a stronger sense of pressure.


    "Bullsh... Nonsense! You only defeated me once... the first time I was defeated because of the sneak attack that came from that rascal female vampire. That didn''t count..." Though she realized her oppressive air was weakening, Lucy still clenched her fists tightly, wanting to fight for her honor. "Also... also if I defeat you this time, I''ll not kill you... I''ll spare you once too, and give you a chance to seek your revenge..."


    After she finished saying that, she once again held her head high and snorted coldly at Leon.


    "It seems like you lost to me in the previous fight. Why should I use my own possessions to bet with again?" Leon let out an evil laugh, with a weird expression of flirting a little loli.


    "Hmph! I knew you would say this!" Lucy said, like she was disdainful and refuting Leon. She reached her hand into the air and pulled out a magical scroll that emanated with a startling magical ripple. "Not long ago, you visited the territory of the Zuber Family and wreaked havoc, nearly destroying their resource site. If not for Granny Endor helping you stop this crisis, do you think you could have escaped from the revenge of the Zuber Family? Their Second Grade Mage almost come here to strangle you! Do you really think they are just a bunch of idiots and cannot figure out the trouble you caused underground?"


    The expression on Leon''s face became rigid.


    True enough, he had been rather thoughtless in what he did, as he had only concentrated on how to strengthen his overall strength. He had neglected the possible reaction of the Molten Giants. He had gone too far by destroying their ancestor''s graveyard!


    "So, what do you want?" Leon now spoke in a milder tone.


    "So long as you accept my challenge and fight another round with me, we, the Northern Witches, will assume part of your responsibility in causing that trouble. Now, sign this magical scroll. With that, it will make sure we fulfill our pledge!"


    "Is this all you want? Since you''re so eager to defeat me and get rid of the pledge you made before, don''t tell me you are from the clan of Destiny Witches?" With the aid from the Chip, Leon knew nearly all of the experts from the different powerful clans throughout the entire Mage Continent. That was why he could sense something from Lucy''s eager attitude.


    "That is none of your business! My only question for you is whether you want to sign it or not. Sign the contract and we''ll have a new bet. If you win, I''ll still be your slave, and we''ll bear the responsibility. If you lose, we''ll still help you, but all previous pledges between us will be voided. I''ll not kill you, but grant you the opportunity to seek your revenge. So, are you going to sign it or not?"


    "I''ll sign it! Of course I will! You''re going to suffer from this!" Leon burst into laughter.


    As his words left his mouth and rippled through the space, the magical scroll suddenly broke out into fierce flames. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2435 Words

 Chapter 141 Leon and Bleia vs Lucy

    When the Chain of Principle merged into their body, indicating that the contract had taken effect, the dust for the new bet finally settled down and there was no way they could alter anything.However, before either party could say anything in response, thick black smoke suddenly burst out from a sea snail pendant hanging at Lucy''s waist. After that, it condensed into the wrinkled and aged face of the Poisonous Witch, Endor.


    "Lucy, what mischief are you getting up to again? I thought I just asked you have him revoke the last pledge? Why is there suddenly a new bet on the contract?" As the lips made from smoke moved, a dreadful, hoarse, and deep voice, like the hissing of a poisonous snake, echoed out into the scene.


    "Granny, please don''t interfere. I''ll definitely defeat him this time! Could you have forgotten that I''m a Pseudo-Mage now? Besides... I''ve learned that skill..." Putting away her previous fierce and stern manner, Lucy spoke with that Poisonous Witch using a sweet and fawning voice.


    Obviously, Endor too was very confident in Lucy''s overall strength. When she saw Lucy''s resolute attitude, she couldn''t help but waver a little from her stance. But when the smoky face of the Poisonous Witch turned towards Leon, her eyes immediately went wide, and she cried out with an unbelieving voice, "What is going on? This is absurd! Why is he a Pseudo-Mage too now? No way, I''d definitely not..."


    But too bad, before she could finish her words, Lucy gently patted on the sea snail, using spatial force to isolate it from the outside world. Without the support of the magical equipment, the smoky and incorporeal head of Endor immediately vanished into thin air.


    "Alright, now there is no one that can interfere with us. Come, let''s find a place and begin our fight!" Apparently, Lucy had made up her mind, regardless of if she would be punished by the Poisonous Witch later.


    After saying that, Lucy turned around, and with a brief swaying movement of her body, she disappeared from where she stood. When she appeared again, she hovered in midair some 300 meters away.


    A slight frown appeared on Leon''s brow.


    This Lucy indeed had extraordinary talent with Spatial Magic. She had shown her ability to use Spatial Teleportation smoothly, without causing the slightest ripple and not even showing any sign prior. Leon was going to fight a tough battle today, as he was faced with an opponent who had total control of every inch of the space within the battlefield!


    Leon dared not underestimate her. He waved his hand and tossed out a few element cores. Within a split second, they transformed into his once strongest fighter: the Lightning Giant. Upon its debut, all the apprentices of the Swampy Tower who had clustered around were extremely shocked. Their eyes were instantly filled with an awestruck expression that could not be hidden. Super Girl and Fatal Shot had a more direct feeling, and the look in their eyes was much more complicated.


    They could sense it vividly. Not only Leon, even this elemental golem he had summoned possessed a terrifying overall strength that could torture them easily.


    Leon again took out a bottle of the advanced healing potion he had brought back from the Underground Cave, gently tossed it over to Nolan''s side. He was now lying on the ground and not moving even a tiny bit. Leon nodded his head slightly towards the wounded apprentice. After that, the Lightning Giant leaned forward and grabbed Leon with its huge palm and a fierce wind suddenly blew by as it transformed into a whirlwind, streaking through the air, following closely behind Lucy.


    Bleia snorted coldly. She didn''t morph into a bloodsucking bat like in the past. With a flashing movement of her body, she leapt into the sky. Her tall and graceful body stopped in midair for a brief second before a pair of huge bat wings spread out on her back and then started to flap in a violent manner, giving her incredible speed as she chased behind the duo.


    Since she had become a Pseudo-Mage, she had been able to perform partial morphing. Never again would she have to face a situation where she couldn''t fly when she was in a human form, yet couldn''t use any Blood element magic spells when she morphed. The present Bleia was considered as having truly mastered the bat morphing ability of the vampires.


    Using their own distinctive methods, the three Pseudo-Mages rushed through the sky like three shooting stars and left the Magical Swamp, heading toward a wilderness not far away.


    When they were inside the boundary of the Magical Swamp, every act and every move was under the surveillance of Mage Eclivel, so it was tough for them to put all of their skills and tricks into play. As a result, without prior arrangement, they had chosen a wilderness where no one was around as their battlefield.


    After the three Pseudo-Mages finally disappeared from their line of sight, all of the remaining apprentices had their face filled with all sorts of expressions. Some looked like they had lost all hope, some were beaming with joy, some sank into deep ponderings, some had mixed feelings of jealousy and hatred... Super Girl furiously slammed her huge sword onto the ground; the iron sword, even without sharp edges, immediately sunk a few inches deep into the stone ground.


    As the veteran apprentice experts of the Swampy Tower, they had actually fallen to the status of bystanders who these few fellows had never paid attention to. The significant psychological gap had given them a depressive emotion. They exchanged glances, trying their best to hold back the bitter taste in their mouths. They didn''t even have the mood to talk with each other, simply turning around and returning to the tower with their hearts filled with disappointment.


    Meanwhile, at a place some twenty miles away from the Magical Swamp, with just a slight flash of her body, Lucy appeared in a wilderness that covered a large piece of land. The place was fully grown over with withered and yellow weeds that reached waist-height; under the constant blowing of the shivering and dry wind, they leaned from side to side, giving the place a touch of desolation.


    No one knew what kind of ability Lucy had obtained after she became a Pseudo-Mage, that it actually gave her such strong confidence. Nevertheless, compared to her, Leon too had explosive self-confidence, and showed a look of eagerly wanting to fight.


    When he saw Lucy had landed and was waiting for his arrival, Leon controlled the Lightning Giant and soared up high into the sky. Using his special Elementium Vision, he gave the surroundings of the battlefield a quick scan. Once he confirmed that there weren''t any traps, he returned to the ground with a flicker.


    At the same time, Bleia, who was clad in a red dress, also rushed her way to the battle site with the help of her black wings. She landed not too far away from the center of the battlefield.


    "Hmph, since both of you are here, then I''ll fight both of you at the same time!" Lucy was standing under a crooked tree, wearing a face of disdain and arrogance.


    The feverish and hot-tempered Bleia''s blue eyes turned bloodshot instantly. She spread her wings and bared her fangs, ready to leap at the arrogant little girl at once. But in the next second, a sudden thunderbolt struck from the sky above, casting out a violent electrical web and blocking her from going further.


    "Don''t fall into her trap! If you really fight her now, I''ll be considered as violating the contract. At that point, even if we defeat her, most probably she will use this as an excuse to tear up the contract." Leon walked down from the Lightning Giant''s palm, looked at Bleia, and shook his head.


    "Hmph! Such impudent thoughts can only come from someone as despicable as you! With your lousy skills and pathetic innate talent, what makes you think you can compare to me, the great Lucy? You''re merely a little vampire, and you won''t make any difference at all. If you don''t want to see this guy die in an awful manner, you better fight together with him!" Lucy scolded angrily, with her hands on her hips, portraying a look of disdain towards Bleia.


    If it were in the past, the impulsive Bleia would have already dashed forward without thinking twice. However, it was obvious that she had gained a greater control over her bloodline innate talent. Hence, when faced with Lucy''s provocation, though her fangs were bared and she had a threatening look, her bat wings flipped and slowly brought her body backward, leaving the battlefield for the duo.


    Unknowingly, Bleia''s trust towards Leon was approaching blindness. In her opinion, Leon never fought a battle unprepared, and since he had dared to accept a challenge from the arrogant and cocky Lucy, he must have a method to deal with her.


    As the result, with regards to Leon''s battle, she wasn''t worried at all! S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Upon noticing that the female vampire wasn''t provoked and had simply left the battlefield, the doll-like Lucy furiously vented her anger by tearing the weeds around her, murmuring in her mouth like she was cursing viciously.


    "That''s enough. There aren''t any other people here, so you don''t have to keep wearing that cute mask of yours. An apprentice who can become a Pseudo-Mage at such a young age, I''m sure you must be a wicked girl with a black-hearted and vicious approach. Since you wish to defeat me to prove your overall strength, show me what you have!" Leon taunted with a disdainful expression; he had no intention of taking pity on the weak.


    "I''ll show you what I have, and you''ll definitely regret your decision today!" Lucy gnashed her teeth furiously.


    When the conversation is disagreeable, saying even one word more is a waste of breath!


    Though they were both Pseudo-Mages, true respect always came after a real fight.


    Nearly at the same time, both parties'' eyes flickered with a stern look. Without saying another word, they initiated their attack.


    Swift of foot like a wind, quick like a greased lightning; these descriptions were nothing in front of Lucy''s Spatial Teleportation. Relying on this ability allowed her to move anywhere she wanted, and any opponent''s movement was like a still image in her eyes.


    Nearly right after both of them decided to attack, Lucy appeared less than five meters from Leon. Yet, her body suddenly came to a halt as a half-sphere shaped, frightening electrical web descended from the sky and completely covered Leon. If she took a half-step further, the high-voltage current slithering over the electrical web would instantly burn her body.


    Meanwhile, inside of the electrical web, it had turned into a world of leaping flame.


    The Ring of Fire bursting out from that damn rascal''s body nearly covered every single inch of the space inside; not only the grass and dirt on the ground, even the seemingly empty air started to burn. Yet, the cocky guy just gave Lucy a smile before his entire body merged into the fierce flames.


    Seeing that its master had completed his Fire element defense, the Lightning Giant, who was hovering in midair, dispelled the Electrical Barrier. After that, the gigantic body, made up of countless greenish gray vortexes, instantly transformed into a sharp arrow, dashing ferociously towards Lucy.


    At the same time, from within the Ring of Fire, which had exploded into a massive sea of flame, three Fire Balls shot out, rushing through the air and hurtling towards Lucy''s petite and fragile body.


    Though she was faced with a joint attack from top and bottom, no fear could be seen on Lucy''s face. With just a flash, she disappeared from where she stood and reappeared on the other side of the Ring of Fire. Right after she reappeared, she performed a pulling and tearing gesture with her hands and a deadly Spatial Crack appeared between her hands.


    It was a mystery about how she could control it; the spatial crack actually produced an enormous pulling force. All of the Fire Elementiums swimming within the Ring of Fire were immediately pulled into the spatial crack like flying moths darting into flame, disappearing without a trace. In less than three seconds, the part of the sea of flame closest to her was sucked dry, exposing the charred surface of the ground and the grass ashes flying around in the heatwave.


    During this brief moment, the Lightning Giant once again leapt towards the enemy. Before it arrived, a dazzling Lightning Chain streaked through the air and approached the enemy.


    She teleported a few times, but every time, she could only attack for a few seconds before the hateful Lightning Giant tracked her down and came towards her. In the aspect of high-speed moving alone, the Lightning Giant''s Lightning Jump was not much weaker than Lucy''s Spatial Teleportation.


    After several attempts, Lucy finally grew angry again.


    With a Spatial Teleportation, she jumped to a high altitude some 200 meters away. Lucy had stopped trying to attack Leon; instead, she loosened her hair and started to recite a mysterious magical spell in a loud voice. When the Lightning Giant once again tracked her down and approached her, using her tiny hand, Lucy pointed at it angrily.


    "Ammiclatten... Rosa, Spatial Seal!"


    A silver beam shot out from Lucy''s tiny finger, piercing through the air at top speed to hit the space right in front of the Lightning Giant. Right after that, countless silver chains made from runes stretched out from the space, coiling and tightly tying the Lightning Giant''s body instantly.


    At the same time, at the spot where the silver beam hit, a spatial hole suddenly opened up and the silver rune chains dragged the Lightning Giant into it before disappearing.


    In the next second, Leon lost track of the position of the Lightning Giant!


    ...


    2352 Words

 Chapter 142 4000oC

    Within the depths of the flaming ocean.A cluster of leaping flame suddenly twisted and transformed, revealing Leon''s face, which had a rather shocked and startled expression.


    For golems, who were a kind of elemental summon, seals or expelling magic was their biggest enemy. Of course, it was impossible for either type of magic spell to cause any damage to the golem itself, but they were capable of temporarily banishing the golem from the battlefield.


    With Lucy''s achievements in Spatial Magic, even if the Lightning Giant struggled with all its strength, it would still have to stay in that isolated spatial for more than fifteen minutes. During this period of time, Leon would lose any aid from this formidable fighter, and would be forced to step out and face the aggressive Lucy personally.


    A gentle ripple spread out in the space.


    Lucy appeared in front of the massive flaming ocean that covered nearly one hundred meters in circumference. Her face was beamed with a sweet and cute smile.


    "Big brother, where are you? Are you playing hide and seek with Lucy? Then you better hide properly! Lucy is coming for you..." The voice was sweet and enchanting, but the shivering gleam shooting out from the depths of her eyes would make anyone who saw it tremble.


    Leon''s face quickly reappeared from the other cluster of flame. Looking at Lucy, he let out a cold smile and said, "It seems you have learned something new. I certainly didn''t expect you to have learned a Seal Magic Spell. I''m hiding inside the flame. Catch me if you can!"


    Right after he finished saying that, the face faded away and transformed back into a soaring flame that sent forth deadly heat. Meanwhile, using his home advantage, he teleported himself to hide on the other side of the flame field. Within seconds, two large spatial blades in an x-pattern streaked through the place where he had showed his face previously.


    The flame shattered, bursting into a devastating heat wave.


    If he hadn''t run quick enough, he would have been wounded by the frightening Spatial Cut Lucy unleashed.


    This was the defensive tactic Leon had designed for himself.


    After he had succeeded in turning his body into a Flame Body, both his elemental resistance and his physical resistance had improved hugely. However, he still couldn''t change the weakness of his ''short-legs''. Within all his body attributes, currently his Agility was his biggest weakness and his slow speed had become his deadliest impediment.


    In order to close up this breach, Leon had utilized the Inferno Force Field and Flame Body to create a massive flame field. After that, relying on the copious amount of Fire Elementiums gathered by the flame field, Leon had finally been able to move at high speeds without any issue. From time to time, he could also use the Elemental Nodes found in the Inferno Force Field to fulfill his dream of short-distance Fire Teleportation.


    This also meant that if enemies couldn''t destroy his flame field, they would have to hold back their anger and chase behind him as he disappeared and reappeared randomly, suffering all the while from the endless fire attacks he unleashed.


    Faced with Leon''s provocation, Lucy''s smile became even sweeter. Casually, she created a zigzagging spatial crack and tossed it into the flame field. She twisted her body and dodged a huge dreadful hand made up from fire, and then, with a flash, she appeared at another place of the battlefield.


    Lucy wasn''t rushed, so she just teleported herself to a new spot after each attack. Every time, she created a half-meter long spatial crack and tossed it towards a random place within the flame field. As time went on, gradually, aside from being filled with steaming heat waves, the flame field was now packed with countless seemingly insignificant, yet slow moving, spatial cracks.


    These spatial cracks kept devouring flames that drew too close to them. At the same time, any object that clashed into them split apart without making any noise. Their sharpness was comparable to top grade magical equipment. The few times that Leon clashed with them while moving inside the ocean of fire, if not for the fact that he was protected by Inferno Shield, just his Flame Body wouldn''t have been enough to withstand the cuts from the deadly spatial cracks.


    Whenever Leon touched a random spatial crack, in the next second, the spot where he had stood would be covered with a swarm of spatial cracks. That damn Lucy actually could shrink so many spatial cracks and toss them out like marbles.


    When faced with this kind of broad attacks, Leon had no choice but to rely on short-distance Fire Teleportation to dodge them.


    However, with the increasing number of spatial cracks that were wandering around in the flame field, the number of nodes that he could use for a safe teleportation had become very small. Leon was like a lone wolf being cornered by several hunters; his heart had started to fill up with frustration and anger.


    Earlier, he had tossed out the Demon Alligator Hunter to distract Lucy''s attention. But too bad, upon revealing itself, the Earth element golem, who had gone through some good times with him, was immediately riddled with countless spatial cracks unleashed by Lucy and nearly became scrap.


    Following the improvement of Leon''s overall strength, the enemies he faced had also become stronger. The Demon Alligator Hunter, who merely had the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, could now only play the role of cannon fodder and could no longer be the main character of the battlefield.


    After being invaded by countless of Lucy''s spatial cracks, the flame field unleashed by Leon was shrinking; many regions within it had their Fire Elementium sucked dry. As a result, Leon was forced to reveal himself!


    At this critical moment, Leon swung the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand, summoning a tall Fire Deity from within the sea of flame, and used it to block off the shower of spatial magic spells cast by Lucy.


    For the first time since the battle had begun, Lucy set foot into the boundaries of the flame field.


    Though Lucy was unbridled and arrogant, she was not silly! Before the flame field was destroyed, she would never step into a field that wasn''t controlled by her.


    But as the flame was shrinking, the area occupied by the sea of flame had shrunk to less than half of its original size and it was filled with many empty regions where flames had vanished. Hence, faced with an enemy who had lost his ability to fight back and with the idea of humiliating the guy face to face, Lucy finally stepped into the outer area of the flame field.


    Under her feet the soil was charred and black, all of the grass had turned into ashes floating in the air as a result of being covered by the deadly high-temperature flame. The air was filled with high-temperature traps and spatial flames, and no breathable air existed inside of the flame field. If Lucy had been a mere mortal, she would have long been toasted into a dried corpse by the high temperature and then burned into a charcoal by the deadly flame.


    Yet she was like a cute little girl taking a happy stroll in the royal garden, holding the end of her skirt gently, walking on tiptoe half a meter above the ground. It was as if there was a completely transparent path underneath her feet, sparing her from touching the thick layer of ashes on the ground.


    Just like that, Lucy moved step by step like a fairy in a merry mood and drew closer to Leon, who had retreated to the center of the flame field.


    Leon was finally hurt!


    While he had been moving in the flame field, he had accidentally slammed into a wandering spatial crack. When the Inferno Shield, which had suffered from terrible damage, clashed with the spatial crack, it instantly exploded into sparks and flares and shot in all directions. It was too late to dodge and the spatial crack brushed over his left arm.


    Without a sound, the flesh on his arm vanished. Even his arm bone had a cut of shining gold. It was a jagged cut, as if it had been bitten by a ferocious beast.


    Bright red blood burst out from the wound, quickly flowing down from Leon''s arm.


    However, there were swaying flares attached to the top of the blood, which made it look like a tiny fire serpent slithering on his body. After his body had transformed into a Flame Body, even his blood had changed and become different from others.


    Hiding some three miles away and watching the battle, Bleia couldn''t bear it and lightly licked her juicy lips. She felt a pain in her heart as she watched that large concentration of flaming blood go to waste. As for the dangerous situation Leon was facing now, she paid no attention at all.


    After being together for so long, she had a very good understanding of the ''crafty'' little man. He would fight desperately to profit at other people''s expense and would rather die than suffer any losses. This was the true motto of his life. Since he currently looked like a masochist, then he must have a powerful approach that could defeat the enemy.


    Similar to Lucy, who liked to stand facing the enemy and enjoy the despairing look in their eyes, Leon also loved to create misconceptions for his enemies and make them feel like they were standing at the pinnacle of their life. And yet what happened next would be the fearsome process of him using his strongest approach and bringing his enemies down from the pinnacle, sending them into a bottomless abyss!


    First step, second step...


    Third step... fourth step...


    As Lucy approached slowly, both of them finally stood face to face at a very close distance.


    Fifty meters! For the two formidable Pseudo-Mages, it was a super close distance where they could touch each other just by stretching out their hand and they could hear each other''s breathing!


    "So, are you giving up your struggle? Without those elemental golems, with just your pathetic strength, how could you compare to me, the great Lucy? Keep on struggling! Let out your miserable cries! I want to rip your disgusting face into pieces... hahaha..."


    As she laughed frantically, Lucy pulled the silver chain in her hand. Behind her, the Fire Deity, who was tightly tied by hundreds of thousands of rune chains, immediately collapsed with a loud boom. Its entire body exploded into falling flares that blanketed the sky. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This gave a touch of ruthlessness and savageness to her aggressive manner.


    Yet Leon, who had all of his retreats blocked by silver rune chains poking out from the spatial cuts, was still wearing a bright smile on his face as he looked at the little loli, who was enjoying the pleasure of finally getting her full revenge. He suddenly pointed behind Lucy with his finger.


    "Look behind you... look behind you... hurry up and look over your shoulder!"


    Lucy tilted her head up and let out a pleased, piercing laugh into the sky. "What? Don''t you have any other approach? How could you use such a boring approach and try to sneak..."


    Before she could finish her words, a fierce wind suddenly approached from behind her, blotting out the sky and covering up the earth. With tremendous momentum, it blanketed the area she was standing in within a split second.


    The temperature of the air climbed up with terrifying speed; within the time it took to blink an eye, it approached nearly 4000oC. Out of nowhere, countless pure white flames emerged in the space and burned through every single inch of the area. It even caused the spatial structure that Lucy could freely control to become unstable.


    Lucy turned back, shocked.


    A great menacing Flaming Giant was stooping like a cloud, stretching out a gigantic flaming hand, trying to grab her!


    "Ahhhhhh!" An ear-splitting screech echoed from the battlefield as Lucy slammed through the spatial cut in front of her, hiding in the boundless void she was familiar with.


    The gigantic flaming hand roared over the place where she had stood. Five deep trenches were immediately carved out on the ground, and they slowly filled with charred black soil.


    ...


    2080 Words

 Chapter 143 Win again

    Lucy couldn''t escape very far!In order to stop her from flashing around and fighting with guerrilla warfare, Leon was willing to take some damage so that he could scheme her into his trap. Strictly speaking, if Lucy could put away her proud attitude and didn''t care if the scene turned ugly, she could be near invincible among all of the Apprentice Mages! sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though he owned the Lightning Giant, who was a Pseudo-Mage level fighter, and even aided by an elite warrior like the Fire Deity, Leon still didn''t have the confidence to defeat and capture Lucy. It was all because Lucy''s innate talent in spatial magic was simply heaven-defying!


    When you just poured in all your effort and unleashed a great attack, she simply teleported to a far distance and watched you act like a fool. When you relaxed a little bit, she would teleport back in front of you. Faced with an opponent like this, even if one''s overall strength was stronger than hers, perhaps he would be tortured into becoming half-insanity by her.


    Since today was the debut of his brand new golem, the Fire Lord, Leon had no intention of turning the scene into a low comedy of lions hunting for flies. Hence, he had put in a huge amount of effort, and even went into the battle personally, with the goal of luring Lucy into the flame field that he had prepared for her.


    With the help of the chaotic flame field, and together with the Elementium turbulence that distracted one''s spiritual sense, Leon was able to sneakily bury the core of his brand new golem into the soil and wait patiently for Lucy to arrive on the battlefield he had prepared.


    He had guessed that, with Lucy''s character, if there was a chance that she could humiliate him face to face, the treacherous little loli would never let it slip away from her.


    In order to improve the mightiness of his brand new golem, together with the core, Leon had also buried a few supreme quality Fire Diamonds and Fire Stones he obtained from the underground volcano. When Lucy set her mind at ease and came daring to the predetermined position, Leon had finally summoned his trump card: The Fire Lord.


    Fire Lord. Mage level element golem, a large-scale and double-elements creatures of Earth and Fire. Basic body attribute: Strength ¨C 14, Agility ¨C 8, Physique ¨C 16, Spirit ¨C 21. Element magic spells mastered by it: Lava Armor, Shroud of Flame, Fire Core Explosion, Firestorm, Meteor Shower, Earth Quake, Elemental Summoning, Fire Teleportation, Fire Cage.


    Aside from the Earth Quake being a pure Earth element magic spell and the Fire Teleportation and Firestorm being pure Fire element magic spells, the rest of them were all mixed magic spells of Earth and Fire element. More importantly, the Fire Lord had also mastered the skill of Elemental Summoning, which was the best ability for a gang fight.


    At fifteen minute intervals, the Fire Lord was able to randomly summon twenty Fire element creatures from the Fire Element Plane. From a Fire Deity of a Pseudo-Mage level down to Fire Bats of Beginner Apprentice level, who answered the summon and came through the space was based on pure luck!


    Yet, what Leon used to deal with Lucy was the only imprison type magic spell the Fire Lord knew, the Fire Cage. Using the double-element characteristics of Earth and Fire, the magic spell could produce a near isolated space in a particular region. Using this magic spell, the Fire Lord could force some opponents to fight a melee battle.


    Right after Lucy broke through the space, and before she could get far enough, she was forced out from the layer of space by a huge lava pillar that lay in front of her. When she was once again returned to the material plane, she was shocked to find that she had been trapped inside of a gigantic flaming cage, 30 meters in width and length.


    Each of the lava rock pillars constructed in the flaming cage had a diameter of half a meter and there were huge gaps between these pillars. With her body size, she could easily squeeze through them. However, before she could put this thought into action, bright red flares started to burst out from between the lava rock pillars and clusters of scorching hot flame had filled the gap. Soon, the flaming cage was completely sealed.


    Any creature that tried to get close to the pillars would have to withstand 8 points of fire damage every second!


    Meanwhile, the six meter tall Fire Lord was running toward her from behind her with heavy steps that shook the ground.


    The look of the Fire Lord was rather similar to a Fire Deity, yet it was stronger and more ferocious. The human-shaped body was completely made up of materialized fire and was covered with a layer of Lava Armor filled with dark red patterns.


    The entire body was enshrouded in leaping flame and flowing lava. Wherever it stood, the ground would be toasted dry by the extreme heat. The dark soil and sand would start to soften and became glowing red, eventually melting into a substance that looked like lava.


    The color of the flame outside of its body was bright red, yet the flame inside of its body was pure white. One could even see a shade of gold at the core of it. It had a pair of gigantic palms made from condensed lava. Ferociously high temperature flares and flame were emanating from their cracks, making them into a pair of deadly palms covered in violent flame.


    The space within the flaming cage wasn''t big. It was surrounded by flaming fire pillars that no one could get close to and there was a Fire Lord who crazily punched and attacked the enemy. From time to time, it would raise both hands high up in the air and unleash an AoE Fire Core Explosion or Firestorm.


    A combination like this instantly drove Lucy to desperation.


    Lucy kept teleporting herself crazily and running for her life within the confined space of the cage while trying her best to search for the weak point of this isolated space. But it was a pity that the ominous environment didn''t allow her to halt even a brief second, hence she wasn''t able to focus her attack at the constantly moving weak point. Instead, the dreadfully high temperature and the flame that filled every inch of the space had worn away at her Protection Barrier, making it as thin as a piece of paper.


    The Spatial Cut she unleashed did slice through some of the lava rock pillars and shattered them, causing flame and sparks to leap everywhere. But too bad, following the circulation of a red glow on the lava pillars, all damage done to them was instantly repaired. As for attacking the Fire Lord directly, Lucy had also tried that, yet all of her hard efforts had yielded no result.


    After all, Fire Lord was a real Mage level golem and it had cost Leon 18 points of Spirit to summon. If the Flame Body hadn''t been able to reduce the cost of all Fire element magic spell to half, it would have been impossible for him to deploy it and Lightning Giant at the same time.


    Nevertheless, the debut of such formidable golem always meant catastrophe. With Lucy''s current overall strength, she could only flee at the mere sight of the oncoming attack and there was no possibility that she could fight it head to head. If the flaming cage hadn''t existed, with just a teleportation, Lucy could have always escaped from the attack range of the Fire Lord. Then she could have just fled without turning back.


    But now...


    What would be the consequences when a person was placed in a cage together with a fierce lion?


    No matter how crazily Lucy dodged, the flame in the air still burned through her Protection Barrier. Her dress was kindle, her long hair started to curl up, and one after another blisters started to appear on her delicate skin... Wherever she went she would be greeted with flame; the air was filled with scorching hot flares and everywhere had a deadly high temperature. Where could she run?


    Even under such a miserable and tragic situation, even if Lucy''s voice turned hoarse as a result of constantly letting out pained shrieks, and even if her face was washed with tears, she still clenched her jaw tightly and didn''t want to bow her head and admit defeat to her damn enemy!


    If she was defeated once again today, she would rather be killed instantly in this place, a place that brought her despair!


    Finally, the fire poison that existed in every inch of the air invaded her body, turning her feet heavy so that she could barely move and her vision started to sway and blurr. Eventually, through her tear-filled vision, the last image she saw was the frighteningly gigantic hand of the Fire Lord grabbing toward her and filling up her entire line of sight.


    Losing all her strength, Lucy relaxed her tensed mind and her consciousness immediately sank into a vast darkness.


    ...


    She had no idea how long she had lost consciousness for.


    When a stream of pure and sweet water flowed into her dried and cracked mouth, Lucy finally regained her conscious.


    She choked on the water and kept coughing, yet she still swallowed, in her mind, the most refreshing and sweet dew, with big gulps. When her belly was bloated and could no longer swallow anymore, only then did she stop this nearly insane behavior.


    She was in a simple and neat apprentice''s residence. She couldn''t find a magnificent and comfortable bed, no luxurious furniture, and no glittering magical crystal lamps. The only thing she saw was a simple wooden bed, a wooden table, a chair, and some experimental equipment, like jars and bottles that were commonly seen among apprentices.


    In front of the bed stood a man holding a water-skin and staring at her silently. Of course, the man was none other than the man she hated with gnashing teeth, Leon.


    Right at this moment, Lucy finally realized that she was completely naked!


    Her princess dress had been badly burned, it had become rubbish not better than a pile of ashes, and all her magical equipment was placed on top of the wooden table. As for herself, she was now stripped naked and all of her various burn wounds of all sizes had been covered with a thick layer of pungent black medicinal paste.


    Originally, her body had been covered with a thin sheet, but following her sudden movements of sitting up and drinking water, the blanket had slipped off, exposing her delicate, budding body.


    Lucy was twenty-six years old this year, but her body had been locked forever at the stage she had been at when she was seven years old, the moment she had awakened her innate spatial talent!


    There was no screaming, no bursting into tears; Lucy just kept staring at Leon''s face, emotionless. She didn''t even pull up the blanket to cover her naked body.


    "Why can you control an Mage level element golem?" She asked with a hollow and faint voice, as if she was a puppet who had no soul.


    There was no need for her to verify the fact she had been defeated by the rascal in front of her, she could feel it vividly. Because... because the magical contract she had personally drafted was currently tightly tying her to this rascal. She was now a possession of this guy!


    Hmph. You didn''t kill me because you don''t want to lose a precious fighter, eh? Also, I suppose you don''t want to offend those frightening Northern Witches! Lucy thought pensively. At this moment, her thoughts and mind had become unprecedentedly clear and incisive. Looking back at what she had done during this period, she looked at an arrogant girl who was courting for her own death, a fool who ran further into the path of her own peril.


    Since when had she become so stupid? Damn it, I pushed myself to a dead end!


    From the moment she had been defeated, it was like Lucy had changed into someone else. She had become totally different from the crazy, extreme, and treacherous little loli in the past.


    Starting from the moment she had woken up, Lucy had begun to walk on the dark path of self-salvation.


    Lucy''s eyes stared straight into Leon''s pupils, which were black with shades of dark red. She didn''t find any lust in them. When she looked out of the corner of her eyes, she didn''t find any trace of that female vampire.


    What is this? Stripped me naked and personally applied medicine on me? Is he trying to soften my grudge and pull me into his camp? If he really wanted me to serve him, why didn''t he ask that Bleia to apply medicine? Isn''t that a better way to win my heart?


    Could it be... could it be he had an improper desire for the body of a loli?


    ...


    2204 Words

 Chapter 144 Servant

    Right as Lucy was staring expressionlessly at Leon, her mind filled with various fancies and conjectures, a green-skinned goblin suddenly poked its head from behind the man, throwing a puzzled and alert glance over at her."Alright, Snorlax, this is the Lucy I told you about. From today onwards, she will be an exclusive servant-girl for me. Your task is to teach her the proper manner of a servant-girl, I hope I can see her carrying her duty as soon as possible. Now, bring her with you!"


    What he said was like a sudden thunderbolt out of a clear sky that struck right into Lucy''s mind and caused her to feel giddy, as sparks flew before her eyes. Was this guy serious? He really planned to make a Pseudo-Mage who possessed a rare innate talent of spatial his servant-girl?


    A moment ago, Lucy had tried her best to keep a calm exterior, yet her face was blushing right now, as she fiercely gazed at this bumptious... master.


    "What''s wrong? Do you have any opinions of your own, Lucy?" The smile on Leon''s face becoming weirder and weirder. "Before we agreed to our bet, you had said it clearly that you''ll make me your master. So, don''t tell me you can''t even carry out the duties of a servant-girl?"


    "You... fine..." Lucy spewed out a few words from her tightly clenched teeth, furiously pulling the blanket and covering her body, before stepping down from the bed.


    When her feet touched the floor, Lucy felt a severe pain coming from every part of her body. This had made her lose her balance and stagger her steps, nearly falling to the ground. However, though she was a little loli with the pretty face of an angel, Leon wasn''t moved a tiny bit at all and didn''t show any signs that he was going to stretch his arms out and help her stabilize herself.


    After all, Lucy was a Pseudo-Mage who took the element path, thus her Physique was far weaker than that of Leon, who had his body transformed into Elementium. So far, Lucy''s Physique hadn''t reached more than 10, and this had even caused her ability of body recovery to be inferior than those of Advanced Apprentices who had a high Physique.


    Gnashing her teeth and holding the severe pain, Lucy left Leon''s residence, and came to Snorlax''s room located next to Leon''s.


    Upon entering Snorlax''s room, all her expressions of pain, resentment, and mortification immediately disappeared from her face. They were replaced by the same old arrogant and overbearing look. Even her frail and weak appearance was gone, as if the injuries and pain all over her body couldn''t even affect her a tiny bit.


    "I need some better healing medicines and Asun Water which can remove scars. Also, I''m hungry, get someone prepare me a set of mushroom trout fish rolls, golden roasted goose and Schiffman tea. Remember, the trout fish must be those devil trouts caught from the Abyss of Darkness, and can only have three whiskers below its jaw... also, the honey applied on the skin of golden roasted goose must be from the Snow Bee''s honey from the East Coast, in addition to that..."


    As the true owner of the room, Snorlax had its mouth opened wider and wider. In the end, it was so angry that it simply jumped to its feet, waved its fists and let out a furious roar. "You''re dreaming! You wildly arrogant little human! This place is the territory of the great Snorlax, and you''re just a servant-girl newly recruited by the master! I came here before you, and you must..."


    Snorlax hadn''t finished its lecturing, because Lucy had ripped open a tiny spatial crack and kicked it inside.


    Nearly ten minutes later, when Lucy reopened the spatial crack and let Snorlax out, the robe clad on its body had turned ripped like those wore by street beggars, and its skin was covered with scratch marks as a result of being attacked by some sharp fangs and claws. From the other side of the spatial crack, one could even hear the savage howls of wolves.


    Just looking at the wounds that were only found on the Snorlax''s back, Lucy had instantly drawn a conclusion to its character. She casually dismissed the spatial crack and with a cold voice, she said, "Now you should know who the boss in this room is, eh? If the pack of Carnassial Tooth Wolves just now can''t satisfy you, I can always send you into the nest of Two-legged Flying Dragons!" Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though Carnassial Tooth Wolves could only be considered as Beginner Apprentice level demon beasts and didn''t possess formidable offensive strength, but for Snorlax, a goblin who didn''t own any offensive ability and could only escape by relying on a handful of disguising abilities, they were no doubt dreadful monsters. If thrown into the nest of Two-legged Flying Dragons, a type of demon beasts who had an incredible sense of smell, it would be impossible for it to make its return!


    In next second, Snorlax simply went down on its knee, hugging Lucy''s silky smooth legs and crying out loudly, "Boss! Boss! Boss! You''re the boss here... I''ll obey everything you tell me to in future..."


    Lucy gave it a kick in disgust, furrowed her brows and said, "Go now! Prepare me some clothes, foods, and healing medicines. When I''m having my meal later, I want you to tell me everything between you and that ras... that guy!"


    The backlash coming from the magical contract imprinted in her soul made Lucy halt for a brief second, she had no choice but to change the way she addressed that ''rascal'' into ''guy'', a rather neutral way of addressing him. If she didn''t do that, even if she was a Pseudo-Witch, she too couldn''t be immune from the severe pricking she felt at the depths of her soul.


    Only the heaven or ghost might know why it happened. In order to have a better control over that ''guy'', she specifically picked a magical contract with the best binding force from the private treasures of her granny. But now... she had actually trapped herself into this awful situation, and it simply made Lucy feel frustrated and furious!


    Only by gaining a better understanding of the enemy, could one defeat the enemy with the minimum cost!


    Lucy had made up her mind, from now onwards, she would never underestimate that hateful rasca... ouch... guy. She would take her time in patiently and meticulously understanding everything about that guy, after that... hmph, he better not has the wishful thinking of using a rubbish contract to confine a great... ouch, ouch! Pain, it was really painful!


    As the loser of the bet, every word and action of Lucy was restricted and bounded by the powerful magical contract. Once a disrespectful thought or intentions of hurting her ''master'' arose in her mind, her soul would have to suffer from different degrees of backlash by the magical contract. If such backlash occurred too rapidly, it could cause a frightening and irreversible damage to her soul.


    At that point in time, her future path as a Witch would have to come to a premature end!


    ...


    Unavoidably, the spiritual ripple happened on the other side of the contract had also affected Leon.


    It had been less than fifteen minutes since that little girl left his residence, yet he had sensed seventeen strange ripples coming from the magical contract. Most of them were mere ripples of curses or disrespect, so Leon had simply handed over the executive right of the contract to the Chip, then he had just cut off the spiritual connection between him and the contract.


    With the arrogance and wild pride of that little girl, if she wasn''t taught a hard lesson, she would never stop from continuing to do what she did. Therefore, the order Leon gave the Chip was to have a full feedback to all the spiritual ripples, any disrespectful thoughts would be punished through the contract, no delay was allowed, and no indulgence would be given as well.


    Right when he finished settling that nasty little girl, a fragrant scent wafted from behind, before a warm, soft body cuddled onto his back.


    "Leon, why don''t you hand me that Lucy and let me teach her? I promise I''ll make her into an obedient servant-girl and guarantee it''ll be more effective than that magical contract." The seductive and charming voice of Bleia resounded beside his ears, it was even mixed in with a subtle nasal voice of moaning.


    Aww, here came another one!


    Leon nearly couldn''t hold onto himself and rubbed his forehead.


    "Bleia, let me give you a grave warning, you better give up the idea of turning Lucy into your blood slave!" Leon said solemnly. "The true identity of Lucy is still a mystery, but I''m certainly sure that she is connected with those witches from the North. Although you can have a strong binding force to those blood slaves created after you ''embrace'' them, but it doesn''t mean there is no weakness at all. As long as the source of the bloodlines is killed, which is you, your control over Lucy''s soul would vanish. So, if this Lucy does have a serious background, then you''re just asking to get killed!"


    "I Understand, I understand! I''ll not be that silly and fight a girl with you. But..." Bleia licked her red lips excitedly, continuing to say, "I don''t think it will be a big problem if I suck a little bit of her blood?"


    Leon sighed softly.


    "Don''t tell me you can''t see it? This Lucy must have just become a Pseudo-Mage, and she couldn''t wait any longer so she came straight to fight with me. She didn''t even nurse her body and Spirit to the best condition. If you suck her blood now, perhaps she would drop back to the level of Advanced Apprentice immediately. Don''t be silly, we need to cultivate her properly! Her abilities play a very vital role in my plans!"


    "You just don''t let me suck anyone''s blood! Then how am I going to improve my overall strength? No way, I need to find a suitable apprentice mission, I have more freedom outside than I do in this place!" With Bleia''s hot-temper, she meant what she said. She turned around and left Leon''s residence, rushing to the Mission Hall.


    Leon sighed again, turned around and took out a magical spell book, placed it on the table and started to read it quietly.


    ...


    On the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower.


    Inside of a dark and gruesome secret room, Eclivel waved his hand and dispelled the magical mirror in front of him. A pondering and hesitant expression was on his face.


    "Mage level element golem? How did that kid do it? In my memory, there is never an Apprentice Mage that could bypass the threshold and control an Mage level golem or magical beast. If anyone tried to do it by force, perhaps just the requirement of summoning would instantly draw all his Spirit to the last drop, turning him into an idiot who had all his brain power depleted. Yet, that kid had done it with ease! Maybe, I should find an Automata Master and get him to verify if there is anything special on his summoning cores?"


    After pondering for some moments, Eclivel waved his hands again in front of his face, revealing a mirror that showed him the image of another secret room.


    It was a magical secret room that was nearly isolated from the outside world. Countless complicated runes and secret magical arrays were carved on the floor at the center of the room. They consisted of numerous strange symbols and characters which looked like tadpoles, and many of them were in the mysterious knowledge that never appeared in the outside world.


    Although the magical array looked complicated and mysterious, but all the runes, arrays and magical rings were pointing to the three core nodes. At these three core nodes, one could see three objects that looked rather similar to a torture chair.


    Judging from the overall design and structure, this should be a vicious magical array with the mixed functions of official Mage Advancement Ceremony and vitality extraction. The two torture chairs placed at the outer perimeter were the source of energy that drove the entire magical array, and it seemed they were prepared for Blake and Bleia. As long as they forcefully advanced into official Mages with the help of a special magical ceremony, then the magical array would extract all their vitality and injected the energy into the center magical ring.


    At that moment, with the nourishment from the flesh, blood, and innate talent of two new Mages, it was highly possible that Eclivel could breakthrough the threshold that was holding him back for a long time, and eventually, make him into a formidable Second Grade Mage.


    ...


    2170 Words

 Chapter 145 Eclivel

    It had been more than 300 years since Eclivel had become an official Mage!Due to his timid and prudent disposition, he hardly participated in any conflicts or battles among the Mages. As a result, the improvement of his overall strength was very slow. In the last 100 years, he had even fallen into the terrifying situation of having his overall strength nearly stopped from progressing.


    But a new round of the family''s interplanar warfare was going to begin soon. According to statistics obtained from analyzing all of the previous data, the minimum fatality rate of First Grade Mages in interplanar warfare was 50%. For an Mage like him, who was not good at fighting, the rate would be even higher. Therefore, in order to bring his overall strength up another grade before the warfare began, Eclivel had no choice but to take the risk and cast his evil eyes on to the few Pseudo-Mages under him. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Initially, the magical array had only been prepared for Blake and Bleia. But following the debut of Leon and Lucy, Eclivel felt like he might need to give the magical array some modifications so that he could include the latter two in his evil scheme.


    By devouring three Pseudo-Mages cultivated by the family in one go, even if Eclivel succeeded in making an advancement, he would still receive punishment from the Sarubo Family. However, as he would be a Second Grade Mage at that point in time, so long as he was willing to give up more of his rights, presumably, the punishment coming from the family would not be that severe.


    After all, anyone could easily tell the difference between the value of a Second Grade Mage and three Pseudo-Mages.


    Currently, the only high-end Mages owned by Sarubo Family were one Third Grade and one Second Grade Mage. If they could have a new Second Grade Mage, the overall strength of the family would definitely take a huge leap. With that, their position and interests in the Zhentarim Association would also rise accordingly.


    Under such circumstances, who would really take action against the wrongdoings of a Second Grade Mage?


    After he finished checking the magical secret room, Eclivel wasn''t tired, so he continued by checking on the situation of Blake, Bleia, and Leon. As he was the highest authority in the Swampy Tower, he could examine and observe every single nook and cranny within the tower and within a three mile radius of the tower. In addition to that, the subject of his surveillance would not notice his presence at all.


    By relying on this method, Eclivel was able to get a detailed grasp of the recent developments among those few apprentices.


    Despite that, Leon entered his line of sight only once in awhile, so Eclivel understood him the least among all three Pseudo-Mages of the tower. For the sake of safety, Eclivel felt that he should just devour Blake and Bleia.


    As for Leon, once Eclivel gained control over his body, Eclivel would force him to make an advancement. If Leon managed to breakthrough, he would become one of Eclivel''s food items. If he failed, then he would be given to Bleia and she would suck his blood, increasing the success rate of Bleia''s advancement. Blake was aided by a huge amount of Bleia''s source blood, which had greatly increased the success rate of his advancement. Though Bleia''s overall strength would suffer major decay because of that, with the nourishment from the blood of Leon and Lucy, she too would have the possibility of making a breakthrough.


    If necessary, he could even throw Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices over to Bleia, making them her tonic!


    In addition to that, what he needed from them wasn''t a normal breakthrough. At that point in time, he could just use some prohibited magical medicine to stimulate them, causing their Spirit to boom, and the success rate of forced advancement would be at least 80%. He just had to devour their blood and flesh before they were killed by the backlash of the magic spell. The path of advancing into Second Grade Mage was still bright and dazzling!


    Trying his best to hold down his restless excitement, Mage Eclivel repeatedly pondered every single step and flow of his plot for advancement, thinking carefully about any possible event that might happen during its execution and arduously patching up the loopholes.


    According to the news leaked by Master Herbert, the Second Grade Mage of the family, in just one year the founding ancestor of the family would open the door of the plane, sending all the family''s Mages, including Eclivel, into the war zone. Therefore, he was only left with a short half year!


    Through the mirror, Eclivel covetously ran his eyes over the images of all three Pseudo-Mages, who resided in different locations within the tower. He moved his dried, thin lips and murmured under his breath, "Work hard and grow stronger, my fruits! Once you reach your mature stage, you''ll have the right to merge together with me... hehehe..."


    ...


    The day after Lucy had her bet with Leon, the Poisonous Witch, Endor, once again appeared in front of Leon.


    Leon was pretty sure that if killing him would release Lucy from the bounds of the magical contract, he would be a dead man already!


    After Endor gave Lucy''s soul a thorough and detailed examination, her face became so dark that one could even squeeze out some black water from it. Under the restriction of that powerful magical contract, Lucy had virtually become Leon''s contracted slave and she was the one who was being controlled.


    More importantly, Lucy was a descendant of the Northern Witches and the blood flowing through her body was from the clan of Destiny Witches. The attention this clan attached to a contract was heavier than all the other few clans of witches. Hence, the matter had become rather tricky to solve.


    In the center region of the Mage Continent, when one was referred as a witch, she was usually a female Mage. But in the northern region of the continent, where the heart of the Northern Witches was situated, the title of witch usually referred to those mysterious existences who owned the bloodline inherited from the ancient era. Every single one of them possessed extraordinary power from their bloodline, and the source of their bloodline would always trace back to Salem, a Ninth Grade Witch, and the first existence who had stood at the pinnacle of the Mage World.


    With regards to this Ninth Grade female Mage of the Mage World, she was commonly referred to as the Witch Queen. Since she had left the Mage World, she had left behind thirteen different witch clans among her descendants. And through the historical changes of more than ten thousand years, many of them had withered away. Currently, only seven of them remained in the territory of the Northern Witches.


    As for the six clans that had withered away, under the influence of the mighty Will of the World, they wouldn''t vanish totally. Every once in awhile, some random descendant of the witch would suddenly awake with some special powers, and was able to revive the witch clans that had nearly vanished from the world.


    According to some rumors, the reason behind this was because the Witch Queen Salem had an agreement with the Will of the Mage World. The overall strength of someone like a Ninth Grade Mage was too formidable and she was able to cause tremendous distraction in the normal function of the plane. Therefore, in order to kick these ''burdens'' from the Mage World, the Will of the World had no alternative but to compromise to their requests.


    Since then, anyone who became Fifth Grade Mage or above would be ''squeezed'' out of the Mage World. In return, the Will of the World allowed these Mages to include part of their own principles in the functioning system of the Mage World.


    Although the Witch Queen had left, she had also left behind thirteen World Principles in the Mage World, all of which carried her unique mark. With that, as long as the system of the world kept functioning properly, it was impossible for her followers to vanish completely! Even if some formidable Mages killed off all of her descendants, as long as the World Principles still existed, as time went by, when a suitable vessel was found, the principle that carried her mark would still light.


    Therefore, in the Mage Continent, the Mage Family that possessed a principle inherited from the ancient era was a monument that would never collapse!


    Lucy belonged to the clan of Destiny Witches. A few thousand years ago, due to some unique reasons, the clan had withered away. However, in the last few hundred years, a large group of witches from different places around the Mage Continent had awakened with special innate talents. As a result, the leader of the Northern Witches had dispatched many of her subordinates to bring these witches back to their sacred land.


    With regards to these newly awakened, some witches took them as a new hope and some looked at them as troublemakers, and neither side could come to a mutual aLeonent. Because of this, the task of bringing them back had become a rather awkward situation.


    The Poisonous Witch Endor came from the clan of Dark Witches, and this clan had a very good relationship with the clan of Destiny Witches. That was why, when Endor discovered that Lucy had awakened the bloodline of Destiny Witches, she took initiative and assumed the responsibility of Lucy''s return ceremony.


    But too bad, before the ceremony was prepared, Lucy had become a contracted slave of someone else. If it was any other witch, perhaps she would have long strangled Leon to death. Even if it might kill Lucy at the same time, the witches would never allow the bloodline of a witch to be contaminated by any outsiders!


    Nevertheless, considering the bloodline abilities of the Destiny Witches possessed by Lucy, Endor felt that it was an omen given by the Force of Destiny, which led her to give up the idea of killing Leon. Instead, she dragged him into a secret room and carried out an in-depth discussion.


    Endor gave Leon a warning. If he wanted to bind Lucy to his side, the only way was to make her bloodline abilities grow as quickly as possible and bring her to the territory of Northern Witches within ten years, so that she could complete her baptism of destiny. During this round of large scale awakenings, Lucy had not been the only one who had possessed the bloodline of the Destiny Witches, but only one of them could survive after going through the baptism.


    If Lucy couldn''t make it to the ceremony, once another witch completed her baptism and became the Destiny Witch, then, under the influence of the World Principle, Lucy''s power would become a sacrificial offering for that particular witch. In the end, Lucy''s existence would be completely wiped away by the Will of the World!


    For no apparent reason, Leon had been dragged into an unnecessary conflict, from which he felt tremendous pressure. But, considering that he would need help from Lucy in the upcoming mission of self-rescuing, he had no choice but to accept this ''hot potato'' while sighing.


    Yet, when he vaguely hinted at the situation with Endor and asked if he could borrow her power in solving a ''small problem'' of his, Endor simply turned around and left!


    Though Endor didn''t embrace Destiny, she still held reverence toward Destiny.


    It was because of Leon that Lucy was able to become a Pseudo-Mage smoothly. This also meant that the Force of Destiny had tightly tangled both of them together. Before she could tell whether her help with Lucy was positive or negative, Endor would never get involved in the natural selection of a Destiny Witch.


    With regards to the explanation from this ''Poisonous Witch'', inwardly, Leon just gave her two huge middle fingers to express his despisement. If you don''t want to help, just say so! Why are you giving me such a ''refreshing'' reason in order to shirk the burden? Leon couldn''t help but admire her excuse!


    Therefore, drawn by the mighty Force of Destiny, this future ''Destiny Witch'' had come to Leon, like she was supposed to, and become the fourth member of Leon''s camp!


    ...


    2080 words

 Chapter 146 Curiosity

    It was like the last calm before a major storm, the atmosphere within the Swampy Tower was rather strange.The Swampy Tower was just a small resource site owned by Mage Family, and it only had a total of 49 Apprentice Mages. There were even three Beginner Apprentices who had just learned how to meditate.


    Yet, in this group of apprentices whose overall strength was on the low side, four famous Pseudo-Mages had made their appearance without a proper ground. In addition to that, among the population of all Pseudo-Mages, any one of these four alone could be considered an outstanding existence. This was an abnormal situation, no matter where it happened, people would shout at its bizarreness.


    After all, it took a huge amount of resources to cultivate a Pseudo-Mage. And in order to become an Mage, besides hefty resources, they also needed some luck. With the current situation of the Swampy Tower, it would take extreme fortune to cultivate a single Pseudo-Mage, let alone produce all four of them at the same time.


    Perhaps, it was because of the existence of these four Pseudo-Mages, Sarubo Family had paid more attention to the Magical Swamp. In addition to the Mission Hall, the Arcane Hut of Clute, the Popoli Merchant, the Dephene Association of Delicacy, the Fenrir Pet Shop... all these shops and merchants who focused on apprentices had opened their businesses in the Swampy Tower.


    Mixing amongst them, the Little Shop of Goblin opened by Snorlax had flourished in business.


    Different from other businesses, from time to time, there would be one or two items that could be rated as that of premium quality that appeared in Snorlax''s little shop. They were either magical gemstones or magical materials or magical equipment. In short, no matter what sort of items, they would always attract a large crowd of Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices rushing to purchase them.


    As for that honorable Snorlax who didn''t have an impressive appearance, it actually had an exalted rank amongst the apprentices of the tower, which was something hardly matched by any outsiders. The reason was simple, just with the three Pseudo-Mages standing behind it, nobody in this Swampy Tower had the courage to provoke it.


    Since Lucy had become a part of the Swampy Tower, initially, she had thought that Leon would ask her to do all kinds of tasks every day. But to her surprise, since that day, she had never met her nominal ''master'' again. She didn''t expect that Leon was actually a nerd who rarely stepped out from his residence. Every day, he was either dwelling in his room and reading books or locking himself in the Alchemy Laboratory, doing some secret experiments.


    All his meals were sent into his residence by Snorlax, and he never showed himself during normal days. Although this had spared Lucy from feeling embarrassed when meeting him, but it actually made her feel a little bit angry as she was being treated coldly.


    Utilizing the few days of free time she had, Lucy questioned Snorlax repeatedly. From its mouth, she managed to dig out every single thing Leon had achieved since he had made his debut until now. In addition to that, using her status as an Pseudo-Mage, she too had an understanding about Leon''s behavior in the early days from the mouth of a few apprentices in the tower.


    Put it this way, the more Lucy understood, the more confused she became!


    If a person was shaped by all the events he or she encountered throughout the entire life, then the trail of Bleia''s life was clear at a glance.


    The apprentice career of Bleia which was worth mentioning had all started because of that magical experiment. Before she became a vampire, there wasn''t anything significant in her life. But once she became a vampire, she started to soar high up into the sky, taking a leap, jumping from a Beginner to an Advanced Apprentice, and eventually giving her all the glory of becoming a Pseudo-Mage later.


    Therefore, the event that changed Bleia''s life was that bizarre magical experiment carried out by Mage Eclivel!


    From this information she obtained, Lucy could clearly see the pattern of development for Bleia, and according to Bleia''s behavior, she could also have an estimation of the potential height Bleia would attain in her life. Everything was so vivid and straightforward!


    Yet, when applying this theory on Leon, it just didn''t make any sense!


    The turning point in Leon''s life happened almost at the same time as Bleia''s. It was as if he suddenly possessed some kind of mystical power overnight. This had led Lucy to suspect, could it be at the same time that Mage Eclivel was carrying out an experiment on Bleia, he too had done something to Leon? Or else, his transformation in the later stage was simply incredible!


    Within the period of mission that lasted for three months, he had grown into an Advanced Apprentice from a mere Beginner Apprentice, and even skipped the stage of Intermediate Apprentice. The secret to all his victories laid on the powerful element golems. As for himself, it was obvious that he took the path of an Element Mage.


    With regard to those element golems owned by Leon, they were still fresh in Lucy''s memory. As both her miserable defeats were all caused by those hateful element golems!


    Of sufficient numbers, great variety, and each was extremely powerful and well-directed!


    This was the personal review Lucy had for these element golems.


    By right, for golems such as these, if they were controlled using the method of Elemental Summoning, not only it would require a special magical ceremony, the summoners himself also had to bear a tremendous burden on his Spirit. It would never be like Leon''s case, where he had handled them with such composure and ease.


    Lucy also noticed, every time when Leon summoned his element golems, he would need an element core as the magical material, and the surface of the crystal core was always fully engraved with runes, portraying the look of going through a thorough modification. With this finding, she drew a conclusion that the deepest secret of Leon''s mightiness must be hiding inside of these crystal cores.


    Because of this, she had the intention of getting closer to Leon, so she could find out more answers from him to uncover his secret. But too bad that Leon was a nerd who rarely left his room, this had made her, the nominal servant-girl of his, became totally unused.


    As a result, after holding herself patiently for seven days, Lucy snatched over the meal plate from Snorlax, took its place and stood in front of the door to Leon''s residence. That hateful Bleia was the only person who could freely enter Leon''s residence, even Snorlax had to obtain Leon''s permission every time before delivering the meal to him.


    Not long after that, Leon sensed Lucy''s spiritual ripple, and he finally disarmed the defense mechanism on the door.


    Lucy stretched her arm and pushed open the door and strode into the residence, carrying the meal plate.


    The room was still as simple and crude as before.


    Yet, compared to the last time, it had become even messier!


    Though it was daytime, the illuminating crystal placed on top of the wooden table still shone with a bright and soft light. This made Lucy puzzled, could this guy have been working since last night, without resting during the course?


    The floor was fully filled with scrapped goat-skin scrolls, some were curled up, some were spread out, and some were crumbled into small balls... each of them had extremely complicated runes and mysterious magical arrays drawn on them. As Lucy didn''t have any knowledge of magical arrays, hence, she felt a headache upon looking at this mysterious knowledge which required a professional to understand it.


    Walking on her tiptoes, Lucy carefully skipped over the mess on the floor and came in front of the wooden table.


    The wooden table was also messy like the floor, books were opened and placed all over the tabletop, stacking on top of each other and nearly flooding the entire table. Leon was now leaning against the table silently, using a pen brush to draw something on a goat-skin paper.


    But obviously, his progress wasn''t smooth.


    Half-way through the drawing, he brought the goat-skin paper in front of his face and gave it a careful examination. Soon, he shook his head, cursing under his breath and crumbled the paper into a small ball, and tossed it over his shoulder.


    Lucy tilted her head so she could dodge the paper ball that had came to her face. Angrily, she placed the meal tray on top of the table with a rather strong force. Due to her ''carelessness'', the tall stack of books had finally collapsed with a loud noise.


    Ugh... What was going on? S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon raised his head, confusingly, and ran his eyes around. His sulky eyes were immediately met with the vision of Lucy, who was looking at him in a provoking manner.


    "Eh? When did you come here?" Leon rubbed his forehead, as he felt a prickle in his brain.


    Since his overall strength skyrocketed, Leon had discovered many benefits brought by a high Physique.


    He had been awake for three days and three nights. If it was in the past, perhaps he would have been extremely exhausted by now. However, besides feeling a slight tiredness from consuming too much of his Spirit, his body was as healthy and vigorous as it was three days ago.


    "The purpose I came here today is to ask you a question: what are you going to do with me? Are you going to let me live like I am now, spending all my days boringly strolling around in this filthy and broken place? The magical facilities here are just too obsolete and behind on times, compared to other places, this place is simply a desolate desert of the Mage World!" Lucy stood with arms akimbo, complaining angrily at Leon.


    One could tell that she had had enough of staying in this Swampy Tower.


    She couldn''t find any higher grade magical potions, she couldn''t enjoy a slightly normal delicacy, she couldn''t obtain any of the advanced magical materials required for her magical experiments, and her residence was simply like a sheep pen... In this backward and dilapidated place, Lucy just couldn''t imagine how Leon and the others managed to survive!


    If not because of those merchants or associations who recently came into this place, bringing some changes to the Swampy Tower, Lucy felt like she was going to rot in this dark and wet Magical Swamp.


    Faced with a hard working ''subordinate'' who took the initiative and to come to him for work, a gratifying smile emerged on Leon''s face. He casually took a white bread from the meal tray and placed it into Lucy''s hand, and said with a smile on his face, "If you want to find something to do, why don''t you show me your abilities first? Can you toss this thing over at Snorlax''s head?"


    Right after he finished his words, the white bread in Lucy''s hands had disappeared.


    She clapped her palms and rubbed off the bread crumbs, throwing a disdainful gaze over at Leon and portrayed a look of ''just try me''.


    Leon opened his mouth slightly out of surprise.


    He quickly readjusted his mentality, picked up another piece of bread and placed into Lucy''s hand. This time, he snapped his fingers and activated all the defense mechanisms of this magical residence.


    Lucy curled up her lips in disdain, grabbing the bread with both hands and gave it a rub. A strange spatial ripple was sensed in the air, before the bread disappeared once again.


    Leon''s expression became even more dignified.


    After he gave the last piece of bread over to Lucy, not only had Leon activated every single defense mechanisms of his magical residence, he also focused his mind and unleashed a light red force field that covered the entire room.


    Right now, Lucy was residing within four layers of element defense or magical force fields, if she could still...


    But too bad, before the thought could fully form in Leon''s mind, he saw Lucy waved one of her hands, as a small spatial black hole emerged in front of her. After that, she quickly stretched the other hand with the bread into the black hole. When she finally pulled her hand out, there was nothing left in her palm.


    Meanwhile, the spatial black hole had disappeared instantly!


    ...


    2105 Words

 Chapter 147 Union

    A few moments later, three pieces of intact white bread were delivered back by Snorlax.But Snorlax had a pretty unsightly expression!


    To be honest, no matter who was hiding in a secret room and happily admiring and counting his treasures, to be suddenly hit on his head by two pieces of white bread, he would have the same unsightly expression. And besides, the last time a tiny female hand had suddenly appeared in midair and tossed a piece of white bread over to its face.


    No body, no arms, it was just the fair, tender, little hand of a female... Snorlax was frightened out of its wits because of such terrifying scene. If it had not received the Spiritual Whisper from its master on time, it would definitely think that it was haunted by some evil female ghost!


    Leon picked up all three pieces of white bread one after another. Using the exact scanning and see-through vision of the Chip, he once again confirmed their integrity. The teleportation just now hadn''t altered their material property, nor did it destroy any of their material structure.


    Leon again placed the bread into Lucy''s hand. With a smile, he said, "This time, send them into my hand!"


    After he finished saying that, a leaping flame burst out from Leon''s body. The high-temperature force field instantly covered his entire body. After going through a period of hard training and closely working with it, Leon could now easily manipulate his own fire element.


    Even when he had the flame spread all over his body, he never caused any harm to the wooden chair underneath him or the books laying around. But if the clothes on his body hadn''t been protected by magical power, they would have been burned off by the fierce flame.


    A slightly disdainful expression emerged on Lucy''s cute face, which still had a little bit of baby-fat. Displeased, she asked, "Do you really think my Spatial Teleportation can do anything you ask? If it could penetrate your Elementium Protection, do you think you could have still defeated me?"


    "Give it your best shot. I want to see what kind of results it can achieve!" Leon encouraged the little girl while stretching out his right arm, enshrouded in steaming hot flame.


    Looking from afar, it was as if the flame was burning directly on Leon''s skin. Yet, when looked at a close distance, there was actually a thin layer of crimson Elementium film attached tightly on the surface of his skin, which separated his skin from the element fire.


    This was actually a product produced from merging Flame Body and Inferno Force Field!


    Some day in the future, when Leon eventually became an official Mage, and when he totally transformed his Spirit into Elementium, this thin layer of film would disappear, and eventually make him into a type of elemental life form. When the time came, even though his vitality would not be endless like genuine elemental life forms, it would still sufficient for him to slowly explore the boundless multi-verse!


    Under Leon''s attentive gaze, a ripple starting to appear in the space near his flaming right hand. Obviously, the bread sent through the space by Lucy couldn''t penetrate the dense and tough Inferno Force Field and was forced out from the inter-layer of space by its force.


    When it lost the protection from the force of space, the white bread was instantly turned into ashes upon contact with the defensive flame.


    Later, Leon retracted the defensive flame and Inferno Force Field, but it was too bad that Lucy still couldn''t teleport anything into his hand. Though he felt that it was a pity, it was in fact, a reasonable situation. If Lucy''s Spatial Teleportation could freely travel through the target''s element defense, then under the heaven, what kind of opponent that had the same rank as her could stand up against her?


    She could totally transfer a bottle of explosive potion into her opponent''s heart or plunge an explosive fireball into the enemy''s stomach... Just thinking of such scene made one tremble with fear!


    After several failed attempts, finally Lucy ran out of patience. "What exactly do you want me to do? Are you just going to ask me to teleport this thing over and over again?"


    "What I need from you is very simple: during a special occasion, I want you to teleport something I need into my hand!" Leon once again unleashed his Inferno Force Field, covering both him and Lucy; only then did he seriously tell her his motive.


    Lucy glanced around, looking at this layer of force field which was obviously used to prevent any outsiders from peeking or overhearing their conversation. Not saying any words, she nodded her head as if she understood something. But right after that, she rested her arms on her hips, and said in a disdainful manner, "Why should I listen to you and do something that is totally impossible to achieve? This brings me no benefits at all. Don''t think that I''ll help you!"


    Leon smiled. With a flick of his wrist, an element core emanating a powerful element wave appeared in the palm of his hand. When Lucy saw its dazzling appearance, looked at the crystal clear material, and sensed the rhythmic element wave that felt like a tidal wave... she couldn''t contain herself and swallowed a lump in her throat.


    It was an Mage level crystal core! This was the true form of that frightening lava monster who defeated her! However, when she looked at it, not only did it not bring her the slightest feeling of fear, it actually carried a vague magnificence and perfection!


    "Are you going to give it to me?" Right at this very moment, Lucy nearly stopped breathing completely; her eyes went wide as she held her breath, waiting for Leon''s answer.


    "I can''t give it to you right now, of course!" Leon answered grumpily. "But, within a month, if you can teleport anything into my hand, I''ll let you own it temporarily!"


    Lucy was dejected for a brief moment when she heard Leon''s answer, but soon, her face was beaming with high spirits again.


    "Will you keep your promise? Rest assured, as long as I double my effort and keep practicing, I can definitely do it. But, I''ll need to examine this treasure of yours first, give it to me now and let me play for one night!"


    Leon hesitated, but eventually he nodded his head and agreed. But before he placed the summoning core of Fire Lord golem into Lucy''s spread palm, he earnestly warned her and said, "You can have some fun with it, but you can''t damage the summoning core. Also, when you summon it, remember to protect yourself properly!"


    As he said that, Leon purposely pointed at the ceiling with his finger. Lucy nodded her head, expressing her understanding.


    This place was the Swampy Tower, and they were inside of Leon''s personal residence. Yet, even when he was talking, he had to cover himself with his own element defense and didn''t take the magical defense mechanism of the residence into consideration. Just this point alone was enough to tell her something!


    Judging from this, it seemed like the relationship between Leon and the stationed Mage of the Swampy Tower wasn''t that harmonious. It might even be at the stage of diametrical opposition. Considering that her life was now tied to Leon''s, Lucy had no alternative but to start thinking for this small team.


    Although Leon didn''t mention it explicitly, Lucy could still guess. The request he had expressed was very important for him and it might even reach to the level that could affect his life and future!


    Hmph, I''ll just help him for once! Or else, if he died, I''ll die as well. Also, his request sounds pretty fun. If I can include it in my offensive approach, perhaps it will be quite a breakthrough.


    Filling her mind with fanciful thoughts, Lucy casually shoved the summoning core into an opened spatial hole before she turned around and left Leon''s residence.


    Compared to Leon, Lucy had never needed any magical equipment like a waist pouch or storage waist belt. She only needed to find herself a safe layer of space and open up an isolated space which bore her conscious''s seal; she could store all of her personal belongings in it. However, with her Pseudo-Mage Spirit, this isolated space only had a maximum size of five meters square.


    After Lucy left, Leon appeared to be the sole person in the room. But, he still didn''t retract his Inferno Force Field.


    Right at this moment, a hoarse, deep voice suddenly came out from his body. "So, this is your plan? I don''t think it is a good idea! Are you sure you can keep that Eclivel from finding out?"


    A creeping movement was seen on the cloth near Leon''s chest; a thumb-sized black bug crawled out from underneath it and stopped on his shoulder. The voice came from this black bug.


    "Hmph, Blake, what''s the point of you saying such sarcastic remarks now? If you had not come to a dead end, you''d never come begging for my help!" Leon refuted with a cold voice.


    "Hehe, we''re just using each other for our own benefits!" The beetle that Leon referred to as Blake vibrated its wings, producing some noise that sounded like the chirping of insects. "Can''t you tell that from the information I gave you? Not only does Eclivel have his eyes on me and Bleia, recently, he has started to cast his evil gaze on you and this little girl. If we don''t do something, perhaps all of us will be thrown into a pot by that Eclivel and our blood and flesh will become the foundation of his advancement!"


    Leon became as silent as a stone!


    With regards to this point, Blake had accurate judgment. From all of the intelligence they had gathered so far, this Eclivel was indeed an insane Mage who would devour someone to the point of not even spitting the bones out. In order to improve his overall strength, he was preparing a horrible sacrifice of blood and flesh.


    Once the preparation came to its conclusion, most probably, this Swampy Tower would immediately turn into a massive graveyard as every single one Apprentice Mages who lived here would be unable to escape from becoming part of the offering for his ritual. The lower grade apprentices might just become the fuel used to heat the cauldron, and they, the Pseudo-Mages and Advanced Apprentices, would be the main ingredients for this sacrificial ritual of blood and flesh.


    Thus, during this critical moment, any selfish behavior of paying attention to oneself without thinking of others would be stupid! S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Perhaps it was because he had realized this reality that Blake finally gathered up his courage and transferred his remaining consciousness into this beetle, coming to Leon to discuss working together towards a common goal.


    As for escaping from the Swampy Tower and never returning, Leon never even considered it at all.


    He lived in the Mage Continent; nearly all of the territory occupied by the human race was under the tight control and surveillance of Mages. If Leon wished to escape without putting up a fight, Mage Eclivel would just need to use a sly approach and labeled them as apprentices who turned renegade and escaped; with that, no matter how high the sky and how vast the land, there would be no way of survival for them!


    As a matter of fact, he could easily tell this from the Fallen Mages and Fallen Apprentices he had met at the Underground Cave.


    Therefore, when faced with this Worm controller Blake who had solely come for help, Leon could only suppress the disgusted feeling he had in his mind and tentatively reach a strategic cooperation with him!


    They would unite to fight against that frightful Eclivel!


    ...


    2000 Words

 Chapter 148 Rune

    Trying to confront a veteran Mage who had become an official Mage for more than 300 years with the status of a Pseudo-Mage, such thought was no doubt as mad as a hatter. If not because he really didn''t have any other alternative, Leon would have never come up with this idea!Leon counted on his fingers, at the very most, his team only consisted of three good fighters.


    The actual body of Worm controller was now under the total control of Eclivel. Although the beetle which hosted the primary consciousness of Blake guaranteed that he could seize back the control for a very short period of time, such statement didn''t contain any elements worth trusting! Hence, inwardly, Leon had been treating Blake as half a Pseudo-Mage. At the critical moment, it would be considered fortunate if Blake didn''t turn his back on Leon and helped Eclivel. Leon would never place the hopes for victory on this guy.


    On the contrary, Bleia was a helper whom he could count on. But unfortunately, her vampire bloodline was the work of Eclivel himself, If Eclivel didn''t leave any contingency measurement in it, Leon would really have to despise Eclivel for being an incompetent Mage.


    Knowledge is power!


    A true wise Mage would always defeat his enemies using his brain and knowledge.


    Therefore, with regards to how to use Bleia in his Plan, Leon had his nerves on tenterhooks. Similar to Worm controller Blake, when counting on the overall combative strength of his team, Leon could only take Bleia as half a Pseudo-Mage.


    In this iron triangle of resisting Eclivel, two of them actually couldn''t be totally trusted. It was imaginable how depressed Leon was feeling right now in his mind and how tremendous the pressure he was enduring at the moment was!


    It seemed that at the most critical moment, perhaps only he himself could stand out to resist the enemy!


    As for the enemy they had to face, the First Grade Mage Eclivel, if according to the calculations derived from the Chip, he possessed the combative strength of at least eight to ten Pseudo-Mages. This also meant, even taking away the aid he received from the Swampy Tower, and the amplification he had from additional magical equipment he owned, just Eclivel alone would be able to easily withstand the besiegement from eight to ten Pseudo-Mages at the same time.


    Of course, if they really did have ten Pseudo-Mages, most probably they would be able to force Mage Eclivel to give in. It was a pity that they didn''t!


    There were simply too many uncertainties from Worm controller and Bleia. Once the war started, the possibility of them turning into burdens was higher than becoming his strengths. If not because he really had run out of methods, Leon would never willing to form an alliance with such teammates who might betray him at any time!


    With that, once the war started, it was possible that most of the pressure would be shouldered by Leon alone.


    Meanwhile, since the birth of the Fire Lord, Leon''s personal overall strength had gone through a significant transformation. Currently, he could be considered a qualified Pseudo-Mage. No matter whether it was his defensive or offensive abilities, he was nowhere weaker than any ordinary Pseudo-Mage. And if he poured in all he got, he could even support two Fire Lords in the battlefield at the same time.


    It could be said that from the last battle between the Fire Lord and Lucy. The combative strength that an Mage level Fire Lord could bring into play was equal to at least two to three Element Pseudo-Mages. Thus, even taking the maximum combative strength from two Fire Lords was only equivalent to six Element Pseudo-Mages.


    With a combative strength like this, together with Leon, Blake, and Bleia, they merely had the combined strength to fight that Eclivel. As for who would obtain the final victory and who would be defeated? The chances of victory for Leon''s team was, in fact, less than 10%!


    And even for this 10% of chance, it was based on the situation that all Leon''s plots were successfully executed and that Mage Eclivel didn''t have any too much of an incredible preparation.


    Just because of the overly low success rate, Leon had no choice but to arduously increase every single advantage he could on his side, while trying his best to eliminate the advantage on Eclivel''s side!


    Strictly speaking, Leon''s team actually did had some hidden approaches. The biggest piece of good news was that Worm controller could constantly supply them with the intelligence of the enemy. As the saying goes, know the enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat! In Leon''s scheme, he had to get to the bottom of Mage Eclivel''s plot and plan, then came out with well-directed countermeasures and counter-attacks, as this would be the safest strategy.


    On the other side, there was a super expert hiding in Leon''s camp: Lucy. Although the relationship between her and Leon was rather stiff, when her life was in an endangering situation, presumably, she would also become one of the main fighting forces in Leon''s team. In Leon''s mind, at least this Lucy was much more dependable than Blake and Bleia!


    In order to increase the odds of winning the battle, even if it was just a small advantage that was not worth mentioning, Leon would still give it a meticulous and detailed consideration, altering and perfecting his plan and strategy. Even Snorlax was included in his plan and had undertaken some very important tasks.


    While plotting his counter attack, Leon was also working hard to improve his survival abilities.


    Imaginable, once things turned ugly between both sides, Leon, as the leader of their camp, would definitely become the primary target who Mage Eclivel focused his attacks on. Therefore, currently, it was more important for him to improve his survival abilities than train his combative abilities, as it would be more beneficial for him in the upcoming warfare!


    After going through a large number of filtrations and comparisons, there weren''t many methods that he could master in a short period of time to improve his ability quickly. However, the drawing of Magic Runes was definitely an exception.


    According to the records found in some magic books, the origin of magic spells actually came from observing and copying natural magic runes found on demon beasts by the ancestors of the human race. Most of the time, these demon beasts and demons didn''t have any knowledge of magic spells, and they didn''t understand any theories of magic spells at all. Yet, relying on the combination of their own innate abilities and the world around them, they could always master some mysterious abilities without being taught by anyone.


    Although these magic runes were rather simple and primitive, they actually pointed to the very core of the World Principle, and they were the specific representation of Plane Principles for some lower tier planes. Therefore, it allowed them to possess some bizarre abilities that left one speechless.


    Initially, the ancestors of the human race hadn''t known anything about it. However, the human race had proved themselves to be the species good at learning and creating. Some wise people among them had observed these natural magic runes and copied them, and had drawn them on their own body, which eventually became man-made magic runes.


    And this was the origin of the magical array!


    Later, as the ancestors of human race mastered more and more magic runes, they extracted the best, and through a continuous effort of reorganizing and restructuring, they eventually gave themselves a new power that never existed before. And, these unique runes extracted from natural magic runes were in fact, the magic spell runes that every single Mage had to learn and master today!


    Put this way, ancient Mages were actually a group of ordinary humans. They used a unique paint and drew all kinds of peculiar and bizarre magic rune patterns on their body, allowing them to possess some strange abilities that was similar to demon beasts or demons.


    Through the historical changes of more than hundreds of thousands of years, this group of humans who kept studying on the arcane knowledge had eventually freed themselves from the status of ordinary humans and became the leaders and protectors of the entire human race. They no longer drew any magic runes on their body, instead, they had them engraved on top of their weapons or some special equipment, turning them into frightening magical weapons and magical equipment.


    They even learned how to meditate, using progressive methods to modify themselves into magical creatures similar to demon beasts. They also studied and analyzed the Plane Principle, ultimately, leaving the conscious seal that belonged to them in the functioning system of the plane.


    As for now, Leon really wished he could borrow the help from these magic runes, so he could quickly improve his basic combative strength. Those scraped goatskin papers Lucy saw in his room were actually the magic runes array Leon specifically made for himself.


    Initially, Leon thought it would not be a difficult task. After all, he was a Grand Master of Automata who could carve seven magical arrays on top of a thumb-sized crystal core. The only difference now was the working area had shifted over to his own body, and the area had expanded to at least few hundred times, supposedly, it should be an easier task!


    But too bad, when he really gave the task over to the Chip, and after the Chip ran through a thorough scan and analysis of his body, he was shocked to find out that on a human body, the area that could draw with magic runes was actually less than 1/7 of the total surface area. Yet, these areas were scattered everywhere on the body, and they were overly broken and in a disordered manner.


    According to the distribution of these magic runes area, Leon came to the conclusion that the magical energy area on the surface of the human body was mostly interconnected with the vital organs. For example, the heart, brain, and lower abdomen, these were the places with dense magical energy, while the limbs and the edges of the body were the regions with thin magical energy.


    Each region were interconnected with different vital organs, therefore, the magical energy they could support had slight differences as well. In order to better utilize them, he really needed to gave them a thorough and detailed examination and a huge amount of calculations and statistical analyses of data.


    This was also the reason why Master of Magic Runes was a rare occupation and why it was also very expensive to draw a magic rune!


    According to the information Leon had learned, if an ordinary apprentice wished to draw a magic rune on his body, even if it was just an Array of Agility (Agility +1) on his leg, the lowest fee he needed to pay a Master of Magic Runes was 1000 magic crystals. As for having an Energy Gathering Array (Doubles the speed of Elementium gathering) drawn on his chest, the lowest price was 3000 magic crystals. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Yet, for a magic array which could bring the ability to see through to the apprentice''s eyes, the cost of having it drawn was a hefty 5000 magic crystals.


    Looking at the list of expensive prices, Leon felt his heart jerking spasmodically. Maybe, when he had nothing else to do in the future, he could consider becoming a Master of Magic Runes!


    As Leon had completed the transformation of his Flame Body, the regions of magical energy on his body were larger than those on other ordinary apprentices''. Therefore, how he could make a good use of these magical energy regions had become a hard nut to crack. As the result, during this period of time, Leon had locked himself in his room, repeatedly examining the characteristics of the different regions on his body, using the Chip to construct the perfect magic runes drawings for him.


    By carrying out this laborious task himself, Leon now knew why despite meeting with so many Mages, rarely had he seen anyone of them have magic runes drawn on their body. In order to draw a magic rune on the body, the Master of Magic Runes had to fully understand the body attribute of the target. Try to think about this, would any Mage willing let an outsider learn every single detail of the secrets found in his body?


    Therefore, this probably was one of the most important reasons why magic runes were not popular!


    After going through comprehensive and detailed calculations, the plan to draw magic runes that Leon had drafted for himself was unprecedentedly humongous and complicated.


    According to his plan, he would need to draw an Energy Gathering rune array at the bottom of both feet, both palms and wrists would need to have a Precise Strike rune array (Instantly enhances the output of Elementium, causing element damage to be doubles), a Major Elementium Strengthening rune array on his chest, a Major Elementium Defense rune array on his back, and a Light of Spirit rune array on both his forehead and temples (able to directly transform Spirit into offensive Fire Element magic spell).


    Each and every single one of them was tailor made for and by Leon himself!


    ...


    2244 Words

 Chapter 149 Cat and mouse

    Etching magic runes on one''s own body was not something that could be easily accomplished!It required special magic rune ingredients, a Master of Magic Runes who possessed peculiar innate talent, exclusive drawing experience and skill... and not a single requirement could be omitted. However, Leon didn''t have even one of them.


    Inside of the Alchemy Laboratory of the Swampy Tower.


    The radiance from dozens of illuminating crystals had made the laboratory as bright as day; not a single shadow could be seen. Unlike in the past, Leon didn''t stand in front of the Alchemy Station. Instead, he was lying down on top of the Alchemy Station. Today, he was both the operator and the target of the operation!


    He didn''t have any of the special ingredients required for the drawing of magic runes, so Leon could only use the method of crafting golems to carve the magic runes; he couldn''t hire any professional Master Magic Runes, so Leon could only do it himself, drawing on his own body; he didn''t possess any of the experience and skill in drawing magic runes that were passed down for generations, and he was solely depending on the optimized combination and simulated experiments carried out by the Chip in his Spiritual Domain...


    Today, it was destined that Leon would become a bull in a china shop, as he would throw every single pot and bottle that represented all of the previous expectations and rules onto the ground and then break a new path that belonged solely to himself.


    In a normal process of magic runes drawing, the Master of Magic Runes would usually need the aid of some medicines, so that he could reduce the recovery ability of flesh and blood in a particular region. Every single rune array that functioned properly was composed of hundred and thousand of runes and magical lines. If the target of the drawing was someone with high Physique, before the last line of rune could be drawn, the first line of rune would have completely self-healed.


    This would completely destroy the entire process of magic rune drawing!


    Using a special medicine to anesthetize and repress the recovery ability of blood and flesh on a particular region of the target''s body, and using the magic rune ingredients meticulously concocted to etch the corresponding magic runes on the skin of the target, and finally, interconnecting them with the magical energy organ inside of the target''s body. This was the elementary theory that let magic runes stimulate the human''s body, which could make the target unleash a special ability.


    It was because of this tedious and complicated process that the importance of a Master of Magic Runes was so significant. There had been some fellows who wished to save the hefty amount of magic crystals that one cost, and fancied that they could use the simplest method of drawing magic runes on themselves. They thought such magic runes could bring them some effects for a short period of time, and following the self-recovery of the body, every external change made to their bodies would eventually fade away.


    And very soon, they had realized that they were just drawing water with a bamboo basket ¨C it achieved nothing. Not only would the magic runes not be solidified forever, it also cost them a dearly expensive amount of ingredients.


    Unfortunately, the magic rune suit of the Flame Fiend that Leon was custom making for himself was an example of that mentioned above. Nevertheless, relying on his extremely high control over his Flame Body, the process of losing effectiveness would definitely be slowed down. Also, he had never had the hope that the magic rune suit could be used forever; so long as it could support him in making his way through this ''calamity,'' it would be enough.


    Leon lay flat on top of the Alchemy Station. Using his Spirit, he activated the alchemy equipment.


    As the needle-sized heat beam hit his body, Leon started to smell a pungent burning scent coming from the burning of his muscle and fat and he heard the hissing sound of boiling fat. The heat beam moved slowly across the surface of his body, scorching his skin and turning it black, leaving behind lines like shallow trenches.


    Expressionless, Leon silently endured the burning from the heat beam. At the same time, he had to pour in all his effort to repress this Flame Body''s instinctive defense and counterattack against the heat beam. In addition to that, he had to hold down the regeneration speed of his flesh. Before those shallow trenches could recover, Leon controlled the other alchemy arm, using it to inject the filler that he had prepared beforehand into them.


    The strange hissing sound of the heat beam burning his flesh, the pungent stinking smell that came from the filler slowly corroding the muscle of a human body... the weird sound, the strange smell, both filled the entire Alchemy Laboratory almost immediately. It would make someone feel like he had come to a dark, ugly room of torture!


    Leon was trying to draw a rune array composed of complicated, hard to understand runes, and full of numerous winding lines onto a random part of the body. At the same time, the core nodes of the rune array had to perfectly overlap with the magical nodes found on the body itself. During this process, any slight deviation would cause the total destruction of the entire rune array.


    Therefore, even though the severe pain coming from the surface of his body kept stimulating his nerves, Leon still retained the same expression and focused his vision on the tiny light beam that kept jumping over his skin. With an attentive gaze, he watched the entire process as his skin turned red, softened, collapsed, turned dark, and eventually, became coke.


    There would be a total of fourteen rune arrays drawn on his body, each of them an independent entity, and all possessed the effect of stimulating the body function of that particular region. But when they were interconnected and activated, they would create an extremely complicated, profound and mysterious magic rune suit ¨C the transformation of a Flame Fiend.


    And this was the direction of advancement Leon had set for his Fire Element magic spell!


    The Flame Fiend was a dreadful creature of the Abyss that came from the lower tier plane. They usually possessed a huge and menacing body, however, their combative strength actually came from their terrifying flame ability that was beyond any comparison. Once they flew into a rage, their entire body would ignite, turning them into a horrible flaming humanoid. Any living beings that got too close to their body would have to withstand a constant fire damage.


    Without high fire resistance, ordinary enemies didn''t even have the qualifications to fight a battle with it, and would be turned into coke by the constantly burning flame. As for the enemies that had the qualification to stand face to face with the Flame Fiend, they would have to deal with raging Fire element magic spells that blotted out the sky and covered the earth, and the hand-to-hand combat skills of the Flame Fiend, which were not weaker than those of ordinary demons.


    Flame Fiends may not be the strongest creatures among all of the experts of the Fire element, but they were definitely the creatures that stood out from the rest who practiced Fire element magic spells. That was why Leon had drawn fourteen rune arrays on his body; he wanted to use them to fully arouse his potential and mimic part of the Flame Fiend''s abilities.


    This was also the main reason this magic rune suit was called ''the transformation of a Flame Fiend!''


    Of course, all of this was based on Leon''s first and earliest assumptions and speculations. If he really wanted to transform into a true Flame Fiend, the best and most straightforward method would be to pay a visit to the lower tier plane, slaughter, and dissect a real Flame Fiend himself. As for now, he could only mimic and improve his design.


    The process of drawing the magic runes lasted for one whole day and night, until noon of the second day. Only then did Leon drag his exhausted body back to his residence. Meanwhile, Bleia, who had just come back from outside, had been waiting for him in his room.


    When she saw that Leon was completely exhausted, yet still trying his best to keep up his spirit, a saddened expression emerged on Bleia''s pretty, travel-worn face.


    After she helped Leon lie flat on his bed, Bleia gently touched his face and softly said, "Sleep well! I''ll guard you right here!"


    Leon was barely able to give her a smile before he sank into deep slumber.


    ......


    Inside another room.


    Within the faint, transparent force field of a barrier, Lucy could hardly tear herself away from the Mages level element crystal core; she kept turning the summoning core over and over in her palm. The fist-sized, transparent crystal core was emitting an enchanting glow that could grasp the soul of one who looked at it.


    With each turn and new angle, the transparent crystal core reflected another gorgeously bright and colorful, yet extraordinarily beautiful halo. Lucy''s gaze rested on it, and her face had an expression of obsession; for a very long time, she couldn''t pull herself away from such emotion. With her vision, of course she could peer onto the surface of the crystal core and see the mysterious magical arrays that were as tiny as cow hair, but extremely complicated and profound.


    No matter how you looked at it, it was no doubt a great work of art produced by a skillful Grand Master.


    Relying on the exceptionally designed magical array, the unique power stored within the element core was guided and unleashed; by combining this power with the vast element energy gathered from the outside world, it gave birth to a frightful Mages level element golem that was capable of causing a major catastrophe!


    Whenever she recalled the fact that she was miserably defeated by this crystal clear, extremely beautiful, little object, an indefinable flame of anger immediately surged up from the bottom of Lucy''s heart. But immediately after that, the flame of anger would melt away bit by bit under the strange, fantastic elemental halo of the element core.


    Oh right, I had promised that rasca... ouch... master one thing. It looks like I need to make the best use of my time and practice!


    While rolling about on her bed without care over her own image, Lucy slowly stretched out her Spirit. Through the slight spiritual sense brought to her from the magical contract buried deep in her soul, she quietly confirmed the current location of her master.


    That... he was in his own room now, and he hadn''t fully activated all of the defense mechanisms. Also, it was obvious that his Spirit was on the low side, and he had sunk into a deep state. He should be sleeping now. Wow, isn''t this a great opportunity? As long as I can teleport one object into his hand, then I''ll have this precious thing accompany me for a few more days!


    Her mind filled with a restless excitement, Lucy stretched out her hand and drew a magic rune in midair. After that, she took out an earring and tossed it over. The magic rune was covered by an extremely complicated magic ring; when the earring traveled through it, it was like penetrating a layer of transparent water mirror. Within a split second, it disappeared without a trace.


    Meanwhile, inside the other room, some enshrouding runes suddenly appeared on Leon''s right palm. Following the vibration of these runes, an elegant earring slowly penetrated through the spatial distortion; in the next moment, it would fall into Leon''s palm.


    Pap! Bleia stretched out her hand and swung gently; the earring was instantly slapped into the corner of the room.


    "What a nuisance, it must be that little girl again! Hmph, trying to secretly give her earring to Leon, I knew she was up to something bad!"


    As the earring was slapped away, Lucy immediately sensed it. "Eh, what happened? It is obvious I''m going to succeed this time, why was it slapped away suddenly? Could it be some kind of new defense mechanism? No way, I have to give it another try!"


    It wasn''t an accident; the second time, the third time... all of Lucy''s attempts were interrupted by some kind of unknown defense mechanism. Instead of giving up, it actually aroused her anger. "What''s all this about? It is obvious that guy is sleeping now. Why there is still such a strange defense mechanism? You''re the one who forced me now!"


    Gnashing her teeth in anger, Lucy started to move both her arms quickly in midair. She actually unleashed a total of four spatial magic runes at the same time. However, before she had the time to teleport anything through them, all four spatial magic runes that had appeared on different part of Leon''s body vanished at the same time.


    Damn it, you''re challenging me right now!


    Lucy, who had her competitiveness evoked, immediately started continuous and endless attempts, but to no effect. Unsurprisingly, every attempt was interrupted by something or someone. This made her even angrier, and she poured in more effort to try harder.


    At the same time, inside of Leon''s room, Bleia was seen yawning and stretching her back while moving her fingers to quickly poke the air. Whenever a new spatial magic rune was formed, before it could establish a stable minor spatial tunnel with the other room, it would be instantly broken by Bleia''s finger, which had been injected with Blood element energy.


    Therefore, unknowingly, Lucy had started to play a game of ''cat and mouse'' with Bleia! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2313 Words

 Chapter 150 Insects

    Within a dark, wet room, a bloody magical array loomed in front of one''s eyes.It was a mysterious magical array drawn using the mixed blood of seven different species of demons. All the runes and magical lines that composed the magical array were drawn using fresh blood. The fresh blood was warm and the lines carried a slightly crimson hue; they looked bizarre and evil.


    In a corner of the room, there were countless dried bodies of demons from the Magical Swamp, all thrown messily in a pile. Each of them looked extremely miserable; anyone who saw them would be struck with shudders instantly.


    A previous member of the three strongest apprentices in the tower, Fatal Shot Evan, now sat with his legs folded inside of a magical ring, which was drawn right in the center of the magical array. His body was fully covered with the pungent and stinking blood of the demons. Meanwhile, outside of this magical array, Super girl stood, holding her huge blade. It seemed like she was thinking about something.


    In the next few moments, following a weird murmuring coming from the magical array, countless crows with black feathers and red eyes flew in from the opened window and leapt straight into the crimson magical array.


    Every single red-eyed crow who had leapt into the magical array exploded into tiny pieces of flesh and blood that shot in all direction. Countless black feathers floated through the air, but before they could touch the ground, they turned into wisps of smoke and vanished into thin air. Their flesh turned into countless skinless bloody snakes, whose bodies clustered outside of the magical ring that Fatal Shot sat in.


    When there were enough bloody snakes gathered around the magical ring, Evan''s body flickered as he removed himself from the center of the magical ring and reappeared beside Super girl.


    "Alright, the magical array has started to function. It is your turn now!" Evan glanced around at everything inside of the room. Then he nodded his head, satisfied. A hideous and dreadful smile emerged on his face.


    Though it was the last moment, Super girl still hesitated. She couldn''t help but ask, "Evan, are you sure this Blood Sacrifice magical array can really stimulate my Physique and make it grow stronger? But why I can sense a slight smell of danger from it?"


    Evan replied, with a hideous smile on his face, "At our current stage, keep dreaming if you want to obtain significant growth in your overall strength without paying any price! Dangerous? Tell me, what magical array is not dangerous? This is the only Blood Sacrifice magical array that is within our ability and is also the only one that can help you! If this magical array wasn''t only focused on improving Physique, do you really think I would be so generous and give away the opportunity to improve my overall strength to you? Remember, once you become a Pseudo-Mage, you must help me complete that mission!"


    A determined expression flashed upon Super girl''s savage face; she no longer hesitated. Some loud *doom* noises were heard, as she finally removed the thick and heavy magical armor on her body, removed her inner dress, and revealing her lean and perfect body. Naked, she stepped into the magical array.


    When she sat with both legs folded in the center of the magical ring, a shivering gleam flickered in Evan''s bloodshot eyes, before he let out a deep, hoarse cry.


    As a result, more and more red-eyed crows started to leap through the window, and more and more bloody snakes clustered outside of the magical ring. Countless snake heads were poking around and their crimson bodies stacked, layer upon layer. Anyone who saw this would tremble in fear.


    In the center of the magical ring, Super girl immediately felt a raging crimson tidal wave swarm into her body. Stimulated by this crimson tidal wave, the body factors which had been stagnating for a long time once again filled with vigor and vitality; they started to grow slowly yet steadily.


    Super girl purposely held back the repelling force of her body from these external energies and allowed the crimson tidal wave to sweep across every single part of her body.


    However, while her overall strength was increasing, Super girl had a vague feeling that something was not right.


    While the crimson tidal wave was stimulating her Physique''s potential, it seemed like it was also slowly corroding her nerve system, which resulted in significantly decreasing her control over her body.


    This... why was this process a little bit different from how Fatal Shot Evan had described?


    Super girl struggled, sat up straight, and opened her mouth, wanting to ask Evan about this. But when she opened her mouth, only then did she realize that all of the nerves on her face had become paralyzed, as she couldn''t let out any voice at all. Yet, when she tried to stand up from the floor, she felt as if every single part of her body had been dislocated and would never respond to her will.


    Super girl''s heart started to race. Taking the opportunity before she lost all her strength, she poured in all her effort and turned her head. Only then was she able to see Evan.


    Evan stood at the edge of the magical array, wearing a weird smile on his face and staring at her. His once bloodshot eyes had transformed into a bright green. As he opened his mouth, a bizarre looking bug head poked out from it. It had a ferocious mouthpiece and a pair of dreadful looking compound eyes. Anyone who looked at it felt their flesh creep. Discover hidden content at empire


    Perhaps sensing that the time was right, the scorpion pushed with its razor sharp legs and leapt out from Evan''s mouth. It then crawled quickly across the floor, climbing over the creeping bloody snakes, until it got to Super girl''s feet.


    The magical ring which had blocked all of bloody snakes on the outside had no effect on this scorpion. It moved and swayed its body at top speed, climbing up Super girl''s burly body to her mouth. Super girl tried her best to clench her jaw, but the paralyzed nerves prevented her from doing so. Using its front legs, the scorpion opened up a tiny slit in her lips. Then, without hesitation, it simply squeezed through the slit.


    The raging and furious Super girl understood everything in an instant.


    Worm controller Blake! It was him behind all this!


    The raging flame of anger burnt her body and mind. Using her strong will, bit by bit she expelled the crimson energies in her body. But too bad, when she had nearly succeeded in seizing back control of her body, her body started to tremble violently. It lasted for quite a long time, before everything calmed.


    Quietly and calmly, Super girl rose to her feet. When she suddenly opened her eyes, deep within her pupils, one could see a slightly bright green hue.


    When she stood to face at Fatal Shot Evan, both of their mouths opened at the same time, revealing the hideous, dreadful, and ugly looking head of a bug.


    At the same time, in many dark corners throughout the entire Swampy Tower, some fearful looking and ugly scorpions were hidden quietly. They were either hidden underneath the bed inside of an apprentice''s residence or hidden in the darkest corner of the room. Silently and motionlessly, they kept watch over each and every move of all of the Apprentice Mages.


    If any apprentice sank into the deepest slumber, they would move noiselessly. Crawling along the bed-leg and over the soft blanket, inch by inch they moved closer to the target. Once there was an opportunity, they would leap forward immediately, with their quickest speed, and jump into the mouth of the apprentice.


    Frightened and hoarse cries, together with the sound of struggling and retching, were heard from many of the apprentices'' residences. None of that made any difference to the matter. Their throats swelled up and a small lump dug quickly through them. In just a short amount of time, the apprentices who had put up such a furious struggle would calm and lie back on their bed, continuing their sleep.


    Meanwhile, inside their body, the head of bug was vaguely seen swaying its feelers happily!


    ......


    Inside of the bloody, stinking bug nest of Worm controller, Blake.


    Blake, still clad in the same thick, heavy black robe, bowed his head and sat quietly in the center of the secret room. Though the clothes on his body were seen moving, he didn''t look like a living being.


    So long his master, Eclivel, didn''t give him any orders, he would always remain in the same posture and behavior: eating, resting, multiplying, and growing mechanically. All of the scorpions were the result of his own multiplication and fission, and it happened right in his huge abdomen, which looked like a pregnant woman''s. Countless tiny larvae kept splitting and multiplying. Then they would cluster together, slaughtering and devouring each other.


    Only the scorpions that were strong enough could devour enough of their peers to leave Blake''s body and join the swarm of bugs that were in the secret room.


    In a corner of the secret room, a swarm of scorpions had clustered together and formed a new wave of bugs. There were now two groups of distinctly different bugs and they never mixed together. In the heart of this new wave of bugs, the bizarre bug that hosted Blake''s primary consciousness constantly let out a faint chirping, keeping a secret spiritual connection with all of the bugs that had divided from it and now hid in different parts of the Swampy Tower.


    Within its senses, one after another, Apprentice Mages in different parts of the tower had fallen into its control. This had allowed it to spread its spiritual tentacles wantonly to every single remote corner of the place.


    However, this army of its didn''t go the expedient route and invade every single individual. Instead, it only targeted the Apprentice Mages who possessed basic combative abilities. As for the human slaves who lived in the lowest tier of this population, it disdained to waste its energy on them. In addition to that, it also purposely avoided a few specific targets in this invasion that had spread throughout the entire tower and so didn''t capture all the apprentices in one net. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon, Bleia, Lucy, and Snorlax the goblin: this four unique individuals had become the exceptions who mixed among the group of bug-infested humans and hadn''t detected any changes to their surrounding environment.


    Meanwhile, Blake''s primary consciousness, which was hiding behind the scenes and remotely controlling everything, now quietly accumulated and conserved his energy. Once the dreadful moment arrived, the individuals whose soul consciousness he controlled would become his fearless fighters. Although he had reached a strategic agreement with Leon, even though they were working together with a common effort, he still wished to keep some final trump cards that could allow him to turn the situation over at the last moment.


    ......


    Snorlax lay on its stomach in the Little Shop of Goblin, bored.


    Recently, things had seemed to become rather strange. All of the apprentices in the tower had been behaving weirdly.


    A few of the Beginner Apprentices who used to gather in its shop had gone missing; the Swampy Tower, which had just turned lively and restless, had once again become deserted and quiet.


    It was as if all of those apprentices had suddenly gone into a hibernation, dwelling in their own residence and rarely coming out. Occasionally, it would bump into a few of them in the corridor, but they just brushed past it expressionlessly, without even giving it a greeting.


    After suffering a few days in such a bizarre atmosphere, Snorlax had started slacking. It simply closed the shop, returned to its residence, and started to arduously practice its Camouflage spell and Partial Transformation spell. For some unknown reason, its master had secretly given it a mission a few days ago. In order to it to achieve the goal set by its master, it would need to pour in more hard work!


    After it returned to its residence and activated all the magical defensive mechanisms, Snorlax carefully took out its magic wand, pointed at its own body, and cast a Camouflage spell. Influenced by the magical energy, its body started to transform slowly.


    The ugly and short body stretched a little bit taller, becoming similar to the target of its practice. The green skin also gradually turned fair and delicate. More importantly, it''s ugly and withered face started to twist and turn; vaguely, the look of a cute little girl appeared.


    Standing in front of a mirror and examining its looks, Snorlax shook its head, dissatisfied. It then stretched out the slim and fair hand that gripped the magic wand and kept waving and pointing at its body. Every time the magic wand touched its body, a small Partial Transformation spell transformed that part of the body closer to the image found in its mind.


    After an hour of tedious and hard work, the ugly, stupid Snorlax disappeared. Standing inside of the room now was the proud, arrogant figure of Lucy.


    ...


    2224 Words

 Chapter 151 Apocalypse

    The Magical Swamp was still the same as always, wet and dark, like a pond of stagnant water that exuded a stinking smell.However, under the surface of this filthy and troubled water, a terrible undercurrent was brewing.


    For the Probationary Apprentices, who spent days and nights on the first floor of the tower, their minds were always filled with envy whenever official Apprentices walked past them proudly. Yet, little did they know, a deadly storm, more than enough to destroy everything, was blotting out the sky and covering the earth while sweeping towards their direction.


    In this massive storm, those who lacked preparation would not be able to escape death by sheer good luck.


    Another ten days passed in this harsh environment. Finally, the frightful day arrived!


    It was early in the morning of a gloomy and overcast day. Most of the apprentices were still indulging in their sweet dreams. However, the devilish Mage Eclivel had just completed the construction and modification of his mysterious magical array.


    After he came out from the specifically isolated inter-space, Mage Eclivel quickly connected his Spirit with the controlling core of the tower and brought all the tower''s information into his mind.


    Continue reading on empire


    He had been busy working in the inter-space recently, so he didn''t have a complete understanding regarding any changes in the outside world. But as he was the highest authority in the Mage Tower, nothing that happened within the tower could hide from his senses and examination.


    Perhaps it was a response towards his spiritual prying, but one after another, the spirit of a few Pseudo-Mages turned lively, as if they had been startled from their dreams.


    Hmph. Since all of the intended targets were here, there was no need to choose another day. Today would be the day for his plan to be executed!


    The skinny, wizened Mage Eclivel wore a pointy Mage hat on his head and was clad in a gray Mage robe. He stood quietly in the controlling hall of the tower. Both of his arms moved in the air, drawing and forming one dazzling rune after another. The runes disappeared immediately after they emerged, and their disappearances caused the tower to tremble slightly.


    Under the control of Mage Eclivel, the entire Magical Swamp was now tightly blanketed by a dense layer of fog. Even the few eye-catching entrances had dissolved into it. With the slight vibrations of the tower, the outer wall of the tower was brightly lit.


    When the raging element energies flowed past the augite stone used to construct the tower, it immediately lit with a cold and dreary magical glow. The Spirits of Death and Wandering Souls that normally hid in the depths of the swamp came swarming in, hovering and swirling around the tower, and kept letting out ghostly howls that could take one''s soul away.


    All of the frightening demons, who had signed a magical contract with the Swampy Tower and inhabited in different parts of the Magical Swamp, started to become restless. One after another, they left their nests, gathering around the tall tower with high vigilance for any possible visitors.


    Layers upon layers of magical halos hovered on top of the tower. Countless magical traps and magical defense mechanisms activated. All magical secret doors and passages leading into the tower completely sealed; even all of the windows in the tower were covered up by countless invisible air barriers. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nearly at the same time, every single apprentice of the tower was trapped where they were; none of them could move even a little bit.


    " Blake, bring all of them here!" Eclivel gave his order coldly.


    Following his order, Worm controller Blake, who had been sitting in the secret room like a dead man, suddenly raised his head. Two bright and blazing flames of soul ignited in his eyes. He shouted, commanding the army of countless scorpions that swarmed out from the secret room and instantly flooded the entire corridor.


    Every single residence of the apprentices, which used to be protected by countless magical defense mechanisms, were now wide open. The army of scorpions came sweeping by like a fierce tsunami and carried all of the apprentices from their room and into the corridor, one after another.


    With the aid of this army of countless scorpions, Blake sent all of the apprentices of the tower to the fifth floor, a high-level floor that none of these apprentices had ever stepped in before.


    In the spacious and well-lighted magical main hall on the fifth floor, the scorpions moved in and out, bringing all the apprentices of the tower. Leon and the other three Pseudo-Mages were the first ones who had been brought here. They were now trapped and tightly tied up with half-transparent air chain like mummies. Their eyes were shut and they had lost consciousness.


    In order to avoid any unnecessary trouble, Mage Eclivel had used the power of a Sleep talisman and made all the apprentices sink into a deep slumber.


    Once all of the personnel had taken their place, only then did Mage Eclivel drift through the air and come into the main hall. He lowered his head and looked at all of the apprentices of the tower who were now sleeping. A hideous smile emerged on his lips.


    "Stop pretending that you''re sleeping. Do you really think I can''t sense your restless spiritual wave? When you''re facing an Mage, any petty tricks are useless!"


    Upon hearing what Eclivel said, all three Pseudo-Mages opened their eyes at the same time.


    "Respectable master Eclivel, can you tell us what are you trying to do? Please don''t tell me you want to kill all the apprentices of the tower in this place? If that really happens, how are you going to answer to the Sarubo family?" Leon struggled a few times. When he realized that there was no way he could escape from the shackles, he angrily threw his questions towards Eclivel, who was hovering in midair.


    "Hmph! Family? Once I use your blood, flesh, soul and break through my shackles, I''ll be a mighty Second Grade Mage. At that moment, the Sarubo family will do their best to maintain a good relationship with me. Do you really think they will question my wrongdoings for you, a group of mere Apprentice Mages?"


    "What? You really want to kill us all? I..."


    Too lazy to hear the pathetic cries of a dying sheep anymore, Eclivel pointed with his finger. A Silence rune immediately fell onto Leon''s body, causing him to lose his voice instantly.


    Bleia and Lucy were also struggling with all their might, but they just couldn''t escape from the shackles on their body.


    Mage Eclivel gently pointed his finger again. In an instant, the storage waist belt left Leon and fell into his hand. He closed his eyes and gave the item a careful examination. A few moments later, a joyful expression came to his brows. He flicked his palm, revealing a crystal clear golem summoning core emanating powerful elemental ripples in his palm.


    Even among all of the official Mages, such a finely made element golem was a rare item. If he could remove the consciousness seal left by Leon, perhaps he could bring himself an additional free slave. He casually waved his hand a few times, sealing up this Mage level crystal core with a simple method. Only then did Eclivel place it into his pocket with a big smile.


    He gave the surroundings another quick glance, and when he felt there was nothing amiss, Mage Eclivel raised both hands high in the air. An intense spatial ripple swept across, so that the entire main hall was covered in a soft white light. When the white light faded away gradually, they were no longer on the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower, but in a secret magical room located at an unknown location.


    The secret magical room was a pretty big space; it covered an area of nearly three football fields. Right in the center of this secret room, a strange, triangle shape altar had been built. It was not a big altar, but was divided into three levels. Each level had a height of around two meters and they were connected with a ten step stair.


    On the stone wall of each level of the altar, countless carvings of human faces could be seen; they had different shapes and expressions, some were painful, some were howling, some were crying, some had a sorrowful look... none of them had the same look. Nevertheless, they all looked real, as if they were made by real living humans. Anyone who saw them felt a shiver run down their back!


    Eclivel flew above the highest level of the altar, hovering steadily in midair. As a hard to understand, profound incantation echoed throughout the heavens and earth, this secret magical room completely sealed off with a loud booming noise. The connection between it and the outside world was now completely cut off.


    This was actually a precautionary measure of Eclivel''s.


    In order to avoid any distractions from the outside world, he had temporarily shut away this piece of space. Before his blood sacrifice ritual was completed, no one could escape from this space. Perhaps, at the same time of tomorrow, the person who reopened this space and walked out with head held high would be a brand new Eclivel, a Second Grade Mage!


    At that point in time, all those who used to look down on him would have to lower their heads when faced with his dazzling glory, their minds filled with fear, and submit their respects to Eclivel. Meanwhile, the news of the birth of a new Second Grade Mage would be sung throughout the entire region under the Zhentarim Association!


    While envisioning a beautiful future, Eclivel leaned forward and ran his eyes over the Apprentice Mages who were now lying messily on the floor. He waved his hand and dispelled the Wind Chain on Bleia''s body.


    The first moment she was freed, Bleia moved with lightning speed to leap in front of Eclivel. Her hand''s crimson sharp claws struck at his throat with a speed no naked eye could see.


    If it had not been for that invisible barrier which appeared in a peculiar manner, perhaps Bleia would have had the opportunity to hurt Eclivel. But it was a pity, as she was facing a veteran Mage who had been an official Mage for more than 300 years, no matter how fast Bleia''s surprise attack, it would never be faster than the speed of Eclivel''s thoughts.


    Countless claw marks continuously appeared on the invisible barrier. Bleia clenched her jaw tightly and kept launching attack after attack, but she just couldn''t break through the thin layer of the protective barrier.


    Using the entire Swampy Tower as his background support, the endless supply of pure magical energy that came through space and reached this isolated space kept being injected into the invisible barrier outside of Eclivel''s body. To injure him, Bleia''s attack had be powerful enough to break this barrier with one single strike, or else, with the supplement of this endless energy, it was absolutely impossible for her to deplete the Wind element energy on this barrier.


    "My beautiful, elegant personal guard and servant, stop pressing down your true savage and wild nature. Give up your meaningless resistance, and from now on, continue to bow under the feet of your great master, Eclivel..."


    As Mage Eclivel, hovering on top of the altar, murmured under his breath, in the middle of a frenzied attack, Bleia''s body suddenly trembled and her bloodshot eyes instantly turned pale white. Unconsciously, she stopped her attack.


    "Yes, that''s right! Go now, go... Under the altar are the countless sheep I prepared specifically for you. Go now and taste their blood; let their boiling hot, fresh blood warm your cold body once again..."


    A slightly pained, struggling expression appeared on Bleia''s beautiful face. But unfortunately, under the restriction of Mage Eclivel''s talisman, her will was unworthy of mention. In less than three seconds, her primary consciousness was toppled by the raging instinct of the vampire.


    Some cracking noises came from Bleia''s throat. Her body flickered as she jumped off the altar, landing on top of the Apprentice Mage closest to her. A pair of razor sharp vampire fangs poked through her lips and impaled the arteries on the apprentice''s neck. Startled from slumber, the apprentice cried out loudly in pain, but too bad, his cries and struggle made no difference. In just a brief moment, his voice petered out.


    When Bleia left his body and leapt toward the next target, a sweet smile could be vaguely seen on the face of this apprentice, whose blood had all been sucked out. It was as if he was still indulging in some sweet dream of happiness.


    ...


    2147 Words

 Chapter 152 The Plan

    Inside of Snorlax''s room.A large lump of black beetles was seen creeping at a corner of the room. Using their great numbers, they drew out the vague outline of a human.


    When the tower became completely silent, the pile of black beetles suddenly exploded with a boom. In a messy state, Lucy squeezed out from inside of this pile of insects.


    Using her hands, she swiped away some beetles remained on her shoulder, dress, and hair. And while pinching her nose and wearing a disgusted expression, she crushed a few of them who were running around her feet. Only after done with that, did she close her eyes and start to sense the current situation of the tower.


    At this moment, the tower had become completely empty and no aura of life could be sensed anymore. All the Apprentice Mages located on the second floor and above had vanished, and the only humans remained were those juvenile Probationary Apprentices. They were all lying flat quietly on their wooden bed, and had stopped breathing.


    It wasn''t tough to tell that Mage Eclivel had burned all his boats and didn''t leave any leeway for himself.


    If during this time tomorrow, he failed to turn himself into a Second Grade Mage using the blood sacrifice ritual, then he wouldn''t be able to escape from the punishment from Sarubo family. According to the rules of Zhentarim Association, any fellow who used the method of blood sacrifice ritual to improve their overall strength would have to be punished.


    If he was able to advance into a Second Grade Mage smoothly, and was willing to continue his service with the family, then presumably, Sarubo family would be happy to cover up what happened in the Magical Swamp for him. By just simply making up a story of demons outbreak or magical experiment leakage, they would be able to wipe clean everything that happened in this place.


    Therefore, though Mage Eclivel portrayed a confident look and behaved like everything was under his control, once he failed in the advancement, the only consequence waiting for him would be to be forced to sign a life-long contract with the Sarubo family, in which he had to give up all the rights of being an Mage, and serve the family obediently for the rest of his life!


    As for putting him to death? Hmph, no Mage family would waste such a precious resource!


    Even if he was a human being!


    Lucy flying in midair along the emptied corridor, the wave of black beetles was following closely behind her. Their destination was the controlling main hall located on the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower.


    Although Mage Eclivel had brought all the apprentices and teleported into that mysterious magical secret room, but this unmanned tower still followed his order, not only it had totally shut off any access to itself, it also kept transmitting the powerful element energies into that mysterious place.


    If they didn''t find a way to cut off the connection between Mage Eclivel and this tower, then Leon''s team would be facing with a formidable Mage who supported by an endless amount of elemental energies. When faced with an enemy like this, even all of them poured in whatever they got, perhaps it would be near impossible to withstand even a casual strike unleashed by Eclivel.


    Lucy went through the quiet long corridor, continuing her way up the narrow and steep stone staircase. Soon, she came to the intersection between the fourth and fifth floor. She was stopped by a half-transparent energy barrier. Any action of touching it would immediately trigger the defense mechanism of the tower and she would have to face a ferocious counter attack.


    Although it had lost the real-time control from the stationed Mage, once the overall strength of an Mage Tower hiding under the surface of the water revealed itself, it was still not something an ordinary Apprentice Mage could compete with.


    Lucy clenched her teeth, without even a second thought she forcefully leaped into the energy barrier.


    Behind her, the swarm of black beetles had also rushed towards the barrier, instantly flooding the entire spiral staircase.


    Right when Lucy stepped into the corridor of the fifth floor, the emptied corridor immediately turned gruesome and dreadful. The wall on both side suddenly transformed into a thin layer of sticky and tough diaphragm and rose up and down, as if countless of monsters were trying hard to break through it and come into the corridor.


    One after another, the ferocious, frightful heads of monster were showing on the stone wall, which had now turned as thin as the wings on a cicada. While struggling desperately, they kept roaring savagely at Lucy.


    Two crystal clear popping sounds were heard coming from the other end of the long corridor. From either side of the stone wall, two monsters had managed to escape from the trap and fell onto the cold, gray floor with strange fluid splashing around from their body. Their appearance was like a signal, within the next few seconds, a succession of popping sounds started to ring through the place, as one after another monster made their escape from the wall. In an instant, the long corridor had been fully filled with these nasty monsters.


    Magical Beasts!


    They were all magical beasts!


    These were all frightening beasts modified using magic spell by the stationed Mage. Each of them possessed the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, and they came in great numbers. If all of them came forth in a rush, even though Lucy was a Pseudo-Mage now, she would still fall in the waves of besiegement.


    Lucy''s face turned dark, yet she dared not hesitate. She let out a shriek and dashed into this group of savage beasts.


    She was faced with a tough situation, indeed. However, it was most probable that Leon and the other were facing with the situation ten times, or even hundred times tougher than hers! Instead of standing in front of that frightful Mage Eclivel, who had revealed all his sharp claws and fangs, Lucy would rather stay here and fight a fierce battle with these magical beasts which had the number hundred times more than hers!


    Two huge Spatial Cuts broke through the passage, thrusting into the swarm of magical beasts in an instant. They swept away all obstacles in the way, slicing through flesh and bones, sending sticky fluid all over the places... After all, these were just magical beasts who had received magical modification, though their body had turned near invincible against the attack of ordinary swords and blades, when faced with the Spatial Cut that was extremely sharp and capable of destroying anything, they could only let out miserable howls, while their limbs were ripped apart, and theirs head were removed from their bodies.


    Yet, as there were too many of these magical beasts, a dozen of them had managed to dodge the attacks and came rushing in front of Lucy, crazily they started to slam, bite, and rip the paper-thin Protection Barrier. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucy tried her best to hold back the uncomfortable feeling of staring so close to these magical beasts, who were ugly, wizened, and had their bodies covered in sticky fluids. Clenching her jaw tightly, she kept unleashing Spatial Cuts in top speed. In front of her Spatial Cut magic spells, any flesh and blood was like a ball of rotten meat, like a hot blade slicing through the butter, they cut through everything on their way, noiselessly.


    Lucy was hovering in midair, any magical beasts came in front of her looked like they were jumping into a meat grinding machine. They had instantly been ripped apart, their flesh and blood splashing in all directions. All sorts of broken limbs kept flying past in front of her eyes, there was even a half broken head of magical beast that suddenly flew into her direction, fell onto the Protection Barrier, before slowly rolling off onto the ground.


    Meanwhile, the ground underneath her feet had turned completely into a slaughter house. Countless broken bodies were scattered around, each had an extremely miserable look. The purple and green color blood had stained the entire wall of the corridor, and unknown fluid was dripping down from the ceiling.


    The cute little face of Lucy had turned stiff, her eyes filled with a severe murderous look. At this dreadful moment of life and death, she had given up pretending to be a cute and harmless little girl, and had totally revealed her true nature of being treacherous and brutal.


    It was a corridor of less than 30 meters, yet it took Lucy a full fifteen minutes to reach the other end. Behind her, was a hell on earth that no one had to guts to take a second look. Continue your journey at empire


    When she used the Spatial Wave and shook away all the colorful blood and intestines that stuck to her Protection Barrier, and countless debris of flesh that no one could tell where they had originally belonged, in front of her was another long corridor.


    There were many colorful oil paintings hanging on both sides of the wall. Some were beautiful sceneries, some were finely painted portraits. But it was a pity that all these paintings had their main object missing, no exception. Yet, inside of this corridor, she saw a large crowd of incorporeal, vague figure of souls and spirit, and many demonic plants, which had twisted and deformed bodies. They were either lingering around aimlessly, or climbing the ceilings.


    Undoubtedly, Lucy''s appearance had attracted their attention. All souls, spirit, and demons stopped their movement, turned their heads and looked towards Lucy. Under the dimmed light of the corridor, countless crimson ghost flames and greenish glows were ignited, one after another.


    Lucy''s face turned dark in an instant.


    Every single one of these bastards had the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage!


    "Leon, I hate you...!"


    The furious and shrill shriek of Lucy echoed throughout the quiet long corridor, lingering in the air for a long time, just like how much she hated that guy!


    ......


    Within the secret space.


    Standing on top of the terrifying altar, Mage Eclivel closed his eyes as he tried to sense something. A surprise expression was brought upon his face.


    "I never expect that you had left a helper on the outside. Since Lucy is outside, then this one here must be a fake!"


    Eclivel pointed out his finger, unleashed a dark beam and shot it into the ''Lucy''s'' body, which was now lying quietly on the floor. After a brief moment of twisting and transforming, the ugly, short and green body of Snorlax had showed up in front of him.


    "Not bad, not bad at all! You do have a complete and thorough plan." Eclivel''s expression turned dark, but he didn''t look panicked at all. Instead, he showed a regretful expression on his face. "Since you had hidden someone outside in advance, I''m sure you must have taken precautions against this. And the only way for you to obtain this information would be..."


    Eclivel paused, and suddenly, countless Wind Chains stretched out from around Blake, who was standing quietly beside the altar and tightly tied him up.


    However, although Eclivel''s action had shown a serious hostility, Blake didn''t put out any resisting behavior. He still looked absolutely submissive toward Eclivel.


    "Not him?" Eclivel cast a few spells in a row and threw them into Blake''s body, he didn''t find anything worth suspecting. The blood contract in Blake''s soul was still intact, showing no sign of being touched by someone else before.


    Pondering hard and with no results, Eclivel decided to give up.


    "If I have to give up one Pseudo-Mage, so be it! As the matter of fact, just the three of you is enough for me to break through the threshold of Second Grade Mage. But I''m curious, since you can come out with the idea of arranging someone on the outside, then what is your plan in fighting against me? Don''t tell me that you are going to fight me with just you few Pseudo-Mages? If that truly is your plan, I''ll really feel sorry for your laughable, naive ideas!"


    Mage Eclivel rested his shivering gaze over at Leon.


    Despite being tied up by Wind Chains and lying on the floor, Leon still maintained the same sneer on his face.


    "Even though we had become Pseudo-Mages, we still cannot get rid of the status of Apprentice Mage. Indeed, we come short in fighting against you! But, what if we are replaced by a few Mages?"


    The look in Eclivel''s eyes became even more stern and cold.


    ...


    2116 Words

 Chapter 153 Brandons end

    "Aren''t you afraid that I''ll kill you right now?" Eclivel roared with rage.Hearing what he said, Leon smiled. "You''re welcome to do anything you want! I''ve given up resisting now, and you can just kill me straightaway. But... if you do that, how are you going to execute your plan of becoming a Second Grade Mage? You have brought so many apprentices here, I''m afraid that only by turning a few of us into official Mages then it will be the help for you to make your breakthrough. If you are afraid of our resistance, why don''t you just kill all of us now? Then, tomorrow you can wag your tail at the messenger from Sarubo family. Perhaps you''ll still be the same Mage Eclivel, but your dream is destined to be shattered!"


    "Since you''ve told me about your plan, do you think that I''ll allow you to destroy my plan?"


    "Does it make any difference if you know about our plan? One way or another, you have to make us into Mage today; then you''ll devour us. This is the path you''ve chosen for yourself, and it is also the destiny that none of us could escape! We''ve arrived at this moment and it is impossible for you to simply change your plan. As for us, we can only put up a desperate fight for our own survival!"


    "If that is the case, you''re not supposed to be so straightforward, so honest with me! Don''t tell me that you still have some backup plans?"


    "Haha... what kind of backup plans could I have? Today, right at this place, I only have three companions. You weren''t being serious when making that puppet slave of yours, so you actually allowed him to save his primary consciousness. But it seems like he is not here with us; it looks like he has made me into his cannon fodder. If that is the case, why should I cover for him?" Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I knew it was him! Hmph, I''m surprised; that half-bug body does have some incredible abilities, as it actually escaped from the binding of a soul blood contract. Besides this, is there anything else?"


    "Of course! My only helper, Bleia, has now become the chip held in your hand. Taking everything into consideration, it seems that I''m the only one who can risk my life with you! I hope you can be more careful later!" After he finished saying that, Leon closed his eyes, completely ignoring Eclivel.


    Eclivel became silent. He stared at Leon''s face, which was now showing a determined expression. His mind was filled with surprise.


    He had never expected this; a little guy who had borne patiently under him for seven years, an apprentice who he had never paid attention to before, actually possessed such a wild and unyielding attitude and was courageous enough to challenge him face to face.


    If this had happened one month ago, if Leon had dared to be so arrogant and unbridled, Eclivel would have definitely countered him with even crueler and fearsome approaches. He would have used the dreadful reality to teach this little kid a lesson; in this world, an Mage was the true master who controlled everything!


    But it was a pity, during the recent months, he hadn''t done anything but pour most of his time into the modification of this bloody altar. Three Pseudo-Mages, three key nodes of blood sacrifice; not a single one could be omitted. Only when everything was functioning perfectly according to his will, could he obtain the perfect result he had longed for.


    As for the foreign Pseudo-Mage, Lucy, because Eclivel wasn''t sure of her background, he could only treat her as a backup sacrificial offering. But things had gone a little out of his control; the surviving consciousness of his puppet slave had leaked his plan and had caused all these sacrificial offerings to prepare in advance.


    Lucy hadn''t entered the secret space, which meant that he couldn''t afford to lose any one of the three Pseudo-Mages who served as his sacrificial offerings. Or else, the ritual of blood sacrifice wouldn''t be able to function properly.


    Once the ritual of blood sacrifice began, the first stage would be extracting the life, soul, blood, and flesh of all the Apprentice Mages and use them as sacrificial offerings to boost the three selected Pseudo-Mages. Pushed by this evil and twisted life force, they would have at least 70% to 80% odds in becoming an official Mage.


    And once they became Mages, the second stage of blood sacrifice ritual could begin. At that moment, the powerful and surging blood, flesh, forces of soul from three newly advanced Mages would become his tonic, helping him in breaking through the shackles and becoming a Second Grade Mage in one go.


    Leon had expressed his plan explicitly; his counterattack would come during the moment after the first stage of the blood sacrifice ritual ended and before the second stage began. No doubt, it was the perfect time to launch his counterattack, if he still had the ability to do it!


    When faced with a fearless young Pseudo-Mage, Eclivel only responded with a savage smile. Using one hand, he drew something in midair. A black rune appeared, before it vanished instantly. A dark shadow underneath Leon''s body suddenly came alive.


    The dark shadow didn''t have tall stature and it was as thin as a sheet of goat-skin paper. However, it exhibited extremely dexterous movement. Like a paper-man, it crawled and climbed onto Leon''s chest, pulling out a dagger from its tiny paper-like body. Ferociously, it thrust the dagger into Leon''s chest.


    Leon let out a muffled grunt because of the pain. His blood burst and splashed all over the paper-man''s body.


    Like a real living being, the paper-man stuck out its thin, tiny hand and touched Leon''s flowing golden blood, brought it over to its body, and evenly smeared it onto its body. Once it had completed the task, a soul ripple identical to Leon suddenly emanated from the body of this paper-man. Immediately after that, it smiled hideously, climbed over to Leon''s mouth, pried open his tightly clenched jaw, and disappeared into the depths of his throat.


    Even though he had estimated all of the possible approaches of Mage Eclivel, when faced with such bizarre scene, Leon was still struck with chills and had his flesh creep. He was the meat on someone''s chopping block now. Although he had known that the opponent would use some kind of mind-control method, when it really happened, Leon was still shaken by the bizarre approaches of Mages!


    Before the thought could fade away from Leon''s mind, his body started to struggle and tremble violently. The Wind Chains were so tight that they cut into his flesh, every single one of Leon''s muscles stiffened, and his blood vessels, thick as earthworms, poked up under his skin. These were signs of how violent and intense the battle of consciousness happening inside his body was.


    Too bad, with his Spirit of an Apprentice Mage, there was no way he could fight against a veteran Mage. In less than five seconds, his held up body was once again slammed back onto the ground; cracking noises kept coming out from his throat, but he couldn''t say a single word.


    After a few moment later, Leon finally became completely calm. He now lay flat where he was, motionlessly. If his chest had not still been moving up and down slightly, he would have looked exactly like a dead man.


    "Hahaha... all your consciousness and soul are in my control now. So, with what are you going to resist me later? Hmph, just another pathetic fellow who tried to imagine the frightening abilities of Mages through some crude books and mere legends! If you had just a little bit more understanding of the mightiness and approaches of an official Mage, you would not have behaved so arrogantly in front of an Mage! The world of Mages is not something you, a mere chicken, could ever imagine! Hahaha..."


    It was not the end after Eclivel gained control over Leon''s consciousness and soul. He stretched his arm and beckoned, every single magical equipment and strange object found on Leon''s body and emanating with elemental aura left his body, flying in a row, like a long snake, towards the altar. Among the magical equipment, Eclivel was attracted by a unique object.


    It was a magic spell book Leon had tied around his waist with a silver chain. Under Eclivel''s control, it left Leon''s body, but before reaching ten meters away, it flickered and escaped from his control and then reappeared back on Leon''s waist.


    Eh, a Soul Gear? Eclivel couldn''t help but feel extremely curious about Leon now. Judging from the behavior of this book, it should be a Soul Gear recorded in ancient books and was a piece of magical equipment tied up with the soul of the owner.


    Frequently, Soul Gear like this possessed tremendous power that went beyond any ordinary magical equipment. However, each and every single Soul Gear had a very strict external requirement for their growth. Without nurturing them with a huge amount of resources and effort, the Soul Gear would not be able to unleash its full potential and would just behave like an ordinary magical equipment.


    To a certain extent, they could provide some unique approaches! Yet, when faced with an official Mage, the approaches employed by these apprentices could not be more frightening than the bite of a mosquito!


    Though he had found a rare Soul Gear, Eclivel simply had no time to further study the secret hiding in it. Now, he could only cast a simple energy seal and let it continue hanging on Leon''s waist. He had no other choice, as every single Soul Gear had the same behavior! Before its owner was completely killed, no one could separate it from its true owner.


    After he settled Leon, Eclivel finally moved his glance over to Bleia.


    Currently, Bleia had crazily sucked all of the blood from four apprentices. Her lower abdomen had bloated, her eyes had turned bloodshot, her fangs had poked out, and her face was fully stained with blood.


    Eclivel shouted out with a low voice, "Come over here!"


    Bleia''s body trembled suddenly upon hearing his voice. A pained and struggling expression emerged on her face. On one side, a message coming from a consciousness seal hiding deep in her soul was asking her to obey the order, on the other side, within her subconscious mind, the wild and restless vampire instinct was resisting the order.


    Noticing the effect of consciousness seal had become weaker, Eclivel''s face started to turn dark.


    In order not to obstruct the possibility of evolution for the vampire innate talent, Eclivel hadn''t wiped off Bleia''s instinctive consciousness. It was true that Bleia had grown quickly into a satisfying sacrificial offering, but after she had advanced into a Pseudo-Mage, it had also caused her to no longer be under his total control.


    But, as Eclivel increased the strength of his conscious wave, eventually Bleia reluctantly walked in front of him.


    Eclivel swiped his hand in the air and a cut was immediately made on Bleia''s neck. An arrow of blood shot out from the cut. Before the blood could touch the floor, it was collected by Eclivel using a magic spell.


    As Bleia was attacked, she immediately started rampaging. She took a few steps back, bared her teeth, and showed Eclivel a threatening look. Still, she didn''t have the courage to leap at him.


    Eclivel was in an agitated mood now, so he became really angry with Bleia''s behavior. He cast a Wind Vortex and sent Bleia high up into the sky. When she finally struggled out from the vortex full of sharp wind blades while letting out miserable shrieks, her body was like it had just been pulled out from a grinder. Her skin was filled with countless cuts of all sizes; there were even some deep cuts that exposed her bones!


    The severely wounded Bleia immediately let out a sharp and miserable cry. Like an injured puppy, she rushed far away at top speed, crouched on the floor, and gently licked her wounds.


    "Suck his blood and heal your wounds!" Eclivel used his long staff and jerked up an apprentice, throwing him over to Bleia. Then, coldly he warned, "This is a warning for you. Remember this next time. I''m your master! If you dare to show me disrespect again, I''ll drain all of the blood in your body!"


    The apprentice jerked up by Eclivel was none other than the new Apprentice Leader, Brandon. However, right at this very moment, he could only watch helplessly as his body flew toward the frightfully savage demon. With a leap, Bleia caught Brandon in her arms. Without hesitation, she bowed her head over his neck and gave it a ferocious bite.


    Although Brandon had a sound mind, his body was totally not under his own control. He could feel two cold, sharp fangs poking into his blood vessel noiselessly, then his head started spinning. In a trance, he saw a dazzling glow right before his eyes, and he suddenly came to in a magical hall packed with people.


    Familiar and unfamiliar apprentices and Mages were lined up on both side of a red carpet, their face filled with smiles, and staring at him. Thunderous applause and cheers deafened his ears. And he was clad in a luxurious and noble Mage long robe and held an exquisite and splendid Mage long staff in his hand. He was smiling and nodding his head at the crowd while walking step by step toward the magnificent stage, where everybody was looking at...


    On the lofty stage, a gorgeous lady in red was looking at him with a sweet smile on her face.


    Who is she? Oh right, she is my intimate lover who swore to walk the rest of our lives together! Upon thinking about this, Brandon couldn''t help but hasten his pace, wishing he could reach the stage quicker and hold the fair, delicate hand of his lover.


    But, somehow, it was as if the red carpet underneath his feet kept stretching longer and longer. No matter how hard he tried to run and shout, the distance between him and the slender hand of his beautiful lover grew and grew...


    Finally, the scene around him distorted, and his conscious grew dim and faded.


    As Bleia''s creepy sucking continued, Brandon''s arm finally drooped!


    ...


    2430 Words

 Chapter 154 Sacrifice

    On top of the bloody altar.Three torture chairs besmeared with blood were placed in a triangle shape on top of it. Leon, Blake, and Bleia were now sitting in these chairs. They had a blank look on their face, as if they were waiting for something to happen.


    Below them, on the first and second level of the altar, all Apprentice Mages were messily placed and piled up. A huge bloody hole could be seen on each and every single one of these dead bodies, blood was gurgling out from them. The magical runes on the altar had absorbed these fresh blood and became full and started to light up one after another.


    A bloody mist gradually diffused from the altar, giving it a touch of mysteriousness and evil.


    When all the evil runes on the altar were lit, a faint murmur of souls begun to linger in the air. Immediately after that, countless wraiths and spirits made their appearance in this place, flying and hovering in a circle around the altar. From time to time, their vague, incorporeal visage would transform into beautiful girls with splendid outlooks or transformed into a dreadful ghosts with withered faces...


    A creepy, ghostly laughter incessantly lingered on.


    Within this evil and bizarre scene where angels and demons kept shifting like the clouds, the dead bodies of apprentices lying flat on the altar quickly withered. It was as if all their blood, flesh, and soul were extracted by some external beings. Very soon, they shrunk and turned into messengers of death which looked similar to Ghouls.


    The red glow on the altar became more striking!


    If someone tried to perform a blood sacrifice ritual in a material plane with a tight and complete principles, he would immediately attract the strong backlash from the Will of the Plane. It was especially true for the Mage World, which was a major scale plane, as it was highly possible that the master of the ritual would evoke a deadly backlash.


    Mage Eclivel had spent a huge effort in constructing this bloody altar. And obviously, he was able to divert the backlash coming from the Will of the Plane into three nodes of the ritual. As the result, when the blood sacrifice ritual was commencing, Leon, Blake, Bleia, all three of them were tightly strapped onto the torture chairs, and their bodies were shivering violently.


    It was not fear that caused them to shiver, but because they were locked down by an unspeakable Will of Vastness from a remote space. Through the layer of principle, it kept sending forth its anger over into these three apprentices. Pressured by this Will of Vastness, blood starting to burst out from their mouth and nose, while a flow of blood also seen coming down from the corner of their eyes and ears.


    Yet, these damages to their corporeal bodies could not be compared with the severe injuries inflicted on their souls. If not because the bloody altar kept extracting the life force of those apprentices and replenishing their consumption, perhaps right at the very moment when Leon and the other two got in touch with the Will of Vastness, they had already vanished into thin air.


    But even so, during the continuous collision between their own will and the consciousness of the Plane, their soul had been riddled with a thousand gaping wounds and became extremely weak and fragile. Although such wounds on their soul could be fixed using the fragments of soul sent over by the altar, it was rather easy that these foreign souls would contaminate their own soul.


    In addition to that, these fragments of soul extracted by the altar were stained with a huge amount of negative emotions, such as anger, hatred, fear, sadness, which was the last thing that filled those apprentices before they were killed.


    By letting so many negative emotions surge into their minds, for an ordinary soul, no doubt it was something extremely frightening. Judging from this point alone, that Mage Eclivel simply never cared whether the three of them could truly become an Mage or not. He was using the method of blood sacrifice to repeatedly stimulate their soul and potential of their body, using the approach of ''help the shoots grow by pulling them upward'' to overdraw their vitality and Spirit.


    When their entire body and soul were brewed to the maximum, strongest moment, perhaps it would be the moment their Spirit crossed the line of qualitative change that came from quantitative accumulation, thereby using the huge amounts of negative emotions as the core and formed into their own conscious core. As the matter of fact, many books of magic called this process of Pseudo-Mage advanced into Mage as ''Crystallizing the Spirit Consciousness''.


    Only when a Pseudo-Mage could smoothly, completely, and steadily formed his own conscious core, his advancement ceremony was considered a true success. What Mage Eclivel prepared for Leon and the other two was actually an immature, unstable ceremony of Mage Advancement.


    Affected by the power of blood sacrifice, the trio might be able to improve their bodies, souls, and Spirits to the lowest requirement of advancing into the realm of Mage in a very short amount of time, and eventually, form their very own conscious core. But once the power of the blood sacrifice faded away, under the condition where they didn''t have a stable understanding of the Principles, sooner or later, their conscious core would disintegrate and cause irreversible damage to their souls.


    Nevertheless, Mage Eclivel didn''t care anything about this. What he wanted was the brief moment when the trio entered the period of qualitative change!


    He just had to take the opportunity of that brief moment when the trio became official Mages, using them as the sacrificial offerings and performed a second blood sacrifice ritual. With that done, he would only have to withstand a little amount of backlash from the Will of the Plane and would be able to instantly devour three conscious cores which had just formed into shape. At that moment, he would have 30-40% of chances of breaking through the bottleneck that had been holding him back for many years and becoming a Second Grade Mage who would be highly sought after in the Zhentarim Association.


    At the thought of a magnificent future waiting in front of him, Eclivel''s mind started to boil with excitement. But the further he progressed into his plan, the lesser room was left for him to relax and slacken. Therefore, he forcefully calmed down his surging emotions and payed a close and tight attention to the slightest changes to the trio who were now strapping on the torture chairs.


    By this time, the blood sacrifice ritual had slowly entered to its climax. Three sacrificial offerings were now in the critical moment of forming their conscious cores. If that little kid really did have some special preparation, then this would be the best moment for him to launch his counterattack.


    That was the reason why Mage Eclivel used his powerful Spirit and through different approaches, he put up a high vigilance, closely monitoring even the tiniest bit of changes of the trio. Enduring the painful mental suffering, he waited patiently for any abnormal changes that might happen at any time.


    Just as he expected, right at the moment when the force of blood sacrifice on the bloody altar reached to its densest level, the damn change of situation had finally arrived.


    It happened right from that Leon!


    He was now sitting straight on the torture chair. Stimulated by the intense life force and soul aura, his entire body had expanded a few times larger than before. Tiny cracks were seen filled up every single inch on his burly and tough muscle. An extremely high temperature was emanating from within his body.


    It was obvious that he took the path of Element Mage, and was focusing on Fire element. However, within this Mage Advancement Ceremony, there wasn''t any resource available to support and strengthened his Fire element innate talent. As the result, once the backlash of advancement occurred, among three of them, most probably he would be the one who suffered the most severe consequence.


    It was perhaps he had sensed his own miserable destiny, Leon, who had his body and soul totally controlled by the paper-man, suddenly trembled in a violent manner. An intense Fire element source energy was ignited and starting to burn fiercely within his body, kindled his entire body in an instant, including even his soul.


    Mage Eclivel''s face turned livid immediately.


    Within his spiritual sense, the paper-man hiding inside of Leon''s soul kept letting out shrill cries of dread. However, it was not the paper-man who gave out the order of igniting his body and soul!


    Could it be... could this Leon like that Blake, be hiding a secondary consciousness within the depths of his soul?


    No matter how hard Mage Eclivel tried to ponder, he would never understand the Chip''s unique form of existence.


    The Chip had merged into Leon''s genes, and in fact, it was more like an auxiliary brain of his. All the functioning and thinking of this brain was carried out with the method of bioelectric currents, thus it was near impossible for it to be detected from the outside. Even though Mage Eclivel was a treacherous and careful person, throughout the dozens of monitoring he performed, he actually just focused on traces of magic spell and ripples of Elementium and Spirit.


    Through such extraordinary form of existence, the Chip was able to conceal itself from his detection and hid quietly within Leon''s body.


    As the matter of fact, with regard to the possible changes and development of the blood sacrifice ritual, Leon had carried out countless inferences and deductions with the Chip. As long as that Mage Eclivel didn''t go crazy, then before the ritual begun, using a magic spell or method to gain the control over Leon and the other two was a certain choice for him!


    Therefore, at the beginning of the event, Leon didn''t hide anything and straightaway showed Eclivel his trump card. After all, no matter what he said or did, Eclivel would still do what he supposed to do, so, Leon might as well not hide anything from him. And by doing that, he actually stirred Eclivel''s mind and caused Eclivel to be filled with suspicions.


    Actually, Leon really couldn''t stop the bizarre paper-men from invading his body, and was controlled by it using a special method. Fortunately, by predicting all kinds of possible situations that he might face, Leon had drafted out hundreds and thousands of counter measurements with the Chip.


    What the Chip needed to do was, when Leon lost his self-consciousness, and right at the most critical moment of the blood sacrifice ritual, it would just have to select a most suitable solution and execute it. After all, in the aspect of controlling the body, the paper-man could never be compared to the Chip, which was part of Leon''s body.


    And the solution picked by the Chip was: Self-burning!


    The Chip had no idea about what kind of form the paper-man existed in. Nevertheless, it had just known one thing: the paper-man was not a Fire element creature!


    Burning himself completely, ignited himself thoroughly, from his body to his blood and flesh to his soul, anything that could be burned was now covered in fierce flames.


    Sitting on the torture chair, Leon''s body kept trembling violently. He threw his head back and let out a long, painful groan into the sky. A flame jet of extremely high temperature burst out from his nose and mouth. Amidst this deadly flame jet, the paper-man was struggling and roaring furiously in pain. But very soon, it was kindled by the fierce flame, starting to burn, and eventually, turned into a pile of ashes and vanished into thin air.


    Leon had finally freed himself from the restrictions put on his soul and regained his consciousness from the emptiness!


    Right after he was awakened, Leon immediately frowned his brows painfully.


    In a trance, two extremely opposite consciousnesses came from his body and soul made him felt like as if his mind had been broken into two. Or else, why was he sensing two totally opposite yet sharp feelings from his consciousness?


    One of the feelings kept telling him that he was in a perfectly fine condition. The endless supply of life force, fragments of soul that filled with deep understanding of different knowledge, all these things were rushing into his body and soul continuously, kept strengthening and expanding him.


    He had a false impression, that he could keep growing stronger like this without any limit!


    On the other end, the second feeling was totally opposite to the first. An intense crisis of death had wrapped his entire body and soul, causing his soul to turn gloomy and dark. He never felt so weak and small before, it was like a balloon filling with air had reached its limit, and maybe in the next seconds, it would burst with a loud boom and vanished into nothingness.


    Both feelings were so vivid and direct and they both had deeply engraved the strongest feeling into the depths of Leon''s soul, making him believe them without a shadow of the doubt.


    Was he strong or weak? Was he walking toward the pinnacle of his life or still lingering at the brink of death?


    In an instant, Leon was perplexed by the feelings he felt!


    ... sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2256 Words

 Chapter 155 The Wizard

    Though Leon might be perplexed, the Chip would never be!The Chip was dynamically monitoring every single piece of data within Leon''s body; it could detect or even predict the upcoming transformation through the movement of its graphs for all of the functions in his body. If he continued to receive the endless supply of mutated energy that had no filtration and sorting, perhaps he could form a random and unknown conscious core.


    But once the mutated energy supporting this transformation faded away, he would suffer a devastating fall. It wouldn''t even matter if the conscious core shattered, because at that point in time, even his soul would not be able to escape from the dreadful backlash that came from failing in advancement.


    It was time for the counter attack! He couldn''t afford to wait until the moment his conscious core formed or he would lose the chance of using his Fire element innate talent as the core to form his own conscious core!


    All of a sudden, Leon put up a violent struggle. But all four of his limbs were strapped by a special rope, and there was even a half-ball shape iron cap covering the top of his head. Any slight movement would immediately trigger a strong reaction from the torture chair. Some bizarre runes emerged on top of the black rope, scorching his skin and making them produce a hissing noise.


    The rope tightened, making it looked like it was sinking into his flesh.


    There were even seven or eight sharp, flaming red spines poking through from the inner side of the iron cap and forcefully impaled into his skull, releasing a peculiar wave that would distract the normal thinking of a human. Severe pain and distraction to his thinking, either one of those was more than enough to interrupt Leon''s upcoming actions!


    Leon had 13 points of Physique; a high Physique like this was enough to help him endure most of the pain coming from his body. But even so, he found it tough to withstand the unique instruments of torture Mage Eclivel had specifically prepared for him and the other two.


    It was worth mentioning that in order to hold them captive, Eclivel had really put in a lot of effort.


    The rope was made from the skin of a Black Serpent from the East Coast. It was capable of withstanding any Pseudo-Mage level offensive magic spells. In addition to that, among three of them, none was an apprentice with great strength, so it was impossible for them to escape the fetters of the torture chair with only their body strength.


    Together with the distraction coming from the Brain Wash Cap of Gnoll, even if all three of them really became Mages, they were in a situation where they didn''t have the chance to absorb elemental energy from the outside world and recover their body. They would be just three delicious dishes who had the identity of official Mages, but not the overall strength of an Mage.


    This place was a small inter-space controlled by Eclivel, and he was the highest authority. Without his permission, the trio could never absorb even the tiniest bit of elemental energy. Three Mage level sacrificial offerings who had stepped into the realm of Mages, yet only had the overall strength of Pseudo-Mage. This was the grand feast Mage Eclivel had prepared for himself!


    Through the torture chair, the mutated energies coming from the altar still continued penetrating Leon''s body, pushing him closer and closer to the most frightful abyss. However, even when he was confronted with a crisis of life and death, Leon was still as calm and sober as usual. In fact, his thoughts were far clearer than normal and he could see things far more thoroughly.


    "Lucy, why are you taking so long? If you delay further, it is true that I can''t escape from death, perhaps you''ll have to die together with me too!"


    "It is almost... done.... give me another... ten... minutes... these... damn defenses... of the tower... are really tough... to kill..." Lucy''s conscious wave that came from the depth of his soul was breaking up. Obviously, she was in the middle of an intense slaughter. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Remember, you only have ten minutes. Now, teleport the thing I need over here first!"


    "Damn it... this is insane... why are you... asking things... at this... moment? Rascal... I... awwww..."


    Lucy cursed hurriedly, and judging from her last shrill cry, it was obvious that she had unleashed her most deadly strike: Spatial Shatter. Having temporarily wiped clean the enemy around her, she was finally able to seize the opportunity and teleport over the thing Leon needed.


    Leon felt a slight vibration on his palms. While still strapped on the torture chair, he flipped both palms and saw two micro magical arrays, emitting wave after wave of spatial ripples. When these spatial ripples reached a very dense degree, a tiny spatial tunnel was torn open.


    Two faint noises were heard as two objects traveled through the magical arrays, similar to a short-distance teleportation array, and fell into his palms.


    Over the past month, Lucy had repeatedly tried all sorts of methods to teleport an object over to Leon''s palm, but they were all blocked off by his elementium shield, protection barrier, or some other similar defensive mechanisms. As she was being pushed to a corner, Lucy eventually thought outside of the box and came out with the idea of designing a strange thing: a micro space positioning array.


    The Chip started to work on her idea. With that, a mysterious array, now found on both of Leon''s palms, was produced!


    Relying on the positioning function of the array, it had become simpler for Lucy to teleport objects over to Leon. Most of the time, it was as easy as performing a short-distance teleportation herself.


    The item that fell into Leon''s left palm was the summoning core of his Fire Lord golem, while the item fell into his right palm was his favorite weapon: the Fire Lord''s Scepter.


    He had foreseen that all of the equipment and items found on his body would be taken away by Eclivel, therefore, long before anything else, he had left both of his ultimate weapons, which could help him turn the situation around, with Lucy. When the time was right, he would ask her to teleport them over.


    Now, with his magical weapon and his strongest golem in his hands, it was time to fight Mage Eclivel!


    With a gentle swing of the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his right hand, a large gate of flame immediately emerged behind Leon. It was enshrouded with leaping and steaming flame, creating an extremely high temperature. Through the smoky and hazy opening of the gate, one could vaguely see the realm of Fire Elementium, a world of terror purely made up of flames.


    Endless Fire Elementium burst out from the flaming gate; in an instant, they transformed the surrounding space into a sea of flame. Meanwhile, amidst this raging and soaring sea of flame, Leon tossed the summoning core of his strongest golem onto the ground.


    In next seconds, a formidable, tall and burly Fire Lord was born amidst the raging sea of flame!


    After making its debut, the first thing Fire Lord did was wield its huge, flaming lava rock hand and crush the torture chair which Leon was trapped in.


    While stretching his slightly numbed arms, amidst the flame that spread all over his body, all of the frightening wounds on Leon''s body started to close, healed, and eventually, disappeared without a trace. After owning the Flame Body, any place with fire would be his home and he could even conveniently self-heal.


    Mage Eclivel was hovering on top of the bloody altar, staring at that little Pseudo-Mage who stood with his back straight. The emotion of fury and resentment in his mind had reached their maximum degree. Because of that powerful gate of flame, the function of the bloody altar had suffered a great distraction. The other two sacrificial offerings on the altar had also started to move and struggle, showing signs of awakening soon.


    Damn it... damn it... damn it...!


    Curses rolled from Eclivel''s tongue. Without hesitation, he launched an attack at Leon.


    Hundreds and thousands of wild and ferocious Wind Blades immediately rushed towards Leon.


    Without Leon''s needing to confront the attack personally, the Fire Lord, who occupied nearly half of the space on top of the altar, took two steps forward and unleashed a Firestorm to throw it over to the incoming attack.


    The Wind Blade and Firestorm collided in midair, instantly smearing the surrounding space with a red hue. Countless raging flame and razor sharp wind blades were crashing and slicing each other in the air. Very soon, the difference in their power was revealed in front of everyone.


    The energies contained within the Firestorm were overly divided, and their power was far weaker than of those Wind Blades on the opposite side.


    As a result, sliced by countless Wind Blades that came whistling in before the Firestorm could bring all of its power into play, all the Fire Elementium was churned and shattered into pieces. And after annihilating the Firestorm, the remaining Wind Blades finally caught up to the body of the flaming giant.


    The flaming giant was standing aloft; its leaping flame armor of lava had combined the violence of Fire element and the sturdiness of Earth element. Thus, although the surface of the armor was all scratched up, the source of Fire element in its body remained intact.


    Relying on the protection of this flaming giant, Leon roared out with a loud voice, and he finally summoned the Fire Deity smoothly. Unlike what he usually did, where he always sent the Fire Deity into the battlefield as cannon fodder, Leon actually departed from his normal behavior. He forcefully poked his hand into the chest of the Fire Deity and pulled out a unique fire stone with some indistinct runes.


    He threw his head back and roared again. Then Leon opened his mouth, placed the flaming fire stone inside, and swallowed it.


    It was as if he had just swallowed a mini sun; from his mouth to his throat, and also from his stomach, a dazzling bright light and an intense heat emanated from within his body. It almost transformed him into a transparent and flaming humanoid. After such a strong congregation of Fire Elementium entered his body, driven by Fire element energy of the same origin, numerous magic runes engraved on the surface of his body started to light up, one after another.


    Leon kept roaring furiously and loudly. Intense heat and dazzling light were emanating from all over his body. An Elementium Flame coming from the source of his soul had finally kindled his body and soul.


    In the past, Leon had been bathed countless of times in the element of fire, yet those were fires produced from the collision between Fire element energy and his Flame Body. But right at this very moment, Leon was kindled by the flame that diffused from the depths of his soul.


    After a long history of learning fire, playing with fire, and researching fire, for the very first time, Leon had touched the inner principles of Fire Elementium and established a slight connection with the Fire element principle residing within the Will of the Plane. And this was the true source that could allow Leon to keep walking further in the path of an Mage.


    "Not enough... this is far from enough! I need more..."


    While letting out a thunderous roar, Leon finally activated the mystical ability the magic rune suit brought to him: the transformation of the Flame Fiend.


    A flaming humanoid far stronger and purer than the flaming giant made his debut in the scene. The two-meter tall body kept expanding and becoming bigger and bigger after being injected with a vast amount of Fire element energy; soon it reached the height of three meters. Meanwhile, a thick fire pillar shot out from the gate of flame behind him, injecting an endless amount of Fire element energy into his body.


    Due to this flaming humanoid drawing and absorbing the Fire element energy in an overly violent, quick manner, the gate of flame nearly couldn''t supply his demand. The flame on the tall gate pillars and the gate itself gradually faded away, exposed an ancient-looking stone frame fully engraved with runes.


    Supported by such vast Fire element energy, Leon once again let out a terrifying roar that shook the entire space. Driven by his powerful will, all of the Fire element energies he absorbed rushed crazily into his Spiritual Domain. In that place, they were repeatedly compressed and tempered, again and again.


    Such degree of fire congregation was no longer something that could be controlled by his mere Flame Body. For every time his Spiritual Domain shook and contracted, the powerful fire energy compressed and tempered by the true form of his spiritual consciousness would bring him devastating fire damage.


    When the strength of the fire damage reached a certain degree, the Flame Body of that lower grade could no longer provide him any resistance toward the damage!


    Every time his true form of spiritual consciousness compressed the fire energy, it was no different than an ordinary human hugging a fire pan that could bring him severe injury. However, there wasn''t any sizzling sound of skin and flesh being burned, the only thing was a severe pain that penetrated the depths of his soul.


    Amidst the severe pain that kept striking him, Leon''s senses had become blunted. Yet, most of the impurities and useless waste found in the true form of his spiritual consciousness were burned off by the dreadful flame. Backed up by the attitude of not fearing pain, and being repeatedly compressed by his spiritual consciousness, the powerful fire energy had finally starting to take its shape. Using that tiny thread of Fire element principal as the core, they crystallized and formed into the conscious core that was required to advance into the realm of an Mage.


    In the middle of a battlefield, Leon had finally advanced and become a Fire element Mage!


    ...


    2376 Words

 Chapter 156 Conscience

    Never once before in his entire life had Leon felt so close to the Will of the World!In the past, he was always having trouble differentiating between the consciousness of the plane and the will of the world. He kept having the feeling that they was just two different names for the same matter from two different angles. Yet, at this moment when he finally made the advancement and became a Fire element Mage, only then was he profoundly enlightened by the huge difference between the two.


    A plane was an enormous vessel that carried all living beings, a place where all things lived, bred, and expanded. At the beginning when a plane was born, basically the consciousness of the plane had also been born with it. After all, it was just a congregation of consciousnesses produced by all living beings and materials within the plane itself ¨C chaotic and unclear. During this period, due to the consciousness of the plane only possessing a simple instinctive response, without developing a clear and direct self-consciousness, it was generally referred as the consciousness of the plane.


    So to speak, most of the planes within the multi-verse only possessed the consciousness of the plane!


    And it was obvious that the will of the plane was more advanced and possessed higher intelligence than the consciousness of the plane. On the foundation where a plane possessed its own consciousness, when this particular plane developed and expanded to a certain magnitude, the consciousness of the plane would give birth to the will of the plane, which was something similar to the soul of a human.


    Thus, most of the consciousnesses of planes were primitive, naive like a babies who just begun to babble. They would respond to any event that might hurt them, but the process was clumsy and slow. On the other side, the will of the world was in fact, a consciousness of the plane that matured and grown up a little bit, and it had given birth to an independent self-consciousness from the chaotic congregation of consciousness. It was capable of using principles of the plane as its weapon to interfere or adjust any event that happening right within its body.


    The rare few major planes in the multi-verse belonged to this category.


    There was even some more matured will of the worlds, which were able to rely on their preferences to influence and guide those individuals who lived under their protection. Those who do something right would be rewarded and wrongdoings would be punished. Using the power of the world principle, they guided themselves to moving towards the direction they anticipated.


    Throughout the entire multi-verse, there was only one world had given birth to a matured will of the world. It was a lower tier realm infested with foul demons and devils ¨C the World of Abyss.


    Meanwhile, the World of Mage where Leon lived in right now was obviously a major plane who had given birth to its own will of the world. Together, millions upon millions of living beings and billions upon billions of materials within the plane had formed and produced a consciousness of the plane that owned a partial self-consciousness. No matter whether it was a stalk of flower, a shrub of weed, a human being, a stone, regardless the level of their status, whether they were a noble or a mere peasant, irrespective of whether they were strong or weak, they were just a tiny part of this powerful will of the world.


    Apparently, this will of the world was similar to those consciousnesses of the plane born in most of the material planes. It was against the blood sacrificial ritual which would cause a great number of souls in its world to vanish and be used as the sacrificial offering for a foreign world. As the result, with regards to Leon''s behavior of directly fighting against the bloody altar, the will of the world had used the power of principle and given him preferential treatment.


    Or else, with the current capability of Leon''s soul, he would have to face a great challenge if he wished to become an official Mage. According to the Chip''s estimation, if the will of the world didn''t make a concession for Leon, the odds of Leon advancing into the realm of Mage just now was less than 7%.


    According to the information Leon had, usually Mages would call the process of adapting the principles, using the principles and complying with the guidance from the will of the world in order to obtain personal experience and improved one''s skill, as the ''feedback of the world.'' And as the matter of fact, such feedback was part of the world principle itself!


    Therefore, it could be said that literally because of the power from the feedback of the world, that Leon was able to complete his Mage Advancement Ceremony!


    Since he had advanced smoothly and became an official Mage, he was now freed from the shackles of the bloody altar. However, when he stood up with his back straight and ran his eyes around this completely isolated inter-space, he realized that the situation of the battle was still in the worst condition.


    In less than ten minutes, the Fire Lord was showing signs of defeat, as now it could barely defend against the violent bombardment coming from Mage Eclivel. As for the other two companions of his, Bleia was strapped on a torture chair placed on the other end of the altar, letting out a painful shriek into the sky. It was obvious that her situation wasn''t good at all. Lucy had just slaughtered her way into the controlling main hall of the Swampy Tower and was fighting a fierce battle against two Mage level magical beasts. She was now running around busily, chased by the enemies, hence there was no way she could help create trouble.


    As for that Blake, after receiving an order from Mage Eclivel, he had escaped from the torture chair, and was roaring with a deep voice while dashing towards Leon who had just opened his eyes.


    Leon let out a deep and lordly laugh. He stretched his tall and burly stature, moved both arms over his head and unleashed a red force field from his body, covering an area of fifty meters in diameter.


    Right after Worm controller leaped into the red force field, an elemental flame appeared out of nowhere immediately coiled up his body. The frightful high-temperature evaporated all the water in his body, which was few in volume, and the scorching hot flame jet roasted his body and made it produce crackling noises. In less than three seconds, his formidable half-bug body was nearly toasted by Leon''s Ring of Fire.


    In a speed faster than he came, Blake scurried away from this red force field.


    Although he had escaped from it, he had left behind a great number of charred and cracked bug fragments. If not because he ran away in time, even without Leon attacking him personally, just with the Ring of Fire outside of Leon''s body alone would have been enough to roast him into a bug barbecue.


    Blake spent a long time strolling around the Ring of Fire. He had no courage to take another step into it.


    After becoming an official Mage, a Pseudo-Mage like Blake was hardly his opponent.


    Through the Chip''s Elementium Vision which provided him a comprehensive and thorough sight, Mage Eclivel, who was now hovering in midair carried by wind vortex, was no longer enveloped in mystery like in the past. From the battle between him and Fire Lord, Leon could vaguely detect some information relating to him.


    "Chip, can you digitize Eclivel''s combative ability?"


    "Beep. The thread of task has been established... Initializing... Beep! Beep! Beep! ... Warning! Warning! Unable to complete the task... An error occurred in the digitalization of the target..."


    "Chip, find the reason why we can''t construct the model of the target."


    "Beep. Analyzing of error data has been completed... the highest possibility is that the sample template of the target model is no longer appropriate... the host needs to recollect the data of Mage level targets in order to reconstruct the template..."


    Leon saw the light suddenly.


    After the Chip was activated, the first digitalization model he built was based on an ordinary human. Using the body attribute data of an ordinary adult as the foundation, the Chip had constructed the scale of overall strength for Apprentice Mage. And since he had become an Mage himself, this basic template could no longer be used on Mage Eclivel. As the result, the Chip couldn''t construct the digitized model of him.


    "Chip, expand the scope of collecting data, including all data in the database of the Mages I''ve met into the calculation. Use Mage level creatures to reconstruct the basic digitized template."


    "Beep. Task has been established... beginning extraction of data about Mages. The samples included: Eclivel, Sammir, Angus, Flower Fairy, Andre, Endor, Molten Giant... Constructing new digitized template..."


    Taking the time when the Chip was busy constructing the new template, Leon moved his feet and appeared beside the flaming giant, helping it to block off Mage Eclivel''s attacks. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In just less than ten minutes, the flaming giant''s body had been heavily damaged.


    One after another powerful Fire element magic spells cast by it landed on the elemental barrier outside of Eclivel''s body, causing it to ripple and make the surrounding air to vibrate violently. However, with the endless and constant supply of element energy from the Swampy Tower, there was no way these attacks could break through his defense, and his defense was also enhanced by the tower. The attacks unleashed by Eclivel were also something it could not stand up against.


    An attack was countered by another attack, after the Fire element magic spell cast by Fire Lord was shattered by Eclivel''s Wind element magic spell, the remaining magical energy still riddled a thousand holes on its lava armor. If this Fire Lord wasn''t an elemental creature, perhaps it would have already been defeated by Eclivel''s brutal and savage attack.


    Leon didn''t want his most competent minion to be destroyed by Eclivel, so he took the initiative to replace Fire Lord and stood in front of Eclivel, while the Fire Lord turned around and dashed towards Bleia, trying to rescue her from the torture chair.


    "What a lucky kid. You better not think that just because you became an Mage, you have the ability to resist me. Today, I''ll make you realize the huge difference between you and me!" Upon seeing Leon, a frenzied and vicious expression immediately emerged on Mage Eclivel''s gloomy old face.


    As the events developed into the current stage, Eclivel realized that his plan had been completely ruined. Although there wasn''t any risks to his life, the plans of advancement he had been thinking for more than one hundred years were destroyed by this seemingly insignificant Pseudo-Mage. The resentment and unwillingness of accepting such fact in his mind could no longer be described with any words or any spoken language.


    With his mind filled with a slight thread of craziness brought on by the shattering of his hope, Eclivel rode on a strong wind and unleashed a fierce assault at Leon.


    After just exchanging three rounds of attack, Leon had deeply felt the pain Fire Lord was suffering just now.


    There was absolutely no way he could destroy Eclivel''s elemental defense outside!


    From the strength of element the Chip detected, the elemental defense outside of Eclivel''s body actually possessed a whopping 120 degree of defensive strength. The ''degree'' here was a quantifier fixed by all Mages, it was used to standardize the basic data of offensive and defensive ability. It used the full energy a magic crystal could unleash as the basic unit, which was 1 degree, and using it to quantify all kind of standards.


    Basically, the power of a magic spell cast by a Beginner Apprentice using his own energy was around 1 to 5 degrees. As for Intermediate Apprentice, it was around 5 to 10 degrees, and Advanced Apprentice could have 15 to 20 degrees. As for Pseudo-Mage, their power was between 30 to 50 degrees.


    The power of Eclivel''s elemental defense was as high as 120 degrees. This also meant, if the magic spell Leon cast couldn''t break his defense with one hit, by the time the next magic spell was ready, Eclivel''s defense would have already recovered back to its peak.


    With the energy of Swampy Tower as his support, Eclivel didn''t have to worry about his defense.


    Contrary to that, Leon could hardly withstand the swift and violent attacks coming from Eclivel.


    After all, Leon had just completed his advancement. His Ring of Fire hadn''t merged perfectly with his Fire element innate talent, and his basic defensive strength was only 70 degrees, which was far behind that of his opponent''s.


    In just the time of fewer than ten seconds, Leon had received waves of bombardment from three large scale magic spells. Part of the power of these magic spells penetrated through the gap of his Ring of Fire and had inflicted some damage onto his body.


    ...


    2203 Words

 Chapter 157 Blake

    Leon was having a hard time in the battle of Mages against Eclivel.It was worth mentioning that as an Mage who just made the advancement, compared to a veteran Mage like Eclivel, whether it was his combat experience or his ability to cast magic spell, there was a huge gap between them. If you took the support and enhancement the Swampy Tower provided to Eclivel into consideration, this battle had slowly become a one-sided one.


    With just five minutes into the battle, Eclivel had determined his combative superiority. A raging tornado carried countless wind blades and daggers kept breaking through the interception from Leon''s magic spells, spreading the flames of war closer to his side.


    The transformation of Flame Fiend had given Leon a lofty and burly body, allowing him to own an intrepidly built and near limitless Fire element energy in the magic spell battle. But once he suffered a setback in the battle, the loophole in his defense was actually bigger than normal.


    Leon himself was not a velocity-type Mage who specialized in agility. As a matter of fact, among all the data of his body attributes, Agility was his biggest weakness.


    Therefore, the lofty flaming humanoid transformed from Leon was seen simply standing still where he was, the ground underneath his feet had melted into half-molten lava, and the space covered fifty meters radius around him was filled with rolling and steaming flames. Anyone who tried to get closer to him would have to first withstand an endless fire elemental damage.


    It was perhaps this that might have helped him in establishing some superiority when fighting with an Mage who specialized in agility. However, when he was facing an Mage who never needed to worry about defense, an Element Mage who just had to attack with all he had, Leon''s weakness had become apparent.


    The elemental affinity of Mage Eclivel was Dark and Wind Elementium. As the result, though all the magic spells cast by him were mainly using Wind Elementium, they also carried Dark Elementium which brought a strong corrosive effect. A faint dark smoke always enshrouded the wounds on Leon''s body which were cut by those wind blades. If he didn''t use a huge amount of Fire element energy to wash and wipe off these Dark Elementiums, even with his high Physique, he wouldn''t be able to heal them quickly.


    This had made this battle tougher for Leon!


    If the situation continued to develop in this direction, even if Leon devoted all his effort, it was still very difficult for him to defend against Eclivel''s assault. And once he was defeated, as they were in a completely sealed off inter-space, there wasn''t any paths that could allow him to escape.


    Leon bowed down and poked his left hand into the floor which had turned into flowing lava. When he pulled his left hand out, a big chunk of floor nearly five meters wide was pulled out together, turning into a flaming lava shield and was placed in front to block him.


    The noise of wind blades cutting kept ringing through the scene. The lava shield had blocked off a tornado that swept right in his direction. The wind blades that came together with this frightful tornado were like countless spinning steel blades, cutting and slicing out a few hundred crisscrossing deep trenches on the surface of the shield in an instant.


    Leon roared and raised the lava shield high, both his feet had sunk deeply into the molten lava underneath. Driven by him, the scorching hot lava flowed up along his body and resupplied into the lava shield in his hands. But unfortunately, before he could patch up the damage, an extremely sharp Wind Spear hit and crushed onto the surface of the lava shield, instantly exploded it into countless tiny wind blades and vortexes that dispersed into all directions.


    With this hit, the thickness of the lava shield was reduced by half, and with the thickness that was remaining, it was impossible for him to defend against the next attack.


    Leon kept waving the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand. Assisted by the Secret Scroll of Voodoo, three major Fire magic spells exploded beside Eclivel in a row. It was a pity that such attacks could only destroy the magic spell Eclivel was about to cast, but were unable to penetrate through his elemental barrier and inflict any damage on him.


    In this situation, actually, a melee battle was more likely to harm to the enemy. However, with Leon''s heavy and slow pace, it was simply a foolish dream if he wished to chase Eclivel who was riding in the wind!


    Leon turned around and let out a furious roar, "Blake, I know you are here. Don''t tell me you''re going to wait until I am defeated, then only wag your tail at that ugly fellow? If you still wish to seize back your freedom, show yourself. I need your help now!"


    The target of Leon''s roar was, of course, not that Blake who kept wandering around his Ring of Fire and seeking opportunities to strike, but the primary consciousness of Worm controller who had formed a strategic alliance with him.


    Right at this moment, within this completely sealed off interspace, the situation of the entire battlefield was clear at a glance.


    There was only a handful of people still alive in this place. Besides Eclivel who was hovering and flying in the air, the rest were Leon, who had made his advancement and became a Fire element Mage, Bleia, who had been freed from the torture chair and was fighting against the flaming giant, Blake, who had become the loyal slave of Eclivel, and Snorlax, who had turned invisible and was hiding at the furthest distance from the battlefield.


    At this very moment in time, the only person who could help him was most probably that primary consciousness of Worm controller, who had concealed himself and couldn''t be traced. If he didn''t want to watch the entire battle go in the direction of complete failure, and lose all hopes of seizing his body back, then he must come out and do something!


    Leon continued shouted for one more round. Right as he was about to give up hope, a strange occurrence suddenly happened right on the battlefield!


    Odd noises of bones cracking suddenly were heard.


    Dead bodies of apprentices who appeared to be long dead started to struggle and climb back up, dragging their twisted and deformed body and limbs, staggering their steps and moving towards Eclivel''s direction. At the beginning, their movements were slow and stiff, but just after three to five seconds, their movement suddenly became nimble and swift. They started to run, crawl, leap... moving as nimble as a monkey, they kept climbing up from the bottom of the altar and crazily charged towards Eclivel who had a slightly startled expression.


    Meanwhile, that Blake who didn''t put out a great performance since the beginning of the battle suddenly had his body tremble violently. All sorts of beetles and scorpions began to fall out from behind his black robe. And strangely, these bugs actually split into two distinct groups, forming into two waves of bugs and that started to crazily bite and kill the other.


    Hmph. This guy had finally done something!


    Leon stood still and glanced around the battlefield.


    Those apprentices who transformed into bugs-men by Worm controller had been dead for a long time, the thing that controlling their dead bodies now was actually some Carrion Beetles hidden within their body. They were like a group of fighters with no fear of death, clustering below Mage Eclivel and piled up into a small hill of corpses, continuously leaping into the air and attacking with their teeth.


    After all, this place was an isolated space expanded with the power of the tower, thus it could only reach a certain height. As the result, when thirty odd apprentices stacked on each other and formed into a small hill, it seemed they might really able to drag Mage Eclivel down from the air.


    The elemental barrier covering outside of Mage Eclivel''s body could defend against offensive magic spells, and as a result was near invincible. However, when faced with physical attacks at a close-quarter, this layer of protection became rather ordinary.


    Upon looking at the frightful faces of ugly and twisted bodies kept leaping in front of him, howling and launching attacks, Mage Eclivel furiously tossed out a tornado onto the hill of corpses. The violent wind blades and the dreadful vortexes instantly ground them into pieces.


    But in the next seconds, a loud boom exploded from the scene. Countless frightening flying bugs burst out from the broken bodies of apprentice, clustered into a dense dark cloud and instantly flooded Mage Eclivel''s body.


    The assault of such magnitude might cause some troubles for Eclivel, yet would not enough to kill him. Therefore, when Leon saw what happened, an aggressive gleam flickered in his eyes. Without hesitation, he threw out the trump card that he had prepared for a long time.


    Self-explosion of golem!


    After received an order from Leon''s spiritual consciousness, the summoning core of Mage level golem which Eclivel placed in his pocket immediately exploded!


    It was actually a summoning core purposely modified by him. When he was fighting with Lucy last time, he bore patiently and only activate one Fire Lord. Thus, in Eclivel''s subconscious mind, Leon only owned one single summoning core of Mage level.


    As the result, during the period Eclivel had the control over Leon''s body, after he found the summoning core, he had lowered down his guard against Leon. He never expected that Leon had hidden another summoning core on Lucy, while the one that remained with him was a summoning core that had been thoroughly modified, waiting for Eclivel to find it.


    And at this moment, taking the opportunity when Mage Eclivel was trapped by Worm controller'' minions, Leon had finally given out the order to the core to explode.


    In the next second, a huge lava pillar exploded from within this isolated interspace. Extreme high temperatures, deadly heat, raging and violent lava, and terrifying flame jets shot in all directions, all of which had formed into a world of lava that could annihilate every single living being, coiling and spreading towards Eclivel at top speed.


    The swarm of bugs that spread all over the place immediately suffered from a devastating blow. Among the tens of thousands of bugs, only a handful of them managed to survive. Inside of Blake''s body, within the bugs tide that was crazily fighting for the control over the body, a shrill bug cry suddenly echoed out.


    "Leon, you bastard, you..."


    But before his high-pitch curse could be finished, the voice was flooded by a more frightening and savage hiss of bugs.


    Apparently, the battle happening on his side was in a very dangerous state as well, and it was a life-and-death struggle!


    "Serve you right! Who let you use me as your escape goat. I really hate to be used by someone else, take this as a lesson. You better focus your attention on your internal war! And be careful, don''t let that puppet consciousness to devour you. If that really happened, it''ll be really interesting!" Leon sneered in a disdainful manner.


    In the far distance, the figure of Eclivel had been enveloped by the raging explosion of Elementium and turbulences, and no one could peek at what was happening inside. Leon had no choice but to turned around and walked towards Bleia.


    Indeed, the power of bloodline could allow an apprentice to grow up in a very short amount of time. But once the source of the bloodline fell into the hand of enemies, then the apprentice would become a puppet who had no command over oneself and would be left at the mercy of someone else!


    The current Bleia had turned into a ghostly assassin that went on rampage. She kept leaping and dashing around the Fire Lord at lightning speed, while the crimson longbow in her hand kept bursting out sounds of ''twang''s, unleashing one after another crimson arrow and hitting the vitals of her opponent. It was obvious that Fire Lord only specialized in offensive and wasn''t really good in capturing and trapping. Therefore, after thrusting crazily toward Bleia for a few times, relying on her high Agility, all its attempts were dodged by her with ease.


    Yet, as Bleia was an ''ally'' of its master, the Fire Lord couldn''t wantonly launch attacks at her. Thus, when Leon was fighting Eclivel with all his effort, the Fire Lord was locked in a tough battle against Bleia!


    At this point in time, Leon came over to their battlefield with his lofty body. When Bleia intruded into his Ring of Fire, the flame in the air immediately transformed into flaming chains and tied her up tightly, pulling her in front of Leon.


    Although Leon just became an official Mage, but when he wanted to deal with a Pseudo-Mage, he could still handle him or her with ease. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2191 Words

 Chapter 158 Energy

    Even Leon''s current overall strength was insufficient to entirely capture Bleia.Crimson armor had appeared on Bleia''s body to repel the flaming chain and had gained her some time to struggle.


    This crimson armor had been modified for her by Leon! But now, it had actually become an accomplice to help Bleia fight against him. Leon''s mind was filled with mixed emotions.


    However, no matter how hard Bleia tried to struggle, her tall and slim body was still dragged toward Leon, inch by inch.


    In next second, Leon''s large lava palm, spread like a folding fan, grabbed Bleia''s head. The boiling hot, bright red lava rock instantly scorched her skin and made it split. The foul scent of roasted flesh suddenly filled the surrounding air.


    Even with such cruel torture, it was still not enough to free Bleia from Eclivel''s spiritual shackles. She bared her pale-white fangs at Leon and portrayed a murderous look, without even the tiniest bit of care towards her face, which had been burnt beyond recognition. She just kept biting crazily at the lava hand.


    Leon had a feeling that perhaps with just a gentle squeeze, the vigorous life that kept struggling in his palm, the once beautiful and splendid head would explode like a watermelon that was thrown forcefully to the ground. With that, he would be able to free himself and seriously deal with the wounded Eclivel. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If he just let Bleia barge around wantonly, even a small soldier could become an important element that turns the entire situation around. In order to solve this problem, he just had to give a gentle squeeze!


    The consequences of his decision had instantly brought Leon into a dilemma.


    However, right at this moment, the raging sea of flame at the far side suddenly shrank. A familiar figure was seen staggering out from within.


    Apparently, the golem''s self-explosion just how had inflicted severe damage to Mage Eclivel''s corporeal body. With the naked eye, one could see his body was now fully covered in burn marks after being scorched by fire, and there was even some damage on his face. It was clearly because of the flying black bugs.


    His left eye was missing; blood kept flowing and dripping down from the black and gruesome looking hole where it used to be.


    His Mage hat was gone due to the explosion; a few strands of dried, yellowish hair were seen waving above his skinny, shriveled head. A cold gleam, murderous and hideous, shone from his remaining right eye. It stared straight at Leon''s face, portraying an aggressive look of not stopping until death!


    Obviously, the sudden explosion had not been something his elemental barrier could withstand. The long robe on Eclivel''s body had been ripped to pieces and become shreds of fraying cloth that barely covered his body. Bloody wounds of all sizes covered his skinny and bony chest and traces of burns could be found all over his body.


    "Good... you''re very good..." Anyone could hear the enmity in Eclivel''s words. "You really caught me by surprise. Very good... but, a mere Mage level summoning core is not enough to kill me. Now, it is your turn to face your death!"


    While burning in the raging flame of anger, Eclivel raised his right hand into the air and loudly started to recite a profound and hard to understand magic spell incantation. In an instant, innumerable dark spears came shooting toward Leon like a heavy rain.


    While looking coolly at this overwhelming attack, Leon murmured under his breath, "Three... two... one... burst!"


    The entire isolated inter-space suddenly shook violently; one could even see spatial ripples in the air with the naked eye. Cracking noises were heard coming from the loft altar as numerous tiny cracks starting to spread across the stone wall like spider webs. Blood-colored mist burst out from the tiny cracks, like blood flowing from someone who was wounded.


    Even when it had been hit with the self-explosion of an Mage level summoning core, the elemental barrier enshrouding Eclivel hadn''t shattered completely. However, for some unknown reason, this time, it started to disintegrate amidst the violent quaking.


    The tight connection between Eclivel and the Swampy Tower was suddenly cut off!


    Mage Eclivel was stunned, and then he suddenly realized something. "Lucy! It is that hateful little girl! I''m going to rip all of you into pieces. Then I''ll use your body and make the ugliest, evilest misshapen corpse, trapping your souls in it forever... all of you deserve to be killed..."


    The Flame Fiend that was the transformed Leon smiled. Then he said, "You better deal with her first!"


    Right after he finished saying that, a red light flashed from Leon''s hand, and a strange magic spell was seen penetrated Bleia''s head. After that, he brought her up in the air and forcefully threw her towards Eclivel.


    His action was like a signal, for a brand new battle instantly broke out!


    The Fire Lord strode forward with heavy steps, charging toward Eclivel. While it was on its way, it tossed out a series of Magma Fireballs toward the enemy. Meanwhile, Leon was hiding behind it. He stretched out his hand and the Secret Scroll of Voodoo coiled around his waist instantly appeared in his palm.


    As the cover of the magical book unfolded itself, pages within it started to flip quickly. Whenever the goat-skin paper stopped at a certain page, a violent Fire element magic spell would cast out from it and fly fiercely towards Eclivel.


    The pages kept on flipping; one after another Fire element magic spells were activated and flew out from it. Very soon, Mage Eclivel was surrounded and flooded by a raging sea of flame.


    Flaming Storm!


    Chain of Fireballs!


    Explosive Fire Pillars!


    Thermal Shock!


    Venom Flame!


    ...


    One after another, violent Fire element magic spells almost turned that particular area into a raging ocean of flame. They were mixed with physical attacks and venomous attacks, so the enemy could hardly defend against them.


    However, all of them collided right into the Shattering Wave that had been unleashed by Eclivel. The attacks launched by both sides fought against each other in the center of the battlefield. The Elementium turbulence shooting out from the collision brushed and washed through everything in the area, turning everything into tiny bits of debris that couldn''t be seen with the naked eye, and continued pushing and splashing into the far distance within the isolated inter-space.


    Eclivel once again barged out from the ocean of flame while roaring furiously. The last-minute Wind Barrier he had unleashed by him broke into pieces with the impact, causing more wounds on his body. Nevertheless, a large incorporeal hand produced by him was now holding a severely mutilated human body. Not even a piece of intact skin could be found on the miserable looking thing.


    It seemed he had used Bleia''s body as his shield just now. Only then could he barely avoid the combined attack from Leon and Fire Lord. Without the endless supply of energy from Swampy Tower, Eclivel had also lost his defense, the elemental barrier that could protect his safety. In a situation where he had to face two opponents alone, his tiny bit of combat experience and spell casting skill were nothing worth mentioning.


    The second half of the battle quickly elevated into an intense situation!


    Eclivel sprung up into the sky again. Riding on a vast wind and flying in midair, he used Tornado Storm, Sound Burst, Dark Dragon Spear, and Wind Blades to assault Leon. Meanwhile, Leon and the Fire Lord were chasing behind him, using magic spells of even more violence, such as Fire Core Explosion, Magma Fireball, and Firestorm to counterattack.


    Magic spells that emanated intense Elementium ripples kept striking through the sky. They either exploded into fireworks on the opponent''s protection barrier or were dodged and fell to a far corner of this isolated inter-space, turning that corner into a small sea of flame or deadly tornados.


    Relying on its invisibility, Snorlax was lying flat on its stomach and hiding carefully in a remote corner. While covering its head with both hands, it watched as the frightful magic spells flew over it; the fear in its mind had reached a level beyond words. Whenever a fireball exploded close by, countless dirt and debris would splash toward its direction, hitting its body and causing it to be covered in bruises.


    But Snorlax didn''t pay any attention to the injury. Instead, it opened its eyes wide and put all of its efforts in identifying which magic spell might fall onto its head.


    "The Mighty God of Goblins, please give me your blessing and don''t let any magic spell fall on me!"


    Though the isolated inter-space looked spacious, it just couldn''t contain the torture wantonly put out by two Mages and one Mage level golem. In addition to that, the target of Snorlax''s prayer was obviously not a deity local to the Mage World. As a result, no matter how much or how madly it prayed, a Magma Fireball still came straight to it, with a long tail of dark smoke behind.


    "Damn it! I hope you are not deceiving me..."


    While crying out in terror, Snorlax pulled out a strange round orb from its pocket and threw it forcefully onto the floor.


    After a loud explosive boom, a huge deep pit with a five meter diameter was created on the floor of the inter-space. It was surrounded by numerous tiny cracks arranged in a spider web pattern. In the next moment, the raging fireball hit and a sea of fire immediately coiled up every single inch of space in this area.


    Under an elemental attack of such magnitude, perhaps even a Pseudo-Mage would find it tough to protect himself, while any apprentices below the level of Pseudo-Mage simply had no chance to survive. Yet, after this deadly explosion of Elementium gradually faded away, an invisible energy shield actually appeared inside of the deep pit, and Snorlax was seen coiled up inside of it with its face turned deathly pale. Its eyes were still filled with the image of blooming fireworks.


    The energy shield didn''t last for a very long time, but it had saved Snorlax from the attack of a ''stray fireball.''


    Snorlax patted around few times on its body and felt nothing; then it pinched its thigh forcefully. The pain made it jump up.


    "Gazlowe, I love you! I shouldn''t have doubted you..."


    With regards to this Full Covered Energy Deflection Force Field ¨C Goblin Improved Version 3, Snorlax had no more doubt. Although it cost ten magic crystals to activate it every time, no matter how much it cost, it would never be more precious than its own life!


    Without hesitation, Snorlax pulled out another two goose-egg-sized energy shield activators from its pocket. While watching at the center of battlefield where the intense battle was going on, it wore a big silly smile and said, "Come on, come on, I''m not scared anymore..."


    A moment ago, it had feared the stray magic spells in the air like they were some ferocious tigers, but now it actually hoped it could be visited by some of them, so it could give the treasures holding in its hand another test!


    It was worth mentioning, after some time pestering that Gazlowe, the goblin engineer, Snorlax did find and exchange some strange and peculiar objects. Although all of these objects had names that sounded mighty and incredible and each of them possessed some miraculous ability that could hardly be imagined by anyone, anyone who had experience in dealing with goblins would know that, though they were indeed miraculous, they were also very unstable!


    To perfectly illustrate this, when Snorlax was eagerly wanting to carry out a second test of this miraculous energy shield, it... it actually exploded by itself. Fortunately, the mini explosion of the energy shield activator knocked Snorlax tens of meters away, just enough for it to escape another Fire Core Explosion. Or else, even if Snorlax had survived, it would have suffered a severe injury.


    Snorlax rolled up from the floor, looking at the activator, which had melted into molten iron in the sea of flame. Its legs were trembling in fear.


    "That damn Gazlowe, how dare he sell me a counterfeit and inferior product! Once I return, I''ll settle this score with you..."


    After cursing furiously at the sky, Snorlax had lost all its courage to be so arrogant. Carefully, it took out its magic wand and cast an Invisible spell on itself before hiding in a remote corner once again.


    ...


    2106 Words

 Chapter 159 A new Mage

    The formidable strength of a veteran Mage was indeed way beyond anyone imagination!Even though he had suffered from the impact from the self-explosion of the golem, had the control of main hall in Swampy Tower destroyed, and was besieged by both Leon and the Fire Lord, the combative strength that Mage Eclivel put out was still way stronger than anybody else in this place.


    And right at this moment, the Chip who had been quiet for a long time finally completed the damn reconstruction of the template.


    "Beep. Reconstruction of the target model has been completed. Shall I show them to you right now?"


    "Show me! Show me quickly!" Leon replied impatiently.


    "Beep. Below are the data for the target:"


    "Eclivel. First Grade Human Element Mage. Expert in Wind and Dark Elements. Strength ¨C 1.2, Agility ¨C 1.3, Physique ¨C 2.1, Spirit ¨C 8.4."


    "How about my data?"


    "Beep. Below are the data for the target:"


    "Leon. First Grade Human Element Mage. Expert in Fire Element. Strength ¨C 4.6 (1.4) Agility ¨C 0.6 (0.8), Physique ¨C 3.6 (1.2), Spirit ¨C 1.6 (0.9). Currently in the state of Transformation of Flame Fiend."


    While looking at the latest body attributes of his own, Leon finally understood why there was such a huge gap between an Mage who just advanced and a veteran Mage. He was currently under a special state of transformation of the Flame Fiend, that was why all of his body attributes, except for Agility, had skyrocketed. Both his Strength and Physique was now stronger than Mage Eclivel''s. However, his Spirit, which was the most important attribute for any Mage, was far weaker than that of the opponent.


    Most probably, if not for the the transformation of the Flame Fiend, those numbers inside the parentheses were his body attributes'' actual numbers!


    Judging from the data provided by the Chip, Eclivel''s Spirit wasn''t too much greater than his, it was only eight to nine times more! Taking the environment of the battlefield, combative skills and experience of spell casting into consideration, although there was a huge difference between their body attributes, there was still room for Leon to fight against Eclivel.


    Though Eclivel was a research-type Mage and not an expert in fighting, as a veteran Mage, among all magic spells he mastered, he still owned an achievement that no one else''s could ever compare to. As his affine elements were Wind and Dark element, therefore, Eclivel had found a way to merge Dark Elementium into all his Wind element magic spells.


    With that, when any Wind element magic spells that he cast hit the enemy, the spells would always bring the double elemental damage of Wind and Dark. As for his personal defense, after losing the aid and support of the Swampy Tower, Eclivel had no choice but to unleash his Wind Barrier to escape from the radiating damage brought on by the frightening Fire element magic spells.


    As for those magic spells he failed to dodge, Eclivel would use Bleia, whom he still held in his hands, as his humanoid shield.


    By doing so, not only could he use Bleia to block off the attack, he could also make that damn kid, Leon, hesitate when attacking, killing two birds with one stone, what was the sense of not doing that?


    Yet, little to his knowledge, on the face of the darkened, charred body that he held in his hand and used as a shield, two tiny slits suddenly cracked open, and a shivering, a crimson glow was seen shining through from these slits. Finally, the spell Leon sent into Bleia''s body not too long ago had taken effect!


    Bleia''s mind was in a whirl. The severe pain came from the surface of her body didn''t mean much to her now. Inside of her body, under an unknown influence, her blood was slowly heating up and beginning to boil. The boiling hot blood was rushing through her dried and charred body at high speeds, passing through a few internal organs which had completed the vampire modification and activated them, making them continuously burst with incredible vitality.


    All this was the mutated energies her body had absorbed during the blood sacrifice ritual just now and had yet to be fully digested. As her body was badly wounded now, these mutated energies had transformed into vitality energy by her powerful vampire instincts, using them to repair her heavily damage body.


    The temperature of her blood was still increasing slowly. It felt like as if all her blood vessels were injected with molten iron. Tiny cracks started to appear on Bleia''s charred and darkened skin, the hot air flow kept bursting out from these cracks. Bleia, whose source bloodline was controlled by Eclivel with a consciousness rune, couldn''t bear it anymore and let out a painful groan. Interfered by this powerful external factor, her vampire instincts had finally suppressed the order forcefully implemented by Eclivel.


    The charred body opened up a darkened mouth and exhaled a stream of hot steam.


    Bleia was back again!


    Amidst the intense battle, Eclivel suddenly sensed something was not right in his hand. It felt like the vampire he held in his hands was...


    Before he could ponder any further, the charred body that didn''t move and looked like a dead body moments ago suddenly turned her head around, giving him a cold and frightening smile. From within her darkened mouth, he saw two rows of pale-white teeth that made his heart tremble, while two vampire fangs were growing longer at an incredible speed and protruding from her lips.


    In the next second, the charred body suddenly opened her mouth wide and ferociously, she bit into Eclivel''s neck.


    Eclivel had just used a Dark Dragon Spear and shattered the lava armor of Fire Lord and was about to continue his attack by throwing a Wind Vortex into its wound so he could inflict an injury that it could barely recover from. Yet, right at this critical moment, Bleia who had been controlled and held in his hands suddenly betrayed him. The fear that struck Eclivel''s mind could no longer be described with any words.


    A crazy shriek instantly rolled off of Eclivel''s tongue. Using both hands he quickly formed more than one hundred Wind Vortexes which had been compressed into the size of thumbnails and sent all of them onto Bleia''s body. Each and every single one of these wind vortexes was like a mini sized meat grinder, wherever they passed, no matter how high the Bleia''s Physique was, there was no way she could withstand their slicing and cutting. All her bones, tendons, blood, and flesh were like pieces of cheese that met with a drill head, there just now way they could stop these Wind Vortexes from moving further.


    When more than one hundred of such deadly objects exploded in her body, the frightful damages they brought to Bleia were self-explanatory!


    In the next seconds, Bleia''s chest simply exploded like it had just gone through a thorough dissection. Fresh dark and purple-colored blood, pieces of intestines that fallen apart, and fragments of flesh whose origin could not be recognized, all of them burst and splashed out from inside in one go. They even besmeared Eclivel who was standing close to her into a bloody man!


    With such a terrifying damage to the corporeal body, if it were any other people, perhaps the pain alone would have been enough to kill that person! Yet, Bleia didn''t show any response to it. Instead, all ten fingernails of her started to grow crazily, and using all her strength, she clung tightly onto Eclivel''s body, while sucking and gobbling the sweet and abundant blood.


    The sounds of gobbling were so loud that they could even be vividly heard from a far distance!


    At this point in time, Bleia had lost her shape as a normal human being. From below her neck, the flesh on the front of her body was nearly missing entirely, and there wasn''t anything could be found in her abdomen. The only thing left were the fragments of blood vessels that were falling apart, chunks and slices of minced flesh that barely hung onto her twisted backbone. Except for these, all her internal organs were gone!


    Though she had lost all her internal organs, the blood that flowed down through her throat didn''t disperse and spill all over the place. It was as if there were some totally invisible organs and blood vessels remaining and guiding the blood that carried with abundant elemental energy through a winding passage within her chest and abdomen, using the crimson-colored bloodstream to redraw the outline and position of all her organs.


    Bleia''s heart was nowhere to be found after the explosion. But right at this moment, a couple dozens and hundreds of bloodstreams converged and interwove together in front of her backbones, and in just a brief moment of three seconds, these streams of blood had formed into the shape of a heart.


    Very soon, the blood on the outer layer of the heart had dried up and coagulated, hardened and turned into a bloody, thin layer of diaphragm. Through this half-transparent diaphragm, one could clearly see that more blood was gathering inside and constructing a complete heart.


    A light pumping sound was heard.


    The heart suddenly pumped once ¨C a sign of it starting to perform its duty and responsibility!


    In a very short amount of time, the emptied chest of Bleia had been covered by a thin layer of bloody diaphragm. Underneath this layer of diaphragm, countless bones and organs were regrowing in an incredible speed, creeping and moving like a factory of flesh that stunned anyone who looked at them. The only thing was, they were using Eclivel''s blood as their raw material, and the end product was a brand new body!


    Compared to the trifling matter of fixing her body, the transformation of Bleia''s spiritual ripple was the thing that was truly astounding. From being just one step away from the gate of death, it became beaming with vitality, and her Spirit started to skyrocket. The changes that happened to her were like riding a roller coaster, and the huge difference of before and after simply made one''s eyes go wide and made them tongue-tied.


    In contrast to Bleia''s skyrocketing presence, Mage Eclivel who was being pushed closer and closer to the gate of death had his flesh and blood vanish quickly, as his body withered and wizened.


    He cast a couple of magic spells in a row, making Bleia''s body riddled with blood, but still couldn''t get her off of his body. Sensing that his blood essence and vitality was fading quickly from his body, Eclivel stretched his trembling right hand and grabbed Bleia''s head, wanting to use a magic spell to shatter the source of his calamity.


    But it was too bad, just as his hand reached half way, it was coiled up by a flaming whip thrown over by Leon.


    "Bleia, take this opportunity and quickly form your own blood core. Whether you''ll be a dragon or a worm will all depend on this moment!" Leon''s deep shout filled with powerful spiritual force burst within Bleia''s mind.


    Bleia''s body trembled, as if she suddenly realized something. She immediately stopped using the blood of Mage Eclivel she sucked to fix her body, instead, she gathered a great amount of them into the newly formed heart, making them slam and rock amongst each other repeatedly.


    Noticing that Bleia was having a hard time in her progress of breaking through into the realm of Mage, Leon stomped his feet furiously. He injected his powerful Fire element energy into the bloody altar, causing the altar which had suffered from a great torture because of the battle to let out its last cry, and squeeze out the last drop of its energy.


    The raging mutated energy billowed crazily and rushed into Bleia''s body, thrusting into her vampiric heart which had turned into a furnace of blood. If any other Pseudo-Mage was invaded by such a frightening mutated energy during the process of advancing, he would have certainly exploded into a huge firework of blood and flesh. No one could absorb any foreign energy of different element without precipitating and filtering it, yet, the vampire wasn''t scared of this at all!


    The formidable bloodline innate talent of the vampire had given its blood the ability of assimilation. It could turn the blood of any element into its own blood element energy, and any bloodline factor could only be modified into the factor of the vampire. In the history of Mage, there were only records of vampire assimilating other people''s bloodline ability, and no examples of anyone succeeding in assimilating the bloodline factor of the vampire.


    There wasn''t any reasonable explanation to this, as the bloodline innate talent of a vampire was always so domineering!


    That was why Leon was never worried about Bleia exploding due to this mutated energy, instead, he was actually worried if this energy would be sufficient to support Bleia in helping her complete forming her blood core.


    ...


    2195 Words


    S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 160 Escape

    After he handed the task of guarding Bleia over to the Fire Lord, Leon finally had some time to clean up the battlefield.The spiritual connection with Lucy had broken long ago, and the reason was unknown. Leon had a vague feeling that something was happening in the outside world.


    To prevent him from being at a loss of what to do later, Leon thought it was better to first adjust his condition to the best he could; only then would he leave this place.


    He had took back the storage waist belt that had been taken away by Eclivel, together with all of his magical equipment. But it was a pity; since he had become an official Mage, this Apprentice Mage level equipment was no longer useful to him.


    At this moment, some rubble not far away started to roll about, revealing a short, vague figure of green.


    "Master, master! You''ve really become an Mage! This is excellent! Congratulations my master..."


    Leon looked at the goblin, whose face was kindled with joy mixed with flattering expression; he couldn''t help but be surprised. During the devastating war that had happened not long ago, the raging magic spells had nearly plowed through the entire isolated inter-space. Even the bloody altar, protected by magical arrays as it was, had collapsed and disintegrated. Yet, this goblin slave who didn''t have much self-protecting ability actually survived?


    It looked like this fellow also had some secrets that nobody else knew!


    With a smirk, Leon snorted coldly and said, "Go search that place. Anything left over by those apprentices is yours!"


    "Thank you, master! Thank you..." Snorlax was so happy that even the voice of its cheer had changed.


    In this major war, although Snorlax hadn''t contributed any combative strength, just the fact that it had forced itself to disguise as Lucy was worthy of praise. Therefore, Leon waved his hand and gave the right of looting the battlefield to Snorlax.


    After all, the apprentice level equipment and items were no longer something of significance to him. In addition to that, there was another important task that he needed to attend to right now!


    Leon strode forward, and soon he came to a pile of rubble. An explosive fireball was thrown over, blowing away all of the wreckage and rubble, revealing a dark robe that showed signs of movement underneath.


    "Blake, do you think that I''ll forget about you? It is time for us to settle the score between us!" Leon said with a cold voice.


    Since the primary enemy had been defeated, this ''ally'' who had always harbored evil intentions toward him couldn''t be spared as well.


    A Magma Fireball wrapped in raging flames was tossed onto the dark robe. The exploding elemental flames immediately ripped the cloth apart. Amidst the scorching flame towering into the air, countless black scorpions screamed, cried, and eventually burned to ashes.


    Leon focused his mind and sensed around, making sure that he didn''t leave out anything. Only then did he turn around and leave this sea of flame which had turned into a mini lava pool.


    At the same time, Bleia had long sucked dry the last drop of blood inside of Mage Eclivel''s body. She was now hovering in midair, three meters above the ground, fully naked, with her head buried between her knees and her arms wrapped around them. Tiny threads of crimson waves kept rippling out from inside of her body.


    The dead body of Mage Eclivel was lying flat on a pile of rubble. His withered skin was clinging tightly to his bones, and not much flesh could be found in anywhere on his body. He had totally turned into a mummy.


    She had enjoyed Mage Eclivel''s fresh blood all by herself. For a vampire who lived on blood, it was definitely the rarest nourishment. It was especially true when she was at the critical moment of advancement. It had simply become the strongest aid to help Bleia become an official Mage.


    A powerful yet subtle wave of condensed air suddenly burst out from Bleia''s body. At the same time, she unfolded and stood tall, her body still in midair. She threw her head back and let out a crystal clear cry that pierced everyone''s ears.


    Her skin was silky smooth and glittering; her body was curvy and well-shaped; her fair, long legs were slim and slender; she had a pair of crimson eyes that shone like rubies; and her long, bright red hair was hanging loosely down her back... When her naked feet stepped on the ground, a red mist immediately climbed around her body.


    A few moments later, when the red mist faded away, a perfect, luxurious crimson armor had appeared on Bleia''s body. She was giving Leon a dimply smile.


    "I really have to thank you for this time. If not for this, it would have been extremely difficult for me to become an official Mage."


    "Are there any side effects?"


    "Trying to control an Mage is not something easy. When I was forming my blood core just now, I wiped away all of the restrictions on my soul. From now on, I''m considered totally free!" It was obvious that after succeeding in becoming an Mage, Bleia was in an extremely good mood. After she had a few words with Leon, she couldn''t bear it anymore and started to examine her transformation after the advancement.


    With just a light push of her feet, Bleia started to dash around at lightning speed and in a ghostly manner. While running around, she used her toes to kick gravel as large as a milling stone into midair, and with a flash of her body she pierced through from the center of it.


    After she passed through it, behind her was a pile of small stones and dust.


    Leon simply picked up a broken piece of gravel and examined it. The edge was flat and smooth; obviously, just in offensive strength alone, Bleia had taken a qualitative leap. There was something even more extraordinary. With just a gentle squeeze, the broken gravel shattered and turned into dust that fell to the ground. It was corroded by Bleia''s Blood element energy and crumbled with a squeeze!


    Bleia''s body flickered and flashed around. Her soft and agile body actually left behind numerous vague afterimages in the air. Sometimes she would transform into a tiny bat and fly inches above the ground; sometimes she would transform back into human shape and run at high-speed. At the same moment, there were six to seven afterimages of different postures appearing in the scene; each of them looked so real and condensed, no one could differentiate which was real and which was just an afterimage.


    Taking the opportunity, while Bleia was examining her overall strength, a blue light flickered within Leon''s dark eyes. Very soon, he had gathered enough data.


    As a result, the latest of Bleia''s body attributes after becoming an Mage were projected into Leon''s mind.


    "Bleia. First Grade Bloodline Mage. Vampire. Expert in Blood Element. Strength ¨C 2.6, Agility ¨C 4.7, Physique ¨C 2.6, Spirit ¨C 0.7."


    While reading through Bleia''s data, Leon''s mind was fully filled with envy. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Without the help from the transformation of the Flame Fiend, his body attributes were in no way comparable with Bleia. Although Bloodline Mages only mastered few magic spells, they owned an intrepid body that could perfectly match their magic spells.


    It was fortunate that Leon still had the backup of his golems; or else, if he was to fight Bleia alone, there wouldn''t be any advantage left for him!


    Since Bleia had succeeded in her advancement, there wasn''t any real reason to keep staying in this isolated inter-space. Leon called Bleia and Snorlax, held their hands with each hand, and walked toward the edge of this space.


    While walking, a burning hot flame started to emerge from Leon''s body. After becoming an Mage, Leon was more proficient in controlling Fire Elementium. Under his command, a glowing red fire pillar hit the spatial barrier, and very soon it melted out a large hole that allowed them to pass through.


    Though the fire pillar radiated a frighteningly high-temperature, it didn''t bring any harm to Bleia and Snorlax, who were standing so close to it. Judging from this alone, one could tell that Leon had made significant progress in his Fire element innate talent.


    As for where exactly this isolate inter-space was located, none of them had any idea. But presumably, as Mage Eclivel wanted to obtain the enhancement provided by the Swampy Tower, it was impossible for him to build it in a remote place. It was certainly still within the boundaries of the Magical Swamp.


    When they melted through the barrier and squeezed out from the secret space, they found themselves standing inside of the earth.


    Leon closed his eyes and sensed for a brief moment. Their current location was merely twenty meters below the surface. After telling Bleia about it, Leon''s body exploded into a flaming torch and shot right up into the soil.


    Right after they disappeared from the scene, some changes suddenly happened within the emptied and quiet, secret underground space.


    After Leon and others had cleaned up this place, besides the rubble that was scattered all over the ground, the only thing left was the extremely frightful looking dried corpse of Mage Eclivel. However, right after Leon''s aura disappeared, the largest pile of rubble found in the center of the secret space suddenly collapsed. A swarm of black scorpions burst out from within.


    Compared to when they were at their peak, there were less than one hundred of these black scorpions left. It was indeed miserable. Right at the heart of these scorpions, on the back of a black bug who looked bigger and stronger than others, a miniature face of Blake actually showed up.


    Looking at the edge of this secret space starting to collapse slowly as the integrity of the structure was damaged, Worm controller Blake let out a hateful bug cry.


    "Trying to kill me? Leon, you''ll never succeed in your lifetime. Hmph, since you don''t want this dried corpse, it will serve as my war trophy. Once I swallow it and become an Mage, it will also be the end of your happy days!"


    While roaring furiously, Blake commanded his bugs to cover Eclivel''s remains.


    Soon, the only sound left in the scene was the dreadful noise of biting and crunching!


    ...


    The once mysterious and gruesome Magical Swamp had now completely turned into a real death zone.


    Covered by the thick fog, a fireball suddenly soared up high into the sky and exploded from within an abandoned garden located in a remote corner.


    The fireball came in fast, and it faded away just as quickly.


    When the flame dispersing in all directions finally vanished into thin air, three strange figures of different heights appeared from the center of the fireball.


    Because it was the first time he had tried the Fire Teleportation, Leon still didn''t have a precise control over the distance. As a result, the position where the trio appeared was ten meters above the ground.


    For Bleia, hovering in midair was a piece of cake; but obviously, it was a different story for Leon.


    Therefore, a faint cry was heard, as Leon took Snorlax with him and fell to the ground like a heavy rock.


    On the ground, a Baby Demon was dragging its body and wandering around aimlessly, but it was suddenly frightened and startled by the fireball that exploded over its head. Just as it was staring blankly at the few bizarre figures who had suddenly appeared, their bodies started to grow bigger and bigger while moving closer to it...


    The Demon Baby let out a sharp cry as it woke up, and prepared to run away from where it had stopped. But it was too late!


    In the next few seconds, a muffled boom burst out, as Leon fell and landed steadily on the ground, throwing up a huge amount of dust.


    "Garden of Whispers! It is surprising that Eclivel actually built the secret space underneath the Garden of Whispers. Surely he was secret enough!" Bleia gradually descended beside Leon. Her crimson eyes were cast over to the Swampy Tower, barely visible within the misty fog in the far distance.


    As both of them were exchanging glances and puzzled over the quietness surrounding this place, light and shadow suddenly flashed through their eyes and their heads started to feel dizzy. In just a brief moment, they actually reappeared back inside the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower. In front of them was an old man, clad in a black robe, who had a cold and arrogant expression.


    "Both of you have made the breakthrough and become Mages? Where is that Eclivel?"


    Though he didn''t say much, the terrifying pressure of a high-grade Mage instantly startled Leon and Bleia, and Snorlax simply laid flat on its stomach on the floor, trembling violently without being able to stop.


    He was a Second... Second Grade Mage!


    ...


    2185 Words

 Chapter 161 Three Mages

    The three Mages stood silently side by side in the magical hall. With eyes radiating distrust, they evaluated Leon and Bleia, both bound in place. In one corner of the hall, Lucy, whose connection with Leon had been severed, lay peacefully on the floor. She seemed unconscious.Leon only recognized the Mage named Keoghan among the three. Clearly, the other two were also Mages belonging to the Sarubo clan. In particular, every time Leon cast his gaze upon the elderly man in the black robe with a grim expression, he felt a bone-chilling cold that seemed to freeze his sight, even though the man did not emit a particularly strong mental flux.


    "Is Eclivel dead?" the old man in the black robe asked coldly.


    The other two Mages kept their mouths shut as he spoke, almost as if they dared not speak.


    Leon truly wanted to answer the question. But not knowing how the Mages would deal with him, he didn''t want to say the wrong thing. So he simply nodded in silence.


    "Fools will always be fools! A weakling like him, who didn''t even dare to step onto the battlefield, was killed by the apprentice Mages he trained himself. What a fool!" The elder turned to the side and ordered, "You, go see what''s left of that Eclivel!"


    Keoghan bowed and left to carry out the order.


    If the secret space had been destroyed, it would have been difficult to find. But given that Leon had just melted a massive hole in the spatial barrier, it was easily located.


    After a brief moment, Keoghan returned with Eclivel''s corpse in his hands. To everyone''s disgust, the broken body had been completely consumed and transformed into a sack of human skin. Countless black scorpions crawled in and out of the corpse.


    "What a complete death!" the elder in black said coldly. "It seems all his preparations ended up benefiting you! Good! Good! Good! Three Mages for one fool. That wasn''t a loss!"


    Leon lowered his head, hiding the shock in his eyes.


    From this Second Grade Mage''s words, it wasn''t difficult to infer that the Sarubo clan was aware of every one of Eclivel''s actions, including the blood sacrifice ritual he had secretly organized. If Eclivel''s plan had succeeded and he had advanced to a Second Grade Mage, these people would have congratulated him and signed a new Mage contract with him.


    The cold reality reminded Leon of a horrifying truth. In the eyes of the Mages, the lives of apprentice Mages were merely a resource to be harvested at any moment. It didn''t matter to all the Mage families that the leaders of major Mage factions prohibited such events. As long as it increased the family''s strength, all they needed to do was keep their actions secret.


    If even the Sarubo clan had been awaiting Eclivel''s success... how would they deal with him and Bleia? Damn it! He should have thoroughly checked the secret space. The evil insect Blake wasn''t dead! It seemed Blake had advanced to a Mage using the remaining Mage powers in Eclivel''s body!


    Despite all the thoughts in his mind, Leon wasted no time resolving them. He held his breath and waited for the Second Grade Mage''s decision.


    Mages were precious assets of any clan. There was no possibility they would abandon or waste such resources. Killing them as revenge for Eclivel was out of the question. Most likely, they would face a far stricter Mage contract than the usual agreement. All of this was within Leon''s expectations.


    "Why are you still hiding? Come out and let me see who you are, to be able to devour Eclivel completely!"


    Countless scorpions emerged from Eclivel''s remains in response to the Second Grade Mage''s cold command before forming into the horrific half-insect body that was Blake. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even the grim Blake had to be cautious when placed before a Second Grade Mage. He bowed and waited silently for the elder''s judgment.


    Keoghan''s cold eyes lingered briefly on Eclivel''s remains, then on Leon and the others, before turning to ask, "Mr. Fugen, what should we do with them?"


    "Hmph! What''s there to consider? Throw them all into a battlefield in some plane as soon as their contracts are signed. That would have been Eclivel''s work. And since Eclivel is no longer around, let the three of them handle it. They can live and enjoy their status as a Mage of the clan or die; only their luck can decide that."


    Hearing this, Leon and the others felt a sense of relief. But simultaneously, their hearts sank.


    What is this battlefield? Why had they never heard of it? Was it really so dangerous there?


    A slew of questions flooded Leon''s mind. Although Leon had calmly organized most of the knowledge and Mage mythology an apprentice could access with the chip''s help, he still knew almost nothing about planar wars. Even in the books that touched upon these wars, there were only brief mentions without detailed descriptions.


    The fact that this was the case was likely due to the Mages restricting information about them.


    It seems that all information about planar wars was not something common apprentice Mages were meant to access!


    Following Mage Eclivel''s actions, all apprentice Mages would now rest eternally beneath the earth. The magical swamp resource site was completely destroyed. Of the three Mages from the clan, aside from Second Grade Mage Fugen and Mage Keoghan, the third Mage was here to take over Eclivel''s tower.


    This place would be repopulated in a few years, with an official Mage stationed here to manage it. But Leon, Bleia, and Blake could only follow Mr. Fugen back to the clan''s outpost and await the beginning of the war.


    In the blink of an eye, Leon''s seven years in the magical swamp became nothing more than a fleeting memory in the long journey of his life.


    ---


    "Sarubo Clan Outpost, Feidnan City.


    Leon walked through the bustling streets with a serious expression. Silently, he entered an arcane shop.


    This was a Goblin shop specializing in selling all kinds of strange alchemical items. Snorlax, the shop''s owner, stood on a wooden stool, diligently promoting the incredible pieces of alchemical equipment he had purchased from a certain cunning Goblin merchant to three apprentice Mages¡ªtwo girls and a boy.


    Rocket boots that can instantly propel their owner forward (Note: Make sure there are no obstacles like rocks or shrubs before activation)¡­


    Alchemical bombs that create terrifying noise disruptions (Note: Sometimes¡­ just sometimes, they explode for no real reason, so¡­)


    A magic core capable of creating a dome-shaped energy shield (Note: Break it on the ground once, and the energy shield will activate. If you don''t see a shield¡­ please break it a few more times!)


    A Goblin aircraft that allows free movement among the clouds (Of course, its direction and trajectory will also be entirely "free"!)


    Parachute cloaks to bring you safely and stylishly back to the ground (This seems like an accessory for the previous item? Otherwise, how would you come down from the sky? Hmm, freefall seems like a fun option!)


    ...


    Leon frowned as he looked at the various Goblin alchemical devices. All he felt was disdain for these toys, yet he remained silent.


    These items were useless to him now, but for apprentice Mages who had no means of saving themselves, they were fairly decent options. Although the merchandise sold in this Goblin shop might have some issues, they could save lives if they worked!


    Not a single apprentice had requested a refund in the month since Snorlax started his business.


    That is, of course, if they were still alive to ask for a refund!


    The Goblin Snorlax immediately abandoned the three apprentices when he saw Leon entering. Instantly, he jumped off the stool and rushed to greet his master. The three apprentices were initially annoyed, but after noticing Leon''s dark red robe, they nervously paid their respects and slowly left the Goblin shop.


    They had long known that the person behind this unassuming shop was a newly-advanced Mage, but this was the first time they had seen him with their own eyes. They held their breath until they were a certain distance away before finally exhaling.


    "That Mage was so handsome! He''s so fit! He''s a whole head taller than Hans..."


    "Yes! Yes! Especially his long red hair and his face. He''s so good-looking!"


    Hearing his two infatuated companions talking loudly, the male apprentice couldn''t help but complain, "You''re both too bold. That''s a real Mage! Didn''t you hear the senior apprentices? Never look directly at a true Mage when you meet one. If you offend them, they might punish you right then and there. Not to mention, you can''t trust a Mage''s appearance. Even if they look young, they could be a hundred-year-old geezer on the inside."


    One of the female apprentices pouted disdainfully, "Hans, stop being jealous. That''s Mr. Leon. We''ve already asked around. He''s a young Mage who''s not even 20 years old yet. Besides, he advanced to a Mage in some rural area you''ve probably never even heard of."


    "Yes, I heard that too!" The other apprentice couldn''t help but interrupt. "I heard he arrived at the clan with two other Mages. In particular, Mage Bleia¡­ she''s totally an idol for all of us apprentices. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but she''s also really powerful. I heard she defeated Mr. Kiel right after she arrived. Mr. Kiel has been a Mage for several hundred years, you know!?"


    "What? She defeated Mr. Kiel? How is that possible¡­ Mr. Kiel is a renowned Body Refinement Mage across the entire clan¡­"


    "Oh, right, did any of you see the Worm Controller? I heard he looks terrifying¡­"


    The three continued chatting as they slowly walked away.


    ....


    1638 Words

 Chapter 162 Preparation

    At this moment, Leon and Snorlax were secretly conversing in a room behind the Goblin shop."Sir, these are the crystal cores and the information you requested." Snorlax respectfully offered a leather pouch. Inside, it was filled with the items Leon needed. There was also a knowledge crystal within the pouch¡ªthis was the specific information Leon had asked to be collected.


    Leon lifted the knowledge crystal and placed it against his forehead. The chip''s voice resonated in his mind.


    "Beep, external data port detected. Awaiting host instructions. Allow data transfer?"


    "Allow!"


    "Beep, instruction received. Initiating data transfer..."


    A blue light flickered at the bottom of Leon''s black pupils. In mere seconds, he had recorded all the contents of the knowledge crystal into his mind. The chip took over the organization and processing of the data.


    Having dealt with the knowledge crystal, Leon opened the pouch. Inside were all sorts of crystal cores of various attributes and grades. From the most common Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire cores to rarer attributes like Darkness, Nature, Poison, and Light, everything was there. The grades of the crystal cores ranged from Beginner to Pseudo-Mage. Nearly every type of crystal core could be found inside.


    Unfortunately, the only thing missing was Mage-grade crystal cores.


    Leon had expected this outcome. Not surprised, he quickly counted the items before storing them in his bag.


    Apprentice-level golems were no longer as useful to him as they once were, now that he had become a Mage. However, in certain special situations, these low-level golems could still prove extremely powerful. That was why Leon was gradually gathering the knowledge he needed while slowly building his golem army.


    His understanding of Mages during his time as an apprentice had been overly narrow and simplistic. In his mind, pseudo-Mages were apprentice Mages whose Spirit had reached 20 points, and newly advanced Mages were simply casters with 21 points in Spirit!


    But now, after that risky and perilous breakthrough, he too was a Mage. Only now did Leon grasp the stark difference between a Mage and an apprentice.


    Becoming a Mage was not just a simple increase in Spirit from 20 points to 21 points. It was a process of completely altering the nature of the spirit''s origin. Before his advancement, he had 20 points in Spirit. After the advancement, his Spirit points were drastically reduced to 0.9 points.


    This did not mean his Spirit had decreased. Rather, it signified that the fundamental means of calculating status for a Mage and an apprentice were entirely different. The character and status model for an apprentice was based on the physical data of an average adult, used as a comparison point for an apprentice''s combat strength. Mages, on the other hand, were pseudo-magical beings.


    Magical beasts and monsters in nature would form a crystalline substance at the center of their bodies based on their innate talents. This allowed them to control the Elementium floating around them more easily. Mages, in a way, mimicked this process, albeit with some clear distinctions.


    Crystal cores were physical material objects found within creatures. Once killed, these could be retrieved from their bodies. However, a Mage''s consciousness core existed in the spiritual realm. The core was akin to a virtual and abstract form of the Elementium crystal cores.


    Even if someone managed to kill a Mage, they would not be able to obtain a crystal core. Yet the consciousness core was something that undeniably existed. Every Mage relied on it to control Elementium more quickly and easily.


    If the Spirit standard for newly advanced Mages was 1, Leon had not yet reached it. His Spirit was only at 0.9! This was related to the fact that he had not advanced through the usual advancement ceremony. Given enough time for his volatile spirit to settle, Leon would eventually reach the standard of 1.


    During his month in Feidnan City, Leon repeatedly compared the differences between Mages and pseudo-Mages. If the Spirit limit for a pseudo-Mage was 20 points, then 1 point of a Mage''s Spirit was roughly equivalent to 100 points of a pseudo-Mage''s Spirit.


    Setting aside factors like spiritual intimidation, Mage equipment, Mage knowledge, and casting techniques, this meant that a single Mage could match 5 pseudo-Mages in terms of Spirit strength. Without any limitations, an experienced Mage could easily defeat 7 to 8 pseudo-Mages.


    Mages will always be Mages!


    You would remain nothing more than an inferior species in the eyes of Mages until you reached the Mage grade. Most Mages would train and carefully nurture apprentices with potential, adhering to the principle of preserving the source of new Mages. But deep down, they would never see apprentices as their own kind or consider them equals!


    Having obtained what he wanted, Leon didn''t linger in the shop. Instead, he returned to the Mage Tower located on the northern outskirts of the city.


    The Mage Tower in Feidnan City was vastly different from the simplified tower in the swamp. This was the tower of a true Mage. The entire structure had 17 floors, each using a special method to expand its internal space. Its internal facilities were complete and advanced. This tower was leagues ahead of the Swamp Tower in quality.


    Despite the quality of the Mage Tower, few Mages resided there.


    Apart from Second Grade Mage Fugen, there were three other First Grade Mages from the clan. During Leon''s one-month stay, he could count on one hand the number of times he had encountered another Mage due to how few they were.


    All these Mages had stubborn and eccentric personalities. If they weren''t hidden away in their laboratories conducting dangerous experiments, they were out gathering the knowledge and resources they needed. It was rare to see them casually wandering about. Furthermore, the Sarubo Clan was preparing for an interplanar war in six months. Even seasoned Mages risked death if they failed to make adequate preparations.


    Thus, every Mage in the clan was exceptionally busy!


    Leon had grown familiar with the concept of interplanar wars during this period of adjustment and accumulation. From what he had learned, these wars were an inevitable choice for any Mage clan.


    How does a Mage clan rapidly expand? Interplanar wars!


    How does a Mage clan face rapid destruction? Interplanar wars!


    These wars were both a path to glory and wealth for Mages and a nightmare that could drag clans into the depths of ruin.


    A correct target and a successful invasion of another world¡ªwhen done right, the mountains of rare resources and precious arcane knowledge from another plane could allow a weak Mage clan to rise swiftly to prominence. The clan could easily use the resources and knowledge brought back to train and cultivate more and better Mages.


    The new Mages produced from the resources of an interplanar war would then provide the opportunity and capability to launch a war in an even greater plane. Only through this cycle could a Mage clan initiate a beneficial and enviable growth cycle, gradually strengthening and expanding.


    But just as success lies in these wars, so does failure.


    If a Mage clan became bogged down in an interplanar war, with large numbers of Mages dying for little to no gain, it would deal a severe blow even to the mightiest clans. Falling into a cycle of slow development would be the least of their concerns. If an opposing or opportunistic clan seized the moment to invade, the entire Mage clan could face complete annihilation.


    Hundreds of Mage clans were scattered across the Zhentarim Association''s territory in the central region of the Mage Continent. Through means like marriages, alliances, and mergers, these clans formed various forces, both small and large, creating a complex political landscape.


    Each clan, academy, school, or Mage alliance possessed exclusive lower planes.


    The so-called lower planes were, in truth, small- to medium-sized planes still in the process of development. While their resources and overall strength couldn''t compare to a massive plane like the Mage World, they were still material planes with complete world structures and their own power hierarchies.


    It wasn''t out of the question for these planes to become new massive planes if given enough time to develop. However, they would turn into lambs for slaughter if their planar world was discovered by Mages in the depths of the galaxies. There would be no escaping their fate of being invaded.


    The overall strength of the Mage World was at the pinnacle of material planes, as one of the rare giant planes in the infinite galaxies. Mages would meticulously assess the overall strength of another material plane whenever they discovered one during their travels through the depths of the galaxies. If there were any benefits to be gained, they would return to the Mage World to assemble an invasion force.


    Giant planes rarely waged war against one another. The difficulty of invasion was exceedingly high, and the resources invested would not yield returns for a very long time. Thus, medium- and small-sized planes became the most common targets for invasions.


    Strong medium-sized planes required the might of major forces like the Zhentarim Association, the Northern Witches, the Mages'' Association, or the Silver Union to stand a chance of a successful invasion. However, a common Mage clan was sufficient to conquer ordinary medium- and small-sized planes.


    As a result, an important indicator of a Mage clan''s strength was the number of planes they had invaded and how many resources they could extract from those planes annually. The coordinates of each enslaved plane were the most valuable assets of any clan. They were guarded as the most critical secrets, never to be revealed to their enemies.


    It was said that the Sarubo Clan possessed two small lower planes. However, both planes operated under the less profitable regional cooperation model. The returns were much lower than what full enslavement could provide.


    The regional cooperation model was a system devised by Mage clans that lacked the strength to suppress internal rebellions within the invaded planes. To avoid further losses, the invading clan signed agreements with the plane''s natives to trade with each other under the guise of regional cooperation and joint development.


    Although the invading clan had to use currency recognized by both parties to purchase resources, once those resources were resold in the Mage World, they still yielded very lucrative returns. The risk of war was significantly reduced by this approach, although it was not as efficient or profitable as outright domination and enslavement of the plane. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Sarubo Clan was ranked in the middle of all the clans within the Zhentarim Association precisely because of these two small lower planes. The upcoming interplanar war was clearly aimed at bringing a third lower plane under the clan''s control.


    ...


    1795 Words


    ...


    ...


    Power Stones Campaign!


    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


    - 500 Power Stones = 5 chapters


    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


    - 3000 Power Stones = 10 chapters


    ...


    Gift campaign!


    - 20 Golden Tickets = 1 chapter


    - Magic Castle = 5 chapters.


    - Spacecraft = 15 chapters.


    - Gachapon = 20 chapters.

 Chapter 163 Half a year

    The altar connecting the two worlds was located in Feidnan City''s Mage''s tower. This was to protect the world coordinates of the lesser plane.Half a year was not very long.


    After becoming an Mage, the greatest change for Leon was the immense slowdown in the speed at which his powers increased. The meditation technique used by apprentices was meaningless for Mages. Leon''s daily meditation only brought about an increase of Spirit of 0.0001 every time. Even Leon would have suspected his daily meditations to have lost all of its effects had it not been for the chip''s thorough monitoring of his body.


    Of course the Sarubo clan had meditation techniques suited for Mages, but unfortunately, with Leon''s current qualifications, there was no chance for him to get his hands on them. Leon could have a chance if he contributed a lot to the clan''s plane war this time. Otherwise, he can only silently bear with the turtling speed of his Spirit increase.


    On the surface, Leon, Bleia, and Blake were all Mages of the Sarubo clan. But in truth, they were the clan''s prisoners. The Second Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen had left a special curse in their mental world. They would instantly be killed by it should they leave Feidnan City at their own discretion.


    Thus the three didn''t dare step a single foot out of the city even though they walked about freely in the City of Feidnan.


    On the other hand, Lucy was mad at the fact that Leon and Lucy had advanced into Mages.


    She kept suspecting Leon had intentionally sent her outside of the secret space, and let Bleia take her place instead, causing her to lose her chance to become an Mage. As for all the risks and dangers Bleia had to experience in the process, Lucy completely disregarded them.


    Anger makes people lose their rationality.


    Thus Lucy has been clearing missions at an insane rate lately, accepting all of the most dangerous missions around Feidnan City. It was hard to catch her in the Mage''s tower with how busy she was every single day.


    As for Bleia. After becoming an Mage, she rapidly became far more powerful. Bleia became a terrifying killer on the battlefield with her super high speed, deadly melee attacks and her barbaric eye-for-an-eye style of fighting.


    Even experienced Mages more powerful than her would have trouble facing the wraith-like her if they didn''t have special methods to control her movements. Otherwise, Body Refining Mage Kiel wouldn''t have suffered defeat at the fangs and bow of Bleia.


    But as Bleia was beginning to catch the attention of people, Leon was once again keeping a low profile.


    Most of his prowess previously came from the golems. As the threat of apprentice level golems became smaller and smaller against future Mage level opponents, Leon''s advantage was diminished as well. Leon needed to increase his own powers, as well as find a means of obtaining numerous Mage level summoning cores to regain his advantage in combat.


    The only Mage level golem Leon currently had was the Fire Lord. Besides that, he also had a Second Grade Molten Giant core waiting to be processed. But it was way too hard to deal with an Elementium crystal core of this level with his current skills. Thus in the remaining time, Leon became a hermit, diligently converting crystal cores into battle golems of various attributes.


    He was trying to increase the numbers of the golems, striving to create a golem army with golems of different specialisations, given that he cannot increase the quality of the golems in the short term.


    Besides crafting golems and his daily meditations, Leon also collected other resources, seeking to fix the magic rune suit of Flame Fiend transformation onto his body permanently. In his remaining time, Leon examined the Scroll of Voodoo that had been soulbound to him.


    Leon had never heard of such a mysterious Mage equipment. Now he was trying to uncover the uses of the Scroll of Voodoo bit by bit based on the information he could find in the library. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Soul Gear?


    Leon first heard this odd name from Eclivel. With this clue, he quickly found related information and got an initial picture of the uniqueness of Soul Gears.


    Soul Gears are a kind of magical item! And they were a unique magical item that could grow alongside its soul host!


    Besides its ability to return to Leon''s side after a certain distance, its greatest help to him was the six spell storage slots. 6 powerful spells that took a single second to cast. This was more than enough to give him the combat initiative and advantage when facing enemies.


    Leon found a new method of using the Scroll now that he had advanced into an Mage.


    Plague Curse!


    Write the name of an enemy onto the Scroll using their blood, and the enemy will constantly be inflicted by the Plague Curse. This attack is autonomously done by the Scroll of Voodoo and didn''t require any additional Spirit or energy on Leon''s part.


    Thus, buried in his daily meditations, his golem crafting and his examinations of the Scroll, half a year passed in the blink of an eye. It was now the start of the clan''s plane war.


    ...


    Half a month before departure, the Sarubo clan''s Mages returned to the tower one after another.


    There were now seven clan Mages in the tower!


    It''s important to note that the total amount of First Grade Mages of the Sarubo family was only seven before the addition of Leon and the others. The fact that seven Mages had shown up reflects how important this plane war was for the Sarubo clan. They were sending almost all of their active forces.


    The Sarubo clan Mages had returned to the tower in the most secretive manner to avoid being discovered by enemy clans. Had they found out about the power vacuum of the Sarubo clan, trouble might occur. Their departing location was on the 10th floor of the Mage''s tower.


    The party was led by Second Grade Mage Lord F¨¹gen, which included a total of 7 Mages.


    F¨¹gen looked coldly upon the party as they stood before the teleportation array. Calmly, he spoke:"Prepare yourselves! Later, we will be transported to the outlands, and regroup with the other parties there. This teleportation will break through plane barriers. This is an ultra-long range transportation. Those who have never experienced it should guard their own mental self. Do not extend your Spirit outside of this teleportation array! "


    F¨¹gen drew a magic rune concentrating a terrifyingly cold aura in the air with a single hand and sent it into the array beneath his feet.


    In a series of flashes, the Mages within the array disappeared.


    Even though Leon had well expected the terrors of an ultra-long-range teleportation, but as his body was stretched and compressed within the teleportation array, Leon truly experienced the pain and torture of having his spirit origin at the mercy of Spatial Energy.


    Mottled and blurred patches of color took up all of his vision. Everything before his eyes looked like they were obstructed by a thick stained glass. It was all blurry.


    Even worse was the nausea of space flipping up and down.


    Leon had no means of telling the direction with the limited vision he had and the feeling of space bending in his mind. Of course, there was the possibility that there was no such thing as direction during the spatial transfer!


    It was hard to determine how long the ultra-long-range teleportation took. Leon had completely lost all sense of time and space.


    When he finally appeared at a teleportation array on another end, he shut his eyes and recalibrated for half a minute before he was back to usual.


    The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the bright and boundless galaxy.


    Never had there been such a moment where Leon felt so at peace and his mind and mind so relaxed. Above his head, high above the skies, was a thick transparent energy dome. Outside that dome was the boundless galaxy and the exhilarating energy sea of the multiverse.


    The sky is boundless. The stars are countless.


    Looking at the starry skies without the interference of the plane barriers, Leon felt like his entire being had sunk into the dark but shining night sky. The barrier between man and the world had disappeared. It was all so fantastical and beautiful.


    Leon drew his line of vision away from the night sky with much effort. Only then did he have the chance to survey the teleportation platform he was on.


    This was a massive pseudo-plane floating in the depths of the galaxy.


    The inside of the pseudo-plane wasn''t the most commonly seen continent form common to the material worlds. Rather, it was a mountain peak so massive it was beyond imagination. Steep cliffs. Forests of stones. There were terrifying peaks everywhere that stood tall like unsheathed swords.


    And the teleportation array where the party was was located on the top of such a peak. Someone had sliced the sharp peak, turning it into a flat platform. Looking from atop, numerous holes had been dug in the peaks. Countless flying creatures that looked like two-footed dragons were weaving in and out of them.


    The array on the top of the sharp peak wasn''t the only one. In Leon''s vision alone, there were three to four more teleportation platforms exactly like the one beneath his feet. Teleportation light flashed there as well. There were up to three other parties that seemed to consist of Mages as well.


    "Come with me! We need to first regroup with the others! " F¨¹gen called out and took to the air.


    Almost anyone who became an Mage had their own unique method of flying.


    Some summoned flying creatures out of beast-slaving rings. Some grew an odd pair of wings. Some called upon the wind Elementium particles to surround them and help them fly..... Leon summoned the Lightning Giant, and had it carry him and follow behind F¨¹gen towards a platform with several other people.


    It was hard to tell how huge this pseudo-plane was, but when they flew high up in the sky, Leon''s pupils couldn''t help but shrink. This...this was a pseudo-plane so huge it could be called a small continent of its own!


    ...


    1737 Words

 Chapter 164 Space with Energy

    The night sky hung low. The countless stars were spotted across it.The familiar stars seen from within the plane now hung directly above in the boundless skies, so close it seemed one could just fly up and pluck them.


    But Leon knew that each of these stars represented a plane world that carried the lives of hundreds of millions. Although they seemed really close, in truth, it would take at least a hundred years to cross the infinite sea of stars to reach them.


    The term "sea of stars" was not a metaphor. It was a description.


    Any two planes within the multiverse were separated by an extremely long distance. It is not emptiness that was between them, but rather energy tides so strong and powerful it''s hard to even imagine. Where there were energy tides, there were high tides and low tides. There were times of storms and times of calm seas.


    In this seemingly empty space, chaotic energy flows were everywhere. The first thing any being needs to do when they enter the infinite space is to protect themselves from the damage of turbulent energy flows.


    Space was not empty. Energy reigns there.


    Energy tides flowed aimlessly in space. Sometimes they gathered in a place, forming powerful and terrifying energy storms. These stormy areas easily extended up to hundreds of thousands of miles wide. The large ones even went up to millions of miles large.


    The energy corrosion strength at the eye of the space storm could go up to a shocking 10000 points. Even a Fifth Grade Mage would die if he was pulled into such a storm. Even at the edge of a storm, the strength of turbulent energy flows could reach up to 100 points.


    What this meant for any Mages that breached into an energy storm was that their energy shield had to constantly bear energy corrosion of up to 100 points. This...this was equal to the normal damage of an actual Mage!


    Once the Mage''s energy shield is broken, a First Grade Mage would be minced into tiny particles within seconds by the energy flows. The particles would then be swept away by the energy tides to any corner in the multiverse.


    Thus a First Grade Mage would have trouble surviving in the sea of stars once they left the protection of the plane barrier behind. To rely solely on bodily strength to travel across space, this was something only Grand Mages could do!


    The pseudo-plane slowly drifted in space.


    Sparkling fireworks could be seen everywhere on the world membrane that protected the pseudo-plane.


    That was the result of friction between the turbulent energy flows and the membrane. It looked beautiful from afar, but the strength of the energy contained was no weaker than the strongest attack an advanced apprentice could fire. If someone left the protection of the world membrane and entered the infinite galaxies, their protective shield had to constantly bear no less than 50 points of energy damage.


    And this was the energy tides at their most calm.


    Even with Leon could only stay within the infinite galaxies for no more than 15 minutes with his current power.


    Leon''s temporary quarters was within one of the exceptionally tall stone peaks. It was a small room dug out of the stone. He has already been here for three days, but there was nothing to do. Everyday Leon could only meditate, stare at the stars or speak with the Mage that lived nearby.


    He had thought the 7 First Grade Mages in the party this time had been all of the Sarubo''s clan active forces. But when another three Mage parties appeared before him, Leon realised that the Sarubo had hidden some of its Mage forces. These Mages usually were hidden in those lesser planes.


    This was a need born out of reality.


    Lesser planes were smaller planes enslaved by Mages through barbaric strength and bloody means. The Mages'' ruling structure would easily be toppled if they lacked the necessary numbers to defend.


    Thus, tall Mage''s towers were built in every lesser plane, stationed with numerous Mages. This was to ensure that the exploitation of the lesser planes'' resources would proceed smoothly.


    This was the true core profit that every Mage family needed to protect.


    The clan outpost in the World of Mages, on the other hand, was no more than a source of fresh blood to keep training new Mages. Of course, the value of the source of fresh blood could not be replaced by any lesser planes. The clan could continue to produce new Mages and strengthen itself as long as the clan''s roots in the Continent of Mages were never destroyed.


    Thus many Mage clans have extended their reach to all over the infinite sea of stars even though their roots remained in the World of Mages. Every time they found a material world weaker than themselves, they would find a way to invade, and squeeze the sweet sweet nectar out of it, making their roots stronger, making them more powerful... S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Mages that regrouped with Leon''s party were Mages reassigned from the two lesser planes that belonged to the Sarubo clan. If these experienced Mages were the main combat forces of the Sarubo clan, Leon''s party were only a bunch of rookies. A bunch of rookies that haven''t experienced the grind and refinement of plane wars.


    All sorts of unexpected situation could happen in the initial invasion of a new plane. The clan''s spine would be shattered if these veterans were lost in such a careless fashion. Naturally, this meant that the best scouts were the Mages such as Leon, the newly advanced Mages.


    Of course, no Mage would come out and so publicly and explicitly point this out to Leon. This was a conclusion Leon came to through his own evaluation and sorting of various detailed information.


    Their party was a scouting party meant to explore unexplored territory for the clan. One mistake and their lives could be in danger!


    Leon could tell this was the case, but there was nothing he could do. After all, this is a process all Mages have to go through. Why else would the clan spend a huge amount of resources on them!


    This mostly referred to those Mages of the Sarubo clan. Leon, Bleia, and Blake, on the other hand, were basically like the bastards of the clan. Hardly any resources for them, but a hell lot of work to be done.


    ...


    The fifth day on the pseudo-plane. The day of action had arrived.


    Leon''s party were brought to a well hidden arcane hall under Sir F¨¹gen''s lead.


    There, Leon saw the most shocking scene of his life.


    A single person, a single Mage, sat in the middle of the hall, legs crossed.


    Below his body was a gigantic array Leon had never seen before. Behind him, an odd space vortex was opened in the middle of the air. Tens of thousands of golden chains that were somewhere between solid and nothingness extended out of the vortex, tightly latching on to the body of the man.


    The Mage had a black robe on his body. The hood was pulled down low, obscuring his face. The gigantic array was continually functioning, helping him resist the corrosion of the mysterious chains.


    Leon could feel a terrifying strength that could shatter space and shake planes around him even though he couldn''t tell the power level of this mystery Mage. From those chains of space, Leon could sense the aura of the laws of planes.


    Was this.....the material projection of the strength of a certain law of planes?!


    Leon was shocked into silence.


    He had only understood a small and insignificant piece of the laws of flames and it was sufficient to allow him to advance to an Mage. But the Mage before him was clearly grappling with a major law of a certain plane. How unimaginably terrifying was this!


    Even the cold F¨¹gen became cautious as they approached this place.


    F¨¹gen didn''t dare to take a single step into the gigantic array. Instead, he bowed at the edge of the hall and greeted the Mage:"Reverent Lord Sarubo, I''ve brought the first batch of Mages to enter the plane. "


    All the clan Mages were shocked as they heard F¨¹gen''s words.


    Was this...was this mysterious Mage the person who created the clan thousands of years ago? Was this...Lord Sarubo? If it was him, didn''t that mean they were looking at a Fifth.... no, maybe even Sixth Grade Mage!


    Almost instantly, everyone lowered their heads. They no longer dared to stare at this mysterious Mage.


    As Sarubo Mages, the terrifying Great Mage who created the clan was a deity in their hearts. Although they could not pray to him and believe him as a true god, they were still deeply impressed by his strength and power.


    First Grade Mage was most possibly the peak of their lives for many of the people here. A Fifth or Sixth Grade Great Mage was well beyond the realms of their imagination! It was a dream that couldn''t even dare to think of!


    When their dream was put right before their eyes, none of the Mages could stay calm. Their mental flux started to boil and bubble, reflecting their excitement.


    The Mages didn''t lift their heads, but a deep and compelling voice boomed in everyone''s mind.


    "I have corroded a wormhole on this plane barrier. A spirit clone split off from my consciousness has found a suitable location on the other side.


    You are all First Grade Mages. The brand of the World of Mages isn''t as strong on you. As long as you remain inconspicuous, the will of this plane will not retaliate too strongly. Your first mission there is to construct a forward operating base, to construct a simplified Mage''s tower.


    Take note!


    Although I have suppressed most of the plane''s retaliation on the other side, you will still need to get used to the new laws of the plane on the other side.


    Remember, under the pretext of not exposing your identities to the natives, you must protect this forward base with your lives. You must protect my spirit clone. Your mission is done once I have finished a basic analysis of that plane''s laws.


    All of you will receive more than you can imagine!


    Now, prepare! I will send you over immediately. "


    The 7 Mages who were to be the vanguards listened respectfully to the mysterious Mage''s words as they prepared silently. With a wave of his hand, a single gold chain split off from the space vortex. In one swift move, it pierced all the Mages.


    The next moment, all 7 Mages disappeared into the vortex under the powerful pull of the strength of the plane law. They didn''t even have the opportunity to scream.


    ....


    1816 words


    ...


    Power Stones Campaign!


    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


    - 500 Power Stones = 5 chapters


    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


    - 3000 Power Stones = 10 chapters


    ...


    Gift campaign!


    - 20 Golden Tickets = 1 chapter


    - Magic Castle = 5 chapters.


    - Spacecraft = 15 chapters.


    - Gachapon = 20 chapters.

 Chapter 165 Travel

    It might not take long to pass through a space vortex, but for Leon and the others, it felt like an entire century.The space constantly stretched and compressed and rolled over their bodies...An apprentice Mage would have had their bodies disintegrated, their Spirit shattered and died a painful death in the process. Fortunately, the Mages were supported by a tough Physique and a powerful Spirit after their advancements.


    Even Leon had to try his very best to resist the odd twists of the mutated space.


    The mysterious Mage Sarubo had clearly used a unique means to corrode a tiny wormhole on the plane barrier to avoid alerting the plane''s plane consciousness. Countless space turbulence filled the space vortex. These were the result of Sarubo''s battle against the plane laws.


    With the power of Leon and the others, they would be minced to pieces instantly if they were caught in any of them.


    Fortunately, under the guidance of Sarubo''s consciousness projection, Leon and the others did not get lost in the space vortex. They sped through the vortex, avoiding one after another terrifying turbulence. Soon, they appeared in another world.


    It was a silent valley in the middle of a vast mountain range.


    The ancient trees within the forests were large and strong. Their branches easily extended to several hundred square meters wide. Tall mountains and vast forests were everywhere around. Ravines were strewn about the valley. The songs of birds and the calls of insects never stopped.


    But a disaster that could tear this entire world apart was slowly brewing amidst this beautiful land.


    A small hole was opened in the middle of the field. In front of the hole, a black-robed Mage sat silently, his legs crossed. Many chains were wrapped around his body. One end of the chain disappeared into the body of the Mage. The other end disappeared into the boundless space. It looked bizarre.


    The Mage in the black robe didn''t dare to make any large movements with to the restrictions of the golden chains on him. A simple wave of a hand, a cough, all of these could result in severe retaliation from the chains, causing damage to the structure of space around him. This was a small material plane after all. The size of the continent within was a hundred times smaller than that of the Continent of Mages. This was a plane world that could not support powerful beings.


    Trying to squeeze into this material world as a Sixth Grade Mage was no less hard than trying to shove a tiger into a cat cage. Moreover, as a being from the World of Mages, Sarubo radiated a thick scent of his world from his body and soul. He could not fit in with the plane laws here.


    Different plane worlds had different laws. Vastly different at times.


    The more powerful the soul of an Mage was, the more resistance he received from a foreign plane. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If Sarubo managed to break into this plane, it might be hard to find an opponent of his caliber. But as long as he has yet to dissect the differences of this plane''s laws, both his body and soul will continually be suppressed and repelled by the plane''s consciousness.


    His power would be very limited before he gets rid of this foreign force. If his acts of resisting suppression were too large, it would also attract the attention of the plane consciousness. Then more enemies would be attracted to where he was and as suppressed and weakened as he was, even he would not be able to resist mobs of weak enemies.


    Thus, as the standard procedure of plane invasions, the mastermind Sarubo was only responsible for creating a wormhole and projecting his consciousness to the other side. Then it''s up to the following low-level Mages to swarm into the plane, corroding the world bit-by-bit.


    ...


    There was a sudden movement in the calm space vortex.


    Bo Bo Bo...


    Following the continuous ripples in space, one after another Mages were spat out of the vortex, tumbling on the ground.


    Leon climbed up from the ground painfully. But just as he stood up, he moaned and squat down once more.


    Terrifying plane suppression came from the skies above. Countless chains of laws appeared out of the space around him. All of a sudden, his power had been suppressed to complete insignificance.


    Goddammit!...


    It was a terrible feeling of depression, being subdued and twisted....


    It felt like his mouth and nose had been covered with a thick wet cloth. Leon could hardly breathe!


    Even the plentiful and powerful Elementium within his body was completely drained, much like a bottle without a bottom.


    The Body Refining Mage Kiel reacted the best out of the 7 Mages. After all, he still had a tough body even though his Spirit had been suppressed. The few elemental Mages with weaker bodies were pressed to the grounds, still frowning.


    In truth, their physique was not too weak as experienced Mages who had to search everywhere for resources to strengthen themselves. Them being too used to their power was the main reason they looked so bad now. Once the power within their body was taken away, even breathing and walking became a task.


    Leon slowly rose from the grass field and move a little bit.


    He could feel it. The plane laws here were way too different from his original world. He had to slowly get used to the laws here to regain his strength. As long as he didn''t move the Elementium powers merged within his body, the suppression of the plane laws would not be as strong and violent.


    After everyone had gotten somewhat used to the environment, they went before Sarubo, bowing as they waited for their orders.


    This was, of course, not Sarubo''s true body. It was only a mental projection. But even then, the retaliation of the plane laws was still so obvious on Sarubo. The suppression on these First Grade Mages was insignificant in comparison!


    "You have all made it through! Good. Now leave behind a few to terraform the environment. The rest of you scatter in each direction and seal all the paths to her. Make sure no outsiders can disturb my analysis of the plane laws. Be very careful. The space ripples from your journey here just now may have drawn the attention of powerful beings in this plane. The second batch of Mages will arrive in a month. Before that, you must defend this place with your lives! "After some quick advice, Sarubo''s projection went silent.


    All the Mages looked at each other, then backed off and begun preparing the next steps.


    Although everyone, including Mage Keoghan, was First Grade Mages, they still had to obey the orders of Mage Keoghan. After all, Sir F¨¹gen had emphasised this several times before the trip here.


    "We have just arrived. Our powers are at our weakest. So, for the time being, we should not initiate any grand gestures. I now set forth a rule. For the first three days, our range of activity will be limited to 1 mile. Do not initiate contact with the natives too early.


    Kiel, Vincomier, Cowen and I will stay at the base. We will try and construct a functioning base in the shortest time possible to hide Lord Sarubo and the space vortex. Blake, Bleia, and Leon. The three of you are responsible for the outer ring. Kill all the dangerous living beings nearby. Do not let them bust in here and disturb Lord Sarubo.


    Understood? "


    Everyone nodded their heads. Even Leon, Bleia, and Blake did not express any disaLeonents.


    This was well within expectations. As newly recruited Mages who had yet to be trusted, Keoghan would not possibly let them near the weakened mental projection. Thus it was expected that the experienced Mages were left in the base and the three outsiders sent to the outer ring.


    Everyone began seeing to their jobs once it had been assigned.


    The four people left in the base didn''t actually have any less work than Leon and the others.


    Kiel in particular, as a Body Refining Mage, was an important person in the construction of the base. With one fist, he could down trees that were as thick as a man''s embrace. With a few chops of his steel palms, branches as thick as a child''s arm were removed. And alone, he could carry the half-a-ton trunk back to the base.


    The restrictions by the law chains were extremely strong as they had just entered the plane. They couldn''t use any powerful spells. Even the simplest of cantrips were changed due to a change in plane laws.


    You might have wanted to summon a little flame for dinner, only to realise the little flame is now a giant fireball. And there goes your pot. You might have wanted to summon a flame tornado to attack your enemies, only to have a little flame flicker in your palms. It''s hardly enough to even warm the enemies....


    The difference in plane laws made all spells function weirdly. The Mage''s individual strength was probably not much stronger than the plane natives before they get familiar with the plane laws.


    Leon snapped his fingers to ignite a flame at his fingertips. After the Elementium flashed in the air, something appeared in his hands. A jade green frog.


    It was a normal frog with rough skin on its back. And it clearly was as surprised as Leon about him appearing out of thin air. After blinking its googly eyes and looking about, it leaped out of Leon''s palm and with a few hops, it disappeared in the bush.


    Dammit! The difference in plane laws was so large? To have caused a fire spell to become a random nature summon?


    Leon calmed himself down and communicated with the chip.


    "Chip, how''s the plane law analysis going? "


    "Beep, this plane world is a low-level material plane. Elementium saturation rate is low, at 27% of the World of Mages. Law similarity 69%. Expected analysis time is 235 hours 27 minutes 18 seconds..... Current analysis progress is 0.013%.....


    The long progress bar in Leon''s mind was mostly occupied by a blinding rate. The green that represented progress only took up a thin line on the bar. Even Leon with his self-proclaimed 20/20 vision could hardly see any increase of the green bar.


    Leon turned and looked at Blake:"Which way are you going? "


    Although they hated each other thoroughly, they had to call a truce in this foreign world. Preserving their lives came first.


    Dim green eyes flashed beneath Blake''s hood. He pointed in a direction and left. After Blake''s scrawny silhouette disappeared in the distance, Bleia appeared beside Leon. Her eyes shot a questioning look at Leon as she slid her hand across her throat.


    Leon shook his head after a moment''s thought, then left in another direction. Bleia sighed due to a lost opportunity. Silently, she transformed into a bat and disappeared in a different direction from the other two.


    Her transformation was a Bloodline ability and she received very little repercussions from the change in plane laws. This was her source of confidence in killing Blake!


    ...


    1877 Words

 Chapter 166 Another World

    Leon slowly walked into the forest.He was weakened now, but he was an Mage after all. Even barehanded, he could deal with all non-magical creatures. Moreover, he had a vague feeling that his golems wouldn''t be affected by the law changes. He was trying to find a hidden place to verify if this was the case.


    Tangling vines and low bushes were everywhere in the forest. Fruits that were half green and half red swung on the branches above. The wind carried with it the sweet smell of grass and the moisture of the air.


    It was almost a quarter of a mile away. Looking back, Leon could only see tall trees that covered the sunshine. It wouldn''t be easy for someone far away to notice anything that happened here.


    Leon took an earth summoning core from his storage belt and threw it to the ground. Black shiny dirt began to rise as the earth Elementium gathered around the core. In 5 seconds, the dirt had shaped itself into a humanoid clay golem.


    Countless broken branches, decaying leaves, and insects were wriggling about the body of the golem as Leon hadn''t filter the dirt used to form the golem.


    Leon frowned.


    Even though this was a beginner-level golem and wasn''t as powerful as something like the Demon Alligator Hunter, but it shouldn''t be this weak.


    A beginner clay golem such as this one should be 2 meters tall and weigh six to seven hundred pounds according to his tests in the World of Mages. But here, the clay golem was at most 1.5 meters tall, and it had lost 1/3 of its weight. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seems that the golem''s strength had been reduced due to a lack of magic Elementium even though the golem summoning was not affected by plane laws. The tiny flaw wasn''t enough to get Leon down. Just for this plane war, he had prepared over 300 golem summoning cores of all types, all hidden in his storage belt.


    These were the fruits of his labor of the past six months. Leon firmly believed that if you cannot crush the enemy with raw strength, then flood them with terrifying numbers!


    Leon shut his eyes to get a sense of the mental drain of summoning the clay golem. With his current Spirit, he could sustain over 100 clay golems on the battlefield simultaneously. Next, Leon repeatedly tested the other golems, including the Water Elemental, the Stone Serpent, the Wind Critter, the Lightning Giant, the Flamehound and the Fire Lord....


    Leon took his time and effort to sense the mental drain of each and every one of them, etching it to his brain.


    The sudden increase in Spirit since his advancement to Mage made his idea of a golem army much more realistic. With Leon''s current Spirit, he could approximately support 100 beginner golems (clay golems, flamehounds, wind critters) or 25 advanced golems (water elementals, demon alligator hunters, stone serpents) or 10 pseudo-Mage golems (lightning giants, water sprites, magma hounds) or 5 Mage golems (Fire Lords)


    Leon had only one Fire Lord and very few higher level golems. The only strategy left for Leon was golem swarming!


    Just as Leon finished evaluating the golems, the chip suddenly let out a sharp siren.


    "Beep, discovered odd biological existence transmitting mental flux..."


    Leon turned around, his eyes bright as stars. Instantly, his vision pierced through hundreds of meters and locked onto an odd flying bug resting within a bush.


    This was a bug with a dark black shell the size of a finger. It was resting on a thick branch, using the leaves to hide its body. If it wasn''t for the chip, Leon wouldn''t have been able to pick up on such a hidden "infiltrator" with his Spirit badly suppressed.


    Jerk. It was Blake''s spy.


    Leon frowned. Red shone in his eyes, and the bush where the bug was hidden instantly caught fire, ignited by the concentrated fire Elementium.


    The insect realised it had been exposed and started to flap its metallic wings to leave. Sadly, Leon had locked on to it with his second "Ignite." The different plane laws of another world had affected Leon''s first spell, forcing him to cast another.


    The sudden flame enveloped the bug. It began to scream like a human as it wriggled its fat body. It seems that Blake had attached a strand of his Spirit on the spy bug, and was hurt by Leon''s spell.


    500 meters away from Leon, in an empty field within the forest, the black-robed Blake let out a groan from under his hood.


    Blake, much like Bleia, had a special physique. He didn''t rely too much on Elementium, and so the effect of the changed laws was not evident on him either. This was what made him think of taking the chance to kill Leon.


    The reason he didn''t choose Bleia instead was because vampires were annoying and resilient creatures that were hard to kill. Leon, on the other hand, was merely an Elementium mage. Once his powers had been suppressed, killing him would be a breeze.


    But the images sent by the bug sent chills down Blake''s spine. That damn Leon had so many golems! It irritated and terrified Blake to no ends.


    The volatile emotions were what caused a spike in his mental flux and allowed the chip to detect the existence of the bug. Blake''s mental world stung as the bug was consumed by the fire.


    Hmph! I''ll let you live for a little longer!


    Blake cursed and quickly disappeared from where he was.


    He looked calm on the surface, but in truth, nervousness filled his heart.


    That Leon''s power didn''t seem to have weakened. In fact, he seems to be way more terrifying now. If his army of golems surrounded him, along with the wraith-like Bleia.....Blake was confident in his power after he became an Mage, but still, he had no chance against the both of them.


    So he ran as fast as he could after cursing.


    After all, he was scared that Leon would have a change of heart and come after him.


    ...


    Bleia sped through the forest.


    The vampiric bat she had turned herself into moved freely in the forest. At times, she flew up towards the skies and looking down on the valley. At times, she dove into the forest thick with trees and weaved between the branches, vines, and leaves.


    Everywhere she went, countless critters were scared into hiding, where they looked upon this giant bat with frightened eyes.


    Bleia would occasionally break into the homes of powerful magic beasts, where they would attack her. Sadly, their immobile bodies could only eat the dust before Bleia''s lightning speed.


    Winged dragons, gryphons, rocs, four-arm apes, razor boars, sabertooth elephants, man-eating demons...


    Bleia couldn''t help but be impressed by the plentiful biological resources of this plane. It was way beyond her imaginations. The density of the creatures was even more impressive.


    Of course, in comparison, the power of the creatures here was much weaker than those of the World of Mages. It was rare to see any magical creatures in the forest!


    The lack of magical creatures might be a fortune for the average human. This way human settlements would be much safer and suffer much fewer sacrifices. But this was terrible news for those with supernatural powers. This gave them far fewer opportunities to train themselves and learn from the wild.


    The reason the Mages were so powerful was precisely because the World of Mages was home to many equally powerful magical beings! To protect the peace of the human world, to allow the continued existence of humans, the Mages had to be more powerful, smarter and stronger than those beings.


    Thus the power of Mages was the natural result of millenniums of bloody battles against magical beings, not because of the rise of one or two talented Mages.


    If this plane lacked powerful magical creatures or beings, it was natural that the natives here could not give rise to an extremely powerful individual. This was the plane development theory every Mage firmly believed in!


    Why did the World of Mages exile all Mages beyond the Fourth Grade? Precisely to maintain the balance of power between the Mages and the magical beings, to ensure a cruel and unforgiving world for their descendants, to grind and create more powerful Mages.


    This was a theory Leon came to after collating the state of development of multiple areas, so Bleia naturally knew about it as well. But she had never given a damn about any such theories. The only thing she cared about was whether there were delicious blood treats here!


    The giant rampant bat finally caught the attention of the ruler of this forest. A rare three-headed chimera took to the skies, rushing towards where Bleia was.


    The chimera was a powerful magical creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake. Normal chimeras had only one head that was capable of spewing flames that could resiliently stick to its victim. And once a chimera has three heads, it would simultaneously wield the powers of flame, poison, and wind.


    In the World of Mages, such a creature might barely make it as a middle-tier magical being, but here, it was considered an extremely powerful beast.


    Bleia was excited that she had found a magical creature that attracted her attention. Instantly, she began baiting the three-headed chimera into a chase in the woods. Her body was much slimmer and much more capable of speeding through the thick canopies of all the ancient trees. The large chimera with a wingspan of 12 meters, on the other hand, was having trouble.


    Amidst the sounds of snapping branches, the chimera charged through the forest like a bulldozer.


    The strong but immobile chimera was at a huge disadvantage against the bat in such narrow quarters. Thus the angered chimera took to the skies after a fruitless chase. With all its power and all three of its elemental attacks, it bombarded the area where the giant bat was.


    ...


    1691 Words

 Chapter 167 Knight

    Violent and ferocious attacks of three elements instantly covered the area where the giant bat was.Exploding elemental fireballs, slimy and corrosive green globs of poison, continuous waves of ferocious wind blades...


    Spells of three different elements, each with their own attributes now spew out of the three unique heads of the chimera, engulfing the forest in a magnificent and fiery funeral of magic.


    But just as the chimera roared and reveled in the feeling of dominating the battlefield, a slim and tall figure broke through the wave of Elementium. It charged from the forest, quickly nearing the chimera. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The chimera was a magical being, but it also had powerful muscles and strength in a close quarters fight, Sharp claws and a powerful armored tail were all powerful weapons of the chimera. The three ferocious jaws tripled its threat to any enemy that dared to go close.


    But today was not this chimera''s lucky day.


    Three magical breaths fired in a panic were easily dodged by the ghostly figure with a flap of her thin bat wings. Its sharp claws that could tear apart a tiger were also deflected by the opponent''s blood red armor. Nauseating blood thorns appeared on the surface of the armor, silently deflecting most of the chimera''s blows.


    The very next moment, a bat-winged demon that looked like a young human girl dodged the three jaws by a hair''s breath. As she dodged, a chain of blood red magic arrows shot through the lion head in the middle.


    The closely woven and tough scales of the chimera were no better than paper in front of the magic arrows. They shot through its eye and exploded inside the skull, blasting the skullcap far away. Scarlet red blood mixed with spots of white brain matter splattered everywhere.


    Bleia''s petite body was like a buzzing fly about a lion as compared to the large physique of the three-headed chimera. But the blood red bow in her hands was a true weapon of killing, continuously sending blood red arrows to the chimera''s weak spots.


    The piercing power of the arrows along with the bloodsucking effect of the blood-attribute energy made it an unreachable dream for the chimera to even deal a little damage to Bleia. It had only been three minutes since the start of the battle, but the chimera was already riddled with holes, blood pouring out of everywhere.


    The chimera cried in pain. With a swipe of its menacing tail, it forced Bleia back and turned its large body, desperately flapping its scaled wings, trying to escape back to its den.


    But it was too late!


    Bleia stopped in the air, her bat wings slowly beating and spat out coldly: "Now you want to run? You are too late! "


    The very next instance, a blood red beam slashed across the sky and already Bleia was on the back of the scurrying chimera. For the first time since the battle started, her blood red bow was pulled into a full moon. Terrifying blood energy gathered on the bowstring, concentrating into a crystalline blood red arrow.


    "Die! "


    Bleia''s finger let go following her battle cry. The blood red arrow pierced the chimera''s green scales at lightning speed, exploding at the part where the three heads met.


    A big fountain of blood surged out of the chimera as it let out one final cry of sorrow that reverberated across the woods. Finally, it lost control of its large body and spiraled out of the sky.


    A terrifying magical being that had ruled these woods for over a hundred years had so easily died at the hands of the fledgling Bleia.


    In all honesty, this chimera was no weaker than an actual Mage. Sadly the difference in combat ability, equipment and the lack of a powerful means of attacking made it a bumbling target practice. So, he had to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the speedy assassin Bleia.


    Bleia licked her lips. She was still not satisfied. Like a wild beast, she let out a crisp and sweet roar with her voice, letting all the beasts of the woods know of her dominating will.


    Her skintight blood armor, the vast leathery bat wings, a perfect body and her domineering aura..... These were what gave Bleia an attractiveness unique to herself, a special quality that merged both seductiveness with the chaos of bloody violence.


    If Bleia was so beautiful she was a rose, she would absolutely be a thorny one and in particular, thorns with lethal venom on it!


    Bleia stayed in the air for a few more moments as she waited for her will to be clearly transmitted to every corner of the forest before diving back down to the ground. She was going to savor her first blood treat in another world.


    Far away, in the base, Keoghan stopped summoning his voodoo creatures. He tapped into the faint ripples of magic to sense the battle far away.


    When he heard Bleia''s arrogant and overbearing roar, the always strict Keoghan broke into an ugly smile.


    "What a character! I like her. These kinds of exquisite vampires are hard to come by! It''s unfortunate..."


    He turned to where Leon had disappeared and shook his head in disappointment.


    He could see that these two newly advanced Mages were very close. That Bloody Bleia, in particular, heeded every word of Leon. It seems there was no chance for the male Mages in the clan!


    Keoghan shrugged, took a few more toy-like robotic models from his storage space and threw them to the ground. The palm-sized models began to grow and expand as he continued to chant his spell.


    Soon, 4 bizarre robotic creatures 3 meters tall stood before him.


    Keoghan then drew a rune glowing with magic and put it into the core of the robotic beasts. Suddenly the robotic beasts started creaking and moving. After a slight delay, they joined the ranks of the construction army.


    Already there were a dozen voodoo creatures with large and tough physiques and three to four giant clay golems in the previously silent base. The Mages were filling the roles of taskmasters, ordering the magic creatures to and fro, carrying timber, flattening ground, shaping the earth...


    An outline for a simple and practical base was already surfacing.


    And it had only been two hours since they arrived in this odd and mysterious other world.


    ...


    200 miles to the east of the base, there was a human city.


    Inside the city hall, the polished floorboards were shining and the bright sun was flushing in through the lattice window. As the light reflected on the floor, the whole room was brightly lit, like the halls of heaven.


    Ninther Mino walked into the hall with heavy steps. The crisp sound of stone clashing against metal rang throughout the hall as his metal boots stomped on the white stone floor.


    As the only witcher who had advanced to a Spellbreaker Knight in the City of Herdurand, he was an important character for all the Witcher Knights.


    The glimmering knight''s armor, the metal gloves with their clearly defined edges, the delicate knight''s sword by his waist, the polished and shiny war boots, the metal bow on his back and the covered helmet under his arms.....When you put all this together along with his stalwart body measuring up to 2 meters and his handsome face, made him the dream prince of all noble ladies of Herdurand City.


    Four similarly equipped witcher knights followed behind him as he stepped into this gorgeous and elegant city hall.


    The government officials sat around the long table stopped their boring speeches and turned to look in horror at these uninvited guests.


    Grand Duke Lington who was seated at the head of the table rang his golden bell and summoned his bodyguards. Then he spoke, unhappy: "Ninther, this is the sacred city hall, not your witcher knights'' base. When not summoned, you have no right to step in here! "


    Grand Duke Lington was the owner of the City of Herdurand. In fact, he was the ruler of the entire Dulan Province. Within his lands, there were more than 3 major cities with a population over 100,000 men, and 16 smaller cities with a population below 30,000 men. The number of towns and villages were so numerous it was impossible to do a detailed count.


    He had one of the most power even amongst the nobles of the Continent of Witchers.


    Sadly, even with this much power, he had no means to make the arrogant witcher knights bend the knee. After all, all witcher knights on the continent belonged to the Central Kingdom. They took orders directly from the king himself. Even the nobles had no say.


    On the Continent of Witchers, this group of people was the ones who dominated and ruled. These powerful knights who had powerful Battle Skills, these witchers who were loyal to the king. And the purpose of their existence.....was to purge the continent of the evil spellcasters that appeared.


    In this proud nation where witcher knights ruled, several casters that awakened their evil powers would appear every year. They didn''t have tough physiques, or a will of steel from constant training, or knight''s equipment crafted to fit. But they could summon mysterious and evil flames out of thin air and freeze enemies in ice or let the dead climb out of their graves...


    These evil casters were a hidden but terrible threat to society and humans. Thus countless righteous and noble knights responded to the king''s summons. Together, they ran to every rural and desolate village or town to judge and execute each and every evil caster who had exposed themselves.


    These noble knights called themselves witcher knights and formed a massive but organised power structure. And this Ninther Mino who stood before their eyes right now was a respected witcher knight who had completed their advancement: a Spellbreaker Knight.


    These witcher knights had a very respected status. They weren''t even bound by the laws set by the nobles. It was a pain for every government official in cities where there was a witcher knight base.


    This bunch of witcher knights marched in recklessly just as Grand Duke Lington was about to shout at his subordinates over the reduced tax profits.


    This made the Grand Duke so much angrier!


    ...


    Golden Ticket = 20. Goal achieved.


    ...


    1732 Words

 Chapter 168 Precognition

    The handsome Ninther was not bothered by the Grand Duke''s anger.Ever since he became the youngest Spellbreaker Knight of the Dulan Province, he had been the leader of the witcher knights here.


    Eliminating the darkness, protector of the weak, fearless!


    This 28-year-old youthful knight followed the precepts passed down by the holy knights strictly. He avoided all luxurious entertainments of the nobles and put all his efforts and energy into "the purging of evil".


    "Your honor, Grand Duke Lington, I heard you have a subordinate known as Sage Goth? I wish to see him immediately! "Ninther stood tall before the Grand Duke and said his target, ignoring the threatening looks of the bodyguards behind the Duke.


    Although the words were those of a request, coming out of his mouth, they sounded nothing like a request!


    The Grand Duke''s face turned green in an instant. He waved the exquisite ruby-adorned scepter about in anger as he shouted furiously: "Goth is the guiding mentor I hired for my daughter. He is no Sage! He is not the caster you lot are looking for! You have no right to search a Grand Duke''s property..."


    Unfortunately, the Grand Duke''s protests were completely ignored by Ninther. He stared coldly at the Duke''s eyes, spitting out one word at a time: "I am not here to search for evidence, and I have no intention to bother this Sage Goth. Perhaps..."Ninther paused for a moment as he said this:"Perhaps we may need the powers of this Sage Goth for certain matters! "


    Even the Grand Duke Lington couldn''t help but be surprised as he saw the hesitating look on Knight Ninther''s face. Before he could reject Ninther again, a crisp and sweet female voice rang out from a corner of the hall.


    "Follow me if you wish to see Teacher Goth. "


    When he heard this familiar voice, the Grand Duke couldn''t help but exclaim:"El, it''s you? Quick, go back. Here..."


    A beautiful girl of about sixteen years of age and wearing a light yellow dress walked in from a small door in the corner of the hall. It was the Grand Duke''s daughter Elena.


    "Father, don''t stop Knight Ninther! This is also the will of my teacher. "


    The Grand Duke frowned and spoke: "Since it''s Goth''s will as well, then bring Ninther to see him! But these witcher knights will have to stay here. "


    Ninther nodded and turned to leave some orders with his companions before following Elena into the inside of the Duke''s home.


    The place where Sage Goth lived was a tall tower. The only path to the tower was a narrow spiraling stone staircase. Ninther had a huge build, and the armor on his body was exceptionally heavy, which caused occasional clattering as he walked up the steps and his armor clashed against the walls.


    Ninther couldn''t help but sneer as he watched the Duke''s daughter in front of him.


    That Goth knew it the moment I arrived. The title of "Sage" was well deserved!


    But he was here to visit this "Sage" Goth, with orders from above to seek help. He had to tolerate this fellow and wait for another time to fulfill his oath even though this fellow had already revealed a trace of his true identity as a "spawn of evil."


    On the way, Ninther finally couldn''t suppress the urge to ask: "Lady Elena, what do you learn from Sage Goth?" "


    "Language, Script, and History! "Elena replied without even turning her head. Her tone was cold and distant like she didn''t want to speak more.


    "He probably teaches u astrology as well, doesn''t he? " Ninther couldn''t help but add.


    Elena''s petite body shook. Still not turning her head she spoke: "Not all knowledge is evil! Even the king recognises the use of astrology. What is it, Knight Ninther? Do you intend to kill everyone who has learned astrology? "


    Ninther didn''t reply.


    The stone tower had five levels. Sage Goth was waiting for them on the fifth.


    This was a wise old man wearing a long red robe with a monocle on his nose bridge. The long hair covering his shoulders were snow white, and his face was covered with wrinkles. His eyes were brown but the light had faded from the pupils, leaving only a sharp glint at the bottom of his eyes that gave him an air of refinement.


    Ninther looked all around this narrow room. Although there were books and parchments laid everywhere, there was a sense of order amongst the mess. There were more books of every kind on a huge bookshelf that reached all the way to the roof in the corner of the room.


    Books weren''t all that valuable in the Continent of Witchers, but they were still something that was beyond the reach of peasants. Looking at the size of it, Ninther suspected that even the public library of Herdurand paled in size and value to the collection here!


    "You must be Goth! I am Ninther. I am here under the orders of ....." Ninther stepped forward and loudly introduced himself, beating his chest once as he did so. Sadly, he was interrupted by the old man.


    "Of course it was Wells that sent you! Otherwise, you would not have been able to see me! "An odd smile appeared on the elderly''s face:"He must have sent you to ask me whether the nightmares of the past month were real. "


    Ninther''s face couldn''t help but twitch.


    The messenger pigeon from Ayran Castle, the headquarters of the witcher knights had arrived in his hands for less than an hour and this hermit already found out?


    Ninther coldly asked:"This must be the special ability you awakened, isn''t it? Is it precognition or divination? Or is it soul enslavement? "


    His tone was full of disdain. It wasn''t the first believer of evil of this sort that he had judged himself.


    Precognition, it allowed the believers of evil to sense looming danger before it happened, and avoid the witcher knight''s pursuit accordingly. The greatest weakness of this ability was its limitation to sense only things that had to do with oneself. It could not be used to help others.


    Divination was slightly better. The user could tell the future fate of certain events through the use of ceremonial equipment such as animal bones, cards or crystal balls. Unfortunately, the results of divination were often vague and unclear, unlike the clear future images of precognition. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for the last type, soul enslavement. This was an extremely cruel and terrifying evil spell. Casters that awakened to this ability could enslave the souls of the dead and bend them to their will. They could be used to gather information, uncover private secrets, or even drain the life of the living..... Whichever it was, they were all evil acts that Ninther hated with a passion.


    Sage Goth laughed in the face of the young knight''s provocation. He didn''t mind at all. Instead, he took out a crystal ball the size of a duck''s egg from his wide sleeves and passed it to the knight.


    "What Wells wishes to know, I have already etched into this crystal ball. You only need to deliver this crystal ball to his hands. "


    Elena, who had been silent by a side, opened her eyes wide in shock, looking at her teacher with worry in her eyes. With the Grand Duke''s protection, the witcher knights would have no means to discover her teacher''s identity as a medium as long as he insistently denied his possession of any special abilities.


    But now that he had taken out the crystal ball with his own hands, he was practically admitting his identity to Ninther the Spellbreaker Knight.


    This...


    As expected, Ninther couldn''t help but unsheath his sword and point it at the old man''s heart when he saw the crystal ball, even with the special orders from headquarters.


    "Hmph! As expected, you are a heretic. You had better follow me to see Sir Wells in person after all! "


    "Don''t..."Elena shouted as she charged forward to protect her teacher, but was stopped by the elderly man.


    Even with a sword to his chest, there was no fear on his face. Instead, he asked calmly:"Truly the evil-loathing Ninther! But Sir Ninther, I have a question for you. How old do you think I am? "


    The opponent''s calm conduct confused Ninther.


    Sage Ninther was someone specifically named to be seen by the only Fourth Grade Holy Knight that was revered by all witcher knights. If the old man truly had precognitive abilities, why did he not run but wait here when he found out that I was coming?


    Hesitation appeared on Ninther''s handsome face. Probingly, he asked:"Eighty?" " Discover exclusive tales on empire


    This was a very high age for the Continent of Witchers, where the average life expectancy was 70.


    Sage Goth smiled as he shook his head. Suddenly, his tone turned desolate and low.


    "27! I''m only 27 this year! "


    It wasn''t just Knight Ninther, even Elena couldn''t help but let out a gasp of surprise.


    Although they had been together for 5 years, she didn''t know of her teacher''s secret.


    "Ever since I awakened the powers of a medium at the age of 13, I have aged several times faster than everyone else. Every time I used my ability of precognition, my life force is what is drained from me! I have had the same nightmare every night for the past 5 years in particular. A group of...A group of powerful demons appears in our world, taking away all that we have, turning everyone into slaves..."


    "This is not my divination. This is what our world wishes to tell me! So I used certain means to pass my dream on to you Sir Wells. Perhaps, in this world, only a powerful person such as himself can lead the people and fight against the terrifying demons in the dream in unity..."


    Sir Ninther''s face became deathly pale.


    The matter before his hands was clearly out of his control. He didn''t even have any means to determine the truth of the words of this believer of evil. Even though his instincts forged by constant fighting against believers of evil told him not to trust any of them, but deep in his heart, Ninther had a feeling that this Sage Goth was trustworthy.


    Sage Goth thrust the crystal ball into his arms as Ninther was hesitating. He then turned to the window, and with his arms spread out, shouted to the skies.


    "Mother World, I have done what you asked me to. Ever since you drew me into that terrifying dream world, I have wanted to ask, does our world have a future? Mother World, if you hear me, please tell me..."


    As he shouted, a holy milk-white light surfaced around his body. But Goth didn''t seem to realise. He stumbled as he sunk into a terrifying dream world.


    "No...no...no...this shouldn''t be how it is! Our world shouldn''t be like this...Mother World, please let me see the face of that terrifying demon..."


    Sage Goth''s body shook as he said that.


    "So this is how you look! Demon...I''ve seen you..."Sage Goth turned around, his face flushed with excitement:"Quick, tell Wells, they are at the eas...aghhhhhhh..."


    Ninther could see clearly. Just as Sage Goth was about to say something in his fervor, his eyes had been poked blind by someone. Two bloody holes were what was left.


    A spooky voice rang out in the stone room.


    "I couldn''t have imagined that there were prophets in this world that could communicate with the plane consciousness. Hmph! Worthless worm, since you dared to spy on me, then you should die! "


    Following his words, the blood and flesh all over Goth''s body withered quickly, leaving him as a pile of bones in seconds. Then, under the horrified gaze of two people, they turned into a pile of grey powder...


    Far away from the eyes of the two, in the forward base of the Mages, a human-shaped projection bound by heavy chains of laws opened his eyes, poked the air before him twice lightly and blew a breath of air.


    But even such minor actions triggered the retaliation of the chains of laws.


    The projection grunted. He expended huge amounts of energy to stabilise this body, ensuring it didn''t break down.


    Finally, after a long time, he shut his eyes again and went back to his eternal silence.


    ...


    2086 Words

 Chapter 169 Information

    Three days later.Leon and the others who had been out to scout had returned to the base, bringing with them the information they had collected.


    Although it had only been three days, the once grassy field where the Mages had arrived in was already looking like a small town.


    A tall stone house stood from the ground, covering the projection and the space vortex within. There were no windows on the structure, only an arcane entrance in the front. Row after row of wooden and stone houses were built with the stone building in the center, spread around on the outside haphazardly.


    The ones responsible for guarding the outer rim of the forward base was a bunch of voodoo beasts of all sorts. There were lions, tigers, jaguars and many more, but without exception, there was the special flux of magic organs from within their bodies. The voodoo beasts with the power of intermediate apprentices might not be much to an Mage, but they were most suited to deal with any normal native or beasts that wandered into the base by accident.


    On the other hand, the security system within the base were the numerous and plentiful magic arrays and troops of weird-looking robotic beasts. These robotic beasts were clearly exquisite products from the Castle in the Sky, as each of them had the power of an advanced apprentice. Considering their bodies that had high resistance to damage, with good cooperation, surrounding and killing a pseudo Mage was an easy matter.


    Besides all this, there were also a few winged dragon knights.


    Judging from their appearance, these were created by using voodoo magic to modify some sort of humanoid being and sew them to the back of winged dragons, giving them the ability of both flight and long ranged attacks. The ingredients were probably taken locally and the product just finished, considering their bloody bodies.


    The entire lower half of the humanoid beings had been amputated and forcibly merged onto the winged dragons back due to the rushed job. It was still bloody where the flesh of the two creatures met. The thick corpse-weaving thread could still be seen clearly.


    A winged dragon knight beat its wings and stopped Leon''s path as he returned.


    The humanoid on the dragon''s back was a male with a large physique and solid muscles, baring his chest. In his hand was a magic weapon shaped like a spear with light blue light flickering about it. He bent his body and sniffed. Perhaps because he sensed the thick Mage''s smell around Leon''s body, he flew back into the woods after bowing and giving his respects.


    Leon paid no attention and walked boldly forward. Twenty or so clay golems dragged a dozen large forest creatures behind them as they followed behind Leon. The pained howls and screams of the creatures filled the woods as they were dragged into the base.


    Mage Keoghan, his robe still caked with blood, came out after hearing the calls of the creatures. An expression of wild surprise and delight filled his face as he saw one after another living sabertooth elephants, four-arm apes, swamp alligators, and gryphons.


    "Hahaha...Just in time! I was missing ingredients! Quick, send them over..."


    Only then did Leon realise that Keoghan also had such talent on the modification and creation of voodoo beasts. All the new voodoo beasts he saw earlier were probably his handiwork. It''s important to note that those winged dragon knights each had the power of a pseudo-Mage!


    The temporary base leader rubbed his hands together in excitement as he ordered the clay golems to send the "ingredients" into the giant slaughterhouse. Looking at the nimble and agile golems, Keoghan couldn''t help but exclaim: "I have long heard of your amazing talent in the creation of elemental golems. It seems you live up to your reputation." If this had been the case, you should have gone down the route of the Profound Mages. Being a puppet master is not bad at all. "


    Leon was standing beside Keoghan when he shook his head and spoke: "The roots of an Mage, ultimately, lies within oneself. My talent in creating puppets might be enough for me to dominate for a while, but it''s not beneficial for my own growth. Between a powerful First Grade Puppet Master or a weak Second Grade Elementium Mage, I would rather pick the latter! "


    Keoghan stopped smiling and narrowed his eyes as he said, surprised: "To think you already have such an understanding so quick after your advancement! Very good...If that Eclivel had understood this 300 years earlier, perhaps he wouldn''t have landed such a tragic end..."


    Leon remained silent.


    Keoghan smiled awkwardly as he instructed Leon: "Go rest! We might still need to have a meeting tonight! "


    Leon nodded. One after another, the clay golems walked to his side and dispelled the earth Elementium and dirt that formed their bodies, their summoning cores lightly landing in Leon''s hand.


    Leon kept the summoning cores and swiftly went to a row of the simple stone houses.


    A dozen of stone houses of the same design stood in a row. Some of them were shut tight, the emblems of their occupants etched onto the door, glowing with magic. Other stone houses were wide open, with nothing inside them.


    The houses with emblems on the door were clearly occupied, so Leon just picked one of the empty houses and went in. Following a red flash on the door, the image of a burning iron fist raised towards the sky appeared on the stone door. This was the emblem Leon chose for himself, meant to express the path he had chosen for himself.


    He had already checked earlier. There was no sign of Bleia or Blake''s emblem. It seemed that they had yet to return. Leon crossed his legs on the stone bed and shut his eyes as he communicated with the chip.


    "Chip, what''s the progress on the plane law analysis? "


    "Beep, current progress is 97.14%. Estimated time remaining: 3 hours 27 minutes 11 seconds....."


    Leon nodded in satisfaction. He could finally relax.


    Those who have never broken into another world would never understand the terror of plane suppression. Like a lion tossed into a sea, the change in environment would make every action in daily life so much more difficult and painful.


    Mages were, after all, a being that rooted their strength in the laws of the world. Once there was a change in laws, they would feel the deepest and most intense of its effects.


    Ever since he entered this plane, Leon had felt like his nose and mouth were covered with a thick wet cloth. Even breathing had turned into a chore. His Spirits that had replaced his eyes had been suppressed within his body, with no means of extending outwards, barring him from detecting every single little change around him as he had before.


    This limited his powers greatly.


    A lion might not survive if it fell into a sea, but Mages were way smarter than that. As long as they could analyse the source of the change in plane laws, Mages could adjust the laws and allow themselves to become accustomed to the environment and regain their strength.


    ...


    The Mages'' meeting happened in tandem with dinner.


    A large campfire was burning in the middle of the camp. The seven Mages sat around it, enjoying golden ribs cooked to perfection as they listened to the information gathered by Leon, Bleia, and Blake.


    Mages were always a group of clear-headed and knowledgeable individuals.


    Even though Keoghan hadn''t set out any specific tasks for them, Leon and the others had already swept the forest, drew a map, investigate this plane''s power structure and completed many other tasks.


    It could be safely said, in just three days, the three had made sure that even half a large-sized beast or magical being could no longer be found within 25 kilometers of the base. The three each threw a ball of smoke to Keoghan. After he inhaled it into his body, he waved his hand and the previously flat ground started to rise like waves.


    Once all the earth Elementium in the air had gradually settled down, the geography of the base''s surroundings was perfectly presented before everyone. The ridge of mountains, the cascade of rocks, the dense forests, the flowing rivers, the dark caves, the deep canyons....Without needing to step out of the base, they had a clear view and understanding of the surrounding''s geography.


    The first to speak was Blake. His voice was hoarse and low and had a tinge of a bug''s hissing attached to it.


    "I did not discover much in the direction I went. After going past 15 kilometers of forest, there is a human settlement. I found a small human city there. There is also a small town and three to four villages nearby.


    I caught several natives from a small village and interrogated their souls. This place is located in the east and is known as the Great Greenland Forest. As for the powerful beings of their plane, they had very little knowledge of them. I only managed to find out that the organisation known as the Witcher Knights are pretty powerful. There''s nothing more besides these.


    If we really want to understand this plane''s power structure, we might have to enter the human city for a clue..." S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The next to speak was Bleia.


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    "The direction I went in should lead towards the depths of the forest. The deeper I went, the denser the trees and the more beasts and magical creatures there were. Some of them tasted pretty good! "Bleia licked her red lips: "I found the rallying points of several large magical beings. There''s the man-eating demon''s tribe. There are two dozens adults and they are located here...There''s a group of poison dragons of around a dozen located here...There''s a den of gryphons with 5 adults and 3 cubs here..."


    Bleia lived up to her reputation as an agility-focused Mage. In just three days, her investigation radius covered a range of 100 kilometers. Judging from her familiarity with the locations, she had probably personally visited each rallying point. Of course, this meant she had already had a feast of her own!


    Then it was Leon''s turn.


    "The forest on my side is less dense. 10 kilometers of trekking brings you outside of the forest. There are 3 small human villages at the edge of the forest here.....here.....and here...One of the villages is pretty developed. I saw many mercenaries and hunters there. Their range of activity is pretty large and are very likely to wander into our base.


    I caught a mercenary and from the information I got, the main fighting force of this plane is that group of witcher knights. From his depictions, it seems that a normal witcher knight is at the standard of an apprentice Mage, and the so-called Spellbreaker Knights can reach the level of a First Grade Mage.


    There the Spellbreaker Knights there are Radiant Knights, Dragon Knights, and Holy Knights. Unfortunately, this means that we might encounter a group of magic fighters that will hate Mages with a passion in this plane. "


    The power structure of both planes was very different. It would need an actual confrontation for both parties to have a better understanding of the other''s abilities and powers. But based on Leon''s information, it seems that it is highly possible that a Fourth Grade opponent will appear in this plane.


    For this group of First Grade Mages, that was way too powerful!


    ...


    1943 Words

 Chapter 170 Scorpios

    Based on the information brought back by Leon and the others, along with Keoghan''s conversations with Lord Sarubo, the Mages quickly determined that this was a small-sized material plane where the highest tier of power was limited at the Fourth Grade.Magic Elementium was lacking.


    Arcanology was incomplete.


    The characteristic of magic in the entire plane hindered the casting of spells. This meant that way more effort had to be put in to successfully cast spells. Even so, there was still a rather high chance of the spell failing.


    The powerful Elementium manipulators and casters could not maintain their class advantage before the classes that relied mostly on physical damage due to the difficulty of casting. That was why the terrible situation of witcher knights oppressing casters happened on this plane.


    How were a bunch of "barbarians" wearing heavy armor, carrying metal shields, riding horses and wielding swords fit to chase the great casters all over the world?


    Even though the Mages present had no sympathy for the casters of this plane, but just thinking of their "counterparts" being hunted like wild beasts by a bunch of knights that could only brandish about their barbaric and uncivilised strength filled them with anger.


    Leon couldn''t help but worry once he thought of how low the plane''s limit of power was. He asked Mage Keoghan: "Sir Keoghan, if this plane can only hold power up to the Fourth Grade, then Lord Sarubo....."


    Leon didn''t finish his sentence, but everyone present understood.


    Lord Sarubo was a terrifying Sixth Grade Great Mage. With how much power he had, would he be able to squeeze into this plane?


    Before Keoghan could reply, a deep but gentle voice rang in everyone''s mind.


    "Of course not! This plane could never accommodate all of my powers. "It sounded like that Great Mage Sarubo''s voice:"I have no intention to project all my strength in. All I need is just a fraction of it. What you all need to do now is to protect this place and wait for the arrival of the reinforcing Mages.


    They will build an Mage''s tower here.


    Once the tower is done, then I may be able to project all my strength within the radius covered by the Mage''s tower. Then, if the so-called "powerful beings" of this plane dare come, I will be able to put them to eternal rest! "


    Leon gritted his teeth and asked hesitatingly: "Then why didn''t you let a Fourth Grade Mage break into this world first? It must be easier for him to enter this world than for you too! "


    "A Fourth Grade Mage?" Hahaha...Little brat, you underestimate the plane''s suppression of Mages. One one end you have to maintain the space vortex so it''s not closed by space''s ability to regenerate, on the other you need to suppress the flux and commotion of the space vortex such that it is not detected by the outside world, all while battling against a powerful plane consciousness. Do you think a Fourth Grade Mage is capable of this? "


    Several Mages nodded their heads.


    They had an in-depth and thorough experience the past few days. The various pains brought about by the plane suppression of a hostile world had almost driven them insane.


    If a Fourth Grade Mage had been put in Lord Sarubo''s position, would he be able to maintain his battle strength under this heavy suppression and limitation? Could a Fourth Grade Mage at his limits maintain his power advantage before the enemy if he was attacked by an individual of the same tier from this plane?


    At that moment, everyone present went silent as they contemplated the meaning behind the words of the projection of the Great Mage.


    If they hadn''t heard wrong, this forward base is probably the safest place on this plane. At least for the Mages, this was the case!


    If they met an unopposable powerful enemy outside, they could lure them here and use the power of the Great Mage''s projection to vanquish the enemy. Of course, this was only possible after the Mage''s tower had been built. Before the tower was constructed, the amount of power the Great Mage''s projection could spare was very limited and needed to be used with great care.


    Everyone wanted to ask what tier of power was the amount the Great Mage could spare currently, but this concerned classified information about this invasion. Asking such a question would only invite the doubts and suspicions of the Great Mage. Everyone decided to remain silent instead.


    The Great Mage needed one month''s time of buffer to bring in the second batch, having brought this first batch over. This information alone already hinted at the amount of power he had. Thus several quick-thinking Mages had silently begun to make estimates of their own while changing the topic of conversation to questions on spells. Stay tuned with empire


    The following task assignment remained the same as before. The 4 clan Mages were responsible for the construction and furnishing of the base, while Leon and the others were responsible for the outer rim. But this time there were no limitations!


    Mage Keoghan set out strict requests for the three before they left.


    They were to lie low for the time being and not alert or draw the enemy''s attention to anywhere near the base. In the meantime, the three Mages had to use all the means at their disposal to plant eyes within the ranks of the native humans, turn the forces of the enemy to their side and use them to monitor all regions near the base.


    If there were small groups of enemies, the three could secretly kill them depending on the situation. If the enemy forces came in with large numbers, then they had to try to redirect them to another region. At least before any unopposable Second Grade opponents appear, the three would not get any reinforcements or assistance from the base.


    The three had already expected this. There was nothing to complain about. After a quick rest at the base, they set off on their journey once more.


    ......


    Colca Village, a tiny village close to the Great Greenland Forest.


    There were many of such simple villages within the Greenland Forest. They were the kind of extremely small villages where you would be able to see all the houses from one end of the village. The total population of the village did not even reach 60.


    Due to the numerous beasts within the mountains, most of the residents were hunters. Years hunting had given them the ability to deal with beasts, as well as proficiency in bows and setting traps.


    Most slept early in the mountain villages.


    The sky had just gone dark, but already there were little lights to be seen within the village.


    In a small wooden house by the edge of the village, seven or eight men dressed like hunters were warming themselves by a fireplace, the steam rising from the wooden cups in their hands obscuring the concern on their faces.


    "We can''t go on like this! It''s been half a month since we saw the tracks of a large beast. I went to the beast trap on the east to see. There was absolutely no catch. "A hunter with a scar on his face started the conversation.


    "Yea, it''s been really weird recently, almost like all the beasts has gone into hiding...."


    "It''s the same over at my side...Even 15 kilometers deep, I still can''t even find wild chickens or ducks..."


    "Yea..."


    ...


    Everyone chattered and discussed, with plenty of confusion and incomprehension in their words.


    "Could a scary magical being have shown up? "A smaller built hunter asked out of the blue.


    All of a sudden, everyone went silent.


    Nothing was scarier than running into a magical creature for these hunters making a living in the woods. Even though they were well equipped to deal with forest beasts, but they would have no chance to even escape if they met a magical creature.


    "Those creatures all live deep in the mountains and have their own bases. They shouldn''t come out for no reason, right? "A young hunter couldn''t help but ask.


    "The herd splitting off, avoiding disasters, loss in a tribe war, or the appearance of an even stronger magical creature...This could all make those scary creatures move their homes..."An experienced veteran hunter replied coldly.


    Everyone fell silent again.


    "How about we gather tomorrow and explore the depths of the forests? After all, we can''t just let this problem be..."A hunter asked probingly.


    His suggestion immediately got the agreement of everyone, and the discussion heated up.


    But just as everyone was in the midst of their passionate discussion, "dududu" came the sound of the door being knocked.


    Everyone was surprised.


    It couldn''t be someone from the village. Otherwise, they would just walk in. Who would knock the door so politely in the cold wind? But their village was on the waist of the mountain. The cliffs were steep and the roads were windy and hard to traverse. How could someone have made it here after dark?


    Also, many traps had been laid around the perimeter of the village to prevent wild beasts from breaking into the village in the night.


    "Who is it? "The owner of the house stood up and asked in a gruff voice.


    No one replied, but the knocking on the door didn''t stop.


    Just as everyone felt a chill run through their hearts, a weird chittering sound came from above. With a "bata" sound, some odd things began falling from the roof onto their bodies.


    "They are scorpions..."


    A hunter with a sharp eye shouted in surprise and began to shake his body, trying to chase away these black scorpions he had never seen before. But following light stings all over their body, the hunters froze. A sensation of paralysis they have never felt before spread through their bodies.


    The hunters that had been stung by the scorpions'' tail froze on the spot, their mouth and tongue mildly shaking, their eyes reflecting an expression of fear and terror, but they had lost all ability to move.


    One after another odd scorpion with bloated abdomens appeared in the house under their terrified gaze and crawled across their bodies onto their faces. Using their sharp joints to open their mouths, the odd scorpions dove inside without hesitation.


    Every hunter looked in horror at their closest companion. They could very clearly see a bloated spot slowly moving down the throats of their companion. They themselves could only feel an intense pain coming from their throats as their trachea and esophagus burst from the insertion of the foreign object. The terrifying scorpion was still tunneling its way downwards!


    They wanted to scream for help, but their throats had been blocked. They wanted to use their hands to dig the scorpion out of their throats, but their bodies were so paralyzed even moving their pinky was impossible.


    Such a scary scene terrified all the hunters. One after another, they eyes flipped over and they fainted in pain. Only the toughest of them, Hanks managed to endure the pain and not faint.


    And so, he had the luck to see the silhouette of the mastermind.


    He didn''t know when, but a mysterious man in a hood had walked into the house and was slowly sitting down by the fireplace.


    In the dim light, Hanks could see the two ghostly green will-o-wisps of eyes and the face that was too ugly for any human eyes under the hood.


    Was this a bug or a human?


    Hanks consciousness sunk into the eternal darkness as he contemplated this silly question.


    ....


    1952 Words S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 171 Collecting a little more information

    Blue Hillock City.Blue Hillock City was named Blue Hillock because there was a hillock 1.5 kilometers from the city. It was a hillock covered by a field of blue tulips. When the season of blooming came, the hillock was so beautiful it made people never want to leave. For that, it was well-known across the entire Continent of Witchers.


    Even though it wasn''t the blooming season currently, Blue Hillock City was still crowded and lively. Especially when night fell, nobles and merchants on lavish carriages that weaved through one after another entertainment establishments came in endless streams, making the city even more so lively than it was in the day.


    Bleia was high in the sky under the curtain of night. The bright moon shone behind her, complementing her already slim and perfect figure.


    If someone in Blue Hillock city raised their head to appreciate the moon at this moment, they might have seen the silhouette of an elegant and perfect young lady. A pair of large bat wings were opened wide against the wind behind this beautiful girl, adding a touch of mystery and wickedness out of nowhere.


    Even Bleia wasn''t sure when, but she had fallen in love with this feeling of looking down from high above the skies.


    The ignorant city at her feet clamored, ignorant of the terrifying disaster that was about to come. An unrestrained feeling of absolute control rose in Bleia as she looked down from above the night skies.


    This feeling was perfect and alluring!


    The raging winds high up in the sky swept the blood-red cape and made it billow along with the wind. Leather wings lightly flapping, Bleia''s slim body remained still, proudly standing in the skies, as if it was forged of iron.


    This Blue Hillock City was initially Worm controller Blake''s hunting grounds, but after Bleia went to him for a "heart-to-heart" talk with a huge smile on her face, Blake requested to go to the few small mountain villages by the west of his "own initiative".


    Thus Bleia was in charge of this human town, Blake was responsible for blockading the human villages to the west and Leon had to slip into the depths of the forests in the back and capture more flesh ingredients for Keoghan.


    Bleia wasn''t the least bit worried or concerned even though she was forced to part with Leon. She might rely heavily on Leon''s plan usually, but this did not mean that she was an idiot without a brain of her own.


    There would never be an idiot amongst those who managed to become Mages.


    Bleia was already thinking of her action plan for the coming period as she rode the night winds to this small city of only 20,000 people.


    Undercover operation!


    If she wanted to go undercover she had to hide but just going into hiding alone won''t give her information about the outside world. That''s why she needed a more high-profile and more efficient means of going undercover.


    Looking down from the skies, Bleia quickly noted down several important locations from the outline of the buildings. The locations she noted down were all areas where the crowd was the densest and where the lights were the brightest.


    Bleia bit her lip and let out a shriek, then folded her wings and dove down to the city at her feet. Her entire body was like a sharp arrow shot out of a bow. When she was 30 meters away from the ground, Bleia fluttered her wings and her body turned into a cluster of black shadows, merging into the boundless darkness.


    ...


    Tulip Hotel.


    Even amongst the numerous entertainment spots of Blue Hillock City, Tulip Hotel was the most famous and the most classy one of them all.


    It was already late in the night, but still, the plaza before the door of Tulip Hotel was parked full of lavish four-wheeled carriages. On the borders of the carriages carved out of fragrant rosewood, were crest after crest of prominent families.


    In one of the grandest and most lavish rooms of the hotel, four people, one man, and three women were entangled intimately together into a heap of flesh on an exquisite bed. But just as the bald-headed man was on the verge of climax, the door of the room suddenly opened. A tall, graceful and sexy beauty in red armor walked in.


    A bunch of thugs that looked like goons surged in behind the beauty, surrounding the beauty with their numbers. All of them looked at her in anger, but no one dared to block her path. Amongst the group, the few leaders had blood all over their face, with a fresh red swollen handprint on each of their faces.


    His "pleasure time" interrupted, the bald man was extremely angered. Wrapping the blanket around his body, he got out of bed, ignoring the exposed bodies of his female companions.


    Ear-piercing screams rang out in the room!


    "Shut up! Scream and disturb our guest here again...and I''ll toss you naked into Downwater Works.


    Downwater Works was the most well-known ghetto in Blue Hillock City. If they landed there, their fates were obvious. They weren''t scared of being abused by the men, but more scarily were the occasional stories of cannibalism and the hordes of hungry men in there.


    Thus the very next moment, all the screaming stopped!


    "You are the one in charge here? "The Bleia who had broken in had gotten rid of all her inhuman traits. Her appearance was just like that of a female mercenary with tremendous strength.


    But with a slight smile and a ripple in her blue eyes, an intangle power of seduction instantly charmed all the men in the room. Even the few fellows who were beaten up by her had lost the anger in their eyes and were looking at her in a perverted manner.


    "Who are you? How dare you break into my place! Heheh...Young lady, have you never of heard of me, the Bald Eagle? "The man laughed sinisterly as he ran his hand across his bald head.


    Even though he was also affected by Bleia''s innate power of seduction, he was a man of cruel and merciless means as well. The effect of Bleia''s seduction was much less severe, allowing him to maintain his clarity of thought. Of course, this also had to do with Bleia having no intention of seducing him!


    This was just a passive effect due to Bleia''s own ability of seduction!


    "What? You want to talk to me in front of so many people? The great Bald Eagle needs such a display of power just to talk to a weak little girl? "


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    The bald man snorted coldly and sent a message to his subordinates with a look of his eye. Soon, someone had gotten his right-hand men, Quicksword Jake and Blackblade Ender to come over.


    The two seemed as if they had put on their clothes in a hurry, but from their steady strides and sharp gazes, it was clear that they were nothing like the goons earlier.


    "Boss..."


    "Boss..."


    The two stood behind the bald man. One was lightly tapping the slender sword by his waist, while the other took out a heavy dagger and toyed with it with his agile hands. The looked at Bleia with cold eyes, occasionally letting out a wicked laugh.


    The bald man managed to calm down with his right-hand men finally by his side. The useless subordinates awkwardly exited the room under his instructions, bringing with them the three naked girls who were pale in the face now.


    When the door had been shut, the bald man threw aside the blanket and slowly equipped the leather armor, bracelet and shield piled in a corner of the room.


    Fully dressed, he crossed his arms and stared arrogantly at Bleia:"Speak! Now you can tell me your goal! "


    Threads the color of blood slowly begin to surface deep within Bleia''s blue pupils. Her heart was filled with endless joy when she looked upon the three people before her.


    Three Pseudo-Mages!


    These three warriors of another world had power equal to pseudo-Mages!


    Bleia smiled.


    ...


    A moment later, the door to the room opened wide again.


    The countless goons who were waiting with weapons in hand were shocked to find their arrogant and overbearing boss nodding and bowing before the beauty in red armor. The two right-hand men had also shrunk behind the beauty. They brought a chair over for her to sit on, then offered tea and water. It almost seemed like they were afraid of not offering satisfactory service to the beauty.


    Bleia smiled slightly and sat on the chair. She then used a handkerchief and lightly wiped off the bloodstains at the corner of her mouth.


    On the necks of the bald man and his two subordinates, a pair of small injuries was quickly healing, leaving behind only an undetectable scar.


    Bleia had the ability to Embrace ever since she became a vampire Mage. With this ability, she could create hordes of blood servants loyal to herself. Sadly, she would lose a bit of her blood essence every time she created a new servant. So Bleia could only choose important figures as the target for her Embrace.


    And this bald man who had all of Blue Hillock''s underground world in his palm was undoubtedly a person she had to gain control over. Controlling him alone gave Bleia immense control over the entirety of the city in an instant.


    With the help of Bald Eagle, Bleia quickly understood the power structure and situation of Blue Hillock City.


    The true owner of Blue Hillock was naturally the castellan, Count Vanlier. Bald Eagle was only his subordinate who hid in and managed the underground.


    So, late in the night of the second day, Bleia was secretly sent into the castle after an elaborate dress up.


    Even the 50-year-old Count Vanlier, a man who had a little black beard and the elegant appearance of a gentleman, was astounded by this foreign beauty sent over by his loyal subordinate.


    So, Bleia was boldly sent to the Count''s bed under everyone''s gaze, passing through a troop of elite bodyguards.


    And on the second night Bleia entered Blue Hillock City, its ruler had become her most loyal blood servant and slave.


    In truth, with Bleia''s current power, she could take over this city without much resistance. But to do so without any commotion and without being noticed, she needed to resort to other means! S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To ensure her control was deep and thorough, she even took the effort to Embrace the Count''s remaining subordinates. Of course, these were all individuals who were at a level equal to Pseudo-Mages. In this other world where arcanology was incomplete, the foreign existence of such a thing as a vampire was beyond the limits of the imagination of the natives of the plane.


    By focusing on the important figures, Bleia had become the true owner of Blue Hillock City in just 3 days. She was now a true "Monarch of Darkness" that was hidden away from the rest of the world.


    And the information she had gotten from both official means and underground means quickly and continuously streamed back to the Mages'' base.


    Soon, a message about Witcher Knights drew her attention.


    ...


    1893 Words

 Chapter 172 Revenge

    A squad of witcher-knights were stationed in Blue Hillock City, since it was the closest city to the Great Greenland Forest.Based on the information provided by Bald Eagle, this squad of witcher-knights had left their posts seven days ago. They went into the Greenland Forest after hiring some local mercenaries but had yet to return.


    This meant that the witcher-knight squad was already active in the forest before the Mage squad had entered this world!


    Bleia didn''t dare delay this news. Quickly, she sent it back to the Mages'' base while at the same time she informed Leon, who was catching magical creatures deep in the forest.


    Leon was leading his group of golems in the extermination of a tribe of man-eating demons when he received Bleia''s alert.


    There were a total of twenty-seven members in the man-eating demon tribe; twenty-two of them were adults, while five were children. With a height of 3 meters, a massive physique nearing five hundred pounds, and Strength that could easily reach 14 points, each and every adult male demon had power that could rival a pseudo-Mage. Even the slightly weaker female demons were as powerful as advanced apprentices.


    If a tribe like this was left to the natives to exterminate, it would probably require three hundred to five hundred well-equipped and expertly trained elite warriors to do so. Even if they succeeded in the extermination, at least half the group would die in the attempt!


    Yet in the hands of an Mage, such a task was extremely simple.


    If all he wished to do was slaughter the lot of them, Leon could just summon the Fire Lord, and it would be done. But if he did that, his plan of capturing live specimens would not come to fruition!


    Instead, Leon used a bottle of Weakening Drug to pollute the demons'' water source. While they were weakened, Leon summoned six terrifying stone serpents and captured the entire tribe in one fell swoop.


    An adult male demon possessed 16 points of Physique and 14 points of Strength. Coupled with their incredible regenerative abilities, these demons were comparable to slightly weaker Body Refining pseudo-Mages. Unfortunately for them, this Weakening Drug had been synthesized specifically for this demon tribe. Once ingested, both their Physique and Strength fell below 10 points and severely limited the demons'' power. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire


    On the other hand, a stone-serpent golem at the pseudo-Mage level had 16 points of Strength and 18 points of Physique. Only when the demons had been infected did the serpents surge forward. They didn''t even attack the demons; instead, they merely used their stone bodies to forcibly constrict the demons into one spot.


    It was then Leon''s turn. Using the Scroll of Voodoo to cast Sleep, he caused all twenty-seven demons to fall to the ground, one after another. Thick wooden bats and stone clubs tumbled from their hands, smashing holes into the ground.


    After instructing the stone serpents to open their mouths and swallow the sleeping demons, Leon could finally turn his attention to the communication crystal..


    Witcher-knight squad...entered seven days ago...


    This information attracted Leon''s attention.


    Calculating the number of days, Leon figured the squad had entered the Greenland Forest before the Mages had arrived. Thus, their goal couldn''t possibly be the Mages'' base. The knight''s mission had to be something else.


    Could it possibly be that some native casters had hidden themselves in the Greenland Forest? And by doing so, did they draw the witcher-knights into the forest? It seemed far-fetched. But given the witcher-knights'' purpose, Leon might just be right!


    Therefore, Leon had the stone serpents send the captured man-eating demons back to base, while also summoning 10 wind critters and dispersing them into the surrounding woods to look for the witcher-knight squad''s tracks.


    The wind critters were low-level golems Leon created using beginner-level wind attribute crystal cores. They weren''t very powerful, and looked liked clusters of swirling wind only one meter high. Their Strength, Physique and Spirit were all less than 5 points. Frankly speaking, their battle strength was completely non-existent. Their only advantage was their high agility and the ability to fly.


    Honestly, this is a redundant statement- it would actually be weirder if a mini-whirlwind made from green air couldn''t fly!


    Leon attached a thread of his Spirit to all ten of the wind critters before letting them go. As they silently floated above the forest canopy, their light green bodies were almost invisible against the background of the blue skies. They wouldn''t attract the attention of enemies.


    This quality was precisely why Leon created them- to be his sentries, his eyes in the sky!


    Ten wind critters meant ten different points of mental sight. Naturally, the information sent back by the critters was also extremely massive. If Leon had to rely only on his Spirit, he could probably only maintain a vague command on each critter. But with the help of the chip, Leon decided not to waste any Spirit on instructing the wind critters on their flight path. Instead, he left it all to the chip.


    The chip would direct the wind critter to meticulously search and patrol above the forest, using the most optimum flight path to cover as much area as possible. Now, Leon only had to find a safe place to rest and silently wait for good news from the chip.


    As expected, when night fell, the chip had good news.


    The witcher-knight squad had been found!


    ...


    On a mountain ridge, forty kilometers away from the Mages'' base camp, three or four campfires had been lit.


    Even though there were many dangerous magical beings in the forest that weren''t afraid of fire- and were even sometimes actually attracted to light- the knights had trekked several dozen kilometers worth of mountain roads after an arduous battle, and needed the fire.


    The mercenaries swiftly set up their tents and sat around the campfire and started to prepare a feast for dinner.


    A wild boar caught on the way here was skinned, had its organs removed, and was washed in the river. The mercenaries then put a wooden stick through it and slowly roasted it over the fire. The experienced mercenaries rotated the stick while they used brushes to evenly slather the boar with spices and sauces they had prepared beforehand.


    An amber-hued oil seeped from the pork. It had been roasted to a perfect golden color. The oils dripped onto the flaming coals below, sizzling and releasing a fragrant, thick aroma that filled the air.


    The joy of a magnificent victory filled the entire camp.


    The ones bustling about the camp were all the hired mercenaries. The thirteen witcher-knights, on the other hand, were helping each other out of their heavy armor and performing basic treatment on their wounds.


    Today their squad successfully located the den of heretics, hidden deep within the Greenland Forest, and trapped all seven of the heretic spellcasters within. After an insane battle, the knights managed to capture a single spellcaster and killed the other six. Everyone in the squad had been injured, but there were no casualties as of yet- much to the knight leader''s relief.


    As for the four mercenaries who had died in the battle, they were beneath the consideration of the leader of the knights. Mercenaries put money before anything else, and as long as he gave them the remainder of the promised reward, they would be nothing but thankful. Not even a drop of dissatisfaction would enter their hearts.


    Mercenaries had always done these kinds of dangerous jobs!


    Ever since they accepted the request, they had all mentally prepared for the possibility of never returning. Now that they had completed the mission, and Sir Knight had promised them grand rewards, even the pain of losing four of their friends was quickly replaced by their excitement for the future.


    Laughter was everywhere in the camp, and a boisterous atmosphere filled the place.


    A scrawny silhouette, bound tightly at the hands and feet, formed a strong contrast to the celebrating knights and mercenaries. Strictly speaking, he was still a teenager who had yet to come of age! Extended periods of malnutrition made his entire body weak and skinny. His body, hidden underneath a tattered grey robe, was extremely scrawny, to the point you could see his ribs.


    The skin not covered by his clothes was covered with blackish green bruises and numerous small scars. A rope was tied around his mouth, holding a rough stone that acted as a gag. This was to prevent him from casting spells in secret!


    Unable to chant or use hand seals, the boy- who had just recently awakened to that strange power- was completely incapacitated. He could only slant his body and lean on the roots of the trees, glaring at each smiling face in the camp with eyes of vengeance.


    These were all his enemies!


    It was these people that made him run from place to place, made him homeless despite having a family, and forced him to roam about lonely forests and faraway lands where nobody lived, like a lonely phantom. If it wasn''t for a kindhearted "companion" that led him to the house in the woods, he would probably have ended up being some beast''s meal within Greenland Forest.


    But the calm and peaceful days didn''t last very long. The forest camp that the wandering spellcasters had created was destroyed by the witcher-knights who had tracked them down. And his companions...the companions he had been living with for half a year died underneath the swords and blades of the knights- just like that!


    The knights were murderers, and the mercenaries were their accomplices!


    A flame was lit in his heart as he looked upon their smiling faces. Anger, sorrow, vengeance.... these uncontrollable emotions slowly rose within him, and he had to grit his teeth to hold back his tears.


    If I get the chance to escape, I will use the most cruel and most insane methods to kill all of them! One after another!


    He screamed madly in his heart, but he knew that this was only a delusion.


    His mood quickly changed, and despair engulfed his soul once more! S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At this torturous moment, he opened his eyes wide. Lifting his head in surprise, he stared unflinchingly at a spot above the camp.


    There was something odd there~


    This...this was the unique elemental flux of Wind Elementium!


    There was clearly nothing there in the dark sky above the rowdy camp. However, this teenager sensed the unique concentration of Wind Elementium there thanks to the elemental talent that he had awakened.


    Natural concentration of Elementium? Impossible!


    Just eight minutes ago, there was nothing odd there. There was no way Wind Elementium would concentrate at that spot for no reason!


    The very next second, the teenager had to grit his teeth to avoid shouting out in surprise.


    Three more unique concentrations of Wind Elementium had appeared in the sky, slowly circling there.


    It seemed as if...as if they were searching for something!


    Something was about to occur! Something was about to happen in the camp!


    Hope burned in the teenager''s eyes as he silently observed the surroundings of the camp.


    Soon, he made an even greater discovery.


    ....


    1876 Words

 Chapter 173 kills

    There was movement beneath the ground!He was the only one to sense the elemental flux; perhaps because he was the only one present with any spellcasting talent. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This world''s arcanology was incomplete and broken. Regardless, he was still able to successfully awaken his elemental talent and become a spellcaster. This demonstrated the monstrous compatibility between his soul''s talent and one of this plane''s laws. If he had been born in the World of Mages, he would certainly have become a powerful warlock that could master spells effortlessly.


    Warlocks were an extremely unique existence, even amongst spellcasters. Most warlocks gained the ability to cast spells due to suddenly awakening the power of their ancestral bloodline, while other warlocks awoke due to their soul''s unique talent.


    Draconic Warlocks and Blood Mages often arose because of their bloodlines, while Necromancers, Alchemists, and Destiny Mages stemmed from inborn talent. The two classifications were distinct and separate, with no chance of a warlock being born with both bloodline and talent!


    In any complete material plane, as long as Elementium was present, there would always be genius talents that could awaken their spellcasting abilities under the influence of the planar laws. Unfortunately, the Witcher Knights had already secured an indomitable position in this plane. As such, the existence of smaller spellcasting groups had been suppressed.


    This was much like the World of Mages. There, Mages were unmatched and ran rampant, squashing the potential of all physical classes. Jobs that once required warriors, rogues, or priests were now dominated by Mages.


    Using the flexible and mysterious nature of spells, along with the division of spell masteries, the Mages managed to create specialized branches to mimic and replace once unique jobs. Body-Refining Mages could be seen as a replacement for the warrior job, while agile Mages like Bleia were no weaker than the strongest assassins. Even priests were replaced by countless alchemical tools, potions, or variant spells.


    Upon closer inspection, one would find that the Mages had slowly made up for their own deficiencies over the tens of millions of years of their development. In doing so, they had become a persistent nightmare of untold small and mid-sized planes.


    Even though the teenager had been bound and could not move, his talent and innate ability still allowed him to see more than the others in the camp. He held his breath and focused on his senses, silently waiting for the arrival of a change!


    ......


    Thirteen witcher-knights and eleven mercenaries.


    Amongst them, there was only one witcher-knight with the ability of a pseudo-Mage. He seemed to be the captain of the squad. There were three knights with the ability of advanced apprentices, while the rest were all rookies at the beginner level.


    They were also equipped with standard knight''s armor, longswords, and longbows. This meant that they had an outstanding mix of close and mid-range attacks, as well as their powerful defense. Observing close range through a wind critter, Leon realized something peculiar about the knights.


    More accurately, he found something mysterious on the knights'' equipments!


    There were obscure patterns made of complicated lines on their shields, longswords, and bows. Furthermore, some crystalline jewels had been embedded in them. A normal person would have thought of them as decorations, but Leon could feel traces of magic on them.


    Beginner-level runic carvings? !


    Using the mysterious patterns to form simple runes, coupled with the magic stones and elemental crystals as energy sources, these knights had found an alternative way of tapping into the powers of Elementium.


    Leon watched the camp silently from a hidden spot and couldn''t help but think it was amusing.


    A bunch of imposter elementium users had replaced the actual spellcasters. This made Leon, who had come from another plane, silently wonder at the oddity and twistedness of the developments here. As expected, if you visited enough realms, you could witness all sorts of odd and unusual situations.


    The World of Mages was definitely a high-magic plane where human Mages were at the top. But this might not be the case in other planes. From what Leon knew, the goblin Grand Duke that Snorlax had been in secret contact with lived in a small plane where it was goblins who held the superior position.


    Humans'' role had been reversed there, and they were the slaves of the "short and stupid" goblin race. However, that kind of treatment was still considered decent. In certain notable planes, humans and humanoids were the livestock of larger magical creatures. Their situation was truly lamentable. A fate so terrible, most could not bear to dwell on the idea.


    After silently contemplating, Leon went back to watching the knights. Those mercenaries, on the other hand, were not worth his attention. Read exclusive chapters at empire


    A bunch of fools that dared to pretend to be swordsmen because they had leather armor and worthless swords, who dared to call themselves godly marksmen just because they had a hunter''s bow on their backs, and who dared to call themselves powerful warriors simply because they had a rotten wooden shield....these kinds of people had neither ability nor talent. All they had was a little strength.


    Thus, Leon ignored them after a quick look at their gear.


    Leon observed them for half an hour. Once he had sufficient information, and the golems had reached their positions, Leon gave the order to attack while he remained hidden in the woods.


    The one in charge of this attack was naturally the chip. It was exceptional at managing and organizing resources. The main force of this attack was the poor Lightning Giant, who had been relegated to be a backup for so long. Using the Fire Lord might have yielded the best results for an all-out attack, but Leon wanted to capture some prisoners. Since the Fire Lord only had indiscriminate and overbearing spells, Leon was worried that these small fries wouldn''t be able to survive.


    Therefore, the Lightning Giant who had been sidelined was now back as the main force on the battlefield!


    [ Author: The Lightning Giant''s entrance will always be so cool. It even brings with it its own sound effects.]


    Sudden flashes of lightning instantly illuminated the night sky, and as the giant appeared in the sky, there was an ominous rumbling of thunder.


    Some mercenaries that were still indulging in the feast had yet to clear their heads. They stopped eating and looked about confusingly while muttering. "So weird! The weather was clearly good. Why''s there lightning?"


    Some of the more alert fighters lifted their heads. Their expressions suddenly fell when they saw the terrifying humanoid wreathed in lightning floating in the sky.


    The difference between the well-trained witcher-knights and the motley crew of mercenaries was evident when faced with this imminent danger. Immediately the witcher-knights tossed aside their silverware and wine glasses, then sprinted to where they had put their equipment. The mercenaries, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at the mysterious giant. It was only until they saw the knights'' actions that they started scrambling for their weapons.


    The inside of the camp was in chaos!


    But why would the Lightning Giant give them the time to equip themselves?


    The giant raised its large, hazy hand as a terrifying thunderstorm quickly formed above the camp. The bright moon and brilliant stars of a once beautiful evening had become covered by a world of piercing lightning and roiling black clouds. One after another, forked lightning struck down from the clouds across the length of the entire camp.


    The effect was still limited by this low-magic plane, where magic was weaker. Otherwise, the magnitude of the thunderstorm could still increase several times. Even so, a weakened thunderstorm already brought about catastrophe to the people panicking below.


    Every blast of forked lightning would change direction when nearing the ground, blasting towards the metal swords and armors of the knights and mercenaries. The intense high-voltage currents crackled through their bodies. Every blast of lightning would affect three or four people before dissipating.


    With every lightning bolt that fell, a few pained silhouettes would stagger and fall within the camp.


    The lightning giant had already reduced the lethality of its lightning as much as possible, under Leon''s request, and concentrated on stunning and crowd control.


    Although the thunderstorm wasn''t considered powerful, having 20 points of damage at best, it still managed to cripple most of the mercenaries in the blink of an eye.


    However, as expected, the witcher-knights were a special job that often crossed paths with "heretic spellcasters". Even faced with an overwhelming flood of magical attacks, they did not lose their cool or scatter. Instead, they squatted, raised their small shields, and activated the unique "rune arrays" within. Using the small energy shields, they blocked most of the falling lightning blasts.


    Protected by the cover from their companions, some of the witcher-knights even pulled out their metallic longbows to start firing waves of elementally charged magic arrows.


    Enchanted longbows? No! It was only a simple and crude embedded crystal. Compared to the developed and perfected enchanted weapons of the World of Mages, the energy efficiency of these crystals were disgustingly low.


    This was such a crude magic bow that even a beginner apprentice from the World of Mages wouldn''t choose to craft such an item.


    Even though these bows were a crude means of utilizing magic, they were already the best magical tools on this plane. The reason the witcher-knights were able to dominate and oppose nobility all over the country was precisely thanks to this "trash equipment" that Leon couldn''t care less about!


    While everyone in the camp had been distracted by the Lightning Giant, the clay golems that had been lying in wait, underground, finally surfaced under the instructions of the chip.


    The knights that had been concentrating on the Lightning Giant felt the ground give out under their feet. The very next moment, they had sunk into a mud pit that appeared out of nowhere. The shocked knights furiously struggled to get free.


    Sadly for them, something more surprising happened!


    The mud pit that had trapped their lower bodies instantly turned back to ordinary dirt. In the blink of an eye, six of the thirteen witcher-knights were magically trapped by the earth. As the knights scrambled to save their companions, clusters of dirt in the camp began to swell, gathering into multiple clay golems.


    Under the knights'' frightened gaze, the clay golems charged towards the knights on legs that were as thick as pillars. At the same time, the figures'' fan-like clay hands and heavy fists swung down in a cascade of blows towards the knights.


    The knight captain let out a battlecry as he drew his longsword. With his energy shield in one hand, and a magic longsword with elemental flames in the other, he parried the strikes of the clay golems. Under his directions, the remaining knights also put on their mail, grabbed their weapons, and rushed forward.


    The witcher-knights formed a loose circle, protecting their trapped companions behind them while starting to engage the clay golems.


    Without elementium attached, mundane weapons could not possibly damage the clay golem''s sturdy body. But with the magical weapons, along with the ability to use a type of special knight battle technique, the knights were miraculously able to force a stalemate against the clay golems.


    ...


    1886 Words

 Chapter 174 level...

    If Leon was still that Mage apprentice with only a couple of golems, the "battle" before him might actually be a little more stimulating and exciting.Sadly...


    The number of low-quality golems, like the clay golems, in Leon''s storage belt had already hit triple digits. Even intermediate golems like the stone serpents were being summoned in squads. Leon''s golem army was already shaping up nicely, with the exception that his collection of pseudo-Mage level golems was still lacking.


    The clay golems were extremely tough to deal with when they appeared in such large numbers.


    In all honesty, a clay golem with the power of an intermediate apprentice should have a difficult time fighting against a disciplined witcher-knight. The golems made of clay weren''t as tough as stone golems or steel golems. The crude magical weapons and knight battle techniques of the witcher-knights could reliably destroy half a clay golem''s body with a single strike.


    Unfortunately, this group of witcher-knights evidently lacked experience fighting against a large number of elemental golems. They had no idea that there was an extremely important elementium core within each elemental golem. Far too many of their attacks were wasted on the clay golems'' dense limbs and their soil-like heads.


    Every clay golem that had sustained heavy damage to their limbs would sink beneath the ground. Once they repaired their bodies and emerged again, they were no different from a brand-new golem.


    In the eyes of the witcher-knights, this group of over forty clay golems was an an unending army that continuously sprang from the ground. It was not something that could be destroyed by human strength.


    At the start of the battle, every time an eye-catching knight battle-technique was executed, it would cause two or three clay golems to crumble and fall, resulting in the knights cheering in excitement. But now, as the golems endlessly rose from the dirt, the knights became too exhausted to deal with the heavy mud fists and unexpected mud spears.


    While coughing up blood from their accumulated injuries, more and more witcher knights were bashed to the ground by the clay golems'' fists, and the circle where the battle was taking place slowly began shrinking. Soon, only the knight captain and his two deputies were still resisting. The clay golems surrounding them, however, had already formed three or four layers around them.


    Seeing that the battle was basically over, Leon stopped hiding. With determined strides, he walked out from the darkness. Slowly, he stepped into the disheveled camp.


    His appearance instantly drew the attention of the last three people!


    These three instantly understood Leon to be the mastermind behind tonight''s attack when they saw his black robed silhouette.


    They looked at each other, grit their teeth and made a firm decision in an instant.


    The two deputies shouted as they tossed aside the badly battered shield. Quickly, they drove the flame longswords to the limit of its power and charged towards Leon, cutting down all the clay golems in the way as they did so.


    But just halfway, they were stopped by the horde of golems.


    The two deputies let out another battlecry and their faces flushed red. While they still had the strength left, they threw the two dense flame swords forward. The impact of the swords caused most of the golems in front of them to collapse and fall to the ground.


    The knight captain took advantage of the opening made by his deputies. White light flashed around his body. He became like a sprinting jaguar, breaking through the scattered blockade of golems. Intense flames flared about the longsword in his hand as he slashed at the evil heretic with all his might, the sword leaving behind several afterimages.


    The hot wind slightly lifted the hood from Leon''s head, allowing the airborne knight captain to lock eyes with Leon''s burning pupils.


    Even though the captain''s charge was so powerful, and his burning longsword was but a short distance away from the heretic''s brow, there was no trace of fear or hesitation in his opponent''s burning eyes.


    The knight captain''s heart shook.


    It was the first time in his life he had seen a pair of eyes burning.


    Not a metaphor, nor an illusion, but an actual pair of flaming eyes that were spewing out terrifying jets of flame.


    His flaming longsword blazed like a torch and was now less than a meter away from the heretic''s head. At this distance, with the speed at which he was charging at, his strike would land in a fraction of a second.


    As the captain mustered up all his strength to deliver a crippling blow to those fearsome, flaming eyes, the ground erupted. The ground in front of the heretic''s feet split apart and a large, imposing monster emerged.


    Coincidentally, the captain''s flame longsword sliced into center of the terrifying monster''s stone head!


    Stone shattered; dirt and sand fell to the ground...


    The longsword cut through layers of stone before finally becoming stuck in the thick and dense stone.


    The pseudo-Mage level stone serpent broke apart the ground, bringing with it the flame longsword stuck in its head, as well as the captain himself. As the serpent fully rose from the ground, it exposed its full size of ten meters.. Tons of dirt, sand, and stone tumbled down from its large mouth and around its pitch black eyes, knocking the captain around.


    Even so, the knight captain still did not let go of the longsword stuck in the stone serpent''s head.


    The two deputies, on the other hand, had collapsed due to exhaustion after that last blow. Several clay golems charged forward and quickly restrained them.


    Right now the only person who could still move was the knight captain, still dangling from the stone serpent''s head.


    Leon impatiently snapped his fingers when he saw the opponent''s stubborn and futile struggle. A thunderous blast of lightning from the sky struck the captain. In the very next second he fell like a piece of rotten wood, smashing a hole in the ground where he landed.


    Having cleaned up the last of the resistance, the camp was finally silent.


    One after another, clay golems began cleaning up the camp in an orderly fashion.


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    The rubble from the aftermath of the battle was cleared away, and the shattered ground patched up. The campfire was lit again, and a new skinned boar was placed on the rack above the fire....


    The teenager bound to a tree shivered. For a moment he felt like time had reversed back to when events had just started. The surroundings before his eyes were still the same. The only difference now was that the sole person in the camp was the mysterious man in the black robe.


    Of course if you counted him, the prisoner, as well, then there were two! S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Can you roast?" The man in the black robe said, suddenly turning to look at the teenager.


    The unexpected question caused the teenager to be at a loss. First he nodded, then he shook his head. For a moment, even he wasn''t sure what his reply was.


    "You better get it! Or I''ll kill you!"The man in the black robe released a stream of fire at the tough leather rope binding the teenager, incinerating it into ashes: "Come and help me roast the meat! "


    The teenager flexed his numbed limbs, dusting off the ashes left on his skin.


    The black ashes dispersed, revealing his undamaged skin below.


    The corner of his mouth twitched.


    It''s important to note that the ropes were binding his body tightly and were pressed into his skin. Yet the mysterious spellcaster was able to wield fire to incinerate the rope and leave his skin untouched. This...this terrifying elemental control was worthy of worship!


    In his heart, this mysterious black robed man that had appeared out of nowhere was a powerful deity sent from the heavens to save him. How else would a human be able to control elemental fire to such a precise degree?!


    His heart filled with faith, the teenager took the rock out of his mouth and ran to where the mercenaries had left their stuff, drinking until he was full. Then, he washed his hands and face before walking to the campfire and doing his job of roasting the meat.


    Leon sat by the campfire, but ignored the teenager. He was still silently communicating with the chip in his mind.


    "Beep; battle report...


    "Twenty-three total plane natives captured, of which thirteen are witcher-knights, ten are human mercenaries. One person escaped....


    "Golem squad. Thirty-seven clay golems mobilised, one pseudo-Mage-level stone serpent mobilised. Casualty number is 0...


    "Initial battle strength estimate: witcher-knights are equal in power to apprentice Mages. Individual power merged with primitive magical weapons and knight battle techniques, suited for large-scale battlefield melees..."


    Leon was slightly stunned.


    "How did someone escape? Where is this guy? "


    As Leon had that thought, the chip instantly switched to the viewpoint of a wind critter far away.


    A scrawny and agile mercenary was running for his life in the dark and lightless woods, not even taking a single look behind him. The protruding branches whipped and slashed him, leaving wounds all over his body, but he would not slow down his steps even a little.


    Honestly, Leon had cleared the forest way too thoroughly, causing all the wild beasts to vanish. Otherwise, with the mercenary''s reckless sprint, he would have eventually ended up in the belly of a wild beast.


    "Beep; this mercenary took advantage of the chaos and escaped the camp. Asking host; should the Lightning Giant be sent to capture or eliminate him?"


    Leon''s eye gleamed for a second before he coldly said, "Based on the direction he''s running, he should be headed for the human town in the west! Worm controller has set up a large web there. Hopefully, that mercenary has the luck to break through. No need to care about him. If he wishes to die, then let him have a taste of Worm controller!"


    "Right. I felt like these knights have very average power individually. They''re only normal people who''ve received special physical training. Why would you rate them as powerful as apprentice Mages?"


    "Beep; the evaluation this time is a conclusion drawn from the combined strength and power of the two parties, viewed from all angles and perspectives...Witcher-Knight is a unique job class that requires the aid of many external objects to unleash their strength. Their standard equipment should be a powerful mount, customized magical equipment, and powerful individual battle techniques. With all this taken into consideration, a fully equipped witcher-knight should not be weaker than an apprentice Mage of the same level..."


    Leon couldn''t help but fall deep into thought when he heard this.


    ...


    1799 Words

 Chapter 175 Ignorance

    Warm sunshine pierced through the spotty canopy, spilling onto Mok and making him feel a little relieved.Discover hidden tales at empire


    Some birds nesting in the trees nearby were startled and let out calls high above the canopy, breaking the peace of the woods.


    Even though his head was bruised and the corners of his mouth were swollen from an entire night of running frantically and blindly through the dim woods filled with branches, vines, and bushes, ultimately he succeeded in escaping the nightmare that was in the woods.


    Mok kept turning his head to look, even though nothing had been pursuing him, as if some invisible demon was following right behind him.


    Suddenly, it was bright. The massive forest ended right before a green grass field below a gentle slope. Mok could see the sharp corners of a village''s wooden houses and the chimney smoke from afar.


    Mok felt relieved when he saw this.


    Stumbling out of the woods, Mok ran towards the small mountain village without another look back.


    That was the village of Colca!


    As a small village on the edge of the Greenland Forest, it was not very prosperous. However, it was still a good place to replenish food and water stocks. Therefore many mercenaries and adventurers that made a living in the Greenland Forest enjoyed resting in Colca Village.


    It was deadly silent in the small village.


    Logically speaking, this was the time the village hunters were at their busiest, forming parties and venturing into the woods to check if their traps had caught anything. This was the time when the elderly of the village gathered to chat at one end of the village; while the women started drying animal leather that had just been tanned...


    Mok looked in confusion at the empty village before him. He didn''t even see any of the rowdy brats that were always playing in the village''s clearing.


    Was everyone in the village absent?


    No, someone was in the village!


    Mok was a mercenary after all. Even though he wasn''t good at fighting or killing, his observation skills were well-honed. He could vaguely see the light reflecting off eyes behind each tightly shut wooden door. He could even hear several people breathing heavily.


    "Hank! Thor! Dhaka! Are you here? It''s me, Mok! Why are you all hiding? Do you not recognise me? I''m Mok of the Black Bear Mercenaries..."


    Having heard Mok''s shouts, the door of a wooden house in the village opened. The familiar silhouette of the hunter Hank appeared behind the door. Mok didn''t know why, but Hank did not welcome him warmly as he had done in the past. Instead, he stood silently in the shadow of the door, slowly letting Mok inside.


    The frightened Mok had spent an entire night running through the forest. He had long since been exhausted and hurriedly ran into the house.


    "Hank, I don''t care what you have, just get me something to eat and drink first. I still need to rush back to Blue Hillock City after I get a quick rest. Let me tell you something, Hank. You need to warn everyone in the village not to enter the mountains again for the time being. There..."


    Mok had adjusted his eyes to the darkness inside and was shocked to find all twelve of the village''s hunters inside. They stood silently in the house, their faces hidden by the shadows that obscured their expressions.


    "Are you having a meeting? Don''t you know how to light a lamp?"


    Mok''s words were interrupted by the room turning completely dark. Hank had closed the door!


    With the door shut tight, the inside of the wooden house became even dimmer and more ominous!


    Mok shivered. For the first time, he realised the strangeness of the situation before him.


    He had just taken a step backwards when someone grabbed him from behind. Another two men charged forward, gripping his arms and shoulders with their large, firm hands.


    "What are you doing? It''s me... it''s me, Mok..."


    Mok struggled with all his might. His right hand tried reaching for the dagger at the back of his waist, but the three people surrounding him were thoroughly restraining him. Mountain hunters naturally possessed great strength. And since there were three of them holding him, Mok was unable to fight back.


    Mok, who was cursing and screaming, was approached by a hunched silhouette.


    He had white hair, a white beard, and a face full of wrinkles. It was the elderly village head of Colca Village, Grampa Norham.


    Before Mok could even say Norham''s name, the old man with the compassionate face abruptly opened his mouth. And it didn''t stop opening. The corners of Grampa Norham''s mouth were torn from opening his mouth wider than it could go. It was torn all the way to the base of his ears.


    But it wasn''t a mouth he opened. It was... it was a hideous mandible split into four parts! Small sharp teeth lined the edges of the mouth. It was horrifying to look at! Within the mandibles, a hideous and odd scorpion scurried out of the bloody red throat.


    Grampa Norham slowly walked forward and used the mandibles to pry open Mok''s mouth, spitting the hideous scorpion into his mouth.


    Mok was deathly terrified at this point. He squirmed and struggled with all his strength, letting out muffled and sorrowful wails from his mouth.


    Sadly, nothing he did mattered!


    The horrifying scorpion successfully squeezed its way inside his throat. After a moment, the three men let go of his arms, but Mok was no longer struggling. The pained expression on his face had vanished, turning into a numb and vacant look. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He put down his arms. A dark red glint lit up deep within his pupils. Like the other hunters, he waited silently in the darkness for his master''s orders.


    At the same time, a nearly invisible wind critter was floating above the wooden house. It seemed to be silently waiting for something.


    "Hpmh! Leon, you''ve overstepped your boundaries!" A mental flux that sounded like the screeching of insects suddenly rang within the consciousness core of the wind critter.


    "This is not overstepping my boundaries! This is just tracking!" Leon''s listless voice was also transmitted through this temporary mental link. "As you can see, I''m tracking my prey! Should I go to Keoghan and complain about you intercepting my prey while I''m hunting?"


    "Hmph! You can go complain if you wish to! Keoghan gave me the order to seal off the mountains and woods here and not let anyone through. I''m merely following my orders. What about you, huh? A powerful flame Mage, yet you let a mere mercenary walk through your territory untouched. Perhaps you should explain your incompetence to Keoghan!"


    "There''s no need... since you''ve intercepted the prey, I''ll let the issue slide. I''m leaving!" Once Leon finished speaking, the wind critter slowly rose, as if it was about to leave.


    "..." Blake, who had been hiding in the darkness, immediately became vigilant.


    For as long as Blake had known him, Leon had never been such an easygoing person. He couldn''t help but feel something was wrong with Leon giving way so easily this time.


    Just as Blake was racking his brains for an explanation, a mental flux was transmitted from the wind critter that was high in the skies now. "Oh right, Blake. Do you always neglect to check your targets'' bodies before turning them into bugmen?"


    Having said that, the wind critter dashed to the woods without even looking back.


    Just then, the temperature of Mok''s body started rising rapidly. Almost instantly, his entire body was converted into a human bomb. When his blood and flesh heated up to the critical limit, he exploded with a bang.


    Most of the "bugged" hunters were standing close together in the house, causing Mok''s explosion to drag the other seven bugmen to their deaths. They melted in agony, riddled with holes by the bone fragments and boiling blood that went flying everywhere.


    Blake had placed a heart-devouring bug, that he bred personally, inside each of the bugmen. In that instant, eight heart-devouring bugs had died. It was easy to imagine the Spiritual pain Blake felt at that moment.


    The very next moment, Blake''s angered screams and curses filled the skies.


    Sadly, the wind critter had already escaped!


    ...


    When Leon brought his prisoners back to the Mages'' base, the teenager followed beside him.


    The teenager''s name was Edwin. His hometown was in a faraway place known as Clyde. There, they produced fragrant grape wine and were famous for having breathtaking scenery. Unfortunately... after he awakened that odd talent, he was forced to leave his hometown and lead a life of vagrancy and hiding.


    Even if he hid in the depths of the Greenland Forests, he would still be tracked down and trapped by the witcher-knights, who were as crazed as mad dogs. Six of the seven people with whom he had lived together for half a year were now dead. He was the only survivor. The witcher-knights had only spared him because they wanted to publicly execute him in the city.


    However, his life had completely turned around after last night. From now on, he was on a completely different path!


    It had only been two or three days, but the base had undergone great change once again.


    Standing tall was a stone tower three levels high. A dozen robotic beasts were levitating on the outside of the tower, carefully carving unique rune patterns on the walls of the tower.


    This was not a true Mage''s tower yet, but after being strengthened with Runes of Toughness, Runes of Magic Resistance, and Runes of Divination-Obscuring, it sufficed as a temporary residence for the Mages. The crafting of higher quality magical items and potions required the use of alchemy labs and alchemy stands.


    That was why the construction of an Mage tower was of utmost importance!


    Upon returning this time, Leon realised that the voodoo beasts in the outer rim of the base had doubled. Furthermore, Leon found traces of the beasts he had delivered previously on some of the stronger Mage-level voodoo beasts.


    These included the Bloodthirsty Man-eating Demons, the Wild Giant Apes and the Toxic Giants...


    These powerful Mage-level voodoo beasts were very crudely crafted. Their biological systems were unstable. Just one look, and Leon could tell that these were inferior products created on the spot. Although these beasts would not suffer any loss to their strength and would easily reach the level of Mages, their life force would only sustain them for one to two months before failing.


    Just as Leon was passing the prisoners over to Keoghan, the teenager Edwin was looking over everything in the base with feelings of worship.


    This was the holy land of spellcasters of his dreams! This was a place he was willing to defend with his life!


    ...


    1819 Words


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 Chapter 176 A Brewing Storm

    Blue Hillock City, Tulip Hotel.A pale but mean-looking thug strode across the crowded lobby and went past the suites filled with waitresses. He walked along an inconspicuous alley into a hall guarded by several tough men, before finally turning into a remote location at the backyard of the hotel.


    The ones waiting here were all young but amazingly talented people. There were even exceptional individuals amongst them that the castellan had recruited from several major cities nearby. Their talents were in various fields, but there was a common similarity to their appearances. The men were handsome, while the women were beautiful. Everyone one of them had pale complexions, vaguely resembling ancient nobility that never went out in the sun.


    These young men and women gathered in small groups in the hall, corridor, and on the sofas, having passionate conversation with each other. Strangely, the use of odd words such as ''blood treats'', ''Embrace'' and the sort permeated their conversations. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Swiftsword Jake was used to this scene. He quickly went past everyone, and rushed to the secret room at the innermost section of the building. The group of people might look like they were flirting with each other, but in truth, they were spread out and positioned in such a way that they closely guarded the secret room.


    Should any outsider that didn''t belong to their ''clique'' enter, they would likely be brutally torn to pieces in minutes.


    The youths guarding the door took a good look at Jake before silently opening the wooden door behind them.


    There was almost no furniture in the secret room, with the exception of bed so large it could be considered opulent. Two extremely attractive women, that were hardly wearing anything, laid on both sides of Bleia, diligently serving her.


    A naked young girl hung on the room''s ceiling, pinned by daggers on her limbs and chest. Drops of bright red blood seeped through the wounds, dripping down the dagger. Flowers of blood slowly bloomed on the bodies of the three people on the large bed, drop by drop, dyeing them crimson.


    The three, however, were not worried by this at all. In fact, the two beautiful ladies even used the tip of their tongue to catch the dripping blood, letting out seductively lewd moans as they did so. They were thoroughly enjoying it!


    The scene within the room was so extravagant and seductive, yet Jake didn''t dare to stare. He bowed and spoke softly, "Mistress, the witcher-knights you had us observe have made a move. Around a hundred people suddenly surged into Blue Hillock City today. Though they tried to be covert, I''ve already sent someone to probe them. They are witcher-knights from outside. They''re spread all across the city, but the leaders have already made it to the camp!"


    Bleia suddenly sat up and coldly stared at her subordinate, "You have already probed them? You didn''t startle or alert them, did you?"


    Bleia''s blood red pupils lit up, and instantly the debaucherous atmosphere within the room vanished. All the blood servants immediately stopped what they were doing and anxiously waited for instructions from their master.


    Bleia''s threatening stare terrified Swiftsword Jake. Hurriedly he explained, "There''s no need to worry, Mistress! We did not use any of our own men to probe the knights. We had several street urchins annoy the targets. Some of them saw the unique runic weapons of the witcher-knights under their robes."


    Bleia finally nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this. Relaxed, she lied down once more.


    "Do not forget your identity. You are a gang subordinate to a local noble. Just monitor them. Do not overstep your boundaries. As long as you do not do anything that oversteps the boundaries of your identity, they will not suspect you. Also, I need to know their purpose here!"


    "This is simple! Mistress, the leader of that group of knights had already gone to visit the castellan in secret when I came here to report to you!"


    "Mm? They went to visit Vanlier? Hahaha... this is rare good news!"


    ...


    Witcher-knight camp.


    As Ninther strode back from outside with anger on his face, his direct subordinates were diligently organizing their equipment and treating their weapons and armor. These jobs were usually done by squires or servants, but now they had to do it themselves.


    "Sir, did you get anything out of the meeting with Count Vanlier?" A deputy walked forward, and helped him unclasp the thick robe on his body. The other deputy also stepped forward and helped him remove the heavy armor, revealing the intricate silk underclothes beneath.


    "Hmph! What could I have gotten?! Each of these nobles is slimier and slipperier than the one before them. He claimed that the witcher-knights here were not under his jurisdiction, and therefore he had no idea where they went. He only knows that they hired some local mercenaries before entering Greenland Forest." Ninther sat down heavily in a chair, his face still fuming with anger.


    Using certain means, he determined that the plane invaders had appeared in the Greenland Forest. Rushing there with a large number of followers, he arrived only to find that the witcher-knight squad stationed there was absent. From the explanations of the apprentice knights that had stayed behind, the squad had moved out upon hearing news of a group of heretics.


    Even though exterminating heretics was the duty of each and every witcher-knight, Ninther wished they hadn''t heard of that goddamn news at this critical juncture. After all, all one hundred of the witcher-knights here were reassigned here from other places; they were utterly unfamiliar with the environment inside Greenland Forest.


    It was a complete joke to have a bunch of horse-riding knights search for enemy tracks in a forest. If the party had a dozen people who were familiar with the local environment, everything would have been much easier!


    "Sir!" A tall knight strode in from outside, "There are some fresh faces outside the camp. I''ve had some people look, and it seems they are the spying subordinates of the local gang. What do you think we should..."


    "Ignore them!" Ninther waved his hand frustratingly, "We entered the city with so many men. That Count Vanlier is probably deeply concerned! It''s normal to have some eyes on us. We''re heading to the forest the day after tomorrow anyway, after a quick rest. If they want to follow us, then let them do so."


    Then, Ninther called for the tall knight, "Edward, come and take a look. Which route is the most suitable for when we enter the mountain the day after tomorrow? Perhaps we should split into ten smaller squads. This should make the search go faster!"


    Right now, a large parchment had been placed on the wooden table. On the parchment, lines of different thickness and colors illustrated the geography around Greenland Forest, as well as the direction of rivers.


    The entirety of Greenland Forest was wide on the northern end, and much narrower on the southern end, making it look roughly like a gigantic drumstick covering several hundred square kilometers. The central area was the Haynes Mountains, while the forest itself shared borders with three large provinces.


    The Blue Hillock City they were at was located near the southern end of the forest, where it was at its most narrow. The city was also the most suitable outpost for the vanguard of an army in the south, in the Duran province. A little further, and there were only small towns and villages with very low populations. They were sufficient as a restocking point for small groups of mercenaries, but not for a large witcher-knight army.


    Indeed, this knight army numbering over a hundred men was only a vanguard for the arriving main force. An army of knights numbering up to three thousand men was gathering at the capital of Duran province. Based on estimates, it would take them another 15 days, at their quickest, before they could arrive.


    The sole mission of the vanguard was to establish a base for the main force, then to investigate the location of their enemies. Even a little information would be good.


    Such a large-scale gathering of witcher-knights was the first in a hundred years. A gathering of knights on the same scale was also happening far away in the north, up in the two other provinces bordered by Greenland Forest.


    The gathering of so many witcher-knights was certain to incite fear and terror among the local nobles. The nobles were prone to believe that the secret movements of the knights were a sign of the king stripping the nobles of their power. It was extremely likely to cause local backlash from the nobles.


    Thus, finding the enemy quickly, defeating them, and exterminating them was the main problem the vanguard leader had to solve.


    Supposedly, even two of the three Dragon Knights in direct service of the king himself had left their posts and were rushing here to eliminate this group of invaders that could bring disaster to this plane. Apparently, even the legendary Holy Knight Sir Willis would personally command the battle against the plane invaders then.


    That''s a Holy Knight that was at the Fourth Grade!


    One has to note that he''s the only Fourth-Grade Holy Knight of this plane!


    Ninther could feel his heart aflame when he thought of having the chance to fight and charge alongside this legendary war god of a knight. He was willing to sacrifice his own life for the holy mission of "protecting the world", thus fulfilling the oath he made when he became a witcher-knight.


    Eliminating the darkness, protector of the weak, fearless!


    Ninther silently chanted the motto of the knights, the glint in his eyes becoming brighter as he did so.


    ...


    The abnormal situation in Blue Hillock City was quickly transmitted by Bleia back to the Mages'' base.


    But the four clan Mages were busy with constructing the temporary Mages'' tower as well as creating guardian voodoo beasts. None of them could spare any energy to reinforce Leon, Bleia, and Blake. Your next journey awaits at empire


    The only thing they could do now was construct a large-scale illusion barrier as soon as possible, reducing the chances of the enemy finding the camp from the skies. As for this wave of a hundred witcher-knights, Leon and the rest had to find a way to kill them themselves.


    If they let the opponent split into multiple squads and wander about the forest, who knew if they would accidentally wander into the illusion barrier.


    Even though there were plenty of disaLeonents and discord between them, when the hostile army was arriving, Leon and the rest could only swallow their grudges and work together. Therefore, they met in a hidden valley to discuss their action plan.


    ...


    1796 Words

 Chapter 177 Evaluating

    The location of the meeting was set in the mountain ridge at the edge of the forest.Leon was wearing a black robe, calmly sitting there as he poked the crackling fire with a stick. The campfire before him flickered, bright one moment, dim the next.


    The impromptu meeting point seemed empty. With the exception of the trees swaying in the wind, there was nothing, not even the golem army Leon always brought with him.


    It didn''t take long before a sound came from the trees in the west. A man, also in a black robe, came out of the woods with a group of subordinates who walked with abnormal postures.


    It was Blake and his bunch of bugmen!


    It seems Blake had absolutely no trust in his two companions, even though he chose to attend the meeting. He even brought the bugmen force that he had just managed to amass for his own safety.


    Shortly after stepping out from the trees, Blake stopped.


    He was not friendly enough with Leon to share a seat and drink with him by the same fire. Moreover, he wasn''t an idiot. Wasn''t the pile of rocks by Leon''s side, that looked like a natural formation, his stone serpent in disguise?


    Two clay golems were hidden in the earth beneath the fire, while a fire elemental would probably leap out of the fire itself at any moment. There were even those almost invisible wind elementium golems floating above the top of the trees nearby.


    If Blake had gone to Leon''s side, it would be no different than putting your neck before the fangs of a tiger. When that happened, your life was all up to the tiger. Blake would never do something idiotic like that! S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After he arrived, Blake kept observing Leon''s golem army that was hidden all over the place. Leon, too, was assessing Blake''s bugman army.


    It seems they had been able to retain their external human shape. They were only stiff and slow in their movements. With Leon''s really ''good'' eye for evaluating things, he could tell that the bugmen were not significantly stronger then they had been in their previous lives. This meant that Blake didn''t intend to rely on them for battles.


    If their individual strength had not increased, then the bugmen were definitely for another special purpose! Was it to have them be the host body of numerous scorpions? Or do they have some special ability to transform?


    For a moment, even Leon had no clear idea of the use of Blake''s bugmen army.


    Ever since he became an Mage, Leon''s greatest feeling was that the constraints of law and morality on him had vanished. His comprehension of the fire-elemental laws let him sense the existence of the plane consciousness for the first time, and indirectly let him experienced the power and profundity of the Mages.


    Anyone that became an Mage had terrifying means that drew directly from the planar laws. Even a low-level apprentice spell would have the powerful ability of affecting the soul and interacting with plane laws- if it was cast by the hands of an Mage.


    This made battles between Mages extremely precarious. Even a slight misstep could put you in big trouble!


    When Blake was still an apprentice, he only had the ability to split into bugs and share damage between all his bugs. These abilities could easily be dealt with as long as you prepared specialized means to do so. But now that Worm controller Blake had become an Mage, along with this period of time that he used to improve and cover up his deficiencies, his powers and methods were once again mysterious and unknown.


    Even Leon was not willing to break into open conflict with such an unpredictable opponent without complete certainty of victory.


    Just as the two were assessing each other, while staying a hundred meters apart, Bloody Bleia arrived!


    She didn''t come alone.


    The flapping sound of beating wings rumbled endlessly as seven bloodsucking bats emerged from east of the woods. They landed on the ground and turned into humans. The first of them was naturally Bleia, whom Leon hadn''t seen in several days. The ones following behind her were the army of blood servants she had just amassed.


    These little fellows had just completed their transformation into vampires, and had no chance to experience the power of the Mages. As such, they bared their fangs and threatened everyone present the moment they landed, in a show of loyalty towards their mistress.


    Leon and Blake ignored their provocation, paying attention to the individual power they had.


    Of the seven blood servants, three were powerful men that could rival pseudo-Mages, while the other four were as powerful as advanced apprentices.


    This amount of power might not be comparable to the subordinates of the other two yet, but one needed to factor in the fact that Bleia had created this army in the matter of several days. Once Blake included the factor of time, he had no choice but reevaluate Bleia''s power.


    Three Mages!


    Three Mages that advanced on the same day!


    As they gathered once more in this other world, even though their wary eyes were still filled with distrust, they all considered each other as strong and worthy opponents in their hearts.


    At least for Blake, this was the case. He had always thought of Bleia as a decorative character. He had absolute confidence he could crush Bleia without Leon''s meddling. But now, it seemed Bleia would be as terrifying as Leon if she was given the chance to show her power!


    Leon couldn''t help but laugh bitterly in his heart when he saw Bleia''s gloating expression.


    Bleia was still too driven by her need to show her superiority.


    Even though they were already inseparable ''strategic allies'' and ''battle companions'' whose lives were intertwined, Leon''s excessively dominant position in their relationship had provoked Bleia''s fragile and sensitive heart.


    Bleia''s actions this time were both meant to intimidate Blake, as well as to flaunt her strength in front of Leon!


    Blake might only be able to see the strength and power of Bleia''s subordinates, but Leon had done extensive research on her body. He could see past her superficial strength to see her weakness.


    How could there be no price for creating blood servants?


    The Embrace might look like she was taking the blood from the victim, but in truth, she was transfusing part of her blood essence into the victim''s body to achieve complete control over the victim.


    With Bleia''s power, there might not have been a problem if she had taken her time to create the blood servants, along with the nourishment of plenty of blood treats. But for the sake of looking strong, she had Embraced so many blood servants in such a short time. This also meant that she would be lacking a large amount of her blood essence in the short term.


    This was a tremendous loss that was hard to be mitigated, even with days of devouring blood!


    Now that the three had arrived, the battle conference began.


    First, Bleia gave a simple description of the witcher-knights'' strength.


    The witcher-knights that were about to advance into the Greenland Forest this time numbered 117. Most of them were low-level witcher-knights. There were only fifteen of them that were Spellbreaker Knights, who had power rivaling the Mages. This also meant that in the following days of fighting in the woods, the three of them would have to deal with enemies five times their number, as well as an army several dozen times larger than their own forces.


    Without the fifteen Spellbreaker Knights, any number of witcher-knights were only prey waiting to be hunted. But with spellbreaker knights now in the mix, their hunt was going to be significantly harder.


    One mistake and they could lose their lives!


    None of the three here had any intention or spirit to bravely sacrifice themselves. The only reason they were here was because the situation gave them no other choice. Moreover, they wanted a taste of plane wars. As long as there was benefit to be gained, they would do the job. Of course, the dangerous tasks were something no one wanted to do.


    Mages were a group of cold and selfish individuals. All their plans and schemes were for themselves, and themselves only.


    Everyone wanted the jobs that gave huge rewards with no risk. And everyone wanted to avoid the jobs that were risky and demanded great sacrifice!


    According to Bleia, the group of witcher-knights intended to split into twelve smaller groups once they entered the Greenland Forest. Then they will keep a certain distance from each other while sweeping through the entire forest.


    Leon and Blake were naturally delighted to hear this news!


    In their eyes, a scattered iron fist was a lamb waiting to be culled. It may be a thorny encounter, but it was far from enough to deter them.


    However, the enemies were way too spread out. There was only three of them. It was hard to completely keep track of the enemies'' movements. Should any of the enemies accidentally wander into the Mages'' base, the situation would be out of their control.


    The Continent of Witchers might strongly reject the existence of spellcasters, but the witchers themselves still used primitive magical equipment. If any of them had some kind of long-distance communication tool with them, they would be able to reveal the location of the Mages'' base; the three of them would fail their mission that way.


    Perhaps an even stronger wave of witcher-knights would attack the Mages'' base directly, under the lead of higher grade knights. Then, not only would the Mages'' camp be in danger, even Leon and the others would have nowhere to rest, caught between the two and crushed to oblivion.


    So after the three had a quick discussion, they agreed that they could not let the witcher-knights wander about just for the ease of hunting. They had to find a way to contain the knights before they even entered the Greenland Forest.


    And doing so required them to have a full-on battle with the knights!


    All three of them were decisive Mages. After a brief sumBleia of the information they had, they quickly produced a simple battle plan and divided the tasks between themselves.


    Fifteen minutes later, Blake turned back, bringing with him his bugman army and retreating into the woods, disappearing in the depths of the forest.


    Bleia let out a whistle, and instantly her blood servants turned into bloodsucking bats, beating their wings as they circled around her.


    Leon called out, seeing that she was about to leave.


    "Bleia, catch!"


    A clay urn the size of a fist flew towards Bleia, who was about to take off.


    Bleia caught the urn. Still confused, she shook it. The sound of a viscous liquid sloshing about came from inside. Her eyes lit up. She opened the urn and the thick and pungent odor of blood filled her nose.


    The bloodsucking bats circling around immediately became excited.


    Bleia smiled as she kept the urn. The next instant, she vanished from the spot in a red flash!


    ...


    1867 Words


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 Chapter 178 Missing

    Colca Village had become a ghost village!This colossal news started to spread quickly through Blue Hillock City. Soon, it found its way to Ninther''s ears.


    According to mercenaries who frequently entered Greenland Forest, the Colca Village, near the edge of the forest, had become a ghost village overnight. All the villagers had vanished! More surprisingly, everything within the village had been untouched. Be it food, clothing, the houses, or even the animal leather and mountain herbs treasured by the villagers- all of it had been left where it was. The only thing missing was the living.


    From villagers, hunters, all the way to the hunting dogs, the cows and the sheep- as long as it was a living thing- everything had vanished, with not a single track that indicated that they had left. Stay tuned for updates on empire


    The few mercenaries that passed by were terrified, and blamed it all on the supernatural. Immediately, they ran all the way back to Blue Hillock City and reported the incident to the castellan.


    And so, in a single day, all sorts of rumours took Blue Hillock City by storm!


    Some said that a monster had appeared in the forest. Some claimed that the villagers were infected by some sort of plague. Some were even more preposterous, spreading the news that some terrifying heretics had appeared there...


    As everyone in Blue Hillock City panicked over the incident, Ninther had already invited the mercenaries into the camp and had to describe all the details they had seen.


    That very night, all one hundred of the witcher-knights suddenly left Blue Hillock City, rushing swiftly towards Colca Village where the mysterious disappearances had occurred.


    Twenty kilometers of mountain road was nothing for the witcher-knights, who were used to traversing long distances. Moreover, most of the knights here were elites from all over the country. Their mounts were also no ordinary warhorses, but specially trained magic colts.


    These magic colts were larger and stronger than ordinary warhorses, possessing fangs and sharp teeth similar to beasts of the woods. More terrifyingly, special scales that were akin to scale armor grew on their bodies, allowing them to shrug off attacks from sharp weapons.


    These magic colts played a significant part in ensuring the witcher-knights were able to ride unchallenged throughout this entire plane.


    These magic colts were only available for the elites amongst the witcher-knights, so it was hard to even see one in a place as rural as Blue Hillock City.


    Thanks to the magic colts'' beast-like agility, and sharp claws that excelled at climbing cliffs, the witcher-knight army managed to quickly arrive at Colca Village, situated in the middle of the mountain.


    When they arrived, it was almost dawn already. A thin ribbon of white light had already surfaced on the horizon far away.


    Still, walking into the desolate village still sent shivers down the spines of the knights.


    Most of the witcher-knights stayed outside the village. Only the elites who had advanced into spellbreaker knights followed Ninther on their horses into the small village. Besides proficiency in all sorts of knight battle techniques, some of these elites also possessed several other unique skills.


    Several dozens torches the size of an arm were placed all over the village!


    Multiple witcher-knights who were skilled at tracking immediately started a detailed search of Colca Village. Soon, some hidden clues started to surface.


    Plenty of odd bug sheddings and broken insect exoskeletons were found. They even found large amounts of torn clothes, and human limbs that hadn''t been cleanly devoured, in a straw house.


    Judging from all the clues, Colca Village had been attacked without warning two nights ago.


    The direction of the attackers pointed towards the northwest of Greenland Forest nearby, while the attacker themselves seemed to be some kind of terrifying magical insectoid creature.


    Just as the elite knights gathered to discuss their plan of pursuit, a horrified yell came from the direction of the witcher-knights outside the village.


    "Bugs...bugs..."


    "They are bugs..."


    "Everyone be careful!"


    The chaotic noise caused Ninther, the leader of the army, to have a change in expression. Almost instantly, he leapt onto his magic colt and slapped it on the back, charging out of the small mountain village.


    The witcher-knights outside the village were in complete disarray now. Under the light of numerous torches, the knights closest to the forest were stamping their feet without stop, as if they were fighting with something. Three witcher-knights had already fallen beside them, no longer moving even an inch.


    Ninther had just ridden his magic colt there when he was shocked by the horrifying scene before him.


    Scorpions; lots of scorpions, waves of scorpions, mountains of scorpions...


    Countless black scorpions were already crawling on the bodies of the three witcher-knights that fell to the ground. The odd sounds of armor and bones being chewed didn''t stop. Very quickly, two of the five knights, still struggling amidst the swarm of bugs, were stung by the black stingers of the scorpions and fell in a daze.


    The other three grabbed onto ropes tossed over by their companions, and were fortunate enough to have been dragged out of the swarm.


    "Where did these bugs come from?" Ninther asked loudly.


    "From the inside of the forest! They swarmed out of the forest and attacked us while we were resting..." An elite knight that had stayed behind shouted back.


    "Set fire to them...use fire to burn them..."


    Following Ninther''s command, torch after torch was thrown into the swarm of bugs, falling like raindrops in the ocean. Some witcher-knights even disassembled the hunters'' wooden houses and threw the straw and wooden boards into the fire. As the crackling sound of burning fat, and the pungent odor of scorched flesh filled the air, the rampaging swarm was finally scared, retreating back into the forest like a tide.


    "Sir, look!" A witcher-knight suddenly exclaimed.


    Ninther followed the direction he was pointing at, and with the help of the strand of dawn light, he was able to see a mysterious black silhouette in the depths of the forests, where the swarm of bugs had disappeared.


    It was a mysterious silhouette completely covered in a black robe. It had a large frame, and a pair of ghostly green eyes that were silently looking over from under the shadow of its hood.


    "Heretic!" Ninther said, his rage saturating every syllable of the word.


    There was no need for his instructions. Already, a dozen rune bows had been drawn into full moons. Qiang! Qiang! Qiang!...a series of cracks could be heard as the bowstring were released. A dozen flame arrows streaking red light slashed through the dark sky, turning the spot where the silhouette was standing into a burning field.


    The odd, black-robed silhouette only flickered for a second at the edge of the sea of fire, before vanishing into the depths of the woods.


    "Chase!" Ninther waved his arm vigorously, and turned his head to shout backwards, "Edward, you lead the army forward. I''ll go intercept him with some troops!"


    Having said that, Ninther brought along seven or eight companions. They drove their magic steeds to their limits and quickly disappeared into the dark woods.


    The red sun was already halfway past the horizon. The darkness in the woods was slowly receding.


    The thin mist slowly dissipated under the sunshine, spreading moist air inside the forest.


    The mysterious silhouette constantly flickered in the depths of the woods far away. Ninther had shot several flame arrows with his bow, but the shadow had managed to dodge them all while still retaining its speed. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The magic colts were like terrifying demons, dashing through the woods, scaling cliffs and crossing rivers with ease. The magic colts only needed to jump, aided by the boost of their sharp claws, to cross a small hill nine meters high. The colts could run as if they were in flight, regardless of how rocky and uneven the roads were, as if they were sprinting on flat ground.


    The well trained witcher-knights bent their bodies and leaned onto the backs of the magic colts. They rode on the colts as they jumped and sprinted across vines, bushes, and woods with weeds half the height of a human, closely tracking the mysterious flickering silhouette.


    This was not recklessness or fearlessness on the part of the witcher-knights; rather, it was part of their combat style and methods.


    On the Continent of Witchers, the heretics were few in number and always the targets of pursuit and chase, never able to form an organized or powerful force. Thus, the witcher-knights would always track the heretics relentlessly once they found them, rarely wondering about boring and pointless things like the possibility of the opponent setting a trap.


    Yet they had no idea that as they were riding on their horses and speeding across the dense woods, several other mysterious silhouettes was already on their tail, quickly approaching them from above the forest canopy.


    This was a group of odd bloodsucking bats.


    They had wide bat wings and agile movements, effortlessly weaving through the dense foliage, silently closing in on the group of witcher-knights.


    The knight at the rear of the formation was a veteran. His magic colt was already fairly old, and it couldn''t keep up with the stamina and explosive movements of its companions. Seven minutes of riding had put a distance of a dozen meters between him and his companions in front.


    With the speed of the magic colts, this distance could hardly be called falling behind. But even so, this distance still caused him to be caught in an ambush.


    Even though he hadn''t heard anything, the senses honed from numerous years in the service alerted him to something odd behind him.


    Vigilant, he grabbed the hilt of his sword, bent his body, and turned around slightly to look.


    There was no movement at all in the dark woods. Not a single enemy appeared in his sight.


    Was the bad feeling in his heart just him being oversensitive?


    Just as he was hesitating, he caught a glimpse of something odd above him from the corner of his eyes.


    The enemy was above!


    A bloodsucking bat that had swooped down in front of him suddenly charged forward before he could do anything. In a fraction of a second, Its furry body transformed into a young man with blood-colored eyes and sharp claws.


    The young man in the air knocked the witcher-knight off his magic colt, and the two started a savage fight as they tussled. Before they had even landed, more bloodsucking bats charged forward, transforming into vampires. They ignored the knight''s attempt to resist and struggle, quickly leaping on him.


    In just a few seconds, the witcher-knight had been drained of blood and killed, savaged by the attacks of half a dozen vampires. Just then, the witcher-knight closest to the rear of the group up ahead faintly heard the sound of savage fighting and thrashing behind him as he rode. When he turned back to look, all he saw was a mouth lined with sharp teeth rapidly closing in on him.


    ...


    1853 Words

 Chapter 179 Bleia vs Knights

    The red sun had already risen above the horizon, but the depths of the woods were still dimly lit.As the witcher-knights were hot in pursuit, dashing across the dense woods, groups of bloodsucking bats flanked them from behind. Swiftly, they pounced and tackled the witcher-knights in the rear, one after another.


    With their leathery wings and the ability to fly silently, along with their ability to shift rapidly between their batform and human form, none of the witcher-knights were able to defend against the sudden attack when they dove down from above.


    Of course, any knight that made it into this army was no weakling. Even if they were caught by surprise, they were still able to counter attack, severely wounding the attacking vampires. But their bravery in the face of death was useless against the vampires. All they had to do was devour a little fresh blood, and all sorts of serious injuries would be healed in a matter of seconds.


    And so, with their tactic of tackling and then surrounding...then tackling and surrounding again, the groups of vampires took turns and were able to silently kill seven of the witcher-knights.


    Until...


    A pained scream rang through the forest!


    Half of the witcher-knights heard the tragic scream from behind them, even as they were busy chasing the heretic. They turned their heads and were surprised to find a bunch of strange demons tackling one of their companions that had fallen behind, quickly becoming overwhelmed in a swarm.


    A spellbreaker knight let out a battlecry, and tugged on the reins of the warhorse. The magic colt lifted its front limbs, and turned around while its body was still in the air. It kicked a giant tree with its thick hind legs, and rushed forward with the momentum.


    Two dozen witcher-knights in the rear turned around following his battlecry, but their movements were not as smooth or natural as the spellbreaker knight. As a result, they were twenty or thirty steps behind him.


    However, their arrows arrived before they did!


    With a loud snap of the bowstring, a flame arrow streaked through the air and pinned a vampire to a tree behind him. The arm-length bolt had sunk into the vampire''s heart, securely pinning him to the large tree. Only a small length of the bolt protruded out of the vampire''s chest.


    A human would have died from a pierced heart. But this vampire was still lively, vigorously trying to struggle free. The vampire ignored the burning from the arrow''s elemental flames and grabbed the end of the arrow with his sharp, clawed hands, trying to pull it out with all his might. Sadly, it wouldn''t budge.


    With no other choice, the vampire used its limbs to leverage itself against the tree trunk, pushing his body out from the end of the arrow. This action undoubtedly caused the wound on his chest to become even larger, leaving behind a hole one could see through.


    But the vampire didn''t care about the injury and leapt on the witcher-knight that was still struggling on the ground. A moment later, when he climbed up from the opponent''s body, the terrifying gash on his chest had already disappeared. The exposed skin was still white and smooth.


    "Monsters...These are a bunch of monsters..."


    The spellbreaker knight that saw this roared. He tossed aside the runic bow- it was too weak-and drew his runic sword. As his palm ran across the cool blade, a layer of magic flames swallowed the sword, turning it into a terrifying torch.


    With a shout, the colt beneath him suddenly accelerated, and piercing through the crowd of flying vampires. A dozen flame trails crisscrossed in the sky and slowly dispersed. The dozen vampires, that had just finished with the broken corpse of the fallen witcher-knight, suddenly split into several pieces and exploded into a rain of blood, flesh, and pieces of bones.


    These were low-level vampire spawn after all. They were far less intelligent and resilient than true vampires. Even their bloodsucking regenerative abilities were significantly weaker. Thus, they could only die a horrible death under the combined strength of the spellbreaker knight''s battle-technique and flaming longsword.


    The success of the spellbreaker knight boosted the morale of the waning witcher-knights. They activated the runic swords in their hands, shouting as they charged towards the remaining vampires.


    This was the terrifying strength of the knights of this plane? Suppressing the strength of arcanology, diverting their attention to strengthening the physical body, as well as the use of special battle techniques?


    Bleia pondered silently, before opening her blood-red eyes.


    After that amazing strike, the spellbreaker knight turned around and shouted to boost the morale of his companions. Just as he slapped his colt and was about to begin another charge, his muscles tensed, and his body stiffened.


    The magic colt below him already felt what he was thinking. Under his urging, the magic colt slowly turned its body. The spellbreaker knight''s eyes flashed. His cold eyes landed on the top of a tree far away, which was shrouded by leaves.


    A hundred meters away, on top of that tall tree, the layers of branches and leaves had hidden the enemy''s body, but they could not hide those terrifying pair of crimson eyes. When his gaze met with the enemy''s, a heavy air of blood spread across the battlefield.


    This was a heretic that was as powerful as he was! Was today''s occurrence a trap they had laid out beforehand? No, I must relay this news to Ninther...


    Faced with the situation before him, several ominous thoughts surfaced in knight''s mind. But just as he was distracted, the pair of bloody eyes suddenly disappeared..


    This was bad!


    The spellbreaker knight gathered his focus while raising his left arm. The small shield on his arm activated to form an oval energy-shield that covered the front of his body entirely.


    The energy shield had just barely formed when a swift impact smashed into it. Five terrifying claw marks appeared on the the semi-translucent shield.


    The spellbreaker knight grunted, and used the energy shield to divert the slim silhouette pushing against it. A flame blade slashed forth from his right hand.


    Normal witcher-knights could only use the runic weapons to achieve a combined strike of physical and elemental force in melee range, while relying on the runic bows for long-ranged attacks. But spellbreaker knights were able to rely on a unique way of attacking to infuse elemental energy into the invisible shockwaves of their blows, forming a mid-range knight battle technique.


    The range of such knight battle technique attacks were not very large. Most of them could reach five to ten meters away. Once they exceeded this range, the shockwave would disperse, and the attached elemental energies would naturally disperse as well, causing the might of the attack to severely deteriorate.


    But this kind of elemental shockwave, that could extend freely and escape the constraints of the weapon itself, could bring about horrifying damage to enemies within ten meters. The crude elemental shields conjured by normal heretics could not defend against the double blow of elemental damage, and the shockwaves'' ability to break through defenses.


    As such, the deciding factor for any witcher-knight advancing to spellbreaker knight was their ability to condense and unleash this unique shockwave!


    Of course, this was a secret closely guarded by the witcher-knights. Today, Bleia was about to use her body to personally experience the terrifying power of the knight battle-technique.


    The flame blades were like burning scimitars slashing through the skies, quickly chasing after Bleia''s retreating silhouette and stopping her from escaping.


    A fierce grin appeared on Bleia''s pretty face. She didn''t retreat. Instead she stepped forward, her sharp claws slashing and leaving behind eight layers of visible bloody marks in front of her. In the next second, the blood marks clashed with the flame blades, combusting into a small firestorm.


    The countless fine flame-blade shards caught in the violent explosion flew everywhere, whistling through the wind like bullets shot from a gun. Normal elemental shields would not be sufficient to defend against such concentrated and wild attacks!


    The spellbreaker knight tightened his grip on the shield in his left hand, and the sword in his right hand. While staring at the burning field, a blast of wind struck from above.


    The spellbreaker knight looked up in surprise, just in time to see Bloody Bleia dropping down from above.


    The explosion of the flaming fragments had also wounded Bleia. Most of the flame-blade shards had been deflected by her summoned crimson protection. Layers of blood-red roses dispersed the numerous attacks.


    However, some of the shards still managed to pierce through her blood-red defense, leaving scratches all along Bleia''s body and limbs. The fine shards remained embedded in Bleia''s body, their fires still persistently burning...


    Yet even faced with such wounds, Bleia was not any less courageous. She did not retreat to treat her wounds, but chose to sneak above the enemy to attack once again.


    The unexpected sneak attack did not give the knight enough time to form the shockwave within his body. He could only tightly grip the magic colt with his legs and drive it forward. He rested his back on the horse''s back, the shield on his left hand blocking Bleia''s claws that struck down again.


    The sharp claws screeched as they slashed on the semi-translucent shield. The violent impact was not completely deflected. The shield was pushed down, causing the spellbreaker knight''s back to crash heavily into the magic colt''s spine.


    The colt beneath him let out a pained whinny as it continued to run forward.


    Bleia, who had been pushed away by the tremendous recoil, immediately unfurled her bat wings and leapt towards the knight as if she defied physics itself. A blood red longbow suddenly appeared in her hands, and a mysterious scarlet, crystalline arrow converged on the half-drawn bowstring.


    "Go!"


    With a shout, a hundred blood red arrow images filled the space between Bleia and the spellbreaker knight.


    Goddamn, what is this attack!?


    The spellbreaker knight, who had never seen a close-ranged Mage attack like this one, was shocked. He swung around and instantly and sent a cross cut from his sword, neutralizing most of the scarlet arrow rain. The energy shield on his left hand was directed about frantically, barely deflecting some of the arrows that shot past the cross cut.


    Even so, both him and his mount were peppered with blood arrows that had managed to pierce through his shield and battle technique, covering them with numerous wounds. If it wasn''t for the protection of his runic armor, and the scales of the magic colt, the attack just now would have severely wounded them.


    The spellbreaker knight let out a battlecry and turned his horse around, charging towards Bleia, who was catching up on foot.


    One of them was a mysterious vampire Mage from a different plane; the other a powerful spellbreaker knight that stood high in this plane. The two powerful beings of different races with different combat styles, savagely clashed against each other, just like that!


    ...


    1858 Words


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 Chapter 180 Bait

    Theoretically the vampire Mage and the spellbreaker knight were fairly even in power.However, the racial advantage was evident when the two started fighting with all their strength.


    On one hand, you had a terrifying vampire whose race could be found in all high-magic planes, while on the other you had a normal human who had only strengthened his physical strength and comprehended some special uses of Elementium crystals. The spellbreaker knight might be able to force a stalemate against Bleia by using his skilled and potent knight battle-techniques.


    However, once the battle had turned into a critical fight on the edge of life and death, the terrifying traits of Bleia''s race became the deciding factor. Her resilient Physique and regenerative ability far outclassed her opponent and gave her the edge. After three rounds of battle, Bleia had the advantage on the battlefield and was slowly turning the advantage into a complete beatdown.


    Bleia, being a vampire Mage, did not need to suck the blood directly out of her opponents to regenerate. As long as she did a substantial amount of damage, she could gain an endless stream of blood energy from her opponent''s blood that splashed everywhere.


    An opponent that became stronger as the fight went on, whose strength did not decrease as their wounds increased, was the scariest nightmare for the spellbreaker knight. It didn''t matter how severe a wound he dealt to Bleia. As long as Bleia was able to deal an equally severe wound to him, he would never have a chance of defeating her!


    For that one moment, the spellbreaker knight thought he was fighting against himself...no, fighting against his own blood! Every slash he made wasn''t making his opponent bleed, it was making him bleed. His opponent only needed to trade him blow-for-blow, and she would go unscathed in this fight.


    He would only continue to weaken!


    The angered shouts and cries of many witcher-knights could be heard from the nearby battlefield. They must have met the same problem as he did! If this had been a normal situation, he would have broken through the opponent''s blockade, gathered with his companions, and fought together against this powerful enemy.


    However, he couldn''t do that today.


    The demon before his eyes was clearly the that terrifying group''s leader and had strength far above them. If he led her to his companions...there would probably not be a single one of them who could escape from her mysterious shadow that was as fleeting as a phantom and constantly flickering about.


    He was still hanging on with all his might, waiting for reinforcements and help from his companions.


    The knights in front would most definitely realize that thirty witcher-knights had fallen behind and send people to look for them. As long as he join up with one or two of his spellbreaker knights, defeating this terrifying blood demon was not an issue with their cooperation and teamwork.


    As expected, the unique sound of magic colts sprinting rang out in the woods far away.


    The spellbreaker knight, who was completely exhausted and pale in the face, instantly got his energy back and continued to fight with vigor. Sadly, as he waved about his flame longsword and sent out two flame blades to push away the demon, she charged forward instead of retreating as he predicted. She cancelled the protection of her crimson armor, allowing the flame blades to slice through her body and explode like fireworks behind her.


    Using the opportunity she bought with her severe injuries, she dodged past the knight''s sword and shield and leapt onto his body. She wrestled with him using all her savage might.


    The spellbreaker knight might be wearing a complete set of knight''s armor, but there were gaps in between each individual piece. This doomed him to the fate of being torn at by Bleia''s cruel bites and rending claws.


    Thus, the witcher-knight reinforcements watched bleakly as a spellbreaker knight, who they hailed to be strong and valiant, was tossed off his horse like an emptied waterskin. The magic colt whinnied in pain before also falling, a bloody hole on the back of its head spurting blood out in a fountain.


    The terrifying person bathing in blood had a voluptuous figure, but in the eyes of everyone present, she was no different than a demon merely wearing the skin of a seductive beauty.


    Bleia extended her wide bat wings, floating in the sky with blood covering her body. She raised her chin and using her lithe tongue to swallow the blood slowly dripping from her bloody hand.


    Behind her, a dozen witcher-knights had been tackled off their colts by the vampires flying in the sky. The knights screamed in terror with all their strength as the vampires swarmed them. As for the other witcher-knights, only their corpses remained, strewn about the woods. The magic colts that had lost their owners stomped, sprinted about, and ran away in a panicked frenzy, soon disappearing in the miserable morning mist...


    Ninther, who had led the reinforcements back, let out an angered howl that spread throughout the battlefield. He waved his runic sword, thick as a pillar of flame, and drove his colt forward in a frenzy.


    Bleia grinned wickedly before turning around, beating her leathery bat wings and flying up into the canopy. Her blood servants, that just had a feast of their own, let out howls as they followed her away from the battlefield.


    With the vampire''s phantom-like flying speed, the witcher-knights would have no chance of catching up with them in the woods.


    Ninther rode his horse slowly around the terrible battlefield within the woods, having chased away the vampires. The grotesque appearance of each corpse was shocking, but Ninther forced himself to look at each corpse, one by one. Ninther got off his horse and kneeled before the spellbreaker knight''s shrivelled corpse, and silently chanted the knights'' motto, sacred in the hearts of every witcher-knight.


    Slowly, the knights got off their horses and recovered the bodies of their companions who fell in battle.


    The entire woods were filled with a dense sorrow.


    "This is a kind of heretic we have never seen before! They should be the group of people our superiors were looking for." The calm and steady Edward rode his horse to Ninther''s side and asked softly, "What do we do next?"


    "Why did they suddenly attack us?" Ninther slowly asked softly as he stood up.


    "Er..." Edward couldn''t help but be stunned, "We''re enemies. Isn''t it natural that they came to attack us?"


    "No!" Ninther raised his face, a brilliant gleam shining in his light brown eyes, "Based on their coordination in both their baiting and their attack, they are beings with extremely high intelligence. Currently, only two heretics have shown their faces, but there are fifteen spellbreaker knights on our side. In a situation with such a huge difference in numbers, they still chose to show their faces and set a trap. All this just because they hate us?"


    "You are saying..."


    "If they revealed themselves here, then there must be a reason- they had no choice but to reveal themselves! And if I''m not wrong..."


    "Their den is nearby, so they have no choice but to find a way to draw us away!"


    The two spellbreaker knights, Ninther and Edward, looked at each other and instantly understood what the other was thinking. They didn''t continue to speak, instead turning around and carefully recovering the body of their companion.


    ...


    Leon was sitting crossed-legged on the crest of a far-off hill, but his Spirits had extended all the way to the battlefield fifteen kilometers away.


    He didn''t personally participate in this battle, but thirty of his wind critters were spread over the entirety of the wide battlefield, giving him perfect vision over every action taken his allies and enemies. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bleia had led her numerous blood servants and vampire spawn in an ambush, killing one spellbreaker knight and twenty-three witcher-knights. This could have been said to be a perfect result. Unfortunately, Ninther was a decisive man. He gave up on pursuing Blake, and turned back to drive away the vampires, saving the remaining eleven witcher-knights.


    This tiny blemish might not be much! As long as Blake and Bleia had enough time, as well as enough space to battle in, they could slowly chip away at this hundred man witcher-knight army. There wouldn''t be any problem. Even the fifteen-wait, no- fourteen spellbreaker knights would no longer be able to disrupt or prevent this from happening.


    When the Mages who possessed all kinds of odd techniques were pit against the spellbreaker knights who only had powerful melee attacks, their advantage in battle wasn''t just a little. It was an overwhelming and complete advantage. If they were taking turns to fight on an arena, just Bleia alone could wipe out all fourteen men from the squad of spellbreaker knights.


    But if they all swarmed simultaneously, Bleia could possibly only deal with two people at the same time with her current power. She would probably have a hard time if she faced three spellbreaker knights at the same time. Any more than that, and Bleia would have to run.


    Blake was about the same as Bleia. The limit to the number of people he could battle at once was three spellbreaker knights.


    Leon, on the other hand, could deal with five spellbreaker knights at once if he coordinated well with the Fire Lord. Of course, if that happened, he wasn''t sure if he would be able to successfully retrieve the Fire Lord after the battle.


    Regardless of how they calculated, as long as the opponent managed to join together, their advantage over the three was extremely obvious. To have only killed a single spellbreaker knight in that battle, this was way too innefficient!


    Just as Leon was spacing out and thinking, the witcher-knights in the distance started to move.


    They split into twelve squads, keeping a distance of less than thirty meters between each other, slowly riding their horses in a fan formation as they moved towards the location of the Mages'' base.


    Now it was Leon''s turn to curse and swear!


    With no choice left to him, Leon could only cast a spell to signal Blake and Bleia to return to his side.


    "What''s the matter? Why are we not continuing?" Bleia had just consumed all the blood in the body of a spellbreaker knight. She was in an agitated state, with energy flowing all through her body. It was obvious that she was unhappy that they had abandoned the plan of baiting the opponent.


    Blake who was standing alone by the side, didn''t go close to the two. He silently waited for Leon''s reply, his ghostly green eyes hidden under the shadow of his hood.


    "I''m afraid the plan will no longer work!" Leon smiled bitterly and helplessly, "The enemy''s leader is also a perceptive man. Their actions are very decisive. It seems they''ve seen through our plans. Now we can only fight them head on."


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    Bleia was obviously skeptical about this. Silently, she commanded a squad of vampires to flank and tackle witcher-knights at the edge of the formation- only to find that the squad of witcher-knights were led by two spellbreaker knights.


    Moreover, as the vampires were occupied with the witcher-knights, the other squads of witcher-knights had quickly come to their aid. Under the two-fold attack of runic bows and blades, the group of twelve vampire spawn were decimated before they could even kill a single witcher-knight.


    Blake was equally skeptical, and sent a clone made of scorpions to bait the enemy, only to have it be destroyed by a terrifying volley of flame arrows from the witcher-knights.


    The direction of the army''s search still did not change!


    Only then did the two finally believe that the plan had failed and agreed with Leon''s proposal of a head on battle.


    The three immediately split up and began to prepare!


    ...


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 Chapter 181 Lava

    It was decided that the location for the final battle was would be a valley that was slightly flatter.Of course this location was not the most ideal place for the final battle. However, this was already the best spot that Leon could find that was located between the witcher-knights and the Mages'' base.


    Due to the continuous harassment by the vampires and the bug swarm, the witcher-knights had to tighten their formation to avoid exposing any openings to the enemy. This caused their marching speed to be as slow down to a tortoise''s speed. But even so, they still arrived at the decided battlefield at midday.


    This was a place with sparse vegetation and less mountainous terrain. On both sides were rocky hills and flowing streams. Mountain ranges and steep cliffs were everywhere to be seen. If the witcher-knights wanted to continue north, this was the best location for an army their size.


    But now, this place had turned into a place of risk and danger that struck despair into the hearts of the knights.


    A frightening volcano stood in the path of the witcher-knights.


    This was a volcano created by human means. Even though it might lose to natural volcanoes in terms of might, it still had the terrifying ability to determine the outcome in such a small battlefield.


    Two tall, human-shaped forms stood by each other at one end of the valley. Their domineering bodies were completely covered in red and black rocks. Intense red heat radiated from their bodies, scorching the rocks on the surface of their forms and turning them into half-molten lava.


    Their legs, thick as flame pillars, were stuck in the lava pool below. There was dark red lava that was slowly flowing in a hundred meter radius around them. The green grass and tall trees around the lava were slowly being lit up by the intense heat. They withered, yellowed, dried out, and slowly tiny sparks of flame started to spread...


    With the lava pool at the center, the entire valley had become a piece of scorched earth. The ashes of plants at the edge of the field went all the way up to one''s ankle.


    Even though they were forced to fight the witcher-knight army head on, Leon chose to pick a battlefield whose geography would be beneficial to himself. The two steep and mountainous slopes on each side prevented the witcher-knights from surrounding and flanking him. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If the witcher-knights dared gather around the lava pool, Leon didn''t mind using his overwhelming and terrifying spells to teach them the terror of meeting an elementium Mage on the battlefield!


    A bizarre battlefield, and a bizarre enemy. The witcher-knights were at a loss, having never been in such a situation before. It wasn''t the first time they fought with a heretic, but every time it was the heretics that would be running and hiding from them. It was only when they had been driven to their wit''s end that the heretics would turn around and fight back like a mad dog.


    But...in a situation like the one before their eyes, the heretic was the one that appeared before them, bearing a dominating aura as if he wanted to exterminate them. This was a completely new and unknown feeling for the knights!


    The feeling was a fresh one, but the death trap set by the enemy was also truly terrifying.


    The hearts of every witcher-knight were heavy when they looked at the ever-expanding lava pool and the charred trees that had been reduced to charcoal. Enjoy new adventures from empire


    If they wanted to charge at an enemy like this, wouldn''t they have to ride their colts into the pool of lava, wading through a hundred meters of burning rock to get close to the enemy? It might only take five seconds to cross a hundred meter gap when they drove the colts to the limit, but on that viscous and flowing lava, could the colts even sprint? How many companions'' lives, those who had been with them for years, would need to be sacrificed to pave a bloody path to the opponent?


    Countless questions surfaced in everyone''s hearts, instilling a sense of tragedy and grief into each and every one of their actions.


    From on top their magic colts,the fourteen spellbreaker knights slowly stood before the battlefield, examining the terrifying territory their enemy had chosen.


    This was a new enemy!


    This meant that the three heretics had shown their true faces now, if they included the two enemies that appeared previously.


    Ninther rode out of the knights'' formation and drove his colt two steps forward, coldly looking at the tall silhouette standing in the bubbling pool of lava. Two tall humanoids wreathed in flame. One was the heretic, while the other was an evil golem he had summoned.


    Ninther had to admit that the heretic before him was more worthy of his admiration, and even more terrifying, than the two sly and wicked heretics earlier.


    Even before they had started the battle, this fellow had successfully used this unique battlefield he had created to weaken the morale of the witcher-knights. Even though all the witcher-knights were fearless and willing to sacrifice themselves, when confronted with the thought of becoming a stepping stone for others to reach the enemy, a sense of grief and tragedy had replaced the passion and vigor they needed for an all-out fight.


    It was no longer an impassioned battlecry that rang in the hearts of the knights, but a tragic aria for the sacrifice they would have to make!


    When the warriors stepped foot on the battlefield, they weren''t thinking of how to fight to their best abilities, of how to forge a brilliant victory with their burning blood, but of how they were to sacrifice themselves. This...this definitely can''t be called a high morale!


    Clap clap clap...


    Ninther extended his gauntleted hands and started clapping in awe of the opponent''s unpredictable psychological tactics.


    The sound of clanking metal had a ring of arrogance and determination to it, driving away the pointless worries of the witcher-knights. All the knights raised their heads and looked at their great leader, who had led them from one victory to another. Slowly, the grief and sorrow in their eyes faded, replaced with the coolness and determination unique to the noble knights.


    Even if they were fated to die today, they would die with the pride, grandeur, and dignity of a witcher-knight! After all, the one leading them was the pride of all witcher-knights¡ªSpellbreaker Knight Ninther!


    Seeing that he had managed to raise the morale of his companions, Ninther solemnly instructed, "Alvar, bring one squad with you and cover the left...Anthony, you cover the right with two squads...be cautious, be careful of sneak attacks from the two other heretics that have yet to show themselves. Prioritise defending and guarding. Do not recklessly chase after the enemy!"


    "Understood!" The two spellbreaker knights bowed and accepted their orders.


    "Benson, bring 3 or 4 squads with you. Cut some trees to make a path immediately. Be swift..."


    "Understood, I''ll be on my way!" A spellbreaker knight with a mean face, and an especially large body, replied loudly. He got down from his horse and immediately led a group of witcher-knights towards the closest patch of trees.


    "Edward, when the opportunity of an attack presents itself later, you, Daniel, and Joseph will each lead your own troops and guard the rear. I''ll lead the charge with the rest of the spellbreaker knights and kill this overconfident heretic in one blow."


    "No, Ninther, let me lead the charge! The army needs your instructions. It''s better for me to lead the attack!" Edward widened his eyes and rebutted immediately.


    One after another, the remaining spellbreaker knights offered to lead the charge!


    "No, it must be me who leads the charge!" Ninther extended his hands and stopped the knights, "Once the battle starts, not much instructions will be needed. The enemy''s plan is simple. The heretic wants to throw us into chaos before him, forcing us to go around or split up our forces. It''s only then that the other two heretics have a chance to ambush us!


    "Thus, it is the man standing before us that is their leader, as well as the shield on their side. What we need to do is use our most powerful and savage attacks to shatter their shield and cause their plan of obstructing us to fail.


    "Then, the two heretics hiding in the darkness will lose the element of surprise and be forced to enter the battlefield in order to salvage the losing fight. That is the moment you will surround and attack them with all your might!


    "So I beg of you, allow me to take on the burden of leading the charge!"


    Everyone looked at each other after having heard Ninther''s explanation, and could only nod in aLeonent.


    Indeed, they had to use their strongest and sharpest squad of witcher-knights to break the opponent with brute force. WIthin the witcher-knights, it was definitely Ninther who was the swiftest and greatest knight. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been the leader of this knight army at such a young age.


    The witcher-knights in front of the lava pool immediately regained their discipline and order under the Ninther''s instructions. The ones in charge of covering the rear went to cover the rear; the ones in charge of cutting down trees to pave a road, went to cut trees. Most of the remaining witcher-knights patrolled the battlefield, wary of the movements of the tall burning humanoid in the sea of flames.


    The nine spellbreaker knights, with Ninther as the leader, had gathered at the front of the lava pool. They held their breaths and concentrated as they waited, looking as if they were about to enter a death charge.


    But their battle plans were merely something they came up on their side only; the unpredictability and chaos of the battlefield was far above their expectations. With Leon''s powerful abilities, he would never let them destroy the advantageous battlefield he had crafted with such care!


    As the group of witcher-knights, who had removed their heavy armor, moved heavy logs and large boulders to the edge of the lava pool, both Leon and the Fire Lord raised their up hands high and jointly cast a fire spell¡ªMeteor Shower.


    Under their will, large swathes of rolling flame clouds gathered in the skies of the valley. Then, one after another, fiery meteors plummeted from the sky, dragging with them a thick black tail. Their target was the witcher-knights who had removed their armor, and whose defense had been greatly reduced.


    "Defend, everybody defend..." A spellbreaker knight with a loud voice shouted.


    More witcher-knights made it to the front of the formation. The runic bows in their hands had been drawn to a full moon, and one after another, flame arrows were shot out to intercept the blazing meteors crashing down.


    Most of the flame meteors were shot by the arrows and exploded into fireworks before hitting the ground. The shattered flames spread out to form an even greater burning sea, but the terrifying physical impact of the flame meteors had been mitigated.


    Resisting the low temperature of the sea of flames was no problem for the witcher-knights, even without their heavy armor!


    ...


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 Chapter 182 Surrounded

    With Leon''s habit of thinking things through before acting, there was no way his assault would end right here once the fight had started!Leon, who had long turned into the terrifying Flame Fiend, gripped the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his left hand while starting to loudly chant the obscure and profound words of a spell.


    Following the powerful magic chant, the edges of the lava pool began to boil and swell. One after another, frightening fire spirits, magmakin, and lavahounds bathed in viscous lava rose from the pool, roaring as they charged up the shore.


    The witcher-knights were long prepared for the opponent''s counter attack. Over thirty witcher-knights, armed to the teeth, let out battlecries as they rode their horses and stormed forward, engaging with the fire beings at the edge of the lava pool.


    Once again, a towering gigantic shape rose in the center of the pool as everyone was engaged in an intense skirmish. It was the Fire Deity! As a summoned being, it was not as reserved as the golems. The moment it appeared, it strode across with heavy steps, approaching the shore and bringing with hit a sea of flames that stretched towards the sky.


    The witcher-knights could only continuously retreat under the pressure from the terrifying heat wave and the streams of flame. They had to avoid the fire damage that was coming from everywhere. Under the lead of the Fire Deity, the previously disadvantaged flame beings received a huge boost in morale. Immediately, they started another charge at the knights!


    The several hundred square meter large lava pool was slowly edging forward with the help of the fire creatures. It almost seemed as if the entire valley was eventually going to become a new volcanic region.


    However, the knights'' retreat was only a feint. Once the fire beings, and the ten-meter tall Fire Deity in particular, had left the lava pool, the spellbreaker knights led by Ninther immediately struck them with their fiercest attacks.


    The spellbreaker knights raised their small shields, and used energy shields to deflect the downpour of fiery rain. Enduring the violent blows of fire, knights used the runic swords in their hands to slash at the large body of the Fire Deity. The knights had already swapped out the magic crystals that they used beforehand. This time, it was no longer a flaming torch that appeared when the spellbreaker knights activated their longswords, but the power of frost, with ice crystals and snow floating about.


    Countering fire with ice. It was obvious that the knights had their own unique experiences and battle techniques when fighting against heretics.


    The powerful knight battle techniques that were shrouded in the freezing power of ice slashed at the Fire Deity, tearing its body and freezing it, causing the Fire Deity''s movements to become slower and stiffer. Surprisingly, an Mage-level Fire Deity was unable to endure even a single round of the spellbreaker knights'' blows, shattering into pieces and howling as it crumbled.


    The fragments of the fire-attribute Fire Deity were covered, amazingly, with ice shards of various sizes. Even the terrifying flames themselves were frozen within the light blue ice crystals.


    Ninther lifted a huge ice crystal the size of a cart with his sword, and tossed it into the lava pool, where it landed right before Leon''s gigantic body. The object frozen within that crystal was the large head of the Fire Deity. Its terrifying expression was perfectly preserved, trapped in its death howl.


    Was this a terrible attempt at provoking him? Even though these kinds of tricks couldn''t possibly have any effect on Mages, who were famed for their intelligence, the efforts of the witcher-knights'' commander were still commendable and worth some kind of response!


    Leon roared loudly, his large Flame Fiend body stepping through the boiling lava, striding towards Ninther.


    Ninther was excited when he saw this. Immediately, he put away his runic sword and started using ice arrows to shoot at Leon, retreating as he continued to shoot. It looked like he wanted to draw his opponent out of the lava pool.


    The roars of the Fire Lord who remained behind was even louder, so loud it even shook the earth. One after another, frightening area damaging fire spells covered the skies as they shot towards the witcher-knights. The Fire Lord had no intention of avoiding the fire beings at its side when it cast the spell. In fact, it consciously threw all of the most violent and explosive spells towards the frontline.


    The Fire Lord''s attacks mostly consisted of area damage spells, while Leon''s attacks consisted of concentrated single-target spells. Fearsome spears the size of a human''s waist flew towards the enemy repeatedly, and every so often, the creature would even point and cause a terrifying lava pillar to blast out from beneath the body of its target.


    Two witcher-knights that were closer to the edge of the fire pools were the ones blasted into the air by the lava pillars, then blown to pieces by the flame spears that sped through the air. Their bodies had been burned to unrecognisable char and ashes by the rain of fire before the blood and flesh even hit the ground.


    The tragic state of their companion''s death angered many witcher-knights. One after another their ice arrows, filled with vengeance, shot towards Leon like a violent tempest. Unfortunately, all of the arrows were blocked by three pieces of Lava Shield orbiting about Leon''s body.


    As compared to the Flame Shield, the Lava Shield had better fire resistance, as well as a greater resistance against physical damage. Naturally, it did not fear the damage of such a meager rain of arrows.


    After walking forward a bit further, Leon stopped fifteen meters before the edge of the lava pool. He laughed loudly as he attacked the witcher-knights with multiple deadly single-target spells.


    The damage of long-ranged spells was greatly reduced on the spellbreaker knights as compared to the witcher-knights. All the spellbreaker knights had mastered mid-ranged knight battle techniques and could intercept the incoming fire spells. After a few ineffective attacks, Leon focused his firepower on the weaker witcher-knights.


    Ninther was angry. He could no longer hold back after seeing Leon sniping two or three of his weaker companions.


    If he could not draw this evil heretic onto the shore, then he would go into the sea of flames to attack him!


    Under Ninther''s silent hand signals, all the witcher-knights started shooting waves of ice arrows as if their lives depended on it. Surprisingly, the target of the ice arrows was not Leon and instead they all landed on the lava in front of Leon.


    The power of ice that exploded from a small ice arrow couldn''t even form into a snowflake before it was devoured by the boiling lava. But even the hottest lava cannot resist a constant bombardment of ice arrows! The lava pool around Leon solidified at a visible speed. A layer of light blue ice crystals appeared on the surface of the lava, suppressing the heat and flames from below.


    This kind of ice crystal couldn''t keep the lava frozen for very long, but it didn''t need to be for long!


    The spellbreaker knights, that had been waiting for an opportunity, surged forward under Ninther''s lead, and their target was obviously Leon, who had been trapped in the middle of the ice crystals.


    Finally!


    Ninther wanted to draw Leon onto the shore, but Leon also wanted to draw the spellbreaker knights into the lava pool!


    Both parties circled each other with their mind games, yet at the same time they both understood each other''s intentions. And so one side had a trick within a trick, while the other decided to go along with the other''s ploy. As for who would gain an edge in the end, that naturally depended on who was more powerful!


    It was an exaggeration to say that Leon was not nervous at all, looking at the spellbreaker knights who were roaring as they charged towards him. After all, he was about to have a deathmatch with nine spellbreaker knights that were of the same power level as him! Until now, Leon''s interaction and battle experience with these spellbreaker knights was still too limited. He didn''t have a complete understanding of their battle tactics and couldn''t analyse them to come up with a solution.


    Thus Leon was also taking certain risks in baiting the enemy himself this time! S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ever since he started on this journey of becoming an Mage, Leon had always hid behind the scenes in battles. The ones doing the heavy lifting had always been the golems that he crafted. This effectively reduced the risks and dangers that he personally had to face, but also caused him to fall behind in refining his personal combat skills.


    The group of spellbreaker knights before him were a sizeable threat, but they were far from pushing him to the edge of life and death. Therefore, Leon was planning to take this opportunity to train his combat skill. Otherwise, if he truly met a powerful enemy that the golems couldn''t deal with in the future, he would have to pay for his weakness with his blood!


    Therefore, even though he knew he could get out of the awkward situation here with a simple Fire Teleportation, Leon chose to stay here and fight without any hesitation.


    Leon roared loudly, and burning streams of flame blasted out of the three-meter tall Flame Fiend. Under his agitation, the lava pool started to vibrate violently, and the speed at which the newly formed ice crystals were melting sped up abruptly.


    Explosions erupted where the ice crystals were at their weakest, and hot air currents surged up in a rush from below. If any magic colt were to walk over those spots at this moment, it would definitely have been scalded, burned, and blasted several dozen meters up into the sky. Experience exclusive tales on empire


    The ice crystals that had once formed a sheet of ice, had been blasted into several small islands and crystal shards with barely enough space to stand on, floating amidst the lava pool. The blistering pillars of air rose and fell, one after another. This turned the lava pool into the devil''s playground, filled with traps everywhere.


    Even though Ninther, still high up on his colt, knew that this could be a killing field that the heretic had crafted for the knights, he still charged forward with no hesitation. The nimble and swift magic colt leapt from piece to piece of the shattered ice crystals as if it was flying. Within two leaps, it had already closed in on Leon.


    And so, on one end was the leader of the three powerful Mages, and on the other was the leader of the witcher-knights- the two had their first contact on the battlefield!


    The runic sword, covered in a thick shroud of ice energy, heavily slashed onto the Lava Shield that was floating before Leon. The powerful physical impact instantly slashed an opening the size of a fist on the Lava Shield. The overwhelming power of frost surged through the shield, freezing a large patch of raging flames on Leon''s chest.


    Leon, on the other hand, didn''t give ground either.


    Using the momentum as he turned his body, he swung his sizeable flaming hand, crashing into the magic colt Ninther was riding on. Instantly, the colt turned into a sizzling fireball as it was blown away.


    Leon wanted to add in a powerful single-target spell for good measure, but the spellbreaker knights following behind Ninther had already arrived, leaping towards him. Leon had no choice but to give up on the idea. For a moment, the bombardment of fire spells at close range and the powerful physical attacks of the Flame Fiend''s body were executed to perfection, precisely dealing with the attacks of the spellbreaker knights that had surrounded him.


    ...


    1987 Words


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 Chapter 183 Battle

    The scene before him was very much like the arcade games from his previous life.Except now he was the one playing the part of the villainous Boss.


    His three Lava Shields were two meters tall, one meter wide, half a meter thick and made of countless molten rocks that still burned with patchy flames. Red-hot lava was still dripping out of the gaps between the stones.


    The spellbreaker knights that leapt in succession were all swinging the runic sword in their hands with all their might. Knight battle techniques rained blows of varying colors, crashing onto the Lava Shield and whistling through the air as they did so, shattering the magma, causing lava to splash everywhere.


    The spellbreaker knights could only dash past Leon and try to hit the Flame Fiend with their most destructive attacks at the moment his back was to them. This was because there weren''t many ice crystal shards left around Leon''s Flame Fiend body that could be used as a foothold.


    Leon, on the other hand, had turned into a an ungainly giant. He used the Lava Shield to block enemy attacks, while savagely attacking the weak opponents before him; with his fearsome hand shrouded in blistering flames, with his five-meter long flame whip formed from concentrated flame Elementium, and with fire spells that radiated terrifying Elementium flux.


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    Some spellbreaker knights were able to bend their bodies or leap to dodge Leon''s terrifying attacks with their agile bodies. But there were always some who failed to dodge. Faced with a whip that was cutting through the sky, they could only cower and maximize their shields to mitigate the opponent''s attack.


    Faced with Leon''s Strength of 20 points from the Flame Fiend Transformation, the spellbreaker knights'' pitiful average of 14 Strength was not even worth looking at.. They only had to have minimal contact with the whip, and they would turn into Angry Birds, blown away far off into the sky.


    But the most troublesome attacks from Leon weren''t his slightly clumsy physical blows, but the Ring of Fire that was everywhere.


    Leon, who had a Flame Body and had transformed part of his body into Elementium, successfully mastered the Ring of Fire once he advanced to a flame Mage. This was a domain-type fire spell!


    When Leon bellowed and activated the Ring of Fire, a light red Elementium barrier shaped like a sphere enveloped a hundred square meters area around him. Everything in this area started burning!


    The ground was burning, the grass and the trees were burning, even the sky was burning...


    Everyone that entered Leon''s Ring of Fire had to endure a astounding 13 points of fire damage every second. This level of energy damage was equal to a single offensive spell he activated back when he was a beginner-apprentice!


    There was a lava pool below, and Leon with his vicious attacks from above, along with the continuous fire damage they had to endure every second...


    Only the spellbreaker knights, that had some elemental resistance, were able to endure such devastating battle conditions. If it had been a witcher-knight, they wouldn''t even need to be attacked by Leon; just the elemental damage within the Ring of Fire was enough to reduce most of them to ashes.


    The spellbreaker knights had fought with mage-level casters countless times, across several centuries'' history of exterminating heretics. But if one wanted to discuss the difficulty or mysteriousness of a fight, the terrifying flame humanoid before them could easily outclass ten normal heretics added together.


    The spellbreaker knights rode on their magic colts, leaping on the bobbing ice crystal shards and slashing at Leon''s Lava Shield with various angles every so often. In the blink of an eye, two of the three shields had been destroyed. Even the only one left was badly damaged and couldn''t hold up for much longer.


    On the other hand, two of the nine spellbreaker knights had been hit by Leon''s melee attacks, and were sent flying out of the lava pool, screaming in pain. The magic colts under them also fell into the lava.


    The lava pool below Leon looked like a dark red patch. It wasn''t very flashy, but everything in the pool was terrifying half-molten magma. The moment the magic colts fell in, oily black smoke started rising from their hair, skin, blood, and flesh. Their skin and flesh sizzled as they burned, a sound so terrible no one could bear hearing.


    The colts had no time to even whinny in pain, and had already been devoured by the roiling magma, leaving only a cluster of bubbles on the surface of the viscous dark red liquid.


    There were a sizeable number of witcher-knights at the shore, enduring the flame damage from the Ring of Fire, shooting ice arrows into the lava pool with all their might to create ice crystal footholds for the spellbreaker knights. After shooting three to four waves of arrows, they had no choice but to swiftly retreat out of the area covered by the scarlet barrier. But just those short ten seconds inside the barrier had already caused all of their exposed skin to be covered with horrifying blisters. Even slightly touching those blisters sent pain straight to the heart.


    They suffered so much even though they were only on the edge of the barrier; the spellbreaker knights surrounding Leon and enduring his attacks had to endure ten times the punishment that they did.


    The two spellbreaker knights that were blown out of the battle were indeed courageous men. Immediately, they got fresh mounts from their witcher-knight subordinates and immediately charged back into the lava field.


    Since the start of the battle, Leon had only suffered inconsequential and insignificant injuries, having used the many protective layers of defensive fire spells. Now that most of his defensive spells were about to be broken, he finally started to retreat and swap positions with the Fire Lord.


    This was actually a very common sight in fights between casters and close-ranged melee fighters!


    With the protection of defensive spells, casters could bring about intense elemental damage to their opponents without suffering even a single bit of damage, as if they were the mightiest beings alive. But the moment their defenses were broken, they would almost certainly be killed in a flash by their opponents if they chose to continue engaging the opponents at a close range.


    So the moment things were turning sour, Leon threw out two Flame Shockwaves, blasting back the spellbreaker knights around him. Then, he retreated with large strides, trying to get to the center of the lava pool.


    However, Ninther had been waiting for an opportunity and would never let him escape at this critical juncture. Once more, he drove his magic colt forward, leaping from shard to shard and finally jumping towards Leon.


    Leon laughed twice, grimly and chillingly. He waved the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his left hand several times, and four lava pillars rose from the lava pool in one go, sealing Ninther''s path forward.


    But it seemed as if Ninther had given up on any thoughts of retreat. He was not forced backwards. Instead, he stepped on top of his magic colt and leapt from it with a shout, amazingly leaping over the lava pillars that were blazing into the sky.


    He was able to leap over, but his magic colt could not do the same.


    Thus, following pained and tragic whinnies and howls, the magic colt crashed straight into a lava pillar, its entire body quickly engulfed by the bone-melting lava. The colt''s whinnies stopped. Only some hair, flesh, and charred bones scattered about the black smoke and cluster of flame, before finally settling down and sinking into the lava pool below.


    In an instant, even this last shred of the colt''s existence had vanished!


    Leon had no time to pay attention to the valiant way in which the colt died. All of his attention had been drawn by the shape that was leaping across.


    What was it, did Ninther want to duel him one-on-one? The hero against the demon king?


    Leon halted his retreat. His empty right hand instantly turned into a terrifying large hand, shrouded in onyx smoke and intense flames, and grabbed towards towards the flying Ninther.


    Ninther might be able to resist the Ring of Fire''s damage with his body''s magic resistance, but the overbearing heat from Leon''s body went up to three thousand degrees. If it was converted to fire elementium damage, it would go up to 110 points. Let''s not talk about a human. Even a metal pillar would turn to putty in three seconds if it was gripped tightly by Leon''s flame hand.


    But before the large hand could close its grip, a flashing cerulean blade sliced through the palm and cut Leon on his broad chest that was bereft of elemental protection.


    Leon jerked his head back and let out a pained roar that rang throughout the woods.


    "I''ll kill you, Ninther!"


    Ninther, who had activated his Evil-Killing Slash at a close distance, should theoretically have fallen into the lava pool at this point. But he had already prepared for a situation like that and suddenly threw out an odd flying metal claw, which attached itself to Leon''s arm. With a slight jerk of the rope, he leapt towards the sky once more.


    Leon loudly roared as his two hands smashed against his own chest. The flames from inside the Flame Fiend''s body followed the cracks on the surface of its body and blasted through in terrifying streams of flame. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These kinds of indiscriminate radial attacks were the scariest!


    The spellbreaker knights were mage at trading blow-for-blow, as well as using their concentrated knight battle techniques to shatter their opponent''s single-target elemental attacks. However, when faced with this kind of unreasonable and indiscriminate attack, their expressions would sour as they could only hide their bodies behind the energy shield, that covered an area of one square meter, and resist this wave of flames.


    Even with Ninther''s rich battle experience and skillful fighting techniques, he could only endure the attacks of his enemy at this moment.


    Boom. A muffled blast rang out.


    Ninther was like a tiny boat thrown about in a violent storm''s surging waves as he was blasted far away by the ferocious shockwave and streaming flames. The metal claw that connected him to Leon didn''t even lasted two seconds. Already, it had turned into a pool of red hot slag, blown and scattered all over the place.


    Ninther was blown twenty meters away. It almost seemed like he would fall into the edge of the lava pool, but already a swift spellbreaker knight had already driven his horse close, skimming the lava''s surface as he caught Ninther and successfully bringing him back to their side.


    Leon loomed at the center of the lava pool. He raised his left hand and looked at the wide gash on his chest. He could a feel an intense pain that pierced his heart.


    After his Flame Fiend Transformation, this elemental body was mostly filled with molten rock and swirling magma; yet it was also filled with potent flame energy that had been steeped in Leon''s will and Spirit.


    At this moment, that flame energy was an extension of Leon''s consciousness, and the places where the flame energy extended to was Leon''s body. Thus, even though it was burning lava that bled out of the large hand and chest wounds that Ninther caused, the one that was hurting was still his consciousness that was suffused throughout this form.


    Leon plunged his left hand into the lava pool below him. After a short while he removed it, and this badly wounded left hand was as good as new again. Once more, he bent his body to scoop up plenty of lava and spread it on his chest. His injury there healed instantly as well.


    The unexpected injury triggered Leon''s rage. He roared loudly as he launched a new wave of attacks!


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 Chapter 184 Counterattack

    How terrifying were two flame giants fighting at their full strength?!The witcher-knights could tell you this with their intense and personal experience.


    The Flame Fiend that Leon transformed into, as well as the Fire Lord, endured numerous ice arrows as they walked to the edge of the lava pool. Instantly, the fire spells that filled the skies turned the witcher-knights'' shelter into a terrifying sea of flames.


    One after another, clay golems coordinated with the stone serpents, and appearing on the battlefield. Every time they appeared out of nowhere, the monsters would pick up a surprised witcher-knight and tossed him into the lava pool. The rest of the job was finished by Leon and the Fire Lord! Experience more on empire


    Using this method, Leon had already killed four witcher-knights in a row.


    To draw the spellbreaker knights to him, Leon took the extra risk himself, boldy leaving the lava pool and bringing the Fire Lord onto the shore with him. Even the rough muddy shore melted into part of the lava pool, flowing with red hot lava as the two flame giants stepped onto it.


    Thus when the Flame Fiend strode across the shore, it left behind a dark red trail of lava behind.


    This was a rare chance. Even though Ninther knew it had to be a trick, he couldn''t help but lead his spellbreaker knights forward and surround the enemy.


    Ninther wanted to force Leon into a direct confrontation and Leon didn''t seem to have much of a choice. If this battle started to go overwhelmingly in his favor, the spellbreaker knights that could see no chance of victory would most likely give up on this battle.


    And to let a still-organized witcher-knight army retreat from the battlefield might make the job of surrounding and exterminating them too hard for Blake and Bleia, who were meant to flank them. With their strategy revealed, they would most likely attract even scarier and difficult opponents.


    From the start of battle, Leon had already made the resolution to decimate the knight army.


    For this purpose, he took the risk to go to the frontlines, in order to attract the attention of the spellbreaker knights here and create the best opportunity to cripple and destroy this witcher-knight army later.


    Now, the ensuing battle quickly reached a most intense stage.


    Eleven spellbreaker knights formed a small group, surrounding Leon and the Fire Lord, as they charged and slashed within. Leon and the Fire Lord were knocked about, as the defensive spells on their bodies were cut into wisps of flames as quickly as they formed them. Scores of slashes and cuts covered their entire bodies.


    Even so, the two flaming titans managed to bring out their battle strength to their limits and resist the knights. At one point, they even managed to instantly kill a spellbreaker knight, who wasn''t able to dodge, with an elegant combination attack.


    Though in doing so, Leon had also lost two advanced-level stone serpents and one pseudo-Mage level stone serpent. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As Leon was slowly becoming unable to endure the non-stop attacks from the enemy, he finally waved the Fire Lord''s Scepter and summoned another Fire Deity.


    In a flash, three tall and enormous fiery giants stood side by side, with two pseudo-Mage level stone serpents and a dozen clay golems on the edges. Leon had finally formed a battle line that was capable of both defense and offense with his army of golems.


    The stone serpents and clay golems were in charge of defense, obstructing the spellbreaker knights'' reckless and relentless charges. The three flame giants were in charge of releasing fire spells with all their might, trying their best to turn everything around them into a sea of flames.


    At this moment, the spellbreaker knights finally realized the huge difference between the heretic before them, and the heretics that they had always fought before. There were always powerful heretics among the ones they fought in the past. But as long as the witcher-knights were willing to make some sacrifices to shatter the tough shields of their opponent, they would only need a single strike to kill them.


    Yet the heretic before their eyes had immense Strength, Physique, and incomparable elemental attacks that other heretics did not have. Even though his speed was lacking, the weakness was covered by the lava domain he had created for himself. To use the opponent''s weakness to attack was simply too hard!


    If there weren''t so many golems sacrificing themselves at every turn, and if there weren''t the immensely powerful Fire Lord, then the powerful spellbreaker knights only needed three or four people to defend against Leon''s attacks, and the rest could swiftly execute him.


    But now, as the lava pool continuously expanded, the places where they could safely stand were rapidly decreasing, and the damage that they dealt to the evil heretic was quickly decreasing as well.


    Once the battle had reached this point, Ninther had no choice but to make a painful choice.


    Admit the loss of this battle and quickly lead the remaining troops out of this sorrowful and upsetting battlefield, Or continue hanging on, waiting for that opportunity to seize victory that might be right around the next turn. As long as they could kill this flame giant and obtain the victory on this main battlefield, the other two heretics hiding in the darkness were no big deal.


    It was precisely because Leon kept showing up and giving them occasional chances, that the entire spellbreaker knight squad was chained and bound to the lava battlefield. Having already suffered so many losses, if they retreated without any results to show for it, it would be a fate even worse than death for the spellbreaker knights that thought of glory as their lives.


    Leon used this precise psychological unwillingness and hesitation of his enemy to drag the battle into the state it was in now.


    But after the second spellbreaker knight was killed under the coordination of Leon, the Fire Lord, and the Fire Deity,Ninther made the painful decision.


    The long and sombre sound of a horn rang across the battlefield. The witcher-knights started to retreat from the battlefield, one after another. They were ready to end this painful suffering where no light could be seen at the end of the tunnel.


    The spellbreaker knights continued harrying Leon and his golem army to allow the witcher-knights a smooth retreat. Blow after blow of powerful knight battle techniques reduced the clay golems into mud, splashing everywhere.


    Sadly, the difference in the depth of their strategic thinking caused Ninther to fail to realize the difference between himself and the enemy in who they chose to target. The spellbreaker knight squad he led placed the deciding factor on defeating the enemy leader, Leon. However, Leon had placed all of his hopes of victory on defeating this group of spellbreaker knights!


    Why would it matter how many more witcher-knights there were? Even if was only Leon alone, he was confident he could exterminate all of his enemies within these vast mountains. The only one that concerned him were these spellbreaker knights. Thus, even if he let all the witcher-knights go, he was determined to not let a single one of these spellbreaker knights leave alive.


    Following the retreat horn being blown, the witcher-knights quickly retreated from the valley. A gap of about two hundred meters appeared between the spellbreaker knight squad and the witcher-knight army.


    Seeing this, Flame Fiend Leon let out a roar that shook the skies. It was finally the time for the decisive blow!


    The first sacrifice was naturally the Fire Deity that could be summoned at any time.


    It shook its ten meter tall and terrifying bod, and charging into the middle of the spellbreaker knight''s squad formation. Then it blew itself up, generating a terrifying explosion that seemed as if it would rend the skies and rip the ground asunder.


    The sudden blow instantly destroyed the formation the spellbreaker knights had created.


    Since the start of the battle, the twelve remaining spellbreaker knights used their well-trained riding skills and potent knight battle techniques to weave about the battlefield. They constantly charged and rode about, using their dazzling horsemanship to ride about and draw the enemy''s attention as they looked for chances to dash in once more.


    Often times a spellbreaker knight would have just landed an Evil-Killing Blow on the enemy before continuing right past the target, while a second knight would already be charging, his Explosive Cross Slash waiting to be executed. Meanwhile, a third knight would be accelerating and ready to charge at any time...


    It was precisely thanks to this constant attacks and well-honed intertwining and positioning that they were able to crack the defenses and slay the enemy, regardless of how powerful they were.


    But now an artificial volcano had appeared in the middle of the battlefield, following the Fire Deity''s terrifying explosion. Intense heat, scorching streams of flame, blazes that filled the skies as well as molten lava that went flying everywhere.... all of this completely disrupted the attack patterns of the knight squad. Everyone could only attempt to flee the vicinity of the volcano with all their might, with no time to care about their formation or attack pattern!


    And this was precisely what Leon wanted.


    This kind of magma hell and this harsh environment might be unbearable for humans, but the Flame Fiend and the Fire Lord they were like fish in water. They laughed loudly. With a strange motion they vanished from the spot, appearing next to a spellbreaker knight that had been isolated from his companions.


    Two clusters of explosive flames that suddenly appeared out of thin air frightened the spellbreaker knight''s colt. Yet before he could even react, Leon and the Fire Lord''s great shadows had already appeared within the flames.


    Flame Teleportation!


    The moment they appeared, the two large flame beings extended their palms, and instantly engulfed the spellbreaker knight''s body with all sorts of violent and ferocious fire spells.


    Firestorm.


    Flame Pillar.


    Ignite.


    Chain of Fireballs.


    Leon, who was had yet to display all of his strength, held back no longer. He executed his fire spells to the very limits of their power. Under the combined effort of Leon and the Fire Lord, how could a spellbreaker knight with merely a basic elemental resistance hold out against this degree of fiery bombardment?


    The opponent''s tough body was swiftly torn to pieces by the vicious spells. Even the magic colt beneath him exploded into tatters of flesh, sent flying in all directions. But before their bodies had been blown out of the centre of the explosion, they had already been turned to dust and ash by the shocking flame streams and violent shockwaves.


    "Edward!" Ninther''s pained cries could not save the life of his companion.


    Edward was his most capable assistant in the knight squad, and was also an exceptional spellbreaker knight that was only second to himself. But when faced with the combined power of two Mage-level opponents, no amount of anger and unwillingness could make the spellbreaker knights, who had no special means of preserving their lives, any more than a pile of meaningless flesh no different than an ordinary mortal.


    "Retreat...retreat...retreat quickly!" Ninther gritted his teeth several times. Finally suppressing the desire to charge at Leon and fight to his death, he loudly shouted at this companions that had been blown and scattered all over the place.


    Sadly, Leon would never let them run away just like that in this situation!


    Boom! Boom! Two bursts rang throughout the battlefield as two Flame Teleportations were executed. The Flame Fiend Leon had transformed into, and the Fire Lord, had teleported into the path of retreat, securely standing at the mouth of the valley between the spellbreaker knight squad and the witcher-knight army.


    A new blood bath was about to begin!


    ...


    1984 Words


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    Gift campaign!


    - 20 Golden Tickets = 1 chapter


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    - Magic Castle = 10 chapters.


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    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


    - 500 Power Stones = 5 chapters


    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


    - 3000 Power Stones = 10 chapters

 Chapter 185 Extermination

    If the battle before was just a more intense battle to slay evil, the battle now was a bloody brawl that concerned their very lives.The Fire Deity''s self-destruction had created a terrifying crater in the middle of the valley. The lava in the pool far away was quickly flowing here. Streams of fire radiating unbearable temperatures were filling the hole bit by bit, igniting everything in their path.


    It probably wouldn''t take another fifteen minutes before the entire valley would be covered in boiling magma, turning the entire place into an even larger lava pool.


    Thus, with a powerful enemy before them and a sea of flames catching up behind them, the only escape route for the remaining eleven spellbreaker knights was to break through Leon''s blockade.


    This was the only way they could live.


    Odd screeches rang out from the woods around the valley. Large groups of bloodsucking vampires swarmed out from within, hurtling towards the witcher-knights that wanted to turn back and save their leaders. As for the woods that the witcher-knights were in, the earth beneath them violently split open. Countless horrifying scorpions surged forth from below the ground, instantly disrupted the formation of the witcher-knights, who had no one to direct them.


    Having sent all their subordinates to deal with the witcher-knights, Bloody Bleia and Worm controller Blake turned into a red flash and a cluster of black smoke, rushing out of the woods and leaping over Leon and the Fire Lord to charge straight at the disorganized spellbreaker knights.


    Leon whistled and called over his Lightning Giant as well as two pseudo-adept level stone serpents, and had them blockade the mouth of the valley in his place. He and the Fire Lord, on the other hand, grinned wickedly as they disappeared in a blast of elemental flame that appeared out of nowhere.


    Now that the spellbreaker knights'' formation has been disrupted, it was the perfect time to take advantage of the chaos to slaughter the lot. Even Bleia and Blake couldn''t resist the urge to attack- why would Leon, who had worked so hard to create this situation, let up now?


    Don''t think that just because they were powerful adepts that came over from another world, that they were able to slaughter the knights. Even though their physiques and equipment were superior, allowing them to crush and overwhelm these spellbreaker knights that claimed to share the same grade as them, slaughtering the knights en masse was still an impossibly difficult task compared to driving them off.


    In a one-on-one duel, Bleia and Blake had a seventy to eighty percent chance of victory. But if they were to face two enemies at the same time, their chance of victory would drop to forty or fifty percent. Leon, on the other hand, had the Fire Lord, which was like having an adept-level clone following beside him. As long as he found an opportunity, he could instantly teleport to his opponent''s side and the two flame giants would bombard the enemy with spells.


    A spellbreaker knight that could resist one round of such a bombardment- not one existed!


    The clay golems were also endangering their lives to entangle and disrupt the spellbreaker knights at all costs, under the Leon''s instructions. They didn''t need to face the enemy head on. All they had to was go underground and hinder the movements of the magic colts. Find exclusive stories on empire


    At one moment, the battlefield was crowded with eighteen clay golems, three advanced-level stone serpents, the three adepts, and the Fire Lord. Such a chaotic scene might be disaster for the spellbreaker knights, but for the adepts possessing odd and mysterious abilities of their own, there was no better battlefield.


    Bleia had her bat wings, and her speed was several times that of the spellbreaker knights in such a constrained area. In this harsh environment, she weaved about the crowd and often used her crimson longbow to shoot at the spellbreaker knights, while occasionally closing up to the enemy''s side and using her sharp claws to engage in a bloody melee.


    Bleia had taken full advantage of her speed!


    Blake, on the other hand, was still as mysterious as usual.


    The black smoke he had turned himself into constantly dispersed and gathered around the enemy. Sometimes, he would turn back into his human form, laughing wickedly as he opened his mouth and let out swarms of flying bugs that filled the skies. Other times, his body would simply scatter into tens of thousands of odd scorpions and instantly swarm the enemy.


    When he was attacked by the enemy, he would just turn back into black smoke and quickly escape to another place.


    The spellbreaker knights could only employ fire against such an opponent. Not even their frost swords could do anything to Blake. After such a prolonged battle, the spellbreaker knights still didn''t know if Worm controller was man or bug, not to mention trying to find his weak spot!


    The exceptional magic resistance and flexible runic weapons that the spellbreaker knights took pride in were no longer useful when faced with these arcane casters from another world.


    It didn''t matter how badly they wounded Bleia; as long as someone amidst the spellbreaker knights was bleeding, Bleia''s wounds would heal by themselves within a matter of seconds. It didn''t matter how many times the evil swarms of bugs were dispersed; when they flew to another spot and gathered, the black-robed Blake would appear once more.


    It was constant torture for the spellbreaker knights to fight against these tenacious and undying cockroaches. If they still had their stamina, if their formation was still tight, they might be able to kill Bleia and Blake by accumulation of damage due to their advantage in numbers and their constant attacks.


    But now, under the corrosion of the lava pool, they could hardly even find places that were safe to stand. In such a situation, even their survival was a problem- not to mention surrounding the enemy!


    If Worm controller Blake and Bloody Bleia could be said to bring chaos and suffering to the spellbreaker knights, then Leon''s entrance could be said to have spelled death for them!


    Not even Blake dared to let both Leon and the Fire Lord land an entire round of spell bombardment on him. Leon, who was an expert with fire Elementium, was able to have a might of over 140 points with every fire spell he cast. The crude equipment of the knights were fashioned to defend against physical attacks, and could hardly resist this level of spell damage.


    Fire Core Explosion!


    Chain of Fireballs!


    Firestorm!


    Flame Pillar!


    Doomsday Volcano! S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Flame Wall!


    ...


    ...


    One after another, powerful fire spells were released by Leon and the Fire Lord. Every spellbreaker knight that they targeted would be blasted into oblivion, shattered into pieces. Not even a corpse would be left.


    While Leon blew up four spellbreaker knights in one go, Bleia had only been able to take down one spellbreaker knight. Blake, on the other hand, had also only killed one spellbreaker knight.


    There was no way around it. After all, fire spells belonged to the battlefield. The lethality and damage of fire spells would always be the greatest in a war. Even though Bleia was the same grade as Leon, she was only an agile assassin in the end. Her efficiency and ability of direct skirmishes on the battlefield was insignificant compared to Leon.


    Worm controller Blake, on the other hand, leaned towards being an evil adept. His abilities were numerous and bizarre, often catching his opponents by surprise. Yet when it came to brute force, his abilities were awkwardly weaker!


    To avoid Leon getting all the kills, they could only charge forward with no regard for their lives, battling two spellbreaker knights at a time each. Thus, the only one left for Leon was Ninther, who was now completely alone!


    Compared to his charm and elegance at the start of the battle, Ninther had now turned into a lone wolf cornered by a hunter.


    The shape of his once delicate knight''s armor had been bent due to the absurdly high temperatures of the surroundings. Scorch marks, from being burnt and exposed to smoke, covered the armor. All of his hair, skin, and nails had fallen out, replaced with blisters and burns that were constantly bleeding. With every blow that he dealt out, the blisters on his body would burst, and blackish pus and blood would go splatter everywhere.


    The him at this point was bathed in blood!


    He didn''t even know how many magic colts he had swapped out. The magic colt he was riding right now was also severely wounded and exhausted.


    Ninther suddenly laughed, bitterly watching Leon as he slowly walked towards him. He got off the magic colt with much difficulty and patted it on its back.


    "Go. If you have the opportunity to escape then go!"


    Perhaps the colt understood Ninther''s words. It let out a long whinny, took a look at the mighty Leon, and quickly ran away in fear. Without the burden of the knights, it might actually be able to find a way out through the steep stone cliff surroundings before the lava arrived.


    With great difficulty Ninther, who had chosen to stay behind, took off the red hot armor. He gripped the runic blade tightly with his bloody, burnt hands. He looked calmly upon Leon, who was striding over, as if he was about to die alongside the enemy.


    Leon shook his head when he saw Ninther''s provocative eyes. He waved his hands, and the Fire Lord strode past him towards this final enemy.


    Disappointment filled Ninther''s eyes.


    This enemy was far too careful. Even when he had the absolute advantage, he still didn''t let it go to his head. He was willing to let go of the sweetest fruit of victory in the entire battle!


    It''s important to note how much of an honor and glory it was, as the commander of such a large battle, to personally take the head of the enemy leader! Yet the opponent let go of this chance so easily and simply!


    For the first time, Ninther started to understand why he had lost today.


    The opponent... all of the opponents, from the mastermind to the summoned beings, were a bunch of fellows that didn''t give a single damn about a knight''s honor!


    Ninther had activated inumerable knight battle techniques from the start of the battle until now. Both his stamina and will were at their limits. Looking at the flame giant that was slowly nearing, he pulled out two Elementium crystals pulsing with energy, and stuffed them into his mouth. He ran towards the opponent while screaming.


    One of the Elementium crystals was red, while the other was blue. Clearly, they were one fire crystal and one ice crystal.


    The two Elementium crystals of opposing elements, along with the last bit of blood essence he forced out, would be able to deliver critical damage to the opponent once he self-destructed, even if he couldn''t kill the opponent.


    This was his only means of damaging his enemy at this point!


    Leon silently smiled, a cold expression on his face, as he looked upon the charging Ninther and the chaotic elemental flux in his body.


    Before Ninther could self-destruct, the Fire Lord vanished in a blast of fire. The earth beneath Ninther loosened and a stone serpent with its mouth wide opened rushed out, completely swallowing him. The stone serpent then swiftly sunk into the ground again.


    A short moment later, a muffled bang echoed from deep within the ground.


    The entire valley silently shook. Countless deep cracks appeared as the earth quaked. The woods nearby shook along with the ground.


    At that moment, countless leaves fell, and dust filled the skies!


    ...


    1972 Words


    ...


    Gift campaign!


    - 20 Golden Tickets = 1 chapter


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    - Spacecraft = 20 chapters.


    - Gachapon = 30 chapters.


    ...


    Power Stones Campaign!


    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


    - 500 Power Stones = 5 chapters


    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


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 Chapter 186 Plane Feedback

    The witcher-knight army that had desperately hung on until now had finally crumbled!The decimation of their leaders only brought despair to them. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Edward had died, Anthony had died, Alvar had died, Joseph had died...the list of the dead horrified the soldiers. Now that Ninther''s name had been added to the list, it was enough to destroy the witcher- knights'' confidence and will to continue fighting.


    Daniel, Benson, and the two more spellbreaker knights had yet to die, and were still fighting to the death with the other two heretics. But if the witcher-knights wanted to save them, they had to first get rid of the swarms of vampires and bugs, then break through the army of elemental golems standing at the entrance of the valley.


    After all this, they still had to deal with that terrifying flame humanoid.


    The low and tragic sound of the retreating horn rang out again.


    The witcher-knights finally retreated, even leaving behind their companions that were still tangled up by the vampires and the bugs!


    The once proud and high-spirited witcher-knights were now like dogs that had lost their homes and their will, running in shame with their tails between their legs. Their chaotic and frantic shapes could be seen everywhere in the vast, primal woods as they escaped. The pained whinnies of magic colts could be heard all across the forest.


    Before they could thoroughly escape this desolate battlefield, a horrifying screech that frightened their souls came from the skies above the woods. Multiple gigantic shadows swooped above the canopy, letting out terrifying screeches to let the world know of their arrival.


    A feeling of dread surfaced in the hearts of the already frightened witcher-knights. Quickly, all of them whipped their colts, crashing through the woods, trying futilely to use their speed to outrun the terrifying black shadows. Their will to battle and their spirits had been broken. They didn''t even have any intention to stop and test the enemy''s'' strength. They were only thinking of how to leave this land of nightmares as fast as possible using the speed of the magic colts!


    But the ominous creatures above them hadn''t appeared for long, when a group of terrible magical creatures appeared in the woods in front of them. Based on their appearances, it seemed their races included almost all of the powerful beings that could be found in Greenland Forest. They were all of difference races and species, but they had one common characteristic- their ghostly green eyes...


    Leon stood on the entrance of the valley, looking distantly in the direction the witcher-knights ran.


    He could also see the silhouette of the winged dragon knights flying above the skies of the woods. The situation below was obstructed by the sea of trees and was unknown to him, but now that even the winged dragon knights had been sent out, why wouldn''t the other voodoo beasts be as well?


    It seems that even though Mage Keoghan had rejected Leon''s request for help, he still made some arrangements of his own behind the scenes. Now that Leon and the other two had managed to defeat the enemy in one blow, he could only come out from the shadows and finish the rest.


    Bleia and Blake, who were fighting two spellbreaker knights and trying to obtain spoils of wars of their own, were having a tough battle. Regardless of which battle Leon tried to join, he would be shouted at angrily and firmly rejected.


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    There was no choice. If any spellbreaker knight was blasted by Leon and the Fire Lord''s combined force, he would be left without even a corpse. This was what made Bleia and Blake so very angry!


    Otherwise, if all fourteen spellbreaker knights had been perfectly captured without being harmed, they would have been the perfect materials for these two to increase their power!


    Thus, the only four spellbreaker knights left on the battlefield were spoils of war that they coveted. If any outsider tried to close in, they would attack them with their fiercest means.


    From this, it could be seen how imposing these two people who were eager to improve their bloodlines were!


    After looking about the battlefield and ensuring that his battle was over, Leon groaned and reversed his Flame Fiend Transformation.


    As the red hot magma fell from his skin, and the molten rocks slowly solidified, Leon let out a pained groan.


    He had constantly been on the frontline of battle today, so the number of attacks he had to endure was also the most numerous. The elemental golems might not have physical senses and wouldn''t be exhausted, but he did, and he would.


    During the Flame Fiend Transformation, most of the damage would be healed by the magma that he took in, but the pain he felt would still be clearly imprinted in his memories. After transforming into a Flame Fiend, his Physique was greatly improved, and so most of the damage would be mitigated by his powerful regenerative ability, reducing the amount of pain he felt.


    But now that he had reversed the transformation, his Physique was quickly decreasing, and the bodily pain that had been suppressed instantly came back to him, causing even Leon, who claimed to be calm and tenacious, to groan in pain uncontrollably.


    However, pain wasn''t the only thing that the battle brought him. Leon could vaguely feel that his Spirit had improved by a decent amount. And the source of the increase in power was very clearly the planar laws.


    Even though he was an Mage from a different plane, he had analyzed the plane''s laws. For every enemy he killed, he was able to obtain plane feedback from the planar consciousness. This was an indescribably unique feeling, like a peculiar form of energy he had never felt before.


    The source of the great increase in his Spirit was precisely this mysterious and amazing plane feedback!


    As an invader from another plane, he was most certainly hated and marked as a hostile force by the planar consciousness. Yet when placed in this mysterious world governed by the planar laws, he could still obtain the reward he deserved from those laws. As long as his actions fulfilled the basic requirements of the planar laws, then even the master of the plane-the planar consciousness itself- could not stop him.


    When a undeveloped and immature planar consciousness used the strength of the plane to form a perfect and self-contained plane world, the dense layers of planar laws would often limit the planar consciousness itself!


    Leon had killed the citizens of its plane, but it could only obey the planar laws and give Leon the rewards he earned for killing. What an absolutely ridiculous thing!


    But in a material plane where a planar consciousness had been born, this was a normal occurrence!


    The hazy planar consciousness might be able to push the world towards a certain direction, through those that could feel its will, but it could not topple or change the planar laws it had personally created.


    Moreover, this was a small-sized plane of knights. Even the planar consciousness itself wasn''t too bright and aware. To form a clear and coherent thought, and then send that message to its citizens, was a task that was impossible for an undeveloped planar consciousness.


    Even the planar consciousness of the far larger and much more mature World of Mages could not do something like this, much less this small-sized plane!


    Thus Leon and the Mages boldly attacked this knight''s plane, never concerned about ''it'' informing the plane''s powerful beings through dreams and sending them to intercept the Mages.


    It wasn''t that ''it'' didn''t want to, it was that ''it'' could not do that!


    A newly born planar consciousness was like a baby still growing in the womb. It might be able to reflexively act against things that pose a danger to it, without anything resembling an adult thought process, it could not form a proper response.


    Thus, even though the most powerful beings of the plane had mastered part of the planar laws, and felt the existence of the planar consciousness, they could not construct a stable and clear mental link with the consciousness. They may be able to feel the unease and anger of the planar consciousness, but they would have a hard time finding out the target of those feelings.


    At times like this, exceptional prophets became invaluable!


    In all large material planes, top-class prophets would always be a valuable and strategic asset that was deeply valued by large organizations.


    Sadly, in this plane where the witcher-knights dutifully carried out their tasks, it was hard to have such a prophet that could see into the plane''s future. Of course, this was only because Leon was poorly informed. If it wasn''t for the Sixth Grade Great Mage on their side, the location of their Mages'' base would probably have been exposed to the most powerful beings on this plane!


    Although the Sixth Grade Mage was always cooped up within the base, his existence was extremely crucial for this forward base!


    It was hard for Leon to have a clear picture of all these things.


    Right now he was immersed in his own mental world, checking out the bodily data the chip had gathered.


    "Leon, First Grade human Elementium Mage. Body has been elementalized. Flame Mastery. Strength: 1.5; Agility: 0.8; Physique: 1.4; Spirit: 1.3.. "


    Er, he had only been to this other plane for fifteen days, and his Strength had increased by 0.1, his Physique increased by 0.2, and his Spirit increased by 0.4.


    This kind of terrifying improvement was rare for him ever since he became an Mage.


    Now, even if he diligently meditated everyday, the increase in his Spirit was often decimals with three to four zeroes before the number. If it wasn''t for the aid of his chip, he would have thought he wasn''t improving!


    Without exceptional talent or a massive amount of rare resources, most Mages could only rely on the slow grind every day to raise their Spirit.


    It was natural that people like Eclivel and Keoghan had advanced for several hundreds of years, yet were still First Grade Mages. Going along this normal route would make it almost impossible for one to advance to a Second Grade Mage. The main reason for this was probably the slow increase in Spirit.


    Leon had the help of the chip. The efficiency of his deep meditations were several times those of others. Yet even he could not stand the crawling speed at which his Spirit increased. If it was any other person, they would probably have fallen into despair at the lack of a path forward!


    At this moment, Leon was instead able to understand Mage Eclivel''s feelings. If he hadn''t been driven mad by the slow grind day-by-day, he probably would not have resorted to such extreme choices or means.


    Perhaps he had already gone completely mad as he planned the blood ritual!


    ...


    1838 Words

 Chapter 187 Arrive

    The Mages'' base became even busier after the victory.The winged dragon knights beat their wide fleshy wings, rising and landing all about the camp, sending the witcher-knights to and fro. These exceptional spoils of war were sent into Mage Keoghan''s lab the moment they reached the base, and what was waiting for them was a terrifying nightmare they had never experienced in their lives.


    Leon saw the native teenager amidst the people bustling about with work. He was now an important assistant for Mage Keoghan, helping him do some auxiliary tasks in the modification and construction of voodoo beasts.


    Keoghan passed the work of checking the inventory for fresh ''materials'' to the teenager, and walked over when he saw Leon return.


    "You did well this time! Lord Sarubo mentioned your name just now. It seems the Lord has been paying attention to you!" Keoghan couldn''t help but pat Leon on the shoulder and praise him.


    It was obvious that Mage Keoghan felt respect and admiration for Lord Sarubo from the bottom of his heart. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But once he thought of the fact that nothing in the Mages'' base could escape the vast yet fine mental senses of Lord Sarubo, Leon felt a shiver go down his spine. But he could only respond kindly to Keoghan''s act of intimacy. He even chose to ignore the bloody handprint left on his shoulder.


    "Why''s that little fellow still alive?" Leon asked curiously.


    When he passed the teenager to Keoghan, Leon had thought he would come back to find his body attached to another voodoo beast!


    "Our plan here is to rule this plane, so local puppets are a must. He has an exceptional talent. As long as we perform some slight modifications, he could easily become one of the best spellcasters from this plane. When the time comes, it''s easier if he represents us instead of having us do everything." A wicked grin appeared on Keoghan''s cold face.


    "How are the resources in this plane? How large of a benefit can we get?"


    "From the current analysis, the assets with the most strategic value are the white-starred alocasias, the fire-dragon herbs, the royal-blood herbs, the seasoul stars, the spacestones and the breeding flowers."


    "There are spacestones and breeding flowers in this plane?" An expression of disbelief appeared on Leon''s face.


    All material planes developed from tiny little pseudo-planes, and the time taken for such development often required several hundreds of thousands of years. Thus, in the course of its long development, the inside of a plane had a high possibility of containing spacestones that drifted from the depths of the galaxy.


    This spacestone was one of the main materials used in constructing long-range teleportation arrays.


    Even in the resource-rich World of Mages, these were a strategic resource strictly controlled by high grade Mages. A normal Mage clan would not have access to it.


    The breeding flower, on the other hand, was also an interesting thing.


    It''s a rare plant, but also a unique herb.


    Using the breeding flower as the main ingredient, the alchemist Mages can brew a mysterious potion that allowed powerful Mages to give birth. It''s important to note that in the development history of the Mages, it was extremely difficult for Mages above the Second Grade to have an offspring.


    On one hand you have a high grade Mage, and on the other you have a normal human. The chance of having a normal offspring was astronomical. If both parties were high grade Mages, the chances become even lower.


    After all, Mages were a group of individuals that constantly changed, modified and mutated their body in the process of advancing, almost as much as magical creatures. Moreover, a great deal of the mutations were natural, random mutations. Don''t look at how most high grade Mages still retained a human appearance. If you were to take a detailed look at their bodily essence and source, you would realise they were quite different from humans.


    Some high grade Mages'' mutations were even more thorough, to even have mutated their soul''s essence into something completely unrecognizable. If a high grade Mage got together with a similar partner, their chance of giving birth to a normal human baby was almost zero.


    Frankly speaking, their chance of giving birth to a magical creature was higher than giving birth to a human child!


    Thus, why was it that the Mage clans placed so much importance on the continuation and legacy of family bloodlines, such that they encouraged the low grade Mages to quickly leave behind some bloodlines and offspring for the clan? This was the main reason!


    If a talented Mage appeared among the descendants of a large clan, he wouldn''t even need to expend the effort to find beauties. His family would automatically find all sorts of attractive women, even all sorts of races for him to pick from.


    This was both a boon for the Mage as well as a means for the clan to continue their bloodline!


    Therefore, any means or medicine that could aid the chances of conceiving became a rare resource that was in great demand by high grade Mages. The breeding flower was one such amazing plant, that allowed the superior genes of both the father and mother to perfectly merge and give rise to a baby with amazing and powerful talent.


    As for whether the baby was still a human, no one really cared!


    The discovery of breeding flowers in this insignificant knights'' plane was undoubtedly going to bring about immense benefit for the Sarubo clan. And as the clan grew, they, as the batch of Mages who led the excavation of the new plane, would also be greatly rewarded.


    The veteran Mages might not care about such rewards, but for newly advanced Mages such as Leon, who had no wealth at all, this meant that he would not need to run about outside to gather resources for a hundred years.


    In a situation where he was not pressured to find resources to advance, Leon had at least two hundred years of leisure time to slowly accumulate knowledge and research the direction of his future development.


    After exchanging a few more words with Keoghan, Leon returned to the row of stone houses, decided on a random house, shut the door, and went to rest. At the battle in the valley this time, he had participated fully and functioned as the core of the strategy- all the way from the start of the baiting, to the counterattack, to the final battle.


    And accordingly, his Spirit was drained and badly ''bruised''. These losses would not recover by themselves. He could only rely on a long rest to fix them!


    At least there would not be any threats around the Mages'' base after exterminating those witcher-knights. There would be a period of peace! As for when the next batch of enemies would arrive; that was out of Leon''s control.


    Understanding this, Leon let go of all his concerns, summoned the Lightning Giant to protect him, and fell into a deep sleep on the stone bed.


    While he was sleeping, Bleia had returned to the base, bringing with her two withered spellbreaker knight corpses. Even though such spoils of war didn''t have much value to them, Keoghan still gladly received them.


    After all, as compared to Blake, Bleia had brought something back. Blake hadn''t even left a withered corpse behind. However, he did have a group of odd black beetles the size of a washing basin. There were about twenty-one or twenty-two of them. It looked like they were his newest gains.


    Mage Keoghan was a veteran Mage that had advanced for three centuries after all. He was able to swiftly determine that these were a group of carcass beetles, based solely on their unique appearance. Even though these were only young beetles, they still had terrifying power.


    Carcass beetles could be considered a kind of horrifying magical creature that lived in groups.


    They had tough shells that didn''t lose to Body Refining Mages. They could fly, tunnel, and use their sharp teeth or claws to attack their enemies. Adult carcass beetles even boasted superior magic resistance, such that even spell attacks below 100 points of damage couldn''t scratch their bodies.


    With all of these advantages together, a swarm of carcass beetles were not an enemy an Mage wanted to make.


    The scorpions he used to feed with flesh and Spirit previously were too inferior, and couldn''t be used in important battles, or fights between Mages. But now that the carcass beetles had appeared, it meant that Blake had managed to raise his evil bug swarm to a level that matched him as an Mage.


    When all these carcass beetles matured, then Blake would become a terrifying individual- even amongst the First Grade Mages!


    Bleia gritted her teeth and left after walking to and fro where Leon was resting for a bit.


    An entire army of witcher-knights had died in the woods. If she didn''t seal the news quickly, the entire Duran province might be alerted. Therefore, Bleia hurried back to Blue Hillock City in order to use her influence there to nip all kinds of troublesome news in the bud before they could spread.


    Blake, who had a similar burden, didn''t stay in the base for long, and quickly left for the woods. He needed to set up bug traps on all the key entrances to the mountain to avoid any news from getting outside.


    There were two mountain villages and a small town on the edge of Greenland Forest. He had only taken down Colca Village. If the hunters or adventurers from the other village or town broke into the battlefield and found something, their efforts to conceal the truth would have been for nothing.


    Coincidentally, the batch of carcass beetles he had just bred needed a large amount of blood to grow. This time, Blake had already planned on conquering the remaining village and town. He could snuff out all sources of information getting out while also increasing his own strength; why wouldn''t he do it?!


    ...


    It took four days before Leon finally woke up from his deep slumber!


    He didn''t want to wake up so early, but the odd energy flux by his side made it hard for him to sleep, so he had to wake up ahead of time.


    He had just opened his eyes when he felt a strong and intense flux in space.


    This space flux was so familiar, and so hard to forget, that Leon could determine what it was immediately.


    Interplanar ultra long ranged teleportation!


    The last time their group had been brought over from the Sarubo clan''s pseudo-plane platform was through such a ultra long ranged interplanar teleportation. The teleportation that time was a painful and torturous experience for Leon, so he remembered it very clearly!


    But even though he understood the nature of the space flux, more questions surfaced in Leon''s mind.


    According to Mage Keoghan, the second batch of Mages should be arriving one month from now! But now... Leon checked the notification on his chip- they had only been on this knights'' plane for no more than 18 days, 11 hours, 33 minutes, and 31 seconds.


    The question had just surfaced in Leon''s mind when he revealed a cold grin.


    As expected of a Sixth Grade Mage that could manipulate and toy with others!


    He had said it would be one month, but in truth he only needed 18 days to send the reinforcements over. Thus, even if there were traitors among them, or if any of them had been captured by the natives of this plane, the information they would reveal would be inaccurate and hardly cause any impact on the following actions.


    That projection of Lord Sarubo probably tricked even Keoghan!


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    1973 Words

 Chapter 188 Upstaged

    When Leon removed the defenses on the door, unsummoned the Lightning Giant, and walked out of the stone house, he realized that several Mages were also standing outside of their respective doors, looking at the crude tower.The expressions on their faces were varied.


    Seeing that Leon had come out, everyone nodded and greeted him, then went back to staring at the tower.


    Just then, shockwaves caused by the spatial flux could be seen!


    Several spatial folds, that looked like ripples on water, started to spread out in all directions. When the ripples reached the defensive array, the two forces clashed and sent out more ripples in other directions. There were already plenty of spatial shards all over the place.


    Fortunately, the previously set up defensive array managed to prevent the spatial flux from spilling over, and prevented the shockwaves from spreading beyond the illusion barrier. Otherwise, with the intensity of the spatial shockwaves, the most powerful beings of this plane would have been able to detect the fluctuations of this area through the planar laws they had mastered.


    The spatial flux became even more dense.


    Finally, the rippling spatial folds collapsed into one spot within the tower, and following an explosive ripping sound, a teleportation door slowly opened.


    No one in the base was able to get any information about the teleportation this time, and so no one knew about the size and quality of the reinforcements. Everyone had lost their interest in talking at that moment. They just silently waited on the spot for the final result.


    An hour after the teleportation door had disappeared, the entrance to the tower gradually opened. Groups of Mages walked out from within, with Sir F¨¹gen at the lead.


    The ones that had arrived were Second Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen and twenty three other Sarubo clan Mages.


    These clan Mages were clearly veterans that were usually stationed in all the lesser planes. Therefore, they needed no instructions. Already they were flying about, doing simple surveys of the Mages'' base, and making adjustments based on their observations.


    Sir F¨¹gen, on the other hand, walked towards Keoghan and the rest, and began to ask detailed questions about the situation around the base.


    Robotic beasts, voodoo beasts, and stone golems were summoned to clean up the buildings within the base. The pockets and bags of the clan Mages were all filled to the brim. It was obvious that they came prepared, and so their movements were especially crisp and swift.


    Just as the few of them were speaking, several buildings on the edge of the camp had been demolished. The robotic beasts waved about with their metallic arms and grabbed the bricks and stone, sending them to the outside section of the base. The stone golems were quickly flattening out the ground.


    Looking at what they were doing, it seemed as if the reinforcing Mages were unhappy with the original layout of the base, and it seemed as if they wanted to demolish everything and start over. More of the Mages were gathered near the crude tower, pointing and gesturing here and there, like they were discussing the construction of a new Mages'' tower. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keoghan and the other veterans who stayed in the base stood respectfully beside Sir F¨¹gen, carefully answering each of his questions. When F¨¹gen heard that two Mages had gone undercover outside the base and had successfully taken over control of the villages around the forest, as well as a small human city, a satisfied smile appeared on his usually cold face.


    As they were speaking, a few Mages commanding a group of stone golems had appeared before Keoghan''s voodoo beast lab. When he saw them about to use their stone fists to demolish the lab, the native teenager ran out while screaming, flailing his hands as he stood before the lab.


    An Mage floating in the sky waved his hand, and a huge bush of thorny, dark green man-eating flowers appeared from beneath the ground, restraining the teenager in an instant. Then, the Mage flew in front of the teenager and used his black fingertip to cut open the teenager''s skin. He took a little blood and tasted it, nodding in satisfaction.


    The next moment, the Mage laid out a soul array on the teenager''s head, looking as if he was about to squeeze out all of his soul''s memories.


    The edge of Keoghan''s mouth twitched a little as he turned around and explained to Mage F¨¹gen softly, "Sir, this native youth has a bit of casting talent. I was thinking of raising him to be our eyes and ears, as well as our puppet. Don''t you think..."


    "There''s no need!" Sir F¨¹gen didn''t seem to care about what his subordinate was doing, "It''s just a lowly native anyway! We can arrange for such things once the situation of this base has settled. Absorbing his soul''s memories will help the newcomer Mages to more quickly understand the situation and this world, and greatly increase their work efficiency. This is beneficial for the base''s development!"


    Keoghan stuttered for a moment, took some deep breaths, and didn''t say anything more.


    In the time they used to speak, the soul array that the Mage was drawing had been completed. Following the pulses of white light that gathered in the array, the native teenager slowly stopped moving. His entire soul''s consciousness had been extracted by the array, gathering into a white bead.


    The Mage put the bead to his head for a few seconds, then opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction. He then tossed the bead to the Mages beside him, and soon everyone had used their Spirit to inspect the teenager''s memories stored in the bead, quickly understanding the basic situation on this plane.


    More talented Mages could already fluently interact with the native''s language and words. For these Mages who possessed powerful Spirits, browsing through another soul''s memories took just a matter of seconds.


    Perhaps the entire life story of that native teenager took only three to five seconds of their time to understand!


    The voodoo beast lab had finally been demolished, and the voodoo beast ''material'' that took great efforts to obtain was exposed. A few interested Mages flew over and started rummaging about, taking away with them the few surviving witcher-knights and the withered spellbreaker knight corpses.


    As for the rest of the ''trash'', they were thrown out, along with the bricks and stone.


    "Sir, what should we do?" The smile on Keoghan''s face didn''t go away as he bowed and asked respectfully.


    "The Mages'' tower in the base needs to be constructed quickly. There''s nothing for you to do here in the meantime. I''ll send two Mages to take over the human city. You will follow after them and help them with their jobs. Be careful, don''t let the forces and organizations here disturb the base. That''s all I ask of you!" Finished speaking, Mage F¨¹gen turned around and left to gather his subordinates.


    The stiff and unnatural smiles hung on everyone''s faces. They had lost the desire to talk to each other, and just silently lowered their head to think. The atmosphere was tense and sombre.


    ...


    When night had arrived once more, the seven people, including Leon, had arrived in Blue Hillock City.


    The group consisted of five veterans of the base here, and two Mages that had just been sent over.


    Everyone hid their silhouettes and silently floated through the night sky, three hundred meters above the ground, looking down upon this boisterous human city.


    Blue Hillock City was a tourist spot famous throughout the country after all. Moreover, it bordered the resource-rich Greenland Forest. Added together, all of these geographical advantages caused the city to have a very large concentration of the rich and noble. They were the leaders of commercial chains, or nobles that came here to play, or artists that have long heard of the beauty of this place...


    Regardless of which they were, their presence in this city brought about a lot of liveliness and activity, causing the city''s nightlife to be colorful and extravagant!


    Without letting them wait for too long, a scrawny creature of darkness rose from the shadows of the city, batting its wings and swiftly flying before them.


    "Sirs, this one has come to fetch you under my master''s orders. Please come along with this one..."The bloodsucking bat instantly transformed into a well-dressed young noble, bowing respectfully before the Mages.


    Before he could finish speaking, the Mage leading the group raised his left hand and a stream of flame hit the youth''s shoulder instantly, burning him and causing him to screech in pain.


    "From now on, I am the master here! "The Mage coldly said, "Bring me to Mage Bleia!"


    Everyone''s gaze jumped for a second. They clearly didn''t expect this Mage Muret that Sir F¨¹gen sent over to so boldly rob Bleia''s position of leadership here before he had even met Bleia. Even though Sir F¨¹gen had told them to aid this Mage Muret, the reckless and rude manner in which he was treating Bleia had exceeded everyone''s expectations. Your next chapter awaits on empire


    Keoghan snuck a look at Leon.


    However, Leon was still smiling and looking at the night scene of the city below, as if he wasn''t aware of what was happening.


    The youth that had come to welcome them was only a vampire spawn after all. His position was even lower than those blood servants that Bleia had personally Embraced. Faced with the wrath of a powerful Mage, he didn''t dare to argue or struggle, instead begging for mercy with all his might.


    Mage Muret waved his hand and extinguished the fire having, relieved some of his anger.


    The vampire spawn didn''t dare to delay. Immediately, it endured the intense pain and turned into a bloodsucking bat, flying down towards a spot in the small city below.


    The others followed along.


    The place Bleia ''received'' the others was still the same hidden bedroom as last time.


    The well-dressed young nobles in the shadows of the garden, corridors, and corners gathered together to gossip, curious as to the identity of these mysterious guests that arrived all of a sudden.


    Bleia used her Embrace to turn the more powerful and influential people into her subordinates. The other group of vampires comprised mostly of young nobles were ones she created through other means. As for the vampire spawn with even inferior status, they didn''t even have the right to enter this hidden area!


    The Mages entered under the watchful gaze of the numerous vampires, walking into the terrifying pool of blood Bleia had specially ordered for herself.


    The opulent and extravagantly large bed had now disappeared, replaced with a large, five-meter square blood pool. Bleia comfortably rested in the pool, enjoying the service of four beautiful vampire girls around her.


    One was softly massaging her arms, while another was holding a golden cup, waiting for her to take a drink. The last two were using toothpicks to send peeled grapes straight into her mouth...


    It wasn''t spring water that was rippling about the pool, nor was it a warm and comfortable hot spring, but thick and viscous blood!


    ...


    1866 Words

 Chapter 189 Conflict

    The arrival of the Mages did not affect Bleia''s enjoyment of her blood bath.Keoghan and the rest were not fazed.


    However, Muret and Latour, the two Mages that had been assigned here, had a grim and sour expression on their faces. They were so black they was practically dripping ink! S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two had already felt the anger and resentment of the other Mages on the way here. But as veteran Mages of the clan, they only had disdain for this bunch of fresh blood in the clan.


    A bunch of Mages that had never experienced a plane war were no different from a chick that had just learned to walk. So what if they were full of resentment? Did these people dare to oppose the clan''s orders?


    Yet what surprised them was that even though several more experienced Mages hadn''t confronted them, a tiny vampire that hadn''t advanced for even half a year had appeared and was publicly challenging them.


    "You must be the newly advanced Mage Bleia! You should have received Sir F¨¹gen''s message. From now on, Blue Hillock City will be managed by the two of us. You must hand over all the puppets and spies you control immediately!" The two Mages looked at each other, and Mage Latour, who was the assistant, went forward to talk with Bleia.


    Bleia lazily stretched her body in the blood pool. Her snow white skin and the blood red water contrasted with each other, making her even more mysterious.


    "Blue Hillock City is right here. Take it if you want to! I''m too lazy to think about all that! But some of the people here are already my blood servants. Their existence is part of my power. You wouldn''t want to take away my wings and fangs, would you?! Mmm? ..."When she finished speaking, Bleia snorted and looked upon the two Mages with contempt in her scarlet eyes.


    "How bold! You dare oppose Sir F¨¹gen''s orders?" Mage Latour was a gloomy person by nature, but his face was flushed after being provoked by Bleia''s patronizing attitude.


    "This is considered opposing orders? Sir F¨¹gen wants me to cooperate with you; I am very cooperative! As long as you don''t touch my subordinates, you can do anything you want with Blue Hillock City. I have no objections! Unless you are saying that the two of you added together are not enough to control this small city full of normal humans? If that''s really the case, then I can''t help but laugh..."


    "You..." Latour''s gaze suddenly became extremely threatening.


    They had already gotten ahold of the basic information about the city before they arrived. Objectively, Bleia had done a very good job, seeing how little time she took to completely gain control of Blue Hillock City! When it came to the authorities, she controlled the ruling nobility of the city; when it came to the underground, she controlled the head of the thugs and all the other shady figures. It could be said that most of the critical positions in Blue Hillock City had already been replaced with Bleia''s subordinates.


    In such a situation, how were they supposed to control and manage Blue Hillock City while still avoiding her subordinates? Were they supposed to go and take control of the city guards and thugs in the streets one-by-one? Ignoring how counterproductive and time consuming this method was, even if they did manage to do it, wouldn''t that make the puppets they controlled the subordinates of Bleia''s own underlings?!


    Latour was enraged when faced with such explicit provocation. He was still under the effects of the planar laws'' suppression, but he didn''t want to just endure the scorn of a female vampire Mage.


    Latour roared as his scrawny face started to stretch forward, turning into a snout that resembled a canine animal. Thick and heavy black hair quickly grew out, instantly covering his entire body.


    Fangs, claws, black hair, green eyes...


    These were all classic traits of wolves, and exposed Mage Latour''s identity. He was a Bloodline Mage. The only thing that was yet unknown was which magical wolf was his chosen bloodline path!


    But before Latour could complete his transformation, a fountain of blood came crashing down. The next moment, a crimson silhouette cut through the blood and started to fight with Latour, weaving about like a phantom as it did so.


    No one in the room was fazed. Everyone put up an energy shield and kept out the blood that was splashing everywhere. It seemed they had no intention of interfering in this conflict.


    Your adventure continues at empire


    The fire on Mage Muret''s body had just ignited when he turn his head and looked at Leon, who was giving him a wide smile. Two clusters of flames burned in the eyes of both Mages. Two silent streaks of flame clashed with each other, leaving sparks in the air as they shot towards each other.


    Just as quickly, the fountain of blood had fallen back into the blood pool.


    Bleia stood proudly above the blood with her snow white feet exposed. The crimson armor on her naked body only covered her chest, her shoulder and the parts below her navel, leaving most of her elegant white skin exposed to the air.


    There were five terrifying claw marks that went straight to the bone on her right arm that were still giving off a black smoke that wouldn''t go away. This was clearly the special effect of Latour''s claws.


    But compared to Bleia''s light wounds, Mage Latour was almost completely bathed in blood.


    Even though both of them were bloodline Mages, Bleia''s vampire bloodline was Mage at agility, while Latour''s wolf bloodline was famous for being ferocious. In such a narrow area, both parties couldn''t possibly use all their strength or initiate an actual deathmatch. Thus, Latour was clearly disadvantaged in this battle of speed in such narrow quarters.


    In the short few seconds just now, Bleia had already left several dozen of wounds on Latour''s werewolf form with her claws. Moreover, as the blood spilled out of the wolf''s body, a red radiance vaguely flickered across Bleia''s body. Under the suppression of the red radiance, the black smoke on her arm wounds was slowly dissipating while the edges of the wounds were showing signs of regeneration.


    After turning into a werewolf, Latour''s intelligence had an obvious degradation.


    Triggered by the numerous wounds on his body, blood began to show in his ghostly green eyes. He opened his wide fanged mouth and breathed heavily, letting out white breath as he did so. His body crouched slightly, and his hind legs covered in black hair pressed against the ground. A low growl rumbled in his throat as an intense and savage fighting intent quickly gathered about his body.


    A curling grin appeared on Bleia''s pretty face. Her large leathery bat wings opened with a woosh. The blood pool beneath her was almost boiling, and fountains of blood were rising and falling. A bloody mist gathered around her, wrapping around her like a crimson cape.


    Several blood servants outside the room started screeching in anger. Their eyes turned blood red in an instant, and they bared their fangs and threatened the werewolf. They had sealed the entrance, and were waiting for Bleia''s orders to rush forward and fight the enemy to their deaths.


    In the world of vampires, blood servants had no choice but to obey the source of their bloodline. This kind of control even outclassed most of the contract spells that existed.


    "Enough! Everyone stop..." Mage Muret could no longer stand the sight. He shouted in a solemn tone, "Sir F¨¹gen sent us here to deal with a problem, not for you people to create more trouble! If anyone else moves they will be defying my authority..."


    As he spat out the last word, Muret''s entire body burst forth with flames that reached the sky, turning into a human torch. The temperature in the room instantly went up to a thousand degrees. Some of the wooden materials that were exposed outside instantly started smoldering, letting out crackling sounds.


    A few vampires that were close to the door couldn''t endure the high temperature, and quickly dehydrated. Their previously smooth white skin instantly became withered, dry, and wrinkled. In less than three seconds, the front of their bodies had been completely burnt black. There was even black ash that was slowly falling off.


    Leon flicked a finger, and a red barrier emerged from his body, enveloping the room. The elementium flames that was violently surging forth from Mage Muret''s body paused at that moment, as they could no longer spread their high temperatures and heat outside of the red barrier.


    Muret finally looked at Leon once again.


    "To think that you chose fire as your mastery! Very rare indeed... I wish to have a good conversation with you if we have the opportunity!"


    Once he finished speaking, Muret turned and glared at Latour, who was about to explode in anger, before raising his head high and leaving the room first.


    The vampires standing guard by the door gave way under Bleia''s instructions. They bared their fangs and attempted to intimidate him, but none of them truly dared to attack a veteran Mage!


    The werewolf Latour growled and roared, finally managing to use his will to suppress the savage fighting spirit, that had almost burst within him, with much difficulty. A shroud of black smoke rose, and Latour changed back from his werewolf form, becoming a human once again.


    The regenerative abilities of werewolves were indeed exceptional. The scratches all over his body had vanished in less than five seconds. Latour glared at Bleia with his ghostly green eyes, then turned to look at Leon for a moment before silently walking out of the room.


    Both parties had separated on bad terms, so naturally there was no possibility of sitting down and having a peaceful discussion.


    The two Mages were still fuming and took the skies. They quickly found a noble''s manor they found to their liking 1.5 kilometers away from the city. They didn''t even bother to hide their identity. The two broke into the manor, and in less than fifteen minutes, they had become the new owners of the land. The original owners of the manor had either been turned into corpses, or converted into puppets under someone''s control.


    And so, Muret and Latour settled on the outskirts of Blue Hillock City!


    Bleia finally reverted from her state of combat after the two annoying fellows had gone. She softly landed on the edge of the blood pool, looking at Keoghan and the rest amusedly.


    "What, all of you had your necks pushed so low you can''t raise your heads? A bunch of guys, and yet you are all cowards. Don''t think I''m an idiot! All of you don''t stick your necks out, yet still bring those two guys to rampage at my place. Were you guys about to let me be the cannon fodder? Let me be the one who sticks her neck out? Let me tell you all something. If you don''t compensate me for my losses today, don''t even think I''ll let you treat me like an idiot next time!"


    A wicked grin appeared on the faces of Keoghan, Kiel, and the rest. For the first time, they felt like Bleia''s straightforward personality was a pretty good thing.


    As Mages, fair and equal trades were the key to ensuring long term cooperation and benefits.


    Their identities were awkward and unsuited to having a direct conflict with those two fellows. Paying a little price and having Bleia do it in their place was a natural thing to do.


    The sounds of intense bargaining rang out within the room!


    ...


    1961 Words

 Chapter 190 Knight Appears

    Herdurand City.It was the time of the day where the sun was at its brightest. The large square before the spacious and majestic city hall had been filled with a large crowd. People could hardly even move about. Groups of city guards armed to the teeth pushed the crowd about with the halberds in their hands, ensuring that the surging crowd didn''t go into the large empty space in the center of the square.


    It was the start of spring, and the light winds that blew about still brought with them a little chill. Even so, the city guards in charge of keeping order were still very exhausted and sweating profusely.


    The citizens squeezed into the square. Regardless of gender, they were all holding bouquets of fresh and beautiful flowers in their hands. They stood on their toes and grabbed onto poles, desperately looking about the horizon, as if they were waiting for something. There, in the blue skies, was nothing worth noting except for a few white clouds floating about.


    A squad of witcher-knights and a squad of the governor''s guards, with their distinct armors, were facing each other as they stood on both sides of the city hall. The two parties couldn''t be said to be tense, but the atmosphere was still solemn and stern, as compared to the mood in the square below.


    Whenever the gazes of the witcher-knights on their magic colts swept across the other side, there would be a slight and unnoticeable sense of disdain in their eyes. Yet when their eyes looked towards the skies, an excitement hidden in their expectant eyes would surface.


    The personal guard belonging to Grand Duke Lington could be called ferocious and powerful when compared to common city guards. But the warhorses under them were clearly inferior to the witcher-knights'' magic steeds, who possessed superior size and ferocity.


    And if one also put into consideration the runic swords of the witcher-knights, the gap between the personal guards and the witcher-knights was so large it couldn''t be crossed.


    On the Continent of Witchers, only those who had sworn their loyalty to the king and passed the witcher-knights test could get the standard equipment of magic colts and runic weapons. And these were resources that were strictly kept in the hands of the central government. The outside world had no means of getting colts and runic equipment in large amounts, causing the witcher-knight army to become the strongest armed force on the Continent of Witchers.


    As most of the witcher-knights thought of themselves as knights that served directly under the king, they did not recognize the authority of local nobles when they were out on missions or stationed in various places. Thus, every year, the forces of the local nobles would have plenty of disagreements with the witcher-knights over laws and jurisdiction. Enjoy new tales from empire


    This caused the forces of the local nobility and witcher knights to often engage in armed conflict when disagreements intensified. Hating each other had become a common occurrence between the local forces and the witcher-knights.


    However, the insignificant enmity between subordinates did not affect the courtesies and good relations between the higher-ups.


    The long table used for city council meetings had been pushed to one side in the bright and spacious city hall. It was now filled with plate after plate of fragrant delicacies and drinks. Delicate stir-fried foie gras, steak covered in sauce, golden lamb that had been perfectly roasted...


    However, no one was paying attention to the food at this moment. Everyone were waiting impatiently for the arrival of those few important figures.


    At the entrance of the hall, nearly a hundred men wearing the armor of spellbreaker knights stood in two straight lines, raising their heads and looking about. A dozen Radiant Knights had gathered together behind them, and were silently conversing.


    By the standards of the Continent of Mages, these radiant knights were all terrifying and powerful beings that had reached the Second Grade. Yet on this day, even they were not the protagonists. Instead, they were merely members of the crowd, waiting impatiently for the arrival of the true protagonist.


    As Second Grade members of their class in the witcher-knight group, the radiant knights'' power was naturally much stronger than the spellbreaker knights. The spellbreaker knights usually wore a full set of knight''s armor. Most of their body would be hidden beneath the tough armor.


    With the runic armor''s twin resistances to physical and magical damage, the defenses of spellbreaker knights had reached an outstanding degree. In the few wars against evil on the Continent of Witchers, it was the spellbreaker knights that endured the spells of the heretics head-on, charging through their lines with brute force and killing them.


    It was easy to imagine how powerful their defenses were!


    Compared to the spellbreaker knights, the armor of the radiant knights had dramatically shrunk instead.


    The delicate and fancy armor was no longer a clumsy full-body armor, but individual armor parts that could be removed easily. These armor parts would only cover the chest, groin, shoulder, the arms, and some other key parts of the body. To ensure agility and swiftness of movement in battle, the rest of the radiant knight''s bodies were covered with leather armor, or even left exposed. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If a spellbreaker knight could be said to have mastered simple weaponization of the runic energies, a radiant knight had reached the level of using runic energies to enhance their physical strength.


    What few armor parts the radiant knights wore all had mysterious patterns carved on the inside. When they met the enemy, they only needed to activate these runic arrays to draw power from the rune energies, turning them into a powerful runic knight.


    The reason they were called radiant knights was because their bodies would radiate a soft glow, like the runic weapons, when they drew the runic energies into their body. At that moment, they were essentially a human-shaped magical weapon.


    Would a rampaging magical sword need defenses and armor? Of course not! All they needed to do then was attack, attack, attack...


    The impatient crowd had been there since the rise of the sun until now, but not one person was dissatisfied or slacking off. Even Grand Duke Lington, who was always calm and measured, was pacing about the city hall and occasionally looking at the skies faraway.


    It was obvious that the protagonist of today''s welcoming feast was an extremely important person, such that even Grand Duke Lingtom was waiting expectantly, silently enduring the torturous wait!


    Finally, amidst everyone''s anxious waiting, a crisp ring sounded from a bell in the watchtower at the city''s wall far away.


    Everyone was excited. They put their hands above their brow and looked to the west.


    They came!


    They really came!


    It was a bright and sunny day today, and two tiny black dots had appeared on the edge of the horizon in the distance.


    In less than two minutes'' time, the two black dots gradually grew larger.


    A loud dragon''s roar rumbled across from a distance, causing everyone that heard it to be stunned and nervous.


    But before they could figure out the source of this odd and unwarranted fear, the two black dots had already appeared above Herdurand City, their great and massive bodies on display before the crowd.


    These were two terrifying Green Dragons, with bodies that were twenty meters long. If you included the long tail, covered with bony thorns and a spindle-shaped end, that the dragons were dragging behind them, the total length of the two Green Dragons were a staggering thirty meters.


    Like alligators, they had jaws that were filled with sharp teeth, and the lines of their long faces were clearly defined. Layers of fine emerald dragon scales perfectly covered every inch of their bodies. The dragon claws beneath their bodies were thick and powerful, the sharp edges gleaming with a cold light.


    The common Green Dragon of a normal material plane only had one pair of wings, but the Green Dragons of this plane had two pairs of wings. This undoubtedly gave them an even more terrifying flight speed!


    As the gigantic bodies of the Green Dragons circled above the square, the olive-coloured eyes of the dragons looked down upon the crowd below. They couldn''t help but raise their heads and let out a resounding dragon roar that shook the heavens and the earth.


    The dragon''s mighty auras fell upon the crowd below!


    A commotion instantly occured amidst the crowd in the square.


    Many timid women and children let out screams, creating chaos in the crowd.


    The dragons seemed to have an odd liking to creating chaos, as the depths of the Green Dragons'' eyes glimmered for a moment. They were clearly happy with their handiwork. Jefferson, who was seated on one of the Green Dragon''s backs, let out an expression that was neither smiling nor crying.


    As one of only three Dragon Knights on the continent, Jefferson had ridden the Green Dragon Ysondre and visited countless human cities. Every time he saw a dense crowd, the Green Dragon, that had just reached adulthood, would do something like this. Just looking from this point, it wasn''t without reason that many ancient tomes listed the Green Dragons as an evil dragon.


    Jefferson patted the neck of the Green Dragon and signaled Kalyk, who was on the other dragon. The two Green Dragons dove downwards, beating their wings and landing on the emptied space in the center of the square.


    The winds created when the gigantic dragons beat their wings was akin to a small storm. The crowd near the centre was blown all about. The flowers and the hats on their heads disappeared in an instant, as if they had grown wings.


    The crowd had waited this long to witness the great dragons. Now that they had seen the strong and overbearing silhouette that resembled a mountain flesh crouching in the square, everyone was so frightened that they held their breath.


    All of the nobles, along with the knights that had been waiting in the city hall, walked out one after another, welcoming the two great dragon knights with their impassioned gazes and claps.


    The atmosphere had suddenly become lively.


    Yet as the two parties were shaking hands and exchanging greetings, several hooded figures in the crowd were watching the occurrences in the square with greedy and fervent gazes from a long alley.


    Once everyone had entered the city hall, the hooded figures exchanged looks and secretly slipped into another alley.


    "Not only have the radiant knights shown up, even the dragon knights have. We have to report this information to Mistress Bleia!"


    "Very well- I''ll go immediately. The rest of you stay here and continue monitoring. If those two dragon knights make any significant movements, we must hurry and report it...."


    "Yes, I understand..."


    "You should leave soon. Be careful on the way."


    After a quick conversation, a cloaked figure took advantage of the commotion in the city and snuck out of Herdurand City. When he reached a place with no one around, he turned into a puff of smoke, emerging as a bloodsucking bat and taking to the skies, undertaking the 200 kilometer trip to Blue Hillock City.


    ...


    1877 Words

 Chapter 191 Scheming in the Night

    The banquet was still going on.Attractive noble ladies dressed in beautiful clothes, girls as shy as fawns, as well as seductive and alluring beauties...


    These beautiful women, that were usually out-of-reach and cold to most suitors, were all flocking around Jefferson. Either giggling while covering their lips with their silk fans, or blushing while pressing themselves onto him, or sending seductive gazes from afar. Though the beauties here were far less distinguished than those in the royal court, there were many of them, each with their own appeal, like flowers waiting to be plucked at his whim.


    After much effort, Jefferson managed to free himself from the ladies and met with the dozen radiant knights that had been patiently waiting in a secret room behind the city hall.


    "Vieri, tell me! How has the preparation been going?" The moment he entered the room, the faint smile on Jefferson''s face had vanished, replaced with a dense killing intent.


    After greeting Jefferson and bowing to him, the radiant knights took their seats. Vieri, who was in charge of the operation this time, stood up to explain their progress in rallying the knights.


    "...7 knights from Gotland City, 11 knights from the City of Cobar, 8 knights from Schaeffer City. As of now, the witcher-knights that have rallied in Herdurand City number 1513 men. The knights'' camp is being expanded; the supplies and equipment are arriving in a timely fashion. The reorganization and training of the troops is being overseen by Knight Gutt.....the vanguard knights are led by Ninther and have arrived in Blue Hillock City. No information have been sent back thus far..."


    Jefferson suddenly interrupted Vieri''s report, "How long has it been since Ninther set off?"


    "It''s been seven days!" Vieri hesitated before speaking, "They reported three days ago when they reached Blue Hillock City. It seems they found something odd there. But they haven''t been in contact since..."


    "Send some people to get in contact with them as soon as possible. Make sure they don''t go in too deep. You may have heard about the plane invasion this time. This is not a foreign creature accidentally wandering into our plane. It''s a more powerful material plane that has their eyes set on us. To avoid them planting their roots here, we have to chase them out before they cement their position."


    A Third-Grade Dragon Knight was almost the most powerful being on this plane already. Jefferson''s words undoubtedly had immense authority. Thus, the numerous radiant knights present couldn''t help but look at each other, their minds filled with shock and fear.


    Finally, it was Vieri who couldn''t help but ask, "Sir Jefferson, do we know which plane the invaders are from?"


    "It doesn''t matter which plane they are from. All you need to know is that their plane is of a higher grade than ours!" Jefferson was also filled with worry, "As long as they''re not from those terrifyingly large planes, there''s nothing to fear! This is our world after all. Even if they managed to force their way in here, they''re still subject to the suppression of the planar laws and can''t exhibit much of their strength. Don''t you people forget, Sir Willis has the power of a Fourth Grade- the limit of this plane!"


    The radiant knights present nodded in agreement with the words of the great Dragon Knight Jefferson.


    The power limit of this plane was Fourth Grade. No outsider could exceed this limit. Even if the intruder possessed the power of a Fourth Grade, once they broke into the knights'' plane they would be suppressed and weakened by the planar laws. What would they use to fight against Sir Willis, whose power reached the absolute limit of Fourth Grade then?


    Even if the invaders'' power normally exceeded the Fourth Grade, they would be suppressed to a maximum of Fourth Grade once they entered the knight''s plane. And when that happens, who knows who will be the final victor! However, the witcher-knights have the home field advantage. If it came down to a battle of life and death, they would always have a numerical advantage over the trespassers.


    This was the sole consoling thought of all the people present!


    But just as this group of witcher-knight higher-ups was gathered together and immersed in their discussion, four black shadows were silently roaming about the night sky above the castellan''s castle. A bloodsucking vampire the size of a washbasin, with deep black fur all over its body, folded its wings and slowly crawled on top of the roof of the room the knights were gathered in.


    This was a nation of knights after all. Their control and application of arcanology was still crude and superficial in every aspect. If this had been the World of Mages, any random magic alarm or protective array would have been able to completely cover the secret room, shielding it from any scrying attempts from the outside world.


    However, arcanology was not widely applied in such a manner here. Thus, as these high-grade knights were gathered to have their secret meeting, their main means of security was having some witcher-knights standing guard and patrolling.


    Surely, they would be able to stop most means of spying from the outside world through such means. But when their enemies were not humans, and instead a bunch of mysterious Mages from another plane, their guards and patrol squads were rendered excessively crude, basic, and insufficient.


    Even if they were to wrack their brains, they wouldn''t expect the spy to be right above them. Even the witcher-knights, with their vigilance and sharps senses, couldn''t detect a bloodsucking bat when it stops beating its wings and slowly glides down from the dark night sky.


    Seeing that one of their companions had successfully landed atop of the secret room, the remaining bloodsucking bats quickly flapped their wings and flew towards the square in front of the castellan''s quarters.


    Far away, even with a distance of a kilometer between them, they could still clearly see the two giant green dragons lying on the brightly-lit square.


    Right now, several carts were slowly being driven into the square.


    The carts weren''t loaded with food such as grain, fruits and vegetables. Instead, one after another were filled with large domestic animals letting out sorrowful shrieks of panic and fear. From the looks of it, it was the Charost beast that was most often raised by the natives of this plane (Author: a kind of creature that is similar to domestic pigs on earth.)


    Perhaps because they could smell the unique stench of dragons-the creatures at the very top of the food chain-the cows, goats, and the charosts began to panic once they entered the square. Loud and noisy bleats and shrieks filled the air of the silent square.


    The two green dragons instantly raised their slender necks when they heard the final calls from their food. Their large mouths opened slightly, and the light green saliva dripped from between their crystal-white fangs. Their saliva was clearly quite acidic, dripping to the floor and and leaving tiny sizzling holes in the stone floor. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The two green dragons couldn''t hold back their desire to feed. They instantly got up from the floor and leapt to the side of the carts in one movement. With one bite of their jaws they shredded the wooden cart dividers and dragged the domestic animals out, pinning them with their claws while tearing at them and feeding.


    Even though green dragons were a top-level magical creature, they were still wild beasts by nature. As such, the sight of their feeding was extremely savage and bloody. They didn''t even care for the human servants around them when they fed.


    The cart driver quickly jumped off the cart and ran when he saw the dragon leaping over. If he was too slow, he would either have fallen to his death as the dragons lifted the cart into the skies with their jaws, or he would have turned into a dessert for the dragons'' meal.


    It was clear that these two green dragons had enjoyed countless offerings from the humans, as they were especially picky even while they feasted. For many of the domestic animals, they would only pick the fattest and juiciest parts of their meat.


    Using their large bodies, they pushed their food over and pinned them down with their sharp claws. Then, they used their sharp scythe-like fangs to bite into their favourite parts, throwing aside the rest of the body that they didn''t want. The entire process was truly bloody and cruel! In just a few moments, the once neat and clean city square had turned into a bloody slaughterhouse filled with the stench of blood, and littered with the broken remains of domestic animals.


    Of course, those few tiny things flying about the dark horizon far away did not escape the green dragons'' powerful sense of smell and elementium.


    The green dragon Ysondre lifted its head, looking at the insignificant bugs, faintly radiating traces of darkness, with its amber-coloured eyes. After a few moments of painful deliberation, it gave up the urge to fly into the sky and hunt them.


    It was only a few tiny weaklings radiating feeble amounts of dark elementium flux. They probably posed no harm to this human city. Moreover, his master had repeatedly warned him not to hunt as he willed in human cities.


    Thus, with the fest still before him, Ysondre quickly forgot about the annoying bugs and focused on enjoying the humans'' offering.


    This was the first time vampires had appeared in the knights'' plane- otherwise there was no way the green dragon Ysondre would have let them be so easily. If the green dragon could hear the conversation of the vampire spawn a kilometer away, Ysondre would have sworn to turn them into dust, even if it had to chase them to the ends of earth!


    "I didn''t expect these green dragons to eat the food offered by the humans!"


    "Yes, this might be our chance..."


    "Yes, it has to be the blessing of our blood ancestor. For these two giant lizards to be such idiots..."


    "Hurry up and inform our respected blood ancestor and have her find some way to get some powerful poisons. If we could incapacitate these green dragons, we might have a chance to taste dragon blood..."


    "This idea is ingenious! You lot stay here and look, I''ll go and inform our respected blood ancestor..."


    The vampire spawn flew about the dark night skies, closely monitoring every action of the green dragons, while exchanging passionate words. Soon, a bloodsucking bat turned around while beating its wings as it took to higher skies, flying towards the direction of Blue Hillock City.


    Yet at this moment, the Great Duke Lington was also having a secret meeting with his subordinates in another secret room within the castellan''s quarters.


    "Have we still not figured out their goal?" It was the Great Duke Lington who spoke, a huge frown on his face.


    "No clear goal." A veteran general wearing golden armor, his face worn with age, shook his head and spoke, "Perhaps even they themselves aren''t sure what their goal and target is?"


    "But I''ve personally gone outside the city to see their base, which is constantly expanding. The expanded base could fit 3000 witcher-knights at the very minimum." A young general solemnly commented.


    "3000? So many of them..."


    "God! That''s 3000 witcher-knights! Even during the last war against the heretics there weren''t so many witcher-knights rallied together!"


    "We can''t let them go on like this. Even with the current numbers of witcher-knights, they already pose a serious threat to our Herdurand City."


    "How many more troops can we draw from the surrounding cities?" Great Duke Lington calmly asked.


    "There are currently twenty-thousand city guards stationed in Herdurand City. If we include your ten-thousand personal guards, we can maintain a numerical advantage of approximately 25 to 1 against the witcher-knights. But if their numbers keep increasing, we would have a hard time maintaining the balance in combat strength. Sir, as you should know, making city guards go against witcher-knights with a numerical advantage of less than 20 to 1 would be no different than sending them to their deaths!"


    The veteran general''s words drew everyone''s agreement, and they could only lower their heads in frustration.


    They had to have an absolute numerical advantage. Using mere strategy to pit a mundane army made of normal humans against the supernaturally-powered witcher-knights would be a hopeless endeavour!


    \\When faced with the overwhelming number of witcher-knights, as well as the numerous spellbreaker knights, radiant knights, and the two dragon knights that were so powerful that they struck despair into their enemies, no one could come up with any courage or will to fight..


    Right now, everyone could only pray as hard as they could that the blade of the witcher-knight army wasn''t pointed towards themselves!


    ...


    2160 Words

 Chapter 192 Scheming Against Dragons

    It was close to dawn when Bleia snuck into Herdurand City.Besides her army of blood servants and vampire spawns, the three Mages Leon, Keoghan as well as Ferrier followed her into the city.


    They broke straight into the noble''s mansion closest to the city square. In less than eight minutes, they had completely taken control of all fifty or so residents within the entire mansion. If it wasn''t to avoid any outsiders from detecting abnormality, the more efficient way of doing things would be to kill those residents. Now, they had to have Ferrier, who was Mage in brewing potions, turn them into obedient puppets using Heart-Loss Powder.


    Ferrier sounds like a very feminine name, but in truth the owner of the name was a very rugged and burly man. According to Keoghan''s words in another, more private conversation, Ferrier was truly a female when he advanced to an Mage. He had only turned out like this after an accident during an experiment.


    Of course, this was only referring to Ferrier''s appearance. As for whether Ferrier''s gender identity and anatomy was male or female, there was no way to find out. At any rate, Leon and the rest had absolutely no interest in this!


    Leon had long despaired when it came to the group known as Mages.


    There was no way there could be a normal person amongst those that could advance to Mages!


    The passion and thirst with which Mages pursue knowledge was no less than that of the great scientists back on Earth in Leon''s previous life. However, while the scientists on Earth had an ingenious brain and countless amazing ideas, most of their time was spent huddled up in their labs, not being able to turn the various ingenious and unbelievable ideas in their brains into reality.


    Thus the scientists on Earth thought a lot, but hardly ever put to actions their thoughts. Constrained by the limits of their power, as well as financial situation, most of their ideas could only remain as dreams.


    But the Mages of this world had no such constraints! S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They were like a group of liberated mad scientists- with not just the insanity of scientists, but the ability to turn their insanity into reality!


    The latter was what was the most terrifying!


    The first thing the group did after they had settled in was to set up a hidden barrier within the mansion, and use the strength of spells to hide the overly obvious elementium flux radiating from everyone''s body. Then they hid in their rooms, secretly spying on the two terrifying green dragons curled up on the square, snoring as they slept.


    Leon removed his black Mage''s robe, and changed into noble''s hunting attire that was good to move around in. This was to avoid staying conspicuous. The attire was a body-tight clothing nobles would wear when they went out on outings, or to play and hunt. The lower half was a pair of leather pants, designed for horse-riding. The upper half had two rows of buttons down the front, much like tight-fitting vests from Earth in Leon''s previous life.


    With Leon''s height of two meters, such a neat, crisp and delicate costume coupled with the long crimson hair over his shoulders and his handsome looks made him look extremely gorgeous.


    It had only been a short time since he became an Mage after all. He had yet to have been twisted by the evilness and strangeness of the spells of Mages. Thus, with a little dressing up, Leon instantly transformed into a handsome noble youth.


    Bleia, on the other hand, had changed into a bright red muslin dress. She was as beguiling as a bottle of thick and fragrant wine, wine so captivating it could draw most human males in and drown them.


    With how the two were dressed, they were a very fitting pair, like a handsome noble youth together with a seductive noble lady. One would look forward to the fantastic scene of the two dancing together amidst a crowd.


    However, it looked extremely unnatural and twisted when the other two Mages put on the human nobility''s clothes. The look of an Mage was too strong on them. The cruelty and savagery of Mages between their brows couldn''t be wiped away.


    But neither Keoghan or Ferrier seemed to care. The two looked at Leon and Bleia, and a wicked smile surfaced uncontrollably on their faces.


    Two brats that had just advanced to Mages. There were still too many emotions and marks of a human on them. Still too much passion. Now is the time indulge in debauchery, to immerse themselves in pleasure. Only once they had experienced near a century of the vicissitudes of life, only once they had enjoyed all the pleasures of humanity- beauties, authority- will they finally realise that the infinite knowledge is the only thing worth their lifelong pursuit on the journey of Mages.


    Thus when they saw Leon and Bleia, they couldn''t help but recall the period of debauchery and indulgence when they themselves had just advanced to Mages. Naturally, the expression on their faces was really weird.


    Leon was in no mood to slowly consider the odd mentality of the two elderly Mages. He went to the front of the large wooden window and pulled aside one edge of the curtain. Leon silently assessed the giant green silhouette of which he could only see a vague outline from the distance.


    Because he could not cast spells freely here, Leon had to rely on the chip''s passive probing ability to silently feel the power of the two green dragons.


    "How is it? Did you find anything? "Keoghan went to the other side of the wooden window, and snuck a look out of it much like Leon was doing.


    "These should be two barely adolescent green dragons. One is male and the other is female. As for their power....I can''t get a good enough look from here, so I only have a simple estimation..."Leon''s forehead was all scrunched up. Clearly, the green dragons'' power was the most important thing he had to figure out.


    "Oh? You can tell whether its male or female? "Keoghan, who was standing right beside paused for a second, rubbed his eyes and stared intensely at the dragons, but still, the only thing he could see was their emerald scales with their perfect and smoothly flowing lines. Keoghan couldn''t see any distinguishing characteristics on their bodies that betrayed their genders.


    "Hurhur..."Leon let out an awkward laugh: "Don''t think of finding any obvious gender characteristics on their bodies. You need to look at their dragon horns and their build. The one on the left has horns that are large and rough, the degree at which they curve is also larger, along with the slightly larger build makes it definitely a male...The one on the right has shorter and slimmer horns, and a slightly slimmer build as well which makes that a female..."


    Having Leon explained these to him, Keoghan looked at the dragons one more. As expected, he managed to spot these tiny differences that differentiated the dragons.


    "These are also things you read from books? "Keoghan asked, shocked.


    "It is introduced in the seventh chapter of the third volume of The Tome of Giant Dragons...There are also some descriptions pertaining to this in the sumBleia of the Encyclopedia of Dragonspeak...and also..."Leon replied in a serious manner.


    "Wait. Wait. Wait...Where did you read all these books? Have you actually been planning to go dragonslaying? "Keoghan was so stunned his mouth was wide open.


    "It''s all stuff I happened to flipped through at the Underground World''s Mages'' tower''s library, I just happened to memorise them..."


    "..."


    Keoghan tilted his head and looked at Leon like he was a monster. He couldn''t help but mutter: "You little brat, do you actually have perfect memory? I don''t understand...I don''t understand..."


    Then, Keoghan couldn''t help but follow up with a question: "Since you can identify the genders of the dragons, can you tell the power of the two dragons before us? "


    Leon twitched his mouth and replied: "Even green dragon whelps have Mage-level power. These dragons are already adolescents, so their individual grade must be above Second Grade...But considering that they are still young, and the lack of elementium in this plane, they must not have reached Third Grade yet...Their power levels are probably just barely above Second Grade, or in the middle of Second Grade..."


    Leon nodded. He agreed with Leon''s judgement.


    Even though the two green dragons had yet to reach a shocking Third Grade, just their power of Second Grade was enough to roll over the four of them. To put it in more blunt and pessimistic terms, just these two green dragons were enough to obliterate the Mages'' forward base!


    While the two were softly conversing, Bleia pushed open the door and walked into the room.


    "We got the things. They are all at the kitchen downstairs. "Bleia couldn''t help but cover her nose, and wave her hand before it: "They really stink! I am definitely not touching them. "


    Ferrier smiled slightly, and turned to leave the room.


    Dragon feces were something most people would avoid. However, for potions masters such as himself, they were a very decent ingredient for brewing. Moreover, wasn''t the purpose everyone dragged "him" out here to have "him" brew a potion specifically designed for dragons?


    The dragons, having a powerful physique and exceptional magic resistance would be immune to most low-grade spells. Normal poison and paralyzing drugs would also have no effect. Thus, trying to kill them through poison was only a fantasy, but using them to incapacitate them for a while was still possible.


    External curses and offensive spells had no way of piercing the scales of the green dragons. Crossbows and daggers were naturally even less effective. Thus, any external attacks were unlikely to have effect without alerting the Third Grade Dragon Knights.


    Using potions to drug a dragon would be a very unreliable means in most situations, but it was the most suitable in the situation now.


    To ensure that the two green dragons'' life was comfortable, the city hall had even specially hired a group of paupers to take care of them. Transporting fresh livestock for them, cleaning the remains of their meals as well as their feces...This work was extremely dangerous and most peasants would never do such work. It was only the paupers who were willing to do anything for a spoon of rice that would take such risks.


    Thus Bleia sent out a couple of vampire subordinates to bribe some of the pauper servants with large amounts of money and have them secretly cart out some of the green dragons'' feces and saliva. With these things, Ferrier, who was a professional potions master, could brew a potion specifically targeted at, and strong enough to knock out the green dragons!


    Ferrier set up a small secret room downstairs to focus on mixing the potion, while Bleia sent out large numbers of her vampire subordinates all across the city to gather information regarding the inner workings of Herdurand. Leon and Keoghan, on the other hand, were guarding by the window, silently observing the two green dragons.


    The operation was designated for tonight, as information shows that there will be another large-scale feeding session tonight before midnight. Therefore, if they had any plans, it had to be based around this feeding session.


    Yet, just as dusk arrived, something happened on the square!


    One of the dragon knights exited the castellan''s quarters under the company of the crowd. After some quick farewells, he leapt onto one of the dragons and took to the skies, whistling towards the east.


    That was where Blue Hillock City was!


    ...


    1974 Words

 Chapter 193 Hunting Green Dragons

    Two green dragons.One left, one remained.


    This undoubtedly made the operation at night even easier.


    However, the dragon that left left some bad implications in everyone''s minds.


    The place the opponent was flying towards was very likely to be Blue Hillock City. Moreover, they were a Second Grade Green Dragon, along with a Third Grade Dragon Knight. This combination made for up the knights'' weakness of easily being kited by spellcasters. If something happened to the Mages'' base or Blue Hillock City, their efforts before would be utterly wasted.


    There must not be any damage back there!


    Thus, Bleia snuck out of Herdurand City and cast a spell to communicate with the three remaining Mages in Blue Hillock City, sending the information regarding the dragons and the dragon knights back.


    The original plan to hunt continued.


    The speed at which the dragon flew was exceedingly fast. If something truly happened back in Blue Hillock City, it would be pointless for them to give hurry back anyway. Therefore, why not stay here and continue with the plan? After all, with their elaborate plan, hunting the green dragon was entirely possible. Letting this opportunity go would be a pity.


    Thus these courageous and bold fellows quickly gathered one last time in the mansion, then left the noble''s mansion separately, each of them with a wicked grin on their faces.


    ......


    The green dragon Rissana was bored.


    As a teenage female dragon, Rissana was only 118 this year. This was the point in the long life of dragons where they were the most active and energetic, and where they most longed for wealth.


    As she had only left the dragon cliff for less than six years, Rissana had yet to have the time to create a den that belonged solely to herself. The knights'' kingdom had built a luxurious and grand palace for her, and filled her quarters with shiny gold coins. But there were no treasures that truly caught her eye!


    In these six years, she did not have the chance to go out on her own to plunder and loot wealth. Most of the time, she could only curl up in the superficial palace and sleep to pass the time.


    Her days were dry and boring!


    This was a continent ruled by humans.


    All kinds of large and small human cities were spread across the continent, each of their treasuries filled with wealth that would make a dragon drunk with joy. Sadly, most of these human cities had owners, and were under the protection and guardianship of the knights'' kingdom. And there were plenty of terrifyingly powerful beings that struck fear in the dragons within the knights'' kingdom!


    To obtain wealth and authority that belonged to her, Rissana the female dragon that had just come of age responded to the summons of the great knight Kalyk, becoming the contracted partner of a powerful Third Grade knight.


    Rissana had heard from Kalyk, that the venture this time was to go into Greenland Forest on a crusade against some evil invaders or something. Rissana was not interested in this!


    She couldn''t be bothered to care about these tiny bugs that squeezed their way in using the loopholes of the planes.


    Who was she? She was Rissana, the youngest, most beautiful, most powerful Second Grade green dragon in the most recent hundred years of the dragon cliff''s history! The young dragons that pursued her could fill an entire dragon''s valley; the poems praising her beauty could be read for three days and three nights in a row the human knights that envied her power could form mountains and seas...


    But now she could only curl up on the wet and cold stone floor, toying with the corpse of a human servant with one of her sharp dragon claws, passing the time by in boredom.


    This was an extremely unlucky fellow, to have stood in front of the great Rissana when she was in a bad mood. Rissana had only breathed slightly more heavily, and the dragon''s breath that brought with it a light green poison mist had already crippled the unlucky fellow.


    This unlucky guy was still able to struggle and twitch on the ground initially, but after Rissana let out another two poison breaths in her boredom, he completely stopped!


    The other human slaves serving her were all shivering in fear, their faces a pale white. A disgusting smell of urine even came from one of them. Thus, Rissana lashed out her long thorny tail, that was like a meteor hammer, and the pitiable fellow was turned into a spread of unrecognizable meat paste.


    Just as she was getting increasingly bored and was contemplating killing another human to relieve her boredom, the sound of cart wheels rang from the streets outside the square. The sorrowful shrieks and cries of the livestock couldn''t stop as the carts carrying their load entered the square one after another.


    Was it time to feed?


    The green dragon that had just enjoyed a feast yesterday and wasn''t too hungry was lazing around and couldn''t get her spirits up. Rissana raised the tip of her nose and sniffed. Instantly, she straightened her body, her large dragon eyes fixated on one of the carts.


    These were a bunch of goats whose bodies seemed to somewhat skinny. These were goats that had been domesticated and bred for food, thus the taste of their meat was far less delicious than wild goats. But the green dragon could smell a tinge of the smell of Dragondrunk Fruit on one of the goats.


    Dragondrunk Fruit was a unique fruit that giant dragons loved to gorge upon. Don''t judge them on their small size, for these Dragondrunk Fruits had the special ability to cause giant dragons to fall into an intoxicated state and start hallucinating. Of course, the effect of Dragondrunk Fruit wasn''t so obvious on other living beings, and was limited to mostly dragons. Thus, this was a fruit that must be planted near any dragon cliff or dragon valley.


    Giant dragons were never good at taking care of such fragile plants. Moreover, they had a large appetite, and the amount they gorged down every time was shocking. Therefore, giant dragons would usually enslave some weaker races, for the explicit purpose of having them tidy their dens, guard their territory and most of all, to take care of the orchards of the giant dragons that they so love.


    Rissana did not expect to smell Dragondrunk Fruit anywhere outside the dragon valley. Did this goat accidentally eat Dragondrunk Fruits somewhere? sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Still with some questions in her head, Rissana lowered her large head and opened her mouth. With a light curling of her agile tongue, the special goat had been dragged into her mouth, and she had already started chewing.


    The goat''s blood that had an intense odour to it brought with it a tinge of the taste of Dragondrunk Fruit, but upon more careful tasting, it seemed odd, as if there was some other mysterious substance mixed in the goat''s blood.


    This feeling...this feeling was somewhat odd!


    The green dragon that was silently tasting her food opened her eyes wide. Something wasn''t right. It seemed like she could no longer feel the existence of her tongue...


    When she realised the unusual circumstance, an intense feeling of paralysis quickly spread in her mouth, and very rapidly went to her stomach. Rissana could no longer support her heavy dragon body. With a loud thump, her body crashed into the square.


    The four hiding in the noble''s mansion didn''t dare delay once they saw the green dragon fall. Immediately, they used all the means at their disposals to rush to the green dragon.


    Mage Ferrier who was a potions master had indeed specifically strengthened the effect of the potion with the dragon as the target, but attempting to completely incapacitate a Second Grade green dragon with such crude materials, and especially a green dragon who had a poisonous physique herself, was but a pipe dream.


    Thus, the paralysis potion Mage Ferrier created could only paralyze the green dragon for three minutes. If they were not able to find a way to kill the green dragon in these three minutes, once the effect of the drug wore off, none of them would be able to escape the pursuit of an angered dragon!


    The first to reach the green dragon''s side was Leon, even though Bleia had the greatest speed amongst the four.


    A flame pillar that went straight towards the sky appeared in the middle of the square, and the Flame Fiend Leon had transformed into walked out of the fire with a wicked grin on his face. With a quick wave of the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his right hand, a Fire Deity engulfed in violent flames appeared nearby.


    It looked about its surroundings, before roaring and charging towards the mass of city guards standing on the outside of the square.


    That was not the end of it. Leon strode forward, and the Scroll of Voodoo automatically flew into his left hand, its pages rapidly flipping. Every time the parchment stopped on a page, a powerful fire spell would instantly form, violently blasting onto the green dragon''s large body.


    A savage Fire Core Explosion had just arrived, and another pillar of red flames would blast into the skies with the green dragon at its center. The fire had just slightly died down and another Magma Fireball would have crashed into the dragon''s body...


    It was literally one violent fire spell with every step Leon took. When Leon''s three-meter-tall body arrived before the green dragon''s body, all five instantaneous spell stored within the Scroll of Voodoo had been expended, and the surroundings of the green dragon''s body had been turned into a flaming sea of magma.


    Besides the powerful flame damage, the five violent spells Leon hurled out earlier also had tremendous physical damage. The green dragon''s curled up body had been blasted black. Even the ground where it lay on had caved downwards severely, forming a crater much like where a meteor had hit.


    However, even after enduring the bombardment of such violent spells, Rissana''s dragon body still didn''t show too many signs of damage. While the individual dragon scales at the center of the explosions had been distorted and somewhat deformed by the high heat, but the defense of the dragon scales that were both resistant to magical and physical attacks still deflected most of the damage from Leon''s spells.


    Leon threw aside the Scroll of Voodoo, seeing that the effect of spell damage wasn''t very good. He tossed out Fire Lord''s elementium core, then let out a loud roar. The flames all over his body started to wildly compress within his body, quickly gathering into a gigantic executioner''s blade in his hand.


    At the same time, Bleia''s silhouette, quick as a phantom, had also appeared in the square.


    The crimson longbow in her hand was instantly drawn to a full moon, and a single arrow with crimson runes vaguely floating about it formed on the bowstring. Very soon, once her imposing aura and power had reached their peak, Bleia let out a shout, and the blood red arrow turned into a flash, immediately sinking into the green dragon''s chest.


    The green dragon was covered by emerald scales all over its body. However, while the scales on the spine and the sides of its body were the thickest and largest, the dragon scales on its throat, below its neck, and on its abdomen were the thinnest and lightest.


    Leon''s bombardment earlier was mostly focused on these light dragon scales, and had already somewhat damaged the dragon. Under the collapsing of the scales, bright red flesh was exposed.


    Bleia''s full power shot from her crimson longbow had sunk into a part where there was no longer any dragon scales.


    The arrow pierced the body, and the violent bloody energy exploded within the flesh of the green dragon!


    A blood fountain suddenly spilled out from the abdomen of the green dragon. One could see broken bodily organs, pieces of meat ground into paste and purple-black dragon blood in the sticky pool of blood water.


    Even though her body had been paralyzed with no means to move, the green dragon Rissana still let out a sorrowful and pained moan. The call for help was obvious.


    Just then, Keoghan who was enveloped in black smoke, and Ferrier who had grown a pair of green wings of wind behind his back also arrived on the battlefield.


    The numerous vampires that Bleia had brought, on the other hand, turned into a swarm of bloodsucking bats beating their wings as they surged into the square. Their target was the city guards standing guard near the square!


    ....


    2133 words

 Chapter 194 Race Against Time

    In just fourteen seconds, Leon and Bleia had already completed their first round of attacks on the green dragon.These attacks brought about tremendous damage to the green dragon.


    If a similar amount of damage had been inflicted on a radiant knight, it would probably be more than enough to severely wound them. However, when it was inflicted on a green dragon''s massive build, it was barely a light injury.


    On the fifteenth second, Keoghan and Ferrier took over and started the second round of attacking the green dragon. Meanwhile, Leon and the Fire Lord had come together to cast a large-scale fire spell in unison.


    One after another, screeching bloodsucking bats circled around the surroundings of the square. Every time they saw city guards closing in, they charged down with an ear-piercing screech. Their bodies were still midair, and they were already rapidly transforming into their human forms. They charged recklessly into the mass of city guards, triggering wave after wave of bloody slaughter.


    The Fire Deity that Leon had summoned earlier mainly relied on fire spells as its main means of attack. Its threat against the green dragon''s powerful magic resistance was negligible. Therefore, Leon sent it to the outer rim to recklessly bombard the buildings around them and cover the few paths that led to the square with seas of flame.


    Leon and Ferrier were able to successfully complete the second round of attacks on the green dragon with the help and cover of these servants.


    As a potions master, Ferrier had secret leather pouches hidden all over his Mage robe and belt. He flew above the green dragon, and with a light twitch of his fingers, vials and test tubes of all kinds and colors were clenched between his fingers.


    Five vials fell in an elegant curve and dropped on the body of the green dragon Rissana. They shattered, and swathes of grey smoke engulfed part of the dragon''s body. The grey smoke behaved like a living being. It didn''t spread out rapidly, as smoke usually did, and instead closely gathered about the body of the green dragon, squirming and writhing.


    The dragon''s scales that were enveloped by the smoke quickly became tarnished and corroded. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The emerald scales turned into a lead-grey colour, before once again turning into a colorless white. Without the protection of the scales, the grey smoke came in contact with the flesh beneath, and the sound of sizzling flesh being corroded could be heard everywhere.


    Three more test tubes were thrown downwards, shattering on the green dragon''s long and curved horns, as well as on its back. Immediately, several rings of maroon curse-halos started to flash over the dragon''s body. Even though the dragon''s powerful physique resisted most of the power of the curses, some of their effect still managed to penetrate the green dragon. Even the flames of anger in its large eyes dimmed a little.


    Ferrier didn''t try to close in on the dragon. Instead, he stayed midair with the wings of wind, incessantly throwing all sorts of potions and drugs onto the green dragon''s body. Each vial would create some unique magic effect when it shattered. Perhaps it would be curse halos, or perhaps it would be corrosion spells, or offensive spells...


    Ferrier also summoned Bloodsucking Vines and Blood Snakes with his vials, and had them drill their way into the green dragon''s body to harmfully attack its flesh.


    As for Keoghan, his attacks were even more bizarre.


    He charged towards a bloody injury on the green dragon''s abdomen. With a shout, he enhanced his right hand with a Spell of Sharpening and a Spell of Puncturing, then thrust it fiercely into the flesh.


    Green dragons possessed tough, tense flesh. Even without the protection of dragon scales, it would be as tough as normal enchanted leather armor. Thus, Keoghan could only thrust his right arm in up to his wrist before stopping. Moreover, Keoghan''s right arm came into contact with the green dragon''s tough muscles and dragon blood, which had powerful acidic properties. His arm was instantly wounded all over.


    Keoghan didn''t mind the injuries on his arm. He let out another shout, and completed a unique transformation. The right hand he had thrust into the dragon''s abdomen suddenly became thick and soft. Even the color of the exposed skin outside had turned into a green-grey color.


    In the blink of an eye, Keoghan had completed a transformation of part of his body into a tentacle, and through that he continuously injected large amounts of blood and flesh, that were infected with uniquely epidemic viruses, into the body of the green dragon.


    Instantly, it seemed as if the flesh and blood within the green dragon''s body was boiling. The dragon scales all over its body swelled up and down, as if there were countless beasts of blood and flesh drilling recklessly within its body.


    The green dragon was suffering in tremendous pain, and once again let out a sorrowful cry that shook the heavens and earth. Her call for help was evident.


    In truth, when the green dragon''s distressing call had first rang out across the sky, everyone''s hearts were struck with fear by a powerful flux of power from inside of the castellan''s quarters in the distance.


    A human-shaped silhouette of light, dressed in an untidy fashion, charged out from a palace somewhere, roaring as he strode towards the direction of the square. In response to this, a dozen light silhouettes came out of the buildings around the palace, one after another, letting out battlecries as they charged towards the square.


    These human-shaped silhouettes were naturally the radiant knights stationed within Herdurand City. Once their power had been activated, the runic energies around them poured into their bodies, immediately turning all of them into beings of light.


    Judging from the radiant knights'' positioning near the palace, it was obvious that the focus of their protection was on the great dragon knight. As for the green dragon Rissana¨C would a powerful giant dragon fear the sneak attack of unknown enemies?


    Amongst the mass of radiant human shapes, there was one that was obviously a great deal brighter than the rest. His existence was like a miniature sun that illuminated the entire night sky. Every action he made brought with it powerful might and a terrifying feeling of absolute dominance.


    As he yelled and tramped towards the square, powerful energy shockwaves rippled about his body, almost as if the heaven and earth were mildly shaking with each heavy step he took.


    Sadly, he couldn''t fly.


    The radiant knights couldn''t fly either!


    This was perhaps the greatest tragedy befalling all individuals of knight or warrior classes. Just as the world had blessed them with incomparably powerful and tough physiques, as well as terrifying strength without equal, they had also been robbed of their agility.


    Regardless how they blustered and cursed, even breaking through walls and houses as they headed in a straight course for the square, it remained a fantasy for them to cross 1.5 kilometer distance with a single step.


    Rissana''s repeated cries of sorrow had obviously greatly worried the dragon knight. He roared as he smashed through multiple walls, wildly rushing towards the square.


    To save time, he even used Charge, a battle technique knights only used when assaulting enemies, to cross the distance.


    After twenty-seven seconds of chanting, the powerful fire spell Leon cast together with the Fire Lord had finally been completed.


    A single red dot, bright as the Morning Star, appeared in the inscrutable pitch-black sky in everyone''s view.


    The red dot started to become bigger, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, bringing with it clouds of flame that filled the skies. It pierced through the clouds and quickly crashed down from the sky, going straight for the Second Grade green dragon that had already suffered so much abuse.


    Meteor Crash!


    This was a powerful spell with frightening might.


    Only a powerful elementium golem, with attributes of both fire and earth like the Fire Lord, could launch such a devastating spell. Leon''s function in the joint casting this time was only to provide the Fire Lord with plenty of fire elementium, shortening the chanting and channeling time of this superior spell as much as possible.


    The Third Grade dragon knight Kalyk, still one kilometer away, opened his eyes wide in anger as he saw the terrifying might of the flaming meteor falling from the sky. He shouted loudly as he concentrated energy in his hands to form a spear, throwing it towards the flaming meteor with all his strength.


    The meteor had been engulfed in flames due to friction when it pierced through the clouds, turning it into a literal flaming meteor. The energy spear crossed two kilometers of space and sped towards the meteor. However, before it could make full contact with the flaming rock, the spear had already been evaporated by the intense heat and clouds of flames that filled the skies.


    But the flaming meteor was still affected by the impact of this powerful blow near the side, causing a slight shift in its trajectory. It brutally crashed to the green dragon''s side.


    The meteor didn''t get a clean hit, and the square had to endure its terrifying kinetic energy.


    A deep hole appeared where the meteor had landed, and densely scattered cracks like spiderwebs appeared in the stone floor around it, spreading outwards. The city square went silent for three seconds, before erupting from the violent impact.


    The stone floor, rocks, and the buildings on top it were the first to be blown up. They quickly became debris in the explosive shockwave spreading outwards in a ring shape, turning into a storm of countless fine rocks that ferociously blasted outwards.


    Even though Leon and the other three had already made preparations, gathering around and erecting a secure barrier, they were still pushed outwards for nearly a hundred meters by the ferociously explosive shockwave.


    Meanwhile, the green dragon in the core of the explosion was the greatest victim.


    A small part of the explosive shockwave ravaged the dragon scales on its body, while the sharp bone protrusions all over its spine were even softened and snapped by the high heat. The intense searing jets of flame burned away all the exposed flesh, while one of its wings had been hit by the meteor, turning into meat paste, before further being reduced to ashes.


    The magma pillars that spilled forth from the meteor''s deep crater fell onto the green dragon''s body, sizzling as they roasted and scalded its flesh.


    The mournful calls of the green dragon Rissana, on the other hand, gradually grew weaker.


    As the local authorities had prohibited large groups of witcher-knights from being stationed within the city, most of the soldiers in charge of patrol near the square were merely city guards. As such, they were also the greatest victims of this horrifying spell.


    In a battle of powerful beings, normal humans were only tiny ants that could be killed with a wave of a hand!


    Even half of the numerous vampires that Bleia had brought along were engulfed by the terrifying streams of flame that incessantly surged forth, reducing them to cinders. It was natural that the human warriors, who had not a bit of ability to defend themselves, suffered even more losses. Even if one disregarded the terrifying flames that reached nearly a hundred points in terms of attack strength, just the rain of rocks blasted out by the shockwave was sufficient to turn them into sieves with bloody holes.


    Yet even under such a ferocious blow, everyone could still sense the weak life force of the green dragon amidst the flames and magma.


    The potent life energy of this Second Grade green dragon was shocking!


    Even after such a severe blow, it... it still hadn''t died.


    What''s more, everyone could sense the anger that had been suppressed to its limit slowly gathering in the green dragon''s body. Once this powerful strength erupted, it would turn the world into a sea of flames and anger!


    ...


    2015 wordsPricing Word Count2015Full attendance Word Count2015 Enjoy more content from empire

 Chapter 195 Chaos

    It was theoretically possible for a group of First Grade Mages to scheme and slay a Second Grade giant dragon.But in truth, it was extremely difficult, so much so that it wasn''t viable.


    The greatest problem was with the giant dragon''s ability to fly.


    However, today, four First Grade Mages who had yet to experience planar wars almost succeeded in accomplishing a terrifying and shocking feat¨C dragonslaying!


    But ''almost'' was ''almost'' after all!


    Leon and the others could only give up in pity when their attacks on the green dragon could hardly extinguish the last dying flames of its life, while the fuming knights were closing in on the square.


    There were too many variables and unexpected elements in today''s battle. Thus, one should not look down upon the power of giant dragons based on today''s events.


    Firstly, if it was a Second Grade green dragon, with freedom of movement, then even ten more First Grade Mages couldn''t have done anything to it. Therefore, Mage Ferrier''s astounding dragon paralyzing drug was the largest factor for success in this battle.


    Secondly, today was a rare occasion where green dragon Rissana was left alone!


    In its daily life, Rissana would either be together with the Third Grade dragon-knight Kalyk, or peacefully sleeping within her beautiful palace. Naturally, there were strict patrols of witcher-knights outside the palace in charge of her protection.


    However, the delicate political relationship of the actors within Herdurand City caused Great Duke Lington to put up a strong front against stationing large groups of witcher-knights in the city. Thus, the green dragon that lived in the city square could only have city guards as her defenders, while the servants serving the giant dragon were temporary hired hands from the ghetto.


    All of these details ultimately brought about a life-threatening disaster to the green dragon. In less than three minutes, she had been beaten to the brink of death by four Mages who had been waiting for this moment.


    Unfortunately, be it Leon''s transformation into the Flame Fiend and his desperate slashes with the giant executioner''s blade, or Bleia lying on the green dragon''s bloody chest and drinking its blood with wild abandon, or Keoghan''s transformation into a giant tentacled monster constantly devouring the dragon''s flesh, or even Ferrier''s incessant infection of the dragon''s wounds with terrifying viruses and plagues...


    Even when every single one of them used all the terrifying means at their disposals, or when the green dragon Rissana''s last flicker of life was so dim it seemed like it could go out the very next second... still, the green dragon did not die!


    Under Leon''s command, the Fire Deity at the outer rim of the square launched a counter-charge towards the knights who were rushing over with heavy steps. Sadly, just as it reached halfway there, a dozen Crescent Moon Slashes, Evil-Decimating Slashes, Holy Radiant Swords, and other similar powerful knight battle techniques containing the anger of the knights, crashed into him.


    The radiant knights only needed to rely on their powerful bodily strength to activate the violent runic energies; unlike the spellbreaker knights, that needed to rely on runic weapons to even use knight battle techniques. The Fire Deity exploded in a fiery death as it was hit by a dozen knight battle techniques charged with highly concentrated energies. It didn''t even have the chance to struggle!


    The radiant knights had now charged to the edge of the square. They were barely five hundred meters away from Leon and the others. Only a hundred meters more, and they would be in range to blast Leon and the others with their knight battle techniques. When that happened, they were confident that they only needed one wave of attacks to completely wipe these annoying pests off the face of this plane.


    The scene of the Fire Deity being instantly destroyed by the radiant knights was deeply alarming. Seeing the powerful opponents that were quickly closing in, Leon and the others could only give up on their urge to slay a dragon, regardless of how unwilling they were to do so.


    Without another word, Leon retrieved the Fire Lord and leapt away with a Flame Teleportation.


    Leon vanished in a gigantic cluster of fire that suddenly appeared, only to reappear at the edge of the other side of the square, appearing in a pillar of fire.


    Leon waved his large hand with a wicked grin on his face, and violent Chain Fireballs blasted the city guards around him, sending their flesh and bones flying everywhere. Once the flux of the flames around him had stabilized, he turned his body and once again swiftly cast Flame Teleportation.


    Keoghan and Ferrier were not very Mage at flying, and they didn''t dare to delay. Each of them used the best of their abilities, either turning into black smoke, or growing a pair of wings of wind, and rapidly fled the battlefield as well. Read new chapters at empire


    Only Bleia was too greedy, desperately devouring the flowing dragon blood, even as the acidic and poisonous blood stained her completely green. Only when the radiant knights were almost three hundred meters away from her did she reluctantly take to the skies. The giant bat wings on her back suddenly opened, and she quickly escaped from the square.


    "Hmph. Bloody reptile, stay! " A cold snort full of anger suddenly rang out, and then a single dreadful sun, burning with power, rose amidst the numerous radiant knights, indiscriminately radiating shocking power flux in all directions.


    Third Grade Dragon-Knight Kalyk!


    Following his angry shout, an energy spear formed from concentrated runic energies quickly gathered in his hand. As Kalyl threw it with all his might, it turned into a beam of light that slashed through the skies, directly shooting towards Bleia who was flapping her wings in the sky.


    Bleia turned her body a little, revealing light glowing on her crimson longbow, and a dozen blood-coloured arrows hit the tip of the energy spear. Unfortunately, it was like a mantis trying to stop a cart. The blood-colored arrows had less than 13 points of attack strength and were like bubbles beneath a sun when put before the concentrated energy spear. They disappeared almost instantly. Even though their numbers were superior, they could hardly pause the unstoppable advance of the spear.


    "Don''t block it, dodge. Quick!" It was too late when Keoghan and Ferrier shouted.


    The energy spear shot towards Bleia''s chest with a might that seemed as if it would rend the world apart.


    With a Third Grade dragon knight''s concentrated runic energy, the explosion from the spear would be enough to blow Bleia to bits, with not a single bit of flesh or blood left.


    At this dangerous moment, an explosive fireball appeared from the sky and exploded beside Bleia. The violent flame shockwaves had no effect on the energy spear either, but it managed to blast Bleia away at a key moment.


    The energy spear did not pierce Bleia''s torso; it only managed to go through her leg.


    The energy storm that erupted the very next moment engulfed a large half of Bleia''s body like a blender.


    Bleia''s broken body shot out like an arrow from the energy storm that suddenly erupted, ultimately able to prevent the closely following energy ripples from catching her entire body. When she escaped from the energy tide, only a small part of her perfectly seductive body was left. Everything below her chest was gone.


    Such a terrifying wound would have been lethal to any other person, but on a vampire, it still wasn''t fatal.


    Thanks to the nourishment from the large amounts of dragon blood she had sucked earlier, the missing lower half of her body quickly started to grow again. Bleia continued her speedy flight.


    "Quick, let''s leave!" Keoghan shouted.


    The Mages escaped desperately, without even pausing to look. Four mysterious trails of different colors were drawn in the sky, slowly dispersing after a long time.


    These few Mages were masters in the art of escaping, but the vampire horde that had stayed behind to cover their rear were exterminated by energy spears the moment they took to the skies. Only some smarter ones transformed into bloodsucking bats, weaving through the crowd instead of taking to the skies, and quickly escaped into the surrounding alleys.


    Using such methods, a few vampire elites were successfully able to escape knights'' pursuit, hiding in the underground sewers of Herdurand City.


    ...


    The sudden attack by the mysterious heretics instantly shook the city of Herdurand.


    For the rest of the night, troop after troop of witcher-knights charged into the city, taking it under their control. They then searched for evidence of the outsiders by going through each and every house.


    Naturally, the normal citizens had no ability to resist the witcher-knights and could only let them investigate their houses. However, rich merchants and influential nobles would not accept such humiliation lying down. Armed conflicts of varying scale happened all over the city.


    Sadly, the giant-dragon partner of the honorable Third Grade dragon knight had been severely injured, and was on the brink of death. This had utterly enraged the authorities of the witcher-knight army! Therefore, amongst those who dared to stop the advance of the witcher-knights in their search, the servants and guards were killed without exception, while the merchants and nobles were caught and imprisoned in the witcher-knight''s camp.


    For one night, the entire Herdurand City was in chaos!


    The angry merchants and nobles blocked the entrance to the castellan''s quarters, unceasingly expressing their greatests protests towards the city hall. But the rulers of the city, led by Great Duke Lington, never showed their faces. As such, various malicious rumours started to spread. Many citizens were secretly discussing the possibility that the Great Duke Lington had been put under house arrest by the Lord dragon knight.


    Just as chaos happened back there, the Greenland Forest several hundred kilometers away welcomed an important character.


    Riding a flying giant-dragon at nearly a thousand feet in the sky was not a very comfortable or casual business. At this height, just the wind blowing at you could take away every last bit of warmth in your body. Even a person wrapped in coats and furs would feel the chill all the way down to their bones.


    But with Jefferson''s powerful Third Grade dragon knight physique, he wouldn''t feel even a bit of discomfort in such an environment.


    He bent down to look at the sea of trees that stretched on and on. Everything in his vision was a verdant green that went up and down. It was probably delusional to try and find a troop of a hundred witcher-knights in such a vast forest. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jefferson lightly tapped the green dragon beneath his body. Ysondre understood, and folded his wings to rapidly dive downward, stretching his neck and letting out a long dragon''s roar that rang across several dozen kilometers as he did so.


    He couldn''t find that troop of witcher-knights, but as long as they were still in this forest, they would naturally find a way to contact him when they heard this signature dragon''s-roar.


    Thus, the green dragon unfurled his large dragon wings slightly less than a hundred meters away from the canopy. It circled about the mountainous sea of trees, occasionally letting out loud, clear roars. With the giant dragon''s stunning flight speed and loud voice, the witcher-knights should be able to hear it, as long as they weren''t deaf.


    Sadly, even after several rounds of circling about the vast forest that stretched for several hundred kilometer, they still had not detected any sort of feedback from the forest beneath them.


    Had Ninther brought the troops deep into the woods?


    Jefferson frowned, but the doubt in his heart was extinguished the moment it rose.


    Ninther was not like those newly advanced spellbreaker knights that were prone to rash decisions. If he had planned to bring the knights deep into the forest, he would have sent someone to inform the others of his actions. However, Jefferson had not managed to get any useful information from Blue Hillock City. It was almost as if the hundred-man army of witcher-knights had completely vanished in the woods.


    It seemed there was something odd about this stretch of woods!


    ...


    2047 Words

 Chapter 196 Returning to the Base

    Extra Chapter.....


    100 Power Stones = 1 Chapter. (Goal achieved)


    ....


    In the Mages'' base.


    A group of Mages were gathered in one corner of the base. Their heads were raised, silently gazing at the black dot constantly circling far away on the horizon.


    Beside them, an extremely large illusion barrier hid the entire valley, causing it to blend into the woods around it. From the skies, one couldn''t tell anything was odd with the scene.


    Meanwhile, behind them the entire Mages'' base was as busy as an enormous construction site. Countless robotics beasts, voodoo beasts, and elementium golems were busy working, while the outline of an Mage''s tower was slowly appearing.


    A nine-level Mage''s tower that stood two-hundred meters tall was supposed to be erected here, according to the original plan. As compared to the mid-tier Mage''s tower in the World of Mages, this tower would prioritize defense and offense, while the non-combat facilities within would be greatly reduced.


    Such an Mage''s tower might not be very comfortable to live in, but when the World of Mages wanted to rapidly expand outward, it was a necessary war fortress. Every time Mages arrived in a foreign plane, the first thing to do was to construct such a simplified war tower.


    Once they built the tower, the Mages who had entered the plane would be free from the planar laws'' oppression within the Mage tower''s radius. This created a beneficial battle environment for the Mages on their home territory.


    Currently, the three underground levels of the Mage''s tower had been completed. However, above ground, only a basic structure for the first two levels had been constructed. Under the command of the Mages, several robotics beasts were carefully carving arrays on the inner walls of the tower. Find more to read at empire


    This was another world after all. It wasn''t possible to use the exceedingly costly interplanar ultra-long-range teleportation to transport all of the construction materials over. Thus, all of the luggage the second batch of Mages brought with them were rare materials and resources. The stones and timber used to construct the tower, on the other hand, could only be gathered here.


    If this were a normal Mage''s tower, the body of the tower would be built from numerous layers of compound rocks. The outer wall would be constructed of strongly magic-resistant materials, such as obsidian and steelrock, while the inner wall would use special rocks with excellent magic conductivity such as augite, bloodstone, and volcanic rock.


    Of course, the specific rocks which were selected to construct the tower would be adjusted based on the individual attribute of the Mage stationed in the tower. An Mage''s tower built in this fashion would naturally contain a living environment that was compatible with the stationed Mage''s attribute, and could greatly accelerate the rate of the Mage''s growth.


    Sadly, the lack of resources in this world turned all of this into mere fantasy. This simplified war tower could only be built out of resources gathered in the woods. The materials used to form the tower were all taken from the mountains nearby.


    The Mages had already commanded the large number of elementium golems to excavate a nearby hill, completely mining out everything inside. It was with such a method that they were barely able to keep up with the huge consumption of rocks for the Mage tower''s creation.


    These normal rocks didn''t have such outstanding magic properties as the precious rocks usually used for construction, and their quality was hardly satisfying. In order to compensate for the inadequacies of the wall itself, the Mages had to carve large numbers of Strengthening arrays on the tower walls.


    This undoubtedly caused an even greater consumption of rare materials and resources!


    The initial investment of resources required for the invasion of another plane was astounding.


    Don''t think of it as just a simplified war tower. Even this structure alone could exhaust several decades worth of a small-sized Mage clan''s reserved resources. Moreover, if the war turned sour, the Mages and resources that could be successfully retrieved from the other plane were very few. Most of the investment would have been for nothing.


    This was why plane wars were both the only shortcut for small and mid-sized Mage clans to grow, but also an appalling nightmare that could destroy the foundations of a clan.


    As such, every Mage clan was extremely cautious when faced with an unknown plane. They would seal all information, to avoid opposing clans from finding out their plans, while amassing large numbers of resources. This would allow them to construct their war tower in the shortest time, such that they may have a solid foundation in the following plane war.


    Indeed, the true plane war had yet to start!


    The several battles that Leon and the others had engaged in were at best overtures and appetizers before the start of the plane war. A true planar war was infinitely more savage and bloody than a normal war. It was not something that the likes of Leon and the rookies would be able to imagine with their inexperienced minds!


    Looking at the black dot persistently circling on the horizon, an Mage couldn''t help but start cursing in anger.


    No one would dare make any large actions within the camp while there was such a threat circling above their heads. The progress of the construction would inevitably be affected.


    "Sir F¨¹gen, don''t you think we should send some voodoo beasts to lure it away?" Someone couldn''t help but suggest. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We cannot act recklessly! Right now, there isn''t a single Mage within the base that is a match for a Third Grade dragon knight. If we exposed the location of the base, it probably wouldn''t take more than a couple of hours before the most powerful beings of this plane appeared. Then, the expansion plan the clan has prepared for several decades would have to be given up!" Mage F¨¹gen shook his head coldly and rejected the suggestion of his subordinate.


    "But allowing the dragon knight to keep circling around here is not a solution either!" An Mage sighed, "The illusion barrier can only extend up to a height of 80 metres. Once the war tower is erected, it would definitely be the most obvious landmark in this stretch of woods. As long as the dragon knight isn''t blind, he would definitely see it. When that happens..."


    "Hmph," Mage F¨¹gen shook his head and spoke, "What do you take the dragon knights of this plane for? To use a Third Grade dragon knight as a patrol scout? In my opinion, this dragon knight is searching for the last group of witcher-knights we exterminated. As long as he can''t find them, he will definitely... hmm?"


    Just as they were speaking, the dragon on the horizon far away suddenly stopped his actions. After a quick pause and a loud dragon''s roar, the dragon knight drove the dragon southwest without any hesitation.


    Based on the direction, he was probably returning to Blue Hillock City!


    Mage F¨¹gen was stunned for a moment, before turning back and giving out an order, "Immediately contact Muret in Blue Hillock City. Check if anything important happened. I have a feeling that the dragon knight was in a hurry when it left earlier, almost as if something had happened!"


    "Understood!" The few Mages behind him bowed and accepted the order, then promptly turned to leave.


    A short while later, an Mage hurried back.


    "Sir F¨¹gen, big news! Big news!"


    ...


    It was the early morning of the second day when Keoghan and the other three returned to Blue Hillock City.


    Before they could even sit down and take a breather, a personal order from Second-Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen had already been brought before them. Thus, they once again rushed towards the Mage''s base!


    There, Sir F¨¹gen asked details about their actions in Herdurand City.


    All the clan Mages who stayed in the base looked at each other in amazement when they finished hearing Mage Keoghan''s retelling of events. They could hardly believe what they heard. Even Sir F¨¹gen lowered his head and remained silent after hearing the entire thing.


    Assaulting a Second Grade green dragon? Throwing a city closely guarded by hordes of soldiers into utter chaos, while beating the other dragon-knight''s dragon partner to the brink of death?


    Such an absurd and unbelievable story. Even the most cliched novels about heroes and dragons wouldn''t beat this, would it? This was a Second Grade dragon!


    In all seriousness, even if it had been Sir F¨¹gen who had engaged a dragon alone, he probably wouldn''t have been able to do much to a Second Grade green dragon! After all, dragons could fly and possessed shocking magic and physical resistances. Moreover, adolescent dragons even possessed Dragontongue magic. Wasn''t this equivalent to a combination of both elementium Mages and body refining Mages? And a combination that could even fly!


    This was why dragons had the terrifying ability to challenge enemies above their Grade levels, regardless of what plane they were in!


    The only reason the Third Grade dragon knight would choose Second Grade dragons as their partners was because they had absolutely no means to beat these Second Grade dragons that had thick hides, could fly, and spit their saliva all over the place!


    Yet the four Mages before him, with two of them being rookies that had barely advanced for a half a year, together managed to beat a Second Grade green dragon to the brink of death? It sounded unbelievable. But judging from the clues, it seems this was the only thing that could the dragon knight''s odd actions previously!


    It was undoubtedly important to search for the witcher-knights in the forest, but it was far more important that his companion''s partner had been beaten to the brink of death back in their home base¨C so important that he had no choice but to rush back to Herdurand City.


    After thorough deliberation, F¨¹gen could only choose to believe them.


    But with this happening, it was hard to predict how the following events would unfold!


    First, they exterminated a witcher-knight vanguard army composed of a hundred men. Now, such a bold assault happened in Herdurand. If the opponents were not able to figure out that the invaders they sought were hiding nearby, they would be a group of complete morons!


    Cutting off the legs of a Third Grade dragon knight was indeed fairly good news, but this came at the price of the enemy possibly arriving earlier. Whether this was for better or worse was very debatable.


    Sir F¨¹gen didn''t dare let these few people out to Blue Hillock City anymore. He had finally recognized that this couple of Mages were not people that abided by conventional rules. If he let them out, they would surely create another huge commotion in a few days. With a bitter smile on his face, he could only keep them in the base.


    Leon and the other three, on the other hand, had also obtained spoils of war from Herdurand City. They needed a safe, quiet place to digest and turn them into part of their strength. And so they easily agreed to stay. Bleia, in particular, could be said to be the one that benefited the most out of the four.


    Vampires would always be busy chasing after the blood of the powerful!


    Keoghan, Ferrier, and Leon had at best obtained some green dragon flesh and blood as excellent crafting materials. But Bleia could directly convert the consumed dragon blood into blood energy to increase the limits of her power. This terrifying ability was the scariest trait of the vampires!


    And so, Bleia went into seclusion the moment they returned to the Mage''s base!


    This was the third time Bleia had gone into seclusion. For Bleia, each solitude was a chance to massively increase her power!


    ...


    1968 Words

 Chapter 197 Skirmish in the Woods

    a small five-person adventure group trekked through the woods with difficulty.from their formation, it was clear that this was an adventuring party with powerful combat strength.


    an extremely strong warrior was carving a path at the very front, using the large sword in his hand to cut a narrow route through the dense vegetation. a scrawny rogue was following behind the warrior, his mousy eyes, cautiously on the lookout, incessantly drifting about the shadows around them.


    besides those two, there was an archer with an arrow already knocked, his expression alert. there were also two powerful spellbreaker knights who had taken off their heavy knight''s armor, and were currently only wearing chainmail.


    the bushes were dense, and the trees stretched forever.


    coming into this place, and all you would see is darker and lighter shades of green. it was honestly difficult to even find any other color.


    the thick and knotted roots of ancient trees, the resilient vines that wound together, the bushes and vegetations that grew everywhere, as well as all sorts of wildflowers and weeds that couldn''t be named, were more than enough to completely fill the spaces between each of the large, ancient trees. it was undoubtedly an exceptionally tortuous task for any traveller, without preparation, to walk through such primitive woods.


    flowing rivers, streams in the mountains, and solemn valleys... these were all common sights in the woods. if the terrain had been flat, crossing through these places would not take more than a couple of minutes. yet here in this dense forest, they often had to take two to four hours of great effort to pass through.


    the warrior, rogue, and archer were veterans who often spent their time doing jobs in the greenland forest, and were therefore unfazed by the difficulty before them. however, the two spellbreaker knights that were closely following behind, now without their magic colts, were having an absolutely difficult time getting used to the pain of journeying through the hills and rivers.


    the had only gone less than four kilometers into the woods, yet the two spellbreaker knights were already sweating all over. the simple chainmail on their bodies felt as heavy as a mountain.


    even so, neither of the spellbreaker knights expressed their discomfort, and neither of them suggested a rest. they grit their teeth and endured, walking behind the three adventurers step by step, exploring the woods before them slowly.


    the group finally stopped for a break after arriving at the bottom of a small cliff.


    the two spellbreaker knights painfully dragged their heavy bodies to the side of a flowing mountain stream, scooped up the cool water and had a hearty drink. the warrior who led the party did the same.


    if it hadn''t been for the path he cut open, these two knights, who were used to wrapping themselves up in their tin cans, would never have been able to reach here by themselves.


    the archer was a middle-aged man with a lean build, sharp facial features, as well as a piercing glare. he didn''t rest by the side of the river and drink deeply like his companion. instead, he leaned on an ancient tall tree at the bottom of the cliff, constantly assessing his surroundings while occasionally turning his ears to listen for movement in the woods.


    any trace of strange sounds and he would have his finger on the bowstring. if he felt anything out of place, the sharp arrow on his bow would instantly shoot out.


    the rogue, on the other hand, was an agile fellow. while everyone was resting, he climbed to the top of the cliff and looked about, periodically leaning down and using hand signals to communicate with the archer.


    "how is it? did jack find anything?" a spellbreaker knight couldn''t help but ask once he was done drinking.


    jack was the rogue''s name.


    the archer shook his head, his face white as a sheet, "nothing at all! this forest is way too quiet. i have been making a living in greenland forest for five years, and i have never seen the woods be so quiet; so quiet, not even a small animal can be found! sir, this forest has been enveloped by an ominous feeling. why don''t we go back?"


    the slightly younger spellbreaker knight, his face full of determination, sternly replied, "you lot cannot go back now. we hired you to come here for the purpose of finding the den of those heretics. before we find anything, none of us here are allowed to go back! if you escape on your own, you will still receive the harshest punishment when you get back. so let go of your pointless thoughts, and focus on how to safely complete the mission!"


    the older spellbreaker knight took out an old parchment map from his arms, and started to evaluate their current location. it was obvious that the road that they still needed to search was very long, evident from the bending and curving route drawn on the map.


    the warrior shrugged and put on a helpless expression upon hearing the spellbreaker knight''s words. meanwhile, frustration and hesitation appeared on the archer''s face.


    while he was in a daze, a vine dangling from the tree he was leaning on curiously moved without any wind blowing. silently, the vine that almost touched the ground started to curl like a snake, raising itself upwards.


    the tip of the vine split apart, revealing a set of sharp teeth like that of a beast.


    just as the vine was slowly inching forward, its sharp teeth about to touch the archer''s exposed neck, the rogue on the cliff leapt downwards. the throwing daggers in his hand screeched through the air and slashed past the archer''s ears, hitting square on the tip of the vine.


    "clang!" the crisp and clear sound of metal clashing. the archer''s body trembled. aware of the danger, he didn''t turn around, and instead flipped forward instantly.


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    the vine wasn''t cut or damaged by the throwing dagger. it even let out a metallic sound similar to clashing swords when it was hit. the lunging vine didn''t manage to bite the archer''s neck, having been stopped by the dagger. it''s sharp teeth bit nothing, letting out an odd grinding sound as the teeth gnashed together.


    it evidently knew it had been exposed, as a weird cracking sound rang out from the roots of the old tree beneath the cliff. the tree pulled out its fine yet dense roots from the ground, entangling and fashioning them into limbs that resembled human legs, before slowly walking towards the humans.


    moreover, the dozens of vines dangling from its body started to move, their tips splitting into mouths with sharp teeth, letting out terrifying snapping sounds.


    "dammit... what kind of monster is this!" the warrior roared as he waved the large sword in his hand and charged forward.


    as a small adventuring group, he was the only one who could charge forward, do frontal assaults, and other sorts of dangerous activities. his two other companions couldn''t take on such an odd and powerful magical creature from the front. on the other hand, the two spellbreaker knights, as the employers, had the right to remain neutral until the adventurers failed.


    the archer quickly put some distance between himself and the tree-shaped magical creature. snapping sounds came ceaselessly from the bowstring in his hands, as one arrow after another shot towards the enemy in a straight line. this was the first time he had ever seen a magical creature like this. with no means of identifying the enemy''s weakness, he could only choose to attack the enemy''s thick tree trunk.


    the rogue clearly had the same idea, as the envenomed throwing daggers in his hands were also desperately thrown towards the enemy''s thick body.


    unfortunately, most of the their attacks were brushed aside by the madly waving vine serpents. even when some arrows and daggers made it through, they didn''t seem to have any effect.


    evidently this terrifying magical creature was not scared of attacks from such small sharp weapons!


    the warrior slashed the tree several times, sending wrinkled and rough tree bark, as well as tree sap, flying everywhere. but before he could do more damage, a thick root came up from the ground, binding his legs and making him fall flat.


    the ancient tree moved its forked ''legs'', slowly moving towards the warrior. the vine serpents dangling from its branches snapped their jaws, as if they were about to devour the warrior whole.


    the two spellbreaker knight looked at each other and nodded, before immediately activating the runic equipment on their bodies. the small shield bound to their left hands emitted a semi-translucent energy shield, while a sliver of elementium flame appeared on the runic sword in their right hands, before slowly extending to the rest of the blade.


    energy shields and flame swords.


    these two spellbreaker knight were also experienced soldiers. they knew that fire was undoubtedly the greatest counter to such beefy plant-type creatures.


    one spellbreaker knight stepped forward, the flame sword in his right hand slashing forward vigorously. the flame blade extended outwards and left a burning crescent moon trail in the air, slicing through the roots binding the warrior.


    the roots broke, sending viscous green sap flying everywhere.


    the ancient tree-shaped creature shook in pain, and all the vine serpents moved to the front of the trunk, snapping at the spellbreaker knights. s§×arch* the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    one had to admit that the spellbreaker knights, with their runic equipment, were the natural enemies of all magical beings!


    the energy shield with no elemental alignment could block curses and almost all spells, with the exception of spells with penetration effects. they also had exceptional defense against physical attacks. this ensured the personal safety of the spellbreaker knights. with the addition of the flame longsword in their hands, which dealt double attribute damage of both physical and fire types, they could deal incalculable amounts of damage to the enemy.


    if this ancient tree, with its tree bark armor, had been left to the adventurers to deal with, at least seven or eight casualties would have been needed to take it down. but with the spellbreaker knights'' powerful defense and offense, they were able to set the ancient tree on fire, while only paying the price of the warrior being lightly injured.


    indeed, when the spellbreaker knights cut a deep opening on the ancient tree''s body and used the flames to ignite the green sap, the entire tree started to let out ear-piercing scream. it was like that of a human''s as it painfully burned in the sea of fire.


    the three-man adventure group was naturally ecstatic at being able to successfully eliminate such a powerful magical being.


    however, before they could loot the spoils from the burning body of the ancient tree, the two spellbreaker knights gravely shouted, "hurry up and come back! get ready. the true enemy is about to arrive!"


    the three-man group was horrified.


    such... such a powerful magical creature still wasn''t the enemy''s main force?


    just as they were hesitating, the overwhelming sound of thrashing winds suddenly filled the entire woods nearby.


    a large black shadow started to emerge from all over the woods, screeching as it surged towards them.


    "bat swarm! it''s a bat swarm..."


    the next moment, their shouts were drowned out by the bloodsucking vampires that surged forth like a tide!


    ...


    1907 words

 Chapter 198 Slaughter

    in less than seventeen seconds, the three-man adventure group had turned into corpses.the two spellbreaker knights remaining stood back to back and were fighting off the vampire swarm with their energy shields and flaming longswords.


    it was unfortunate that most of the swarm consisted of vampire spawn, who were much weaker than the first generation of vampires that bleia had personally embraced. as they gathered together, surrounded, and circled the spellbreaker knights, not only were they unable to break through the opponents'' defenses, many of their companions were even killed by the runic longswords shrouded in flames as well as and the flame blades that burst forth every so often.


    as the vampires engaged in a brutal fight, a red silhouette appeared on the low cliff beside the battlefield. a slim female proudly stood there.


    bright red armor, crimson longbow, seductive body, perfect looks, and that pair of crimson eyes glowing bright red...


    bleia stepped on the stones of the cliff, her flawless figure displayed before everyone. however, her attention didn''t seem to be on the battle before her, and was instead drawn to the woods nearby.


    with the vast sea of trees and dense foliage, it was extremely difficult to see through the layers of green and to see what was below. but now, using countless magic eyes spread throughout the vast forest, she was able to see everything within a radius of ten to fifteen kilometers.


    the stationary magic eyes, along with the agile vampire scouts, turned the dense forest into her ally. it was no longer an obstacle, but an advantageous homefield that allowed her to launch attacks as she willed, exterminating numerous small squads of witcher-knights at the same time.


    the witcher-knight army had suddenly stationed themselves in blue hillock city half a month ago.


    their arrival had undoubtedly attracted the protests of the blue hillock city governor as well as its local nobles. sadly, when faced with the overwhelmingly powerful dragon knight, the local forces had no choice but to keep their heads down and obediently follow the instructions of the opponent.


    meanwhile, the authorities of blue hillock city that had been turned into bleia''s blood servants had settled down, and were continuously feeding information about the witcher-knights'' movements to the mages'' base.


    the two dragon knights had finally been able to determine that the evil invaders were most definitely hiding in the southern area of greenland forest, a vast area of dense trees that stretched for a hundred and fifty kilometers. and the opponent''s identity was obvious! it was the heretic mages that came from the world of mages!


    this was clear from examining the injuries of the poor green dragon.


    amongst the massive planar world in the infinite sea of stars, the world of mages was always a nightmare that small and mid-sized material planes were never able to get rid of. s§×ar?h the novel?ire(.)ne*t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    this was a terrifyingly large-sized plane that very much favored invasions!


    a group of evil mages that chased after knowledge with an impassioned madness, while ignoring all rules of society, lived within the plane. they had twisted minds and travelled about the depths of the sea of stars in groups, using their evil magic to find weak planes that could bring about resources and wealth for them.


    they appeared fair and just! everywhere they went they shouted for fair trade and equivalent exchange, as if they were a group of casters that kept to a strict set of principles. but the moment they realized the opponent didn''t possess sufficient power to resist them, they would put on another face.


    the mages would use powerful martial strength, terrifying voodoo beasts, and horrifying plagues to weaken the wills of those who opposed them, then forcibly enslave their enemies.


    they would prop up obedient puppets in every plane they conquered, turning them into leaders and having them order the natives to excavate mines, dig for jewels, and use every bit of their strength to exploit all the precious resources of the plane.


    in the hearts of all the weak and small material planes'' natives, the mages were a bunch of horrifying spellcasters that had twisted minds and insatiable greed, possessing powerful and evil magic to back up their desires.


    once these mages were allowed to break into a plane and put down their roots, the only thing awaiting the plane was endless humiliation and a life of slavery that lasted for a thousand years. it would last until the last bit of the plane''s resources had been exploited!


    therefore, the moment they determined that the invaders were a group of evil mages, the higher-ups of the knights'' army hastened their actions.


    the witcher-knights haven''t finished rallying? then we rally while we fight!


    the resources for a planar war have yet to be prepared? then we prepare while we fight!


    the enemies'' den has yet to be found? then we search while we fight! enjoy new chapters from empire


    the first group of witcher-knights that gathered in blue hillock city numbered around 2300 men, while the spellbreaker knights, that had the power of first grade mages, had also reached 150 men. the radiant knights that represented the higher-ups of the knight''s army, and who had power rivalling that of second grade mages, numbered 20 men.


    there were even two dragon knights with the power of third grades.


    sadly,dragon knight kalyk''s dragon partner had been gravely injured, and could only be sent back to dragon''s cliff to rest for the moment. this caused the witcher-knight army to lose an extremely mobile force!


    the army of the witcher-knights had already been amassed. they only needed to determine the true location of the enemy''s den, and then they would be able to charge forth with the force of lightning to thoroughly exterminate the enemy.


    unfortunately, due to the complex environment of greenland forest, the dragon knight''s numerous high-altitude investigations yielded no clues as to the location of the evil mages. with no other choice, the higher-ups could only send out large numbers of small squads, paired together with adventurers and mercenaries, to launch a large-scale sweep of greenland forest''s southern area.


    meanwhile, to stop the knights'' search operations, the mages had emptied all of their reserved resources to construct a large batch of grim voodoo beasts, sending them into the surrounding woods.


    thus, countless savage and horrible battles that were bloody beyond imagination erupted in this vast sea of trees stretching for hundreds of kilometers. of course, the number of human mercenaries, knights, and voodoo beasts that fell under the dappled shadows of the canopy was countless as well.


    after a dozen days of bloody back and forth, the higher-ups realised that their search squads, led by witcher-knights, might be able to stave off the voodoo beasts that used all sorts of weird and peculiar abilities. but the moment they met the evil mages wandering about the depths of the woods, they were dead, without even the chance to send out even the simplest of information.


    therefore, to increases the survivability of the search squads, most of the squad leaders were replaced with the powerful spellbreaker knights. these spellbreaker knights travelled in pairs and would mostly be able to survive even under the assault of mages, as long as their luck wasn''t absolutely terrible. moreover, they would be able to bring back exceptionally valuable tactical information.


    on the other hand, thirteen mages were pulled from the base, along with the vast numbers of voodoo beasts, and sent to the woods in the south to hinder the knights'' continuous searching.


    the vast number of voodoo beasts fought alongside the evil mages, and created a line of extermination within the southern woods of greenland forest, engaging the endless hordes of knights squads in repeated bloody and cruel pursuits and hunts.


    however, as individual radiant knights started to impersonate spellbreaker knights, going undercover in squads, the situation on the battlefield started to become increasingly chaotic and terrible. everyday, one could hear news about the extermination of knight squads or of mages being killed.


    for example, in the battle that was happening below the cliff now, bleia clearly had an overwhelming advantage in combat. as long as she joined the fight, and broke the united defenses of the two spellbreaker knights below, the swarm of vampires would most definitely be able to devour the two.


    however, bleia, who was standing proudly on the cliff, only took a quick look at the battlefield with her bright red eyes before proceeding to ignore it. even though her subordinate vampire spawn were suffering heavy casualties, she had no intention of helping.


    with their backs to each other, the two spellbreaker knights were still fighting off the attacks of the bats, and started to show signs of worry in their eyes. the slightly older spellbreaker knight kept glancing at bleia. he finally couldn''t wait and longer when he saw that the opponent had no intention of joining the fight.


    following a deep shout, the aura around the middle-aged knight started to increase rapidly. violently surging runic energies gathered within the rune swords in his hands, ultimately turning into a radiant crescent moon, slashing towards the position bleia was standing at.


    bleia''s body flashed away from its original position. her bat wings unfolded and she floated in midair, looking down on this middle-aged knight with a trace of disdain in her eyes.


    when this battle technique that was most commonly used by the knights¨Ccrescent moon slash¨C landed on the cliff, the highly concentrated runic energies instantly exploded. the strength of the energy was no less than a spell with 150 points of power. if bleia hadn''t dodged, just that blow alone would have severely injured her!


    it was almost as if a miniature sun had exploded on top of the cliff, as the violent runic energies instantly blasted apart half of the cliffside. the side of the cliff facing outwards started to crumble in a flurry of dust and crumbling rocks. countless shattered stones and a ton of debris started to roll downwards, instantly flooding the battlefield beneath the cliff.


    after some difficulty, the two knights were able to free themselves from the torrent of dirt and rock, and were finally able to find a spot to stand after retreating a hundred meters backwards.


    bright runic lights shone on the body of the middle-aged radiant knight. he gazed upon bloody bleia, still floating in the air, his eyes betraying an expression of thought.


    if she knew that i am a radiant knight, why wouldn''t she retreat? could it be...


    there was no time for him to think. in the woods one kilometer northwest, a sudden commotion that exceeded the violent elementium flux earlier erupted. the radiant knight''s face fell when he felt the terrifying elementium flux and saw the magic flames suddenly erupt.


    "it''s the flame demon!" the young spellbreaker knight couldn''t help but exclaim, his eyes betraying shock and fear that couldn''t be hidden.


    after the bloody battles of the past few days, the knights and mages had a better understanding of each other''s forces.


    the most terrifying force on the knights'' side was most definitely that group of radiant knights. they were slightly lacking in mobility, but their powerful runic powers gave them incomparably powerful attacks and an impenetrable defense. in all seriousness, the only thing the mages could do when they met radiant knights was retreat. they had absolutely no chance of beating them in a fight.


    on the other hand, some terrifying characters had sprung up on the mages'' side as well. such as bloody bleia before him, who was always surrounded by terrifying bat swarms; or worm controller blake, who could command tens of thousands of poisonous bugs. there were also other scary mages with all sorts of odd abilities...


    but none of them were as scary as the flame demon!


    when the three-meter tall flame demon, clad in brilliant red flames all over its body, stepped onto the battlefield with his two fire golems, the doubled number of fire spells coupled with the fire deity''s explosions were enough to instantly kill a spellbreaker knight of the same grade.


    thus, whenever a knight squad met the flame demon in the depths of the woods, it would be the end of their fates right then and there!


    ...


    2051 words

 Chapter 199 Demon

    the light of flames flickered in the woods far away. intense fires ravaged about.the death cries of the accompanying mercenaries and the angered roars of the spellbreaker knights could be heard clearly!


    the expression on the middle-aged radiant knight''s face suddenly changed. he had no time to be entangled with bloody bleia. immediately, he charged towards the battlefield in the distance.


    as part of the army''s higher ranks, he knew very well that there were only two spellbreaker knights in the squad there. facing the terrifying flame demon with such a force would definitely result in heart-rending casualties.


    if one were to form an analysis based purely on the grade of the individual, both the spellbreaker knights and the mages were at the first grade, and should have the power to kill each other. theoretically, the two spellbreaker knights facing the single first grade mage on the battlefield there should have the advantage.


    unfortunately, such an idealistic comparison had never proven true.


    on one hand, you had the evil mages that came from a powerful plane, while on the other you had close-combat knights from a weak plane. if one were to remove the hampering effect of the plane''s suppression, a first grade mage could be said to have an absolute advantage against a spellbreaker knight of the same grade.


    the frail mages might fear those elusive assassins, but when faced with these tough and beefy knights, they had a clear battle advantage thanks to their class. you are tough? well, if one spell can''t blow you away, i''ll cast two! if two isn''t enough, i''ll cast three!


    as for a melee fight? hehehe, no mage would be idiotic enough to engage in a melee with the tin-can spellbreaker knights. it was delusional for the spellbreaker knights to catch up to the nimble mages in the dense woods, especially considering their horrendous speed.


    be it flame teleportation, or shadowstalk, or elementium wings of wind, the mages had plenty of means to keep a safe casting distance between themselves and the immobile knights. most of the time, the mages were the ones kiting the knights. it was very rare that the knights were able to trap and surround the mages in one spot.


    of course, not all mages had such mobile abilities. just in the past fifteen days, there were already three mages that had died on the battlefield. the remaining mages all had powerful movement abilities, as well as powerful and deadly spells.


    with just these two traits, as long as they didn''t bump into radiant knights, the mages would have over a seventy percent chance of winning in fighting against the spellbreaker knights. this was why the knight''s camp had lost twenty spellbreaker knights, while the mages had only lost three mages.


    because of this, the radiant knight flew into a rage when he saw the terrifying flame demon slaughtering their elites in the distance. he charged towards the battlefield as quickly as he could while being cautious of any attacks from bloody bleia.


    however, things didn''t turn out the way he thought they would!


    the radiant knight thought that bloody bleia would slow him down to the best of her abilities in order to buy time for the flame demon. but who knew that bleia was completely unfazed by his departure? instead, she unfolded her wings and leapt towards the young spellbreaker knight.


    now, the radiant knight''s face had truly become dark!


    he finally understood why bloody bleia appeared here.


    if he insisted on saving the two spellbreaker knights, then the knight he left here would not be able to escape the fangs of bloody bleia. but if he didn''t reinforce the two knights...


    the crackling sound of fire in the distance became even more intense. a bright red flame pillar, almost turning a blinding white, blasted into the sky and enveloped the trees in a hundred meter radius. it was a terrifying world of flames. at the same time, a dome-shaped flame barrier appeared out of nowhere. it was the flame demon''s signature, ring of fire!


    the middle-aged radiant shook his head in anger and sighed before turning around and charging towards the female vampire, who was still circling around the young spellbreaker knight. now that the flame demon had even activated his ring of fire, it was obvious what the fates of the two spellbreaker knights would be.


    rather than saving two subordinates who were most probably dead, it was more important to protect the companion right beside him!


    bleia cursed under her breath when she saw the radiant knight hurrying back. with no choice left, she could only escape out of the opponent''s attack radius in a couple of flashes. she might have the ability to kill a spellbreaker knight, but against a radiant knight one grade above herself, she could only retreat. she dared not even expose herself where the opponent could reach.


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    the spellbreaker knights were able to combine the external runic energies with the life force within their bodies to create a powerful knight battle technique, similar to an invisible force that could be expelled outwards. this allowed their attacks to break free from the limits of their weapons, and possess somewhat long-ranged abilities.


    moreover, as the concentration of the energy was far higher than the concentration of elemental spells, these kinds of mid-ranged knight battle technique not only had powerful anti-defense properties, they were even able to completely negate or annihilate the spells of casters while they were in midair. this was where the name spellbreaker knight came from!


    and radiant knights were undoubtedly even stronger than spellbreaker knights.


    their strength mainly came from their ability to utilize runic energies to strengthen themselves, somewhat akin to the body refining mages of the world of mages. however, while the body refining mages used various poisons or extreme pain to exhaust the potential of their bodies and strengthen their physique, the radiant knights used runic energy to temporarily grant themselves immense physical strength.


    even though their paths were slightly different, both possessed equally powerful physical combat ability. s~ea??h the nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    thus, bleia could use her agility to toy with a spellbreaker, but when she met a radiant knight, retreat was her only option. fight? with bleia''s current ability, even breaking through the defense of a radiant knight''s combination of runic energies and their life force was an immensely difficult task.


    conversely, if the distance between the two was shortened, bleia could be killed in one blow instantly by the radiant knight if he found an opportunity.


    bleia''s blood-energy infused crimson armor could only endure up to 110 points of elemental damage. meanwhile, radiant knights were able to let out blows of combined energy that could reach 150 points with every strike they made. instantly killing a melee mage like herself was but an easy task. that was why bleia didn''t dare move within ten steps of the radiant knight.


    looking at the sly bloody bleia, the middle-aged radiant knight''s heart was filled with immense humiliation that couldn''t be expressed with words.


    this was a weak and powerless mage who was an entire grade below himself, yet she was able to render a second grade knight helpless with her exceptional agility. the radiant knight''s attacks were indeed powerful, but would it matter if he couldn''t even hit the enemy?!


    in the short delay here, the battle in the distant woods had already reached its conclusion!


    as the terrifying forest fire started to spread outwards, the sounds of exploding fireballs started to diminish before eventually vanishing.


    countless pairs of eyes on the nearby hills, cliffs, and the top of the canopy were looking towards the direction of the battle. at that moment, many grieving sighs were let out in the depths of the forest at the same time.


    leon was completely unfazed by the battle''s various onlookers.


    with seven or eight wind critters floating above the forest nearby, and a dozen clay golems swimming under the ground, not even the smallest motions within a radius of five kilometers were able to escape leon''s senses. it was with this absolute control of the battlefield that leon was able to completely display the numerical advantage of the golem army, and maintain an absolute pressure on the enemy within a small battlefield.


    besides the necessary local mercenaries, the squads always consisted of single spellbreaker knight leading two witcher knights, or two spellbreaker knights travelling in a pair. occasionally, radiant knights would be mixed into the count to bait the mages into attacking.


    this arrangement and number of personnel was the ideal battle formation that was realized after half a month of bloody battle.


    there were approximately a dozen evil mages wandering about the forest, usually fighting alone, with the exception of the necessary servants and summons that they commanded. it was very rare for mages to fight together. this was the case was due to the distrust amongst mages that hindered any sort of cooperation.


    however, once the knight squads gathered into an army that a single mage was no longer able to fight against, the mages would gather together and fight, regardless of how unwilling they were. after a few battles that ended up as bloody slaughters, the higher-ups of the knights'' army had no choice but to split the army into smaller squads and start a game of cat and mouse with the mages in the woods.


    most of the time the mages were the cats, while the knight squads were the mice.


    every time the were assaulted by mages, the first casualties were always the mercenaries in the squad. the knights, on the other hand, were able to retreat while using their powerful strength to fight, as long as their opponents weren''t the more powerful and terrifying mages. besides being a little flushed, most of the time there wouldn''t be any threat to their lives.


    however, if the attacking mage had bad luck and bumped into a squad with a radiant knight, the position of cat and mouse would immediately be reversed. the three mage casualties had died at the hands of radiant knights in this fashion.


    the mages that continued to intercept enemies were either quick at escaping, had resilient physiques, or looked on cautiously before they made any moves. as long as they were able to do any one of those, they were able to keep their lives and not die humiliatingly in a dark corner of the forest.


    meanwhile, leon had his army of elementium scouts. along with his unique fire teleportation ability, which made him the perfect fit for such a chaotic and messy battlefield, he constantly obtained kills left and right.


    most other mages had to be careful and repeatedly probe the enemies, even if they found a squad, so as to not fall into the hands of radiant knights. however, such caution very easily caused the target to be aware of their existence, causing a perfect hunt to become a meaningless chase and pursuit.


    the knight squads in the forest would call for help from each other. if they realized their companions were being pursued, the nearby squads would rapidly hurry over to reinforce them. when that happened, it was the mage''s turn to run!


    such a process of probing, counter-probing, pursuing, and counter-pursuing was the least efficient means of fighting.


    however, leon had enough eyes in the sky to simultaneously track two or three different squads at the same time. regardless of how well the radiant knights'' impersonations were, some clue that exposed their identity would reveal themselves under leon''s complete and absolute monitoring.


    thus, leon had plenty of time to choose prey that he could devour in a single bite, as well as set up traps beforehand. as the unnecessary probing and hesitations were eliminated, leon was able to obtain great results every time he struck.


    his chosen prey would never have a chance of escaping, which also saved him from going through the process of pursuing and hunting them down. as long as he was able to control and delay the squads nearby to prevent them from reinforcing his prey, then even two spellbreaker knights were not enough to stop his slaughter.


    if it wasn''t for the scroll of voodoo having a cooldown that limited the flurry of spells, and if it wasn''t for leon reserving nearly half of his strength to deal with any unforeseen events, his destructive speed might even increase further.


    even so, the terrifying name of the flame demon was quickly spreading amongst the knights.


    ....


    2091 words

 Chapter 200 Night of Terror

    it was a temporary camp.the camp was located in the middle of a pile of rocks.


    the two to three meter tall rocks were messily stacked upon each other. they may not have look very ordered or well-arranged, but they were able to bring about some sense of security for the campers.


    the mist was damp and heavy.


    even though it was already deep into the night, the travellers camping amidst the pile of rocks had not started a campfire to get rid of the moist air. no one was speaking either. under the black shadows of the towering rocks, a handful of adventurers wrapped their bodies with thick animal furs and cloth, trying hard to fall asleep.


    however, the scene they saw during the day had been too shocking¨C so shocking that no one in the camp could sleep.


    "sylow, do you think we can return home alive?" the hunter, poole, lightly jabbed the sides of his companion from the same village and whispered softly.


    sylow was an archer. he was the best archer back in the village they came from.


    sylow turned his body, but didn''t answer his companion''s question.


    however, poole vaguely realized that his companion was slightly shaking when he touched him earlier. he didn''t ask his companion the reason, for at this very moment, his body was also shaking uncontrollably.


    that terrifying flame humanoid as large as a demon. that deafening sound of explosion that shook the entire forest. the sea of flames that seemed like they would consume everything. two lord knights and three mercenaries had so easily died in the sea of flames, becoming yet more souls reaped by the evil mages.


    each of those characters were likely infinitely stronger than himself!


    when he recalled the scene he had seen while crouched on the top of the tree that evening, poole felt like even his soul was shaking. it was almost as if... almost as if he himself had turned into the knight engulfed by the violent flames, only capable of letting out his life''s last sorrowful cry!


    pressured by the terror in his heart, poole found the courage to turn around to face a shadow at the other end of the camp and asked softly, "sir morse, will we be able to return home alive?"


    "silence! do you want to draw those mages over?" the spellbreaker knight sir morse, who was hidden by the shadows, scolded softly. but then his tone became gentle, "don''t think too much. our mission is to investigate the surroundings of serpentfowl cliff. just 1.5 more kilometers tomorrow and we can accomplish our mission. then you will be able to claim your reward from the base. that''s 30 gold sorens! more than enough for you to live comfortably for ten years!"


    perhaps due to the thought of a peaceful life after obtaining the reward, poole was able to slightly let go of his concerns. he wrapped himself tightly in the thick fur once more, trying to get a little warmer.


    poole had no idea that the earth was starting to rise in a spot at the middle of the base as he was trying to fall asleep. as the earth finally gave way, countless black scorpions surged out, forming into five separate black tides of bug that silently streamed into the surrounding darkness.


    after a short moment, knight morse''s angered roar rang out in the darkness.


    "get up... everyone get up... worm controller is here!"


    following the flash of light from an energy shield''s activation, the flame longsword in his hand was also ignited. the blinding light of the flame instantly illuminated the crude camp. there were five people in the camp. besides himself, there were two witcher-knights and two mercenary hunters.


    unfortunately, when the flickering light illuminated the camp the only ones that were able to leap out of the furs were himself and a witcher-knight named gurm. the other three didn''t respond at all. looking from a distance, the only thing they could see were the furs and felts creeping about as the bugs within crawled around.


    "dammit... " morse cursed angrily, "get your weapons and prepare for battle."


    in truth, there was no need for him to remind him, as knight gurm was already swatting away the numerous scorpions on his body, using his resilient will to resist the waves of nausea while drawing out his runic longsword.


    these scorpions had repeatedly stung him with their poison stingers once they crawled into his felt, yet oddly enough there was no pain. if he hadn''t been alerted by sir morse''s loud roar, he would''ve probably died silently in his sleep like the other witcher-knight.


    the burning flame longsword was vigorously stabbed into the ground, causing a violent flame shockwave to instantly engulf the camp.


    under knight morse''s powerful explosion, the scorpions that had been frantically scurrying towards them were devoured by the ferocious elementium flames. the ear-piercing cries of the dying bugs could be heard everywhere in the camp.


    however, the tunnel that appeared in the middle of the camp suddenly collapsed, spewing forth larger beetles that flowed forth under the illumination of countless tiny flames on the battlefield. they gathered together, forming a terrifying, creeping pile of bugs, slowly rising in height.


    very soon, a human outline made of the terrifying bug swarm appeared in the camp.


    the two knights couldn''t hide the despair in their eyes when they saw the evil mage''s odd method of appearance. it was like the insides of their hearts were soaked in snow and ice- all they felt was cold.


    worm controller blake had appeared!


    ...


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    in a cave under a cliff, six kilometers northwest.


    the bright campfire was still burning strong.


    the entrance of the cave was covered with a thick pelt. moreover, the outside of the cave was covered by dense vegetation. there was no worry that the light of the fire would be seen from outside.


    the four people in the camp were sitting around the campfire, silently wiping their weapons and armor, with no intention or desire to have a conversation.


    they were very fortunate to have reached this hidden cave before sundown under the hunter''s lead. this was why they were able to set up a camp with a fire to drive away the moist air of the forest. otherwise, had they camped out in the open, they would never dare to start a fire.


    in greenland forest, where it there were leaves and bushes for miles, even a little firelight within the darkness could clearly be seen from ten kilometers away. even though there were no longer any beasts or magical creatures in this piece of woods, there were still the evil mages who were far scarier than any wild beast.


    in two days time, this four-man squad had only managed to progress no more than fifteen kilometers, and already they had been attacked fifteen times by voodoo beasts.


    these voodoo beasts roamed the forest in packs. the moment they sensed any humans nearby, they would charge forth fearlessly like a bunch of mad hounds. they could be plague hounds, or mad bulls, or poison dart frogs... of course, they also met an odd creature created by combining winged dragons and human lancers.


    not a single one of these odd creatures were normal. they either brought terrifying plagues or viruses or were bloody and disgusting creatures that were clearly the amalgamation of several wild beasts!


    it was thanks to the spellbreaker knight''s powerful mid-ranged flame blade that they were able to fight their way here.


    very fortunately, even though they were attacked by hordes of voodoo beasts, they had yet to meet those evil mages!


    the southern region of the greenland forest was mountainous, while its forest stretched for countless miles. once one entered the dense woods, it would be hard to tell if anyone was near, even if they were only a hundred meters apart. thus, it was virtually impossible to totally stop the progress of the knight squad with only a dozen mages spread out in this large area.


    it wasn''t particularly unusual that they were able to reach here without meeting any mages.


    however, back in the evening, they had witnessed a battle far away from the top of a hill that caused the squad to become deathly silent. a group that was not much weaker than theirs had been exterminated under the assault of the flame demon!


    deep in their hearts, the knights were extremely upset with their superiors'' decision to send them on a suicide mission to investigate the forest. however, after a little thinking, it was a reasonable choice. with such a vast forest before them, the 2000-man witcher-knight army could only roam about aimlessly if they didn''t have a specific target.


    when that happened, even the massive amount of supplies required to sustain 2000 men was sufficient to cause the army to collapse, before they could even find the enemy and wage war on them!


    thus, even though there were witcher-knights painfully dying in the depths of the woods every day, the army''s higher-ups insisted on the plan of having investigation squads search the forest.


    after paying the price of two dozen spellbreaker knights'' lives, and over fifty witcher-knights, they had finally completed the search of the outer area of the forest. the mages'' defensive line was slowly shrinking. perhaps in another three to four days, they would be able to completely comb this vast forest of hundreds of kilometers and find the den the enemies were hiding in.


    then, it would be the wonderful time to rouse their army and exterminate the evil mages'' den in one fell swoop!


    but while the idea was wonderful, having it come to fruition required even more work and sacrifice. as for whether they would be able to live to see that wonderful moment, the two spellbreaker knights in the stone cave had no idea.


    however, just as everyone was gazing into the fire in a daze, an odd knocking sound rang out from the entrance of the cave.


    "clang. clang. clang.... anybody here?"


    "who is it?" a hunter replied in shock. then he realized he was in the middle of nowhere. where would a door have come from? where would a visitor have come from?


    "a lonely traveler! if you have no qualms, i''ll be coming in!" the voice from outside sounded really weird. it was stiff and hoarse, completely unlike any human''s voice.


    "since you have made it here, then come in if you will! no need for any theatrics outside!" the spellbreaker knight entos slowly got up, light radiating from his energy shield and his flame longsword.


    all of a sudden, he turned to look at his companion, who was sitting beside him, in surprise.


    heim, who was also a spellbreaker knight, was sitting on the ground, but veins were bulging on his forehead, his head was flushed, and his teeth were grinding together so hard they were letting out a screeching sound.


    "what''s happened to you?" entos asked loudly.


    "i''m... falling... under... someone''s... control," a simple sentence, but knight heim had to pause between each and every word. after he said that, even his eyes started to become red.


    knight entos immediately activated the flame longsword in his hand. the elementium flame that suddenly erupted instantly illuminated the entire cave, as well as knight heim. s§×ar?h the ¦Çovelfire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the first thing he saw was several semi-translucent threads floating behind knight heim, who was sitting on a felt. all the threads had dug into his body, while the other ends silently extended to the top of the cave.


    "dammit, it''s marionette!" knight entos roared in anger, and a flame blade slashed through the air, slicing through those seven or eight odd threads.


    with the help of his companion, knight heim was finally able to break free from the control of the threads. quickly, he jumped onto his feet and shouted, "everyone get ready. it''s the evil mage marionette..."


    yet just as he was shouting, the two mercenaries who were also sitting beside the fire stood up clumsily. an odd grin appeared on their faces before they leapt towards the knights, weapons in hand.


    ...


    2034 words

 Chapter 201 Battle in the Night

    the mages'' base.in a dark and dim stone chamber.


    eight stone platforms were placed around the empty hall. odd specimens composed of human body parts and magical creatures were displayed on the platforms. two or three mages gathered about the edge of a stone platform, dissecting a specimen on the platform, with serious expressions on their faces.


    a naked man with an excellent build was lying on the platform closest to the stone chamber''s door. the front of his body was widely spread apart like an open book, from the throat all the way down to his crotch. the bright red flesh, the dripping blood, the wicked faces of the mages¨C all of these created a haunting atmosphere in the chamber that couldn''t easily be described!


    this man had a pug nose, black hair, a square face, and tan yet smooth skin. just a quick look at his clearly defined muscles and large skeletal structure, and one could tell that he was a strong warrior who was used to frequent and intense training.


    there was a tattoo of a sword and shield on his left shoulder. if any of the natives of this plane that were familiar with the local culture were here they would surely scream in surprise, for the strong man being dissected was an official witcher-knight.


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    three mages were gathered around him.


    one of the mages was using a scalpel and a small saw to continuously remove bloody human organs from the witcher-knight''s body. the assisting mage was continuously casting spells to preserve these freshly plucked organs, before placing them into containers filled with a dark red liquid.


    the third mage was regularly scribbling on a parchment, recording in detail the oddities they found in specimen number one.


    with every light stab and cut of the dissecting mage''s scalpel, and with every bit of electrical stimulation, the witcher-knight''s body would twitch slightly. his little finger, in particular, would continuously curl up and release.


    this meant that the witcher-knight''s spiritual consciousness still existed in his body, even after all his internal organs had been removed. moreover, it seemed he was able to feel the pain inflicted on his body.


    "test subject number 1."


    "witcher-knight. male, body is in healthy condition, age 32 years old..."


    "similarity of internal organs to normal humans is as high as 89%..."


    "some parts of the organs show light inclinations of change..."


    "the bones in his upper body are tougher and larger. his surface skin is tough and tight. his bodily strength is approximately equal to an advanced apprentice..."


    "assimilation of foreign energies found in the heart, liver, and various other internal organs. the effect of the mutated organs is somewhat similar to magic-infused organs..."


    "there are signs of over-exhausting the source of his life force. initial estimates suggest that this is caused by the corrosion of the foreign energies..."


    "magic scans confirm that the subject does not possess elementium talent..."


    "initial conclusion: witcher-knights possess beginning symptoms of both body refining and magic-infusion. their true identities are closer to human knights whose bodies have been strengthened by runic energies! as they don''t possess any elementium talent themselves, the runic energies rapidly exhausted their life force while strengthening their bodies!"


    the witcher-knights'' favourite mount¨Ca magic colt¨Cwas lying silently on a nearby stone platform. its body had also been thoroughly dissected and divided into several separate pieces.


    the mages showed expressions of disdain towards these magic colts.


    too primitive! too crude!


    the so-called magic colts were a mixed breed of human warhorses and a certain special wild beast, that were then fed some drugs that stimulated their bodily strength as they were raised. these gave them some of the traits of the forest beasts, giving them powerful climbing abilities, and therefore becoming the standard mount of the witcher-knights.


    placed even deeper in the depths of the dark stone chamber were no longer ordinary witcher-knights, but spellbreaker knights with even more muscular bodies. however, they had all become the test subjects of the evil mages now. all the secrets hidden in their bodies would be completely and utterly exposed.


    compared to the witcher-knights, traces of elementium talent could be detected on the bodies of spellbreaker knights, who managed to advance one grade further. furthermore, most of the vital organs within their bodies had been irreversibly infused with magic. in all seriousness, the spellbreaker knights were a bunch of defective products who had spellcasting talent, yet forcibly went on the path of magic-infused knights.


    analyzing the currently known data, these few mages couldn''t help but predict that the fourth grade holy knight who stood at the top of the knights'' plane would surely have even more outstanding elementium talent. yet very unfortunately, he didn''t choose the path of a spellcaster, instead stepping on the strange path of a magic-infused knight.


    if this prediction proved true, it meant that the fourth-grade holy knight was essentially an mages of sorts that went down the wrong path. of course, with how lacking the elementium energy was in this plane, it would have been a reasonable decision to give up on the path of mages and to go down the path of magic-infused knights.


    after all, the deformities and incomplete nature of this plane''s development was not something a mere native of the plane would be able to control. to be able to become a fourth grade powerhouse on a small plane with such limited elementium energies demonstrated how much talent and potential he really had!


    the gathered data from the test subjects'' dissections showed that the witcher-knights were merely a group of pseudo-magic-infused knights that had been polluted by runic energies, and had power equal to intermediate or advanced apprentices.


    the first-grade spellbreaker knights, on the other hand, were a group of actual magic-infused knights. their physiques were approximately equal to pseudo-mages in the world of mages. this was why the spellbreaker knights were constantly at a disadvantage in battle, even though they were of the same grade as the mages. however, with the help of their runic weapons, they managed to have attack power and defensive abilities that rivalled those of mages.


    frankly speaking, the knights'' plane was a small plane after all. after ten million years of development and evolution, they had indeed developed a unique structure and system of power. yet in terms of the individual power of those of the same grade, they were still lagging too far behind the world of mages.


    the roaming first grade mages that dared to attack the knight squads, led by spellbreaker knights in the greenland forest, fully demonstrated the massive disparity in the strength between both parties.


    on one hand, you had a large-sized plane that was infamous throughout the multiverse. on the other, you had a weak and isolated small-sized plane. these two planes may have similar definitions of a first grade being, but when put together, the difference in power was very obvious.


    of course, the reason the mages put so much effort into dissecting and researching the witcher-knights was not just to collect some information and data, but to better improve their efforts in cultivating plagues and viruses that were targeted specifically at the knights.


    as the only native force on the plane that could put up a fight against the mages, all they needed to do was take down these knights. the remaining native humans would not be able to resist the mages and their powerful abilities. a human army, that numbered in the tens of thousands, was a complete joke when put before the mages. a simple plague spell would cause a powerful empire to become a land of death and tombstones in the matter of months.


    once they lost the protection of supernatural powers, the strength of normal humans was completely insignificant before the mages!


    thus, a large bug-breeding grounds and a runic energies research lab had already been constructed right beneath the stone chamber. with plenty of witcher-knight flesh for specimens, a unique plague insect that fed on runic energies was already being bred.


    if this plan succeeded, the mages would be able to kill these annoying witcher-knights that stood in their way of conquering this plane without lifting a single finger.


    at the same time, the construction of the mages'' tower was quickly moving forward.


    as of now, the four lower levels of the mage''s tower had already been constructed. the top of the structure had almost extended outside of the illusion barrier area of coverage. with all the current commotion, the additional construction activities had to be halted until the situation was slightly calmer.


    due to the uniqueness of the tower''s structure, there was no way of completing the array carving by each level. the arrays had to be carved all together after the mages'' tower had been completed, such that the arrays would be connected together to form a complete defense system. moreover, if necessary, a large-scale ceremony had to be completed to activate the soul of the tower, and to fully integrate all elements within the war tower.


    these detailed jobs couldn''t be done when the enemy was almost knocking on the door. thus, to increase the odds of victory, the mages had no choice but to fall back on that which they were most skilled: poison and plague.


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    leon stood alone on the tall cliff, silently looking down on the dark forest that was shrouded by shadows below him.


    dark clouds filled the skies, and no light from the moon or stars could get through.


    this was a good night for killing!


    during the time he silently stood here, four elementium disturbances that could be observed with the naked eye had erupted in the woods far away, one after another. the most powerful elementium shockwave had even blown away half of a mountain!


    the violently surging elementium flames even caused leon, who was fifteen kilometers away, to feel intense waves of heat on his face. the shockwave that followed soon after blew his hood off, exposing his cool and calm face.


    the four elementium disturbances hadn''t occurred in the same spot, but spread across four different areas. the frequency of the elementium disruption that exploded each time was different. the elementium within the disturbances all had slight differences.


    with the help of the chip''s highly efficient data-gathering and analyzing abilities, leon was able to deduce the identity of the mages involved in the fight from the elementium that drifted here.


    the one fighting in the battle 3.5 kilometers southwest was worm controller blake. one had to mention that his abilities had greatly improved in this period of accumulation and powering up. the battlefield he was in was the quietest, and the elementium that drifted here was the least amongst the four battles in the night.


    if it wasn''t for leon''s high vantage point, as well as the chip''s powerful computing abilities, he might have entirely missed the shockwave from the battle.


    a fight had also broken out 7.5 kilometers to the east. the two parties involved were body-refining mage kiel, and two spellbreaker knights. after a tough battle, the spellbreaker knights retreated from the battlefield, but not without paying the price of one death, and severe injuries for the surviving knight. kiel had also received some damage in the fight, and could only let the severely injured knight walk away.


    leon couldn''t help but feel like this was a waste. he quickly sent this information to bleia, who was roaming about the woods far away.


    the battle 15 kilometers in the northeast was the most intense. the spellbreaker knight, that had been forced into a position of certain death, self-destructed. the method with which he used to self-destruct was similar to how ninther did it.


    this made leon suspect that all spellbreaker knights knew of such an annoying way to self-destruct.


    the one who forced the spellbreaker knight to self-destruct was an odd mage called marionette. it seemed he was a peculiar fellow who was able to manipulate the bodies of others.


    however, neither of these three battles were the focus of leon''s attention.


    the only battle leon was paying attention to was the one happening 23 kilometers to the northwest.


    because this battle was between a radiant knight and second-grade mage f¨¹gen!


    ...


    2048 words

 Chapter 202 Battlefield

    in the bloody battles of the last few months, three mages had fallen to the sneak attacks of radiant knights.this was already a fairly sizeable loss for the sarubo clan.


    after all, the bottom line for the sarubo clan was set at eight mage losses in this planar invasion. if the numbers of mage casualties exceeded a certain number in this plane, it would cause a drastic effect to the sarubo clan''s ranking within the zhentarim association.


    if the sarubo clan reassigned mages from their subordinate lesser planes to fill in the vacancies of the clan headquarters, it would cause an immense impact to the stability of their rule over their two subordinate planes.


    thus, faced with the frequent assaults of the radiant knights, the only second grade mage of the base, sir f¨¹gen, had no choice but to personally step onto the battlefield and teach these ''magic-infused knights'' a bloody lesson!


    this was a moonless night!


    the mages were exceptionally active tonight. besides the ten mages who had always been fighting on the frontlines, sir f¨¹gen brought five more mages with him to join the battle.


    an unfortunate radiant knight had already been identified. the remaining knight squads around him were being dealt with by other mages, while this radiant knight hiding in the knight squad naturally became the target of sir f¨¹gen''s hunt.


    it was obvious that sir f¨¹gen didn''t really trust leon and the others. he had specifically brought his direct subordinates from the base to deal with the other knight squads and clear out the battlefield, displaying a desire to keep other mages from coming close. leon, who had long wanted to spy on the secrets of second-grade mages, could only fall back on such a method to gather information.


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    ever since he became a first grade mage, leon felt lost concerning his future path. he didn''t dare progress recklessly without gathering enough information and figuring out the proper way forward. however, most of this information was something that newly advanced mages were unlikely to come into contact with.


    at least, before leon signed a more intimate contract with the sarubo clan, he would have no chance of gaining access to such information!


    if leon were able to collect a little information about second grade mages at this point, it would undoubtedly become a lighthouse that shed light on leon''s future path. even if he didn''t know the means of progressing down this path, as long as he had a direction, leon would be able to use the chip''s powerful computing abilities to reverse-engineer a method of moving forward.


    it was a blood-colored night, and the raging winds were howling in the night.


    standing on a high cliff, one could taste the bloody slaughter carried over by the night wind from afar.


    if bleia had been here, she probably would''ve let out a long howl in excitement!


    leon thought so to himself, but his eyes were still fixated on a spot in the darkness. blue light continuously flashed in his eyes.


    the battle had already started!


    one could already smell the ice-attribute particles in the night wind, alongside small traces of fire-attribute particles.


    leon made an initial judgement that the innate powers of the second grade mage f¨¹gen were probably ice spells. the immense power of his attacks had already completely suppressed the radiant knight.


    in the end, radiant knights were only a group of ''magic-infused knights'' that had very high magic resistance.


    their strongest ability was their resistance to elemental spells. as they lacked a systematic means of cultivation or meditation, they were wholly unable to manipulate the elementium particles drifting about the atmosphere. thus, whether it was to attack or defend, they had to rely on runic energies.


    and these so-called runic energies were only magical energies drawn from magic crystals with the use of crude runic arrays, that were then applied to weapons and armor. such equipment would hardly even be called magic tools in the world of mages. at best, they were enchanted equipment, and were far inferior and much less efficient than magic tools.


    however, everyone had their own expertise, and the knights were experts in this particular field of utilizing runic energies. the knight plane''s runic arrays were all designed and focused around the concept of merging the strengths of runic energies and the knights. thus, when it came to the assimilation of runic energies with the source of their life force, their runic arrays did indeed have unique insights of their own.


    even leon was interested in capturing a radiant knight himself to investigate the secrets of the runic arrays on their bodies. once he obtained the knowledge related to their runic arrays, leon had every confidence that the energy system of his golems would be able to be further improved. even the flame fiend transformation runes carved on leon''s body had room for improvement!


    the pitch-black night sky was abruptly lit up by a blue light that appeared. a large halo of ice that could easily be seen suddenly exploded in the middle of the woods. the surrounding ancient trees were instantly sealed in a world of crystalline ice.


    the crackling sound of ice particles in the air crashing against each other rang out throughout the sky. leon couldn''t help but be impressed by the power of a second grade mage.


    the knights'' plane was a small material plane sorely lacking in elementium energies. a first grade spell might be able to have an effect of up to a 100 degrees in the world of mages. however, here, it might only have around 70 degrees of power. moreover, the radius and duration of its effect would also be greatly reduced.


    fortunately, most of the invading mages had plenty of magic tools, spell scrolls, and magic staffs to empower themselves. with plenty of instant-cast spells at their fingertips, they were still able to drown the enemies with attacks, maintaining their advantage as casters while fighting against knights of the same grade.


    the nighttime battle lasted for another half an hour before finally ending. the result was as expected; sir f¨¹gen obtained an overwhelming victory.


    as the victorious mages brought plentiful spoils of war back to the base, leon was finally able to visit the location of the battle.


    this was the backslope of a small hill. three gigantic rocks formed a circle, with a flat ground of around twenty meters in radius within it. this was an excellent camping spot for an adventurer''s squad. s§×arch* the novel?ire(.)ne*t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    sadly, this place had been turned into a world covered in ice and snow!


    leon walked out from the dark forest, confidently strolling about this area of snow and ice. cerulean light continued to flash in his eyes, hidden by the shadow of his hood. all of his senses were utilized. his sight, smell, hearing, and his taste were all activated to feel the elementium in this camping spot.


    the three-meter tall rock had been covered by a layer of thick ice. even the campfire in the middle of the camp had been sealed in an ice crystal, with the firewood and the fire itself also preserved within.


    leon gave the crystal a light knock. it let out a clanging sound. the ice''s hardness was no less than normal steel. leon was still able to vaguely see the shape and color of the burning campfire through the semi-translucent ice crystal. the bright red flames, and the white-hot center of the fire, could be seen clearly. it was almost as if time had been completely frozen and stopped at that one specific moment.


    fire in ice? this kind of ice power that could even freeze flames most definitely contained traces of planar laws. otherwise, it would never be able to create such a situation where two elementium with conflicting attributes were able to co-exist!


    two human mercenaries laid on the ground beside the rock. their panicked and worried expressions were still frozen on their faces. their hands had reached towards the weapons on their waists, while their other hands were pressed against the ground to push themselves up. sadly, their lives would forever be frozen in that moment.


    one could tell that mage f¨¹gen had instantly let out a terrifying ring of frost when he broke into the camp, immediately getting rid of any irrelevant characters.


    the signs of flame explosions became even more obvious at the other end of the camp.


    leon kept scanning through the various details scattered about the location, and a scene of the shocking battle that had occured here appeared in his mind. leon followed the signs of the battle left by these two, continuously walking deeper and deeper into the woods, before finally arriving at the spot where the battle had ended 1.5 kilometers away.


    the trees in a quarter-kilometer radius had been razed to the ground. there were deep rents left in the earth everywhere. the bottom of these gullies were charred by fire, still letting out wisps of black smoke.


    it was absolutely possible to estimate the intensity of the battle from the numerous scorch marks left behind by the radiant knight''s powerful knight battle techniques. but now, a layer of crystalline ice had completely covered all the scorch marks, demonstrating f¨¹gen''s complete control over the battle.


    here, the radiant knight had been frozen in place by mage f¨¹gen, with no means of moving even a single step, and forced to passively endure and defend against f¨¹gen''s attacks. this was evident from the angle of attack and contact of the spells!


    radiant knights did indeed have very high magic resistance. even so, they would not be able to resist an endless stream of spells.


    once the knight exhausted the magic crystals within his runic arrays, f¨¹gen, with his plentiful combat experience, would never give him the chance to swap out the crystals!


    leon stopped at the center of the battlefield. there was an ice pillar half a meter tall here. the upper half had cracked and shattered, but the lower half was still hard as steel, letting out a dark blue gleam.


    this was where the radiant knight had been defeated and lost!


    leon sensed the atmosphere once more, now that he was where the battle had happened. there were still some of mage f¨¹gen''s personal elementium signature left in the ice pillar. however, besides this, leon felt like there was something else.


    mm, this was worth bringing back for research!


    now that he had made his decision, leon took out his fire lord''s scepter and summoned the fire deity. then he used a summoning core to summon a rock serpent.


    once the fire deity appeared, it started to chaotically blast flames all over the place to quickly destroy any markings left on the battlefield. meanwhile, the gigantic rock serpent opened its large mouth and devoured the ice pillar, along with the dirt frozen underneath it, before vanishing into the ground.


    after a quick survey of the battlefield, and having made sure nothing was left, leon finally turned to leave.


    with the help of the night winds, the raging forest fire burned everything left to ashes. when the scene had been reduced to nothing but scorched earth, the dirt near the edge of the earth started to break open. tens of thousands of black beetles surged from underneath, forming into the silhouette of worm controller blake.


    "dammit, that bastard was here already!"


    blake cursed once more when he saw the ravaged earth, the billowing black smoke, and the remaining fires before him.


    then he turned to look at the black skies around him. he couldn''t be sure if the bastard had left any odd eyes or ears around here.


    after lowering his voice and cursing a couple more times, blake finally turned into a black smoke again, drilling into the ground and disappearing!


    ...


    1977 words

 Chapter 203 Prelude

    the death of a radiant knight on the battlefield was no less shocking to the witcher-knight army than a massive earthquake.there hadn''t been a single record of a radiant knight dying on the battlefield in nearly a thousand years. of course, this had to do with the fact that heretic casters in this plane were much weaker than the radiant knights, as well as the radiant knights'' own strength.


    without the accumulation of knowledge nor the legacy of a proper system, the naturally awakened heretics had powerful talent and enviable development potential, but no place to systematically learn arcane knowledge or learn to apply their powers. moreover, under the strict suppression of the witcher-knights, they were forced to hide their names and hide every time their identities were exposed, living a life fleeing and being homeless.


    under such conditions, the continent of knights'' heretics that awakened their power, naturally, were constrained by the lack of knowledge and resources. they could only suffer as they stagnated around the level of an apprentice mage. even if there were occasionally geniuses that would advance to a first grade caster by accident, they were hard-pressed to gain an advantage over the witcher-knights that travelled in groups. once they met spellbreaker knights, the only path left to them was a death in despair.


    a caster that was able to threaten a radiant knight had never appeared in this plane.


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    but now, the situation had completely changed with the appearance of these powerful invaders!


    the angered knights'' higher-ups had a severe disagreement. some wanted everyone to remain calm, continue the slow but steady search through the remaining areas, and quickly find out the location of the invaders. while some were extremely angered, believing the previous strategy to be excessively conservative and equivalent to sending their elite forces to be slaughtered by the enemy.


    both parties had a major falling out due to this issue, and neither side would give any ground.


    as the two third-grade dragon knights needed to escort the wounded green dragon back to the dragon cliff, they were currently missing from the knights'' base. consequently, under the pressure of this irreconcilable conflict, the witcher-knight army finally split!


    the radicals were unable to hold back their rage any longer. after gathering nearly a thousand witcher-knights, they charged into greenland forest without hesitation.


    at that time, the neighing, ferocious magic colts were all over greenland forest''s outer area.


    these terrifying beasts looked like the combination of warhorses and magic wolfs. they carried streams of witcher-knights on their backs, sprinting through the dense forest as if they had wings on their backs. it didn''t matter whether it was mountainous areas, steep cliffs, or gushing rivers; they would be able to leap across and continue onward as if they were still walking on flat ground.


    with the magic colts'' extraordinary climbing abilities, a massive army of 7 radiant knights leading 34 spellbreaker knights and 828 witcher-knights pushed forward into the depths of the forest with immense speed.


    the horrifying voodoo beasts, incessantly surging forth from the depths of the woods, turned into piles of minced meat under the impact of the violent knight battle techniques.


    for one moment, nearly a thousand witcher-knights started a wild slaughter against the numerous voodoo beasts within the woods, turning the forest within five kilometers into a bloody abattoir.


    ...


    there was a terrifying battlefield located deep in the forest.


    the witcher-knight army had arrived here. a massive cliff blocked the path before them. to the left was a slope densely filled with trees, and to the right was geography that was flatter and had a spread of the trees that were thinner. as a result, the direction of the army naturally turned, heading towards the right of the cliff.


    just as the knight army had altered their course, a horde of voodoo beasts numbering in the thousands swarmed forth, instantly shattering their formation and scattering troops, throwing them into chaos.


    above the cliff and within the dense woods under the cliff, at the area where trees were sparse, behind the valley... in every single location of the area, one could see witcher-knights and voodoo beasts fighting in small groups.


    everywhere was the sound of blades against flesh, bones being cut, splashing blood, the roar of the knights, terrifying screeching of the voodoo beasts, the booming explosions from violent and ferocious knight battle techniques...


    not a single patch of silence could be found near the cliff. burly silhouettes swinging their swords could be found everywhere, as could the ugly forms of the voodoo beasts.


    meanwhile, hidden amidst this chaotic and messy battlefield, leon wandered about like a terrifying god of death descended upon humanity, his black robe wrapped about him. he casually admired the cruel and bloody slaughter before him, while using the wind critters to look for a suitable battlefield to join.


    there were eighteen more mages who were looking for an opportunity around the battlefield, much like he was doing.


    ever since they heard the large movements of the witcher-knight army, the mages'' base finally sent out nine mages as reinforcements, causing the number of mages on the frontline to reach nineteen people.


    mages would rarely form groups of three or five like the witcher-knights. the way they were cultivated since youth was far too different. this caused mages to be accustomed to battling in an unrestrained fashion, without any regards for others. moreover, none of them would trust another mage with their backs.


    thus, they always fought alone!


    even leon and bleia, who had experienced numerous life and death trials together, would usually fight on their own if there wasn''t a need to stick together. they would very rarely fight together.


    perhaps this was the nature of mages.


    leon strolled along a river. on the other side of the river, a group of nearly a hundred witcher-knights were fighting to the death against a group of voodoo beasts equal number in number. after paying the price of three witcher-knights'' lives, they were on the verge of exterminating this squad of voodoo beasts.


    thus, when leon walked past the battlefield, still wrapped in his black robe, there were only a dozen feline voodoo beasts resisting against the knights.


    five spellbreaker knights were mixed into this knight squad. when they saw leon and his black robe from at a distance, they let out a battlecry and charged towards him with thirty witcher-knights following closely behind.


    a seventy meter distance and a small stream five meters wide was not enough to deter their charge.


    leon looked at the provoked enemies and shook his head without showing any expression on his face. he chose to avoid the knights.


    he might be able to defeat a squad this size, but the price he would need to pay for it was too large. moreover, there was another knight squad on the tiny hill beside them. there were two radiant knights in that squad. if leon engaged them here but became unable to end it quickly, he would very likely attract the attention of those two radiant knights.


    radiant knights were not an enemy leon could deal with!


    leon extended the hand hidden under his robe. a washbasin-sized magma fireball shot forth from the fire lord''s scepter. with a wave of his hand, leon threw it towards the charging knight squad.


    the spellbreaker knight leading the charge frowned when he saw this. after sharing a look with the companion beside him, two large flame blades shot out from their longswords, intercepting the crimson fireball radiating astounding elementium flux in the air above the stream.


    boom! a loud explosion rang out in the skies.


    the violent flame shockwave cut the stream in half and the water droplets were instantly heated to their boiling point, shooting everywhere like bullets in the air.


    the charging knights quickly activated their energy shields. cling. clang. the sound of a constant stream of blows rang out. they were able to block this wave of attacks without suffering any losses. however, when they finally put down their energy shields and the misty vapor had finally dissipated, they could no longer find the silhouette of the black-robed figure. sear?h the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "it''s the flame demon!"


    "it is him!"


    "hurry up and alert everyone. the flame demon was spotted. have everyone be more cautious..."


    just as the few spellbreaker knights were thinking of a way to spread the news, leon had already appeared in a low valley two-hundred and fifty meters away. here, a group of nearly three dozen witcher-knights were trying their best to defend against the endless aerial attacks of three winged dragons.


    very fortunately, there were no spellbreaker knights or radiant knights. and especially, there weren''t any dragon knights in this squad!


    as such, leon no longer hesitated when he saw such a feast. the fire lord and the fire deity appeared at the same time, charging into the knights'' ranks without any regard for their lives. as there were no powerful enemies here, leon didn''t activate his flame fiend transformation, choosing to fight with his enemies using his mage form.


    with the frightening prowess of the golems under leon, just the fire lord and the fire deity alone were enough to easily take down this group of witcher-knights before him without having to lift a single finger. however, considering the numerous variables that could go out of control around the battlefield, leon wanted to end the battle as fast as he could and joined the battle as well.


    an mage-level golem, a pseudo-mage level elementium being, fighting alongside an mage of flame mastery. the three masters of flame charged into the battlefield, instantly turning the area into a sea of flames and covering it in countless fiery explosions.


    the chain fireballs shot in succession, the meteor shower that fell from the skies, and the firestorm that ravaged over half of the battlefield...this round of ferocious bombardment instantly pushed the knight squad to the brink of their deaths.


    the witcher knights at the center of the explosions didn''t have a chance to retaliate. already, they had been blasted and reduced to ashes by the countless powerful spells. only the witcher-knights at the edge of the area of effect were able to barely keep up their energy shields, riding their badly burnt magic colts out of the flame sea.


    but the only thing that waited for them outside the field of fire was the magma fireballs that leon casually threw at them.


    these large elementium fireballs, wrapped in a layer of boiling magma on the outside, crashed into the ranks of the surviving knights with a trail of black smoke billowing behind them, suddenly exploding when they hit a witcher-knight.


    the shattered magma shards shot out in every direction. the magma fireball''s terrifying lava core splashed in every direction as well, instantly covering a radius of ten meters.


    not every human could comfortably and easily soak themselves in lava like leon could. the temperature of the boiling red lava would never go below 2000 degrees. the witcher-knights that were showered in lava would instantly be scalded and burnt by the lava. the flesh on their bodies, their bones, and even the magic colts below them would rapidly melt like wax into a pile of unrecognizable ash.


    the magic resistance of the witcher-knights was still not enough to resist a vicious spell this powerful!


    in under two minutes, leon had exterminated a squad of thirty-three witcher-knights with ease, without activating his flame fiend transformation or exhausting the instant spells stored in the scroll of voodoo.


    ...


    1929 words

 Chapter 204 Rallying Call

    the continuous explosions here had naturally attracted the groups of witcher-knights'' attention.there were, of course, spellbreaker knights and radiant knights among those groups.


    yet, when they drove their magic colts and charged onto this battlefield, the only thing they saw was a bloody ground still burning with flickering embers. the earth was full of craters and scorch marks left by the explosion of magma fireballs. the previously boiling lava had already solidified into dark red magma.


    however, the heat had yet to completely dissipate. the entire battlefield was filled with intense heat waves that blew against the knights'' faces.


    the only thing left abou thirty witcher-knights were bits and pieces of broken limbs left on the edges of the battlefield. everything else had already been consumed by the flames and magma, with nothing left to be found.


    the murderer, on the other hand, had long since fled from the scene, disappearing without a trace.


    the knights halted their colts, and looked upon this apocalyptic looking battlefield with their eyes wide open. the anger and frustration in their chests hurt and burned like the boiling lava on the ground.


    "send my orders out! the army is to keep close and maintain a tight formation. we cannot continue with such chaotic and scattered skirmishes! have all the knights gather towards the central area!" a radiant knight whose hair had gone completely white, and who had a determined and resolute face, shouted loudly to his soldiers. behind him, a large flag depicting a sword and a shield billowed high in the wind.


    a long, deep-sounding horn reverberated throughout the woods.


    leon had just rounded a mountain when he saw another battlefield on a gentle, green-grassed slope. a dozen witcher-knights lay about the entire area. a short silhouette was strolling about, as if it was searching for something.


    when he heard leon''s footsteps, the short form straightened its body, and a pair of dull and stiff eyes under a hood''s shadow looked towards leon.


    marionette!


    flame demon!


    although the two didn''t have any sort of interaction, they were on the same side of the conflict after all. when they met each other on the battlefield, both parties usually nodded at each other before passing by.


    yet at this moment, the deep and long sound of a horn reached here from across the mountains.


    the two of them may not have understood the meaning conveyed by the horn, but if the witcher-knights were sounding a horn at this moment, then there was no question that they were about to shrink their formation!


    "the enemy is shrinking their formation. what about it? do you want to take a look together?" leon turned to gaze at the direction the horn came from, and let out an invitation.


    once the enemy shrunk the formation their movements would be much slower, but their safety would be guaranteed. if the mages wanted to continue their attacks, the likelihood that they would bump into spellbreaker knights and radiant knights would increase exponentially.


    at this moment, having a companion at their side to keep the enemies'' numbers in check would be a good thing!


    marionette was also a veteran mage, whose elementium affinity was the plant attribute. the only bizarre thing was how he chose to turn his entire body''s flesh into wood. it was rumored that he had the unique ability to use puppet strings to control the bodies of others.


    in truth, this was an extremely strange ability!


    marionette rolled his stiff and woodlike eyes as he considered leon''s suggestion, before finally nodding and agreeing.


    the two didn''t speak any more and turned towards the direction where the horn''s sound had came from before hurrying over.


    even though they had verbally agreed to become companions, leon did not try to get any closer towards marionette. conversely, neither did marionette. both parties always kept a distance of at least thirty meters between the them.


    this was actually an unspoken rule between mages!


    on the battlefield, any living being that dared to come within thirty meters of an mage would automatically be considered an enemy, even if it was a ''companion'' from the same faction.


    if it was an agile mage like bleia, even walking within fifty meters of any mage would cause hostility and extreme reactions from the opponent. this had nothing to do with vengeance or emotions. it was just a self-preservation instinct!


    after all, thirty meters was the limit most mages needed to react appropriately to any dangers. any closer, and some weak elementium mages would have to worry about being instantly killed by body refining mages or some strange spell.


    trust? come on, this word had never¨Cand would never¨Cexist amongst mages!


    an mage letting you within thirty meters of themself was already placing the greatest trust in you! any closer? unless you were a servant they had complete control over, or an utter weakling, they would battle before you could even say anything.


    the two sprinted rapidly in the forest.


    every five seconds, leon would vanish in a blast of elementium flames that appeared out of nowhere. the next second, he would appear in an empty space one or two hundred meters away.


    on the other hand, marionette also clearly possessed unique movement abilities. after walking forward a certain distance, he would inexplicably step into a large ancient tree. much like a drop of water falling into a stream, there was no delay or stiffness. then, his body would emerge from a tall tree one or two hundred meters away as well.


    the entire process was natural and smooth, completely void of any elementium flux that could be detected by others. this created a strong contrast with the stiff and unnatural movements of his limbs. anyone looking on would frown at the disparity.


    of course, with the cautiousness of mages, they would never show their true abilities with a companion by their sides.


    leon, for example, had a fixed five second period between every fire teleportation he cast. but whether that was the actual cooldown was something that was not known to anyone else. if anyone tried to plot against him using this aspect of the fire teleportation, they would likely get a huge surprise when it came down to a fight of life and death.


    although the two were silently rushing towards the battlefield, they were also sneakily observing each other, gathering information about them. this didn''t mean that they wanted to do anything to each other. it was only an instinct that resulted from the mages'' wariness.


    gathering more information constantly might save their lives one day!


    evidently, leon was confused as to how marionette was able to complete a close-ranged teleportation without any sound, commotion, or elementium flux. however, with the aid of the chip''s powerful analysis ability, he quickly found marionette''s secret.


    leon, under the powerful elementium sight of the chip, was surprised to find that marionette''s close-ranged teleportation was not random. in every ancient tree that he walked into and out of, leon was able to see a magic brand steeped in marionette''s personal signature.


    these magic brands hidden deep in the trees functioned like location nodes, pointing out and marking a location in space, allowing marionette to keep his coordinates and position as he teleported about.


    it was no wonder that marionette walked through the forest so naturally and casually without letting off any elementium flux. he had already planted his own elementium aura within countless trees. this was a decent idea!


    now that leon had managed to see through the opponent''s mystery, the confusion he felt earlier also vanished entirely.


    leon smiled and continued hurrying down the road.


    meanwhile, as he was secretly observing marionette, marionette had undoubtedly also been secretly watching his every action.


    fire teleportation. a simple fire-attribute mobility spell, yet the actual conditions of its use were only clear to those who were familiar with it.


    the strengths and weaknesses of fire teleportation were so obvious, which made it both a favorite and a headache of fire-attribute mages.


    its strength was in its rapid teleportation. as long as it wasn''t an area covered by an elementium barrier, one would be able to teleport anywhere within one''s vision. moreover, the delay in effect was extremely short.


    its weakness was the excessively obvious display when one teleported. the caster had to summon a large elementium flame on the spot before the teleportation could be cast. only then would the caster''s body disintegrate in the elementium flames. after teleportation, a ring of fire would explode on the location visually determined by the caster. then the caster''s body would reassemble within the burning flames.


    a very simple fire spell, but it was accompanied by a large roaring flame and a blinding ring of fire. the mage''s enemies wouldn''t even need to see the flames to find the mage. all they needed was to listen for the sound of exploding flames to track it.


    honestly, a large exploding ring of fire would actually be hard to miss!


    thus, the stealth factor of fire teleportation was far too terrible, and it was undoubtedly the most flashy among all the close-ranged teleportation spells.


    for an mage, flashiness meant being exposed, and being exposed meant danger!


    this was precisely what all mages actively avoided.


    what really confused marionette was how leon had so quickly mastered fire teleportation.


    it was important to note that while fire teleportation was a simple spell, there was a very important prerequisite before one could cast it. it was the transformation of the body into elementium! s§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    this was a necessary condition. no other means could circumvent this.


    without an elementium body, it was hard to disintegrate and reassemble your body within the elementium flames. and without disintegrating and reassembling your body, how were you supposed to accomplish the fire teleportation that could cross distances of over hundreds of meters?


    this was why fire teleportation was generally an exclusive ability of flame mastery mages.


    but how long has it been since leon had advanced to an mage? according to the information from within the family, it seemed to have been less than six months since he advanced? how did he manage to completely turn his body into elementium in such a short time? could he have turned his body into elementium before he advanced to an mage?


    precisely because of how much he knew, marionette''s mind was swarmed with questions, not able to find the correct answer.


    however, the abilities of each mage was their most secret treasure, never to be shown to any outsiders. thus, marionette could only kept his questions to himself and silently hurry down the road.


    the two also met some other ''companions'' along the way. after a simple greeting, they would join the group and continue on the path.


    very soon, this small group of five mages arrived at the target area.


    this was a wide valley that was much flatter than the surrounding geography. while the trees here were equally as ancient, and the leaves just as dense, there weren''t too many bushes or vines in this part of the forest. therefore, it had become the temporary rallying spot for the knight army.


    the witcher-knight squads arrived from all over the forest and gathered here. the noise of people talking and the horses whinnying could be heard from several kilometers away.


    a tall, large flag bearing a sword and shield emblem billowed in the wind and was stuck to the ground in the center of this place. seven particularly muscular and mighty knights stood below the flag. around thirty spellbreaker knights with shining armor, and an aura of might and power, stood around the seven knights.


    when the mages and the knights locked eyes, a powerful aura surged forth from the bodies of both parties, clashing from a distance.


    ... experience exclusive tales on empire


    1975 words

 Chapter 205 Trying Ones Hands

    five mages against seven radiant knights, thirty-two spellbreaker knights and a thousand witcher-knights?of course this was impossible!


    however, even when faced with this army of knights, the mages kept up their arrogant smiles and looked down upon their enemies with disdain.


    there wasn''t any reason for this; it was just the natural disdain spellcasting classes had for warrior classes!


    if this was a battle in an arena, the five mages combined wouldn''t be enough to beat a single radiant knight. that said, the prowess of the mages came in the form of their terrifying mobility and strange spells. as long as there was a large enough space to maneuver about, even a single first grade mage wouldn''t fear several radiant knights chasing after him.


    the magic colts may have exceptional survival and climbing abilities, but they could not compare to the mages'' pure speed.


    the radiant knights had powerful melee combat prowess, yet they couldn''t do anything to keep back these evil mages that were as annoying as a swarm of vampires. if they drove their horses and charged forward, these mages would most definitely scatter, while keeping close enough to bait the knights deep into the forest.


    should the knights really dare to continually chase after the mages, the witcher-knights in the rear would turn into the prey of any other mages. s~ea??h the nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    it''s important to note that most of the witcher-knights'' advantages couldn''t be displayed in this primal forest, with its complex geography and poor environment. conversely, it was the nimble mages, who had no unnecessary attachments or concern for others, that held the home field advantage. they were able to strike at any time, while retreating at the first sign of danger with no need for any hesitation.


    the mages wouldn''t even bat an eyelid even if the hordes of voodoo beasts that were spread across the forest were all killed. moreover, some mages would intentionally send hundreds of voodoo beasts to their deaths, all in order to create a chance to ambush the knights.


    as such, the radiant knights could only look on and harass the mages as they moved around the army, never daring to actually give chase. last night''s death of a radiant knight was enough proof that an existence powerful enough to kill a second grade knight was hiding amidst the mages.


    unlike before, the radiant knights could no longer take actions alone while being confident in their safety!


    ...


    the mages'' faces soured as they looked upon row after row of witcher-knights.


    harassing and ambushing a few witcher-knights was no problem. however, when the enemy had gathered together into an army, the risk they needed to bear when attacking was incalculable.


    "any instructions from the base?" mage ferrier, whose body was enveloped in a layer of wind elementium particles and bearing a pair of wind wings behind his back, asked solemnly, "they wouldn''t go so far as to make us charge against an enemy formation with radiant knights in there, would they?"


    the few mages nodded their heads in agreement. it was obvious that they were concerned about the upcoming battle as well.


    leon silently took a look at all the mages present and realized that all the mages who agreed with ferrier were mages of more unconventional professions. not a single one of them were proficient in combat.


    ferrier was an esoteric mage, and most of his research leaned towards synthesizing potions and drugs. if it wasn''t for his dabbling in wind spells, an mage like him, who was not proficient at combat, would probably be part of the batch of mages quickest to die on a planar war''s battlefield.


    the remaining mages were all ones who were focused on illusion or array research. they were the same as ferrier¨C not proficient at fighting on the battlefield. sending them to a battlefield was a complete waste of their talents!


    however, the sarubo clan was sorely lacking in men right now. it was not feasible to conquer the knights'' plane in one go with just a handful of combat mages. thus, the clan forcefully conscripted these mages. the esoteric mages that spent their lives hunched over in their labs had no choice but to step onto the battlefield and fight with all their might for the sake of the clan, and for the sake of their own lives!


    they may not have killed too many knights earlier in the massive six-month forest battle, but their existence alone kept the witcher-knights'' movements in check. because of them, combat mages like leon, bleia, blake, and marionette were able to find opportunities and openings to launch multiple attack and slay the backbone of the knights'' army- the spellbreaker knights.


    of the five mages gathered here, marionette was undoubtedly the closest to second-grade mage sir f¨¹gen. everyone couldn''t help but look towards him.


    "no need... to engage head on... delay... until nightfall... the base... will act... "


    the transformation of marionette''s flesh into wood had evidently affected his throat. not only was his voice hoarse and dry, his constant stutter also bothered the mages. however, his words were simple and easy to understand, helping everyone feel relieved.


    all these people were mages with countless tricks up their sleeves. now that they had a clear way of proceeding with the battle, action plans were quickly surfacing in their minds.


    "we cannot let them gather together so easily!" leon took a step forward and spoke coldly, "you guys cover me for thirty seconds, i''ll throw their formation into chaos!"


    once he said that, leon didn''t wait for a reply and tossed out the crystal core and summoned the fire lord. then, leon''s body started increasing in size as flames erupted all over him, quickly transforming into the flame fiend.


    the flame fiend that leon transformed into stood side by side with the fire lord, loudly chanting and casting a spell. under their combined channeling, the clear sky was rapidly engulfed by the gathering flame clouds.


    a flame cloud nearly one square kilometer wide roiled and rumbled in the skies, painting the entire world a dark, dim red. one after another, red-hot lava bubbles the size of wash basins expanded within the flame cloud. as the fire and earth elements that gathered slowly increased, the flame cloud could no longer bear the weight of the lava.


    and just like that, in only twenty-three seconds, a large meteor shower had already formed.


    as the first bubble popped, a magma fireball the size of a human head, filled with concentrated fire elementium, crashed down towards the area the witcher-knights were gathering at, dragging a long black tail of smoke.


    then the second fireball, and the third...


    repeatedly, the black and crimson fireballs crashed downwards, leaving marks of their burning flames in the sky that very slowly dissipated.


    "dammit. these evil mages!" the white haired radiant knight shouted his orders, "meusel, you lead the army away. get them into formation as you move. do not let the formation be swept apart by the enemies'' voodoo beasts! collier, aneos, the two of you follow me. we will slay that reckless mage brat."


    as the orders were quickly sent out, the knights'' army gathered here finally moved. the leader was knight meusel, who was raising the witcher-knights'' army flag high in the sky.


    just then, the first wave of meteors reached the tree canopy.


    "fire... "


    one after another, runic arrow shot out and hit the meteors above the canopy. even if there were occasional meteors that were able to break through the rain of arrows, a spellbreaker knight would hurry over and strike out with his large blade, generating a terrifying flame blade that would slash forth and split the flaming meteor in half.


    the meteors that exploded in the skies would rain down fire and lava that melted the skin. fortunately for the knights, without the meteor''s powerful physical impact, the remaining flame shockwave could not harm the safety of the witcher-knights. the witcher-knights raised their left hands, using their energy shields to deflect the flames that rained down on them, while slapping their colts and hurrying out of the area.


    under the lead of temporary leader charles, two radiant knights drove their magic colts forward as fast as possible, charging like an arrow towards the flame demon, who was still channeling his spell.


    a distance of 750 kilometers was only dozens of seconds away for knights as powerful as themselves.


    the remaining mages were reluctant when they saw the three radiant knights charging towards them, but they had no choice but grit their teeth and stop them.


    marionette was the first to act.


    his silhouette flashed, and already his stiff and dull body had appeared beside the three radiant knights. without uttering even a single word, his hand extended from beneath his black robe. countless spider-thin threads extended from the tips of his strange, wood-patterned hands.


    it was delusional to ambush the radiant knights with the strength of his attacks. the target of the threads were not the radiant knights on their horses, but the magic colts beneath them.


    tens of thousands of wooden threads were cast into the sky. they seemed weak and easy to break, but if they ever came into contact with a human body, it would easily break through with no regard for the armor the victim was wearing.


    knight charles, who was standing at the front, let out an angered snort. the runic longsword in his hand shone brilliantly, and a crescent moon slash so wide and large that it struck fear into his enemies slashed forth, its sharp edge pointed towards marionette''s chest.


    the angered blow of a second grade knight was naturally far beyond the limit of a first grade mage''s defense.


    the crescent moon slash had just left the longsword, but marionette was shocked when he looked down and found a white mark appearing on his chest. the white mark gave him an immense sense of danger. already, it was tearing his skin and working its way inside.


    marionette felt as if his soul had been locked on by the opponent and the crescent moon slash would most definitely hit him.


    this was only a feeling, but marionette believed this to be true!


    "dammit! this is the power of faith!"


    the energies surging into the wooden threads became even more violent. more energy threads started to emerge from his fingers, speeding towards the three magic colts. marionette quickly retreated as he did so, stepping into a tall tree and instantly vanishing from the spot.


    most of the energy threads were dispelled by the force radiated by the three radiant knights, but some still managed to find their way into the magic colts. the three colts let out pained cries, and their sprinting bodies quickly slowed down.


    the terrifying crescent moon slash turned mid air rapidly cutting in half the tree marionette was hiding in. the force it radiated then reduced the tree to wooden splinters.


    marionette coughed intensely as he tumbled out of a tall tree a hundred meters away. countless fine cracks had appeared all over his body. even the slightest of movements would cause splinters to fall from his body. marionette leaned against the tree and straightened his body with difficulty. he raised his head and looked upon the radiant knight with hatred in his eyes.


    green streaks of blood were slowly dripping out from his eyes, ears, nose, and his mouth. it seemed like he was severely injured.


    to stop a second-grade radiant knight with the power of a first grade mage, and getting away only severely injured, was already a magnificent show of prowess on the part of marionette! if it had been the other mages in his position, they would probably never have had the chance to escape.


    seeing the poor condition marionette was in the other mages, who had been raring to go at the knights, regained their cautiousness.


    ...


    1989 words read exclusive chapters at empire

 Chapter 206 Trickeries

    mage ferrier flew into the air.from a distance, he threw several vials before the path of the charging knights.


    large pools of purple liquid seeped into the dirt. less than two seconds later, the ground shook and gave way as a large patch of thorns extended from beneath. the thorn tentacles, thick as a baby''s arm, extended chaotically in all directions. the thorns glowed with a mysterious shine that was unlike metal or wood.


    in a few breaths'' time, this forest of thorns that sprouted out of nowhere had completely hidden the silhouettes of the mages.


    sadly, even a wall of thorns such as this one was not able to stop the advance of the knights.


    a thick crescent moon slash stuck close to the ground as it blasted forth, plowing a deep ridge into the ground. everything that stood before the wailing moon crescent slash split into two, be it hard rocks or thorn walls, and gave way to the knights.


    before the two other mages could cast their spells, the three radiant knights had already broken through all the obstacles in their way and appeared before the mages.


    the two mages couldn''t care for attacking the enemies anymore. immediately, the two gave up on the spells they had almost finished casting, hurriedly escaping from the radiant knights'' charge. an in doing so, they exposed leon who was still channeling his spell!


    leon had been stuck in place due to his channeling of the spell, but he had always been paying attention to the other mages'' performance. marionette''s performance was unexpected and ferrier''s performance was fairly standard. on the other hand, the performance of the last two mages was very questionable.


    even if they were not combat mages, they would have at least one or two simple and practical instant cast spells, wouldn''t they? yet they gave up on covering him so easily. it was obvious that they had hostile intentions, and wanted to kill leon using the knights'' hands.


    of course, if leon had been the directing caster of this meteor shower and the fire lord had been the aid, stopping the channeling of the spell would most definitely have inflicted severe spell backlash on leon. and in such a moment of life and death, leon''s fate would be determined by even a slight delay in his movements.


    that said, would leon ever make such a mistake?


    leon forcefully stopped the channeling of the meteor shower without even blinking. the only thing that happened was the flickering of flames on the fire lord''s body.


    two or three pairs of eyes looking from the shadows of the woods in the distance dimmed, betraying expressions of frustration and annoyance.


    dammit, that leon is sly, as expected. such a massive and powerful spell and he chose not to direct it himself. he let that elementium golem direct it instead! because of that, forcefully stopping the spell would only inflict most of the backlash on the golem instead of him. the effect on himself was minuscule.


    there was no time to think. leon reached into the fire lord''s body and grabbed hold of the summoning core before vanishing from the spot in a blast of fire.


    his feet had just vanished, when a violent exploding cross slash blasted the ground where he was just standing. then, the three radiant knights stopped their muscular magic colts before the pillar of dirt that had been blasted into the air.


    even though they had managed to kill a single mage, they were able to stop the evil mage''s spell.


    the three radiant knights seated high on their horses looked down coldly at the mages desperately running away. they did not choose to pursue them.


    without a sufficiently powerful mount, it was exceptionally difficult to chase after these mages with their numerous strange means. moreover, if they accidentally fell into an mage''s trap, even a peak second grade radiant knight like himself wouldn''t claim that he would be able to remain unharmed. discover stories with empire


    the powerful green dragon that was beaten to the brink of death in herdurand city was a perfect example of this!


    in truth, even though they were both at the second grade, if one were to compare a radiant knight with a green dragon, a single green dragon would easily be able to defeat three to five radiant knights.


    green dragons were massive in size. thus, when comparing across the same grade, the amount of strength and physique it possessed far outclassed the tiny human knights. moreover, green dragons could fly, let out dragon breaths, and possessed dragon scales with shocking defensive ability. all of these racial advantages added together to give them the prowess to punch above its grade and challenge a third grade knight.


    it was such a terrifying green dragon that got beat to the brink of death under the watch of numerous knights. it was extremely close to losing its life in herdurand city.


    in accordance with the dragon''s pact signed between the kingdom of knights and the dragon cliff, the two dragon knights had no choice but to escort the green dragon and hurry back to the location of the dragon cliff¡ª¡ªdragon''s valley. thus, for this period of time, the only higher-ups in the knights'' camp were these radiant knights.


    it was precisely the lack of a firm authority that caused a splinter in the opinions of the radiant knights. this ultimately resulted in an angered decision to break apart. some of the knights stayed, while the rest marched into the woods, resulting in the awkward situation they were currently in.


    "i''ll chase them even further away? "knight aneos couldn''t help but ask with a grave expression on his face.


    "there''s no point! "charles took a look at the surrounding woods and shook his head: "i can tell that there are some more of those evil mages hiding in the woods nearby. i fear that something might happen with the main force if we were away for too long! never mind, ignore these annoying pests. as long as we find their den, i don''t believe that they will keep running about as they are doing now..."


    the two radiant knights, collier and aneos nodded in aleonent. the three knights didn''t pursue leon and the others. they turned around and whipped their horses, chasing after the main force, disappearing in the depths of the forest.


    leon had cast a fire teleportation. when he once again appeared, he appeared at the hill closest to where marionette was. the two kept a distance of seventy meters between themselves. leon had no intention to get any closer.


    since marionette was already severely injured, closing in any more would draw marionette''s suspicion and hostility. thus leon stopped his body at a distance and put on a gentle smile on his face.


    "your injuries aren''t too severe, are they? is there anything you need help with? "


    marionette turned his stiff and wooden eyeballs, stared at leon for a moment, before shaking his head with difficulty.


    then, he walked with an odd posture to a large tree that was so wide it needed five men to completely hug the tree and thrust both of his hands into the tree trunk. as green halos quickly flashed about marionette body, the fine cracks quickly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. s~ea??h the nov§×lf~ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    in contrast, the tall ancient tree shook and shivered.


    the countless green leaves on its dense and rich canopy rapidly withered and yellowed, before falling to the ground one after another. it seemed like only a blink of an eye, and already this resilient tree with rich life force had already reached the end of its life, dried, aged and withered.


    when marionette finally took his hands out from the ancient tree, the wounds on his body''s surface had all vanished. he appeared full of energy once again. of course, this was only his outward appearance. as for whether there were any injuries or damage left in his body- that was not for outsiders to know!


    if any member amongst the mages showed any weakness, it would be the equivalent of shouting "shoot me!" at other mages. perhaps in the very next battle, this weak member would become the prey of other mages along with the enemies.


    in a place such as an other plane battlefield, it was too easy to kill another mage as long as you left no evidence!


    thus, sometimes, mages would become even more terrifying and savage after they have been injured! the most important reason for this was that not putting up a facade of strength would invite countless trouble one other mages saw their weakness.


    in the world of mages, one needs to be more savage and cruel than others to keep any opportunistic fellows at bay. most of the time, the companion hiding behind your back was far more terrifying and far more lethal than the most powerful enemy!


    what a wounded mage needed most from others was not sympathy or help but apathy. it was only when no one was paying attention to them that they could find an opportunity to hide in a corner and lick their wounds.


    leon nodded at marionette without speaking another word. he tilted his ear and listened for the terrifying thunder reverberating from a distance, before vanishing from the spot with a fire teleportation. from the looks of it, more mages had launched an ambush on the main force of the knights. from the means of attacks, it was probably the combat mage nicknamed thunderbird.


    it was only until leon''s flashing flame halo had slowly disappeared in the woods far away that marionette was able to let out a sigh of relief. his right foot had silently been impaled into the dirt in the "confrontation" with leon earlier. if leon had dared to move within thirty meters of himself, the wooden roots that broke forth from the ground then would most definitely be enough to buy five seconds of time for himself.


    then, marionette would be able to make a choice for himself, be it fight or flight!


    marionette shook his body, and the massive root that was stuck in the ground quickly shrunk back into his right feet. he turned his stiff wooden eyeballs and stared at a bush a hundred meters away, before turning and disappearing into a tall tree right next to him.


    nearly eight minutes later, when this area of the woods had gone completely silent, the ground beneath the bush marionette stared at before he left started to crack. worm controller blake emerged from the ground and slowly reformed his body.


    he closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings. there was indeed none of marionette''s odd soul flux in the forest nearby. blake''s ghostly green eyes betrayed a hint of anger and frustration.


    a black shell, a horrifying insect''s mouthpart, and countless odd compound eyes of all sizes. compared to the last time he appeared, the bugmen traits on blake were becoming increasingly obvious. this time, there were even two tiny black feelers on his bug-like head. the feelers glowed with a strange purple light, as if there was some unique magic contained within them.


    even though blake already knew that these veteran mages were all sly and had strange tricks up their sleeves, he had still been discovered by marionette when he snuck up trying to find an opportunity. the stare marionette gave before he left was clearly a warning!


    however, for the fearless worm controller blake, such a warning would not be taken to heart.


    blake turned his bug head about, turning his attention to the rowdy battlefield in the distance. after a few moments of listening, his silhouette started to fall apart, breaking apart into tens of thousands of strange black bugs. they vanished back beneath the ground, silently digging their way towards the battlefield.


    when the area had finally gone silent again, a pair of eyes suddenly appeared on the thick tree trunk of an ancient tree. it blinked several times as it looked at the bug hole left behind by blake. then, the pair of strange eyeballs betrayed an expression of mocking joy before slowly disappearing.


    it was only now that this forest area regained its peace and quiet!


    ....


    2049 words

 Chapter 207 Battle

    +20 golden tickets (goal achieved)bonus chapter!


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    the witcher-knight army''s progress through woods was extremely slow! enjoy new chapters from empire


    if the magic colts were allowed to run at full speed, then covering twenty kilometers in an hour was absolutely no problem. however, if they were allowed to do so, the formation of the thousand-man army would undoubtedly become extremely loose. if they were once again charged by the numerous voodoo beasts patrolling around them, the entire army would instantly be scattered everywhere, turning as loose as sand.


    moreover, the only ones able to hold their own were the seven radiant knights. the witcher-knights were larger in number, but in the eyes of the mages, they were just moving delicacies. the spellbreaker knights might be able to resist the evil mages if they worked together. however, they would instantly attract hordes of hungry wolves if they were ever alone.


    to ensure the integrity of the army''s formation, the radiant knights commanded the witcher-knights to slow down their pace and progress at a speed similar to a stroll through the woods.


    all the wildlife in greenland forest had disappeared, converted into horrifying voodoo beasts of all sizes by the mages. besides that, some magic traps hidden within the woods had also created quite a lot of trouble for the army''s progress.


    quicksand traps and gravity traps were the better ones. fireball traps, acid traps, and noxious cloud traps were lethal for the witcher-knights.


    the mages had absolutely brought their evil intelligence to bear!


    the magic traps were all set up on the path that the knights had to pass through, while their activation conditions were weird and varied.


    some of the traps were hidden beneath the ground. touching a single rock above it would cause a fireball to fly out from beneath. it wasn''t too powerful, but it was sufficient to roast a witcher-knight and his colt to ashes. some traps were set on branches three to four meters above the ground. the moment a dangling vine was brushed, extremely corrosive acid would pour from above.


    some of the activation conditions for noxious cloud traps were even stranger. once the life forces in its proximity reached a certain number, it would explode with a boom.


    thus, when the witcher-knights bringing up the rear drove their colts by, they would always see several charred black corpses, or some broken bodies whose heads had been corroded full with holes, as well as companions whose bodies had been dyed all sorts of odd colours...


    they could only put their dead companions to a side of the road and perform a small prayer before continuing on their way. however, they couldn''t simply give up on their companions who were severely injured or poisoned.


    with the burden of these sick and wounded the progress of the knights slowed even further.


    the shouts of knights scouting ahead of the formation could be heard occasionally. every time this happened, there would always be some peculiar spell falling from the sky and landing in the formation. it could be a low-grade magma fireball, or a cloud of terrifying noxious poison, or a large patch of acid swamp...


    most of the spells would be preemptively triggered by countless runic arrows before they could land. even if there were spells that made it through the rain of arrows, they would be destroyed by spellbreaker knights and their flame blades. even though they didn''t deal much damage to the knights, the spells kept the knights alert and concerned. as they rode through the forest on their magic colts, they would cast their wary gazes everywhere; from the bushes, to the canopy, to the rocks and pebbles on the ground.


    even the middle of the formation wasn''t absolutely safe.


    this was because there would occasionally be stealthy voodoo beasts emerging from the dense canopy or the messy piles of rocks along the road. if the knights were not on their guards and got scratched by the voodoo beasts'' foul black claws, even the witcher-knights'' resilient physiques wouldn''t be able to resist the biological poison specially engineered by the mages for them.


    a normal path through the woods less than ten kilometers long took them two hours to walk through. moreover, casualties outside of combat numbered as many as sixteen. the seven or eight companions who had been poisoned in particular could only be bound to their magic colts, barely keeping pace with the rest of the army.


    when the sun was at its highest and noon had come, a new problem arose.


    this was an army with no reinforcements. they charged into the forest with no hesitation, and with the absolute resolve not to return before finding the enemy''s den. as such, every member of the army had only brought along three days of food and water when they set off.


    if this had been a simple adventure, such preparations would''ve been enough for them to thoroughly search and explore a forest two-hundred square meters large. however, under such savagely endless battles, the drinking water was very evidently running out too quickly, even though food was enough.


    what was more terrifying was the fact that they had discovered on their way, to their anger, that almost all the streams and springs that could be used for drinking water had been occupied by undead beings radiating a light yellow, pestilent plague cloud. this meant that all the water sources on the ground had been severely polluted and couldn''t be used for drinking anymore!


    humans were not machines. they could not keep up their alertness and high intensity of combat-readiness for long periods of time. witcher-knights had physiques several times better than that of a normal human, but after five to six hours of cruel battles and a difficult march, their stamina had inevitably fallen to the absolute lowest. sear?h the novel(f~)ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    with no other choice, the higher-ups of the knight army set up camp on a high hill and allowed the knights, who had been working for the entire day, to have a safe place to rest. the many spellbreaker knights formed patrolling groups of three to five, walking about the woods nearby to prevent those evil mages from harassing the army.


    the seven radiant knights, on the other hand, gathered in a small temporary camp that had just been set up to discuss their following action plan.


    the evil mages'' den was located in this stretch of the greenland forest, the southern area of which was nearly two hundred kilometers big. after the bloody investigation earlier, the witcher-knights had used their lives to thoroughly check half of the suspicious locations. thus, what remained before the seven radiant knights was a large forest nearly a hundred square kilometers in size.


    the radiant knights that sat here were all radicals who hated evil with a passion. otherwise, they would not have been able to tolerate the scattered and gradual investigation method earlier. they wouldn''t have unhesitantly charged into the forest in their fit of anger.


    according to the original plan, they would ignore the mages scattered around the outer area of the forest, and have the main army march forcefully into the core of the forest. then and there, they would set up camp and send their subordinates in every direction. they were confident they would be able to find the enemy''s den easily when that happened.


    even if there were casualties, that would be better than sending exceptional spellbreaker knights and squad after squad of elite witcher-knights to be slaughtered at the hands of the enemy, wouldn''t it!


    one has to point out that in the knights'' plane, where the heretics were perpetually suppressed, the image of the spellcasters as weak and cowardly was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the witcher-knights. even those higher-ups of the knights'' army had never thought of the invading mages as an exceptionally powerful force.


    from their perspectives, the mages were only a bunch of shrewd and treacherous individuals who were good at hiding and setting up ambushes. as long the knights swept through and destroyed their roots with a force like lightning, they would scatter like mice who had lost their den. they would run and hide in fear, no longer capable of putting up any organized resistance!


    in truth, these radical knights'' simple and violent plan was indeed the quickest and most suitable way of dealing with the invading mages. however, they overestimated their own prowess, and underestimated the means of the mages.


    if they were able to gather all of their armies, and gathered all the powerful beings of their plane, this plan of absolute simplicity and violence would undoubtedly be the best way forward.


    sadly, all the powerful beings of their plane at third grade or above were absent. in addition, the internal conflict had caused the knights'' army to split. these two factors severely weakened the combat potential of this army.


    even as this group of radiant knights gathered to discuss their next step forward, the counter-attack from the mages'' base had already arrived.


    by evening, hordes of terrifying beasts had already fully surrounded the hill that the knights were resting on. then, under the command of the evil mages, wave after wave of voodoo beasts charged into the defensive lines set up by the knights, engaging in a cruel, savage, and bloody battle with them.


    it was a large forest. the loose defensive line stretched for nearly two kilometers. the seven radiant knights each led numerous spellbreaker knights and guarded multiple points on their own, stubbornly exterminating waves of frightening voodoo beasts. the hilltop, on the other hand, had been turned into a temporary infirmary. the witcher-knights who were severely injured and could no longer fight were sent here, awaiting treatment.


    due to the lack of necessary means of treatment, the only method available to the witcher-knights acting as medical personnel was slicing off the rotting or dead muscles with daggers and washing the wounds with large amounts of water before bandaging them.


    this method of treatment might be effective for normal external wounds. however, most of the injured knights in the infirmary had been attacked by voodoo beasts, who had claws contaminated with plagues and viruses. before the plagues and poison within the knights'' bodies were dispelled, not only would their wounds not heal, they would even worsen and rot as time passed.


    this was only because the witcher-knights all had tough and resilient bodies. if it had been a normal human warrior, all the blood in their body would have coagulated and their flesh would have rotted, ending in death. it was only the witcher-knights that were still able to stubbornly resist against the effects of the plagues and viruses. but this, in another sense, also extended the time they had to suffer and struggle!


    the attack of the voodoo beasts lasted from the evening until the the sky darkened!


    the attack lasted for four hours. nearly ten thousand voodoo beasts fell on the frontlines of the battle, while the active combat forces of the knights'' army went from the initial seven-hundred people to barely four-hundred people left. with the help of their courageous steeds and powerful runic equipment, the witcher-knights may have suffered severe losses, but the number of actual deaths were very few.


    after four hours of continuous battle, 87 witcher-knights had lost their lives, but the number of knights that lost the ability to continue fighting due to attacks from the voodoo beasts numbered as high as 235 men. even those knights that continued keeping guard outside carried several wounds. they just had not suffered wounds grievous enough to cripple them.


    ten thousand voodoo beasts were dead, and most of them were slain by the seven radiant knights. moreover, in the first hour of the battle, every sharp and fearsome crescent moon slash that blasted forth would carve a path of blood through the voodoo beasts, causing the number of beast deaths to skyrocket.


    an hour of continuous hacking and slashing, along with the occasional activation of savage knight battle techniques into areas where the voodoo beasts were most densely gathered- such intense battles were tough, even for radiant knights.


    they would let out a terrifying crescent moon slash every three to five minutes at the start of the battle. after fighting for a little while, they could only activate a crescent moon slash every fifteen or thirty minutes. by the end of the fight they were completely exhausted and could no longer use their ferocious knight battle techniques. they could only chop at the voodoo beasts with their powerful strength and tough bodies, much like any other witcher-knight.


    the numbers of the voodoo beasts were not countless!


    in the month''s time before this, the mages had captured all the wild beasts and magical creatures in this stretch of forest, modifying them into voodoo beasts. yet just today, more than seventy to eighty percent of the voodoo beasts had lost their lives before this witcher-knight army that numbered less than a thousand.


    however, the result of this battle was extremely glorious, for... it was nightfall!


    ...


    2174 words

 Chapter 208 Ghouls

    as night fell, the battle slowly stopped.surprisingly, those terrifying voodoo beasts that never tired nor feared death retreated under the orders of the mages. they hid in the distant woods and for a moment it was hard to figure out their intentions.


    looking down from above the hill, one could see the ghostly green or blood red eyes of the voodoo beasts all over the dark forest.


    the white-haired knight charles leaned on his runic longsword, standing on a corner of the tall hill, gazing at the woods in the distance. it left like a one-ton boulder was pressing upon his heart. even breathing was difficult.


    in all seriousness, the witcher-knights on this hill were entrenched in this battle because they responded to his rallying call. now, everyone was trapped on this hill. they could not move and could only wait for the next attacks from the mages.


    what were those mages hiding in the darkness plotting? would they be able to successfully repel the attacks of the enemy, and last until the enemy had exhausted all their strength?


    countless stray thoughts whirled about his mind and for one moment, he blanked out.


    the sound of footsteps sounded from behind.


    even without turning to look, charles was able to tell who it was from their familiar footsteps.


    as expected, the loud and steady voice of knight meusel rang out, "the enemy has temporarily retreated! the injured knights have also been treated."


    charles'' determined expression turned into a downcast one as he spoke in a grave voice, "how are the losses on our side? how many knights are left that can ride a horse to battle?"


    "..." after a moment''s silence, meusel''s voice had also become much more solemn, "the number of men that can still fight on a horse is 386. the rest... "


    they had lost nearly a hundred men in the first battle within the woods, under the ambush of the stealthy mages. another twenty or thirty knights had died on the arduous journey here. after the long and bloody battle earlier, only 386 men remained of the knights'' main force. that meant that the battle earlier had caused a casualty of another three hundred men from the knight''s army.


    even though most of the casualties were from combat ability loss due to infection by the bio-toxins on the voodoo beasts'' claws, what was the difference between death and having no fighting strength when they were under siege by the enemy? in fact, most of the time, it might have been easier for these severely injured knights to have just died under the claws of the voodoo beasts.


    after all, the witcher-knight army was known for its fast and ferocious attacks, as well as its quick speed across the battlefield. how were they supposed to break through the enemy''s siege with three hundred casualties on their backs?


    the other radiant knights quickly gathered around charles, firmly and stubbornly waiting for his orders.


    the muscles on charles'' face twitched slightly.


    how easy it was to just give an order! yet, behind each order was pile after bloody pile of witcher-knight corpses.


    as the knights'' leader, he knew clearly what order he needed to give out to save the lives of the remaining witcher-knights. however... once the words were about to leave his mouth, his snow white beard shook uncontrollably. he couldn''t say it.


    abandoning their companions! giving up on their allies!


    since when did the sacred and inviolable motto of the knights turn into numbers that could be added and subtracted on a paper?


    the more practical meusel saw the pain of choosing on his leader''s face and calmly spoke, "it is no longer possible to have everyone break through! even if we left the sick and injured behind, we cannot get everyone else out. so charles, please, bring the rest with you and break through! i''ll stay behind with the other radiant knights and defend this hill. you bring some of the knights back to base and... ask for help. windsor and the others won''t hang us out to dry!"


    meusel stopped when he spat out the words ''ask for help''.


    as a proud radiant knight himself, it was undoubtedly another extremely difficult task to have charles lower his head before that stubborn and conservative windsor. however, the current situation left him no other choice.


    the muscles on charles'' face shook even more violently.


    finally, the leader of the radical knights made his decision. he spoke, determined, "no, meusel. the one returning shouldn''t be me. i bear the greatest responsibility for this reckless march into the forest. so, i''ll stay behind to reinforce the morale of the troops. you, collier, aneos, jos¨¦¨C the four of you lead two hundred men back to request for reinforcements. you can tell windsor that as long as he is willing to help, i will... i will be willing to hand over all of my authority... "


    all of a sudden, death-like silence filled the scene.


    pain and struggle surfaced on the faces of all the knights of the radical faction.


    the moment charles gave this order, it meant that the this faction would always be inferior to the knights of the conservative faction. this was something even more painful than death for the proud and arrogant knights.


    yet, just as everyone''s feelings were being turned upside down, a scream filled with terror rang out from a corner of the hill. then, it came like a sweeping storm, as pained screams filled the entire camp.


    "what''s all the fuss about?" meusel drew his radiant runic longsword and shouted, "keep calm, the enemy has yet to... "


    before he could finish, his expression changed.


    a pungent odor of rot had spread throughout the camp along with the night mist that appeared in the woods. like the cowherd''s flute that enchanted the hearts of the people, when this pungent odor spread throughout the camp, the dying knights lying all over the hill had a sudden and terrifying change.


    the knights could see this clearly as a weak and injured knight lying closest to them started to cough violently. his pale face started to become flushed red. his teeth ground against each other and let out a screeching noise. milk white foam surged forth from his mouth and nose.


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    his eyes were opened wide, so wide that the corners of his eyes had started to split. purple and black blood started to flow from every orifice. his body started to bend and contort into all sorts of unimaginable shapes.


    when the blood finished flowing, he started to scratch at his own body with all his strength. the strength with which he scratched his body caused deep gashes to be left all over his skin and body. blood flowed endlessly.


    a witcher-knight in charge of taking care of him stepped forward to stop him. however, even using all his strength, he could not stop the knight''s self-destructive acts and was bitten on the hand instead.


    the radiant knights all had exceptionally powerful physiques, but even they were feeling uncomfortable about what they were seeing. they looked about in fear before realizing the cause of the chaos in the camp.


    the mist!


    no. more specifically, some mysterious substance was mixed into the mist!


    the injured knights within the camp were undoubtedly the ones who were weakest, both physically and mentally. thus, one could see with the naked eye how some mysterious black particles within the mist surged into the wounds on their bodies like swimming fish. when one looked from a distance, they could see that every injured man on the hill was shrouded in a thick black fog.


    the injured knights within the thick fogs struggled in pain, tearing at the armor and shirts on their bodies, even scratching and hurting their own flesh and skin. it was as if they wanted to tear their skin off.


    as the black fog seeped into the bodies of the injured, their bodies started to change massively.


    the skin on the surface started to dissolve. the bright red muscles and tendons were exposed to the air, causing all the knights to appear extremely red. however, very gradually, the blood-red color started to fade and a sort of sticky and disgusting liquid began to fill the surface of their bodies, completely soaking them.


    the thick muscles and tendons started to meld together. insufficient stretching caused their bodies to become thin and scrawny. however, it was obvious that the strength in their bones and muscles had greatly increased. they screamed and roared in anger. initially, it still sounded like the pained and sorrowful cries of a human. by the end, it started to sound like a wild beast, only left with an odd growl.


    sharp fangs, claws and spines started to grow rapidly. when ''their'' claws unconsciously ran across a boulder, it let out the screeching sound of scraping as bright flaming sparks appeared.


    right in front of the radiant knights, and right on this hill, a previously injured knight on his deathbed had rapidly converted into an undead. they had been forcefully converted by evil powers into an undead being that had never before appeared on the knights'' plane¨C a ghoul!


    having been completely changed to an undead, this ghoul turned its body and crouched on the ground. its eyes, missing their eyelids, suddenly turned around, revealing milk-white and turbid eyeballs, so white one couldn''t see the pupils in them


    even though they had no pupils, this was no obstacle for the ghoul. its unique senses made it especially sensitive to life force! it opened its mouth wide, revealing sharp fangs, before letting out a deep and threatening roar directed towards the radiant knights.


    it bent its body, and with a powerful kick of its strong hind legs, the ghoul leapt towards the witcher-knight closest to it like an arrow shot out of a bow.


    the witcher-knight was evidently stunned by the scene before him. he stumbled backwards in fear, but never ever thought of drawing his sword and resisting. this... this was a companion he used to know!


    as a radiant knight, meusel had undoubtedly experienced far more terrifying and strange things in his life compared to the young witcher-knights. he quickly struggled free from the shock and fear. with a quick step forward, he drew his sword and smacked the leaping ghoul''s body with the flat side of the blade.


    "stay down!"


    the ghoul was smashed and blasted away along with his roar, and crashed into a small tree as wide as a human''s waist ten meters away, knocking it down. crack! the loud snap of breaking bones cracked in the ghoul''s body.


    however, it was obvious that this blow did not cripple the ghoul.


    it rolled about the ground several times. when it finally got up, most of the bones on the front of its body had been completely shattered. however, it struggled and got up from the ground as if the wounds didn''t bother it, dragging its broken body and leaping towards meusel once more.


    "die!"


    meusel finally recognized the reality. he no longer held back. the large sword in his hand glowed brilliantly, and like a sharp knife sliding through a piece of paper, he silently sliced the ghoul in two. however, the mild pause of the blade he felt when the longsword slashed through the spine of the ghoul caused his expression to sour.


    he was an actual second grade radiant knight!


    if even he felt a slight delay when he cut through this monster, how would the other witcher-knights fare against these monsters? s§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    there was no time for him to think, as the entire camp was instantly engulfed in a rain of blood!


    ...


    1956 words

 Chapter 209 Counterattack

    such an evil undead like the ghoul had never appeared on the knights'' plane.some wild undead beings occasionally appeared in rural areas. however, most of those were low-level skeletons with creaking bones, or withered corpses that shambled about slowly. the worst of those were only spectres that had lost their souls.


    as for an elite undead such as ghouls- they never appeared naturally without the existence of an undead manipulator. sear?h the n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    today, under the infection of the plagues and viruses of the voodoo beasts, along with the catalyzation of the black fog, the injured witcher-knights were unable to resist the powerful magic and were all converted into strong and lithe ghouls. perhaps because the physiques of this group of knights were extremely exceptional, the ghouls that they turned into also possessed extraordinary strength and physique.


    of course, the agility unique to ghouls was once again amplified as well!


    they were like a group of humans who had been skinned, then soaked in pungent water for several days and nights. their entire body had a pale color to it, like the drowned. what''s more, the surface of their body was sticky, moist, and let out an extremely pungent odor.


    the converted ghouls gathered into groups under the horrified gaze of the witcher-knights, launching an attack on the surrounding humans. one after another, surprised witcher-knights were barely able to draw their longswords before they were tackled to the ground by the pouncing ghouls.


    their sharp claws and immense physical strength made attacks unnaturally powerful. the knights'' armor, as thick as an entire finger, was easily shredded and penetrated as if paper. the ghouls crouched on the witcher-knights'' bodies, baring their sharp fangs and biting the knights on their necks.


    just a single bite and the knights would lose half their necks. their bloody cervical spine, shattered throat, the fountains of blood that gushed outward... all of this instantly caused the knights to lose their ability to resist. they could only press their hands against the gaping holes on their necks as they drowned in the blood flowing from their orifices, not even able to let out a final call for help.


    of course, there were some knights with quicker reactions that were able to draw their runic longswords and fight valiantly against the ghouls that charged forward.


    however, most of the excess fat and unnecessary organs within the ghouls'' body had already been dissolved. under the nourishment from all the flesh and blood on their bodies, the ghouls'' bones had become extremely large and dense, while their muscles and tendons had become as thick and tough as steel wire. this caused every slash of the witcher-knights to feel like a cut on an extremely tough and old tree. the resistance they felt from their blades shocked them.


    with no choice left to them, all the witcher-knights had to activate the runic arrays on their longswords. as the scarlet or azure runic energies flowed across their longswords, the fight against the ghouls became slightly easier.


    as hard and tough as the ghouls'' bones and bodies were, they were no match for the sharpness of the runic weapons.


    the witcher-knights quickly regained their advantage, pushing the numerous ghouls to a corner of the camp. however, in that mere fifteen minutes of chaos, another forty witcher-knights had become the victims of the ghouls'' sharps fangs and claws. their flesh that had been ravaged and torn to several pieces, as well as bodies that had been bitten and mauled all over, filled the chests of the witcher-knights with a fiery anger that could burn the skies.


    those accursed mages! they should be diced into a thousand pieces!


    knight meusel strode forward, and with a single horizontal slash, he released a destructive flame blade that appeared as an unstoppable red scimitar. it slashed forward for fifty meters, finally disappearing when it sliced through a large tree. in the time it sliced through the air, the pale and bloated bodies of seven ghouls had silently split into two, their black and sticky blood soaking the dirt beneath their feet.


    "do not get caught up in a battle with them, hurry to your colts, we... " meusel''s loud and powerful voice suddenly stopped, replaced with a face full of shock and fear.


    in a corner of the camp, where the knights had placed their colts, the black fog was present and had already engulfed the entire area.


    under the effect of the magic, colts repeatedly fell to the ground with pained cries. blood was flowing endlessly out of every pore in their bodies.


    purple and black blood!


    the magic colts who had spent years as the companions of the witcher-knights were almost dead!


    for one moment, even a radiant knight like meusel couldn''t help but feel nauseous. everything before his eyes seemed to blur.


    they were knights, after all! knights that spent their lives on the backs of horses, dominating battlefields with the help of magic colts!


    the delicate but hard knight''s armor. the delicate shield that could generate an energy barrier. the iron gauntlets, iron kneepads, and metal pads that ensured both agility and defense, as well as the runic longswords and runic bows that were forged from unique metals... disregarding all the minor decorative ornaments, just a set of runic equipment alone weighed forty-five kilograms.


    only the sturdy magic colts could carry such heavy equipment as well as the weight of the knights. disregarding riding across mountains and rough terrain, even running two rounds around the camp would have exhausted a normal warhorse.


    the radiant knights saw black before their eyes and almost fainted when they saw their magic colts being slaughtered by the mages.


    yet just at this very moment, countless screams, cries, and roars rang out in the woods around the camp. that group of accursed voodoo beasts had chosen to attack again!


    suddenly, the dark night sky above the hill, along with the canvas of bright stars, had once again been replaced by roiling red clouds. several hundred lava bubbles of all sizes were forming in the clouds. every time one of the bubbles popped, blinding red light and burning flames would spill out from within.


    the red clouds shook and thundered. a large meteor shower was about to form in the blink of an eye!


    the leader of the knights, charles, stumbled two steps forward, and coughed out blood on the ground before him. several of his companions rushed forward to help him up, but he pushed them away. charles drew his longsword with all his strength, and blinding flames instantly rose on the blade.


    "leave, hurry and leave... ignore the injured and the magic colts in the base! quick, have everyone gather and break through in one direction!" charles waved his large sword and shouted his orders with all his strength, his snow white beard already stained with blood.


    having given his orders, charles felt the blood in his body boiling. a violent and imposing force started to gather wildly around him. when his aura of might had reached its peak, charles let out a shoat that shook the entire forest as he lashed out with the flame longsword in his hand. a bright red blade slashed apart the skies and blasted into the surging red clouds.


    the very next moment, the meteor shower that had neared completion went out of control!


    the unstable fire elementium that had been densely concentrated had their internal structure destroyed by that red blade, instantly causing leon to lose control over the flame cloud. a gigantic apocalyptic volcano erupted above the skies, forming an enormous flame pillar that looked like a mushroom cloud, before turning into a sea of flames and falling to the forest beneath.


    in a hidden valley one kilometer away, leon crouched within a giant array, violently coughing blood. the flames on the body of the fire lord, who was standing next to leon, let out crackling noises as if it had received severe spell backlash as well. its usually bright red protective flames had dimmed. the fires on several parts of its body had even gone out completely, revealing the uneven and ugly magma body beneath.


    leon finally struggled out of the severe spell backlash after a good eight minutes. he took out potions, powders, and medicines of all sizes, immediately swallowing five vials before exhaling.


    dammit! to avoid being attacked by the enemy''s knight battle techniques, he had even intentionally guided the flame clouds to a height of two hundred meters in the sky when he cast meteor shower. who knew that he still wouldn''t be able to avoid the terrifying attacks of the radiant knight.


    dammit! dammit! dammit!...


    if knight battle techniques had such long range and still retained such terrifying might, what were the mages supposed to use to fight against them? the mages would most likely be slashed to death by the knights from a distance when they were still desperately trying to chant their spells! find your next read on empire


    it''s important to note that with the exception of very few basic instant-cast spells, most powerful or large radius spells needed chants and hand-signs to be completed. on the other hand, knight battle techniques were able to be used with a wave of a sword and had an astounding concentration of energy.


    leon knew that the one who disrupted his spell was a second grade knight and that it was all too usual for this to be a result when a second grade knight fought against a first grade mage. however, the utter success so far had caused leon to become somewhat impetuous! otherwise, with his usual forbearing and patient personality, he would never have chosen to be the idiot to attack first!


    perhaps, right at this very moment, countless mages in the woods nearby were waiting for an opportunity to laugh at his failure!


    leon recovered a little and took back the fire lord''s core that had exhausted most of its energy. he then summoned the alligator hunter and sunk into the ground with it. a short moment later a massive flame pillar exploded within the magic array, erasing all signs and traces of him that he had left behind.


    the mages wandering nearby were far too numerous, so leon didn''t dare let any part of his body be obtained by an enemy. in particular, blood! leon himself was capable of casting twelve or thirteen long-ranged curse spells that used blood, skin, and other body parts as catalysts.


    if it was those terrifying mages that specialized in curses, it was said that even the air one exhaled could be utilized to collect enough personal information about the victim. if they were able to obtain any hair or blood from one''s body and hosted a grand curse ceremony with these items, they could even kill all living beings with your bloodline in one go.


    moreover, it didn''t matter where they were¨C there was no escaping from this type of formidable bloodline curse!


    as a member of the mages, cautiousness, care, and keeping a low profile was the best way to stay alive. never ever offend another mage without reason. if you had no choice but to start a blood feud with another mage, remember to kill the opponent when you had the chance, even if you had to pay a painful price to do so.


    otherwise, any single mage going into hiding to exact his vengeance on you would make you pay a price hundreds or even thousands of times more painful than you had to pay now.


    ...


    1925 words

 Chapter 210 Intimidation

    countless shadows were running through the woods under the dark curtain of the night.the witcher-knights, who were once the rulers of this plane, had now become frightened birds fleeing from a bloodthirsty hunter. read latest chapters on empire


    they took off their heavy armor, tossed aside their iron knee pads, and threw away their helmets. some knights even let go of their runic bows, only keeping the single runic sword and slim shield with them.


    they panicked like dogs without a home, running quickly through the night''s thick and enigmatic mist. some knights tripped on thick tree roots, while others fell off cliffs of four or five meters.


    three radiant knights led the charge in front, while the other four led a group of spellbreaker knights to cover the rear. the army retreated as they fought, forcefully opening a path of blood and flesh through the forest, breaking through the heavily surrounded hill.


    initially, all the witcher-knights were still able to follow behind that radiant flame longsword. however, as the howls in the forest around them started to become more and more frequent, and closer and closer, everyone started to panic.


    some knights were completely exhausted, while others were heavily injured. most of them were hanging on by sheer will. they leaned on and encouraged each other as they desperately ran along with the crowd. of course, there were also some frightened witcher-knights that chose to leave the main force. in just a few seconds, they would disappear into the dark forest.


    most of the mages'' attention would be attracted to the main force of the knights, especially in such a cruel battlefield. as long as they could break through the defensive line of the voodoo beasts on the outer rim, then the individual witcher-knights were indeed very likely to escape.


    honestly, their line of thought was not without its logic!


    however, could the few witcher-knights, without complete armor or their powerful steeds, resist the hordes of voodoo beasts and ghouls when they were so badly weakened? this was undoubtedly a problem they had to solve on their own!


    finally, an mage in the darkness couldn''t hold back any longer!


    a dark green ball of light the size of a human head raced out from the darkness nearby, landing right in the middle of a group of frantically running knights. the ball of light exploded, and countless acid arrows radiating bright light shot in every direction.


    the three closest knights were riddled with holes by the acid arrows before they could activate their energy shields. their heavy bodies fell to the ground, still letting out ear-splitting sizzling as their corpses were corroded with acid. in less than seven seconds, the three witcher-knights were dead and their bodies had dissolved into a pool of green liquid.


    most of the knights further away were able to activate their shields in time and shield themselves from the acid arrows. only one knight was a touch too slow and was pierced through the leg.


    the injured witcher-knight let go of his runic longsword, writhing in pain on the ground. no one could bear the blistering sounds as his flesh corroded. a companion he was acquainted with stopped and drew a dagger. he ripped apart the legs of his companion''s pants and was about to slice off the flesh that had been corroded.


    however, what he saw was a large and bloody wound that had been completely rotted. the entire right leg had turned a green color, and the terrifying color was rapidly spreading upwards.


    "can you bear the pain? this leg is done for!" the companion shouted and tossed aside the dagger. he drew his longsword and raised it high, intending to amputate his companion''s leg to save his life.


    yet at this very moment, odd breathing and the sounds of sprinting footsteps rang out. a large swarm of voodoo beasts with a few ghouls mixed in surged forth.


    the two terrified knights had no time to even resist. their shapes were instantly swallowed by the tide of monsters.


    a middle-aged mage wearing green leather armor was cackling in the depths of the woods. a ball of green light floated before his chest. occasionally, a green beam of light would shoot forth from the ball, landing in the knights'' formation in the distance. every time this happened, two or three witcher-knights would lose their lives.


    just as he was at the peak of his excitement his expression changed, and he rolled to a side of the ground. almost at the same time, a red flame blade slashed through the air from the darkness, blasting through eleven trees before it gradually dissipated.


    the expression of the mage in green armor soured.


    if he hadn''t dodged in time, that flame blade would definitely have sliced him in half from the waist downwards. even if he had cast all the protective spells he had on himself, it wouldn''t have done anything against a knight battle technique of this prowess.


    the difference in power was far too obvious!


    gah! an old dog flailing in water, and he dares to bite back!


    the mage in green armor cursed under his breath. at the same time, he tapped the human bone necklace on his chest, and his entire body suddenly became obscure and intangible before quickly vanishing from the spot.


    before he could escape into the darkness of the woods, a blinding flame longsword whistled through the air and pinned him to an ancient tree behind him.


    the mage in green armor howled in pain. even though the flaming runic-sword had gone through his chest, he had yet to die. instead, he quickly grabbed a green staff out of the air and tried to escape for the second time.


    unfortunately, the energy flames on the runic sword became even more intense, instantly reducing his body to ashes and leaving behind a horrifying skull and a green staff on the ground.


    charles walked forward from the darkness with determined steps, stopping before the tree and drawing his longsword out. he grabbed the mage''s skull from on the ground, and raised it above his head while shouting into the distant woods, "come... keep coming! this will be your only end!"


    for one moment, the woods became slightly silent!


    countless gazes penetrated the layers of branches and leaves, silently staring at the terrifying skull the radiant knight was holding in his hand.


    just a foolish idiot!


    many people were coldly mocking in their hearts, but deep inside they were highly cautious.


    from the start of the battle until now, the one torturing and toying with this thousand-man knights'' army had always been a group of first grade mages. even though there were radiant knights within the army that could utterly dominate them, and even though there were seven of them, the mages had never feared them at all. some ambitious mages were even scheming to capture a radiant knight.


    however, at this moment, when they saw the death of that reckless idiot, all the mages had no choice but to remind themselves to stay cautious. second grade knights were second grade knights after all. even if they were in an awkward position, they were still extremely powerful beings that could kill them at any time.


    these mages could play the sly and wicked big bad wolves before the witcher-knight sheep, and even the spellbreaker knights. however, in the face of the mighty radiant knights, they could only curse silently in the shadows. the fragility of second grade knights was only when compared to second grade mages. these radiant knights still possessed the ability to dominate first grade mages.


    as long as the mages understood this, they would be able to preserve their lives, even if they had to suffer a little humiliation.


    several mages looked at this scene in humiliation, keeping their hatred within themselves and gritting their teeth. that said, the mages that had always favored beating the enemy with their brains and knowledge would not charge forward because of a moment''s passion.


    the powerhouses amongst the first grade mages couldn''t help but wrack their brains for ideas once more!


    ...


    leon rode high above the back of the alligator hunter in the dim woods, quickly pursuing the witcher-knight army.


    behind him, countless clay golems and wind critters formed a strict blockade, allowing him to constantly monitor every change within two and a half kilometers around him.


    just as he was quickly sprinting through the forest, a wind critter on the outer rim suddenly sent an odd image back.


    leon thought for a moment before halting the alligator hunter''s advance. he took out his fire lord''s scepter and waited silently.


    very soon, thunderous crackling rang out, and a man engulfed in tens of thousands of lightning arcs appeared in the skies above.


    blue armor and a refreshingly bald head, with numerous strange runes carved densely in his scalp. from the looks of it, he was a forty-year old middle-aged man.


    leon recognized him. he was a combat mage from their base who was skilled at manipulating lightning, nicknamed thunderbird.


    in all honesty, even though they were all from the same mages'' base, most of them wore thick and heavy robes or veils, even hiding their faces with spells. thus, this was the first time leon had seen thunderbird''s true face.


    "you are leon, aren''t you?" thunderbird asked coldly, "go to spider valley five kilometers away for a meeting. boss hyde invites you to work together to deal with that radiant knight. i''ve already brought the message to you. whether you go or not is your business!"


    having finished speaking, thunderbird did not even linger. with a flash of lightning, he disappeared from the spot.


    leon raised his head and looked at the lightning scorch marks that lingered in the night sky, somewhat stunned, "a meeting?"


    almost immediately it seemed as if he understood something, and coldly spat out, "hmph! it seems there''s finally someone that can no longer stand the arrogance of the second grade knights! a meeting? it seems they are planning some kind of action! it wouldn''t hurt to check it out." s§×ar?h the n?vel(f)ire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    then the alligator hunter turned and sprinted towards the spider valley in the distance.


    spider valley.


    as its name implied, spider valley was a terrifying place that was home to many spiders!


    the moment one entered this valley, one would see the dense white spider webs throughout the dim woods, along with terrifying spiders crawling about the branches.


    oddly enough, even though the species and colors of the spiders were extremely varied, the largest of the spiders here were only the size of a fist. one would not be able to see any of the huntsmen spiders or the deinopidae, or ghostface spiders, that were typically as large as a calf.


    of course, leon knew why this was the case.


    that was because he was the one who personally swept through spider valley. any large spiders that had even a little value had already been sent back to the mages'' base by him. thus, the spider valley was now not exactly true to its name!


    the gathering spot was set not far from the entrance of the valley. when leon hurried over, there were already four people silently waiting there.


    marionette, blake, phantom and boss hyde.


    leon naturally already knew who marionette and blake were. most of his attention was on the other two.


    in all honesty, this person was not a simple person at all. he was able to have an mage, who usually only respected knowledge and prowess, acknowledge and call him ''boss''!


    ...


    1932 words

 Chapter 211 Meeting

    even though phantom looked like an alluring beauty with a seductive figure, leon knew that she was a master of illusions. therefore, his brain consciously ignored her beauty when he looked at this female mage.who knew if she was hiding a fat, ugly body beneath that shell of seductiveness and beauty!


    leon could have used the unique penetrating ability of his elementium sight to look at phantom''s true face. however, an invasive probe against an opponent of the same grade was undoubtedly offensive, and was very likely to invite hostility from the opponent.


    whenever there were other mages around him, leon would consciously shut off his active probing abilities, only allowing the chip to do passive auxiliary information gathering.


    furthermore, the reason leon recognized her as a female mage rather than a witch was because the term ''witch'' was a very specific term in the world of mages. ''witch'' referred to those female mages who possessed ancient legacies. a witch was most definitely a female mage, but a female mage was not necessarily a witch.


    mage phantom, who stood before him, walked down the path of an orthodox elementium mage. she had absolutely nothing to do with the bunch of witches that lived on the northern side of the continent of mages.


    there were many mages who specialized in illusion. however, most of them were better in an support role. not many of them were suited for the bloody battlefield. after all, any mage would be embarrassed to go out if they didn''t at least have an illusion-breaking staff or spirit concentration necklace on them. with the common usage of such auxiliary tools, the combat ability of mages that specialized in illusions naturally took a severe blow.


    however, the fact that phantom was one of the mages invited here was sufficient to prove that she had her own unique ability and mastery within the domain of illusions. otherwise, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to be invited to this group of combat mages.


    leon shifted most of his attention to that "boss hyde" after quickly assessing phantom.


    it was obvious that hyde chose the path of an esoteric mage. his two meter tall body was large and burly, but there were obvious signs of mechanical modifications on his body. his left forearm had been completely amputated and replaced by a mechanical arm glowing with a bronze sheen. no artificial skin had been placed on top of the arm, and from the exterior, one could see the metallic chains, gears, axles, and countless other mechanical parts inside.


    just one look and you could tell that many parts of mage hyde''s body had been modified. mechanical arm, mechanical legs, metal eye, numerous strange mechanical equipment fitted on the surface of the body...


    if leon was allowed to define mage hyde''s existence, he would have said that hyde was most definitely an intricate machine, a... robot that had bits and pieces of human flesh and blood attached onto the surface of the machine.


    leon was quite curious. if he split apart hyde''s chest, would he see warm flowing blood or layers of turning gears and rods?


    the prowess of people that went through such cruel bodily modifications lied in their energy output that far outclassed any normal mage, as well as their numerous peculiar abilities that dazzled their enemies.


    moreover, it was important to note that the bodies of most mages were still considerably weak. without any spells cast on them, they were a bunch of individuals with weak bodies and poor strength that needed to gasp for air after climbing several floors. however, once they were enhanced with spells, they would suddenly become omnipotent gods that could control all within their reach.


    mechanical mages, on the other hand, could replace their weak bodily organs with magic-infused machinery that possessed amazing strength through various artificial modifications. in doing so, their bodies would naturally possess magical effects, even without casting spells. moreover, these effects would last forever.


    mechanical mages might lose the appearance and pleasures of a human, but they gained supernatural prowess in exchange!


    it was rumored that large numbers of esoteric mages gathered at the castle in the sky, in the continent of mages western seaboard, and that most of them were mechanical mages. the castle in the sky, the mages'' city that floated ten thousand meters in the sky represented the highest achievements and the peak of magic-infused machinery.


    even though leon wanted to find out more about this mage hyde, a light mechanical hum rang out and a strange flux appeared around hyde, obstructing further probes from him.


    continue reading at empire


    leon smiled awkwardly and nodded at hyde and marionette before walking to the side and waiting patiently.


    they didn''t wait long.


    a moment later, thunder rumbled in the skies, and mage thunderbird appeared in a flash of lightning. bloody bleia and a strange mage cloaked in a black robe appeared behind him.


    seeing that everyone he invited had arrived, mage hyde cleared his throat and began with an odd mechanical voice, "everyone, i gathered you here today for the sake of those damned radiant knights. if we let them safely break out of the envelopment we created, all the sacrifices and prices we had to pay would have been for nothing."


    all the mages chose to remain silent in the face of such a cliche introduction.


    the fight turning sour would likely cause the clan''s expansionist plans to fail, and when they were chased out of the plane by the natives, the clan''s promise of rewards and resources would not be fulfilled. however, if the mages present were forcefully pushed onto the battlefield as cannon fodder, they would only put out a perfunctory effort, never giving their all and prioritizing their own survival.


    mage hyde, who intimately knew the nature of mages, quickly changed the topic of the conversation.


    "i intend to launch an ambush specifically against that radiant knight. if you wish to participate in this operation, then stay and we will discuss the specifics. if anyone here is unwilling to participate, you may leave now! the only thing i can guarantee, if this plan succeeds, is that everyone will get what they want the most!"


    the expressions on the mages faces finally changed!


    as mages upholding the principle of equivalent exchange, they would instinctively choose to avoid any task that proved without benefit or too dangerous to themselves. ambushing a second grade knight was undoubtedly a dangerous task that landed well beyond their abilities!


    however... if they could get the resources and knowledge that they wanted the most by doing so, taking a little risk seemed acceptable.


    the light in everyone''s eyes brightened for a second, as if they were silently thinking about something.


    the hyde''s mechanical eye swept around and lingered for a moment. he was slightly relieved when he saw that no one had left. everyone here were powerful mages that he had chosen after careful consideration. they had strange magic abilities that could not be comprehended by outsiders.


    if anyone here had left, it would have caused disturbances and flaws in his plan. if needed, he would have to lower his criteria and pick people from the remaining mages who could substitute for those who left.


    "since no one left, that means that everyone is willing to participate in this plan. very well, let us begin discussing our wants and needs!"


    no mage would be willing to tell the public such private information. what happened next was one-on-one negotiations between mage hyde and each participant. hyde''s lips moved slightly, but no sound came out. it was evident that he was secretly conversing with an mage.


    after approximately seven minutes, leon got a notification from the chip in his mind.


    "detecting unique mental connection. initiator: mage hyde. requesting instructions from host. authorize connection?"


    "authorized!"


    the next second, the odd metallic voice belonging to mage hyde appeared in leon''s mind.


    "greetings, mage leon. time is short and i''ll be direct. if i invite you to participate in this dangerous hunt, what do you want in return?"


    "..." leon hesitated for a bit before slowly speaking, "i wish to obtain the portion of knowledge that concerns the merging of runic energies and life energies!"


    "uhh... this request is a little tough! after all, complete knowledge about the merging of energies is most likely in the hands of the massive force behind the witcher-knights. even if we obtained some fragments of runic knowledge after we kill the radiant knight, trying to reverse-engineer the merging of energies from that is still extremely difficult... " s§×arch* the nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "if my judgement is not incorrect, sir f¨¹gen captured a live radiant knight previously. surely we must have obtained plenty of internal secrets from his mind."


    mage hyde''s body twitched oddly in the distance. his mechanical eye glowed with a bright red shine as he once again earnestly assessed leon.


    "i do not have the authority to reveal internal information from the base."


    "if i cannot directly obtain knowledge on the merging of energies, i wish to know how i may obtain such knowledge. in other words, i wish to know who else on the continent of knights possesses complete knowledge on merging. of course, it is best if it''s someone i can deal with!"


    "you are truly an mage with foresight! if i''m not wrong, putting aside valuable resources, the most valuable thing on this plane is their runic knowledge. lord sarubo has classified the energy fusion knowledge you are requesting as a class three strategic resource. it''s impossible for it to be handed to you. as for the people here who possess the knowledge you seek¨C even though they have not been classified as supervised figures, you will need to hunt them on your own. i can only provide a list of individuals!"


    "that is enough! i accept these conditions."


    the next second, a magical contract woven from spirits appeared in leon''s mind.


    the chip dutifully completed a detailed scan of this contract. after eliminating all logical, linguistic and magical loopholes in the contract, the chip presented a detailed contract to leon. leon had a quick look, and having verified that there was no distinction from the contents they had just discussed, cautiously left his magic emblem on the contract.


    it took another seven minutes before mage hyde signed contracts with the remaining mages. everyone started to become more friendly with the contract now in place.


    to ease cooperation later, mage hyde had everyone do a basic introduction of their magical abilities. mage hyde was naturally the first, as he had to encourage everyone else to speak.


    "hyde, mechanical mage, specializing in close quarters combat. magic abilities roughly includes energy lightsaber and awl of slaughter... "


    the second to speak was thunderbird.


    "thunderbird, elementium mage, specializing in lightning magic. currently possess the spells lightning storm, lightning blast, and lightning teleportation... "


    "marionette, bloodline mage, specializing in plant modifications. mastered spells include puppet strings and substitute of wood... "


    "worm controller, bloodline mage, specializing in bug-body modification. mastered spells include bug manipulation, splitting attack, and damage sharing... "


    "phantom, elementium mage, specializing in illusions. mastered spells include realm of dreams and spell of dream departure... "


    "flame demon, elementium mage, specializing in fire magic. mastered spells include flame fiend transformation and ring of fire... "


    "bloody bleia, bloodline mage, specializing in blood magic. mastered spells include bat demon transformation and bloodsucking... "


    "demon shadows, elementium mage, specializing in curses... "


    naturally, no one would reveal all their cards in such a situation. thus, the introductions of their spells and magic were incomplete. however, given that mage hyde had gathered everyone here, he most definitely had some kind of understanding as to everyone''s abilities.


    everyone kept silent and listened to hyde describe his hunting plan in detail!


    ...


    1962 words

 Chapter 212 Target

    the battle in the woods raged on.only now the battlefield had shifted fifteen kilometers away from the original hill.


    this was entirely a path of death paved with the corpses of voodoo beasts, leaving an indelible mark in the hearts of every witcher-knight that trod down this road.


    neither party could sustain the battle at this point!


    on the side of the humans, less than two hundred witcher-knights had successfully made it here from the hill, and each of them carried some injuries. the mental and physical stress they had to bear had reached the limit. almost all of them were on the verge of breaking down.


    on the other hand, on the mages'' side, nearly thirty thousand voodoo beasts had been lost since the start of the battle. this was already the entirety of the voodoo beasts that the mages had created in this past month!


    even after paying the price of all their voodoo beasts, the only harvest the mages gained was a bunch of dispensable witcher-knights. the only decent returns were the heads of some spellbreaker knights.


    the spellbreaker knight casualties were extremely heavy. thirty-four of them had charged into the woods, but only fifteen were able to escape with the army. the rest had turned into piles of bones, or similar results at the hands of the mages.


    however, the seven radiant knights that formed the higher-ups of the knights'' army stood strong!


    be it the continuous attacks of the voodoo beasts and ghouls, or the insidious ambushes of the mages, nothing could shake the rock-hard defense of the radiant knights. even the black fog enveloping the woods had no effect other than causing them to cough a little blood and become slightly weakened.


    these radiant knights clearly possessed enviable resistance against this sort of terrifying virus that could destroy the balance of runic energies in their bodies. it could also be that their bodies could bear this amount of damage, allowing them to keep on fighting with no impact on their strength.


    the spellbreaker knights and witcher-knights were completely exhausted halfway through their escape.


    they stumbled after the shining forms of the radiant knights as their bodies revolted and struggled under the effects of the diseases. under the effect of the black fog, the remaining runic energies in their bodies rampaged everywhere, destroying their internal organs and causing them to cough up blood with every couple of steps they took.


    purple and black blood paste, filled with broken bodily organs!


    the spellbreaker knights had stronger bodies, and were thus able to maintain some modicum of combat ability. however, they no longer dared to draw the strength of runic energy into their bodies. as a result, the runic swords in their hands once again became normal longswords, no longer possessing the keen sharpness they used to have.


    the witcher-knights, on the other hand, had lost all their ability to resist. they trudged painfully along like the sick and injured that they were, mindlessly trailing along with the formation. they had lost all ability to resist or fight, and could only rely on the protection of the spellbreaker knights and radiant knights!


    perhaps the mages realized this, as they commanded the voodoo beasts and ghouls not to kill the witcher-knights, but injure and wound them as grievously as possible without killing them, leaving the severely injured to remain in the formation. s§×arch* the nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    this undoubtedly slowed down the entire army.


    the seven radiant knights and fifteen spellbreaker knights had become the only protection for nearly two hundred witcher-knights.


    every time the voodoo beasts surged forth in large numbers, the seven radiant knights had to fight on the frontline with all their strength, using their tough bodies and destructive battle techniques to eliminate their enemies. the fifteen spellbreaker knights, on the other hand, stood guard around the witcher-knights, using their lonely figures and dim runic swords to hack at the enemy, slowly shaving away their numbers.


    one could say that this knights'' army was completely exhausted and had limited combat ability after such a long battle.


    it was precisely because of this that the mages didn''t immediately refuse when hyde made the suggestion to hunt the radiant knights. instead, they saw the opportunity before them and became excited.


    ...


    the first wave of attacks were naturally led by the elementium mages. in particular, leon and thunderbird were the most prominent ones.


    after all, fire magic was widely considered to be the most suited for slaughter on the battlefield, even amongst all elementium magic. thunderbird''s lightning magic also had considerable use. however, lightning goes as quickly as it arrives. it was way inferior to fire magic when it came to prolonged damage.


    when thunderbird and leon started chanting in unison on top of a hill a half kilometer away from the knights, an apocalyptic scene once again appeared in the distant skies.


    above, there were roiling and flaming red clouds, while below you had violent and wild lightning storms.


    when repeated flaming meteors dragged their black smoke tails and crashed into the ground, the forest the knights were in had already been ravaged by violent lightning. withered dead trees releasing black smoke were everywhere.


    the radiant knights hastened the witcher-knights'' escape from the area covered by the spell, while slashing apart each and every falling meteor with all their strength. however, even with all their efforts, some red-hot meteors still landed within the army.


    the outside of a meteor was a solid magma shell, while its core was made of liquid lava and abundant fire elementium that went up to 3000¡ã celsius. when they fell to the ground, besides forming a deep crater, the magma shell on the outside would shatter and shoot out in every direction along with the raging fire elementium and corrosive lava inside.


    without the protection of their energy shields, even the spellbreaker knights would not be able to use their bodies to bear the might of such a terrifying heat wave and lava rain. the witcher-knights? the moment they were engulfed by the meteor''s impact was the moment they were fated to die. what''s even more terrifying was the fact that no one could even find their corpses even after the attack was over and the hot lava had cooled.


    not just burnt to charcoal and reduced to ashes, but having what''s left of their ashes trapped in the cooled magma. a true case of having nothing left to speak of their existence.


    even though they only needed to run twenty or thirty meters to escape the area of effect, most of the witcher-knights were too exhausted and weak. they could only struggle within the sea of flames, howling in pain as they crawled forward, suffering until the last bit of their strength and life gave way.


    when they saw their companions howling in pain and stretching their arms for help, the few radiant knights and spellbreaker knights rushed into the sea of flame with no regard for themselves. they grabbed their companions'' bodies and threw them out of the flame sea with all their strength.


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    yet at this moment, under the guidance of the mage, the burning clouds in the sky started to slowly move towards the area the witcher-knights were congregating in.


    charles stared at everything happening before him with his eyes wide open. his ears were filled with the pained screams of witcher-knights before their deaths. he turned around in anger. he wanted to charge to the distance and slay that accursed mage in one slash.


    however, at this moment, a tall silhouette stopped him.


    "you stay here and lead everyone out. i''ll go!" meusel grabbed his arm and shouted with a hoarse voice, before turning and striding into the woods.


    half a kilometer of distance was nothing beneath the feet of an angered radiant knight.


    just as the meteor shower had completed the middle phase and was transitioning into the explosive final phase, the angered knight meusel was already rapidly closing in on the caster''s hill.


    leon and thunderbird were able to sense meusel with their own means, even without a message form mage hyde. the two mages didn''t dare to look down upon an angered second grade radiant knight. the moment meusel closed in on the hill, the two stopped their spells.


    knight meusel rushed to the top of the hill and stared at the two evil mages cautiously looking at him. instantly, he realized something.


    perhaps because he considered this possibility before he came, meusel had stopped his old friend and come here himself. looking at the scene, meusel knew that the scenario he feared most in his heart had finally turned into the reality he saw before him. meusel was still unfazed. he calmly walked out of the dark forest.


    "call all your allies out!" meusel lightly waved his longsword as the hot flames once again engulfed the sword.


    even though he was completely exhausted, even though he was covered in burns everywhere, even though he was now surrounded by powerful enemies¨C when the runic energies once again surged through his body, the radiant knight meusel stood tall with his sword before him, still possessing the strongly imposing aura that frightened all who looked upon him.


    however, this had absolutely no effect on the mages, whose wills were so tough that they could hardly be affected by external factors. in a wave of cold cackling laughs, worm controller, hyde, marionette, and bleia appeared in the woods behind meusel, surrounding him in a triangle formation.


    phantom and demon shadows were nowhere to be seen.


    their spells were mostly supportive in nature. hiding in the darkness and casting their spells when they were most needed was much more threatening than appearing on the battlefield and assaulting the enemy head on.


    even though the one they caught in their web was not the knights'' leader that they had expected, it was still a second grade knight after all. no one dared to drop their guard. instead, they immediately used their most ferocious attacks as they had planned on before this.


    six mages and six single-target spells instantly consumed meusel''s form.


    after the first wave of attacks had been completed, everyone quickly shifted positions, preparing their second wave of attacks as they did so.


    it was an utter fantasy to try and kill a second grade knight with a single wave of attacks, especially with the limited might of their attacks. everyone was already prepared to grind the radiant knight to his death!


    as expected, a brutal flame blade slashed forward, staying close to the ground and slicing right past leon''s side with millimeters to spare, before striking a row of large trees behind leon and setting them on fire.


    the next second, meusel charged out from the swirling elementium vortex with his energy shield in front of him.


    mage hyde sprinted forward in response to meusel''s charge.


    as the only mechanical mage (a branch of esoteric mages), he had to be the meat shield when no body refining mages were present.


    as the two quickly approached each other, hyde''s thick mechanical left arm started to vibrate slightly before a dome-shaped energy shield appeared in front of him. his mechanical right arm, on the other hand, suddenly started to rotate rapidly, turning into a deadly awl, shooting towards meusel''s chest.


    the skin on hyde''s back split apart silently, and six spinning round discs the size of a palm flew out from within, slicing towards his opponent''s ribs from both sides of his body.


    mage hyde deserved to be called a mechanical mage specializing in close-quarters combat. it was just the start of the fight, and he already had a complete and continuous set of attacks.


    ...


    1952 words

 Chapter 213 Bait

    hyde''s tricks were utterly useless before a second grade knight.without even using his knight battle techniques, meusel shattered the spinning blades with simple slashes before slashing horizontally at the awl flying towards his chest.


    oddly enough, the sharp awl shattered on contact. it instantly split into several dozen tiny spikes, shooting towards every part of meusel''s body.


    if it had been any other day, such a simple attack would not have even grazed meusel.


    today was not meusel''s day.


    meusel roared and charged through the barrage with his sword before him. he rushed at hyde and slashed at his energy shield.


    with just a single heavy slash, the energy shield shattered and blasted hyde into the woods behind him.


    meusel let out a muffled grunt as four bright red spots of blood appeared on his body. those accursed spikes kept spinning even after they had dug into his flesh. moreover, they kept letting out some sort of strange poison, numbing the flesh near the wounds.


    meusel slapped his chest heavily. under the pressure of that violent force, the four spikes shot out of his body. sticky white pus came out of meusel''s wounds along with the spikes, leaving a trace of a bitter almond smell in the air.


    meusel performed a simple treatment for his wounds and prepared to charge over to kill that accursed mage. however, all of a sudden, something tugged at his legs, as a patch of thorny vines reached out from beneath the ground. there was a terrifying snake''s head at the end of each vine, biting at the knee guards on his legs.


    meusel raised his head, his gaze instantly landing on the mage near the edge of the forest whose actions closely resembled those of a wooden puppet. the mage was standing slightly right beside a tree. both of his feet were buried under the earth, while his hands were plunged into the trunk of the large tree. one could vaguely hear the gurgling sounds of something being sucked.


    the surrounding mages took advantage of the opportunity provided by marionette restricting the radiant knight, letting out their fiercest attacks without hesitation.


    blake, who was not far away, raised his right palm. a black hole suddenly appeared on the middle of his pitch-black palm as countless terrifying flying bugs buzzed and flew out from within, swarming towards the radiant knight. a dozen abnormal beetles with black shells, green wings, and odd spots on their backs silently hid within the swarm of bugs.


    bleia did not charge forward recklessly when faced with a second grade radiant knight. instead, she unfolded her wings and flew into the air, drawing her crimson longbow into a full moon, as the savage and ferocious blood energies instantly reached their peak.


    schwing! a crisp crack rang out.


    the arrow left the bowstring!


    meanwhile, above the air, a bright white lightning pillar as thick as a bucket blasted down. its target was also the radiant knight who was stuck to the ground.


    almost instantly, marionette had restrained the enemy and three mages had let out ruthless attacks, plunging meusel into a dangerous situation.


    faced with simultaneous attacks from both the front and behind, meusel raised high the runic sword in his hand. he waited for the energies in his body to gather to their limits before shouting and thrusting the sword deep into the ground.


    the next second, the murderous and unstoppable runic energies seeped into the ground and exploded!


    what kind of might did the all-out explosive attack of a second grade knight possess?


    leon, who was standing fifty meters behind meusel, instantly saw a patch of red through his elementium sight. all sorts of energy calculations projected by the chip rose exponentially, as blaring warning alarms rang continuously.


    however, these abstract calculations and data were insufficient to capture or describe even one ten-thousandth of what leon was seeing before him.


    the ground was shattering. the forest was shaking. the entire sky turned a slight shade of crimson...


    cracks as fine as spiderwebs quickly spread outwards through the ground, with the runic sword as the epicenter. the speed they spread at was obviously incomparable to the few thick, large, and wide cracks that struck fear into everyone''s hearts. numerous alarming fissures with no bottom in sight quickly extended outwards in a haphazard fashion. wherever it spread, the large trees collapsed and the ground gave way, as gigantic dust pillars repeatedly blasted into the sky!


    on the ground, a violent ring-shaped whirlwind had swept through the area, flattening everything on the ground like an invisible razor. countless grass roots, dirt, and withered leaves were swept away by the whirlwind, blasted into the woods nearby.


    there were no longer any trees, grass, or plants in a hundred meter radius around meusel, just a bare patch of land. even a layer of dirt had been blown off from the surface of the earth. a hundred meters away, countless towering ancient trees fell outwards in a ring, perfectly showing the world the terrifying energy contained within a radiant knight''s fearful blow.


    no one''s attack could break through that defensive layer under such a destructive shockwave. it was only when the violent energy slowly started to dissipate that things could be seen. experience more content on empire


    the tight formation they had formed around meusel was now utterly scattered.


    the slender bleia was obviously not known for her strength and she was blown far away by the first wave of energy. she was nowhere to be seen.


    blake was not much better. he having trouble standing up and was forced to transform into his bugman form in order to anchor himself to the ground with his numerous pairs of arthropods. even the flying bug minions he summoned had all been sliced and diced by the wind. only the dozen carcass beetles struggled and gathered together, forming a shield of bugs and protecting him from the impact of the following force shockwave.


    one had to note that at that very moment, besides the violently flowing air waves, there were also countless force shards within the shockwave. force shards that were comparable to sharp weapons hid within the tide-like energy waves and were sufficient to cut any being caught within them to pieces.


    marionette, who endured most of the force attacks head on was in an even worse condition. not only had all the roots on his legs been severed, even his body that was exposed above ground had been riddled with cuts and holes. just counting the visible wounds, there were three or four penetrating wounds that went right through his wooden body. the other, more minor wounds were even more numerous.


    marionette''s life force instantly fell to its lowest after having received such severe injuries!


    yet at the moment, the domineering meusel had just drawn his sword from the ground. he stood straight with his muscular body, looking at the mages'' poor condition as a contemptuous smile appeared on his face.


    "you rats that only know how to hide and run, now i''ll... " meusel''s voice thundered like lightning. however, he couldn''t finish his sentence. his expression suddenly changed as he coughed out purple, black, and pungent blood from his mouth.


    the next moment, even his body started to shake a little.


    the mages had good vision and instantly saw some things that resembled pieces of broken internal organs within the blood.


    "kehkehkeh... " a cold and sinister laugh rang out from a distance, with a little metallic ring to it, "you knew that this patch of woods had been covered with terrifying viruses, and yet you still dared to draw runic energies so violently into your own body? as expected, the ignorant are the most courageous! now you feel the backlash from the energy, don''t you? how about it? how many more attacks like the previous one can you launch? the more energy you draw upon here, the quicker you die. kehkehkeh... in my opinion, you are better off lying down and waiting for your death!"


    metal clanged as a mechanical figure pushed aside the dust and branches on his body and rose from beneath the ground, striding towards meusel, who was leaning on his sword.


    the remaining mages had appeared nearby, one after another, tightly surrounding meusel.


    "do it!" with hyde''s loud shout everyone attacked, and another wave of relentless attacks devoured the knight''s body.


    ...


    a kilometer away, charles, who had just led everyone through the heavy siege and was currently resting in an area with few trees, suddenly stood up and gazed in the direction behind him.


    he felt a powerful and ravaging energy signature exploding there!


    yet this signature was so familiar that it caused him put a name to it almost unconsciously.


    "meusel!"


    with how powerful the second grade knights were, they would not usually use such a wasteful energy explosion. this type of energy blast might appear to cover a large area, but in truth it consumed tremendous power to generate and was highly inefficient. it was far inferior in terms of lethality when compared to the concentrated knight battle techniques!


    only the spellbreaker knights that had barely mastered the utilization of energy favored this sort of grand knight battle technique. the radiant knights, on the other hand, knew that a flame shockwave that covered an area of ten meters was far weaker than a simple yet concentrated slash.


    meusel was a veteran radiant knight. there was no way he didn''t understand this. yet he still committed such an amateur mistake. this either meant that he was up against enemies that outnumbered him, or that he was no longer able to control the energies within his body!


    regardless of which it was, it was obvious that he was in a dire situation!


    "you lead the army and continue forward. i''ll go and bring meusel back!" before his wild shout had even dissipated, charles had already disappeared.


    a strange pair of energy wings appeared behind charles, giving him the ability to fly across short distances. tall trees whistled past his body, the dense branches hitting his face and body as he flew by.


    he had already directed most of his energy to the wings and no longer had any additional strength to protect himself. thus, he kept his eyes opened with all his strength, clumsily adjusting his speeding body and trying his best to avoid the trees. he no longer had any strength to avoid the dense branches and vines, and could only endure them with his tough body.


    a distance of a kilometer was quickly covered with the ability to fly.


    a short moment later, the barren battlefield appeared in his vision.


    meusel crouched and shrunk his body on the half-collapsed hill, trying his best to defend against the spells flying at him like a thunderous storm from all around him.


    fire, lightning, blood arrows, wooden spikes, sharp awls...


    terrifying spells of all variety rained down on meusel''s body. they were on the verge of riddling him with holes and turning him into a human strainer.


    charles, who was watching all this happen before him, roared violently. his energy wings folded slightly, and instantly he landed besides meusel. he waved his large sword, and a terrifying force blasted outwards, annihilating all the attacks around him in a brilliant scarlet sword radiance.


    "meusel, hang on, i''ll... "


    charles waved his longsword with one hand, shattering one spell after another that shot towards him, and grabbed meusel with his other hand, trying to charge out of the battlefield. s§×arch* the n?velfire(.)net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    however, before he could finish his sentence, something sudden occurred.


    ...


    1929 words

 Chapter 214 Courage

    ever since he had charged into the battle, charles had already prepared himself for all kinds of situations.he would never dare to look down upon the cunning of mages.


    unfortunately, what had happened now was beyond even his imagination.


    he... was attacked by meusel!


    meusel''s eyes were wide open, but his gaze was not focused. tears of blood streamed down from the corners of his eyes as an odd growl came from his throat. the bright radiance of energy shone from his hands as they plunged deep into charles'' waist. some unknown substance was continuously being injected into charles.


    charles endured the intense pain and put his left hand over meusel''s chest. the dense light of concentrated energy quickly gathered on his hand. he just needed to expel the power and he would easily be able to shake off meusel''s attack.


    however, when he looked at meusel''s familiar face, and felt the weak heartbeat beneath his palm, charles hesitated.


    this was an old friend he had known for over forty years after all!


    even though he had been manipulated by the evil mages and became their accomplice, his fire of life still hadn''t been extinguished after all. if charles actually blew him away with an energy blast, charles would probably personally extinguish meusel''s last flickers of life with how weak he already was.


    tears couldn''t help but flow down charles elderly face when he thought of this. his palm pressed against the chest of his old friend and started to shake!


    meusel had probably lost a long time ago. the scene of the mages surrounding and attacking him earlier was probably an act they put up in advance. all of it, every single bit of it, was just to draw him in!


    it was only now that charles saw everything clearly. continue reading at empire


    the feet of his old friend meusel had been pierced by a patch of wooden thorns and spikes and fixed to the ground, while seven or eight strange translucent threads rising from the ground had pierced multiple parts of meusel''s body. this was most probably the reason for meusel''s loss of control over his own actions!


    moreover, several unknown substances were continuously entering charles'' body with meusel''s hands as the funnel. some of these were microorganisms, wildly devouring his flesh and organs, while others were unknown curse halos, unceasingly exploding within him and quickly weakening his body and mind.


    besides all this, the evil mages around the battlefield were not holding back at all. one after another, powerful spells fell upon him like raindrops with no regards for meusel, their ''ally''.


    in his one moment of hesitation, the downpour of spells had already flooded him and meusel.


    the violent elementium explosions and the mad and chaotic elementium tides erupted without end in that one small area, turning the entire place into hell on earth. even a second grade radiant knight could not endure elementium corrosion of such power!


    as knight charles let out a pained roar that shook the forest, and charged out of the energy storm vortex like a mad tiger, the only thing he still adamantly held onto in his left hand was meusel''s broken body.


    indeed, after that wave of ferocious attacks, the radiant knight meusel, who was already on the brink of his death, reached the end of his life. his heart had stopped. meusel''s body, having lost the protection of his energy shield, was riddled with holes and corroded everywhere by the violent elementium tide, depriving him of his human shape.


    not just meusel, even knight charles was in a terrible condition currently!


    his left eye had been blasted away and blood surged out from the large, bloody, and gaping hole that was left. his body looked like it had just been dragged out from a mincer. deep and terrifying wounds could be found all over his body.


    the moment he charged out of the energy vortex, he let go of his runic longsword and stabbed his right arm into his own waist. bam! the sound of a muffled explosion rang out, as a small energy explosion released within his own body. purple and black blood flew everywhere, along with shattered and shredded meat.


    when charles drew his bloody hand out from the gaping wound on his waist, he was holding between his fingers a strange beetle that screeched incessantly.


    even though the strange bug had been temporarily stunned by charles'' energy explosion, the moment it left charles'' body, it immediately started to move again. it screeched continuously while biting at charles'' hand.


    charles let out a battlecry and tightened his grip. the strange beetle was finally unable to endure the strength of a second grade knight, instantly crushed into a pool of blood.


    deep in the forest, worm controller blake suddenly let out a muffled grunt as the strange beetle died.


    it was clear that the death of this carcass beetle larva had also inflicted some backlash on him.


    the sudden show of strength from charles had also made the wounds on his body even more unbearable. the flesh on his ribs had almost been blasted away by the energy that exploded in his body earlier. he stumbled about for a bit before finally falling to his knees.


    the severe injuries on his body, along with the bothersome curses in his body had turned into the straw that broke the camel''s back. the backlash from drawing large amounts of runic energy into himself, along with the squeezing of his body''s potential during his daily trainings, had finally caused him to be unable to suppress his internal injuries.


    he kneeled on the ground, but the world before him was still spinning unceasingly. he could feel the pain from all over his body, the wounds throbbing and hurting, slowly washing away the last remnants of his consciousness.


    "you evil... a...depts... " charles cracked lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to use the last of his strength to curse at his enemies. sadly, his broken body didn''t let him continue.


    charles dropped to the ground, fainting just like that.


    one had to admit that the bodies of the second grade radiant knights that had been engulfed in runic energies for long periods of time had most definitely reached supernatural standards. his body was so broken that he would hardly be recognized as a human, and not much flesh was left on his abdomen. most of his organs had been crushed to mincemeat. yet, even with such horrendous wounds on his body, he was still alive.


    it was clear how strong the second grade radiant knights were!


    however, with such severe injuries, his broken body had long lost its self-regenerative properties. even if the mages were to stop attacking, he would eventually reach the end of his life.


    numerous mages gathered around charles. after quickly examining his condition, they burst into a passionate discussion.


    at this point of the battle, the harvest of two radiant knights was already extremely satisfying for the mages. moreover, the knights'' leader was among the two. this was an important figure that was hard to come by. moreover, messengers from the frontline had reached the base, and the witcher-knights at the edge of the forest were quickly mobilizing in large numbers, rapidly closing in on this location.


    having gone through an entire night of intense battles, the mages were more than willing to retreat.


    this arduous battle of one day and one night had caused the witcher-knights to suffer heavy losses, losing nearly two-thirds of their forces. however, the casualties on the mages'' side was no small deal either. the voodoo beast army that they had taken great pains to construct had been completely exhausted, and even one mage had died in battle. if it wasn''t for them obtaining a force of elite ghouls, along with their capturing of two radiant knights, this battle could be said to have drained away the foundation of their strength!


    as a result, the mages could only command the remaining voodoo beasts to retreat when they saw the large number of witcher-knight elites swarm into the forest.


    the surge of reinforcements gathered with the remnants of the army at a mountain pass ten kilometers deep in the woods.


    when he rode his magic colt into this patch of the woods, windsor was shocked by the tragic scene before him.


    once, the mighty witcher-knights were the greatest pride of this world.


    every time there was news of heretics on the rampage somewhere, this group of proud knights would jump onto their magic colts and rush to slay the enemy. it could be said that wherever they went, evil would be vanquished and darkness would be exterminated! it was their generosity, passion, and willingness to serve that allowed this plane to become prosperous.


    even during the two heretic wars in history, most of the records contained praises of the witcher-knights'' valiant deeds and heroic actions, smiting evil wherever they went. perhaps those heretics may have been able to rampage for a short while, but the moment the proud knights found them, they would crumble like dolls made of clay and the world would become bright and peaceful once more.


    however, the scene before him shook windsor to his very core.


    deep in the dim forest, the witcher-knights that had disposed of their armor were strewn all across the battlefield, with the terrifying bite marks of voodoo beasts left on their bodies and on their faces. their gazes were empty and dull. they leaned against each other for support as they stumbled about. even when they saw their companions arrive for reinforcement, no joy or surprise showed on their faces.


    if it hadn''t been for the slight rising and falling of their chests, windsor would have thought that this was a group of stone figures crafted from clay and blood.


    finally, when a familiar face stained with mud and blood appeared before windsor, he couldn''t help but halt his magic colt. sear?h the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "jos¨¦! what kind of attack happened to you lot? how did you suffer such heavy losses after only a single day? where is charles?"


    a series of questions were thrown at him, but the radiant knight named jos¨¦ could only give a weak response.


    "all gone... all gone... " jos¨¦ mumbled, "they are all gone."


    when they heard his tragic and pained cry, the remnants of the army, so exhausted that they had lost their emotional restraint, finally started crying.


    a sorrowfully heartbroken and tragic atmosphere filled the woods. the reinforcements couldn''t help but shed tears for their companions!


    too cruel! absolutely too cruel!


    this witcher-knight army numbered one thousand men when it first entered the forest a day ago! but now, after scouring the entire mountain pass and even counting the radiant knights and spellbreaker knights, only a mere hundred and seventy-two men were left.


    moreover, the knights that were fortunate enough to survive all carried severe injuries and were both physically and mentally exhausted. their emotions and spirits were in their most terrible state. windsor could no longer see any of the witcher-knights'' pride and glory on them.


    not just the normal witcher-knights, even the few powerful radiant knights were all currently in a deplorable condition. they had ghastly complexions and gaunt faces. the severity of both their internal and external injuries were shocking!


    windsor gazed into the dark woods in the distance. with his brilliant sense for war, he could feel the existence of the enemies! if it had been in the past, he would most definitely have led his subordinates into the darkness to start a slaughter, revitalizing the spirits and passion of his companions with the blood of his enemies.


    but now, the dark woods had become more terrifying than ever before! even he, a second grade radiant knight, couldn''t help but feel fear.


    perhaps waiting for a new wave of reinforcements before continuing the search was the right plan?


    he thought so silently.


    for the first time, windsor lost his courage.


    ....


    2000 words

 Chapter 215 Valley

    dragon cliff.this was a taboo name for all the humans living on the knights'' continent.


    there were still plenty of bards and poets spreading grand stories of dragon cliff''s beauty in inns and bars of all sizes across the continent. however, the existence of dragon cliff remained as stories for most people. rarely had people ever truly seen the place for themselves.


    it was rumored that it was the place the dragons lived in. it was rumored that endless wealth was hoarded there. it was believed to be the graveyard of many arrogant individuals that dared to challenge the dragons in hopes of becoming dragon knights.


    but where was the dragon cliff? no one knew!


    this was a silent valley in a vast mountain range.


    this mountain range stretched for long distances in all directions. a large forest grew atop the mountains, covering an area of nearly five hundred kilometers. here, mountain peaks that pierced the clouds and dizzying cliffs were everywhere.


    moreover, due to the dense foliage and numerous wild beasts in the woods, this had become a dangerous place that no man dared set foot on. a true no-man''s land.


    right in the center of this beautiful and silent valley, a tall cliff stood amidst the clouds. this was the legendary and elusive dragon cliff.


    it was the time of afternoon where the sun was at its brightest. the great green dragon aufreyr, who had just had his lunch at the outer rim of the forest, beat his large webbed wings and cruised about the dragon valley before finally landing near a small lake.


    some bulls, gazelles, zebras, and other herbivores were drinking water from the lake when they were frightened away by his presence. they ran far away before turning back and looking at this uninvited green dragon with cautious eyes. it was only until they realized he had already fed that they were able to relax.


    aufreyr crouched by the lake and drank his fill of lake water before contentedly folding his wings and strolling through the grassland by the lake.


    the weather was so perfect that he couldn''t help but want to take a good nap.


    however, as the guard of dragon valley, his duty was to watch the entrance of the valley to prevent any outsiders from entering. thus, he could only let out a frustrated snort and blew out a cloud of light green mist from his snout. it was only then that he managed to dispel that strong desire to sleep.


    all of a sudden, aufreyr straightened his body, raised his snout, and started to sniff.


    he had detected an odd aura amidst the natural fragrance of the grass and flowers here. an aura that did not belong to dragon valley.


    it was a human! moreover, it was a human he knew!


    aufreyr''s thick and strong hind legs gave a good kick to the ground and his heavy body shot upwards. under the powerful beating of his wings he left the ground with some difficulty, flying towards the direction of the valley''s entrance.


    dragons'' bodies were far too large, such that it was slightly difficult for them to take flight from the ground. as a result, most of them liked to build their dens near the top of cliffs, where outsiders found it difficult to approach. from that height, their vision was unobscured, making it extremely convenient for them to tackle enemies from above.


    aufreyr flew across the grassland of nearly ten kilometers and saw a familiar shape by the entrance of dragon valley.


    this was a tall and burly human. sear?h the n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    golden hair that reached the shoulders, golden circlet, golden armor, golden armband, golden bracer, and golden boots. this human radiated the debauchery and vulgarity of the newly rich from the top of his body to the very bottom. golden radiance shone from every accessory and bit of apparel on his body, making it hard to look at him directly.


    however, it was such a vulgar human as this that radiated a powerful strength that was unmatched by most mortals. even when the green dragon aufreyr, with his body that was as large as a small hill, dove down at him while letting out a loud dragon''s roar, he had no intention to dodge. instead, he opened his arms and walked forward.


    with a muffled thud, the large green dragon gracefully landed on the ground, forming a large crater one meter deep and three meters wide into the green grassland before warmly embracing the human.


    in truth, the so called ''embrace'' was just the green dragon lowering his head before the human and allowing him to hug it.


    "willis, since when did you have the time to come to dragon valley? is that human king finally willing to let you go?" the green dragon tried his best to lower his voice, but when he spoke, the air around him still shook and quaked.


    "it''s a long story, aufreyr! i''ll tell you when we have the time. i wish to see clan leader raistlin now. please relay this message to him!"


    "uh... " the green dragon hesitated, "willis, the clan leader has been extremely angry ever since you guys sent back rissana in that condition. the few elders in the clan are trying their best to save rissana now. i fear... "


    "aufreyr, i am also a member of dragon valley. did the clan leader expressly forbid me from entering?" willis questioned loudly. when he was angered, even a third grade green dragon could not endure the mighty and dominating power he radiated as a fourth grade holy knight.


    "he did not!" an awkward expression appeared on the green dragon''s long face as he spoke, "very well, i''ll give it a try! as for whether the clan leader will see you, that''s something i cannot guarantee!"


    having finished speaking, aufreyr turned his large body around and opened his mouth, letting out a long and loud dragon''s roar that had a certain cadence to it at the tall dragon cliff thirty kilometers away.


    after a short moment, an even louder dragon''s roar rang back from the tall dragon cliff.


    "well, the clan leader has agreed to see you! come with me!"


    the green dragon took to the sky once more, with as much difficulty as before, sending powerful gusts in all directions that blew away the dust nearby. willis, the fourth grade holy knight covered in his golden armor, also pounded his chest. in the midst of strange contortions and expansions, he rapidly transformed into a green dragon that was far more magnificent than aufreyr.


    the two green dragons roared and flew towards dragon cliff standing in the distance.


    as compared to the vast stretch of forest outside the valley, there weren''t many tall and ancient trees in the valley. there were only large patches of green grassland here, with sparse lakes adorning the green like stars in the night sky, giving this place a mysterious beauty as if it did not belong to this realm.


    as the dragons flew closer, the tall and towering dragon cliff finally revealed its true appearance.


    this was a tall cliff that took up an area of over four square kilometers. numerous dark and dim caves dotted the steep walls of the cliff. many green dragons stretched their slender and ferocious heads out of their caves when they sensed willis'' arrival, letting out dragon roars to greet him.


    the transformed green dragon willis responded in kind, with a loud and clear dragon''s roar.


    for one moment, the deafening roar of dragons filled the entire dragon cliff, making the place exceptionally lively.


    on a patch of grassland at the bottom of the cliff, a group of green dragon whelps that were only three to five meters long were playing by a clear lake. they beat their small and tender wings, occasionally flying into the sky with much difficulty before crashing face first into the lake. some whelps were playfully chasing after a few herbivores, scaring them and sending them running in all directions.


    it was obvious that these whelps had yet to master their dragon breath. there would always be some clumsy ones that flew too low to the ground and failed to fold their wings in time. they would crash into the ground, before crouching and crying in pain.


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    whenever this happened, one or two of the green dragon parents would fly out of their caves, diving down and skillfully piercing the body of a herbivore with their sharp claws before tossing it to their whelps'' side.


    then a group of whelps would surge forward, breathing out poison mists or spitting green saliva on the prey to kill it. they would leap forward joyfully when the prey had finally succumbed to the poison, and use their fine fangs that had just grown out to bite the flesh on the prey''s body.


    it was such a bloody and cruel scene. yet in the eyes of willis, a green dragon himself, it all seemed so warm and sweet. as a half-dragon, the blood that flowed in his body was the blood of dragons!


    the place the green dragons'' clan leader raistlin met willis was the meeting hall.


    this wide hall located in the middle of the tall cliff, at its very heart, was large enough to host twenty or thirty dragons at once. with the exception of the dragon''s altar at the top of the cliff, it was the most sacred place of dragon cliff. raistlin would only gather the dragons here to talk when they faced a difficult decision.


    thus, when willis transformed back into a human and walked into the meeting hall, a bad feeling had already risen in his heart.


    there were three dragons waiting for him here.


    green dragon clan leader raistlin and green dragon clan elder singe and phantim!


    they all had the terrifying prowess of fourth grade beings.


    "i welcome you, my child." raistlin''s loud voice boomed throughout the hall and caused the walls to tremor, "i hope you bring us good news this time!"


    "i wonder what kind of good news father wants?" willis asked gravely.


    "we smelled the evil aura of mages on rissana, whom you sent back. i hope your visit this time has nothing to do with them!" raistlin lowered his body and put his imposing head before the two meter tall willis. his large amber eyes stared unblinkingly at willis.


    "oh great father, i may have brought news that you do not wish to hear!" pain appeared on willis'' face as he spoke, "the king of the humans asked me to bring you a message. he wishes for the powerful dragon cliff to send green dragons to reinforce the frontlines, on the goodwill of all the past annual offerings the humans have provided us. it is said that the battle there is going terribly. the mages hide in greenland forest and bring about terrible deaths and losses to the witcher-knights!"


    "what is your stand then?" not a single emotion was betrayed on raistlin''s ferocious face, "tell me, my child!"


    "i... " the struggle was becoming increasingly obvious on willis'' face, "naturally, i do not wish the flames of world war to spread to dragon valley. neither do i wish to see my brothers and sisters fall under the butcher''s knife of the mages. however... given that the mages have already arrived, should we not stand out and defend our own ranch? after all, this is our territory. our territory that we have managed for over a thousand years!"


    ...


    1927 words

 Chapter 216 Preparing

    raistlin exchanged looks with the other two green dragons before speaking in his booming voice once more."you disappoint me, my child! after all, as a half-dragon with a sheltered upbringing, you have never experienced the bloody and savage plane war! did you think you could rule over everything else in this plane with the fourth grade you achieved through your dragon blood? wrong. you are wrong."


    raistlin straightened his body and roared in anger.


    "fourth grade is nothing! a fourth grade being can only barely qualify as a proper recruit in a plane world! who are the ones invading this time? mages! the evil mages!


    "i''m sure you have heard of the cruelty and savagery of the mages! and given that to be the case, do you think we should still enter this war for the sake of some meager human offerings? when the evil mages have already cast their gaze on this unfortunate plane?"


    willis'' face was one full of pain and struggle when faced with questions of the green dragon clan leader raistlin, his father.


    "but... but father, the invading mages this time are extremely weak. if we gather all of the dragons in dragon valley, we can still chase them out of this plane!"


    "haha... my child, you are too naive! you have spent too much time on this peaceful and warm material plane, so much time that your thought process is confined within the narrow perspective of those pathetic humans. so what if you fight off this wave of mages? the mage clan invading this time might just be a small force. however, if they fail in their invasion, they would most definitely sell the coordinates of our plane to other forces and organizations. then an even more powerful mage force will be the one to invade this world.


    "we, the dragons, have already dealt with the evil mages in countless other plane worlds. their greed and cruelty is rarely seen even amongst the few powerful large planes. if we had sufficient prowess, we could naturally keep them outside of our territory once and for all. but we do not! we are only green dragons, an insignificant branch of the emerald dragons of the dragon''s plane


    "even if we mobilize the strength of the entire clan and force a stalemate, it still wouldn''t be any good. the breeding and development of a dragon is counted in thousands of years. a new batch of mages will invade before our new members have even come of age!


    "when this world''s coordinates were exposed before the evil mages, its fate had already been determined!"


    willis closed his eyes in agony.


    as the offspring of green dragon clan leader raistlin and a native human girl, willis had the mixed bloodline of human and dragon. on one hand, he was a citizen of dragon valley; on the other, he was the highest authority of all witcher-knights in the human''s kingdom and the most reliable right arm of the human king.


    now he came here bearing the trust and faith of the king, yet he could not convince his conservative and stubborn father. the pain he felt in his heart, as someone split between two factions he loved dearly, was indescribable.


    "father, i know you have no attachment or feelings for those humans. however, your son has travelled hundreds of kilometers to ask of you just this one request! are you willing to let him go back with empty hands? please, i beg of you, save the humans and the lives on this plane!"


    raistlin was obviously put in a difficult position when confronted with willis'' emotional appeal. he turned around and argued loudly with the two clan elders. the atmosphere was tense.


    finally, raistlin turned around once more and roared loudly at willis, "i respect your decision. if you wish to fight for the humans, you may leave. if any dragons in dragon valley wish to follow you, i will not stop them. remember, the doors of dragon valley will always be open for you. i''ll welcome you back with open arms any time you are tired, my child!


    "you can leave now!"


    willis nodded in anguish when he heard his father and clan leader''s words, before turning and leaving the meeting hall.


    a short moment later, willis'' impassioned war declaration rang out from above the skies of the tall dragon cliff.


    for a moment, the dragons raised a commotion as they roared in reply.


    half a day later, three green dragons trailed behind willis as he dashed across the sky


    and disappeared at the horizon''s edge.


    green dragon clan leader raistlin, who had transformed into a human with ultimate transfiguration, stood at the large cave entrance of the meeting hall. he gazed at the silhouettes of the disappearing dragons and spoke softly.


    "singe, did we make the right decision?"


    fourth grade green dragon elder singe walked to his side. his massive dragon eyes were steeped in age and glowed with the light of wisdom.


    "i''ve tried my best countless times to divine the future. the leader of the invading mages is a terrifying sixth grade great mage. it is virtually impossible to defy him with the power of our clan. even if we tried our very best, the most we could do is delay the fall of this plane by one or two hundred years. such a result is meaningless for us green dragons!


    "unless you are able to ask for reinforcements from our progenitors¨Cthe emerald dragons¨Cwe cannot do anything by ourselves. we will only be defeated along with this plane.


    "i am only referring to the future vision i''ve seen through the dragon altar. this is only the image that has occurred the most among the myriad possible futures. as for what is to be done, that is up to you, the clan leader, to decide! after all, the fates of all forty clan members in the dragon valley lie solely on your shoulders!"


    raistlin gazed into the distance, the light in his eyes dimming and growing faint.


    ...


    it had been thirteen days since the last great battle.


    the witcher-knights that retreated from the forest gave their base up, redirecting their army to the outskirts of blue hillock city.


    the conclusion of this bloody battle also gave relief to the mages.


    they took advantage of this rare resting opportunity and swarmed into the depths of the woods, massacring the animals and creating new voodoo beasts en masse. some mages with unique tricks up their sleeves were also sent to blue hillock city, relentlessly harassing the knights'' base.


    leon took this opportunity to hide in his underground lab, conducting all sorts of research in secret.


    just a few days earlier, the third batch of reinforcements arrived.


    this time, only two mages came.


    one male and one female. however, they were two third grade mages!


    their arrival instantly filled the entire mages'' base with confidence.


    the very next day, the construction of the tower resumed again after its lengthy delay.


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    at this point, a simple illusion barrier was no longer able to hide the existence of the war tower. if the opponent sent out any more dragon knights, they would be able to clearly see the tall tower the moment they entered greenland forest.


    the two third grade mages stayed in the camp to slowly get used to the change in planar laws, while the remaining mages were busy with their own things. leon had also successfully obtained the information he needed from mage hyde.


    a hitlist.


    a list filled with the names of the rune grandmasters on the knights'' plane!


    sadly, almost all of the rune grandmasters were located near the capital of the knights'' kingdom and were under heavy protection. thus, if leon wanted to get his hands on the profound knowledge on merging runic and life energy, there was no avoiding a long trip to the capital!


    and with the current situation, it was impractical to leave the mages'' base to go on a trip in the human''s world.


    at least until the end of the next battle, leon could not leave the mages'' base.


    the battle in the woods last time had caused tremendous damage to the witcher-knights. however, with the fifteen days of rest and recuperation they received, fresh blood from all over the continent had been able to arrive one after another, replenishing the numbers of the army outside blue hillock city. the number of witcher-knights had reached a historic five thousand men!


    the storm of war started to brew once more over the edge of greenland forest.


    the higher-ups in the knights used high and extravagant rewards to attract bounty hunters, adventurers, mercenaries, and even rogues and thieves of all kinds. greenland forest was almost akin to an exceptionally lively market because of this. every day, countless small squads of human adventurers wove their way through the woods, playing a game of cat and mouse with the evil mages and their terrifying voodoo beasts and ghouls.


    even though most of the squads never returned, as they were turned into materials for the mages to create more voodoo beasts, there were one or two fortunate squads. the knight commanders pieced together the bits and pieces of information they brought back, and finally managed to get a basic understanding of the forest''s interior.


    the mages'' tower in particular was extremely conspicuous and was hard to conceal from the scouts. all the higher-ups were alerted to its existence and it became a thorn in their hearts, a concern that made them lose sleep night after night. if it wasn''t for the fact that the powerhouses of the knights'' army had yet to arrive, a new battle might have already started.


    it was in such a tense situation that leon excavated an underground palace of his own in a spot three and a half kilometers away from the base.


    using the large number of clay golems and alligator hunters under his command, leon dug a small underground palace fifteen meters underground, turning it into his personal laboratory and spending every day in there.


    there were over twenty rooms in the underground palace, and important magic experiments were being conducted in every one of them.


    four or five glowstones were placed on the dim and wet stone walls of the corridors. they let out a dim light-green radiance, barely enough to make the surrounding area visible.


    leon appeared in the corridor, still engulfed in a thick and heavy robe. after a slight hesitation, he turned and entered the first stone room on the left.


    a massive ice pillar was placed on the stone pedestal in the middle of the empty stone room. there was nothing else besides that. however, just this massive ice pillar alone was obviously no common object. its mere existence caused the temperature of the stone room to drop to a shocking -157¡ãc.


    snow and ice crystals covered the entire room. even the floorboards, the ceiling, and the walls were entirely covered under a layer of bright blue ice. if these walls hadn''t been reinforced and protected by magic arrays, leon was sure that the chill would spread out of the room, turning the entire underground palace into a world of snow and ice.


    the only thing leon could do in the stone room was stand before the ice pillar and use his own elementium fire to continuously roast the ice pillar. then he would close his eyes and sense and feel the traces of planar law released from the pillar as the ice melted.


    indeed, this ice pillar was the product left behind in the fight between second grade mage sir f¨¹gen and the second grade radiant knight. sir f¨¹gen had conjured the power of the planar laws to freeze the enemy within to capture him alive. for that reason, the remains of this ice pillar were also a manifestation of planar law of ice fragments.


    if leon hadn''t used his fire against it, this force of ice and snow would automatically absorb water elementium from its surroundings to maintain its existence. it would probably be at least one or two months before it would melt on its own. in this period, any living being that dared to touch the pillar would have to endure chill damage as high as thirty degrees.


    this was almost as much as the all out attack of an advanced apprentice!


    it was clear how powerful second grade mages were. just a simple spell casually cast would have such terrifying might. thus, leon needed to slowly sense the intricacies of the planar law powers within the ice pillar to find the innate difference between first and second grade mages! s§×arch* the n??elfir§×.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2120 words

 Chapter 217 Maze

    leon was finally able to melt away a thin layer of ice on the ice pillar after fifteen minutes.he was doing the burning, but the one performing a detailed analysis of the ice pillar''s contents was the chip.


    after all, the chip was tens or even hundreds of times better than him at data collection and analysis. moreover, this was only because the chip had been restricted by the limits of his spirit. the chip''s ability would continue to improve and expand as his spirit slowly increased.


    thus, leon gave up on comparing himself with the chip and focused on melting the ice pillar bit by bit. then he focused on analysing the contents of the ice crystals, the peculiarities of the arrangement of spirit elementium, as well as the forms created by the combination of the spirit elementium with the material elementium.


    leon could feel the existence of spirit elementium everywhere inside the ice pillar.


    from his past understanding, material objects were material objects, while elementium were elementium and spirit was spirit. all three were distinct units with different forms of existence, different characteristics, and different ways of functioning. however, after the analysis of the ice pillar before him, leon was shocked to find that his past understanding and distinction of these substances had been shattered.


    these three didn''t seem to be independent units that could never assimilate or merge!


    in leon''s understanding, material objects were visible, tangible objects that existed in the physical world. from anything as small as dirt, firewood, rivers, to something as big as lakes, seas, mountains, or entire continents. these were all parts of the material world, and were objects that could be sensed with human senses. thus, material objects were the foundation of the material world!


    the earth in his previous life was similar in this regard with the alternate world he was currently in.


    on the other hand, elementium was a mysterious substance that was invisible and intangible. it existed everywhere in the entire universe, like a boundlessly vast sea, engulfing the entire multiverse.


    from the perspective of the multiverse, all elementium was at a perfect balance. however, if one were to just observe from a limited area, elementium behaved like tides, ebbing and flowing. they varied in quantity and density, never quite the same in different parts of the multiverse.


    in truth, the multi-faceted portrayals and features of the material planes had a very direct connection to the density of elementium particles in the area they existed in.


    earth differed entirely from this alternate world in this aspect.


    many mysterious and amazing ancient myths and legends about gods and deities existed back on earth. those ancient gods and deities seemed like they were omnipotent, capable of ravaging seas and claiming the skies. however, in the earth leon used to live, no one had such amazing ability.


    if leon had remained in the past, he might have only thought of these ancient stories as fantasies and dreams of people in the past. however, he no longer thought so!


    it was very likely that earth in the past was a world filled with elementium energy that allowed the people of that time to possess the chance of overcoming their weak physical bodies to master and manipulate great power. however, with the ebbing of the elementium tide, the elementium energy on earth started to fade once more. humans were once again cast back to their mundane selves, forced to abandon arcanology and go back to the path of technology.


    thus elementium, this mysterious substance, was the true reason behind changes in material planes!


    but what exactly was elementium?


    normal humans had no way of observing elementium particles with the naked eye. even if you spent every day soaked in elementium particles, and countless particles entered and exited your body with every breath you took, you still wouldn''t have the means to sense and verify their existence.


    the only way humans could make contact with elementium particles was through meditation. by doing so, they used their spirit as a bridge, allowing their tangible physical bodies to contact the intangible elementium particles.


    it was precisely because of the existence of elementium particles that spirit became a source of power!


    normal humans could stare all they wanted or move about all they wanted, but nothing they did would cause a change in the world. their weak and feeble strength was insufficient to do anything to an entire material world. however, when a great mage just stared or stomped even once, the elementium directed by his spirit would form into a force that could shake and challenge planar laws, change the colors of the sky, and shift the paths of mighty rivers.


    in the past, leon had very clear distinctions for the three, and came up with detailed lines and traits that distinguished each of them. however, when he vaguely sensed the existence of spirit elementium in the ice pillar, the knowledge construct he had created in the past unavoidably started to fall apart.


    he was fortunate that he was able to successfully transform his body into elementium when he was still an apprentice mage with the help of the fire lord''s scepter. this caused his mastery over fire elementium particles to become even more skillful and practiced, allowing him to ultimately become an mage and rapidly improve into a powerful fire mage.


    many books mentioned the term ''spirit elementiumization'' in their discussions of future advancement for mages. however, none of them mentioned anything on how spirit elementiumization was supposed to be done. at one point, leon had suspected that this was the doing of the mage clans. by cutting off access to such knowledge, the clans would be able to use it as a means to attract talent to serve them.


    the only way first grade mages could hope to improve was to join clans with ancient mage legacies and obtain this missing knowledge from them. otherwise, the only other path left to them was to waste year after year slowly exploring the endless darkness, trying to find a path forward.


    even though mages had extremely long lifespans relative to mortals, their lives were still limited when compared to the infinite and endless pursuit of arcane knowledge!


    supposedly, given that leon had only advanced to an elementium mage, he would probably have to waste the first hundred years on completing and reinforcing the elementiumization of his body. it was only one hundred years later that he would be able to start exploring the issue of the elementiumization of his spirit. however, he had miraculously completed his body''s conversion and was already starting to worry about the elementiumization of spirit a hundred years early.


    leon would naturally expend all his efforts to explore and research when he got ahold of such a rare chance to examine spirit elementium.


    leon''s compatible attribute was with fire elementium particles, while the compatible attribute of second grade mage sir f¨¹gen was clearly the mutated ice elementium. the massive difference in both of their attributes caused leon to clearly feel the backlash of the plane''s laws of ice when he extended his spirit, and probed into the spirit elementium released by the ice pillar after it had been melted.


    when he held the ice pillar with both hands and slowly burned it, an icy force that chilled him to the bones also started to pass through his spirit connection and started to manifest on his body. when leon finally let go of the ice pillar and concluded today''s research, his legs had already been frozen to the ground. if he even moved a little, countless ice crystals would fall from his body.


    disregarding these external effects, even his spirit had become visibly slower and weaker. this was clearly the effect of the chill''s suppression on his talent for fire.


    this was only the remnants of a spell cast by a second grade ice mage, yet it could already obviously suppress his talent for fire. if the opponent that sir f¨¹gen had fought then wasn''t a second grade knight, but him instead, then leon would probably have been frozen into an icicle before he could even cast a spell!


    first grade elementium mages were only using their bodies to sense elementium particles and guiding them with their spirit. what about second grade elementium mages? what was the form of their spells and how did they cast them?


    for leon, these questions were mysteries with almost no solution!


    leon couldn''t help but let out a long sigh, "i really wish i could dissect a second grade mage right now!"


    almost immediately after he had spoken, he shut his mouth and looked around. it was only after leon realized that he was in the underground maze that he dug himself that he finally let out a sigh of relief. at the same time, he silently reminded himself that watching their speech was the only way the weak could protect themselves in this mysterious alternate world!


    leon quickly went into the second stone room after he exited the first one.


    a tall, large human lied on this stone platform, his chest already spread apart for the world see and every hidden part of his body exposed for curious eyes. leon had also modified the stone platform itself into a unique magic array, causing the platform to slowly guide all sorts of elementium energies into the different internal organs of that man.


    now what leon had to do was to continuously observe and record daily the effects and changes caused by the elementium energies on the bodies'' organs.


    the one lying dissected on the platform was a spellbreaker knight. if he had been put into the world of mages, one would see him as an existence that was on par with mages. sea??h th§× nov§×lf~ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    if leon had dared to so boldly dissect and research an actual mage in the world of mages, the only fate awaiting him would most definitely be being pursued and hunted by all mages. it was only in such an alternate world that he had the chance to capture an mage-level existence, much like himself, and dissect him like a white rat with no worries of any consequences.


    he would even be allowed to conduct some of the more secretive and taboo experiments.


    this might be the most appealing part of planar wars for the mages!


    meanwhile, numerous armor fragments and some unrecognizable objects filled the entire stone platform of the third room. the knight''s armor was placed at the very center of the stone platform, and it was obvious what the runic arrays within them were.


    after so many bloody battles, the number of witcher-knights and spellbreaker knights that the mages had killed and captured had reached a certain level. they were finally able to have a basic understanding of this plane''s unique runic knowledge.


    in conclusion, the runic knowledge of the knights'' plane was far more primitive when compared to the world of mages. it was only in the one area of merging runic energies with the physical body that the knights had their own unique understanding and improvements.


    if the mages were able to make this knowledge their own and performed some minor modifications and improvements, it would undoubtedly be able to allow mages that manipulated powerful elementium powers to also possess the same durable and resilient physical prowess of the knights. this could also, in a way improve, the combat ability of the mages themselves. as a result, this was most definitely knew knowledge that everyone sought and desired!


    however, the rune shards that leon collected only reached as high as the level of spellbreaker knights, and there was not much new knowledge that was worth analysing and building upon within them. leon could only replace quality with quantity, collecting all sorts of different runic arrays and attempting to rely on the chip''s powerful data analysis and deductive abilities to help him access a higher level of runic mystery.


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    of course, this was only a side project. if he truly wanted a complete set of the knowledge about merging runic energies, he had to personally travel to the knights'' kingdom to collect them.


    ...


    2032 words

 Chapter 218 Rose Manor

    blue hillock city.numerous witcher-knights had gathered here, turning this place into a rowdy military camp.


    knowing that he could not contest the witcher-knights with his own forces, blue hillock city''s castellan count vanlier decided to just leave the castellan''s quarters to the knights and moved to rose manor located outside the city, living a life of seclusion.


    however, he would occasionally host ballroom dance parties at the manor out, of respect for the witcher-knights, and warmly invite the young knights to participate. count vanlier had even specially invited the most famous chef from herdurand city, as well as the numerous noble ladies, socialites, and beauties in blue hillock city to entertain the young knights. every day, the knights would live a life of debauchery, surrounded by beauties and luxuries.


    the noble knights, who had just experienced the traumatizing battle in the woods, seemed to have found the meaning to life once more. they tasted smooth wine and gourmet food, surrounded themselves with beautiful women, and talked with merchants that offered up empty praises, sinking utterly into a life of pleasure and enjoyment.


    duke was one such knight!


    as someone born from a small noble family, he had always had the great dream of owning a runic sword of his own and riding a magic colt across the continent. his father, a small baron in a rural area, sold the only manor they had and sent him to the witcher-knight trainee camp.


    moreover, he was diligent and fortunate enough to not only become a witcher-knight, but also accidentally advanced to a spellbreaker knight after fifteen years of rigorous field experience.


    he instantly became the pride of his family, as well as a famous witcher-knight leader back in his hometown.


    countless successes in his hunts for heretics had strengthened his faith in the witcher-knights, turning him into a faithful believer of the great holy knight sir willis. thus, when the new heretic war was about to break out, he led his companions and hurried here, joining the ranks of the witcher-knight army that went into the forest.


    a single bloody and cruel battle in the woods allowed him to see the terror of the evil mages for the very first time. every time he recalled the hordes of evil voodoo beasts swarming like a tide out of the darkness, and his poor companions that turned into the ugly ghouls, his heart would bleed and his soul would tremble!


    he would wake up from nightmares every night since he returned from the forest, drenched in sweat and soaked in fear. almost all of the knights that returned with him faced the same problems that he did.


    it was precisely because of this that the knights'' higher-ups had not stopped the knights from attending count vanlier''s extravagant dinner parties. in fact, they gladly encouraged and sent these emotionally damaged knights over to the parties.


    their defeated knight''s convictions could be compensated with the rich wine and good food, and their losses in battle could be won back on the bed.


    handsome men and beautiful women were everywhere in the brightly lit hall. even elderly men with several decades under the belt would dress handsomely as they walked about socializing with everyone.


    most of the beautiful ladies were wearing bright low-cut dresses, revealing their white backs and their deep cleavage, while the men wore delicate and elegant noble''s suits or neat and smart hunting attire, waving their wine glasses about as they had joyful conversations and invited the ladies to dance.


    male servants wearing neat uniforms pushed small silver carts into the room and placed delicate food on a longtable decorated with a sky-blue tablecloth. this was food reserved for individuals with certain status. bronze candlesticks were placed on the table, along with tin cutlery and drinking horns decorated with silver rings.


    meanwhile, one after another, beautiful maids wove through the guests with bright smiles on their faces, putting rich wine into the hands of the generously drinking guests.


    a small band was diligently playing at one corner of the hall. once in a while, some bards or dancers would dance on the spot, further livening the atmosphere in the hall.


    on the other hand, outside of the hall were numerous quiet and peaceful corridors, gardens, pergolas, fountains, and lawns. these spots filled with greenery and flowers were the places that men and women flirted.


    moreover, there were specially designed small bedrooms at the back of the hall. they were lavishly decorated, but more importantly, they had exceptionally sound-insulated walls.


    however, right in the middle of this pleasant evening of enjoyment, several black shadows secretly gathered in a hidden wine cellar in the corner of the manor, quietly discussing something.


    "has the target been decided? our mistress is getting impatient!"


    "please tell the mistress that we have decided on the targets. it will be a total of three spellbreaker knights. we will find a way to have them stay over tonight and when that happens... "


    "you must be careful. keeping you here as a hidden piece was not an easy task. the mistress does not want you to be exposed too early. so remember, you must be absolutely careful and have a detailed and proper plan before acting!"


    "yes, sir bald eagle, you can count on me!"


    "mm!"


    the black shadows exchanged a few word in the darkness, then quickly went in their own directions.


    one of the silhouettes suddenly turned into a furry black mass, silently beating its wings as it sped across the many buildings in the manor. shortly, it arrived at a delicate, small building two levels tall located at the back of the manor.


    it passed through a vent specially left open at a corner of the house and went inside before transforming once more in the master bedroom of the building. it turned into an elderly noble with a slightly balding head and wearing a delicate sleeping robe.


    he lightly pulled on a special string by the corner of the room, and the two large doors at the side of the master bedroom opened as a group of beautiful maids walked in and swiftly changed the elderly noble into a smart suit. the butler wearing a tuxedo stood obediently by the side, waiting for the count''s orders.


    "have all the guests arrived?" he asked with a voice thick with the accent of nobles. the elderly noble raised his arms and let the maids arrange his costume.


    "they are all here! especially the ones master had mentioned to me. i have already sent people to entertain them!" the butler hurriedly took one step forward and replied softly.


    "where is duke now?"


    "half an hour ago he was still conversing with the president of the wade chamber of commerce in the front hall. now, he''s flirting with the sera sisters by the grapevines in the gardens!"


    "and barral?"


    "he was dancing with madam shearfre in the hall fifteen minutes ago. now... he''s already inside guest room number seven."


    "drisek?"


    "he''s been drinking with knight tomard and knight raul in the side hall. apparently, he''s already drank six bottles of grape spirits. i''ve had people send another five bottles over."


    "mm! you''ve done a good job." the elderly noble nodded in approval.


    just as the elder was about to step forward into the front hall, the obedient butler suddenly stopped him.


    "master, this one has some news to report to you."


    "oh? what is it?" the elderly noble asked in astonishment.


    "sir collier has arrived."


    "collier? do you mean that radiant knight collier?" the elderly noble was surprised and immediately asked again. he lowered his head and let out a wicked laugh before striding out confidently.


    since even a radiant knight had graced him with his presence, there was no reason he shouldn''t show his face as the host of this party!


    thus, after a short moment''s wait, the loud announcement of a servant rang out from outside the door.


    "count vanlier has arrived!"


    ...


    countless black shadows shifted and countless voodoo beasts roared...


    everyone ran as fast as they could amidst the flickering light of torches. their hurried and dramatic breathing could be heard clearly.


    a scarlet flame cloud was roiling in the skies as meteors wrapped in burning flames whistled through the air as they crashed into the earth. loud explosions and bright fires accompanied them as each of the meteors landed. the woods would tremble from the impact of the meteors.


    every time this happened, even duke couldn''t help but tremble along with the forest.


    because what came next was the terrifying flame shockwaves and the branches, stones, and debris that covered the skies.


    the meteors that were destroyed midair would turn into rains of fire that fell from the sky, engulfing the entire forest in their burning embrace. the only thing duke could do was keep his energy shield up, protecting himself from the rain of fire, running forward with all his strength amidst the shaking and trembling of the earth...


    suddenly... a pale white monster so ugly and revolting one would gag at the sight of it emerged from a bush at the side, tackling the witcher-knight in front of duke, biting and devouring the knight with its sharp teeth.


    when duke raised his runic longsword with his trembling hands, the ghoul suddenly raised its head and looked at him. then, it squatted before leaping high up into the air, launching itself at duke.


    duke looked at the terrifying fangs and claws becoming larger and larger before his eyes before screaming and waking up from his nightmare, sitting upright in the bed. the two beautiful ladies lying naked on the bed mumbled something before turning over and returning to their peaceful sleep.


    duke wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. he looked around the room before realizing that he was no longer on that terrifying battlefield, but in a comfortable and warm nest instead. duke couldn''t help but smile when he recalled the euphoria and intimacy of the night earlier. he leaned back as he tried to fall back into a sweet sleep.


    for some reason though, he had a vague feeling that there was something dangerous hiding near him. however, after an entire night of debauchery and enjoyment, even his wits and sensitivity to danger had fallen to their absolute lowest.


    just as he was in a daze and wondering about the source of this unknown sense of danger, two bright red dots appeared within a dark spot in the room. this pair of red glowing lights appeared suddenly, and before he had even noticed it they were right before him, instantly drawing his attention.


    for some unknown reason, whenever duke looked at the red lights his mind could no longer function properly. even though he subconsciously felt something was off, his will, weakened by the pleasures of the past few days, was no longer sufficient to continue resisting the effects of those red lights.


    pain and struggle appeared on duke''s face, but he was never able to shift his gaze away from those lights. moreover, as strange patterns and flux started to appear from within the red glow, his will started to sink further and further in while the expression on his face started to become more and more peaceful and calm.


    finally, he no longer struggled!


    "it''s done, bloody bleia. i''ve put this guy under my control for now! it''s up to you next." a sweet and crisp female voice rang out from the darkness.


    "mm, thank you lady phantom. i''ll deliver the things you requested as soon as possible once we return to the base. i''ll have to trouble you for the other two as well!" bleia''s voice also sounded out in the darkness.


    the soft sound of moving cloth could be heard in the room as the female mage known as phantom exited the room, leaving the poor prey bewitched by her illusions to bleia.


    for a long time, bleia had only been able to embrace a group of pseudo-mage level vampire subordinates in blue hillock city. she never had the opportunity to try and do such a thing to the more powerful witcher-knights, nor the spellbreaker knights that had even more powerful mental wills and magic resistances. continue your adventure with empire


    thus, bleia took advantage of this brilliant opportunity and bought phantom''s help at a tremendous price to have her crack the wills of the spellbreaker knights and shake their faith and determination. even if bleia failed to embrace these knights under the cover of the illusion, the spellbreaker knights would only think of the experience as a new nightmare, and the secret hidden in the rose manor wouldn''t be exposed.


    bleia grinned wickedly as she closed in on duke in the darkness!


    ...


    2128 words sear?h the n??efire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 219 Storm

    inside a secret underground hole near the edge of greenland forest.wild patches of grass kept the narrow entrance completely hidden.


    a one meter long carcass beetle with green wings and a black shell covered with corpse spots flew over, staying close to the ground. a dead human was impaled on its four razor-sharp legs. judging from the human''s clothing, he was a low-level mercenary that entered the greenland forest in hopes of getting the large reward offered by the knights.


    the carcass beetle circled above the entrance, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, it folded its wings and landed near the entrance. it very quickly dragged the mercenary''s corpse with it and disappeared into the underground cave.


    after it entered the cave, it dove downwards, going through narrow and winding paths before finally entering a large cave twenty meters underground.


    the cave had been turned into a massive bug''s nest. the ground and walls were covered in an odd moss. it was soft to the touch, and would give way when someone stepped on it. however, the moss was exceptionally durable and had surprisingly strong resistance against acid and poison.


    a dozen dirt piles that looked like anthills were located in the middle of the large cave. however, these piles weren''t made of any ordinary dirt, but a filthy substance made from mud mixed with wood splinters and the bloody remains of devoured and digested human flesh.


    the top of the dirt piles were completely filled with pitch-black holes. on a closer look, one could vaguely see odd larvae crawling within the dirt. even though they were only larvae, their ear-piercing screeches, ugly appearance, and their terrifyingly savage and violent presence all hinted at their identity as horrifying monsters. s~ea??h the nov§×lf~ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the carcass beetle that just flew in circled in the air. when it passed by one of the bug''s nests, it moved its scythe-like legs violently. the human mercenary''s corpse was instantly torn into pieces of meat, falling onto the nest as his blood rained down.


    the larvae in the nest started to screech in excitement when they smelled fresh blood. they extended their white translucent heads from the holes, violently devouring the pieces of meat that fell on the dirt pile. ear-piercing screeches burst out from the other nests that didn''t get fed, filling the entire cave with deafening noise.


    as several carcass beetle entered and exited the cave, and as the fresh blood rained like a downpour, an opening was finally created in a nest by the larvae inside. over twenty carcass beetle larvae crawled out, laying on the carpet of moss as they began the first significant evolution of their bug lives.


    their milky white and semi-translucent bug shells immediately started to solidify and harden when exposed to the cold, damp air. then, with loud cracking sounds, a seam that extended all the way across their backs started to form, slowly expanding towards each side.


    when the crack had become large enough, a wicked bug''s head peeped out from within, letting out its first metallic screech into this cold world.


    dozens of kilometers away, in a patch of dim woods, blake was coldly looking upon a human mercenary squad from the darkness. blake suddenly turned towards the direction where the bug nests were, as if he had heard that terrifying bug screech in the distance. blake let out a wicked smile.


    ...


    in the mages'' base.


    the height of the war tower was quickly increasing.


    in just a dozen days, the 213 meter tall war tower with two underground floors and seven ground floors had been completely constructed. now it was undergoing the hasty process of magic modification.


    this simple and crude war tower had not been built from expensive and valuable materials. instead, it had only been constructed with common rocks and loose sand reinforced with magic. the quality of such materials made it inevitable that the tower could not take too much of a beating.


    even disregarding bombardment from knight battle techniques, the terrifying weight of the tower itself would be enough to completely crush the foundation of the building to dust.


    thus, as the mages'' tower slowly grew in height, a dozen mages were tirelessly working away in the tower, carving multiple strengthening arrays on the large stone slabs to improve the weight-bearing capacity of these stones. moreover, these temporary arrays had to be carved in a way that did not hinder future defensive arrays that would be carved in the tower once it was constructed. as a result, even though the work seemed simple, every single array had to be engraved in a calculated position, with great attention paid to the way the arrays connected and related to each other. this was not something that just any mage could do.


    besides the construction of the mages'' tower, the most lively place in the base was the voodoo beast crafting laboratory. large numbers of forest beasts were sent to the base from far away, and in less than an hour, they would all be turned into oddly-shaped voodoo beasts, swarming into the forest in waves.


    the job of guarding and defending the outer rim of the base was left to that group of elite ghouls. each of them had prowess that rivalled that of advanced apprentices. they were a group of tireless guards, hiding in the bushes and the trees, preventing any living being from coming within one and a half kilometers of the base.


    besides these loyal guards, some mages with strange abilities were also active near the edge of the forest, unceasingly monitoring the border for any activity. these reckless fellows, that stepped into these woods for a little reward and land, had never been able to take another step out of the woods. your adventure continues at empire


    the thing that caused the most damage to the knights in the last battle was undoubtedly the plague virus. it was the existence of this virus, that specifically corroded runic energy and magic colts, that caused the witcher-knights to turn into pathetic soldiers, losing the mobility they had prided themselves for.


    such an effective tool had to be used to its fullest potential.


    over this period of modification and improvement, an even more contagious plague virus had been created and had already been sent to the mages hiding in blue hillock city through discreet means. given their personality and abilities, the mages would probably already have turned blue hillock city into a dead city filled with tombstones, if it wasn''t out of fear of provoking the enemy into showing their hand too early.


    the numbers of witcher-knights in the camp outside blue hillock city was rapidly growing day by day.


    it seemed as if the powerful forces behind this plane had finally realized the danger of the mages and were rapidly gathering all the strength they could muster. on the other hand, the mages'' base had been able to get news of the knights through discreet means. in particular, they knew that the most powerful being on this plane, the fourth grade holy knight willis, had obtained reinforcements from the mysterious dragon valley and was hurrying over here.


    it was easy to foresee that the moment he arrived here would be the moment the witcher-knights moved out against the mages.


    the only thing both sides could do now was to continuously build up their own military strength and increase the advantages they had.


    the witcher-knights and the mages. these two factions were like mad machines of war that were continuously accelerating and rushing towards each other at a terrifying speed. perhaps the very next second, they would clash with all their strength.


    as for who would be the final victor¨C that had yet to be decided. the only thing known for sure was that this was destined to be a massive battle of life and death. a war that would be etched into the annals of history!


    ...


    it had been twenty-one days since the last bloody battle in the woods.


    it was a bright, sunny afternoon and the call of war had finally arrived.


    leon, who was silently conducting experiments in his underground lab, paused for a moment before taking out a communication crystal. the crystal flashed with a blinding light.


    leon extended his spirit into the crystal, and sir f¨¹gen''s cold voice instantly rang out in his mind.


    "all mages are to return to base immediately. all mages are to return to base immediately. mages that have yet to return to base in an hour will be executed as traitors. crow, plague, and bloody bleia are to continue with the original plan. keep hiding undercover and wait for more instructions... "


    war had finally arrived.


    leon''s heart sank for a moment as well.


    no mage could be confident in their own safety in a planar war such as this. even the calm and collected second grade sir f¨¹gen probably had a decent chance of dying here. after all, when the battle started, he would most definitely be an important target marked by the enemy''s powerhouses.


    as for the two third grade mages, even though it had been quite a while since they arrived, they had yet to take a single step out of the mage tower. there was no telling how much of their strength they could exhibit while under the powerful inhibiting effect of the plane''s suppression. a first grade mage needed one day and one night to become completely used to the planar laws here. a second grade mage needed five to seven days to get used to the change.


    how many days would a powerful being like a third grade mage need to do so?


    leon quickly tidied his lab with this question in mind, before leaving the place with a single fire teleportation.


    other mages, busy with their own tasks all over the forest, also received sir f¨¹gen''s message and hastily concluded the tasks at hand before quickly turning and heading towards the base.


    blake didn''t return immediately upon receiving the message. instead, he rushed over to the area where the underground cave was located. when his silhouette, hidden underneath thick robes, appeared before the entrance to the cave, odd noises rang out from within.


    one after another, terrifying carcass beetles with wicked appearances slowly climbed out from within, gathering around blake as they let out sharp screeches. blake''s bug head, hidden underneath the shadow of his hood, also continuously let out odd screeches as if he was communicating with these beetles.


    thirty-nine carcass beetles!


    each of them had terrifying power that rivalled pseudo-mages.


    if they were all gathered together, none of the first grade mages could fight back against them. the only option left would be to run and save themselves.


    blake finally felt a sense of elation and pride when he looked at these loyal bug troops that surrounded him.


    that damn bleia and that accursed leon. now that i have my bug army, what will you use to compare with me?


    blake strode towards the base feeling extremely satisfied.


    the carcass beetles took to the skies with their black shells and green wings. the wings on their backs beat rapidly as they flew above the canopy, closely following behind blake like an ominous gray cloud.


    the skies were filled with flying mages. mages sitting atop their giant magical flying tools, mages slashing through the air with green wings on their backs, mages rushing towards their destination after transforming into beasts....


    for one moment, the scattered mages were all hurrying towards the same place.


    the mages'' base!


    ...


    1925 words

 Chapter 220 The Power of the Dragons

    outside blue hillock city. rose manor.having sensed the oddity outside, bleia moved silently to a large window in her room and lifted the curtain, gazing at the black dots in the distance.


    they had yet to arrive, but already the terrifyingly vast and intimidating dragon''s aura surged forth.


    the dragon''s aura of might. this seemed like an intangible and mysterious thing, but its effect on normal living beings was very real and unavoidable!


    be it normal warhorses, or the livestock kept at every other house, all the animals would go into a panic when they sensed the dragon''s aura falling from above like a mighty tide. and when they smelled that unique stench of large draconic lifeforms scattered by the wind, their limbs would tremble and give way. they would crouch on the ground in fear, not being able to move even a single step from where they were.


    one, two, three, four, five...


    bleia''s crimson pupils glowed mildly as she quickly understood what the black dots in the distance represented. even bleia couldn''t help but wrinkle her soft eyebrows as the numbers continued to increase.


    damn, there were five dragons! this battle was not going to be easy!


    in the time she hesitated, a gale had raged across the skies above rose manor as the five dragons cut across the air and flew towards blue hillock city.


    bleia saw the dragons more clearly this time.


    there were two third grade dragons and three second grade dragons amongst the five dragons. moreover, four human knights wearing strange armor had been riding on the backs of those dragons. based on their looks, bleia determined that they were most likely the fourth grade holy knight, along with the three third grade dragon knights. sea??h th§× novel?ire(.)ne*t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    this strength was more than enough to crush the mages'' base in a head on fight!


    meanwhile, at this one moment, countless pairs of eyes in discrete areas all over blue hillock city were closely following this group of flying dragons as they landed in the camp outside the city.


    it wasn''t long before the news was sent back to the mages'' base.


    thus, that was how the scene of second grade sir f¨¹gen calling the mages back came to happen!


    while the mages hiding in blue hillock city were still trying to determine if the high-grade mages would choose to rest before marching out, the witcher-knights'' camp in the distance had already burst into action.


    squad after squad of witcher-knights leapt onto their colts, fastened their supplies on the saddles, and charged out of the military camp in an orderly fashion, hurrying towards greenland forest in the distance.


    so determined? it seemed like the enemy came prepared!


    the undercover mages couldn''t but think so silently to themselves.


    the dragons took to the skies once more, circling the sky as they let out dragon roars that rumbled through the air, before chasing after the vanguard and following them into the vast woods.


    willis rode on the back of the third grade green dragon aufreyr. they had just barely entered greenland forest and already, even from a distance, they could see that tall and terrifying war tower standing alone in the sea of trees.


    this tower was so tall and magnificent that even those towering ancient trees were nothing but insignificant dots before it. even from dozens of kilometers away, the vast stretch of woods could only hide its insignificant and unimportant foundation, while the very tip of the tower was obscured by the clouds in the sky.


    there was no need for any magical lighting or special effects. just the sheer magnitude of this tower was impressive enough!


    this was the foundation of their plans that the evil mages had built upon this plane? it was as intimidating as the ancient records described.


    willis gazed at the war tower in the distance. he did not recklessly lead the dragon knights in a charge towards it, but instead chose to circle above the witcher-knight vanguards and guide their way towards the mages'' base.


    in all of the countless battles in the past, the witcher-knights had never been able to make it to the mages'' base. there were many reasons for it. the first of which was the sheer size and density of foliage in greenland forest. moreover, the geography of the forest was mountainous and rugged, causing the witcher-knights that had air presence to only be able to charge about aimlessly in the woods.


    this sort of undirected strategy had no efficiency to speak of.


    thus, all the battles in the past were initiated by the mages, causing crippling damage to the knights every single time.


    now that they had dragons in the sky guiding their way, the knight army became like an agile snake. they wove their way across countless trees, climbed past hills and mountains, cut through streams and rivers. they crossed ravines and bottomless cliffs, recklessly heading towards the mages'' base.


    oddly enough, it seemed as if the mages themselves had realized that maintaining harassment outside of the base had lost any real meaning for this final battle. as a result, the mages no longer fought with the witcher-knights for control over parts of the forest. they withdrew all their forces and turtled within a two and a half kilometer radius of the tall tower, forming defensive lines that were tough to crack.


    stay connected with empire


    moreover, the defensive lines were only spread out in the direction the witcher-knights were coming from. it seemed they had no defenses on the other three sides.


    did the enemy not have enough forces to defend the tower on every side? or was this some sort of trickery?


    willis stood above his dragon as he thought to himself silently.


    he thought of commanding the witcher-knights to take the long route, flank the mages, and charge them at their weakest spot. however, after a quick moment''s thought, he gave up on the idea.


    who knew if there were any ambushes or traps in those empty areas! rather than take the uncertain risk, it was better to clash directly with the enemy and crush all of their preparations with the knights'' courage and numerical advantage.


    he no longer cared about the number of casualties in today''s all-out battle. as long as they were able to chase away this batch of terrifying mages, it would be worth it even if all six thousand men of the army had to die here!


    six thousand witcher-knights! this was almost eight percent of the entire plane''s witcher-knights. if they were to all die here, then even the knights'' kingdom, with their tremendous influence and power, would find such a loss hard to swallow!


    death was easy. however, to rebuild an army of this size needed two to three hundred years at the very least.


    only willis and the three dragon knights knew how determined he was this time. those radiant knights could only listen to orders when put before these third and fourth grade knights.


    with the help of the magic colts, the long line of witcher-knights rapidly closed in on the frontline.


    finally, at an area one kilometer away from the enemy''s defensive lines, willis had the green dragon land on a cliff and stop the army''s advance.


    the witcher-knights had travelled for over two hours and took the cliff as a temporary camp, getting off their horses and taking a rest. they ate and drank a little, preparing for the massive battle that was to come.


    with the dragons as lookouts in the sky, the witcher-knights no longer needed to worry about surprise attacks from the evil mages.


    six thousand witcher-knights might not look like a lot when stretched into a long line. however, when they were all gathered together, they formed a domineering crowd. almost every inch of the one kilometer radius of the camp was filled with the busy shapes of the witcher-knights.


    all of a sudden, black clouds appeared in the sky above an area where the knights were most densely gathered. in the blink of an eye, a raging lightning storm was almost completely formed. the witcher-knights beneath the black cloud hurriedly got onto their magic colts and spread out in every direction to avoid the terrifying spell.


    the green dragons circling in the skies discovered the mage''s location almost immediately. they dove down and covered the area where the mental flux came from with their devastating poison breath.


    thunderbird lived up to his name as the fastest and most mobile mage.


    when he realized he had been locked onto by the dragons, he immediately sped out of the dense woods. in a series of lightning flashes he escaped the attack range of the dragons.


    one after another, terrifying dragon breath razed the ground from above!


    this previously lush forest instantly turned into a land of death and decay. the green trees, vines, thorns, and bushes corroded and withered in the green poison mist in a single second, turning into dead and dry plants.


    the dragons were extremely fast while flying. in just a slight dive, they had already closed in on the mages'' defensive lines.


    when the powerful bodies of the four green dragons sliced across the canopy, countless terrifying spells of all colors blasted into the skies, chasing after the dragons.


    the very next second, the four green dragons personally demonstrated to the world once again why the dragons were able to become rulers of the skies even amongst all the planes in the multiverse!


    their lithe and agile bodies rapidly turned and rolled in the skies, as the spells locked onto them followed closely behind and drew bright and pretty lines across the sky. with every barrel roll, some of the spells would collide and explode in a blast of explosive fireworks.


    when the spells behind them had reached an insignificant number, the green dragons turned around with great agility and neutralized the last few spells with thick green dragon breath.


    then they let out sky-rumbling roars as they flew upwards into the sky, full of pride, and once again showed off their elegant bodies high in the air without sustaining even a single scratch.


    if it wasn''t out of fear of affecting his allies'' morale, leon would have burst out in applause for the green dragons'' performance.


    what were the rulers of the skies? what were the rulers of all living beings in a plane? this was a raw show of the dragons'' immense strength!


    all those impractical fellows that fantasized about slaying dragons only needed to look at their performance to understand the massive difference in strength between them and the dragons.


    compared to the dragons, the mages looked like a bunch of human-shaped magic sticks that could only stand about as they cast their spells. in terms of the practicality and flexibility of combat, the dragons were far superior when compared to the mages!


    however, most of the mages were not bothered by this.


    compared to most of the magical creatures of the material planes, the spellcasting ability of mages was not particularly amazing. however, back in the world of mages, they still very firmly held the dominant position and assumed a dictatorial role!


    why? it was nothing special. it was just that the mages had wisdom and knowledge, as well as the awareness to use external factors to their advantage!


    ...


    1894 words

 Chapter 221 Thwarted

    the mages hiding in the darkness of the woods showed no fear, even when faced with these mighty and terrifying green dragons. moreover, the gazes they directed at the dragons had become even more passionate and intense.how cool would it be to have a dragon as a pet!


    perhaps because the dragons'' performance had provoked him, an mage slowly rose into the skies from the forest a kilometer away from the dragons and confronted them from a distance.


    the mage had a wrinkled face and was wrapped in a black robe. he held in his hand a long staff glowing with powerful magical radiance. indeed, it was the one and only second grade mage in the base, sir f¨¹gen.


    a single second grade mage was no real threat when pit against a group of adolescent green dragons. after all, even the weakest amongst them was at second grade! moreover, the dragons'' powerful bodies and ability to fly were unmatched even across all the material planes, allowing them to easily challenge enemies above their grades. it was an easy task to fight against a human with the same grade as them, especially if it was an mage, who were known for their weak and frail bodies.


    a young green dragon that had left the dragon valley for the first time, and had only participated in a planar war for the first time, roared and charged out from the formation. it seemed like he wanted a duel with this second grade mage that had appeared out of nowhere!


    the other green dragons in the sky roared in unison, and the massive soundwave caused the entire forest to tremble.


    they did not stop the young green dragon''s impulsiveness out of their desire for glory. instead, they were cheering for him in dragontongue.


    the young green dragon became even more excited. he flapped his fleshy wings and rose even higher into the sky. when his aura had reached its very peak, he let out a loud dragon''s roar that seemed as if it would rend the clouds apart, before diving quickly down at the insignificant and weak enemy.


    this was a terrifying lifeform that was over twelve meters long from head to tail, and six meters tall when it stood upright. dark green dragon scales the size of bowls covered his entire body, gleaming and shining brightly in the broad daylight. the dragon''s massive head was two meters long, with light green poisonous mist smoking out of his snout, making him seem all the more mysterious and terrifying. whenever he roared, one could see the ghastly concentrated ball of acid at the back of his throat.


    large and wicked spikes started on the back of his neck and went all the way to the tip of his long tail. whenever he beat his large, finely-scaled wings, a powerful gale would flow about his elegant and perfect body.


    a green dragon! stay connected through empire


    a young green dragon that had just grown out of being a whelp, and had just barely reached maturity!


    he might only be the second grade, but when his powerful body with flowing curves was displayed before everyone, it seemed as if his grade was no longer that important.


    bringing with him an overpowering aura of might and his devastating roar, the second grade green dragon fell from the sky. like a green meteor descending, he charged towards second grade human mage f¨¹gen with an unstoppable momentum.


    an ominous feeling rose in willis'' heart as he was directing the knights in the woods faraway. he frowned at his companion''s recklessness, but he couldn''t find anything wrong or odd when he scanned the battlefield nearby.


    this undoubtedly put him even more on edge!


    the green dragon was charging! the distance was closing!


    in the blink of an eye, less than a hundred meters were left between the dragon and the accursed human mage.


    disdain glowed in the green dragon''s amber eyes when he saw that the human had no intention of dodging. he, who had plenty of hunting experience in the woods, had already simulated countless action plans in his mind to deal with different situations.


    if the human mage dodged to the left or right, he would turn his head in the instant he passed by and engulf the mage in terrifying dragon breath. if the opponent dodged downwards, he only needed to fly down slightly and his sharp and thick dragon claws would instantly pierce the weak defensive barrier and tear the mage the pieces.


    engaging directly with a green dragon? not even magical creatures that were famed for the strength of their physical bodies dared to do something so suicidal!


    yet the human mage before him still behaved oddly and completely out of his predictions. even when a terrifying green dragon was charging at him, he still chose to stand there calmly while he cast a spell. even the loud dragon roars could not overpower the clear and crisp notes of his magical chanting.


    sir f¨¹gen blasted a green beam into the woods beneath him.


    almost immediately, the previously quiet woods suddenly came to life!


    continuous frightening green vines that were as thick as water jars rose into the skies, rapidly entangling the body of the charging green dragon and pulling it towards the ground. terrifying wooden spikes gleaming with a metallic sheen covered the vines. as they tightened their grip on the dragon, the spikes crunched against his scale armor, letting out a screeching sound as they clashed.


    caught by surprise, the green dragon could no longer maintain its flight, crashing into the dense woods beneath like a falling meteor.


    a massive pillar of dust rose to the sky as a powerful shockwave spread through the woods. everyone could clearly see that the woods in a hundred meter radius around the dragon had been completely flattened by this deafening impact. countless broken trunks, branches, and wood splinters shot out in every direction under the force of the violent shockwave, further damaging the trees around the area of impact. numerous leaves fell from endless trees.


    meanwhile, the second grade green dragon had just climbed out of the massive crater and was shaking its head in pain. suddenly, countless mages appeared from the woods around it and spells blasted at it one after another.


    the green dragon straightened its body in anger and was about to unfold its wing to escape from these despicable and shameless enemies. however, its body suddenly faltered as several thick green vines burst forth from the ground once again, rapidly entangling the dragon and keeping it bound to the ground.


    the very next second, the violent spells exploded and devoured the green dragon''s silhouette amidst its fearful and angered roars.


    the green dragon did indeed have exceptional magic resistance, but it also had limits. when faced with so many terrifying attacks, even he couldn''t help but cry out in pain, despite his powerful defenses.


    the surrounding mages were well aware of the green dragons'' high magic resistance. as such, they did not use pure elementium spells, instead opting for spells with more mixed attributes and physical damage.


    repeatedly, spells like crimson fireball, magma fireball, violent soundwave, and space distortion violently raged against the green dragon''s body. the large dragon scales were blasted into pieces and the flesh beneath was quickly eaten away by the horrifying tide of spells.


    just as the green dragon frantically struggled against the tide of spells and the green vines, even more opportunistic fellows swarmed out of the forest. bloodthirsty magic wolves with rotting coats of dark fur, violent apes betraying a reckless and fearless light in their bloodshot eyes, slim and small bloodsucking bats screeching as they flew, as well as seven or eight odd beetles with green wings and black shells spotted with corpse spots...


    these beasts took advantage of the green dragon being entangled by the vines and endured the bombardment of the mages as they leapt onto the green dragon''s body, frantically devouring the exposed flesh.


    the pain of being eaten alive put the dragon through intense agony. it opened its large mouth, and a terrifying breath of poison mist covered its own body. sear?h the ¦Çovelfire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the extremely corrosive poison mist instantly killed large swathes of the enemy.


    all the beasts engulfed by the poison mist melted into a sticky green liquid in an instant, as if they had been thrown into a pool of acid. even their tough bones couldn''t be preserved when they came into contact with the mist. the frail vampire spawn were the weakest of all. contact with the mist would melt them into a pool of green liquid in three to five seconds as they screeched in agony.


    only those odd beetles seemed completely unbothered by the poison breath of a second grade green dragon. they continued to stubbornly bite away at the green dragon''s flesh. the green vines seemed to possess powerful corrosion resistance as well, as they did not burn away under the green dragon''s breath.


    the green dragon was extremely angered. its wounded body struggled desperately to break free of the vines, while its bony dragon''s tail that resembled a massive meteor hammer swung upwards, finally crushing one of the odd beetles into a fine paste of blood.


    a peculiar bug screech rang out through the woods, and the beetles seemed to have received some sort of instructions. all of them crawled to the underbelly of the dragon, crouching and eating at the flesh there. this was a very advantageous position. with the dragon''s massive body, and its immobility in this situation, it was extremely hard for it to have its attacks reach its underbelly.


    loud dragon roars filled the skies, and instantly the sky was blotted out by the massive bodies of the green dragons!


    the other three green dragons, still carrying the dragon knights on their backs, dove downwards like arrows shot from a bow, trying to save their companion.


    sir f¨¹gen, who remained levitating above the canopy, waved the staff in his hand several times and once again summoned countless green vines to rise into the skies from the surrounding woods, wrapping towards the charging green dragons.


    slash. slash. slash...


    three blinding suns suddenly rose on the backs of the dragons. violent and concentrated energy blades clashed with the green vines. the vines that were able to resist even the powerful poison breath of a green dragon were unable to endure the third grade dragon knights'' violent attacks, instantly being shredded to pieces and falling apart.


    in the time the green vines retreated, the three dragon knights slashed at the trapped green dragon''s side and the vines extending from beneath the ground were quickly cut.


    the unrestrained green dragon broke free of its bindings in anger, forcing away its enemies with a large breath of green poison mist before taking to the skies with all its strength, struggling and stumbling as it did so.


    sadly, its badly wounded dragon wings were no longer able to support its continued flight through the sky.


    its left wing was completely broken, dragging behind its body and unable to be unfolded. the tip of its right wing had been cut off and several large holes had appeared on it. the wounds on his chest, below his ribs, and on his abdomen were the most severe. large patches of dragon scales were missing and the wounds were bloody and messy. one could see the thick tendons and white bones within the green dragon''s body through the missing flesh.


    such terrible injuries had clearly robbed it of its ability to fly.


    after struggling slightly in the air, the green dragon cried sorrowfully as it fell downwards.


    sharp winds whistled in the sky. an even larger and more muscular green dragon dove down, enduring the tide of spells and grabbing its companion''s body with its strong hind claws. it beat its wings and flew into the sky with strenuous effort.


    the dragon knight standing on the back of the green dragon waved his longsword, and one after another, bright flame blades blasted out, destroying the incoming spells in terrifying flashes of sword light. even so, the spells that made it through his defenses and blasted on the two green dragons still caused them to let out muffled grunts of pain.


    dragon scales and dragon skin had exceptional magical and physical resistance; any other flying magical creature would already have been shot down from the skies.


    two massive green breaths engulfed the nearby woods. the other two dragon knights had come to help with the remaining green dragons. the evil mages quickly scattered and ran through the terrifying dragon breath and the dragon knights'' terrifying blade radiances, finally giving the two surrounded dragons some breathing room.


    the green dragons were finally able to fly away from the mages'' battlefield with much difficulty!


    ...


    2144 words

 Chapter 222 Faith

    neither side seemed to have sustained any deaths in this first battle, but the knights had clearly lost a powerful ally.willis felt anger rise in his heart at his green dragon companion''s severe injuries, but he grit his teeth and suppressed his emotions.


    he waved his hand and the witcher-knight army, already waiting in formation, started to advance slowly.


    the humiliation and pain the mages inflicted on him would be paid back tenfold... a hundredfold. and the price they will be paying in would be their lives!


    willis could already tell that the number of mages on the other side were not very many. there were at best only two dozens of them. moreover, most of them were low-grade mages. there wasn''t a single high-grade mage among them that could make him feel fear and respect.


    if that was all the force the enemy had, willis was certain that the army was not needed. he alone, along with the dragon knights, would be more than enough to exterminate these evil mages.


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    however, for some odd reason, every time willis looked at the gigantic mages'' tower in the distance, an indescribable and irrational fear would rise up in his heart. it was almost as if... as if there were some terrifying demon there, its mouth wide open, waiting for him to enter.


    it was precisely this sense of fear that caused willis to recall the green dragons and have the witcher-knights advance instead. if there were truly any terrifying traps in that tower, the six thousand witcher-knights would be enough to force it out.


    what willis needed to do was lead the green dragons to drive in the most ferocious killing blow, once all the hidden enemies had shown their ugly faces.


    the green dragon squad was a dagger to slit the enemy''s throat, while the witcher-knights were a hammer to crack the enemy''s tough shell. he knew this very well!


    eleven muscular and powerful radiant knights appeared at the front of the formation. the intense light of energy radiated from their bodies. they would be the ones to lead the most savage charge at the enemy later. the ninety-eight spellbreaker knights formed groups of two, with a group of a hundred witcher-knights following behind each pair.


    they were in the middle of a vast stretch of forest, with no flat paths for them to start a charge. however, the knights in shining armor still pulled down their visors and pushed their magic colts forward slowly. the might and glory of an army several thousand men strong still caused the onlooking mages to feel a little nervous.


    the knights'' army had slowly begun to accelerate!


    sir f¨¹gen looked at the iron knights slowly closing in. while caressing the snake-eye ring on his left little finger, he coldly ordered, "start operation plague!"


    with his order, strange ripples started to repeatedly spread across the forest. wherever the ripples passed through, the witcher-knights and the colts under them would start to go into a panic. some of the magic colts would even frantically jump about while whinnying, tossing the knights off their backs.


    the colts were behaving abnormally, but the knights weren''t much better either!


    some witcher-knights started to clutch their throats tightly, painfully breathing as they did so. it felt like their internal organs had been set on fire. the searing pain was unbearable. for one moment, the entire witcher-knight army was in chaos as witcher-knights struggling in pain could be seen everywhere.


    the muscles on willis'' face started to twitch violently.


    dammit! this wasn''t a spell. it was a scheme!


    with their bodies'' exceptional strength and magic resistance, no spell could silently invade the bodies of witcher-knights. however, just looking from above, over half of the six thousand witcher-knights were having an extreme reaction to the ripple earlier. this could only mean that the evil mages had long ago done something to their bodies. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    willis knew the only way they could so was through poisoning the food and water in the military camp.


    these idiots! not realizing it even after they had long been poisoned!


    willis glared angrily at windsor, the radiant knight leader standing right beside him. he drew the large knight''s sword from his waist and stood tall on the back of the green dragon aufreyr as he shouted loudly.


    "eliminating the darkness, protector of the weak, fearless!


    "this is the day we die in battle for our conviction and glory as knights.


    "charge! charge! charge!"


    something extremely odd happened. as willis loudly shouted the motto that the witcher-knights firmly believed in, a faint golden radiance, so faint it was hard to be seen, started to glow within his body. the radiance was like a powerful dispelling halo. wherever it went, the light would instantly cause the witcher-knights to return to normal.


    the knights, now freed from the pain and chaos they were struggling in earlier, did not have elementium sight and naturally could not easily see this golden radiance. they thought of their recovery as an effect of their strength of conviction. they drew their runic longswords, loudly chanting the motto of the knights, and charged forward with all their might.


    as the witcher-knights that chanted the motto slowly increased, the golden radiance began to surround every one of them, so dense it looked as if all of the knights were wearing golden armor. with the help of this golden radiance, most of the plague virus that had been ignited by the mysterious ripples within the witcher-knights'' bodies was eradicated, allowing them to regain their ability to fight.


    even if there were viruses remaining, most of them were suppressed within the depths of their bodies with no opportunity to cause any trouble.


    bastard! what was this? shouting two stupid sentences allowed them to endure the effects of the plague viruses? how are we supposed to fight now?


    at this moment, countless mages roared and cursed frantically in their hearts. only mage f¨¹gen narrowed his eyes and stared at the holy radiance in the distance that had expanded into a massive golden sea. he muttered resentfully in his heart, "the power of faith! dammit! it''s the power of faith!"


    it was only now that he truly understood why the fourth grade willis was called a holy knight. it seemed willis had basic mastery over the use and function of the power of faith, and was already able to use it on a battlefield.


    much like the elementium powers used by the mages, the power of faith was also a kind of power. moreover, it was a power that was at another level when compared to elementium abilities.


    one could say that elementium powers were the concentration of large amounts of elementium particles, using spirit as a medium to bind them together and allow them to display their unique traits. however, the power of faith was much more intangible.


    the source of it was the soul. when many souls believed devoutly in a certain idea, an unknown force would naturally gather and concentrate into the manifestation of this idea. even if it was just a normal wooden carving or a stone statue, as long as there were enough people worshipping it, unknown power would gather around it, allowing it to have mysterious powers that would be incomprehensible to outsiders.


    at this moment, the fourth grade holy knight had become the bastion of faith for all of the witcher-knights and was obviously the object of all their faith and devotion. when he loudly chanted the inspiring knights'' motto, he lit a fire in the soul of all the witcher-knights.


    the power of faith that had accumulated over decades started to spread, allowing the numerous witcher-knights to be miraculously healed, and allowed them to regain their combat strength.


    mage f¨¹gen was able to provide the most logical explanation, using his vast knowledge of magic, when faced with this odd phenomenon. however, the witcher-knights involved had no idea that this was the case. ignorant fools were the most fearless. perhaps because of this, or perhaps because their hearts and beliefs were sufficiently pure, all of the witcher-knights thought of this phenomenon as a miracle of the great holy knight.


    thus, their burning conviction became even more resolute and passionate!


    bright red or blue runic energies started to spread rapidly across their runic longswords as they raised them high above their heads. with ear-deafening roars, the witcher-knights rushed towards the war tower.


    dammit, we need to find a way to eat away at these knights'' power of faith! otherwise, these fellows protected by the power of faith were like a bunch of knights bearing powerful energy shields. even all the mages added together would not be enough to stop their ferocious attacks.


    mage f¨¹gen roared loudly in his heart while twisting the snake-eye ring on his finger, sending a message to a person in the distance.


    "we are all counting on you! find a way to blunt the knights'' edge! the clan will compensate you doubly for all the losses that result from this. do it!"


    leon, who had been hiding in the forest all along, received sir f¨¹gen''s magical message, and could only shake his head bitterly. the mages'' base might actually fall if he didn''t put some effort into this massive battle today. with the skin gone, what can the hair adhere to? once the base had been destroyed, they, the invading mages, might not have the chance to successfully retreat back to the clan''s pseudo plane.


    even leon felt a chill creep within his heart when he thought of being stranded in this alternate world and being pursued by hordes of witcher-knights.


    screw it! i''ll give it my all this time!


    leon made his decision. his hands reached into the front of his robe and unceasingly tossed out shiny golem summoning cores one after another. as the dense elementium particles quickly gathered, a massive dust cloud rose at the area he was in. the intensity of this earth elementium flux was so great that even holy knight willis, standing at the back of the army, couldn''t help but look in leon''s direction.


    dong. dong. dong...


    the sound of heavy footsteps rang out from the dust cloud, as golem after clay golem, as tall as a human, marched out and charged at the witcher-knights'' formation.


    it would have been fine if it was only a dozen elementium golems. however, as the yellow dust cloud continued to expand, and the surging clay golems continued to increase, even some mages who were originally looking on with disdain in their eyes couldn''t help but betray a solemn expression.


    this fellow. through what means was he able to control so many elementium golems at once?


    the yellow dust cloud rumbled as something even more shocking happened. a massive snake made solely of rock and stone emerged from within, quickly slithering outwards. everyone frowned when they saw its large body, as wide as water tanks, and when they felt the ground tremor.


    but this wasn''t over yet.


    one, two, three...


    when five stone serpents emerged from the dust cloud and charged towards the battlefield behind the clay golem army, all of the witcher-knights couldn''t help but feel nervous.


    dammit! how were they so many of them?


    ...


    1879 words

 Chapter 223 Hunting

    the expected collision did not happen!leon hadn''t had a brain stroke yet. he wasn''t nearly dumb enough to have the clay golems clash head on with the witcher-knights wrapped in their steel armor.


    of course, if these were all stone golems instead of clay golems, leon wouldn''t mind appreciating a glorious clash between steel and stone! however, it was probably best to forget it since they were made of clay.


    clay golem after clay golem sunk into the dirt beneath them before they even made contact with the witcher-knights. numerous dirt pillars half as tall as a man and as thick as a child''s arm rose from the ground, spreading across the path of the knights'' charge.


    the witcher-knights were the most powerful force on this plane after all. each one of them had exceptional riding skills and agility. they commanded the colts under them to leap up and dive low, sometimes even jumping towards a tall tree and bouncing off of it to avoid the impediment of the dirt pillars.


    moreover, the radiant knights and spellbreaker knights standing at the very front of the formation were using all their strength to let out violent blades of flame and ice, ravaging through all the obstacles on their way forward. the clay golems responsible for hindering the army''s progress could only change their battle plan when faced with such powerful enemies. they started to create swamps that covered large areas to slow the enemy down.


    numerous forests of dirt pillars and endless patches of quicksand and swamps filled the battlefield. even though the clay golems hadn''t killed a single witcher-knight, they had effectively slowed them down and stopped their march forward.


    while the witcher-knights fell into slight chaos, some clay golems would emerge from the woods nearby and attack the enemy using spear of mud as well as earth spike. small skirmishes between clay golems and witcher-knights erupted everywhere on the battlefield.


    the clay golems'' ferocious attacks disrupted the neat formation of the knights, splitting the entire battlefield into countless smaller, chaotic battlefields.


    it was unfortunate that the clay golems'' attacks were still on the weaker side. the mud spears they threw at the witcher-knights were unable to pierce that layer of golden armor formed by the golden radiance that gathered about the knights. some clay golems that were unable to escape into the ground in time had even been hacked to pieces of dirt and stone by the furious knights.


    the nearly one hundred clay golems were disappearing at a speed that was visible even to the naked eye!


    the only ones that managed to cause some damage were the five stone serpents. every time they dug up out from beneath the ground, the rocks and sand they sent everywhere, as well as their savage bites, were able to throw entire knight squads into complete disarray. regardless of how powerful the knights'' armor of faith was, it wouldn''t be enough to endure the twelve-ton weight of the stone serpents'' bodies. all of the witcher-knights that were targeted by the stone serpents were inevitably squashed into blood paste.


    however, every time the stone serpents rampaged about the battlefield, their massive bodies would be hacked at by numerous violent knight battle techniques, sending rocks flying everywhere as their bodies slowly cracked and fell apart. if they took too much damage, the stone serpents could only burrow into the ground and wait for their bodies to slowly regenerate.


    most of the time, this group of pseudo-mage level stone serpents could only throw the enemy lines into disarray. it was impractical to count on them to slaughter the witcher-knights en masse.


    leon had transferred the battlefield command of these golems to the chip in his mind after he summoned all the golems he had. with the detailed and dynamic commands of the chip''s superior computing power, as well as its complete understanding of the overall situation in this battleground, this group of golems might continuously suffer casualties but they also effectively contained the momentum of the knights'' army.


    with the aid of the chip, leon no longer needed to put in his own effort to command hundreds of individual fights. all he needed to do was to focus on himself and live up to his title as a master of pyromancy.


    leon freely roamed about the battlefield.


    he turned into a terrifying flame fiend three meters tall, with violent elementium flames surging about his body, and slowly walked into the battlefield one step at a time. the soft black dirt would be turned into half-molten boiling lava everywhere he went. a red and black path of magma could be clearly seen where he walked.


    leon gripped the fire lord''s scepter in his right hand and held the scroll of voodoo open in his left. the pages of the ancient tome incessantly flipped on its own, adding a sense of mystery to leon.


    leon was not willing to use up the six instant-cast spells stored within the scroll of voodoo. to maximize his combat strength, he had replaced the spells within it with all kinds of powerful large area-of-effect fire spells such as the devastating fire core explosion and firestorm.


    use them to slaughter these witcher-knights before him? honestly, leon was not willing to waste it on these small fries!


    leon slowly strolled forward, lightly waving the fire lord''s scepter in his hand as he did so and lobbing several magma fireballs into the areas where the witcher-knights were packed the densest. meanwhile, leon blasted the fools that dared to rush at him into pieces with violent chain fireballs.


    the armor of faith might be able to help them endure simple spells, but when faced against the continuous bombardment of the chain fireballs, even the thickest armor in the world wouldn''t be able to save them.


    brave knights repeatedly charged forward while shouting the knights'' motto, only to be blasted to the ground by the exploding fireballs. before they could even get up, the next fireballs would arrive and cause the damage to quickly stack up, break through the armor of faith, and blast apart the armor on their bodies before they were consumed by the surging tide of fire.


    the witcher-knights were humans with blood and flesh after all. without the protection of their shields and the blessing of their faith, even the most exceptional magic resistance would be no more than a joke before the savage fireballs!


    fireballs exploded everywhere, sending blood and flesh splashing in every direction!


    the witcher-knights targeted by the chain fireballs had no means of escaping the area that was ravaged by flames. their bodies, along with the bodies of the magic colts beneath them, would be torn into unrecognizable pieces of flesh in a matter of seconds.


    moreover, the runic arrows they shot in retaliation were mostly blocked by the magma shields constantly spinning around leon''s body. ever since leon''s protective spell had been upgraded from the fire shield, to the inferno shield, to the current magma shield, his defensive strength had gone up exponentially.


    now any attack with less than 150 points of damage had no chance of destroying the magma shields in one shot. attacks that dealt less than 150 damage could still deal some harm to the shields. however, the shields quickly regenerated as leon continuously used his spirit to repair them.


    as such, even though the magma shields had already been filled with runic arrow, they were unable to wear away at its defensive strength.


    even the occasional arrows that made it through were unable to pierce the magma armor on leon''s body. as intense waves of flame surged out from leon''s body, those arrows would be burned white hot before melting like wax and turning into puddles of molten iron.


    on the other hand, there were witcher-knights that tried to charge forward and engage in close range with leon. leon''s answered that with a flurry of strikes from his flame whip. the flame whip composed of pure and concentrated flames would cause intense burns wherever it hit a person''s body. if it managed to wrap around a knight''s body, leon would immediately set the person on fire the very next second.


    leon might be an elementium mage, but when he transformed into the frightening flame fiend he would have astounding combat strength that rivalled the actual abyssal flame fiends. fireballs were his means of attacking from a distance. the flame whip was his answer for fools that tried to close in. any closer, and leon would use his colossal burning executioner''s blade. discover hidden stories at empire


    a three meter tall flame humanoid waving around a massive executioner''s blade made of flame and magma was enough to cut down swathes of enemy without the use of any battle techniques.


    it was such a dominating weapon that even being close to it would cause one to feel an overpowering sense of oppression, as well as a burning sensation that ravaged the entire body. moreover, leon''s ring of fire extended for thirty meters around him and was a domain-type spell. any living beings made of flesh and blood that came within thirty meters of himself would have to endure fire damage as high as 13 points per second.


    this also meant that a fit, empty-handed human male entered leon''s ring of fire, he would die before two seconds had passed. the witcher-knights fared slightly better, but even they could only endure the burning for twenty-seven seconds at the very best. moreover, this was with the help of the armor of faith. otherwise this duration would be cut in half.


    everywhere he went, leon would leave behind the struggling shapes of countless witcher-knights. and everywhere he walked past he would leave behind the charred remains of squad after squad of witcher-knights.


    of course, leon''s unscrupulous and bloody killing had drawn the anger of the radiant knights. they slapped their horses and raised their runic longswords, bright as torches, high above their heads and roared as they charged towards him.


    leon had no intention of confronting radiant knights.


    every time this happened he would pause for a moment, and with a blast of magical flames his massive flaming body would vanish. the very next second, the terrifying flame fiend would appear in another area a hundred meters away.


    the messy, chaotic battlefield was clear as day like an open book in leon''s mind, with the wind critters looking on from above and the clay golems below. not a single change in any of the battlefields within one and a half kilometers of leon could escape his perception.


    every second, countless streams of vague information would flood in from the numerous points of consciousness leon had established on his golems. and with the chip''s filtering and analysis of the massive amount of data, leon was able to clearly grasp an understanding of the battles around him. this allowed him to constantly go where it was the most advantageous for him.


    the battlefield he entered would never have radiant knights fighting in them. the path he walked down would never put him within a large group of spellbreaker knights. as for those determined witcher-knights¨C as long as they didn''t band together in excessively large numbers, they were unable to cause any real harm to leon. sear?h the n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the battlefield was chaotic, with numerous opportunistic mages sneaking into the battles to start a slaughter along with the hordes of clay golems and voodoo beasts rampaging about the enemy lines. even those radiant knights that wanted to pursue leon could only chase behind him for a bit before having their attention drawn away by a new enemy and falling into another round of battles.


    through the sacrifices of a large number of clay golems and voodoo beasts, leon turned into a predator on the battlefield, fearlessly hunting his prey!


    ...


    1972 words

 Chapter 224 A Display of Power

    leon shook his head when he saw knight windsor standing at a distance, engulfed in the bright radiance of runic energy. with a single fire teleportation, he left the spot.a hundred meters away, in an area sparse with trees, a group of a hundred witcher-knights under the lead of two spellbreaker knights were hacking away at a group of wolf-like voodoo beasts.


    all of a sudden a halo of flames exploded amongst their ranks.


    a bright red light flashed before his eyes and as everything in his vision blurred and shook, leon appeared on the scene.


    once everything in his vision started to stabilize, leon straightened his body and looked at the witcher-knights around him still seated high on their magic colts. a wicked grin appeared on his face made of flame and magma.


    a light-red ring of fire blasted outwards from his body, instantly covering an area thirty meters around him. all the trees, bushes, vines, and plants in the area started to wither and burn. even the ground itself became scorched earth.


    weng. weng. weng...


    the sound of snapping bowstrings rang out from runic bows as runic arrow after runic arrow, shrouded in concentrated ice energies, froze the magma shield into a bright blue shield of ice. occasionally, three or four runic arrows would slip through and embed themselves in leon''s thick body of flames, leaving a fleeting blue flash in the sea of bright red flames.


    leon roared loudly, waving the fire lord''s scepter in his hand continuously. he summoned the terrifying ten-meter tall fire deity before tapping the scepter once more and ferociously bombarding the area around him with violent magma fireballs.


    the courageous witcher-knights wove about his body, using their ice longswords to leave striking sword cuts on leon''s body and shield every time they passed by. however, the only thing waiting for them was the violent and savage magma fireballs and chain fireballs.


    leon had realized that those so-called ''powerful'' and ''devastating'' spells had no place on a chaotic and dynamic battlefield. there was no time or space to cast such spells.


    you would lock onto a worthy enemy and start chanting and preparing a powerful spell such as the fire core explosion. however, the moment you were done preparing, you would awkwardly realize that the enemy had long since ran away, or that another wave of enemies had appeared before you, hiding your target from sight.


    whenever this happened, your only choice would be to waste the powerful spell on some low-level, weak ''trash'' that wasn''t even worth killing. this was intolerable for the mages! they had to precisely manage every bit of their spirit consumption at every moment!


    however, a mere elementium fireball, while quickly cast and launched, only had an attacking strength of a mere 30 points. it was hard to deal lethal damage to the enemy through their armor of faith and knights'' armor with such a weak attack.


    after some consideration, the swiftly cast yet sufficiently powerful magma fireball become the natural choice for leon''s battlefield slaughter!


    the magma fireball itself possessed 45 points of fire elementium damage, along with around 15 points of physical damage when the fireball exploded. moreover, the fireball sent lava splashing in a ten meter radius. with the 30% flame damage increase from his flame mastery, leon forcefully elevated a simple and crude fire spell to a powerful area-of-effect spell.


    if a witcher-knight was hit directly by a magma fireball, his mortality rate was a 100%. meanwhile, those individuals that were engulfed by the lava splash in the ten meter radius also had a mortality rate of 34%. on the other hand, while much stronger than the witcher-knights, the spellbreaker knights did not dare to engage leon within the sea of flames either.


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    leon''s flame fiend transformation combined with the ring of fire was too overpowering. the witcher-knights did not dare to even enter the area covered by the faint red light, choosing to roam around the outside while retaliating with their runic bows.


    only the two spellbreaker knights, along with four or five fearless witcher-knights, dared to charge to leon''s side and trade blows with him.


    the magma shield floating around his body was finally unable to endure the combined attacks of the two spellbreaker knights and exploded into several magma pieces. leon''s body had also sustained a dozen slashes from the witcher-knights.


    intense flame waves and terrifying lava surged out from the slashes, instantly igniting a witcher-knight stopping by leon''s side. he held his charred face filled with blisters in his hand as he crouched on his magic colt, screaming as he escaped from the battlefield.


    leon, on the other hand, let out several muffled grunts.


    after all, once he had completed the flame fiend transformation, the flame and lava on his body was equivalent to his blood and flesh. continuous attacks would cause damage to him even with his now boosted physique.


    leon violently ordered the fire deity to self-destruct. taking advantage of the enemies being stunned by the ensuing flame shockwave, he quickly cast a spell and instantly killed a spellbreaker knight with a powerful fire core explosion. he then re-positioned himself in a blast of fire.


    leon didn''t choose the middle of the witcher-knight as the destination of his fire teleportation this time. instead, he appeared in the woods beside a group of three hundred witcher-knights.


    the sudden explosion of his flame halo was still as conspicuous as ever. as a result, the moment leon appeared, he was instantly greeted by a hail of ice arrows and four or five savage energy blades.


    the magma shield leon had just concentrated around himself once more instantly started to tremble and fall apart.


    leon grit his teeth and endured this series of attacks as he waved his scepter and summoned another fire deity. then he raised his right hand high above his head and launched a magma fireball at the group of witcher-knights.


    the knights, however, were clearly prepared. another wave of ice arrows and energy blades instantly shredded the fire deity to pieces, blasting the magma fireball in the air and causing it to explode in a cloud of flames as it did so.


    leon let out another muffled grunt. the scroll of voodoo in his left hand started to flip rapidly before stopping on a page with a meteor shower stored within it. leon hesitated for a moment, as he was still unwilling to waste this powerful instant-cast spell on this group of witcher-knights. he could only wait for the cooldown of fire teleportation before moving away once again.


    there wasn''t just one or two mages roaming about like leon in this chaotic battlefield. every mage that dared to fight alone had their own unique style of combat, as well as their own unique means of slaughtering enemies.


    the ones that drew leon''s attention the most were blake, marionette, and hyde. s~ea??h the n?velfire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    after going just a few days without seeing him, worm controller blake''s abilities had improved significantly.


    there were no longer just ordinary scorpions and flying bugs swarming around him. thrown into the mix were a group of odd beetles half as tall as a man, with black shells and green wings. the black shells on these beetles were extraordinarily tough. even the witcher-knights shining runic longswords could not deal any damage to them, only leaving behind a shallow mark on the shells.


    the knights needed to hack away at the same spot numerous times before they could pierce through the armor and deal lethal damage. on the other hand, this group of strange beetles only needed to from groups of two to three and they could easily tear apart a witcher-knight.


    even the armor of faith could not stop the beetles'' sharp claws from piercing the knights'' bodies.


    leon saw with his own eyes the toughness of these beetles. a black beetle was hit by a spellbreaker knight''s violent flame blade. it flipped about in the air several times before regaining its balance, with no damage done to its beetle shell. this clearly demonstrated that the outer shell of the black beetles had even more resistance towards elementium and energy damage compared to physical damage.


    carcass beetles!


    who knew that blake had actually managed to cultivate a swarm of them.


    even leon grimaced when he looked upon the three dozen carcass beetles swarming about blake. he started to slowly think about how he would win if he battled with blake.


    on another battlefield one and a half kilometers away, the mage known as marionette had also drawn leon''s attention.


    marionette''s movements were slow and stiff. however, he was still able to remain mobile with his ability of teleporting between trees.


    his style of combat was not as violent and unrestrained as leon''s. instead, there was an indescribable wickedness and ruthlessness to it.


    he would hide within the trees, waiting for small numbers of witcher-knights to walk by before gaining control over them with his strange puppet strings. after doing so for some time, he would gather a witcher-knight squad of around twenty or thirty men beside him.


    he would then direct this group of puppet knights to attack other witcher-knights. what happened next would be an internal conflict between knights!


    should the witcher-knights ever pull their punches against the friends they knew so well, against their allies betrayed expressions of pain, they would likely die under the swords of their ''companions''.


    however, it was obvious that the success rate of marionette''s puppet strings when controlling witcher-knights was not very high. moreover, the number of puppets he could control was limited. thus, the battlefields he was involved in were hardly ever as conspicuous as leon''s, with his flame fiend transformation.


    the other person that attracted leon''s attention was the powerful boss hyde.


    he looked like a robot with metallic tentacles all over his body. sharp tentacles gleaming with a metallic sheen danced about everywhere around his body. every witcher-knight that stepped within twenty meters of him would be pierced by numerous sharp tentacles.


    these sharp tentacles had been enhanced with spells of piercing and were not something the knights'' armor could defend against.


    they danced in the air, agile and lithe as if they were metallic serpents, launching terrifying piercing attacks from any angle around their enemies. on the other hand, the runic longswords of the witcher-knights, steeped in runic energies, could do absolutely no harm to the tentacles other than sending bright sparks flying everywhere.


    when the enemies surrounding him reached a certain number, countless spinning blades would swarm out from within mage hyde''s body, forming a scary wall of blades around him. and all mage hyde needed to do was to quickly walk through the ranks of the knights with the wall of blades around him.


    with a single charge he could cut through the entire formation, leaving behind him a bloody path filled with severed limbs.


    if he met an enemy he was unable to beat, mage hyde would instantly turn into a metallic top, drilling into the ground and escaping into the distance.


    ...


    1849 words

 Chapter 225 Strange

    compared to the numerous odd tricks up the mages'' sleeves, the means of fighting available to the knights of this world were way too primitive and crude.even though the spellbreaker knights and the mages were of the same grade, and weren''t too different in terms of their level of strength, they had no methods of restricting and containing the mages other than a couple of their battle techniques such as their flame blades, explosive cross slashes, and crescent moon slashes.


    in comparison, the mages had confusingly strange spells and unthinkable means of slaughter. together, these factors allowed the mages to easily kill a spellbreaker knight with a single wave of attacks.


    the difference in power between beings of a higher plane and beings of a lower plane was immensely huge, even when compared with the same grade!


    with no other choice, the eleven radiant knights could only split up. each one of them tagged an mage and followed closely behind their target. this effectively stopped the mages'' hunt. yet at the same time, doing so split up the knight army''s most powerful fighting force.


    once all of the radiant knights had been lured away, the numerous arrays hidden underneath the battlefield finally activated simultaneously.


    corrosive acid swamps, wetlands with poison mists, bloodsucking forests filled with vampiric magic vines, quicksand traps... all these terrifying lands of death started to appear one after another, filling up every single piece of land in this stretch of forest.


    the numerous voodoo beasts and ghouls even took advantage of this unique geography that had sprung up to start guerrilla warfare against the witcher-knights. once a witcher-knight was lured into these areas, there was almost no chance for them to escape alive.


    a radiant knight had charged into a bloodsucking forest to save a dozen-man knight squad and faced the most horrifying nightmare of his life in there. s~ea??h the n?velfire(.)net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    countless bloodsucking magic vines burst out from the ground, wrapping towards him from every direction, their vines gleaming with a metallic sheen. moreover, dreadful thorns filled the surface of each and every one of those vines, and a horrifying mouth with sharp teeth could be seen at the tips of the vines.


    the radiant knight had to endure immense danger before managing to escape, horribly disheveled by the experience. when he made it out, there were still a few severed vines on his armor. these vines continued to wriggle and move, their sharp wooden thorns scratching against the metal parts. the knight''s magic colt, on the other hand, had been completely covered in a nasty green sap. wisps of green smoke from corroding flesh rose from its body, letting out a pungent odor.


    the knights'' leader windsor gazed at the battle from a distance and saw with his own eyes how a group of eight witcher-knights had fallen into an acid swamp when chasing after some voodoo beasts. half of the knights had accidentally fallen in along with their colts, and were completely dissolved into skeletons within a dozen seconds. the rushing ghouls tackled the remaining knights to the ground, starting another round of bloody fighting.


    there were also the forests filled with poisonous mists. a witcher-knight squad walked into the mist, and one could only hear the angered shouts and roars from within, along with the howls of savage beasts. not one person could see what was happening inside. that squad of witcher-knights never appeared again.


    several deadly pieces of land were like death traps that ate humans whole. any witcher-knights that walked into them would not be able to walk away unscathed. moreover, the traps had split the wide forest into separate and smaller battlefields, causing the witcher-knights to be unable to rally again and launch their massive charge!


    "sir?" windsor grimaced at the sight and turned to the holy knight willis.


    "have them push forward while keeping an eye out for the hazardous areas. no matter what, we must crush the enemy''s mage tower! i''ll have the dragon knights act in coordination with you." willis'' mighty figure stood tall on the back of the green dragon aufreyr as he replied determinedly.


    "then i''ll lead the army at the front. it''s up to you here, sir!"


    already, after a mere hour''s battle, almost six hundred witcher-knights had already fallen in these woods. their sacrifices had only caused the deaths of around a thousand voodoo beasts and ghouls.


    those evil mages, on the other hand, were like poisonous snakes hiding within their pitch-black holes, waiting silently for the best opportunity to attack. when you finally saw them, it would most likely be their vanishing silhouette after they dealt a killing blow.


    windsor, who had been commanding the army from the back, was finally unable to hold back his anger when he saw all this. he led the 1500 men in the reserves and charged forward fervently.


    holy knight willis stood behind the army, raising his head and letting out an odd and resonating roar. three green dragons hiding in the woods behind him took to the skies amidst the roars, carrying the dragon knights on their backs. they unfurled their massive, leathery wings and rapidly glided across the canopy, swooping towards the magic traps on the battlefield.


    every time they flew over those areas, they would open their mouths wide and let out a massive dragon''s breath. the dense green poison dragon''s breath would sink into the acid swamps and poisonous mist forests, ravaging the entire area.


    countless voodoo beasts would run out, screeching in pain, as green poison mist slowly rose from their bodies. they never ran far before the ghastly miasma took their lives. one after another, the voodoo beasts collapsed in the forest, their bodies rapidly rotting and falling apart. it was a horrifying scene to behold.


    the ghouls were undead beings themselves and were therefore immune to poison attacks. they climbed up to the canopy with their agile bodies, jumping from the treetops, trying to grab onto the dragons'' bodies and drag them to the ground.


    most of them were unsuccessful and were blasted away by the violent winds stirred by the green dragons'' flight. even the occasional ghoul that managed to grab ahold of a dragon would be split in half by the dragon knight riding on the back.


    the green dragons continued to dive downwards, spewing their poisonous breath before pulling back up and going for a dive once more.


    after two or three waves of such attacks, the magic arrays hidden in the ground were finally destroyed. some of the magic traps started to falter, and the woods returned to normal. however, the pale-white bones and charred bodies left in the empty spaces of the woods served as a clear reminder of the terrifying events that had taken place there!


    ...


    inside the war tower.


    read exclusive adventures at empire


    a dozen mages were busily and frantically working.


    their movements were rushed, but not disorderly. each of them was commanding a large group of robotic beasts, trying their best to finish the last bit of construction.


    the battle on the frontline was well underway!


    the voodoo beasts that the mages'' base had accumulated over the past fifteen days had been mostly exhausted. and while the elite ghouls were powerful, they were few in number, rendering them inconsequential in such a large battle.


    with no other options left to them, the mages at the frontline could only rely on the arrays they had set up earlier to hinder the enemy''s progress. however, with the interference of the dragons, the magic arrays were slowly being destroyed and the situation on the battlefield was quickly souring!


    the battlefield had slowly inched forward from two and a half kilometers to a mere kilometer away from the mages'' base. some scattered witcher-knights had already been able to break into the area of the base. even though they had been immediately exterminated by the numerous guards, it still fully highlighted that the mages were running out of time.


    one hour? half an hour?


    if they were unable to complete the construction of the war tower before large numbers of witcher-knights flooded into the base, then the fragile tower would not be able to endure the assault of the dragons!


    thus, when the alarms from the frontline consecutively went off, all of the clan mages brought out their best efforts, working hard to complete the tower.


    there were a male and a female in a hidden room within the tower. the two third grade mages stood before mage sarubo''s human-shaped projection, silently conversing.


    "lord sarubo, let us go out to hold back the enemies for a bit! as long as we are able to eat away at one or two of the dragons, we should be able to slow down their progress. this will give us more time to complete the tower!" the one speaking was a female mage in a green robe, her face hidden behind green mists. however, the greed and excitement in her tone when she said the word ''eat'' was very obvious.


    the purple-robed mage standing beside her hadn''t hidden his face, but the strange purple eyes spread all over his body sent chills down the spine. numerous blinking purple eyes could be seen on his neck, face, and his hands. moreover, it was clear that these eyes weren''t some sort of carving or tattoo, but actual eyes.


    whenever the eyes were opened wide, and rolling about looking in every direction, anyone would feel a chill right to the bones, feeling fear and respect that came from the bottom of their heart!


    "indeed, lord sarubo. let me and sanazar go out and rampage through the enemy ranks. exterminating those dragons should not be a problem!" surprisingly, the purple-eyed mage that seldom spoke opened his mouth and agreed with his companion.


    "no! the two of you rely too much on your physical strength. even now, you still have yet to complete your analysis on the different planar laws. how much of your prowess can you display under the suppression of these planar laws?" the human projection finally opened its eyes and asked coldly.


    the purple-eyed mage frowned before replying uncertainly, "around 45%, i would say!"


    the green-robed female mage gave a forced smile, "i can only use 35% of my full power."


    "hmph... " the projection snorted in disdain, "with this little strength, you are, at best, at the peak of second grade. it might be no problem for dealing with a few tiny dragons, but if you expose your strength now, the fourth grade holy knight might choose to act!"


    "sir, since they have already arrived, why are they not attacking with all their might? what is that willis fellow waiting for?" the purple-eyed mage asked, puzzled.


    "kehkehkeh. you think he doesn''t want to act? i''m the one who''s intimidating him! i''ve split a strand of my spiritual consciousness and have been using it to pressure and intimidate his will ever since he stepped foot into the woods. this will cause him to feel an unknown terror, yet be unable to find the cause of it. it is because of this that he has become so conservative and passive. otherwise, he would have brought the dragons and charged straight towards the mage tower the moment the battle started. do the two of you think you could stop his attacks?"


    the third grade mages looked at each other, and the respect they felt for lord sarubo became even more reinforced.


    to be able to plant the seed of an idea and a feeling within the mind and will of a fourth grade planar powerhouse without him noticing, and being able to affect his important decision-making in doing so. this kind of ability was unthinkable!


    the two mages no longer spoke, but shut their eyes and continued to analyze those annoying planar shackles.


    ...


    1972 words

 Chapter 226 Defensive

    the flames of war had slowly inched forward!several areas along the defensive lines had been breached. the witcher-knights rode tall on their magic colts while waving their blinding longswords, frequently appearing at the edge of the mages'' base. they engaged in deadly battle with the voodoo beasts, robotic beasts, and ghouls standing guard there.


    if the surroundings of the base hadn''t been littered with numerous magic traps, the hordes of witcher-knights would probably have long since swarmed into the base and started their siege on the war tower.


    even so, the space left for the mages to maneuver themselves was slowly decreasing as the frontline gradually closed in to the mages'' tower. a final fighting force was slowly assembling in front of the gates of the tower. thirteen mages were defending this spot to their deaths, not giving even an inch of ground.


    over three hundred summoned beasts and puppets of all kinds were active in this flat, five hundred meter wide battlefield. the weaker voodoo beasts and robotics beasts had already fallen under the butcher''s blade of the witcher-knights.


    the forest to the side of the tower had received even more devastating damage. vast stretches of flame and ferocious storms were raging everywhere. once the violent flames had started it was hard to extinguish them. in the blink of an eye, the woods in a radius of several dozen kilometers had been engulfed by a sea of fire.


    squad after squad of witcher-knights scrambled out of the forest, rallying outside the mages'' base.


    there were still burn marks on their bodies and faces, left by the licking of flames, while fine cuts and scratches left by wind blades could be seen on their armor. even though walking through this horrifying place had caused them severe losses, they still pushed forward with all their strength while keeping the hope of victory and hatred for the mages fresh in their hearts. finally, they arrived at the base of the domineering mages'' tower.


    the witcher-knights gathered in pairs as well as groups of three, replenishing and reorganizing their ranks. the nine radiant knights took the lead and led barely four thousand witcher-knights to continue their charge through the mages'' last defensive line.


    if one turned back to look at what had been left behind on the path here, they would see that the losses were devastating!


    in this narrow strip of forest was less than five kilometers long, yet the massive knights'' army had paid the price of two radiant knights, thirty-three spellbreaker knights, and two thousand witcher-knights to get here. such terrible losses had exceeded everyone''s expectations!


    this stretch of forest had turned into a graveyard. everywhere you looked, you could see the broken corpses of witcher-knights and the scattered remains of their loyal colts. now, all was being consumed as the forest fire spread throughout the land.


    if it hadn''t been for the dragons'' and dragon knights'' continuous destruction from above that destroyed most of the mages traps, the casualties would likely be significantly larger!


    compared to the sacrifices of the knights, only two mages had fallen in battle.


    this also meant that there were a total of seven mage casualties out of those sent to the knights'' plane by the sarubo clan. this... this was extremely close to the mental baseline that the clan''s higher-ups had set for themselves. once the losses were more than nine, the clan wouldn''t be able to rapidly exploit this plane even if it did manage to conquer it.


    the roots of the clan in the world of mages needed mages to guard this plane. the two lesser planes in their possession also needed mages to keep them in check. withdrawing the main force of mages within a lesser plane for a short period of time to engage in a planar war would not cause too much effect or impact to the situation in the plane. however, if the main forces of the clan were held back in a certain place for long periods of time, or suffered tremendous losses, the rule of the clan would start to destabilize.


    the successful invasion of the knights'' plane could bring about massive profits for the sarubo clan, but maintaining their grip over the plane required the presence and of a powerful force. it was the same for the other two lesser planes. if the clan''s main forces were gone for too long, the native resistance would start a new wave of rebellion once they caught wind of the situation. when that happened, massive losses would ensue for the clan! read the latest on empire


    thus, after two mages had died to the ambushes of dragon knights, the clan''s elders finally decided to strategically withdraw, pulling the defensive line all the way to the gates of the tower.


    as of now, the internal construction of the tower was still keeping eleven mages busy at work. only thirteen mages were left standing guard before the doors, including second grade mage f¨¹gen.


    the ones standing at the very front of the formation were several mages with tough physiques. three of them stood at the very front, with a large swarm of summoned creatures supporting them on the side. leon and mage hyde also possessed supernatural physiques after their transformations and were thus placed on the right and left flanks to help the defense.


    most of the mages stood inside the defensive circle, continuously launching large and powerful area-of-effect spells into the dense knights'' ranks. those mages that weren''t proficient at fighting were mostly masters of unorthodox professions. some of them were throwing out numerous vials or summoning creatures with all sorts of odd abilities, while others dragged out their bags of spell scrolls, frantically casting them at the knights.


    two mages, who were masters at curses, were wildly casting, tossing curse after curse of various colors into the areas the where the concentration of the knights was the most compact.


    the witcher-knights at the front had just gotten within thirty meters of the mages when some disgusting and colorful curse halos fell onto their bodies. nausea started overcoming them, robbing them of all their strength. it felt like a layer of thick mud had encased their bodies, making even simple actions like raising their hands and feet immensely slow.


    this caused the knights'' most ferocious push to appear in hilariously funny slow-motion.


    moreover, countless terrifying magical plants continuously burst forth from the ground, entangling, piercing, and sucking the blood of the knights, creating tremendous trouble for the witcher-knights as they struggled forward with difficulty.


    the witcher-knights in the rear couldn''t charge forward with all the chaos in front. they could only sheath their blades and draw their runic bows, sending flame and ice arrows raining down upon the mages'' defensive circle.


    such meager elementium damage could not possibly have been any threat to the mages under ordinary circumstances. however, the enemies were numerous and the mages were exhausted.


    the three body-refining mages started to expand and grow into imposing giants. they strode across the battlefield and crushed every witcher-knight in sight under their feet, all while maintaining a protective barrier using all their strength to block the knights'' long-range attacks.


    the body-refining mages were all immensely powerful and might have been able to endure such intense and concentrated attacks. the blood giants, vine monsters, stone golems, beholders, and other such summoned creatures following beside them, on the other hand, were much weaker. one after another they fell to the ground as they fought, their backs filled with arrows before they disappeared.


    soon, the valiant knights were able to force their way through the numerous magic traps with their bodies of flesh and blood. they broke into the mages'' defensive circle and started a melee fight with the them.


    the three body-refining mages stood guard in front, while leon was responsible for protecting the left flank.


    here he had to defend a long and seventy-meter wide defensive line all by himself. all of his golem army had been completely exhausted in the woods earlier. the only ones that could stand before him were the fire lord and the lightning giant, as well as two pseudo-mage level water golems.


    once upon a time, the lightning giant had been leon''s most reliable and powerful combat golem. however, with his advancement to an mage, these pseudo-mage level golems were no longer able to keep up with his footsteps. even if they occasionally appeared on the battlefield, they would end up as disposable tools.


    still, no matter how terrible his situation was, it was much better than mage hyde''s on the other side.


    no matter what, leon still had four subordinates to split his pressure with. mage hyde had to defend such a wide battlefield alone.


    his robotic body allowed him to have endless stamina as long as he still had spirit. if it had been any other mage, just running around clearing up the charging knights would have completely exhausted him.


    back in the woods, they could still fight while running, fight while flying, or just switch to another area when they met someone they couldn''t defeat. here, even if the enemy was a squad of spellbreaker knights, the only thing that could be done was to grit your teeth and push forward, defending the base with your life.


    reinforcements? as long as no radiant knights appeared, the second grade mage f¨¹gen would never lift a single finger.


    thus, leon was fortunate enough to be able to spare some of his attention to appreciate the might of mage hyde.


    if one considered the nature of mages, one would come to the logical conclusion that hyde had hidden part of his powers. however, when the ones charging at him were a group of five spellbreaker knights, hiding any strength would become a difficult task. that is, of course, unless he no longer wanted to live.


    the very next second, mage hyde turned into a massive squid with a dozen thick, metallic tentacles. with the exception of his head and smaller portions of his body concentrated in the center, retaining their human shape, the other body parts quickly reassembled into several deadly sharp metallic tentacles, furiously lashing towards the spellbreaker knights.


    no wonder thunderbird had called him boss hyde. he definitely had overwhelming might when it came to melee fighting. under leon''s stunned gaze, boss hyde sliced the five attacking spellbreaker knights into scattered pieces of flesh.


    moreover, the price he paid in return were only some trivial wounds!


    three of the metallic tentacles had been cut off, while another two had sustained different degrees of damage. when mage hyde transformed back from squid form to his human form, large areas of his body''s surface were missing. the numerous rapidly spinning gears and bearings in his body started to creak and grind, as if the running of his machinery had started to fall apart.


    at this moment, leon''s luck seemed to have come to an end!


    a radiant knight appeared before him, leading two spellbreaker knights and a hundred witcher-knights in a savage sprint. they roared and let out battlecries as they rushed forward. at this moment, second grade mage f¨¹gen was having a massive fight with two radiant knights at the front of the defensive circle. even the three body-refining mages had to silently retreat from the area. sear?h the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    due to the limited space on the battlefield, the flame fiend leon transformed into found it difficulty to create a magma pool that was vast enough to hinder the enemy, while the golems under his control were not sufficient enough to hold back such a powerful assault.


    leon could only bet with his life on the line, shouting as he prepared to fight!


    ...


    1953 words

 Chapter 227 Blazing

    With Leon''s current strength, transforming into his Flame Fiend form would cause all of his body''s attributes to increase exponentially, making him much more powerful.However, everything has two sides to them!


    It was exceptionally hard to control the massive body of his Flame Fiend form, causing Leon''s movement and attack speed to become severely reduced while he was transformed. The power of his attacks may have increased, but he was much slower. If he met agile opponents like Bleia in this form, his attacks wouldn''t be able to hit their mark.


    Then again, the Flame Fiend''s combat style was more focused on defense and counters, and was therefore much less reliant on his speed.


    Violent fire spells bombarding enemies from afar was the long-ranged combat style. Mid-ranged fighting was a mix of the flame whip and instant cast fire spells. If the enemy managed to close in, then the tandem use of the lava pool and Ring of Fire would still deal massive damage to the enemy.


    Unless the opponent was immune to fire, they could only endure the terrifying flame damage while also hacking away in a furious skirmish with the Leon''s Flame Fiend Leon form.


    As such, Leon didn''t try to avoid the swarming enemies when they charged at him. Instead, he let out a devastating roar and prepared for battle.


    The very existence of the Flame Fiend itself had turned the area he was standing at into a black and red world of magma. Burning waves of flame shot up from the ground everywhere. He stood in the boiling lava and bent to pick up a gigantic magma rock from the ground. It was five meters wide and four meters thick. Leon held it before him and used it shield his body.


    With the temporary magma shield, Leon was able to bear the ice arrow bombardment of the one hundred knights.


    Meanwhile, the two water golems behind Leon had cast a snowstorm in the path of the knights. Savage blades of ice and snow whirled within the chilling winds and covered the knights'' bodies in a layer of ice crystals.


    Some knights with weaker resistance had even been frozen to the spot along with their magic colts, with no other option left to them but to raise their energy shields and bitterly endure being sliced by the sharp ice. Most of the witcher-knights were able to make it through the snowstorm successfully, and appeared before the lava pool where the magma bubbled and the flames burned.


    The radiant knight who led the charge was a middle-aged man with firm muscles all over his body. He had short dark brown hair, intense eyes, a straight nose, and a wide mouth. One look and you could tell he was a tough and stubborn man. Your journey continues with empire


    He let out a shout, and the magic colt stood up on its hind legs as two energy blades slashed from 20 meters away at the massive magma shield Leon was holding.


    Shattered rock flew everywhere as magma splashed in all directions. A deep cut in the shape of a cross appeared on the shield.


    Leon peeked out from behind the shield and revealed a wicked smile. A magma fireball the size of a washbasin whistled through the air and flew towards his opponent. Sadly, the magma fireball didn''t make it to its target. Two spellbreaker knight slashed out with energy blades and chopped it into four pieces while it was mid air. The fireball exploded in the air, sending a rain of lava pouring down on the knights.


    As the knights quickly drove their colts away to avoid being burnt alive, the lightning giant that had been hiding in the skies suddenly appeared, bringing with it all the rage of lightning and thunder. Three or four witcher-knights that didn''t manage to defend themselves in time were instantly blasted to smithereens, falling sideways from their colts as their charred remains fell apart.


    At the same time, the Fire Lord that was standing silently behind Leon had also finally completed his casting. As he raised his hands high up, a Scarlet Firestorm instantly exploded in the center of the knights'' ranks and ravaged an area of a hundred meters.


    In Leon''s mind, the chip had already beamed over inspection data that indicated that the eye of the firestorm had reached a tremendous energy level of 117 points.


    To Leon''s understanding, the knights of this plane lacked armor that provided them with resistances. Even the runic equipment on the radiant knights could only endure energy damage of up to 100 points, while the spellbreaker knights'' armor were only able to take 40 points of damage. The witcher-knights, on the other hand, could only defend against energy damage of around 15 points.


    Such terrible armor might be enough to deal with the naturally awakened heretics of this plane. However, it seemed so frail and weak when used against these evil Mages from another world.


    Countless witcher-knights struggled in agony under the combined attacks of the Scarlet Firestorm and the lightning storm, desperately trying to escape from the spells'' area of effect. Their hair, skin, and armor fused together under the sweltering heat. If they weren''t able to escape from the Scarlet Firestorm within three seconds, their bodies would melt like candles into a mess... a mess of unrecognizable grey pulp!


    The middle-aged radiant knight yelled in anger as he saw all this happening around him. He leapt down from his magic colt and ran towards Leon with large strides. The steel warboots he was wearing rapidly turned red as he stepped into the lava. his powerful energy radiance clashed with the intense fire elementium, sending sparks flying into the sky.


    You finally entered!


    Leon had hidden behind this provisional shield all this time, but the chip in his mind had been functioning at its maximum speed. It fed the massive amount of data it had been collecting into the battle-monitoring system and was quickly sending feedback to Leon, providing him with the most ideal action plan for this situation.


    Sir F¨¹gen was engaged with enemies, while the enemy Leon had to face was also a Second Grade Knight. From the difference in the level of their existences, he had no possibility of clashing with this enemy head on!


    Running wasn''t an option either.


    If he abandoned his position, there weren''t too many places he could escape to. Moreover, he would have to face the anger of the Mage leaders if he turned back now. Even though it was far more dangerous to battle with the radiant knight using all his strength, he would at least be able to have an excuse if he retreated from the battlefield, even if he failed to stop the knight and ended with severe injuries.


    He also had the aid of the chip. Combined with the might of the golems, it wasn''t completely implausible that he might be able to cripple or even kill this radiant knight.


    It was most definitely impossible for him to defeat the enemy with his current abilities. However, the chip gave a 17% possibility that he would be able to kill his opponent. That said, the price he would have to pay for this...


    Leon grit his teeth and made his decision when he looked at the radiant knight storming across the lava.


    Kill!


    The twenty meter gap was quickly closed. Leon raised the massive magma shield with both of his hands and threw it with all his strength just as the powerful radiant knight reached him. This magma shield whistled as it flew out, smashing towards the opponent as viscous red-hot lava continued to flow on top of it.


    The scalding heat wave blasted towards the knight even before the stone had reached him!


    Clang! A metallic sound rang out.


    A single powerful slash from a runic longsword filled with energy radiance split the one-meter thick magma shield in half. It was no longer able to bear the radiant knight''s domineering strength nor the damage from the runic energies. The two halves flew past each side of the knight, grazing him as they passed by.


    The radiant knight, having cleared all obstacles between him and his enemy, took a massive leap into the sky. The shining runic longsword drew a terrifying cross in the sky, slashing towards Leon.


    The Flame Fiend that Leon had transformed into was exceptionally tough and durable. It even had numerous magical protections and an armor of magma. However, all of these added together was not much stronger than that magma shield. If he stood still and let his enemy hack away at him, then his entire body might actually have been penetrated by the enemy.


    The Flame Fiend, its entire body made of black-red magma and terrifying flames, took a step backwards. Its massive hand of magma reached outwards, intercepting the radiant knight''s longsword.


    Aooooo...


    A howl of pain and agony rang out. Leon raised his head and screamed. The hand he extended forward had been pierced by the longsword all the way to the hilt. Moreover, the violent runic energies within the longsword were surging out, sending blade beams flying everywhere and mincing Leon''s entire right arm into a rain of fire.


    It was at this moment!


    The mental flux from Leon''s mind quickly trembled as he endured the intense pain from his body. As he stumbled backwards, the Fire Lord behind him finally activated the spell it had been preparing for so long.


    Fire Prison!


    The molten lava Leon had painstakingly created quickly gathered and rose under the radiant knight''s feet, forming a prison and trapping the knight within.


    The middle-aged radiant knight raised his head and assessed the prison before him. The entire cage glowed with a red light as the radiance of fire flowed across the entire structure. Thick magma pillars held up the walls of the cage with red-hot magma flowing down each of the pillar. The space between the bars was not enough for him to escape.


    The radiant knight raised his runic longsword and a savage bladestorm instantly engulfed the Fire Prison. The magma pillars half a meter in diameter were unable to endure such powerful energy corrosion and instantly snapped in half. Sadly, before the knight could escape, the lava in the pool surged upwards and repaired the damage done.


    During this time, the lightning giant in the skies had appeared within the prison in a flash. A blinding elementium storm engulfed the space within the prison before the radiant knight could attack again.


    The lightning giant had self-destructed!


    The ferocious tides of lightning crashed against everything inside inside the prison again and again, causing tremendous damage to the entire Fire Prison in the process. If the Fire Lord hadn''t been maintaining the prison with all his strength, it would likely have collapsed long ago.


    The expression of the radiant knight trapped inside quickly changed. He frantically drew from the powerful energies in his runic equipment to fill his body and endure the damage from the lightning explosion.


    At any other time, thirteen seconds might pass by in the blink of an eye. However, at this very moment, thirteen seconds felt like an eternity of suffering!


    Finally, after the explosions from the lightning giant''s self-destruction had finally calmed down, the radiant knight prepared to concentrate his energy to break out from this accursed prison once and for all. At that moment, another elementium golem appeared within the Fire Prison.


    A water golem!


    The next second, ice powers that sent chills down to the very bone ravaged uncontrollably within the cage, turning the inside into a world of ice and snow.


    Eleven seconds later, another water golem charged into the cage and self-destructed!


    ...


    Having endured the continuous self-destruction of three elementium golems in a row, the radiant knight coughed up blood as he hacked at the magma pillars and broke free.


    Just when he was finally able to stabilize himself, he raised his head to find an extremely menacing and blinding scarlet light staring him in the face before it completely engulfed him.


    It was Blazing Light! sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2023 Words

 Chapter 228 Exterminating

    A sun slowly lit up between Leon''s palms.This wasn''t any spell that Leon had cast before. Nor was it some sort of magic-infused item. It was a concentration of pure heat and light!


    Leon had abandoned all the external forms of spells and instead concentrated all of the core of his fire powers. He manifested them using the powers of planar laws, causing Blazing Light, the purest form of power, to appear.


    It didn''t have the mixed physical and fire damage of the Magma Fireball, or the terrifying flame shockwave of the Explosive Fireball, and especially not the amazing radius of the Scarlet Firestorm. But having abandoned all of this, what was left to the Blazing Light was intensely concentrated light and... heat.


    It was just a ray of light!


    Its attack radius was not wide. Concentrated within Leon''s palms, it was only as large as an egg and its external form was like a thicker Scalding Ray.


    However, when it shot towards the middle-aged radiant knight''s chest, a massive hole was instantly melted in that delicate and perfect golden armor. Furthermore, the flesh and blood under the armor instantly withered and vaporized when it came into contact with the ray of light. A massive hole had been burnt in the radiant knight''s stomach before he even had the chance to dodge or defend.


    The flesh, blood, tendons, and bones around the wound had also been charred black and sealed the blood vessels. As a result, not a lot of blood appeared around the wound despite it being such a massive gaping hole.


    This was not the end of it. The extreme heat from the light ray quickly sent terrifying energy into the body of the knight. The middle-aged radiant knight felt like he had swallowed a sun. Extreme heat and light radiated from within his body. The light and heat boiled his blood and burnt his body. The excess energy continuously spread out from his skin pores.


    For this one moment, he... he thought he was almost cooked alive!


    The radiant knight''s face paled. Large drops of sweat ceaselessly flowed down his forehead and face. However, before they could even drip down, they were quickly heated and turned into vapor by his boiling hot skin, vanishing without a trace. Discover more content at empire


    He roared loudly, as surging runic energies flowed from the tip of his sword and formed a barrier of pure energy before him, temporarily blocking that terrifying ray of light. Despite that,as light and heat continued to gather on the barrier, a small indentation started to form and was quickly increasing in size.


    The radiant knight held his hand over the gaping hole on his stomach while using the other hand to muster as much runic energy as he could. He stumbled backwards with all his strength, as if he was trying to escape from the attacking range of the light ray.


    Leon adjusted the direction of the light in his hands with much difficulty, trying his best to place the focal point of the light on the knight. Unfortunately, this attack was an application of fire planar laws that he had just recently thought of. His use of it was extremely ungainly and controlling it was very difficult. Thus, the range of the attack was a pathetic twenty meters. Blazing Light had a great deal of trouble staying locked onto agile targets.


    Two spellbreaker knights charged forward on their magic colts as fast they could, trying to use their bodies to block that terrifying ray of light. They were quickly stopped by the Firelord, and a desperate fight of life and death quickly broke out between the three.


    Seeing that the enemy had almost escaped from his attack range, Leon could only wave his hand and disperse the Blazing Light. He had only been channeling Blazing Light for seven seconds, and already Leon''s massive magma hands had been burnt black as char. Even Leon''s body of flames could not endure such extreme heat!


    Moreover, his right hand was the one he had just regenerated from lava. Looking at the wounds from Blazing Light, he would probably have to find an opportunity to regenerate it again.


    Leon looked at the stumbling and retreating radiant knight, and a cold smile appeared on his ghastly, flaming face. The Scroll of Voodoo hanging on his waist silently flew into his hands and started flipping.


    Not a single one of the six instant-cast spells stored within the Scroll of Voodoo had been used from the start of battle until now. Was it not so that he could use it at a key moment? Now that there was a radiant knight''s head hanging in the balance, would there be a moment more important than this? Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With no hesitation in his mind, the flipping pages of the Scroll of Voodoo finally stopped. A bright flame halo burst forth from the page.


    Fire Core Explosion!


    This single-target fire spell could be said to be the most powerful one amongst the spells Leon had mastered.


    Destructive fire elementium concentrated to their limits would suddenly explode on a spatial node, causing space to collapse and create an area of complete energy annihilation. All living beings caught within this area would suffer destructive and devastating fire energy damage. Initial estimates suggested that the fire elementium damage at the core of the explosion would reach a shocking 115 points.


    It was only because the radius of effect was only a mere one meter that it had been classified as a single target spell!


    The Fire Core Explosion did not explode on the body of the radiant knight, as he was still protection by his energy barrier. Instead, it blew up in front of the knight. Even so, the suddenly exploding spell had successfully annihilated the radiant knight''s energy shield, catching his runic longsword and right arm in the destruction.


    The radiant knight howled in agony.


    The longsword, carved full of unique runic lines, started to let out black smoke. Some of the runes of the blade itself had even been destroyed by the powerful attack. The knight''s entire palm was bloody beyond belief, revealing the black and red tendons beneath, along with his pearl white bones.


    Hua hua hua...


    The pages continued to flip.


    Another magic halo surged forth from the Scroll of Voodoo.


    Explosive Flames!


    This was an area-of-effect spell that closely resembled the Scarlet Firestorm. However, the area covered by the Scarlet Firestorm was supremely massive, causing the fire damage within to be only around 30 points. It was useful for clearing wide areas of a battlefield, but it wasn''t much use against a powerful enemy. Explosive Flames was much more concentrated compared to the Scarlet Firestorm. Its radius was only five meters, but the damage within reached a shocking 70 points.


    This was extremely high damage that could cause dreadful wounds to most enemies!


    Without the protection of the energy barrier, the Explosive Flames successfully engulfed the radiant knight in its area-of-effect. A strange magic rune appeared beneath knight''s feet, and raging flame energies instantly devoured his form.


    The second spell had just been cast, yet Leon didn''t even stop to observe its effects. With a slight nudge of his consciousness, the Scroll of Voodoo in his hands continued to flip.


    Doomsday Volcano!


    Fire Core Explosion!


    Meteor Shower!


    Leon activated five instant-cast spells from the Scroll of Voodoo in one go, one after another.


    As it was the most powerful spell he currently had, Leon had stored two instances of Fire Core Explosion beforehand. It it wasn''t out of consideration for the varying circumstances he could face in the future that might call for different types of spells, Leon would most definitely have stored six Fire Core Explosions within the scroll!


    Even so, the activation of five powerful spells in one go had still brought about a terrifying nightmare for the radiant knight.


    It felt like five powerful fire Mages were attacking him simultaneously at that moment. Moreover, it was as if it were five of the cruelest and savage Mages that were attacking him.


    The excessively rich fire elementium concentrated in a narrow area had severely destroyed the elementium balance there. The scorching heat and terrifying elementium fires gave him the illusion that he was trapped in a plane of pure fire elementium.


    Even a mountain of metal would melt into a pool of liquid under the assault of such powerful fire spells. How much better could a radiant knight with a body of blood and flesh fare!


    A First Grade Mage challenging and succeeding in slaying a Second Grade being would never happen in the World of Mages. The strict planar laws and the massive difference in power caused any hopes of using tricks or superiority to compensate for the difference in grade to turn into a mere dream!


    This also indirectly reflected the strictness of the Grade system within the Mages'' plane.


    However, it was no longer such an absolute situation in a planar war!


    As the surging elementium flames slowly dispersed, a person that had been ravaged by the spells, so much that he no longer looked human, fell out from within.


    The blood and flesh on his body had been withered and carbonized, and the molten armor had fused with his bones, making him look like a golden skeleton from afar. The grim heat had caused his remaining bones to continuously let out white smoke, as if this last remaining part of his existence would also crumble into ashes.


    His runic longsword, knight armor, muscular body, his short brown hair... all the traits that belonged to that radiant knight had completely vanished, leaving behind an unrecognizable skeleton.


    Leon stumbled and reverted his Flame Flame Fiend Transformation.


    Those short seven seconds of Blazing Light had eaten away at the the purest core and source of his body''s fire powers. This was not something that could be recovered by drinking a couple vials of potions. The only way to recover it was to meditate diligently, day after day, in order to have a chance of accumulating by relying on the powers of planar laws.


    After his Blazing Light, the flame spell bombardment had only exhausted to spells within the Scroll of Voodoo. It had not drained any of his Spirit. Otherwise, he might have had to watch the enemy escape before his eyes!


    However, the major exhaustion of his Spirit had completely robbed him of all his strength. He could only grab the golden skeleton with one hand and the Scroll of Voodoo with the other as he stumbled back towards the tower.


    "Worm Controller, you take Flame Demon''s position!" Mage F¨¹gen''s voice rang out from afar.


    It seemed that Mage F¨¹gen was still closely monitoring the battles from behind, even as he was entangled with two radiant knights.


    With this Second Grade radiant knight as his spoils of war, no Mage would still object to his ''desertion'' in the middle of combat. After all, putting themselves into Leon''s shoes, how many among the First Grade Mages here could have the terrifying might needed to exterminate a radiant knight by themselves?


    If it had been any other Mage, they would probably be hounded by the radiant knights, not to mention unexpectedly turning the tables!


    Even those combat Mages that took pride in their abilities couldn''t help but sneak peeks at Leon, even as they were engaged in their own battles. The proud Mage Hyde was included amongst them.


    ...


    1915 Words

 Chapter 229 Acknowledgement

    Exterminating a Second Grade radiant knight?Some Mages might arrogantly think it possible if they hadn''t had any contact with such an opponent. However, after several battles over the course of the invasion, and their multiple run-ins with the radiant knights, all of the First Grade Mages had long since given up on such impractical thoughts.


    The Second Grade knights on this plane might be slightly weaker. However, when they slashed at enemies with their radiant runic longswords, even their most basic physical attacks were as powerful as 60 points of damage, when converted to the measurements used by Mages. Those ferocious knight battle techniques, on the other hand, could even reach a terrifying 120 points of damage.


    This also meant that the Mages'' magical protection and elementium barriers were not enough to shield them from the knights'' attacks if they got close. The most common strategy the knights employed against casters was to raise their energy shields above their heads and charge through the bombardment of spells. Then they would reach the casters'' sides to chop them, and all would be well.


    Simple, violent, direct!


    In fact, so simple that it even seemed laughable.


    But it was precisely with such a strategy that the knights were able to forcefully exterminate all the naturally-awakened casters on this plane. Until they met this bunch of evil Mages from the World of Mages...


    Leon retreated from the battlefield, dragging the golden knight skeleton with him. Meanwhile, Blake led his swarm of carcass beetles and took over his position. The two inevitably passed by each other.


    Blake''s face was obscured by the shadow of his hood. Only his disgusting and protruding lotus-shaped mouth part could be seen. At the instant they passed by each other, he turned and looked at Leon. He spoke with his unique screeching voice, "You are very powerful!"


    Then his gaze mildly swept past the Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s left hand, before rushing onto the battlefield with his bugs.


    The disgusting feeling Leon felt in his heart finally started to dissipate after Blake''s slimy and sticky gaze left his body. When Blake said the words, "You are very powerful!", his bloody and maniacal gaze, his ear-piercing screeching voice, along with the hidden implications behind his words, deeply unsettled Leon.


    If it wasn''t for the Fire Lord silently waiting behind him and one single powerful spell he had specially reserved to defend himself still stored within the Scroll of Voodoo, Leon might have even suspected that Blake was thinking of attacking him! S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though Leon was extremely weakened now, he still reserved some strength for a counter-attack. If anyone was unable to suppress their greed, he would be sure to use his most vicious attacks to shatter their foolish thoughts.


    Mages were like large and greedy lone wolves. In usual circumstances, they could band together to devour the enemy. However, if anyone within their pack showed any weakness or lethargy, they didn''t mind getting rid of these weaklings!


    This cruel competition might make it difficult for the Mages to cooperate wholeheartedly, but it also succeeded in repeatedly creating cruel, savage, terrifying, and powerful individuals that could face any situation by themselves.


    In a complex and dynamic battlefield, so called ''teamwork'' wouldn''t be of very much help. In fact, it was the well-rounded Mages that had a better chance of survival. One couldn''t fault the non-combat Mages for treating planar wars as a massive threat to their lives.


    In a chaotic battlefield, you wouldn''t have a body refining Mage to help you deflect the hordes of enemies, nor an elementium Mage to erect an elementium barrier for you. You certainly wouldn''t have an Mage that would bring you along as they retreated... you would always be fighting alone when you were placed in a battle.


    Here you solved all the difficulties you faced by yourself!


    If you ever fell into a dangerous situation because of your own weakness, you couldn''t count on any ''companions'' to valiantly come and save you. The best they could probably do is throw a fireball in your direction and drag a few enemies down with you.


    In the battle happening currently, for example, even though the three body-refining Mages, Leon, and Hyde had set up a crude perimeter, there were still numerous small fries that made their way through. Those Mages being ''protected'' at the perimeter had to deal with the pesky fellows in front of them while exterminating the knights in the distance.


    The auxiliary Mages that lacked self-defense abilities and had to rely on their ''companions'' protection were the quickest to die in such a situation. Perhaps this was why most Esoteric Mages chose to put some effort into elementium spells as well!


    The battles at the perimeter were bloody and brutal, but so were the fights within the perimeter.


    Before Leon could get his exhausted body back through the crowd of Mages, a small squad of witcher-knights charged at him while yelling a pointless battlecry. "Exterminate the evil!" Of course, they quickly fell under the Fire Lord''s violent fire spells.


    The fact that Leon had an Mage-level golem as a bodyguard made him pretty untouchable!


    That said, Leon had to take a surprising five minutes before he could cross a hundred meter distance. Over three dozen witcher-knights had fallen behind him.


    When Leon finally made it to the Mages'' base after much difficulty, every single Mage couldn''t help but greet him, even as they were still engaged in their respective battles. The Mages were generous with paying respects to a companion who could kill a Second Grade radiant knight all by himself.


    Having greeted the Mages and notified Mage Keoghan, Leon slowly withdrew behind the gates of the tower. He found a safe spot within it and started a basic treatment of his body''s wounds.


    He took out a Tree of Life leaf and put it in his mouth, then retrieved several bottles of ointments and started to spread them on his severely burnt hands. Leon also swallowed a bottle of potion that stimulated his Spirit to facilitate a rapid recovery. It was only after he had done all this that he sat down, grit his teeth, and endured the intense pain from all over his body.


    Right now, deep in his eyes, the chip had sent out a report on the condition of his body. It was in a terrible state.


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    Name: Leon


    Race: Human (Half-Elementiumized)


    Gender: Male


    Class: First Grade Elementium Mage


    Attributes: Strength 1.5 (0.4) | Agility 0.9 (0.6) | Physique 1.4 (0.5) | Spirit 1.3 (0.1)


    Condition: Spirit exhausted. Severe injuries in the process of recovery...


    The numbers in the self-report were the current actual attributes of his body. It was only when comparing the two sets of numbers that he could truly feel the damage to his body.


    Leon sat cross-legged on the ground, silently waiting for his body to recover. Meanwhile, the tall and mighty Fire Lord guarded the tower gates while helping the potions master Ferrier in his extermination of the witcher-knights that made it too close to the tower.


    It seems that the clan placed quite a lot of importance on Ferrier''s talent for potions. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have assigned him to a rear position.


    With the aid of the Fire Lord, Mage Ferrier could finally catch a breath after having struggled until now with his unrefined combat skills. He turned and looked at Leon, who was putting on an expression of intense agony, before tossing a small green vial to him. Ferrier shouted, "Spread it on your wounds; it can ease the burns from your source power''s flames!"


    Leon caught the vial and held it before him.


    Green liquid sloshed within the transparent vial. He opened the cork, and a unique aura belonging to life energy wafted out.


    Leon lowered his head and looked at his hands. He couldn''t help but smile bitterly as he shook his head.


    His white and slender hands were black as char now. Moreover, fine cracks had covered the entire surface of his skin. If he exerted even a little force his burnt skin would start cracking, revealing the black finger bones beneath.


    The Leaf of Life he kept in his mouth was slowly but surely healing the burns on his hands. However, the burns this time came from the violent fire-elemental laws radiating from the Blazing Light. His hands would not be able to recover before he managed to remove the strands of planar laws within his wounds.


    The newly grown flesh would instantly be deprived of their moisture by the heat from the fire-elemental laws, causing his hands to remain charred and burnt. Even though he was the source of these fire elementium laws, the backlash from them due, to his amateur handling of the powers, was still extremely terrifying.


    If he didn''t find a way to absorb or neutralize these strands of planar laws, his hands would never be able to recover. This meant that he would not be able to weave hand signs and cast spells with his hands in the short term!


    Leon poured a drop of the potion onto his left hand to test its effects. Crisp crackling sounds rang out at the very moment the fragrant green liquid made contact with his withered flesh. Pieces of charred skin started to crack. Small wisps of flame rose from under the flesh and were gradually extinguished as they were engulfed by the green liquid.


    That patch of skin gradually started to heal, becoming smooth and radiant once again.


    Leon nodded at Ferrier with a smile on his face. He confidently spread the green liquid all over the charred portions of his hands. As the crackling continued, strands of fire-elemental laws continued to be extracted and slowly dispersed in the air. At the same time, Leon''s hands were slowly recovering, becoming white and slender once again.


    On the other hand, the intense pain and itching from the process of the skin breaking and flesh growing had been suppressed by Leon using his powerful Spirit. Only Leon himself fully understood the experience he was going through now!


    In the meantime, a chilly gust of wind had blown into the tower. Mage F¨¹gen, wrapped in a layer of snow and ice, appeared inside and quickly found a corner in the hall to treat his wounds.


    "This is yours now!" Mage F¨¹gen casually tossed a massive ice crystal towards Leon. One could vaguely see the radiant knight encased within. "Use this to get on the good side of that little vampire lover of yours. Who knows, maybe you will make your way into her bed immediately! Kehkehkeh... "


    Even Leon was speechless when this strict and cool high-grade Mage started teasing him. That said, the perfectly preserved body of a knight was far more valuable than that worthless pile of charcoal and bones he had.


    Thus, Leon quickly kept the frozen knight! Greed was still glowing green in his eyes as he did so.


    He knew very well that this meant that the leaders of the Sarubo clan had acknowledged his efforts. This was probably their gift to him for fighting with all his strength!


    ...


    1872 Words

 Chapter 230 Attack

    The Mages'' defensive circle was shrinking.Now all of the Mages had been pushed back against the tower gates. They erected a sturdy elementium barrier there, barely defending against the dragon breaths from the green dragons.


    In this period of time, another Mage had fallen under the blade of a radiant knight.


    Tacna. An illusionist that was said to have learned some wind spells as well. Sadly, his talent for illusions couldn''t be utilized to their fullest when facing numerous enemies, and his simple wind spells were unable to help him escape the pursuit of his enemies.


    As such, he was bogged down by a group of reckless witcher-knights on the chaotic battlefield before finally falling under the sword of Radiant Knight Windsor.


    At the last moments of the battle, Bleia, Phantom, and Demon Shadows brought large numbers of ''reinforcements'' back with them. This allowed the Mages'' defensive line to endure for another thirty minutes.


    Even disregarding everyone else, just Bloody Bleia alone had brought five spellbreaker knight vampires back with her.


    In their human forms, the knights had powerful defense and devastating melee attacks. Moreover, the moment they were in any sort of danger, they could instantly morph into bats and scatter in any direction. The addition of this fresh blood undoubtedly gave the Mages an opportunity to take a breath.


    The Mages retreated right up to the gates, using them as the last line of defense. The three body-refining Mages formed a solid defense along with the vampire knights. They were the meat shields for the rest of the Mages.


    All of the witcher-knights that dared to attack the gate first had to endure wave after wave of spells before they even had the opportunity to engage in melee combat with the body refining Mages. It was at this time that Leon was able to observe the body refining Mages combat style at a close distance.


    Body Refining Mages often appeared to be muscular men with tough bodies and intimidating size. They rarely wore the light robes of Mages, instead choosing leather or metal armor as their defensive wear. Even their choice of weapons resembled mercenaries and warriors rather than spellcasters.


    As Mages that relied on their Physique and Strength to crush enemies, the most powerful weapon they had were their bodies. Even if they knew some spells, the main purpose of those spells were to enable them to close distances and engage in melee combat.


    Their height of two meters might not be advantageous when chasing after the horse-riding witcher-knights, but if the two ever clashed and charged into one another, the witcher-knights would most definitely be the ones that ended up wounded.


    All sorts of magical lights flashed on the bodies of the body refining Mages. They stood intimidatingly before the gates, knocking any witcher-knights that came into their sights off their horses, before tearing them apart with their hands. No obvious injuries had been left on their bodies, despite the gallant and reckless attacks of the witcher-knights.


    It was almost as if their flesh had been forged from steel. Metallic reverberations would emanate from their bodies when swords clashed against their flesh.


    The only ones that were able to wound them were the spellbreaker knights. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it was a fair duel, the elite spellbreaker knights might have had powerful bodies that could rival the body refining Mages. However, under the numerous enhancements multiple magic halos, the attributes of the body refining Mages increased exponentially. This made them far superior to spellbreaker knights.


    What was the effect of Strength and Physique being magnified and increased exponentially?


    Leon''s scanning vision had a very clear view. Every punch thrown out by these body refining Mages could deal an astounding 40 to 50 points of damage. Their full-strength attacks could even reach a tremendous 100 points of damage.


    This... this was almost as powerful as Leon''s best fire spell!


    Vicious physical attacks were coupled with their impenetrable physical defenses. These were probably the iron tools that body refining Mages relied upon to wrestle victory away from stronger opponents!


    While these body refining Mages had mastered some spells, they were not used in order to attack the enemy. These spells served an auxiliary role, allowing them to fully unleash their physical strength.


    Moreover, these body refining Mages were not barbarians that could only use their muscles. All of the armor and weapons they wore on their bodies were magic tools that had been carefully chosen. Some of them could boost the speed at which wounds healed, while others allowed them to cast spells like wings of wind or haste, compensating for their lack of mobility spells.


    The witcher-knights had no hope of organizing into a proper formation with these three human-shaped slaughter machines before them. They were tossed and scattered about like loose sand. Meanwhile, the swarm of vampire knights had found an opportunity to kill more enemies. They formed a second line of defense, along with Blake''s carcass beetles, continuously exterminating the witcher-knights that sprinted forward recklessly.


    Don''t judge the body refining Mages by their muscular and barbaric appearance. They were as sly and crafty as any other Mage. The moment they met a radiant knight they couldn''t deal with, they would instantly retreat back towards the gates. Then it would be the Mages'' turn to bombard the knights with a furious storm of spells.


    Radiant Knights might be a whole grade higher than the lot of them, but even they had to avoid the rain of spells. Their bodies and armor could only endure elementium damage below 100 points.


    Once all these spells stacked together, the damage they could wreak was extremely shocking!


    In this world, the only ones that could endure a bombardment from a dozen First Grade Mages, and make it through to slaughter them, were probably those Third Grade dragon knights. In comparison, the Second Grade radiant knights were still incapable of doing this.


    As the three Third Grade dragon knights stepped onto the battlefield, the situation quickly took a turn for the worse. The gates were now at risk.


    The tower gates weren''t very large. Their width of five meters might be enough for three or four witcher-knights to charge forward simultaneously, but it was only enough for a single dragon.


    As a result, the battle quickly intensified when a dragon and a man appeared before the gates.


    The Second Grade Green Dragon Ysondre shattered the barrier in front of the gate with a single green breath, and Third Grade Dragon Knight Jefferson walked in with firm steps.


    The first to charge at him was Kiel.


    He had obviously activated some sort of special magic, allowing him to temporarily transform into a three-meter tall giant. Unique black armor appeared around his almost naked body, with a terrifying horn on the spaulders.


    Kiel moved forward with brutally heavy steps that sent tremors across the ground. He bent his body and ran towards Jefferson. Behind him, countless magic halos were falling towards the dragon knight like an unending rain. Most of these were single-target spells, with the occasional crowd control magic.


    Dong! A muffled boom rang out.


    The horn on Kiel''s shoulder had clashed with Jefferson''s longsword. The violent energy ripples caused terrifying creases to appear in the surrounding space.


    Jefferson stood still on the spot, not taking even a single step backwards. Kiel, on the other hand, was like a ball that had just been smacked hard, flipping about as he flew across the room. For one moment, no one knew how badly wounded he was. The Mages could only see that there were large pools of blood left everywhere he went, along with pieces of shattered armor.


    Kiel''s body was still tumbling in the air when two green magic halos sunk into his body, greatly easing the injuries he had. Three more supporting magic halos flashed, and his physical body was reinforced once more.


    Kiel was able to stand up right as he landed, and he began to down bottle after bottle of healing potions. Sadly, as a body refining Mage, his resistance to potions had also increased exponentially. Even if he drank a gallon of potions that had once been effective in the past, the effect was still insignificant.


    That said, insignificant help was still better than none. Kiel could only drink as much potion as he could in order to recover from his wounds.


    As Kiel was trying his best to recover, the second body-refining Mage Munro had charged forward!


    Once again, he was defeated in a single blow!


    First Grade Body-Refining Mages were still too frail when pit against a Third Grade dragon knight. If it hadn''t been the massive enhancements to their bodies that shortened the gap in power, just that brief contact with the knight might have caused them to die.


    The spells continued to fall on Jefferson''s body like rain.


    They turned into bloodsucking vines that grew rapidly and binding him to the spot, or turned into strange clouds of mist, crackling as they corroded the forcefield of life around him. Some were even terrifying elementium spells that engulfed everything nearby in a savage elementium tide...


    Yet all of this could not stop the dragon knight''s advance.


    The bloodsucking vines were like spiderwebs caught in a wheel. As Jefferson walked forward, the thick and ghastly vines snapped in pieces, sending green sap flying everywhere. The poison mist and elementium spells might be immensely powerful, but they were unable to quickly wear away the thin layer of life forcefield around him.


    This life forcefield formed, from the merging of runic and life energies, might be intangible, but it most definitely existed. It had powerful defense that vastly outclassed the elementium barriers the Mages used. Be it elementium spells, curses, illusions, or soul spells, none of them were able to break through this life forcefield and damage the knight''s body.


    The only way to stop the dragon knight''s advance was to engage in a frontal physical assault.


    Even though every Mage that charged at Dragon Knight Jefferson was immediately knocked away, they could only continue to do their best to slow his advance.


    After the three body-refining Mages had become casualties at Jefferson''s hands, it was the bloodline Mages'' turn.


    Once they turned into magical creatures themselves, they also possessed powerful physical strength. The only difference was that they had not learned many melee battle techniques like the body refining Mages did.


    Once Hyde with his robotic body of tentacles and Bleia with her crimson shadows had been severely wounded, the only ones left were the Esoteric Mages.


    However, when compared to the trash-like stone golems and earth elementium that crumbled in a single hit, the strange, massive shape formed by Blake''s carcass beetles exhibited surprising strength.


    The carcass beetles'' tough shells, along with their odd ability to share damage amongst themselves, allowed them to constantly scatter and reassemble, weaving about the Third Grade dragon knight and buying the Mages a lot of time.


    However, Jefferson soon ran out of patience. With a single ferocious Inferno Whirlwind Slash, he suddenly turned into a storm of slicing blades, and disaster fell upon Blake''s swarm of bugs.


    ...


    1865 Words

 Chapter 231 War Tower

    The brutal battle was still ongoing.The powerful Dragon Knight Jefferson was finally pushed back by the Mages.


    The severe injuries inflicted on every one of them was the price they had to pay in exchange. Even Second Grade Mage F¨¹gen was no exception.


    With the Mages'' help, F¨¹gen was finally able to find a chance to wound his opponent with an explosion of his ice crystals, forcing the knight out of the tower. But when yet another dragon knight walked steadily into the gates of the tower, everyone despaired!


    Goddammit!


    The Mages had lost their will to hang on and were starting to consider their escape plans. Just then, the entire war tower suddenly shook.


    Complicated and intricate magical patterns and runes simultaneously appeared all over the walls, floors, and ceiling of the hall. A long awaited elementium aura surged forth, putting the Mages at ease. It was almost as if... as if they had suddenly returned to the World of Mages!


    Had the war tower been activated?!


    Expressions of surprise and joy appeared on the Mages'' faces.


    A translucent dome of light radiating a rich elementium aura shielded the gates of the tower, trapping the shocked Dragon Knight Kalyk within the tower. A savage green dragon was furiously tackling and tearing at the dome of light from outside. Sadly, all of his attacks were futile.


    Its sharp dragon claws and corrosive breath could not do anything to that thin dome!


    Kalyk''s heart was filled with fear. He turned around and slashed at the dome with all his strength. He stopped his pointless actions after realizing it was all a waste of time. Instead he turned and glared at the weakened Mages.


    "Little fellows, this is your misfortune!" The expression on Kalyk''s face became unusually wicked, "Since I can''t get out, I guess it''s time for you to die! Cry! Scream! Then you can go to your deaths... "


    The Mages did not appear to be afraid at all, even in the face of Kalyk''s threat. Rather, a strange smile appeared on all of their faces. Kalyk could no longer bear the strange atmosphere in the hall. He was about to step forward and start his slaughter when a soft and wicked voice rang out.


    "Cry? Scream? Those sound like what you are about to do right now! Little bug of an inferior plane, don''t act arrogant because you have dragons backing you. Now I, Lord Violeteye, will face you!"


    As the voice rang out, a mysterious Mage in a purple rope appeared in a corner of the hall. Strange purple eyes were everywhere on his body, coldly staring at the Third Grade Dragon Knight Kalyk.


    A Third Grade Mage!


    The mental flux radiating from his body was one that truly belonged to a Third Grade being. This... this was a Third Grade Mage!


    The Mage''s appearance caused Kalyk to feel an indescribable discomfort. It was as if intangible shackles had cropped up and chained him. Even breathing became difficult. Moreover, a ferocious aura emanated from his body like a violent tide, continually dissipating under the restraint of these intangible shackles. Every single one of his actions now felt feeble and weak.


    Dammit, what is this?


    Kalyk was no longer able to hide the shock on his face. His eyes started to dart about the room, looking about for the source for his weakening. However, the very next second, the Third Grade Mage before him had completed a terrifying bloodline transformation. With a twist of his body, he had turned into a monstrous seven-meter tall purple-eyed giant.


    Its massive and bloated body. Its indigo-coloured skin. Its ferocious and wicked appearance... yet its most eye-catching feature was still the purple eyes spread across its entire body.


    As the Evil-Eyed Giant charged towards Dragon Knight Kalyk with a thunderous bellow, Mage F¨¹gen rushed up to the second floor of the tower. The other Mages quickly recovered from the magnificent sight before them and rapidly left the hall.


    This was a battle between Third Grade powerhouses!


    With their powers being as weak as they were, this group of First Grade Mages didn''t even have the chance to observe the two battle. Participating in the fight was out of the question. Even the shockwaves from the fight would easily crush the Mages. The Mages quickly followed after F¨¹gen and ran.


    The Mages felt greatly at home when they ran through the crude stone tunnels, like a sort of coziness from having returned to their source plane. Even though they had managed to get used to the planar laws here in the knights'' plane, it was only ''getting used to''. It was much different compared to actually assimilating with the planar laws here.


    Thus, when the familiar aura of their homeworld appeared in the Mage tower, these First Grade Mages who had just formed their core of laws were the ones who were most sensitive to its effects.


    The core of laws was both an enhancement and evolution for them, as well as an indirect form of restriction. Without the core of laws, they wouldn''t be able to easily command the planar laws of the World of Mages. Moreover, the improvement of their powers from then onwards only required them to continuously strengthen their core of laws. All they needed to do was strengthen the connection between their soul''s consciousness and the planar consciousness and help the two to assimilate further.


    That said, it was precisely the core of laws'' existence that placed a powerful brand on their bodies and within their soul''s consciousness. A soul brand from the World of Mages.


    Regardless of how many planes they conquered, or how many worlds they had travelled to, or even the location they were at within the multiverse, their bodies, minds, and souls would always belong to that great World of Mages!


    This was determined from the day they were born in the World of Mages!


    It was only when they were in the World of Mages that their souls, bodies, and minds could truly be liberated. Only in the World of Mages could their soul be at peace and serene. If the World of Mages ever faced a catastrophe, the Mages relying on the world would also find their paths forward shattered. Progress would be difficult.


    This was the fundamental reason for the existence of the Mage faction!


    Mages were always evil and selfish. They worshipped the accumulation of knowledge and resources, but preferred to use their intelligence and vast knowledge to defeat enemies. When Mages became sufficiently powerful, they would have the ability to leave the plane and survive and grow independently.


    Yet no matter how powerful they became, the World of Mages would always be their roots. It would always be where the source of their souls were. As such, the powerful Mages that had extended their reach to numerous worlds formed a loose faction of Mages to fight and resist the invasion of other powerful races and planes in the multiverse, in order to protect their roots and their home.


    Leon and the others had all advanced to First Grade Mages in the World of Mages. They were chained the moment they formed a core of laws within their spiritual consciousness'' space. Their soul consciousness had already been bound together to the World of Mages'' planar consciousness. Be it fortune or failure, their fates were bound together!


    Thus, even the breaths of the Mages became smoother when they were suddenly basked in the World of Mages'' aura. One could see with the naked eye countless elementium particles spreading out across the tower from the stone walls. Particles of all colors gathered around the walls, making it look like they had all put on radiant and colorful clothing. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon was a fire elementium Mage so the particles surrounding him were all rich fire elementium particles. As he inhaled the surging fire elementium, Leon could feel an incomparable sense of comfort spread throughout his body and mind. It was like every single pore of his body was desperately taking in these long-awaited particles.


    This was just a vague feeling he had, but in his mind, the chip was able to give him the most objective data report on what was happening.


    "Beep, environment monitor report. Fire elementium density quickly rising...


    "11%...


    "12%...


    "13%...


    "..."


    The Mages had long gotten used to the cruel and limiting environment of this small, elementium-sparse plane. Now that this world''s planar chains had suddenly been severed, all of the Mages were overjoyed. In the depths of their hearts, the sense of approval and belonging they had for the World of Mages was quickly becoming stronger.


    They were only guests in this world. Their roots still belonged to the World of Mages!


    At this one moment, almost all of the Mages were thinking something similar.


    Violent and turbulent explosions rang out from the other end of the long corridor. Even the tower started to shake slightly. This had to do with the massive battle on the first floor, but was also caused by the ferocious attacks of the witcher-knights outside the tower.


    This war tower was a crude and simplified version, after all. Its defense could not be compared to a proper tower. Thus, the Mages could not allow the ants outside to so freely continue their attacks.


    "My companions, the war tower has been activated!" Mage F¨¹gen raised his arms and yelled loudly, "Now get back to your own positions, and we will let those ignorant native reptiles know our power!"


    As F¨¹gen gave an impassioned declaration of war, the sound of the chip rang out in Leon''s mind.


    "Detecting mental connection request. Requesting instructions from host. Connect?"


    "Connect!"


    Leon had just given his order to the chip when that uniquely cool and chilly mental flux belonging to F¨¹gen sent a set of coordinates to him.


    The Mages present didn''t say any more. All of them ran to their positions.


    Leon''s battle position was in a hidden magic room on the third floor.


    The inside was heartbreakingly crude and simple. With the exception of a mysterious array in the middle of the room, there was absolutely nothing else in here. No decorations or furniture at all. Several magical arrays flowing with powerful elementium energies were exposed on the tough walls of the room. Just looking from here, Leon could see the energy circuits, the energy nodes, the runic arrays, the converter arrays... all of these things, both familiar and unfamiliar, were exposed to him.


    If this was an actual Mages'' tower, all of these arrays would be hidden behind a wall. Why would they ever be exposed without any protection? Leon could be sure that even a single simple fireball to the wall would be enough to cause a massive flaw to open up in the tower''s defensive system.


    Just from this, one could infer how much of a rush the Mages constructing the tower had been in!


    The simple array before Leon was no problem for him, even though it had only been awhile since he became an Mage.


    Leon stepped into the array and stood in the magic circle at the very center. A stiff, robotic voice with a strange accent spoke in his mind.


    "Welcome, Mage Leon! You have been given access to this array. You may now control this offensive array. Activate array now?" This was the voice of the spirit of this war tower. However, it seemed that it was still in its most crude and primitive stage of intelligence, which was why the offensive arrays required actual Mages to function. Without the Mages, the arrays would not be able to function at their fullest capacity.


    "Activate!"


    With Leon''s words, a whole new scene of the battlefield slowly appeared before his eyes.


    ...


    1967 Words

 Chapter 232 Slaughter

    The entire room disappeared from Leon''s vision when he activated the array.It was as if the war tower had become completely transparent. Leon''s sight and senses could extend undeterred to any corner of the battlefield.


    This was a unique angle, looking down at the battlefield from high above in the air. It was like Leon had suddenly become an invisible man floating forty meters above the sky, silently observing the dense crowd and rain of runic arrows below.


    A muffled boom rang out, and a massive stone crashed somewhere close above Leon''s head. A large dragon with fine green scales all over its body flew from the skies not far away. It opened its mouth and unleashed a terrifying dragon''s breath onto the tower.


    Meanwhile, the Third Grade dragon knight standing firmly on its back was waving his radiant longsword. One after another, extremely concentrated energy blades slashed onto the tower''s structure from a distance.


    A large crack appeared on the transparent body of the tower before him. However, it was quickly repaired under the circulation of elementium energies. Still, a fine crack was left on the surface. It was clear that the tower that had just been activated would not be able to bear much more if the opponents were allowed to continue their ferocious attacks.


    Leon let out a deep growl, and his Spirit seeped into the array beneath him. Almost immediately, massive amounts of fire elementium flowed into his body through the tower.


    Without an Mage''s control, such an offensive array might only be able to just keep shooting out magic fireballs at the enemies. However, with someone like Leon at the controls, the might of its attacks instantly increased by several levels.


    Wuuu...


    A Magma Fireball as large as a plate whistled as it flew out of the tower, crashing towards the green dragon flying in the sky and the dragon knight on its back.


    This sudden attack clearly shocked the two. The green dragon''s massive body turned slightly to avoid the fireball attack.


    However, just as the Magma Fireball was about to pass by the green dragon''s neck, it suddenly exploded.


    The next second, a violent sea of lava and magma shards devoured the two. The scattered flames from the explosion also brought about death to the knights below.


    A tragic and deafening dragon''s roar rang out throughout the battlefield. The green dragon, engulfed in red lava, beat its wings and flew even higher into the sky, finally succeeding in escaping the Magma Fireball''s area of effect. On the other hand, the dragon knight on its back had a radiant life forcefield about him. It was obvious that he had not received any damage.


    The dragon and rider were not wounded, but the witcher-knights did not have such outstanding ability themselves.


    The knights, still drawing their bows and shooting runic arrows at the tower gates, had been showered by the rain of fire from above. An area of nearly 50 square meters had been set ablaze. They knights could only raise their energy shields and escape the area.


    Some who were slower at running even had their clothes lit on fire and were frantically scrambling to put it out.


    Yet this Magma Fireball only appeared to be a starting gun. Another four or five spells of various colors shot out from within the war tower in the next few seconds. All of them landed right in the areas that the witcher-knights were most concentrated in.


    A strange, dirt-yellow halo landed on the ground, and the six witcher-knights within the halo suddenly felt their bodies become heavier. They kneeled on the ground with muffled grunts. Two witcher-knights at the edge of the halo were able to struggle and escape. The three in the center of the halo had been completely flattened against the ground. Blood flowed incessantly from under their thick armor. It was obvious that all the flesh and bones in their bodies had been crushed by the terrifying gravity.


    A gray halo flashed somewhere not far off. Countless strange shadows suddenly surfaced in the air. These shapes were like shadow creatures with no physical forms. They continuously rushed into the bodies of the witcher-knights within the halo. Every time a shadow entered their bodies, the witcher-knights would let out a pained grunt.


    Those that were able to escape were still saved; they only took some shadow damage. That said, those that weren''t able to make it out of the halo were kneeling on the ground, coughing up black blood everywhere. Ruptured fragments of their organs could be seen in their blood.


    What was more terrifying was a crackling blast of Chain Lightning.


    When the terrifying electric serpent weaved about the crowd, every witcher-knight that came into contact with it would instantly be burnt to char and fall to the ground. Just a single attack, and nine witcher-knights fell to the effects of the frightening electric spell.


    The devastating Chain Lightning gradually dispersed after exhausting all of its energy. All it left on the battlefield were large numbers of black corpses and a pungent charred smell.


    Leon''s face also betrayed an expression of shock at the continuous bombardment of spells.


    The terrifying might of the war tower on this battlefield was stunning!


    If he was on the battlefield, a First Grade Mage like himself would have to find a way to stop the enemies'' progress while killing them. Moreover, he would have had to do a fine analysis and estimation of the rate at which he was burning through his Spirit in order to reserve some strength to deal with unexpected situations.


    In all of the previous battles, Leon had only been using sixty percent of his strength when attacking the enemy. Another twenty percent was used to maintain and control the situation on the battlefield, while the last twenty was reserved for emergencies. This was a high efficiency that he managed to achieve with the golems as his helpers. If it had been any other Mage, even using forty percent of their strength on killing enemies would be a remarkable result!


    But now that he was within the war tower, his safety was guaranteed. Moreover, with the endless amount of energy surging into his body from the tower, along with the enhancement provided by the array beneath him, he could almost bring out 100% of his powers.


    The Flame Demon! A master of flame manipulation!


    As a powerful elementium Mage with fire mastery, the abilities Leon had chosen for himself were in fact most suited for a battlefield. Once he no longer needed to worry about his safety, and could exhibit all the might of his fire spells, the battlefield turned into an apocalyptic hell of magma. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A large and wide Inferno Wall sealed the tower gates. The witcher-knights that wanted to continue to hack away at the elementium barrier could only grit their teeth and endure the burning of the magical flames.


    A massive Meteor Shower instantly covered the area before the gates. Meteor after meteor crashed from the skies, smashing gigantic craters into the ground. Terrifying flame waves spread out again and again, leaving no place for the knights to escape to.


    As long as a group of witcher-knights larger than five appeared in Leon''s vision, a Magma Fireball would instantly whistle through the sky and land squarely on their heads. It didn''t matter whether the Magma Fireball exploded on its own or was intercepted by the knights. The horrifying magma rain would still pour down without exception.


    Only those perceptive spellbreaker knights and radiant knights were able to dodge the continuous bombardment of Explosive Fireballs. The only thing they could do was shift from one field of fire to another field of fire. They were constantly surrounded by exploding magic fireballs and seas of fire that rose to the sky.


    Although most of the spells directed at them were intercepted, the unique continuous burning effect of fire spells gave them no place they could stand still on around the Mages'' tower.


    It hadn''t even been fifteen minutes since the offensive arrays were activated, and already two spellbreaker knights had failed to defend against the endless storm of Explosive Fireballs and Magma Fireballs, dying amidst the towering sea of flames.


    It was the same even in the sky.


    There were two Third Grade green dragons amongst the dragons circling the tower. However, the moment they tried to close in on the tower, they would be chased away by the flurry of spells. None of them dared to fly within five hundred meters of the tower.


    No matter how powerful their magic resistances were, they still had to avoid a dozen powerful spells blasting towards their faces.


    The tragic scene of the witcher-knights being tortured by the endless wave of spells below the tower caused the dragon knights to be extremely upset. Regardless of how much they tried to get the dragons closer to the tower, they would be forced away by the storm of spells.


    They were able to send debris flying and make rocks crumble with every knight battle technique they launched before the tower had been activated. But now, their violent energy blades would be stopped by a shining elementium barrier outside of the tower. They couldn''t inflict any damage whatsoever.


    This translucent elementium barrier completely angered the dragon knights. All the battle techniques they fired out would be blocked by the barrier, but the spells fired from within the tower could still blast towards them.


    This annoyed feeling of having to endure attacks while being unable to return them caused the two dragon knights to yell in anger. Still, there was nothing they could do.


    Moreover, their companion, the Third Grade Dragon Knight Kalyk, was still sealed behind those tower gates by that translucent elementium barrier. They didn''t dare to imagine what he might be going through!


    The army was in utter chaos. No one had any idea on how to continue their attack against the tower. Just then, the space above the tip of the tower distorted and two silhouettes mysteriously appeared.


    A female Mage in a green robe, wrapped in a cloud of green smoke, and a male Mage in a purple robe with strange purple eyes all over his body. Intense mental flux radiated from both of their bodies. It was two terrifying Third Grade Mages!


    "Kalyk! It''s Kalyk!" Dragon Knight Jefferson''s mournful voice rang out in midair.


    They saw very clearly. The head that the purple-robed Mage held in his hand belonged to Dragon Knight Kalyk.


    The armor that dragon knights always wore had disappeared. His messy hair fell haphazardly across his face. The expression on his obscured face was hideous, and blood could be seen at the corners of his wide-open eyes. The exposed injury on his severed neck was not neat at all, with blood still dripping downwards.


    From the looks of it, the head had been forcefully twisted off of his body!


    The grisly death of their companion sent the dragon knights into a rage. Blood instantly rushed into their eyes as they drove their green dragons forward. The other two green dragons looked at each other. They let out a long and mournful dragon''s roar and followed after their companions.


    Four green dragons. Two of them were Third Grade while the other two were Second Grade. Along with two Third Grade dragon knights riding on their backs, this was an absolutely terrifying formation in the knights'' plane. Yet at this moment, there was an odd sense of solemness and tragedy about them, as if they were about to go to their deaths!


    A dragon''s roar rang out from the forest in the distance. The green dragon Aufreyr took to the skies and rushed towards the battlefield with the silhouette of a mighty knight on his back.


    The Fourth Grade Holy Knight Willis was finally unable to tolerate it any longer. He was going to fight with his own hands!


    ...


    1999 Words

 Chapter 233 Mutated

    The War Tower.Due to rushed work, the facilities here was extremely rudimentary.


    With the exception of an elementium pool that spanned five entire levels, there were no other magical facilities in the two underground levels.


    Moreover, even the currently functioning elementium pool looked extremely crude and clumsily crafted. The walls of the pool were uneven, with plenty of plant roots and rotting leaves that could be seen from cracks in the walls. It was clear that the dirt used for construction had not been properly filtered.


    Eleven Mages floated above the elementium pool, continuously retrieving magic crystals from their storage spaces and tossing them into the pool. Yet the magic crystals piling up below their feet were vanishing into the elementium pool at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.


    A standard Mage tower would constantly absorb drifting elementium particles from its surroundings and gather them in its elementium pool once it was activated. In doing so, the tower would be able form a stable source of elementium energy. Part of these energies would be used for the tower''s upkeep and daily energy use. The rest of the energies would accumulate within the elementium pool, serving as a reserve.


    The longer an Mages'' tower was functioning, the more shocking the amount of magical energies it would have in reserve.


    Under normal circumstances, attacking an Mages'' tower such as this one would not be worth the effort. Without a way to exhaust the massive reserves of energy, it was virtually impossible to break into the tower.


    However, the war tower had just been activated. What energy reserves could it possibly have? As such, the Sarubo Clan Mages could only throw in large numbers of magic crystals to maintain its functioning and to sustain the tower''s energy consumption.


    Moreover, the tower was currently in the middle of a terrifying planar war. The tower''s elementium barrier had to endure up hundreds of ferocious attacks every second. All of this naturally burned away at the magic crystals within the elementium pool!


    The energy consumption was extremely high, especially when you considered the bombardment of spells every five seconds and the dozens of large-scale spells that blasted towards the witcher-knights outside, sending them into disarray.


    All of this consumed the magic crystals in the elementium pool!


    Even with eleven Mages frantically tossing magic crystals into the pool, the energy reserves still seemed to be slowly running out. This was undoubtedly a cause for concern.


    With the rapid circulation of destructive magical energy within the tower''s defensive system, there would occasionally be minor explosions and damage here and there. Every time the Tower Spirit''s monotone voice rang out in the room, one of the Mages would have to rush to the damaged spot to fix the array.


    There was no choice. The construction had been too rushed and the tower''s defense system had barely been completed in the nick of time. They were already extremely lucky that the tower could function properly! At least they hadn''t been blown into the skies by a major mistake in the arrays. The slight errors, on the other hand, would have to wait until this war was over!


    However, with the start of the fight between the Third Grade Mages and the green dragon squad, the energy consumption quickly skyrocketed.


    Each clan Mage held in their hands a magic spatial tool with massive storage. They all opened the tools to their limits and tilted them downwards at the pool. Crystalline and transparent magic crystals fell like rain from the sky, building up yet another small hill in the middle of the elementium pool.


    Mysterious and profound runic arrays floated about the walls of the pool. The arrays flashed with radiant light, and the magic crystals were crushed to powder by magical energies, turning into pure elementium energy that flowed into the arrays. These energies were then sent to every corner of the tower through the circuits on the walls.


    Every time the Mages'' tower shook intensely, a layer of the magic crystals would be consumed. And when the Mages in the tower launched yet another wave of magic bombardment, the magic crystals in the pool would rapidly melt, like snowflakes left under the hot sun.


    The clan Mages responsible for maintaining the energy supply held their emptied spatial tools with bitter expressions. They took out another storage tool from under their robes. They opened the tools by chanting their passwords, grit their teeth, and continued to pour crystals into the pool.


    It was important to note that these were from the exhausting accumulation of the Sarubo Clan over the past hundred years!


    Every magic crystal could be be traded for 150 gold Mage coins back in the World of Mages. Even a conservative estimate would put the number of crystals they had just emptied into the pool at thirty thousand crystals. Yet this was just the start of the battle! The consumption of magic crystals would undoubtedly increase to a frightening degree as the battle continued to intensify.


    This battle was most definitely burning away at mountains of gold with every moment that passed by!


    Of course, outsiders would not be able to understand the pain and troubles of a clan Mage.


    High in the upper levels of the tower, a dozen Mages happily steed in their offensive arrays, using the best of their abilities to turn the continuous supply of magical energy into terrifyingly powerful spells and blasting them at the witcher-knights in front of the tower.


    A bunch of knights with only arrows and longswords? Trying to attack a fully activated war tower with no siege machines or effective organization?


    Today, the Mages used their most destructive spells to educate these arrogant frogs in their wells. And their tuition fee would be... their own flesh and blood! Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon freely controlled the offensive array and formed the surging magical energies into one powerful spell after another. Then he used his Spirit to direct the spells and launch them at the most suitable location. With the tower''s defense system active, Leon exhausted virtually none of the magical energies within his body while launching a continuous wave of powerful spells.


    Countless auxiliary arrays had been crafted around the offensive arrays. These arrays were able to affix special effects onto the launched spells, such as range increase, polarization of attributes, and penetration. With these additional effects in play, even Second Grade radiant knights couldn''t endure their insane magical blitz!


    However, at this moment, most of Leon''s attention was still focused on the Third Grades'' fight happening above his head.


    He had to retreat during the Third Grade fight in the hall previously, and was sorely upset that he couldn''t see it with his own eyes. But now, two Third Grade Mages battled against a group of green dragons and dragon knights above the tower. Leon''s excitement and shock was imaginable.


    One had to say that these two Third Grade Mages were absolutely terrifying existences! They were like actual demons!


    The purple-robed Mage that personally killed the Third Grade dragon knight seemed to be a bloodline Mage. He once again turned into a monstrous purple-eyed giant, standing above the air as the purple eyes on his body continuously shot out hundreds of terrifying purple beams. Each individual purple beam might not have been very powerful, but when a hundred of those beams were concentrated on a single person, their might was incomparable.


    Leon also suspected that these purple beams had some sort of special magical effect. Otherwise the green dragons wouldn''t avoid them as frantically as they were. It was almost as if the dragons themselves couldn''t be immune to the effects, even with their amazing physiques.


    That green-robed female Mage also appeared to be an impressive individual. With a twist of her body, she turned into a terrifying Flying Venom Dragon and forcefully fought with the dragons.


    Flying Venom Dragon? Purple-Eyed Giant?


    Leon quickly scanned through his mind and found the relevant information.


    Flying Venom Dragon. A magical creature of the poison attribute. A hybrid dragon that could go up to the Fifth Grade. If one were to truly trace its roots, it was not a pure-bred dragon. In fact, it was one of the tens of thousands of hybrid dragon races that the dragons had created.


    It was rumored that the dragons'' unbridled lust and Ultimate Transfiguration, that allowed them to transform into any race, had allowed them to continue undertaking their ambitious plan of ''seeding'' the worlds, regardless of size or race. Thus, unique hybrid dragons with dragon bloodlines could be found on almost any material plane.


    And the Flying Venom Dragon was one of many hybrid dragon races!


    They looked just like a green dragon that had been skinned. The surface of their bodies were covered with a layer of pungent and viscous green liquid instead of scales, and their most powerful weapon was their terrifying venom spit. If one were to look at the racial traits of the two dragons, the toxicity of the flying venom dragon''s poison was three times that of the green dragon''s, while its corrosiveness was five times that of the green dragon''s.


    Perhaps because they were too ugly, the progenitors of the green dragons, the Emerald Dragons, refused to acknowledge their identity as a branch of the green dragons. This caused a feud between the flying venom dragons and the source of their bloodline¨C the green dragons.


    Also, both of these dragon races had the same progenitor and source of bloodline. This meant that as long as the flying venom dragons continuously devoured their progenitor green dragons, they would be able to rapidly strengthen their bloodline powers. Every time a flying venom dragon met a green dragon, a massive battle to the death would ensue!


    The purple-eyed giant seemed to be a branch of the Ancient Giants.


    In the period of time when the multiverse had just been born, and the order within the planar worlds had yet to be established, the most powerful race active amongst the worlds were all varieties of giants.


    Sand Giants, Evil Giants, Hundred-Eye Giants, Hermit Giants, Forest Giants, Solar Giants, Oceanic Giants, Cloud Giants, Flame Giants, Stone Giants...


    These terrifying giants, that easily reached a hundred meters tall, had ruled the material planes for up to a million years. Sadly, with the change of the planar laws, their powerful strength turned into a burden instead, and the giant races quickly retired from the stage of history.


    While most of the powerful Ancient Giants had vanished, their bloodline had passed down over the tens of thousands of years, creating powerful bloodline creatures.


    Today one could still find Frost Giants, Storm Giants, Hill Giants, Cyclopes, and Hundred-Arm Giants in the material planes. These were all giants with the blood of Ancient Giants.


    However, Leon had never heard of the purple-eyed giant that the purple-robed Mage had turned into. He had reason to suspect that this was most likely a mutated bloodline that resulted from some sort of magical pollution.


    This meant that this was a mutated bloodline that had come out of a magical laboratory!


    Leon could see the shadows of the ancient Hundred-Eye Giant and the Beholder in this purple-eyed giant. As for whether there were even more odd bloodlines in the mix, that was not something that Leon could tell.


    ...


    1896 Words

 Chapter 234 Defeat

    Blood and flesh was everywhere on the ground.The dragons roared in the skies.


    The witcher-knights used to be unstoppable in their own plane, but had finallly been forced to bow down before the might of the evil Mages. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They, who had never experienced the cruelty of planar wars, could only charge forward with their hot blood and reckless valor. Still, they were unable to smash apart that translucent light barrier glowing with elementium radiance. Meanwhile, they were subjected to a rainfall of violent spells, tragically falling one after another.


    There were as many as 3,900 witcher-knights that had made it through the forest of death and to the tower. However, with the activation of the war tower, their numbers quickly dwindled. It was merely a fantasy to dream of breaking apart the tower with just their physical bodies!


    The entire battlefield was soaked in a storm of blood as the witcher-knights fell to the ground one by one, screaming and struggling.


    There was no longer a single patch of untouched land around the tower.


    There were only exploding fireballs, sizzling acid swamps, and blinding lightning prisons...


    Countless heads, with their expressions of shock frozen on their hideous faces, were kicked about by the scrambling knights as they ran about. Numerous broken corpses with all kinds of symptoms of death laid haphazardly about the scorched earth and pools of blood. Flesh and charred bones mixed with all sorts of filthy substances, leaving none of the corpses recognizable to anyone.


    Shattered longswords, twisted runic bows, fragmented colt corpses, as well as the broken bodies of knights... they were everywhere on the battlefield, leaving an indelible mark on any who the saw scene!


    Compared to the battle between the powerful in the skies, the battle on the ground no longer affected the outcome of the war today. The future of this plane rested solely on the backs of those shapes in the sky!


    The activation of the war tower hadn''t only given the Mages a platform to exert their strength to the fullest. More importantly, it used its powerful control over elementium to forcefully create a free zone around the tower that freed the Mages from the effects of the local planar laws.


    Here, the Mages from another world no longer needed to endure the fetters of the planar laws. They could finally use all of their abilities. When the Fourth Grade Holy Knight Willis magnificently appeared in the skies before the Mages'' tower, a strange illusory silhouette appeared before his path.


    It was Mage Sarubo''s soul projection!


    Due to the upper limit of powers within this plane, Sarubo could only exhibit prowess equal to the peak of Fourth Grade, even if he projected all of his strength here. It might not sound like much of an advantage! However, this was a Fourth Grade projection with the vast knowledge and mind of a Sixth Grade Great Mage.


    Thus, when the two finally clashed, even the intense Third Grades'' battle instantly lost its spotlight.


    If one said that low-grade Mages still relied on the might of powerful spells or physical strength to fight with enemies, then the battle of high-grade Mages was a matter of manipulating, utilizing, and countering with planar laws.


    The Fourth Grade human-shaped soul projection stood silently in the air. No matter what methods Willis used, he was unable to even touch it. Be it the poison mist dragon breath of the dragon beneath him, or his own violent and ferocious knight battle techniques, they would all pass through the projection, blasting the tower behind instead.


    It was like... like that human projection didn''t even exist on this plane!


    As Willis contemplated how to change this helpless situation, the counterattack arrived.


    The projections attack took the form of numerous grey beams. Every time one of these beams landed on a green dragon or dragon knight, it instantly caused the affected limb to wither and the blood and flesh to die. The terrifying aura of death could only be neutralized by life energy several times greater than the aura.


    Willis'' powerful knight battle techniques had lost their advantage against these odd death beams, and his fragile human form could not resist corrosion by these death energies. With no choice left, Willis roared and transformed into a massive green dragon with fine scales covering his entire body. He had to use his tough and resilient dragon scales and his powerful life energies to delay the damage of the the death energies.


    Besides the death beams, the projection also continuously shot out sharp bone spears. Each spear had powerful penetration abilities and could drill a hole through the tough dragon scales. Almost instantly, the Third Grade Green Dragon Aufreyr had been riddled with holes and fell with from the sky with a cry of agony.


    A one-sided fight. A completely one-sided fight!


    Even though the two were both at the Fourth Grade, the projection''s strange abilities were enough to crush Willis in all aspects. After all, Willis only had his overpowering physical strength. Based on Willis'' combat style, Leon was sure that he had an extremely unique dragon bloodline.


    This knights'' leader, respected by all witcher-knights, was most likely a half-dragon. Moreover, the fact that he was able to successfully cross the threshold into Fourth Grade probably had much to do with the dragon blood flowing through his body.


    Given this, it seemed that the Dragon Valley behind the knight''s kingdom wasn''t as simple as he previously thought!


    The witcher-knights on the ground were no longer a threat to the war tower. Under F¨¹gen''s lead, all of the Mages joined hands and cast a terrifying large scale spell. A single monstrous ice crystal bombardment later, and a Second Grade green dragon was sealed within a three-meter-thick ice crystal.


    With the powerful addition of the war tower, the already disadvantaged green dragon squad was instantly thrown into disarray. The three green dragons who remained, with the dragon knights still on their backs, were chased about by the terrifying monsters that the two Mages had turned into. Defeat was just a matter of time for them.


    Thirty minutes later, following a pained dragon roar, the Green Dragon Willis fell from the sky. His large dragon wings had been shackled by white bone-chains that had appeared out of nowhere.


    However, the projection didn''t take the opportunity to dive down and deal the killing blow. Instead it raised its head and gazed at a large cloud on the horizon. He spoke coldly, "Are you not going to act after looking on for so long? Since when did ambushing from the back become a habit of you dragons?"


    The white clouds in the sky dispersed.


    Two exceptionally large dragons revealed themselves.


    Streamlined dark green dragon scales, wicked and terrifying horns, large wings covered with fine scales, powerful hind legs, and their gigantic snouts filled with sharp teeth...


    Judging from the dark color of their dragon scales and their tremendously powerful dragon''s aura that caused others to tremble in fear... these two were Fourth Grade Dragons.


    Unlike Willis and his mixed-bloodline, the two dragons that appeared now were actual Fourth Grade dragons. Moreso, they were adolescent dragons at the peak of their life cycle.


    The majestic dragon in front slowly beat its wings as it hovered in the sky. Its large amber eyes stared unblinkingly at the projection before it. Respectfully, the dragon said, "O powerful Mage, the Taerar Green Dragons greet you!"


    The words the dragon spoke were naturally in Dragontongue. Most people wouldn''t understand it, but how would the Mages known as "servants and guardians of knowledge" not be able to comprehend?


    The war tower''s bombardment had paused under instructions from Mage F¨¹gen. The skies regained their peace.


    Both parties involved in the war looked at the projection as well as the two dragons that had arrived.


    In this sort of cruel planar battlefield, the true determining factors in the conclusion of this war were these powerful individuals. No matter how intense the battle below was, or how many casualties, once the powerhouses on your side fell, turning the tides was but a simple matter!


    It wasn''t just the Mages within the tower that were waiting silently for orders from their leaders. Even the bloody and frantic radiant-knights below had stopped their attacks and gazed at the sky, waiting for their fates to be decided.


    No. Not just their fates, but also the fate of this entire plane!


    "The Taerar Green Dragons? I seem to have heard this name before. If I''m not mistaken, they are... they are the subordinate race of the Thalgus Emerald Dragons!" The projection hesitated for a second.


    Although the Mages could understand Dragontongue, it was still difficult for them to speak in the language. This had to do with the vocal chord structure of dragons as well as their unique pronunciations. Thus, Mage Sarubo''s projection could only reply with the commonly used language of the Mages.


    "Your vast knowledge deserves my respect. I, the clan leader of the Taerar Green Dragons, Raistlin, am here because I wish to bring away my clan members!"


    "Only your clan members?" There was a toying tone to Mage Sarubo''s words.


    "Only my clam members!" Green Dragon Clan Leader Raistlin''s words were incomparably firm.


    With a dragon''s voice, even their whispers would be thunderous in the ears of normal people. Not to mention Raistlin had roared out these words firmly like he was making an oath.


    Under the war tower, in the forest and on the hills...


    Countless witcher-knights, spellbreaker knights, and radiant knights looked at each other when they heard this, but no one knew what the dragon and the Mage were talking about. Only the few green dragons and Willis, whose wings had been bound and was struggling to get up, understood Raistlin''s words.


    "No... we cannot give up!" Willis struggled to raise his head and roared loudly with all his strength, "They are all my subordinates, I cannot abandon them like this. Lord father, we still have a chance of victory! If we work together, we will definitely be able to defeat these evil Mages... "


    Mage Sarubo''s projection smiled coldly as a wicked and chilly grin appeared on his face.


    Raistlin bent his body slightly, calmly looking at the struggling Willis with his large eyes.


    "Willis, my child, are you still unable to recognize your identity even now? These humans are only your subordinates and your men. But now the ones facing death are your actual clansmen! Do you intend to let Aufreyr and Ysondre die for a bunch of your subordinates?"


    An expression of agony and struggle appeared on Willis'' face.


    He looked around him and saw the green dragon Ysondre frozen within a thick ice crystal, as well as Aufreyr lying in a pool of his own blood with white bone spears still stuck in his body.


    Willis closed his eyes painfully. Large tears trickled down his face.


    Even though he didn''t want to acknowledge it, he knew it very well. They had lost this war!


    This plane had lost all hope!


    ...


    1851 Words

 Chapter 235 Post-Battle Reward

    The dragons left!Even the three dragons that had been wounded took to the skies with the help of their companions. They disappeared on the horizon without even looking back.


    None of the dragons turned to explain the situation to the witcher-knights and naturally none of them tried to help the knights retreat.


    The resolve of the witcher-knights instantly crumbled when they saw the dragons take to the sky and leave. Be it the two abandoned dragon knights, or the numerous wounded witcher-knights, all they could do was stare wide-eyed as the cruel reality unfolded before them.


    Their past glory and valor was now scattered to the winds, never to be regained!


    A deep and rumbling horn rang out, signaling the surviving knights to finally start their retreat!


    For a moment the entire forest was filled with the frantic witcher-knights, fleeing like hounds that had lost their homes.


    They no longer cared about their injured companions or their knight''s honor amidst their panicked retreat. They threw away their swords and knives, took off their armors, and drove into the woods, running away from this tragic land of defeat without ever turning back.


    The Mages did not pursue the defeated knights. Instead they withdrew all of their remaining forces back into the war tower and started to distribute amongst themselves the jobs to be done.


    The reason the Mages weren''t in the pursuit wasn''t because they were generous individuals. Far from it. In fact, it was because there was no need for the Mages to do so.


    When the rulers behind the scenes of this plane had actively abandoned them, these witcher-knights were no longer a threat. If the witcher-knights were allowed to live, it was very likely that they would surrender to the Mages once the their rule had been solidified. Then the Mages would instantly get their hands on an elite group of subordinates!


    ...


    Fifty kilometers away, a group of green dragons crouched on top of a tall cliff, silently gazing in the direction of the tower.


    "Lord Father, why did you give up such a good opportunity earlier? The enemy was only a single Fourth Grade Mage. With the strength that we had, we could easily have taken him down!" Willis asked angrily.


    It was clear that he was still extremely upset about Raistlin''s decision.


    "You are still too young. You understand too little about the Mages!" Raistlin turned his large dragon head slightly, "Singe, you tell him!"


    As a clan elder, the Green Dragon Singe was also the dragon prophet of the clan.


    Almost every dragon clan would have a dragon prophet of their own. Moreover, the prophet''s status was only below that of the clan leader. They were also the main, no, the only way the dragons could communicate with the great Dragon God!


    "Cough, cough... " The Green Dragon Elder Singe finally spoke, "Willis, you cannot blame your father for his decision. That terrifying Mage was not someone we can deal with. He is not a Fourth Grade Mage. Rather, he is a... a Sixth Grade Great Mage!"


    "So what if he is a Sixth Grade Great Mage?" Willis straightened his body in fury, "The upper limit of strength that this plane can contain is only Fourth Grade. The most power he could draw out here would be the peak of a Fourth Grade. If we threw everything we had at him, we could have exterminated his projection, crushing his foothold here in this plane!"


    "Things are not as simple as you think!" Elder Singe shook his head painfully, "He is a Sixth Grade Great Mage. This means that if he ever activated his personal origin domain, he could still break through the limit of this plane and project all of his strength here. Even though the price he would have to pay for doing so would be expulsion by the planar forces, as long as he could kill us in an extremely short time, the remaining low-grade Mages would still be able to gain control of this plane!"


    "That is why I said that this world''s fate had already been determined when its coordinates were revealed to the evil Mages! If us Taerar Green Dragons had been any more powerful, we might have been able to beat them back where they came from. But if the price we needed to pay for that was you, Aufreyr, and the other dragons'' lives, I would rather give up on this plane!" Green Dragon Clan Leader Raistlin looked down on the surrounding forest silently. His large dragon eyes were filled with an indescribable sadness.


    After all, this plane had been the home that the Taerar Dragons had managed for several thousand years. It was impossible for them to not feel heartbroken now that it had been forcefully taken over by the Mages. The Taerar Dragons were still too weak. If they fought with the Mages, more than half of the adolescent dragons would forever be left on the cruel battlefield.


    And this was something that Raistlin would never be able to stand for!


    "... " Willis dejectedly lowered his large dragon head.


    Even though he was reluctant to admit it, he knew that this was the only thing that his father could do for the sake of the clan! Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Let''s return!" Raistlin suddenly unfurled his wings and roared angrily, "The Mages movements will be quick. We must hurry back to Dragon Valley. Moving the ancestors'' graves and shifting the Dragon Altar; all of these need time! Let''s go!"


    The few green dragons rose to the skies, accompanied by their loud and magnificent dragon roars, beating their wings and heading towards the distance.


    ...


    The battle had concluded once and for all.


    However, the flames of war that had been ignited were not that easily extinguished.


    The war tower, having experienced a brutal plane war, had finally ceased functioning and revealed its bruised, battered, and ugly body.


    The materials used to hurriedly construct the tower were not proper magical stones. Naturally, its functions couldn''t be compared to a proper Mages'' tower. During the war, all of the tower''s flaws had been hidden by the activation of its powerful defense system. It had seemed so impenetrable.


    However, once the magic radiance surrounding the tower dissipated, the Mages were finally able to see the deep fissures and countless fine cracks that ran along the tower''s structure. Some of this damage had been caused by external attacks, while others were caused by inferior materials bending under the stress of massive energy circulation.


    In conclusion, the war tower would hardly be able to exhibit the kind of incredible dominance it had previously without a large-scale renovation.


    Just as the clan Mages were busy clearing up the battlefield, creating new voodoo beasts, and guarding the tower, Leon and the other Mages who performanced well on the battlefield received an audience with the great Lord Sarubo.


    Moreover, it was a private audience for each one of them.


    The location of the audience was set in a dim, dark, and mysterious hall.


    Having experienced the massive battle earlier, Leon finally had a basic understanding of Sixth Grade Great Mage Sarubo. He was definitely a powerful Immortal who had elementium affinity with negative energy and walked the path of an Undead Mage.


    That said, Leon had absolutely no idea which class advancement Sarubo specifically chose.


    Mages that had negative energy affinity could choose to deepen their elementium affinity and walk the path of the Dark Mage, master of magic curses. Alternatively they could also learn knowledge about biological dissections, commonly belonging to the Esoteric Mages, and craft undead creatures, walking down the path of a Summoning Mage that used undead to do their bidding. Of course if he didn''t prefer entrusting his strength to other external entities, he could also walk the path of a Necromancer that strengthened his own body.


    Other than these mainstream Mage class advancements, there were countless other powerful Mage classes that one could choose based on their own affinity and preferences. It was extremely hard for Leon to figure out the Great Mages'' path based solely on his performance today.


    However, there was no doubt that he was powerful.


    At least the dragons had chosen to yield before his intimidation instead of pitching their all into a final fight!


    As such, Leon displayed his utmost respect when he finally met this powerful Sixth Grade Great Mage''s projection in the dim hall, paying full respects to his vast knowledge and terrifying prowess.


    "I have always been monitoring your growth!" The Great Mage surprised Leon the moment he spoke, "You are a fellow with plenty of talent for an outsider. You might be weak now, but there will be a day when you become strong."


    Leon bent his body to hide his shock.


    "There''s no need to panic or fear!" The face of the projection was obscured within the shadows, but his tone was mild and gentle, "Foreign souls like you aren''t that rare of a sight in the World of Mages. As long as you have completed your advancement in the World of Mages, it means that you have obtained the Will of the Plane''s acknowledgement. Your identity as an Mage cannot be stolen from you by anyone!"


    Leon could no longer hide the shock on his face.


    "You are still too weak to understand these things." The Great Mage was clearly in a good mood today, and unlike what he commonly did, he explained, "Lethon. The World of Mages we live in. Every year several dozen, and even up to hundreds, of planar eruptions will happen here. These creatures or souls that came from outside might be a potential threat for weak planes. However they are a hard-to-come-by assistance for large planes like Lethon."


    "Are the Mages not worried that these outsiders could endanger the plane''s development?" Leon couldn''t help but ask.


    "Endanger the plane''s development?" The Great Mage''s projection nearly laughed at the idea, "Little fellow, you have pretty wild ideas. Even us Great Mages don''t dare to disrupt and steer the development of an entire plane. And a small First Grade Mage like yourself dares? Hahaha... "


    "But... but isn''t it mentioned in the books that the most powerful Mages are able to embed part of their personal origin laws into the planar laws, thus allowing their own laws to become part of the planar laws?"


    "As you have said, only the most powerful Mages can do that! In our World of Mages, the ones that can do that need to be at least an Eighth Grade Mage! And how many Eighth Grade Mages are there in our world? Three. Only three!"


    Leon was stunned for a second.


    There were only three Eighth Grade Mages in the World of Mages? This number seemed to be the same as the number of large Mage organizations in the World of Mages. Could it be...


    "Alright, there''s no need for suspicion or doubt. The reason I called you here is because your performance in the planar war was exceptional. As your reward, you can now take this Flame Fiend''s heart for yourself."


    Having said that, a massive heart the size of a skull was tossed into Leon''s hands. Its heavy weight left even Leon breathless.


    The crimson flesh, the thick tendons, and the disgusting aura of corruption. The large heart was still beating stubbornly, and one could vaguely feel an intense aura of life radiating from it.


    The heart of a Flame Fiend.


    This was a powerful Flame Fiend''s heart!


    The Flame Fiends had always been Second Grade creatures from the terrifying World of Abyss.


    Just as Leon was still reveling in joy over the Flame Fiend''s heart, the projection spoke once again.


    "I heard you are extremely interested in the runic knowledge of this plane. Very well. I have a task here for you to complete! You need to... "


    Leon quickly stored the Flame Fiend''s heart and paid attention to the Great Mage''s words.


    ...


    1998 Words

 Chapter 236 Dragon

    100 Power Stones. (Weekly goal achieved)1 Extra Chapter


    ...


    Skandre.


    As the capital of the knights'' kingdom, Skandre was undoubtedly a magnificent and glorious city.


    It had been built on the mountain, with no city walls to speak off. Most of the architecture had become part of the mountainous geography.


    One was able to see the entirety of Skandre standing atop Mount Mingsu.


    Tall obelisks and domed hall roofs could be seen everywhere in the extensive palace. Fine corridors connected the numerous buildings as maids in court dresses hurried to and fro. If one were to look at an even closer angle, they would even able to see the tiny ant-sized human figures crowded in the busy market.


    The neat, orderly streets and the rowdy traffic all contributed to a pleasant and peaceful atmosphere that permeated Skandre!


    Yet at this moment, something was happening within the highest palace located on Mount Mingsu. Edward VII, an elderly yet energetic man, leaned against the edge of a wide balcony, looking silently upon the vibrant city below. Behind him Knight William, dressed in his exquisite knights'' armor, loudly made his reports while holding his helmet with one hand.


    As a radiant knight at the peak of Second Grade, and on the verge of advancing to Third Grade, Knight William was the Captain of the Guards. And as the king''s most trusted man, bore the great responsibility of the capital''s safety.


    These days, most of the capital''s defense had been redirected from the city as the knights followed Willis and the three dragons knights into Greenland Forest to exterminate the invaders. As the capital''s Captain of the Guards, the burden on Knight William''s shoulders had been getting heavier.


    "Is there still no news from Willis?" Edward VII interrupted William''s report with a frown on his face. He asked with a great deal of concern in his tone.


    "Still no news as of yet. The last message we got was from Blue Hillock City seven days ago. Apparently, the knights have successfully found the invaders'' den. Even though they have been met with stubborn resistance, the overall progress is still considerable. It is only the lack of supplies and reinforcements that keep them from crushing the enemy''s last foothold. That said, Count Vanlier of Blue Hillock City has already sent all of his subordinates to help with the transportation of supplies. News of victory is expected within four or five days!"


    This was clearly good news, but Edward VII still could not drive away the haze in his heart. He wasn''t sure why, but it felt like there was some illusory or phantom voice from the void sending messages of warning to him.


    What was happening? Even though victory was right before him, where did this lingering worry from the bottom of his heart come from?


    "Have there been any odd actions from the heretics in prison?" Edward VII suddenly stopped walking about but turned and asked loudly.


    "This... " Knight William betrayed an awkward expression, as if there was something he wanted to hide.


    "Speak... tell me quick... " Edward VII lunged forward and grabbed William''s shoulders. He was practically shouting at this point, "Has there been anything odd?"


    "Those heretics that claimed to be sages and prophets have killed themselves in their cells. Almost all of them were frantically screaming before their deaths... " Knight William hesitated for a second, but finally spoke, "It seems they had all been spouting insane words like... evil befalls and the dragons betray!"


    "Evil befalls, the dragons betray?" Edward VII took a step backwards in shock when he heard this and started mumbling to himself in his panic, "Impossible, this is impossible! The dragons signed the Dragon Covenant with my ancestors. There is no way... "


    Before he could finish his words, a deafening dragon''s roar rumbled across from the distant horizon.


    Almost immediately a wave of ferocious and chilling dragon''s aura instantly covered the capital.


    Knight William rushed forward, grabbed the balcony railing, and looked closely into the distance. He then turned around and shouted, "My king, it''s a flight of dragons. A flight of dragons... "


    It had been one thousand seven hundred years since the founding of the knights'' kingdom. The kingdom had a history of friendly relations with Dragon Valley and the two parties had even signed the Dragon Covenant. This was what allowed the kingdom to gain the aid of the dragons in the continuous battles against other races, as well as helping suppress the rebellious nobles. Today, several magnificent and elegant palaces had even been built behind Mount Mingsu to serve as the quarters of the dragon companions to the three dragon knights.


    Despite their alliance, it was an unavoidable issue that the dragons radiated their terrifying aura of might everywhere they went. It was not something that common folk could bear. Thus, in accordance with the Covenant, no dragon was to harass or break into any city of the kingdom. And this Covenant had been properly upheld for up to a thousand years!


    But today, the dragons suddenly arrived in a flight.


    This... what were they trying to do?


    The panicked sounds of horns continuously blared out on the mountain ridges to the side of Mount Mingsu.


    Lookouts had been constructed there, and it was obvious that the diligent soldiers had also discovered the appearance of the dragon flight.


    As the sound of horns passed throughout the entirety of Skandre, the citizens of the capital started to swarm out of their homes, looking about in confusion.


    It was clear that they didn''t understand the meaning of the warning!


    Two bright spots of light flashed on the faraway horizon. Then the rocks near the lookouts started to crumble, and the soldiers stationed there fell along with the platforms they had been standing on.


    Edward VII, who saw this happen right before his eyes, felt a tug in his heart.


    The dragons... the dragons were publicly assaulting the kingdom''s military facilities? The situation at hand was clear, even without an explanation for it!


    The silhouettes of the dragons slowly expanded under the two''s fearful gazes. A dense aura of strength so thick that it could drive men to suicide fell upon the city. The dragons had arrived at the City of Skandre.


    The dragons that were present were obviously adolescent green dragons. Even their appearances were extremely intimidating!


    Their bright and reflective dark green dragon scales were all at least as large as washbasins. They had lean bodies with protruding bones and wicked claws that gleamed with a metallic sheen. Terrifying bone spikes covered their backs from head to toe, reflecting with a chilling light under the sun.


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    Their bodies weren''t as fat or bloated as some large beasts in the forests, and their fine scale armor grew closely against their skin. Their perfect and flowing body lines provided them with the monstrous ability to dominate the top of the food chain on this plane.


    Chaos spread throughout the capital when the dense aura fell upon the city.


    Countless civilians that had never experienced such aura ran about frantically, screaming for their lives as if this was a scene out of the apocalypse.


    The leading dragon radiated an imposing aura and looked down upon the panicking humans as he raised his neck to let out a great roar of satisfaction.


    This dragon''s roar seemed to be an order!


    As the roar rumbled across the sky, a dozen massive green dragons also followed his lead and let out reverberating roars, before beating their wings and flying towards the tallest or most lavishly decorated halls in the city.


    From his lookout spot high atop Mount Mingsu, Edward VII clearly saw one terrifying green dragon dive downwards at the massive storehouse of a famous merchant and let out a thick green dragon breath.


    The human guard stationed there instantly dissolved into a pool of green liquid amidst his tragic screams!


    Having gotten rid of the pesky bug, the green dragon tackled the storehouse. It used its thick dragon claws to tear apart the roof, revealing the mountains of wealth and goods within.


    The shattered beams and bricks of the roof fell down in a cascade. The dragon reached forward with its claw, gripping box after box of treasure before beating its wings and flying towards the largest square of the city.


    Numerous dragons flew in every direction. All of them had a sense of purpose and direction when they flew, either heading towards merchant storehouses, storage facilities for auctions, or even the city''s treasury itself. All guards and soldiers that dared to obstruct their paths would be reduced to withered bones under their poison-mist breath. Even unarmed civilians and servants were attacked if they were near where the green dragon was.


    Storehouse after storehouse was reduced to debris, while treasuries were torn apart as treasure chests and mountains of gold coins were grabbed by the green dragons before being piled together at the city square.


    There, three green dragons had transformed into large, muscular men. They were busy packing their spoils into boxes with neat and orderly movements!


    Under Edward VII''s shocked gaze, the flight of dragons beat their wings, took to the sky, and broke into his palace. They started ransacking there as well. Whenever their gigantic bodies landed on a roof, the bricks and tiles would fall like an unending rain.


    Countless weak and frail princesses and princes escaped their palaces under the escort of guards and maids, screaming as they did so. He even saw with his own eyes his favourite concubine crushed under a crumbling building before she could escape.


    A chaotic gale blew in front of him and Edward VII stumbled backwards.


    The dragon in the lead, with the most domineering physique, flapped its wings and slowly rose from below. Its emerald dragon eyes, large as washbasins, were staring unblinkingly at the two men on the platform.


    Knight William had already drawn his radiant longsword and was standing before the king. He was fully prepared to fight, but he didn''t dare to make any sudden or reckless attacks against this gigantic Fourth Grade green dragon.


    Edward VII also managed to stand up with the help of numerous guards that came to his side.


    "Why? Why?" Edward VII screamed with all his strength, "Lord Nagupta, we signed the Dragon Covenant. Why are you suddenly attacking our cities?"


    "Attacking?" A human-like expression appeared on the large dragon''s thin and long face: "No, no, no, you are mistaken...this isn''t an attack! We green dragons have always been noble creatures that keep their promises. We would never do such a shameless thing as breaking an agreement between the two of us."


    "Not an attack? These actions are not an attack? You lead a flight of dragons right into the capital of your ally to rob and steal everything within it... and you dare say this isn''t an attack?" Edward VII''s voice had become completely hoarse. His frantic and angered hand waving also caused him to be unable to stand firm.


    After all, he was 143 this year. Even though he had taken good care of his health, he was still an elderly man in this knights'' plane, where the limit of a human''s lifespan was two hundred years.


    As he questioned the dragon with all his voice, his shaking right hand retrieved a red gemstone the size of a pigeon''s egg from around his neck and extended it outwards at the dragon.


    When Edward raised the ruby high in the sky, a shining light of energy emanated from within the gemstone, forming ancient and mysterious words within the air before them.


    "The Dragon Covenant is right here! I order you to withdraw from this city!" Edward VII roared with what was left of his vigor.


    "Haha... ancient covenants need to be acknowledged, but the tradition of dragons shouldn''t be abandoned either. We are not here to attack you this time. Rather, we are here to collect our protection fees. Human king, you have had a thousand years of protection from the Taerar Green Dragons. It is now time for you to pay your fees." The Fourth Grade Green Dragon Nagupta''s massive eyes swept across the gemstone projection with disdain as he spat out these words. He then turned and flew towards the city below.


    Edward VII raised the gemstone high above his head. He coughed out purple-black blood before his body gave out and fell to the ground.


    ...


    2080 Words


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 Chapter 237 Cursed

    Leon reached Skandre five days after the dragons had raided the city.Standing on a tall peak on Mount Mingsu, Leon very clearly saw the pitiful capital and its sorrowful civilians walking about the debris and waste.


    Along the way here, Leon had seen every human city of decent size raided by the dragons. This was the seventh human city he had seen that had been raided by the dragons. Moreover, it was the one that had been the most severely destroyed.


    After all, this was the greatest and most magnificent city of radiance in the knights'' kingdom¨C Skandre!


    Sadly it had now been reduced to a broken city buried under rubble and crumbling walls.


    Countless civilians that had lost their homes in the chaos were rummaging about the destroyed buildings, looking for food and clothing. Winding lines of refugee carts filled the streets of the city. Shouting and whinnying were everywhere to be heard. Dust and smoke lingered in the sky...


    The buildings at the foot of the mountain were mostly still in decent condition. That was the civilian housing area and had not been raided much by the dragons. The damage to the architecture got increasingly worse with the height of the mountain. Leon saw that the more delicate and magnificent the building, the more severe the damage was.


    It seemed that the dragons were extremely well-versed in the art of raiding and robbing!


    Leon took off his hood and allowed his handsome face to be exposed under the sun.


    Leon couldn''t help but sigh in his heart when he looked down upon the tragic capital before him.


    Once upon a time, the dragons had been the greatest trump card and protector of the human kings, as well as the solid foundation for maintaining their firm rule.


    Since the appearance of the Dragon Valley in this plane several thousand years ago, the human kingdom had built a strong rapport and alliance with the dragons.


    The dragons enjoyed the offerings of the humans, while the humans enjoyed the protection of the dragons.


    All of the powerful magical creatures in the wild and the ambitious nobles ruling over their own land considered the dragons of Dragon Valley to be the true rulers of the knights'' plane. Their so-called king was only a pathetic bug kneeling before the dragons!


    One Thousand Seven Hundred years ago, the Edward family was a small local noble as well. However, they offered many treasures to the dragons and promised countless more. With the dragons'' blessing, the Edward family rose to prominence. They defeated the other nobles, collapsed the ruling kingdom, and formed the knights'' kingdom.


    It was the Dragon Covenant that allowed the Edward family to bring about an era of peace and prosperity lasting 1,700 years. However the massive annual tributes they paid to the dragons had also, at some point, caused the kingdom to fall into a crippled state, unable to maintain their absolute control over the plane.


    With a calamity now in their faces, not even the kingdom''s perpetual loyalty and obedience could stop Dragon Valley from breaking the kingdom''s spine and squeezing out the last bit of wealth and treasure from it.


    It seemed he was still one step too late!


    Those shameless dragons had completely robbed this city of everything it had.


    That said, Leon wasn''t here for worldly wealth or money. He was here for a mission assigned by Lord Sarubo. Of course, it was also for that energy-merging knowledge he craved for.


    He could only hope his targets were still alive now that the entire capital Skandre had been reduced to rubble.


    Walking on the only stone path into the city, Leon saw people everywhere. Expressionless and exhausted, they pushed carts and herded their livestock, surging out of the city with their families. Mothers cried with their children in their bosoms, elderly men leaned against the remains of their homes without any expressions on their faces. Adults with vengeance, hate, and anger painted on their faces... their expressions were never the same, but they were all equally dishevelled and on the brink of tears.


    Leon had seen too many such expressions on his way here!


    This was the great capital famous throughout the kingdom. It had enormous wealth that was without end. As a result, it drew a lot of attention from the dragons as well.


    Everyday for the past five days, flights of dragons arrived from the distant horizon, raided the city, then left with their backs and claws full of their spoils.


    The merchants and the rich of the city had all escaped this city cursed by the dragons in order to avoid their raiding and robbing. The only ones left here were poor civilians with nowhere else to go.


    However, as the dragons'' rampage continued, the city also gradually became increasingly empty. Even those civilians with nothing to their name had no choice but to painfully leave this familiar piece of land they had grown up on and move to somewhere new.


    Leon entered Skandre City by wading through such a chaotic crowd.


    Leon had tried his best and found a gray and old travelling cloak. Still, with every step he took, the edge of the cloth would lift up, revealing the delicate robe underneath with its shining magic runes. Some bad-intentioned crooks might not understand these patterns, but it didn''t stop them from understanding its value.


    A group of unfortunate fellows with dishevelled clothes and mean appearances quickly appeared behind Leon. Every one of them was holding some sort of weapon, be it a club or a shiv.


    Leon passed by a tall tower with only half of its height remaining and turned into a small alley. Light gleamed in the eyes of the crooks. Their opportunity had come. The lot of them quickly strode after Leon. Your next read is at empire


    The fight didn''t last long.


    If it wasn''t out of fear of being discovered by the dragons, he would have only needed a simple fireball to eradicate all of these idiots. But now, Leon could only wield his fists and punch the crooks to the ground with his raw strength.


    As the group of rogues were rolling about the ground in pain, Leon grabbed ahold of a scrawny man''s chin and lifted him from the ground.


    "Where is the capital''s Runeforge Camp? Bring me there now, or else... " Leon''s iron grip suddenly turned red hot, burning a black handprint onto the man''s face.


    "Heretic, you are a heretic... " The stumbling men instantly recognized Leon''s identity and fell into a panic.


    Leon was only a fire elementium Mage. He didn''t possess much in the way of knowledge about the soul, otherwise he wouldn''t need to use threats on these people to have them show him the way. Sadly, even after thoroughly interrogating every one of them, he still did not managed to get any information on that Runeforge Camp.


    Just as Leon frowned and contemplated how to clean up these crooks, the crisp sound of a child rang out from the rubble beside him.


    "These people couldn''t possibly know where Runeforge Camp is located!"


    Leon was slightly shocked. He released his Spirit and quickly locked onto this newcomer.


    He was a teenager, skinny to his very bones. He looked to be twelve or eleven, his hunched body hiding behind a crumbled wall. His aura was immensely weak. Without externally releasing his Spirit, Leon hadn''t managed to sense him closing in.


    "You know Runeforge Camp?" Leon turned his head and looked at this fellow that showed up of nowhere, "You are a caster as well?"


    Leon very vaguely saw a trace of elementium aura about the child.


    "Follow me if you want to find out where Runeforge Camp is!" The skinny teenager''s face was a pale yellow color, not unlike a malnutritioned stray on the street. Still, using his elementium sight, Leon saw the massive life energies hidden in his body.


    Having finished speaking, the youth wove several hand-signs and a light green rune appeared between his palms. Immediately after that, similar runes flashed above the heads of the crooks present.


    In a matter of a few breaths, the youth dispelled the runes and turned to leave. Meanwhile, the crooks had already fallen asleep one after another. It seemed they had suddenly forgot everything.


    A very crude way of weaving signs, much like the certain means of a branch of curse Mages.


    More importantly, the spell that was completed using these hand-signs radiated extremely insignificant elementium flux. Even though Leon was only ten meters away from him, he had to rely on the chip''s powerful scanning powers to catch the elementium flux frequency.


    It seemed that the casters of this plane were still able to stubbornly survive, despite heavy suppression by the witcher-knights. They had even developed some interesting tricks in doing so.


    Leon patted the dust of his hands and quickly followed after the youth.


    A loud dragon''s roar suddenly reverberated across the skies of the capital. The people remaining in the city immediately ran around looking for hiding spots. Almost instantly, not a single silhouette remained on the streets or alleys.


    Countless eyes, filled with anger, looked out from hidden spots in the city, closely staring at the three lithe figures quickly circling about the sky. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The youth also hid in a crumbling house, looking at the dragons'' movement through a crack in the roof. The three green dragons circled several times before lunging towards a palace at the waist of the mountain. Soon the screams and cries of women and the angry roars of men could be heard from the distance.


    Zeng zeng zeng...


    A dozen crossbow bolts clashed against the leading dragon''s scales, sending sparks flying everywhere, but none of them did any visible damage to it.


    These three dragons were clearly teenage dragons that had just come of age. Their hunting experience was greatly lacking when compared to the veteran green dragons from several days ago. The three dragons roared angrily at the retaliation from the pathetic bugs before them and let out large clouds of poison mist in return.


    The world quickly fell silent once more!


    The three dragons leaped into the halls and immediately started their savage raid, wreaking havoc on the building as they did so.


    The scrawny youth looked on quietly as this hideous occurrence continued. He knew he should feel satisfaction and joy at the price the nobles were paying. However, for some reason, his heart was filled with an indescribable anguish, rage, and a trace of sorrow when he saw this happening.


    He turned his head and saw no pity or sympathy on Leon''s handsome face. Finally, he couldn''t help but speak


    "Will you also enslave us in the future, like the dragons are doing?"


    ...


    1798 Words

 Chapter 238 Variable

    Perhaps knowing he couldn''t get the answer he wanted from Leon, the youth didn''t wait for one. He turned and ran out of his hiding spot.One hour later, at a slum at the bottom of the mountain, Leon finally met the man behind the youth.


    It was an old man with a black cloth wrapped around his eyes.


    Leon couldn''t ''see'' any trace of magic circulation about him, nor sense any powerful mental flux. Yet for some reason, a sense of respect surged within his heart when he saw him.


    A sage? A diviner? Or a prophet?


    This blindfolded old man lived in a small and tiny grass shack.


    Leon had seen numerous odd characters in the nearby alleys on his way here. These people looked exactly like that youth that led him here. There was nothing remarkable about them on the surface, but their weak bodies always hid a powerful, volatile-yet-suppressed strength.


    Moreover, it was evident that these people were hiding near the shack, closely guarding this blindfolded elder.


    This blindfolded old man was obviously an important figure amongst the ''heretics'' of this plane!


    Leon finally understood how the skinny youth had so easily found him. With someone like this... pointing the way, even his arrival must have been well within the opponent''s expectations.


    Leon really despised these fellows that spent their days looking into fate and the future. Even though they had the unique ability to communicate with the plane, it was considered as a commonly seen elementium magic. Their tricks and powers couldn''t be stopped or deflected by any means.


    As such, no one dared offend an Mage with divining powers in the World of Mages. Otherwise you might die without even knowing the cause!


    "Welcome, guest from another plane! I am Mas."


    The old man introduced himself as such. He didn''t use the hostile word ''invaders'' in his speech. Rather, he used the neutral ''guest''. This fully expressed his desire for a cooperative relationship!


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you here, Mr Mas. I am Leon, an Mage from the World of Mages. I''m sure you already have some understanding as to my purpose here, don''t you?" Leon swept his hood behind his head and revealed his face before politely performing a proper Mages'' greeting.


    Mas betrayed a bitter smile when he looked upon Leon''s young and handsome face.


    "We have already tasted the godly might of the Lord Great Mage in your base. That little kid Goth tested his patience and was reduced to ashes by your Great Mage. Even people like myself were involved in the planar backlash and lost our eyes! Lord Great Mage can counterattack an enemy thousands of miles away through the planar level¨C that is more than enough to deserve our respect!"


    That happened?


    Leon was slightly shocked, but he didn''t show it on his face. He continued to sincerely look at Diviner Mas.


    Sage, diviner, prophet. These titles referred to the same group of individuals, but the change in the title matched the difference in their abilities.


    Sage. Almost all that started practicing divination had this title.


    They didn''t always get feedback when they connected with the planar consciousness, and even when they did, the feedback they got would be chaotic and fragmented. These people were able to divine fortune and misfortune and were more likely to walk down a path beneficial for themselves.


    Diviners were even stronger than sages. Almost every single one of their divinations were able to result in feedback from the planar consciousness. That said, the feedback was mostly limited to themselves. The amount of information they got from the feedback would also be related to the amount of power they had.


    These people had an elementary mastery over the power of fate, and were able to peek at fragments of the future through the planar laws. They commonly became the leaders of their race or clan and enjoyed an extremely respected status.


    Prophets were even more terrifying.


    They were often casters with immense power themselves. Not only could they see the future, they could even use their powers to distort or even change the flow of fate to some extent. It was because of this skill that Mages who were also prophets were extremely terrifying existences, even in the World of Mages.


    Thus, even though Leon had no talent for divination, his background in the World of Mages and the superior knowledge he possessed allowed him to see through the depths of Mas'' powers.


    In truth it was completely out of Leon''s expectations that Mas was able to develop into a diviner under the witcher-knights'' cruel suppression.


    These people might not have much in the way of combat or attack skills, but they had the tremendous ability to see through the functioning of the planar laws. They were like eyes suspended above the long river of fate, gazing coldly at the men engulfed within.


    To Leon''s understanding, there were plenty of diviners in the Silver Union back in the World of Mages. They willingly gave up their magic powers, all in order to get a better look at the river of fate. They hid within the Silver Union''s Diviners'' Tower and never took a step in the outside world. Yet they still knew of everything happening everywhere on the Continent of Mages. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They never participated in conflicts or abused their powers. They continually and dutifully did their jobs as the eyes of fate. Day in and day out, they transcribed scrolls and organized their notes. They worked hard, writing down every single thing that they managed to divine, then stored them in hidden rooms within the Tower.


    Many powerful Mages had to personally visit these powerless ''madmen'' to clear up confusions about the past. They used their most precious, valuable knowledge and resources to obtain a chance to enter the Tower and do away with their doubts.


    But now, when a diviner from another plane stood before Leon, he couldn''t help but start wondering.


    Would he be able to see his future path to power if he used the eyes of this other-world diviner?


    Diviner Mas started chuckling as Leon''s mind was contemplating the idea.


    "Sir Leon, don''t count on me to help you. Every prophet is tightly bound to the plane they were born on. Even if I drained all of my strength, I would still never be able to extend my vision to a place as far away the World of Mages."


    "But did you not divine my arrival?" Leon asked, confused.


    "That is because you are now in this plane and away from that Great Mage!" An expression of frustration appeared on Diviner Mas'' face, "If you continued to stay by the side of the respected Great Mage, I would never dare to cast my vision anywhere near. However, when you left Greenland Forest, the path of your fate crossed mine. Thus I was able to see you and the purpose you bear!"


    "Sir Mas, as a man of powerful ability from this plane, do you not feel repulsion and dislike for my identity?" Leon thought for a moment before asking this difficult question. Continue your adventure at empire


    "Fate! What is fate? Most people misunderstand and believe that we rule above fate. That we can change fate because we can see through it. Diviners that hold such thoughts hardly ever survive." Mas paused for a second here, as if he just thought of someone or something.


    It was a while later before he returned from his memories and continued, "In truth, these people are all mistaken. Even the most powerful prophet in this world is ultimately a slave of fate. No one can be the master of fate. Fate is a shackle, tightly chaining everyone and everything together. The path of everything''s fate is silently revolving around certain rules and laws. There is no possibility of breaking out of that."


    Leon listened silently.


    "What is fate?


    "This is a question whose answer every prophet has sought for their entire lives, to no avail.


    "Some prophets believe that fate is a certain end that results from the systematic operation of all the rules and laws in the world. As long as all the conditions remain the same, there will only be one result. When the numerous results, ends, and conclusions accumulate, they form fate.


    "Meanwhile, some prophets believe that fate is a unique force that exists independently, outside of the ordinary rules and laws. Even though it coincides and walks along the current world most of the time, it also concurrently and continuously changes as it does so. The river of fate is winding and extends to infinity. It might even be divided into many levels, filled with unpredictable variables at every level. Thus the direction of the river of fate''s flow is also ever changing. It is also accepts and admits new factors.


    "This viewpoint clearly puts fate on an extremely high pedestal. It believes that fate is one of the most superior, powerful, and highest-order force laws in the multiverse. This higher-order law is not something that ordinary and inferior creatures can hope to control or manipulate. The only thing they can do is to understand and accept it, then use it to their advantage.


    "In all seriousness, every single person, every single substance, and every single elementium within the multiverse has their own unique fate. And this fate, this path they are to walk on can become more or less certain, more or less strong, and more or less definite with the existence of the fate''s host, as well as the multiple factors in the multiverse.


    "However, if a plane chooses to go into isolation, then everything within the plane would become fixed and predictable. At a certain point, even the plane''s fate itself will become predictable!


    "Thus every planar world has to admit outsiders intermittently if they do not wish to become a stagnant pool of water. In doing so, they create variables for the fate of the plane. It''s just that most of the time, even the plane''s power of fate cannot determine whether this variable will be a beneficial or harmful one."


    Leon''s body couldn''t help but tremor as he listened to this other-world diviner''s enlightening knowledge of fate.


    At this very moment he felt like he vaguely understood the reason he had accidentally appeared in the World of Mages.


    Possibly, maybe, perhaps... he was one of the ''variables'' the World of Mages had drawn in from the multiverse!


    ...


    1750 Words

 Chapter 239 Transaction

    The conversation with Diviner Mas was pleasant and delightful!Mas sensed what was going through Leon''s mind to varying extents.


    When two smart men gathered together, discussions were easily completed. There was no need for roundabout small talk or probing questions. In a matter of sentences the two of them quickly arranged a possible future frame for collaboration.


    Although Leon couldn''t make decisions in place of Lord Sarubo, he could recommend this batch of people to him. This was the main reason Diviner Mas was in such a hurry to meet Leon!


    It was only after the talk that Leon found out Mas wasn''t alone. There was a large group of casters who had potential as Mages gathered around him. On the way here all the people Leon had seen possessed, at the very least, power rivalling advanced apprentices. Moreover most of them had pseudo-Mage level casting abilities.


    Their leader Diviner Mas was a terrifying Second Grade.


    Sadly, the class characteristics of prophets required them to abandon all casting abilities in exchange for the more powerful powers of divination. Even though his Grade was exceptionally high, he did not have much offensive ability. Quite the contrary¨C most of the time he needed the protection of his followers.


    That said, it was clear how powerful his ability was. Mas had been able to gather such a large group of individuals around him and settle in the heartland of the knights'' kingdom.


    This was mostly because Mas and his followers formed a mutually beneficial relationship.


    Mas relied on his followers to protect him, while he was able to provide a blessing of fortune for these people while also allowing them to escape the pursuit of the witcher-knights.


    Such a group could only have appeared in the cruel and distorted environment of the knights'' plane.


    Regardless of what their plans were, Leon was relieved to have these locals to help coordinate the Mages'' actions. The execution of his mission in Skandre city had just become that much easier.


    In less than half a day Leon got his hands on the information he wanted. It was information about Runeforge Camp and the location of the king.


    Leon bore two missions on this trip to Skandre City. The first was an assassination order personally assigned by Lord Sarubo. Leon was ordered to kill Edward VII as soon as possible to catalyze an internal conflict within the kingdom. The second was Leon''s personal mission. The energy merging knowledge he needed was hidden in that Runeforge Camp.


    He was determined to get his hands on that knowledge.


    Runeforge Camp was, in truth, the largest and most well-hidden weapon-manufacturing facility in the knights'' kingdom. The standard runic equipment that all witcher-knights wore were forged at Runeforge Camp.


    For a long time, Runeforge Camp had been a special location countless local nobles had tried to infiltrate. The entire world knew of the witcher-knights'' power. The first was the unstoppable charge of their magic colts, and the second was the tough defense and offense that their runic equipment afforded them.


    Any noble that had ambitions of taking the throne for themself would think about stealing the secrets of forging runic weapons, then secretly train their own runic warriors.


    Sadly, Runeforge Camp was one of the most important and classified locations in the kingdom. Almost none had successfully escaped once they entered. If it wasn''t for Mas providing the information, Leon alone would probably not have been able to find the location of the camp.


    Late at night.


    In a crude and run-down wooden hut.


    Leon sat silently by the only table in the room by himself. He used the dim candlelight to read through the information in his hands.


    He had just requested this information and already someone had sent it over before nightfall.


    The information was very detailed and complete. It not only provided an accurate location of the camp, it even included the spread of buildings within and their separate uses, as well as the strength and numbers of the guards at every spot.


    In all honesty, the person who first founded Runeforge Camp was a genius!


    They had hidden Runeforge Camp within Mount Mingsu to keep it away from public sight. Which is to say, Runeforge Camp wasn''t a place constructed on a large flatland. Rather it was hidden in the belly of the mountain.


    There were only two paths that lead inside. One was through the witcher-knight headquarters, located on the waist of Mount Mingsu, while the other was through the back of Mount Mingsu.


    The former was the main path, commonly used for transporting materials and supplies. It was always guarded by three to five radiant knights and outsiders had virtually no chance of breaking in through there. The latter was a small cave dug into the middle of a cliff, used for dumping the waste from the manufacturing of the runic weapons.


    The cave was three hundred meters above the ground and the cliff it was on was treacherously steep. There was almost no possibility of scaling it. Tough metal railings had been fitted on the entrance of the cave as well. It was only opened temporarily for dumping waste. There would also be guards and patrols securing the area at all times. Ordinary men had no chance of sneaking in.


    Having finished reading all the information, Leon quickly started to construct a three-dimensional model of the camp in his mind with the help of the chip. As the numbers of the workers, craftsmen, and guards were slowly entered into the model, a realistic representation of Runeforge Camp came to life.


    With the firsthand information on Runeforge Camp now in his hands, what he needed to do now was think of a way to break in and make his way to the drafting room, located at the heart of the forging area. All of the information and parchments regarding the runic equipment was stored there.


    On the other hand the force stationed there was enough to make Leon wince.


    Normally, there were always five radiant knights guarding the camp. Three of them were responsible for defending the knights'' headquarters, while the other two were stationed within the camp a single room away from the drafting room.


    However, with the frequent raids on the capital by the dragons, many radiant knights had been reassigned to ensure the safety of the palace. The number of radiant knights stationed at Runeforge Camp was currently at its lowest. Just two. One stayed at the knights'' headquarters, which was near the entrance of Runeforge Camp. One was stationed inside Runeforge Camp.


    This was undoubtedly already great news for Leon!


    Still, a fully-armed and prepared radiant knight was a massive mountain he had to cross.


    He had to sneak into the drafting room without alerting anyone. If even a single guard spotted him, the radiant knight would be alerted.


    Leon might have been able to rely on the complex geography back in Greenland Forest, along with the mobility of his spells to toy with the radiant knights. However, trapped within such a narrow underground path, he would lose most of his mobility. The moment he met a radiant knight would likely be the moment he died in his pursuits as an Mage.


    Though he might have personally killed a radiant knight before, the circumstances were different. The radiant knight was worn out, while Leon had been preparing to kill the knight. It was a valiant result that he had only achieved after giving up so many of his golems. What he had to face now was a fully intact radiant knight with a home field advantage!


    He quickly simulated up to hundreds of break-in attempts in his mental space, but every attempt ended in a failure due to the radiant knight''s interference. The chip was left with one final conclusion. If Leon didn''t find a way to eliminate that radiant knight, his plan of robbing the drafting room would remain a dream.


    Besides this extremely troublesome problem, the assassination mission tasked him by Lord Sarubo was also a tough one.


    Edward VII was hidden in his palace at the peak of Mount Mingsu, protected by a large group of radiant knights and spellbreaker knights. That was the only place left untouched by the dragon flight, and consequently it had complete and intact defensive facilities.


    To defend against the possibility of a dragon attack, the amount of military force amassed there was truly impenetrable. The possibility of Leon breaking through all that defense and killing the king was miniscule.


    The more he read the parchment, and the more he understand about the palace, the more helpless he felt about his task.


    His power as a First Grade Mage might have been enough for him to live a good life in the World of Mages, but it was still a difficult and dangerous thing to walk about a planar battlefield. It was like walking on thin ice. A slight misstep and he would die!


    Just as Leon was engulfed in frustration and hesitation, footsteps sounded from outside the wooden hut, quickly followed by light knocking.


    Diviner Mas personally came to visit him!


    "I''m sure you have seen the information. What do you think about your odds for the two missions?" Mas had just sat down and already he couldn''t help but ask.


    Leon was honest as well. He spoke frankly, "If it''s just me alone, there is no possibility of completing either of these tasks!"


    "Do you intend to give up?"


    "No! Not at all!" Leon smiled slightly as he said, "If it''s just me, it''s not possible. But if I had Sir Mas'' help, I''m sure things would be different!"


    Leon could clearly see how unbelievably detailed the information provided to him was. There was no way that this was information those half-ass casters obtained on their own. The only way this could have been obtained was through the prophecy powers of the diviner before him.


    If he had such a powerful ability, he might be able to use his amazing prophetic powers to find loopholes and flaws in this sturdy defense that outsiders were not privy to. Wasn''t this what he was the best at?


    That said, Leon probably needed to give something in exchange for using Mas'' powers. After all, the information provided by Mas was more than enough for Leon to recommend them to Great Mage Sarubo.


    If he wanted the full cooperation of Diviner Mas, Leon had to offer something new and of value!


    For the rest of the night, the two negotiated within the wooden hut.


    Starting from the next day, Leon never took a single step out of the hut. He remained within the building, furiously writing on parchment after parchment. In just three days, he had completely transcribed some of the more common magic books from the World of Mages.


    This included the meditation techniques provided to the apprentice Mages, methods to train the Spirit, the branches and paths of the Mage system, as well as basic templates of some apprentice-level spells.


    With a complete magic system as reference, Diviner Mas could continuously cultivate more and more casters in this plane as long as he could survive the impending disaster. This was something that Lord Sarubo would never give him. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Of course, in order to ensure Mas upheld his end of the aLeonent, Leon had sealed most of the content when he transcribed the scrolls. Without him personally undoing those seals, all the parchments would turn into ash in a blazing fire.


    Now with the full cooperation of Diviner Mas, Leon finally had a small chance of successfully completing the missions!


    ...


    1947 Words

 Chapter 240 Assault

    During the night, Skandre lost the rowdiness and liveliness it had in the past.With the exception of some sparse light near the palace and the city center, the rest of the city had been plunged into a deep and heavy darkness.


    Once night fell, a light rain washed over the city.


    Very few people could be seen on the broken streets. The homeless civilians shivered in unstable houses, using what remained of their roofs as shelter.


    This was the eleventh day since the dragon raid started on Skandre City.


    For the first few days, the dragons had only set their sights on the rich and powerful in the upper city area, rarely ever harassing the lower city and civilian areas. However, once they had robbed the wealthy of all that they had, their vision fell on the civilians. The civilians that formed sixty percent of the entire population of the city.


    The dragons that had raided on the first couple of days had been adolescent dragons. They had used their powerful strength to crush the guards of the merchants and the nobles, then smashed apart the cellars and storehouses that were filled with resources and wealth.


    Skandre City might have the most powerful land army on the Continent of Knights, but the weakened Edward VII had commanded and reassigned all of the high-grade knights to the palace surroundings and forbid them from having any conflict with the dragons.


    Thus Skandre City lost all military protection it had, turning into a hunting ground for the dragons. Everyday, dragons flew thousands of kilometers here just to rob and steal.


    As the cities the dragons needed to raid slowly increased, the adolescent dragons in Dragon Valley eventually weren''t enough for their raiding needs. Even some whelps on the verge of adolescence had been sent out, following behind the larger dragons to practice their hunting techniques and sharpening their fangs.


    Under such cruel devastation, Skandre City was like an injured patient at the brink of death. Every day it struggled at the edge of life and death, waiting for its last breath.


    Leon was wrapped in a thick black traveller''s robe, like a phantom in the darkness. He followed behind Leaf and Razor, silently weaving through the pitch black alleys of the lower city area.


    Leaf was the teenage boy that had previously brought him to Diviner Mas. No. Teenage girl! Due to severe malnutrition at a young age, the fourteen year old girl Leaf was extremely thin, making it hard to distinguish any gender characteristics from her appearance. When she was found by Mas, the innate talent she awakened was similar to the Thought Manipulation mastered by curse Mages.


    Due to the lack of a systematic cultivation system, as well as proper resource utilization, Leaf didn''t manage to find a caster who could teach her after her talents had awakened. This caused her to have no spells, other than the few innate spells she awakened naturally.


    Leon couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh after a serious appraisal of her body condition. A little girl that had immense innate casting talent combined with a powerful pseudo-Mage level Spirit, yet all her other attributes were so poor they couldn''t even compare with ordinary civilians.


    The thirteen year old teenage boy Razor was also in a similar condition.


    Razor''s talent was the extremely unique metal affinity. He was naturally able to manipulate and control some metal weapons. He also had pseudo-Mage level powers, but had not mastered a single spell. Moreover, the quality of his physique was also in shambles.


    As a previous street urchin that was even lower than livestock, he had no relatives or even a name of his own. Even the name he had now was given to him by Diviner Mas, when Mas gave him shelter.


    However, even though they weren''t very good in combat, their understanding and familiarity with Skandre City was incomparable to outsiders. And what Leon needed was locals exactly like them!


    They turned down countless alleys in the dark, even going above two or three abandoned civilian homes. Soon a three-level tower appeared before them.


    They had to pass by such towers if they wanted to sneak into the upper city area from the lower city area.


    Looking from a distance, they could see three city guards gathered together and making small talk under a dim torch st a small arch-shaped gate.


    While Leaf went forward to deal with the guards, Razor went up to Leon.


    "Hey, big guy. Is your world really that powerful? I heard from the old man that you Mages are powerful fellows who can conquer most the multiverse!"


    Two shrouds of flame burnt silently under the shadow of his hood. He wasn''t upset at all by this overly curious brat. In fact he even felt an indescribable closeness with the kid due to how similar in age they were.


    A lot of the time, Leon couldn''t help but feel relieved that he had been born in the World of Mages, where Mages had a dominant social position. If he had unfortunately fallen into a terrifying place like the knights'' plane, he wouldn''t have so easily made a name for himself, even with the help of the chip.


    "Mages aren''t as powerful as you think. There are countless other races and planes that are superior to even the Mages in the entire multiverse. You should be glad that we Mages were the ones invading your plane. If it had been the Scourge Lords of the World of Disaster, your entire plane added together wouldn''t even be enough for them to devour in a single bite!" Since they had plenty of time, Leon didn''t mind entertaining the kid.


    It was only when Leaf waved her hand that the two quickly walked over to the dimly lit gate.


    The three city guards were still wearing their old standard leather armor. They held their spears in one hand and leaned against the wall, still retaining their postures from when they were conversing. Their eyes were opened wide but their gazes were unfocused and lifeless. They didn''t even react when Leon and Razor walked by.


    Leon could very clearly see a strange rune flashing on their foreheads.


    The three silently passed through the gate. When they disappeared into the darkness in the distance, Leaf cancelled the runes, allowing the three city guards to wake from their stupor. However, that short pause earlier had not disrupted their conversation. They were still engaged in their small talk as if nothing had happened.


    "Quite an impressive ability!" Leon gave a rare compliment.


    This little girl was able to discover such a unique way of using her talents even without any guidance. It was clear that she was also an extremely talented individual. It was unfortunate that she had been born on this knights'' plane. If she had the fortune of being born in the World of Mages, she might have become a powerful Mage!


    "Of course." Razor clearly admired Leaf and immediately spoke in excitement when he heard Leon''s compliment, "Sister Leaf is an irreplaceably important character amongst us. Her ability is the strongest, apart from that old man and the few instructors!"


    "Shut up, Razor!" Leaf, who had been walking in front, suddenly scolded quietly, "If you can''t control your mouth, I''ll make you unable to speak for the rest of the night!"


    With her unique ability to manipulate thought, all she needed was a simple psychological attack to the subconscious and she could temporarily rob others of their ability to speak. After all, the people of this world didn''t have such simple and practical defensive thought magic accessories like the Soul Brooch. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The young Razor stuck his tongue out at Leaf and quickly shut up.


    Instructor?


    Leon smiled slightly and silently contemplated.


    Leaf was already a pseudo-Mage level thought manipulator. If that was the case, the instructor Razor spoke of could only be an actual Mage-level existence. How unbelievably powerful were these guys'' talents? To be able to successfully advance into real casters while under the cruel oppression of the witcher-knights?


    Once they passed through that gate, they had made it into the upper city area.


    Compared to the low buildings and old wooden huts of the lower city area, almost every building in the upper city area had gardens of their own and were all magnificent mansions. Their target this time lived in a mansion close to the palace. It was natural that it would be difficult to sneak their way in there.


    Leon''s terrifying magic abilities might allow him to easily turn this place into a sea of fire, but it was extremely hard for him to sneak his way into the heart of the enemy''s place without drawing attention. Fire Teleportation was a decent mobility spell, but that blast of fire and sudden explosion of the halo was far too conspicuous.


    If he didn''t want to draw the attention of every guard in the upper city area, he had to rely on the power of these locals!


    The three stopped at times, plunging into dark alleys to avoid well-armed patrols.


    After a dozen days of raids, the upper city had been badly damaged. Fallen walls and broken beams were everywhere; crumbling buildings could be seen all around.


    This area, set between the upper city area and the palace area, was a place that only the most powerful and respected of Skandre City could live in.


    Right now, dim candlelight pierced through the second floor window of a delicate mansion. This meant that the owner of the bedroom hadn''t slept yet, despite the night''s rainfall.


    Daphne lightly pushed apart the wooden windows and leaned on the lattice. She gazed silently into the dark night sky.


    It was only at this time of day that those accursed dragons wouldn''t come whistling in and disturb her peaceful and fulfilling life.


    The street next to hers had just been raided by the dragons. Greena''s house was razed and a dozen of her servants had died. John''s home, on the street to the right, had also been visited by the dragons. Everything of value inside had been completely taken away.


    Every day, she and her other young companions would have to gather in the palace to avoid being hurt by the dragons. It was only at night that they were allowed to return to see if their homes were still standing.


    Such an oppressive life was just way too terrible!


    Daphne was filled with resentment every time she thought of her father having to constantly stay in that rowdy Runeforge Camp. He wasn''t even able to stay by her mother''s side!


    ...


    1783 Words

 Chapter 241 Conspiracy

    The bedroom door opened and a gentle noble lady walked in with soft steps."Daphne, it''s time for you to rest!" The lady walked over and hugged her shoulder, pulling her over to the large, delicate bed, "Get some rest. We still have to go to the palace tomorrow morning!"


    Daphne sent her mother away with reassuring words before letting out a sigh. Once she closed the door she turned around, only to see a strange pair of ghostly green eyes staring her in the face.


    Leaf lightly put the young, slim girl in the nightdress on her soft bed. She turned and said, "I have hypnotized her. She won''t wake up until tomorrow morning. Hurry up and do what you want to do!"


    A tall figure walked out from the darkness in the corner of the room and walked silently to the bed.


    He lightly lifted up the girl''s nightdress and stopped when her white waist was exposed.


    Leon extended his right index finger and quickly drew a strange fire rune on the girl''s stomach. The entire rune flashed and radiated an evil crimson light. It faded two or three seconds later, disappearing into the girl''s stomach.


    "It''s done! "Leon put his hand down and closed his eyes to sense for the fire rune within the girl before nodding in satisfaction, "Let''s return!"


    Leaf deftly tidied the girl''s nightdress and covered her in the soft velvet blanket. She then turned and leave.


    They silently snuck out of the mansion. Leon turned back and took one last look before turning into a dark alley. He let out a soft sigh before pulling his hood up, covering his face and merging back into the darkness.


    This was the power that a diviner possessed!


    The same radiant knight, and the only way he could think of dealing with him was how to kill the knight in a direct confrontation. But in the hands of the powerless Diviner Mas, he could use odd and unique ways to solve the problem.


    Such as using an opponent''s relatives to draw them away at the crucial moment. In doing so the dangerous battle could be avoided!


    Lions and tigers can only talk with their fangs and claws, but a fox was so much more sly.


    Leon finally understood how Diviner Mas was able to survive right beneath the noses of the witcher-knights.


    The reason Mas was willing to contact him was probably because he saw benefit to be gained through the power of fate. There was no way he could have obtained the fundamental magic books from the Great mage!


    Due to the difference in planar laws, these books were not completely suited for the casters of this plane. However, with a system for reference, they could save hundreds of years of uncertain experimentation. Perhaps, with their current knowledge and power, they could easily construct an advancement system in a mere hundred or two hundred years that completely suited the casters of this plane.


    But how would this affect Leon in any way?


    Why would it matter if these casters chose to continue serving under Great mage Sarubo, or started trouble by choosing to go independent?


    Perhaps it was because both parties had needs that could be fulfilled by each other, while having no direct clash of interest. Diviner Mas was willing to cooperate fully with Leon and even he had to pay a price in doing so.


    Leon was sure that the powerless old man would instantly vanish from his sight if he ever thought of killing him and he would never see Mas again. What came next would most likely be an endless pursuit from the leaders of the witcher-knights.


    Diviners indeed had intricate and incomprehensible uses of their powers!


    Even though they might not have any strength by themselves, they could utilize the forces around them to achieve their goals. The people being used wouldn''t even know they had become a tool for the diviners. They would continue to believe that this was fate''s choice, and remain willing to be a tool of fate.


    Such a utilization of power was extremely interesting to Leon. However every time he thought about the price of manipulating fate, he couldn''t help but give on up the idea. Losing all of your own power was too scary.


    Rather than slowly weave a net around your enemies and waiting for them to walk to their deaths, it was much better and more satisfying to burn your way there using blazing infernos and scorching flames to reduce the enemy to ashes with your own hands!


    As expected, the more violent and hot-blooded fire elementium mage job was much more suited for him!


    ...


    The afternoon of the second day.


    It was almost always the time for the dragon''s raid today.


    When the loud dragon''s roar echoed from the distant horizon, all the remaining civilians in Skandre City instantly scattered to the winds. They went into hiding, silently waiting for the dragons'' assault.


    It was a sunny day and the sunlight was pleasantly warm.


    Three small fellows followed behind the Second Grade Green Dragon Sears. They unfurled their wings and slid across the canopy, gliding rapidly across the mountainous forest.


    The three brats behind him were all First Grade young dragons. In his eyes they were all just naughty kids who only knew how to play all day long. It was honestly a rather large psychological burden for him to bring this bunch of kids, who had too much curiosity and playfulness, on a raid.


    But what choice did he have!


    There were over two hundred human cities of all sizes scattered across the Continent of the Knights. If they wanted to harvest everything before moving Dragon Valley, a lot of manpower had to be put in. The strong and powerful adolescent dragons had to cover tens of thousands of kilometers everyday just to raid the faraway human cities.


    In comparison, bringing a couple of dragon babies to a familiar place five hundred kilometers away for some light training was already an easy job!


    Even though he called them baby dragons, these were already terrifying demons in the eyes of the humans. They were five meters from head to tail with a wingspan of four meters. Wicked and terrifying fangs, powerful hind legs, sharp dragon claws, and that inviolable dragon''s aura of might... perhaps they could only be considered weak and immature babies in the eyes of adolescent dragons!


    As the dragon flight continued forward, Sears bent his body and looked down proudly upon the forest beneath him. A wave of powerful aura instantly covered the entire stretch of land.


    Under the gaze of his sharp eyes, the entire forest had already fallen into chaos. Countless creatures escaped from their dens, running into the distance without ever looking back. For one moment the creatures of the forest were in a frenzy, panicking as if the end of the world had arrived.


    The three young dragons behind him were extremely excited. They followed Sears example and raised their necks to let out bellowing roars that rang throughout the forest.


    All of a sudden, the whelp at the rear of the formation turned and looked behind. He lifted his snout and sniffed before excitedly beating his wings and diving downwards.


    The animals in the forest fell into even more chaos. All sorts of screeching and howling filled the woods as the beasts ran into trees and sent branches snapping and flying everywhere.


    Amidst this chaos, the lunging whelp sunk his powerful hind legs deep into the back of a razor boar as large as a calf. His sharp dragon fangs clamped on the boar''s neck the very next second.


    One large shape and one small one rolled about the forest in the dense foliage. Their large rolling bodies crushed all the bushes in their way into the ground.


    Razor boars were violent and ferocious animals, fierce creatures even within the woods, but even they were prey when faced with green dragons. Even if its opponent was a little green dragon less than a hundred years old!


    Just as the whelp bit its prey to death, and was bending its body to tear at the boar''s leg, wind blew in the sky above. Sears showed its wicked and terrifying body once more.


    "Little Chelsea, stop being so greedy. There''s still a human city ahead waiting for us!"


    The whelp was enjoying its feast and wasn''t willing to give up on the food before it. It growled sharply at Sears before continuing eating.


    Sears turned back and looked at the two other whelps who were eyeing the meat greedily and reluctantly said, "Remember, don''t stay for too long. We will head for the human city first. Remember to catch up after you are done!"


    Having said that, he took the skies and circled the it with the two whelps. Then he beat his wings and flew forward, disappearing past the hill in the distance in the blink of an eye.


    Six silhouettes wrapped in black cloaks silently watched the scene unfold from a low hill five hundred meters away.


    "It worked, Sir Leon!" Diviner Mas still looked as powerless as usual. He held a staff longer than his body in one hand and spoke in a soft voice, "That little dragon fell for it! We can begin the operation now." sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The shapes cast aside their cloaks, revealing fit bodies under leather armor and cloth robes. They leapt off the low cliff and rapidly moved towards the area the green dragon was feeding at.


    Leon slowly pushed his hood back and nodded at Diviner Mas, "Your ability is impressive! I hope there will be a pleasant conclusion to our cooperation!"


    Leon''s silhouette vanished in a massive blast of fire as he said that.


    Boom.


    Leon''s body disappeared from the spot.


    Then flames burst forth in the distant woods as a tall and imposing man of fire suddenly appeared there. It roared and charged at that green dragon whelp.


    The suddenly exploding wave of fire ravaged the cliff, but all of the flames and the shockwave were blocked by a translucent defensive barrier.


    A young girl with a light blue mark on her face stood before Diviner Mas. Her hands were raised high and that barrier was erected by her.


    "Was that intentional? He needs our help yet he acts so hostile towards us?" The girl stabilized the energy output from her hands while complaining at Mas.


    "It doesn''t matter whether it was intentional." Mas shook his head as he sighed, "He''s a smart man. He understands that we both need each other''s help. In a fair trade, there is no such thing as someone asking for a favor from the other! It is a fair trade."


    "Then did he intend to intimidate us with this?"


    "No! This is only the nature of them mages. They might claim to be a group of individuals pursuing knowledge, but it doesn''t fundamentally change their evil, cruel, and dark nature. They worship knowledge, but are not humble in any way. Their knowledge is vast but they are never compassionate. More accurately, the reason the World of mages is so powerful is because it gained power through the continuous robbing and exploiting of other planar worlds!"


    "Then will we be able to escape their control in the future?"


    "There is a chance in the future! But now, if we do not wish to forever be servants and slaves to others, we must learn what we can from the mages!"


    ...


    1928 Words

 Chapter 242 Shifting the Blame

    Just as the two were having their conversation, the battle in front had already started!When he strode towards the dragon, Leon''s two meter tall body had already swollen up to three meters in height. Ferocious elementium flames surged out from everywhere around his body, turning him into a terrifying human of flame in a matter of seconds.


    Thick magma armor appeared out of nowhere, quickly covering the body of this flame humanoid. Leon''s steps became heavier and heavier. The originally red flames had become even thicker and denser, with a little more crimson to their color.


    The dragon feasting in the distance stopped its tearing actions and raised its head. It looked cautiously at this scary figure that had come within a hundred meters of itself.


    It had seen plenty of wildlife and magical creatures in its life, but this was the first time it had seen a lifeform like this. A humanoid creature? In his simple and shallow mind, humanoids were equivalent to weakness and cowardice. He had never seen such a terrifying humanlike creature!


    The opponent wasn''t at all intimidated by its domineering aura, and was even challenging it actively!


    The whelp growled angrily. It knew something was wrong. It unfurled its wings and beat them rapidly, ready to take off at any time.


    Yet just as it was about to take to the skies, hovering just above the ground, Leon''s large silhouette suddenly disappeared. The next second, a flame halo blasted forth above the back of the whelp. Leon''s fist brought with it the massive weight of his body and smashed downwards.


    Dong! A muffled boom rang out.


    The green dragon let out a pained howl and fell downwards.


    It didn''t fall straight to the ground. With an agile twist of its body, the whelp turned and faced Leon. Its thick hind legs and razor-sharp claws instantly ripped Leon''s magma armor into shreds.


    Scorching jets of flames burst forth from cracks in the armor, sizzling as they fried the whelp''s claw. Leon''s heavy magma fist followed up with yet another blow to the dragon''s head. The whelp ignored the blow. It endured the intense pain and continued to frantically scratch away at Leon''s chest with its claws, as if it wouldn''t stop until it had dug his heart out.


    Leon had also taken severe damage with the shattering of his magma armor. He shouted in anger, and the surging elementium flames combined with the Ring of Fire. The temperature of his flame streams increased exponentially. At this point, it was almost enough to melt a pillar of iron.


    The green dragon and the Flame Fiend were entangled together. The drastic increase in temperature made the whelp feel like it had been plunged into a sea of lava. Sweltering heat relentlessly surged into the seams in its scales and wounds on its body, constantly burning its flesh and blood.


    It felt like... it was about to be cooked!


    The whelp struggled frantically and finally managed to use its hind legs to kick Leon away as they wrestled on the ground. It then swiped at Leon with its tail as he was flying through the air.


    Leon''s massive flame body turned into a fireball, crashing and snapping three tall trees before falling into the foliage below.


    The green dragon whelp got up from the ground with some difficulty. The front of its body had been roasted red and white from close contact with the Flame Fiend earlier. The pungent odor of burned flesh rose into the air along with black smoke.


    The whelp bent its body in agony and allowed its boiling flesh to press against the black dirt. It was only then that the pain lessened. Its angry dragon eyes stared closely at the location where the flames rose from. Its sharp senses kept a close check on every motion around him.


    There wasn''t just one enemy!


    That flame humanoid was the most terrifying one.


    But it also felt three others quickly gathering elementium aura in three other directions.


    Casters as well! It''s those evil casters!


    The whelp couldn''t help but panic.


    In all the guidance and teachings it had received since its birth, the description of the evil spellcasters were the most scary!


    If it had already come of age, the magic resistance of its dragon scales would increase massively and allow it to resist their terrifying magic attacks. However, it was only a whelp near adolescence. Its magic resistance was far from being able to ignore elementium attacks!


    The dragon whelp didn''t dare continue waiting.


    Its powerful hind legs kicked against the ground and its slightly burnt wings beat quickly. It wanted to return to the safety of the sky.


    However, once more, as its body had just risen from the ground, the dense vines from the trees nearby charged towards it and instantly bound its large wings before it could reach the canopy.


    Even though most of the vines were torn apart by its powerful wings, the whelp was no longer able to control its stumbling body. It fell to the ground once more with a painful cry.


    It crashed against the tough dirt and fell into a daze. A ferocious roar rang out from the woods and a fierce barbaric humanoid figure charged at the whelp with its body bent down.


    There was no explanation or conversation. One green dragon and a human clashed together just like that and started a savage battle. They wrestled and bit at each other like wild beasts.


    It was undoubtedly a humiliating experience to have a spellcaster fight like a warrior in such a crude way. However, to prevent the dragon from returning to the sky, both Leon and Cobalt, who turned into the barbaric giant, could only use their bodies to keep it bound to the ground.


    As the two were battling intensely in the forest, the vines on the trees and the thorns on the ground quickly wrapped towards the dragon''s limbs and wings. It was the doing of the girl named Flower.


    Li''l Hawk, the other caster hiding in the forest, pressed his lips together and whistled. The call of eagles echoed back from the distant sky. A dozen black shadows dashed onto the battlefield like piercing arrows and joined the battle.


    As the three casters fought with the whelp, Leon got up painfully from a bush. Viscous crimson lava slowly flowed out from the shattered magma armor on his chest, quickly forming a river of lava before his body.


    Even though his Physique and Strength would multiply when he transformed into the Flame Fiend, his close combat prowess was still at an absolute disadvantage against a whelp five meters long and half a ton heavy.


    He grabbed a large rock from the ground nearby and roasted it with terrifying heat rays from his eyes. After the rock had been softened by the intense heat, he pressed it against his chest. It was only now that he had managed to seal the injury on his chest.


    Leon looked at the battle in the distance. He endured the throbbing pain from all over his body and closed his eyes while he silently started to prepare a powerful spell.


    To avoid leaving any obvious magical markings on the battlefield, he couldn''t cast any of the area-of-effect spells like Meteor Shower or Fire Core Explosion. The only choice Leon had left were the spells with physical damage.


    Compared to the even fight between Leon and the whelp, the three native spellcasters were still at a complete disadvantage even when fighting together.


    The lunging eagles had no way of piercing the dragon''s scales, and nearly half died from a single poison breath. These flying beasts couldn''t do anything to hurt the whelp. The only thing they could do was interrupt its line of sight.


    The surging vines and thorns were also corroded away by the poison mist.


    The only one that could somewhat restrain the whelp was the berserked giant. Discover more content at empire


    Unfortunately, the green dragon had managed to use its larger size, sharp claws, and powerful attacks to deal terrible damage to Cobalt.


    But this was enough.


    The whelp''s fate had been determined when Cobalt managed to stop it in its tracks! Leon gained the chance to successfully cast his spell.


    Perhaps because it also sensed the terrifying might gathering around the ferocious flame humanoid, the green dragon tried its very best and broke free from the barbaric giant''s assault. It bent its body and charged rapidly towards Leon.


    Now that the opponent had finished gathering power, taking to the skies would only cause him to become a moving target. Thus the whelp gave up on escaping and instead launched an attack at the flame humanoid. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon let out a violent shout. His large magma hands extended forward and a flame whip crossed a twenty meter distance, striking the whelp''s side. This blow was extremely powerful. The whelp stumbled and crashed against two trees before falling before Leon.


    Leon''s spell had also completed at this moment. He raised his hands, and a terrifying sawtooth blade formed of magma and wreathed in flames quickly formed.


    The whelp''s tragic and agonizing howl rang throughout the woods. Several seconds later, the woods regained its unnatural silence.


    Leon stepped on the dragon''s neck and pulled out the sawtooth blade with much difficulty. Dragon blood flew everywhere, spattering the red-hot magma armor and corroding it, filling it with green patches here and there.


    "Set up quick. The dragons will be back shortly!" Cobalt had transformed out of his berserked, barbaric giant state, turning into a middle-aged man with a stubble and a body full of tough muscles. He pressed against the wounds on his chest and shouted into the distant woods.


    A girl wrapped in green leather armor ran out from her hiding spot. Under the effects of her powerful plant energies, this entire stretch of forest started to change rapidly.


    The scorched earth was quickly covered by growing bushes. The charred and withered trees rapidly regained their life and color. The marks of battle were slowly vanishing. In less than five minutes the forest had returned to the state it was before. All marks and traces left by magic had been completely covered and hidden.


    The sound of footsteps. A teenage boy wearing an animal skin coat leapt out from the bushes holding an unconscious human in each hand. From the looks of their bodies, and from the looks of their clothes, it seemed they were... two powerful spellbreaker knights!


    ...


    1757 Words

 Chapter 243 Assaultt

    A sorrowful roar echoed throughout the mountains.The green dragon, along with the two whelps that returned to search for their missing companion, dove into the woods. A short moment later, a mournful roar that caused even the ground to shake rumbled across the forest. The dragons took to the skies with their lithe bodies, circling above the trees as if they were looking for something.


    But no matter what they did, they couldn''t accept the reality that their companion had died.


    Finally, amidst a wave of sorrowful dragon roars, the adolescent green dragon dove into the woods and picked up the whelp''s corpse. It beat its wing and flew to the horizon with no hesitation. The two other whelps followed closely behind him, bringing the two spellbreaker knight corpses with them.


    It wasn''t until after the woods had regained their peace that Leon and the others walked out from the bushes.


    "Just like that?" Leon gazed into the horizon and spoke with disbelief, "Those dragons are not stupid. Would they really believe such simple misdirection?"


    "The dragons are not stupid. They are just too reliant on their prophecies!" A strange smile appeared on Diviner Mas'' pale and elderly face. At this point, Leon really thought he had a lot of potential to be a scammer on the streets. Mas continued, "As long as I''m around, everything they see through their prophecies will only be what I choose to let them see. Moreover, the dragons have also been looking for an excuse to raid the palace. It''s just that the excuse they''ve got this time is a little larger than they expected!"


    Leon nodded in aLeonent after quickly thinking about it.


    Due to the existence of the Dragon Covenant, the green dragons were not shameless enough to outright rob the palace. However, the fact that most of the dragons raiding Skandre in recent days had been dragon whelps, that caused havoc and massive deaths with every appearance, was enough to reveal the dragon''s plan to create an excuse.


    If the witcher-knights couldn''t resist the urge to fight back against the green dragons, they would have a proper excuse to tear apart the Covenant and horde a lot more wealth before retreating from this plane.


    Sadly, they didn''t expect that the excuse they were looking for came at the price of a whelp''s life.


    This might have been their only miscalculation!


    "When will they come to take their revenge?" Leon followed with a question.


    "Before the break of dawn tomorrow!" Mas spoke with utter certainty, "So if Sir Leon has anything he wants to do, you best use tonight''s time to its fullest. Otherwise who knows what will be left of the kingdom in the all-out fight tomorrow!"


    "Very good! If all works out well, I''ll leave tomorrow after completing the two tasks. I''ll lift the magic seals on the scrolls before I leave!"


    "Then... let''s hope for a successful and pleasant cooperation!"


    "I also look forward to working with Sir Mas in the future!"


    This last sentence was Leon''s sincere thoughts.


    Leon had truly felt the benefit of having a Diviner as an ally over the past few days of cooperation. No matter what they did, things almost went down well. Even the few risks they had to take were within their control and expectations. If he wanted to have massive plans for development in the future, cultivating a loyal prophet was a must.


    That lucy seemed to be a very good candidate!


    Witch of Fate? A witch bearing the name of Fate. It was certain that they walked down the same path as Mas. Mmm. When Leon returned, he would most definitely take his time to train lucy.


    ...


    The back of Mount Mingsu.


    Mount Mingsu was deathly silent and dreary when night fell.


    Ever since the construction of Runeforge Camp, the back of Mount Mingsu had turned into a restricted area. The witcher-knights sealed all the entrances into the mountain and constantly patrolled the place to ensure there were no trespassers. Along with the steep and dangerous geography of the place, with its many dangerous cliffs, no man or creature travelled this area. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon had only managed to sneak in with the cover of nightfall. Two other casters had followed behind him. One was the transforming ''Mage'' Cobalt, and the other was that plant-attribute ''Mage'' Flower.


    Leon had witnessed their abilities in the fight earlier.


    Their Spirits were slightly stronger than pseudo-Mages of the World of Mages, but their use of spells and magic was far more inferior. In an all out fight it was uncertain if they would be able to beat the most powerful pseudo-Mages.


    Their prowess, in fact, matched their identities.


    A small plane with no knowledge or resources. How could they possibly hope to cultivate any kind of powerful individuals?!


    It hadn''t been long since night had fallen. Leon kept a tight count of the time. He drew a small magical array in the cave they were hiding in and silently triggered the fire rune in the distance.


    Almost at the same time that Leon cast his spell, Daphne, who had just returned home, fell to the ground in pain. She felt like seven or eight burning furnaces had been crammed into her body. An endless wave of heat radiated from within her, slowly boiling every bit of her blood.


    After consulting many doctors¨Cto no avail¨Cthe news of her daughter''s condition finally spread to the ears of that radiant knight stationed in Runeforge Camp. Naturally, faced with the bad news that his daughter''s life was hanging by a thread, he unhesitatingly rushed out of the camp and returned home.


    This news quickly found its way to Leon as well, with Diviner Mas'' lookout spotting the radiant knight walking into his house.


    The assault started almost immediately!


    Below a cliff at the back of Mount Mingsu.


    The metal waste falling from above had piled into a mountain a dozen meters high. The smoking waste sizzled against the wet ground, causing the entire place to be filled with a pungent odor and thick mist.


    In the past, some scavengers and wanderers would sneak here in the dead of night to scavenge for valuable things amongst to waste to sell for money. However, with the start of the dragon raids in Skandre City half a month earlier, no one came here anymore.


    Leon and the two others easily found their way to the bottom of the mountain using the dark of the night as cover.


    Leon raised his head and looked up through the mist. He could vaguely see a cave on the cliff three hundred meters above. The entrance was only four or five meters wide, with the edge of the cave gleaming from the light reflecting off its metal fence.


    Leon did a quick calculation. A single Fire Teleportation wasn''t enough to get him to the cave. If there wasn''t a foothold somewhere in the middle, he would have to find another way up.


    According to the plan they had agreed on, the plant-attribute ''Mage'' Flower found a spot beneath the cliff. She dug a hole in the ground and buried the seed of an Ironthread Vine. A single frail vine as thick as a finger quickly grew against the cliff as she chanted.


    As Flower''s chanting proceeded, the vine continued to grow and its roots started to grow thick and large in size as well. In a matter of seconds it had formed into stairs that reached into the sky, crawling all the way to the bottom of the cave on the cliff.


    "It''s done! Get up!" Mage Flower whispered under her breath.


    Under her orders, three massive leaves grew from the vine. The three stepped onto a leaf each, and they shot straight up through the mist like a modern elevator.


    Soon the three found themselves right before the cave.


    The three Mages could very easily sense any movements inside the cave using their Spirit.


    No one was there.


    This was expected.


    It would be weird if the knights expected enemies to break in from such an impossible location. Thus the guards in charge of this place''s security didn''t have a fixed station at the opening of the cave. Rather, they were supposed to check this location every once in awhile. Moreover, with the chaos in the capital, it was unclear if the guards would even come to patrol on a fixed and consistent schedule.


    The leaf slowly lifted Leon to the side of the cave, allowing him to get a clear look at everything inside.


    Inside of the cave was a small tunnel. There were specialized sliding rails on the ground covered with dust and metal waste.


    The only thing blocking Leon''s path were several metal fences that were thick as a child''s arm. Rust and cobwebs covered the entire structure, but it was clear it had been installed to keep out any trespassers.


    To avoid alerting any possible guards, Leon didn''t choose to jump inside with his Fire Teleportation. Instead he gripped the upper portion of two metal bars tightly and silently drew from the fire powers within his body.


    No flames appeared; only terrifying and intense heat.


    The two metal bars quickly turned red and liquified in Leon''s grip, before flowing down the cave.


    A path appeared before their eyes!


    "Come in. Let''s finish this quickly!" Leon softly ordered before going into the cave.


    Runeforge Camp, without a radiant knight''s protection, was like an unsecured playground in Leon''s eyes. He could do whatever he wanted. Those spellbreaker knights stationed within were not even worthy of being put on his list of enemies.


    A dozen steps into the tunnel, in the side of the wall, was a small stone resting room for three guards. Leon casually threw a fireball into the room as he strode by before continuing on his path.


    Before the vicious fireball exploded behind him, Leon had already walked out of the waste dumping area and had progressed towards the entrance of the Runeforge Camp through a large and wide tunnel.


    Indeed, he was not rushing towards the heavily guarded forging area or drafting room. Instead he headed towards the camp''s entrance.


    There were no more radiant knights in Runeforge Camp, but there was still one stationed in the knight''s headquarters outside. If he caught wind of the raid and rushed over, he would very likely stop Leon and the others from escaping. Thus Leon, who was already planning to go all out on the troops in the Camp, walked unhesitatingly towards the entrance. The first thing he had to do was to cut off all connection the camp had with the outside.


    When the first fireball exploded behind the camp, every single guard in Runeforge Camp had been alerted. Countless guards surged out of their shelters and camps, and after a chaotic scrambling they finally managed to find the source of the explosion. Stay tuned to empire


    Under the orders of the camp commander, scores of guards grabbed their weapons and headed into the stone tunnel, running towards the location of the explosion.


    ...


    1851 Words

 Chapter 244 Stalemate

    The entire Runeforge Camp was located in the belly of the mountain, which had been emptied to make space for the infrastructure.Aside from the large halls of the central living and forging areas, almost all of the other areas were just long stone corridors connected with each other. It was undoubtedly a difficult task to find any enemies who had managed to sneak their way into such a complex web of tunnels.


    The two local Mages that had followed Leon into the camp didn''t continue moving forward. They stayed in the waste dumping area and used the narrow corridors as a choke point to stall the enemies.


    Their presence drew most of the attention of the enemies to the back of the camp. The camp commander wouldn''t alert the radiant knight at the headquarters before the central area was at risk.


    And this gave Leon the chance to sneak by!


    The tunnels stretching across the entire Runeforge Camp were extremely complex yet connected. This allowed the commander to easily redirect the guards around the areas. However, at this moment, the nature of the tunnels also provided Leon with a great deal of convenience.


    Having combined the map provided by Mas with the chip''s high-speed battlefield data collection system, all of the enemies within Leon''s sensory range were marked in his mind. Leon wove through the stone corridors with the help of the chip, using the confusing crossroads and the shadows to avoid the reinforcements and quickly head to the entrance of the camp.


    He might be able to avoid the moving guards, but there was no avoiding the lookouts stationed at the exit of the tunnels.


    Leon chose to make his way through these enemies forcefully. He emerged from the dark tunnels into the brightly-lit area. Before the lookouts could even sound the alarms, terrifying streams of flame had already engulfed their bodies.


    No human warrior could endure more than two seconds of the flame streams shot from Leon''s hands. Such a short period of time was not enough for them to sound the alarms.


    Thus Leon casually strolled through the one and a half kilometer long tunnel and reached the entrance at the very front of Runeforge Camp.


    To prevent enemy attacks, this place was armed to the teeth and the security was extremely strict.


    A hundred meter long stone tunnel was the only path into Runeforge Camp. Numerous guardhouses and crossbows were positioned along the sides of the tunnel exit. All of the materials and resources transported into Runeforge Camp had to be checked and verified multiple times before they were allowed into the camp.


    Sadly, all of the defenses were designed to deal with an external threat.


    It was probably because the person that designed this airtight underground fortress never expected enemies from the inside!


    Leon no longer needed to hide when he reached this point.


    Under everyone''s horrified gaze, his silhouette stepped out from the darkness and transformed into a terrifying Flame Fiend. Magma Fireballs exploded one after another down the long stone tunnel.


    The result of such intense and dominating attacks was the collapse of half of the tunnel. Even Mount Mingsu shook slightly from the impact of the explosions.


    Leon looked at the massive rocks that had completely sealed the tunnel, and turned his focus to the camp guards.


    The sound of crossbows bolts whistled through the air. Countless camp guards shouted as they rushed at Leon. There was even a spellbreaker knight and three witcher-knights mixed in with their ranks.


    Sadly the narrow geography and the cluster of guards made it hard for everyone to surround Leon.


    Leon completely ignored the human warriors, whose blades were clinking against his magma armor, and focused his firepower on the more dangerous targets. Even without using the Scroll of Voodoo, just three Magma Fireballs, along with two Explosive Fireballs, made quick work of the few individuals that could have been a threat to him.


    Violent elementium flames and splashing lava quickly turned the spot the spellbreaker knight was standing at into a magma hell. Many human warriors were scalded and burnt by the flames and lava, running through the crowd and shouting for help as they were turned into human torches.


    Sadly no one could save them now!


    The remaining soldiers couldn''t even save themselves.


    The human warriors around Leon weren''t even worth his time. He didn''t need to lift a single finger. Every person within range of the Ring of Fire clutched their throats and breathed painfully. Yet with every breath they took they were inhaling air at terrifying temperatures.


    This scorching air caused their windpipes and lungs to ignite like charcoal.


    At the end, even the clothes on their bodies had started burning. The swords and spears they held in their hands were heated as red as flames, sizzling in their palms.


    The Flame Fiend didn''t need to attack. All Leon had to do was stand amid the soldiers and they would die one after another while clutching their throats in agony.


    Everything turned to dust where the Flame Fiend walked!


    Even the stone floor beneath their feet had started to glow red and soften. Red hot lava was surging everywhere, quickly turning the places where they stood into an area not unlike a magma pool.


    It was only now that the commander of the camp realized the urgent and critical nature of the situation they were in. Sadly, the military strength left within Runeforge Camp was not enough to stop a rampaging Mage. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the two native Mages finally met up with Leon in the tunnel leading to the forging hall, the remaining hundred or so guards were gathered in a corner, barely hanging on using the tough defensive structure and their runic arrows. Continue reading stories on empire


    The transforming Mage Cobalt tried to force his way into the hall several times, but he was rebuffed at every attempt by a concentrated barrage of runic arrows. After all, the place was small and narrow and didn''t afford him much room to dodge about. Cobalt couldn''t have endured the focused fire without any defensive spells or magical equipment.


    Leon''s Flame Fiend form squeezed into the tunnel with a lot of difficulty and joined back up with the two Mages. This was an underground passage after all. Most of the ceilings weren''t even four meters high, making it challenging for the Flame Fiend to maneuver its way about inside.


    The two native Mages looked at each other when they saw the Flame Fiend''s terrifying demonic shape striding towards them in the tunnel. They could feel the suffocating heat in the air. Leon''s terrifying power filled the two Mages'' hearts with immense respect for the evil Mages.


    Leon''s burning red eyes swept across the two''s wounded bodies and nodded in acknowledgement, "Good job, you two! Leave the rest to me!"


    Mage Cobalt wanted to warn Leon of the four spellbreaker knights and the dozen witcher-knights still in the hall, but the silhouette of the Flame Fiend had already vanished before their eyes.


    The next second, a massive flame halo exploded in the very midst of the crowd gathered in the hall. The Flame Fiend''s massive body appeared in a blazing radiance.


    Flame Shockwave!


    Ring of Fire!


    Violent and vicious waves of fire were amplified by the two fire spells, instantly turning Leon''s surroundings into a raging sea of flame. The remaining camp guards that were still able to put up a fight were quickly set alight without any resistance. They ran about screaming in pain.


    The only ones that were able to survive Leon''s double flame attack were the spellbreaker knights and witcher-knights. They raised the energy shields in their hands and charge at Leon''s side while under the heavy assault of the Flame Shockwave. Their runic swords turned into freezing blades. With a single slash they cut through the Lava Shield.


    However, in the small moment where their blades were halted by the Lava Shield, Leon had already managed to summon a Fire Deity with a slight wave of the Fire Lord''s Scepter. It did only one thing when it appeared. Its only job.


    Self-destruction!


    The self-destruction of the pseudo-Mage level Fire Deity instantly brought about annihilating damage to the entire hall.


    Every single inch of the stone floor beneath their feet shattered. Even the resilient rock walls had an entire three-finger deep layer shaved off of them by the destructive Flame Shockwave.


    The camp guards at the center of the explosion had been instantly vaporized. Not even a fleck of their ashes could be found after the fire. The witcher-knights and spellbreaker knights by Leon''s side fell to the ground and coughed up blood in agony. Leon quickly picked them off as he shot out Explosive Fireballs at each and every one of them.


    When the two native Mages walked into the hall, the entire place had already been turned into a horrifying hell of boiling magma and a burning sea of flames. The enemy? Many apologies, but with how weak they were it was hard to find even a speck of their remains!


    The only people that could match Mages were spellcasters of the same Grade. Normal humans? They had no chance of ever matching up against the might of Mages!


    Meanwhile, the improvement in Leon''s abilities was extremely apparent.


    From his initial cautiousness against the spellbreaker knights, to the now reckless and easy slaughter, Leon''s use of fire spells had improved by several levels. He was already starting to develop his own combat pattern and style.


    The violence and prominence of fire spells was becoming increasingly obvious!


    "Let''s go. It''s time to reap the fruits of our victory!" The Flame Fiend''s body shook slightly. The chaotic flames slowly dissipated and the magma started to solidify as the elegant and mysterious Leon appeared once more.


    He nodded at the native Mages and turned towards a corridor by the side of the hall.


    This was the central hall of the entire Runeforge Camp. There were many passages that led to different areas from here. And the place Leon headed towards was, naturally, the drafting room where the blueprints and classified documents were stored.


    Looking at how easily Leon dealt with the situation, the two Mages couldn''t help but look at each other again, their faces full of frustration and dejection. They were both First Grade spellcasters, but wasn''t the difference in combat power way too large?!


    In the past they were only able to feel the prowess of the evil Mages through Diviner Mas'' descriptions. But when the opponent''s terrifying powers were displayed right before their eyes, the massive shock that went right through their bodies and into their souls stomped their past pride and arrogance into the ground.


    They might have felt a little better if the opponent was intentionally using his overwhelming prowess to intimidate them. After all, that meant he noticed and cared about how powerful they were! But it was precisely Leon''s nonchalance that caused the two native Mages to feel increasingly upset.


    Their existence had been completely ignored!


    How were they any different from being Leon''s lackeys?


    "You go and check for anything of value in the drafting room! I''ll check about the forging area. We might be able to find some good stuff!" Mage Cobalt held his hand over his heart and spoke, before stumbling into another passage.


    Mage Flower shook her head in helplessness and dejection before walking towards the drafting room.


    ...


    1912 Words

 Chapter 245 Harvest

    Runeforge Camp; drafting room.The two bronze doors were wide open and the bodies of two witcher-knights were spread before them.


    Heat still emanated from where the lock had been as red-white iron liquid slowly dripped down.


    This was an old storeroom. Disorganized piles of parchment sat on the stone platform in the middle. Some of them were spread wide open, others not so much. There were even emptied ink bottles and used quill pens scattered across the platform.


    Several ancient wooden stands along the stone walls took up the rest of the drafting room. Many wooden chests, parchments, and gray sacks were stacked on them.


    When Flower hesitatingly walked into the room, Leon had already begun to inspect the items on the stands. It was clear that Leon had an oddly sharp eye for item identification. He was able to figure out the value of any object in a matter of seconds.


    The common or worthless objects were put back onto the stands while the expensive and valuable items vanished in the blink of an eye.


    "Spatial storage equipment!" Mage Flower couldn''t help but gasp in envy.


    A spellcaster with space affinity had appeared for a short period of time within the knights'' plane. He had made his name by crafting spatial storage equipment. Sadly, even a genius like that had died a painful death under the witcher-knights'' butcher knife.


    The few spatial storage items scattered across the knights'' plane had all come from his hand, but not only were they few in number, they were often in the hands of a select few powerful individuals. A First Grade spellcaster like herself had only heard rumors of them, but had never seen one with her own eyes.


    Leon turned around and saw the female caster taking out a large sack. It seemed she was about to use the most inefficient method and physically lug all of the loot out with her. He couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh. Even though they were both casters, their situations were so different simply because of the worlds they had been born in.


    Leon removed a storage waist-pack from his belt and casually threw it over to Flower. There wasn''t much storage space within the pack, but it was more than enough to carry a bunch of simple casting materials.


    Leon ignored her joyful and excited toying with the pack and drew his attention back to the massive pile of scrolls and drawings.


    Almost all of the runic knowledge, life source knowledge, and theories about this plane''s system of operation, gathered throughout the thousand-year history of the kingdom, had been stored here. The treasury of the palace high above them was likely home to more materialistic and valuable objects such as antiques, treasures, or unique items.


    Leon''s storage belt had limited space and there was no way he could bring everything here with him. He needed to do some filtering and selection!


    Leon randomly picked up an ancient scroll and swept through its contents. Most of it was crude guesses and assumptions about the source of life... useless stuff. Next!


    He picked up another scroll. This one was full of elementary and basic rune drawings... useless. Next!


    He lifted a volume of books this time. Hundreds of arrangement methods for different runes were listed within it in great detail. It wasn''t very useful but it could still serve for comparison and reference against the runic knowledge of the World of Mages, so there was still some research value to it... basically useful. Kept!


    Leon grabbed a drawing on the table. It was a visualization of the meridian lines in the human body, much like those he had seen back on Earth. The intellectuals of this plane had probably succeeded in merging runic energies with the life energy within the human body after an in-depth study of human anatomy! This was useful. Kept!


    Just like that, Leon flipped through one document after another, tossing aside those that contained only crude or known information. He only put the documents that were rare or had immense research value into his storage belt. Apart from these necessary drawings, drafts, and informations, Leon also found some exceptionally valuable ores and special magic stones on the wooden stands.


    Jade Moon Stone, Talasite, Dawnstone, Star of Elune, Nightseye, Living Ruby, Empyrean Sapphire, Shadowsong Amethyst, Crimson Spinel. All of these magic stones were exceptionally valuable, even back in the World of Mages, and were being used as supplementary materials in the forging of runic equipment. Leon couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh at this.


    This plane''s lack of a systematic caster framework caused their alchemical knowledge to be severely lacking as well. Without the use of profound alchemy ordinary human craftsmen would be hard-pressed to draw out the actual powers of such valuable magic stones. They could only shatter the stones and use the natural elementium affinity or natural traits to enhance their runic equipment with special effects.


    This... this was possibly the most wasteful way of using the stones!


    Of course, there was something that excited Leon even more than that. He had found three spacestones the size of his fist in an inconspicuous gray sack! Clearly, the people of this plane had also realized the oddity of these stones. However they couldn''t understand their actual purpose or usage, and could only let them lie in this dim and dark hidden room.


    With the size of these three spacestones, any single one of them would allow a person to buy a small dukedom eight square kilometers large in the Zhentarim Association''s territory!


    Leon had to breath several times before he managed to calm himself down. He only continued to dig for treasures after making sure he had properly stored the spacestones.


    Honestly, when you managed to break into a hidden room belonging to the rulers of a plane, anything you found in there would probably be a treasure worth entire cities.


    Thus the next thirty minutes was Leon''s most exhilarating adventure ever since he came to this plane!


    Golden Apple. The main ingredient for resurrection ceremonies. Consumable.


    Orb of Deception. A tool that allowed one to perfectly hide their identity and faction. No known spells could see through its effect.


    Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal. It allowed long distance voice communication and its effect could not be cancelled by any magical defense or planar barriers.


    Emblem of Fire. An odd magical object that originated from the fire elementium plane. The wearer of this emblem would be able to enter the fire elementium plane under the guise of a normal fire elemental.


    Shandera''s Sheepstick. An ancient spell that could turn its target into a bleating lamb was sealed inside. (Unless the target was immune to transfiguration effects.) Duration: Five seconds. Ignores armor and magical resistance.


    ...


    ...


    Leon would have been content to get his hands on a complete copy of the runic knowledge. Yet with what he was gaining now, he couldn''t help but feel like he had underestimated the potential profits of a planar war.


    In terms of size and resources, the World of Mages was hundreds of times larger than the small world of the knights'' plane. That said, regardless of how large and rich in resources the World of Mages was, the number of powerful individuals that fought for those resources was also despairingly large.


    The knights'' plane might be lacking in natural resources, but when all of it was used for only a single Mage clan, the profits were tremendous.


    The resources and knowledge that Leon managed to gather from this crude and tiny drafting room would probably have taken him over a thousand years to amass back in the World of Mages. In particular, top grade resources such as the spacestones and the Golden Apple were not items that he would have had a chance of coming into contact with at his level.


    If he hadn''t gone on this mission alone and had managed to sneak into one of the kingdom''s treasuries, then, with his status as a First Grade Mage, he would never have been able to get his hands on these treasures. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In comparison, the normally rare materials like Mithril, Underground Wrought Gold, magic agates, arcane crystals, and Khorium ores didn''t even make Leon feel even a little excited.


    Yet, just as Leon and the others happily examined their newly gained treasures, a deafening boom rang out from the passage in the distance. The next moment the entire Runeforge Camp shook slightly.


    The enemy was breaking through the collapsed tunnel at the entrance!


    Leon instantly understood the source of the commotion.


    It was time to retreat!


    The better his harvest here, the more cautious Leon became. Moreover, the main attraction¨C the drafts of the runic equipment, the rare rune illustrations, the explanation of runic energies, and the guide to utilizing runic energies were all in his possession now. The remaining items scattered about were no longer as important.


    Leon gave Flower a heads-up and quickly walked out of the drafting room. When he reached the central hall once again, the loud booming sounds in the distance had gotten a lot closer.


    Just then, the guy called Cobalt showed up, already transformed into a muscular and massive three-meter-tall barbaric giant. All of the items that he was lugging behind his shoulders, holding in his hands, and carrying around his waist were gleaming runic equipment. Leon even saw three complete sets of Second Grade radiant knight armor among them. Most of the other items were also standard First Grade spellbreaker knight gear.


    Leon was excited to see this equipment. He casually threw an Mages'' waist storage pack at Cobalt. Following the Mage''s principle of fair trade and exceptionally good oratorical skills, Leon easily managed to exchange a set of Second Grade radiant knight armor and runic weapons with Cobalt.


    Mage Cobalt was naturally happy to accept such an unexpectedly good trade!


    Soon the three gathered together and quickly hurried to the back of the camp with all of their spoils.


    Just as they reached the cave behind the mountains, the entrance of the camp was finally broken through by three radiant knights.


    The impact of their ferocious strength sent crumbling rocks flying everywhere, smashing craters all over the stone passage. A tall and radiant silhouette walked out of the dust and debris, intimidatingly assessing everything before his eyes.


    Rocks were still falling hazardously behind him in the narrow passage.


    One after another, lithe forms moved through the passage and quickly ran towards every location in Runeforge Camp.


    "Find those damned invaders! I want to slice them into a thousand pieces... " The radiant knight''s angered shout rang throughout the camp.


    Leon felt the massive commotion echoing through the underground tunnel. He grabbed the shoulders of his two ''companions'' and the three disappeared in a massive fire pillar.


    ...


    1812 words

 Chapter 246 Conflict Escalates

    Nighttime. The knights'' kingdom was in turmoil.The actual battle reports had come in from the frontlines. More than half of the six thousand witcher-knights had died in Greenland Forest, while the survivors had been scattered in the wild and were unlikely to regroup anytime soon.


    The cause for the delay in information was due to that accursed Count Vanlier taking up arms and rebelling. He had publicly surrendered to those evil invading Mages.


    Only five radiant knights remained out of the leaders that went to battle. They led a hundred of their subordinates back to Herdurand City, and that was how news of the battle got back.


    The sudden betrayal of the dragons! S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The departure of Fourth Grade Holy Knight Sir Willis with the dragons!


    One of the three dragon knights had died in battle, while the other two had been caught in the Mages'' base.


    The terrifying Mages'' tower remained standing in the depths of Greenland Forest, now impenetrable and unassailable!


    ...


    Bad news repeatedly came. Finally, the elderly king was unable to go on and started coughing blood.


    Just as he got news of the dragons'' betrayal and the dire straits of his kingdom, news reached his ears about an attack on Runeforge Camp, the most important location for the knights. This increasingly angered all of the witcher-knights!


    The many radiant knights that stayed at and guarded the palace led their indignant subordinates out on the hunt, recklessly searching for suspicious individuals within Skandre City.


    Just like that, Skandre City instantly turned into a terrifying storm vortex, viciously dragging everyone involved into itself and tearing them to pieces!


    A night of unrest.


    When dawn broke, Skandre City finally regained a little of its peace.


    Yet, at this moment, the prisons of the capital had already been filled to the brim with crying and pleading prisoners.


    Before the shaken population could even calm down, a wave of violent dragon roars rumbled across the distance.


    A massive flight of dragons had come!


    Having experienced seventeen days of dragon raids, everyone in the capital had long gotten used to this terrifying sound.


    But today was obviously different.


    Not only were the dragons much earlier than usual, they were all circling above the palace. It seemed they did not come with good intentions!


    For a time, the skies above the palace were entirely covered by the wicked and intimidating bodies of the green dragons.


    Twenty-three adolescent green dragons. Five Third Grade green dragons, seven Second Grade green dragons, and eleven First Grade green dragons were here.


    They circled in the sky as the lead dragon let out a vicious roar. The weathered stone surfaces of the nearby mountains started to crumble and fall during the thundering roar, rolling down towards the bottom of the mountain in a landslide.


    Having let out the anger and dissatisfaction in his heart, the green dragon beat his wings and hovered above the palace while letting out yet another massive roar.


    "Edward VII, get your filthy ass out here. Hand over the dragon-slaying murderer, or we will raze your palace!"


    "Get out here... "


    "Hand over the murderer... "


    ...


    The dragons roared, one after another. The deafening sound caused even the palace itself to tremor.


    Countless palace guards hid within the watchtowers and above the palace walls. They held bows and crossbows in their hands and prepared for a fight at any moment, yet no one dared to start an attack.


    For the longest time, the magnificent and mighty dragons were the patrons of their hearts. They were their most powerful companions that they lived in harmony with. Every single human couldn''t help but have mixed feelings about the situation now that they had become enemies.


    Their capital had been utterly ravaged, their cities attacked, and the people angered. Yet, after such a long time under the dragon''s protection, everyone still hoped, deep in their hearts, that the dragons would come to their senses and reestablish their friendship with the kingdom!


    It was such a mentality that caused the citizens of the capital to have mixed feelings towards the dragons. There were those who hated them, and those that wished for friendship, while even more were in a state of uncertainty...


    Confusion and uncertainty towards the dragons; towards humanity and the future!


    Eight radiant knights anxiously gathered before the king''s bed, placed in a luxuriously grand hall. They helplessly watched on as a group of doctors tried their very best to save the king, whose face was flushed an unhealthy red. However, their king was clearly at the brink of his death. It was clear that he wasn''t going to regain consciousness.


    "What do we do? The dragons are knocking at the gates. How are we supposed to negotiate with the dragons without the king?"


    "Indeed. The dragons do not come with friendly thoughts. A bloody battle is imminent! But the king... "


    The radiant knights frowned deeply as they discussed. None of them had any idea what to do in the current situation.


    In the end, the most veteran radiant knight amongst them took off his helmet, revealing his pale white hair and weathered face as he spoke, "This is a time of difficulty for the kingdom. As knights of the Edward family we cannot abandon the throne in such trying times."


    Several radiant knights straightened their faces and replied in unison, "We will defend the kingdom with our lives!"


    "I''ll give out orders now. August, Andeni, the two of you stay here. Make sure that the king remains unharmed!"


    "Understood!" "Understood!"


    "Sarah, Claire. Find the princes immediately and evacuate the palace. Return immediately if we are able to make it through today. If... if war breaks out, don''t care about what happens back here. Take them east. The further the better!"


    The two were both female knights. Their expressions were saddened when they heard this, but they forced their tears back down and nodded in acknowledgement.


    "The rest follow me to see what the dragons want."


    "We will stand with you!"


    Amidst some vague sobbings, the four radiant knights sorted out their equipment and marched out of the palace with tragic and passionate valiance.


    Yet, just as everyone was distracted by the tense standoff in front of the palace, a fully armed radiant knight was hurrying towards the back with two spellbreaker knights following closely behind. It was a time of turmoil and chaos. Large numbers of witcher-knights were stationed in various locations in the palace and even the palace guards were in a panic.


    At this time, the powerful radiant knights were like the foundation of the entire kingdom''s backbone. Which ignorant guard would dare to stop and search a radiant knight at such a moment?


    Thus, Leon successfully made his way near the hall with Cobalt and Flower following closely behind and managed to hide in a room right next to the large hall.


    At the front of the palace, the elderly radiant knight that strode out had attracted the attention of the dragon flight.


    The dragon at the lead with the massive body folded its wings when it saw the four radiant knights walking out. It landed on the large platform.


    "Human, call your king out. Today, he must hand over the Gem of the Contract, as well as the dragon-murderer. Otherwise, we will raze this place to the ground." The green dragon roared.


    "O respected dragon ambassador, what is it that angers you so? We of the knights'' kingdom have always been the loyal companions to the great dragons for the past thousand years. Yet now, it is you that are viciously attacking the capital and assaulting our cities. And today you even come here to demand some Gem of Contract and murderer from us! Is this something companions and allies do to each other?"


    "Puny human, don''t try and show off your speaking skills. The great Wrathion will not sit here and listen to your useless words. Have your king come out or I''ll force my way in!" The dragon in the lead was violent and aggressive. It was clear that he had no intention of letting this end peacefully.


    Leon, who was peeking from a side hall in the distance, let out a breath of relief.


    Fortunately for him, the leading Third Grade dragon had an excessively overbearing personality. Otherwise, if both parties had any sign of peaceful negotiation, he would probably have to take the risk and incite a conflict. He only needed to run to a group of ''ignorant'' witcher-knights and order them to attack the dragons to start a complete bloodbath.


    Luckily, the dragons were far more reckless than he thought. Such a forceful method of negotiation. It would be weird if the knights didn''t react negatively!


    As expected, just as the elderly radiant knight drew his shining runic longsword to halt the march of the lead dragon, chaos broke out! No one knew whether it was started by a runic arrow shot by a panicking witcher-knight, or the dragon breath of a young green dragon, but a terrifying battle quickly exploded!


    Under the terrified gazes of countless palace guards, numerous acidic poison and wind poison dragon breaths rained down like a storm. All of the human warriors that were caught in them died a painful death before they could even escape.


    The warriors that were engulfed in the wind poison fell to the ground, their faces a deathly black. They had been killed instantly by the poison. Those that were showered with acidic poison had their flesh dissolved like melting candles, turning into viscous green liquid and leaving only a pile of charred and withered bones behind.


    Bows and crossbows on the ground fired in unison. Waves of fire and ice arrows slashed through the sky, barring the dragon flight.


    Clinking noises echoed throughout. Countless arrows were swiped out of the skies by the dragons'' wings and tails, but some arrows still found their way into gaps in the scales of the younger dragons.


    For a moment, grunts and cries of pain rang out incessantly from the dragon flight.


    A few adolescent green dragons quickly dove down and used their massive bodies to shield the young dragons. Under the orders of the adolescent dragons, the dragon flight quickly took to the sky and gradually left the range of the crossbows.


    But this didn''t mean that the dragons were going to retreat. In fact, it was the precursor to a ferocious attack.


    Dragon roars rumbled through the skies. With two adolescent dragons in the front, and three juvenile dragons following closely behind, five massive green dragons beat their wide wings and dove downwards at the palace at high speed.


    The five green dragons opened their mouths wide, and large balls of horrifying acid quickly gathered behind their throats.


    The next moment, five dense acidic poison breaths had ploughed several paths of death through the crowd below. The crossbows attacks from the ground were mostly deflected by the dragons'' scales. Even the occasional bolts that found their mark into flesh wasn''t enough to interrupt the dragons'' wild breaths.


    The first group of dragons had just finished unleashing their ravaging breaths. Just as they turned their bodies and took to the skies once more, a second group of dragons had already started their high-speed dive. Behind them, a third group of dragons was already in formation, looking for the best diving angle...


    ...


    1901 Words

 Chapter 247 Dragons

    Dragons were apex predators at the top of the food chain for all native beings of material planes.If any witcher-knight had doubted this truth in the past, today was the day bloody reality would correct them!


    It was easy to imagine the depth of despair in the humans'' hearts! Their barrage of arrows did nothing as rows of five dragons groups dove from the skies and whizzed through the air, leaving paths of deaths in the wake of their terrifying dragon''s breath.


    Skandre City had no city walls, having experienced a thousand years of peace and prosperity with their long allied history with Dragon Valley. Moreover, there were no defense facilities within the city that could threaten the dragons. Weapons such as catapults and ballistae were completely absent from the army''s arsenal of weapons. Thus the well-equipped palace guards could only run about in the face of the decimating dragon''s breath before dying painfully in the midst of the green smoke.


    The only things that were able to damage the dragons were the violent sword techniques of the high-grade knights.


    Sadly, after numerous spellbreaker knights had managed to hurt the first few waves of dragons, when they were at the lowest point of their dives, the following dragon attacks were quickly adjusted to put the knights at the center of the damage.


    The magic resistance of the spellbreaker knights was still insufficient to help them endure the dragons'' bombardment.


    Large clouds of wind poison breaths, along with quick and accurate acid shots, quickly singled out and eliminated the high-grade knights who were mixed in with the guards.


    The four radiant knights, on the other hand, were engaged in an intense battle with the Third Grade Green Dragon Wrathion. Their attention was wrapped up in the platform in front of the palace. None of them could spare any strength to help their dying companions and subordinates.


    Only two of the four radiant knights had gone down the path of violent knights. Their runic energy enhancements allowed their strength to increase tremendously, giving them the ability to threaten a Third Grade dragon in close combat. The other two radiant knights had placed their focus on speed and technique. Even though this gave them more agile and lithe movements, it also limited their ability to break through the dragon''s tough scales.


    The four radiant knights circled around Wrathion''s massive body, avoiding his terrifying jaws, ferocious wing attacks, and his monstrous tail. It was only when one of them had managed to draw the dragon''s attention that the others would charge forward and unleash their most vicious sword technique on the dragon''s weak spot.


    Regardless of whether the attack was effective, the attackers would immediately retreat from the radius of the dragon''s attacks. None of them could possibly receive an attack from the green dragon Wrathion, be it his breath, bite, swipe, or his tail whip.


    The dragons used two types of breath. One was the area-of-effect, damage-over-time, poison mist breath. This was also their favorite attack when they dove at enemies. At close range, the green dragons were still able to rapidly fire acid breaths at enemies.


    The acid breath didn''t cover a very large area, but it could be rapidly fired. Moreover it was still a very threatening attack. Even with their defense and magical resistance, the radiant knights didn''t dare take on the acid. Within a thirty meter radius this breath, that possessed both corrosiveness and toxicity, could easily dissolve their flesh and turn them into a pile of bones.


    The imposing Wrathion dared to land on the ground an engage in a brutal melee with the four powerful radiant knights because of these menacing attacks of his.


    In less than fifteen minutes, eight inch-long gashes had already appeared on his gigantic body. His right armpit had been badly wounded by destructive sword techniques. Patches of dark green scales had been blasted away, leaving only a large and bloody wound behind.


    Such injuries may have looked scary, but they were only moderate injuries to the tough body of a dragon!


    On the other hand, two of the four radiant knights had already retreated from the battlefield. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One of them had been hit on the chest by the green dragon''s tail. Even though he had blocked the blow with his longsword, the tremendous impact still managed to shatter his ribcage and cause him to continuously cough up blood. The other knight''s right arm was completely dissolved by acid and he could no longer hold up his longsword.


    Even the two remaining knights were exhausted and injured all over. It seemed they were barely hanging on using the last vestiges of their strength.


    They couldn''t have changed the conclusion of this fight. Through their immense physical strength and monstrous magic resistance, the dragons had always dominated the world. These were the sources of their dominance, and was what allowed them to challenge powerful individuals above their Grade. Thus, in truth, the Third Grade green dragon before them already had powers rivalling that of an ordinary Fourth Grade.


    The four radiant knights were only at Second Grade. The fact that they were able to inflict such damage on a Fourth Grade being with just their mortal bodies was only due to their reckless and desperate way of fighting!


    For a time the entire palace, and the entire peak of Mount Mingsu, was filled with the tragic cries of human guards and the ravaging gales brought about by the rapid dives of the dragons. Groups of people were running about everywhere as more and more of the earth became scorched under the corrosive dragon breath. The sight of scattered bones and pools of green liquid shocked and stunned everyone that looked upon them.


    Moreover, half-molten bodies of palace guards could be seen everywhere. They were on the palace walls, the rooftops, the towers, in the streets!


    Leon and the two Mages, who were watching the tragedy unfold before their eyes from the safety of the side hall, all had differing feelings and emotions about it. As native Mages of this plane, Cobalt and Flower were content to see the palace guards rightfully paying their dues as they were cruelly slaughtered. Yet, at the same time, they couldn''t help but feel a trace of indescribable sorrow at the scene! Leon, on the other hand, was a human from another world. He had absolutely no sympathy to spare for these people.


    This was actually a very common mentality amongst all plane worlds!


    The Mages firmly believed that only humans from the World of Mages could barely be considered as the same race as them. This was because those humans were shared their bloodlines. In the eyes of the Mages, the humans of other worlds were no more than groups of humanoid creatures.


    This was much like the attitude of players in online games back on Earth. The Mages were a bunch of invading player-characters, while the natives were only NPCs that happened to look like humans. Thus the Mages would never feel a slight bit of guilt at slaughtering such natives.


    Leon thought that he would find it difficult to cross that line. Yet, as he watched humans from another world die en masse at the hands of dragons, he found that his emotions were extremely calm. It was like he was watching a play, a show performed on stage. He couldn''t help but sigh at this discovery. The past few years of difficulties in the World of Mages had undoubtedly tremendously changed him!


    Now that the time was ripe, Leon didn''t intend to dawdle. He reached into the air and drew a crimson runic line in front of his eyes. When one strange flame-shrouded rune had been completed, Leon blew at the rune lightly and it instantly vanished.


    Leon took out oddly-shaped orb and swallowed it in one go.


    "Alright, the runic seal on the books I gave you have been removed!" Leon turned back and calmly said, "Send my greetings to Diviner Mas."


    Having said that, he didn''t wait for the two native Mages to reply. He pushed apart the doors and strode towards the hall in the distance.


    "How is it? Is there a response from Sir Diviner?" Mage Cobalt couldn''t help but turn his head and ask, "Don''t let that Mage trick us!"


    Mage Flower pressed her right hand against her forehead. She closed her eyes and sensed with a spell for a minute or two before finally opening her eyes and nodding, "The magic seal has indeed been removed. Sir Diviner wants us to return immediately! Let''s go!"


    Mage Cobalt nodded silently. He gazed at the silhouette of that terrifying Mage, shrinking away in the distance, before turning and retreating from the palace with his companion back to where they came from.


    They weren''t here to help Leon in the first place. They were only here as personal ''bodyguards'' to make sure that nothing happened before he removed the runic seals on those books. The agreement between both parties had actually been completed when the dragon flight had attacked.


    Diviner Mas had used his wisdom to help Leon draw away most of the radiant knights. If Leon was still unable to kill Edward VII, that could only be the fault of his own weakness.


    ...


    It was still that delicate and spacious bedroom.


    The tightly shut doors were forced open by a stumbling figure.


    They were wearing the blinding knight armor that belonged to the radiant knights. Terrifying marks that indicated it had suffered corrosion by the green dragons'' acid could be seen everywhere. Even the visor had been badly damaged by an external force and had its shaped twisted and distorted. Blood covered the rest of his exposed skin, making it hard for anyone to recognize the knight''s identity.


    The two radiant knights guarding the hall were shocked for a second. They had already drawn their runic longswords in preparation for a confrontation. However, they both let out a sigh of relief when they saw the person''s costume.


    As they moved forward to help their companion up, the injured knight started screaming in a hoarse voice, "Quick... reinforce them... "


    Before the knight could finish his sentence, he had already fallen to the ground. His head rested limply against the floor. It was clear he was unconscious.


    "The situation in front must be extremely urgent. Otherwise they wouldn''t have sent someone back to ask for help. I''ll go take a look. You stay here and guard the king!" The more experienced radiant knight quickly made a decision. After barking out some simple orders, he rose and rushed towards the front of the hall, where the fighting was at its most intense. Several spellbreaker knights followed behind him.


    Even though the radiant knight that stayed behind was extremely anxious, he could only suppress his worries and do his job. Then his attention was drawn towards his companion that had fallen to the ground.


    As high-grade knights, their Spirits might not be as sharp or powerful as spellcasters, but they were still far superior when compared to ordinary people. He was able to recognize the aura of any of his companions after slight contact. Yet his senses were acting up today. Even though he could very clearly sense an aura of familiarity about his ''injured'' companion, he couldn''t place a name or face to the person.


    Did the dragons cast some odd spell on him?


    He lifted his companion''s body in his confusion, and turned him face up. Just as he was about to take off that distorted and damaged helmet, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. It felt like a burning rod had stabbed all they through.


    He looked down in surprise, only to find his ''companion''s'' hand in his stomach. The hand was muscular and glowing red like fire. Moreover, it seemed like his ''companion'' was still thrusting his hand even further inside.


    The next moment, a terrifying blaze of fire had ignited in the room.


    A menacing Flame Fiend had come to life, right in his embrace!


    ...


    2017 Words

 Chapter 248 Mission Complete

    An enemy!It was only when the Flame Fiend form was revealed that the radiant knight was able to determine the identity of his ''companion''.


    The Flame Fiend''s rapidly expanding magma hand had pierced through the knight''s armor and flesh, intensely burning in his stomach. The tremendous pain, along with his anger and hatred for the enemy, instantly threw the radiant knight into a berserker rage!


    Any other human would have exploded and died if they had been injected with such violent fire energy. However, the radiant knights were well acclimated to ice and fire energies, having handled them for long periods of time. The flames in the knight''s body could wound him but not kill him. In fact, he started his counter-attack using the massively increased Strength and Physique from his berserked status.


    The radiant knight had no time to draw his sword. The moment he went berserk, he charged at Leon. He raised an iron fist and launched a heavy punch at the Flame Fiend''s chest, instantly shattering a Lava Shield. The unstoppable fist continued on its path, sending the massive Flame Fiend flying backwards. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Flame Fiend''s steel-hard chest had completely collapsed. The sound of breaking bones could clearly be heard within the room.


    A large and bloody wound appeared where the Flame Fiend''s hand had been pulled out of the knight''s stomach. Purple-black blood and shattered organs surged out of his body from the pressure of the vicious fire energies. However, even this blood and flesh didn''t make it to the floor. They were vaporized by the intense heat as they were falling to the ground.


    The radiant knight let out a muffled grunt. He stumbled two steps forward in agony before dropping to the ground on one knee.


    Leon had crashed to the ground ten meters away. When he finally managed to get up, viscous blood-fire surged up his throat and he coughed it out onto the stone floor before him. On the ground, the Flame Fiend''s purple blood burned with a strange fire.


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    Their enemy was right before them. The two raised their heads and locked onto their opponent with hateful gazes.


    It isn''t wise to wait. I had best kill the opponent while he''s badly injured!


    A resolute thought rose up in both of their minds at almost the same time.


    The radiant knight extended his right hand outwards. Amazingly, strange red flames started to surface on his hand. He grit his teeth and pressed the energy flames against the wound on his stomach.


    Amidst the sizzling sounds of burning flesh, the radiant knight experienced an intense pain that he had never felt before. That said, he had succeeded in using the searing energy flames to exterminate the remaining elementium flames within his body, as well as managing to use the fire to seal his massive wound.


    This was an extremely crude and simple treatment. Even now, any simple action would send pain shooting throughout his entire body. The more he exerted his strength, the more wounds would appear under the charred flesh. Purple-black blood would continue to flow down slowly. Even so, sealing his wounds still allowed him to regain a portion of his combat strength!


    As long as his movements were quick and the battle short enough, he would still have an opportunity to properly treat his wounds at a later time.


    Leon, on the other hand, had already swallowed four or five potion bottles of various colors. His bones and flesh cracked and snapped, and the shattered bone fragments were expelled from his body of magma. His collapsed chest started to swell under the guidance of some mysterious energies.


    Still, the energy storm left behind in his body by the knight''s attack was still ravaging his insides. For a moment this made it hard for him to gather enough magic to cast any spells.


    The spellbreaker knights gathered about the hall shouted battlecries and charged towards Leon.


    They too understood the situation. Both the radiant knight and the enemy had sustained damage from the earlier entanglement. As long as they were able to buy a little time for the radiant knight to recuperate, their chance of victory would increase greatly.


    Yet this group of spellbreaker knights that had not engaged in the battle of Greenland Forest would never know how wrong they were. Distance was never a disadvantage for a powerful Mage. Rather, it was an advantage!


    The Scroll of Voodoo, always by Leon''s side, had already silently appeared in his hand as he was trying to catch his breath, and was secretly flipping through its pages on its own. A short moment later the Scroll of Voodoo stopped on a certain page. A blinding magic halo burst forth.


    Flame Halo of Repulsion!


    This was a unique spell that contained both fire damage and the ability to physically knock back enemies!


    Successive flame shockwaves spread outwards, with Leon at their center. Everyone that came into contact with the flame halo had to endure the burning of flames as they stumbled backwards awkwardly.


    A single spell and all of the knights had been blown away, with the exception of some powerful knights that focused on honing their Strength and Physique. The remaining knights could no longer get close to Leon or interrupt his spellcasting!


    The sound of flipping pages continued...


    The pages finally stopped, and yet another powerful spell was used.


    Fire Core Explosion!


    This was one of the most powerful and mighty spells among the ones that Leon had mastered.


    The destructive flame energies quickly gathered around the radiant knight under the guidance of Leon''s gaze. In a single instant it could easily turn into a fierce explosive blaze, causing immense elemental damage to the opponent.


    The radiant knight had just completed his rudimentary treatment, but he was still exceptionally sensitive to elementium flux. The moment the wild elementium energies started to move, he instantly let out a battlecry and kicked off against the ground, successfully escaping from the Fire Core Explosion''s area-of-effect. At the same time that his body left the ground, his runic longsword started to glow brilliantly. A terrifying energy blade quickly slashed through ten meters of space to land on Leon''s body.


    The Flame Fiend''s massive size ensured that he could never be as agile as a human knight. Even though Leon could see the blade slashing towards him, the only thing he could do was try his best to step to the side. Energy quickly gathered around his flame-red eyes as he dodged, shooting out a beam of Solar Ray and slicing towards the charging enemy from the side.


    Pu...


    Szz...


    Two different sounds rang out at the same time, with two distinct but muffled cries of pain mixed within!


    Fortunately, Leon had consciously prevented his vitals from being hit. Even though he had been hit squarely by the slash, the concentrated and lethal attack had only managed to tear a large gash from his right chest to the shoulder. Boiling lava at intense temperatures splashed out of the meter-long wound. When the lava landed on the smooth marble floor, it instantly heated up the ground to an unbelievable degree, softening and and liquefying the marble.


    On the other hand, the Solar Ray shot from Leon''s eyes had been blocked by the radiant knight''s sword. Astounding heat gathered on the blade. Elementium energies clashed with runic energies, emitting a burning and blinding light as they collided.


    The radiant knight quickly made a grabbing motion in the air with his left hand. A blinding energy spear quickly formed in his grip. He threw it with all his strength, putting a hole right in the stomach of the Flame Fiend. At the same time, the pages of the Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s hands rapidly turned. A Scarlet Firestorm instantly appeared where the knight was, returning the knight''s blow with one of Leon''s own.


    Single-target spells might have been concentrated and powerful in a close-combat fight. However, melee classes could easily dodge or counter such attacks using various methods and skills. Thus, in order to ensure that the enemy was constantly damaged, Leon had no choice but to exhaust a large-radius fire spell.


    Leon was an elementium Mage with fire mastery after all. Any fire spell would become much more powerful if he was the one doing the casting. Thus, again and again, the two enemies clashed at a distance of less than ten meters. And once again the two ended in a painful stalemate!


    Yet at this time, the numerous guards in the hall had already made their way here and were bombarding Leon with a rain of runic arrows. Spellbreaker knights were mixed into the crowd, waving their swords about as they tried to charge at Leon''s side.


    That said, none of these could directly threaten Leon''s life. As long as he had five seconds of time to catch a breath, he could use the four powerful remaining spells in the Scroll of Voodoo to wipe them out.


    Sadly, where was he to find these five seconds in such a terrifying and crowded battlefield?!


    If he endured the enemies attacks and used an instant-cast spells to exterminate these annoying flies, the radiant knight might already have recovered from the previous round of attacks. The radiant knight would then easily be able to deal a killing blow in a composed and calm fashion.


    There was even scarier news. Leon''s powerful Spirit senses had already detected another massive life force rapidly speeding towards the hall.


    A radiant knight!


    The radiant knight that left earlier had realized something was wrong and was rushing back to the hall.


    There was no time to hesitate anymore. Leon instantly activated the Scroll of Voodoo once more.


    The spell he chose this time was still the Flame Halo of Repulsion, with its powerful repulsive effect!


    As the swarm of human guards were reduced to ashes in the shockwave, and the spellbreaker knights were busy enduring the burning damage, Leon quickly took out a grey and inconspicuous wooden stick from his storage belt. He gripped it in his hand and decisively pointed it at the radiant knight.


    "Iivaiyrda*Norhan! Sheep Transfiguration Hex!"


    Green light flashed across the wooden stick. The radiant knight that the stick was pointing at promptly burst apart into white fog with a muffled boom. Only a cute and petite lamb was left on the spot.


    At the same time, the chip''s notification rang out in Leon''s mind.


    "Hex completed. Effect is reduced by 40% due to powerful mental resistance. Duration: three seconds."


    Just a mere three seconds!


    This wasn''t enough for Leon to forcefully slay someone above his Grade!


    Just then, a powerful impact of ferocious energies shattered the doors of the hall. The other radiant knight broke into the room angrily, glowing brilliantly with runic light.


    Leon let out a silent sigh. He knew he no longer had a chance to kill the badly wounded knight. He could only take one step backward and vanish from the spot with his Fire Teleportation. Just as his silhouette disappeared, a terrifying energy blade slashed at where he had been.


    A blazing fire halo appeared suddenly Leon was right before Edward VII''s bed. A raging inferno surged in every direction. The doctors by the king''s side quickly turned into human torches. The light of the burning flames filled the room. When the light finally dimmed, only charred bones were left of the poor doctors.


    However, when this heat wave surged towards the dying king, it was blocked by an invisible energy barrier. It didn''t manage to hurt the king at all! The energy barrier hadn''t been activated through a magic or runic array. Rather, it was an energy barrier that emanated from a mysterious ruby necklace floating before the king''s neck.


    It was clear that this was no common object. In that moment of danger it was able to activate an energy defense on its own, protecting itself and the king within.


    An energy field?


    Leon was so shocked he almost shouted out loud.


    Energy fields were a self-defense mechanism unique to higher life forms. Even without the power of spells, these lifeforms would be able to form a defensive energy membrane, with their powers functioning as its core. These energy fields were able to block most external attacks. Some high-level magically enhanced objects had similar traits.


    This ruby couldn''t possibly be a lifeform.


    Which meant... that it was, at the very least, a high-level magic-enhanced object!


    Leon no longer hesitated. He held nothing back from his Scroll of Voodoo. Two instantaneous spells violently blasted forth, immediately shredding the energy field to pieces with their forceful power. Then the two spells quickly shot towards Edward VII, severing his head with sharp blades.


    Before the two radiant knights could leap over, Leon grabbed the head and the ruby necklace, leaving the hall in a blaze of Fire Teleportation.


    It was time to escape!


    ...


    2161 Words

 Chapter 249 Dynasty

    Thirteen days later, in the Mages'' base.The last time he saw the base, it was still a ghastly scene covered in blood and flesh.


    A raging forest fire had razed nearly thirty-five kilometers of forest at the southern end of Greenland Forest. The ashes and dust left behind rose to the skies and covered the sun. Even Blue Hillock City had received three consecutive days of black snow!


    Corpses and broken bodies were scattered all across this smoking black scorched earth.


    The charred remains of magic colts and witcher-knights could be found at the center of some of the worst fires. Only a pile of ashes could be found on the ground where they used to be. Everything had been reduced to nothing. Just ashes and dust. It was only when you looked at the edge of the battlefield, brushing away the layers of thick ashes, that you might be able to find some odd substances formed from a mixture of melted bones and metal armor.


    In all honesty, over a thousand witcher-knights still remained when the radiant knights sounded the retreat. However, having lost their faithful mounts, hope of victory, their stamina, and their will, they couldn''t possibly have outrun the ravaging forest fires with their two legs.


    The truth was that only a small minority of witcher-knights managed to escape from the planar war with their lives. This was the main reason that the knights'' kingdom hadn''t been able to get any information for a long period of time.


    Of course the revolt of Blue Hillock City Castellan Count Vanlier had also played a sizeable part in the lack of information! S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he was the first native force that surrendered to the Sarubo Clan, Count Vanlier received great rewards from the Mages for his loyalty. According to the words of nobles that had pledged their allegiance to the Mages alongside Count Vanlier, the great Mages chosen by the heavens were a group of wise men and sages that possessed vast knowledge and the truths of the world.


    A friendly and amiable Mage had even personally elevated Count Vanlier''s bloodline, allowing him to turn from a normal human into a noble, long-lived species. From then on he was freed from the shackles of sickness, aging, and death. There was no longer a need to worry about the threat of death!


    Moreover, after Count Vanlier had been ''cleansed'' he even gained the ability to fly as he willed using his own strength. The terrified nobles immediately changed their standpoints and started to praise of the greatness and virtue of the Mages.


    The nobles had once pledged their loyalty to the knights'' kingdom. But now they claimed and accused the kingdom of being a puppet government that exploited the common people and wagged their tails before the dragons.


    These rumors corresponded with the dragon disasters that had been ravaging the human cities in recent time, quickly spreading throughout the entire continent.


    For a moment, "accepting the Mages and driving away the dragons" became the most popular opinion among the lower working classes in the Continent of Knights!


    When Leon snuck his way back to Greenland Forest through areas controlled by the knights'' kingdom, what he saw surprised him.


    He originally thought that the Mages would only forcefully conquer the plane, and that Mage Sarubo would never have cared for these worthlessly small civilians that were as insignificant as dust. However, from what he had seen, it seemed that even a powerful Mage understood the strength of the masses.


    They were misdirecting the masses and attracting them, pulling the opinion of the lower working classes towards the Mages!


    This was the quickest way to quell the possibility of resistance movements within a plane.


    Even if they used overbearing means to exterminate the knights'' kingdom, there would always be stubborn loyalist forces hiding behind the scenes. These people would continuously provoke the dissatisfaction of the masses, stoking their anger and weaponizing it against the Mages. If the plane''s order was disturbed for prolonged periods of time, the Sarubo Clan''s profits gained from this plane would inevitably take a hit.


    Thus, Leon couldn''t help but be impressed by the changes in the natives that he observed on his way back.


    Exterminating and absorbing the ruling classes was the simplest and quickest way to grab ahold of the most profits! On the other hand, absorbing the middle classes and attracting the lower classes to their side was a necessary means to crush support for resistance forces.


    Just looking at the tricks and schemes the clan was using, it was clear that the Sarubo Clan Mages had their own deep understanding of the conquering and managing of a plane.


    Leon could even make bold guesses based on what was already happening. The Mages'' base only needed to send out some Mages with good appearances. Once they displayed their so-called ''miracles'' before the public, they would easily be able to win the favor of the masses. Then all they needed to do was successfully drive away the dragons from the entire kingdom and the plane itself would truly become the property of the Sarubo Mage Clan!


    Lord Sarubo had a long discussion with the green dragon clan leader during the last planar battle. Could they have decided on this plan during that time? No matter how he looked at it, Leon thought that the current actions of the dragons were most definitely just a ''performance'' they were doing in tandem with the Mages!


    After all, there was no way this plane could still belong to them. The dragons being able to take this chance to amass and rob a massive amount of wealth before they left was, perhaps, a sort of compensation! Meanwhile, their actions created an opportunity for the new rulers of this plane¨C the Mages. This was an opportunity to steal the hearts and win the favors of the masses.


    Of course, with his status as a First Grade Mage, Leon could not possibly come into contact with such core secrets of the clan. He had only come to a simple conclusion after a basic evaluation and deduction of what he had observed on his way back to the base. Even though the chip''s conclusion was a little dark and cruel, Leon firmly believed it to be the truth.


    This was perhaps because he was an Mage himself now!


    The new Mages'' base could no longer be considered a base. It was more like a rapidly developing city.


    The nearby trees had all been burned to ashes. This saved the Mages the trouble of cutting them down.


    When Leon returned, plenty of construction projects were underway. Several stone towers rose from the ground. Patches of mountainous land had been reformed. Under the command of the Mages, groups of voodoo beasts pushed around debris, flattened ground, cleared the area... they were extremely busy with work. Your next chapter awaits on empire


    Of course most of the previous voodoo beasts had been destroyed in the last battle. This new batch of voodoo beasts had clearly been a rushed job. Most of them looked like centaurs. Their lower bodies were that of beasts. Dense dark hair, scale armor, wicked physiques, and terrifying claws. These were clearly magic colts. A muscular human body had been stitched to the top of the beast''s body. It could speak and was agile enough to use weapons and tools.


    Wasn''t this an abomination made from the lower bodies of magic colts and the upper bodies of witcher-knights?


    They even had an extremely nice name. The Runic Knights!


    Indeed, these voodoo beasts would all be equipped with standard runic equipment in the future. These beasts would be a troop of powerful armed forces that the Mages planned to cultivate in this plane.


    The Mages couldn''t possibly always remain in this plane. Most of the administration had to be handed over to the native nobles to be completed. All the Mages needed them to do was hand over the required resources and wealth on time.


    The method of dealing with these puppet nobles, backed by the Mages, was fairly simple. On one hand, you had to entice them with sufficient benefits, while on the other, you kept them honest with overwhelming force.


    The runic knights were the most powerful force that the Sarubo Clan planned to leave behind to maintain their rule.


    Lord Sarubo still met Leon in that war tower.


    Ever since the war tower had been constructed, the human projection looked no different from a clone of Lord Sarubo himself. Leon couldn''t tell that this wasn''t an actual human instead of a consciousness projection, even when he looked at Sarubo face to face!


    The first thing he did when they met was, naturally, hand over the mission items.


    Lord Sarubo had sent Leon to the knights'' kingdom''s capital with two missions. The first was to kill the ruler of the kingdom, Edward VII. The other was to obtain a complete set of runic knowledge.


    Leon had successfully completed both of these tasks.


    He handed over Edward VII''s head as well as a complete set of the drafts of runes and the scrolls that contained knowledge about them. After a quick inspection of the items, Lord Sarubo nodded in satisfaction.


    Of course, Leon had made the best of his time on the way back. With the chip, he had scanned every piece of information from every document, draft, and scroll, saving them all within his mind. As a result, he quite willingly handed over the research.


    Lord Sarubo picked up the ugly human head that had been treated with some preservation spells. He casually threw the head into a strange array that had appeared from the floor.


    The magic array hovered in the air one meter above the ground. The entire array was formed from three layers of brilliant magic halos and countless strange runes mixed within it. The human head landed within the array and bobbed up and down in midair. As several shining magic halo analyzed the head, a dark trace of the head''s bloodline power was extracted from it. The substance floated above the head.


    When the trace of bloodline power had been completely extracted, Lord Sarubo opened his eyes and and drew in midair with his fingers. A powerful rune formed in the air and was cast into the array.


    The war tower shook slightly. A massive amount of energy that shocked even Leon circulated through the defense system and surged wildly into this phantasmal array.


    The trace of bloodline power looked like a single strand of red thread, slowly floating in the array.


    For just that one instant, Leon felt like he could see through the shadows and saw thousands upon thousands of strange faces packed tightly within the floating red thread. They were old, young, or even infantile... their ages were different and their expressions were each distinct, yet all of them had a vague planar law connection with this trace of bloodline power.


    The name of a powerful and mysterious spell surfaced in Leon''s mind when he saw this scene.


    Bloodline Curse!


    This was a top-grade spell with extreme power. It was also one of the most vicious and cruel curses in existence.


    Edward VII was undoubtedly the most powerful man within the Edward Family of the knights'' plane. Countless bloodline descendants, sons, and grandsons had been born, with him as the bloodline source. If one were to include the many bastards left by the royal family in the outside world, it would be an impossibly difficult task for the Mages to completely exterminate the Edward Family''s bloodline.


    But it was different now that they had the Bloodline Curse.


    Moreover, they had the bloodline source, Edward VII, in their hands, as well as the Great Mage as the host of the spell coupled with the massive energy reserves of the war tower. Under Leon''s shocked gaze, the rune that the Great Mage had just sent into the array vanished into thin air. The bloodline power had acted as a catalyst for the rune.


    Leon''s sharp senses could feel the deep stirring of a certain planar law the instant the rune vanished!


    For some unknown reason, a slight bit of enlightenment rose in Leon''s heart!


    The lives of all that possessed the Edwards royal bloodline within this plane had probably reached their end!


    As expected, like an invisible needle continuously popping phantasmal bubbles, the spectral faces within the trace of bloodline power started to disappear one after another, their faces letting out agonizing cries as they vanished.


    The disappearance of a face meant the death of someone in the distance!


    Leon gulped uncomfortably.


    Even though Leon was an Mage himself and had stained his hands deeply with blood, he was still thoroughly shocked and intimidated by such a brutal way of exterminating an entire bloodline. It was as if it was no more than a game.


    The Edward dynasty had been thoroughly extinguished!


    ...


    2160 Words

 Chapter 250 Level 1.1

    Now that everything was completed, it was finally the best part. The part Leon had been looking forward to¨C the rewards!He had only risked his life a little in the planar battle earlier, and had already been rewarded with a Flame Fiend Heart that was compatible with his affinity. What kind of rewards awaited him now that he had so successfully completed two missions?


    The uncomfortable feeling from witnessing the Bloodline Curse at work was quickly fading away.


    For some reason, Leon was becoming excited!


    A magic crystal card worth a hundred thousand magic crystals, and one standard Mages'' tower. These were Leon''s final rewards from this trip to another world.


    Such a reward was extremely extravagant.


    It was important to note that most Mages received around thirty to fifty thousand magic crystals worth of profit in each planar war they participated in. Yet Lord Sarubo had instantly inflated Leon''s reward to one hundred thousand. This was clearly an acknowledgement of his prowess and diligence.


    That said, a hundred thousand magic crystals was completely insignificant compared to the reward of the Mages'' tower.


    This Mages'' tower that Great Mage Sarubo had personally promised Leon was completely different from the swampy tower he had lived at in the past.


    When all was said and done, the swamp tower was still considered a property of the Sarubo Clan. Mage Anderson was only managing the tower as the Mage stationed there. The Mages'' tower Leon had been rewarded was going to be Leon''s personal territory. It would be owned and managed by him and him alone.


    This also meant that from now on, Leon would have a safe space that even the Sarubo Clan cannot enter or take away as they willed. Such an Mages'' tower was worth at least two hundred thousand magic crystals back in the World of Mages.


    However, such a reward clearly couldn''t be given out in the knights'' plane. Leon''s new tower had to wait until they returned to the World of Mages. He would have to pick a suitable location, and then the Sarubo Clan would be responsible for the following cost of materials and construction.


    This was obviously one of the methods that the Sarubo Clan used to incentivize and attract talent to stay!


    If Leon wanted to get this reward, he had to sign a new contract with Great Mage Sarubo. He was not to leave the Sarubo Clan for another hundred years. Leon thought for a moment and agreed.


    After receiving his rewards Leon left Sarubo''s room, only to be called over by Mage F¨¹gen. The reason F¨¹gen was in a rush to see Leon was because he needed to ask him about his future plans.


    Now that the knights'' plane was well in the hands of the clan, the Sarubo Clan''s rule would quickly spread throughout the entire world. Many Mages were needed to fill in the power vacuum left after the collapse of the knights'' kingdom. At the same time, the Mage forces in the two lesser planes as well as the main headquarters couldn''t be absent for too long. They needed Mages to return to their stations there.


    Thus, Mage F¨¹gen actively asked for Leon''s opinion to see which was more preferable for him.


    Leon had to ask several questions before he found out that the other Mages in the base had already made their decisions before he came back. He might not care about the other Mages'' choices, but there were two people he was concerned about. Bleia and Blake had both chose to stay in the knights'' plane!


    He couldn''t help but feel that their choices were odd.


    Then again, after a little thought, it seemed perfectly reasonable!


    Both Bleia and Blake were bloodline Mages. The way they increased their powers was vastly different from elementium Mages. In all honesty, both of them walked on a bloody path of slaughter!


    As a vampire Mage, Bleia''s growth revolved around large amounts of fresh, high quality blood. This was a scarce resource in the World of Mages. However, all of those fleeing witcher-knights, spellbreaker knights, and radiant knights here could be her prey. As long as she was diligent, she could obtain massive profits from her time here.


    If this was the World of Mages, the Mages there couldn''t possibly allow her to go around hunting and ambushing Mages for their blood.


    Similarly, Worm Controller Blake needed large amounts of high quality flesh and blood to cultivate even more carcass beetles. Staying in the knights'' plane and exterminating the remaining knights was a decent choice for him as well!


    As compared to these two ''old friends'' that could get stronger and stronger through constant killing, Leon was only an elementium Mage¨C and elementium Mages could not improve in the same way they did.


    What was more important and crucial to elementium Mages was their understanding and utilization of the planar laws. All of this required the accumulation of an immense amount of knowledge and technique. There were no shortcuts to be taken. With the help of the chip, Leon could avoid going down the wrong path and being misguided and might also need slightly less time to accumulate knowledge. Still, gathering an immense amount of knowledge was a long and drawn-out process.


    Moreover, this knowledge was not readily available in the knights'' plane.


    After deep consideration, Leon decided to return to the World of Mages.


    After all, that was the Mages'' place of origin. It was much easier to gather knowledge there than anywhere else. As for the resources he needed for his future development? His bulging, full storage belt already had that settled!


    Leon had intended to see Bleia before he left, to reinforce their relationship. Sadly, there were many internal affairs to be settled in the knights'' plane. All of the Mages that had chosen to stay here had already been assigned posts all over the plane. Thus, Leon could only follow the twelve Mages back across the space vortex and return to the clan''s pseudo-plane.


    Leon once again saw Lord Sarubo''s actual body here.


    The first thing Lord Sarubo did when he saw everyone was extend a bony hand towards them. He made a slight grabbing motion, and some unusually brilliant fragments had been extracted from everyone''s souls.


    Leon felt a stinging pain in the depths of his soul, which quickly faded after a while.


    Leon couldn''t help but be intimidated as he looked at the soul fragments that Great Mage Sarubo had extracted from the Mages. He started communicating with the chip.


    "Chip, can you determine what Sarubo extracted from my soul?"


    "Beep, inspecting chip data library... bzzzzzt, error detected. Data missing from data library. Warning. Warning. Chip data library has received slight damage. Some data has been lost... "


    "Chip, could you be more specific? Which data?"


    "Beep, data related to the coordinates of the knights'' plane... "


    So that''s what it was!


    Leon finally understood.


    The information Great Mage Sarubo had extracted from everyone''s souls was the coordinate information of the knights'' plane.


    Now that the plane had already become the third lesser-plane belonging to the Sarubo Clan, it was also Great Mage Sarubo''s personal property. If the coordinates of such a developed material plane was exposed, it could very well attract many schemes and hunters from his enemies.


    As a result, the first thing Sarubo did when the clan Mages came out of the knights'' plane was wipe away any memories about the plane''s coordinates. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This clearly wasn''t the first time that the veteran clan Mages had experienced this sort of thing. They were extremely calm and measured when their memories were taken from them. On the other hand, Leon, Keoghan, and a few other Mages betrayed an expression of fear and doubt. That said, anyone who could still stand here alive had to be sly and scheming. They quickly suppressed and hid their uncertainties.


    "Good job in the planar war this time. Your contributions will be noted by the clan. When you go back, all of the rewards that have been promised will be realized. Mm, you may return now!" Great Mage Sarubo''s head was still bent low beneath the shadow of his hood. Still, his low voice still echoed within everyone''s mind.


    The Mages bowed in acknowledgement.


    They exited the large magic hall, nodded and greeted each other, then left in their own directions.


    Leon, Keoghan, Ferrier, and Kiel were clearly headed for the World of Mages. Thus they walked together and successfully used the long-range teleportation array within the pseudo-plane to return to the Mages'' tower at the clan headquarters.


    All four of them couldn''t help but let out a muffled grunt when they walked out of the teleportation array.


    Body Refining Mage Kiel, who had the toughest Physique, only held his head as he fell into a daze for a moment. He quickly recovered. Potions Master Ferrier on the other hand, who had the weakest Physique, had completely fallen to the ground and found it difficult to even get up. Leon and Keoghan also tightly gripped their fists as they silently endured the pain brought about by the backlash from the planar laws.


    Their bodies, minds, and souls had all been contaminated with a trace of the other plane''s aura, having stayed in the knights'' plane for such a long time. Thus there had to be a period of re-adaption to the World of Mages.


    Harrison, who was stationed in that tower, felt the commotion from the teleportation array. He appeared in the hall almost immediately after the four Mages had arrived. He quickly understood what was happening when he saw the Mages in pain.


    Under his orders, seven young apprentice Mages quickly came forth and helped the Mages to their own quarters to rest.


    The resilient Kiel waved his hand and pushed aside the two apprentices next to him. He had basically recovered after this short moment''s rest. The mastery that body refining Mages had over their bodies was enviable!


    Leon''s physique was also rather special. Discover hidden content at empire


    Having completed the elementiumization of his body, there weren''t as many flaws now as he had when he was an actual human. Thus he was the second Mage to recover after Kiel.


    He waved aside the apprentices and silently watched as Keoghan and Ferrier were sent back to their quarters by the apprentices.


    The clear and crisp notification of the chip continuously rang out in Leon''s mind as waves of planar backlash continued to wrestle with his powerful Spirit in the depths of his soul.


    "Detecting penetration of strange energies. Initial analysis suggests that these energies are extremely beneficial to an Mages'' Spirit. Requesting instructions from host. Block these energies?"


    The shit? Block these energies when they are beneficial to Spirit? Do you think I''ve got shit for brains?


    Leon instructed unhappily, "No need to stop the energies. Continue monitoring!"


    "Understood! Continuing monitoring... "


    In his mind, the graphs indicating Leon''s bodily attributes were rapidly increasing. Every single attribute was shooting up at an amazing rate, and the speed at which they were increasing was accelerating as well.


    Finally, when the sudden change in attributes had stopped, Leon managed to see for himself the change.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human (half-elementiumized) Male


    Class: First Grade Mage


    Attributes: Strength 2.6 | Agility 1.1 | Physique 3.7 | Spirit 6.3


    Condition: Healthy.


    ...


    1897 Words

 Chapter 251 Chaos

    Plane feedback!This was plane feedback!


    Leon shouted out silently in his heart.


    Even though he had yet to fully comprehend the mechanisms and principles of these planar feedbacks, it didn''t stop him from reveling in the joy of having his powers increase exponentially.


    Countless planar law chains were incessantly merging with certain contents within his mind. All of this was happening at a planar law level that Leon couldn''t access with his naked eye or his Spirit. If Leon had advanced to a Fourth Grade Mage, he might have realized that all of the contents of his mind that were merging with the laws were runic knowledge that he had brought back from the knights'' plane, as well as the resentment of powerful individuals that he had slain.


    The planar laws trembled slightly. The ends of the planar chains had completely sunk into Leon''s soul. They were slowly merging with the complete set of runic knowledge Leon had just obtained. Even though most of the runic knowledge was similar to the World of Mages'' widely used system, the part about merging energies was completely new content.


    Most of Leon''s plane feedback had come from this particular knowledge!


    The fact that Leon''s base attributes could explode up to two or three times their original value was mostly thanks to this completely new knowledge of merging runic energies.


    The other Mages might have been able to obtain varying amounts of knowledge concerning the merging of runic energies, but who could compare with Leon? He had robbed the knights'' kingdom treasury of knowledge¨C the drafting room of Runeforge Camp! The knowledge fragments that the Mages brought back with them from another plane had helped the World of Mages in completing part of its planar laws. As a result, the planar consciousness had naturally rewarded them with positive feedback!


    Of course, Leon got the most out of this process. Even the gains of the other three Mages added together would not compare to half of Leon''s.


    The resentment of powerful knights that clung onto Leon''s body had also provided him feedback from the plane. This sort of resentment couldn''t be obtained by just any random acts of killing. One had to slaughter, with his own hands, a powerful individual that had been acknowledged by the plane to gain such resentment.


    Having slain mountains of witcher-knights, scores of spellbreaker knights, and even a radiant knight, the amount of resentment that had gathered about Leon was tremendous. All of these resentments had been exchanged for an immense plane feedback.


    If one were to look at it from this point of view, the World of Mages actually encouraged killing beings of other worlds. The cruel, evil, and invasive nature of the Mages had infected the entire planar consciousness as well. This caused the World of Mages to become a chaotic, evil, and savage planar consciousness towards other worlds!


    That said, the Mages possessed a trace of elegance amidst their brutality, as compared to demons of the lower realms. They were calm and measured madmen. It differed from the utter chaos and insanity of the abyssal demons!


    However, these planar secrets that occured at the level of the planar laws was not something that Leon could access as he was now. Thus the only thing he could do, apart from passively receiving the plane feedback, was to record every change to his body using the chip. This could be useful for his future research.


    ......


    The abnormality of the returning Sarubo Clan Mages didn''t draw any attention from the outside world.


    Of the seven Mages that set off from Feidnan City''s Mages'' tower, only four had returned. Bleia and Blake had chosen to stay in the knights'' plane. Another Mage had unfortunately died on the planar battlefield.


    Even though the war this time had successfully given the Sarubo Clan complete control over a lesser plane, the headquarters had to endure the consequences of the sudden decrease in their number of Mages. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The reason the Sixth-Grade Great Mage Sarubo had given such extravagant rewards to Leon was to keep him in the clan for a hundred years. This was done in order to ensure that the clan could successfully last through this period of weakness. The Sarubo Mage Clan had to wait for the resources from the knights'' plane to be sent back before it could regain or even exceed its previous strength.


    Before they were able to do so, they had to keep a grip on powerful new Mages like Leon in order to avoid their weakness from attracting their enemy''s attention!


    The Zhentarim Association''s Forest Territory. This was a place where countless Mage clans stood and survived. The complex geography, along with the complex relationships of the clans, caused this to be an area of intense conflict where battles broke out every so often and tensions never ended. Large-scale Mage conflicts had been forbidden in this area. However, small-scale territory wars and the skirmishes between individual Mage clans were not included in this rule.


    Big fish eat small fish, and small fish ate shrimps!


    If any Mage clan showed weakness in its affairs, all of the territory and resource sites it owned would instantly be attacked and conquered by the surrounding Mage clans. Every so often, news of wars and battles between clans and clan leaders would spread throughout the entire Zhentarim Association.


    Moreover, news of the massive decrease in active Mages in the Sarubo Clan headquarters could not be hidden from the public. This meant that, in the short term, the thirteen worldly territories and nine resources sites belonging to the Sarubo Clan would most likely attract the greed of their enemies.


    Some small skirmishes were unavoidable!


    Now that Leon had performed so outstandingly in the plane war, and had signed a new Mage contract with Lord Sarubo, he could be considered a trustworthy core Mage of the clan. Thus, some of the core secrets of the Sarubo Clan were gradually being exposed to him.


    The Sarubo Clan. A mid-tier Mage clan within the Zhentarim Association. They had seventy-three official First Grade Mages, four Second Grade Mages, and two Third Grade Mages. The number of Mages in even higher grades were not something that Leon could access with his current status.


    It was with such a meager force that the Sarubo Clan had to defend their headquarters, while managing three lesser planes and a pseudo-plane that served as a transit hub between these four locations. If the Mage forces were split between all of these worlds, there would be a slight shortage in manpower in all of the locations. The number of active forces were not enough.


    In recent times the clan had gathered most of its Mages on the newly acquired knights'' plane, causing a power vacuum in the other areas. Thus, the most urgent task was to gather the limited manpower they currently had to drive away the greedy enemies looking at them.


    As a result Mage Keoghan, who was being raised as one of the clan''s core Mages, had to deal with the worrying clan wars the moment he returned from the planar battlefield.


    The Sarubo Clan''s territories had already received severe provocation from their enemies for the past two or three months. A viscount''s territory, about fifty square kilometer wide, had been invaded by the lord of a neighboring territory. The defensive strongholds on their outer rim had been lost one after another. The viscount could only turtle within his castle at the center of his territory with his remaining troops, barely fending off the attacks of the enemy.


    The territory was in danger of being taken over!


    At the same time, several resource sites belonging to the Sarubo Clan had also sent back alerts of a similar nature.


    A severe conflict had broken out between the apprentice Mages stationed there and the apprentice Mages of a neighboring clan. They were desperately asking for Mage reinforcements from the clan headquarters!


    The trading firms and arcane shops that the Sarubo Clan had stationed in the territories of other clans had also reported incidents of robbery and raiding. The managers of those establishments were all frantically requesting help from the headquarters!


    Wave after wave of messages asked for help, and multiple magic notifications were streaming back to Feidnan City''s Mages'' tower like rain in a downpour. As there were too few Mages stationed in the headquarters previously, they could merely suppress the problem. Apart from sending out some pseudo-Mages and elite apprentices to stabilize and delay the damage, they had no means of solving the actual problem.


    This was why the first thing Keoghan had to deal with was such a chaotic and annoying situation.


    Of course, this didn''t necessarily mean that a certain Mage clan was intending to wage a full-on war against the Sarubo Clan. The reason this situation had broken out was most likely because the other Mage clans had gotten wind of the Sarubo Clan''s abnormality. Thus they wanted to apply pressure on the clan through several means in order to test the waters.


    If the Sarubo Clan''s weakness proved to be true, then they wouldn''t be able to send out enough Mages to deal with the provocations of the neighboring clans. The loss of a few world territories, and even a couple of resource sites, would be a natural result! As long as the Sarubo Clan was able to drive away the enemy with overwhelming force, all of these harassments and problems happening at the borders of their territory would instantly vanish.


    In the end, the battle between Mage clans was still determined by the strength of their Mage forces.


    It was fantasy to dream of occupying large numbers of resources without enough Mages to defend them!


    Drive them back! Smash all the claws that the enemies extended into our territories!


    Similar battlecries and calls for action had become the unanimous opinion of all Sarubo Clan Mages.


    The clan Mages were all highly confident in themselves, having just survived a brutal plane war. They shouted out their opinions during the clan meeting organized by Keoghan. Everyone agreed to beat back the ambitions of their enemies with even more brutal attacks than the ones launched at them.


    Thus, what happened next was a frenzy of mission assignments!


    The silhouettes and shadows of enemy clan Mages had already been reported at several battlefields. If they didn''t hurry over, they wouldn''t be able to keep the clan''s profits intact!


    After a quick discussion, Mage Kiel was headed towards Kerala. There was a First Class resource site there that absolutely could not be allowed to fall into the enemy''s hands.


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    A First Class resource site. This was one of the ways the Mages classified resource sites. The value of the resources cultivated within the sites could be divided into three classes. Third Class was the lowest. Usually, these sites were in charge of cultivating some low-level magic creatures or more common resources. The magic swamp Leon had come from belonged to the Third Class!


    Second Class resource sites often cultivated unique Mage-level resources. On the other hand, First Class resource sites often contained resources of strategic value to the clan''s development. This was why the safety and security of these sites had to be guaranteed.


    Mage Ferrier would be heading to Emerald Hills. An important batch of goods had been stolen from there. They desperately needed an Mage to go over and defend the location.


    Mage Loris would continue to stay in Feidnan City.


    Thus, the task of going to Locker Castle in Kartia Hills and saving the losing viscount fell on Leon and Keoghan''s heads. It was rumored that several enemy clan Mages had already appeared there. A slight mishandling of the situation and the whole thing could escalate into a small Mage skirmish!


    ...


    1972 Words

 Chapter 252 Gearing Up

    Kartia Hills, Locker Castle.How strong of a castle could a mere viscount have?


    In fact, since its very design and construction, Locker Castle wasn''t meant as a purely defensive war fortress. It was constructed as a noble''s castle, a semi-villa that was meant to be more comfortable than impenetrable.


    The square of the castle was a garden itself. The main building took up a space of six hundred square meters, and the thin walls were only three meters tall. For the sake of its aesthetics, the entire castle had foregone any bunkers or watchtowers. Instead delicate artistic sculptures of half-naked beauties were littered across the place.


    The width of the wall, that was supposed to stop the enemies, only had enough space for two soldiers to walk side by side. There wasn''t even enough space to place any facilities for war.


    Such a defense system might be sufficient when dealing with wandering bandits and robbers, but it was clearly ill-equipped to deal with an elite army sent out by the lord of another territory.


    Honestly, if it hadn''t been for the large numbers of elite apprentices that the clan had sent over, Locker Castle would probably have fallen seven days ago.


    However, ever since Viscount Donald''s subordinate scouts had found signs of Mages in the enemy''s base, the entire city had fallen into a panic. It didn''t seem long before the castle would fall. Even those elite apprentices of the Sarubo Clan no longer dared to take a single step out of the castle. The only thing they had done for the past few days was fling some fireballs at the enemy forces from on top of the wall.


    The prowess of Mages was well-known!


    It wasn''t just the soldiers and civilians who were cowering in fear. The normally arrogant apprentices were also nervous and anxious when they heard of the news. The two pseudo-Mages and the six advanced apprentices always gathered together during the day. However, the nature of their discussions was never how to stop the enemy''s advance, but how to escape in time should the enemy Mage decide to act.


    As for confronting the Mage? Many apologies, but such a thought had never crossed through their minds!


    Fortunately for them, the Mages from the clan had arrived before Locker Castle fell.


    Keoghan and Leon had arrived at Locker Castle in a wagon at dusk. The enemy''s patrolling cavalry, responsible for sieging the city, had tried to stop them. A single Magma Fireball reduced their efforts, as well as themselves, to ashes.


    After losing eleven of their ranks, the remaining cavalry frantically escaped back to their camp in the distance. No more enemies were sent to stop this slow-moving wagon after that.


    Wasn''t the reason they were sieging this tower to force the Sarubo Clan Mages to show themselves? Now that the Sarubo Mages had shown themselves, this was no longer a mundane war for territory. Rather, it was a showdown between two Mage clans. Your journey continues at empire S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was a good chance to evaluate the strength of the Sarubo Clan Mages!


    ...


    The welcoming dinner for the esteemed Mages was held in the spacious guest hall on the first level of the castle.


    When the pitch black wagon finally stopped before the gates of the castle, Viscount Donald, the six elite apprentices, and a whole host of nobles were waiting by the sides of the road. They looked fervently upon their saviors.


    Even though the clan had already notified them of the Mages'' arrival, they had no idea which of the Mages would be sent as reinforcements.


    That was why the elite apprentices immediately let out a breath of relief when they saw the familiar face of Mage Keoghan. Relaxed smiles appeared on their faces. However, the tall and foreign figure that followed after Mage Keoghan caused them to mutter silently amongst themselves.


    A young and handsome face showed beneath the loose cloak. Black eyes weren''t all that uncommon, but when paired with the long brown hair spread across his shoulders, and the crisp body-tight suit he was wearing, the perfection of his two meter tall muscular body was perfectly brought out.


    Leon''s gentle and elegant air was mixed with the cruelty and depravity of an Mage, merging to become his own uniquely wicked quality.


    This Mage was extremely young!


    For a moment, shock and surprise betrayed the faces of the young noble women. But then, they were attracted by that Leon''s unique air of wickedness. All of them blushed deeply as they shyly turned their faces away.


    Viscount Donald might be the lord of this castle, but even he was humble before Mage Keoghan, who represented the clan. The viscount quickly strode forward and waved away the attendants. He personally raised his arm and helped Keoghan down from the wagon.


    "Sir Keoghan, you are finally here!" A fawning smile was plastered on the viscount''s face, "If you had been even a little later, this humble one would have had to die for the clan!"


    Mage Keoghan let out a cold laugh.


    He knew Viscount Donald far too well. If anything had happened to the castle, the viscount would have been the first to escape along with his wives and concubines. That said, Viscount Donald went back a long way with Keoghan''s family. The basic courtesies still needed to be kept up.


    It was only now that the viscount noticed Leon, who was standing right behind Keoghan. He couldn''t help but hesitate for a moment when he saw this unfamiliar Mage.


    "Sir Keoghan, this esteemed Mage is?"


    "This is the newly advanced clan Mage Leon. He will be managing the situation here with me this time!" Keoghan did a simple introduction.


    The viscount couldn''t stop himself from muttering under his breath when he heard that Leon was a newly advanced Mage.


    "Sir Keoghan, is Sir Kiel, Sir Ferrier, and Sir Loris not coming?"


    His words clearly betrayed his doubt in Leon, the newly advanced Mage. If he hadn''t been a friend of Mage Keoghan, the disrespect he had just shown would be enough to be punished by any other Mage.


    "Hmph! The internal affairs of the clan is none of your business." Mage Keoghan interrupted the viscount unhappily, "That''s enough. There''s no need to talk about irrelevant things. Have all this people leave! Mage Leon and I are still waiting to hear the latest battlefield report!"


    Having said that, Keoghan acknowledged the two pseudo-Mages standing at the front row and walked towards the castle. The four advanced apprentices, on the other hand, had been completely ignored without even so much as a glance.


    The temporary meeting started in a room on the second floor of the castle.


    Even though they were over a thousand people in the castle, only ten had the right to walk into this secret room.


    Mage Keoghan, Mage Leon, the two pseudo-Mages, the four advanced apprentices, Viscount Donald, and his most trusted knight. This knight was also the commander of the viscount''s army. Otherwise he wouldn''t even have had the qualifications to enter this room.


    "In your last report you mentioned that there were traces of Mages in the enemy camp. Do you have something more detailed?" Keoghan started asking impatiently the moment he sat down.


    Even though he had a lot of confidence in Leon and himself, it would still be a troublesome situation if there were too many Mages.


    "There are three." A pseudo-Mage wearing a black eyepatch on his right eye replied softly, "Lanja and I caught a noble from the enemy''s camp. He claimed that there were three Mages in the camp. It seems one of them is Mage Carlos from the Mikayne Clan. We don''t know much else about the other two... "


    "Carlos... " Mage Keoghan frowned slightly and turned to tell Leon what he knew of this Mage.


    Three Mages? This was not going to be easy!


    ...


    Just as a meeting was happening in Locker Castle, another meeting was also happening in the distant enemy camp.


    This was a large and spacious leather tent. The furnishings inside were extremely delicate and extravagant. Even the floor had been covered with a soft and comfortable carpet. Even though they were camping outside, there was a fine bronze furnace right beside the tent. Fragrant smoke emanated from the furnace.


    Three mysterious Mages were seated at the back of the tent. Three pseudo-Mages were standing behind the Mages, betraying excited expressions. Only Lord Tras and his generals could sit in front of the Mages. The remaining nobles and knights had to stand around the tent, silently listening to the Mages'' orders.


    A young pseudo-Mage with a pigeon perched on his shoulder stood in the middle of the tent, loudly reading out the most recent report.


    "Leon. Male. Hardly twenty years old... "


    Surprised praises sounded out in the room, but this didn''t stop the young pseudo-Mage from continuing his report.


    "Time of advancement: Approximately three months ago. Location of advancment: a Third Class resource site of Sarubo Clan¨C their magic swamp.


    "It''s said that there had been two other young Mages that had advanced along with this Leon. They are Mage Bleia, who''s a vampire, and Mage Blake, who has a unique pseudo-bug physique.


    "However, they haven''t been seen around since they entered the Sarubo headquarters at Feidnan''s Mage tower. This time, it seems only Mage Leon has come along with Mage Keoghan... "


    The purple-robed Mage sitting in the middle couldn''t help but let out a cold laugh after impatiently sitting through the report, "A little fellow that had just advanced three months ago! He probably hasn''t even stabilized his Spirit! Even a guy like Keoghan has been sent out. It''s clear that the Sarubos don''t have many forces left!"


    An elderly Mage sitting to the left of the purple-robed Mage and holding a cane in his hand asked softly, "Do the reports mention anything of this Mage Leon''s spell masteries? What are his innate talents?"


    The young pseudo-Mage lowered his head and scanned through the report once more before shaking his head and speaking, "O respected Mage Cochran, nothing specific is mentioned about this Mage Leon''s abilities in this report. After all, he had accidentally advanced in a rural and remote area. Our information on him is still incomplete!"


    "Have you guys not gone to the resource site he stayed in to gather more information?" Mage Cochran frowned in dissatisfaction.


    "My apologies, Mage Cochran. We have secretly sent men over to investigate." The young pseudo-Mage froze before quickly explaining, "But... it seems that an accident had happened during the advancement of those three Mages. Mage Anderson of the Sarubo Clan had died, along with all the other apprentices in that resource site. This... this is why the information we have on them is so incomplete!"


    "That craven Anderson died?" The three Mages looked at each other, smiles of disdain appearing on their faces.


    The old and steady Cochran still wanted to ask some questions, but he was stopped by Carlos, who led this Mage mission.


    "What is everyone worried about?" Carlos let out a sinister laugh, "Apart from Keoghan being slightly bothersome, our only opponent is a newly advanced fellow. When the fight happens we will have one person deal with him while the other two team up against Keoghan. Do you think they could have any chance to turn back when that happens?"


    Everyone nodded in agreement.


    Mage Cochran was actually slightly concerned, but Mage Carlos'' analysis was perfectly logical, so he kept silent.


    The third Mage, who was shrouded in a black mist, remained silent throughout the discussion. It seemed like he had absolutely no interest in it.


    However for some reason even Carlos, who seemed to be leading the discussion, betrayed fear and respect when he looked at this man.


    "Then it''s decided! We will begin our final battle with the enemy at noon tomorrow. We must crush these Sarubo Mages!" Mage Carlos shouted fervently.


    Everyone bowed their heads and acknowledged the order!


    ...


    2001 Words

 Chapter 253 Game

    The second day.Once again the siege began at dawn.


    A sparse line of a thousand men gathered before Locker Castle. The warriors in the front held shields in one hand and raised crude, thick wooden boards over their heads with the other. They slowly advanced towards the gates of the castle. Behind them were the militia in light leather armor, carrying spears and bows.


    Lord Tras'' personal guards still remained within the camp and had not marched onto the battlefield. All of these guards were heavy infantry that wore thick metal armor. They carried solid oak shields and wielded heavy weapons such as flails, claymores, and morning stars.


    Looking from a distance, they appeared to be a group of terrifying slaughter machines wrapped in layers of steel!


    Their numbers weren''t large. There were only three hundred of them.


    However, just these three hundred heavy infantry had cost Lord Tras almost all of his wealth. This was an elite unit he had formed over ten years and after squeezing every last drop of wealth from his territory. Tras had used this steel war chariot to raze the lands of four barons in skirmishes that had happened in the neighboring territories. This army had allowed him to rise to prominence as a powerful lord.


    That said, given the number of apprentice Mages that were stationed in Locker Castle, the elite unit was very likely to suffer heavy losses. To prevent this from happening, Viscount Tras could only send forth those armed civilians and mercenaries to wear down the strength of the apprentice Mages.


    Soon, the battle erupted when the marching army reached within fifty meters of the city walls!


    The arrows, dense like a swarm of locusts, poured from the sky. Many fire arrows were mixed within the barrage. Even though they had the wooden boards to block the arrows, there were still people continuously succumbing to arrows that slipped through the gaps. Sparks of flame danced on the wooden boards, quickly spreading across the dry wood.


    Finally, the advancing army was attacked by the defending apprentice Mages.


    Three smoking magic fireballs and two light green acid balls arced downward from above the walls, landing right in the vanguard of the advancing troops.


    The suddenly exploding fireball instantly engulfed an area ten meters in circumference, quickly turning all of the warriors within into human torches. They tossed aside the weapons in their hands and frantically ran about.


    Green acid mist exploded in the areas where the acid balls landed. Every single warrior that was caught in the mist started to let out agonizing and haunting cries. The exposed flesh of a human warrior who had been directly hit sizzled as it quickly melted away. In just the blink of an eye he had been reduced to a pile of charred bones.


    Most of the other warriors had only been splashed with some acid on their armor and clothes. These kinds of attacks were not as lethal as fireballs, as long as they were able to amputate the body parts that were being corroded by acid.


    The warriors in the vanguard started to hesitate in the face of these horrifying spells. Even the speed at which they were advancing slowed considerably.


    Behind the formation, the commander of the barrier troops started to shout at the soldiers.


    Under his urging, the warriors let out a yell and pressed on with their crude defensive tools.


    The sieging army hadn''t taken another twenty steps before the second wave of spells fell upon them.


    However, at the same time the wave of attacks blasted at the soldiers, five blazing fireballs rose from the advancing army and shot towards the city walls.


    Spells had been cast form the enemy ranks!


    Above the walls.


    A Sarubo advanced-apprentice had just tossed a magic fireball, yet already he saw five intimidating fireballs rapidly closing in on him.


    "Quick, cover me!"


    The advanced apprentice rapidly retreated backwards while casting all his defensive spells on himself. Around him, five or six castle guards quickly covered the apprentice Mage behind them with their large shields.


    Dong. Dong. Dong...


    The five fireballs exploded almost simultaneously, and their might was undeniable. The serious damage formed by the stacked attack was not something that could be stopped by mere metal shields.


    A violent and ferocious ring of fire exploded on the walls, instantly ripping everything within ten meters to shreds before reducing them to ashes.


    The seven guards that had covered the advanced apprentice died instantly. Even their bodies had been blown into several pieces and completely disfigured. Only the advanced apprentice had managed to escape from the area covered by the fireballs, his face full of soot and smoke.


    This fortunate apprentice quickly hid in the crowd while taking out blood stopper ointments and healing potions to treat himself.


    Bastards! Those Mikayne apprentices were playing dirty!


    The Sarubo apprentices were immediately enraged. With no regard for their Spirits, magic fireballs were relentlessly thrown towards the areas that the enemy apprentices were hiding at. The opponent didn''t let up either. They erected colourful defensive barriers around themselves and counter-attacked as they moved around dodging the enemy spells.


    For a moment exploding fireballs were everywhere, both below and above the castle walls!


    Leon stood silently in an opulent bedroom on the third floor of the castle. He had pushed aside the curtains and was gazing at the battlefield in the distance. He couldn''t help but frown.


    This was unexpected!


    Not unexpectedly strong, but unexpectedly weak!


    Having experienced the brutality and terror of a plane war, Leon couldn''t help but feel the intensity of battle and the spells in the World of Mages were far less cruel and bloody when compared to a plane war. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    More significantly, the actual difference was reflected in the deathly determination and wills of the combatants!


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    On a planar battlefield, there was no escape except for death. Someone had to die. Once a battle was lost, not only did the soldier have to lose his life, even the land they lived in became a lesser plane that submitted to all the wills and whims of the conquering plane. It was because of this that plane natives were often extremely courageous and valiant in battle. They wouldn''t stop until they died.


    In comparison, the battlefield before him was so loose and feeble that it felt like the actors involved were playing house.


    The soldiers on each side must have known that they were not the main characters on the battlefield. Thus each and every one of them was acting excessively conservative and defensive. There were almost a 1500 men in total above and below the city walls, yet the most intense battle and most casualties were only because of those ten apprentice Mages.


    Ever since the start of the battle, more than half of the hundred casualties were victims of the Mages traded blows. The actual deaths from the soldiers'' bows took up less than thirty percent of total deaths.


    "What a boring game!" Leon let go of the curtain and mumbled in dissatisfaction.


    He returned to a wooden table and continued toying with the Second Grade Molten Giant''s crystal core. Meanwhile, the chip in his mind was processing large amounts of data at a high speed.


    The runic knowledge he had gained from the Runeforge drafting room was certainly complete and detailed. Leon was finally able to further explore the deeper secrets of merging energies with this knowledge.


    Of course, these runes were knowledge from another plane. More research and investigation was needed to transplant and shift them to the World of Mages for practical use. Thus, Leon had been continuously calculating and deducing the formation of these runes ever since he came back to the World of Mages.


    After excluding the one hundred and twenty-two basic runes, and twenty-three variations of runes that already existed in the World of Mages, only twenty-eight out of the one hundred and seventy-three runes obtained from the knights'' plane were completely new runes that had never before appeared in the World of Mages. Thus, if Leon wanted to use the runic knowledge he had obtained in the World of Mages, there was only one thing he could do. He had to slowly discover and find out the possible variations and functions of these twenty-eight runes in this world.


    For the past few days, all he had been thinking about were all of these strange runes. With the high-speed operation of his chip, new rune variations of those runes were produced for use in the World of Mages. Leon had to then test and use these runes on several levels and aspects to determine whether the types of runes he had created could replace those otherworldly runes.


    This was undoubtedly a process that took up a massive amount of time!


    Leon had already met once with the goblin Snorlax since his return.


    He passed over most of the useless resources for Snorlax to trade away, and collected the elementium cores that Snorlax had gathered in the meantime. Only fifty-six of the ninety-eight elementium cores gathered were suitable for modification into golems. Thirty Four of these were pseudo-Mage level, while twenty-one of them could make advanced-apprentice-level golems. What was most exciting for Leon was the existence of an Mage-level poison core within the pile of crystal cores.


    Leon''s golem army had been completely exhausted in the other world''s battlefield. He desperately needed to replenish his arsenal. Currently he had no other useable golems with him, apart from the Fire Lord. This weakened his combat strength by more than thirty percent.


    Yet at the same time, the clan''s crisi had sent him running around everywhere. He just hadn''t had the time to rebuild his golem army. This was very much a cause of annoyance for Leon.


    Before he left, Leon had used his newly gained status to exchange for an Mage-level meditation technique from the Feidnan Mage tower. Just this exchange alone had cost him twenty thousand magic crystals and seven clan contribution points. It was easy to imagine how expensive his was. After that brutal fight of life and death in the other plane, Leon had only received a hundred thousand magic crystals and twenty contribution points!


    That said, given the effect of his meditations, this price was well worth it.


    His previously unbudging Spirit had finally started to change. This was undoubtedly a great motivator for Leon. As long as he persisted in his meditations, there was a chance of raising his Spirit to 20 points!


    And raising Spirit to 20 points was one of the fundamental conditions for advancing to Second Grade.


    According to the chip''s estimates, if Leon wanted to raise his Spirit from the current 6.3 to 20, with no external help besides daily meditations, the shortest amount of time he would need would still be a hundred and seventy-one years. Moreover, this was after the chip had finished optimizing modifications to the meditation technique.


    Those ordinary Mages who had neither knowledge or resources would be occupied with collecting these things, even while they engaged in their meditations and research. If they wanted to rely on meditation to reach the 20 point Spirit limit, it would take them at least three hundred years.


    For example, Mage Anderson had already advanced to First Grade for almost three hundred years. Yet his Spirit was only at a measly 9 points. That was a massive distance from 20 points. Perhaps this was the main reason he had chosen to take such a huge risk to try and advance using the blood ceremony!


    If Anderson hadn''t attempted this, with what little powers he had he would most likely have been one of the first to die in the plane war!


    Just as Leon was drawing and repeatedly outlining strange green runes in the air, the sound of light footsteps rang out from outside his room. A maid''s voice was promptly heard.


    "Sir Leon, Sir Mage Keoghan asks you for a meeting!"


    "Is the battle about to start?"


    "Indeed! Sir Keoghan wants to you to be prepared!"


    "Understood!"


    Leon waved away this newly constructed and unstable rune and assessed the equipment he was wearing. Once he was sure he was done preparing, he opened the door and strode outwards.


    ...


    2051 Words

 Chapter 254 Flame Demon

    This pathetic excuse of a war, that more resembled a game and warm-up, finally ended when the Mages strode onto the battlefield.The attacking and defending parties were still fighting dispassionately in front of the castle.


    Even though warriors were dying under the barrage of arrows and bolts every minute, soldiers fell from their siege ladders, and shouts echoed throughout the battlefield, the center of the conflict always revolved around the apprentice Mages.


    As the fight started to escalate in intensity, a Sarubo pseudo-Mage suddenly turned into a massive Beholder. It dragged two or three strange tentacles behind its body. Floating three meters into the air, it charged down the wall and slaughtered everything in its way.


    The blinding lightning shooting out of its strange narrow pupils clearly had some sort of unique paralyzing effect. Every single person that tried to close in on the monster would start shaking intensely when they were engulfed in the brutal electricity. Then they could only looked on as their flesh and bones were carbonized in the heat.


    Moreover, all types of projectile attacks would be stopped by a semi translucent forcefield. Nothing could do damage to the Beholder.


    Just like this, a single transformed pseudo-Mage had thrown the attacking army into chaos.


    With no other option left to them, a body refining pseudo-Mage of the Mikayne Clan yelled and rushed to confront the Beholder.


    The two engaged in a great battle before the castle gates.


    This lit a fuse, and soon the remaining apprentices and pseudo-Mages quickly joined the fray.


    The center of the conflict started to continuously expand outwards, eventually forcing the ordinary soldiers on both sides to put off their own battles to avoid stray spells.


    Seeing that the apprentices on his own side were not gaining any ground, Viscount Tras waved his hand angrily. The three-hundred heavy infantry that had been standing at attention started to march forward.


    They formed a long wall of steel and iron, cooperating with the apprentices on their side and repeatedly denying their opponents the space to maneuver. Moreover, all of the powerful spells the apprentices hurled at them were absorbed by the tough magic-resistant shields they wielded. None of the spells did any significant elementium damage.


    Even an Explosive Fireball that a pseudo-Mage had fired from under the cover of his ally had only managed to blow away three of the heavy infantry when it landed. After a short period of rest to recover from the impact, three of these people stood up once again and quickly returned to the formation.


    An Explosive Fireball that could deal 40 points of damage had only killed two ordinary warriors?


    This was unacceptable!


    As the warriors of steel started to close in, countless terrifying alchemical arrows started shooting out from their ranks. These explosive arrows exploded on contact and were extremely expensive. Each of them cost a hundred and twenty gold coins. Each individual arrow could deal nearly 11 to 15 points of damage.


    In small numbers, these arrows couldn''t do much to the advanced apprentices and pseudo-Mages, who all possessed some form of defensive spell. However, should the arrows rain down like a torrential storm, even the Sarubo pseudo-Mages would have to start shifting about to dodge the attacks.


    Still, these bulky soldiers wrapped in armor like steel cans weren''t the only guys they had to deal with. The enemy apprentices were still there. As the warriors of steel continued to pile on the pressure, the Sarubo apprentices quickly found themselves at an obvious disadvantage. Defeat was imminent!


    Honestly, if it hadn''t been for the clan Mages looking on coldly from behind, this group of death-fearing fellows would likely have already retreated to the safety of the castle. However now they could only grit their teeth and weather the storm, trying their best to stall the enemy. Otherwise who knew what their punishments might be?


    ...


    Leon quickly reached the castle walls and stood silently by Keoghan''s side.


    The nobles who gathered around Keoghan bowed and greeted him, but Leon didn''t respond.


    "How is it?" A wicked smile appeared on Keoghan''s face, "What do you think of the battle right now?"


    "It''s nothing more than a child''s game!" Two crimson sparks lit up deep within Leon''s black eyes. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That bastard Tras is really willing to spend. He''s even got those explosive arrows for standard equipment. And just like that, he''s already thrown away thirty to forty thousand gold coins... " Viscount Donald complained with a hateful expression.


    The two Mages ignored his words and continued to gaze at the enemy''s base.


    "When the battle starts, they will try and go for you as the rookie. That will be where they try and win this battle! You should be careful!" Mage Keoghan gave a kind reminder.


    Having experienced a plane war, and without much conflict of interests between the two of them, Leon and Keoghan had become much closer.


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    "I''m only worried they don''t show up!" Leon gave a chilling smile, "Oh, right. There''s no punishment for killing enemy Mages in such a battlefield, right?"


    "Punishment?" Keoghan laughed out loud, "We of the Sarubo Clan have far more connections in this area than those fools!"


    As they conversed, a Sarubo advanced apprentice''s defensive spell was blasted to pieces by three explosive arrows. Just as he fumbled about to erect another defensive barrier, an acid arrow flew over and embedded itself in his right leg.


    Pop!


    The acid arrow exploded, covering his entire body in sizzling acid. Even his face wasn''t spared.


    "Aaaaaah... "


    The advanced apprentice screamed painfully and frantically ran backwards, all while downing as many potions as he could.


    A few of the enemy''s advanced apprentices saw the opportunity before them. Their eyes lit up in excitement and they quickly chased after the Sarubo apprentice.


    The Sarubo apprentice Mages were retreating as they fought. Their formation was pushed to the brink of breaking.


    "It''s about our turn now!" Mage Keoghan nodded at Leon before black smoke shrouded his body and lifted him to the skies.


    Even though the enemy apprentices were at an immense advantage, some of their attention was still placed on the Mages standing on the castle walls. The moment they saw those Mages move, they quickly started retreating without hesitation! Even though a juicy prey was right by their jaws!


    Keoghan''s body was engulfed in the thick black smoke as he silently floated onto the battlefield.


    At the same time, the sound of a terrifying flame explosion boomed as Leon''s tall body appeared beside one of the Sarubo apprentices.


    When they heard the explosion, the apprentices anxiously gripped their staffs and scrolls tightly . They were ready to deal with anything that came at them. It wasn''t until they saw that the figure in question was Mage Leon that they let out a sigh of relief and bowed to greet him.


    "Take this. Go back and recuperate!" Leon casually threw out a bottle of Potion of Life.


    The advanced apprentice that had been covered in acid frantically caught the potion and bowed in gratitude. The blast of acid earlier had not only claimed one of his legs, but had also disfigured him. He might be able to make his skin go back to normal with the potions he carried, but he would have to find some other way to regrow his right leg.


    That said, now that he had this bottle of high quality Potion of Life, he wouldn''t need to call in favors to fix his leg!


    As the apprentices hurriedly stumbled back to the castle walls, Leon and Keoghan slowly marched towards the enemy camp. One in the air, one on the ground.


    The three hundred magic-resistant heavy infantry standing in their way had never been considered a threat.


    But there were always idiots in this world!


    Seeing that the young Mage walking over hadn''t erected any sort of protective spell, Tras gave a hidden order. All of a sudden focused streams of explosive arrows shot out from within the ranks of the infantry.


    Their target was Leon!


    Even though Tras knew that there was no chance he could use these explosive arrows to kill an Mage, he knew that he would win the first small victory of the day if he could just cause Leon to panic a little!


    All of the Sarubo Clan members looked on in anxiety as they saw the barrage of explosive arrows shoot towards Leon.


    Hurry and erect your defensive barrier! Quick...


    At this moment, countless people were shouting anxiously in their hearts.


    And also at this moment, under the gaze of every single person on the battlefield, a massive pillar of flame that stretched into the sky exploded on the battlefield.


    Flames instantly enshrouded the tall, handsome, and young Mage. The violent elementium flames quickly cloaked his entire body. No, they didn''t cloak his body. Rather his entire body had turned into flames and lava.


    The dense concentration of flames turned a crimson color, painting a dark scarlet silhouette in the evening sky.


    "A flame Mage! Dammit, he''s a flame Mage... " Carlos, who had been watching silently from the camp, betrayed a sour expression.


    As Carlos cried out in shock, layers of fire and streamers of flame had already covered Leon''s body. The imposing Ring of Fire had also emerged from his body and was quickly expanding outwards.


    Phew phew phew...


    The sound of numerous arrows continued to whistle through the skies.


    The moment the explosive arrows came into contact with the Ring of Fire, their forged steel heads started to turn a bright red from the raging heat. The arrows quickly clashed against the dense fire elementium. Before an arrow could even entirely enter the Ring of Fire and reach Leon''s side, it had already been reduced to liquid metal.


    Before they could be activated, the explosive arrays carved on the arrows had already been damaged and destroyed alongside the arrows! And so an unexpected attack had instantly been crushed!


    The boiling-red pools of metal fell to the ground, burning the black dirt where they rested and sending smoke billowing into the clouds.


    Meanwhile, the vicious flames emanating from Leon''s body were still ravaging every piece of land and inch of space around him. The air was burning. The ground was burning. Everything that could ignite was burning!


    Leon''s body suddenly started to expand within the blazing inferno as a thick armor of lava rapidly covered his entire body and hid his face. A flaming Lava Shield also formed in midair and started orbiting his domineering form.


    The Lava Shield had dense magma rock at it very core, with red-white lava slowly flowing around it. Blazing flame streams and surging elementium flame shrouded his shield. Any living being would have to endure the continuous assault of heat and flame if they came close to Leon.


    Leon completed his Flame Fiend Transformation and raised his burning visage. His eyes, blazing brightly like two suns at noon, had locked onto the quickly retreating soldiers.


    "You still want to leave after attacking me? Kehkehkeh... I''ll let you have a taste of the terror of Mages!"


    Having said that, Leon raised both of his hands high up. The wicked hands formed of magma and flames blazed intensely, and a massive spell was instantly completed amidst his battlecry.


    Meteor Crash!


    Editor Ryu: "he wouldn''t need to call in favors to fix his leg!" Hahahaha... Leon owns you now, boy. Don''t you know not to trust greeks Mages bearing gifts?


    ...


    1918 Words

 Chapter 255 Battle Begins

    On the battlefield.Everybody looked on intently.


    As Leon shouted and cast his spell, the sunny skies quickly turned crimson red. High above the layers of clouds, a massive and blinding meteor was crashing down, leaving a blazing trail as it plummeted.


    Roiling flames, burning fires and a terrifyingly unstoppable momentum...


    The meteor had yet to land, but already everyone''s hearts were beating furiously. They held their breath and looked on in terror as this apocalyptic disaster quickly crashed towards the retreating army of steel.


    "Idiots! He wanted to bait you into attacking him. That''s the only way he has any excuse to exact vengeance on you and your men! Have them run for their lives!" Carlos furiously scolded the foolish lord. Green light flashed around him, as if he had just cast Godspeed on himself. Without even bothering to hide himself he rushed towards the battlefield.


    The old Mage Cochran couldn''t help but shake his head as he watched the tremendous might of the falling meteor, "As expected, fire Mages are the most suited elementium Mages for the battlefield. Especially a terrifying person that has chosen fire mastery like this one. It seems your bunch of iron can-heads are not gonna come out of this unscathed!"


    Having said that, Mage Cochran raised his hand and waved, summoning a green wind bat. He mounted the bat and rushed towards the battlefield as well. The strange Mage, perpetually shrouded in black mist, had also turned into black smoke and was dashing towards the burning fields.


    The arrogant Lord Tras was left behind, alone. His face was black and green with anger, and he ground his teeth forcefully. He didn''t believe that this young Mage¨Cwith a single blow¨Ccould decimate the steel army he had put so much effort into. However, the two predictions from Mage Cochran and Mage Carlos put him on edge. An ominous feeling rose in his heart.


    This army of steel was the culmination of over a dozen years of hard work!


    Many anti-magic materials had been mixed into the alloy when he had forged the magic-resistant armor of his army. The World of Mages'' standard market price would have put a single set of armor at the price of at least four thousand gold coins. The elite warriors that wore those armors had also displayed powerful strength worthy of such expensive equipment.


    Ordinary, intermediate, and beginner apprentice-Mages couldn''t even scratch the armor with their spells. Even advanced apprentices would have to retreat when faced with the magic-resistant armor and the magic explosive arrows. None of them would dare to challenge such a threat head on.


    The biggest proof of this army effectiveness came in the form of the battle earlier. An explosive fireball fired by a pseudo-Mage had only managed to send two of the soldiers to their grave. Moreover, those two heavy infantry hadn''t died from the spell and elementium damage. It was the shockwave and impact from the fireball that had shattered their internal organs.


    It was clear how well these armors defended against magic damage!


    Thus, even as the two Mages foretold their deaths, Lord Tras chose to calm down and gaze at that terrifying meteor drawing a long red trail across the sky.


    Under the everyone''s gazes, the meteor finally crashed destructively into the ranks of the army.


    Time seemed to have stopped for a moment. Even everyone''s vision seemed to pause for s second!


    This temporary pause might have been a single instant, but it felt like an eternity.


    A frightening shockwave finally shattered the silence, putting all of the meteor''s violence and ferocity on full display. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The ground was shaking and the sky was bleeding!


    The blazing meteor left an impact crater on the ground twenty meters in radius. The massive impact had shattered the meteor as well. Fragments of stone and rock shot outwards, with tremendous force behind each and every projectile.


    What came after the barrage of meteor fragments was the terrifying shockwave.


    Deafening winds were like invisible blades, quickly blowing outwards in a circle. Wherever the shockwave passed through the ground would give way and debris would be sent flying. Every single thing that had once rested on the ground was instantly thrown into the distance.


    And after the shockwave had passed, down came to incinerating sea of flames.


    Of the three hundred men, seven or eight had been instantly erased by the impact of the meteor itself, without leaving even a trace of their corpses. When the rain of meteor fragments ravaged the area, most of the soldiers had been able endure the disaster with their sturdy shields. Only a small number of them had their heads split open by the fragments.


    However the shockwave that came next was truly unstoppable.


    Under the impact of the vicious and billowing airwaves, countless soldiers fell to the ground and started coughing blood after being blasted away. They couldn''t endure the sudden and intense change in air pressure. Their eardrums were punctured and their internal organs were shattered.


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    Then, with all of them rendered helpless and weak, the sea of flames fell upon the land!


    Most of the three hundred soldiers had been devoured by this terrifying sea of flames, just like that. Only the lucky ones that were at the edge of the explosion had managed to crawl away and escape the damage. Still, their bodies had already been ignited by the elementium fire. All of them screamed and cried as they burned. The only thing they could do was roll about, trying in vain to put out the ravaging flames.


    The center of the battlefield had instantly been plunged into a storm of blood and gore. It was a terrifying sight to behold!


    The horse whip in Viscount Tras'' hand fell silently to the ground.


    His gaze was unfocused and his mouth was agape. He looked at the scarred and scorched battlefield in disbelief. In his moment of shock, he had completely forgotten to send medics to save the remaining injured knights.


    Two hundred men!


    At least two hundred men!


    That terrifying meteor had just took away at least two hundred of his most elite units, scoured far and wide.


    Moreover, there were still countless human torches crying in agony at the edge of the field of fire. They ran about screaming for help, their noises gradually growing weaker and weaker before they fell to the ground, never to get up again.


    "Sa... Sav... Save... them... " Tras had wanted to shout with all his strength, but his voice only came out weak and soft. He even stuttered as he gave his orders.


    Tears of pain and sorrow fell from the corner of his eyes.


    It was over... all over! The steel army he had invested everything into had been decimated by that Mage in a single blow.


    Viscount Tras'' mind instantly snapped. His entire being was like a stray dog that had its spine ripped out. He could hardly even remained seated on his beloved horse.


    Kill him! You must kill him!


    Viscount Tras let out a manic roar within his heart. He straightened his body and looked at the mighty silhouette of the Flame Demon through his teary eyes.


    ...


    A single blow had crushed nearly seventy percent of the heavy infantry''s combat forces.


    Leon looked at the struggling soldiers from a distance. He didn''t finish the job with another blow.


    According to the rules of the Zhentarim area, no Mages were to involve themselves in worldly wars. It was only when themselves, or the clan''s profit, were involved that the Mages were allowed to enter the war. Even so, they were not allowed to launch any attacks at the nobles or their subordinate forces.


    Of course, idiots that actively provoked the Mages and infringed upon their honor were not included in this rule.


    As such, no Mage could fault Leon for returning the soldiers'' attacks with such a devastating blow. However, now that the opponents had suffered such heavy losses, he stopped. If he continued to press the issue, despite having exacted his vengeance, even the Zhentarim Association wouldn''t let it slide.


    Leon''s three meter tall flame body stood on the spot, silently waiting for the arrival of the enemy Mages.


    Two hundred meters to his left, Keoghan had just landed on the ground. He couldn''t help but exclaim happily when he saw the dire state that the heavy infantry had been reduced to, "Idiots, the lot of them, set on fire. Burn them, scorch them, send the ashes back home to their mothers! That arrogant Tras is probably lying in a pool of his tears right now."


    The two didn''t mind fighting together. However, as Mages, both of them had different styles of combat. Leon''s hundred-meter-wide Ring of Fire was indiscriminate. Even Keoghan had to burn if he walked into its radius.


    As a result, the two had to keep a distance of one to two hundred meters in order to avoid interfering with each other.


    The two raised their heads at the same time and stared at the three Mages that had gracefully landed three hundred meters away from them.


    "Carlos... Cochran... McThran!"


    Keoghan clearly kept a close account of all Mages in the neighboring clans and organizations. Just a single glance and he could recall their names. His tone became especially heavy when he swept past the strange cloud of black mist.


    Meanwhile, Keoghan was already communicating with Leon in secret. He quickly gave a basic introduction of the three Mages before them.


    Carlos. First Grade Curse Mage (a branch of elementium Mages). Subordinate to the Mikayne Clan (Hostile). Known to be cruel and scheming. Well-trained at all debuffing and weakening curse spells.


    Cochran. First Grade Summoning Mage (a branch of esoteric Mages). Subordinate to a neutral Mage organization known as ''Wheel of Time''. Well-trained at summoning otherworld creatures.


    McThran. First Grade Dark Mage (a branch of elementium Mages). Subordinate to the Black Glove Association (Neutral). Personality traits remain unknown. Natural affinity with dark elementium. All of his attacks have a strong corrosive effect.


    Leon couldn''t help but ask once Keoghan had finished his introduction, "Are Mages not forbidden from participating in worldly conflict by the Zhentarim Association? With how brazen they have been, are they not concerned about punishment?"


    "Hmph! Rules are dead things while humans are well alive!" Keoghan let out a muffled grunt, "They must have signed some sort of hiring agreement with Tras. And so, this suddenly turns into something that involves their ''personal benefits'' and therefore... "


    Keoghan didn''t continue; Leon already understood.


    It seemed all the rules of the Mage''s Association were only meant to be formalities and courtesies. The existence of the rules were only to avoid large-scale Mage conflict. No one cared about small skirmishes and fights.


    In the end, the cause for this battle was because the neighboring forces wanted to make a quick buck by profiteering off of the Sarubo Clan''s weakness. It had nothing to do with fairness or justice. Even the excuse for war had long been forgotten!


    If the Sarubo Clan wanted to protect its properties and regain its strength, it would have to display much more viciousness than its preying neighbors. Otherwise, if they waited until the higher-ups were able to come back, all that would be left waiting for them might just be broken and burned ruins.


    ...


    1896 Words

 Chapter 256 The Might of Mages

    There were no war declarations like the ones ordinary human nobles so liked to use.Nor were there any insincere greetings.


    A fight between Mages erupted the moment everyone involved had arrived!


    The old Mage known as Cochran continuously waved his hand about in the air. Every time, a strange flashing rune appeared and a terrifying, otherworldly creature would step out of nowhere.


    Manticores, Destrachans, Ogre Magi, Wyverns, Formian Worker Ants, Yeth Hounds...


    Though none of these creatures were excessively powerful, each and every one of them had a strength that rivaled pseudo-Mages. More importantly, their numbers seemed... a little over-the-top!


    These otherworld creatures had traversed space under the influence of magical power. They leapt towards Mage Keoghan the moment they appeared. Keoghan let out a wicked grin and moved forward to engage.


    Of course, Leon couldn''t possibly remain idle now that the fight on the other side had already started.


    Leon smiled graciously as he looked upon the two Mages that were gazing coldly at him.


    Have the summoning Mage stall Keoghan while the two offensive Mages defeat me first? In truth, their plan was pretty solid. That said, it depends on whether they had the power to back it up!


    The battle between the three Mages started when Leon strode forward.


    Carlos, the curse Mage, quickly moved about, ensuring that he was always outside of Leon''s intimidating Ring of Fire. Carlos muttered chants under his breath and waved a withered and rotted wooden wand at Leon, sending black and grey curse halos shooting towards him.


    Some of the curse halos vanished after entering the Ring of Fire, their spell structures torn to pieces by the terrifying flame streams. Most of the remaining halos were blocked by the quickly spinning Lava Shields, leaving only a few to actually afflict Leon with curses.


    However, while the number of effective curses were extremely low, they just didn''t stop coming!


    Leon let out a muffled grunt. The light from his bright-red flame body dimmed. It was clear that he had been affected by the curses.


    Confusion!


    Stamina Drain!


    Spatial Confusion!


    ...


    Dammit, what were these damned spells!


    None of these curses did anything individually. However, when accumulated, they became a massive burden for Leon, who still had to deal with another enemy. The disastrous consequences of being affected by the curses at a key moment in battle were not something he even wanted to think about!


    Leon let out an angered roar. Ferocious fire energies surged out from his body, instantly erasing all of the debuffs on him. A crimson radiance gathered around his eyes as a terrifying Solar Ray shot towards Carlos'' heart.


    Carlos, who had been wandering outside the Ring of Fire, let out a wicked laugh and instantly vanished from the spot. Mage McThran had vanished along with him.


    This was bad! Something was wrong! S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon narrowed his eyes. His body paused for a moment before disappearing.


    A blast of fire accompanied by a soft boom appeared along with Leon at a spot a hundred meters away. His large and mighty body stumbled for a bit before recovering. A large cloud of strange black smoke was lingering by the right side of his waist. His crimson body of magma, originally hidden under the blazing fires, had been corroded by the black smoke. The entire spot had turned a purple color.


    Carlos and McThran had also reappeared in another spot.


    Mage Carlos seemed to be fairly unfazed. Other than some slight burn marks at the edge of his purple robe there was no indication of injury. On the other hand, the black smoke surrounding Mage McThran had thinned by a lot, revealing a scrawny but tall silhouette.


    Moreover, one could vaguely see clusters of small fires burning stubbornly at the edge of the smoke.


    The two scheming Mages had worked together and launched a sneak attack in the time Leon was launching his own attack. Leon would probably have suffered several crippling losses if he hadn''t escaped then and there!


    Leon called upon his fire powers and tried to extinguish the strange smoke lingering on his waist. That said, the black smoke wasn''t any trivial spell either. It was extremely hard to put it out.


    With no other choice left to him, Leon dug into his wound with his sharp magma claws, brutally cutting off the entire piece of his magma flesh and throwing it to the ground. He then bent down and scooped a huge handful of lava from the lava pool beneath him to seal his injury.


    In the meantime, that repulsive Carlos had already resumed his disgusting act, revolving around Leon and tossing his curse halos about. McThran, on the other hand, had turned into a cloud of black smoke and let out a sinister laugh. He dashed about the air, avoiding the Magma Fireballs that Leon had thrown at him.


    Every time he saw some lack of agility on Leon''s part he would take advantage of it. The black smoke would dive into the Ring of Fire, enduring the burning effect of the elementium fires while leaving strange wounds on Leon''s massive body.


    Leon would lose all sense of the parts of his body that had were corroded by the black smoke, rendering the wounded spots weak to Carlos'' evil curses.


    Just fifteen minutes after they started, Leon already found himself being suppressed by their well-coordinated attacks.


    Leon silently shook his head and let out sighs in his heart.


    A higher-order plane was a higher-order plane after all. The strength of the creatures within were not something lower-order planes could match.


    Half a month earlier he was still causing a slaughter in the knights'' plane, butchering First Grade spellbreaker knights as if they were chickens and dogs. Now, back in the World of Mages, he was having trouble dealing with two First Grade Mages simultaneously.


    Fire spells may be the most suited elementium spells to slaughter, but they had plenty of flaws and insufficiencies when it came to the skirmishes and battles between Mages.


    What use were powerful fire spells if they couldn''t connect with enemies? How effective could the terrifying Ring of Fire be if it couldn''t engulf the enemies within itself? If Leon didn''t continue to think of ways to enhance his abilities against the equally mobile and flexible Mages, he would lose any advantage that he might have had.


    Leon roared in rage. It was finally time to use all his powers.


    He tossed out an elementium crystal core, and all of a sudden the Mage-level Fire Lord stood beside him. The massive Fire Deity had also emerged from the blazing flames on the other side.


    The pseudo-Mage level Fire Deity was hardly a qualified subordinate at this point. However, it could still make a little impact with its self-destruction!


    At that same time Leon extended his right hand, and a flame whip made of concentrated flame energy instantly formed in his hand. With the whip, Leon could make it much harder for McThran to break through Leon''s defenses. The Scroll of Voodoo had also appeared silently in Leon''s burning left hand. Its pages had already started flipping incessantly.


    None of the Mages involved in this fight were idiots. The strange form of the Scroll of Voodoo had already caused Carlos and McThran to knot their brows in frustration.


    Soul Equipment!


    This was most definitely a Soul Equipment!


    Unfortunately, they couldn''t tell what effect the Scroll of Voodoo had. After all, all Soul Equipment had their own unique ability. It was hard to determine their effects just through their appearance. If they slipped up and gave the fire Mage brat a chance, this soul equipment could probably turn the tides in a single blow!


    The two Mages proceeded with this in mind. Naturally, they slowed down their actions and became much more conservative with their attacks and defense.


    Leon wouldn''t let them wear him down just like that. As a fire Mage, and an elementium Mage that was particularly good at creating his own home field advantage, he was going to snatch the upper hand back. Thus, as the three terrifying flame demons roared and attacked with impunity, the battlefield quickly converted into a massive pool of roiling lava.


    The foothold left for the two enemy Mages was quickly shrinking!


    ...


    The few Sarubo Clan elite apprentices were standing by the castle walls, gazing in awe at the battle of the Mages.


    If one were to describe the battle between the apprentices as explosive, the battle that was happening now was a volcano! It was as if a gigantic, live volcano had just been plunged into the battle. The raging fires and violent spells ravaged the land, severely altering the geography around Locker Castle. Enjoy new adventures from empire


    Even though the castle was five hundred meters away from the battlefield, everyone could still feel the oppressive heat and wind pressure pressing against their faces. The thundering sounds of explosions continued without end. Any single spell that an Mage shot out was enough to cause the onlookers'' hearts to clench tight in terror.


    If any of the Mages got too engrossed in their fight, they might very well accidentally wipe the castle away along with them.


    They weren''t sure if that terrifying Mage Leon was the most powerful Mage present. However, they were certain that he was the absolute scariest!


    The large patches of lava pooled on the ground, the layers of black and red flame clouds in the skies, and the blazing air inbetween.


    This domineering Mage Leon had forcefully turned this place into his home field, all by himself. He had demonstrated to the entire world and to these future Mages, in the most raw and most insane way possible, the terror of a powerful Mage!


    He also perfectly displayed the tremendous destruction that an Mage was capable of. Anyone looking on would feel fear creep into their hearts!


    Near the end of the battle, the entire battlefield had turned a bright red. Even the two pseudo-Mages couldn''t see through the elementium tides and peek at the progress of the battle.


    ...


    Leon''s full prowess was only unleashed once the entire battlefield had turned into a sea of flames.


    With his elusive Fire Teleportation, and his agile speed within the sea of flames, he was no longer plagued by his limited agility.


    The vicious fire spells also gave him incomparable damage at long distances. Even a Magma Fireball fired off half-heartedly could deal astounding amounts of damage. Moreover, the Flame Fiend Transformation had caused his Physique to go up several times. The seven points of Physique he now had were nearing the levels of body-refining Mages.


    This meant that he had both terrifying long-range attacks as well as powerful melee strength!


    Leon, who had always been on the receiving end in this battle, seemed to finally have a chance to turn the tables with the home field advantage finally set.


    ....


    1821 Words

 Chapter 257 Death of an Mage

    100 power stones = 1 chapter. (Weekly goal achieved.)Extra chapter.


    ...


    Dong!


    An intense explosion erupted.


    Leon''s massive flame body appeared within the sea of flames. The tremendously wide Ring of Fire instantly shot out from his body. For the first time, Leon was able to catch Carlos within the burning zone before he could escape.


    Carlos'' gray defensive barrier was turning a bright red under the heat of the elementium flames.


    The very next second, two ferocious Magma Fireballs exploded right next to him!


    However, all of a sudden, a strange smoke of pure gray suddenly appeared. It formed the shape of a skull and dove into Leon''s body, causing his vision to go completely black. He had been temporarily blinded.


    Carlos took full advantage of this window of opportunity and scrambled out of the Magma Fireball''s explosive radius. One could still see the burn marks left all over his body as he frantically scurried away. He made a smart choice! Almost at the very instant Carlos had left, a gigantic magma hand rose from the lava pool below, smashing at where Carlos was with all its strength.


    Dong!


    The entire ground trembled.


    A terrifying black and red handprint half a meter deep was imprinted in the dirt. The roiling lava quickly filled the crater.


    Then the mighty Fire Lord burst forth from the ground. It bent its body slightly and let out a silent roar in the direction that Carlos had disappeared.


    Leon, who had just finished launching his attacks at Carlos, had also received McThran''s blows at the same time. The two passed by each other, lashing at each other with all they had. Leon''s savage whip had dispersed nearly half of the black smoke shrouding McThran, while McThran had also successfully left behind a cloud of black smoke the size of a grindstone on Leon''s back.


    In the meantime, Leon had made countless attempts to bombard the enemy with the six instant-cast spells within the Scroll of Voodoo. However he could never quite catch McThran''s figure.


    The layer of smoke enveloping McThran wasn''t just corrosive, it also had the unique ability to shield McThran from any sensory detection. Consequently, Leon had never managed to lock on to the Mage despite having battled him for so long.


    This was also part of the reason for the awkward situation that Leon was dealing with. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though Leon was trying his best to corner Carlos with the cooperation of the Fire Lord, the latter''s strange curses would always interrupt him at a key moment and prevent him from landing any crucial hits. Moreover, McThran would continuously harass and wound him as he chased Carlos about.


    His elementiumized body of flames might not have any fatal weak points, as compared to a human body, but it still played an important role as the carrier of Leon''s spirit consciousness. If the carrier fell apart, Leon''s spirit consciousness would lose all protection he had. Leon would be then be rendered helpless to every whim and fancy of the enemy!


    Leon immediately changed his battle plan, perhaps because he too realized the danger he was in.


    The next second, his tall body crashed into the sea of flames and instantly vanished from sight.


    This time, he had actually vanished. There were none of the telltale signs of a Fire Teleportation.


    Moreover, he didn''t show up after vanishing. It was almost as if his entire existence had melded into the sea of fire.


    And thus, the Fire Lord was left alone in the battlefield, trudging about with heavy footsteps as it desperately pursued the sly Carlos. The Fire Deity, on the other hand, had already fulfilled its mission and died!


    As expected of a veteran dark Mage; Carlos was both extremely proficient with his element and possessed exceptional battle awareness. Every time he repositioned himself, he would shower the large area beneath him with dark elementium halos. These scattered dark elementium weren''t meant to damage his opponent. Rather, they were used to put out those terrifying elementium fires.


    However, even as Carlos did his best to put out the sea of elementium flames, the Fire Lord continued to spread the gift of fire as he chased after Carlos. With one in hot pursuit of the other, the entire battlefield was quickly stirred into a mess.


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    As all of this was happening, Leon''s spirit consciousness went undetected, flowing within the sea of flames.


    Every time he reached the center of a fire, the blazing elementium flames would form a strange face of fire. The face had no body. Its eyes blinked as it looked about, quickly dissipating if Leon didn''t find any enemies.


    Then, the very next moment, Leon would form another face at another spot in the field of fire, scouting for any signs of enemies.


    But while he was searching for McThran, the reverse was true for his opponent as well!


    A cloud of strange black smoke weaved between the gaps in the burning fires as it communicated with Carlos, who wasn''t very far away. The two had never cut off their mental connection.


    "This brat is very well-hidden! He''s completely elementiumized his body and can hide anywhere in the flames! It''s way too hard to find him with such an inefficient way of searching!" Finally, McThran couldn''t help but throw out his suggestion. "You try and attack his elementium golem to draw him out. We will try and surround him once more!"


    "Hmph... " Carlos laughed sinisterly, "Why shouldn''t you be the one to bait him? That brat hasn''t even used the soul equipment in his hands. If you want to test its might you are welcome to do so. I''m not dumb enough to be a target for that!"


    "If that''s the case, then we will both act together and crush that elementium golem first! Without a subordinate like that, his home field advantage will gradually shrink, and things will get easier and easier!"


    "Very well! Wait for my signal, and we will act on my count!"


    Carlos was rapidly moving through the blazing inferno. Again and again, he showered the ground with dark elementium halos made of gray mist, instantly extinguishing all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around himself. Behind him, the clumsy and slow Fire Lord was striding over. The ground trembled with every step it took. It raised its arms and tried to reform the sea of flames as it shot out several Explosive Fireballs at Carlos.


    Yet at this very instant Carlos, who had always been running away, turned around. He dodged the fireball speeding towards him, while gathering massive amounts of dark elementium in his hand to form a terrifying spear. The spear shot forward, piercing the Fire Lord''s Lava Shield, and embedded itself deep in the Fire Lord''s chest.


    At the same time McThran suddenly appeared behind the Fire Lord. His hands, both shrouded in black smoke, plunged deep into the Fire Lord''s blazing magma body. Large black patches quickly spread across its body.


    The Fire Lord might have Mage-level abilities, but it wasn''t an actual intelligent lifeform!


    Its resistance wound up the two veteran Mages, but there was no escaping its deathly fate at the hands of their combined attacks.


    Leon sensed the warnings sent from the Fire Lord. His massive body quickly started reforming at the closest spot to the battle. Unfortunately, the sly Carlos had already exterminated all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around him beforehand. As a result, Leon was still a good hundred and twenty meters away from the Fire Lord, even after emerging from the flames.


    Black spots and gray shadows quickly spread throughout the Fire Lord''s gigantic body. Inevitably, they started to creep onto its most important part¨C the golem core.


    Leon grit his teeth when he felt the core at its limit. He gave his last order to the Fire Lord. Self-destruct!


    Having accompanied Leon for six months, and having crushed one obstacle after another, the Fire Lord could be considered the most powerful golem Leon had. Yet today, Leon could only choose to give it up in this border skirmish between two Mage clans.


    Leon''s resolution had also exceeded the two Mages'' expectations and better judgement. The unique existence of golems had also turned the elementium core into a miniature elementium bomb! Especially when it was the self-destruction of an Mage-level golem. The terrifying might was enough to frighten even two veteran Mages.


    Carlos had been wandering at a distance from the Fire Lord. He was able to retreat the moment he sensed the Fire Lord''s abnormality. However, McThran wasn''t so lucky. He was battling with the Fire Lord at melee distance. It was too late for him to escape when he finally sensed the boiling and chaotic elementium tide within the Fire Lord.


    Boom! A massive explosion shook the ground and the heavens.


    A towering mushroom cloud slowly rose to the skies.


    Violent gales blew in every direction, bringing with them the incinerating flames of the explosion. In just a single instant it had collapsed half of the outer castle walls five hundred meters away. Horrifying heat and flame streams blasted out, reducing all life without elementium protection to ashes before blowing even the ashes to the winds.


    Buildings near the castle had crumbled and fallen apart. Even the heavily guarded side of the castle facing the battlefield had also been charred soot-black under the heat of the terrifying flames. The buildings that were even closer to the walls had softened and collapsed as if they were made of mud or molten cheese.


    If even the castle, shielded by a castle wall, had been reduced to such a state, what would one expect of the exposed armies of Lord Tras?


    Terrifying fires ravaged across their ranks. The poorly equipped vassal troops were instantly burnt to ashes, leaving weird human-shaped scorch marks on the ground. The ninety warriors of steel, that had fortunately escaped from the last attack with their lives, were also engulfed by the tide of fire before they could escape this time.


    Their numbers were instantly cut in half!


    After the fire passed by, the scattered and remaining troops weren''t even enough to form a battalion.


    Even Keoghan and Cochran, who were still engaged with each other, had to stop their fight as they looked on in shock. All of their attention was now on that terrifying field of fire.


    Wasn''t this just a border skirmish between Mage clans!? How... how did such a big commotion come about? Were they having a battle of life and death?


    Meanwhile, at the core of the explosion.


    The Fire Lord''s massive and magnificent body had already vanished.


    Only a fifty meter wide and ten meter deep crater was left on the spot. Boiling lava roiled within the crater. Monstrous heat and flame streams, upwards of four thousand degrees, had completely shattered the space above the crater. Colorful dark red auroras floated about, painting a beautifully tragic image.


    However, any clear-headed Mage would never be tricked by the beauty before them. Neither would they ever come close to those phantasmally pretty lights. Because... those were the elementium mirages projected by the space outside the plane after the space within the plane had been shattered.


    No First Grade Mage would be able to escape if they were caught in this zone of shattered space. They simply didn''t have the defensive capabilities.


    A completely burnt figure climbed out of the bubbling lava at the edge of the crater. He slowly walked forward, stumbling as he tried to leave the site of the explosion. A long trail of burning black footprints were left behind as he walked...


    Magical energies flashed about the figure, and the last remaining wisps of fire on his charred body were finally extinguished.


    McThran opened his cracked, burnt lips and exhaled. Hot breath came out of his mouth. So hot, there were even sparks of flames as he breathed. He took out a potion from his bosom to treat himself, but all of a sudden, he stopped.


    Right before him was Leon. Leon''s blood red eyes were like a raging inferno and were trained right on him. The Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s hand was madly flipping.


    A massive surge of elementium energies were quickly gathering!


    "No... we can talk... " McThran screamed with all his might.


    Sadly, everything he still had to say was devoured by a new wave of flame and fire!


    ...


    2079 Words

 Chapter 258 Death of an Mage

    Dong!An intense explosion erupted.


    Leon''s massive flame body appeared within the sea of flames. The tremendously wide Ring of Fire instantly shot out from his body. For the first time, Leon was able to catch Carlos within the burning zone before he could escape.


    Carlos'' gray defensive barrier was turning a bright red under the heat of the elementium flames.


    The very next second, two ferocious Magma Fireballs exploded right next to him!


    However, all of a sudden, a strange smoke of pure gray suddenly appeared. It formed the shape of a skull and dove into Leon''s body, causing his vision to go completely black. He had been temporarily blinded.


    Carlos took full advantage of this window of opportunity and scrambled out of the Magma Fireball''s explosive radius. One could still see the burn marks left all over his body as he frantically scurried away. He made a smart choice! Almost at the very instant Carlos had left, a gigantic magma hand rose from the lava pool below, smashing at where Carlos was with all its strength.


    Dong!


    The entire ground trembled.


    A terrifying black and red handprint half a meter deep was imprinted in the dirt. The roiling lava quickly filled the crater.


    Then the mighty Fire Lord burst forth from the ground. It bent its body slightly and let out a silent roar in the direction that Carlos had disappeared.


    Leon, who had just finished launching his attacks at Carlos, had also received McThran''s blows at the same time. The two passed by each other, lashing at each other with all they had. Leon''s savage whip had dispersed nearly half of the black smoke shrouding McThran, while McThran had also successfully left behind a cloud of black smoke the size of a grindstone on Leon''s back.


    In the meantime, Leon had made countless attempts to bombard the enemy with the six instant-cast spells within the Scroll of Voodoo. However he could never quite catch McThran''s figure.


    The layer of smoke enveloping McThran wasn''t just corrosive, it also had the unique ability to shield McThran from any sensory detection. Consequently, Leon had never managed to lock on to the Mage despite having battled him for so long.


    This was also part of the reason for the awkward situation that Leon was dealing with.


    Even though Leon was trying his best to corner Carlos with the cooperation of the Fire Lord, the latter''s strange curses would always interrupt him at a key moment and prevent him from landing any crucial hits. Moreover, McThran would continuously harass and wound him as he chased Carlos about.


    His elementiumized body of flames might not have any fatal weak points, as compared to a human body, but it still played an important role as the carrier of Leon''s spirit consciousness. If the carrier fell apart, Leon''s spirit consciousness would lose all protection he had. Leon would be then be rendered helpless to every whim and fancy of the enemy!


    Leon immediately changed his battle plan, perhaps because he too realized the danger he was in.


    The next second, his tall body crashed into the sea of flames and instantly vanished from sight.


    This time, he had actually vanished. There were none of the telltale signs of a Fire Teleportation.


    Moreover, he didn''t show up after vanishing. It was almost as if his entire existence had melded into the sea of fire.


    And thus, the Fire Lord was left alone in the battlefield, trudging about with heavy footsteps as it desperately pursued the sly Carlos. The Fire Deity, on the other hand, had already fulfilled its mission and died!


    As expected of a veteran dark Mage; Carlos was both extremely proficient with his element and possessed exceptional battle awareness. Every time he repositioned himself, he would shower the large area beneath him with dark elementium halos. These scattered dark elementium weren''t meant to damage his opponent. Rather, they were used to put out those terrifying elementium fires.


    However, even as Carlos did his best to put out the sea of elementium flames, the Fire Lord continued to spread the gift of fire as he chased after Carlos. With one in hot pursuit of the other, the entire battlefield was quickly stirred into a mess.


    As all of this was happening, Leon''s spirit consciousness went undetected, flowing within the sea of flames.


    Every time he reached the center of a fire, the blazing elementium flames would form a strange face of fire. The face had no body. Its eyes blinked as it looked about, quickly dissipating if Leon didn''t find any enemies.


    Then, the very next moment, Leon would form another face at another spot in the field of fire, scouting for any signs of enemies.


    But while he was searching for McThran, the reverse was true for his opponent as well!


    A cloud of strange black smoke weaved between the gaps in the burning fires as it communicated with Carlos, who wasn''t very far away. The two had never cut off their mental connection.


    "This brat is very well-hidden! He''s completely elementiumized his body and can hide anywhere in the flames! It''s way too hard to find him with such an inefficient way of searching!" Finally, McThran couldn''t help but throw out his suggestion. "You try and attack his elementium golem to draw him out. We will try and surround him once more!"


    "Hmph... " Carlos laughed sinisterly, "Why shouldn''t you be the one to bait him? That brat hasn''t even used the soul equipment in his hands. If you want to test its might you are welcome to do so. I''m not dumb enough to be a target for that!"


    "If that''s the case, then we will both act together and crush that elementium golem first! Without a subordinate like that, his home field advantage will gradually shrink, and things will get easier and easier!"


    "Very well! Wait for my signal, and we will act on my count!"


    Carlos was rapidly moving through the blazing inferno. Again and again, he showered the ground with dark elementium halos made of gray mist, instantly extinguishing all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around himself. Behind him, the clumsy and slow Fire Lord was striding over. The ground trembled with every step it took. It raised its arms and tried to reform the sea of flames as it shot out several Explosive Fireballs at Carlos.


    Yet at this very instant Carlos, who had always been running away, turned around. He dodged the fireball speeding towards him, while gathering massive amounts of dark elementium in his hand to form a terrifying spear. The spear shot forward, piercing the Fire Lord''s Lava Shield, and embedded itself deep in the Fire Lord''s chest.


    At the same time McThran suddenly appeared behind the Fire Lord. His hands, both shrouded in black smoke, plunged deep into the Fire Lord''s blazing magma body. Large black patches quickly spread across its body.


    The Fire Lord might have Mage-level abilities, but it wasn''t an actual intelligent lifeform!


    Its resistance wound up the two veteran Mages, but there was no escaping its deathly fate at the hands of their combined attacks.


    Leon sensed the warnings sent from the Fire Lord. His massive body quickly started reforming at the closest spot to the battle. Unfortunately, the sly Carlos had already exterminated all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around him beforehand. As a result, Leon was still a good hundred and twenty meters away from the Fire Lord, even after emerging from the flames.


    Black spots and gray shadows quickly spread throughout the Fire Lord''s gigantic body. Inevitably, they started to creep onto its most important part¨C the golem core.


    Leon grit his teeth when he felt the core at its limit. He gave his last order to the Fire Lord. Self-destruct!


    Having accompanied Leon for six months, and having crushed one obstacle after another, the Fire Lord could be considered the most powerful golem Leon had. Yet today, Leon could only choose to give it up in this border skirmish between two Mage clans.


    Leon''s resolution had also exceeded the two Mages'' expectations and better judgement. The unique existence of golems had also turned the elementium core into a miniature elementium bomb! Especially when it was the self-destruction of an Mage-level golem. The terrifying might was enough to frighten even two veteran Mages.


    Carlos had been wandering at a distance from the Fire Lord. He was able to retreat the moment he sensed the Fire Lord''s abnormality. However, McThran wasn''t so lucky. He was battling with the Fire Lord at melee distance. It was too late for him to escape when he finally sensed the boiling and chaotic elementium tide within the Fire Lord.


    Boom! A massive explosion shook the ground and the heavens.


    A towering mushroom cloud slowly rose to the skies.


    Violent gales blew in every direction, bringing with them the incinerating flames of the explosion. In just a single instant it had collapsed half of the outer castle walls five hundred meters away. Horrifying heat and flame streams blasted out, reducing all life without elementium protection to ashes before blowing even the ashes to the winds.


    Buildings near the castle had crumbled and fallen apart. Even the heavily guarded side of the castle facing the battlefield had also been charred soot-black under the heat of the terrifying flames. The buildings that were even closer to the walls had softened and collapsed as if they were made of mud or molten cheese.


    If even the castle, shielded by a castle wall, had been reduced to such a state, what would one expect of the exposed armies of Lord Tras?


    Terrifying fires ravaged across their ranks. The poorly equipped vassal troops were instantly burnt to ashes, leaving weird human-shaped scorch marks on the ground. The ninety warriors of steel, that had fortunately escaped from the last attack with their lives, were also engulfed by the tide of fire before they could escape this time. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    After the fire passed by, the scattered and remaining troops weren''t even enough to form a battalion.


    Even Keoghan and Cochran, who were still engaged with each other, had to stop their fight as they looked on in shock. All of their attention was now on that terrifying field of fire.


    Wasn''t this just a border skirmish between Mage clans!? How... how did such a big commotion come about? Were they having a battle of life and death?


    Meanwhile, at the core of the explosion.


    The Fire Lord''s massive and magnificent body had already vanished.


    Only a fifty meter wide and ten meter deep crater was left on the spot. Boiling lava roiled within the crater. Monstrous heat and flame streams, upwards of four thousand degrees, had completely shattered the space above the crater. Colorful dark red auroras floated about, painting a beautifully tragic image.


    However, any clear-headed Mage would never be tricked by the beauty before them. Neither would they ever come close to those phantasmally pretty lights. Because... those were the elementium mirages projected by the space outside the plane after the space within the plane had been shattered.


    No First Grade Mage would be able to escape if they were caught in this zone of shattered space. They simply didn''t have the defensive capabilities.


    A completely burnt figure climbed out of the bubbling lava at the edge of the crater. He slowly walked forward, stumbling as he tried to leave the site of the explosion. A long trail of burning black footprints were left behind as he walked...


    Magical energies flashed about the figure, and the last remaining wisps of fire on his charred body were finally extinguished.


    McThran opened his cracked, burnt lips and exhaled. Hot breath came out of his mouth. So hot, there were even sparks of flames as he breathed. He took out a potion from his bosom to treat himself, but all of a sudden, he stopped.


    Right before him was Leon. Leon''s blood red eyes were like a raging inferno and were trained right on him. The Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s hand was madly flipping.


    A massive surge of elementium energies were quickly gathering!


    "No... we can talk... " McThran screamed with all his might.


    Sadly, everything he still had to say was devoured by a new wave of flame and fire!


    ...


    2069 Words

 Chapter 259 Lucy

    McThran was dead!A veteran Mage with decent prowess had died for no reason in a completely insignificant battlefield!


    This shocking truth was hard to swallow for both sides of the conflict.


    Kartia Hills was a territory no bigger than sixty square kilometers, with one mid-sized and two small-sized cities, as well as seven or eight human villages. Even if all of the mansions and villages within Kartia Hills were razed and converted into its worth in magic crystals, it still wouldn''t be enough to compensate for the loss of a veteran Mage.


    The true reason the three Mage forces had allied with each other to attack was to test the waters. If the Sarubo Clan had indeed taken huge losses in the plane war, they would take a strategic retreat and voluntarily surrender some benefits that it couldn''t defend. They would trade time for space to recover their strength.


    In fact, such border wars happened on a daily basis within the Zhentarim area. Countless Mage clans and organizations were involved in the various tussles and disagreements. However, it was extremely rare to see an Mage die in one of these conflicts.


    As the invading party, Carlos of the Mikayne Clan had no choice but to declare their loss. The two parties finally sat down to have a tough negotiation on the war reparations.


    The conquered cities had to be returned and the raided villages had to be reimbursed. The Mikayne Clan even had to compensate the losses of the Sarubo Clan with large amounts of rare resources. As long as the Mikaynes had no intention of escalating the tensions into a full-blown clan war, the curtains would be drawn on the incident today.


    As for how the Mikayne Clan was to compensate the Black Glove Association for the loss of McThran, that was their problem to deal with.


    Leon and Keoghan immediately returned to Feidnan City after hastily concluding the affair.


    That said, after this battle, Leon''s terrifying moniker as the Flame Demon spread far and wide.


    Battling two veteran Mages at once, yet still being able to forcefully exterminate one of them while he fended for himself. Such prowess was almost entirely unheard of in a newly advanced Mage!


    It was said that numerous Mages had personally hurried over to Locker Castle, after the conclusion of battle, to examine the marks of battle. Every Mage that set their eyes upon the place put on a grave face of apprehension!


    In all honesty the location was thoroughly in ruins. It was no longer a place fit for humans to live in.


    It was as if a violent volcano had erupted there. One could see horrifying magma left behind after the flowing lava had cooled. There were some odd bulging magma rock formations littered across the field. If anyone cracked these open, they wouldsee barely damaged metal armor within. However, the flesh of the soldier within had completely fused with the molten armor. They couldn''t ever be separated cleanly.


    Locker Castle had also been badly damaged. A large portion of the castle had been melted and softened into a mud-like consistency during the fight. When the heat finally dissipated, and the rock cooled, all of the architecture had solidified into all kinds of weird shapes.


    Fortunately, with the amount of reparations the Mikaynes were paying, Viscount Donald would have more than enough to build five castles.


    Moreover, after this incident, all of those underlying currents that called for probing the Sarubo had been put to rest. Most of the clans and organizations that had wanted to benefit from the Sarubo''s weakness had gone quiet, and resumed their stance of observing rather than attacking.


    However, at the same time, Leon also drew the ire and vengeance of the Black Glove Association!


    Leon did some basic research after returning to Feidnan. It turned out that the Black Glove Association was a small organization with only seven Mages. With the exception of their Association Head, who was a Second Grade Mage, McThran was their most powerful First Grade Mage.


    Leon smiled to himself and completely disregarded the possible repercussions. That Second Grade Mage couldn''t possibly try and do anything to him now that he had the support of the clan. Otherwise the Third Grades of the Sarubo Clan would make short work of the Black Glove Association.


    On the other hand, in his bloodlust, Leon would never back off from a fair fight between two First Grade Mages. That was why he had no reason to fear the Association.


    Given Leon''s massive contribution to the Locker Castle fight, Keoghan had personally took out a portion from the war reparations to compensate his losses in battle.


    Twenty thousand magic crystals, five clan contribution points, large numbers of Mage resources, and three Mage-level elementium cores.


    With these in hand, Leon chose to turtle up within the Mages'' tower and work day and night to recover his fighting strength.


    In all honesty, McThran''s strange black smoke and Carlos'' powerful curses had still left a tremendous effect on him. Leon only managed to recover to his best state after seven days, once he had completely dispelled all of the negative and malignant spells within his body.


    Through the battle this time, Leon had very clearly seen his own strengths and weaknesses. This allowed him to plan the path he wished to take in the future.


    Fire spells were undoubtedly the strongest in the battlefield. This had been well verified. That said, the tremendous might of fire spells couldn''t be unleashed to their fullest in the small skirmishes between Mages.


    One could even say that Leon had absolutely no chance of obtaining victory two against one if it hadn''t been for the Fire Lord''s self-destruction and the powerful instant-cast spells of the Scroll of Voodoo.


    Thus, strengthening himself was the only path forward if Leon wanted to ensure his continued advantage in battle.


    However, an increase in Spirit was not something that could be hastened. The only way his Spirit could increase would be through persistent daily meditations. Of course, the other way was to go searching for suitable Spirit potions or food materials with beneficial effects.


    But this too was a drawn-out process that required a great deal of time!


    Leon''s best hope of quickly strengthening himself lied in magic golems and the runes from the knights'' plane. Moreover, he had already promised the Mage in the Underground World that he would visit the Castle in the Sky for the competition. There were only six more months before then.


    After some careful consideration and thinking, Leon decided to first deal with those runes from the knights'' plane. He would first use them to strengthen the magic runes on his body, as well as his magic golems, before delving into other things.


    His trip to the other world had also reaped him plenty of resources and rare materials. He needed a period of time to settle down and accumulate missing knowledge to reinforce his foundations.


    And so, for the next month, Leon didn''t show his face outside of the Mages'' tower. He hid deep within it, always lingering in the magic labs and conducting his experiments.


    Of course, it was not as if he had completely cut off any contact with the outside world. He still had some connections to have people run errands for him. The little loli Lucy finally returned from her mission mania on the third day of his seclusion. She immediately went to find Leon.


    Honestly, after three or four months apart, Lucy''s improvement was shocking, even to Leon. At the speed at which she was improving, she might very well advance to Mage in a year and a half.


    "Hand it over!" Lucy extended her small hand the moment she barged into Leon''s room.


    "What?" Leon was confused.


    "My souvenir, of course!" Lucy rolled her eyes, "You went to tour another world for a whole couple of months. You couldn''t possible have not brought any gifts back, could you?"


    Leon was speechless.


    "This... Lucy, I think I''m your master! Not the other way round. You, a servant girl, want to get something good from me without doing anything? Hmmmm... "


    Lucy instantly switched from her pouting face to a bright smile when she heard this.


    "Oh my dear master, my beloved master, is there anything the cute Lucy can do for you?"


    Leon''s head hurt when he saw Lucy''s shameless transition. He let out a cold laugh and spoke, "Wouldn''t you know what a servant girl can do? You grew up in nobility after all."


    "Sleep with the master?" Lucy let out an overjoyed laugh as she exclaimed, "Sure! Of course! What do you think about tonight? Your cute Lucy will come warm your bed tonight!"


    Leon planted his face into palm. He was utterly speechless now.


    Even though he knew Lucy was a talkative person, Leon couldn''t maintain his cool and calm attitude when the one talking had the appearance of a seven-year-old loli.


    He did a quick calculation. Lucy was almost seventeen already. Still, it was hard to treat her as someone of similar age to himself with this loli body and face.


    With how arrogant she was, Leon would have long tossed her aside if she was any less talented. However, having personally witnessed the wonder of a top-tier fate-wielding ''scammer'', Leon couldn''t help but be intrigued by the title Lucy bore on her back. The title of the ''Witch of Fate''.


    If... he was able to personally train a prophet that was loyal to his cause, it would have tremendous significance for his future development. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was precisely because of this thought that Leon had immense hopes for Lucy. Leon wouldn''t be ungenerous if it meant a chance to forge a good relationship between her and himself.


    Leon raised his head and thought for a moment. The only thing he had that seemed to be useful to her yet not appear too stingy would probably be that!


    Having come to this thought, Leon waved his hand. All of the magic barriers within his dwelling were instantly activated. A layer of light radiance appeared everywhere on the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor. Now, even the fellows who had absolute authority of the tower couldn''t listen in on his secret without alerting Leon''s sensory detections.


    "You... what do you want... to do?" Lucy took a step backwards frantically. Her hands grabbed her collar tightly, and her eyes darted about the room as if she was terrified.


    "Hmph! Only ghosts would be interested in that beansprout-like body of yours!" Leon commented in an upset tone, "You wanted a gift, didn''t you? Here, this is my gift to you!"


    Leon took out a gray pouch and very reluctantly passed it to Lucy.


    "All''s good as long as you are not setting your sights on me! What''s this? It looks really ugly... " Lucy pinched her nose while picking up the pouch with two fingers.


    The pouch clearly was not any sort of magic-infused item. It was just a normal pouch sewn from rough linen. Not only was it old and in tatters, there was even a stuffy and rotten smell coming from within.


    Lucy instantly lost all confidence in its contents with how unpresentable the pouch was.


    She pinched her nose, pushed back her disgust and took out a strange grey stone the size of a fist from within the pouch.


    "This is the gift you brought me from another plane? A stupid stone!"


    Lucy rolled her eyes and threw the stone aside.


    However, at the very moment the gray stone left her palm, it drew a brilliant silver line across the air. Before the stone even reached the ground, the silver line started to vibrate, and a small opening had opened in the space in front of Leon''s and Lucy''s eyes. The stone moved as if it had a brain of its own. In the blink of an eye, it had almost vanished into a space wormhole and disappeared from this plane.


    Lucy''s sharp voice finally rang out.


    "A spacestone!"


    ...


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    2018 Words

 Chapter 260 Heart

    A spacestone!Before any display of its power, the gray and dirty stone looked just like any ordinary pebble from the roadside. However, when its power finally activated it lasted for only a short moment. In the blink of an eye it began disappearing in front of the two.


    Lucy wasn''t idling about as she screamed either. She reached forward with her small hand and pierced through space, forcefully yanking the spacestone out.


    Leon watched the whole thing unfold before him speechlessly. The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.


    The odd spacestone!


    And what was even weirder¨C Lucy''s space affinity!


    Leon had seen it all with his own eyes. Lucy had reached into the spatial rift barehanded. She wasn''t concerned about being sliced by the space fragments at all! Of course, the chip''s high-speed motion capture had discovered a thin membrane of space wrapped about Lucy''s white and delicate hand. The membrane was as thin as a cricket''s wing.


    This membrane of space arose due to her affinity and had to be the main reason she was able to casually make contact with space fragments without getting hurt!


    Lucy grabbed the spacestone tightly and pressed it against her forehead to feel the profound space flux within it. The smile on her small face grew wider and wider.


    All of a sudden, Lucy leaned over and kissed Leon on the face. She then took a step backwards, held her skirt in her hands and performed a perfect maid''s curtsey.


    "Thanks for this, Master! I really like this gift."


    Lucy then ran out of the room, quick like the wind.


    It was clear that she could no longer wait to use the spacestone in some special experiment of hers.


    Leon actually understood Lucy''s excitement very well.


    She was currently stuck at the pseudo-Mage level. The only thing she needed to do to advance to an Mage was to master a strand of planar law that related to her affinity. Then she would have to use this strand of planar law as the nucleus in order to form her consciousness core.


    Spacestones, on the other hand, were undoubtedly some sort of physical manifestation of the spatial laws of the multiverse. Invariably, every single of one of them would contain extremely unique spatial law powers. And this was particularly suited for Lucy''s affinity! As long as she was able to draw this strand of spatial law power into her space of consciousness, the key step of advancing to an Mage, the formation of the consciousness core, would be a breeze.


    Once Lucy advanced to an official Mage, she would instantly become a powerful Mage with her unique space affinity.


    Even Leon felt his stomach turn once he thought of her skills being enhanced. Spatial Cut, Spatial Traversal, and the indomitable Spatial Shatter. Leon could only get slapped around in a one-on-one fight against an Mage-Level Lucy, if he didn''t have the help of his golems and Flame Fiend Transformation.


    Thus, to maintain his dominance as the master, enhancing his own strength was necessary!


    Leon sealed the door once more and got up to walk to a hidden room within his dwelling.


    He had sealed all of his spoils of war from the knights'' plane here. These were the stepping stones of his future dominance.


    Leon walked to a wooden table and pulled away the black cloth covering it. A disgusting aura of corruption instantly pressed against his face.


    This was a Flame Fiend''s heart, the size of a skull. It''s crimson flesh, thick tendons, pulsing life energies, and chaotic aura unique to the underworld all mixed with each other, turning into the special and strange aura of blood and slaughter specific to abyssal creatures.


    The Flame Fiend''s heart had been detached from its body for a long time. However it still retained extremely powerful life force thanks to the stimulation of magical energies. A crimson aura shrouded the heart as it beat, causing everyone that looked upon it to feel nausea.


    Leon extended a single finger and gathered just a trace of magical energy at the tip. He touched the Flame Fiend''s heart. Almost instantly, a cluster of dark green abyssal flame ignited at the area Leon had touched.


    This flame clearly had the wicked, corrosive, and devouring traits of the World of Abyss. It quickly spread from the Flame Fiend''s heart to Leon''s finger.


    Even with his elementiumized body of flames, Leon could feel slight pain from his fingertips. It seemed that this abyssal flame had the ability to burn through his body of flames and directly damage his mental world.


    Leon frowned. Strong elementium fire quickly gathered at his fingertips and extinguished the abyssal flame using superior numbers.


    As expected, this was a source of powerful strength!


    Leon bent his body and held his breath. Blue light flashed deep in his black eyes.


    "Beep. Detecting live sample of a unique being. Basic data has already been recorded. Please name the sample... "


    "Flame Fiend''s Heart."


    "Beep. Live sample Flame Fiend''s Heart has been recorded."


    "Show me the sample data for this Flame Fiend''s Heart!" Leon ordered, and instantly a three-dimensional projection of the Flame Fiend''s Heart surfaced in his mind, slowly rotating around. Meanwhile, a flood of information was displayed beside the projection, completely filling up Leon''s mental space.


    Leon shut his eyes to focus. He filtered out all of the excessively trivial data, leaving only the basic biological information that was convenient to his understanding.


    ...


    Muscle activity 46%. Can be improved...


    Energy storage capacity 1155 points. Can be improved...


    Energy output threshold 135 points. Can be improved...


    Life energies conversion efficiency 41%. Can be improved...


    Abyssal aura retention rate 18%. Can be reduced...


    ...


    Leon opened his eyes and straightened his body. He looked intently at the heart, unable to suppress his excitement and intense desire.


    With the slow increase of Spirit, this Flame Fiend''s Heart might be his last hope at maintaining his absolutely dominant strength!


    Ever since the first day he received this heart, Leon had been thinking about how to utilize the powerful strength within it. According to the massive number of calculations and filtering done by the chip, the only time Leon could use the Flame Fiend''s Heart was during his Flame Fiend Transformation.


    It was only during the Transformation, when his Physique and Spirit were amplified several times, that Leon could completely master and use the power of the Heart. Otherwise this energy heart taken from a Second Grade Abyssal Flame Fiend would turn out to be an unstable incinerator, instantly reducing Leon''s human form to ashes.


    Having run through hundreds and thousands of methods of utilizing the energy heart, the chip presented Leon with a single feasible solution. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Flame Fiend''s Heart would be sealed within his body on normal occasions, and Leon would use his powers and aura to slowly modify the heart. Then, when it came to a battle, Leon would unseal the Heart after completing his Flame Fiend Transformation, allowing the Heart to become the energy-supplying core of the Flame Fiend''s body.


    Just like that, Leon would be able to reinforce his battle strength!


    However there were a couple of problems to be solved before this could be done.


    First, Leon had to do away with the thick abyssal aura that was shrouding the heart. Or at least, he would have to suppress the abyssal aura to an acceptable thickness. Otherwise, if he used the heart for extended periods of time and assimilated with the heart, the chances of him being contaminated and turned into an abyssal creature would also increase.


    Even though abyssal creatures were well-known for their prowess, and Leon was not averse to possessing any sort of power, the chaos and violence in their nature was not something Leon wanted in his blood. From Leon''s understanding, abyssal creatures were basically brainless magical creatures with +10 Physique, Strength, and Spirit, but also with -100 Intelligence.


    Was power without control still power?


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    Thus, before he was able to eliminate this factor from the Heart, Leon had to be very careful with his use of it. He would not become overly reliant on the Heart.


    Secondly, according to the chip''s scans, there were still many areas in the Flame Fiend''s Heart that could be improved. If Leon wanted to maximize the benefit he got out of this, he would have to use up a massive amount of resources.


    The data the chip provided was plentiful, but the most important info was what he had filtered out.


    The muscle activity of the heart determined the working efficiency of the heart. A mere 46% meant it could only operate at half of its peak strength.


    The energy storage capacity and energy output threshold, on the other hand, determined the current power level of the Flame Fiend''s Heart. As the magic organ of the Abyssal Flame Fiend, the energy heart could store a certain amount of flame energy within itself. This meant that it could store 1155 points of flame energy while in a non-combat mode.


    And all of this was energy Leon could draw upon during a fight!


    However, regardless of the amount of storage capacity, the output threshold still limited the strength of the flame energies that Leon could use.


    135 points meant that every single one of Leon''s fire attacks could not exceed 135 points.


    Of course, this was still far beyond Leon''s current powers.


    It was important to note that most of the spells of an actual First Grade Mage were around 60-80 points. It was only because Leon had chose fire mastery, and in doing so gave up the spells of all other elements, that he was able to push the might of his fire spells all the way up to 115 points.


    This energy level was already Leon''s limit.


    However, even at half capacity, the Flame Fiend''s Heart still had a shocking energy output threshold of 135 points. It was clear how powerful Second Grade Flame Fiend''s were!


    Moreover, an energy storage of 1155 points would be enough for Leon to fire eight attacks at 135 points with more than enough to spare. This...this was why the heart was so significant to the enhancement of his powers!


    On the other hand, the life energies conversion rate of 41% also meant that Leon would be able to convert his own life energy into flame energy, even if he was in combat. This kind of ceaseless supply of power would turn Leon into a terrifying instrument of war.


    As long as he lived he would have an endless supply of power to tap into!


    Sadly, there was still much to be done before he could use this powerful heart. All of this would take time.


    Leon nodded in satisfaction and put the black cloth back over the heart.


    Even though the black cloth looked very ordinary, the moment it was draped over the heart the thick abyssal aura that filled the room instantly disappeared.


    This evidently meant that this ordinary-looking black cloth was also a magical tool! A magic tool that was used specifically for covering all kinds of energy auras!


    Apart from the Flame Fiend''s Heart, other things were also stored within this hidden room. Namely: two spacestones, four Mage-level elementium cores, the mysterious Golden Apple, the Orb of Deception, the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal, the Emblem of Fire, and Shandera''s Sheepstick.


    However, most of these treasures were still far out of reach for Leon''s current abilities. If he wanted to see through all of the arcane knowledge contained within these items, he would likely have to wait until he was several Grades higher!


    ...


    1943 Words

 Chapter 261 Otherworld Runes

    Feidnan City, Mages'' Tower.Leon sat silently by the desk. A parchment had been spread open before him. He was slowly writing out a strange and odd rune based on his memories.


    After the chip''s careful organization and filtering, twenty-three variations of existing runes and twenty-eight all new runes were found. The rune variations referred to otherworld runes that were extremely similar to the runes in the system of the World of Mages. The only difference came about due to the different power systems of the two planes.


    However, apart from the rune-variants, there were still twenty-eight all new runes that had never existed within the runic system of the World of Mages. If Leon wanted to modify them into runes that were usable for Mages, he would have to explore and create the runes himself.


    After three days of non-stop calculations, the chip had finally managed to decipher one of the new runes and was trying its best to convert it into a form that was functional within the World of Mages.


    For example, the rune written on the parchment right now meant ''restoration'' back in the knights'' plane. If this rune was carved in an array back in the knights'' plane, it would be able to double restoration and regenerative power. However, when written in the World of Mages, this was not the case. As the rune was finally finished, a light purple glow started to gather about the parchment.


    Then, an odd hand-monster-thing crawled out of the paper, slowly looking about.


    There was a really strange eye at the middle of the hand-monster''s palm.


    It''s eye was about the size of a human''s, but its color was truly frightening. What was more horrifying was how it kept blinking and darting about the room as if it was monitoring the place.


    Leon sat there unmoving, but already the fire energies within his body were slowly gathering together. He asked in a sombre voice, "Are you a magical creature, or are you some sort of otherworldly creature? Can you understand my words?"


    A notification rang out within his mind. Read exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire


    "Detecting abnormal field activity invading host''s sensory organs. Initial estimates suggest illusion activity. Requesting instructions from host. Interrupt?"


    The hand-monster finally gave up on its pointless wandering and turned to face Leon. Its strange eye suddenly shut tight. When it finally opened once more, the eye had turned a blood red color and a tide of red mist blasted towards Leon''s face.


    Leon was no longer able to tolerate the thing. He let out an angered shout and a violent Magma Fireball exploded right in front of him.


    Lava Shield appeared at the same time, successfully stopping the magma fragments and boiling lava from splashing everywhere. The odd hand-monster had also vanished completely. Even the desk had been completely ravaged by the spell, leaving only a mess in its place.


    Leon let out a sigh in annoyance. He waved away part of the magical defenses around his dwelling and mentally communicated with the tower''s spirit.


    "Help me restore the room!"


    "Scans discover severe magical damage. Estimated repairs require 35 magic crystals. The cost has been deducted from your tab."


    After the mechanical voice of the tower''s spirit disappeared, visible changes started to occur to the room, which was badly corroded by the explosion and the lava.


    The floor that had lots of craters melted out of it started to swell, and soon returned to its previously undamaged state. Even the smoking and boiling lava vanished entirely, as if it had been removed by an invisible eraser.


    Just a short moment later, Leon''s dwelling had been restored!


    He once again put up the magical defenses around his room before sitting down at the desk once more to communicate with the chip.


    "Chip, did you record the occurrence earlier? Were there any abnormalities to be noted?"


    "Beep. Host had been subjected to an illusion attack. Source of attack is the unknown mystery rune!"


    "Illusion attack?"


    Leon couldn''t help but start brooding.


    How did the Rune of Restoration turn into a rune-variant of the illusion series? The difference between the two was way too large! Was there an error in the chip''s calculations? Or were there just parts of the otherworld runes that he didn''t understand?


    Honestly, thinking back, the experience earlier was far too realistic. Even now, in his mind when he closed his eyes, he was still able to see the strange hand and its excessively lively eyeball. All of that was just an illusion?


    At the last moment, the eyeball had launched an attack at him. If he hadn''t resisted, would he have walked away unscathed?


    Leon quickly shook his head and dispelled this dangerous thought even though he still had questions on his mind.


    No. He was going to try something so dangerous! Illusions were a powerful force in this world, and anything that was powerful must be dangerous in its own right. Thus, even if he was sure it was illusion, he would still have to set up the necessary defenses and preparations. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After thinking about it, Leon still felt like it had been far too little time since he became an Mage. The various resources he had in reserves were far too lacking. For example, he had almost no means of defending against illusory and mental spells. He was relying entirely on his greatly increased Spirit to endure their effects. This was unlike his nature as resourceful Mage.


    All of the items he had used for such purposes, while he was an apprentice, were completely insufficient now that he had advanced to an Mage. If Leon wanted to get some magic items and magic equipment that Mages could use, he would probably have to wait until his trip to the Castle in the Sky.


    After all, the Castle in the Sky was the home of the esoteric Mages, and most definitely the go-to place for magic items of expert quality and quantity. Even some of the more powerful magic items that had appeared in the Zhentarim area had mostly come from the Castle in the Sky.


    It seemed the research on otherworld runes would have to be put on hold until he managed to collect some magic equipment that bolstered his mental resistance.


    Just as Leon was silently considering his future research paths, a familiar mental flux radiated from the magical defenses.


    Leon connected Keoghan''s mental link without hesitation.


    "Come to the twelfth floor, Lady Sanazar is back!"


    Leon''s heart shook for a second. Lady Sanazar was an actual Third Grade Bloodline Mage. Her true form was an extremely terrifying Flying Venom Dragon. Leon had personally witnessed her might back on the planar battlefield. She had forcefully driven the green dragons back.


    If a powerful Mage like herself was sent back to this world, that meant that the occupation of the knights'' plane was going very smoothly. The clan finally deemed it ok to send her back to stabilize the clan''s situation.


    Leon didn''t dare delay. He quickly came out of his dwelling on the seventh floor and hurried to the twelfth floor to meet this current manager of the clan.


    Sanazar was a Third Grade female Mage. However, her face was always clouded by strange green mist, obscuring it from outside gazes. When she stood high on the stone seat and gazed down coldly upon everyone, all of the Mages couldn''t help but lower their heads. None of them dared to look at her directly.


    The Mages would feel slight stinging pain all over their bodies if they even stood slightly closer to Sanazar.


    This was the energy radiation from Lady Sanazar''s body, due to the excessively powerful concentration of magical energies around her. As long as she didn''t actively hold her power back, this group of puny First Grade Mages could only silently endure the pain. Again, no one dared to voice any dissatisfaction or complaints.


    If one were to compare a Sixth Grade Great Mage to a small nuclear reactor, the Third Grade Sanazar would be nuclear material with powerful radiation. Leon and the other First Grade Mages would at best be nuclear waste.


    Thus the Mages, who were as powerful as deities compared to ordinary mortals, once again felt fear and uncertainty when put before the high-tier Mages.


    Right now, only three Mages, including Leon, had been stationed in the Mages'' tower. Even if one were to include the three Mages stationed outside the tower, there were only six Mages being stationed in the Sarubo headquarters. This number was genuinely pitiful for a mid-tier Mage clan.


    Thus it was clear that the death of eight clan Mages in the knight''s plane had greatly reduced the strength of the Sarubo Clan.


    This was possibly the reason that Great Mage Sarubo was so quick in sending Sanazar back to guard the base.


    The World of Mages was the roots of all Mage clans after all. Only if the roots were thick and strong could qualified Mages be continuously pumped out and sent towards all sorts of planes to ensure the continued prosperity of the clan.


    Mage Sanazar rested comfortably and lazily on the stone seat, silently listening to Mage Keoghan''s report on the clan''s situations and the activity of neighboring clans. It was only when she heard Leon had fought two Mages by himself, and even killed an Mage from the Black Glove Association seven days ago in a border war, that her gaze landed on Leon.


    Suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, Leon felt his body tense up. That stinging pain started to intensify.


    Leon endured the pain in silence before finally hearing Lady Sanazar speak.


    "I had heard from Lord Sarubo about you before I returned. He said you are the smartest and most ambitious of the clan''s First Grade Mages this time round. Very good! An Mage without ambition wouldn''t have the spirit to explore and adventure. However, ambition without intelligence to back it up will only cause adventure to turn into misadventure, sending you to an early grave in a situation where your power was lacking."


    Having said that, Sanazar turned to Keoghan and instructed.


    "Send a message for me to that old fogey at the Black Glove Association. Just tell him that I, Sanazar, am back. And if he tries anything against our Sarubo Clan, I''ll personally visit them and devour them whole!"


    The brutality and violence in her words was frightening.


    Moreover, Leon had a feeling that her promises of ''devouring whole'' wasn''t so much a threat as something she really wanted to do.


    "Moreover, the clan is sorely lacking in fresh blood, so you lot can''t be slacking off either. From today onwards, every clan Mage has to take a few apprentice Mages under their wing and be responsible for their guidance and learning. The clan will provide you guys with double the clan contribution points for this!"


    Everyone had, in fact, expected this.


    Thus, they nodded in agreement without saying anything.


    "Very well. Since no one has anything to say, then we are done here! In the future, go look for Keoghan if you have anything you need. Do not interrupt my sleep, or else... "


    ...


    1867 Words

 Chapter 262 Experiment

    Feidnan City, Mages'' Tower.Leon met the five apprentices assigned to him in his room.


    Two pseudo-Mages and three advanced apprentices. All of them were very young.


    In general, anyone that could make it to a pseudo-Mage or apprentice Mage by fifty years old had the potential to become an Mage. And these individuals were the ones the clan were willing to expend resources in order to cultivate! On the other hand, all of those apprentices that had made their way to advanced apprentices through grinding and time were well aware of their own situation. They knew it was virtually impossible for them to become Mages. All of them had already given up on that path and went on to the worldly realm to enjoy the offerings of local nobles.


    There was one female each among the pseudo-Mages and advanced apprentices assigned to Leon. They were fairly pretty and beautiful. However, using his elementium sight, Leon could still see the light residue left on their faces from magical facial reconstruction.


    The apprentice Mages bowed respectfully as they waited on Leon. They didn''t even dare to breathe too loud. It was clear that even they had heard of Leon''s terrifying name as the Flame Demon. However, one could tell from the excited gleam in their eyes that they were still extremely satisfied that they were able to become the disciples of the famed Flame Demon. Their excitement and joy was hard to hide.


    No one knew why, but even the reckless Lucy showed up for this meeting.


    She put her hands on her waist and stood beside Leon. Her eyes circled the two female apprentices, darting about as if she was scheming something.


    "This is the first time we have met each other. Give me a simple report on your names and research direction!" Leon slowly spoke.


    The five apprentices looked at each other when they heard their teacher''s instructions. The slightly scrawny male pseudo-Mage was the first to step forward.


    "Kodar. Affinity: Dark Elementium. I just turned into a pseudo-Mage last year. My main research focus is biological mutation. I have some understanding of beast modifications as well... "


    "Meryl. Affinity: Earth Elementium. I turned into a pseudo-Mage this year. I intend to walk the path of an elementium Mage. I do not have any secondary professions currently... "


    "Am. Affinity: Fire Elementium. Advanced apprentice. I know how to do a bit of magical material processing... "


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    "Toril. Affinity: Illusions. Advanced apprentice. Also a potions master... "


    "Lena. Affinity: Water Elementium. Advanced apprentice with no secondary professions currently... "


    Leon listened silently, blue light flashing deep in his eyes.


    Using his elementium sight, he had already captured the bodily attributes of his apprentices. He had them do a basic report on themselves to make it easier to create a profile of them and complete their basic information.


    Thanks to the amazing information processing abilities of the chip, Leon got notifications from the chip on the five apprentices the moment they were done introducing themselves.


    Amongst the five apprentices, one has the potential the continue improving.


    Another''s potential has been completely depleted. The fact that they have made it this far is thanks to the help of potions.


    One of them has immense potential for developing in this direction...


    While he already had an estimate of his apprentices'' quality, Leon didn''t show any emotion on his young and handsome face.


    "Now that you have been assigned to me, you will be considered as my apprentices from today onwards. I will even consider accepting anyone with good performance as my actual disciple." Leon looked at the apprentices and saw excitement in their eyes, "Also this is Lucy. She is my personal maid, as well as your senior. You can come find her if you have any trouble in the future!"


    Upon hearing Leon''s words, Lucy instantly puffed up her chest as if she was the boss.


    The few apprentices looked at each other and bowed to Lucy in unison. The two young pseudo-Mages looked a little upset about it.


    In the World of Mages, the difference between an apprentice and a disciple was extremely large.


    The identity of an apprentice only meant that you had studied under an Mage. When necessary, you could use your identity as his apprentice to receive his shelter and help. However, a disciple was entirely different. A master-disciple relationship was more akin to a magical contract. Both sides would have an even closer and more well-defined relationship.


    Sometimes, when an Mage died of an accident, his disciple would have the right to inherit his property.


    Thus, most of the time, the Mages were unwilling to create more trouble for themselves. As a result, most Mages would have plenty of apprentices while having close to no real disciples.


    "According to the tradition of the Sarubo Clan, now that you are my apprentices, you possess the right to obtain free knowledge from me. Every seven days you will have a chance to ask me questions. Advanced apprentices may ask me one question while pseudo-Mages may ask two. Moreover, the subjects I am involved in include elementium golem creation, animism, dissection, nervous system studies as well as fundamental potions studies... if any of you are willing to be my experiment collaborator, you will be able to share the fruits of my research and have free access to my personal lab!" Leon spoke without expression.


    The few apprentices couldn''t help but betray an expression of hesitation and thought when they heard his words. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though they were all considered valuable assets by the Sarubo Clan, it was still a dangerous thing to collaborate with an Mage in their experiments. Not anyone dared to try something like that.


    Most Mage experiments include taboo and forbidden topics. The risk was obvious.


    Even though participating apprentices would be able to enjoy the fruits of the experiment and research, the damage to their minds and bodies was uncertain. No apprentice confident in their future would choose this path under normal circumstances. Only the fellows that had depleted their potential or were in desperate need of funds would take the risk and volunteer as experiment collaborator to attract the teacher''s attention and favor.


    "O'' respected teacher, we were wondering what your experiment involved?" The pseudo-Mage named Kodar couldn''t help but bow and ask.


    "It is related to illusions!"


    All of the apprentices looked towards Advanced Apprentice Toril. He was the only one with illusion affinity among them. He was clearly the most suited to become the ''experiment collaborator'' from their group!


    Toril felt the burning but intangible pressure from everyone and had no choice but to take a step forward. He bowed and said, "Teacher, I am willing to participate in your experiments on illusions!"


    "Oh... " A gentle smile appeared on Leon''s face, "Are you doing this voluntarily?"


    "Indeed!" Toril put up a very reluctant smile that looked even more terrible than if he was sobbing, "It is my honor to be able to participate in your experiments!"


    "Very well then, let''s sign a contract!"


    Leon nodded in satisfaction. He waved his hand and grabbed a scroll out of the air. This magical scroll, forged of pure fire, had appeared out of thin air and was slowly hovering before Toril.


    Toril rubbed his eyes, leaned against the scroll, and carefully read through every clause in it. After confirming that the content matched Leon''s words, he carefully left his emblem on the scroll.


    The scroll crackled and disappeared in a whirlwind of fire.


    "If there''s nothing else, you may leave. Toril. Make some preparations and come over at seven tonight!" Leon was in a very good mood, having found an experiment collaborator like he had wanted. Even his smile was wider than usual.


    The apprentices bowed together and slowly left.


    Lucy''s rolled her eyes and quietly followed them out.


    One hour later she returned triumphantly, like a little fox that managed to steal the chicken from the farmer.


    "How was it?" Leon put down the book in his hands and asked lazily, "How many of them did you beat?"


    "Five! All five of them got beaten up by me." Lucy spoke arrogantly and in disdain, "With what little prowess they had, I could take them on all at once!"


    Leon frowned when he heard this, "You didn''t hurt that Toril, did you?"


    "Of course not!" Lucy had been in a good mood ever since she got a spacestone from Leon, "I know he still has a job to do tonight, so I only trapped him in my Spatial Prison. He surrendered after realizing he couldn''t do anything!"


    "The others?" Leon asked curiously.


    "I beat them black and blue! All of them are going back to treat their wounds." Lucy waved about a small fist like she was the queen of violence.


    Leon tilted his head. He could totally imagine everyone''s helplessness before Lucy''s impenetrable Spatial Barrier. Honestly, if it wasn''t for his powerful golems, Leon with just his fire affinity would have an impossibly hard time suppressing Lucy.


    With her unbelievably broken space affinity, Lucy had unimaginable offense, defense, and mobility. Just these three were enough to make Lucy nearly undefeatable against ordinary pseudo-Mages. They couldn''t beat her, nor could they even run from her.


    People who battled with Lucy were in for an experience of pain and agony!


    ...


    Dusk fell, and Toril had already appeared at Leon''s dwelling.


    Leon''s task for him was extremely simple as well.


    He gave him a knowledge crystal used to store Spirit. There were ten extremely unique magic runes hidden within the crystal. What Toril needed to do was to write out the runes one by one, and as he did so, he needed to record his experiences.


    Leon had even set up a hidden room for this specific purpose, to have Toril finish this series of seemingly simple tasks. Of course, he had already hidden many monitoring crystals in every corner of the hidden room. These crystals would very clearly display Toril''s every action to Leon, who would be sitting in the room next to this one.


    To encourage this advanced apprentice chosen to be his lab rat, Leon had even promised to provide Toril with three books related to potions studies.


    Thus, Toril unhesitatingly walked into the room.


    ...


    1714 Words

 Chapter 263 Accumulating Power

    The experiment was extremely successful.Even more so than Leon estimated. In fact, much more so.


    Toril finally stumbled out of the room with a stack of scrolls in his arms. Apart from his pale face and his slightly dazed appearance, he seemed to be fine.


    Leon passed Toril the three books he had promised him and sent him back to rest. He then started to examine the scrolls Toril had passed him.


    As expected, two of the ten scrolls were completely blank, despite having runes inscribed on them prior to the experiment. Toril didn''t seem to have realized this.


    Leon thought for abit. He did a quick reorganization of the eight verified runes and tried out their effects, successfully getting eight whole new runes that had never appeared in the runic system of the Mages.


    With these eight runes, today''s experiment was not a complete failure. At the very least, didn''t Leon manage to get something out of it?


    However he was still extremely curious about the two runes that had disappeared for no reason. He had a vague feeling that the direction of his research had gone off-track.


    In all seriousness, the new runes that had been engineered by the chip were all auxiliary lesser-runes. Not a single rune crucial to the merging of runic energies had been uncovered yet. As if... there was a deeper layer of secrets hidden within these runes that he hadn''t grasped.


    What were runes?


    In the end runes were just a form, a manifestation of planar laws!


    The earliest recorded origin of runes began in the research of magic patterns. Some powerful magical creatures were able to unleash supernatural powers despite being ignorant of the knowledge and reason behind it. Magic patterns would naturally form on the bodies of such creatures.


    Mages were originally an ordinary group of mortals. They started to notice the existence of magic patterns while battling against the magical creatures, and slowly started to use the patterns for their own might. First, they carved these same magic patterns onto their own bodies, allowing them to possess some unique supernatural powers.


    The encouraged Mages started to collect more and more of these patterns, accumulating them and starting to simplify and modify the patterns. After tens of thousands of years of groping in the dark, they finally managed to forge the runic system of the current age, indirectly reinforcing the dominance of the Mages in the process.


    Thus, in truth, runic studies could be said to be the subject of study that was closest to the true form of planar laws!


    These otherworldly runes from the knights'' planes had yet to be deciphered after such a long time, especially those core to the entire runic system. Even basic rewritings of these runes had not succeeded. This was a clear sign that there was something deeper to the creation of the core runes.


    What was it?


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    How profound could the runic knowledge be when it came from a group of low-level natives of a lesser plane? A lesser plane that hadn''t even formed a functional system of magic casters!


    Wait a moment...


    Leon paused all of a sudden.


    Not all of the creatures in the knights'' plane were low-level lifeforms... there were still high-level lifeforms from the outside... the green dragons.


    Leon''s eyes gleamed. He felt like he had just discovered something important.


    He had brought plenty of valuable information and history texts back from the Runeforge drafting room. However, all of his attention had been focused on the rune-related content, never ever really reading through the kingdom''s history.


    Now that Leon realized the potential link, he immediately corrected his mistake and spent the entire night rearranging the so-called ''history'' of the knights'' kingdom.


    As expected, Leon uncovered some hidden secrets behind the back of the kingdom''s history.


    The profession of witcher-knight had only appeared after the green dragons became the patrons of the kingdom. Moreover, high-grade witcher-knights always seemed to be related to the dragons in one way or another.


    This gave Leon sufficient reason to suspect that the true source of the runes weren''t the natives of the plane, but the dragons of the Dragon''s Plane.


    Having suddenly understood this, Leon didn''t give it a second thought. He immediately used his right as an Mage to move all the information and books that the Sarubo Clan had about dragons back into his room. This tireless study might have been an arduous process, but it greatly completed his knowledge of the dragons.


    As a powerful race that dominated many material planes, the Mages kept a detailed research record on the dragons. As a result, the chip''s progress on deciphering the runes became even smoother after the inclusion of this data.


    The chip could churn out some whole new runes almost every day by reverse-engineering these otherworldly runes. As for which of these runes were valuable and which of these were useless, that was a job left for Toril to determine.


    As expected of an advanced apprentice that had illusion affinity, he had extremely powerful illusion resistance. Even though the fragmented runic illusions often put him in a daze, and certainly had on one occassion nearly trapped his spirit consciousness in an illusory dimension, he still managed to pull through.


    Moreover, the large number of books and free resources that Leon had provided him with spared him from the trouble of running everywhere to scavenge for resources. He could stay within the safety of the tower and calmly progress with his research. However, the price he had to pay for this was the testing of four or five new runes every single day!


    That said, as Mage Leon''s experiment collaborator, he had the opportunity to meet Leon almost every day. Thus, he was no longer limited to a certain number of questions per week. If one were to speak just in terms of his treatment, Toril''s status was almost equal to an actual disciple of an Mage.


    And this seemed to be the main reason he was willing to stay, despite the risk!


    Lucy, on the other hand, had quickly become the boss of Leon''s apprentices. Moreover, after bringing her group of lackeys to beat up the other apprentice groups in the tower, she quickly became the boss of all of the apprentices in Feidnan''s Mage tower.


    Lucy''s terrifying space affinity ensured that all the other apprentice Mages, even powerful pseudo-Mages in their ranks, would not be able to the beat her. Apart from the actual Mages, who could crush her with absolute strength, there was no match for Lucy''s powers. She had undoubtedly entered the ranks of the most powerful pseudo-Mages.


    Meanwhile, the goblin merchant Snorlax, that had succeeded with Leon''s blessing, continued to lean more and more towards him as his fame as the Flame Demon continued to spread.


    The World of Mages was also a chaotic world where strength ruled supreme!


    Most businesses such as trade companies, trade unions, and arcane shops were owned by Mage clans and forces of all sizes. As a lonely outsider, Snorlax had to endure being pushed about by these organizations even as he tried to set up shop.


    Thus, Snorlax only dared to maintain his business within Feidnan City. If he took even a single step out of this area, his small business would instantly be devoured by his competitors.


    However, with Leon''s increasing status in the Sarubo Clan, Snorlax had increased his efforts to butter up to his apprentices.


    Leon''s apprentices enjoyed the cheap resources Snorlax provided them with, while Snorlax indirectly drew a large group of bodyguards and martial power around himself. The two parties benefited from each other and quickly formed a symbiotic little group.


    Leon didn''t really about all of this and left them to their own devices. He himself was completely devoted to the deciphering and verification of the runes.


    Two months quickly passed by and Leon had successfully deciphered six of the twenty-eight new runes. This sounded like a very small amount, but it was more than enough to extend his knowledge on merging runic energies to the level of the Second Grade radiant knights.


    This meant that Leon had completely mastered the secrets of the Second Grade radiant knights. He could start forging an army of powerful runic knights if he so wished.


    That said, the strength of the Second Grade radiant knights was found in themselves. The runic system only served an auxiliary role. Thus, even if Leon had forged a set of runic equipment with capabilities that matched the Second Grade, he still wouldn''t have the men to unleash its powers and use its powerful offensive abilities.


    Even without this, Leon seemed to have plenty of Second Grade-level resources at his disposal!


    The Second Grade Molten Giant core he got from the Underground Lava Ocean, the Flame Fiend''s Heart that Lord Sarubo had bestowed upon him, and the corpse of the radiant knight he had killed in the knights'' plane. Unfortunately, Leon wasn''t a professional Necromancer. Otherwise creating a couple of powerful Undead would be a simple matter.


    With this runic knowledge in his hands, Leon started to get busy.


    The resources he asked Snorlax for were already here and his treatment of the Flame Fiend''s Heart was quickly underway. There were still four Mage-level elementium cores and a Second Grade molten giant core waiting to be dealt with. Meanwhile, upgrading the Flame Fiend Transformation runes on his body with the new knowledge he''d acquired had become his top priority.


    Even if Leon somehow managed to squeeze out some free time, he still had to use it to design and forge some runic equipment that suited his abilities and talents...


    All of these tasks completely filled Leon''s daily schedule. There was absolutely no time to rest!


    The four Mage-level elementium cores that he used to practice crafting golems failed twice. In the end, Leon only managed to craft two golem cores. One was the Decayer, while the other was the Roaring Monster.


    The Decayer was an Mage-level golem completed by using a poison elementium core. It looked like a slime monster made entirely of viscous green matter. It had some unique abilities, such as Acid Spray, Poison Halo, and Splitting Multiplication. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The acid that the Decayer spewed possessed extreme corrosiveness and toxicity. It could corrode the enemy''s defenses very effectively. Its splitting multiplication also allowed the Decayer to split into two smaller Decayers, after receiving excessive amounts of damage. This would allow it to output even more firepower.


    As of now, the Decayer could split up to three times!


    This also meant that the Decayer could potentially turn into eight Mage-level, acid-spewing cannons after some time on the battlefield.


    The Roaring Monster, on the other hand, was forged from an earth elementium core. On the outside, it looked like a five-meter-tall giant stone humanoid. Its unique abilities included Trembling Earth, Stone Toss, and Rock Armor.


    In all honesty, Leon particularly loved these kinds of golems with immense defensive abilities. They allowed him to fully display the destructiveness of his fiery talents.


    And this Roaring Monster was undoubtedly the meat shield and bodyguard that Leon so desperately needed!


    ....


    1864 Words

 Chapter 264 Heart

    Time flew by, day by day.In the meantime, the resources Leon had been accumulating were vanishing at a rapid rate, gradually turning into part of his strength.


    The Second Grade molten giant-core had also been successfully turned into a terrifying elementium golem¨C the Infernal Tyrant.


    Of course, due to the limitations of Leon''s own abilities, this Infernal Tyrant couldn''t possibly exhibit the full strength of a Second Grade. In fact it was weaker than even the weakest of Second Grades. Still, the earth and flame energies contained in each and every one of its attacks had the amazing ability to crush a First Grade Mage.


    After a detailed analysis by Leon''s chip, the normal attacks of the Infernal Tyrant were estimated to reach a terrifying degree of 110 points of damage. This was only slightly inferior to Leon''s most powerful single-target spell. Moreover, the earth-fire hybrid spell that the Tyrant possessed could even go up to 191 points of damage.


    This... this was close to the lower limit of a Second Grade Mage''s attack!


    The defensive spells of an ordinary First Grade Mage could usually endure between 90 to 130 points of damage. This meant that the Infernal Tyrant''s most powerful spell could potentially kill an ordinary Mage in a single blow. That is, if the spell wasn''t avoided or negated by the enemy.


    With the birth of the Infernal Tyrant, Leon was finally able to sweep away his frustration of losing the Fire Lord. Once again, he stood tall. Leon was much more confident in the trip to the Castle in the Sky now.


    ...


    Within his room.


    The entire place had undergone massive modification. It no longer looked like the way it used to, but rather resembled an operating theater.


    The furniture had already been cleared from the room. Only a single neat and orderly stone platform was left in the middle. Several dozen complex and intricate robotic arms floated above the platform. All sorts of surgical tools could be seen at the tips of the robotic arms.


    Scalpels, surgical scissors, blood vessel forceps, forceps, needle holders, tissue forceps, sponge forceps, right angle forceps, surgical needles, cutting needles, bone nibbling forceps, and many more...


    All sorts of machinery could be found on the table; tools like knives, hammers, drills, chisels, needles, and even saws. Leon had borrowed all of these from Keoghan. Their original use was actually for the modification and creation of voodoo beasts...


    As today was the big day he transplanted the Flame Fiend''s Heart into himself, Leon had woken up early and summoned Lucy. She was to lead the other apprentices and guard the door for him. Leon would hide within the room and accomplish this difficult and complex task of transplanting an organ all by himself.


    To avoid any interruptions by outsiders, Leon had decided not to use the magic labs of the Mages'' tower. Nor did he ask for help from Mage Keoghan. Even the reason that he gave for summoning his apprentices was a lie. He told them he was going to be engaged in a dangerous magical experiment. Not a single word had been said of the Flame Fiend''s Heart.


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    Caution was Leon''s way of protecting himself, having learned from his long stay in the World of Mages.


    The only person he could partially trust in this foreign land was Bleia. Lucy and Snorlax, on the other hand, were still pending verification. It would depend on their attitude and performance henceforth.


    After a long, dark, and sweet sleep, the beeping alarms of the chip rang out in his mind. Leon finally woke from his deep slumber and slowly opened his eyes.


    This was a peaceful sleep, a relaxing rest he hadn''t had in a long long time.


    No dreams, no meditation¨C just sleep. Leon had completely recovered from the exhaustion and tiredness he had accumulated over the past few weeks.


    He rose from his bed, stretched, and did some simple warm up exercises. He only stopped after the chip had completed the examination of his body.


    "Beep, self examination completed. All attributes normal. Host body has been restored to optimal state... "


    Leon nodded in satisfaction and looked down to examine his tall and muscular body.


    He wasn''t a body refining Mage, and didn''t have those perverted muscles that were tough as steel. However, his two meter height and perfectly crafted figure still gave him the perfect body. Well-built muscles, crimson and radiant skin, as well as the strange tattoos littered across his chest and back.


    A head of long crimson hair flowed down behind him, reaching all the way to his waist. When put together with the crimson light in his black eyes, Leon radiated a wicked aura of mystery and wisdom.


    He had no choice in this matter. After undergoing the elementiumization of his body, crimson had become his standard color. This was a magical shine radiating from the concentration of massive amounts of flame elementium. Ordinary concealing spells could no longer hide the crimson color he radiated all over his body.


    Even though there wasn''t any dirt on his body, Leon put himself through a firebath out of habit.


    The elementium flames blazed suddenly, pouring out from every pore on his body, forming a thin layer of crimson fire over his body. All of the dirt and dust on his body would be completely burnt by this layer of fire, leaving nothing behind to taint his skin.


    The ordinary sleeping robe he had on instantly turned to dust and vanished.


    Leon didn''t bother with clothes anymore. He walked out of his bedroom naked and arrived in the workroom he had converted into an operating theater.


    Leon shut his eyes and examined the magical defenses within his room. He confirmed that all of the defenses that he had were activated. This place was now completely defended and covered.


    He then calmly lay on the cool stone platform.


    There was a metal headband resembling a helmet placed on one side of the platform. Leon picked it up and put it over his head.


    When his Spirit seeped into the metal headband, all of the several dozen robotic arms hovering above the platform sprang to life, creaking as they did so.


    Leon snapped his fingers, and five extremely clear mirrors of fire appeared at various angles above the stone platform. With these flame mirrors, Leon could observe the experiment from every angle without obstruction.


    The light from the surrounding walls quickly faded, plunging the room into darkness. A dozen crystal lights shone down upon the stone platform. The light was bright and gentle, clearly illuminating everything on and around the operation platform.


    At this moment, Leon was extraordinarily calm.


    "Chip, you may begin!"


    With this order, the chip immediately took over the controls of all the operating machinery.


    Cold steel flashed in the air. A magic mechanical arm had floated to Leon''s chest and stabbed into it with a sharp scalpel. A ripping sound rang out and the flesh was split apart.


    The speed at which it moved and the accuracy at which it cut was stunning!


    Even Leon wouldn''t have been so decisive and quick in his movements if he had been the one at the steering wheel.


    Perhaps because his physique was unique in some way, the scalpel hadn''t cut through any large blood vessels. Blood wasn''t spilling and splashing everywhere. Moreover, with Leon''s current Physique of 3.7, his flesh and skin was as tough as an Iron Rhinoceros, even without the use of any magic.


    If it had been any ordinary mortal''s weapons, slicing through Leon''s skin would have been a difficult task on its own. All of the machinery used for the operation today had clearly been enhanced with magic!


    Having completed its task of slicing open Leon''s chest, the scalpel arm quickly moved away. Another machine, this one with two humanoid arms, flew to Leon''s side and lightly pried open his chest.


    Thus Leon''s human heart, protected by his thick sternum and ribs, was exposed to the world. Even though this heart had been slightly mutated by the high concentration of fire elementium that surrounded Leon, its basic function and form was still very similar to that of the human heart.


    Leon looked on calmly. He didn''t interfere with the chip''s control.


    Even though he was the true owner of this body, he couldn''t possibly compare to the chip when it came to its decisiveness and accuracy in the operation. The chip was far superior when it came to the fine details of a delicate surgery.


    The saw and bone cutter flew over, and the ear-grinding noise of bone being cut rang out from Leon''s chest. If it wasn''t for the Spell of Sharpening and Spell of Reinforcement he had cast on the tools, they would never have been able to damage Leon''s magically protected flesh and bones.


    The vibration of the metal blade as it sliced through his bone, as well as the intense pain of his flesh being pried apart, was transmitted to Leon''s soul. He could only endure it as he watched on with wide-open eyes. He had to see every single detail of the operation with his own eyes, in order to provide the chip with sufficient information to maintain its precise control.


    The ribs were slowly extracted, one after another, until Leon''s heart was finally exposed.


    The saw and the bone cutter shifted away as more machines surged forward. They started the delicate task of detaching the heart from the body and the rest of the internal organs. Every time a blood vessel was cut, a thin heat ray would shoot forth and seal the vessel.


    Leon also started to control part of his body. He tensed all the blood vessels in his body in order to slow the flow of blood and prevent it from flowing out of his chest.


    A crimson light shone in the darkness.


    The Flame Fiend''s Heart, already treated several times by now, slowly levitated to the operation platform, carried above a floating tray. A magical robotic arm slowly picked it up and held it above Leon''s chest.


    Leon''s eyes scanned across the Flame Fiend''s Heart, taking note of the numerous strange runes that filled the crimson tendons and flesh of the heart. These runes, that were as small as sesame seeds, completely covered the inside and outside of the Flame Fiend''s Heart. Together they formed an extraordinarily complex and profound runic array. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A sharp pain shot through Leon''s body. The last main blood vessel that connected his heart to his body had been severed. The slowly beating heart was removed by a robotic arm.


    There was no time to wait or pause. The new Flame Fiend''s Heart was instantly plunged into Leon''s chest. Then, countless tiny robotic arms swarmed forward, using unimaginably intricate maneuvers to reattach the vessels to this new organ.


    The process was complicated, but it was by no means messy. A dozen robotic arms worked in unison, the sound of them creaking as they worked rang out in the room...


    After advancing to an Mage, Leon''s life force and Physique had long exceeded that of an ordinary mortal. Moreover, with his elementiumized body, he couldn''t die even after having his heart removed.


    Still, this heart transplant operation couldn''t go on for too long. Otherwise his body might be affected, causing a reduction in his basic attributes.


    Honestly, due to the elementiumization of his body, he could no longer use the means that the body refining Mages used to strengthen their bodies. It was simply no longer effective. Consequently, it would be extremely difficult to raise his Physique if it ever fell.


    And having learnt of the violent, barbaric, and rampaging combat style of the Flame Fiend Transformation, Leon could no longer give it up in exchange for a weak and pathetic guerilla form of combat. It would be unbearable!


    Thus, the entire transplant operation quickly concluded under the unbelievably precise and accurate control of the chip.


    ...


    2004 Words

 Chapter 265 Agreement

    A light boom rang out in the room.As the new Flame Fiend''s Heart beat for the very first time, Leon felt a burning stream flowing through his body. The powerful and plentiful feeling of having excessive amounts of energy coursing through his veins was so uncomfortable that even Leon couldn''t help but let out a groan.


    Even though most of the heart''s abilities had been sealed away by the runes, it still used to be the heart of a Second Grade being. The power of a Second Grade abyssal creature was still too much for Leon to handle.


    Possession of powerful strength demanded the possession of an equally powerful body!


    The abyssal Flame Fiends of the lower realms were massive creatures that easily grew up to four meters in height. The resilience of their Physique could even compare with the dragons themselves. Even though they had bodies of flesh and blood, burning lava coursed through their veins. It was the evil and violent powers of flame that surged within their bodies.


    Leon had brought suffering upon himself by transplanting the magical organ of such a powerful creature into himself. Apart from the overwhelming flame energies, what was more painful was that chaotic, violent, and brutal aura of the abyssal Flame Fiends.


    If Leon hadn''t completed the elementiumization of his body, he might have just turned to ash with the first beat of the Flame Fiend''s Heart.


    Even though the Flame Fiend''s Heart had now successfully integrated with his body, he still felt pain all over his body. It was as if his blood was slowly being heated up and turned against him, used as a blazing inferno to reduce his body to ashes.


    Fortunately, the sealed Flame Fiend''s Heart only beat twice in a single minute. This ensured that Leon wouldn''t be burnt to death by flame energies that went out of control.


    In truth, this was only a short-term imbalance in his bodily systems brought about by the Flame Fiend''s Heart introduction. As long as he had a period of time to rest and get used to his new heart, the problem would go away on its own. Once that happened, Leon''s Physique might even have a chance of improving, thanks to the positive influence of the powerful Flame Fiend''s Heart. This would bring him closer towards the resilience and savagery of a berserking Mage.


    Leon endured the intense pain and slowly sat up. He lifted his body from the stone platform.


    Leon looked down. The ghastly cut on his chest had already been sealed by heat rays, leaving a long and ugly scar running across his flawless skin. Such a massive wound would completely heal in half a day, given his Physique. Of course, that was provided he had enough to eat. Moreover, it had to be quality food.


    Leon stumbled for a bit before regaining his footing.


    Even though power surged through his body, the only thing he felt was nausea and dizziness. These contradictory feelings clashed against each other in Leon''s mind, torturing him and plunging him into agony. He frowned in pain.


    Leon waved and his magical equipments flew out from the darkness. Once again, he was fully armed. As the designs for the runic equipment hadn''t been completed, Leon was still wearing the soft Mage''s robe so commonly worn by elementium Mages.


    The more traditional and conservative Mages still preferred their tall and pointy hats, but Leon had absolutely no interest in such outdated fashion.


    With the emergence of large amounts of magic equipment, there was a countless array of powerful options to choose from. The old-style Mage''s robe, Mages'' hat, and flying broom that only featured a few enhancements were unpopular among the Mages these days. Only some old stubborn fools in the more conservative and ancient organizations remained. They continued to persistently refuse to use this newer equipment.


    However, Leon had no such issues!


    He was a classic pragmatist. There was only one thing in his mind when choosing his equipment¨C its power and its effects. Old and new didn''t matter.


    A casual wave of his hand swept a wave of fire through the room. All the blood stains and marks he had left behind were erased in a single move. Even the bone fragments that had been chipped off his bones when they were cut were reduced to ashes. Leon would never leave behind a chance for potential enemies to peek at the secrets of his body.


    Although Leon had half a mind to keep his original heart, he still destroyed it out of safety concerns.


    It was only after Leon had completely combed through his room that he released the magical defenses he had placed on it.


    Thus, the pseudo-Mages and advanced apprentices under him swarmed into the room and quickly cleared away the stone platform and robotic arms. Leon ignored them and asked the tower''s spirit for a couple sets of magical energy meals. He wolfed it all down. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The previously beneficial magical energy set meal was no longer effective or helpful for his Physique. However he was still able to derive immense sensory pleasure from eating gourmet food that suited his elemental affinity.


    The tower''s spirit sent him a message as he was enjoying his meal.


    A certain Mage Angus from the Underground World Mages'' tower was trying to contact him long-distance. The tower''s spirit was trying to ascertain Leon''s response.


    Angus? Wasn''t he the Mage that made him promise to visit the Castle in the Sky? If Angus had managed to find his way here, he probably had some basic information on Leon already.


    Leon, who already planned to visit the Castle in the Sky, agreed instantly.


    A black rift slowly appeared in mid-air. A strange plant that resembled a sunflower crept its way out of the rift. Large amounts of light gathered on the surface of the sunflower. The light flickered and the silhouette of a black-robed Mage appeared.


    It was Mage Angus!


    "So glad to see you again, Mage Leon!" A strange smile surfaced on Angus'' cold and uncaring face. He put extra emphasis on the word ''Mage'' when he greeted Leon.


    After all, Leon had only been an apprentice Mage that he could knock around the last time they met. Just one year later, and Leon had already advanced to an official Mage with equal status to himself. As such, even this Mage Angus was not confident that Leon would obey the contract they had agreed to earlier.


    The contract was one meant to bound an apprentice Mage to his words. It had limited effect on an actual Mage. As long as Leon was willing to pay the necessary recompense, he could choose to ignore the terms of the contract. On the other hand, Mage Angus would never take the risk of offending a mid-tier Mage clan in the central area all for the sake of forcing Leon into obeying the contract.


    This was why Mage Angus couldn''t help but betray a trace of nervousness and concern when he saw Leon. He could see Leon''s powerful figure and feel his mental flux, fierce as fire, lashing against his face.


    "Nice to meet you, Mage Angus!" Leon nodded and replied politely.


    "Are you still willing to obey the terms of the contract we agreed to in the past?" Angus asked testingly.


    "Of course!" Leon smiled, "I have great hopes for the trip this time!"


    Mage Angus was visibly relieved after hearing Leon''s answer.


    In his original plan, having Leon participate in the apprentice level Golem Wars was already enough. That would ensure that their clan''s benefits would be protected. Now that Leon had advanced to an Mage, the potential profits would be upwards of ten times greater if he managed to win in the Mage-level Golem Wars.


    Of course this made him nervous!


    However, any sort of lying or trickery in the face of an actual Mage of equal status was a despicable and treacherous act. Thus, Angus immediately came clean. He wanted to sign a new contract with Leon, and promised great profits that could even move Leon.


    It was clear that the profits the Byron Clan stood to gain from the Castle in the Sky were extremely massive. Why else was he so willing to offer such generous pay!


    With only three months left till the Golem Wars, Leon only had two months to prepare. He would then have to leave for the Castle in the Sky.


    The two made some small talk before agreeing on a meeting points for the trip. It was only then that both parties ended their conversation on a satisfactory note and cut off the long-distance magical communication.


    "You are preparing to go to the Castle in the Sky?" Lucy had been beside him the whole time and had overheard the conversation between him and Angus.


    "Why? You want something?" Leon stared at her amusingly.


    It seemed Lucy had figured out his temperament. She knew that he was a master that didn''t care too much for status and ranks. This was why she dared to sit in for the conversation of two Mages.


    "Why don''t you bring me and Snorlax along!" Lucy suddenly became extremely excited and happy.


    "Why?"


    "Because the Castle in the Sky is the most prosperous place for trade and merchanting across the entire Continent if Mages. That goblin of yours has to go to the Castle in the Sky if he wants to fulfil his dream of becoming a great goblin merchant!" Lucy continued to dance about as she explained, "There are all sorts of innovative and interesting golems and machines there, not to mention all kinds of odd voodoo beasts, precious and rare magical creatures and materials, as well as countless types of esoteric Mages. However, even all this added together couldn''t compare with the sheer marvel of the Castle in the Sky itself!"


    "The Castle in the Sky is the true alchemical magnum opus of the World of Mages!"


    Leon listened to Lucy''s lengthy ramblings. He couldn''t help but yawn and said nonchalantly, "What does that have to do with you?"


    Lucy''s emerald eyes opened real wide. She flashed her sharp canine teeth and said angrily, "How could I not follow after my master? After all, I am your cutest and most precious personal maid. Is there anything to question about this?"


    Lucy''s eyes were narrowed together. She tried her very best to act her cutest. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire


    It was clear that Lucy was extremely interested in this Castle in the Sky. The arrogant girl was trying to suck up to Leon to get him to agree to the idea.


    "Very well, we will go together!" Leon thought for a moment and turned to pass some instructions to Lucy, "Go and pass the news to Snorlax and get him to prepare for the trip. If the Castle in the Sky is as great as you say, we should try and get a spot for Snorlax to stay there!"


    If he wanted to create a new force that belonged to him and him alone, he would need an endless stream of resources and information. If that was the case, it was much better to have Snorlax stay on the Castle in the Sky rather than in Feidnan City.


    Leon also wanted to take this opportunity and see for himself this marvel of a city floating in the skies¨C the Castle in the Sky!


    ....


    1909 Words

 Chapter 266 Assaulted

    Two months later.Right before the break of dawn. The mist still clung in the air. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A black carriage slowly rumbled out of Feidnan City.


    The tall architecture of the city was quickly left behind as the carriage rushed forward. Large patches of farmland started to appear on both sides of the road. One could vaguely see the scattered farmhouses and villages through the thick and dense mist.


    As the sun hadn''t rise yet, the road was still very dimly lit. It was very easy to damage the precious carriage when driving in such weather. As a result, there weren''t very many people walking on the roads of Feidnan City. This was even truer the further they got from Feidnan City. Human buildings were built further and further apart. Tall and massive trees started to appear more frequently and in greater density.


    Leon pushed the curtain aside and was greeted with a face full of cold, moist air. It was a refreshing and slightly cooling.


    Just five kilometers out of the city, and already the forests on both sides felt a little primal and overgrown. This scene allowed Leon to imagine the past. Several years ago, humans, under the lead of the Mages, had forged their way through this primal forest with great difficulty and created settlement after settlement. He could imagine their pain and suffering as they fought tooth and nail against the creatures of the woods for every inch of the land they owned...


    In the earlier records and books about Mages, Leon had often read about Mages being the guardians of humans. They would aid the nobles in managing their lands and fight off the attacks of terrifying magical creatures. They would eliminate the vicious beasts and ensure the security of the human settlements.


    But that was all in the ancient past!


    Leon could very clearly trace the development of the Mages over the past couple thousand years. The Mages had slowly risen above the human nobles, eventually rising to the the very top, to the ruling position of the entire race. They had then forcefully united the massive Continent of Mages.


    The status of the Mages and the nobles had completely reversed at this point. The previous rulers of humanity now cowered before the powerful Mages. The nobles were now the representatives and servants of the Mages. The ordinary humans also became insignificant to the Mages, turning into the weak and pathetic ''lower races''.


    The strict rules of high-grade Mages forbade Mages from using the humans as experimental subjects as well as forbidding Mages from massacring ordinary mortals. Otherwise, the Mages might have long stripped the mortals of all they had. Even they themselves would have become the lab rats of the Mages'' experiments, or pitiful slaves driven to their deaths.


    Just as Leon mulled over the history of the Mages, the coachman turned back and spoke.


    "Master, this trip is going to take a while. You had best take the time to rest well!" The coachman was a middle-aged man with an honest face. However, with his powerful elementium sight, Leon could very clearly see Snorlax putting on a fawning smile beneath the face created with the Spell of Concealment.


    "Mm, good work!" Leon nodded slightly and let go of the curtain.


    "Hmph! Good work?" Lucy, who was curled up by a side of the carriage, and who was clearly still dazed from waking up, yawned as she said, "This is just part of his duty! It''s what he''s supposed to do. Oh right. Aren''t you a powerful Mage now? Couldn''t you use your status to rent a Socrates Condor? We could get to Motta City in a single day!"


    Feidnan City was the headquarters of the Sarubo Clan. It was considered private property. As such, no flying ships were allowed to land within the area. Thus, they would have to go to the public City of Motta, one hundred and fifty kilometers away. It was only there that they could rent a flying ship to hurry to Silver Union territory.


    "We have plenty of time anyway. It''s a good experience to cruise about like this. We get to see the local customs of the Zhentarim Area." Leon let out a gentle smile.


    Lucy started rubbing her eyes, then stared earnestly at Leon, as if she was looking at some monster before her.


    "Fine fine fine!" As if realizing that his excuse was a little too forced, Leon couldn''t help but explain himself, "The tower spirit gave me a warning a few days before we left. It seemed to have sensed someone casting divination magic on me!"


    "Divination magic?" Lucy was suddenly excited, "You are saying someone is plotting against you?"


    "You are excited now that we have enemies?"


    "Of course! Think about how boring this trip would be otherwise!"


    "Have you never considered the situation seriously? If the enemy dares to plot against me, they would include every variable and factor in everything about me. That includes you. Are you not afraid of death at the hands of our enemies?"


    "Tsk tsk... why should I be afraid if you aren''t afraid?" Lucy spoke in disdain, "Since you already know about the enemy''s existence, you must have made arrangements to prepare against them. Otherwise, do you think you would ever volunteer as bait? With your personality?"


    "..."


    ......


    Noon.


    The black carriage slowly pulled onto a gray road amidst a sea of trees.


    This road, that should have been filled with travellers, merchants, and carriages, was now extraordinarily silent. All of the carriages stopped by the road. All the humans and the horses and the cows lay by the roadside, deep in slumber.


    Snorlax instantly halted the two handsome white horses at the sight of this. Before he could even let out a warning to his master, a light breeze of fragrance found its way into his nose. And so, the next second, Snorlax and the two horses pulling the carriage collapsed.


    Leon pushed aside the curtains and looked at the scene before him. He leapt off the carriage and inspected the strange scene. He frowned. A bright red layer of fire hovered around his mighty figure. It was this layer of fire that prevented Leon from succumbing to the odd potion.


    Leon''s elementium sight had a clear view of what was happening. The moment he stepped out of the carriage, the moist forest air surged towards him. Some transparent powder mixed in the air crashed against the red layer of fire.


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    They sizzled as they burned.


    Red flames sparked across the bright red layer and all of the powder was reduced to ashes.


    Inside the carriage Lucy, who had been pumped up for a good show, had already collapsed and was sound asleep. The tricks of an Mage were not something she could defend against as a pseudo-Mage, even if she was one of the most powerful pseudo-Mages alive!


    Three silhouettes of varying sizes appeared in the woods from the right. Their faces and figures were hidden beneath thick cloaks. They silently observed Leon.


    Leon hesitated for a moment. He didn''t try and wake Lucy or Snorlax. Rather, he sorted the equipment on him and followed the three mysterious Mages into the depths of the woods.


    After walking for five hundred meters, they arrived in a forest clearing.


    The trees here were far less dense, with a pond just two hundred meters away. Apart from the tall trees and the low-lying bushes, not a single person could be seen in the area. This was a good place to settle any conflict.


    "You should know the purpose of our ''visit'', don''t you?" One of the shorter cloaked men asked softly.


    His voice sounded like that of a middle-aged man.


    "The Black Glove Association?" A grin appeared at the corner of Leon''s mouth.


    The short cloaked man pushed his hood down, revealing a green and wrinkled face, along with a hooked nose and a head full of dirty green short hair. He wasn''t a human!


    The Head of the Black Glove Association. The one and only Second Grade Green Dwarf Mage¨C Pyro.


    Leon felt liked a heavy rock had been dropped onto his heart when Pyro''s sinister green eyes locked onto him. Even breathing seemed more difficult.


    "Is it fine for the Head of the Black Glove Association to so publicly kill an official Mage of the Sarubo Clan? Are you not worried that Lady Sanazar will personally visit you lot?"


    "Of course we wouldn''t be able to endure the rage of Lady Sanazar... if it was us of the Black Glove Association that killed you today. However, if the ones responsible for your death wasn''t the Black Glove Association, even Lady Sanazar would not have a reason to persecute us! She wouldn''t dare break the orders of the Zhentarim Association and hurt the innocent us, would she?" The green dwarf Pyro spat out coldly.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Lord Pyro''s words are easy to understand... " The scrawny and tall one of the trio suddenly pushed his hood down as well. The man laughed wickedly, "Because he won''t be doing anything today. We will!"


    This scrawny man had a pale complexion with dried and wrinkled skin. His voice was low and hoarse. However, when he uttered the last sentence, his head suddenly turned 180 degrees, revealing a woman''s face behind his head. ''His'' voice also suddenly changed to that of a female''s.


    The female face had her eyes shut tight. A strange smile was plastered across her face, but there was nothing odd about the way she spoke. Moreover, she... wasn''t a mask or a face drawn onto the head. She was an actual woman.


    "Two-face Kane!" Leon gasped.


    Even though it hadn''t been long since he ascended to an Mage, he still made sure to do his studies and had a detailed understanding of all the famous Mages of the Zhentarim area. With the extreme efficiency of the chip at his disposal, he kept detailed tabs on all the Mages, both famous and lesser-known, that belonged to any Mage clan, academy, organization, or force within the Zhentarim area.


    Green Dwarf Pyro hadn''t been lying. Two-face Kane didn''t belong to the Black Glove Association. He was a powerful wandering Mage.


    Kane. Born to a normal noble''s family in the central area of the continent. He and his twin sister were verified with magic talent at a young age and were sent to a small Mage academy to study. His experience was similar to Leon''s. He and his sister met a particularly terrifying and evil Mage.


    He and his twin sister had decent talent, as well as an extremely unique innate mental link. Consequently, they fell into the favor of an evil Mage and were chosen for an extremely dangerous experiment on the merging of lives.


    What happened next was easily predictable.


    The terrifying life-merging experiment had forged the souls of the brother and sister together. They shared a single body, with two faces, one in front of the head and one behind. The two shared one body with two souls, taking turns to use a single body.


    The sudden stimulation of their soul energies had allowed the twins to suddenly advance to Mages. Moreover, the chaotic nature of the merger had allowed them to break free of the Mage''s control.


    Two-face Kane and Sabrine, who now simultaneously possessed the strength of two Mages, reinforced with an innate mental link, instantly began a slaughter. They butchered all four Mages and twenty-seven apprentices that lived in the small Mage academy before running away and disappearing from the public eye.


    As his soul was chaotic and his personality distorted, the Two-face Mage Kane spent most of his days wandering in the central area of the continent, avoiding the capture of the Mage''s Association''s Department of Corrections. On the other hand, most Mage clans ignored him. They didn''t want to deal with such a powerful Mage, and as such, they let ''him'' and ''her'' go unnoticed and unrestrained for all this time.


    However, who knew? The Black Glove Association was willing to fork over large sums of money to purchase their services!


    Leon helplessly put on a bitter smile.


    ...


    2037 Words

 Chapter 267 The Two-Face Mage

    The Head of the Black Glove Association, the Green Dwarf Pyro, quickly retreated with the other Mage. The battlefield was left to the two Mages facing off.As long as they weren''t involved directly in the battle today, the Sarubo would be hard-pressed to find a proper excuse to take revenge for Leon.


    Leon hesitated for a moment before putting away the wooden idol he was gripping in his hand. He didn''t crush it.


    This was a magic talisman Lady Sanazar had given him.


    She had agreed to teleport over to his location and obliterate his enemy, as long as he crushed the wooden idol within a fifty kilometer radius of Feidnan City.


    However, it was clear that the enemy had expected this as well.


    None of the Mages of the Black Glove Association were acting personally. They had hired a powerful wandering Mage to do their job instead. Leon would probably be in trouble if he summoned that violent Lady Sanazar now. After all, even if she teleported over, there would be no one she could kill. It was easy to imagine how mad and annoyed she would be then.


    Moreover... Leon was confident in his abilities, even if he was facing the infamous Two-face Mage. His abilities had improved recently and he had been itching for a chance to test his skills.


    As Leon was pondering his next step, the Two-face Mage had already started to move without any hesitation.


    The first to attack was the sister, Sabrine. She was a master of the rare sonic magic.


    She shut her eyes and opened her mouth as wide as she could. Her hands pressed against the side of her mouths as she screamed. The powerful sonic waves sent ripples across the air. Strange patterns formed in midair as the waves quickly spread towards Leon''s direction.


    Leon couldn''t hear anything. Rather, there was nothing to be heard.


    Mage Sabrine''s Death Scream had long since exceeded the range of frequencies that ordinary humans could hear. The scream was in the range of ultrasound.


    Every single object placed in front of Sabrine had disintegrated the moment the soundwave passed by them.


    The tall trees would first crumble into wooden pieces of various sizes. Then the pieces would disintegrate into wooden splinters the size of a thumb. And finally, the splinters would be blasted away, turning into unrecognizable wooden dust as they did so....


    Grass was sent flying in every direction, as if an intangible hand had ripped them from their roots and tore them into pieces. Even the green sap propelled forward and splashed everywhere, bringing with them the terrifying kinetic energy of the sound wave. They riddled everything in their way full of holes, as if they were bullets shot from a gun.


    Even Leon''s Lava Shield strained from the impact of the resounding soundwave.


    The Lava Shield, that had always been known for its extraordinary physical and elemental defense, was like paper before the soundwave. Its combination of black-red lava and tough magma rock was ineffective. The shield cracked and peeled away. The black-red lava started boiling and exploding. Just one more push and the entire shield would crumble into pieces.


    At the same time, the chip in Leon''s mind was sounding the alarms.


    "Warning. Warning. Detecting intrusion of high frequency ultrasound. Advising the host to leave the area immediately. Tremendous damage is expected to be inflicted on the host body... "


    Dammit! The opponent''s soundwave attack had penetrative effects. The Lava Shield was unable to deflect all of its effects.


    Leon endured the uncomfortable feeling in his chest and threw a Magma Fireball towards the enemy. He then paused for a bit before vanishing from the spot with his Fire Teleportation. After all, the soundwave attack was a directed spell. As long as he could avoid facing it head on, he would be able to avoid the effects of the soundwave.


    The screaming Mage Sabrine instantly increased her efforts. The flying Magma Fireball exploded in midair as its magma shell was damage by the high frequency.


    Leon appeared in a blazing fire fifty meters to the left. The moment he revealed himself, the Two-face Mage turned its head. All of a sudden, Leon found himself facing Kane instead of Sabrine. Kane had been silently chanting in the back all this while. He was already in the final casting stages of a massive large-area spell.


    "Hermedes, Freezing Tide!"


    The last words of the chant was completed. Kane made a circle with his arms, and a large blue ice crystal blasted towards Leon, accompanied by a chilling blizzard.


    Leon had already lost his Lava Shield and had already used up his only mobility spell. His expression soured. He took a step backwards and waved the Fire Lord''s Scepter he was holding in his right arm. Flames flashed above the scepter and a massive Fire Deity appeared before him, shielding him from the assaulting Freezing Tide.


    The pseudo-Mage level Fire Deity, who had helped Leon deal with so many enemies in the past, was hardly enough to help him now.


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    Even if it summoned a massive fire pillar with all its strength, it was still unable to ward away the chilling winds and the ice crystals. A short moment later, the five meter tall Fire Deity was sealed within a block of ice. It was frozen stiff in the position it was in before, still trying its best to fight back.


    A few seconds later the ice shattered, and the Fire Deity was reduced to a handful of ice.


    The poor Fire Deity. It didn''t even get the chance to self-destruct this time!


    Meanwhile, Leon took full advantage of the short time the Fire Deity had bought with its life. The Scroll of Voodoo in his hands quickly flipped through its pages. A Fire Core Explosion quickly formed and shot towards the enemy.


    However, before this most powerful spell of Leon''s could even land, it was negated by Sabrine once more. The head turned around again and a Death Scream blasted in his direction.


    Thus, with the violent storm of icicles still shooting towards him, Leon had no other option left but to reposition himself with the Fire Teleportation again.


    In the following battle, Leon tried multiple times to use his Fire Teleportation to close the distance between himself and the Two-face Mage. He wanted to use his most ferocious instant-cast spells to throw his opponents off their flow. Sadly, he was beaten back by the well-prepared enemy every single time. As painful as it was, Leon couldn''t help but acknowledge that there were Mages that could completely counter his abilities!


    Leon chose the path of fire mastery. This allowed the might of his fire spells to be far superior to other Mages. However, the Two-face Mage was a difficult opponent. The elder brother, Kane, was an ice Mage, the exact counter to Leon''s flames. The sister, Sabrine, was a master of soundwave attacks. These attacks were naturally penetrative and could easily break through defenses. Leon would have a hard time dealing with her attacks, even if he transformed into the tough and resilient Flame Fiend.


    Moreover, the siblings had an innate mental link. While one was controlling the body to stall Leon, the other would be able to start chanting for a spell behind them. When the massive spell was at its last stage of channeling, the siblings would switch places once more, blasting Leon with their most powerful spell.


    With their dual-soul advantage, the Two-face Mage pressed on, completely driving Leon into a corner. Leon had no choice but to dash all around the battlefield, desperately searching for a weakness in the enemy''s defenses.


    Honestly, Leon had never been in such an awkward and terrible position, even counting the outnumbered fight at Locker Castle. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon quickly moved about the battlefield, returning the enemy''s vicious blows with the instant-cast Magma Fireball. In the meantime, he was listening to the chip''s suggested strategy.


    "Beep. Collection of enemy''s data has been completed. Data comparison and analysis suggests that the host only has a 34% chance of victory in this battle... "


    "And if I send the Decayer forward?"


    "Chance of victory rises to 41%... "


    "Along with the Roaring Monster!"


    "Chance of victory rises to 53%... "


    Leon silently wiped away the cold sweat.


    His chance of victory was not much more than 50%, even after using his two Mage-level golems. They were supposed to be part of his standard strength. How was he supposed to feel about this? Just a few days earlier, he had been fantasizing of crushing opponents of equal Grade to him!


    "And if I send the Infernal Tyrant along with them?"


    "Chance of victory rises to 128%... "


    "What if it''s just me and the Infernal Tyrant?"


    "Chance of victory will be 93%... Warning: this percentage does not factor in any hidden powers the enemy might possess!"


    "That is enough!"


    Leon quickly communicated with the chip and made up his mind.


    The mediocre Roaring Monster and Decayer were not enough to turn the tables on such powerful opponents. If he wanted to end this fight as decisively as possible, he would have to use the most powerful force he had at his disposal¨C the Infernal Tyrant!


    On the other hand, there was the Flame Fiend Transformation! But there was still that terrifying side-effect to worry about. The new runes hadn''t properly set yet. Consequently, Leon had no intention to take the risk of transforming in the short term.


    Leon no longer hesitated now that he had made up his mind. He exhausted yet another instant-cast spell from the Scroll of Voodoo to deflect Kane''s Freezing Tide. Then, he found an opportunity to flee to the outer rim of the battlefield and instantly tossed the brilliant golem core to the ground.


    The next second, a massive amount of fire elementium swallowed the green forest whole. A radius of five hundred meters had been engulfed in fire and smoke. Blinding red light filled the entire battlefield.


    Violent fire elementium gathered together under the horrified gaze of Two-face Mage Kane. A four meter tall demon of flame slowly rose beside Leon.


    This imposing demon had power rivalling the peak of First Grade. What''s more, its control over flame energies was far superior to the Flame Fiend that Leon always turned into.


    When Leon transformed, fire and flame streams would surge all over his body. This looked extremely intimidating, and also made him a terror as he burned down everything around him, but it was also an extreme waste of flame energy. The flame demon that had appeared in a blazing inferno appeared very different from Leon''s Flame Fiend form. The flames around his body was a dark crimson shade, appearing to be much more subdued and concentrated.


    Leon was right next to it, and had a perfect view of its body.


    This terrifying ruler of flames had not only subdued the ruthless fire, but had even concentrated them and turned them into a solid state, using the fire to forge his own body. Muscles, bones, and even internal organs formed of clusters of flame burned before Leon''s eyes. The dark crimson fire slowly blazed on around the Tyrant''s body, without any of its usual recklessness and violence.


    This was a true being born of fire¨C an Infernal Tyrant!


    The few Mages near the battlefield couldn''t help but pay attention to the Infernal Tyrant. Even though it had yet to make a single move, everyone could feel its might.


    Dammit! Where did this bastard get his hands on an elementium golem of this level?


    For a moment, everyone brooded silently in their minds. Some were angered, while some were curious. Everyone had their own thoughts about the situation!


    ...


    1961 words

 Chapter 268 Tyrant

    "Dammit, do Kane and Sabrine still have a chance?" The green dwarf Pyro asked grudgingly.The black-robed Mage beside him took out a handful of bone fragments from his robe and scattered it before himself. He knelt to look at the bones before shaking his head in disappointment.


    Murderous light gleamed in Pyro''s green eyes, "I spent that fortune to hire you, and this is what you tell me?"


    The black-robed Mage spoke calmly, "Sir, as a Second Grade Mage, I am sure you have a perfect understanding of the mechanisms behind divination magic. The more we know about the opponent, the more capable we are of eliminating factors beyond our control. This brat has been hiding in the Mages'' tower this whole time. It was already a difficult task to pierce through the defenses of the tower and predict the path of his fate. Moreover, I am certain that Lord Kane had an eighty percent chance to beat this brat when we made our preparations three months ago."


    "You mean to say he suddenly obtained a golem of this level within these three months?" Pyro quickly calmed down and asked in a collected manner.


    "Indeed!" The black-robed Mage nodded, "This unknown factor has already informed me of the truth. The sudden increase of his prowess had occurred right after the last time I successfully used divination magic on him. It is clear that his fate had suddenly shifted during these three months. It is unclear how this happened! I suspect... he carries with him something that can affect even fate. A unique artifact, a magical item, or perhaps... a person!"


    Pyro wasn''t very good with all this talk about fate. However, even if he didn''t understand the mechanics behind it, he knew one thing for certain. His failure today was a certainty! As a decisive person himself, he didn''t bother to wait and see the result of the fight. He immediately turned and disappeared into the depths of the forest, bringing with him this ''failure'' of a diviner.


    Feidnan City, Mages'' Tower.


    Lady Sanazar leaned against a soft bed. Her body was tilted such that she could observe the battle that was being displayed on the light screen floating before her.


    Sanazar was the one who gave Leon the wooden idol, but she had clearly omitted a crucial detail. As long as he kept the idol by his side, Sanazar would be able to observe everything happening within a hundred meter radius of the idol without the use of another magical medium.


    Thus, Sanazar had immediately activated her water mirror after sensing the elementium flux from the wooden idol. The first scene she saw was the appearance of the Infernal Tyrant.


    Of course, such an insignificant fight between First Grade Mages was nothing to a Third Grade Mage like herself. However, even she couldn''t help but be interested in the fight when she saw the rampaging flame golem.


    A weak First Grade Mage that had just advanced possessed an elementium golem that had power close to a Second Grade Mage. This was quite unthinkable. It was almost certain that this little fella had secrets of his own. If it wasn''t for Lord Sarubo''s orders, she would totally drag him back and split his head open to see what he had hidden within...


    The brutal and savage Sanazar suppressed her curious desire and put herself in a more comfortable position to enjoy the battle in the mirror.


    ...


    It was all well and dandy for the boss resting in her bed to be entertained, watching from afar. However, this was a matter of life and death for the Mages engaged in battle!


    The Two-face Mage, who had possessed the initiative in the battle earlier, was now in an awkward and trying situation.


    They weaved nimbly between the rain of fireballs, occasionally destroying the unavoidable ones. As long as the fireballs were unable to make direct contact, the ice shield orbiting around them would be enough to defend against the attacks.


    They had no extra strength to dodge the flame shockwave and splashing lava from the explosion of the Magma Fireballs. The only thing they could do was to endure the damage with the ice shields formed from water elementium.


    Light blue frost floated around Mage Kane. He casually strolled past a flurry of fireballs. It seemed like a breeze to him, but in truth, he was extremely anxious at this point. A path of frost was left behind him wherever he went.


    If an enemy ever stepped upon this path of frost, they would instantly be frozen to the spot by the ice energy that surged forth. Although the effect wouldn''t last for very long, that short pause would be unavoidable. Kane, as the owner of this path of frost, would be able to appear anywhere on it at any time he desired to.


    This path of frost wouldn''t last for very long. It would melt in just five minutes. However, this short amount of time was more than enough for Kane to turn the battlefield to his advantage.


    Any Mage would perform at their best within an environment that was advantageous to them. They would be able to battle in a style unique to their own abilities. That said, Kane had clearly run into trouble today!


    Leon was a master at creating a homefield of lava and magma. Kane also excelled at creating his own home field.


    Leon had his amazing Fire Teleportation, and Kane had his Frost Path Teleportation.


    One a master of ice, and the other a master of flames.


    The two were similar in strength, and fought with similar styles, causing the battle to quickly spiral into a tense conflict and stalemate between the two of them. At this time Kane''s sister, Sabrine, became the key to determining the outcome of the fight. With her terrifying soundwave attacks that could penetrate even the most resilient of defenses, she could easily turn the tables in the fight.


    However, the situation was quickly flipped on its end after Leon summoned this beast of an Infernal Tyrant.


    It became an overwhelming force of nature the moment it appeared.


    Its powerful attacks, that reached up to 135 points in power, caused even the simplest of Magma Fireballs to become devastating blows that Kane and Sabrine had trouble dealing with.


    Sabrine was the one defending against the first Magma Fireball that the Infernal Tyrant hurled at them.


    Piercing Scream and Death Roar. Two soundwave spells had to be launched at this inconspicuous fireball to even destroy it. Yet still, the position where the fireball had exploded was a little too close to Sabrine.


    The lava corroded through her defensive magic and splashed onto Sabrine. She let out another piercing scream.


    But it wasn''t a spell this time, it was just her natural reflex after experiencing intense pain!


    As a pair of siblings sharing a body, Kane was Mage at mobility and magic defense, while Sabrine was better at offense with her penetrative abilities. With no choice left to them, Kane had to come out from within and replace Sabrine. He summoned layers of ice shields to cover their body.


    The injured Sabrine quickly retreated within their body, treating her wounds and preparing her next spell.


    If the Magma Fireball was truly nothing more than a one-off attack, Kane was confident he could hold on for a little longer with his mastery of defensive magic. However, it was only when the demon of flames started bombarding him with gigantic fireballs that he realized something horrific. The enemy''s attack remained steady at 135 points of damage! Every single attack was as powerful as the last one!


    He grit his teeth and deflected four Magma Fireballs. The Ice Demon Kane was already at his limit!


    He cursed angrily at this unbelievably powerful golem, going through several dialects as he did so. Ice Demon Kane gathered all the water elementium he could and converted it into ice energy to put out the flames eating away at his robe.


    Meanwhile, as he awkwardly dealt with the fires, he still had to change his position constantly. The use of the large trees to block the Tyrant was the only thing slowing its march. Kane didn''t even dare to engage in a melee after seeing the Tyrant''s black-red hands and its terrifying body forged solely of concentrated flames.


    Ice shields could be re-summoned if they were destroyed. Ice barriers could be repaired if they were riddled with holes. However, as the battle progressed, the only thing that kept happening were the flames that ignited all over Kane''s body. They burned and roasted his flesh, leaving him grimacing in pain. He couldn''t keep up his defense for much longer.


    Because that accursed Tyrant was now starting to cast an area-of-effect spell!


    Most Mages were actually very well protected during a fight between Mages, thanks to the existence of defensive magic. Consequently, area-of-effect spells were rarely cast during a duel, as the power of such attacks were usually spread out over a large area, causing them to be much less powerful. Even the occasional uses they saw in battle were often for the purpose of restricting movement.


    But this damned demon of flames... it... it could even deal 110 points of damage with a massive area-of-effect spell. Kane was so mad at this fact that he desperately wanted to shout out in anger at that moment!


    110 points!


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    Even Kane, who thought very well of himself, could barely reach such intensity with his attacks. And this was assuming he used his most powerful single target spell! Yet the opponent was able to do more damage with a sea of flames that he casually tossed out than an attack that he had to prepare for an extended period of time.


    Kane had no choice but to teleport rapidly along his frost path. He had to avoid the pain of being roasted alive.


    The Infernal Tyrant might not have been very smart, and thus could only chase after Kane blindly, throwing fireballs as it did so. However, Leon was able to take perfect advantage of the situation. He instantly let loose a slew of seven of eight Magma Fireballs.


    These weren''t meant to hurt Kane. Rather, it was to destroy his path of frost!


    Kane had clearly attached his Spirit flux to the frost path that he had laid across the battlefield. It was through that mental connection that he was able to lock onto a position and teleport there when he needed to. However, now that the path had been blasted in four or five separate segments, they had been completely disconnected. Even though the path hadn''t been utterly eradicated, the fragmentation of the path still caused most of it to be mentally disconnected from Kane.


    In a single blow, Kane''s mobility had been greatly stunted! There was less space for him to move about now!


    In the meantime, Sabrine had also shown herself several times. The violent Screeching Blast she''d unleashed had even minced one of the Tyrant''s arms to pieces.


    Sadly, this had absolutely no effect on a blazing monster hell-bent on attacking. Especially not a monster with no concept of pain or fear. A massive halo of fire blasted apart, and a new arm of black-red fire formed once again.


    At the same time, having lost the protection of Kane''s ice shields, Sabrine was once again injured by the terrifying flames!


    This time, it wasn''t just their robe being ignited. Even their body, hair, and flesh started catching fire...


    At this point, the siblings were no longer hoping for a victory, but an opportunity for escape.


    Unfortunately for them, just the Infernal Tyrant alone would be enough to deal with. However, they still had another opponent¨C Leon. He had turned into a Grim Reaper, moving about the edge of the battlefield and shutting down every opportunity of escape they had.


    Finally, the Infernal Tyrant made a final move. A terrifying Firestorm ravaged the battlefield. Kane and Sabrine''s screams rang out simultaneously, echoing in the burning winds.


    The next second, a completely charred and unrecognizable figure stumbled out of the sea of flames. But Leon was already waiting at the edge of the battlefield, the Scroll of Voodoo in hand.


    A ferocious Fire Core Explosion erupted on their bodies. This pair of sibling Mages that had plagued the central continent for many years had finally reached the end of their lives!


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    2081 Words

 Chapter 269 City

    Four days later.Leon and his party had successfully reached Motta City.


    As the only public city within a two hundred and fifty kilometer radius, Motta City did not belong to any force or organization. This was a public territory carved out by the Zhentarim Association.


    Leon could already see the lofty Mages'' tower piercing through the clouds, even before he had entered the city.


    Pale radiance flashed across the grey white tower walls. Magic halos shone brilliantly all over the tower before rising towards the top of the structure. Even though clouds were obstructing his vision, Leon could still make out some black dots circling about the top of the tower. These dots flew among the clouds, occasionally landing on and taking off from the tower.


    A long queue had formed before the city gates. Guards in black armor were checking for documents in an orderly fashion. There were men, women, children, and elderly within the crowd. Chattering voices filled the air.


    Leon''s black carriage appeared to be completely unremarkable when compared the row after row of carts, all filled to the brim with a variety of cargo. However, a guard spotted the carriage. A short moment later, a guard captain hurried towards the carriage, bringing with him a troop of guards. They quickly cleared the crowd away and allowed the carriage to move into the city.


    There was no need for a reason or an explanation. The Sarubo crest embedded on the side of the carriage was the best pass anyone could ask for.


    No one on this massive stretch of a continent had ever tried to impersonate the venerable Mages. That was because the consequences were unbearable. Death was the best outcome the impersonator could hope for!


    This was a grand and beautiful city!


    An unending stream of people crowded the streets. Load-bearing carts drove across the stone road. All sorts of cargo was piled on the transports, most of them being luxury goods like cigars, wine, oil, and tea.


    Leon lifted the curtains and looked outside. Men and women of all races and culture passed by the window. A vague feeling of bizarreness rose in his heart.


    The population on the Continent of Mages had long gotten used to their own methods of recognizing important people they couldn''t afford to offend. Leon''s carriage might be unremarkable, but the Mage''s clan crest on the side of the carriage was a bright red warning.


    The crowd turned away from the carriage, walking as far away as they could. No one dared to stop the carriage as it thundered through the city.


    "You and Snorlax go and look for a place to stay and reserve a seat for us on a floating ship. I''ll pay a visit to the Mage''s tower!" Leon gave simple instructions and leapt off the carriage. He pulled the hood over his head to hide his appearance and slowly disappeared into the crowd.


    The first thing to do when visiting a territory was to pay a visit to the local Mage organization. This was a tradition and habit of most Mages! After all, most local Mage organizations would make some of their Mage facilities open to the public. This often included a public library.


    And habitually gathering knowledge was one of the most common things for Mages to do!


    Lucy was still sulking over the fact that she had missed the battle between Leon and the Two-face Mage. She had fallen asleep and had not been able to witness the fight with her own eyes. She looked on as Leon disappeared into the crowd. She propped up her in her palm angrily and spoke, "We will go to the floating ships first!"


    The coachman Snorlax had transformed into shouted, brandished the horse reins, and drove the horses forward.


    As a rare public territory within the Zhentarim Area, this place was completely open for any Mages to visit. Even Mages that had fallen out of favor in internal conflicts or clan wars could recuperate here, and replenish their stocks of more common Mage resources.


    Some Mages that harbored ambitions of starting new clans would use the public Mages'' tower as their stepping stone. This would be where they gathered their forces and honed their strength before they obtained a territory of their own. They would establish public Mage academies here, taking in and accepting apprentices with no prominent backgrounds or upbringing.


    Through such a method, they would be able to establish a small force of several Mages and several dozen apprentice Mages in less than a hundred years. The next step forward for them would be forging a territory of their own. They would have to try their best to survive and wriggle between the cracks left by the numerous clan and organizations, slowly building up their strength and numbers.


    All the useful land within the Zhentarim area was already under the control of the various clans. Stealing crumbs from under their jaws would be a matter of absolute strength and power!


    Succeed, and they would become a member of the one thousand clans thriving within the Zhentarim area. Failure, and the only option left for them would be to retreat back to the public territory. They would have to continue amassing their forces and accumulate strength for their next attempt! Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The reason the Black Glove Association had been so active in helping out in the previous clan war was for the same reason. They too wanted to obtain a land of their own, to raise their flag and to create a clan that belonged to them!


    Sadly, the most powerful First Grade Mage within their organization had been murdered. The Two-face Mage, whose services had cost them, had also failed in their mission. This meant that the Black Glove Association''s efforts, and their efforts for the past hundred years, had been for absolutely nothing. The Second Grade green dwarf Pyro would have to wait another hundred years before he could regain the strength needed to form the Pyro Clan.


    A Second Grade Mage!


    This was most definitely a significant and important individual even amongst the Mages!


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    If such a person wanted to join a clan, he would be warmly welcomed into the core of the clan. All sorts of precious resources would go to cultivating and strengthening them.


    However, even a powerful Mage like this one would be hard-pressed to defend against any existing small-sized Mage clan if he ever wanted to establish his own clan.


    With the amount of wealth he had obtained from the knights'' plane, Leon could purchase a land of over a hundred square kilometers wide within the Zhentarim area. However, what use was that? With greedy clans and starving organizations all looking on in interest, what was he to use to defend his land after he bought it?


    Perhaps the very first one to invade him would be the clan that sold him the land.


    Resources and territory was extremely important on the Continent of Mages, but the strength to defend your resources and territory was even more crucial!


    Leon walked among the crowd, slowly progressing towards the Mages'' tower.


    Ordinary people started to decrease in number, while the number of apprentices wearing uniforms of various academies started to increase.


    There were middle-aged men within these apprentices, as well as elderly men. However, most of the apprentices were still young men and women in their twenties. These people were mostly Beginner and Intermediate apprentices. Only a few Advanced apprentices were mixed in with the crowd, and not a single pseudo-Mage was in sight.


    This was expected!


    After all, the quality and talent of the students in a place with plenty of public academies had to be greatly inferior when compared to the Mage clans. The clans were also far richer in resources, having territory and resource sites under their control. The lack of resources and the inferior talents of the student pool were what led to this situation, where the general prowess of the student population was extremely weak.


    Moreover, even if the Mage academies succeeded in cultivating a pseudo-Mage, they would never let them go out so easily. These pseudo-Mages would be a valuable asset of the academy, and would be very well protected.


    Leon was cloaked in a black robe. Even though he was not wearing any insignia or emblem that betrayed his identity, the unique mysteriousness and pride of an Mage still told the apprentices who he was. Everyone who saw him frantically bowed to pay their respects.


    The apprentices that managed to survive in the crowded Motta City were not naive. They might not be very talented or powerful, but they were extremely good at recognizing people for who they were.


    Even though Leon had kept a low profile, the edges of his Mage robe still showed with every step he took. The robe was packed full of mysterious and profound magical patterns and runes. A single delicate silver chain bound the Scroll of Voodoo to Leon''s chest. The magic book glowed with a golden runic light as he walked. Anyone could tell that this was no ordinary item.


    Two slivers of dark crimson hair flowed down the sides of the hood onto his shoulders. Sunlight shone upon the hair, causing them to look like two clusters of burning flames. A cold face with well-defined features and a pair of eyes that gleamed like stars were hidden underneath the shadow of his hood. Just a single peek would leave a memorable impression on anyone who looked.


    ...


    Leon marched confidently into the doors of the tower.


    A dozen apprentice Mages that had been guarding the door instantly saw Leon walking in. Their eyes lit up. However, before they could even react, a round-faced apprentice with short hay-colored hair was already standing before Leon. He bowed.


    "O respected Mage, this apprentice Thor is at your service!"


    The other Mages quickly betrayed an expression of frustration. That said, they didn''t dare to cause any trouble before an Mage. The only thing they could do was glare at Thor before leaving to attend to their own business.


    Leon didn''t mind these little tricks of the apprentices. He lifted his head and looked around the place.


    Neat and clean marble floors. Fresh air with a dense concentration of magical energies. Rows of small stone rooms by the walls of the tower. Tunnels and corridors that sprawled in every direction...


    There were many people moving about here, but the place was fairly quiet.


    All the apprentice Mages walked in groups of three to five, carrying heavy stacks of scrolls and parchments in their hands. Even if they needed to speak, they would lower their voices. No one dared to create a commotion within this arcane hall.


    Leon''s first impression of this place was its similarity to the atmosphere of universities back on Earth.


    "Bring me to the public library here. I want to go through some information!" Leon instructed.


    "Understood! The library prepared for visiting Mages is on the fifth floor. Please come with me!" The apprentice Thor was clearly used to such requests. He politely paid his respects and led Leon towards a floating disc in the corner of the hall.


    This floating disc was akin to the elevator of Earth. However, it didn''t run on the strength of machinery or the power of electricity. Around twenty or thirty people could stand on this five meter wide floating disc. That said, Leon had observed that not a single apprentice dared to set foot on the disc.


    This seemed to be a privilege of Mages!


    Thor controlled the disc using the control panel, and a thick stone slab engraved with delicate carvings slowly started to float towards the top of the tower. One could see apprentice Mages walking around with books in their arms as they passed by the corridors on each level.


    The fifth floor of the tower.


    The apprentice Thor stopped after bringing Leon before a radiant door of light.


    "Sir, this here is the Mage-level public library. Only Mages are allowed inside, so... "


    "Mm!" Leon nodded in understanding. He waved his hand casually and threw three magic crystals to Thor.


    "Sir, this is too much!" Surprise and joy surfaced on Thor''s face, "Just one crystal would be enough!"


    "I have two servants. A short while later, a female pseudo-Mage called Lucy might come and look for me. Don''t forget to call her over!"


    "I understand, Sir! Thor will do as you say." Thor guaranteed resolutely.


    Leon smiled slightly before walking into the door of light.


    ...


    2096 Words

 Chapter 270 Departure

    A small library was behind the door of light.The entire place was no bigger than twenty to thirty square meters. There was a row of wooden shelves by the wall. Books were scattered across the shelves. Weak and pale light glowed on the surface of each and every book. It seemed that they were protected by some sort of magic.


    There were very few Mages in the library as well. Only two Mages stood by the shelves, silently flipping through the pages of their books.


    "Did you just arrive? To avoid any trouble, it''s best that you wear your organization emblem on your chest!" An elderly Mage sitting at a desk by the entrance put down the book he was reading. He frowned as he advised Leon.


    It seems even a public territory would run some background checks on wandering Mages!


    Mages like the Two-face Mage were wanted criminals for the Zhentarim Association. Ordinary public territory would probably be restricted from access for such Mages.


    Leon took the silver crescent moon emblem of the Sarubo Clan out of his storage and pinned it on his chest. The elderly Mage responsible for watching over the place was stunned for a second before speaking, "You are from the Sarubo Clan? I don''t recognize you! Could you be the Flame Demon people have been talking about recently?"


    The two Mages who were focused on their reading raised their heads when they heard this. They too started to assess Leon.


    "Is there any problem?" Leon asked curiously.


    "Of course not! It''s just that... " The elderly Mage paused for moment, "I heard the conflict between the Sarubo Clan and the Black Glove Association is pretty bad. Some of the Mages from the Black Glove Association are fairly active within Motta City. You best be more cautious when entering and exiting the city!"


    Leon could tell that the elderly Mage was well-intentioned. He smiled as he nodded in acknowledgement, before walking over to the nearest bookshelf.


    He randomly picked up a hardcover book with a blue front cover...


    Gulliver''s Travels.


    It seemed to be a record of an Mage''s travels. Even though it did not involve any profound or complex magical knowledge and theories, there was still reference in learning about the unique magical creatures and plants described and recorded within the book. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The price of this book was ten magic crystals.


    Leon put it aside.


    Such a book wasn''t very valuable, but it was still good to increase the available data within the chip''s data library!


    Leon picked up an ancient parchment. It seemed as though a certain potion recipe had been drawn on the parchment. It was a potion of the poison series. However the brewing, ratio of the involved materials, as well as the precautions, had all been censored by a pale magical light.


    It cost four hundred magic crystals!


    Leon hesitated for a moment before putting it back on the shelf.


    He had no intention to become a potions master in the short term. Moreover, a physical poison attribute recipe like this one wasn''t too useful to an Mage. Spending four hundred magic crystals on this was unnecessary.


    Leon picked up a couple of other books. Most of them contained extremely ordinary and fundamental theories. Occasionally, he would discover books with better and improved magical models. However, these books would be extremely and unbelievably expensive. Leon couldn''t help but shake his head in disappointment as he made his way through the books. He had flipped through almost half of all the documents here, but he had only managed to pick out three books of some limited value.


    In truth, this was unavoidable!


    After all, this library was only a public library that the Motta Mages'' tower opened to the public. Only wandering Mages or those with limited finances would visit this place.


    The truly valuable knowledge was clearly stored in another place, and was only available to the actual members of the Mages'' tower. Only groups of Mages with no roots to speak of, such as the Black Glove Association, would be willing to use this place as a headquarters. If they took on some of the daily duties of the tower, they could be recognized as an official member of the tower. They would then be one of the protectors of the public territory!


    "Hey. Sarubo brat. There''s a little girl looking for you outside... " The elderly Mage called to Leon.


    "Understood!" Leon took the three books to the entrance and forked over the magic crystals to the elderly Mage. The elderly Mage quickly started to removed the protective enchantments that had been placed on the books.


    When Leon walked through the door of light, he saw Lucy.


    Thor didn''t seem to be present. It seemed he had been sent away by Lucy.


    "I have already reserved the tickets for the ship that leaves tomorrow afternoon. We will be staying at Brucelan Inn tonight!"


    Lucy appeared to have accepted her fate as a servant after this period of time. She was no longer as upset and temperamental as she used to be. Once she had calmed down, she was an extremely smart and helpful servant. Her intellect as a pseudo-Mage saved Leon from plenty of unnecessary trouble!


    Leon followed Lucy to the inn and ordered the waiter to send the food to their room. He, on the other hand, quickly recorded the contents of the three books into the chip''s data library before continuing his research on the strange otherworld runes.


    Having received the warning and reminder from the elderly Mage, Leon dismissed his original plan to stroll through Motta City. He decided to stay in the inn for the remaining time instead.


    It was only when Lucy and Snorlax came to remind him that it was time to board the ship that he stopped his research!


    ...


    When Leon brought Lucy and Snorlax to Motta City''s flying stop, he could see a flying ship slowly landing on the green fields on top of a hill.


    There were no hot-air balloons or propellers attached to the transport. The bottom of the flying ship was glowing with brilliant golden light. A faint pulsating magic array was generating air currents beneath the ship, allowing it to land steadily on the ground.


    The flying ship that Leon had flown in last time seemed to have an edged bottom. It was clearly less capable of bearing a load when compared to the flat-bottom flying ship before him.


    A crowd buzzed about the landing platform.


    Several carts filled to the brim with cargo were already waiting here. Muscular and strong workers were shouting chants as they carried cargo out of the ship and moved a new load of cargo back onto the ship.


    Some individuals wearing Mage robes were casually conversing on the fields around the platform. They also appeared to be waiting to board.


    In just a single hour, all of the cargo had been loaded onto the ship.


    Thus the passengers, Mages, and the nobles started to board the ship. They stood by the railing of the ship and waved at the people below it.


    Shouts and sounds of crying rang out from the field below the ship as relatives said their farewells.


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    Soon, the energy flux emanating from the array at the bottom of the ship intensified. The ship trembled as it was wrapped in a thick layer of wind particles before slowly taking off from the ground.


    Far away in a wooden hut, two Mages gazed at the ship as it gradually rose into the clouds. Their eyes were filled with hatred and anger, as well as an intense frustration and resentment.


    "Sir, are we letting him leave just like that?" A middle-aged Mage with sharp features spat resentfully.


    "What else can we do but let him leave?" The other Mage was the head of the Black Glove Association¨C Green Dwarf Pyro, "This is Motta City. It is not a place where we can do whatever we like! That old fogey has already warned me. If I dare to kill any visiting Mages within Motta City, they will deny shelter to all of us! Then the toxic loaches of the Sarubos would probably be waiting to swallow us whole!"


    "This Flame Demon fellow is pretty alert as well. He hid within the inn for the entire time he was here. All of the plans we had made for him ended up useless. Was he tipped off by someone?" The thin Mage with sharp facial features was still resentful over the entire incident.


    "I already know who! It''s probably the fault of those old fogeys again. They secretly warned the brat!" A vicious light gleamed within Pyro''s eyes.


    "Sir, you should be more cautious within the Association as well!" The thin Mage hesitated for a moment, "I heard... "


    "What?"


    "I heard some organizations have already made contact with Fernand and Valier!"


    Pyro was shocked for a moment.


    He had spent over two hundred years to gather this group of six First Grade Mages. It was already heartbreaking to have lost the most powerful, McThran. If the remaining Mages were drawn away during this time of turmoil for the Association, how was he to accomplish his dream of a Pyro Clan?


    "What have you heard? Tell me all about it. Quick... "


    The two Mages started to converse quietly within the shelter of the wooden hut.


    Leon, ignorant to all of this happening, was standing by the edge of the ship. He silently looked down upon the scenery below him.


    The higher the flying ship flew, the smaller everything on the ground appeared to be.


    Even the lofty Mages'' tower seemed to be slimmer and smaller, like a thick cigar placed on the top of a huge cake.


    Looking from above, the territory of Motta City looked like a mix of gray-white ground and structures of every color. The surroundings of the city was filled with vast stretches of golden wheat fields and rectangular human towns. If one were to look even further into the distance, one could see the mountainous forest and the gray paths winding through the trees.


    The roads that the humans had paved through the forest twisted and turned. Some slimmer and more narrow paths occasionally branched off the main road. From a distance, the gray-white paths looked like blood vessels spreading across the green forest.


    The surrounding temperature had clearly dropped as the flying ship continued to rise in altitude. The chilly winds blew across the deck, causing everyone to shiver in cold.


    This tiny problem was clearly not of an issue to a certain Mage. A layer of pale red light surfaced on his body, and Leon was warm once again.


    Ever since he picked fire mastery, all of the other elementium particles had basically started to distance themselves from Leon. This meant that it was much harder for Leon to cast spells of other elements with his own strength. He was committed to the path of fire manipulation!


    Thankfully, there was still such a thing as a magical wand in this world. A magical wand enchanted with the Spell of Watercraft could prevent Leon from dying of thirst in a desert. A magical wand enchanted with Fly could prevent him from falling to his death.


    If these options were unavailable, he still had golems of various elements and forms stored within his storage belts. All of these could be used for various purposes.


    Leon was never concerned about his safety, even if he was high above in the skies a thousand meters above the ground.


    He quickly got used to the scenery below the ship. It was no longer worthy of his attention. Thus, he shifted his gaze to the ship''s deck.


    The few nobles on the ship had clearly been unable to endure the chill at this altitude. Most of them had retreated into the comfort of the cabin, leaving only Mages on the deck. Pale magical glows enveloped their bodies. Clearly, all of them had some form of magic and means to drive away the cold.


    ...


    2020 Words

 Chapter 271 Ship

    The ticket price of the flying ship was calculated on a per person basis.It wasn''t really expensive, but neither was it cheap. Two hundred magic crystals for every passenger.


    This basically made it impossible for ordinary peasants and low-level apprentices to ever take a ride on the flying ship!


    Leon would never receive more than ten magic crystals per month back when he was an apprentice Mage. If one deducted the basic cost of borrowing books, renting the lab, and purchasing magical materials from his income, he would barely have any crystals left at the end of each month.


    And if he wanted to increase his income? The only way would be to take on the apprentice missions put out by the Mage''s Association.


    However, such missions often required travelling to faraway places. Moreover, there would occasionally be a need to take the risk of venturing into hazardous areas. It didn''t matter whether it was the wild plains, the ancient woods, or some hidden ruins. All of these would contain hidden threats that were lethal to apprentice Mages!


    Two hundred magic crystals was an unimaginable sum of money for most low-level apprentices. Only pseudo-Mages would be able to bear such a cost. Thus, almost all of the people on the deck, with the exception of Snorlax and Lucy, were Mages.


    Most of the Mages had already obscured their faces using elementium particles. One look and Leon could tell that these were lone wolves that didn''t like being involved with others. Those Mages that didn''t hide their faces were mostly wearing cloth robes. Their expressions were peaceful and calming, as if they didn''t want to initiate any form of conflict with others.


    Leon contemplated for a moment.


    He had heard of such Mages in books that discussed these types of Mages.


    These Mages disliked conflict. They preferred to do research in silence, slowly accumulating knowledge and spending most of their lives in their labs.


    This was why they were known as scholar Mages.


    Now that Leon had already chosen fire mastery, it would be difficult for him to walk down the path of the scholar Mage. That said, his personality was not suited to being a scholar in the first place. Leon had always been enhancing his own combat prowess ever since the chip activated. The magical research he conducted was only for the sake of modifying and strengthening his abilities.


    Even though he was extremely interested in the creation of golems, he knew very well his own place in the world. Being a combat Mage was his true profession. Golem creation was only a secondary profession that acted as an auxiliary source of power for him!


    Scholar Mages, on the other hand, were the exact opposite.


    They rarely experimented with combat techniques or the art of killing. Instead, they took on secondary and auxiliary professions as their main specialty. Thus, countless non-combat professions continued to develop. These were the potions masters, enchanters, golem masters, summoners, alchemists, and array masters.


    These people formed a massive branch within the Mages. These were the esoteric Mages.


    These people, whose motto was ''Knowledge is power!'', had to do something to distance themselves from the maniacs that liked to engage in battle and murder. Thus they put on silver robes and formed a completely distinct Mage organization in the west of the continent¨C the Silver Union. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They might not have much individual prowess in combat, but their strange powers and sheer numbers allowed them to force their way into the ranks of the top three most powerful Mage organizations on the Continent of Mages.


    And Leon''s destination this time was the heart city of the Silver Union¨C the Castle in the Sky.


    It was rumored that all of the silver-robed Mages had rallied together, put together all of their wisdom, and merged a tremendous amount of otherworldly knowledge to forge a mighty city over the course of a thousand years. An Mages'' city that floated in the skies!


    It was precisely because of this miraculous Castle in the Sky that the Silver Union was able to remain influential and powerful, even after ten thousand years. It was because of this magnificent feat of knowledge that the city had become the holy city for all esoteric Mages on the Continent of Mages.


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    Every year, all newly advanced Mages that wanted a future as an esoteric Mage would treat the Castle in the Sky as their ultimate destination for pilgrimage. They would personally visit the city, regardless of what difficulties they might face. Moreover many newly advanced Mages, having experienced and fallen in love with the learning atmosphere and amount of resources available in the city, would simply choose to stay there.


    This undoubtedly strengthened the talent and power within the Silver Union!


    There were countless talents and geniuses within the Silver Union''s territory as well. Along with the various potions, magic items, magic equipment, and golems available there, the place was also a hotspot for trade. If other Mage organizations and forces wanted to get their hands on these top-grade resources, they would have to traverse thousands of kilometers to visit the Castle in the Sky and deal with the Silver Union.


    All of these advantages added together caused the Castle in the Sky to become the most prosperous and lively trade city on the Continent of Mages. It was where talent, knowledge, and resources congregated!


    However the journey to the Castle in the Sky was not an easy one.


    Currently, several major areas within the Continent of Mages had been developed. The Zhentarim Association''s territory was located in the central area of the continent, while the Silver Union reigned over the territories to the west. These two major forces were the closest to each other.


    Sadly, a true connection of transport between these two places had yet to come to fruition.


    The Wendu territory in the westernmost land of the Zhentarim Association was still 185,000 kilometers away from the Silver Union''s territory. Most of the primal forest that connected the two territories were Third Grade areas that had yet to be explored. There was absolutely no way to pass through these areas.


    Third Grade areas referred to terrifying locations where even Third Grade Mages would have to worry for their lives.


    The Great Mages that chose to leave the continent had worked together to exterminate all creatures above Fifth Grade. This was to ensure the preservation of the Continent''s ecosystem, as well as to encourage the other Mages to continue working hard. This caused an extremely delicate balance to exist between the Mages and the ferocious magical creatures.


    However, the settlements the humans had carved out took up only twelve percent of the total landmass on the entire Continent of Mages. Consequently the magical creatures had a far larger space to live in as compared to the humans. Their numbers and variety were far superior to the humans.


    The primal areas surrounding the human settlements had been completely explored by the Mages. These places were fairly safe. Still, not even First Grade Mages would remain safe if they walked over five thousand kilometers into primal territory. And if it were about a whole fifty thousand kilometers deep into primal territory, all Mages below Second Grade would most certainly die!


    Therefore, since ancient times, countless Mages had died for the cause of connecting the human settlements, their bodies left behind and buried in the depths of the wild forests. It was thanks to their relentless attempts and arduous exploration that the Mages were finally able to find a path through the vast stretches of forest. A narrow corridor in the air.


    The numerous flying ships crafted by the Silver Union travelled along this occasionally dangerous aerial corridor, ceaselessly transporting resources from all over the continent to the Castle in the Sky. They would then ship the top-grade products manufactured in the city to every corner of the continent.


    As the flying ship that Leon was flying on was still within the Zhentarim Association''s airspace, it was still relatively safe. However the moment they reached the Wendu territory they would have to face the 185,000 kilometer-wide forest. They would have no choice but to take on certain risks then!


    Leon took a couple more looks at the amazing scenery below the ship before getting sick of it. He turned and entered through the narrow cabin entrance.


    The cabin was the same as any ordinary cabin. Leon walked down ten steps and appeared before a narrow and dimly lit corridor. Five doors stood on each side of the corridor. A bronze plaque had been fixed to each of the doors with a single fundamental rune carved upon each door.


    Some meant ''flora'', while others meant ''sun'', and some others ''knowledge''...


    None of the runes on the plaques were repeated. These were clearly used to allow Mages to distinguish between the different rooms!


    The runes on some of the bronze plaques were already lit up. It seemed there were already Mages occupying these rooms.


    Only Mages were allowed to stay in the first and second levels. Even Lucy, who was a pseudo-Mage, could barely get a cabin on the third level. This was the same level as the human nobles. On the other hand, servants like Snorlax could only squat in the damp, dark fourth level.


    The low-class servants were not allowed in the upper levels during the flight. This was to prevent them from affecting or interrupting the good moods of the Mages and noble lords. Their meals and biological needs had to be dealt with on the fourth level. They had to endure any sort of humiliation or bullying in silence. Otherwise the guardian Mage responsible for guarding the safety of the ship had the authority to throw them overboard.


    Even though Lucy already had some understanding of the situation, she was still unavoidably upset when she had to endure this inferior treatment. She pouted and walked towards the end of the corridor with Snorlax. The steps to the lower levels were there.


    After all, this was a world where Mages reigned supreme. If Leon wanted to let them stay by his side, he would likely draw the ire of the other Mages. Some privileges were reserved only for Mages!


    This was a classist atmosphere that the Mages had intentionally created. It could not be easily shattered.


    Leon randomly picked an unoccupied room and pushed the wooden door open.


    Perhaps due to the rune on the plaque detecting magical energy, it started to let out a pale glow.


    This room was simply a small cabin room. There was a wooden bed affixed to the corner of the room. The bedsheets were fairly clean. Apart from this, the only furniture in the room was a small desk and chair. These were made of redwood and seemed to be fairly sturdy.


    A window the size of a washbasin was placed in the wall, right above the bed. The window was made of a transparent crystal glass. The material was most likely hard vulcanized crystal. Such crystal glass might look thin, but it was difficult to break with ordinary knives and swords.


    Leon performed a basic inspection of the room. Having confirmed that there were no hidden arrays or special energy fluxes in the room, he closed the door and sat on the chair.


    He reached into his storage belt and rummaged around for a bit. Finally, Leon pulled out a thick and heavy book with gold lining and a black cover. He started flipping through the pages, focusing all of his attention on its contents.


    A small line of words appeared in his sight at the lower right corner of the page he had flipped to.


    The soul reigns above the material, and the mind is the product of the material and the Spirit.


    ¡ª Kane.


    These... these were Kane''s notes on magic. Kane of the Two-face Mage.


    Password of the Mind!


    Honestly, the fire spells that Leon had mastered all prioritized might. They had tremendous firepower. This truly made him powerful and gave him an edge in combat, but it also prevented him from obtaining any decent spoils from combat.


    This ''Password of the Mind'' had been a fortunate acquisition. If Leon hadn''t been agile and quick enough to grab it from the enemy''s storage belt, it probably would have perished in the ferocious flames, along with all the other items the Two-face Mage had on them!


    ....


    2081 Words

 Chapter 272 Duels

    Four days later.After passing by seven public cities, the flying ship finally landed in Guardia Port, located in the Wendu area.


    Any further west and they would have been crossing through the unpopulated primal forest. The small flying ship they were on couldn''t possibly be up to such a difficult task. If they wanted to successfully reach the Silver Union territories, they would have to transit to another, more resilient, transport. An aerial fortress¨C the floating battleships.


    When Leon, Lucy, and Snorlax finally descended from the flying ship, they were immediately greeted by the sight of a terrifyingly massive ship. All of them were shocked.


    This was a gigantic ship, completely black on the outside. Its size was at least ten times that of a normal flying ship. Three towering masts were situated on the front, middle, and back of the ship. A massive sail, much like the ones used on ordinary ships, had been placed on the top of the masts. However, Leon sensed that these masts weren''t driven by wind.


    Leon''s vision was extremely sharp. Even with a quarter of a kilometer distance between himself and the ship, he could still see the strange runes and magical lines drawn on the surface of the masts. The masts reflected a cold metallic gleam under the bright sun. Just a single look was enough to tell of its resilience and toughness.


    There were countless portholes on the body of the ship. However they had all been covered with thick metal boards, blocking everything within from sight. Even so, Leon, with his experience from the previous world, knew very well that battleships couldn''t be divorced from cannons. These portholes were most likely where the cannons fired out of.


    The only thing Leon wasn''t sure of was the type of magic weapon hidden within the ship.


    There was also a two-level forecastle on the ship. However, it didn''t seem to have been constructed for shelter. It appeared to be a platform for Mages to cast their spells from.


    The pitch-black floating battleship was parked on the hill, standing silently against the backdrop of the sky. From a distance it looked just like a scary steel monster. It radiated a cold and powerful aura.


    This was likely the floating battleship that the Silver Union had specifically created to pass through the dangerous aerial corridor!


    When Leon finally shifted his gaze away from the battleship, he realized they hadn''t landed in a city. Instead, they had landed on an airport used specifically for transporting cargo and transferring passengers.


    Rows of large and sturdy wooden buildings could be seen by the edge of the forest. Countless humans and servants of other races and odd appearances were walking in and out of those buildings. It was clear that those were the warehouses of the airport. On the other side, far away from the forest, rows of stone buildings towered. Numerous people dressed like Mages stood before the empty space in front of the stone houses. They pointed and gestured towards the port. It appeared as if they were discussing something.


    A tall and slim tower stood at the middle of the airport. Mysterious runes glowed on the surface of its walls. Faint detection waves scanned across the air. Their range extended to the forest over several kilometers away.


    A watchtower!


    These towers didn''t have much space inside. It was not possible to station too many Mages within them, nor was it possible to outfit them with large and powerful war machines. The towers were mainly constructed to watch for possible threats.


    A vast and mountainous stretch of black trees extended behind Leon.


    This was the outer rim of the human settlements within the central area. There were no longer any signs of human population in the forest surrounding this place. Naturally, there were no large-sized settlements in sight either. However, occasionally, there were still hunting parties and adventure parties that were active along the edge of the forest. Some Mages searching for materials would also make their way into the forest.


    A low and hoarse voice rang out beside him as he surveyed this airport.


    "Welcome, Sir Leon!"


    Leon turned and immediately found Mage Angus'' wrinkled old visage staring him in the face.


    "I''m glad to see you again." Leon nodded in acknowledgement.


    "You have just arrived, haven''t you? You should find a place to rest first! The tickets to the Castle in the Sky have already been arranged. We will set out in three days time." Mage Angus was clearly much more polite compared to before.


    "Isn''t there a floating battleship right over there? Why the long wait?" Leon asked curiously.


    "The floating battleship is ready, but we don''t have enough Mages!" Angus gave a simple explanation, "Even though we have been developing this aerial path for over a thousand years, and already have a basic understanding of the magical creatures spread along the corridor, the route is still an extremely dangerous one. To ensure everyone''s safety, the floating battleship always stays in the airport for a couple of days. It will only take off once a sufficient number of Mages have gathered for the trip."


    "Sufficient number of Mages?" This was the first time Leon had heard of this, "Approximately how many Mages do we need?"


    "Usually, sixty Mages should be enough. The number of required Mages can even be reduced if a couple of high-grade Mages show up."


    Leon couldn''t help but be stunned by this number.


    Sixty Mages?


    Even the Sarubo Clan wouldn''t be able to gather Mages in such numbers or scale. Yet a single trip to the Castle in the Sky required so many Mages. According to his understanding, these floating battleships would take off every fifteen days.


    Based on this, it was easy to calculate the number of Mages travelling to and from the territories. This was an unimaginable number!


    Mage Angus gave an understanding smile when he saw Leon''s expression of shock.


    "No need to be surprised. There''s much more to be surprised at once you arrive at the Castle in the Sky. The number of Mages there will blow your mind. Let''s go. I have already arranged a place for you to rest. Just wait here patiently for three days. Another flying ship will arrive here in three days'' time. We will have the required sixty Mages then!" sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So that''s how it was!


    Leon was finally able to put his questions to rest. He brought along Lucy and Snorlax and followed Angus to the row of stone houses.


    The rooms here was also extremely crude and simple. Only a table and chair was placed in the room, apart from the wooden bed. Not a single unnecessary piece of furniture had been put in the room. Of course, if the Mages didn''t like the facilities here, they only needed to travel ten kilometers to the east. A small human city had been founded there. There was plenty of entertainment to be found there.


    However, Leon had no intention of seeking entertainment. He quickly settled in his room before dragging Mage Angus to a hidden room for a discussion.


    After all, he still knew nothing about the specifics of this trip. Leon had no idea of what to do or how to do it after he arrived at the Castle in the Sky. This was far too passive for Leon. He preferred to always have an action plan in his back pocket!


    If the request was only to win a small contest for the Byron Clan, he wouldn''t be worried. However, now that he wanted to leave Snorlax on in the Castle in the Sky, he would have to plan ahead. The more he understood about the situation, the better his chances.


    As Angus started to give an in-depth description of the whole thing, Leon finally started to understand the basic governing structure and rules of the Castle in the Sky, as well as an initial idea of this so-called tournament he had to participate in.


    According to Angus, the Castle in the Sky was not just a simple Mages'' city. The entire city was split into three circles. The inner circle, the central circle, and the outer circle. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Only high-level members of the Silver Union were allowed into the inner circle. The main control core of the Castle in the Sky was located there. Moreover, the famous Diviner''s Tower, the Vortex Tower, the Obelisk, and the legendary Storm Fortress were all located within the inner circle.


    The only way inside was to join the Silver Union and rise to become one of the parliamentary members. Otherwise one would never be able to take a single step into the place for as long as they lived!


    The central circle was the main area of activity for the normal members of the Silver Union and the esoteric Mages. Only Mages that had been recognized by the Silver Union were allowed to stay and study in the place.


    Most trading activities was concentrated around the outer circle of the Castle in the Sky. Non-Union members were also allowed to set up shops there. However, the right to own a store in the outer circle was decided by a test every ten years. This test came in the form of a fair and just Esoteric Duel.


    The Esoteric Duels came in many forms. There were the duels between potions masters, the duels between alchemists, and the duels between golem masters... all arts that were categorized as those of esoteric Mages were included as possible forms of duel.


    Apart from the shops managed by the Castle in the Sky, the shops available to outsiders was limited. As is the case in an economy, high demand begets high prices and intense competition! Any Mage clan or organization that wished to possess a shop on the Castle in the Sky had to find a way to win the Esoteric Duels in order to win the right to stay in the city.


    Every existing shop would have to accept challenges by outsiders during the years of the duels. Both sides would invite esoteric Mages to fight for them in a fair and just duel. The winner would stay, and the loser would have to leave the Castle in the Sky!


    The Byron Clan''s shop had a long history of over seventy years. This was also the main way their clan obtained high-grade resources. They couldn''t afford to lose this shop.


    This year, their shop had received a difficult challenge from the Gerto Clan. As the challenged, the Byron Clan had the right to choose the topic of the Esoteric Duel. Naturally, they chose the Golem Masters'' Duel.


    In truth, this was also one of the rules that the Silver Union had intentionally created to elevate the status of the esoteric Mages across the continent!


    By facilitating these duels, all Mage clans and organizations that wanted a spot on the Castle in the Sky had to try their best to cultivate a capable esoteric Mage. If they couldn''t cultivate one themselves, they would have to hire an esoteric Mage from the Castle in the Sky.


    The status of the esoteric Mages rose in this manner, swiftly and quickly rising to become irreplaceable parts of the clans and organizations. Some talented but poor esoteric Mages would be able to take advantage of this opportunity to gain enough resources to further their research.


    However, this spelled trouble for Mage clans who didn''t have enough resources to train an esoteric Mage themselves.


    After all, the cost of doing so was not something that a small-sized clan could ever hope to shoulder. A proper esoteric Mage, be it an alchemist that could craft magical items, or potions masters and golem masters, required a massive investment of resources to become qualified in their fields.


    Most esoteric Mages came to be after hundreds and thousands of failures in their research and cultivation. The amount of resources lost in the process was an astounding number that could throw anyone into shock.


    ...


    2008 Words

 Chapter 273 Plan

    The discussion with Angus lasted through the night.Leon had managed to grasp a basic understanding of the rules of the duel. In general, there were two ways in which a Golem Master''s Duel could be carried out. The first was the mass melee, where numbers decided the victor. The second was the golem duel, where quality was key to winning.


    Every golem master had an upper limit to their Spirit. The number of golems they could control simultaneously was limited by their Spirit. Thus, the mass melee duel was a test of the golem master''s Spirit limit and their control over the golems with the limited Spirit they had.


    They second form of the duel, the golem duels, was the one that was most preferred by the majority of the golem masters.


    The two opposing golem masters would send a single golem each. The elaborate golems they painstakingly crafted would then battle on the stage, much like a duel between humans. The golem that was more powerful and better crafted would be the victor.


    Of course, this was also a test of the golem master''s skill at crafting golems. The more skillful and powerful golem masters would always be able to imbue their golem with more strength and combat prowess. However, it was in truth a test of financial strength. The more money the clan had, the better the quality of the golem.


    A terrifying golem crafted purely of Underground Wrought Gold would destroy a golem made of ordinary magical metal, even if the difference in their crafters'' skill was astronomical. Even a master wouldn''t be able to beat a rookie if he had a colossal amount of rare materials to work with.


    According to Angus, the Gerto Clan that had challenged them this year had recently been stockpiling all sorts of rare metals. It was rumored that the opponent was secretly crafting a unique combat golem for the sole purpose of winning the duel this time. That said, the Byron Clan hadn''t been able to get any specifics.


    After Leon parted with Angus, he immediately locked himself into the stone room. He started an intense research of this profession known as golem master.


    Of course, golem master was just the general name for Mages of professions of similar types. If one was to be detailed about the specific professions, they could probably churn out a dozen different branches of golem masters. They crafted a huge range of things. From animated statues, to magical puppets, mechanical constructs, robotic beasts, alchemical lifeforms, biological creations, elementium golems, magic-driven machines and many more...


    The difference between each and every branch might not be obvious to an outsider. However, from the perspective of a golem master, every single branch had massive differences in their very nature.


    For example, the golems crafted by Leon¨Cwho was, frankly speaking, only half of a true golem master¨Cwas completely distinct from animated statues and magical puppets.


    Usually, animated statues and magical puppets consumed various precious magical metals in the process of their creation. Good magical conductors were used to craft the core of the puppets, while strong magical resistors were used to forge an unbreakable body for the puppet.


    Humanoid joints, actuating mechanisms, hidden energy channels and delicate control circuitry... these made a proper magical puppet. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The energy source that powered these puppets was the energy crystal embedded within their bodies¨C these were the magic crystals so often used as currency.


    Compared to the magic golems, these puppets often featured tangible and solid bodies. The true job of a golem master was designing the intricate patterns and arrays that went into the internal structure of the puppet. The better the connection between the core and the rest of the body, the more agile and smooth the movements of these heavy and colossal puppets.


    A magic golem was, as its name implied, nothing more than an elementium golem.


    They had no tangible bodies before they were summoned, only a summoning core carved full of complex magical arrays. They relied on their core to gather wandering elementium energies to create their temporal forms. The magical arrays would draw from their surroundings, then shape the elementium into the desired form of their bodies.


    From a perspective focused purely on strength, a magic golem was clearly far inferior to the animated statues and magical puppets. This was because these animated beings often had actual tangible bodies that were tough and resilient. That said, magic golems had an advantage that magical puppets could never hope to possess¨C the ease of transport.


    Magic golems could disperse their temporal forms when they weren''t needed. They could turn into a crystal the size of a pigeon''s egg, perfect for carrying about in a pocket. On the other hand, animated statues and magical puppets easily went up to four or five meters in height. They were often gigantic metallic creatures with tremendous weight that reached a dozen tons. Moreover, they couldn''t be folded or shrunk in size.


    There was no way you could drag them along with you on your adventures, regardless of how powerful they were. A tremendous number of magic crystals had to be burned just for them to walk. The consumption would go up exponentially if they ever engaged in combat.


    This was why animated statues and magical puppets were often only used as static defense.


    They could patrol and guard castles and towers, and in doing so, prevent enemy attacks. They were much more efficient compared to Mages or human guards when it came to this particular job. They could even recharge using the energy pool within the Mage facilities when they rested. This would save a large number of magic crystals for the golem master.


    However, Leon had heard rumors of a unique spatial storage tool that could be used to store animated statues and magical puppets. Only the most powerful and skillful golem masters could craft this magical gear. They were known as golem talismans. However, these golem talismans cost a lot to make. They were almost as expensive as the most powerful of golems. As a result, these talismans wouldn''t possibly find their way into widespread manufacture and use. They could only be used to carry powerful elite golems.


    All of these reasons combined was the reason Leon believed magical golems were more suited to him.


    However, when it came to a duel with an actual golem master, cost and transport were no longer factors that mattered. The only important thing was the combat effectiveness of the golems.


    Both of the participating parties were First Grade Mages. They couldn''t possibly create magical beings that exceeded their own Grade. In this particular case, the lack of a stable and resilient form would be a definite disadvantage for a magical golem when it was pit against a metallic puppet. If Leon wanted to obtain the final victory, avoiding a frontal clash was the only way forward!


    Even though Leon was extremely confident in the Infernal Tyrant, he felt it was best to prepare some strategies for the upcoming battle. After all, it was hard to predict what kind of situation might occur during the fight. Otherwise there was a possibility of the Infernal Tyrant losing. Especially if it faced a golem crafted of precious metals that it couldn''t damage.


    After all, absolute strength would be able to crush any sort of fancy tricks and maneuvers!


    ...


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    Time was always precious for an Mage!


    Three days of waiting might be tiresome for an ordinary person, but this wasn''t enough time for an Mage engulfed in his research to even take a nap.


    Three days later, a new flying ship arrived, bringing with it fifteen Mages.


    And thus, having gathered a sufficient number of Mages, the floating battleship quickly took off!


    The battleship had much more room compared to the flying ship. However, most of the room was reserved for the massive amounts of cargo it was carrying. What was left of the space was also used for the much needed war machines. The rooms that the Mages stayed in wrtr still as small as they were on the flying ship.


    The Mages were both the guests and the guardians of this ship.


    There were only five Silver Union Mages stationed on every floating battleship. Moreover, their job was mostly maintenance and management rather than combat. If the battleship fell under attack during its journey, it was the responsibility and obligation of the Mages onboard to defend it.


    Every single Mage on board had already signed the relevant magical contract with regards to this.


    If an Mage refused to help when needed, the Silver Union would have the right to exile them from the ship. It didn''t matter how powerful of an Mage you were. Your fate would be sealed the moment you were thrown off the ship!


    Lucy grumbled unhappily when she heard of the terms Leon had to agree to, "Those Silver Unions Mages are way too calculating! Isn''t this basically double-dipping? They take your money and make you a free bodyguard for their ship at the same time!"


    Snorlax nodded vigorously as well, fiercely expressing his approval of Lucy''s statement.


    Leon smiled and said, "This is their territory. Of course we have to play by their rules. Be a little more careful, you two. Try not to make such offensive statements once we reach the Castle in the Sky. Otherwise, even I can''t save you if you anger the Silver-Robed executors!"


    Angus curiously observed this trio.


    An Mage, a pseudo-Mage, and an odd green goblin!


    With such a massive difference in their statuses, it was hard to imagine how they came together.


    In the World of Mages, only Mages of equal status were worthy of association. The rest could be reduced to servants or human resources. There was no possibility of equal status between different classes.


    An Mage might appear to be caring and kind to a pseudo-Mage. However, this pseudo-Mage would have to be his disciple or his direct blood relative. There was no possibility of good treatment outside of this.


    As for an Mage talking nicely to a green goblin? The only far-fetched possibility where this could occur would be in the case of an experiment. After all, you wouldn''t want to frighten your test subject and ruin your experiment!


    However, the scene before him was clearly out of the norm.


    The newly advanced Mage Leon was clearly interacting with that pseudo-Mage girl and that green goblin on a fairly equal level. This was seen as a humiliating act in the eyes of most Mages.


    Leon had only just advanced to an Mage after all. Perhaps he had yet to discard his past habits and attitudes. He would probably change once he had gotten used to the life of an Mage!


    Mage Angus told himself so. He didn''t step forward to correct Leon''s ''mistake''.


    All of the cargo the battleship needed to transport was already within the ship. The moment the number of Mages was sufficient, the passengers started to board the battleship.


    This was the first time in his life that Leon had seen so many Mages gathered together.


    Even the mobilization of the Sarubo Clan''s full force during the last planar war had not reached such terrifying numbers. Only two or three dozen Mages had appeared on the battlefield back then. Today, however, all kinds of Mages of odd appearance and fashion had appeared before him. They wore clothes of all kinds, leather armor, magic armor, and metal armor, forming a massive crowd. Yet despite their numbers and their status, they quietly queued up in an orderly fashion as they boarded the battleship.


    This... was a shocking sight to behold! Leon could feel the dryness in his mouth and tongue as he witnessed this scene!


    If you lived like a hermit in a small and rural territory, your status as an Mage would afford you an extravagant life of luxury. A life of debauchery that trumped even those of the nobles. You would be the center of attention during the banquets and feasts, the target of affection of the beautiful noblewomen and pretty ladies.


    Wine and beauties. Absolute power. All of this would go to your head, causing you to believe yourself to be the ruler of this world.


    However, it was only when you stepped out of this cage of your own making, and travel to this place, that you would realize the truth. You were just as insignificant as you used to be as an apprentice Mage.


    ...


    2091 Words

 Chapter 274 Battleship

    The floating battleship slowly rose above the horizon like a graceful leviathan.Numerous mysterious arrays were pulsing on the bottom of the ship. A massive amount of wind particles were being ejected out of those arrays, sending the ship dashing across the skies like a fish swimming in water. It quickly disappeared into the vast sea of black trees.


    The moment the battleship entered the forest, the three massive masts towering on the ship''s deck started glowing. A huge semi-translucent barrier of light covered the entire ship. Runes flashed about on the barrier as strange energy ripples flowed over it. There was no specific order or pattern in which the energy moved, but Leon could tell that they served some sort of purpose.


    He closed his eyes to sense the flow of energy.


    Light Refraction, Concealment, Aura Obscurement, Spirit Avoidance...


    The Spells of Light Refraction and Concealment were used to hide the ship from sight, while the Aura Obscurement was to prevent the life aura of the passengers from leaking outside and attracting unnecessary enemies. Spirit Avoidance was a spell used on small lifeforms. It would guide those critters to subconsciously move away from the battleship, preventing them from crashing into the ship and diminishing the effect of Concealment.


    Sadly, these spells were only useful against lower lifeforms and lower-level magical creatures. They were absolutely useless against the truly powerful magical creatures that lurked within the forest.


    There were still some other runes floating around the barrier enveloping the ship. However, Leon''s knowledge of runes was limited and he was unable to decipher every spell contained within the barrier.


    He stood upon the deck and bent to look down. A tiny silver stream wound between the sea of black trees.


    A flock of blue birds slowly flew past below the battleship.


    Flame-red crowns, light-blue leathery wings, and long and colorful tails. They appeared to be mutated rocs. They shouldn''t underestimate rocs because of their pretty appearance. They were true carnivores. Each and every one of them were savage and ferocious in nature, with an extremely territorial behaviour. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, even a mutated roc was no more than an ordinary creature. It had no elementium abilities or control over magic, and was no danger at all to Mages. Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire


    Thus, this flock of rocs didn''t even notice the battleship when they passed by!


    The woods seemed somewhat different from the ones Leon was used to.


    Back in the Zhentarim area, he had seen his fair share of vast forests that extended over hundreds of kilometers. However, those trees almost seemed to be green. Here, all the trees were a dull grey and black color.


    It was a bleak and mildly odd color!


    Leon had a unique feeling ever since the battleship had entered the black forest. It felt like there was a trace of chaos and violence mixed within the energies. The sky and the earth had a certain atmosphere to them. An extreme atmosphere. So desolate and depressing that one couldn''t help but want to scream in anger and frustration.


    Perhaps this was the original appearance of the Continent of Mages!


    The floating battleship silently glided through the skies, not attracting any attention from the ferocious beasts beneath it.


    The Mages on the ship were many in number. Of course, there were some amongst them who already knew each other. The Mages quickly gathered in groups of two or three and started to talk amongst themselves. Some, more sociable Mages, were taking this opportunity to walk around, making as many new friends as they could. Even though their advances would be occasionally rejected, most of the Mages were willing to talk. After all, conversation with another Mage meant a chance to exchange information and research.


    Leon was also brought along by Mage Angus to greet some Mages Angus was acquainted with. Some of them were powerful Mages that were famous even within the central area of the continent.


    Leon was not opposed to this.


    He had two lives'' worth of experience. He knew very well that connections were a hidden resource. Sometimes they could even prove to be more valuable than individual strength!


    There were both males and females amongst the Mages they visited.


    However, all of the younger Mages were decent-looking, even if they weren''t just outright charming.


    Most male Mages clearly cared less about appearance when compared to the female Mages. On the other hand, there would almost always be scars and marks of accidents on the bodies of the veteran Mages. This was a result of continuous exposure to dangerous and taboo experiments.


    There was one such Mage amongst those they visited. All of his body was intact, with the exception of his face. All the flesh and blood had been corroded away, leaving only a thin and wrinkled layer of skin clinging to his skull. He looked like a talking skeleton when they conversed.


    Mage Angus secretly sent a magical voice transmission to Leon and told him the truth behind the Mage''s appearance. The damage to the face had been caused by a failed magic experiment.


    If it was simple flesh wounds, Mages had plenty of tricks up their sleeves to repair the damage. Even missing flesh could be regenerated. However, if the damage from the magic had reached all the way to the source of their souls, it would be virtually impossible to heal.


    In comparison, the female Mages were much more conscious of their appearance. Leon could always detect the marks of magic modification on their bodies and faces. Of course, only Leon could detect such minor and fine modifications with such accuracy. After all he had the chip, and the chip was completely unmatched in terms of its efficiency at gathering and comparing data.


    Most female Mages were extremely pretty, with exceptional figures. They would always draw the gazes of the male Mages whenever they engaged in a conversation. They didn''t seem to mind the unscrupulous looks of the male Mages. They would even actively flirt with the males, as if they perceived their body and their beauty as a resource to be traded.


    Tall, muscular, and handsome young Mages like Leon, in particular, were their preferred targets. Their fiery gazes, flirtatious words, and lewd acts were unbearable for Leon.


    He already knew this was the nature of Mages. Many no longer cared for the habits and behavior of worldly society once they became an Mage. They were much more willing to speak their thoughts and indulge in their desires. However, such an ''open'' and public manner of flirtation was still unbearable for Leon!


    Lucy, who was trailing behind Leon like a little bug, was pouting with her tiny mouth. She glared angrily at every pretty female Mage that came close to Leon, continuously grumbling under her breath. Her voice was extremely soft, and no one could hear what she was saying.


    Lucy might be arrogant, talented, and confident in becoming an Mage. Still, she didn''t dare to do anything before these Mages that might offend them.


    She might be an exceptional future witch with unlimited potential and terrifying talent amongst the apprentice Mages. However, potential was potential. Before Lucy could convert this potential into power, any simple incident could spell an early end to her future as a ''Witch of Fate''.


    There were countless examples of individuals who didn''t know how to restrain themselves and, consequently, brought upon themselves the anger and wrath of others. All of these unfortunate idiots were once shining talents with bright futures!


    Thus, even if only for the sake of her life, Lucy didn''t dare to openly provoke a whole group of female Mages. For some reason though, every time Lucy looked at these female Mages, be they trying to seduce Leon with innocence, elegance, or eroticism, she felt an anger surging from the bottom of her heart.


    This bunch of shameless hags! The only thing they knew how to do was wave about the two pieces of meat hanging from their chests to seduce men. A complete disgrace for witches all over the world. Serves them right to be the vassals and servants of male Mages...


    Leon could sense the bubbling emotions behind him. He let out a bitter smile and brought the grumbling Lucy back to their cabins after giving Angus a heads-up.


    For the next few days Leon stayed within his room, never taking a single step outside. He was ceaselessly researching for a way to imbue the golem cores with the power of the otherworldly runes. Every time Leon was exhausted from his work, he would meditate rather than sleep. He did all he could to regenerate his Spirit as fast as possible.


    Meanwhile, he was slowly getting used to the energy surges from the Flame Fiend''s Heart. The explosions of energy that happened twice every minute were gradually becoming bearable. Unfortunately, there was still a faint trace of abyssal aura surging forth along with the flame energies. Even Leon wouldn''t have been able to detect these traces of abyssal aura if it hadn''t been for the chip. The chip''s ability was so fine that it could even monitor the cells of the body at a genetic level. Without it, he wouldn''t have been able to detect the abyssal aura slowly but gradually corroding and modifying his body.


    In just a matter of a dozen days, some of his organs were already showing signs of becoming infused with magic.


    This was both bad and good news for him.


    The good news was that the infusing of magic with his organs was strengthening his Physique. Ever since he transplanted this Second Grade Flame Fiend''s Heart, the speed at which his Physique was increasing had almost exceeded the speed of his Spirit increase. He had, at one point, almost considered becoming a body refining Mage instead.


    His powerful body, as well as his intangible and wicked aura of charm, gave him a strangely attractive feel.


    However, the bad was equally obvious.


    If the magic-infusion started to go out of his control, his existence would probably move away from that of an Mage''s. Instead, he would start to become more and more like the demons of the lower realms!


    On one hand, he coveted the increase of power brought about by the abyssal aura. On the other, he feared the possibility of falling to the level of an abyssal creature. As a result, Leon ordered the chip to closely monitor every single change occurring within his body.


    On his fifth day on the ship, one of his organs reached eleven percent infusion. Leon took out a vial of potion from his belt and drank its contents without hesitation.


    The viscous and purple liquid had just slid down his throat, and already a pungent odor had permeated the entire room. An indescribable and odd feeling started to spread in his mouth and stomach, before gradually emanating towards the rest of his body.


    Leon raised his hands and watched as wicked traces of crimson smoke started to seep through his skin, before they dispersed in the air.


    Since he already knew the dangers that the Flame Fiend''s Heart posed to himself, Leon had already prepared potions to deal with the situation. The potion was able to slowly but surely extract the abyssal aura from within his body. Of course, Leon was unable to craft these potions by himself. He had exchanged for these potions with Ferrier using a dark blue gem the size of a fist.


    He would have to control the quantity of the potion he ingested each time, such that it would be able to extract the abyssal aura without triggering a decline in his Physique. The only downside was the terrible smell. He was stinking.


    An intolerable odor was emanating from all over his body!


    ...


    1968 Words

 Chapter 275 Danger

    The attacks on the battleship didn''t stop once it passed five thousand kilometers into the black forest.Fortunately, the flight path the Silver Union used was one they discovered after a thousand years of bloody exploration. This path already avoided the hunting and living territories of the high-grade magical creatures. Even though the attacks were many, most of the enemies were only First Grade creatures that lived in groups. The number of Second Grade creatures that appeared could be counted on a single hand.


    With the cooperation of the numerous Mages on board, along with the powerful barrier erected around the ship, they had been able to drive away the creatures.


    The floating battleship was cruising at a thousand meters in the sky. Normal magical creatures with no flying abilities couldn''t even reach them.


    Leon had personally witnessed a terrifying Second Grade Hill Giant climbing out of the ground when the ship passed by a large black chasm.


    The giant was at least thirty meters in height. It was literally a moving hill. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Hill Giants were a branch of the Earth Giants. They were naturally tough, resilient, and immensely strong. Every part of their body was pieced together with large grey and white rocks. Like the dragons, they loved their sleep. Every time they ate and drank their fill, they would find an area with dense earth elementium concentration to dig underground and find a spot to sleep.


    The reason the floating battleship chose to fly through the Giant''s territory was because it had no ability to fly whatsoever. Moreover, the giant was usually hiding underground and sleeping most of the time. It was very unlikely to draw the giant''s ire by driving through its territory.


    However, their luck clearly wasn''t so good this time. They had arrived just as the Hill Giant awoke.


    It sensed the thick aura of human blood and flesh coming from the sky and slowly climbed up from below the black chasm. It lifted its humanoid head, opened its massive mouth, and let out a deafening and wrathful roar at the battleship.


    All of the magical creatures in the black forest were extremely territorial. There was no room for diplomacy. They would fight you with all they had the moment they found you trespassing in their homes.


    That was why the Hill Giant didn''t give up. He strode across the land with heavy footsteps, destroying a wide path through the forest as it crashed through the trees, closely following below the ship. Every time it got close enough, the Hill Giant would roar with all his might and raise his massive stone hands up into the skies. The yellow-brown earth elementium would instantly gather together to form a massive rock.


    It would then throw the boulder towards the ship, the rock whistling through the air as it did so.


    The Mages on the ship bent over the railings to look at the giant. All of them went pale when they saw the massive rock shooting towards them. It was a rock that was almost as large as a house after all! Even Leon could feel his heart tighten for a moment, but his eyes were locked on to the flying rock. Data was quickly being collected and analyzed.


    "Beep.


    Main composition of rock: earth elementium and various impurities.


    Density of rock: 1.73 kilograms per centimeter cubed.


    Size of rock: Approximately three meters cubed.


    Weight of rock: Approximately 5.24 tons.


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    Estimated maximum possible height reached by rock: 729 meters... "


    "What is the altitude of the floating battleship now?"


    "Beep. The current altitude of the floating battleship is 1142 meters... "


    Leon was finally able to set aside his concerns after going through the detailed data provided by the chip. Instead, he focused on observing the body data of the Hill Giant.


    These higher-grade creatures were extremely powerful, and had a massive amount of energy stored within their bodies. These energies would cause a defensive field similar to a barrier to form around their bodies. Usually, the chip would not be able to penetrate through the barrier from such a distance and collect any data. However, now that the Hill Giant was continuously attacking the ship, the chip was able to analyze the strength of its attacks and the consequences of its actions on its surroundings. Through this data, the chip was able to indirectly calculate and provide a basic estimation of its strength.


    Race: Hill Giant.


    Class: Second Grade Earth-Attribute Higher Lifeform.


    Size: 31-33 meters in height, 8-10 meters wide.


    Weight: 97 tons.


    Attributes: Strength 27 | Agility 10 | Physique 25 | Spirit 14


    Even without the use of any of its earth abilities, this Second Grade Hill Giant could easily roll over any human Mages of the same grade simply by relying on its terrifying weight and Physique.


    Leon didn''t expect anything of the Second Grade Mages waiting on the ship. If any of them were to try to duel the Hill Giant, they would be completely crushed and reduced to dust.


    The Grade of a lifeform was a good basic indicator of its strength, but it was not absolute.


    Some powerful races born for combat would have tremendous bonuses to their power. What Grade they were at didn''t truly reflect their complete prowess. For example, the Hill Giant''s massive size had provided him with immense bonuses to his Strength and Physique. These additional attributes made it a far more terrifying foe when compared to ordinary Second Grade body refining Mages.


    Leon repeatedly looked over the Hill Giant''s attributes projected by the chip, and couldn''t help but be awed by the creature.


    This was just one of the Second Grade magical creatures that existed in the black forest! Moreover, it wasn''t even the most powerful one! The Hill Giant was considered a magical creature with barely average abilities!


    If the floating battleship wasn''t cruising at such a high altitude, and all sixty Mages were walking on the ground, disaster would probably befall them. The Hill Giant only needed to use its hill-size body to charge through the Mages'' ranks and they would suffer grievous losses.


    Leon might have made a name for himself as the Flame Demon, but even he wasn''t sure if his Magma Fireballs would do anything to the enemy''s defensive barrier and body of rock.


    The most likely outcome of battling with such a monster was death. He would probably be crushed into human paste before he could even blast a single rock off the giant''s body!


    The rocks whistled and soared through the air. The kinetic force driving them upwards was slowly exhausted, and they fell towards the ground once more.


    Every rock would cause the Mages to gasp in terror.


    The runic arrays at the tail of the floating battleship glowed brilliantly. The ferocious wind particles blew on with even more strength than before, and the ship charged through the clouds, quickly speeding away from the giant''s territory.


    The Hill Giant was initially able to follow behind the ship with its massive steps. However, as the ship continued to accelerate, the giant was gradually left behind.


    Finally, when the battleship disappeared into the horizon, all that the Mages could see was a speck standing on top of a cliff, roaring angrily in their direction.


    After leaving the Hill Giant''s territory, the battleship had also passed through the territory of a strange mirage beast.


    An Mage suddenly pointed at the forest and cried out, "Look... what''s that?"


    Everyone hurried to take a look.


    Everything seemed so peaceful within the depressing black forest. It was so silent and quiet, as if nothing was happening.


    However, everyone could feel a deep dark shadow flowing through the forest beneath the thick tree branches and dense foliage. The shadow was stalking beneath them.


    "That''s a mirage beast!" A Silver Union Mage wearing a silver Mage robe explained with a smile on his face, "It''s a strange magical creature that''s similar to the corruptor. It is able to create fantastical illusions akin to mirages in the desert, then silently devour the creatures caught in its magic. It is also Second Grade, but it is far more terrifying when compared to the Hill Giant. Avoiding the Hill Giant in the black forest is no problem as long as you are being cautious. However, there is absolutely no chance of escape from a mirage beast!"


    "I have also heard of this creature!" A tall and skinny Mage quickly added, "They like to press their bodies against the ground, creating images of clear lakes, beautiful gardens, and mansions full of treasures above their bodies. The realm of illusion is, in fact, their stomachs. They would lure their prey inside, and then the prey would have their bodies dissolved by the illusion while being completely oblivious to the situation."


    "Thank god they don''t have any means of attacking over long distances!" An Mage finally expressed everyone''s thoughts.


    The Mages nodded in agreement.


    The Silver Union Mage was clearly dissatisfied with everyone''s attitude. He shook his head and warned, "Don''t go feeling relieved. The most trying part of this journey comes after we pass through the mirage beast''s territory."


    "What is there after this?" An Mage asked.


    "Winged Lions!" The Silver Union Mage frowned as he spoke, "The next territory we are passing through belongs to the Winged Lions. Everyone had best be careful!"


    There were many Mages on board, but not all of them had heard of these creatures known as the Winged Lions. Thus, the voices of chattering Mages quickly filled the ship.


    Some more familiar and friendly Mages had started exchanging information with each other.


    Leon paused for a second.


    Winged Lions?


    He had heard of these magical creatures before.


    Ordinary humans always had trouble distinguishing the Winged Lions from the Gryphons. They were extremely similar creatures, with traits of lions mixed within. However, they were two entirely different beings.


    Gryphons were winged beasts with the heads of eagles and the bodies of dragons. This meant that they had heads and beaks of eagles, and the bodies and claws of dragons, as well as a pair of large fleshy wings.


    Usually, adolescent gryphons were no more than First Grade magical creatures that lived in groups. Other than their decent physical strength, their power lied in their speed and ability to make diving attacks from the sky. Their screeches and cries also had a trace of ability to disrupt and confuse.


    Other than these traits, there was nothing remarkable about the gryphons!


    Adolescent Winged Lions, on the other hand, were Second Grade magical creatures that lived in groups. They would usually live within a family unit, consisting of two Second Grade adolescent winged lions, and three to five First Grade winged lion cubs.


    Compared to the gryphons, the winged lions were lions with massive wings.


    They were able to cast light-attribute spells, along with possessing tremendous physical strength. One could say they were the natural enemies of certain types of dark-attribute Mages!


    All of the dark Mages wearing black robes couldn''t help but frown deeply when they heard the Silver Union Mage''s caution. They had clearly heard of this annoying light creature as well. If they were to come into conflict with the winged lions, all of their curses, corrosive attacks, and acidic attacks would be rendered completely useless. They would be reduced to spectators in the fight.


    The floating battleship flew above the forest, twisting about the narrow path amongst the towering mountain peaks. The ship was trying its best to pass through and avoid all of the hazardous areas.


    Still, a long and low growl rang out in a nearby cliff. Three to five black shadows took the skies, quickly gliding in their direction.


    ...


    1957 Words

 Chapter 276 Lions

    They were Winged Lions!Two dozen Mages were already in position under the Silver Union Mage''s organization, silently waiting for the arrival of the Winged Lions.


    The Silver Union used this flight path once every fifteen days. They knew very well what race and grade of magical creatures would appear at which areas. Other than situations where extremely dangerous creatures were migrating, or when the creatures of the black forest were falling into a riot, the path was a safe one.


    However, there were always exceptions, especially within the black forest, where no one could estimate the danger lurking within. Unknown terrors were always lying in wait.


    Powerful magical creatures would usually own a large territory of their own. They were the only kings within this territory and they would never allow other creatures with similar strength to enter their territory or hunt within it.


    Higher-grade magical creatures were almost always as intelligent as actual Mages. They knew how to split their territories into an inner living area and an outer hunting area. However, there would always be contentious areas within neighboring territories.


    Thus, the conflict between magical creatures often broke out within the black forest!


    The reason the flying battleship decided to go through this path despite knowing it to be the territory of the Winged Lions was simple. Just fifty kilometers to the west was the territory of a large group of wyverns.


    Even though these wyverns were only First Grade lower magical creatures, and were far weaker to the Winged Lions, they had strength in numbers. Over a hundred of them flew together.


    This, coupled with their bloodline as hybrid dragons which gave them tremendous strength, powerful bodies, and the ability of flight, meant they did not fear the Winged Lions at all.


    In fact, if one were to consider every single factor, the Winged Lions were slightly weaker than the pack of wyverns!


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    The floating battleship gradually decelerated. Once it had slowed down to a certain speed, it started to weave in and out of the clouds, sticking to the mountain ridge as it flew forward. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now that the ship had slowed down, the excess energy saved from powering the ship was used to strengthen the outer barrier. The thickness of the barrier increased slightly.


    Winged lions were wickedly fast in the skies. Trying to get rid of them by outrunning them was a complete joke. It was much safer to stave off their attacks as the ship traveled!


    Leon had been assigned to the front-middle of the ship. There was an Mage standing five meters behind him, and another five meters in front of him. They stood in silence, waiting for the winged lions to attack. Their job was simple. They were to retaliate with their strongest spells when the winged lions tried to tackle the defensive barrier.


    It might be tough for them to hurt the winged lions with what little power they have, but the main purpose was to exhaust the winged lions and drive them away.


    Leon was still wondering why the Silver Union didn''t just gather a group of powerful Mages to exterminate these winged lions. After all, they weren''t all that powerful. Exterminating them would make the flight path even safer for everyone. The chip quickly provided him with an answer!


    The reason they didn''t choose to exterminate these winged lions was precisely for the safety of the flight path!


    A forceful extermination might ensure the safety of the flight path in the short term. However, at the same time, it would also create a power vacuum in the area. The magical creatures were intelligent beings as well. The moment the powerful ruler of this area was gone, other powerful creatures would choose to move into this area.


    If that happened, getting used to the attack patterns and habits of the new magical creature would bring about a whole new host of problems for the Silver Union!


    Thus, after lengthy consideration, they decided to allow these powerful but non-threatening magical creatures to stay. This was the wisest and most well-informed decision the Silver Union could come up with.


    After all, once the territories of the magical creatures were settled, the Mages only needed to prepare certain tricks to deal with each trouble that popped up. In doing so, they could easily pass through the area with minimal losses.


    Lion roars echoed from below the ship as Leon was absorbed in thought. Five radiant silhouettes appeared before his vision.


    Winged lions... so these were winged lions!


    Leon looked into the distance and saw several odd beasts that closely resembled lions.


    The winged lions were no different from the ordinary lions commonly seen in forests. The only difference was how much more powerful and muscular they were.


    In particular, the two winged lions flying in the front, one male and one female, were as muscular and massive as a rhinoceros. A pair of wings made of shiny silver feathers extended from their ribs. The pair of strange twisted horns growing from their heads was also an extremely obvious trait.


    The three First Grade winged lion cubs behind them were several sizes smaller than their parents. That said, their ferocious and savage appearance still betrayed their status as the kings of the forest.


    The floating battleship had already removed the magic cloak on the outer layer. A semi-translucent barrier enveloped the ship, protecting it as it made its escape.


    A brilliant silver light radiated from the bodies of the winged lions. They beat their wings and dove towards the battleship, making an elegant and perfect curve in the air. As the position they were attacking was the other side of the ship, Leon didn''t start attacking them. Rather, he turned around to look at how the Mage opposite him dealt with the lions.


    Leon didn''t know which area of Zhentarim this Mage came from, but he could see that the Mage was wearing green leather armor, black pants, and a machete at his waist. He was even holding a massive bow as large as himself in one hand. Right now, the gigantic bow had already been pulled into a crescent moon. Black light glowed around it. Leon could vaguely see the shape of an arrow gathering within.


    This Mage was clearly an experienced veteran as well. He didn''t fire his magical arrow early. Rather, he was patiently waiting for the best timing to strike. An adolescent winged lion had reached the barrier. The twisted horns on its head rammed into the barrier. Blinding white light surged forth from the tips of the horns and clashed against the runes on the barrier.


    The barrier started to weaken and thin out. Just a moment more and the horns would pierce through the barrier. The Mage finally struck.


    Ci. A sharp whistle in the air...


    A black magical arrow shot out of the barrier, quick as lightning, and embedded itself into the winged lion''s protective barrier.


    The magical arrow exploded before the winged lion could even react. A large cloud of black mist enveloped the front half of its body. Sizzling sounds could be heard as the mist corroded away at the defensive force field.


    The winged lion, caught by surprise, had been blasted away. It somersaulted in the air several times before finally expanding its wings and stabilizing itself.


    The front half of its body had been stained a black color by the spell shot at it earlier.


    The adolescent lion let out a raging roar as a blinding white light quickly engulfed its body, expelling all the outside energies that had found their way into its body.


    A short moment later, the white light faded away and the winged lion was completely recovered. Even its wings, that had been corroded to a black color, had become white once again.


    Light-attribute recovery spells!


    Leon licked his lips. Envy was showing in his eyes.


    The winged lion beat its wings and circled around the outside of the ship. Its ferocious gaze was trained on the Mage that had slightly wounded it earlier. The lion let out a few angry roars and continued to fly around the battleship. It was calmly looking for the weak spots in the defensive light barrier.


    Leon couldn''t help but feel a strong desire burn in his heart as he looked upon these winged lions flying through the skies. He desperately wanted to leap out and catch one to serve as his own familiar. Flight, combat, and recovery? These magnificent steeds were the most suited to be the mounts of Mages!


    Those odd horns on their heads, in particular, seemed to be extremely powerful. They could gather light particles and use them to attack the enemies. Or they could use the light elementium to heal and regenerate their own bodies. The effect of their magic was no less effective than that of Mages that specialized in healing magic.


    If he owned a winged lion like that, wouldn''t it just be like always having a healer by his side? If he ever sustained combat injuries, he would no longer need to pinch his nose and swallow those strange potions with unknown contents!


    Leon clearly wasn''t the only one with such thoughts. Almost all of the Mages looked at these magnificent flying beasts with burning desire in their hearts. However, everyone knew very well what they were made of. They wouldn''t make such unwise moves such as trying to capture a Second Grade winged lion.


    The Mages had the advantageous position while they were within the battleship. Every time the winged lions wanted to dive and attack the barrier, they would fire their spells in unison and force the enemy to disengage. No one was dumb enough to charge out into the sky and start a battle of life and death with this group of winged lions!


    Meanwhile, Leon was also doing his best. A winged lion cub flew past the side of the ship he was on. The chip provided Leon with the speed and flight course of both the cub and the ship, and he was able to throw out a Magma Fireball in advance. Once the winged lion cub reached the position of the fireball, Leon immediately detonated it.


    A resonating boom!


    The cub was completely engulfed by the explosive flames and boiling lava.


    When it finally made its way out of the explosion with a tragic howl, much of its body had already been charred black. Sharp magma fragments had pierced through the defensive force field around its body and had found their way into its flesh. Blood spilled from the sky.


    The winged lion cub''s cry had also attracted the attention of the other winged lions.


    Several beams of white light shot towards the cub, and its terrible wounds vanished in an instant. It had regained its earlier magnificence.


    However, having been wounded once, the cub no longer dared to close in on the battleship so recklessly. It unfurled its wings and distanced itself from the ship. Then it started to shoot out white light from its horns, using it to assault the defensive barrier from a distance.


    This white light was extremely pure light energy. It was difficult to intercept these attacks with magic. The light elementium that clashed against the defensive barrier would also explode and cause light bursts every so often, causing all of the Mages who were looking to be blinded by light.


    The duration of the blinding effect wasn''t very long. It only lasted three to five seconds.


    However, it wasn''t hard to imagine the disaster that might have occurred if there wasn''t a layer of defensive barrier between the Mages and the winged lions!


    As Leon battled, he gathered data on the winged lions with the help of the chip. The feedback from the chip proved a terrifying fact. If he engaged in a fair duel with one of those First Grade lion cubs, he would have no more than a thirty percent chance of victory.


    Of course, this percentage was calculated without the inclusion of his golems and his Flame Fiend Transformation. This was also the meager chance of victory that most Mages had!


    Leon could truly feel the strength and terror of the magical creatures that resided within the black forest.


    Without the battleship''s cloak, the protection of the barrier, or the aid of numerous magical tools and items, the human Mages were no more than fodder when pitted against these wild beasts!


    No wonder the three Mage organizations on the Continent could last this long!


    If the human Mages hadn''t gathered together and united their strengths, they would probably have been overwhelmed and replaced by a tide of powerful magical creatures. Their rule over the World of Mages would have come to an end.


    ...


    2134 Words

 Chapter 277 Kingdom

    The battle with the winged lions was more like a game!It was no matter of life and death.


    The floating battleship continued to maintain a thick defensive barrier as it slowly flew away from the winged lions'' hunting area.


    The adolescent winged lions also seemed to be uninterested in damaging the ship. Rather, they were training the cubs to fly and hunt. Even though they would occasionally tackle the barrier with all their might, they spent most of their time circling above the ship, roaring and trying to intimidate the Mages.


    Both parties fought as they flew, and finally, when the floating battleship crossed a raging river, the winged lions stopped their pursuit. They hovered in the air and roared threateningly at the ship before returning home.


    It seemed that this ten meter wide stream was the border between them and another group of magical creatures. A blood war would probably erupt between the two if the winged lion crossed the border!


    The battleship gradually started to accelerate after leaving the winged lions behind it. It continued to cruise along its planned path within the forest.


    According to the Silver Union Mages'' briefing, the next area they were passing through was the first danger zone along the flight path¨C the den of the harpies.


    In truth, Leon was so shocked by the news that his eyes almost fell out. The weak harpies were the first dungeon boss they were facing?


    How was this possible?


    Leon''s impression of the harpies was that they were extremely weak. These creatures with the heads of female humans and the bodies of vultures should be extremely low-level magical creatures. A single magical fireball would be able to kill an entire group of them.


    How were they more dangerous than winged lions and Hill Giants? How did they form a danger zone on their own?!


    A lot of the Mages were clearly as confused as Leon.


    Thus, the Silver Union Mage gave them a basic explanation on the characteristics of harpies.


    Indeed, most of the harpy tribes that the Mages met in the wild were extremely useless and weak. So feeble and frail that they were no threat at all. The reason was because the size of the harpy tribes were often way too small.


    Harpy tribes with only around a hundred members weren''t even worth an Mage''s time. Ordinary mercenaries and adventurers only needed sufficient preparation, and they too would be able to exterminate an entire tribe.


    This was because there were no low-level harpies with magical power within these tribes. The only thing they could do in a fight was drop some boulders from overhead and dive at enemies with wooden spears in their claws.


    That said, the harpy tribes had a very prominent characteristic.


    The moment the number of their tribe members swelled above five hundred harpies, a harpy witch with magical powers would be born in the tribe. They would shed most of the feathers on their bodies. Other than their wings and the claws of their feet, they were basically no different from human females.


    Moreover, if there were over a thousand tribe members, a terrifying head witch would be born among the harpy witches. This was a powerful caster that was no weaker from human Mages. They even had the agility of assassins to go along with their tremendous magical powers.


    The harpy tribe they were about to come into contact with was a massive tribe of over ten thousand harpies. Thus, there were over a thousand harpy witches born within the tribe.


    A thousand agile spellcasting harpy witches. This was a fearsome opponent no matter where it was on the Continent of Mages. Even powerful magical creatures like the winged lions wouldn''t recklessly offend this swarm of harpies. They would drown in their numbers within moments.


    Thus, the obstacle before them was no mere harpy tribe.


    It was a fearsome harpy kingdom! Not only did they have an extremely intelligent leader, they also had proper distribution and composition of classes spread across all the harpies.


    This meant that they had commanding officers, spellcasters, and so many warriors they could blot out the sun. It was a risky venture every time the floating battleship passed through here.


    However even if this place was a danger zone, it was still possible to pass through if everyone worked together.


    This was much better than trying to break through the surrounding death zones!


    Right now, the battleship was already fifty thousand kilometers deep into the black forest. If they strayed from the flight path at this point, it was very likely that they would stumble into the territory of Third Grade magical creatures.


    Their chances of escaping the attack of a Third Grade magical creature were almost non-existent with how weak they were.


    There had already been three such cases of battleships being destroyed by Third Grade magical creatures over the past hundred years. All of the passengers involved died. Even though the Silver Union sent out top-grade Mages to exterminate and exact vengeance on the responsible magical creatures, the dead would never come back to life.


    Thus, even if they knew the might of the harpy kingdom, they had no choice. The Silver Union could only choose to fly across the border areas of the harpy kingdom if they wanted to avoid the more terrifying Third Grade creatures.


    ...


    Three days later.


    The first brutal battle since Leon boarded the ship broke out because of a coincidental meeting!


    They had, very unfortunately, walked into a hunting party sent out by the harpies.


    It was a small party of no more than thirty harpies, and most of them were just ordinary harpies. They were two mutated harpies amongst their ranks. One of them was a harpy assassin, while the other was a low-grade harpy witch. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These stubborn fellows were complete idiots. Even though they were much weaker when compared to the Mages, they still insisted on blocking the way of the ship. Almost all of them were killed in a single wave of spells. Sadly the two mutated harpies were able to escape.


    The very next day, the floating battleship was surrounded as it flew over a chasm. The harpy army had hurried over the moment they received word about the ship!


    The floating battleship cruised forward with great difficulty.


    The harpies were circling and flying around the egg-shaped barrier. Their piercing shouts were so loud they could even shatter the eardrums of anyone listening to them.


    Most of the harpies didn''t have any control over magic elementium. They beat their gray wings and charged at the defensive barrier with wooden spears in their claws. These crude attacks might work against ordinary beasts, but they were completely useless when used to attack a defensive barrier.


    As such, a thousand harpies attacking in unison achieved absolutely nothing. Other than causing some ripples across the barrier, they only thing they achieved was exhausting a little of the ship''s reserve energy. They had absolutely no chance of cracking the defensive arrays!


    However, there were some unique individuals that had undergone mutation among their ranks.


    Harpies were usually creatures with gray feathers and ugly appearances. They looked more like birds than humans. However the mutated individuals had already shed the feathers on their bodies. Only a few patches of blue feathers remained on their joints.


    Their exposed skin was white and smooth. Their figures were slim and curvaceous, with exceptionally delicate and perfect facial features. However, their eyes were as red as blood, their fingers crooked and sharp, and a pair of horrendous claws grew beneath their thighs where their feet was supposed to be.


    Honestly, if one were to ignore those ugly wings and claws, these harpy witches could be said to be extremely beautiful humanoid creatures!


    According to Leon''s understanding, some mixed-blood harpy witches had joined the Mage organizations on the East Coast. Those were the mixed-blood descendants born of human Mages and harpy witches.


    Of course, this also proved that some human Mages had really unusual tastes!


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    The Mages attacked with all their strength to drive the harpies away. They couldn''t be allowed to deal more damage to the defensive arrays protecting the battleship. Spells of every color and effect exploded like fireworks around the ship. One after another, the harpies were engulfed by powerful elementium vortices.


    A snowstorm enveloped most of they sky, the chill quickly applying a layer of light blue frost over every single harpy caught in it. Countless harpies tried their best to beat their gray wings, but they could only feel their wings becoming heavier and heavier.


    Eventually the harpies started to fall from the sky, screaming as they did so.


    They quickly regained their ability to fly after they left the area covered by the snowstorm. Still, the appearance of the storm had disrupted the pace and rhythm of their attack, sowing chaos into the ranks of the harpies.


    A wind Mage standing not far from Leon released a wind spell with a large area-of-effect. The peaceful skies were suddenly filled with danger and terror. Invisible tornadoes of wind hid in the air. Any harpies that accidentally stumbled into this area would be sliced to pieces by the swirling winds. Pungent mists of blood would erupt in the air.


    Leon, on the other hand, didn''t summon his golems or use his Flame Fiend Transformation. Instead he took out his Fire Lord''s Scepter and behaved as any other fire Mage would, slowly firing off one fire spell after another.


    He ceaselessly chanted and cast spells. His loud and firm chanting of profound and difficult spells rang out, and a red pillar of fire was conjured in mid air. Powerful ripples of fire spread out from the pillar. All of the harpies engulfed by the ripples would be burnt to death.


    Even those that survived had their wings charred and ruined, and were sent falling a thousand meters towards the ground.


    The ordinary Mages had no ability to fly after their feathers had been completely reduced to ashes.


    As Leon continued to channel several powerful fire spells, he looked about at the chaos going on around him. Periodically, fire would burn in his eyes and a powerful Scalding Ray would shoot out towards the harpies.


    It was way too much of a waste to use Solar Rays against these unarmored and unprotected harpies. The inferior Scalding Ray was more than enough to get the job done!


    The Scalding Ray shot out continuously, piercing through the bodies of the harpies and sentencing them to a painful death as they fell from the air. Black patterns would spread all over their body as they fell.


    The poison from the Scroll of Voodoo would quickly take their lives even if the Scalding Ray hadn''t managed to kill them.


    Feathers and blood filled the air around the battleship.


    The harpies were being slaughtered by the Mages!


    ...


    1822 Words

 Chapter 278 Hunt

    Three slim and beautiful silhouettes were gathered together deep in the back ranks of the harpy army as the Mages recklessly exterminated the attacking harpies. It seemed they were in the middle of some sort of discussion."It is almost time!" A head witch with a pair of snow white feet and a red feather robe draped over her shoulders instructed, "Lana, make sure you act quickly later. Catch as many as you can once Natalia breaks through the barrier with her innate ability. You must leave the moment you receive the signal. Otherwise it would be a troublesome affair trying to save you after the barrier closes. Do you understand?"


    "Understood!"


    "Understood!"


    The two witches standing beside her bowed respectfully.


    Ordinary harpy witches were similar to the apprentice Mages in human society. They had some elementium casting ability, but their Spirit was still insufficient for their spirit origin to be elevated to the next level. Only harpy witches that had reached First Grade could change their appearances.


    An ordinary harpy witch would shed their feathers when they advanced to First Grade. When they advanced to Second Grade, their trademark claws would also morph into human feet. If they were fortunate enough to advance once more and turn into Third Grade harpy witches, their physical bodies would be no different from a human Mage. The only difference would be in their bloodline.


    All three of the harpy witches had beautiful feet rather than the claws so commonly associated with harpies. This meant that each of them were harpy witches over Second Grade, and had already completed their second evolution.


    An army of a hundred First Grade witches gathered around the three Second Grade harpy witches, silently guarding them.


    Any male would probably fall into a daze if he was standing among their ranks. Every single one of the witches here had pretty faces, alluring figures, and ample bosoms. Strangely enough, not a single male could be seen among their ranks!


    The head witch finally gave the order and the army of witches moved out after hiding for so long.


    Piercing screeches rang out in the sky. One after another, the agile and elegant harpy witches flew out from the ranks of the ordinary harpies. They quickly circled around the battleship, hurling wind blades and lightning balls at the defensive barrier.


    The addition of this army of spellcasters instantly caused the resilient defensive barrier to tremble intensely. More and more of the mysterious runes appeared on the surface of the barrier.


    The types of magic the harpy witches could cast was extremely limited. It was usually limited to just wind and lightning magic. The strength of their attacks was also pathetic, ranging between thirty to fifty points of damage. However, regardless of how weak they were, there was no stopping the strength of their numbers. There were a hundred of them after all. The wind blades and lightning balls continued to crash against the defensive barrier, placing tremendous stress on the magic arrays.


    "Stop attacking the ordinary harpies. Shoot those damned spellcasters out of the sky! Hurry, hurry, hurry... " The Silver Union in charge of coordinating the Mages was in a panic. He shouted all over the ship as he took out a Fireball Wand from his waist, instantly shooting five fireballs towards those harpy witches.


    The other Mages instantly adjusted the direction of their attacks, focusing their fire towards the spellcasters.


    ...


    Inside the cabin.


    Lucy was lying beside the window of the tiny room with nothing to do. She rested her head on her tiny hands, looking on as the colorful battle erupted outside.


    One after another, the ugly and savage harpies tackled the barrier. They used their spears, their beaks, their claws, and anything they had to tear at the semi-translucent defensive barrier. At one point, the disgusting faces of the harpies had even come within ten meters of Lucy. There was an impenetrable barrier and a window between the two.


    Moreover she was already a pseudo-Mage, and a cute pseudo-Mage who had mastered spatial magic at that! Still, there was no place for her on the battlefield like this.


    At the start of the battle all of the servants, followers, and apprentices had been ordered to stay within the cabin. As such, she could only look on coldly as the harpies were brutally slaughtered. Reduced to cinders, electrocuted, having all the water in their bodies extracted by dark magic...


    There were all kinds of magic, and the harpies could attest to this. After all, they were the ones dying in a variety of odd and peculiar ways!


    Lucy''s eyes suddenly lit up when those harpy witches appeared. She pressed her face against the window, looking enviously at the plentiful bosoms of the witches bouncing about as they flew quickly around the ship. She looked down at her seven year old body and her flat and smooth chest. Her expression instantly soured!


    Dammit! Even a bunch of humanoid monsters are larger than me! Bastards! You lot aren''t even humans, what''s the point of having such large breasts? Curses upon you hags...


    However, just as Lucy was indulging in her own stupid thoughts, a light ripple in the air caught her attention.


    Spatial flux? Hm? Why would there be spatial flux here?


    Lucy closed her eyes and tried to sense the spatial flux. The spatial ripples hadn''t occurred within the defensive barrier. Rather, they were coming from the outside. Didn''t this mean... the one manipulating space wasn''t an Mage on the ship, but a harpy witch?!


    Even though Lucy was still angry at Leon, she was fully aware of how reliant she was on him right now. Thus Lucy quickly contacted her so called ''master'' using their mental link.


    ...


    Spatial flux?


    Leon fell deep into thought the moment he received Lucy''s message. He was doubtful.


    Spatial Magic wasn''t so easily mastered!


    Time and Spatial Magic were heralded as the hardest to learn within all the branches of magic. Usually an Mage wouldn''t even be able to learn these magics if they didn''t have the necessary affinity.


    The Fire Teleportation that Leon himself had mastered might look like Spatial Magic, but its true nature was just a clever use of fire magic. It was completely different from Spatial Magic.


    Harpies, on the other hand, had even more mediocre talents when compared to Mages. Most of them only had wind affinity or lightning affinity. Wasn''t the chance of one of them awakening a spatial affinity way too low?


    Even though it was a reminder coming from Lucy, Leon wasn''t too convinced. However, considering the power of spatial magic, Leon decided to play it safe. He quickly and subtly cast a small spell on himself.


    Apart from this, he didn''t share Lucy''s warning with the Silver Union Mage. After all, this was information he himself wasn''t too sure about. If it proved to be wrong, he would end up as a joke amongst the other Mages.


    However, a massive disturbance occurred at the back of the ship as Leon was still hesitating!


    The sudden appearance of the harpy witches had drawn the attention of all the Mages. Powerful and mighty spells blasted towards their dancing figures, leaving colorful fireworks in the air as they exploded.


    Yet, as their gazes were drawn to the witches, the Second Grade Harpy Witch Natalia had taken the opportunity to sneak over to the other side of the barrier.


    A black vortex appeared in her hands and she pressed it against the impenetrable barrier. A large hole suddenly opened in the barrier, which was supposedly able to defend against all elementium damage. The runic energies of the barrier were absorbed by the strange black vortex, causing a massive opening in the defense system.


    The Second Grade Silver Union Mage who was silently guarding the magic arrays at the core of the ship raised his head up in shock. He could sense a breach in the defensive barrier.


    What was happening? Had the defensive barrier been destroyed? No, everything was still functioning!


    A strange flux suddenly appeared on the deck of the floating battleship as the Mage was still recovering from the shock. The space had been shattered and a rift had opened in mid air. Two strange harpy witches walked out of the rift and appeared before the human Mages.


    Some Mages were still caught up in slaughtering the harpies on the outside. The two harpy witches with perfect figures and light blue wings moved before the Mages had even noticed the trouble behind them.


    A sharp and piercing scream filled the entire ship. All of the Mages affected by the strange soundwave felt their vision blur. They were no longer able to control their bodies or draw upon their magical powers.


    The two Second Grade harpy witches used their agility to dive towards the Mages, quickly capturing several Mages and throwing them into the spatial rift before coming back for more. They had already caught five human Mages in a matter of seconds.


    All the Mages on the ship started to panic as this occurred. They threw their most powerful spells at the enemy that had mysteriously appeared on board, while desperately avoiding capture by the harpies.


    However, any Mage would be hard-pressed to escape the piercing screams and agile shapes of these Second Grade magical creatures. Leon was an unfortunate one as well. He was right within the hunting range of the two harpy witches!


    A creaking sound started to ring out in the air. The spatial rift that had been forcibly torn open was slowly closing under the powerful regenerative ability of space itself. The rift trembled slightly. It was obvious that it couldn''t last much longer. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A massive wave of runic energies surged forth around the hole in the defensive barrier, reducing the massive opening into a small hole the size of a fist. The defense system of the ship would once again be complete the moment this hole disappeared. At that point, the two harpy witches would no longer be able to escape using the spatial rift.


    "You two hurry up... I can''t keep it up for much longer!" Natalia shouted at the two harpy witches as she did her best to maintain the hole in the barrier.


    The two harpy witches looked at each other and made a decision.


    "We will capture one last round of Mages!"


    The two silhouettes let out another piercing scream as each of them dashed towards a target of their own, quick as lightning.


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    And the target of the head witch was Leon!


    ...


    1766 Words

 Chapter 279 Arrival

    The harpy head witch was extremely fast!There was no way Leon could possibly escape her grasp at the speed at which she was lunging at him.


    Thus Leon stopped moving. His fire elementium started to boil and surge around his body. Just half a second more, and Leon would be able to turn into elementium and teleport from the spot.


    Unfortunately a stunning scream found its way into his ears right as he was about to complete his spell.


    Leon stumbled as he lost control over his body, which had just turned into flames. He had failed to escape in time.


    The head witch''s cool hand gripped his body before he could calm himself down and think of anything else. Violent lightning energies surged into Leon''s body, instantly crippling him and taking away every ounce of strength he had left in his body.


    The head witch grabbed his body and quickly dashed towards the crumbling space rift.


    Leon barely managed to regather his scattered thoughts during this short buffer. He looked at the space rift right before his eyes and used what was left of his strength to wave his Fire Lord''s Scepter. He then activated the small spell he had prepared in advance.


    Boom. A muffled explosion rang out.


    The Fire Deity suddenly appeared on the deck.


    Before it could even announce its arrival upon this realm with a massive roar, its flaming body was replaced by Leon''s tall figure. The Fire Deity mysteriously appeared in the witch''s hand and was brought along into the spatial rift.


    Fire Deity Summon!


    Puppet Substitution!


    This wasn''t a teleportation spell of the spatial magic series. Rather, it was a flame golem substitution that was completed using the mental signature left on the Fire Deity.


    The head witch almost seemed to have realized the change at the moment she charged into the spatial rift. However, she could no longer stop the momentum of her body. She and the other harpy witch disappeared into the spatial rift, and the pitch-black vortex finally closed.


    The hole on the defensive barrier had finally disappeared as well.


    The floating battleship shook vigorously for a moment. Ferocious and violent runic energies surged out of the core of the ship, reinforcing the defensive abilities by a hundred, even a thousand fold, completely wiping out the spatial disturbances left behind by the harpies.


    The harpies outside the boat seemed to have received an order. They quickly scattered in every direction, screeching as they did so. They beat their gray wings and flew every which way as they retreated from the battle.


    For a moment, the entire sky was filled with gray silhouettes. The mutated harpy witches were mixed within the crowd, making it hard for the Mages to identify the culprits of the earlier attack!


    Peace returned to the battleship a short moment''s latter. The shrouded sun once again shone upon the Mages.


    They looked at each other aimlessly, still stunned from the terrifying attack that had occurred earlier.


    What happened just now?


    Everything was going smoothly! They were doing their best to slaughter the reckless harpies, how did... how did a couple of harpy witches break inside of the barrier and kill... no, abduct six of them?!


    Leon was in shock as well. Even the Flame Fiend''s Heart that had been sealed in his chest started to beat rapidly, causing his blood itself to boil intensely. He had to expend a lot of his energy before he was able to suppress the fiery riot happening within his body. It was a long time before he calmed down.


    When he turned his head to gaze at the distance, he could no longer see the harpies'' fleeing silhouettes on the horizon. The Mages looked around the deck. There were six less Mages on the ship, and some of them were acquaintances of other Mages that were taking this trip.


    Leon was still confused about the harpies abducting the human Mages, but the chip quickly filled in the details with its large library of knowledge.


    The harpies were an usual race. There were only females in their tribe, but never males. This meant that the harpy kingdom was a kingdom of females. There wasn''t a single guy that lived with the harpies. Thus, they had to rely on other races if they wanted to mate and leave offsprings for the tribe!


    The harpies were usually isolationist creatures. It was only when an individual harpy had reached mating season that they would go out to hunt for males of other races. They would then catch them and bring them back as mates. The harpies might seem absolutely weak and pathetic, but their genes were extremely strong and resilient. It didn''t matter what sort of odd race they mated with, the offspring would always be a harpy of pure bloodline.


    Of course, some Mage scholars believed in another theory; a theory that the offspring of the harpies were of mixed descent. However they would abandon all the offspring with impure bloodlines, choosing to rear only those with pure bloodlines. This was how they managed to retain the purity of the tribe''s bloodline!


    According to ancient texts, the offspring of harpy witches and human Mages were more likely to have magical talent.


    As such, there were many cases of human males being abducted as mating tools in areas close to harpy settlements. However cases like today, where they actually succeeded in abducting Mages, had never been heard of!


    All the Mages on board couldn''t help but cast their gazes at the coordinating Silver Union Mage.


    "Are we not pursuing them? Are we letting them take away our companions just like that? " An Mage couldn''t help but demand angrily.


    "How do we chase them? Where do we chase them to?" The face of the Silver Union Mage instantly soured, "These are the depths of the Black Forest! Any change to the flight path could spell doom for this ship. Do you really think that we should invade the harpy kingdom for the sake of some unfortunate fools? There are over ten thousand harpies and over a thousand harpy witches there... "


    The Mages fell silent!


    Everyone was upset about the situation. Yet the moment that the thought of death crossed their minds, any dissatisfaction or ideas of saving their allies quickly vanished.


    The Silver Union Mage turned and eyed Leon. He nodded and said, "You are very lucky!"


    He then announced loudly, "The Silver Union will be responsible for the compensation of the clans and organizations those Mages belonged to. However, all of you should already have prepared yourself for such an outcome the moment you stepped on this ship. We will try our best to fix the loopholes in our defensive barrier. We assure you that such a thing will not happen again! ... "


    The silver-robed Mage continued to ramble on with an encouraging and motivating speech, but all of the Mages were still frowning deeply. They had lost all their confidence for the journey forward.


    Just then, the Second Grade Mage of the Silver Union emerged from under the deck. He took a long cold look at everyone.


    "I know what you are afraid of! I can represent the Silver Union in giving you our word. The same thing will never happen again. To think that two mutated harpy witches had appeared amongst the ranks of the harpies, and that one of them was the rarely seen space caster. This was completely out of our expectations. I have already made the necessary modifications to the array. It is absolutely impossible for them to launch another attack like that one. So everyone can put aside your concerns, and we can continue on our way!"


    Having said that, the Second Grade Mage went back under the deck, returning to the core control room.


    The Mages could only look at each other helplessly. There was nothing they could do but accept the reality before them. One by one they returned to their rooms to rest.


    Leon smiled as he listened to Mage Angus'' words of care and concern, before silently returning to his room.


    It was only when Leon locked the door and sealed the room with a simple magical array that he betrayed his true feelings. His face fell, and the smile was replaced with a frown. He sat on the crude wooden chair as he recalled the fight earlier.


    If he had been slightly weaker, or even without his preparations in advance, all of his ambitions would have gone down the drain. He would be reduced to the terrible state of being a mating tool of the harpy witches!


    A massive kingdom of over a thousand harpy witches. There didn''t need to be too many adolescent witches amongst their ranks. One tenth of them would mean a hundred harpy witches waiting to mate with you. Moreover, the rate of pregnancy with Mages was never high. They were beings with extremely low rates of birth. Thus, if once wasn''t enough, then twice, and thrice...


    Just thinking of the nightmarish hell of being a prisoner and mating slave was enough to make Leon cringe in fear. He could feel the muscles on his face start to twitch uncontrollably. An unrestrained anger filled his heart. He was so frustrated that he just wanted to go out on a killing spree.


    Leon instantly identified this as a side effect of the corruption from the abyssal aura. He didn''t dare to delay. He quickly took out several vials from his belt and swallowed their contents.


    These were all potions that could calm the nerves and suppress his emotions. Even though drinking them in large doses would cause certain side effects, Leon knew his emotions were running out of control, and was not going to fret over some insignificant consequences.


    Perhaps the accident in the harpy''s territory hadn''t been an accident, but a premeditated attack. This was why the battleship''s journey was unusually smooth and unobstructed after the harpies had succeeded in their abduction. The Mages quickly and successfully left from the harpy kingdom.


    Fifteen days later, the floating battleship passed by the territory of the Forest Spirits. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Both parties clashed in a tremendous fight, and the battleship managed to charge through the place, suffering some damage in the process....


    One month later, the floating battleship passed through the Frost Giant''s territory.


    Once more, they were able to forcefully make their way across using the resilient defenses of the ship...


    Two months later, the battleship was attacked by a large flock of thunder rocs at the final danger zone along their flight path.


    The defensive barrier had even been breached twice.


    Two Mages died before they managed to drive away the enemies...


    Finally, on the seventy second day since the Mages boarded the floating battleship, they passed through the Black Forest. They had finally arrived in the territory controlled by the Silver Union.


    The floating battleship dragged its broken body across the sky, slowly cruising out of the Black Forest.


    Leon stood at the bow of the ship, gazing at the plains in the distance. The everlasting stretch of black was slowly fading away, replaced by the long-awaited green plains and brown earth.


    A tall Mage''s tower stood silently in the horizon. The striking brilliance of magical arrays flowed along the length of its structure. Several magical ripples scanned the entire area. A small watchtower had been placed every few kilometers along the edge of the Black Forest. A weak magical flux could be felt emanating from them.


    The massive Mage''s tower and the smaller watchtowers worked together, forming a defensive web to protect this land that humans so desperately needed to survive.


    Several black shadows appeared in the distant skies, as if they had discovered the ship.


    A group of Mages riding on gigantic eagles were hurrying over!


    The Silver Union Mage appeared in front of everyone once again. He announced loudly and excitedly, "My friends that have come from faraway places, and journeyed over such long distances, welcome to the territories of the Silver Union.


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    "The Silver Union welcomes your arrival!"


    ...


    2021 Words

 Chapter 280 Sigma City

    The Mages flew for another seventy kilometers before arriving at the first city under the rule of the Silver Union¨C Sigma City.As one of only two entrances into the Silver Union''s territory, the magnificence and liveliness of Sigma City was beyond compare. Even Mages from prestigious clans in the central area would drop all their arrogance and pride and use their utmost effort to learn of all the rules and regulations within the Silver Union''s territory.


    Leon had gained a basic understanding of the situation on the way here.


    The Silver Union''s territory stood at the west coast of the continent, and there was one group of individuals you should never offend while you were here. The silver-robed Union Mages.


    Of course, if you were confident in your ability to kill a silver-robed Mage without being discovered... Leon saw plenty of those small watchtowers along the way. There were also numerous mysterious spherical constructs patrolling in the air.


    All of these appeared to be part of a massive security system.


    It was pure fantasy to even dream of killing a silver-robed Mage without being discovered.


    With the help of divination magic and image replaying magic, the murderer would easily be identified as long as a single clue was left behind!


    The best way to ensure your own safety and prosperity here was to avoid conflict with the silver robes.


    The second group of individuals that one shouldn''t provoke were the esoteric Mages. It didn''t matter how broke or how bad they appeared to be faring.


    The Silver Union was an organization formed from a group of esoteric Mages. The silver-robed Mages were the executors of the Union, while the esoteric Mages were the very foundation of the Union. This was why the esoteric Mages had incomparable status within the territories of the Silver Union. There was already obvious oppression and bias against Mages of other branches.


    Fortunately the authorities of the Silver Union weren''t short-sighted fools. They would often take the side of the esoteric Mages in cases of conflicts and tensions between Mages. However, they would always ensure that the talented Mages of other branches were still well-treated and given due respect.


    The floating ship finally ended its journey at Sigma City.


    Travel within the safe territories was usually carried out using the smaller flying ships. The flying battleship was reserved solely for the journey through the Black Forest. Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire


    The Mages quickly went their own ways after they got off the ship.


    Everyone had their own distinct reason for coming to the west coast. Even though they all had to visit the Castle in the Sky eventually, it was still a twenty day trip from Sigma City. Thus everyone went on their own ways, on their own errands as they headed towards the Castle in the Sky.


    The Byron Clan also had an outpost here in Sigma City. However, the outpost was located in the west side of the city. Leon and Angus would have to walk through half of the city to make their way there.


    Leon could see that Mage Angus was in a hurry. It seemed he was desperate to reach the outpost for an update on the situation. Leon, on the other hand, wanted to observe the local culture. After all, this was his first time in a territory controlled by one of the massive Mage organizations.


    The two had a quick discussion. Mage Angus settled on a meeting spot before hurrying to the outpost with the few clan members he had brought with him.


    Leon, Lucy, and Snorlax were left alone.


    This was a completely different city. A unique city.


    There were no towering walls around the city, or massive watchtowers built around its perimeters. Its streets were neat and orderly and its buildings were tall, large, and made of marble. Apprentice Mages wearing short grey robes were everywhere in the streets, along with muscular mercenaries and adventures.


    However the loaded carts and carriages were even more numerous. There were also merchants, warriors, wanderers and civilians in the crowd.


    Perhaps due to the humid and warm weather, most of the locals wore clothes made of thin and light cloth. They dressed in an extremely colorful fashion. All of their clothes were dyed in bright colors: white, red, blue, yellow, and so many more. The ordinary humans were wearing long sleeved tunics, loose pants, and leather boots. Their expressions were relaxed and joyful, unlike the dull and depressed expressions that the citizens of other human settlements so often wore on their faces.


    Every so often, Leon would see some Mages walking through the streets, their massive stone golems and steel statues rumbling behind them. The crowd made way for them as they passed, but none of them seemed especially fearful of the Mages.


    The Mages here seemed to have integrated with the civilians. There wasn''t much mystery or obvious difference in class between the two parties.


    If Leon was to give an evaluation of his own, Zhentarim was extremely large and rich in resources. However, there were too many clans within Zhentarim, causing countless conflicts and battles throughout the years. Even after the formation of a loose alliance of the clans, the ability of the Zhentarim Association was still limited. They could not restrain the clans or execute any of their laws in an efficient manner. There wasn''t much they could do. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was much different here.


    This was a territory ruled and owned solely by the Silver Union. This was why law and order was very well upheld here. No outsiders dared to challenge to authority of the Silver Union here!


    Moreover, the Silver Union''s policy of welcoming travellers and encouraging trade resulted in a huge influx of outside Mages and elites. The arrival of these talents undoubtedly accelerated the speed at which knowledge and resources gathered about the Silver Union.


    This place was clearly much more lively and much more peaceful when compared to the Zhentarim area!


    Leon''s tall figure of two meters in height was a curious sight when compared to two tiny fellows who were only one meter in height. They drew plenty of gazes as they walked down the street. However anyone that dared to come close to Leon would instantly feel an aura pressing upon them. This was the calm, wise and ruthless aura unique to Mages, as well as mental suppression from a being above them on the food chain.


    Leon looked silently at the crowd as they panicked and hurriedly made way for him. The apprentice Mages were also looking over with expressions of shock. He was a little speechless at their reaction. In the end, he silently retracted his aura and tried his best to suppress his mental flux.


    He was far too used to living in the Zhentarim area. He didn''t need to consider the effect of his mental suppression when he went out in public. Leon still retained his beliefs from his previous life, and believed that all life was equal. He wouldn''t ever treat the ordinary mortals as livestock and servants. However, the arrogant and prideful attitude of the Mages had subtly shifted his attitude as well.


    In comparison, the Silver Union had intentionally created a much more equal societal atmosphere. This was a superior decision when compared to the Zhentarim Association, as so many more elite and talented individuals were still able to demonstrate their abilities, even though they weren''t Mages. If Leon had the freedom of choice, he genuinely believed the environment in the Silver Union would be far more suited for him!


    "Are we just going to stand here all day?" Lucy tiptoed and tried her best to see over the crowd. She appeared to be extremely excited to go touring around the city, "That place seems really lively!"


    Snorlax also spotted some creatures of other races mixed within the crowd. These were either the servants of Mages, or humanoid creatures that had obtained proper citizenship. They mingled with the apprentices, warriors, and the mercenaries, chatting happily as they carried the corpses of several magical creatures on their backs. They walked into store after store and arcane shop after arcane shop, trying their best to sell their spoils of war from hunting.


    Leon cautiously removed Snorlax''s Spell of Concealment and he went back to his appearance of a goblin.


    He stood in the crowd and looked at the people''s reaction to him. It was only when he saw that no one was disgusted or shocked that Snorlax was able to let out a sigh of relief. For the first time in his life, he would be able to puff his chest and stand up straight. He was finally able to show his true appearance in a human city ruled by an Mage with no fear for how he was treated.


    "I love this place!" Snorlax screamed frantically at the bottom of his heart.


    Leon felt the passion and joy from his two followers and couldn''t help but let out a small laugh as he shook his head. The three of them quickly made their way into the crowd once more.


    Having retracted and suppressed his mental flux, Leon looked just like a young noble with an extraordinary temperament. He was handsome and charming. Even without the suppression from his Spirit, his two-meter tall body was still an intimidating sight. All the pedestrians would naturally make way wherever he walked. No one dared to stand in his way.


    Leon''s gaze wandered about the shops by the side of the road as he walked.


    A florist, tailor, grocery store, leather dealer, pharmacist, a pet store...


    Leon even saw an interesting shop on the way. Tolson''s Lost and Found. It was a small business that helped citizens find their lost possessions using divination magic. The owner of the store was an advanced apprentice. Clearly he was looking to use his magical talents to earn a little pocket money!


    The florist shops, on the other hand, didn''t sell ordinary flowers. It wasn''t roses, tulips, or blue lilies that they sold. Rather, the products they offered were Mage resources. These were things like Glowmoon Flowers, Solar Flowers, Golden Ginseng, and Dragonbone Grass. These plants were either useful for apprentices'' meditation, cultivating and improving bloodline powers, or were just common materials used by potions apprentices...


    The tailor''s also sold apprentice and Mage robes with special magical enhancements. They even sold some Mage storage tools within their shops.


    The leather dealers bought the corpses and skins of magical creatures from the adventurers or apprentices. They also paid for the blood, bones, and flesh of these magical creatures.


    The flesh of magical creatures was imbued with elementium. As long as the poison could be extracted from their flesh, the meat would be a perfect magic-infused material for cooking. The bones could be carved into simple decorative ornaments and accessories with the proper work put in. These accessories would have certain magical powers.


    While Mages would never need such weak items, they were considered precious and valuable objects by apprentices and the nobles.


    Leon finally understood, after a walk through the streets with Lucy and Snorlax. As the eastern entrance into the Black Forest, Sigma City only sold resources targeted at the middle class. Ordinary citizens would never be able to afford these items.


    Leon shook his head in pity after a quick tour.


    These resources might be useful for Lucy, but they were too ordinary and common for a true Mage. It seemed there was probably a particular place where Mages went to trade when they were looking for resources.


    Leon turned and looked at the massive Mage''s tower standing at the center of the city. He turned to leave some simple instructions with Lucy and tossed a magic crystal card her way. Leon then left Lucy and Snorlax to their own devices as he headed in another direction.


    ...


    1982 Words

 Chapter 281 Core Magics

    It was a necessity to gather local knowledge wherever you went.This was almost an instinct engraved into the souls of each and every Mage!


    Even though it might not be possible to get his hands on any rare or unique knowledge, Leon would be happy to collect any knowledge on the west coast and its cities. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The flying ship going onwards to the Castle in the Sky arrived on their second day in Sigma City.


    Having experienced the local culture within the Silver Union, Leon and the others set out towards the holy city of the esoteric Mages¨C the Castle in the Sky.


    Night.


    Leon was draped in a black robe. He sat by his table, continuously writing on a scroll with a white quill in his hand. It seemed he was calculating something. Countless symbols, formulas, and numbers filled the parchment. Blue light gleamed within his black eyes as his quill continued to scratch against the parchment. It was clear that the chip was also calculating something at a very high speed.


    In honesty, most of the calculations and deductions were completed by the chip. Leon''s job was organizing and writing out the numbers that the chip output. He then used these numbers as a foundation and started considering his future development.


    His sense and control over the other elementium particles had gradually weakened after he chose fire mastery. Yet at the same time this allowed his fire spells to have more room for improvement.


    It didn''t matter whether it was the range of the Fire Teleportation, or the splash damage of the Magma Fireball, or the core damage of Fire Core Explosion. All of his spells had reached the very limits that his Spirit could allow. The one hundred and fifteen points of fire damage that the Fire Core Explosion could output was already at the very limits of what First Grade Mages could usually do. Most ordinary Mages could only do between eighty to a hundred damage with their spells. Those who could do above a hundred were so few they could almost be counted with two hands.


    A system of fire spells quickly built up within the data library as the chip continued to expand the amount of knowledge it had. Leon vaguely saw the path forward, and the path to self improvement, with the gradual deciphering and inclusion of the otherworldly runes to his powers.


    According to the chip''s calculations, Leon''s use of his powers in past combat had been extremely inefficient. It was almost the most inefficient way he could have used them. Regardless of whether it was his spells, or the exponential increase in Physique brought about by his Flame Fiend Transformation, Leon had never been able to bring out their might to its fullest.


    Rather, they existed in a state of extreme waste and inefficiency!


    Leon would always choose a different style of combat depending on his enemy. The long-ranged elementium Mage style, the magic-enhanced melee combat style, or using both together.


    He had yet to form a cohesive, consistent, and systematic style of combat. Most of the time, Leon relied on his wasteful and excessive output to overwhelm and crush the enemy.


    This might not be much of a problem if he was the one with the upper hand. However, such a crude and savage way of fighting was bound to backfire if used against an enemy more powerful than himself. Leon wanted to take this opportunity while revamping his abilities to decide on some core magics. He would then forge his own style of combat around those core magics and spells.


    Having experienced numerous fights, Leon clearly felt the importance of mobility spells for a combat Mage. That was why the first spell Leon thought of when deciding on his core magics was the Fire Teleportation he so frequently used.


    In all honesty, Leon might not even have had a ten percent chance of surviving all his past battles if he hadn''t been able to cast Fire Teleportation. Leon was only able to escape death when faced with powerful enemies because of it. Otherwise, his only option would have been a fight to the death.


    If he wanted to settle on a combat style, it would have to revolve around Fire Teleportation.


    The mobility spell was decided. What about the offensive spells then?


    There was a period of time where Leon believed his core offensive spell was Fire Core Explosion. After all, it was the most powerful and lethal fire spell in his arsenal. However the data that the chip collated indicated otherwise. The spell that Leon used the most in battle was the quickly cast Magma Fireball.


    Leon only needed half a second to summon a Magma Fireball with his current abilities. However, if one was to include the strain that his Spirit could endure, along with the disparity in the speed at which elementium gathered, Leon could only consistently summon two fireballs in three seconds time.


    The Magma Fireball itself had forty-five points of fire damage, along with fifteen points of magma and explosive physical damage. The magma would even splash in a ten meter radius. When paired with the thirty percent bonus damage from his fire mastery, a single Magma Fireball could deal a terrifying sixty points of damage.


    This might be much lower than the one hundred and fifty five points of the Fire Core Explosion, but the Magma Fireball could be fired at a tremendous speed!


    Where on a chaotic and intense battlefield would you be able to find a safe place to calmly chant your spell and channel such a powerful attack? In comparison, instant-cast spells like the Magma Fireball were far superior, as they allowed the caster to control the pace of the fight.


    Even if there was truly a need for a powerful spell to crack the enemy''s defense, Leon could store six of them within his Scroll of Voodoo for use in any situation. There was absolutely no need for him to risk his life and chant in the middle of enemy fire.


    Thus, the first group of core magics was decided. There were three of them. The mobility-type Fire Teleportation, the offensive Magma Fireball, and the defensive Ring of Fire.


    There was a good reason why Leon chose the Ring of Fire as his defensive spell over the Lava Shield!


    The Ring of Fire might be significantly inferior to the Lava Shield when it came to physical defense, but it was far more efficient when it came to defending and damaging enemies at the same time.


    A barrier of fire that easily engulfed an area of a hundred meters. No enemy would recklessly step into this area while they fought with Leon. The ten points of fire damage per second would never stop. You would have to endure the damage for as long as you were within the Ring of Fire.


    Moreover, the combat potential of these three spells could still be greatly improved. All that Leon needed to do now was organize the spells into a proper system, and create a combat style revolving them.


    Someone knocked on the wooden door, just as Leon was busy with his calculations for the potential improvements on the three core magics'' magical models.


    Dong. Dong. Dong.


    " Who is it!"


    Leon couldn''t possibly be in a good mood after being interrupted at such a key moment.


    "Sir Leon, it is me!" Mage''s Angus'' voice rang out from behind the door.


    Leon hesitated for a moment before clearing away the documents on his table. He covered the parchments of paper that contained secrets about his own body before walking to the door and removing the magical defenses.


    Mage Angus complexion looked pale and terrible. He had visited in the dead of the night, and it seemed like he had something he wanted to talk about. Still, he was hesitant to speak. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    "Sir Angus, we can already be considered friends after such a long trip together. Is there anything that can''t be said between friends?" Leon could see his discomfort, and took the initiative to ask.


    "This... " Angus couldn''t help but hesitate once more before finally speaking, "I just got news from the clan. There might be trouble for the duel this time!"


    "What happened?"


    "The Mage from the challenging clan has actually created a Steel Knight. Apparently, the golem is extremely powerful. It has already defeated the esoteric Mages of two firms. It is chaos in the clan right now... "


    Leon''s eyes focused, "Your clan intends to ask for a truce?"


    Angus nodded reluctantly, his voice hoarse and dry, "Very possibly. The clan has already sent some ambassadors in secret. If their conditions aren''t too strict, the clan will be willing to give up on the duel and admit defeat!"


    Angus quickly consoled Leon when he saw him falling deep into thought, "You have no need to worry. The clan will still give you the promised rewards even if the duel doesn''t take place. That much I can ensure!"


    Leon shook his head as he laughed out loud, "That''s not what I am worried about. I am only disappointed that I might miss a chance to have an exchange with another esoteric Mage."


    Angus laughed as well, "Do you still need to worry about this once you arrive at the Castle in the Sky? The duels and challenges for the shops might only happen once every ten years, but the arena there is never empty. As long as you are confident in your golem and are willing to bet on it, you can go to the arena every single day if you so wish!"


    The two made a little small talk after this, and Angus finally left.


    Leon went back to his table and started to think of his plans for the future.


    His original plan was to win the duel for the Byron Clan. Then he would take the opportunity and leave Snorlax in their care at the Castle in the Sky. After all, Leon couldn''t possibly stay at the Castle in the Sky for long periods of time. Snorlax, as a goblin, would also find it virtually impossible to make a name for himself if left alone.


    It might be rude and pushy to put forth such a request if the expected esoteric duel was canceled and the promised rewards already given to him


    How was he supposed to leave Snorlax in the Castle in the Sky then?


    It was important to note how much force was needed to defend your place in the Castle in the Sky. There was a Second Grade Mage from the Byron Clan stationed in their shop! If even such a force found it hard to defend themselves, how was a goblin with no combat ability whatsoever to survive in this savage and competitive place?


    The more Leon thought about it, the more he realized how far ahead of himself he was getting.


    He was alone right now. The two so-called subordinates he had were extremely weak. One was only a pseudo-Mage, and would soon be starting a ''Battle of Fate''. Her fate was unknown and unclear as of yet. The other had Mage-level Spirit, but had absolutely no way of using it in combat.


    These two were completely useless when it came to conflicts.


    Right now, Leon was in the process of improving his abilities and influence. He needed to gather all the strength and resources he had, cultivate them, and ensure that all his resources would grow and increase in number. He didn''t have any excess energy to set up for the future.


    If the Mage force he envisioned succeeded in the future then it would be possible to do so, allowing him access to more options in the future. However, what he should do right now wasn''t to spread his energy too widely. He had to pull back all the fingers he had extended outwards and form a solid fist to ensure that his each and every punch would be a powerful blow!


    ...


    2010 Words

 Chapter 282 Castle

    Twenty days later.Leon was extremely excited to see the legendary Castle in the Sky. He woke up early in the morning, had his breakfast, and quickly hurried to the deck.


    The deck was already crowded with people. Even the Mages who always hid within their rooms had appeared in the crowd. Everyone was silently waiting for the Castle in the Sky to appear before their eyes.


    The flying ship wove between the clouds. White fluffy clouds were shredded into pieces as wind particles were ejected from the magical arrays, leaving a white path of clouds behind the ship as it continued forward.


    All of a sudden light shone upon the excited crowd.


    The ship had passed through the clouds and into a clear stretch of sky.


    The sky was so blue.


    Gray roads ran in every direction across the endless grass fields. Alchemical castles were scattered across the fields, and pastures filled with cows and sheep could be seen everywhere.


    And right in between the heavens and the earth was a great, magnificent, holy, and yet mysterious, city floating in the air, silently awaiting their arrival.


    From a distance, the Castle in the Sky looked just like an upside-down pyramid. The top was large and round, while there was an edge at the bottom of the structure. The bottom of the city was clearly dirt that had been dug from the ground. All of the dirt had been turned into the shape of an inverted mountain after receiving the magical treatment.


    A massive lake of nearly seven square kilometers could be seen right below the Castle in the Sky.


    With just a single look at its size and shape, anyone would easily be able to infer the origin of the Castle in the Sky!


    There was some sort of repelling force field around the Castle in the Sky. All the clouds floating in the sky were pushed aside by an invisible barrier in the air when they neared the Castle. There was a complete absence of any clouds within a fifteen kilometer radius of the Castle.


    The ship had plunged right into this absence from the layer of clouds.


    An odd sound of grinding gears rang out in mid air, and several massive boulders that had been suspended in the air slowly moved towards the ship.


    "This is the first inspection before we are allowed into the Castle. Everyone, please do not resist, and in particular, do not attack those robotic guards!" A silver-robed Union Mage loudly instructed the Mages on the ship. Due to some sort of mysterious spell and authority he had been granted on the ship, his voice was transmitted to every single lifeform here, even though he wasn''t all that loud. Even those Mages who remained shut in their rooms were able to hear him.


    Robotic guards?!


    Leon looked at these huge rocks doubtfully.


    There were five of them in total.


    Each of the boulders were three meters tall and two meters wide. Their surfaces seemed fairly rough, with dirt and sand mixed between the cracks of the rocks. There were even some vines and small plants that grew on them. They looked just like boulders that had been removed from the peak of a mountain.


    However, the moment they reached the boat, their true nature was revealed. Blinding light emanated from within the rocks, and countless complicated rune patterns and magical symbols appeared on their surfaces. The boulders started to shake and tremor, and pieces of rock started to shift and move to reveal several black holes on the boulders.


    Some metallic arms extended from the holes and reached towards the ship.


    A strange bloodshot biological eyeball moved about at the ends of the robotic arms. These eyes moved from right to left as they scanned everything within sight.


    The eyeballs let out a strange blue ray as they slowly scanned every single person on the ship.


    The five boulders surrounded the ship, keeping a perfect perimeter around it. A complete net of blue light enveloped the ship, making sure that nothing went unnoticed. Even the thick hull of the ship wasn''t able to stop these blue rays. Even the people in the cabins were completely exposed to the eyeballs.


    Of course, the Mages had already heard the Union Mage''s reminder, and none of them tried to cast spells to obstruct the blue light. These rays were clearly a sort of low-level magical scan. They were usually used to identify lifeforms, as well as check for magical effects such as Concealment, Transformation, and parasitic lifeforms. None of the Mages'' secrets would be probed.


    It was all well and fine when it scanned the Mages. However the blue ray stopped for a moment when it reached Snorlax. An identity talisman that hung around Snorlax''s neck started to shine with a magical brilliance of its own, and the blue light continued its scan. The alarms had not been triggered.


    Leon had specially visited the silver-robed Mage to get his hands on this talisman.


    Without it, beings of other races such as Snorlax the goblin would find themselves buried underneath bureaucratic procedures and red tape. The magic emblems of his contracted master Leon, as well as the guarantor Mage Angus, were contained within the talisman. If Snorlax lost this talisman, he would either be detained or exiled by the guards of the Castle in the Sky.


    The inspection didn''t last for long.


    The boulders retracted their metallic arms once the blue light had scanned every inch of the ship. Once again they transformed back into ordinary-looking rocks levitating in the sky as they slowly left.


    Leon looked around the area. Almost every ship that made it out of the clouds was surrounded by several robotic guards and had to undergo inspection. The brilliant blue light could be seen on every single ship.


    Their ship continued forward after the inspection was completed. It slowly closed in on the landing platforms on the outer circle.


    As the distance continued to decrease, the mysterious veil over the Castle in the Sky was slowly lifted and its true face was revealed before the eyes of the Mages.


    Most of the Mages here had already read of countless descriptions of the Castle in the Sky. However, they were still stunned by its sheer scale and magnificence when they saw its true appearance.


    If one were to look from above, the Castle in the Sky looked just like three rings, each contained within another. These rings clearly segmented the city into three distinct parts. These was likely the inner circle, the central circle, and the outer circle!


    All the fantastical buildings were built along these rings. Every single piece of land there was worth their weight in gold. Numerous buildings and plants were packed together tightly on every inch of the land, leaving no space unused. The area between the three large circles had been partitioned by a sort of mysterious power. It was virtually impossible to cross through with sheer force. The only way across was to use the special bridges built between the circles.


    Looking down from Leon''s angle, there were plenty of wooden buildings hidden in the shade of the trees. Yet at the same time there were also plenty of stone houses and futuristic metallic architecture. Tall towers, round and dome shaped palaces, odd and bizarre architecture from the cultures of other races... this place looked like some sort of exhibition for unique buildings. All sorts of strange and exotic buildings could be found here.


    The crowd, as small as ants to eyes up in the air, walked through the broad white streets. The city seemed to be extremely lively.


    An actual mountain had even been moved into the inner circle. Several massive and magnificent feats of architecture had been constructed on that mountain. They had the high ground, looking down intimidatingly upon the entirety of the Castle in the Sky.


    Some more boulders levitated above the Castle in the Sky. These were even larger and bulkier. They seemed to be guarding the numerous entrances above the Castle. Several Mages could be seen entering and exiting through those entrances as they rode on their massive flying mounts.


    Leon surmised that the mountain location was a military facility where the soldiers were stationed. It was probably part of the huge and strict defense system here.


    The smaller alchemical guards existed in even larger numbers. They were part of the city, along with the massive load-carrying birds in the sky. They were what made up the orderly and bustling city.


    The flying ship was stopping at a flight platform on the outer circle.


    There were one of these platforms almost every two and a half kilometers. Numerous ships landed and took off from these platforms, filling the place with activity.


    Leon, Lucy, and Snorlax walked down from the flying ship under Angus'' lead. They stepped upon the clean and spotless marble floor of the Castle in the Sky. They looked at the fantasy scene right round them, their faces still full of wonder and disbelief.


    Warm sunlight shone down from above, showering this alchemical city in its warmth. Countless shards of light reflected off of the surface of the beautiful buildings.


    This made the Castle in the Sky seem that much more gorgeous, like a city shrouded in gold and glory!


    Most of the people walking past Leon and the others were also Mages. Some apprentices were mixed among their numbers, and even some beings of other races walked in the crowd, dressed in opulent and elegant clothes. Ordinary men weren''t even allowed to set foot upon this city. After all it, was a great city. One that represented the greatest alchemical achievements of the World of Mages.


    Leon paid extra attention to the workers on the flight platform. The workers doing their best to remove the cargo were tall and powerful steel statues, every single one. They might be a little clumsy, but they were tens and even hundreds of times more efficient than their human counterparts.


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    The ones coordinating their actions were apprentice Mages.


    It was fairly clear at this point. The lowest class citizens in this Castle in the Sky were these apprentices!


    Several alchemical carriages stopped before them, right after Leon and the others stepped out of the flight platform.


    Golden carriages, golden wheels, golden servants. Even the two horses drawing the carriage were golden in color...


    The two handsome golden horses stopped before Leon. They let out a snort and stomped their hooves, just like a real horse would.


    However, Leon was able to see much more than their appearance with his Spiritual sense.


    These weren''t actual lifeforms. They were alchemical creations, or commonly known as alchemical lifeforms.


    "We will meet at 167 Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street!" Mage Angus was the first to hop onto a cart. He gave a slight nod in Leon''s direction before driving away into the distance.


    The alchemical horses, despite being made completely of metal, were not dull or slow in their actions in the slightest, even when they were at the height of their sprint. Their tough metallic hooves didn''t even ring out as expected when they trod against the clear marble floor.


    The carriage was like a small raft in a lake. It calmly and quickly navigated through the crowd and soon disappeared into the city.


    Leon looked upon this fantastical scene before him with a tremendous shock in his heart. He couldn''t help but be reminded of the fictional sci-fi worlds back on Earth. The chip, too, had been ringing non-stop ever since he left the ship.


    "Beep, discovered unknown alchemical creation... "


    "Beep, detecting unknown force field... "


    "Beep, detecting unique lifeform... "


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    Every thing here had completely exceeded his expectations. He felt like he had been placed in a future version of Earth itself.


    Did arcane knowledge, when brought to its limits and fullest potential, ultimately end up back on the same path as technological civilizations?


    Lucy was uncontrollably shouting and pointing at everything she saw while Leon was frozen in thought. She couldn''t help but gasp in wonder every time she saw a mysterious object she had never seen before.


    Snorlax on the other hand, was crouching on the floor, touching the alchemical carriage and inspecting the horses. He even used his teeth to bite into the carriage and the wheels, just to confirm his suspicions about the material. The infatuated smile on his face betrayed his thoughts. Snorlax must have believed that he had arrived in the legendary city of gold!


    "Let us go as well!" Leon closed his eyes for a moment to calm himself down, before turning to give instructions to his two followers, "Let''s settle down at a place before we go out to tour the city!"


    The three got into the alchemical carriage before them.


    "To 167 Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street!"


    The alchemical carriage immediately started moving the moment Leon gave his orders!


    ....


    2158 Words

 Chapter 283 Combat

    They sped through the streets.The carriage afforded them a perfect view of the scenery outside.


    Dark and moist caves, twisting and slanted wooden huts, tall fortresses of solid stone, alchemical castles full of mystical elements... everyone felt like they had walked into a city of fantasy. They could see mysterious and strange buildings everywhere along the streets.


    There were plenty of people walking to and from some of the buildings. These places were extremely lively. On the other hand, some of these buildings were too scary and grim and there weren''t very many customers walking into them. There were even some buildings that had such bizarre designs that it was hard to even determine their purpose...


    It was clear that the Silver Union hadn''t set any regulations on these lands after they sold them. If someone wanted to turn it into a shop after they bought it, it was their choice! Turn it into a warehouse? They could do as they like! There was absolutely no problem either if they wanted to temporarily convert the building into a haunted house!


    As long as you paid your rent on time, and ensured that your business did not, in any way, compromise the Castle in the Sky, no one cared what you did on your own land.


    This was probably the main reason for all of the peculiar architecture in the outer circle!


    The Castle in the Sky was split into the inner circle, the central circle, and the outer circle. The respective areas they took up was in a ratio of 1:3:6. The outer circle had the most surface area among the three. The total number of shops leased to the non-Union members numbered three hundred and forty eight.


    This might seem like a lot, but it was a meager amount when split between everyone on the Continent that wanted one of the shops.


    The demand for land was extremely competitive, especially when you considered the parties involved in the competition. There were plenty of terrifying individuals who didn''t belong to any Mage organization who were looking for a place to settle here. These fellows were often powerful Second Grade Mages who weren''t willing to be subjected to the restraints and obligations of belonging to a group. There were even Third Grade Mages among these people.


    Thus, it was particularly important to be cautious about every single inconspicuous person and shop you saw in the outer circle. If you had no idea of their background and identity, it was best to not offend them. Manners should always be upheld. A slight misstep and you could offend one of these powerful individuals keeping a low profile. These people had plenty of tricks up their sleeves to kill you without being found out. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The alchemical cart slowly stopped before the Byron Clan''s shop.


    "Two magic crystals!" The alchemical steed turned around and spoke in human tongue.


    Leon was surprised for a moment, but quickly tossed two magic crystals in the horse''s direction. They swallowed the crystals and slowly galloped away.


    An apprentice was already waiting on the spot. The Byron crest pinned on his chest told Leon that this was the right location. The apprentice quickly led Leon and his party into the backyard. Most of the shops here served several purposes at once. The front of the buildings were stores, while the backs were constructed as residences.


    Byron Materials!


    The store''s name was simple and efficient. The main products of the store were the unique resources from the Underground World. In particular, the most valuable materials they sold were the Nighteye Stones and Ghost Mushrooms.


    A middle-aged female Mage was waiting for Leon in the backyard. Her appearance was fairly mediocre, but the red robe she was wearing was extremely eye-catching. However, what stood out even more was her strength!


    Leon was slightly shocked for a moment when he saw her for the first time. He quickly walked forward to greet her with the proper Mage''s greeting.


    Even the usually bold and audacious Lucy was being respectful. She dragged Snorlax all the way to the other side. She didn''t dare to even eavesdrop on the conversation between the two Mages.


    "You are the golem master that Angus hired? You seem really young, aren''t you?!" The female Mage in the red robe asked coldly.


    "My greetings to Lady Nunnally! I am Leon, an Mage of the Sarubo Clan."


    "You don''t seem to be an esoteric Mage!"


    "Indeed, my Lady! I am an elementium Mage. It was only because of my unique insights on elementium golem creation that I caught the eye of Mage Angus."


    "Elementium golems? Those things probably aren''t as powerful as metallic golems, are they? Do you have any confidence in the esoteric duel this time?" Even though the red-robed lady was a Second Grade Mage, she was extremely hesitant when it came to these specialized areas of knowledge.


    "Mage Angus has already informed me of the situation on the way here. It seems something has happened to the duel... "


    "Nothing has changed!" The red-robed female Mage replied firmly, "They were far too demanding with their conditions. There is no way we could have accepted them! The duels will continue. Now, I ask you, do you have any confidence of beating the enemy''s golem knight?"


    "My lady, I wish to take a look at the statistics and abilities of the enemy''s golem before I give you my answer." Leon put some thought into it, but didn''t give a direct answer.


    "This is for you!" Lady Nunnally tossed an image-recording crystal to Leon, and gave a frigid ultimatum, "You have a single night to think this over. Give me an answer tomorrow morning. If you are not confident in beating the opponent, we will have to find some way to get an actual esoteric master to represent us!"


    Esoteric masters were specialized Mages. A golem master who was an esoteric master would be someone who had already decided on golem creation as his main profession. These people might be extremely weak themselves, but all of their golem creations were extremely powerful.


    Trying to hire an esoteric master within the Castle in the Sky was a very difficult task! The number of resources and favors that needed to be called in was unbelievable. If the Byron Clan had to resort to this measure, their victory would be an agonizing one. They would probably have to give up all of the store''s income for the next ten years to pay back the debt they would accrue in doing so.


    However, this shop was a crucial existence for the Byron Clan.


    Other than the profits from selling resources from the Nigond area, the shop was also a shortcut for the Byron Clan when purchasing resources from all over the continent. All of the Mage resources used within the clan would probably be cut in half the moment they lost this foothold at the Castle in the Sky.


    It would be ten times harder for the clan to cultivate their Mages then.


    This was extremely disadvantageous for the development of an Mage clan!


    The Second Grade Mage of the Byron Clan was understandably nervous and upset about this whole affair.


    Nightfall.


    Leon hid within the residence that the Byron Clan had prepared for him, earnestly and carefully browsing through all the contents within the image-recording crystal.


    Contained within the crystal was an image recording of the opponent''s golem knight in action.


    The battle didn''t last very long, but it was enough for the chip to glean large amounts of useful information for Leon to use.


    The chip successfully retrieved the basic statistics and attributes of the golem knight after combing several times through the details.


    Golem Knight.


    Combat Golem. Awakened Construct.


    Three meters in height.


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    Made entirely with some sort of metal that gleamed a dark black color. The appearance of the golem was that of a knight''s. It had heavy armor, a shield in its left hand and a sword in its right. Its melee combat abilities were far superior when compared to ordinary magical statues and golems.


    Basic Attributes: Strength 14 | Agility 9 | Physique 12 | Spirit 7 | ...


    This was a combat golem that had undergone several modifications and enhancements. Not only did it have an immortal body made of magical alloy, it even possessed terrifying amounts of strength. However, the most troublesome aspect of the golem was its intelligence insane combat instincts!


    Indeed, this cold and metallic golem made purely of magical alloy surprisingly possessed elementary intelligence. Calling such a thing a magical golem was a slight to its true nature. The more suitable name for it was a construct lifeform.


    A construct lifeform that had undergone several construct awakenings. A construct lifeform that possessed elementary human intelligence. Of course, if it was able to raise its intelligence that much more, pushing its Spirit from seven points to eleven points, it would immediately go from a construct lifeform to a metallic lifeform.


    A unique lifeform with metal for a body and elementium energy for blood¨C a metallic lifeform!


    Construct lifeforms were still considered as servants of Mages. However, a metallic lifeform was of equal status to the Mages.


    Ordinary golems couldn''t possibly possess intelligence. Their creators would have to mix in some powerful spiritual consciousness during the Construct Awakening to create a certain chance of the golem awakening to elementary intelligence. It wasn''t possible to create intermediate intelligence with any magical means known to Mage-kind. The golems would have to slowly evolve and improve upon their intelligence to raise it to intermediate.


    The Golem Knight shown in the image crystal didn''t just seem to possess elementary intelligence. It even seemed to have retained some battle techniques belonging to actual knights. This was a clear indication of the golem''s origin. The spirit consciousness that the opposing esoteric Mage had awakened in the body of the Golem Knight was most definitely the soul of a high-grade knight.


    Moreover, it would have to at least be a Second Grade knight!


    It was virtually impossible to find such a powerful knight on the Continent of Mages. The soul could only have come from a lesser plane.


    Moreover, the enemy spared no cost or resources when constructing the golem. Even the shield and sword it held in its hands were rare, valuable products.


    The heavy tower shield was mainly made using Mansordar Alloy, famed for its resilience and toughness. The magical resistant Star Iron was mixed into the shield, allowing it to have fearsome physical and magical defensive abilities.


    The knight''s longsword was made purely of eternium. It might be slightly softer when compared to the Mansordar Alloy, but it was an extremely good conductor of magical energy. The sword made it very easy for the golem to cast its battle techniques. The edge of the sword had even been plated with a layer of adamantite, giving it basic Piercing and Armor Reduction effects.


    Honestly, this sword and shield pair could already be considered as elementary magical weapons. They were so much more powerful than the usual magic-infused weapons.


    Even Leon wasn''t as confident as he had been after witnessing the impressive performance of the Golem Knight.


    Just the rare metals used in creating the Golem Knight would cost at least 70,000 magic crystals. If we were to include the time and effort put into its creation, along with the soul of the Second Grade knight, the golem alone would cost a 120,000 magic crystals at the very least.


    The Second Grade Molten Giant Core that Leon had used in creating the Infernal Tyrant couldn''t possibly sell for more than fifty thousand magic crystals.


    Even though Leon was reluctant to do so, he had to admit that his Infernal Tyrant didn''t seem to have a chance against the Golem Knight, even when considering his odds from every perspective and every angle.


    Just the amount of resources spent on their creations was enough to tell of the massive difference in their abilities!


    ...


    2009 Words

 Chapter 284 The Mushroom

    The basic attributes of the Golem Knight were as follows: Strength: 14 | Agility: 9 | Physique: 12 | Spirit: 7The Infernal Tyrant, on the other hand had: Strength: 9 | Agility: 7 | Physique: 11 | Spirit: 18


    Each of the golems had their own respective advantages.


    The Golem Knight was extremely strong and powerful, with a tough shield and a sharp sword. Its melee battle techniques would also make it very easy for the golem to endure the bombardment of spells and close in on the enemy. However, it only had seven Spirit. This meant that the amount of energy it had stored within itself wouldn''t be enough to sustain its consumption over a long period of time.


    This was perhaps its only flaw!


    The Infernal Tyrant, on the other hand, had sufficient Physique and Strength to roll over most Mages and golems. However, these statistics were utterly pathetic when compared to the Golem Knight. That said, it had a massive amount of Spirit that allowed it to continuously cast spells without fear of running out of energy. Still, the Tyrant was probably inferior in combat against the Golem Knight.


    Of course, this was mostly because of the difference in their equipment!


    The Golem Knight''s body was made of ordinary magical alloy. This was the only way they could have done it. They had no other choice. After all, if all three meters and seventy six tons of the metallic golem were made with Mansordar Alloy, the cost of creating the Golem Knight would probably go up by about five times.


    The Gerto golem master had used magical alloy to forge the golem''s body and gave it a tower shield made of Mansordar. This was to lower the manufacturing cost while also maximizing its combat potential. In doing so, the golem master had ensured the best balance between cost and combat strength. The insertion of the high-grade knight''s soul further cemented the utter dominance of the Golem Knight among golems of the same grade.


    The Infernal Tyrant was better at long-ranged attacks in comparison.


    Thus, the battle between the two was actually very similar to a fight between an elementium Mage and a body refining Mage!


    The Infernal Tyrant''s elementium body wouldn''t be able to endure the blows from the fearsome adamantite sword, if the Golem Knight got close. The Infernal Tyrant would be severely weakened if its body was torn apart. Victory would truly be out of reach then!


    As such, the key factor to victory in this duel was the Tyrant''s ability to keep its distance from the enemy and slowly wear it down with a continuous bombardment of fireballs.


    Still, this was too precise of a control and combat strategy for the Tyrant to execute, even with its eighteen points of Spirit. Intelligence was not entirely the same as wisdom. This was something that all Mages knew very well!


    If Spirit was all that mattered, why would there be a need to accumulate knowledge day after day? Why should Mages dedicate their efforts to improving their battle and casting techniques? All that the Mages would need to do was hide in their Mages'' tower, drinking their potions and meditating endlessly to increase their Spirit...


    Thus, if Leon wanted to have the Infernal Tyrant perfectly execute this strategy of kiting and harassing its opponent, he would have to do it himself. He would have to be in the fight. He would have to control the Infernal Tyrant''s body and use the chip''s powerful calculation abilities to execute a complete beatdown.


    And if Leon wanted to carry this out, he would have to do some modifications and adjustments to the Infernal Tyrant!


    The second day.


    A long list of items was placed before Lady Nunnally when she appeared before Leon.


    Contrary to Leon''s expectations, the Second Grade Lady Nunnally wasn''t upset at his demands at all. She was extremely happy and excited, and quickly turned around to order Angus to gather all the items for Leon.


    It seemed that Lady Nunnally had been humiliated in the previous negotiation with the Gerto Clan. This was why she utilized all her authority to fully support Leon when he indicated his confidence in the duel.


    The fight was scheduled to happen seven days later. There wasn''t much time left for Leon!


    ...


    Liana''s Mushroom Cottage.


    This was the home of a witch, located in the middle of a small, dark swamp.


    A land of no more than seven thousand square meters felt like a massive black swamp due to the effects of certain strange magical arrays.


    There were pungent and murky pools of water all over the ground. The thickness of the slowly flowing water was extremely disgusting. Wet mist rose from the ground, gathering all over the dark swamp and blotting out the warm sunshine that was everywhere in the Castle in the Sky. The dark swarp appeared all the more gloomy because of this.


    Leon held Alice''s hand as they slowly walked between these pools of mud. He didn''t dare to let the murky water touch either of their legs.


    The chip''s data had already informed him of the true nature of this liquid. All of the pungent water was poison with extreme lethality. Even the air within the swamp had been filled with poison. An ordinary person would have instantly died if they took a single breath of the air here. Only an Mage like himself could continue breathing like normal.


    Still, every time he took a breath, the intense heat within his body would have to kill thousands upon thousands of poisonous and harmful viruses. His body was no longer afraid of these biological poisons after it was elementiumized! Consequently, every time he exhaled, a visible breath of black air would be expelled along with his breath.


    These were the corpses and remains of the dead viruses.


    Most of the resources for modifying the Infernal Tyrant had already been prepared by the Byron Clan. However there were still some rare materials that were missing. According to Lady Nunnally, the Second Grade witch that lived here in this Mushroom Cottage, Liana, had stocked up on some of these materials. This left Leon with no choice but to personally visit Liana.


    The reason Lady Nunnally gave for not visiting herself made Leon completely speechless.


    Lady Liana seemed to be a witch with a really odd witch complex. She had an extreme and utter disdain and hatred for all ''fake witches''!


    In her opinion, only those that upheld the traditions and beliefs of the ancient witches, and those with the legacies of the ancient witches could be considered true witches. The truth of the witch''s path was in their choice of fate and their subservience and loyalty to the Witch Queen. Those who no longer believed and hailed the Queen as their patron could only be called female Mages, not witches.


    Unfortunately Lady Nunnally, who called herself a witch, was one of the individuals that Witch Liana hated so much!


    Leon could already see through the mist and the trees before he even set foot in the dark swamp. He could vaguely make out the Mushroom Cottage. However, there was still an odd and vague distance between himself and the cottage, despite walking for awhile and frequently changing his direction as he went.


    He turned back and looked, but even the entrance he came from had completely vanished.


    The dirty water started stirring, as if some odd magical creature was moving beneath. The ghost trees started waving in the wind as well, creating an extremely frightening atmosphere!


    Leon could feel the shivering from Alice''s hand and smiled, "Are you scared now, Alice?"


    "Hmph! I''m definitely not scared!" Alice was still keeping up a tough front, "You think I have no idea of the tradition of us witches?"


    "What tradition?"


    "All the witches believe in the Witch Queen. All killing is forbidden between fellow witches. Those who break this rule would become the common enemy of all witches!"


    "Oh? There was such a thing?" Leon asked curiously, "Then if it was you who accidentally fell into the poison puddles, would it be considered their fault?"


    "Of course! Otherwise, any witch would be able to use such ''accidental'' means to get rid of other witches they don''t like!"


    Alice had just finished speaking when a cloud of white mist quickly gathered by the pool of water beside her. The mist formed into the shape of an elderly'' woman''s face. It was a hideous and deathly pale face.


    "Little brat, don''t be so sure of your words. You aren''t a real witch as of yet. Killing you wouldn''t be a violation of our vows!" The old witch in the mist cackled sinisterly.


    "But I''m already a candidate for the Witch of Fate now! If you kill me, that would be considered interfering in the selection of the Witch of Fate." Alice might look young, but she was still extremely knowledgeable. The words she spoke rang true.


    "Aren''t you a feisty one? Very well. Thanks to this little brat, I''ll make an exception and meet you two!"


    The pool of murky water quickly returned to being a pool of water after the old witch said that. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The ghostly trees started to let out screeching noises as they slowly crawled to two sides, revealing a path as they did so.


    The Mushroom Cottage appeared right before them all of a sudden, cutting right through the mist.


    Leon held Alice''s hand as they walked forward onto a gray grass field in the middle of the swamp. The Mushroom Cottage was located in the middle of this field.


    The field wasn''t very large. It was only about seven hundred square meters in size.


    The Mushroom Cottage was even smaller. It was only one and a half meters tall and less than five meters in radius.


    However it wasn''t the size of the Mushroom Cottage, but rather its rundown condition and crudeness that surprised Leon.


    This Mushroom Cottage resembled one of those broken huts you''d see in the ghettos of the poor.


    It was crumbling and slanted, with plenty of cobwebs hanging off the roofs. Even the moss and other plants that grew on the Cottage appeared to be pale and deathly, without any signs of life.


    "Come on in! The two of you." A piercing old voice came from within the house.


    Leon grit his teeth. He had no other option but to bend down and enter the Cottage with Alice.


    To his tremendous shock, the inside of the house wasn''t as small and cramped as he expected. Even with his height, he was still able to stand straight. There was even fifty centimeters of space before he hit the ceiling.


    The Cottage also had a second layer on the inside. Leon could see through the cracks and make out a crude and simple study room.


    A large pillar stood in the middle of the house. It was twisted, slanted, and filled with moss all over.


    A massive, ugly cauldron was boiling above a roaring fire pit in a corner of the house. Its contents seemed to be some sort of unknown green soup. There were all sorts of odd contents bobbing about the pool of liquid. White eyeballs, the arms of unknown creatures, and even human skulls...


    An indescribably pungent odor hung in the air. Leon''s took a single breath and his face went green.


    Dammit, there was poison in this soup!


    ...


    1911 Words

 Chapter 285 Contract

    Leon had to drink three or four antidotes before completely getting rid of the poison within his body.Even he, with his elementiumized body and powerful resistance to poison, he had to stop breathing in order to not take in any more of house''s air.


    However, Lucy had a completely different reaction to the smell. She was standing on her toes, trying her best to take in as much of the ''heavenly smell'' as she could. It was as if she was smelling the most delicious and fragrant delicacy in the world. If it wasn''t for Leon holding her back, Lucy would probably already be gorging on the stew in the cauldron.


    Leon took a quick look around the cottage.


    Several black metal hooks were hanging down from the ceiling. All kinds of jars and bottles of various colors were hanging from the metal hooks. The containers were filled with a dark and murky liquid, with the eyeballs of various magical creatures soaking in the jars.


    There were both large and small eyeballs, flat and round ones, and even some with eyeballs dragging their bloody veins behind them as they swam to and fro within their containers...


    A large green jar swinging before Leon''s eyes had a giant''s eyeball immersed within the liquid. Leon could tell this was a giant''s eye because of its sheer size. A single eye alone had taken up all the space within the one meter tall jar.


    The massive eye even blinked when Leon walked forward to take a closer look!


    "Beep. Detecting high-energy magical organ... initial estimates suggest the organ to be at Second Grade!"


    "Are you able to tell what creature this eyeball belonged to?" Leon silently conversed with the chip.


    "Beep. Data reference and examination completed. Estimates: Cyclops, 63%... Beholder, 21%... Evil Giant, 4%... the remaining matches only have a 1% compatibility. Is there a need to display the data?"


    "No need!"


    The Cyclops was a fearsome giant that had both powerful physical strength and tremendous control over the earth. A Cyclops might be slightly weaker and smaller than the Hill Giant that Leon saw in the Black Forest, but it had the odd ability of petrification.


    This was what made it an extremely powerful Second Grade magical creature!


    As Leon''s vision continued to move about he noticed a wooden desk in another corner of the room. It was extremely messy and disorderly. There were plenty of ink bottles tipped over, spilling ink all over. Numerous yellowed scrolls and parchments spread across the table. A massive and unstable stack of books, so high it almost touched the ceiling, was teetering on the verge of falling....


    A strange witch with messy hair was crouched upon this equally messy table. She wasn''t very tall. In fact, she might have been slightly shorter than Lucy. The witch had to stand on the tall wooden stool to be seen.


    She seemed to be wearing a black Mage''s robe.


    However, Leon couldn''t even be sure of this!


    The wrinkled robe she was wearing was just way too dirty and stained. There were oil stains, ink blotches, and all sorts of unknown potion stains on the robe. The original color of the robe had already been completely covered by a thick layer of dust and dirt. Only a single trace of an elegant and beautiful golden thread at the corner of her robe suggested that this was an Mage''s robe.


    Leon had even suspected, when he first saw her, that Witch Liana was a member of the Death Witches. After all, he had seen far too many items related to death ever since he walked into this cottage. However Lucy, who was still holding his hand, had secretly told him the truth using a mental connection. Liana was a Witch of Despair. Her area of expertise was hope and revival.


    Well, it might be a little out of his expectations, but Leon had to silently accept the truth!


    "Tell me your intent in coming here! You aren''t the first fool to trespass into my Swamp of Darkness, but you are the first one to be able to make it here alive. If you don''t have a good reason for this intrusion, kehkehkeh... " A sinister laugh slipped from the old witch''s wrinkled face. Her set of yellow and missing teeth were revealed as she smiled. Still, Leon was more terrified by her eyes. They were like those of a dead fish; not budging even a single inch.


    "Respected Lady Liana, I am here because I wish to purchase a bottle of Dead Soul''s Water. I heard that your Mushroom Cottage was the only place in the Castle in the Sky where I could get it. This is why I had no choice but to risk your displeasure to stand before you!"


    Leon could only tell the truth when placed before a crazy and powerful witch like Liana. Who knew if this hag had some disgusting spell she could use to verify the truth of his words.


    "Dead Soul''s Water? The one used to protect wandering and exposed souls from damage once they left their bodies?" The old witch stared at Leon with her stale dead eyes and commented coldly, "It seems you have already done your research before coming here. What do you wish to exchange for a bottle of Dead Soul''s Water?"


    "A top-grade Nighteye Stone, a twig from a Tree of Life, and a hundred grams of Stardust from the Spaceworld." Leon didn''t dare to hesitate. He instantly took out all of the items that were prepared for the trade. Of course, none of these items were his possessions. They were materials given to him by the Byron Clan.


    The Dead Soul''s Water was a Second-Class Rare Material. Its market price was around seven thousand magical crystals. All three of the objects Leon offered were worth above three thousand magic crystals each. When put together, they were more than enough to purchase Dead Soul''s Water.


    Unfortunately, the only person in the entire Castle in the Sky who could synthesize the Dead Soul''s Water was this Lady Liana. The success of the trade depended on her mood. Leon held his breath and waited for her reply after placing three crystal boxes on the table.


    "A fair price! However..." A sinister smile suddenly appeared on the old witch''s face, "I am not in a good mood today, so I choose to refuse your offer!"


    "..."


    Leon felt utterly speechless for a moment.


    He didn''t dare to argue with such a terrifying Second Grade witch.


    "Hey, old hag, don''t go overboard!" Lucy couldn''t help but interrupt their conversation, "The stuff we are offering you is already worth way much more than you Dead Soul''s Water. What reason is there to not accept the trade?"


    Leon''s face changed. He quickly pulled Lucy behind him and shielded her. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "My lady, she is only a child. Please forgive her for her ignorance!"


    "What are you scared of?" Lucy was still running her mouth off behind Leon, "She''s a witch and I''m a witch candidate. My identity alone guarantees that she won''t kill me! Why should I be afraid of her?"


    "Kehkehkeh... interesting. Very interesting... " The old witch let out a cold laugh, "It''s been so many years, and this is the first time someone has been so arrogant before me. Young boy, I''ll make an exception and give you a chance. As long as you turn this little brat''s magical contract over to me, I''ll give you a bottle of Dead Soul''s Water. How is it? Pretty good conditions, aren''t they?"


    All of a sudden, Lucy''s body trembled. She tightened her grip on Leon''s hand and no longer dared to speak anymore.


    Leon forced a smile as he slowly backed away, "Lady Liana, Lucy is only a companion of mine accompanying me on this trip. We... "


    The old witch Liana extended a wrinkled and ghostly right hand at them before he could even finish speaking. She made a grabbing motion in the air. Leon and Lucy simultaneously felt a sting in their souls. An illusory and intangible magical contract suddenly appeared, hovering in the air.


    "A slave contract!" Blood red light gleamed in the depths of the old witch''s deadly dull eyes, "Well, aren''t you a brave one!? To think of enslaving a candidate for the Witch of Fate. Do you intend to humiliate all the Northern Witches in doing so? If you dispel this slave contract and hand over that pathetic excuse of a loser, I''ll let you leave alive. I''ll even let you leave with the Dead Soul''s Water. Otherwise don''t blame me for getting rid of a certain loser for the sake of the dignity of all witches!"


    The entire Swamp of Darkness started trembling at her words.


    Thicker and heavier mists started to rise from the ground, causing the already dim house to go completely dark.


    Leon felt all of the magical eyeballs in the various containers turn and look towards him at this very moment. A suffocating feeling of death hanging above his head rose in his heart.


    "Speak! Will you hand over the contract and leave with the Dead Soul''s water, or will you die right here on this very spot? Speak... " The old witch''s fearsome voice echoed within the small and silent cottage, sending chills all the way to Leon''s bones.


    Gegegegege...


    Slight sounds of chattering teeth rang out from behind him.


    Even the reckelss and fearless Lucy was frightened now.


    The subtle tremors in the air started to become more and more frequent. Perhaps with only one more second, Lucy would be able to open a spatial rift large enough for both of them to escape.


    Sadly, there was no such thing as ''perhaps'' when you were confronted with a Second Grade witch!


    The spatial rift disappeared the instant it appeared.


    Psst. The spatial rift hadn''t even stabilized before it disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, leaving a bright green mark glowing in the air.


    "Now you think of escaping? Kehkehkeh... too late!" The old witch extended a finger, and a ghostly face made of gray smoke instantly appeared beside Leon. The apparition laughed sinisterly as it dove into Leon''s body.


    The next second, Leon froze. He could feel his intimate connection with the fire elementium being completely cut off. As if... as if he had suddenly been placed in an anti-magic barrier, and there was no longer any fire elementium around him.


    Leon''s tall body stumbled, almost falling to the ground.


    Having completed the elementiumization of his body, there was no difference between himself and fire elementium. He was fire elementium, and the fire elementium was himself. Now that his Spiritual connection with fire elementium had been cut, Leon didn''t even have the energy to support his own weight.


    Dammit, there was such a flaw to body elementiumization? Why have I never heard of this in any of the books I read? Is this the ability of high-grade Mages? The ability to cut off the connection of lower-grade Mages to their elementium particles?


    Leon lost a lot of strength now that his connection to the fire elementium was severed. He pressed his arm against the twisted pillar to support himself. This was the only reason he didn''t collapse to the ground.


    Hissssss...


    An odd sound came from beneath as a massive black Python thicker than his leg crawled up the pillar and found its way around Leon''s arm. The black python rose its head high, slowly closing in on Leon''s face.


    Leon could even feel the pungent breath brushing against his face when the python hissed.


    The old witch''s voice rang out once more.


    "Last chance to make your decision! Hand over the contract, or...


    "Die!"


    ....


    1962 Words

 Chapter 286 Witch

    "Beep. Detecting intrusion of unknown forcefield. Host''s Spiritual senses are rapidly weakening.""Beep. Detecting dangerous high-energy magical lifeform closing in. Recommending the host keep distance from said lifeform."


    "Beep. Detecting foreign mental-suppression-causing intimidation effects on the host. Requesting instructions from host. Counter-attack?"


    "Beep. Detecting... "


    "..."


    Liana''s death threat rang in his ear, and the chip in his mind continued to beep ceaselessly. Repeated alarm bells went off in his head, almost driving him insane.


    However, it was precisely the danger and urgency of the situation that caused Leon''s Spirit to become even sharper and more focused.


    Leon was surprised at what he was seeing. His elementium sight provided him feedback based on the enemy''s hostility. The entire Mushroom Cottage was painted a bright red, as every single possible minion of the witch was glowing crimson. However, only the old witch''s crooked and short body was reflected in his vision as... a huge yellow spot!


    Red represented hostility. The deeper the color, the greater the hostility of the enemy. Green represented friendliness, while yellow was neutrality. Yellow meant that the opponent didn''t have any strong opinions towards him.


    How was this possible!


    The old witch was literally placing him at the brink of death. It seemed like she was able to kill him the very next second. How was it possible that she was neutral towards him?


    As Leon was still stuck hesitating, the yellow spot quickly started to turn red.


    It seemed Leon''s hesitation had angered her and cause her to slowly become more and more hostile towards him!


    No. No. This old witch''s goal isn''t as simple at this. She wasn''t too keen or eager on killing him, even after discovering that Lucy had signed a slave contract with him. She was still neutral. It was only when he started hesitating that she actually contemplated killing him...


    Leon''s mind rapidly turned as he scoured his heart for every single tradition and secret of the Witches of Despair that he knew of.


    Leon asked probingly, "Will Lady Liana let me go if I willingly let go of this contract?"


    The old witch might have the odd ability to force the magical contract to materialize, but there was no way she had any way to change the contents of the contract.


    After all, magical contracts were fundamental rules protected by the planar laws. It was only when the two parties involved in the contract willingly gave up on the contract that it could be dispelled. Even a Great Mage had no means of bypassing the planar laws to modify or get rid of the contents of a contract.


    Leon had merely expressed his intent to give up on the contract and he could already see Liana turning into a bright red spot under his hostility vision.


    "Very good! Very good!" The old witch''s voice suddenly became gentle, "You can let go of the contract now. Once the contract disappears, the girl stays, and you can leave with the Dead Soul''s Water!"


    If it wasn''t for the chip''s amazing hostility sensor, Leon might actually have been tricked by her facade. The old witch might have expressed approval, and even squeezed out an ugly smile, but Leon knew the truth. He could feel the shivers running down his spine as he gained a perfect understanding of her true feelings.


    Now that he knew what she was looking for, Leon immediately acted without hesitation.


    "Uelr Ar!" Leon made a grabbing motion with his left hand as he shouted. The Scroll of Voodoo silently appeared in his hand. The thick grimoire instantly opened, and its tough kraft paper pages rapidly flipped over and over. Soon the book stopped on a certain page.


    Scarlet light glowed on the book. One by one, each and every rune, symbol, line, and image on the page started to glow. The shape of a boiling fireball rapidly appeared above the page. Crimson radiance gathered about and filled the shape. The silhouette slowly turned into a real fireball. A fearsome, one meter in diameter fireball.


    Leon guided it with his Spirit, the Explosive Fireball instantly locking onto the old witch and her sinister smile. It whistled as it was launched across the air.


    There was less than five meters between the two. The fireball was fast and furious. It had appeared before the ugly witch almost the very instant it was fired.


    At the same time, Leon waved his left hand and pushed Lucy towards the door of the Mushroom Cottage. He whispered silently and quickly, "You leave first. I''ll follow after you as soon as I can. Hurry... "


    Lucy was completely stunned and confused by what was happening.She turned around to look in a daze as she ran towards the door.


    All of these actions might have seemed extremely complicated and lengthy, but it lasted no more than two or three seconds for everyone involved.


    The Mages were known for their Spirit. The speed of their thought processes were much faster than the average person. The extreme detail their Spiritual senses could go into allowed them to think and move extremely quickly. While the ordinary person might still be stuck in thought, an Mage would already have gone through seven or eight lines of thought and would already be putting those thoughts into action.


    Leon continued to monitor the old witch''s reaction through the chip''s sensors.


    There was a powerful forcefield around the witch. There was no way the chip could see through the forcefield and observe anything about her intent. However, when the witch was using every bit of her Spiritual strength to suppress and beat down Leon''s Spiritual senses, the chip was able to use the minor and subtle changes in the Spirits and elementium around them to do a quick, basic analysis on her intent.


    An ability that afforded Leon such detail might not be very useful in an actual battle.


    With how powerful the Second Grade Liana was, Leon couldn''t possibly endure a single Second Grade spell. Even if he was able to analyze the enemy''s intent, would it matter? He still wouldn''t be able to block or dodge the attacks.


    The difference in their strength remained!


    Combat techniques and experience only mattered in a battle between equals. A battle with someone above his Grade? That was an act of pure suicide!


    Leon''s use of the chip to monitor Liana''s hostility wasn''t for the purpose of winning the fight. It was to verify his theory on the witch''s actions!


    As expected, when Leon ''courageously'' attacked Liana, the hostility coming from her quickly dissipated. And when Leon tried his best to ''protect'' Lucy and let her leave, all of the remaining hostility disappeared. The yellow color was even starting to shift towards a light green, indicative of friendliness.


    Bingo. He made the right gamble!


    Leon was rejuvenated by the sight of this. He immediately turned and ran without hesitation.


    Now that the stage had been set, it was up to the old witch on how to conclude the act!


    A short moment later, Leon and Lucy were bound by the terrifying black python and brought back to the witch.


    To Leon''s shock and horror, the fearsome black python was also a Second Grade magical creature. Moreover, it seemed to be Liana''s magical pet. It shook and its tail, and its black and scaled snake''s tail extended up to a dozen meters. It easily bound Leon, who had lost all his spellcasting ability, and dragged him back along with Lucy.


    The Explosive Fireball that Leon fired from his Scroll of Voodoo was swallowed by the black python in a single bite. The fireball exploded, and the only thing that happened was some slight black smoke came out of its nostrils.


    It had swallowed and devoured an explosive fireball and had not sustained a single injury. Leon was utterly terrified. His confidence that came from killing a Second Grade knight on the knight''s plane was instantly shattered into a million pieces.


    Dammit! Why was there such a massive difference between Second Grades from the World of Mages, and the Second Grades of other planes!?


    "Not bad! Kehkehkeh... " A frightening smile appeared on the old witch''s face, "To raise a hand against a Second Grade Mage for a little brat. No wonder this little brat was so willing to be your slave! Not bad. Not bad. Not bad at all... "


    Confused expressions appeared on Leon''s and Lucy''s faces. They were completely dazzled by what was happening.


    However, only one was truly confused. The other one was just putting up an act!


    The old witch Liana looked at the two people staring at her in confusion and leapt off the wooden bench with difficulty. She walked to the wooden table. She held a long staff in one hand, and lifted the black robe dragging against the ground with the other. She narrowed her eyes as she assessed the two, before nodding in satisfaction.


    "I know both of you are extremely confused. Still, this old hag doesn''t have that much time to explain to either of you. Hey. Kid. Your little maid will need to stay here at my place for up to ten days. You can come and fetch her ten days later! I''ll properly educate her on how to become a true witch in this time! And you... can leave."


    Witch Liana waved the staff in her hand and Leon felt light flash before his eyes.


    He found himself standing alone at the entrance of the swamp the very next second.


    With a black pot in his arms!


    Leon raised his head. The mist was getting heavier. It was hard to see through the Swamp of Darkness anymore. A complex and indescribable feeling was betrayed in his eyes.


    A short moment later, he shook his head and left.


    ...


    Seven days later.


    Guriad Arena.


    As a specialized arena for esoteric duels, Guriad Arena was famous throughout the outer circle. Many esoteric Mages loved to come here and settle their disagreements with a good duel.


    Today, the Byron Clan from the Zhentarim Dagon area and the Gerto Clan from the north of the Silver Union''s territory were using a golem duel to fight over possession of the right to stay in the Castle in the Sky.


    If the Gerto Clan won, the Byron Clan would lose their last outpost in the Castle in the Sky. They would no longer have any ability to purchase resources from the very center of the Silver Union. If the Byron Clan won, the Gerto Clan would have to pay massive compensations as the challenging party.


    It was said that the amount of resources at stake was enough to bankrupt a small clan!


    That was why this particular golem duel had drawn the attention of numerous shop owners and Mages stationed in the city.


    Some of them wanted to personally witness the fall of the Byron Clan, while others only wanted to collect some data on the battling golems. The fight hadn''t start yet, but already the seats were sold out. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    1844 Words

 Chapter 287 Arena

    A circular amphitheater, an oval stage for combat, an impenetrable energy barrier, and an arena full of passionate spectators...Guriad Arena. In terms of design and architecture, it wasn''t much different from Leon''s past life memories of the Colosseum.


    When Leon finally entered the arena alongside the Byron Mages the whole arena went silent. The Mages and apprentices remained quiet in their seats, assessing Leon and the Byron Mages with odd and doubtful gazes.


    Some Mages who were familiar with each other couldn''t help but start murmuring when they saw Leon. Leon could only see their mouths move, but not a single sound came out of their throats. It was obvious that they were communicating using magic.


    "No need to get nervous! The Byron Clan will help you deflect any kind of variable or interference that might come from the outside. You just do your best to beat the opponent." Mage Nunnally ground her teeth as she sent a voice transmission to Leon, "Remember, you must win!"


    Even though she knew that this would probably put more pressure on Leon, the path to retreat was already shut off for the Byron Clan. Thus, after giving Leon a wicked and mean ''encouragement'', Nunnally sat down and waited for the outcome in silence.


    Angus let out an awkward laugh. He looked at Leon with an expression that suggested at the complexity and difficulty of the situation, but he didn''t say anything more.


    The stage where combat took place was around five hundred meters in diameter. The floor had also been magically hardened. The entire place could endure the chaos and damage caused by a fight between two magical golems. There were about two hundred seats in the spectator stands. All of them were already filled. There were about forty to fifty Mages amongst them, while the rest of them were elite apprentices from various clans.


    A commotion started up just as Leon was calmly observing the place.


    "Here they come! It''s here... "


    "Quick, look! That thing is here again... "


    "We get to see the Golem Knight in action again ..."


    "..."


    The noisy voices of chattering Mages and apprentices filled the arena as they talked about the Golem Knight.


    Leon stopped looking around and turned to see the opponent he was about to face. A tall and powerful metallic golem entered the arena, following behind a group of Mages. The group hadn''t even gotten close, yet already Leon could hear the heavy footsteps of the metallic golem and the unique sound of its grinding joints.


    There were seven Mages in all, both male and female.


    All of them were wearing an emblem with a roaring bear''s head on their chest. These were the Gerto Clan Mages.


    The one walking at the very front was a bald and muscular man wearing a thick and heavy bronze armor. As a Second Grade Mage himself, he was the clan leader of the Gerto Clan. His eyes clashed with Mage Nunnally the moment he walked into the arena. A deep-seated hatred was carved into his gaze.


    Leon couldn''t help but have suspicions when he saw this happening. There were probably some other tensions and conflicts between the two clans other than the bet with the golem challenge. At this point, there was no longer any room to back out. Thus, Leon gave up on mulling over unnecessary thoughts and shifted his attention to his opponent¨C the golem master and his Golem Knight.


    Leon''s eyes swept across the seven Mages and quickly identified the golem master.


    Of course, this wasn''t because the golem master was any different from the other Mages. He had already seen a portrait of this golem master in the information the Byron Clan provided him with. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was a short, crafty old man with wrinkles over all his face and a white goatee below his chin. Leon could sense his aura. He didn''t seem to be much more powerful than Leon himself. His Spirit probably didn''t even exceed ten points. Otherwise there was no way Leon would be able to detect the strength of his aura.


    Leon had finally gotten a basic understanding of First Grade Mages after all this time.


    One could be considered an Mage once they successfully formed their Mage core and were able to sense the strength of the planar laws. Under normal circumstances, a newly advanced Mage would have no more than one point of Spirit. The basic condition for becoming a Second Grade Mage was raising that one point to twenty-one points.


    Thus, the greatest amount of Spirit that a First Grade Mage could have was twenty points!


    A First Grade Mage at their very peak would have twenty points of Spirit, while a newly advanced Mage would only have one point of Spirit. Although true combat ability wasn''t defined purely by the amount of Spirit, the difference between an Mage at their peak and a rookie Mage was still extremely obvious.


    First Grade Mages would often treat the first ten points of Spirit as a threshold for a certain standard. Mages that passed this threshold of ten points were called elite Mages. Those who never crossed this threshold would almost always remain as rookies and amateurs.


    The Mage Anderson that died at the Leon''s hands, on the other hand, had advanced for three hundred years already. Yet he still hadn''t manage to break the threshold of ten points. These fellows that had no potential for improvement could only be known as veteran Mages, even to their graves. They had no qualification to call themselves ''elites''.


    In truth, nearly sixty percent of all First Grade Mages on the Continent were unable to cross this threshold in their entire lifespan.


    The Gerto golem master before him, Rouneau, had already exhausted most of his life force, yet his Spirit remained on the level of any other Mage. It was clear that he had no chance of breaking through to Second Grade.


    This was one of the awkward truths that esoteric Mages had to face.


    They spent too much time searching for the best formulas, scouring for their ideal rare metals, ceaselessly improving and modifying their golem arrays, and trying their best to forge the ultimate golem... every single one of these tasks were enough to grind away at the years of an esoteric Mage. All of these tasks added together would quickly exhaust the entire lifespan of an esoteric Mage''s brilliant and amazing life!


    Thus, in general, there were very few Third and Fourth Grade Mages amongst the esoteric Mages, and even fewer Great Mages above Fifth Grade.


    Even most of the high-grade Mages that the Silver Union had right now didn''t advance to their level through their own efforts. It was mostly because they made immense contributions in their research that they were able to get the Union to invest heavily in them. Most of them were high-grade Mages that had risen to their level through the accumulation of an uncountable number of resources.


    These people were known as the Chosen Ones among the esoteric Mages!


    This was a source of hope for those who were untalented and unfavored. If they knew they had no hope for advancement, they could throw themselves into their research as esoteric Mages. If they ever came up with an innovative branch of knowledge, or a new line of thought, they could possibly be noticed by the Silver Union Senate, and be selected as a Chosen One.


    Sadly, Golem Master Rouneau was not someone with immense potential either. He had not been selected as a Chosen One. This was why his power was almost equal to Leon''s, despite his seniority. He even seemed to be slightly weaker than Leon.


    However, the fight today was a fight between golems, not a fight between their masters. Leon took a quick look at Rouneau and shifted his gaze to the Golem Knight behind him.


    This was a metallic golem that had the appearance of a human knight. Platinum-colored armor, a full helm, and a massive sword and shield on its back. Its movements might not have been as agile and smooth as humans, but they were far more organic than your regular golem.


    The silver-robed Mage waiting by the stage spoke, seeing that both parties had arrived.


    "Now that you have both arrived, please let your chosen esoteric Mage enter the stage! Remember, Mages are not allowed the attack each other. Only your golems are allowed to fight with each other. Any party that violates the rules will be awarded the loss. Please be careful with your spells! Very well, you may enter the stage now!"


    The silver-robed Mage might only be First Grade, but he represented the Silver Union. Even the Second Grade Mages of the two clans didn''t dare to be disrespectful to him. Leon and Rouneau quickly stepped up and stood before the silver-robed Mage.


    The silver-robed Mage looked at the Golem Knight first. An expression of great desire and admiration appeared on his face. However he couldn''t help but be stunned for a second when he looked towards Leon "You are Leon? Representing the Byron Clan? Where''s your golem?"


    Leon took a summoning core out of his belt and threw it to the ground. The sound of a fiery explosion rang out, and a massive and powerful giant rose from the flames, standing silently beside Leon.


    "An elementium golem!"


    "To fight an magical puppet with an elementium golem. The Byrons must have gone mad... "


    "Indeed. Are the Byrons such fools? To use an elementium golem against a magical puppet... "


    A wave of noise rose as chattering and murmuring spread throughout the crowd, quickly drowning the Byron Clan Mages with their voices.


    Mage Nunnally coldly scanned the entire place with her Spiritual flux. All the clamoring died down instantly. A Second Grade Mage was almost always respected, regardless of where they went. Before they humiliated and insulted the Byron Clan, they would have to consider whether they had the ability to endure the wrath of a Second Grade Mage.


    Everyone had a clear understanding of the situation.


    The Byron Clan had clearly sent an elementium Mage to this duel. The golem he used for the duel was even an elementium golem. Either of these factors alone were enough to lose them the duel. Both of these factors together probably spelled certain defeat.


    So what if an elementium Mage was good at a fight? The Mages weren''t allowed to cast spells at any target but their own golems in an esoteric duel. The strength and prowess of an elementium Mage was completely wasted here. Moreover, the elementium golem had too weak of a body. It wouldn''t be able to endure the violent and brutal blows of the magical puppet. It seemed that today''s outcome had already been sealed in fate. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire


    The silver-robed Mage couldn''t help but let out a sigh and waved his hands to have the two enter the stage.


    Rouneau led the Golem Knight onto the stage and Leon brought his Infernal Tyrant along with him. A temporary entrance had been made in the barrier, and the two entered from there.


    As the entrance slowly disappeared, the arena once again became an enclosed space.


    When looking from the inside, a grey barrier of light had completely covered the place. The view of the outside had also been obscured by a layer of mist. Neither Leon nor Rouneau could see the spectators nor hear any of their noise.


    This was set up to prevent outside interference in the duel!


    Leon brought the Infernal Tyrant to one side of the barrier and waited for the start of the duel. He turned just in time to catch the sinister smile on Rouneau''s face.


    "Kid, you had best yield quickly! Don''t get too heartbroken when your golem is torn to pieces!"


    Leon shook his head as he laughed. He had no intention of talking to someone that was about to lose to him.


    "I hereby announce, that the duel has started!" The silver-robed Mage''s voice rang out within the stage.


    Leon instantly took out a vial of grey potion and swallowed everything in one gulp.


    ...


    2027 Words

 Chapter 288 Golems

    Everything went black for a short two seconds.When he finally regained consciousness, he was placed within a crimson sea of fire. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    No, he hadn''t been thrown into a fire, but... it was his spirit consciousness had been inserted into the Infernal Tyrant''s control core. He had become an actual Infernal Tyrant!


    The crisp mechanical voice of the chip rang out in his mind the moment he woke up.


    "Beep. Spirit relocation completed. Connection passage stable. Consciousness relocation complete. Compatible affinity.... all factors have reached expected targets. Requesting instructions from host. Begin control? Warning. Amount of Dead Soul''s Water protecting spirit consciousness is limited. Estimated time remaining for spirit relocation: 2 hours, 17 minutes, 39 seconds. Countdown begins... "


    A giant screen of light filled with numbers appeared in his mind. The countdown timer until the effect of the Dead Soul''s Water was lost was written in the notification.


    "Assert complete control over this body. Prepare for battle!" Leon calmly replied.


    His Spirit frequency quickly adjusted and Leon was finally able to ''see'' everything that was happening.


    The ''Leon'' right now was no longer in his original body. He had transferred all of his spiritual consciousness into the control core of the Infernal Tyrant.


    Without the nurturing of the body''s flesh and blood, a human''s soul would typically fall into a state of constant weakening and withering. The reason Leon had to obtain the Dead Soul''s Water was to protect his soul from the cold chill of the crystal core. Without it, he probably wouldn''t have been able to exert enough strength to win the battle!


    It was a patch of bright red the moment Leon relocated his consciousness. He couldn''t see anything or hear anything. It wasn''t until he adjusted his Spirit frequency to that of the Tyrant''s that he was able to sense anything.


    The Infernal Tyrant was an elementium golem. The way it ''sees'' and ''listens'' had massive fundamental differences compared to human beings. They might have humanoid features such as a mouth, ears, and nose. But these were just appearances that the Tyrant imitated with the use of its flames. The main way it sensed the outside world was with the use of Spirit.


    Why was it that even a cold metallic golem needed the Spirit attribute? That was because Spirit was the only thing that allowed them to sense the material world, to differentiate between enemies and allow them to carry out the orders of their creators. Without Spirit, a metallic golem would be nothing more than a deaf and blind golem with no ability to see or hear! Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    Leon had been put into an elementium body, and removed from his familiar human shell. Without his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, he could only rely on the powerful Spiritual senses of an Mage.


    Leon''s spiritual appendages extended from the control core, following along the energy network within the Infernal Tyrant''s elementium body, and finally reached out of the Tyrant''s head, where the eyes were supposed to be. Every single material object was revealed in their most basic and original forms.


    The world that had lost its color, feeling, taste, and temperature was presented in Leon''s mind in a completely different form.


    He ''saw'' the floor beneath him in a different manner, he ''saw'' the various elementium particles wandering about in the air in a different light, and he ''saw'' the enemy waiting on the other side of the stage¨C the Golem Knight!


    A intense and brilliant shroud of light enveloped the Golem Knight''s body. Powerful energy radiated colorful and blinding lights, preventing Leon''s spiritual appendages from probing into its body.


    However, with the elementium sight''s powerful ability to see through energy and the chip''s detailed recording of every single piece of data, Leon slowly became able to see through the body of the Golem Knight. The metallic armor started to become semi-translucent. Some energy passages flowing within the runic circuits were revealed.


    Bright surges of energy were flowing through the numerous circuits. They continued to surge and circulate throughout the body, providing needed energy to all parts of the golem''s metallic form. There were even some small energy hubs functioning and outputting energy in certain crucial body parts. These hubs stored the energy and then output energy to entirety of the golem''s body. Pure and bright yellow energy coursed through these artificial ''blood vessels'', allowing the Golem Knight to exhibit terrifying combat prowess!


    The Golem Knight''s main energy reaction was located slightly below the middle of its chest, while its consciousness control hub was located where a human heart would be. That part of its body was protected by the thickest pieces of armor. Trying to break through the armor with physical and magical attacks from the outside was destined to be an arduous and futile task.


    Still, someone had to do the job, regardless of how difficult it was!


    Leon''s consciousness moved slightly, and the huge Infernal Tyrant instantly took two steps forward. Its giant fists of flame were gripped tightly into a fiery ball of destruction as it bent its body and let out a warcry at the Golem Knight.


    As Leon completed his battle preparations, Rouneau in the distance had also given a series of commands to the Golem Knight before him. He patted the golem''s cold steel back and shouted excitedly, "Fight, my warrior! Defeat the enemy and tear that flame giant to pieces... "


    The Golem Knight reached backwards with its hands as Rouneau shouted. It grabbed the massive tower shield and sharp knight''s sword and readied itself. The Golem Knight then bent its body and charged at the Infernal Tyrant like an actual human knight.


    A three meter tall metallic magical puppet and a four meter tall flame golem charged at each other simultaneously. The overwhelmingly ferocious momentum of the fight instantly lit up the atmosphere in the arena. Even the apprentices in the spectator''s seats were gripping their fists in excitement, gritting their teeth and waiting in anticipation of a fiery fight! A tremendous clash the likes of two planets crashing into each other!


    The distance between the two rapidly closed.


    The Infernal Tyrant, with its mastery over the elementium, quickly extended one of its hands. A chain of Explosive Fireballs fired off, shooting towards the charging Golem Knight. This chain of fireballs were all the size of washbasins. The temperature at their cores reached a terrifying two thousand degrees. The surrounding air had already been twisted and the light refracted by the sheer heat of the fireballs shooting through the air.


    The Golem Knight raised the tower shield in its left hand and braved the gauntlet of fireballs, recklessly continuing its crusade towards the enemy.


    Beng. Beng. Beng....


    The Explosive Fireballs crashed against the shield and exploded. Violent and oppressive flame shockwaves formed as they blew up in the air. Again and again, the shockwaves spread across the air between the two golems. The shattered fragments of the fireballs landed on the hardened stone floor and continued to burn stubbornly.


    Dong. Dong. Dong...


    Muffled explosions rang out repeatedly, but the Golem Knight had made it. It stepped through the sea of fire, enduring the violent storm of flames, and charged at the Tyrant.


    The very next second, a blinding and fearsome blade light sliced through the air. The giant flame humanoid had been cut into shreds of fire.


    Boom. The sound of a fire coming to life.


    The Infernal Tyrant appeared far behind the Golem Knight, under Leon''s control. The Infernal Tyrant continued staring at the enemy a hundred meters away. It was still following through its downward slash. The Tyrant raised a magma hand shrouded in flames as an unstable Magma Fireball formed in less than half a second.


    It shook its hand lightly, and this enhanced Magma Fireball launched towards the Golem Knight''s back. The Tyrant then took a step backwards and made a grabbing motion with its hands. Several spears of flames with mesmerizing patterns across their shafts quickly formed as the flames gathered. The Infernal Tyrant ceaselessly threw the spears at its opponent.


    The Golem Knight quickly locked onto the Infernal Tyrant once more, with the help of Rouneau''s remote control of the puppet. It turned around and easily deflected the rain of spears, then readied its sword and walked towards its enemy.


    As the two golems were playing catch-up, Rouneau raised his head to look at Leon, who was standing still at the edge of the stage. He let out a cold laugh in his heart, "Spirit transfer? Heh. This might make your golem a little more agile, but the golem core will be destroyed when you lose this battle. The spirit consciousness nested within will take tremendous backlash damage when that happens. The effects are severe for a newly advanced Mage like yourself. If you are lucky that might mean a reduction in your Spirit, and if you are unlucky, your spirit consciousness might just be shattered, turning you into a madman. Hmph! What an ignorant young man. I''ll teach you a lesson you will never forget!"


    Leon once again used his Fire Teleportation to put some distance between himself and the Golem Knight. The originally clumsy fellow suddenly made a sharp turn and quickly locked onto the Infernal Tyrant''s location. A massive amount of energy was ejected from its back.


    The energy blast pushed the Golem Knight forward, and its clumsy body suddenly became quick as a bird in flight. It shot through the air like a cannonball, carving two ditches into the ground as its leg dragged against the floor. It was almost upon the Tyrant in less than a few seconds.


    Five meters!


    In all seriousness, this was the first time the two golems had been so close to each other since the start of the fight.


    The next moment, the Golem Knight placed the shield on its back and gripped the sword with both of its hands. It unleashed a ferocious series of blows towards the Infernal Tyrant.


    Leon slowly retreated.


    As he retreated, he used the roaring flames to slowly roast the metal body of the opponent. He continued to dodge the storm of lightning-fast attacks as he did so.


    Any other golem might have been able to rely on their resilient steel bodies to trade blows with the Golem Knight. However, the Tyrant only had a body made of elementium. It didn''t matter how resilient the body was, it would never be able to compare to the true steel of the opponent.


    The Infernal Tyrant lost one-tenth of its elementium body in a few seconds.


    The intense flames and scorching heat from the Tyrant''s body had also started to soften the golem''s body. The decorations and delicate patterns at the borders of the armor had already been marred and damaged.


    That said, the damage wasn''t significant at all. The Golem Knight had a metallic body as thick as four fingers put together. The magical alloy also had decent elementium resistance. The Infernal Tyrant would probably have to keep at it for another fifteen to thirty minutes before it could melt through the armor with its flames.


    And so, the two gigantic Mage golems crashed together in a deathly battle under the excited gazes of the crowd!


    ...


    1879 Words

 Chapter 289 Battle

    The ravaging flames continued to spread across the stage into a sea of fire.Two massive creatures fought with each other in the middle of the flames.


    Both of them were golems without a single piece of flesh on their bodies, yet the intensity of their fight was still enough to excite the audience.


    The Golem Knight was a melee golem. It might have had some mid-ranged attacks, but against a powerful opponent like the Infernal Tyrant, it would have to connect with its blade to deal any significant damage. The Golem Knight gave up on its defensive tower shield. It had to prevent the opponent from using Fire Teleportation to leave its attack range, and the only way to do that was to stall the Tyrant by going all out with its sword techniques.


    Every time the Infernal Tyrant wanted to disengage with a Fire Teleportation, it would be interrupted by a savage battle technique. The Tyrant would then be forced to stay in place and endure the ceaseless blows from the Knight''s sword.


    Its flaming left arm was severed and instantly regenerated...


    The two legs below its body were cleaved into two and instantly regenerated...


    The blade cut right through the Tyrant''s right shoulder, sending flaming sparks through the air, and it instantly regenerated...


    A massive hole stabbed into its stomach and it instantly regenerated...


    The Infernal Tyrant was the most loyal and resilient target practice. One by one, it used its flame body to endure the slashes from the rampaging knight. It did so even as flames went flying everywhere and sparks filled the air.


    As expected of a terrifying golem born from fire; the Infernal Tyrant bled flames even as it was repeatedly injured. Its severed arm fell to the ground and burst into a massive fire. Its legs exploded into a sea of flames. Even the ''blood'' flowing out of its wounds was boiling magma.


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    Fire everywhere!


    Extreme flames that burned without fuel. The Tyrant''s severed body parts became a fearsome threat when paired with the Ring of Fire, which had been activated around the Infernal Tyrant. A hundred meter section of the battlefield had already turned into a black and red world of perpetual magma.


    The hardened stone floor had been scorched into viscous magma. The temperature of the air rapidly rose as the fires continued to burn. The temperature surrounding the two golems had reached a shocking seven thousand degrees.


    All substances unprotected by magic would instantly vaporize at this terrifying level of heat. Even the stone floor, enhanced with magic, couldn''t endure the heat. It started to become magma. The two golems were practically fighting in fire and lava.


    In truth, the Infernal Tyrant could probably still escape from the Golem Knight''s harassment by using both Leon and the chip''s precise controls. Still, Leon gritted his teeth and stood his ground in order to reach for the final victory.


    Indeed, at this point, it was hard to tell who had the upper hand!


    The Golem Knight boldly hacked away at the Infernal Tyrant. Every slash of its longsword, and every punch of its massive fists, would bring tremendous destruction to the Tyrant''s flame body. The severed body parts might be able to regenerate using flame elementium reserves within its core, but the loss of flame energy was certain. It was hard to replenish these energies from the air in a short period of time.


    The reason the Infernal Tyrant was able to rapidly create a home-field advantage for itself was due to this rapidly exhausting fire energy.


    Leon had only been focused on one thing as he controlled the Tyrant during this period of time!


    Leon had locked onto the Golem Knight''s right knee joint and was focusing the Blazing Light gathered in his hand right at that joint. He intended to use the fearsome and pure Blazing Light to melt the metal at the Golem Knight''s knee joint, causing the metal to distort under the heat and the stress of the weight it had to bear. This would severely weaken its mobility.


    It seemed that Golem Master Rouneau had used a humanoid design in the creation of the Golem Knight. This gave it swift limb movements and made it convenient for the golem to launch some of its more powerful knight battle-techniques. While this gave the Golem Knight agility far beyond the means of other ordinary metallic golems, it also inherited the flaws of a human construction. Your journey continues on My Virtual Library Empire


    Its joints were its greatest weakness!


    Both the energy reactors and the control cores were hidden beneath its thick armor. This was where its defense was the strongest. Ordinary attacks could not break through its tower shield and knight''s sword to crack that shell. As such, Leon went for the second best option and tried his best to damage the opponent''s lower joints.


    Mansordar Alloy was also used to create that part, and it had the same defensive capabilities as the magic-resistant tower shield. However, even the toughest of metals had their limits! The Infernal Tyrant was a top-grade golem casting the fearsome Blazing Light. Even if the Golem Knight intended to protect its joints, it was no match for Leon''s mad resolve to melt it with overwhelming heat!


    The two temporarily separated from each other after fifteen minutes of arduous fighting. Both of them were already badly damaged and could hardly continue fighting.


    The Infernal Tyrant had lost 46% of its energy reserves and certain parts of its body had already been destroyed over ten times. With the help of the chip''s detailed sensors and guidance, the Tyrant was wounded, but not dead. The golem core was still untouched.


    The Infernal Tyrant, despite its miserable appearance, was quickly able to return to peak condition after consuming 7% of its energy reserves. The Golem Knight on the other side of the arena also seemed to be in decent condition. After stepping out of the lava pool, it quickly brandished its sword and charged at the Infernal Tyrant.


    Just like that, the second round broke out in a new battlefield outside of the lava pool!


    The audience of Mages and apprentices silently watched. Their expressions were somber and serious. For the first time since the fight started, they had lost their confidence in the outcome of the battle. That was because they saw very clearly what was happening. The Golem Knight''s knee was no longer as flexible as before, when it had initiated its second charge at the imposing flame golem.


    Rouneau, who watched from a distance, was completely shocked at the situation. This wasn''t how the fight was supposed to go!


    As a golem master himself, Rouneau knew very well the strengths and weaknesses of metallic golems.


    Ordinary metallic golems were made of magical alloys with exceptional physical defense and acceptable magic resistance. This ensured that they had a perfect defense against piercing and slashing weapons, such as swords and spears. However, such golems were vulnerable to blunt, heavy weapons. They couldn''t endure the ferocious blows of maces, axes, and flails for long periods of time. The impact of such heavy blows could easily damage and displace the magical arrays and runic circuits within the golem''s body.


    This was why most ordinary magical puppets and animated statues were made to be as round and large as possible. They used their thick metallic bodies and heavy weight to bear the brunt of heavy blows and to reduce the impact on their fragile inner makings.


    Rouneau had fused a high-grade knight''s soul into the Golem Knight in order to maximize the benefits from using a precious Mansordar tower shield and a magical sword. The Golem Knight had been created with the slim figure of an agile fighter to bring out the soul''s combat abilities.


    The weakened defense could be compensated for by the tough tower shield. This Golem Knight had both the offensive abilities of an agile fighter and the defensive abilities of a shieldbearer.


    It was because of the knight soul''s exceptional defenses, offense, and battle techniques that the Golem Knight had the powerful combat strength to crush the golem constructs of two shops in a row.


    Still, he never expected his Golem Knight to face an enemy as powerful as the Infernal Tyrant at this time and place.


    The enemy''s elementium golem demonstrated unimaginable prowess in melee combat under the precise control of its golem master. One golem was a metallic puppet made of steel and iron, while the other was an elementium golem shrouded in flames. Yet the Golem Knight was unable to gain the upper hand in a melee fight!


    Rouneau saw what had transpired earlier. The flame-being had dodged every single one of the Golem Knight''s powerful battle techniques, even before they were launched. The flame golem had even used parts of its body to minimize the damage from the attacks it couldn''t dodge. None of the attacks could exhibit their true might.


    The Tyrant''s attack, on the other hand, was firm and stubborn. It continued to damage the Golem Knight''s joints and weaken its mobility.


    Rouneau couldn''t help but feel his heart burn with anxiousness as the two massive creatures continued to wreak havoc on the stage.


    Initially, he was still able to remain silent and uninvolved in the fight between the two. After all, the knight''s soul inside the puppet was far more proficient at combat than he was!


    However, Rouneau went into a rage when he witnessed an infuriating scene. The fearsome flame golem had traded a massive wound on its body for more minor damage to the knee joint.


    Dammit! This enemy even knew how to trick the Golem Knight''s battle instincts!


    The Golem Knight would always be faced with choices in battle; whether to strike and inflict more damage on the opponent, or to defend and prevent the enemy from continuing to wound its leg.


    But the flame humanoid was always exposing its own weaknesses to the Golem Knight and tricking the Knight into attacking it. While the Knight was preoccupied with dealing damage, the flame golem would slowly dole out damage to the knee joint, little by little.


    The Golem Knight only possessed a rigid soul that was the product of a forced fusion. It would recklessly continue to attack as long as it judged that the damage it caused greatly exceeded the damage it received. This particular trait was being exploited by the accursed flame golem.


    The opponent exhausted large amounts of its energy reserves to trade for some insignificant damage on his golem. However, the damaged location was extremely unique. It was the Golem Knight''s right knee joint.


    Rouneau didn''t dare leave the Golem Knight to its own devices once he understood what was happening. He forcefully gave a new command and made the Knight prioritize defending or dodging when its legs were attacked


    Unfortunately, the Infernal Tyrant was already counter-attacking at this point!


    ...


    The image before Leon''s eyes shook intensely.


    Multiple beeps rang out in his mind as the chip continued to issue alarms and warnings.


    "Beep. Warning. Warning. 78% of energy reserves exhausted. Estimated combat time remaining: 25 minutes, 17 seconds."


    Leon had let the Infernal Tyrant suffer tremendously in order to try and cripple a single leg. Sadly, even after exhausting most of the Tyrant''s energies, the opponent remained wounded but not crippled. It still retained powerful mobility and offense.


    The Golem Knight had also become increasingly careful under Rouneau''s instructions. There were fewer chances for the Infernal Tyrant to attack.


    At this rate, the opponent only needed to defend and counter-attack, and they would be able to exhaust all of the energy remaining in the Infernal Tyrant.


    Leon gritted his teeth and decided on a gamble! A risky gamble to turn the tides!


    ...


    1965 Words

 Chapter 290 Destruction

    Wuuu.The knight''s sword slashed at the Infernal Tyrant, causing violent winds to blow in every direction.


    The blade missed by fifty centimeters, but the ferocious air pressure still sliced apart the protective layer of fire on the Tyrant''s chest. A white mark was left behind on its chest.


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    The sword had just swept by, and already the tower shield slammed into its face. Again, even before the shield had arrived, the powerful wind pressure had already put out the flames on the Tyrant''s body.


    Even the insignificant air appeared to have turned solid at this moment!


    The energy reserve bar in Leon''s mind instantly fell by 2%. He had no choice but to give up on enduring the shield slam and quickly retreated. He frantically threw out Explosive Fireballs as he backed away, preventing the enemy from following up on its previous attack. Two Solar Rays shot out from the Tyrant''s eyes and sliced horizontally towards the Golem Knight''s neck.


    Explosive Fireballs continuously exploded between the two golems. The concussive flame shockwaves caused the two giants to stall in place, like tiny rafts rowing against the tide. It was hard for them to take a single step in the elementium storm.


    An Explosive Fireball could deal over 70 points of damage and was no small threat, even to an official Mage. However, neither of the magic golems were damaged by the multiple explosions.


    One was a metallic golem made of steel and iron. It could completely ignore all damage under 80 points. Any damage above 80 points would also be mitigated and reduced by the magical alloy''s magical resistance. An attack had to deal at least 100 points of damage to have any hope of leaving behind a visible wound.


    The Infernal Tyrant, on the other hand, was completely immune to weak fire damage. Only swift and fierce physical attacks, like those from the Golem Knight, could cause lasting energy loss.


    Leon hadn''t fired the Explosive Fireballs in hopes of dealing damage to the enemy. Rather, he was counting on the shockwaves from the explosives to break the Golem Knight''s combo chain. Otherwise, there was a real possibility that the Tyrant could just be chained to death.


    This was the truly fearsome skill of high-grade knights!


    You were never sent flying with a slam of a shield or the slash of a blade when you engaged in a melee. Once they landed the first battle technique on your body, you would lose all control over the fight. The only option left would be to slowly retreat backward as they continued to overwhelm you with their lightning-quick slashes until you were sliced to ribbons.


    Leon''s Tyrant hadn''t managed to dodge this string of attacks in the last bout. It was chained several times by the Golem Knight and instantly lost 17% of its energy reserves. Thus, Leon was now always primed to fire some Explosive Fireballs to interrupt the Golem Knight''s chain skills.


    Leon was now able to predict the Golem Knight''s actions to a certain extent. He used his elementium sight''s ability to see the flow of energy within its body as well as the chip''s analysis.


    Every time the energy in the Golem Knight''s body started to gather at the right wrist, the shoulder, and the waist, it meant that it was about to launch a Spinning Slash. Every time energy gathered at its feet and back, it meant that it was about to Charge. And when energy gathered at the legs and the right wrist, it was very likely to be a Forward Stab.


    After such a long time in combat, the chip had perfectly captured and analyzed all of the tricks and techniques the opponent possessed. The price the Tyrant had to pay for this knowledge was the loss of 85% of its energy!


    The Infernal Tyrant had never been hit by any of the enemy''s attacks once the chip completed its analysis. In fact, every time the opponent was about to launch an attack, the Infernal Tyrant would be able to predict the direction of the attack and instantly reposition itself. It would then take the small window of opportunity where the Golem Knight was stuck in its attack motion to repeatedly attack the Knight''s right knee joint.


    There was originally a knee guard on that spot. However, that piece of armor had been completely melted and destroyed by Leon''s constant effort. The Golem Knight''s ball-shaped knee joint was completely exposed.


    Perhaps because of Rouneau''s command, or the battle instincts of the Golem Knight itself, it quickly took up its massive tower shield and started protecting its lower limbs the moment it realized its knee joint was exposed.


    Though in doing so it lost its mobility. Both its movement and attack speed had been reduced by over 40%.


    Leon took this opportunity to control the Tyrant and put some distance between the two golems. He then started to bombard the Golem Knight at a distance. One after another the Magma Fireballs and Fire Core Explosions sailed through the air and ravaged the slow, immobile Knight.


    Pure elementium spells weren''t that effective against metal cans like the Golem Knight. Single-target spells that had both physical and elementium damage, like the Magma Fireball, had far more condensed and concentrated energy. Of course, Blazing Light was also very effective in dealing damage!


    However, Blazing Light was comparatively harder to form and required constant channeling. This made it easier for the Golem Knight to catch up and attack the Tyrant. Leon tried to cast Blazing Light several times, but he had to give up the idea in the end. Instead, he ravaged the opponent with streams of Magma Fireballs.


    Leon had even turned off his favorite Ring of Fire to reduce the energy consumption rate. The only two spells he was using were Fire Teleportation and Magma Fireball. Even if only two or three out of every ten attacks hit the opponent, it was more than enough to wear away at the Golem Knight.


    The lava splash from the Magma Fireball was extremely thick. It would cling to the Golem Knight''s body and continuously inflict small amounts of damage to the armor. The fragments of rock that formed after the magma cooled were also the greatest enemies of mechanical gears. They would easily get stuck in the turning gears and cause them to twist and deform.


    At this point in the battle, almost everyone with a pair of eyes could see that the Golem Knight''s past glory had faded. Even though it still had the initiative on the battlefield, it was dealing minimal damage to the Infernal Tyrant. Most of the time it was only chasing behind the flame golem''s ass.


    On the other hand, the Infernal Tyrant had complete control over the pace of battle after finally getting over that difficult start. It nimbly moved across the stage and continuously wore away at the Golem Knight''s body bit by bit with an unending assault of Magma Fireballs.


    Only the outer layer of the armor appeared to be melting, but that didn''t mean the Knight was winning. When it failed to destroy the elementium golem''s core in a melee fight, it had lost its control over the entire fight.


    Its injured right leg was also a major cause for concern!


    The tower shield might allow the Golem Knight to protect this point of weakness, but it was also a burden on the Knight''s speed. The Knight could no longer catch up to the Tyrant. It might have been able to do so if it tossed aside the shield, but then the joint...


    For a moment, even Golem Master Rouneau fell into a daze. He hesitated and no longer barked commands at his golem.


    Just then, Leon decided to launch an attack of his own initiative.


    There was no choice. The Infernal Tyrant had exhausted over 89% of its energy. There was no possibility of wearing down the enemy with a marathon. He had to conclude the battle soon.


    The Fire Lord''s Scepter suddenly appeared in the Tyrant''s hand. A massive pillar instantly exploded in front of it, and the equally massive body of the Fire Deity appeared on stage.


    Everyone was shocked for a moment.


    After all, the ten-meter-tall body of the Fire Deity was far too intimidating and deceptive.


    However, all the Mages let out a sigh and shook their heads in disappointment once they used their Spiritual senses to get a feel for the Fire Deity''s true power level.


    What use was a pseudo-Mage level elementium being in a golem fight of this level?


    The Fire Deity bent its body and charged towards the Golem Knight before the audience could lament any more.


    A distraction? Self-destruction? Or just...


    The Fire Deity self-destructed before Rouneau even had the time to give another command to the Golem Knight.


    A flame halo ravaged outward with the sudden explosion, instantly enveloping the Golem Knight in all its wrath and fury. Even the earth and skies turned into a chaotic sea of flames. A cage made of pure elementium fire materialized out of nowhere as the violent fires and the fearsome streams of flame coursed all over the stage. The Golem Knight had been trapped within.


    The next second the Infernal Tyrant''s domineering body, shrouded in flames, appeared beside the flame cage. A mysterious smile appeared on its black and red face and an odd black grimoire flew into its hands.


    The Scroll of Voodoo!


    As a piece of Soul Equipment, the Infernal Tyrant was able to use the Scroll of Voodoo once Leon had transferred his spiritual consciousness into the Tyrant''s core.


    A deep and powerful roar rang out in the air. The Infernal Tyrant quickly channeled the powerful spells contained within the Scroll and several Fire Core Explosions detonated against the Golem Knight''s body.


    The Fire Core Explosions each dealt up to 191 points of damage. Every single one of them could send an unprepared Mage to their grave. Six unbelievably powerful Fire Core Explosions had burst within the flame cage. The accumulated magic effect was enough to send chills down the spines of every Mage present.


    The center of the explosion had reached a terrifying ten thousand degrees. The damage to the Golem Knight was enough to destroy it.


    The Golem Knight could tell it was at a disadvantage. It frantically shielded its body with the tower shield and gathered all of its energy to charge through the flame cage. Unfortunately, the damage to its leg limited the speed at which it could move. The jets of flame quickly caught up after it barely broke out of the cage.


    The Golem Knight, despite being able to endure the seven thousand degrees earlier, was no longer able to tolerate the heat this time.


    The surface of the tower shield had turned a bright red from the heat and quickly softened. The molten liquid continuously flowed down. The shield was getting thinner and thinner. Finally, the shield completely eroded and scorching fires engulfed the Golem Knight''s body, making a mess of its delicate armor.


    All of the patterns and border carvings had melted in the heat like wax near a fire.


    The Golem Knight tried its very best to escape from the blazing fire, only to find a shadow towering over itself.


    A massive black-red silhouette stood before it.


    Boom. A massive explosion. The monstrous flame humanoid smashed one of its arms into the Knight''s weakened chest. It pulled, and a mechanical heart pulsing with magical energies was forcefully removed from the puppet. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Golem Knight stalled when it lost its control core. Its whole body glowed a brilliant red.


    Three seconds later a shocking explosion erupted on the stage. The energy balance within the Golem Knight''s body had gone out of control. It had self-destructed!


    ....


    1975 Words

 Chapter 291 Banquet

    The victor had been decided. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.A joyous Mage Nunnally and smiling Angus greeted Leon as he stepped out of the arena with the Infernal Tyrant.


    The Gerto Mages stared angrily at them, their faces full of killing intent.


    Both parties looked at Leon and the Tyrant, but no one paid any attention to the disheveled and defeated Rouneau.


    "Very well. The esoteric duel today has concluded." The silver-robed Mage stepped up as the mediator, "Shop 167 of Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street will continue to be managed by the Byron Clan. As the losing challengers, the Gerto Clan has to pay their compensations to the Byron Clan within three days. If the compensation is not paid on time, the Silver Union will exile the Gerto Clan and all property they have in the Castle in the Sky will be forfeited and put up for auction. I hope this will not be the case. Very well, now that the duel has come to a close, you may all leave."


    The silver-robed Mage took one last look at Leon and his golem before silently leaving.


    "Let''s go! We have to go back and have a proper celebration after this!" Even a cold and grim fellow like Mage Angus couldn''t help but betray a smile. It was clear how significant of a victory this was for the Byron Clan.


    The Byron Mages surrounded Leon, and together they returned to their clan outpost in high spirits.


    Nunnally smiled coldly as she spoke to the bald-headed man, whose face was turning a deathly green, "We can settle our debts in the future, Nako. I hope to see the compensation paid as soon as possible. You know where I''ll be. I''ll be waiting for the good news!"


    Every single muscle in the Gerto Clan Head''s body tensed up when he glared at Nunnally. You could hear the crackling and popping sounds from snapping muscles in his body.


    "Nunnally, you bastard. I want you dead... I''ll make sure you die a horrible death... "


    However, even a Second Grade Mage didn''t dare to start a fight here, regardless of how angry he was. The Silver Union''s esoteric Mages might not have been worth much in a fight, but their army of magical golems was a fearsome lot.


    The consequences of attacking Nunnally here would be severe. Despite being Second Grade, not only would Nako be unable to escape the Castle in the Sky, even his clan would be completely destroyed in the punishment that came after.


    Fortunately, the Gerto Clan had already won two esoteric duels before this. Even though these were the more rural areas of the outer circle, and were far less prosperous than Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street, it was enough for his clan to establish a foothold in the city. Still, Nako''s heart bled when he thought of the massive amount of resources he had to give to the Byron Clan three days from now.


    ...


    The fight at the arena propelled Leon to fame within the Twelfth District of the outer area.


    The outer circle was like the face of a massive clock. Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street, where the Byron Clan stood, was located at the twelve o''clock position, which was why it was also known as the Twelfth District. There were around two dozen shops here, and every single one of them was backed by famous Mage clans from the Continent.


    The fact that Leon''s name had spread among them was thanks to the might of the Infernal Tyrant!


    Outsider Mages like Leon were the most popular within the outer circle. The price of hiring them was far cheaper than the esoteric masters. The strength of these outsider Mages might vary, but a successful gamble on one of them could allow a clan to come back to life and preserve their spot in the Castle in the Sky.


    Leon''s representation of the Byron Clan this time meant that it was possible he could represent their clans. Thus, every single outer circle clan was extremely willing to associate with a pseudo-esoteric Mage who had a bright future ahead of him.


    ...


    Dusk.


    The dark curtain of night had enveloped the Castle in the Sky, but lights were glowing brightly at the Byron Clan''s place.


    A small celebration banquet was being held in the hall on the first floor. All seventeen shops of the Twelfth District had sent representatives to the banquet to celebrate and congratulate the Byron''s victory.


    With the conclusion of the esoteric duels, most of these seventeen clans had successfully defended their land. However, there were still five new clans that had managed to replace the previous shop owners. Everyone was taking the Byron Clan''s banquet as an opportunity to scheme and establish deals under the table.


    The old clans needed to reach new agreements, and the newer clans needed to make concessions or demonstrate sufficient influence to join their social circles. Some of the weaker clans also needed to establish alliances to ensure their continued prosperity.


    As such, almost every clan representative and stationed Mage were extremely busy during this banquet. They repeatedly went into hidden rooms and met with one representative after another. The only ones who had fun at this banquet were the newly advanced clan Mages that had been sent to the Castle in the Sky to experience and learn the intricacies of negotiation.


    The banquet wasn''t a very large affair, but the decorations were quite unique.


    The walls and floor had been decorated with glowstones. With how brightly they lit up the hall, no other lighting was needed.


    A dozen dinner tables were placed in an orderly fashion in a corner of the hall. Gold and silver plates and bowls filled the tables. Only delicacies were served. There were dishes like pan-seared ox''s kidney, quails stuffed with spices and fruits, shortbread with lark and partridge meat fillings, steak cooked with wine and onion, dormice soaked in honey...


    The waitresses serving the Mages in the hall were beauties of various races and appearances. There were the slim and light cat girls with delicate facial features, grey cat ears, and bushy tails on their backs. There were the succubi of the lower realms. Tall, curvaceous, pale skinned, seductive figures with tiny horns on their heads, bat wings on their backs, tails of bone, and hooves for feet.


    Apart from these two, there were also female elves with soft bodies and pointed ears, as well as tiger girls with fierce personalities and fur growing by the side of their faces. Leon even saw a fifty-centimeter dwarf girl among these beauties...


    Of course, without exception, they all had a tiny runic brand beneath their flimsy dresses. The Byron emblem was in the middle of these runic brands. The runic arrays surrounding the emblem served the purposes of sealing, locating, and various other functions that Leon couldn''t decipher.


    Leon already knew that the World of Mages was a massive plane that had enslaved thousands of lesser planes. The resources taken from these planes were endless, and the slaves that they had obtained covered a huge range of races.


    Of course, he had never had the opportunity to come into contact with these high-quality resources when he was only an apprentice. It was only now that he had become stronger and made a place for himself alongside the stronger Mages that they were now being presented to him.


    A beauty of another race might have been the princess or queen of an enslaved race back in their own plane. Here in this brightly lit Mage''s banquet, however, they were nothing more than slaves and maids that could be toyed with in whatever manner the Mages enjoyed.


    Some of the younger male and female Mages were surrounding these servants and talking about their appearances. They would even occasionally undress them and touch their bodies all over as if they were extremely interested in their biological construction.


    Leon was also favored by the young female Mages, with how handsome and charming a newly advanced Mage he was. Three or four young female Mages from various clans had surrounded him and were passionately flirting with him.


    Honestly, the moral limits of the young men and women had been completely removed when they became Mages. As talented individuals being cultivated by their clans, their futures were bright ones. This was why all of them were more willing to indulge in the pleasures of life, using the authority of their position to enjoy beauties and delicacies! After all, what awaited them afterward was a long and arduous journey of accumulating knowledge!


    They were still young and had no right to join the leaders of the clan, which gave them plenty of time and energy to pursue pleasure and enjoyment. Leon had heard plenty about how debaucherous and wasteful these youths were in their private lives. Every single one of these young male and female Mages had a harem of pretty boys and ladies waiting on them at home.


    However, those were only their sexual partners. If they really wanted an actual partner for life, they would have to choose from Mages of the same Grade.


    As long as two young Mages favored each other, they would instantly get into a relationship. The bold and direct nature of these female Mages when it came to carnal relationships was too much for Leon, the ultimate hermit, to deal with.


    There were also other, smaller social circles in the hall aside from these youths.


    One of them was the bloodline Mage''s circle.


    Those who could step foot in here were all elites among the bloodline Mages. The greatest indicator of this was the dense bloodline aura they radiated, as well as their obvious appearances. Most of them were similar to the creatures their bloodline came from.


    The Synos Clan managing the Black Rose was a clan of bloodline Mages. Their clan''s bloodline legacy was that of the Shadow Serpent. This was a terrifying shadow creature that was widely known to be able to reach the ranks of Sixth Grade.


    That was why all of the Mages from the Synos Clans had a black serpent''s head in place of a human one. It was the same whether they were male or female. All of them looked like a serpent. Their bodies also showed vague signs of blurring, as if they were constantly under the protection of shadows and darkness. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    These bloodlines Mages clearly disliked intimate relationships with Mages of other races. Their considerations and priorities when picking a partner or lover were focused on the opponent''s bloodline concentration and their Grade level. Appearance and personality was only a secondary thought.


    There was also a group of mutated Mages in the hall that had undergone severe body modifications. Perhaps parts of their bodies had been replaced with that of wild beasts, turned undead, or replaced with mechanical parts. Either way, the marks of magical modification had been left on each and every one of their bodies.


    There wasn''t much left about them that was human!


    ...


    1836 Words

 Chapter 1 - 1: Leon

    It was a tall stone tower, over a hundred meters in height.


    Its foundation was made entirely of obsidian, so when the darkness of the night fell, the entire tower would radiate a cold, silent glow, making it especially attractive to malevolent spirits and ghosts.


    Perhaps due to a lack of maintenance and basic care, the lower part of the tower was completely intertwined with the ever-growing vines of a Demonic Rattan, making its surface appear full of wooden thorns that gleamed like metal. If any ordinary man got entangled in these vines, all the blood in his body would be drained.


    Eventually, his corpse would join the others in the huge pile of bones lining the tower''s base.


    The sky darkened as night arrived, and a candle was lit inside the tower. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The candlelight flickered through the narrow window on the side of the tower. Not only did the light fail to bring any warmth, but instead, it sent a tremendous chill down the spine and heart.


    Leon, who was fifteen years old, sat before a worn wooden desk. There was a thick magic book spread open in front of him, from which he was silently copying. Although he had arrived in this world two years ago, the discomfort in his soul still gave him frequent headaches.


    His mind was distracted, scenes of what had happened back on Earth continually flashing before his eyes. In his distraction, the tip of his writing pen paused for a moment, causing a large blot of ink to form on the parchment, ruining it.


    "Damn! I failed again!"


    Leon''s brows tightened. He couldn''t help himself and clenched his fists. He wanted to scream in anger, but he took a deep breath and remained motionless for a while. After a long time, he finally managed to suppress the urge.


    This world was no longer the Earth he was familiar with, and the body he now inhabited was not his original body. It once belonged to an Apprentice Mage named Leon. In short, he was just a wandering soul who managed to take over this body at the moment the original Leon died.


    Retaining nothing from his original life, he had traveled from Earth, where magic did not exist, and arrived in this world of advanced magic, where demons and mindless creatures roamed freely. This world was a place where Mages stood at the top.


    The adaptation process nearly overwhelmed Lucas Tesla to the point where it almost ended there, but fortunately, after merging the memory fragments left in the body, Lucas Tesla gained basic language skills.


    Otherwise, just the strange pronunciations and grammar in this world, along with the completely different alphabet, which looked like swimming tadpoles, would have been enough to torture him to death.


    Even so, the headaches that frequently struck him deeply disturbed him.


    Here, he never dared to reveal his true identity. He could only use the name Leon, trying his best to fight for survival in this tall tower.


    Although he was simply an Apprentice Mage living under the Great Master Eclivel, his glorious status would attract the envy of most people living in this world. However, only those who truly lived in this tall tower would know that not only was this not an enviable position, but it could be considered a terrifying form of torture and punishment.


    The basic work of an Apprentice Mage was to work diligently and conscientiously, attending to the daily life of their Great Master, in this case, Great Master Eclivel. They were also tasked with cleaning magical experiment equipment, keeping the tower''s interior clean, tending to the demonic creatures outside the tower, and¡­ becoming part of Great Master Eclivel''s experiments.


    Although the last task was rare, when the wagons that brought slaves or prison convicts arrived several days late, the easily frustrated Great Master Eclivel, who lacked test subjects for his experiments, would order a random apprentice to become his temporary lab rat.


    It was said that Bleia, who came from Ante Province and lived next to Leon, was "fortunate" enough to become the experimental "partner" for Great Master Eclivel last month. She did not die from the magical experiment, though her body was seriously "contaminated," and she now had some horrible mutation.


    Since she came out of the lab wearing a thick cloak that covered her entire body, she ended up hiding in her room and never came out again.


    Many Apprentice Mages thought that Bleia might have died in her room.


    But Leon knew the truth: Bleia was still alive.


    At night, in the unnatural stillness of that tower, he could hear the sounds of agonized groans scratching against the wall. Because of this, while everyone was sleeping, he would sneak out of his room and throw some food, which he had brought into his room, into Bleia''s room through the tower''s small windows.


    Moreover, Leon would occasionally talk to her, calling her little princess, telling her she was beautiful, and promising that when she overcame whatever she was suffering, he would invite her to his room so they could have fun together.


    Although Leon had his own problems to deal with, he still felt fear deep inside. After all, if Bleia lost control, the first door she would break down in her complete madness would be Leon''s room. That''s why he invented all this, and to protect himself, he was capable of telling the sweetest lies.


    After all, even the most beastly creature would feel pain attacking someone who had a special place in their heart, even if that heart were made of stone; there were still ways to carve Leon''s name on the top of it with sweet lies.


    Today, the headache came at the wrong time. It chose to strike just when he was making a copy of the book. He was low on money, but he had wasted another piece of goatskin paper.


    Although it was just a crumpled, rough piece of goatskin paper, it was worth about two silver coins. In this world, the most commonly used currency was the gold coin. One gold coin could be exchanged for ten silver coins, and one silver coin could be exchanged for ten copper coins. Five copper coins were what most people in this world earned in a day.


    Therefore, to most, a common piece of goatskin paper was considered a huge fortune. But in this place, it was just trash that an Apprentice Mage could simply throw away.


    However, inside the Mage''s high tower, nothing was truly free.


    Leon had to pay for a room, food, and counsel, in addition to the cost of learning through his own efforts. The only ways to earn money required going outside the high magical tower to feed those brutal and ferocious demonic creatures, tending to those horrible and strange demonic plants, or searching for and gathering the magical materials specified by the Grand Master Eclivel.


    One could also earn money by cleaning some of the dangerous areas within the tower.


    While performing these tasks, they would use a magical talisman made by the Mage himself, which would allow them safe passage through the magical formation around the tower. But in this mysterious and strange world, no mere talisman could guarantee absolute safety.


    Every two months, there was always an incident where some unfortunate people were devoured by creatures or demonic plants when tending to them. Sometimes, people were struck down by magical energy while cleaning up one of the Great Mage''s experiments.


    Therefore, most of the safer tasks were taken by senior Apprentice Mages, and as a result, the weaker Apprentice Mages could only choose more dangerous tasks to earn their money and knowledge points so they could continue their magical training.


    The money was, naturally, used to buy daily necessities, while the knowledge points were used to purchase knowledge. It was a monetary system created by the Mage himself. In the library within the tower, each magic book was labeled with different knowledge point values. Books to be borrowed required knowledge points, not money.


    Apprentices had to work hard to earn knowledge points, but those points only allowed them to borrow the book for a very short period. The time was so short that it was not enough for an apprentice to master all the knowledge within the book. Therefore, most apprentices had made it a habit to copy the books themselves.


    Whenever they borrowed a magic book, the apprentice would put all their effort into copying the knowledge they needed so they could continue studying in the future. Copying books required goatskin paper and ink. Obviously, these were not free either, so Apprentice Mages needed more money.


    Of course, if an Apprentice Mage came from a wealthy family, they could spend a large amount of money in exchange for knowledge points. The exchange rate between them was one knowledge point for a hundred gold coins.


    For example, the "Glossary of Demonic Creatures," which Leon had borrowed today, cost him three knowledge points. He could only borrow it for half a day. Based on Leon''s best estimate, with his copying speed, he would need to borrow it three times to make a complete copy of this book.


    That would cost him a total of nine knowledge points. Leon would have to leave the tower for two consecutive weeks to earn those nine knowledge points.


    So, he did not feel so upset about wasting a piece of goatskin paper, but he was furious for having wasted two hours of his precious time copying the book.


    Leon took a deep breath and did his best to hold back his anger, as it would help when copying his book later. However, in the next moment, a beeping sound suddenly echoed in his brain.


    "Beep!"


    "Biological energy has reached the required amount."


    "Biological Assistance Chip, initializing..."


    Leon let out a gasp of surprise.


    "Biological Assistance Chip!"


    Some time ago, when he had just arrived in this new world, Leon indulged in fantasies where he became a powerful immortal who traveled to a new world with a divine weapon. But to his misfortune, aside from giving him frequent headaches, the chip had shown no signs of activation. Surprise, surprise... it finally decided to work today!


    After the chip finished adjusting to its new state, a graceful, emotionless female voice sounded in Leon''s brain.


    "Host detected!"


    "Establishing database..."


    "please wait..."


    Eh? It can still identify its new owner? That was unexpected.


    After all, this was a world of advanced magic. The entire dimension was filled with a mystical material called Elementium. Based on the differences of these basic "elements," the Elementium was classified into types such as Earth, Fire, Wind, Light, Darkness, etc.


    Mages would have different levels of affinity with these types of Elementium, and therefore, there were different variables among Mages. Since this system was completely different from Earth''s workings, Leon was worried about how to standardize data in this world, so having the chip here to try to quantify these things brought hope.


    ...


    1952 Words


    ...


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    ...


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 Chapter 2 - 2: Status

    After a long wait, the Biological Assistance Chip finally completed its first self-test.


    Soon, all of Leon''s basic attributes were projected in his mind.


    "Leon"


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Lawful Neutral


    Condition: Healthy


    HP: 11/11


    Apprentice Mage [Beginner]


    Experience: 614/1000


    "Attributes"


    Strength: 4


    Agility: 4


    Constitution: 3


    Spirit: 8


    "Skills:"


    1. Copy Document


    2. Spell Reading


    "


    Personal Abilities"


    1. Burning Hand


    In this world, every normal human being was born with some basic attributes in their body. After years of research and rankings conducted by generations upon generations of Mages, they finally categorized these into four different attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit. As one might guess, Mages were distinguished based on these four basic attributes.


    Strength was primarily used to quantify a person''s musculature and bodily power. This attribute was very important for close-combat Mages. The strength attribute affected base damage when using melee weapons and also influenced melee accuracy.


    For an average man, having 3 to 4 strength was quite normal. An adult with 5 strength would be considered rather strong.


    Agility was used to quantify coordination, flexibility, reflexes, and body balance. It was extremely vital for those warriors who wore light or medium armor, or for rogues wearing leather armor and for anyone aspiring to become a skilled archer.


    Constitution represented a person''s health and resilience. Any increase in constitution would improve a person''s Vitality and Concentration. Therefore, it was very important for all professions.


    Vitality, also known as the ability to withstand poison or disease.


    Concentration. This is a very important skill for sorcerers.


    The minimum constitution for any human is 1. If a human''s constitution dropped below 1, they would die.


    Spirit determined a person''s capacity to learn and deduce. This attribute was especially important for Mages because it decided the number of spells a Mage could cast. It also made casting spells easier and increased the power of their spells.


    Most animals had a Spirit of 1 or 2, while human-like creatures would have at least 3. If a common human wanted to become a Mage, they would need to have at least 21 Spirit. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After analyzing the effects of these attributes for Mages, Leon decided that the most important attribute for himself was Spirit. Once his Spirit reached 21, he would soar to new heights, officially becoming a Mage.


    The only way for him to increase his Spirit was through constant meditation, reading spell books and notebooks, and listening to the experiences of other veteran Mages.


    However, all of this was simply in front of him but out of his reach!


    Because, in this dark and cruel world of Mages, knowledge equaled power and was therefore difficult to find.


    Why did so many Apprentice Mages ignore the risks and remain in this place, even knowing there was great danger waiting for them everywhere? Simply put, it was because this was the only place where they could seek knowledge and resources for growth.


    Once they left this tall tower of magic, even if they possessed a fortune equivalent to a country''s wealth, they would have no way of obtaining magical knowledge and experience. Not like here, where they could obtain it systematically.


    In this fearsome world of Mages, all extraordinary spell skills and precious magical knowledge were monopolized by the Mages. It was completely impossible for common mortals to access them!


    Therefore, knowledge and resources were the wings for any Mage to fly toward their dream. Only by being a Mage could one have a bright future.


    After reading the basic attributes, Leon shifted his focus to the ''skills'' and ''personal ability'' sections.


    Leon only had two skills: Copy Document and Spell Reading. These were basic skills for all Apprentice Mages.


    One allowed apprentices to copy the magical knowledge they needed to learn, and the other allowed the user to read magical books.


    If a common man touched a magical book without having the "Spell Reading" skill, their mind would become confused by the words due to the supernatural power of the letters, and they would lose control of their body for a period of time.


    Only those, like Apprentice Mages, who had undergone strict mental training could overcome this psychic effect and access the true magical knowledge hidden within the book.


    The only skill listed under personal abilities was ''Burning Hand.'' This was the sole offensive magical skill Leon had learned in his 6 years as an Apprentice Mage. Burning Hand created a small ball of fire in the palm, allowing him to burn anyone who came too close.


    Unfortunately, Leon was still an Apprentice Mage. There was no way to fully master any spell. All he could do was follow the type of element that suited him best and try his utmost.


    And, of course, the element he had the greatest affinity with was fire!


    Unfortunately, this affinity was not well-regarded within the walls of this tall tower in the swamp. As everyone knew, the Grand Master Eclivel''s elemental affinities were Darkness and Wind. Leon''s path was not compatible with his mentor''s, making it much more difficult for him to receive guidance. Thus, most of the time, he had to rely on himself and study even more.


    In fact, this issue had been troubling Leon ever since he arrived in this world, but now that the Biological Assistance Chip had reactivated, Leon firmly believed he could find a suitable magical path for himself in the coming days.


    As for "Experience," after Leon read the chip''s related information, he began to gain a basic understanding of what it was. Through the process of organizing Leon''s past memories and knowledge, the Biological Assistance Chip identified two necessary conditions for Leon to advance and become a Mage.


    First, without a doubt, his Spirit needed to reach the minimum level for a Mage.


    For example, Leon''s Spirit Attribute was 8. This meant that he was a "wise man," much more intelligent than common people, but to advance and become a true Mage, he needed his Spirit Attribute to reach 21. That was a gap of 13 points. This could not be rushed. He would have to read a mountain of magical books to reach that level.


    Secondly, his own "Experience" had to reach a certain threshold as well.


    This meant that after Leon raised his Spirit Attribute to 21, he still needed to somehow elevate his Experience to the maximum level. Only then could he officially advance. He needed to accomplish both to become a Mage.


    There were many methods for gaining experience points. For instance, Copying Documents, Spell Reading, spending time practicing spells, crafting magical wands, identifying magical items... In short, any accumulation of knowledge involving magic would grant Leon a certain amount of Experience Points.


    All of this seemed easy, but it was actually quite difficult to accumulate Experience Points.


    Because only successful experiments or complete understanding of magic could grant Experience Points. Only after Leon fully read and mastered a magical book could he understand its use. If he read a book and still could not grasp the knowledge within, how could he grow?


    It was always easier said than done. Even with the help of the Biological Assistance Chip, Leon still needed to work hard to get what he wanted.


    Just as Leon was lost in his contemplative thoughts, the sound of footsteps came from the hallway outside his room.


    "Leon, hurry up, it''s our turn to do the tasks!" A rough voice called from outside his door.


    It was Nolan, an Apprentice Mage who was at the same level as Leon.


    Lower-level apprentices like them had to inspect the grounds surrounding the tower every seven days to search for magical materials and harvest them properly. This was also one of the daily tasks assigned to the apprentices by the tower''s master.


    Leon hurriedly tidied up his room, grabbed a black cloak hanging on the wall, opened the door, and stepped out of the room.


    Nolan had broad shoulders, a huge frame, a fierce face, and long disheveled hair. All of this made him look somewhat like a barbarian. It was said that he came from a kingdom in the Highlands of Grimm. According to rumors, people born in that land possessed barbarian lineage.


    Neither of them said anything when they met outside. They simply exchanged nods, then turned and walked down the dark hallway toward a staircase.


    Although it was daytime now, they did not encounter any other apprentices along the way. There were more than fifty official apprentices living in the tower, but most of the time, these apprentices were busy practicing their own magical spells or preparing all sorts of strange magical experiments. They rarely spoke in public places.


    This was one of the main reasons why this swamp tower always seemed so quiet.


    After walking through the long, dark hallway and descending the spiral stone staircase, they reached the main hall on the first level of the tower. Here, they finally encountered more people, as this was the space for the Approved Apprentices.


    Most of these people were actually children, between 8 and 14 years old, and there were about twenty of them.


    These young fellows came from all over, and they were all here with the dream of becoming the greatest Mage. But little did they know, the path to becoming a Mage was incredibly difficult and terrifying, and this path was all that awaited them in their future.


    In fact, there was a strict separation of the population in this tower. Generally, most of these children only had about 3 to 5 Spirit Points. Therefore, they were not currently considered real Apprentice Mages and could only be addressed as Approved Apprentices.


    All Approved Apprentices had to complete their basic training in language and writing. Additionally, they could only advance when they managed to sense their elemental affinity and gather Elementium while meditating. Only then would they have a chance to move up to the second floor and become an official Apprentice Mage.


    As for those who could never reach this basic requirement, they would be eliminated.


    Helping these young friends complete their meditation, teaching them language and writing skills, and instilling in them the basic rules of the magical world... of course, it was impossible for the Grand Master Mage to carry out these low-level tasks. Thus, it became part of the daily routine for official Apprentice Mages in the tower.


    But such an easy daily task never fell into Leon''s hands.


    After saying ''Hi'' to Ertil, who was teaching these Approved Apprentices in his language class, both men ignored the eager gazes of these young fellows and went straight to the main hall, quickly arriving at a tightly closed stone door.


    Nolan placed his right palm against the stone door and spoke in a low voice, "Curium ? Ada."


    Following the completion of the secret spell, the old-looking stone door slowly slid to both sides, revealing the dark and mysterious swamp outside the tower to the two of them.


    ...


    1834 Words

 Chapter 3 - 3: Swamp

    This was a strange and fearsome magical swamp.


    Although it was daytime, the thick clouds and mist meant that little light could pass through, making the world appear quite gloomy. The entire world seemed to have a dark, earthy yellow tone.


    After living in this environment for a long time, even a person''s character would change and become more ruthless.


    Both waited until the stone door behind them was completely closed, then Nolan lifted his hood and said:


    "I''m going this way."


    He didn''t wait for Leon''s response, simply turned and took a path that led to the left, which brought him to a narrow, winding trail paved with tiny white stones.


    Leon waited until Nolan''s bulky figure disappeared into the shadowy mist, then pulled up his hood, turned to the other side, and took the trail to the right.


    As he walked, he whispered, "Show me the data detected on Nolan."


    In the next second, a report on the Apprentice Mage Nolan, produced by the Biological Assistance Chip, was projected in his mind.


    "Nolan"


    Race: Human


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Apprentice Mage [Beginner]


    Experience: ¡ª


    "Attributes:"


    Strength: 7


    Agility: 3


    Physique: 8


    Spirit: 6


    ¡­


    Leon''s mouth twitched in surprise. With that Physique, why hadn''t this guy changed paths and become a Warrior? His strength and physique were double that of Leon''s. This meant that if he fought Nolan, it might only take a single punch to bring him down.


    But as an Apprentice Mage, Nolan had 6 Spirit, 2 less than Leon. No matter how hard Nolan tried, that innate advantage would be difficult to overcome.1


    Knowing this, Nolan was probably planning to follow the path of a Body Refining Mage. Using specific methods to strengthen his body, then using magical spells to aid his close-combat ability¡­ Perhaps that was the only path he could choose!


    Only by staying close to the target for a period could the Chip analyze and acquire such precise information. Monitoring the target''s movement and behavior. Undoubtedly, this allowed Leon to take a more proactive position when working with others. It also enabled him to avoid unnecessary risks.


    And that was, without a doubt, the most important thing for Leon! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But perhaps such a method would be useless against a real Mage, as their bodies sometimes radiated strong elemental energy. This was something Mages passively gained after their body accumulated a massive amount of energy. It was also how they prevented others from perceiving their strength.


    The amount of valuable information the Biological Assistance Chip could verify when the target was under the powerful interference of energy radiation was unknown. Not only that, but Leon was concerned that Mages might be able to detect his Biological Assistance Chip, so he needed to be more cautious when using it within the tower.


    The stony trail ahead remained winding as it led deeper into the foggy haze.


    Strange plants of all sizes, barely visible on either side of the path, included small, thick, cone-shaped trees, small leafy plants curling into spirals, rattan vines brushing overhead as he walked beneath them, and mystical, incredibly colorful flowers with petals as large as big vases¡­ there was also a muddy, stinking pond¡­


    Despite all of this making it seem like this was just an ordinary swamp, Leon knew very well that he could never take even a single step off the stony trail.


    To all those animals and plants that had managed to survive in this magical swamp, they were terrifying demons that would devour any human they encountered, leaving not even bones behind.


    These short, simple-looking trees were actually quite frightening. If a person got close enough to them, their swaying branches would instantly expand, grabbing and holding the person tightly within their clutches. At that moment, the blood rattans hanging from those trees would coil around the person, piercing countless sharp thorns into their body, slowly draining the blood drop by drop.


    Once the person''s blood was completely dried up, the remaining skin, flesh, and bones would become the best fertilizer for these killer trees.


    If one could safely dig up the blood-red soil beneath these killer trees, they would surely discover a massive pile of skeletons, some human and some animal. Without doing so, there was no evidence of any prey these plants had devoured!


    There were two reasons why this tower in the swamp cultivated these demonic plants. First, it was to prevent invasion by other humans. Second, it was so they could harvest some unique magical materials from the plants.


    The root of the Killer Tree and the blood sac that grew inside the Blood-Sucking Rattans were good tonics. They were a beneficial supplement for Mages lacking a strong physique. On a regular basis, an apprentice Mage had to risk being attacked by these demonic plants to gather materials. Therefore, this was a dangerous task that had a very high death toll.


    It was probably because they smelled the blood and flesh on Leon''s body that the dead swamp suddenly seemed to come alive. Consciously or unconsciously, all these demonic plants started twisting their bodies, branches, and roots slowly toward the stony trail.


    Leon pretended not to see the movements of these demonic plants. He was not truly worried about them at this moment.


    No matter how frenzied they were, they did not dare move onto the simple, clear stony trail beneath his feet, as if there was something on the path that they feared.


    "Consult the database, record and archive all magical plants in the surrounding area!"


    "Insufficient initial data¡­"


    "Root database is incomplete and unable to match species¡­"


    "Activating elemental vision, reconstructing database¡­"


    Following a series of warning tones from the chip, the image projected onto his retina began to flicker, then stabilized as a large amount of data started cascading like a waterfall before his eyes. At the same time, every object within his view was highlighted with different colored lights.


    Elemental vision? Was this a special ability he gained after the chip merged with his current body?


    The plants were highlighted with a green light, indicating that these plant demons contained many Elementium, which, surprisingly, were often found in natural plants. Other colors such as red, yellow, blue, and purple indicated the areas where respective energies were collected.


    Additionally, the humidity, temperature, wind speed, poison particle thickness, particle distribution of elements, and circulation¡ªall the data the chip could detect¡ªwere projected into his eyes in a dynamic, colorful graph.


    Leon frowned.


    This colorful, excessive retinal projection severely affected his normal vision. This was too much information.


    "Remove unnecessary colors¡­ remove scattered highlights¡­ only display vision within the most common energy bands¡­"


    After Leon issued his commands, one by one, the brilliant and colorful orb finally receded little by little, and all the items in his vision gradually returned to their normal colors.


    The thick, pale, shadowy mist now transformed into countless clumps, threads, and sheets of slow-moving elemental water particles. They were restrained by a mysterious force and couldn''t disperse, forced to cover this magical swamp month after month, year after year.


    Leon stopped moving and stood still. Hidden under the shadow of his hood was a pair of bright eyes, staring at the demonic plants beside the trail without blinking. With the help of his new vision, the true nature of these plants hidden under the guise of the swamp was finally revealed.


    Beneath the wrinkled, withered bark of the tree, there was an array of ghostly faces pressed together. These were all the souls trapped by the Killer Trees. Furthermore, Leon could "see" a green energy glow in the needle-like stingers at the edges of the Killer Tree''s branches. This energy indicated the presence of the paralytic poison the Killer Tree used to sedate its prey.


    As for the Blood-Sucking Rattans hanging from the Killer Tree, they looked utterly demonic, appearing completely red under his elemental vision. Pure blood flowed beneath their twisted, crawling green skin, and right at the point where they connected with the Killer Tree, inside a hollow cavity of the tree, numerous blood sacs the size of a human fist pulsed rhythmically, resembling human hearts.


    Caw ~ caw ~


    Accompanied by a few sharp caws, a group of Carrion Crows flew in and perched on a tree branch, shifting their blood-red eyes and staring at Leon.


    Honestly speaking, being stared at by such a group of menacing demons made Leon feel incredibly uneasy.


    In the face of these dangerous swamp demons, Leon didn''t dare to be even slightly careless. Although Carrion Crows weren''t considered strong demonic animals, their blood-red eyes possessed the ''Ruin'' ability, and there had been some horrific incidents where Apprentice Mages had been blinded by these crows.


    Seeing that these Carrion Crows were eager to attack, Leon raised his right arm and softly intoned a spell he had memorized.


    "Burning Hands, come forth!"


    "Burning Hands, I summon thee!"


    "Burning¡­"


    Five seconds after the spell was cast, a large, violent, twisting red magical fireball appeared in Leon''s hand.


    "Buzz~~"


    Leon''s entire right hand was completely engulfed by this magical fireball, yet he remained unharmed and unburned.


    This was his Burning Hand spell!


    After spending six years in the Magic Tower, this was the only spell Leon had managed to master.


    With Leon''s current ability, he could barely extend the flame up to 5 paces. That was his limit. Thus, it could currently be considered a close-range spell.


    The fiercely burning magical flame illuminated the surrounding mist. The powerful ripples generated by the fire element finally made these demons realize that this human in front of them was not someone they could easily capture.


    As for the demons that were slowly approaching Leon, it seemed they were struck by great terror, and all of them quickly fled from the sides of the trail in a panic. Additionally, the group of Carrion Crows let out loud caws as they flew into the sky, circling briefly in the air above before disappearing into the depths of the fog.


    Leon let out a long sigh of relief. With that, the pressure on him was eased.


    None of these demons dared to step onto the stony trail, but that did not stop them from using their own methods to try to lure or intimidate Apprentice Mages into leaving the path.


    If Leon had been frightened by the terrifying scene of being surrounded by demons and, in his panic, accidentally stepped off the boundaries of this stony trail¡­ even with the help of the Magic Talisman, he would likely face a terrible death.


    The soul, blood, and flesh of an Apprentice Mage. Without a doubt, they were far more delicious than common humans or wild beasts. Moreover, this did not violate the agreement between the demons and the Magic Tower. Therefore, every inspection journey outside the tower was a complete test of willpower. Once these demons found a weakness in the mind, the future of that person would not be promising.


    "Record everything you can about these demons!" Leon said calmly.


    "Beep¡­"


    "Recording completed!"


    Host, name the creatures in the order they are presented.


    Images of creatures appeared before his eyes.


    "Killer Tree¡­ Blood-Sucking Rattans¡­ Carrion Crows¡­"


    "Naming completed!"


    "New information has been recorded in the database."


    ...


    1875 Words

 Chapter 4 - 4: Return

    Change: The Biological Assistance Chip will now be called BioChip.


    ...


    While most of the demons backed away, frightened by the magical flame that had just appeared in the air, Leon jumped out of the way, dug into the ground beneath a nearby Murdering Tree, used his magical flame to burn through the thick root of the tree, and finally saw the material he came to harvest.


    Among the tangled roots and pale white human bones were some small fleshy root nodes. Some were white, some were red, and there were even a few colored violet. Leon suppressed the disgust he felt and, using a small knife he carried with him, carefully harvested three of the purple nodes and placed them in his waist pocket. Then, he quickly ran back to the road.


    If this task hadn''t been so important, he would never have strayed from the edge of the road! Even though he had moved with great speed, those demons that had already fled gathered again. Moreover, the Bloodsucking Rattans that hung from the Murdering Trees now occupied the space he had entered while digging the roots.


    If he had been a second slower, he wouldn''t have escaped without a tough fight!


    In fact, thanks to his new "elemental vision," he was able to directly find the roots of the Murdering Tree''s core. If it had been before, he would have had to make repeated trips to find his harvest. The farther he went down the road, the greater the risk.


    He continued following the mysterious path for another two hundred meters, soon leaving the main group of Murdering Trees. In front of him, he saw a horrifying ghost tree, which seemed alive as it stretched over the rocky trail; the vines and branches of trees hanging from it looked alive as they swayed in the air.


    Taking the magical talisman from under his shirt, Leon whispered the secret spell that every Apprentice Mage had to master.


    "Muhantoria ? Sinra."


    Upon completing the secret magical spell, a mysterious and invisible force erupted from the talisman, quickly covering every inch of his surroundings. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A warning exploded in Leon''s mind.


    "Abnormal force field detected!"


    The functionality of this chip is being interfered with¡­


    The voice of the chip grew weaker and weaker. It slowly faded into a soft whimper before finally falling completely silent.


    Leon ignored the chip and began to walk forward, holding the magical talisman above his head. With each step he took, the vines and tree branches in front of him recoiled. Eventually, they parted, allowing him to pass and continue on his way.


    Now that he was done with the Murdering Trees and the Bloodsucking Rattans, it was time for him to enter what was known as a paradise for a type of being known as Demonic Baby. Leon''s heart was filled with a strong fear for this place.


    The area right after the ghost tree was filled with demons. They called it the Garden of Whispers.


    If one looked off the path, they would see fields of flowers, but all of those fields were filled with ashes, corpses, and countless demons.


    The unique environment of the magical swamp made this place a paradise for Demonic Babies, Banshees, and Flower Fairies, which were simply twisted creatures whose only desire was to fill their stomachs with the corpses and souls of the unprepared beings who entered this place.


    Whenever a fool entered this place, their fate was to collapse under the endless influences and evil illusions and become fertilizer for these unique plants, which thrived on death and despair.


    Mushrooms with human faces gathered on both sides of the path. They were all holding hands and singing a cheerful melody, warmly beckoning Leon to join them. These little things looked like small mushrooms with hands and feet. They had a pattern on their caps resembling a human face.


    Although these human-faced mushrooms had small hands and cute little feet and were no more than a foot tall, when they gathered together, jumping and laughing, it sent chills down Leon''s spine.


    "Warning¡­"


    "Warning¡­"


    "Strange energy is affecting the host¡­"


    "Recommended that the host leave this place immediately¡­"


    Leon quickly moved away from the dancing mushrooms. As he distanced himself from them, the chill running down his spine finally diminished.


    No matter how cute these human-faced mushrooms were, they were still true carnivorous demons, known for sparing no soul of their prey. The original form of these demons was actually a type of white mushroom that had been injected with vast and potent dark Elementium.


    Individually, they only possessed a weak illusion ability, which was definitely not enough for them to capture prey like a human, who was much larger than they were.


    But these creatures lived in groups.


    When hundreds of human-faced mushrooms gathered, they could form a large illusory region, causing their prey to get lost without even realizing it. Thus, if someone stumbled upon and became trapped in a large group of human-faced mushrooms, their victim might still have a smile on their face, being completely immersed in some kind of fantasy!


    For an official Mage, these human-faced mushrooms, which only possessed basic illusion abilities, were simply good material to enhance their own magic. But for an Apprentice Mage like Leon, he would face the risk of being killed by them every time he encountered them.


    If Leon could not withstand the illusory region created by these human-faced mushrooms and veer off the path of his own accord, then these creatures could enjoy a grand feast without violating the agreement made with the tower!


    Therefore, returning to these smiling yet insidious demons, who continued to approach him, Leon smiled and quickly pulled out an egg-sized stone, throwing it directly into the center of the dancing mushrooms.


    "Zosh~~"


    In the next moment, a blue flash erupted from the stone as a faint lightning bolt struck everything nearby.


    "Buzzz~~"


    "Bang~~"


    Five human-faced mushrooms lay lifeless on the ground. All the other human-faced mushrooms were frightened and fled in all directions, hiding in the nearby foliage.


    Leon walked over to the five corpses of the human-faced mushrooms, carefully picked them up, and placed them all in his waist pocket. Then he grabbed the small round stone and returned to the road.


    The small egg-shaped stone was a Thunder Stone, which he had bought from the apprentice Rick for a high price. When activated, it shook violently for a moment before releasing a small explosion of lightning that dealt 5 points of electric damage. It was the perfect weapon to deal with these human-faced mushrooms, which were quite weak.


    After all, his spell "Flaming Hand" was quite destructive, and thus he needed another method.


    None of these human-faced mushrooms dared to show their faces after being attacked. The countless glances and noisy whispers followed Leon, leaving his hair standing on end.


    The human-faced mushrooms were one of the materials he had to gather for his task. Therefore, once Leon completed this part of the task, he quickly hurried down the winding path, not daring to linger in this place any longer.


    To be honest, among all the lands around the tower, this place was known for having the highest mortality rate among Apprentices!


    Leaving the flower-filled fields where the human-faced mushrooms grew, Leon soon arrived at the region where the Demonic Babies lived.


    The Demonic Baby was a small monster with a tiny wrinkled body that resembled a human baby. They also had something like an umbilical cord trailing behind them as they moved. They crawled on the ground, but the speed at which they crawled was extremely fast.


    These Demonic Babies were not real babies, but truly horrifying monsters. They possessed an innate ability that was very similar to a "Curse." With this "Curse," their words and wills would unite to become reality. One could imagine their power as something akin to the spell "Wish."


    Unfortunately, they were all evil creatures with absolutely twisted minds, and their hearts were filled with vicious hatred. So don''t expect them to grant you good wishes; you could only reap the endless and vicious abuse of the Demonic Babies'' curse.


    When dozens of Demonic Babies gather and unleash their most powerful curses toward a target, even a powerful Earth Bear would be greatly weakened by the stacking of their evil intentions. After that, the Demonic Babies could easily kill their victim.


    Walking among this group of terrible monsters, one would need a heart and iron will, or else they would end up having their skin stripped and bones dismantled by the Demonic Babies, soon becoming one of the many wandering souls in this Garden of Whispers.


    Leon quickened his pace as he dashed through the desolate shrubs of the Garden. He didn''t have the courage to stop and simply held the talisman tightly against his chest, running faster and faster as he crossed this part of the swamp.


    The moment the sharp screams of the Demonic Babies began to fill his ears, Leon was running. Though it was terrifying, he soon left the Garden of Whispers, breathing heavily as he turned onto another narrow path.


    Although he had set out to gather materials, the most important part of this routine task was to inspect the activity of the demons near the tower and check for anything out of place, such as signs that a stranger had tried to come into this area. Every seven days, he had to take note of the activity of all the demons around the tower, properly gathering some magical materials, just as he had done.


    This was the purpose of Leon''s trip.


    In fact, the region he was inspecting was truly part of the inner boundary of the magical swamp. It was very rare for a stranger to actually come to the swamp. After all, demons created by Mages were extremely dangerous, and even using a magical talisman would not be enough to guarantee the safety of an Apprentice Mage.


    As for ordinary humans trying to sneak into this place to steal resources from a Mage, the chances of them getting past all these monstrous demons were almost impossible.


    To be honest, mortals would probably not even get past the outer perimeter of the magical swamp.


    But, according to Leon''s knowledge, sometimes the Mage Tower would deliberately disable some of the defense mechanisms of the outer perimeter, actively luring some ordinary humans into the depths of the swamp. At that moment, the swamp would turn into a demonic carnival while everyone enjoyed the deaths of the ignorant!


    The Mage Tower was a huge ring-shaped structure, and the landscape around its base was extremely complicated. The demons were distributed throughout the swamp in a very methodical manner. Therefore, each inspection trip would require at least two Apprentice Mages¡ªone going clockwise and the other counterclockwise. They would follow a fixed route, crossing most of the demon-infested areas.


    Starting from the front door of the tower and gathering at the back door, once they completed this circular route, their inspection would be considered complete.


    Each inspection task awarded them four knowledge points and some gold coins. Compared to other tasks within the tower, the reward for knowledge points was quite good. But even with such a high reward, most knowledge-hungry Apprentice Mages would still steer clear of this inspection task, avoiding it like the plague.


    The reason for this was obvious: the mortality rate for the inspection task was definitely the highest among all tasks in the tower! None of the other tasks could surpass it.


    For this inspection trip, Leon took the counterclockwise route, which required him to cross the grove of Killing Trees, the field of human-faced mushrooms, the Garden of Whispers, and a few other areas. As for the other Apprentice Mage, Nolan, he took the clockwise route, but it was also not a safe path.


    After all, those Giant Alligators and the Parasite Insect Sovereigns were just as dangerous as some of the creatures on his side!


    Especially when one had to gather some Alligator eggs or insect cocoons. Doing such things required entering their nests, and that was just as dangerous as the inspection task going clockwise. Therefore, when Leon saw Nolan at the back door of the tower, he felt relieved that Nolan had survived as well.


    Neither of the guys spoke much after they met. They simply nodded indifferently and continued toward the tower.


    It was the Apprentice Leader, Theodore, who was waiting for them there. After sending the necessary items for the task, the two were basically free for the next six days. As for the knowledge points, Theodore registered them on his magical talisman using a secret method.


    For all the apprentices in the tower, their magical talisman was truly a symbol of their identity.


    ...


    2142 Words

 Chapter 5 - 5: Books

    After turning in his assignment and receiving the reward, Nolan immediately ran back to his room, obviously intending to sleep and rest. After all, each inspection trip would push one''s nerves to the limit and truly exhaust one''s stamina. In contrast to Nolan''s actions, Leon hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the library.


    It was around noon, so there weren''t many apprentices inside the library.


    It was a simple stone room with dozens of yellowing wooden shelves placed against the walls. On top of these shelves were all kinds of magical and spell books made of various materials and in all shapes and sizes. The man who managed these books was a middle-aged Intermediate Mage Apprentice.


    For these Intermediate Mage Apprentices, who had only reached this level with the help of age-related experience, the Mage Tower would never put in more effort to cultivate them. Moreover, this group of Apprentices had abandoned their ambitions. They were unwilling to undertake these excessively risky missions, yet at the same time, they refused to return to the life of ordinary humans.


    Therefore, they had become a unique group within the Mage Apprentices.


    Although a librarian received only one knowledge point every seven days, it was an easy job with no danger involved. This was also the reason why this task had been taken on by these Intermediate Mage Apprentices. For someone like Leon, who had no one to rely on and was always alone, all he could do was take on those dangerous missions.


    Leon did not rush to the shelves in the deeper area, as he usually did. Instead, he was browsing through each bookcase, occasionally picking up a book and flipping through a few pages. All the books in this library were magic books.


    When they were not borrowed, only the introduction was visible to a reader, while all the other content of the book was perpetually covered by a layer of dark floating mist, ensuring that no one could read it.


    Leon never dared to underestimate this dark mist because it was personally designed by the master of this tower, the formidable Mage Eclivel. Without undergoing treatment from a special magical formation, no apprentice could read the content of the book, not even a single character.


    If someone began to think about breaking this mechanism, they would trigger a hidden magical formation, attracting the wrath and punishment of the Mage himself.


    Although the consequences could be quite terrible, Leon still wanted to test whether the BioChip could give him an advantage in this situation. After all, knowledge points were very hard to gain, and currently, Leon only had 7 points. The knowledge points alone were not enough to meet the necessary requirements for Spirit growth.


    He picked up the book "The History of the Mage" and pretended to be seriously reading the introduction. But in reality, in the back of his mind, he was silently issuing commands to the BioChip.


    "Scan this book. Try to see if you can obtain the content without triggering the magical formation!"


    Command received, processing mission... initiating deep scan...


    Leon lowered his head.


    When the BioChip was scanning things outside of his body, his eyes would take on a red hue. This required him to mask his eyes to prevent anyone from noticing something abnormal through his gaze.


    After submitting his task, Nolan immediately ran back to his room, obviously intending to take a nap. After all, every inspection trip would push the nerves to their limits, and it really drained his stamina. In contrast to Nolan''s actions, Leon hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked toward the library.


    It was around noon, so there weren''t many apprentices inside the library.


    It was a simple stone room with dozens of yellowing wooden shelves placed against the walls. On top of these shelves were all kinds of magical and spell books made of various materials and in all shapes and sizes. The man who managed these books was a middle-aged Intermediate Mage Apprentice.


    For these Intermediate Mage Apprentices, who had only reached this level with the help of age-related experience, the Mage Tower would never put in more effort to cultivate them. Moreover, this group of Apprentices had abandoned their ambitions. They were unwilling to undertake these excessively risky missions, yet at the same time, they refused to return to the life of ordinary humans.


    Therefore, they had become a unique group within the Mage Apprentices.


    Although a librarian received only one knowledge point every seven days, it was an easy job with no danger involved. This was also the reason why this task had been taken on by these Intermediate Mage Apprentices. For someone like Leon, who had no one to rely on and was always alone, all he could do was take on those dangerous missions.


    Leon did not rush to the shelves in the deeper area, as he usually did. Instead, he was browsing through each bookcase, occasionally picking up a book and flipping through a few pages. All the books in this library were magic books.


    When they were not borrowed, only the introduction was visible to a reader, while all the other content of the book was perpetually covered by a layer of dark floating mist, ensuring that no one could read it.


    Leon never dared to underestimate this dark mist because it was personally designed by the master of this tower, the formidable Mage Eclivel. Without undergoing treatment from a special magical formation, no apprentice could read the content of the book, not even a single character.


    If someone began to think about breaking this mechanism, they would trigger a hidden magical formation, attracting the wrath and punishment of the Mage himself.


    Although the consequences could be quite terrible, Leon still wanted to test whether the BioChip could give him an advantage in this situation. After all, knowledge points were very hard to gain, and currently, Leon only had 7 points. The knowledge points alone were not enough to meet the necessary requirements for Spirit growth.


    He picked up the book "The History of the Mage" and pretended to be seriously reading the introduction. But in reality, in the back of his mind, he was silently issuing commands to the BioChip.


    "Scan this book. Try to see if you can obtain the content without triggering the magical formation!"


    "Command received!"


    "Processing mission..."


    "Initiating deep scan..."


    Leon lowered his head.


    When the BioChip was scanning things outside of his body, his eyes would take on a red hue. This required him to mask his eyes to prevent anyone from noticing something abnormal through his gaze.


    Upon opening the door and entering his room, the first thing Leon did was glance at the floor beneath his feet.


    On the floor, near the door, there was a faint ripple of fire elemental energy.


    The energy came from elemental fire particles intentionally placed near the door. They had no significant function, but when someone passed through that point, the elemental energy around that person would inadvertently alter the arrangement of those fire elemental particles. With this, Leon could easily tell if someone had entered his room while he was away.


    People in this community of Mages rarely revealed their true faces. Those who were not proactive in their preparations and self-defense would not last long in this tower.


    Gently closing the door, Leon impatiently infused all the magical notes he had copied over the past few years. After serious calculations, Leon believed he currently possessed five complete magical books.


    The first book was undoubtedly the "Glossary of All Things." It was the fundamental book for all Mage Apprentices.


    Leon sat down at his wooden desk, thoroughly reading this "Glossary of All Things." Although he had memorized most of the book''s content, it was inevitable that he would still forget some, especially the small details.


    At first, he did his best to recite the book as he read. He was making the BioChip copy all the content through his eyes to store, classify, and categorize it according to its specifications.


    As time went on, Leon stopped wasting his energy thinking or even reading. He simply became a human copying machine, his eyes continuously shimmering as they scanned over each word, magical inscription, and image¡­ all being copied at high speed.


    In less than fifteen minutes, the "Glossary of All Things" was completely saved in the Chip''s memory!


    Even Leon himself could not control his shock at such extreme speed.


    As the fundamental book for all Mage Apprentices, this "Glossary of All Things" recorded over ten thousand different races and unique creatures discovered on the Mage Continent. It also recorded most commonly found plants, animals, minerals, special magical materials¡­ In total, this book had over thirty thousand entries.


    During the first two years, Leon spent 17 months creating copies and memorizing the entire book, but now it took less than fifteen minutes to save it completely.


    Overcoming his shock at the Chip''s incredible speed, Leon closed the book and slowly began to recall the copied memory in his mind. Information about any species, fauna, or flora would appear in his mind as soon as he thought about it. The Chip would also project related information and data in his mind. This, indeed, saved Leon a lot of time.


    Good. This was really useful! He would never have to worry about struggling to memorize that difficult-to-understand magical knowledge.


    Being completely taken aback with excitement, Leon did not pay attention to the growing pain in his head. He couldn''t wait and quickly took out the second book, starting to duplicate it using the same method.


    "The Beginning of Spiritual Force," an orthodox book on Magic Theory. It primarily explained the raw source and application of Spirit energy used by Mages. It also contained some simple methods for exerting Spiritual Force.


    After finishing the copy of the second book, Leon gently touched his head. He felt incredibly dizzy and fatigued at the same time.


    These¡­ these were the symptoms of Spirit energy exhaustion!


    As a Mage Apprentice, he was extremely familiar with this situation. During the period when he had just learned the Burning Hand spell, since he still couldn''t master the production of his magical energy, he always depleted his pitiful reserve of Spirit energy. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the later stages, as he became more familiar with casting Burning Hand, he finally gained a level of proficiency in using Spirit energy without being taught by anyone. When someone controls magical energy, the Spirit energy is proportional to the strength of their soul. The stronger the soul, the more Spirit energy it could utilize. Thus, that person would be able to cast more magical spells.


    Take Leon as an example! He had a Spirit of 8, and his magical energy was ten times his Spirit. In this case, 80 points. There were some Mages who liked to refer to Magical Energy as "Mage Energy."


    In any case, those 80 points of Mage Energy were all the abilities Leon had at that moment.


    ...


    1843 Words

 Chapter 6 - 6: Killer

    A simple spell like Fiery Hands would require Leon to spend approximately 20 Mage Energy points, meaning he could cast four Fiery Hands in succession. But, of course, this was only in theory, as it was extremely difficult to achieve in reality.


    When a Mage had a full "Energy Reserve," their mind operated at its best. It didn''t matter if they were pondering difficult questions or casting spells; they would perform best when their energy reserve was full. However, when a Mage''s energy reserve dropped to ? of the maximum, their mind would become fatigued.


    The most significant symptom of this would be dizziness and swelling of certain tissues in the brain, causing the Mage to feel ill and start to vomit.


    If he attempted to cast a spell at that moment, even one that would normally take only five seconds, he might not be able to cast it in ten seconds, and there was a good chance he wouldn''t be able to cast the spell at all.


    Therefore, when Mages were forced to cast spells frequently, they did their best to conserve a portion of their Spirit energy to avoid all the negative side effects of Spirit Fatigue.


    From the symptoms Leon was experiencing, it was clear that his energy reserve was at less than 5%, and thus, he was suffering from Spirit Fatigue. The only solution to this was to have a good night''s sleep. After all, sleep is how the brain rejuvenates.


    The Chip was great, but it consumed a large amount of Leon''s Spirit energy when it was operating. So, once he realized he was suffering from Spirit Fatigue, Leon contorted against his bed, threw himself onto it, and immediately fell asleep.


    The rest of the day passed as he slept, and the darkness of night settled over the swamp. Now, the moon rose in the dark sky, although its surface was rarely seen through the dense clouds and fog. A deep silence reigned over the tranquil Swamp Tower, as many of its inhabitants slept.


    During this time, a tall and strange dark shadow suddenly appeared beside Leon''s bed, leaning over him and silently watching him.


    As a result of the nausea from his severe Spirit Fatigue, Leon did not sleep well. Even though he was asleep, his brows were tightly knit in a grimace, and his face was filled with anguish.


    The strange-looking human figure was backlit by the moonlight, so its entire body was shrouded in indescribable darkness. No one could clearly see its face, but no one could ignore the pair of blood-red eyes gleaming in that invisible face. Those eyes would make anyone who saw them tremble in fear.


    "Blood... blood... I need blood..."


    The dark shadow stretched out its two arms, as if to grasp Leon''s neck, but for some unknown reason, it always withdrew, as if reluctant to do what it was trying to do.


    "No! You can''t hurt him. He... He... Was the only one who didn''t turn his back on me." S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Its behavior seemed to suggest that it was experiencing a fierce mental battle within itself.


    "Remember when he called me a little princess? Besides.... He... He... Dared to say that we would have fun in his room when I got better¡­"


    "Hahaha~~~"


    "For daring to say such things, he must die¡­"


    "NOOOO!!"


    "Harming him now would be worse than a knife cutting into my flesh."


    After a few minutes, it seemed to regain control of itself. It paused for a moment, then looked at Leon, who was completely unaware of what was happening around him. Moments later, it turned and leaped through the window.


    This window opened to the outside of the tower. This meant that there was a formidable Magical Formation attached to it, which would make it impossible for any intruder to walk freely in this place. But strangely, when this dark shadow grasped the wall of the tower outside Leon''s room, it never triggered the magical formation surrounding the tower.


    If Leon had seen this, he would have realized that this being was a Mage Apprentice, as only Mage Apprentices had the Magical Talismans that allowed them to travel freely through the magical formation.


    The dark shadow was climbing up the outer wall of the Mage Tower at an extremely fast speed. Its movements were quick and agile, but it appeared effortless as the shadow flowed around the vertical wall of the tower. This was an impressively impossible feat of strength and dexterity that would have astonished anyone who witnessed it.


    Surprisingly, it seemed to intentionally move through the dark corners of windows and edges, where the moonlight could not reach. This made its movements even more impressive, but also difficult to see.


    Its movement was quick and graceful, making no noise throughout its journey. Moreover, it seemed to be searching for something specific, as it deliberately avoided the rooms that were still lit by candlelight. After searching for a while, it finally seemed to find what it was looking for.


    It hung on the side of a narrow window, tilting its head slightly to one side and listening for a moment. Only after confirming that the sound of breathing coming from inside the room was steady and deep did it carefully scale the narrow window.


    For some time, nothing could be seen or heard inside the room. After a few minutes, it finally left the room, the faded smell of blood lingering around its body.


    It was obvious that the dark shadow was pleased with itself. Before sneaking away, it crouched at the narrow window and casually looked up at the sky. At that moment, the clouds had cleared enough for the moon to shine, spilling silver light from above and illuminating the face of the dark figure.


    What was revealed was the youthful face of a teenager. Her face was fair and beautiful, but if someone looked closely, they would see two sharp incisors protruding slightly from her upper lip, and if they looked even closer, they would notice blood staining those teeth.


    The beautiful young girl used her tiny tongue to gently lick both of her teeth. When she withdrew her tongue, she pursed her lips, as if savoring a fine wine. Only after sitting for a moment did she leap from the window and disappear into the dark shadows below, where the moonlight could never reach.


    ...


    The next day, Leon was awakened by a rapid knocking at his door.


    Leon shook his head, which was still a bit dazed, then got up and opened the door. To his surprise, he found three people standing outside.


    Leader Apprentice Theodore, Apprentice Brandon, and Apprentice Samuel.


    The position of Leader Apprentice was personally assigned by Grandmaster Eclivel, and Theodore was the current Leader Apprentice. Therefore, his status was supreme among all Mage Apprentices. Most of the time, he would carry out management tasks on behalf of the Grandmaster, overseeing all the Mage Apprentices within the Tower.


    Furthermore, as he possessed the strength of an intermediate Apprentice, all lesser Apprentices had to obey his orders. If anyone antagonized him, he could easily lead that person down a path to death, and they would never know how it all happened.


    As for the other two men, Brandon and Samuel, they were merely novice Apprentices like Leon, but both were good at flattery and followed Theodore day by day, licking his boots. Hence, they were considered the trusted followers of the Leader Apprentice.


    So, wherever Theodore appeared, these two sycophants would always be there. The relationship between them was similar to the symbiotic behavior between Bloodsucking Rattans and Murderous Trees. The two sycophants needed Theodore''s help. Only then would they have the privilege of choosing safer daily tasks.


    Meanwhile, Theodore needed the assistance of these two Apprentices to contain the idealists who wished for his position.


    Leon had an unsociable and eccentric character, so he rarely made contact with others. Therefore, the relationship between him and this group was not good, but it wasn''t bad either. This is why he felt truly surprised to find these guys standing at his door.


    Leader Apprentice Theodore was a young man in his early twenties. He had a hawk-like nose, a pair of thick eyebrows, and sharp eyes. Although his facial features did not make him look fierce, he still gave an imposing air to anyone who looked at him. The moment the wooden door opened, Theodore''s intermittent gaze immediately fell on Leon''s face, making Leon feel as if his skin had been burned.


    Leon felt a small shock in his heart.


    He knew this was an anomaly that only occurred when the spirit energy overflowed, and it was a sign that this individual''s overall power had reached a very high level.


    Among all the Apprentices in the Tower, there were indeed very strict divisions based on the power of the Apprentice.


    Those who had mastered only one or two spells and had a spirit level of 10 or less were all considered Beginner Apprentices, making up the largest number of Apprentices in this tower. As for those who had mastered three to four spells and had a spirit level of 11 to 15, they were classified as Intermediate Apprentices, regarded as quite powerful.


    Finally, those who had mastered five or more spells and had a spirit level of over 16 points were the elite of the Tower: Advanced Mage Apprentices.


    Once the spirit points reached 20, one qualified to become a Pseudo Mage, and the Grand Master Mage would give them special treatment, preparing them for the ceremony that would transform them into official Mages.


    It should be noted that, at present, there were no real Pseudo Mages in the Swamp Tower!


    As for Theodore, although it was unknown how many magical spells he had mastered, with the aid of some unique magical items, he was sometimes able to unleash power that was no weaker than that of an Advanced Apprentice. Within the Tower, there were only three people who had reached the level of Advanced Apprentice: Deadshot, the Worm Controller, and Super Girl.


    Of course, these were not their real names, but surnames.


    Deadshot was Evan, a scary guy from the West Coast. To enhance his own power, he had actually replaced one of his eyes with a hawk''s eye. This granted him some strange abilities.


    The Worm Controller was Blake. He was even weirder than Deadshot. He was able to create a swarm of horrific insects from his own blood and flesh. Battling him meant that a single careless mistake in the fight could end with one being devoured by thousands of insects!


    As for the last one, Super Girl had an immense thirst for violence. Armed with a huge steel sword taller than an average human, she was undefeated among all the Apprentices. She was so violent and terrible in battle that no one dared challenge her.


    The three had mastered some magical spells with tremendous power or possessed some strange and unique abilities. Regardless, they had transcended the status of ordinary Apprentices and all became candidates with the potential to break through and achieve the status of Pseudo Mage.


    Thus, faced with the blazing gaze of such a powerful Mage Apprentice, Leon''s spirit clearly was not enough to support him, and his mind was suppressed by the person standing before him.


    "Leon, something happened in the Tower last night! Do you know anything about it?" Leader Apprentice Theodore was still looking coldly at Leon without saying anything. It was Brandon who was speaking.


    "What? Something happened? Was someone killed in a magical experiment?" Obviously, Leon had no idea what was going on.


    "There were no issues with magical experiments. Someone was murdered inside their room!" Upon discovering that Leon''s intrigued eyes and shocked expression did not seem fake, Theodore spoke slowly, but his eyes remained focused on Leon''s face, certainly not missing any of his expressions.


    "Murdered?" Leon was startled; he immediately panicked and asked, "Who died?"


    Although, from time to time, Apprentices died in accidents in the Swamp Tower, most deaths occurred during dangerous missions or bizarre magical experiment accidents. There had never been an instance of a Mage Apprentice being murdered by someone else. After all, every Apprentice was a precious asset to Grand Master Mage Eclivel, and he would never allow his Apprentices to kill each other.


    Once something like this was discovered by him, those who violated his will would definitely be severely punished.


    "Muret."


    Leon frowned.


    He knew Muret. That guy was just an ordinary Apprentice who had only mastered one magical spell¡­ that was all he knew. The only thing he could remember was that this guy had a face full of freckles and was younger than him.


    "So, why are you here¡­?"


    "We need to check your room. We are not suspecting you, but we are checking every Apprentice''s room." Theodore said in a cold manner.


    "It''s true, we have to check everyone''s rooms. Step aside quickly, or we''ll tell the Grandmaster that you are guilty of this murder¡­ Do you think you''ll live long if that happens?" Undoubtedly, Samuel was the biggest annoyance here, spewing threats at Leon.


    Leon felt anger in his heart, but he gritted his teeth and slowly suppressed it.


    They were checking everyone''s rooms?


    Would you have the courage to check Deadshot''s room? And the Worm Controller''s room? Or maybe Super Girl''s room? You would turn around and walk away if Super Girl was standing in front of you!


    Although his heart was filled with anger, Leon merely frowned. He hesitated for a brief moment before finally stepping aside and allowing them to enter his room.


    ...


    2283 Words

 Chapter 7 - 7: Bleia vs Theodore

    His room was small and cramped, at most around 20 square meters. Just by standing at the door, one could see everything inside.


    There was a bed and a simple, old wooden desk. A few books were placed haphazardly, one of which was open, revealing strange and mysterious symbols on the exposed pages. An old chair was also visible. The paint on it had worn off, exposing the dark original color of the wood beneath. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A wooden shelf was placed on one side of the room, with a row of glass jars resting on it. Inside these jars were some strange, semi-cultivated plants and the organs of bizarre demons.


    A wooden iron box was in the corner of the room. There was a trash bin next to it.


    Other than that, there was practically no other furniture in the room.


    A look of ridicule could be seen in the eyes of Brandon and Samuel.


    Although they were also Apprentices, both lived hundreds of times better than Leon. Not only did they have large, soft, and comfortable beds in their rooms, but the luxurious decorations in their rooms were similar to those of the human nobility in this world.


    Perhaps because they wanted to show their authority, both of them rushed into the room and began rummaging through his sparse belongings.


    The mattress on the wooden bed was thrown to the floor, the books on the desk were turned over haphazardly, and an ink bottle was knocked over, staining all the open books with a large amount of ink. The wooden iron box was opened, and all the clothes were dug out and thrown to the floor.


    The Apprentice Leader, Theodore, simply stood at the door and watched as his men wrecked Leon''s room. He looked on impassively and did nothing to stop them.


    Leon stood next to Theodore. His fists were clenching and unclenching repeatedly in his sleeves. At the same time, his eyes were filled with cold fury.


    After destroying his room, Theodore''s two lackeys finally finished searching.


    Under the triumphant and curious gazes of the two men, Leon coldly closed the door.


    He rushed to the overturned wooden box. After briefly examining the pile of dirty clothes, Leon finally couldn''t hold back and cursed in a low voice.


    Rattans Python, Grass Rat, Black Lotus Flower, Wild Steel Flower, Dark Moss¡­


    After risking his life and going through so many inspection trips, the magical materials he had painstakingly gathered from the Magic Swamp were gone. It was obvious that Theodore''s two Apprentice Overseers had taken them while pretending to search for proof.


    Although he intended to rush out and confront them, when he thought of Theodore''s insidious and dark expression, a shiver immediately ran down Leon''s spine.


    Clearly, these guys were using the excuse of investigating Muret''s death to loot all of the Apprentices'' normal resources. And because of Theodore''s status as an Apprentice Leader, no one dared to confront them to their faces.


    Of course, these three bastards wouldn''t be stupid enough to provoke any of the powerful individuals in this tower; they were just bold enough to pick on someone weaker, like Leon.


    "Pah~~" After they left, Leon slammed the door shut, causing a loud sound, but Leon didn''t care about offending them.


    ....


    Soon, they were knocking on the wooden door next to Leon''s.


    "Knock!"


    "Knock!"


    "Knock!"


    Blea''s "meeting" was not a secret to these few men.


    Since she had not shown herself for a long time, they were taking this as an opportunity to check on her current state.


    Apprentice Leader Theodore also wanted to know if she was still alive or not.


    "Knock!"


    "Knock!"


    "Open the door, or we will break it down!"


    But just as Brandon grew irritated that no one was responding and was about to force it open, the door unexpectedly swung open.


    A young girl in a red cotton dress suddenly opened the door.


    "So it''s Apprentice Leader Theodore! I didn''t have the chance to thank you for arranging my last task!" The young girl''s delicate voice could easily melt anyone''s heart, but it was nothing compared to the effect of her captivating beauty.


    She had slender limbs and well-defined curves, with skin as fair as flawless jade. Her facial features were delicate and perfect, and her small red lips were graced with a smile. But the most striking part of her was her bright blood-red eyes. They were like two pure, crystalline rubies set in her extraordinary face, making her as enchanting as a fairy.


    Moreover, she wore a bright red dress that fully displayed her lovely figure and exposed a generous portion of her clear skin, dazzling anyone who looked at her.


    In this grim Swamp Tower, most Apprentice Mages wore accented gray Apprentice robes and black cloaks, making dark tones the main theme of the place. Upon meeting such a splendid and radiant young girl, these men were immediately stunned, their gazes drawn to her enchanting beauty.


    Not only that, but after witnessing the magnificent beauty of the girl before them, an inexplicable lust began to rise from the lower halves of the three men, burning fiercely and igniting their most carnal hunger.


    Theodore proved why he had been chosen specifically by the Great Magus Master himself, as his self-control was far stronger than that of the other two men. While Brandon and Samuel were overtaken by sudden lust and showed excited expressions, ready to surrender their souls to this girl, Theodore managed to break free from this "charm" instantly.


    "Who are you? Tell me your name quickly, or else¡­" Theodore''s expression shifted rapidly as he stepped back two paces and placed both hands on the pockets of his waist.


    Although the Tower was a vast place, all the Apprentices were quite familiar with each other. After all, there were only about forty to fifty people, and they had lived together for years, so it would be strange not to know each other.


    Even someone like Leon, known for being unsociable and eccentric, had a couple of "friends" he would communicate with, not to mention Theodore, who was the Apprentice Leader and had to stay in touch with every Apprentice weekly.


    It would be modest to say that with his eyes closed, Theodore could list the basic living situation and status of every Apprentice, from level one to level three, in the Magus Tower.


    But wait¡­ she came out of Blea''s room¡­


    Blea, a girl from a remote province. The most prominent impression she had left on Theodore was her exaggerated stubbornness. However, judging by her appearance, Blea, who came from a noble family, was indeed a rare beauty among all the female Apprentices.


    Too bad, she ignored her status in the tower, as she simply dismissed the numerous invitations Theodore had sent, asking her to join him in bed on lonely nights. Therefore, during an occasion when Magus Eclivel urgently needed a subject for an experiment and sought out Theodore to recommend an Apprentice Mage¡­ he enthusiastically recommended Blea for the "position."


    Could it be¡­


    Thoughts flashed through Theodore''s mind as he quickly recalled that stubborn beauty, who was cowardly and weak in any significant situation but had rejected him countless times. Comparing that girl to the vibrant girl with an imposing manner standing before him, his jaw dropped, and he let out a shocked cry.


    "You¡­ you''re Blea!"


    As if hearing the name ''Blea'' caused the girl in the red dress pain, her sweet and charming face suddenly twisted ferociously, making her small cherry-like mouth seem to stretch from the corners of her lips to her ears, turning it from a small mouth into a wide, ear-to-ear gaping maw.


    "Jump!"


    With a sudden motion, the girl leaped forward, swiftly biting Theodore''s exposed neck.


    "Bite!"


    With a single bite, nearly half of Theodore''s neck was torn away, exposing bloody flesh and a shattered trachea. His blood spurted instantly, like a fountain, soon staining the floor, the wall, and the girl''s body with crimson splatters.


    Theodore fell backward and slammed into the rigid, cold wall behind him.


    "Thud~~"


    He slowly slid down the wall, ending up sitting on the floor, shivering uncontrollably.


    "Sliding~~"


    Meanwhile, he pulled a magical item shaped like a scorpion from his waist pocket and activated it, releasing a flaming red beam toward the girl in the red dress.


    "Buzz~~"


    The beam shot straight at her chest.


    "Bang!"


    This flaming beam was a highly powerful Fire Magic, so the intense heat of the fire beam instantly burned an egg-sized hole through the girl''s body. The scorching beam did not stop after passing through her body and even left a hole in the hallway wall behind her.


    After using it, Theodore tossed the magical item aside. Then, with trembling hands, he pulled a small, fist-sized bottle containing a green liquid from his waist pocket. He removed the cap and poured the liquid onto the large wound on his neck.


    Theodore had a very strong vitality, so despite suffering a mortal wound, he did not die immediately. Instead, his half-severed neck suddenly showed signs of decay, and the exposed flesh quickly dehydrated. At the same time, the blood gushing from his wound slowed and eventually came to a complete stop.


    Partially zombified body.


    After learning about organic structures, anatomy, and necromancy, a Mage Apprentice would be able to use Magic to implant something called a "Zombie Pouch" within their body. With this, once the Apprentice suffered a serious injury, the Zombie Pouch would trigger and zombify part of their body, preventing them from dying from the wound.


    But it was only a temporary measure. Once the immediate threat of death had passed, a new danger would arise, as they would now have to find a way to rid themselves of the violent negative energy within their body.


    Yet when faced with a choice between life and death, most Apprentices would choose to save their lives at any cost. As for the dangerous negative energy, it was something they could worry about later.


    "Jump!"


    However, in the next second, a shadow lunged at his body.


    With one hand caressing his nearly broken neck and the other holding the small bottle above his open wound, Theodore could do nothing in response but turn his head to see what had happened. What he saw was the girl in the red dress with a huge, bloodied mouth full of sharp teeth. Her red dress was being stained purple by some liquid leaking from the hole in her chest¡­


    Purple-colored blood?!


    Was she even human?


    This was the last thought that passed through Theodore''s mind.


    The girl, once again, jumped forward, placing her body on top of his and sinking her gaping mouth into his wounded neck.


    "Bite!"


    The sound of her sucking his blood was loud and clear.


    "Slurp..."


    "Slurp..."


    "Gulp~~"


    "Gulp~~"


    "Gulp~~"


    "Gulp~~"


    As the girl busied herself with her work, she ignored the other two Mage Apprentices beside her. Both men had withdrawn the crude magical items they possessed and held them at the ready in their hands, but when faced with such a bloody and horrifying scene, neither could muster the courage to activate the magical items.


    Reflecting on what had just happened, even the powerful magical item of the Apprentice Leader Theodore could not cause real damage to this monster in a red dress; perhaps the magical items in their hands would not be enough to harm her at all. And if they provoked this monster?


    Perhaps she would leap onto their bodies next, feasting on their flesh, drinking their blood, and crushing their bones between her teeth...


    By the time both men had backed against the wall, shivering uncontrollably, the girl in the red dress had stopped consuming the flesh and blood of the former Apprentice Leader. She sat on his body, her back to the two cowardly Apprentices, and took out a snow-white handkerchief and a small, round mirror. She proceeded to gently wipe her lips, a satisfied expression spreading across her face.


    Under the effect of some mysterious healing force, the bloody purple hole in her chest began to close at an incredible rate. In the blink of an eye, it reverted to the same smooth, silky skin, without even the smallest scar visible.


    What a terrifying regenerative ability! Could¡­ could it be that she was the legendary, fearsome noble of shadows ¨C a Vampire?


    Through a small crack in his door, Leon witnessed everything that had just happened. As for how his neighbor, who had been contaminated by a Magic Spell, transformed into a Vampire, he had not a single clue.


    However, when it came to the death of Apprentice Leader Theodore, he was filled with genuine joy.


    "Worm! You deserved it, I hope she tears apart your henchmen too."


    Nevertheless, the struggle had lasted for some time, and even an Apprentice had been killed. No matter how indifferent the Mage of the Tower was, he must have noticed something by now!


    ...


    2168 Words

 Chapter 8 - 8: Eclivel vs Bleia

    After licking the blood from her face, the girl in the red dress turned around, once again revealing her delicate and alluring face to the two trembling Apprentices. Samuel, unable to withstand such a powerful visual impact, fainted, his arms and legs collapsing onto the floor in random directions.


    The terrifying and fierce appearance of ''Bleia'' was completely hidden as she shifted to the figure of the beautiful girl with the lovely face. However, her blood-red eyes and the two small yet sharp teeth protruding from her lips hinted at the dreadful being concealed behind the enchanting beauty.


    Even though nearly half of her body was splattered with blood, she somehow managed to appear as delicate and charming as a flower. It was such an intense visual impact that even Leon, who glimpsed it through the crack in his door, couldn''t control himself and felt captivated by her overwhelming beauty.


    "Bleia! I will rape her and then impregnate her, in addition I will tie her with a rope and bring her to my room, so I can rape her every night, filling the vampire womb that Mary has. Yes I will defile you so many times that my sperm will dirty the entire room."


    Soon after, he looked down and noticed that his own cock was hard as a vibrating diamond, ready to stare at Mary''s vampy pussy.


    "Slap~~" With a strong slap to his own face, Leon managed to regain control and broke free from the sexual spell.


    Leon smiled, thinking to himself, "What a terrifying monster..."


    A vampire in its early form had no fear of injury because, as long as they had blood, they could gain unlimited vitality. This was an immortal species that only existed in ancient books in this Land of Mages. When they were hunted by the Mages, their kind was nearly driven to extinction. Even if there were some survivors, they did not dare to reveal their true identity.


    That was why Leon was so shocked to see Bleia transform into a Vampire. After his initial shock over Bleia''s current racial state, Leon also felt a shiver as he pondered how powerful Mages must have been to hunt these near-extinct vampires.


    What kind of magical experience had Bleia undergone? How had an ordinary human girl become this ancient, bloodthirsty species that reveled in killing? Were the strange noises he heard at night caused by Bleia''s "mutation"?


    Just as the girl in the red dress, Bleia, moved menacingly toward the still-trembling Brandon, the torches on both sides of the dark corridor suddenly flared to life, and a mystical figure emerged from the shadows of the wall and spoke.


    "Hold your steps, my child. Today''s killing was more than enough for you to complete the final step of your evolution! From now on, you must try your best to restrain your thirst for fresh blood and sharpen your mind. Return to the path of the pursuit of knowledge!"


    The man speaking had a hunched back, and his face was full of wrinkles and loose skin. A long, flowing black cloak covered his body, and a tall, slightly wavering pointed hat sat on his head. He held a staff made of twisted roots and gnarled branches, topped with a large green crystal. Rays of light emanated from the crystal, creating layers of amber color in the air.


    This old man was the only Mage in this Tower, the great Mage, Eclivel.


    As for his Mage rank, with Leon''s current knowledge and experience, he had no idea.


    Although he knew that today''s events would alert the master of the Mage Tower, which was why Leon had deactivated his elemental sight beforehand, seeing Mage Eclivel suddenly appear in the corridor still made the powerful magical energy radiating from his body cause Leon''s eyes to burn and water.


    Leon quickly but gently closed the door as quietly as possible, hiding silently in his room. He did not dare to peek at what was happening outside. If he witnessed any secret that Mage Eclivel did not want anyone to know, his pitiful life would end swiftly.


    All the true Mages Leon knew were cruel and vicious men who did not hesitate to kill and conducted all kinds of dangerous and dark magical experiments on humans and living creatures as if it were nothing. No matter how careful he was, there was no way to hide from Mage Eclivel''s spiritual senses.


    However, by acting this way, he was signaling that he was not trying to spy and was uninvolved in the Mage''s affairs. At the very least, if he left before anything significant happened, he would be safe.


    ....


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, a fierce confrontation was underway.


    Bleia had once again transformed into a fierce and terrifying Vampire. Her blood-red eyes gleamed like those of a wild animal, and her nails began to grow wildly, eventually turning into sharp claws with gleaming tips.


    Clearly, Vampire Bleia had a beastly nature.


    "Jump!"


    Her body was pressed against the wall. Like a lizard, she climbed the vertical surface at an incredibly fast speed.


    "Rushing footsteps~~"


    She started running toward the master of the Tower, Mage Eclivel.


    Running along the wall at high speed, as she approached the Mage, Bleia leaped from the wall with her powerful legs, catapulting her slender body toward the Mage with blazing speed.


    "Buzz~~"


    While her body was in midair, Bleia stretched her claws forward, reaching out to grasp the Mage''s heart.


    Faced with this aggressive Vampire in its early form, all Mage Eclivel did was smile a sinister smile. There was not the slightest sign of panic or concern on his face.


    He waved the staff in his hand, and a small tornado appeared in Bleia''s path.


    "Zosh~~~"


    "Sucking~~"


    "Even if it''s just a homunculus, the bloodthirsty nature has truly surpassed the host''s consciousness¡­ what a pity¡­"


    Bleia''s body weight was quite light after being modified, so her attacks were focused on speed and agility. Unfortunately, in the eyes of a Mage, her innate abilities, although beyond those of ordinary humans, were not enough to cause him the slightest concern. Thus, when Bleia hit the tornado, she was immediately caught firmly and couldn''t break free.


    "Urrraaa~~"


    A second later, as the suction force of the tornado grew stronger, Bleia let out a cry of shock while her body spun around, making her ridiculously dizzy.


    Under Mage Eclivel''s control, the tornado twisted, and Bleia was flung from it, crashing fiercely into a nearby stone wall.


    "Bang~~"


    Even though it didn''t seem like Eclivel put much effort into it, the impact was enough to take Bleia out of the fight. Leon could even hear the sound of bones breaking through the wooden door.


    "Crack~~"


    "Break~~"


    "Broken~~"


    "Crac..."


    "A newborn vampire who has lost her mind¡­ Why would I keep her? Go to hell!"


    Mage Eclivel smiled horribly, then raised his thin, bony right arm, unleashing a pale white flame, filled with the aura of death, that hovered above his palm. He then turned his palm and pressed it to the forehead of the struggling, groaning girl.


    Perhaps because she felt her death approaching, this vampire, known for having extraordinary senses when it came to detecting danger, finally stopped struggling like an animal. Suddenly, Bleia let out a piercing scream, moving her body back desperately, a deep fear in her eyes as she looked at the flame. Those same eyes had changed from a vivid red to a deep green.


    "Eh?" Master Eclivel stopped pressing his arm down. The deadly fireball still burned silently, but the sound of an ordinary fire couldn''t be heard. The reflection of the dense, pale white flame made Bleia''s pale face appear even whiter, as if a thick layer of powder had been applied to her skin.


    "Oh¡­ So, the fear of death can make you regain consciousness? This is a phenomenon I have never seen before¡­ I suppose there is value in researching this." Mage Eclivel spoke to himself in a low voice. He waved his palm, extinguishing the flame. After that, he snapped his fingers, creating dozens of small vortices of air around Bleia''s neck, limbs, and all her joints, chaining her firmly.


    Then he turned and looked at Theodore''s corpse.


    Because of Bleia''s excessive bloodlust, all the blood in the body had been drained. Thus, Theodore''s corpse took on a grim appearance. What had been a healthy-looking figure just minutes before now appeared shriveled and withered, making his corpse look like that of a mummy buried underground for decades.


    "The original Leader Apprentice is dead¡­ I will replace him! Make sure to properly manage all of my apprentices." With a frown on his face, Mage Eclivel simply pointed a finger at Brandon, who could barely support his weight against the stone walls, and made his request in an indifferent tone.


    After he finished speaking, the torches on the corridor walls flickered suddenly. When they returned to their original glow, the Master Mage and Bleia had disappeared from the hallway.


    After witnessing the bloody feast and escaping with his life, Brandon was unexpectedly promoted to Leader Apprentice. His body was still shaking violently, and his pants were wet, but his face was full of a mix of shock and excitement.


    Suddenly, he thought of something. With staggering steps, he leaped toward Theodore''s corpse and began frantically searching through the dead man''s pockets.


    Since he had become the new Leader Apprentice, the Magic Talisman representing the Leader Apprentice''s status now belonged to him. He needed to find it as quickly as possible.


    Waist pocket, inner pocket, neck protector, leather boot¡­


    He conducted a thorough search through every place that could hide things on Theodore''s body. The corpse, which he previously looked at with fear and disgust, had now become his treasure chest, filling him with immense delight.


    Finally, he found the Magic Talisman on the ghastly, broken neck of the corpse. Holding it high, he laughed loudly and joyfully, completely unaware of how insane his behavior appeared to others.


    Samuel, who had fainted on the ground, moved his body, struggling for a long time to stand up.


    As he looked at Brandon, he was filled with murderous intent due to the jealousy burning inside him.


    In fact, he had woken up much earlier, but, unable to predict what might happen, he remained lying on the ground, pretending to still be unconscious.


    Who would have thought that his fear would actually make him lose the chance to become the next Leader Apprentice, a highly prestigious status for him. At that moment, he wished he could tear the flesh from Brandon''s bones!


    "Why didn''t that vampire kill him?" Samuel roared furiously in his mind. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But on the surface, he masked the feeling of loss and fury that was so prevalent in his mind. As he got up from the ground, a flattering smile appeared on his face.


    "Leader Apprentice Brandon, quickly get up. The ground is dirty. Let me clean up the mess for you!"


    Samuel''s interruption immediately brought Brandon back to his senses.


    Brandon stood up quickly and tidied up his appearance. As he looked at the Magic Talisman in his hands, an arrogant smile spread across his face.


    "I''ll leave everything here to you! Something unfortunate happened to the previous Leader Apprentice. I need to inform everyone of this urgent news¡­ Hmm. I just remembered that it''s time to feed the giant alligators outside¡­" The last part of the sentence was said in a cruel and indifferent voice.


    "Understood! I''ll clean up this mess immediately!" Samuel couldn''t help but bow his head even lower.


    After savoring the first taste of his newfound power, Brandon couldn''t hold back and burst into another laugh. Then he quickly walked down the corridor and out of sight.


    He had looted everything from Theodore''s body, but there might still be some good things in Theodore''s room. So, after leaving the mess for Samuel, he ran impatiently toward the end of the hallway.


    It took a few minutes for the sound of his malicious laughter to fade away.


    "HahHahahaHA"


    "Hahahah"


    "Hahah"


    ...


    2024 words

 Chapter 9 - 9: Manual

    At dinner, all the Mage Apprentices learned that a new Lead Apprentice had emerged.


    Regarding this change, most of the Apprentices showed no reactions, and no one asked what had happened to Theodore.


    Leon, in contrast to his new Lead Apprentice, Brandon, who was proudly proclaiming his new status in the cafeteria, could barely control his anger towards the new Lead Apprentice.


    Although the former Lead Apprentice had not been very nice, at least he was quite strong, having mastered three to four magical spells. He was not as strong as Fatal Shot, the worm controller, or Super Girl, but he was much stronger than most of the elementary-level Apprentices. Why would they swallow their pride silently while being relentlessly exploited by him?


    On the other hand, everyone knew Brandon''s background. He was just a rookie and had only mastered ''Wind Blade'' and ''Tornado Shield.'' He had spent most of the last year hiding in the Mage Tower, which had made his combat skills very weak. If he had to fight against them, perhaps more than half of the Apprentices could defeat him in a one-on-one.


    But, looking at the four ''friends'' around him, it was clear that this guy had a good understanding of their weaknesses and compensated by adding a few lackeys.


    Just as Brandon was proudly giving his "inaugural speech," the wooden door of the cafeteria was brutally shaken by someone, banging furiously against the stone wall.


    After that, a young man, who had his left eye covered with an eyepatch, entered the cafeteria with a grim expression on his face.


    The inaugural speech of Lead Apprentice Brandon was abruptly interrupted. At the same time, whispers about "Fatal Shot" could be heard in every corner of the cafeteria.


    The young man with the eyepatch was one of the three strongest Mage Apprentices, Fatal Shot.


    As they were the strongest, each of them had a group of subordinates who always gathered around them. Therefore, the three had never dined in this cafeteria, as all their meals were brought directly to their quarters by their subordinates.


    This is why all the Apprentices felt surprised when Fatal Shot suddenly arrived at the cafeteria.


    Of course, Fatal Shot did not come here for a meal, but to look for someone.


    Fatal Shot swept the entire cafeteria with his single eye, and each of the Apprentices lowered their heads instead of meeting his gaze. It was impossible to do anything else, as a powerful energy seemed to emanate from his eyes, suppressing anyone who dared to look him in the eye.


    Seeing Fatal Shot begin to walk toward him, Leon felt his heart stop. He lowered his head even further.


    Unfortunately for him, Fatal Shot''s legs came to a stop right in front of him.


    "Are you Leon? Come with me!" Fatal Shot didn''t say much, but the little he did say was impossible to ignore. After saying this, he turned around and left, not caring about the reactions of others. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An ironic smile appeared on Leon''s face. He pushed his tray of food aside, stood up, and followed behind Fatal Shot.


    Without turning his head, Leon felt the irritated gaze of the new Lead Apprentice, Brandon, burning a hole in the back of his head.


    Leon had a rough idea of why this guy came for him. Therefore, after following Fatal Shot through several long dark corridors, he arrived at a certain wooden door, quite sure about what was happening.


    This was Super Girl''s room. Waiting inside were the other two strongest Apprentices: the worm controller and Super Girl.


    It was a stone room, almost as simple as Leon''s room, and it was decorated to the same level as Leon''s. There was a solid wooden bed, a desk, and a chair¡­ nothing more.


    Well, there was one more thing. In one corner of the room, there was a human-shaped practice target made entirely of metal. From the crisscrossed scars and marks on it, it might have been the most used piece of "furniture" in this room.


    Additionally, the iconic steel emblem of Super Girl was hanging on the wall across the room.


    Fatal Shot, the worm controller, and Super Girl did not have a harmonious relationship most of the time, but when something related to their personal interests happened, this small group could still work together to achieve all their goals.


    As this was Super Girl''s room, it was clear she was the one in charge here.


    When Leon, feeling he was in an embarrassing situation, stopped in the middle of the room, the person who attracted most of his attention was Super Girl, who had a muscular body resembling that of a barbarian. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Super Girl did not wear a soft, long fabric robe like most apprentices but instead wore a leather jacket and simple pants.


    The leather jacket was stretched and looked like it was about to burst when her bulging muscles pushed against it. Her muscles looked like pieces of steel, making Leon feel a bit envious. To be honest, no matter how much Leon searched his memory, he swore he had never seen a woman with such a muscular body before.


    "I heard you saw what happened this afternoon? Tell me everything you know! If anything you say is of value, we will reward you handsomely!" Super Girl''s voice was like her body, strong and powerful.


    As for what Super Girl said, the worm controller, whose entire body was covered with a thick layer, made a motion as if he were shaking his head, while Fatal Shot, who had brought Leon here, said nothing.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Leon returned to his own room.


    After he closed the door, he impatiently pressed his back against the cold wooden door framed with iron, saying nothing out loud but speaking in his mind.


    "Any results from your scan now? Quickly, show me all the data!"


    "Beep!"


    "Samples of living organisms completed."


    "The results are listed below¡­"


    After that, streams of information began to flow into his brain. It took a moment, but the information about the three strongest Apprentices started to take shape.


    Once the BioChip activated, it lacked much in reference to information about Mages, as there were no comparative data. Therefore, the organization and categorization of Mages had not progressed.


    In Leon''s brain, there was an enormous amount of information about magical spells, magical items, and conceptual descriptions of each, but he simply had not had the chance to witness and observe any current magical phenomena. As a result, the chip could not gather information about the magical things in the environment based on its current memory.


    It was such an unfortunate situation.


    However, today, with a close observation of the three strongest Apprentices, Leon undoubtedly acquired a lot of precious data. This would undoubtedly be of great benefit in defining his future development path.


    Of course, if he could personally experience the abilities of an official Mage, it would result in obtaining much better data. Unfortunately, he feared that the scanning feature of his chip would be noticed if he targeted an official Mage. Therefore, Leon could only use his passive detection ability, which was the mode he had activated when Mage Anderson had suddenly appeared yesterday.


    As for today, when the three strongest Apprentices were standing in front of him, he felt it was safe to scan them, and they did not possess very strong spirit energy manipulation skills, so they were leaking a lot of energy that the chip could scan and analyze. This was why Leon could use complete detection without fear and process all the leaked information.


    As a result, he progressed in calculating the source of the Magic.


    Evan [Fatal Shot]


    Race: Human [?]


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Mage Apprentice [Advanced]


    ? Experience: ¡ª


    Attributes:


    ? Strength: 9


    ? Agility: 7


    ? Physique: 11


    ? Spirit: 18


    These were absolutely incredible numbers. If they hadn''t been within Leon''s expectations, he might have shouted out loud. Fatal Shot was indeed worthy of being called one of the three strongest Apprentices. With just these basic body statistics, he could easily crush Leon.


    In a confrontation against Fatal Shot, Leon was weaker in strength, slower in speed, and not as physically strong. Even if both had mastered a spell, Fatal Shot would still have thousands of methods to kill Leon. Not to mention, that guy was much more powerful when using magical spells!


    But the Spirit attribute of Fatal Shot was what surprised Leon the most. Having a Spirit of 18 meant he had incredibly strong spiritual senses. He could sense the faintest heartbeat within a range of 50 meters! With such a strong detection ability, the difficulty of launching a stealth attack on him would be immense.


    However, the chip placed a question mark in the race field¡­ It seemed that there were inhuman elements found in the energy he radiated. Perhaps this had something to do with the implanted eye?


    Blake [Worm Controller]


    Race: Human [?]


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Mage Apprentice [Advanced]


    Experience: ¡ª


    Attributes:


    Strength: ?


    Agility: ?


    Physique: ?


    Spirit: 19


    Compared to Fatal Shot, it seemed that the Worm Controller was better at concealing his energy, as even the chip could not obtain his attributes from such a close distance. But his powerful Spirit of 19 points clearly could not be hidden; it was evident that, among the two, he was the one closest to becoming an official Mage.


    However, it appeared he had modified his body to a high degree, reaching a level at which even the chip could not determine his race.


    In summary, although he probably did not have the highest physical attributes, he was still one of the three strongest, as evidenced by the terrifying spells he had mastered and the modifications he had made to his body.


    Super Girl


    Race: Human [Barbarian]


    Condition: ¡ª


    HP: ¡ª


    Mage Apprentice [Advanced]


    Experience: ¡ª


    Attributes:


    Strength: 15


    Agility: 8


    Physique: 16


    Spirit: 17


    Looking at Super Girl''s attributes, a feeling of helplessness welled up from the bottom of Leon''s heart. 15 in Strength, 16 in Physique¡­ Was this ''woman'' even human? With attributes like these, she might as well be no different from some demonic beasts of the swamp.


    When comparing the strength of two fighters, if there was a difference of 5 points, the weaker side would be easily attacked. If the difference was 10, the weaker side would experience broken bones and crushed flesh every time they were hit. The Strength difference between Leon and Super Girl was shockingly 11 points.


    This¡­ This was ridiculous! Even if they both fought barehanded, would Leon be as fragile as glass in front of her? Not to mention that if she struck him in the face, he would probably have his skull crushed.


    Naturally, all kinds of fighting scenes flashed through Leon''s mind, but in each scene, he would end up severely beaten or dead.


    As for Physique, it simply placed a huge gap between them. Even if Super Girl stood there without moving and allowed Leon to attack her with Burning Hands for a few minutes, it still might not be enough to kill her.


    Through the comparison of these basic data, once again Leon recognized his weakness. With just his own personal effort and under the effect of amplifying his innate attributes, the difference between him and these extraordinarily talented guys would simply continue to grow larger. He did not believe there was any way he could catch up to them on his own.


    Therefore, if he truly wanted to proceed in this bizarre world, the only thing he could rely on was the BioChip within him.


    Only after reflecting on these things did Leon look at the reward he obtained from the "three strongest."


    With a flick of his hand, a thick book appeared in front of Leon.


    Thanks to his great eloquence and a clear memory of his experience from the previous day, Leon described Bleia''s movements in detail. Undoubtedly, this left a better impression on the three of them. Only then did he receive this strange book of magical knowledge.


    According to the rules of the Mage Tower, any exchange of internal knowledge was strictly prohibited. Exchanging any copied magical knowledge by Apprentices was also strictly forbidden. Anyone who violated these prohibitions would be punished by the master of the Tower. Therefore, Super Girl must have obtained this book from elsewhere; otherwise, she would not have simply given it to Leon.


    Leon held his breath in impatience and then turned to the first page of the book.


    ''Golem Creation Manual''!


    ...


    2097 Words

 Chapter 10 - 10: Solidifying

    Titan, a physical construct with powerful magic in its foundation. It is a magical automaton. It is made using mystical materials, such as the Magic-Repellent Steel from the Master Materialist of the Universe. Its main feature is its resistance to the elements.


    "Michel Darius"


    ...


    Golems are artificial self-moving objects created by Mages. The Titan was the most powerful of these golems. The defining characteristic of these Titans was their resistance to elemental attacks. In other words, only those golems that possessed resistance to elemental damage could be called Titans.


    Because of the great strength of Mages, resistance to elemental damage made the Titans considered very powerful.


    However, being able to resist elemental damage did not mean that the Titan was the best weapon of a Mage. This ability only allowed a Titan to be immune to spells that were directed at its body. For example, using a fireball on the ceiling above a Titan, causing it to be crushed by the weight of the ceiling, or casting an Acid Pool spell and making the Titan fall into the Acid Pool.


    Both spells were very effective against the Titans. Not to mention that all Titans had very low Spirit. They could only follow simple commands, which was their greatest weakness when facing intelligent life forms.


    Moreover, Titans were not completely immune to elemental damage, as using a specific elemental spell would cause a specific effect for a certain type of Titan. By properly understanding their weaknesses, it was quite simple to fight against a Titan (Note: Basically, they are not completely immune to all elements; they are immune to some and not to others).


    ... Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thus, golems were mechanical living organisms that possessed powerful strength and were created with magic. The most significant difference between them and other golems was their strength, making them seem full of vitality. Golems receive their magical life from an elemental soul, which is usually of the Earth element.


    The process of creating a golem involved taking a soul and binding it to an artificial body. Then it would combine with this specially prepared receptacle and obey the will of its creator.


    ...


    Golems did not have their own minds, and they would not do other things unless their creator specifically gave them the command. They would follow simple and precise commands and could not accept complicated strategies or tactics. The creator could only manage a golem within a radius of 60 meters, and they had to be able to see or hear the golem.


    If no new command was given, the golem would generally strive to carry out the last command given to them. Of course, they would fight if someone attacked them.


    If the creator was not near the golem, they could previously give the golem a simple command to guide its movement, or they could make the golem follow the commands of another person. However, as the creator of the golem, they could always command the golem to not listen to the other person anymore, revoking another person''s control rights at any time.


    ...


    Somehow, once he started reading the book, Leon became instantly captivated by the content, hardly pulling away from it, and thus finished reading it in one sitting.


    Golems were truly remarkable!


    Setting aside the advanced steel golems, even the lowest level clay golem could challenge an Advanced Apprentice Mage. In other words, only a group that had good coordination and was all at an advanced level of a combat profession would have the possibility of defeating a clay golem.


    As guards for Mages, Titans and other golems were much more reliable than human guards, as they were absolutely loyal. On the downside, the cost of a Titan, or any other golem, left Leon speechless.


    Take the lowest level clay golem as an example: a clay golem, without any additional magical equipment, weighed 600 pounds (272.15 kg), stood 8 feet (2.43 m) tall when upright, and was entirely made of soft clay. This type of clay golem would take no damage from sharp weapons, but some heavy weapons could inflict physical damage on them.


    The base cost for this type of clay golem was 21,000 gold coins. As for the stone golem, which was one level higher than the clay golem, its base cost was 55,000 gold coins. And the iron golem, which was an even higher level, was a shocking 80,000 gold coins.


    This was the base cost before considering the effects of supply and demand in the market. If it were during a time of war, these golems, which were extremely suitable for use on the battlefield, would have their prices doubled, and people would still be able to afford them.


    While a small lord could purchase three to five clay golems and deploy them in his own army, he could gain a significant advantage when fighting against other neighboring lords.


    Therefore, if he could become a golem creator, money would no longer be a problem for Leon!


    Unfortunately, not only did it require a great amount of unique materials to create a golem, but it also demanded extraordinary and marvelous craftsmanship experience and the ability to create soul receptacles. If Leon''s innate elemental affinity had been the Darkness element, perhaps he could extract souls from some human creatures.


    Then he could easily create soul receptacles, which could provide basic intelligence to the golem. However, his elemental affinity was the Fire element, which eliminated any possibility of creating a golem anytime soon.


    What Leon could do now was ask the Chip to temporarily store all the content of this "Golem Creation Manual," so that he could conduct more research in the future. After considering all these things, he began to explore the new functions of the Chip.


    After the slow chanting of a magical incantation, Leon, who had stretched out his right arm, suddenly ignited a bright magical flame in his hand, covering his entire palm and part of his arm.


    As he watched the flame calmly burning in his hand, the mechanical voice of the Chip resonated in his mind.


    "Beep!"


    "A complete Spirit energy model has been detected."


    "Does the host wish to solidify it? Warning: solidification will reduce Spirit by 2 and Professional Experience by 50!"


    The same message had appeared once before when he was inspecting the exterior of the Tower. However, since he was in a dangerous place at that time, Leon did not dare to test it and therefore chose to ignore it. But today, he decided to check what this Solidification was all about!


    "Confirm!"


    "Beep!"


    "Solidification task starting now¡­"


    "Expected completion time: 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 13 seconds¡­"


    Leon''s mind trembled as the Chip began the ''solidification task.'' He clearly felt part of his Spirit vanish. After a self-inspection, he discovered that his Professional Experience had dropped from 614/1000 to 564/1000.


    His 614 Professional Experience was the result of the last six years of Leon''s efforts, including constant meditation, countless failures while practicing spellcasting, countless hours under the dim candlelight, copying those difficult-to-understand magic books, and those dangerous yet inevitable magical experiments...


    Frankly speaking, in the past, Leon had indeed been quite useless. He had become an Apprentice Mage six years ago but had accumulated only half the Professional Experience needed to become an Intermediate Apprentice, and he only mastered one spell ¨C Burning Hands.


    As for the second magical spell he was currently learning ¨C Fire Arrow ¨C he had just begun gathering preliminary knowledge for it, and he was still far from successfully casting that spell.


    After analyzing these data, he realized that among all the Apprentices of the Tower, the innate attribute of his body was considered of low grade... No wonder he hadn''t become an Intermediate Apprentice in these six years.


    But that was the Leon of the past!


    Now, with the support of the Chip, he had started a new beginning and would soon be able to overcome all the difficulties before him.


    The task of solidifying the Spirit model for Burning Hands occupied most of Leon''s mental capacity, which made him feel mentally exhausted. In that situation, it was no longer suitable for him to continue with any magical practice or reading that consumed his Spirit. Therefore, Leon simply lay down on the bed and began to meditate.


    After starting his meditation, Leon gradually calmed down. His breathing became longer and more regular, and all his spiritual consciousness was completely indulged in extending from his body.


    The once-silent room became emptier and quieter, as if everything around him suddenly faded away. The sensation of his body became indistinct, and he felt as if he were sinking into a gigantic piece of cotton candy. It felt as if his entire body were being pulled.


    Finally, his spiritual consciousness crossed the boundary of his body and entered a bizarre world.


    This was a world full of lights.


    Mystical particles, of various colors, danced in the air, completely filling every inch of the space he could feel.


    Perhaps the intrusion of his spiritual consciousness alerted these light particles, which seemed to dance irregularly and unconsciously. Suddenly, this strange world shifted and became slightly different.


    Leon''s spiritual consciousness began to swim aimlessly in this world full of bright light particles. Wherever he went, it seemed that each different point had its own independent consciousness, as each acted in different ways.


    Those illuminating particles that glimmered faintly in red showed an obvious welcoming behavior towards Leon, as if they would jump into his soul when they got close enough, giving him strands of warm sensations. On the other hand, those light particles of cooler tones, such as blue, gray, black, and white... clearly moved away from him.


    As for the neutral colors, like purple, green, and yellow, these particles neither retreated from him nor showed any passionate behavior, but when Leon''s spiritual consciousness touched them, they would still slowly merge with him. The entire process was calm and harmonious, and nothing unusual could be found.


    The bright orb representing Leon''s spiritual consciousness wandered slowly in this infinite ocean of lights, passively accepting the fusion of these light particles. Out of curiosity, he tried to control his orb and moved towards some white particles. Apparently, his arrival alarmed the white light particles, as those that were swimming relaxedly and carefree immediately fled the area.


    Finally, Leon could no longer hold back. Under a strong conscious urge, a spiritual tentacle suddenly extended from his transparent soul orb and poked through a slightly larger white particle.


    The white particle exploded, transforming into a flow of Spirit and flowing into Leon''s soul. Compared to the warm sensation he obtained from merging with the red particles, what this white particle brought to Leon was dark and silent.


    The feeling was akin to when someone woke up at midnight and suddenly drank a glass of cold water. It caused his body to shiver. Besides the sensation of shivering, Leon''s spiritual consciousness felt a shock and corrosive pain. It seemed that although it brought some advantages to his Spirit, merging with the white particles also caused him harm.


    ...


    1854 Words

 Chapter 11 - 11: Arrow

    Leon suddenly shuddered, emerging from his deep meditative state.


    Leon sat up in bed, gasping for breath. He could still vividly remember what he experienced in his dream. He could even feel a bit of the burning pain he had received from the white particle.


    Was it an illusion? A dream? Perhaps it was something else?


    Leon began to feel a certain sense of bewilderment and confusion.


    He had meditated countless times before, and each time had been a vague experience. He rarely felt anything, and even then, it was only slightly spiritual. As for the last dream¡­ it was as if he was in control of himself while dreaming!


    "Chip, perform a self-scan." Leon suddenly thought of something and gave an order to the chip.


    "Beep"


    "Starting host body scan¡­"


    "Scanning complete."


    "Saving self-test report¡­"


    Following the Chip''s messages, a new self-scan report projected in his mind.


    "Leon"


    Race: Human


    Alignment: Lawful Neutral


    Condition: Healthy


    HP: 11/11


    Apprentice Mage [Beginner]


    Experience: 566/1000


    "Attributes:"


    Strength: 4


    Agility: 4


    Physical: 3


    Spirit: 8.03


    "Skills:"


    1. Copy Document


    2. Reading Spell


    "Personal Skills:"


    1. Burning Hand


    As expected, some abnormal changes had occurred in his body.


    Otherwise, because the Chip could perform accurate detection down to the cellular level, Leon would never have known that the deep meditation had now increased his Spirit by 0.03 and his Experience by 2 (Note: For those who don''t remember, he had 614 Experience, lost 50 with the solidification, and now gained 2).


    This meant that the dream state he experienced was not an illusion but had actually happened.


    So what were those colorful light particles?


    The moment the question arose in his mind, the answer came to him.


    Elementium!


    Every person who had the talent to become a Mage would have a different elemental affinity. Those colorful light particles he saw during meditation were actually pieces of Elementium flowing through the world around him. As his elemental affinity was fire, those red particles, which were drawn to him like insects to a bright light, were, in fact, Fire Elementium.


    According to the classifications of Elementium made by Mages, his affinity for the red Fire Elementium was the highest. After that, it was the green Plant Elementium and the yellow Earth Elementium. As for the others, he had no affinity for them because they were repelled by the Elementium he was attuned to.


    As for the white point that Leon had captured during his meditation, it should be Dark Elementium. Since it did not match Leon''s affinity, it would be at least ten times, or even a hundred times, more difficult for him to grasp compared to the Elementium for which he had affinity.


    Furthermore, although this Dark Elementium could still slightly increase his spirit, it would also harm his body at the same time.


    In his memory, the few Apprentice Mages he knew who had Dark Elementium as their main elemental affinity did not have very healthy bodies and always seemed as if a gust of wind could knock them over. Perhaps the corrosiveness of Dark Elementium was the cause of their fragility?


    It seems that the innate elemental affinity of an Apprentice could affect the efficiency of their meditation, and this efficiency, in turn, could increase the rate of growth of the Apprentice''s Spirit.


    Leon tried to remember what he experienced while meditating, and what he recalled made him frown. According to his memory, the number of white Dark Elementium particles was clearly much greater than the number of red Fire Elementium particles. This meant that, in this environment, the meditation efficiency for Apprentices who had an affinity for Dark Elementium was much greater than his.


    How was this possible? The distribution of basic Elementium in this world shouldn''t be relatively balanced?


    Could it... could it be that the Tower Mage was doing this intentionally?


    Suddenly, Leon''s face turned a horrific shade of pale.


    He had just remembered that the master of the Tower, Mage Eclivel, had affinities for Dark Elementium and Wind.


    No wonder many of the other Apprentice Mages who joined the Tower at the same time as Leon mastered two or three spells and managed to rank up to Intermediate Apprentice, while he was still struggling on the path of a Beginner Apprentice. It wasn''t just his own innate talent holding him back. It was that damned "harsh" environment.


    Leon thought for a second, then abandoned the idea of meditating again. For a Beginner Apprentice Mage like him, although meditation could increase his Spirit, it could not replace sleep. Therefore, to restore his Spirit quickly and efficiently, calming his mind and sleeping was the best course of action.


    Looking at his own Spirit, which had been reduced by half (Note: consumption rate, not actual reduction), Leon shook his head and smiled bitterly. Then he threw himself back onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.


    ...


    The next day, Leon, who was sleeping soundly, was suddenly awakened by an alarm from the Chip.


    To his surprise, the spiritual model of Burning Hand had been solidified by the chip.


    Over the next few seconds, all the data related to this spiritual model flowed into Leon''s mind. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Burning Hand was a low-grade fire spell capable of engaging enemies offensively and defensively, but it was not considered a powerful spell. However, the spiritual model showed that it was formed by many magical words; 28, in fact. Each of these 28 magical words was nearly impossible to pronounce and had its own unique independent use.


    Although it might seem that each of them was unrelated, when gathered in a specific formation, they would become a complete magical model, capable of unleashing magical forces into the physical world.


    If this task were given to an ordinary man, asking him to memorize 28 independent yet closely connected magical syllables to recite without forgetting any¡­ Most mortals would not be able to achieve this, as merely saying a single magical word required great control and energy.


    When he arrived in this world, he did not believe he could do this. But in this bizarre world, where Elemental Energy was everywhere, he actually managed it with considerable ease.


    Of course, this had something to do with his 8 points of Spiritual Energy.


    In the past, reciting the Burning Hand spell, which consisted of 28 magical syllables, took Leon about 5 to 7 seconds. But now that it had been solidified, Leon no longer needed to waste time reciting the spell. All he needed to do was inject his Elemental Energy into the Burning Hand model in his mind.


    This meant it only took him 2 to 3 seconds to unleash a complete version of Burning Hand. Moreover, in the future, as he improved his mastery of fire elementals, the casting time would be even shorter.


    But that wasn''t the only good news.


    Since this was a spiritual model that had been pre-solidified in his mind, it no longer required as much Spiritual Energy to construct it. The result of this was that the Burning Hand spell, which used to drain his Spirit by 2 when cast, now only drained it by 1.


    Didn''t this mean that the number of times he could cast spells in the future doubled?


    This discovery brought a big smile to his face as his mind fantastically conjured many possible uses for this particular ability.


    But then the Chip resonated in his mind once more.


    "Beep!"


    "Space for improving this spell model has been discovered."


    "Please confirm if the host wishes to optimize?"


    "Attention, this optimization will cost 1 Spirit per day and 100 Experience points."


    "The estimated time for the task is 34 hours and 25 minutes."


    Let me know if you need any further assistance!


    Huh? Optimize the Burning Hand?


    It sounded like something really good. But why did it consume so much experience? If any operation related to Spiritual models cost him so many Experience points, perhaps all the Experience points he had accumulated over the past six years would be exhausted in the coming days.


    Leon calmed himself and took a moment to reflect on this optimization. After some time, he decided to decline.


    First, the Burning Hand was just a closed combat spell. It didn''t hold much value in terms of combat potential in Leon''s mind. Sooner or later, it would be replaced by other offensive or defensive long-range spells that were more valuable, making it not worth investing in at this point.


    Secondly, considering his current Spirit energy, he couldn''t have more than 3 solidified models in his spiritual domain. Under this situation, where only limited slots were available, giving the Burning Hand a slot in his spiritual domain clearly did not align with his optimized path.


    In fact, Leon himself would prefer to prioritize solidifying a long-range attack spell, and he had a specific spell in mind for that purpose.


    It was a fire spell he had studied and researched for nearly half a year¡ªFire Arrow.


    Fire Arrow, a low-grade elemental fire spell. The spell allowed him to form a magical arrow of Fire and shoot it at his target, dealing 7 points of physical damage and 18 points of fire and explosive damage.


    With Leon''s gratifying 3 Physical Points and 11 Health Points, a Fire Arrow was more than enough to kill him instantly. Therefore, throughout this time, Leon had been dreaming of learning this long-range attack spell.


    But the downside was that, although Fire Arrow was a low-quality spell, it consisted of 34 magical words. This was the reason why, despite having studied tirelessly for half a year, he still hadn''t mastered the method to construct its spiritual model.


    Leon had invested over 20 knowledge points and a significant amount of time to learn this spell. He even postponed his research on magical knowledge. However, he was still far from the threshold of success and far from becoming an elite among Beginner Apprentice Mages, mastering more than two spells.


    But now, with the help of the Chip, presumably this "threshold" was much closer!


    Ignoring the fact that it was time to make breakfast, Leon quickly washed his face, sat down at his writing desk, and eagerly opened his magical notebook. Everything related to the magical model of the Fire Arrow, its magical words, the frequency of Spiritual Energy, and the material for constructing the spell; Leon copied all of it into this notebook.


    Real magic was not as simple as ordinary people thought.


    34 syllables of magic could not be recited at once as if they were written down. A spell could not be cast exactly like that. The entire process was extremely complicated and required the perfect combination of hand, mouth, heart, and mind. It was the result of them working together.


    When reciting each syllable, Leon needed to adjust his Spirit to a corresponding vibrational frequency, and both hands had to perform a specific gesture.


    Any mistake or delay in the casting process would result in¡­ a backfire of the spell.


    Although this type of casting explosion wouldn''t kill an Apprentice, it would damage their Spirit and take a long time to recover. Moreover, if someone''s Spirit was frequently damaged, there was a possibility they could suffer permanent reduction in their Spirit!


    ...


    1880 Words

 Chapter 12 - 12: Hologram

    Three days later.


    ....


    With disheveled hair, a dirty face, and two red eyes, Leon let out a long sigh and closed the book that was on the table in front of him.


    A moment ago, the alert tone of the Chip, which he had waited for a long time, finally resonated in his brain.


    "Beep!"


    "Data Model of Fire Arrow successfully constructed!"


    Finally!


    Looking back, the Blazing Hand was a spell that Leon had completely mastered. As long as he could cast it once, the Chip could visualize its model in Leon''s Spiritual Dimension by accurately monitoring how he controlled his Spiritual Energy and the Spiritual Frequency he used.


    It had been so simple and easy.


    But Leon had not mastered the Fire Arrow spell... he still hadn''t been able to cast it even once. Thus, the Chip''s ability to record, store, and mimic his spells could not be utilized.


    So Leon had to find another method, and thus he memorized all the magical theories and casting techniques related to the Fire Arrow. Then he let the Chip proceed with arranging and sorting them, analyzing them to find the best casting technique that suited him more precisely.


    The Data Model that the Chip constructed with this method would not replicate a real Spiritual Model, which made it a unique experimental spell rather than an upgrade of an existing spell.


    Leon massaged his forehead and took a deep breath. After that, he said, "Let''s start the simulation!"


    "Beep."


    With a clear alert tone, an almost perfect virtual image of Leon was projected in his mind. Following the specifications of the Data Model, he began to recite the incantation of Fire Arrow in a loud, albeit blunt, voice.


    Through his connection with the Chip, Leon''s mind merged with the virtual image, following the recitation of the spell and adjusting the frequency of his Spirit to match the Data Model. At the same time, both hands of the virtual image made small gestures in the air, guiding the elemental energy attracted and shaping it into the form of an arrow.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire...."


    Unfortunately, due to his lack of familiarity with casting, when he recited the 14th magical word, his hand gesture was clearly half a second too slow. Within Leon''s Spiritual World, the half-formed Fire Arrow exploded, and a furious fireball instantly engulfed the virtual image.


    "Boom!"


    If it had been in the real world, perhaps nearly half of Leon''s room would have been destroyed, but in this virtual world, simulated with Spirit energy, after the violent vibrations of light and shadows, the simulated explosion perfectly vanished, and the entire scene was restored to its initial state.


    Although he knew beforehand that everything was just a simulation, Leon still couldn''t help but break into a nonexistent cold sweat in his spiritual world.


    Witnessing a massive fireball explode before his eyes and seeing his virtual body being torn apart, even Leon, who was not weak-hearted, felt his heart stop for a second.


    To truly allow himself to experience the complete process of casting the spell, Leon put all his consciousness into the virtual image. Therefore, you could say what happened now, although not real, could be described as an unreal reality.


    Leon did not rush back to practice but closed his eyes, meticulously studying his first attempt in his mind. After confirming the reason for the mistake, he opened his eyes and began his second simulated casting attempt.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."


    Unfortunately, it was a failure again! This time, he failed to combine his Spirit frequency with the 17th syllable. The semi-constructed spiritual model exploded once more. As a result, the enraged flames of the element again engulfed Leon''s virtual body.


    "Boom~~"


    The digitized vibration of lights and shadows slowly disappeared.


    Soon, his Spiritual World was restored to its initial state.


    Leon let out a helpless and bitter laugh, then took a moment to calm himself. Soon, the sonorous and vigorous simulated voice of Leon once again resonated throughout the empty spiritual world. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Many explosions had occurred¡­


    Each time, his mistake was almost the same. Either his hand gestures couldn''t keep up with the syllables of the spell, or the Spirit frequency was incorrect. To simplify, no matter which part caused the issue, there was only one result: a massive explosion.


    If this had happened in the real world, Leon''s frail body would have been reduced to dust after the first explosion. But since it wasn''t, he was sitting safely beside his writing desk, staring blankly into space.


    After practicing so many times, his Spirit was finally exhausted.


    Whenever his Spirit was completely drained, he would struggle to return to his bed and would fall asleep. Once he slept and restored his Spirit, he would go to the cafeteria, order a massive meal, then return to his room and start the next round of Spell Simulation practice.


    With this incredible persistence and fortitude, finally, during a moment when everything worked perfectly, Leon successfully completed a simulated casting of the Fire Arrow.


    When the blazing elemental flame formed into a magical arrow and was floating steadily between Leon''s hands, he could barely hold back his tears. As he let himself get excited, a massive explosion once again engulfed his body.


    But this time, he didn''t feel discouraged. Instead, he let out a loud and satisfied laugh as his Spiritual World was destroyed around him.


    ...


    Leon sat directly in front of the desk, opening his eyes for the first time in several hours. A look of joy could be seen in the corners of his eyes.


    "Chip, do you have a recording of my last simulated casting attempt?"


    The video had been recorded and saved. You can play it back at any time¡­


    Leon tried his best to calm down and nodded, but the way he tightly clenched his fists revealed how excited he was.


    This new feature found in the Chip was truly a great help for him.


    Without the virtual spiritual world built by the Chip, Leon could only practice this spell in the Spell Practice Hall repeatedly. He would have to personally endure the backlash on his Spirit and body caused by his casting failures. Each backlash would require a recovery period before he could fully recuperate.


    Undoubtedly, this would severely delay the progress of learning any spell or advancing in his Spirit.


    This was why most Apprentices in the Tower had only mastered one or two spells.


    Of course, there was a possibility that some Apprentices were hiding what they knew, never revealing their true abilities. After all, the research and progress field of all Apprentices was secret, and attempting to learn about others'' particulars was a significant taboo within the Tower.


    There probably weren''t that many Apprentices who hid what they knew; with the number of unfortunate individuals who were training hard, even among Beginner Mage Apprentices, that number was indeed quite high, and therefore there was little need to hide one''s abilities. In the past, Leon had been one of them.


    But with the activation of the Chip, Leon felt it was time for him to rise into the sky.


    "Chip, show the recording of the successful casting!"


    "Beep!"


    With the appearance of data streams, a ''Leon'' who was focused on spell casting was projected in his mind. Leon put all his focus into this virtual image, repeatedly observing the entire spell casting process. He watched every detail, not missing the slightest change in his Spiritual energy.


    Although it was just a spiritual simulation, Leon''s mind followed the normal casting process and completed it. Therefore, excluding the lack of real elemental energy, nothing was different compared to casting the spell in the real world.


    It went without saying that this recording of a successful spell casting would greatly contribute to helping Leon master the magical spell. At the very least, it helped Leon save at least half a year of restless efforts and avoided the painful cycle of getting hurt, resting and healing, and getting hurt again.


    Since he had a single success out of a hundred attempts, this meant that Leon''s knowledge and skill were sufficient to meet the minimum requirement for casting the Fire Arrow spell. Thus, the only obstacle preventing him from mastering the Fire Arrow was his familiarity with casting the spell.


    And that was the power of the Chip!


    After repeatedly reviewing the successful simulated casting and ensuring he had mastered all the key elements of the spell, Leon left his room and headed straight to the Magical Spell Practice Room.


    This was also one of the inconveniences that an Apprentice Mage had to face.


    His mastery of magical spells was very low, which made practicing an unfamiliar magical spell in his own room very harsh. Thus, the only option for them was to rent the Magical Spell Practice Room in the Tower, allowing them to experiment with a new spell.


    That''s why there was a saying: the mastery of a new magical spell has always been supported by an enormous amount of knowledge¡­ and an incredible amount of money.


    ...


    The Magical Spell Practice Room was located on the third floor of the Tower and was set up to handle all the mishaps that a spell backlash could cause.


    Although it was part of the Tower, Apprentice Mages could only step on the first to third floors. The first floor was mainly for New Apprentices who had recently joined the Tower. The second floor was the residential space and recreational areas for Official Apprentice Mages. The third floor was a public area where they could experiment with magical spells and practice.


    The areas where official apprentices were allowed to go included: the Library, the Potion Manufacturing Room, the Summoning Room, the Alchemy Laboratory, the Magical Spell Practice Room, the Sealing Room, the Curse Altar, the Magical Plant Cultivation Room¡­ But, as the solitary wolf he was, the only places Leon usually visited were the Library and the Magical Spell Practice Room.


    As for all the other places, he didn''t have deep pockets to waste money visiting them.


    It was dinner time when he arrived, so there weren''t many apprentices in this place.


    After Leon impatiently paid 10 gold coins to Pedro, who was the administrator of the Magical Spell Practice Room, he received a special card. With this card, he had one hour to practice in a room.


    For an Apprentice Mage, one hour of practice was considered very long. With their pitiful amount of Spiritual Energy, they could not last more than half an hour of continuous casting. If Leon didn''t manage his spiritual energy production, he could exhaust it all within fifteen minutes.


    Leon walked to a stone door that had a number above it matching the number on his card. He raised the card and waved it gently in the air. The heavy stone door immediately opened without making a sound as it did.


    The so-called "Magical Spell Practice Room" was, in fact, a simple stone room that had about 40 square meters of space, but there was a gigantic human target made of stone placed at the other end of the room. The dark and gloomy material showed that it was made from dark augite stone, which was capable of repelling magic.


    With the ability of an Apprentice Mage, the low-quality magical spells they managed to experiment with were definitely not enough to destroy such a robust and strong stone target. Therefore, it was the most suitable target for magical practice.


    Of course, for those apprentices who needed to practice their Curses or some other unique types of magic, they had no choice but to spend money to buy some suitable demons as their practice target, or else they would have to sneak out of the Tower, where they could practice those bizarre spells in secret.


    ...


    1996 Words

 Chapter 13 - 13: Bleias Return

    After the stone door closed, the practice room became soundproof, and Leon wouldn''t have to worry about anyone spying on what he was doing outside.


    Leon took two steps forward, positioning himself in the center of a strange spell formation that was about 2 meters in diameter. He couldn''t recognize any of the spells drawn on it. Clearly, they were well beyond the knowledge of any Beginner Apprentice Mage.


    But today he didn''t have the time or energy to bother with all those minor details. He turned around and stood up straight, silently recalling the entire process of casting the Fire Arrow spell. Once he was sure of the casting process, he began to speak in a solemn voice: "Chip. Pay close attention to the entire process. Correct me immediately if you think I made the slightest mistake!"


    "Beep!"


    New task set, initiating real-time monitoring¡­


    As a blue light began to flicker in Leon''s eyes, a digitized scene was projected onto his retinas.


    The digitized practice room looked exactly like the physical one, but countless small blue node points appeared in Leon''s retinas, dividing the entire room into numerous small regions. Moreover, the body movements Leon needed to execute were broken down into countless virtual images, each arranged to indicate an order he should follow.


    This was exactly what he needed to do: follow the movements of these virtual images.


    Finally, Leon, who was standing still and staring blankly into space, began to practice.


    He started reciting the magic words while simultaneously making drawing movements in front of his chest at an incredibly fast speed. These movements felt strange to him, but at the same time, they possessed a certain fluid grace.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."


    As Leon progressed through the spell, his body began to flicker in red as a large amount of Fire Elementium was summoned by his spell, slowly compressing and forming the shape of an arrow between his moving hands.


    "Buzz~~" S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Perhaps the process was too smooth, but just as he recited the 32nd magical syllable, Leon''s heart surged with excitement, causing one of the nodes in the spiritual model to collapse, and the rest of the spiritual model immediately followed suit.


    The furious Fire Elementium, which had been summoned and repeatedly compressed, became misaligned, and an explosion of Fire Elementium, trembling on the ground, began to erupt in front of Leon.


    "Zoshhhh~~"


    But at the moment everything started to go awry, Leon, who was prepared for the unexpected, slammed the card placed in front of his chest. The card vibrated, and a Magic Barrier arose from the formation beneath his feet, enveloping his body and the explosion of the Fire Arrow.


    Strangely, once the furious fire was covered by the magic barrier, its power was reduced by half. Thus, a potentially volatile explosion of Elementium was suppressed and transformed into a small fireworks display.


    After an annoyed noise that sounded like fireworks, Leon was enveloped in thick, dark smoke, and a small flame could briefly be seen through the smoke.


    A moment later, Leon emerged from the smoke while coughing continuously.


    "Damn¡­ I thought I was going to succeed¡­"


    His face was smeared with thick smoke, and his clothes were filled with burn marks, making him look like a homeless man who had been dragged through a fire.


    Although he had been caught in the center of the explosion, the power of the furious Fire Elementium was suppressed by the Magic Formation. Therefore, only his hands and forehead were licked by the flames. He truly suffered no injuries, except for minor burns.


    His first attempt at real selection had failed!


    And the cause of this was Leon''s weak control over his own emotions. As he felt he was going to succeed, he allowed his excitement to dominate him, and this emotional outburst disturbed the spell-casting process.


    After letting the dark smoke clear from the room, he tidied himself up and applied a medicinal paste to his wounds. Only then did he step back into the spell formation.


    Grinding his teeth tightly, Leon began his second attempt at conjuration.


    Perhaps he was being rewarded for all his perseverance over the past few weeks, or maybe fate had decided it was time for him to master the spell, but the second casting of the spell was smooth and swift. After what felt like an endless 13 seconds, Leon finally completed a successful casting of the Fire Arrow spell.


    When the furious Fire Elementium concentrated and transformed into a complete Fire Arrow in the palm of his hand, the sweet mechanical voice of the Chip resonated in his brain once again.


    "Beep!"


    "A complete spiritual model has been detected. Please confirm if the host wishes to solidify it?"


    "The solidification process will consume 3 Spirit points and 50 Experience points!"


    "Solidify!" Leon couldn''t hold back and shouted loudly.


    Please name this spiritual model.


    "Fire Arrow!"


    "Model successfully named!"


    "The solidification task is starting¡­"


    "The expected completion time is 14 hours, 37 minutes, and 21 seconds¡­"


    After settling everything with the chip, Leon still needed to deal with the "hot potato" in his hands.


    For many explosive spells, manipulation was only safe within 2-3 seconds after casting the spell. If that time was exceeded, or the conjurer moved their body, the cast spell would begin to collapse.


    If he cast a spell and let it explode within his palm, he could hardly imagine what would happen to his body.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands....


    Therefore, once Leon finished speaking with the Chip, he immediately pushed both hands forward, urging the Fire Arrow to fly ahead and hit directly into the stone target located across the room.


    "Buzz~~"


    The Fire Arrow erupted upon hitting the chest of the stone target. This time, without the suppression field of the Magic Formation under his feet, the furious Fire Elementium could finally reveal its brutal and violent nature.


    "BOOOMM~~"


    A loud explosion noise was heard.


    A fireball the size of a melon suddenly appeared, quickly spreading into a violent shockwave. The furious explosion instantly heated everything within a 5-meter radius of the stone target to quite intense temperatures.


    After the smoke dissipated, Leon could see that the chest of the stone target had been charred, and there was even a hole the size of a fingernail where the center of the explosion had occurred.


    Unexpectedly, a wall on one side of the room began to tremble like a water surface as small ripples passed through it. After a moment, some words began to appear.


    "Spell Evaluation."


    "Damage Caused."


    Physical Damage: 5 points


    Fire Damage: 16 points


    "Characteristic."


    Attack Radius: 150 meters


    Area of Effect: 5 meters


    Obviously, this specially designed Magical Spell Practice Room was very effective in its work. Although, with the help of the Chip, Leon didn''t need the limited data detected by the Magical Formation, all the other Apprentice Mages couldn''t live without it.


    Only through the evaluation and calculation of the Magical Formation could they have a more direct sense of control when dealing with the spells they were learning. Otherwise, they would have to experience it directly on a battlefield, where they had to put their lives at stake.


    In just 15 minutes, Leon achieved his goal for this trip. He happily turned and opened the door to the spell practice room. When the stone door opened, a beautiful figure was waiting outside.


    Slender limbs; perfect curves; smooth, silky skin; a delicate face¡­ But what excited Leon the most was the fiery chiffon red dress and her equally red, luscious lips.


    The only difference from the last time he saw her was that her ruby-red eyes had disappeared, replaced by a pair of turquoise-blue eyes, making Leon feel as if he were looking into a shimmering blue ocean.


    It was Bleia, wearing her vibrant red dress!


    "Ah, so it seems you really are here!" Her subtly red lips moved gently, delivering words in a voice that made Leon''s heart race. "All right, since I''ve found you, you are no longer useful to me."


    The second sentence, spoken in a tone that seemed much colder than the first, was not directed at Leon.


    Only now did Leon realize that this "neighbor" of his, who was neither tall nor short, was dragging an adult man with her right hand. It was Pedro, the administrator of the Magical Spell Practice Room.


    Bleia, dressed in red, waved her small hand, and Pedro was easily thrown over ten meters away.


    "Whoosh~~"


    "BANG~~"


    He collided with the ground, groaning and unable to get up.


    Leon felt his expression change.


    Although Pedro was not considered a robust man, his weight was at least equal to that of an average adult man. However, Bleia had just thrown him a considerable distance with just her bare hand, and she had done it effortlessly. Deducing from what he saw before him, Leon guessed she had at least 10 in strength.


    Judging by the speed of her movements, her agility was also not low. Along with the terrifying regenerative ability of a Vampire, perhaps even the three strongest Apprentice Mages couldn''t gain an advantage over her in a fight.


    Hadn''t she been taken by the tower master? How was she here, safe and sound? She¡­


    "Follow me!"


    While Leon was still pondering all of this in his mind, Bleia stretched out her delicate, silky right hand and grabbed his collar. Then she turned and walked away, pulling him along by the neck. Leon did his best to try to avoid her hand, but he couldn''t.


    Although he was only 15 years old, he was indeed a bit taller than Bleia. To avoid being dragged along the ground, he was forced to stumble after her, having no idea what was happening.


    However, as he was pulled by Bleia, he looked at the sexy and hot body of the vampire in front of him and thought. "If my sentimental manipulation worked over the months he was going through his metamorphosis, and I was the only one she talked to, certainly within a few months, my dick will be embraced by Bleia''s vampire pussy."


    ...


    In the public cafeteria.


    It was dinnertime, so most of the Apprentice Mages were gathered in the cafeteria, sitting in small groups, enjoying their meals and chatting with one another.


    From the places they sat and the way they spoke, it was possible to determine the strength of these small groups and each Apprentice Mage''s position within them.


    After all, those who were lone wolves, like Leon, were truly few in number. Most Apprentice Mages preferred to group together and form small teams, allowing them to work collaboratively and fend off those with bad intentions.


    However, just as the atmosphere in the place was warming up, a sudden loud noise was heard as the recently repaired wooden door was smashed open by someone.


    All the Apprentice Mages stared in disbelief at the two people who entered one after the other, their eyes wide open.


    Bleia?!


    Although most people here had not seen how Bleia had dealt with her "mutation" by her own means, everyone knew what had happened that day. Thus, in their minds, even if Bleia had not been sliced open by the Master Mage during his research, she would have been locked away on one of the upper floors of this Tower, forced to live as a captive forever.


    In contrast to everyone''s expectations, she had actually shown up in this place, with great audacity!


    Brandon, who was seated in the center of the cafeteria, immediately felt his expression turn serious as his eyes filled with fear.


    He had personally witnessed how brutal and terrifying Bleia was. Even if she had returned to her seemingly harmless demeanor, the horrific memory left in his mind could never be erased.


    Bleia stormed in like a whirlwind, quickly making her way to the center of the cafeteria with her arms crossed. She suddenly looked around the room, surveying slowly, before her gaze finally settled on Brandon, the newly appointed Leader Apprentice.


    "I, Bleia, am back!"


    ...


    2036 Words

 Chapter 14 - 14: Digital arena

    After proudly announcing her return from the middle of the cafeteria, Bleia moved her hand forward, pulling Leon along and positioning him in front of her.


    "From today on, know that he is my subordinate. Anyone who causes trouble for him will have me as their enemy!"


    Once she finished speaking, she released Leon and swiped her right hand through the air. Her claws moved so quickly that they seemed to leave afterimages in the air. As the faint trails of light disappeared, five sharp sounds could be heard by the crowd.


    "What?!"


    "What insane agility, and what terrifically formidable strength."


    "With that kind of speed and attacking power, who would have time to recite a spell if they were attacked by her?"


    After estimating the attack power of Bleia''s casual strike, everyone who witnessed this scene was filled with fear, covering their faces.


    Leon couldn''t help but smile wryly at the current situation. For the first time in his life, he felt a headache caused by "good luck."


    As much as he could, he was a man striving to live a low-profile life, but in the end, he was helplessly dragged into what could only result in a fight among the strongest Apprentice Mages. Although Bleia did this with good intentions, could a simple threat of violence really deter Apprentice Mages who feared nothing?


    In this Tower of Mages, where men''s hearts were incomprehensible and everyone was scheming against one another, there were almost infinite methods to kill someone without being noticed.


    In the library, a wide variety of knowledge about evil spells and poisonous potions was available. As long as someone was willing to put in the effort, it wasn''t exactly difficult to make an Apprentice Mage meet an "unfortunate death" without anyone knowing.


    Within this mysterious and terrifying Tower of Mages, Leon would never dare let the slightest drop of blood or even the tiniest hair fall into another person''s hands. After all, there were countless bizarre spells that could be used against a person. The slightest mistake could end with him becoming a puppet controlled by someone else.


    This was also why most Apprentice Mages lived in seclusion in their own rooms, rarely having intimate physical contact with anyone else.


    Feeling the hostile glares shooting at him from all directions, Leon felt mute once again, and a bitter smile spread across his face.


    It seemed he had found a great way to make many enemies at once.


    In the past, he was merely a harmless low-level apprentice in the minds of others. Even if he had some minor arguments, no one would try to find a way to kill him. But today, he had nearly offended all the Apprentice Mages in the tower without saying a single word.


    Without needing to think twice, he knew that from today onward, he had become a different kind of bird among all the Beginner Apprentice Mages. If anyone attempted to reach out to him, they were either investigating Bleia''s information or planning his death.


    Although Leon was grumbling in his mind, at that moment, he had no choice but to put on an impassive face and face these new difficulties.


    After saying what she intended, Bleia, who had established her authority, grabbed Leon and hurried out of the cafeteria. A moment later, the proud and elegant Bleia reappeared in front of Pedro, who was still reeling from the shock of being thrown into a room.


    "Give me the Arena card!"


    Bleia revealed herself to be surprisingly domineering and tyrannical. When she slammed her small palm on the table, everything around her was knocked over. "Pow~~" A slimy, ugly toad squeezed out from the pile of books while continuously grumbling, quickly hopping onto Pedro''s shoulder and glaring angrily at Bleia, the one responsible for its discomfort.


    It was a small frog, but it had an enormous head, which was quite strange. It was slimy and covered in bumps and bubbles, all filled with green sludge. It had a huge mouth, and its eyes were situated on two prominent tentacles, giving it a truly bizarre appearance.


    Afraid, Pedro gently patted the strange head of the frog, tilting his head and speaking softly. Reluctantly, the frog opened its mouth and spat out a special card that shone with a golden sheen.


    Bleia coldly huffed, snatched the golden card from the table, turned around, and dragged Leon away.


    Before leaving, Leon couldn''t help but examine the strange frog.


    An associated beast!


    Perhaps this frog was Pedro''s associated beast?


    Apprentice Mages like them, who were still struggling on the lower floors of the Tower, were always trying to strengthen themselves. Without a doubt, increasing Spirit was the most difficult path. Without a Magical Medicine to boost Spirit, a first-level meditation method, and without a formal Mage to answer all their questions, they could only rely on themselves to progress.


    Therefore, any method that could possibly help a person improve their own power was worth pursuing, and Associated Beasts were undeniably a good supplementary method for increasing strength.


    Associated Beasts were also known as Parasite Beasts. They were a unique type of demon whose race had been altered by magic. Through a special magical ceremony, an Apprentice Mage could establish a bond between their soul and one of these beasts.


    Of course, a method like this came with its own pros and cons. On the positive side, an Apprentice Mage could borrow the innate abilities of the demon, granting them some special skills that others did not possess. On the downside, during the bonding process, the Apprentice had to cut off part of their soul and transfer it to the Associated Beast.


    Consequently, if the Associated Beast were seriously injured or died, the Apprentice would suffer the same fate.


    If the Beast were gravely wounded, it could lead to a permanent depletion of Spirit for the Apprentice, as their soul would be harmed; there were known cases where the Mage''s soul had shattered, causing them to become a complete fool.


    It was a general rule that an ordinary Apprentice Mage could only establish a bond with one Beast. But, as with anything, there were always exceptions. The worm controller, one of the three strongest Apprentices, took the path of bonding with an Associated Beast. However, he truly broke the supposed limit, and somehow, he had many strange insects within his body.


    As for how he did this, no one knew. Any Apprentice Mage who was taking the path of bonding with an Associated Beast would kill for that knowledge, but none of them had the courage to spy on his secret. Because, in the end, anyone who attempted to spy on him would end up dead in an "accident."


    Pedro, who only had the ability of an Intermediate Apprentice, chose a Poison Dart Frog, which could, unsurprisingly, shoot poisonous darts, as his Associated Beast. Besides firing poison, it also had a good regeneration ability. Perhaps this was the main reason why Pedro chose it.


    ...


    When the main door of the stone room closed, Bleia and Leon were left alone in a large room.


    This Arena was much larger than the stone room that Leon had previously rented, occupying a total of 200 square meters. Thus, this was not a place for Apprentice Mages to practice their magical spells, but a miniature fighting arena.


    If Apprentice Mages needed to settle disputes, they would usually use this Arena as a last resort. Although this place came with a rule prohibiting them from killing each other, if an "accident" were to actually occur, the killer would not have to pay with their own life. All they would have to do was pay a large fee as compensation.


    Because of this, many Apprentice Mages had a great fear of this Arena, and it earned the nickname ''Death Arena''!


    Bleia''s slender figure stood in front of Leon. She wore a strange smile on her delicate face, which Leon thought was both seductive and cruel.


    "I don''t need a useless subordinate. Show me what you''re capable of!"


    After announcing this, and without giving him time to prepare, her delicate-looking body swayed, leaving behind a trail of afterimages. Her real body was mixed in with those afterimages, rushing toward Leon at an incredible speed.


    Did she really mean that? This Bleia was truly a girl of action!


    Although Bleia had been a rather frosty beauty in the past, she had still maintained the careful and low-profile character of a standard Apprentice Mage. How had she become so arrogant and aggressive after being dethroned by the Eclivel Mage?


    Unfortunately, Leon didn''t have time to ponder this any further because Bleia''s attack was quickly closing in.


    "Alert!"


    "Initiating combat mode!"


    "The digital Arena has been activated!"


    A series of rapid warning tones resonated in his brain, almost causing him to lose focus.


    When expanded in all directions, the range of the bioChip grew like a vast digital domain.


    ''Digital Arena? What?'' Leon thought to himself, but with no time to reflect, he was flooded by notifications.


    "Attention!"


    "Attention!"


    "Target approaching at high speed¡­"


    "Initial assessment shows that the target has agility greater than 13."


    "Host, move two steps to the left."


    "After dodging, counterattack with the Burning Hands spell¡­"


    Since the solidification of the Fire Arrow was still in progress, Leon could only use one spell, Burning Hands. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The speed of the attack was extremely fast, and Leon couldn''t even see where the real Bleia was. What he could do was put all his hope in the guidance given by the Chip, move his feet, and sidestep, quickly preparing a Burning Hands spell.


    However, as they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy.


    Leon awkwardly fell to the ground while only halfway through dodging. His shirt was completely torn at the chest, revealing three cuts. He cast Burning Hands, but his attack hit nothing.


    Leon pressed his hand against his wounds, disturbed by what had just happened. He lifted his head and shot Bleia an irritated look. Meanwhile, Bleia stood off to the side, flicking her long, flexible tongue and licking the blood from her claws.


    "So it seems you have worthy reflexes¡­ But your body is too weak. If this speed is all you''ve got, you might just suffer today!" Perhaps it was because she had tasted blood, but her completely blue eyes began to take on a shade of red, making her appear much more dangerous. "If you don''t want to die, you better move faster¡­"


    Bleia quickly crouched down after finishing her words, making her look like a leopard preparing to pounce. The next second, she was shooting in his direction.


    Damn, if that hit him, he would really die.


    As her eyes began to turn red and her fangs started to show on her lips, the warning tones vanished like crazy in his brain. Unable to tend to the wounds on his chest, Leon let out a roar.


    He struck both palms together with force, opened his mouth, and began to chant.


    "Burning Hands, come forth!"


    "Burning Hands, I summon thee!"


    "Burning¡­"


    Three seconds later, two large fireballs erupted in both of his hands, causing Bleia to retreat.


    "This is what I''m talking about! Hehe¡­ you''d better watch out!~"


    Bleia''s voice was filled with excitement. She even let out a little laugh. The next second, she leaped forward, transforming into a blue streak.


    Even within the confines of the digital arena, Leon was only able to see Bleia''s afterimages. He couldn''t find her actual position. Therefore, to prevent her from getting too close, Leon kept moving his body and adjusting his stance to keep most of her afterimages in front of him. Meanwhile, he was frantically waving his hands, trying to use the burning flames to block all possible attack routes.


    "Zoshhh~~"


    "Zoshhh~~"


    "Buzz~~"


    Both fireballs made noises as Leon waved them around, sending sparks flying around his body. Unfortunately, it seemed that his defense attempt was futile. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn''t figure out where she was. Instead, he would occasionally feel a sudden, sharp pain emanating from a new spot on his body, and all of this only fueled his growing anger.


    ....


    2041 Words

 Chapter 15 - 15: Promises of revenge

    As the fight progressed, Leon increasingly realized what his weaknesses were.


    His below-average physique was one of his greatest weaknesses. Even with the help of the Chip, he discovered that he wasn''t as strong as he had initially thought.


    His Agility of 4 defined the speed of his reflexes, movement, and flexibility of his body. Although the dynamic vision provided by the Chip allowed him to roughly guess where Bleia was moving, his excessively "clumsy" and "slow" body was struggling to keep up with the Chip''s guidance.


    Therefore, most of the time, even knowing beforehand where the attack was coming from, Leon couldn''t defend himself quickly enough. Often, when the sharp claws passed by his body, his flames were mere inches away, yet he still couldn''t touch the tips of Bleia''s dress.


    Thus, inside the massive Arena, Leon was tirelessly conjuring two enormous fireballs and doing everything he could to land the slightest blow on his enemy. However, it seemed he was incapable of doing anything except receiving wounds and groaning as the pain from all his injuries mounted.


    As for Bleia, she was like a red ghost flitting from one place to another, appearing to blink in and out of reality as she dashed around Leon. Often, the terrible flames almost brushed against her body but were unable to cause any damage, as she moved with great speed and agility.


    Fortunately, Bleia was merely playfully assessing Leon''s fighting skill, so all her attacks were causing only minor injuries to his flesh. If she had been serious, Leon would have been cut to pieces long ago. But even so, having his body scratched by Bleia''s sharp claws left Leon with numerous scratch marks and blood all over.


    Although the wounds on his body wouldn''t kill him, they brought Leon much anger and humiliation.


    A month ago, this Bleia was just a novice Apprentice and wasn''t stronger than he was. Because of this damned mutation caused by magical contamination, she was now able to twist Leon around her little finger as if he were nothing.


    This explosive anger was continuously suppressed by Leon, as he knew he was incapable of defeating Bleia, but he was still doing everything he could to pursue her red shadow with his furious flames.


    Internally, Leon''s mind was still calm as a glacier, and he was communicating with the Chip without showing any external signs. Since he couldn''t catch Bleia with his dynamic vision, he needed to find an alternative solution.


    Leon''s spirit was rapidly exhausting as he tirelessly waved both hands in the air. The terrible fireballs in his hands were growing larger and more violent. Under his eyes, a strange blue dot flickered faintly, marking an interception point that the Chip had vaguely calculated.


    When Leon sensed that Bleia was attacking head-on, he slightly separated his hands, blocking potential attacks from the left and right, leaving a weak point of half a meter in front of his body.


    Seeing this, Bleia, who had planned to attack from the left, simply let out a cold huff, stopped, and stood still, gently swaying to the side to avoid the blazing red fireball. Not only that, but she actually fell forward and attacked the small opening in front of Leon''s chest.


    "Hmph! What a careless boy, should I leave a mark on your face or your chest?~"


    Bleia, who still had plenty of time while lazily fighting with Leon, pondered why her instincts hesitated at that exact moment.


    Suddenly, her expression changed drastically, and she immediately retreated with a speed even greater than her attack. Even so, her retreating body still couldn''t completely escape the two fireballs that suddenly altered their courses.


    "Buzz~~"


    Two terrifying fireballs came from the left and right, colliding with each other and exploding, sending sparks of fire in all directions and creating a sea of flames in front of Leon''s body.


    "Boom~~"


    What happened made Bleia scream in shock. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Shit!!"


    In the time it took to blink, she had moved 10 meters away from Leon but still felt some pain from that attack. She lowered her head and took a look at herself. To her surprise, she discovered that her red chiffon dress was actually full of burn marks, as those random flying sparks had fallen on her and made holes in her dress, revealing what was hidden beneath.


    "You bastard¡­ How dare you damage my dress¡­"


    Bleia''s cold and beautiful face turned angry. With a cruel look, she stared directly at Leon, who was jumping for joy.


    At that exact moment, Leon was struck by an indescribable excitement, as he had finally managed to force Bleia to retreat. "Bleia, my love, I have to confess my true feelings to you, I love you... Do you remember the times I said you were my little princess and that when I was better I would invite you to my room? So how about tonight? We can play in various ways."


    Finally, he had discovered a weakness in this girl''s fighting style. When facing a high-speed enemy who fought like an assassin, a weaker spell that covered a wide area was effective in limiting where they could move, while powerful and concentrated spells were unable to touch them¡­


    As he basked in the joy of his small success, Leon suddenly felt a sinister killing intent. Shocked, he raised his head and saw a girl with a fierce look on her face.


    "I¡­"


    Knowing that something bad was about to happen, Leon quickly tried to explain his actions, but before he could say anything, a red shadow flashed in front of his eyes, grabbed him, and slammed his head against a nearby stone wall. The brutal and violent force of Bleia''s hand pierced through Leon''s entire body, but before he could feel the pain, his eyes went black, and he lost consciousness.


    And the last thought that crossed his mind was: "What a quick deposit of sperm! It won''t stay like this, I swear I will take revenge... Bleia, I swear I will rape you in such a way that you get pregnant, my revenge It will be so severe that I will tie you up for a few months and rape you every night, and I will only stop when you are pregnant."


    When Leon finally regained consciousness, he felt a throbbing pain all over his body, but he also felt a new pain. It seemed like he was being dragged by someone.


    A small, cold hand was gripping his ankle, pulling him across the floor on his stomach, which was how he was being brought back to his room. When he finally arrived in his room, his bare face was completely covered in blood, the result of having scraped his face against the rough ground.


    Leon didn''t dare to fight back, as it seemed his last attack had angered the foul-tempered Bleia. So, all he could do was close his eyes and do his best to endure the pain he felt throughout his body.


    Fortunately, he could still feel pain¡­ It was better than falling into a vegetative state!


    Leon made the Chip perform a self-test, and a huge and terrifying red warning signal appeared at the top of the report.


    HP: 03/11


    Ugh. He only had a total of 11 Health Points and had lost 8 of them. This literally put him on the brink of death. If he lost any more, he would be in serious trouble.


    Even though that damned Bleia hadn''t hurt any of his vital points and had only left some scratch marks on his body playfully, it was more than enough to reduce his Health Points to such a pathetic state. This really showed how great the difference between them was.


    A moment later, Bleia opened the wooden door to Leon''s room and threw him inside. After that, her beautiful voice said something very cruel: "Rest tonight; we''ll continue our training in 17 hours."


    Then it seemed that Bleia had noticed that Leon was awake.


    Leon raised his head, shocked that she had figured it out. What he saw was the wooden door slightly ajar and the silhouette of a slender and curvaceous young woman illuminated by the candles in the hallway.


    17 hours? Did she expect him to recover in 17 hours?


    Leon opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the wooden door was closed, leaving him in the dark gloom of his room.


    ...


    Half an hour later, with sheer willpower, Leon finally got up from the floor and lit a few candles to take a look at himself.


    He took off his short, worn Apprentice robe and discovered that his skinny body was covered in scratch marks and crisscrossed wounds. Although they weren''t deep, they were unexpectedly dense.


    Under the dim candlelight, he began to carefully tend to his injured body.


    He had some basic healing ointments in his room. After all, to survive in the Tower, healing pastes and poison antidotes were mandatory items.


    Enduring the pain, Leon applied the healing ointment to his wounds while grimacing. Immediately, a ticklish sensation that drove him crazy came from the wounds, but soon after, it was replaced by a cold feeling that calmed his mind, followed by the pleasant sensation of his flesh regenerating. From there, Leon began the slow healing process.


    After finishing applying the healing ointment, Leon decided to examine the other parts of his self-test report.


    Attributes: Strength 4.01 | Agility 4.04 | Physique 3.02 | Spirit: 8.07


    Experience: 528/1000


    Personal Skills: Burning Hand (Solidified) | Fire Arrow (Solidification in Progress)


    Surprisingly, the torture he had just endured had increased all his attributes, and it had even boosted his Experience by 12. Leon couldn''t help but let out a long sigh. Did this mean that his path to becoming strong would be filled with misery and pain?


    After agonizing in misery and having slightly suicidal thoughts, Leon took a deep breath, lay down on his bed, and began his daily meditation.


    Once again, he had arrived in the Spiritual Dimension, which was filled with countless glowing points of light. This time, the orb of light representing Leon''s consciousness transformed into a fierce monster that had hundreds of tentacles extending from its body.


    Under Leon''s control, these spiritual tentacles continued to poke and swim around, reaching out and grabbing all the Fire Elementium swimming nearby.


    In the past, Leon had only passively absorbed the Fire Elementium that came close enough to him. How could that be compared to his current efficiency, as he was actively absorbing them? With his current speed, one round of meditation would yield ten times more than the previous meditation.


    It had been a long day for him. So many things had happened, and he had been too busy to address all of them. This was the first time he had managed to catch his breath all day, and he found himself exhausted. Therefore, before he could check the results of his meditation, he fell asleep.


    ...


    At dawn the next day, Leon woke up to the sound of heavy knocks on his door.


    "Who is it?"


    "It''s me, Nolan. It''s time..."


    Leon''s lips tightened. He realized that six days had passed since his last inspection trip, and it was time to do it again!


    As he got up, he quickly glanced at the results of the previous night''s meditation. He was filled with joy upon seeing that his Spirit had increased from 8.07 to 8.15.


    A single night of meditation had raised his Spirit by 0.08¡­ Didn''t this mean that even if he didn''t spend any time studying Magic books and only did basic meditation, his Spirit would reach the level of an Advanced Apprentice Mage in three months?


    That wasn''t the only good news.


    His Fire Arrow spell would solidify in 1 hour. In 1 hour, he would become a Beginner Apprentice who had mastered more than one Magic Spell. He would no longer be a rookie who could be intimidated by anyone.


    ...


    2008 Words

 Chapter 16 - 16: Garden

    Following the same route as the previous week, Leon set out on his inspection journey.


    Leon quickly realized that things were quite different today.


    As soon as he set foot on the stone-paved path, Leon immediately sensed that something was amiss. Today, the demons were unusually excited and behaving in strange ways.


    The first stop on his inspection was the Ghost Tree Grove.


    Even before reaching the grove, Leon was horrified by what he saw in front of him.


    Hundreds of Carrion Crows were perched on those skinny, gnarled Ghost Trees, and each one of them had their round, red eyes fixed on Leon. Strangely, none of them made a sound, which was completely different from their usual behavior.


    Honestly, being stared at by a few hundred Carrion Crows at once would send chills down the spine of even the bravest Apprentice Mage. But what puzzled Leon even more was how quiet they were. If they were behaving normally, the loud cawing of the Carrion Crows could be heard a mile away.


    But today¡­


    Judging by their silence, it seemed as if they were all waiting for a grand feast.


    Based on the knowledge Leon had in mind, these Carrion Crows would only be so quiet and patient when they were waiting for their meal. It was said that these birds could follow a dying traveler for days without sleeping or resting, just waiting for the moment the traveler finally fell.


    Under the ''Welcome Parade'' of a few hundred Carrion Crows, Leon slowly started walking along the stone path. As he proceeded, he knew he was completely surrounded by creatures with ill intentions.


    "Chip, perform a scan of the surrounding area. I need to know what''s going on here!" Leon couldn''t bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer and whispered a command.


    "Beep."


    "Initiating real-time scan task¡­


    "Establishing dynamic monitoring for the surrounding area¡­"


    "Beep!"


    "Beep¡­"


    "Beep¡­"


    "Source of disturbance is an unknown scent!"


    "Direction: Southeast¡­ Distance: 500 meters¡­"


    Unknown scent?


    After noting the Chip''s report, Leon took a deep breath and tried to catch a whiff of this ''unknown scent.'' After a moment, he was able to pick up a faint smell of blood mixed with the rotten stench of the mist. No wonder all these demons seemed so excited today!


    If he could smell the blood, then of course these creatures, whose senses were dozens or even hundreds of times more sensitive, could smell it too!


    However, today was not the monthly ''Quiet Day'' when the tower would deliberately lower the swamp defenses to lure outsiders to ''feed'' the ''wildlife''! Could someone have actually snuck into this place?


    With questions filling his mind, Leon poured an entire bottle of potion into his mouth, pulled up his hood, and began sprinting southeast.


    An Alan Grass Potion was a special magical concoction prepared from Alan Grass. It was capable of sealing all the pores of the human body, suppressing the drinker''s body odors. But it only lasted for 30 minutes.


    ...


    In the Whispering Garden.


    The garden, which was usually deathly silent and completely devoid of life, had turned into a terrifying battlefield.


    As he approached the site, he could hear the horrific cries of the Demon Babies and the screams of the wandering souls. He also heard loud human voices, shouting in anger and fear. Apparently, this was the source of the pungent smell of blood that had caught his attention.


    Using the trees and grass as cover, Leon slowly approached the battlefield. Soon, he found a spot with a good vantage point, allowing him to observe what was happening.


    There were two groups fighting in the area.


    The attackers were, of course, the hideous Demon Babies and the other wandering souls that resided there. Then, there were 17 mercenaries battling to fend off the horrific creatures in front of them.


    They appeared to be a skilled and experienced group of mercenaries. They looked strong and vigorous, lacking neither physical strength nor bravery. Moreover, their equipment was excellent. They had large, thick shields made of solid wood, arm and shoulder guards, and each of them carried a bow. This made them capable of hunting many common demons in this swamp.


    But unfortunately for them, the demons surrounding them were some of the most fearsome creatures in the swamp: Demon Babies.


    Demon Babies had no legs and crawled on the ground using a pair of sharp claws, dragging a long organ, which resembled an umbilical cord, behind them. They were hideous, with twisted bodies, but they looked remarkably similar to human babies.


    However, their faces were not made of smooth, young flesh, but rather wrinkled dead skin, and their facial features were pinched, giving them extremely grotesque faces.


    Amid the knee-high bushes, these little demons were crawling back and forth, uttering curses and cries that echoed throughout the area. Whenever a baby''s wail was heard, it immediately caused the human mercenaries to scream in fear.


    Although these Demon Babies had small bodies, each one possessed strength of at least 5, equivalent to that of an average adult human. Not only that, but they also had a pair of deadly claws. Whenever they lunged forward and struck the large wooden shields, they left deep scratch marks behind.


    However, their most lethal weapon was their Curse.


    When Leon arrived, these Demon Babies were trying to break through the defensive shields with their bodies.


    One after another, the Demon Babies darted through the bushes, launching themselves into the air and attempting to land behind the mercenaries'' defensive shields, but each time, the prepared mercenaries knocked them down with their arm guards. There was even a Demon Baby that failed to escape in time and found itself pinned to the ground with an arrow.


    Though pinned to the ground, the Demon Baby was still ferocious, wildly clawing at the earth. It then lifted its body and let out an irritating baby wail toward the nearest human mercenary.


    "Sniff~~"


    "Waaaaaa~~"


    The cry was sharp and deafening, but while it was merely an unpleasant noise to others, when the scream reached the mercenary closest to it, he was instantly struck by the terrifying ''Curse.''


    The muscular mercenary suddenly dropped his shield and pressed both hands tightly against his ears, screaming: "Help me!¡­ I can''t see anything!¡­"


    Moments after he shouted, tears of blood poured from his tightly shut eyes, terrifying the other mercenaries.


    Before anyone could react, two more Demon Babies emerged from the bushes, vicious grins on their hideous faces. They opened their mouths and shrieked at the mercenary who had already been afflicted with ''Blindness.''


    Blindness + Madness + Confusion!


    Even an official Apprentice Mage would struggle to defend against a Demon Baby''s curse, let alone these mercenaries, who were merely ordinary humans. Before his fellow mercenaries could knock him out, the afflicted mercenary frantically pushed everything around him and dashed out of the defensive formation.


    "No!¡­ Bazar, come back!¡­"


    A middle-aged man, who appeared to be the leader of the group, immediately shouted from within the formation. But it was too late.


    If someone had looked down from above, they would have seen movement within the bushes surrounding this team of mercenaries, with numerous fast-moving lines of grass racing toward the confused, fleeing mercenary.


    "Bazar!" A bold-looking man threw away his own shield, grabbed an axe, and started running to rescue his friend. However, he was forcefully pulled back by his leader.


    "Don''t go, Tark! It''s too late now¡­" The leader gripped the bold man''s arm as he looked helplessly at the departing man.


    As if to prove his words, Bazar, who had gone mad, was overwhelmed by a swarm of Demon Babies.


    "Arrrrgg~~"


    "Help!"


    "Stop, please..."


    "No! Stop eating my intestines..."


    His pain-filled and piercing screams lasted only a few more seconds before falling silent. Then, all that could be heard was the sound of those Demon Babies tearing at his flesh and gnawing on his bones.


    Even though it was half-concealed by the knee-high bushes, no mercenary could witness the scene of those Demon Babies feasting on their friend. Just looking at the constantly shifting dry grass and hearing the terrifying, chilling sounds was enough for them to imagine the extremely horrific scene that must be happening within those bushes.


    Consequently, their long-held determination and morale began to falter.


    "Whoosh~~"


    Suddenly, a fireball the size of a human head shot out from the center of the mercenaries, leaving a long trail of dark smoke. It landed squarely in the center of the area where the Demon Babies were joyfully feasting.


    "BOOM!"


    The next second, with a deafening explosion, the terrifying fire Elementium expanded and turned everything within a ten-meter radius into a raging sea of flames.


    With just a single strike, over twenty Demon Babies were killed. Fourteen of them, caught in the center of the explosion, were turned to ash in an instant. Those at the edges of the explosion were all injured by the furious flames. For a moment, the shrill cries of the Demon Babies reverberated across the skies!


    A Fire Spell?!


    Leon, watching from the shadows, was startled for a moment. He quickly looked around, soon spotting three suspicious figures at the center of the mercenaries. They were all dressed relatively similarly to him.


    Their black cloaks and hoods completely covered their bodies, leaving not an inch of skin exposed, but judging by their body sizes, Leon guessed they were two men and a girl.


    Three Apprentice Mages who had left their homes to gain experience?


    Since he couldn''t see them directly, there was no way for Leon to discern the specific attributes of these individuals. Therefore, he didn''t dare to act recklessly. He quietly took out his Magic Talisman and reported the events happening here to the Mage Tower.


    During this time, the Demon Babies, who had suffered heavy losses, summoned all the wandering souls to aid them.


    Since these wandering souls could live among other demons, they clearly weren''t low-tier creatures like zombies or skeletons, but rather conscious bodies formed by strong resentment and malevolent intentions.


    Although they had human shapes, they lacked physical bodies, and their innate ability to freely shift between the ethereal and physical allowed them to bypass most physical attacks and defenses.


    Their forms looked like blurred shadows. Comparatively, their heads were much clearer and had facial features similar to those of humans. They had a pair of arms with sharp claws, but where their legs should have been was just a vague shadow. From a distance, it looked as though their legs had merged into the air.


    When this group of wandering souls emerged from the forest, the entire area was immediately filled with eerie ghostly wails, capable of making one''s soul shudder.


    "Come with me!" sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Surrender your soul to me!"


    "The shadows do not forget..."


    "Darkness is eternal..."


    "I shall return for you..."


    "Feel the chill of eternity..."


    "Your time is near..."


    The temperature also dropped significantly.


    Attacked by this seemingly endless wave of terrifying wandering souls, the mercenaries'' defensive formation collapsed instantly.


    The wandering souls, which had shifted into their ethereal forms, fearlessly jumped into the group of men, completely ignoring the mercenaries'' weapons and shields. With their icy ghostly claws, these souls were busy leaving deadly scratch marks on their targets'' bodies. Some even squeezed into the mercenaries'' bodies, taking control and launching attacks on the other mercenaries.


    "Zap!"


    "Pow~~"


    "Strike!"


    Now that a breach had been created by the wandering souls, the wicked Demon Babies once again joined the battle, using their horrible curses to break the will of the mercenaries. After that, they dragged the cursed bodies into the bushes and began feasting on them.


    The scene grew even more chaotic and bloodier.


    ....


    1954 Words

 Chapter 17 - 17: Other Mages

    When they looked outside and saw the enormous crowd of demons and wandering souls overwhelming the mercenaries around them, the three Apprentice Mages were finally forced to remove their cloaks and join the battle, revealing their faces to the world.


    The leader of the three was a muscular young man. He had a head of messy blond hair that fell to his shoulders. Just beneath his hair, a mysterious tiara was wrapped around his head, clearly not an ordinary item. He was wearing a well-crafted leather jacket and carried a sword on his back. Judging by the size of the sword, it would be too heavy for an ordinary man to even wield.


    The other man was dressed like a noble. The delicate and luxurious clothes on his body were quite impressive, but even more striking was his head. He had dark green skin, a long, narrow mouth, and a thin tongue that kept flicking in and out... He, unexpectedly, had the head of a snake.


    Meanwhile, a little girl stood between these two men. She had an angelic face and was wearing a long, light yellow dress. She was of average height and was holding a golden cage in her hands. Curiously, not only did she show no sign of fear towards the bloody scene in front of her, but she was actually looking around with a cute smile on her face, making her simply seem like a curious young girl.


    Leon''s eyes suddenly widened.


    Through his Elementium Vision, he saw extremely bright Elementium and spiritual ripples that resembled tidal waves emanating from all three Apprentice Mages.


    According to the Chip''s assessment, these three were Pseudo-Mages or elites among Advanced Apprentice Mages. No matter who they were, they were not something Leon, a Beginner Apprentice Mage, could think of handling.


    Why had such powerful people come here like this? This place was private property of Master Eclivel and a resource site of the Sarubo Family. Except for the annual shipment of resources, this place was not open to outsiders.


    All of this made Leon really curious about the motives of these outsider Apprentice Mages.


    But after witnessing their immense skills, Leon''s curiosity instantly died, leaving him fully alert and a bit fearful. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The human mercenaries were able to handle demonic beasts, but when faced with Demon Babies, Wandering Souls, and other similar demons, they were like sheep being led to the slaughter. When the simple defensive shield was broken, the swarm of demons began to massacre the mercenaries.


    Demon Babies were running and jumping all over the place, shouting terrifying curses to weaken their prey''s fighting abilities. Using the bushes as cover, these monsters launched surprise attacks and brought the mercenaries down. Thus, it was a scene filled with mercenaries on the brink of death.


    Additionally, those dreadful Wandering Souls circled in the air, seeking chances to snatch a mercenary into the skies. When this happened, the other demons swarmed in and tore the defenseless prey apart.


    In the midst of this chaotic scene, a Wandering Soul, with an ugly and twisted face, dove from the air, targeting those three strange and casually dressed Apprentice Mages.


    Before the young man and the little girl could do anything, the snake head struck.


    With great force, a pale green venom in the form of an arrow pierced the body of the Wandering Soul instantly, exploding on impact. The intense corrosive poison melted the ''Resentment Core'' hidden within its body, turning it into a pile of ashes with a horrible, painful scream.


    Leon noticed that the venomous ''arrow'' was not created using normal spells but was launched from that Apprentice''s mouth.


    "Buzz~~"


    And that attack was just the beginning.


    "Whoosh~~"


    "Whizz~~"


    The Apprentice did not stop what he had started and opened his mouth wide, continuously spitting venomous ''arrows.'' With each strike, he precisely eliminated one of the horrifying Wandering Souls, classified as possessing the power of an Intermediate Apprentice.


    A Lineage Mage!


    He was definitely one of those Lineage Mages mentioned in the basic book about Mages!


    Within the vast and complex hierarchy of development in the Mage World, four branches stood out: Lineage Mages, Body Refinement Mages, Principle Mages, and Deep Mages. It could be said that most other branches of Mages derived from these four main branches.


    Lineage Mages were a group of lunatics who desired to possess the purest lineages. They used the power of these lineages to enhance their own strength. Usually, they would choose some incredibly powerful creatures from another world as the source of their lineage, then improve the purity of their own blood, often through a method traceable back to some ancestor.


    After doing all this, they gained incredible abilities that aligned with those of ancient powerful creatures. Generally, their ultimate goal was to revive the glorious life of these ancient beings.


    As for Body Refinement Mages, they were another group of fanatics who strove to strengthen their own bodies. To them, all resources were just a means, a consumable supply that could be used to enhance their muscles. To stimulate their muscles, they might immerse themselves in a vat full of poisonous chemicals or implant a deadly, highly radioactive meteorite into their bodies.


    They could venture out and endure the most extreme and lethal environments¡­ And they would do all of this to strengthen their bodies so that nothing could harm them.


    Honestly, Principle Mages were the most common type of Mage in the Mage World.


    Whether it was the Elementium Mage, who pursued the ultimate powers of their Elements, the Curse Mage, who used strange abilities to kill people in hidden ways, or even the Dark Mage, who enjoyed using violent, murderous skills, often leveraging the power of souls and emotions ¡ª they all belonged to the branch of Principle Mages.


    Although there seemed to be a tremendous difference in what they did, when they reached an advanced stage, they did their best to master specific Principles or Rules of the Universe.


    They were the ones who grew by mastering the Principles of Elemental Laws.


    As for Deep Mages, they were the purest type of Mages. They were unwilling to ''contaminate'' their lineage just to gain a powerful ability and refused to join the Principles of the Planes and become ''Slaves to the Principles.'' They gathered knowledge, delved into the world of knowledge, and used the knowledge they learned as a weapon.


    Thus, they became a strange group among the Mages, concerned only with gathering and expanding their knowledge while completely ignoring their own development.


    With these four main branches as the backbone, an endless variety of strange Mages were born in this world. They conquered different worlds, plundered resources and knowledge, and enslaved thousands of Planes. They were the dominant force in the entire Mage World when fighting or conquering other realms.


    This was the information about the Mage Hierarchy that Leon had obtained after the Chip spent some time gathering and organizing the mass of raw data that had been input. Since he knew only a handful of people, the gathered data was incomplete and likely had significant discrepancies.


    Although he had only this small amount of simple information, it painted the outline of the enormous and fierce Mage World he was now part of.


    If he hadn''t known about these branches, he would not have been able to correctly guess the details of that Lineage Apprentice a second ago.


    But just as Leon was speculating which species of snake the Apprentice had inherited his lineage from, something even more surprising happened.


    The beautiful little girl joined the fight!


    A Demon Baby, moving rapidly across the ground, set its sights on these three people, marking them as targets and charging at them. At the same time, it kept letting out irritating shrieks from its twisted mouth full of sharp, yellowed teeth, casting its Curse attacks on the three.


    "Heheheh, let me devour you, sweet Loli!"


    Undoubtedly, its behavior provoked the little girl.


    However, not only did her immature face show no sign of anger, but it also blossomed with a sweet smile. She raised the cage in her hands, which looked like a toy, pointed it at the Demon Baby, and shook it a few times. Although no sound was heard, lights and shadows flickered, and the Demon Baby that had just been charging at them disappeared from where it was.


    At the same time, Leon, who had sharp eyesight, noticed that a miniature Demon Baby had appeared inside the cage the little girl was holding. It was only the size of a human hand, and it looked exactly like the Demon Baby that had just disappeared.


    Obviously, the Demon Baby had no idea what had caused its sudden transformation. After being stunned for a second, it became extremely ferocious and let out a shrill scream towards the little girl outside the cage, repeatedly banging its body against the bars.


    "ARRRR!"


    "Let me go!"


    "Get me out!"


    But no matter how hard it tried, there was no way to escape that birdcage.


    Spatial Magic?!


    Leon pressed his hand firmly over his mouth to avoid screaming loudly.


    Of the many Magical Principles, although each Principle would bring forth astonishing power at the supreme level, if one truly wanted to define their classification, the Principles of Time and Space Magic were among the highest. However, according to Leon''s knowledge, these two high-level magical branches were among the weakest of all branches in the Mage World.


    This was simply because these two magical branches could only rely on each individual''s innate talent.


    Even the most powerful Mage, who could destroy a world with a wave of their hand, could never make time stop for a second. Yet, some people are born with that ability, and even if they might not learn any related knowledge about Magic, they can still achieve something that even the best Mages cannot.


    And yet, just because these magics were so bizarre and unpredictable, and could only be used by someone with talent, those Mages who lacked such talent, no matter how brilliant they were, would find it impossible to produce great results through experimentation.


    Therefore, without a huge and solid foundation, it was very difficult for those who focused on the Magical Branches of Time and Space to produce top-tier Mages.


    Leon was struggling to decide whether this was the little girl''s innate ability or some bizarre magical item that allowed her to capture any enemy, regardless of distance.


    Although Leon thought he had a deep understanding of this bizarre world of advanced magic, at this very moment, he had to admit one thing: the real world of Mages was much crazier and stranger than his wildest dreams and nightmares. These three outsiders were Pseudo-Mages or elites among the Advanced Apprentices.


    If Leon were forced to fight against them while only having access to his two low-level spells, he would likely die.


    For this reason, he did not dare to continue watching. He turned around, followed the path, and silently returned to the Mage Tower.


    When he reached the main door of the Tower, the newly appointed Apprentice Leader, Brandon, was there along with the three strongest: Headshot, Worm Controller, and Super Girl.


    Leon cast a puzzled glance at Brandon but soon realized why they were there.


    The warning he sent through the magical talisman could only be received by a special magical item, which was currently in Brandon''s hands. When Brandon learned that there were three powerful Apprentice Mages in the Magical Swamp, he knew that, with his abilities, there was no way to pursue or capture these outsiders. Therefore, before Leon returned, Brandon sought help from the three strongest.


    Obviously, it had cost him something to obtain help from the three strongest¡­ But only he knew what that cost was.


    Recalling what he had just witnessed, Leon did not have much confidence in the ''Three Strongest.'' No matter how he compared them, those three outsiders were stronger than them. Perhaps Brandon was hoping that they would be enough to capture all of them?


    ....


    2018 Words

 Chapter 18 - 18: Lucy vs Worm Controller

    In less than ten minutes, the mercenary group, which had been hired by the three Apprentice Mages, was almost entirely exterminated.


    The last four were covered in blood from head to toe. They stood back to back, barely managing to defend themselves against the attacks from the demons surrounding them.


    On the other side, their employers, the three Apprentice Mages, stood casually by, watching the mercenaries being killed with cold indifference. Unless they were attacked by the demons, they did not interfere in the battle between the demons and the mercenaries. It was as if the deaths of these mercenaries meant nothing to them.


    While the last four mercenaries fought for their lives, the three Apprentice Mages chatted slowly among themselves.


    "The Elementium aura we sense now must have belonged to one of the local Apprentices. Why didn''t you let me capture them?" The cute, chubby girl complained to her big, muscular companion. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What''s the point of capturing them?" The man shook his head and continued, "Clearly this place has a well-built Magical Formation. We''ve been wandering around here for three days and still haven''t found the way in. Without one of them leading us there, I fear we wouldn''t be able to find that Tower of Mages even if we spent another three days searching."


    "That''s exactly why we should have captured them!" The little girl exclaimed angrily. Perhaps because her opinion had not been accepted, she began to unleash her frustration on the creature she had captured in the cage.


    As she murmured something softly, the space inside the cage began to shrink, compressing.


    The compression of the space soon reached the body of the Demon Baby, and some cracking noises started emanating from its body.


    "No..."


    "Please..."


    Hearing the high-pitched, painful screams from the Demon Baby, the smile on the girl''s face turned to pure joy.


    "SMASSHHH~~~"


    When the poor Demon Baby finally imploded and collapsed into a pile of meat paste, the girl immediately waved her arms in the air and stomped her feet in joy, a look of extreme excitement lighting up her little face.


    Seeing that the girl had relieved her anger with her ''toy'', the other two Apprentice Mages let out sighs of relief.


    The Snake-Headed Apprentice shook his head and approached the muscular leader, asking, "Are you sure it''s okay to let that bastard escape? I''m sure he''ll bring more mages here!"


    "Mages?" The muscular leader laughed darkly. "This swamp is just an ordinary resource spot. Do you really think the Sarubo Family would waste an official Mage to guard it? In my opinion, aside from Mage Eclivel, all that''s left here are Apprentice Mages. Do you really think we should be afraid of the Apprentice Mages we might encounter here?"


    The Snake-Headed Apprentice laughed horrifically, his forked tongue flicking in and out of his lips, creating a chilling sound.


    "This place has a bunch of rare materials I need. Anyway, it will take a while for those guards to get here. I think I''ll take a look while I wait."


    After saying this, the Snake-Headed Apprentice simply walked toward another distant marshy area.


    Something really strange was happening. Although the rocky trail wasn''t far from him, he didn''t notice it and passed right by. This was, after all, one of the many defensive mechanisms of the Tower of Mages.


    Only those inner Apprentice Mages who used a Magical Talisman could see the rocky path, while to the eyes of any outsider, the path was just another part of the swamp, nothing out of the ordinary.


    Watching one of his partners disappear into the mist, the muscular leader hesitated for a moment, then just turned around and went in another direction. It was a rare opportunity to be in a private resource location of a Mage family. If he didn''t manage to get something good before finishing his official business here, it would be a huge waste.


    As for that bizarre little girl, whether intentionally or not, they left her in the midst of those violent, bloody demons. Would she get hurt? That question never crossed the minds of those two Apprentices. Honestly, perhaps the biggest and most brutal demon in this swampy land was the little girl.


    Therefore, when Leon brought Brandon and the ''Three Strongest'' here, what they saw in front of them was a cute little girl with a golden cage, standing right in the middle of a crowd of blood-covered demons.


    At that moment, there was not a single member of the entire mercenary company who had not been torn to shreds and scattered all over the place. While their broken corpses were being devoured by an army of Demon Babies, the girl was right in the center of those demons. Strangely, no demon dared to come within ten steps of the little girl.


    Not only that, but when the little girl ran and jumped from place to place, those Demon Babies, who were busy eating, roared at her in anger, then moved aside and made way for her, not daring to actually get in her path.


    A mercenary, who had bloodied legs and a single broken arm, was being gnawed at by dozens of Demon Babies. Almost lifeless, he raised his bloodied and broken arm, waving to the little girl who was approaching him, and said, "Save me... Save... Me..."


    With a sweet smile on her face, the little girl crouched in front of him and asked in a gentle voice, "I can save your soul from these demons. Are you willing to let me save your soul?"


    The dying mercenary was surprised to hear this and immediately nodded his head. However, he didn''t realize that the girl had said the word ''save'' in a vague and strange tone.


    If he had known the other languages the girl knew, he would have discovered that when those strange tones came together, she actually said a word meaning ''Consume'', which came from the language of the Ancient Andes on the Mage Continent.


    After receiving the mercenary''s approval, the girl''s smile grew even sweeter. She quickly took a milky-white crystal ball from her pocket and placed it against the mercenary''s forehead. With a short and simple spell, the mercenary''s body trembled, and then the small flame of hope that had just appeared in his eyes went out.


    A white shadow emerged from his forehead and disappeared into the crystal ball.


    The mercenary''s life force evaporated, and his bloodied arm fell to the ground, never to rise again.


    The Apprentices of the Tower watched all this unfold, standing there horrified by what they had just seen.


    Their arrival caught the little girl''s attention. She walked straight over to Leon''s group, lifted her head, and gently asked, "Hi! I''m the lovely Lucy! Are you from around here?"


    Leon and the others looked at this little Lolita, who seemed to be trying to get familiar with them, and they were not fooled by her disguise. Among the population of Apprentice Mages, friendship, love, and humanity were just pretty words that had long been thrown away. All that remained within them was the desire for knowledge, resources, and power.


    Those Apprentices who were na?ve would die before even reaching the level of an intermediate Apprentice. The idea of such a person reaching the level of an Advanced Apprentice was simply too impossible to conceive.


    Noticing that they were looking at her crystal ball and cage, Lucy quickly hid both behind her, twisting her lips and saying, "All these things belong to Lucy. You''re not thinking about taking them away from me, are you?"


    Brandon looked around and then whispered harshly to Leon, "I thought you said there were three Apprentice Mages? Where are the other two?"


    "Kerry went that way... He''s a big guy and good at fighting... If he runs into that big sister, I''m sure something exciting will happen..." the little girl pointed east and spoke innocently. Clearly, she was referring to the Super girl, who also carried a huge sword on her back. "Jeffrey went that way... I think he said he wanted to look for some materials..."


    What she said shocked the five of them, and their eyes went wide.


    No matter how many demons were killed, none of them would feel the slightest pity for that, but if those secret herb plantations and gardens were discovered by these outsiders, perhaps all the Apprentices of the Tower would be punished by Mage Eclivel.


    The loud, hoarse voice of the Super girl exploded instantly.


    "I''m going that way to stop that guy!"


    After saying this, the Super girl''s bulky body began to run toward the east. As she ran, she crushed the few Demon Babies that got in her way under her feet, making the others scream in anger, though none dared to approach her.


    "I''m going this way!" Deadshot said coldly, tipping his hat and running west.


    For some unknown reason, the cawing of the Carrion Crows was heard from the sky, though they were hidden by the thick mist. The noise followed immediately behind Deadshot. The Leader Apprentice Brandon rolled his eyes and murmured, "I''ll help him!" After saying this, he simply followed behind Deadshot and left.


    In the end, only the Worm Controller, Leon, and the strange and unpredictable little girl remained at the scene.


    "Are you going to fight me?" The little girl tilted her head and looked at the two remaining men. "Before we fight, don''t you want to know where we came from?"


    "There''s no reason to ask you anything. You''ve caused chaos here, and you will be punished for it. If I capture you, you''ll have to tell me everything. If I can''t defeat you, I will bear all the consequences here. Now, show me what you can do!"


    It was quite rare to hear the Worm Controller talk so much.


    But as soon as he finished speaking, the black earth beneath the little girl''s feet exploded, and a huge number of black scorpions burst out of the ground.


    "Bang~~"


    Each of these scorpions was the size of a human palm, had a black body and a pair of claws, and on its back was a tail with a poisoned stinger. The foul smell of poison filled the air around these scorpions.


    Although there was a distance of twenty meters between them, it was impossible to tell when the Worm Controller had sent these scorpions, sneaking underground to hide near the little girl.


    This little girl shouldn''t have a strong physique. Therefore, as long as she was poisoned, she would quickly lose the ability to cast any of her bizarre spells.


    Before coming here, Leon had emphasized the strange abilities of this little girl, so the Worm Controller had no plans to test them. He just wanted to knock her out as quickly as possible.


    But what happened next likely made Worm Controller''s mouth twitch.


    An invisible barrier was created between the girl''s feet and those scorpions. No matter how much they hit it or jabbed it with their tails, there was no way for them to get through. Slowly, as more and more scorpions gathered, a wall of insects was built against the invisible barrier.


    "Boom!"


    "Thud!"


    "Clang!"


    One after another, the scorpions stacked on top of each other attacked the invisible barrier in front of them frantically, but no matter how hard they tried, they simply could not break through.


    ...


    1908 Words

 Chapter 19 - 19: Explosion

    "Protection Barrier!"


    ...


    The worm controller kept repeating this phrase in a hoarse voice, stunned into silence by what he saw before his eyes.


    The protection barrier was a spell that could divide space and was considered one of the most resilient shields in the world. Even an official Mage would have difficulty breaking through this thin paper barrier.


    "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" The worm controller lost control and let out a scream: "Your barrier must be fake! Otherwise, it would mean you are as strong as a Mage! March, my children! Use your numbers and overwhelm our enemy''s defenses!"


    Under the control of the worm controller, thousands of scorpions immediately crawled out from under his cloak, forming armies of scorpions that marched toward the little girl standing in front of them. At the same time, the worm controller opened his mouth, spewing countless flies that swarmed like dark clouds, quickly darkening the sky and the ground as they flew toward the little girl.


    No beginner apprentice could interfere in a battle between two advanced apprentices. Thus, since the battle began, Leon had been slowly backing away, doing his best to stay out of the way so he wouldn''t be hit by a stray spell.


    Judging by the current situation, the worm controller had established a dominant position, as the little girl was trapped under a mound of his scorpions. As soon as he could find a way to get past the protection barrier, this battle would end.


    Unfortunately for the worm controller, the situation was reversed in the next moment by an apparently unintentional counterattack from the little girl.


    The little girl, who seemed to be trapped by countless scorpions, still wore the same sweet smile on her face, as if she had nothing to fear from the crawling scorpions around her. Looking at the worm controller through the growing wall of scorpions, she raised the cage in her hand and shook it toward him.


    In that moment, the worm controller felt his heart freeze.


    Leon had told him how bizarre this little girl was, so the worm controller was paying extra attention to any movement she made. When he saw her shake the cage, although he didn''t perceive any attack coming at him, the worm controller still dodged to the side as quickly as he could.


    "Urrrgg~~"


    A scream of pain came from the worm controller''s mouth.


    His body indeed moved away from where he had been standing, but for some reason, he nearly fell after dodging the movement. Then he noticed that his right leg had mysteriously disappeared. In the next second, his missing leg appeared in the cage, looking extremely small.


    The little girl looked at him in astonishment. She never expected her enemy to be able to dodge so quickly.


    Before the enemy could do anything about his leg, the worm controller let out an angry scream, causing the small leg trapped in the cage to explode into countless scorpions. The scorpions turned into a thread of dark smoke and vanished. At the same time, his black cloak began to ripple and flow. This was caused by the movement of the scorpions, which started to cling to each other to form a new leg.


    "Biological modification?" For the first time, the little girl''s smile vanished. Her small face wore a dark expression that did not match her appearance. "What a surprise, so you gave up your human body and modified yourself to be entirely made of insects. Hmph! Don''t assume you can be immortal like that. I, Lucy, will make you feel true terror today!"


    After that, the little girl stretched out her cute little hands and made a grabbing gesture toward the worm controller. In the next second, the worm controller let out a roar, pressed his hand against his chest, and staggered back, nearly falling to the ground. At the same time, out of nowhere, a pulsating heart appeared in the little girl''s hand.


    If it had been anyone else, that might have killed them. But, obviously, the worm controller had undergone complete bodily modifications and rid himself of several organs that were vital for normal humans. When he saw that his heart had been stolen by the little girl, he simply let out a shrill scream.


    Following this scream, just like his right leg, the heart in the little girl''s hand exploded into countless scorpions, rapidly turning to ash.


    "It seems you were quite meticulous with your modifications!" the little girl said savagely. In a squeaky and rough voice, she continued, "I can''t believe you replaced all your organs. I will definitely find the core that keeps your body infested with insects!"


    Finished speaking, the little girl began to recklessly attack with both hands, continuously grabbing at the body of the worm controller. Although some of her attacks were dodged, under her continuous assault, she still managed to strike her target successfully every few attacks. And whenever she did, some strange object appeared in her palms.


    Covered in blood, disgusting and sticky, no one would be able to identify where these organs came from in her body.


    But no matter what kind of organs appeared in the little girl''s hand, in the end, they always exploded into scorpions and then turned to ash.


    While she was happily pulling her organs out, the worm controller was filled with uncontrollable rage.


    As he moved at high speed and continuously dodged the bizarre, mysterious, and long-range attacks from the enemy, the worm controller kept attacking the little girl with his scorpions. However, no matter how carefully he tried, he still could not completely avoid the strange spell attacks, which gave no warning and created no ripples of Elementium.


    At the same time, when faced with the indestructible protection barrier, he truly felt a sense of helplessness, as he could not find the opportunity to attack the little girl. If this continued, even though he had high confidence in his modified insect body, he might have to admit defeat to this little girl.


    Just when the thought of retreating was growing in the mind of the worm controller, Leon suddenly shouted at him.


    "Mr. Worm Controller, attack the back of her head¡­"


    Huh? Attack the back of her head?


    The worm controller groaned in his mind. He had already tried the back of her head. In fact, he had tried attacking from every possible angle and position, even from underground. But no matter what he did, the paper protection barrier had dissolved all his attacks. No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not find any weak point in her protection barrier.


    But something surprised him, for when Leon''s shout reached Lucy, she unconsciously stiffened for a second. At the same time, her large purple eyes looked at Leon, who was hiding in the distance, and she began to grit her teeth silently in anger. Although no emotion could be seen on Lucy''s stiff face, the worm controller still noticed a hint of panic in her eyes.


    Could this really be her weak point?


    Although he was still skeptical about what Leon had said, the worm controller''s heart was filled with rage, as he had most of his internal organs ripped out by this little girl. So, without thinking twice, he launched a long-range attack.


    Without making a sound, the worm controller collapsed. His black cloak fell to the ground after losing support, revealing nothing but emptiness beneath it.


    At the same time, a dark figure suddenly appeared behind Lucy.


    It was a shadowy figure completely formed by countless scorpions, an insect body that had been assembled in human shape. A face could barely be seen on the head of this figure.


    Shortly after it stood up, the humanoid figure immediately leaped forward, pressing its body against the invisible barrier that it was struggling to break through. In the next instant, the scorpions around them transformed into a black wave, crashing wildly against the nape of Lucy''s neck. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Somehow, a fist-sized ripple finally appeared in the protection barrier, right at the spot where all those scorpions were colliding.


    In fact, that region was not a Protection Barrier, but a Mini Aerial Barrier, which articulated perfectly with the Protection Barrier.


    The worm controller instantly widened his eyes, and his heart was filled with indescribably wild joy. Indeed, there was a flaw in the enemy''s defense, and the flaw was this Aerial Barrier.


    Although both were Barriers, there was a significant difference between their magical characteristics!


    The Protection Barrier was a Space-Type Spell, the main Principle among all the Principles of Mages. It was also referred to as the strongest defense within the Plans. On the other hand, the Aerial Barrier was formed from a variant of the Elementium of Wind.


    If no one noticed this weakness, it might be extremely difficult for someone to discover this small ''backdoor'' hidden in the Protection Barrier. But when the worm controller used all his effort and hit that particular point, the only unstable part of the protection barrier exploded instantly.


    "Pow~~"


    After a heart-wrenching roar, the army of scorpions shattered the ''Barrier'' and surged into the protection barrier like a dark tsunami. In an instant, Lucy''s small and cute body was covered by the rolling and crawling wave of scorpions.


    "I swear I will tear you apart!" Unexpectedly, a shrill scream resonated throughout the scene, and an earth-shaking explosion suddenly rippled from within the army of scorpions, which had piled up like a small black hill.


    Broken pieces of black scorpions flew in all directions, while terrifying-looking cracks spread out in a spiderweb pattern.


    "Crack~~"


    Whenever a scorpion was touched by these spatial cracks, its body would immediately disintegrate without making any sound. No matter how thick its shell was, no one could escape the devastating attack. This perfectly showcased the incomparable power of spatial spells.


    A furious shockwave repelled all the scorpions that had accumulated on her body. Then the ''spatial cracks'' swept through the area, violently crushing and disintegrating any scorpion that crossed their path, revealing the small form of Lucy within the mound of insects.


    Right in the center of the suddenly web of spatial cracks, Lucy was floating in the air, her long wavy hair flowing from her head. She let out a terrifying and extremely furious roar to the sky.


    Using space as her weapon, she disintegrated all the scorpions around her. Once this little girl, who possessed a great innate talent for space, became enraged, she was capable of launching such terrifying and deadly attacks. This made Leon, who was hiding hundreds of meters away, feel his heart tremble with fear.


    Was the difference between a Beginner Apprentice and an Advanced Apprentice really that vast? Although he kept reminding himself that this Lucy belonged to the higher level of Advanced Apprentices, he couldn''t contain the growing fear and shock in his heart. This group of people was simply too powerful!


    Even if they were not yet official Mages, or even Pseudo-Mages, they possessed terrifying abilities that were unbelievable!


    ...


    1845 Words

 Chapter 20 - 20: Escape

    With a single terrifying attack, Lucy covered a massive area of 50 meters with a destructive 360¡ã spell from which no one could escape. Within this area, space shattered as deadly spatial cracks swept across nearly every inch of the region.


    When confronted with the devastating spatial cracks that could cut through anything, Elementium was simply a joke. No Apprentice-level Personal Protection spell would provide any defense against the destruction caused by the spatial cracks. Without any unique life-saving abilities, even if ten Pseudo-Mages attempted to resist Lucy''s attack together, they would all likely perish.


    At this moment, Leon felt a bit of pity for the Worm Controller, as he was right in the center of that area and was probably killed. Moreover, Leon would have to run immediately to save his own life if the Worm Controller was dead.


    Just as Leon was about to give up on the Worm Controller, his eyes suddenly spotted something near the battlefield.


    The dirt was being pushed up in that spot, revealing a large hole underneath. A swarm of black scorpions burst forth, quickly forming into the Worm Controller.


    Fortunately, the Worm Controller was still alive!


    But just as wild joy began to rise in Leon''s mind, he was forced to discard it.


    Something was not right. It seemed the Worm Controller had truly suffered from that destructive spatial spell.


    At this moment, the Worm Controller had lost all the arrogance and high spirits he had shown at the beginning of the fight. The army of thousands of horrific scorpions had shrunk to a mere hundred, which was barely enough to form his body.


    The newly formed body was smaller than before, and his Evil Aura of Elementium could be felt, clearly showing that he had lost a great deal in that last confrontation.


    On the other side, Lucy, who had just unleashed that deadly attack, had also lost her calm and indifferent demeanor. Although those scorpions had only been able to attack her body for a few seconds, during that brief period, she was completely covered by over a thousand scorpions, crawling and biting every inch of her skin. This... simply made her seethe with extreme anger.


    When her body, floating in the air, returned to the ground, Leon finally saw how miserable her appearance had become.


    The cute Lolita had vanished. The right side of Lucy''s eye had turned into a huge bloody hole, with blood dripping down her silky, smooth skin. The terrible scorpion venom had left countless black and purple splotches all over her body. All of this, combined with her almost insane and mysterious smile... made her look on the verge of madness.


    "Fuck! I have to run!"


    Leon wasn''t an idiot. When he saw Lucy looking directly at him with her lingering malevolent gaze, he didn''t think twice before turning and fleeing.


    With his abilities, there was no way he could fight against this Lucy. Moreover, the Worm Controller was half-disabled and couldn''t stop this Lolita who was about to attack. So, without saying anything, Leon fled the scene.


    Initially, Blake was waiting, hoping the scorpion venom would be able to kill this formidable Lolita. But when he saw the enemy slowly turn her remaining eye towards him, he immediately dispersed his scorpion body, transforming back into a swarm of scorpions and burrowing underground, disappearing without a trace.


    Soon, a furious little girl was the only one left at the scene.


    The commotion began.


    She floated in the air and started to fly like a bird, heading in the direction Leon had run, quickly vanishing into the thick fog.


    When everything fell silent for a moment, the dirt beneath a thin Assassin Tree was pushed up, revealing the Worm Controller, who had been hiding while waiting for the girl to leave.


    He looked at the direction where Lucy had disappeared and hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he just couldn''t muster the courage to pursue the terrifying girl. Although that little Lolita was also gravely injured, she still seemed to have plenty of energy left. He simply didn''t have the confidence to face such a scary enemy again.


    After a long moment, he gritted his teeth, turned, and ran in the direction Hawkeye had gone. As for Lucy... it would be better to let someone else deal with her.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Leon was going through a tough time, but the digital arena was activated, and that helped him a lot. Previously, he discovered that this digital arena is one of several functions, like elemental vision, that the chip provides.


    Unexpectedly, that enraged Lolita wasn''t chasing the Worm Controller but was keeping an eye on him, who had only said a few words in the previous battle.


    He covered his head and ran away from her like a rat to its hole. Behind him, the small Lolita was floating thirty meters in the air, holding the bizarre cage and continuously waving in Leon''s direction.


    However, something was truly intriguing Lucy. It seemed this rascal had a pair of eyes in the back of his head. Whenever her spatial attacks got close to him, he would speed up and turn in another direction, causing her attempts to target him to go to waste.


    If it had only happened once or twice, perhaps he was just having a lot of luck today. But with her failing continuously, Lucy was certain this Beginner Apprentice could sense the existence of her spatial energy, making her want to kill him even more.


    It appeared that his finding the weakness of her protective barrier wasn''t a strange accident, but he could actually see the entire structure of her barrier by looking through her spatial energy.


    In fact, this was a weakness of Lucy''s innate spatial abilities.


    Although her protective barrier was nearly invulnerable, it had a significant drawback. Once she used spatial energy to warp the fabric of space around her into a barrier, she became trapped in a relatively small space. While this spared her from taking any damage from an enemy, she couldn''t launch any attacks while the barrier remained intact.


    Thus, to allow her to attack, she had to leave a ''hole'' in her protective barrier so she could manipulate her spiritual energy to strike an enemy. To prevent that hole from being noticed, she deliberately used Wind Elementium, which is invisible to the naked eye, and created a weaker barrier at that location.


    The Air Barrier was fully covered and invisible, about the size of a fist, and while an enemy was unaware of it, no one would ever think there was actually a hole in this Protective Barrier.


    No common enemy could defend against Lucy''s bizarre and terrifying long-range attacks while searching for weaknesses in the protective barrier inch by inch. That''s why she was able to keep this great secret and gained the confidence of being nearly invincible.


    But today, unfortunately, she encountered two special Apprentice Mages at the same time.


    One of them was an Advanced Apprentice who had completely modified his body and could transform into numerous scorpions. He also possessed an unpleasant and strange method of attack. In the end, he was simply a cockroach that was nearly impossible to kill. The other was just a stranger. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although he was merely a Beginner Apprentice, he was still able to expose her greatest secret¡­ Moreover, it seemed he could truly see her spatial energy.


    To capture this oddity, Lucy used the strongest energy she could muster and, in the shortest time possible, set an invisible Spatial Trap in his path. But, mere seconds before this rascal fell into her invisible trap, he suddenly changed direction and evaded it.


    Now, Lucy had no doubts about his ability.


    Thus, her desire to catch him grew even stronger!


    ...


    After running for so long, Leon was extremely tired.


    Due to his lack of training and cultivation, his Agility and Physique were very low. If he hadn''t covered his body with Wind Elementium to boost his speed, he might have been caught long ago by that terrifying Lolita. He had a feeling that if he were truly captured by her, something extremely horrible would happen to him.


    So even though he was panting, he gritted his teeth and continued running for his life.


    The graceful Wind Elementium lifted his body, reducing his weight by half and allowing him to move through the muddy swamp at a relatively high speed. Feeling his physique tiring rapidly, Leon''s face continued to contort as he began to panic. In his panic, he came up with a dangerous plan. Resolving himself, he turned right and ran deeper into the swamp.


    He would never be able to escape by running, so Leon decided to lure Lucy into the Ghost Nanny''s habitat.


    This area of the swamp was a bit different from the others.


    The rotten, foul-smelling sludge and the slowly moving muddy water mixed together, with pieces of grass growing haphazardly and other dirty debris floating all around. The water in this murky, filthy lake wasn''t completely still, but flowed at an extremely slow pace. From time to time, bubbles and half-rotten tree branches appeared on the surface.


    Indistinct wailing, reminiscent of the moans of the damned, echoed above this foggy lake, recalling the cries of the condemned and sending a cold sweat down the spine of anyone who heard that sacred music.


    There was a trail through this swampy area, but the dark path blended with the murky water, making it very difficult for outsiders to find the ruined trail amid the filthy swamp.


    Within this swampy area, covering nearly thirty square miles, lived many different groups of Ghost Nannies. The smaller groups consisted of only seven to eight members and normally resided in the more remote regions of this area. Meanwhile, larger groups could have up to a hundred members and occupied the largest region right in the center of this part of the swamp.


    Like demons, Ghost Nannies only possessed basic intelligence. They were usually transformed from those humans who accidentally drowned in the swamp. Although they had once been human, their minds were filled with intense hatred and resentment toward all of humanity.


    For months, or even years, they remained trapped on the swamp''s edges. Once a living human approached, they would leap, biting into the flesh of their target and dragging them down to the swamp''s depths to drown them. Through this method, they ensured that their population continued to grow.


    Their appearance closely resembled that of a slender human woman. However, most of their muscles were missing, and their skin had turned pale due to constant immersion in muddy water. Adding to this were their old, moldy bones, giving them the appearance of a living corpse.


    While most were naked, those who had lived a better life as humans might be wearing a tattered dress, although it was always so faded that it was impossible to tell what the dress originally looked like, or even what color it was.


    ....


    1840 Words

 Chapter 21 - 21: Sinbad

    Disheveled and dirty hair; twisted, pitch-black claws; extremely sharp fangs. All of these were typical characteristics of a Phantom Nanny.


    On land, their combat abilities were weaker than those of the Ghouls, but when they were in the murky waters of the swamp, their combat strength doubled, allowing them to fight on equal footing with giant alligators. Furthermore, within certain larger populations of Phantom Nannies that had survived for a long time, there might even be a leader who mastered certain Elementium abilities.


    These unique Phantom Nannies possessed advanced intelligence comparable to that of Apprentice Mages.


    Put it this way: if human Mages were willing to grant freedom to these Phantom Nanny Leaders, it would be possible for them to give birth to a pair of Mage Phantom Nannies.


    Too bad for them, this was a world of Mages where human Mages had taken the dominant position. Thus, the evolution and development of all other species were reduced to nothing.


    So, no matter how intelligent or wise a Phantom Nanny Leader became, when faced with a Mage who held the superior position, they were merely a valuable experimental target or a source of materials to be recklessly slaughtered.


    Today, the peace of this Phantom Nanny''s habitat was broken by two outsiders.


    A young man and a girl intruded upon the swampy area, one after the other. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The young man who came first was obviously an Apprentice Mage from the Tower of Mages. Aside from his impressive Apprentice cloak, he also carried the distinct magical aura of a talisman that only Apprentices from the Tower could possess. However, this Mage underling was really an unlucky fellow, for he was being chased by someone today.


    With his weight reduced by Wind Elementium, he stumbled into the murky water, shouting something recklessly as he ran for his life.


    "Sinbad!... You miserable creature that can only hide in the mud like a rat¡­ Get over here quickly¡­ Sinbad¡­ You pathetic slug¡­ Soft monster¡­"


    Thus, the entire Swamp area became chaotic due to this frantic young man being hunted by someone.


    The common phantom nannies weren''t intelligent enough to understand what was happening. When they sensed the aura of a human approaching, they quickly struggled to rise from the mud, trying to catch Leon, who slid across their territory, and drag him into the muck.


    So, behind Leon, numerous arms burst from the surface of the water, waving wildly. One after another, Phantom Nannies were being drawn from the bottom of the lake, staggering and then rushing after him.


    But Leon''s target wasn''t them. No matter how many stupid, low-ranked Phantom Nannies he attracted, there was no way they could pose any threat to the terrifying Lolita pursuing him. Throughout the entire Swamp area, perhaps the only existence that could pose a threat to Lucy was¡­ Sinbad!


    With the help of her innate ability, Lucy was floating in the air twenty meters above the ground. Looking at the murky mud and the stinking water spreading all around, the rage on her face was building more and more.


    "Hey you! Guy! Listen¡­ Stop running¡­ As long as you take me to the Tower, I promise I won''t hurt you!"


    With a loud voice, Leon replied without turning around.


    "Right! You definitely won''t hurt me¡­ Don''t use that pretend talk on me¡­ You just want to chop me into pieces of meat¡­ Catch me if you can!"


    After that, he continued forward, shouting ''Sinbad'' repeatedly as he did so.


    "You''re courting death¡­ Kid, don''t you dare let me catch you¡­ If I catch you¡­"


    "What are you going to do? Will you kidnap me to taste my cock with your sweet, tight loli pussy? If that is the case, I can even think about your case because I am a man of culture. I would really be happy to fill your womb with my dirty sperm. "


    Hearing the filthy words Leon uttered, Lucy''s forehead began to throb, and a blood vein at the top corner threatened to burst from the horrendous hatred surging in her chest, like poison coursing through her veins.


    But before she could do anything, Leon felt something grab his feet tightly as a vine suddenly emerged from the lake and wrapped around both his legs. With that, he lost the support of Wind Elementium and fell into the foul-smelling swamp water.


    While Leon struggled desperately, an enormous Phantom Nanny slowly rose from the center of the lake, mounted on an even larger creature that looked like an alligator.


    Disheveled, dirty hair; claws with pitch-black, sharp nails; a tattered, torn dress; pale but tough skin; a thin, withered body¡­ This suddenly appeared Phantom Nanny Leader held a simple whip made of vines in her hand and was mounted on a fierce-looking demon. All of this gave her a somewhat valiant appearance.


    "Sinbad! Oh Sinbad¡­ You''re finally here¡­ hurry and take me away! From now on, I belong to you!" When Leon, barely floating in the foul water, saw this fierce-looking Phantom Nanny Leader, he immediately jumped toward her, excited, as if he had just seen his best friend.


    Apparently, this young human, who always came to kidnap members of her own kind, had gone insane. Muttering angrily, Sinbad surfaced to drive away this Apprentice Mage but ended up startled by his actions. Perhaps those common phantom nannies had no idea who this Apprentice Mage was, but as a leader, Sinbad knew everything.


    After the Tower was built in the middle of this Swamp, the natives here lost control over their territories, and the place became one of the resource sites for human Mages. Under the rule of the master of this swampy area, the natives here became the human Mages'' watchdogs, working for them to drive off any intruders who dared to visit this place.


    Despite feeling insulted by their new status, they knew very well how terrifying those human Mages were. Therefore, they were forced to severely endure the fact that their territory was frequently visited by human Apprentice Mages. That wasn''t all. Occasionally, Apprentice Mages kidnapped some Phantom Nannies for their experiments, and Sinbad was forced to turn a blind eye to it.


    But today, this Apprentice Mage in front of him had gone too far, as he had actually come straight into the heart of the swampy area where most of the Phantom Nannies lived. This filled Sinbad with a whirlwind of rage.


    Looking at this young, delicate human who had come to her, Sinbad could no longer contain her hatred for living beings and her craving for fresh flesh. Stretching her pitch-black claws, she reached for his heart, intending to take a bite.


    Just as her fingers began to extend, Sinbad suddenly felt a strong and deadly killing intent. She raised her filthy head and looked straight at Lucy with her slightly glowing red eyes.


    For some unknown reasons, when Sinbad saw this little girl, she couldn''t help but drool. A powerful desire made her want to embrace the girl tightly, and then use her sharp fangs to gently prick the girl''s fair, delicate skin, letting that warm, fragrant, sweet blood flow into her cold body.


    Especially when she sensed the sweet aura of the soul hidden within the small body. It brought her an indescribable ecstasy.


    She did not have the courage to challenge a human Mage, but when an Apprentice Mage, who had such a strong soul aura, was right in front of her, it filled her with desire.


    A little Apprentice Mage¡­ If she secretly devoured one, presumably that human Mage in the tower wouldn''t become hostile to her? But if he did get angry because of it, Sinbad could still use those useless idiots on the outer perimeter as an excuse. As long as she could savor a delicious Apprentice Mage, five¡­ No, ten¡­ No, twenty.


    Sinbad was willing to sacrifice many of her subordinates for this succulent Apprentice before her.


    Compared to the floating Lucy, Leon was like old, hard cheese next to a platter full of the richest, freshest foods and was no longer of interest to Sinbad.


    Sinbad raised her right hand and slapped the back of the giant lizard beneath her.


    "ROARRRRRR~~"


    This tame demon opened its mouth and let out a loud roar, shooting a grayish ray from its yellow eyes at Leon''s body.


    "petrifying..."


    This was the innate ability of the Giant Lizard. Being hit at such a close range could turn a mortal into a pathetic stone figure forever. As an Apprentice Mage, Leon had some resistance to magical attacks, but when faced with the mount of the Phantom Nanny Leader, he inevitably turned to stone.


    Feeling the gradual numbness and stiffness of his body, Leon quickly grabbed a small potion bottle and tossed it into his mouth, gathering what remained of his energy and waving at Lucy, who hovered just above him. After that, his entire body turned a grayish color, becoming hard as stone as he sank to the bottom of the muddy swamp.


    Four Phantom Nannies turned and dove into the murky water, dragging this war trophy toward their nest, located at the bottom of the lake.


    Floating in the air, Lucy''s beautiful, well-made dress fluttered. She could do nothing as she watched that detestable scoundrel wave at her and disappear into the muddy waters. Indeed, her spatial ability was extremely powerful, but it could only show its strength after she aimed at a specific space with her Spirit.


    Since the scoundrel had disappeared into the murky water, there was no way she could target him anymore.


    When she realized that to catch that scoundrel she would have to dirty her dress with the filthy water below her, another surge of fury exploded in Lucy''s mind.


    That scoundrel would rather let those demons capture him than surrender to Lucy¡­ He must have some way of escaping the demons. There was no way she would let him go so easily¡­ She had to catch him and question him about his ability to see her spatial energy!


    Full of seething rage, Lucy stretched her right arm forward and grasped the air, aiming at the chest of that powerful Phantom Nanny Leader. Under the disbelieving eyes of her target, a smelly, shriveled, lifeless heart suddenly appeared in Lucy''s palm.


    Her beautiful, delicate palm gently squeezed, crushing the lifeless, rotten heart. As the old, black blood dripped from her hand, she looked at the Leader with indifferent and cruel eyes, then spoke softly with a threatening tone.


    "Give me that Apprentice Mage, or else..." Lucy paused, then continued, saying, "Next time, it will be your brain that gets crushed!"


    ....


    1781 Words

 Chapter 22 - 22: Potion

    Since they were immortal demons, the hearts, throats, chests, and stomachs of the Phantom Nannies no longer had vital points. However, their brains still contained their shattered souls. If the brain of a Phantom Nanny were destroyed by an enemy, they would face the risk of having their soul disintegrated. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thus, feeling the emptiness and weakness spreading from her chest, a venomous expression of hatred flashed across Sinbad''s grotesque face, and her fierce features became even more twisted and brutal.


    With her tough, taut skin, sharp poisonous claws, and her army of subordinates, Sinbad could fight on equal footing with a giant crocodile. Her deadly teeth and claws could easily tear through half-inch-thick armor, and merely touching an enemy''s flesh, the poison hidden in her black nails could instantly paralyze most living beings.


    But, like most other demons living in this swamp, she lacked any good long-range attacks. The Weakening Ray and Sleep Spell were very short-range attacks and could hardly penetrate basic defensive spells.


    Therefore, when she faced Lucy, who could fly and attack from a distance, although Sinbad''s overall attributes suppressed those of the little girl, her lack of a long-range offensive ability made her incapable of striking back.


    Afraid of the enemy''s trackless magic spell, Sinbad stomped on the beast beneath her, and the Giant Lizard immediately dove back into the muddy water, leaving only Sinbad''s head above the surface. She glared fiercely at Lucy but showed no signs of retreating.


    Lucy furiously unleashed all her attacks, but Sinbad, who had hidden most of her body underwater, managed to dodge them all. After all, Lucy''s body movements were very obvious. As long as someone paid attention and moved out of the targeted area in time, it was quite easy to avoid her spatial attack.


    Even after attacking the Phantom Nanny leader many times, Lucy''s hands still came up with only muddy water, which only made her angrier. In her fury, she ripped out eight decayed, harmful brains from some of the weaker Phantom Nannies who were merely standing by, causing the rest to panic and immediately dive to the bottom of the muddy water.


    Soon, only Lucy and Sinbad were left in that large swampy area.


    After venting her fury, Lucy took a moment to reflect on her weakness.


    Indeed, her spatial spells were mysterious and powerful, but they were all single-target offensive abilities. Except for her final spatial rift ability, she had no large-area effect spells to speak of. While she was nearly invincible in one-on-one battles against Apprentice Mages of a similar level, when faced with her current situation, her abilities fell short of her desires.


    If she had mastered a simple spell like Magma Fireball, she could have turned that stinking puddle into a huge pot of boiling water in seconds, cooking all the filthy demons hidden within. But because of her passion and confidence in her Spatial Spells, she refused to study or research any of these ''simple'' Elementium spells.


    As a result, there was nothing she could do in her current situation. She truly felt powerless about how to deal with that wicked Phantom Nanny Leader, who refused to get out of her way.


    If her muscular partner were here, perhaps with the advantage of his large and strong body, he could have forcefully invaded that Phantom Nanny Leader''s nest. But Lucy was a long-range Apprentice Mage with a weak physique. Once trapped in a fierce fight with a crowd of Phantom Nannies, she was not confident she could escape this place in one piece.


    However, she decided she would capture or kill the strange rookie apprentice who could see through her spells today. After a brief moment of hesitation, she released her spatial protection barrier.


    Then, like a shooting star, she simply hurled herself into the muddy water.


    "Zosh~~"


    "POW~~"


    Apparently, Sinbad never expected that this small human Lolita who had lost one of her eyes would be so bold. She quickly controlled the Giant Lizard and dove deeper into the water, emitting a strange, high-frequency sound from her mouth and calling all her subordinates to help.


    "Buzz~~"


    The muddy water started to churn as the foul-smelling water began to flow violently. The calm swamp pond immediately started bubbling like hot water.


    Numerous moving objects could be seen swimming frantically toward Lucy. These objects were actually giant lizards kept by the Phantom Nannies. They were over 5 meters long and covered in a layer of hard scales. Besides their sharp claws, they could fire a Petrification Ray at a target within 5 to 10 meters.


    Additionally, one after another, Phantom Nannies could be seen swimming in the foul water, relentlessly attacking this brave intruder who dared to strike their home.


    Beneath the surface of that stinking lake, where human sight was reduced to nothing, Lucy was fully encased in an indestructible protection barrier. Her remaining eye glowed with hatred as she used her unique spell to kill every approaching enemy she could sense.


    There were many spells that would allow her to regenerate her eye that the scorpions had ripped out, but she simply couldn''t swallow her anger at receiving such an injury in the first place. Although it was that hateful insect that did this to her, the real culprit was this strange apprentice who had led her to this accursed stinking lake.


    Whether it was some innate ability of his or some sort of magical spell that allowed him to sense spatial energy, there was no way Lucy would let this leak to the public. If her enemies found out, the reputation Lucy had built for herself would be at risk.


    After the eruption of a chaotic and bloody war under the muddy lake, the entire swampy area turned into a fierce battlefield. However, the one responsible for all of this, the rookie apprentice Leon, was having his petrified body dragged into the Phantom Nannies'' nest.


    Once the fight began, four Phantom Nannies dragged the fully petrified Leon to the bottom of the lake. They dug a hole in the filthy, stinking mud, revealing an underwater tunnel. With Leon being pulled behind them, they squeezed into the hole. The tunnel was filled with sticky, pungent mud, but this did not slow them down.


    They swam in a straight line for several meters and then upward. Soon, they broke through the water''s surface, emerging in a damp tunnel beneath the swamp. Just as these demons started crawling forward, dragging Leon through the dark and wet tunnel, they heard Sinbad''s deep, hoarse roar from the swamp above them.


    The intense battle had caused Sinbad to start roaring furiously, summoning all the Phantom Nannies in the area to aid her. Her voice was so loud that it even made the tunnel walls vibrate violently.


    Due to their hot temper and low intelligence, the two Phantom Nannies following behind Leon became restless, letting out a few short screeches before quickly turning around and diving back into the mud. Clearly, both were responding to their leader''s call and heading out to fight the enemy.


    As for the other two Phantom Nannies, they also let out cries of anger but managed to resist the urge to fight and continued their task of dragging Leon through the tunnel.


    This muddy swamp lake was home to the Phantom Nannies. They could dive into the filthy mud and water year after year, waiting for their prey to come. But undeniably, they also needed a place to store what they considered treasures: rotten, stinking dried meat, worn-out leather armor, poorly maintained weapons full of rust, and the foul roots of plants they had harvested...


    If these items were left in the fetid water of the swamp where they lived, they would quickly rot to nothing. Thus, Sinbad dug a horizontal tunnel beneath the bottom of her swamp, boring into a place away from the damp swamp and making a drier cave to store things.


    And now, the petrified Leon was being escorted to this cave.


    Even though his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose were covered in sticky mud, and his body was as hard as a stone statue, Leon''s mind was functioning as usual. He was still able to sense everything happening around him.


    It seemed like those two monsters had finally begun fighting!


    Through the faint vibrations and roars from above, Leon could imagine how intense and bloody the battle was. Although the army led by Sinbad far outnumbered her enemy and they were fighting in their own territory, Leon still did not think they could defeat that small and terrifying Lolita.


    Having not mastered any Elementium spells and relying only on their tough bodies, when faced with Lucy''s nearly invincible protective barrier, their fighting ability was a joke. As long as they could not find the hidden ''Back Door'' to the Protection Barrier, even if they kept attacking until their hearts and lungs gave out, they would never break through that barrier.


    Unless they could force Lucy to exhaust all her Spirit Points, they would certainly lose the battle. Therefore, while they were busy fighting each other, Leon had to do everything possible to escape.


    Although Leon''s body was petrified and he could not move at all, he was still able to manipulate his Spiritual Energy. Reaching out with his spiritual energy, he opened the stopper of the small bottle hidden in his mouth, releasing a pungent, strong potion that quickly went down his throat and into his stomach.


    After many years of inspection trips around the perimeter of the Tower, Leon knew the ins and outs of the swamp demons'' abilities. Would he really go on inspection trips unprepared for the possibility of being inflicted with a strange status effect? This ''Freedom of Movement'' potion was an item he had paid a high price for, purchased from another Apprentice Mage of the Tower.


    It was effective in removing Petrification and Paralysis of any kind.


    Once the potion began to take effect, a tingling sensation gradually spread throughout Leon''s rigid body, and his body slowly came back under his control.


    After being dragged for nearly a hundred meters, they finally reached a somewhat dry cave with a decent patch of flat ground. A musty smell filled the narrow cave and nearly made Leon choke.


    After tossing Leon onto a pile of jumbled objects, the two Phantom Nannies began screeching and growling at each other. It seemed they were debating whether to go help in the battle or stay here to guard their ''food.'' But, just as the two were busy arguing, two crackling sounds flared up behind them. It was the sound of two fist-sized Elementium fireballs springing to life.


    The two Phantom Nannies were startled for a moment. Then they noticed that the petrified human had stood up, with two small fireballs dancing in his palms.


    Possessing only basic intelligence, these Phantom Nannies had no idea what was happening, but when they caught the fresh scent of flesh and blood, they immediately let out aggressive roars and leaped toward Leon.


    The next instant, the two small fireballs exploded into blazing flames, burning everything in the direction of the two Phantom Nannies.


    "Burning~~"


    Both sides collided, with Leon soon collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath.


    His shirt was torn, and four terrifyingly deep wounds could be found on his chest.


    On the other side, the two Phantom Nannies continued their momentum and slammed into the dirt wall behind Leon. Gently controlled by Leon, the two flames traveled through their massive mouths, incinerating everything within their heads. As a result, both Phantom Nannies died in the blaze.


    The air was thin in the cave and became even more depleted after being burned by the recent fire. Leon gasped for breath for a while.


    Stars danced before Leon''s eyes, and he felt very unwell. He did not feel any pain from the wounds inflicted by the Phantom Nannies, but he felt a strange tingling sensation. This made Leon''s heart sink. Damn, he had been poisoned by the Phantom Nannies'' attack!


    He searched around himself, found a bottle of antidote, and poured it into his mouth. Only then did Leon relax.


    He held his breath in deep concentration and listened to the violent vibrations coming from the tunnel. This was a sign that the battle was not over, and he still had a chance to escape, so Leon decided to rest and gathered his courage. Then he began to examine the Phantom Nannies'' nest.


    ...


    2085 Words

 Chapter 23 - 23: Bleia Again

    There was a saying: no thief leaves empty-handed!


    He had only reached this place after risking his life. If he simply turned and left, wouldn''t that be a waste of Sinbad''s ''Wonderful Hospitality''?


    Leon activated his Elementium Vision and began to scan the cave.


    Among the odds and ends piled up like a mountain, Leon found only a few items he considered useful. For these Ghost Nannies trapped in the swamp, opportunities to find good loot were rare, so although it seemed like there was a lot of ''treasure'' gathered here, only a handful was truly valuable.


    Seven to eight high-quality blood sacs, which looked like red spheres; a broken piece of magical equipment, so degraded that no one could tell what it originally was; a fist-sized metallic ore glowing a strange blue; a peculiar white stone the size of an egg¡­ Without a second thought, he grabbed everything and stuffed it into his waist pocket.


    All of these items were precisely picked by Leon, as he could sense the faint Elementium ripples they emanated. As for the other dirty and messy items, he simply ignored them. After all, he was in the middle of a life-or-death run. Carrying too much would greatly reduce his chances of escape.


    As the hidden nest of the Ghost Nannies, there was more than one tunnel leading to this cave. Clearly, their leader, Sinbad, knew the saying, "A cunning rabbit has three burrows." However, this clever arrangement worked to Leon''s advantage, as a part-time thief. He took a brief moment to get his bearings, then squeezed into a damp tunnel leading away from the muddy lake.


    Some time later, a strangely human-like head emerged from a small muddy pond in the swamp. As the viscous mud slid slowly off, Leon exposed only the upper part of his head, silently observing the distant movement.


    There should have originally been a few Ghost Nannies living in this muddy pond, but obviously, they had been drawn by the massive battle happening in the distance, responding to Sinbad''s furious calls and joining the fight. This allowed Leon to move freely, with no one around to oppose him. He took a deep breath and began to climb out of the pond.


    While the battle raged in the distance under the thick, sticky mud, the only signs were the roars and cries of the Ghost Nannies and the occasional bursting bubbles on the surface. Leon never wanted to see that terrifying little Lolita again. He moved away from the fight and swam toward the banks of the muddy pond.


    He bet that the Ghost Nannies were struggling under the strange, unpredictable spatial attacks of Lucy!


    "Advance~~"


    But just as he was nearing the edge of the pond and preparing to climb out, an explosion occurred in the muddy water behind him, revealing a Giant Crocodile with its mouth wide open, lunging at Leon.


    "BITE!"


    Everything happened so suddenly, and the hostile environment provided perfect cover for the Giant Crocodile, so until the moment it attacked, the only warning Leon received was a sudden beep from the Chip.


    After a series of rolls and twists, Leon barely avoided the deadly bite by mere millimeters. The massive mouth, full of sharp teeth, snapped shut next to his waist, creating a small breeze carrying a putrid stench that made Leon''s hair stand on end.


    Had he not been alerted by the Chip, just one bite from this ferocious Giant Crocodile would have easily snapped his body in half. If that had happened, all his great ambitions would have been in vain.


    Seizing the opportunity when his enemy missed its attack, Leon scrambled on his hands and knees and rushed to the edge of the pond. He turned and quickly summoned a Fire Arrow, aiming at the giant mouth that was opening for a second strike.


    "Zosh~~"


    The ''Fire Arrow'' spell, which had been in the process of solidification, was finally ready, allowing him to complete his attack smoothly.


    "Bang~~"


    The Fire Element spell exploded, engulfing the entire head of the Giant Crocodile.


    The fiery blast was followed by a rain of shattered teeth and chunks of flesh around the pond''s edge. Writhing in intense pain, the Giant Crocodile''s body thrashed wildly, creating a mud wave several meters high and turning the surrounding area into an even messier mire.


    The main reason Leon chose Fire Arrow instead of Fireball as his first long-range offensive spell was because it also dealt physical damage upon impact. This trait was especially significant when dealing with wild creatures that had high resistance to Elementium-based attacks.


    Of course, Leon would never admit it, but the real reason he gave up on learning the Fireball spell was the extremely difficult 54 Magical Syllables he would have to memorize and correctly chant to cast the spell.


    Returning to his current situation, Leon''s attack had obviously exposed his position.


    "Oh. So you were hiding there! Don''t even think about escaping from me again¡­"


    A shrill female voice suddenly came from afar. Within her protective barrier, the fearsome Lucy struggled to rise out of the muddy lake, letting out a furious roar in Leon''s direction.


    Unfortunately for her, the next moment a long whip made of some native vine shot out from the water, wrapping tightly around Lucy''s invisible barrier. Thus, the little Lolita could only show half of her body, getting stuck in the pond, unable to break free from the water''s surface.


    Countless Ghost Nannies kept battering the protective barrier like wild beasts. However, their sharp claws and aggressive attacks were futile against the Barrier, so more and more Ghost Nannies threw themselves at it, trying to use their combined body weight to drag that filthy human, who had killed so many of their sisters, back into the muddy lake.


    Like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, one after another, the Ghost Nannies kept swimming around the invisible barrier, stepping over the bodies of their allies and leaping out of the water, recklessly striking at Lucy as she struggled to free herself. The horde''s relentless actions only made Lucy even angrier.


    No longer holding back, countless visible spatial cracks appeared, slicing through everything that approached the barrier. Whenever a Ghost Nanny came into contact with these spatial cracks, whether it was an arm or its strong, resilient body, whatever touched the cracks was cut in half, sending sticky black blood splattering everywhere.


    Even so, the Ghost Nannies continued to rush in, wave after wave, never showing any sign of stopping.


    Not only that, but even Sinbad''s Giant Lizard charged at Lucy. Using its tail, it slammed against the indestructible barrier, forcing most of its body to sink back into the muddy water again. The massive impact transferred to Lucy, causing blood to spurt from her nose and mouth.


    Thus, a fierce battle once again erupted between Lucy and the Ghost Nannies, who swarmed like a horde of wasps. Meanwhile, Leon was trapped in a perilous fight with a Giant Crocodile. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although his Fire Arrow had severely injured the Giant Crocodile''s mouth and created a bloody mess inside, it was still a ferocious demon with immense vitality. This type of damage was far from fatal. As a result, the furious Giant Crocodile channeled all its pain into rage, directing it at Leon as it pulled its massive, scale-covered body from the mud and launched continuous attacks at him.


    Fearing the Giant Crocodile''s ''Slowing Ray,'' Leon ran tirelessly to save his life. Most of these swamp demons had Earth Elementium abilities, and with their thick hides, powerful bodies, sharp claws, and pointed teeth, fighting them in this muddy swamp was asking for death.


    Meanwhile, thanks to a warning from the Chip, Leon discovered that there were some underwater creatures sneaking toward him.


    Damn it. Why did he decide to come to a nest of these damned demons?


    Muttering and cursing under his breath, Leon followed the Chip''s instructions, narrowly avoiding the relentless attacks of the horrifying Giant Crocodile behind him.


    Rather than calling his current location the lake''s edge, it was more like a narrow, poorly made strip of land between two muddy lakes. The ground was soft, and every step was a struggle, as his feet kept sinking into the mud. Thus, escaping these giant crocodiles in such an environment was extremely difficult. Too bad he couldn''t fly like Lucy.


    At this very moment, it was too late to regret never trying to learn the Wind Element Levitation Spell. Leon pushed forward, doing his best to stumble his way to safety. Watching the swift approach of the sneaky aquatic beasts, his heart was now full of misery. He had activated the Magic Talisman in his hand several times, but it just didn''t seem to have any effect.


    Under more normal circumstances, a Mage''s deterrent effect was enormous against these swamp demons. But the aggression of these demons had been heightened by the scent of blood, making it very difficult to fend them off.


    A foul wind brushed against his face.


    "Boom~~"


    The water''s surface erupted as two Giant Crocodiles leaped simultaneously, their enormous jaws wide open, each capable of swallowing Leon whole in a single bite.


    "BITE!"


    Staring at the massive jaws that were now within reach, seeing the gleaming, jagged teeth and the throats leading to a digestive purgatory¡­ there was no way he could save himself from this dire situation.


    Just as Leon closed his eyes, bracing for death, something suddenly slammed into him, and he was lifted into the air.


    The heart-stopping sound of the Giant Crocodiles'' massive jaws snapping shut followed, but Leon once again narrowly escaped their bloody maws. He opened his eyes when he heard their furious roars coming from far behind. He was flying just an inch above the water''s surface at an incredible speed.


    "What was happening?"


    His heart was pounding, full of fear and uncertainty about his current situation. Leon could clearly see something reflected on the murky water''s surface beneath him, and he heard the sound of wings flapping above him.


    He craned his neck, struggling to see what was above him. To his surprise, an enormous humanoid bat was carrying him while flying strenuously.


    Yes, it was struggling to fly!


    This humanoid bat had a pair of massive fire-red leather wings, each about 4 to 5 meters long, but a rather slim and small body. Of course, its wings could carry it perfectly well if it were flying alone. But flying along with Leon clearly exceeded its strength.


    A new type of swamp demon? Of course not. Leon could sense a faint magical aura and a familiar scent emanating from its body. With the help of the Chip, and by seeing its strange but familiar face, a certain girl came to Leon''s mind.


    "Bleia?! The Vampire Pussy?"


    ....


    1806 Words

 Chapter 24 - 24: Answers

    "Bleia? Is that you, Bleia!" Leon shouted in shock.


    The enormous humanoid bat smiled like a human, then descended and threw Leon to the ground. After rolling a few times, Leon finally stopped, then stood up, a pained expression on his face. Meanwhile, after circling in the air one last time, the enormous bat descended and landed beside Leon.


    Miraculously, as the humanoid bat approached the ground, its form began to twist and change in a bizarre manner. The reddish fur on its body gradually disappeared, transforming into a smooth, shiny red dress. The thick, protruding cheeks tightened inward, revealing a beautiful and charming face.


    Once the transformation was complete, she gracefully turned and walked towards Leon. Bleia was back to normal.


    Bat transformation!


    This... seems to be a unique vampire ability.


    The innate abilities of a newborn vampire were gaining strength through blood consumption and regeneration. Because of these two factors, they were already an extremely frightening species. However, if a newborn vampire could take one step further, they would gain the ability to transform into a bat.


    Whether transforming into a single massive bat and flying through the sky, or splitting into thousands of small bats as a means of escape, this ability performed admirably in saving one''s life.


    And, if a vampire reached a mature stage, they would be able to begin mass-producing Blood Slaves.


    So, to fight a mature vampire, one would first need to face a massive army of Blood Slaves.


    As his mind went through all the knowledge it held related to vampires, Leon couldn''t help but feel respect, and even a bit of admiration, for Bleia''s rapid progress. Only a few days had passed since she became a Vampire, and she had already awakened her second innate ability.


    "Who is that little girl? Why is she hunting you?" Bleia wasn''t looking at Leon but at the chaotic battlefield in the distance.


    Their current location was about five or six miles from the heart of the Ghost Nannies'' Lake, so the thick swamp mist was blocking their vision. However, it wouldn''t matter if they were sixteen miles away, as massive waves of Elementium were being released from where Lucy and Sinbad were.


    The battle was getting intense!


    "They''re intruders! Three Advanced Apprentice Mages attacked. That little girl, Lucy, mainly uses the Space Principle, which she is highly suited for. She''s terrifyingly strong¡­"


    As Leon was explaining this in a soft voice, a shockwave of Elementium erupted from the direction where the battle was occurring, followed by the shrill howls of the Ghost Nannies.


    "Oh no, let''s run!" Leon''s face changed dramatically. "That terrifying little girl has escaped Sinbad!"


    He had felt this frightening shockwave before and knew that Lucy was using her powerful spatial attack that could cause mass destruction with space rifts. It''s worth noting that using this ability came at a high price, but when Lucy used it, Leon was certain that Sinbad could never stop her from fleeing.


    "If we work together, do you think we have any chance of killing her?" Bleia suddenly turned, her green eyes flickering red as she looked directly at Leon.


    "This... Well... If we work together then... Maybe... Maybe..." Leon was surprised by Bleia''s unexpected question. When faced with this powerful Advanced Apprentice, all that mattered was running for his life.


    The idea of turning back and attacking the enemy was simply absurd.


    After all, with his current abilities, even if Lucy were severely injured and dying, she could still crush him easily.


    If he could keep a 50-meter distance from Lucy, Leon was 80% confident he could avoid her spatial attacks with the Chip''s help. If the distance were reduced to 30 meters, his confidence would drop to 40%, and if he were 20 meters from Lucy, he knew he would be killed instantly.


    He needed time to respond to the Chip''s warnings. Without the Chip, Leon was nothing more than a small, fragile glass figurine in front of Lucy.


    He didn''t have the strange insect body of a Worm Controller, which could still remain alive even if its heart was ripped out. Thus, once Lucy captured him with her spiritual energy, he would be dead! Therefore, Leon instinctively wanted to say no to Bleia''s question.


    But, when confronted with the unstoppable Bleia, it seemed he had no voice in the matter.


    His body began to twist bizarrely again as Bleia transformed into a small bat, just the size of a human fist. She flew towards Leon''s chest and squeezed into his shirt. She looked at him and spoke threateningly, "You''d better not reveal that I''m here! I''m determined to get the blood of that fool!"


    Faced with Bleia''s tiny furry face adorned with a ''threatening'' expression, all Leon could do was nod expressionlessly.


    "Don''t worry, if she really tries to kill you, I''ll find a way to protect you!" Although Bleia said this, Leon''s mind barely calmed. He began to ponder how he would approach Lucy without alerting her.


    However, when he turned around, his pupils contracted, and he was terrified by what he saw before him.


    A dark figure was slowly condensing in the mist about ten meters away from him. Judging by the silhouette, it was that small, terrifying Lolita, Lucy.


    "Lucy!" At that moment, Leon felt his mouth go dry and his breath shorten.


    This Lucy was like a vengeful ghost. No matter where he ran, she kept finding him. After being forced by the Ghost Nannies to unleash a second spell of Space Rifts, which covered a vast area, not only did she have no time to find a place to recover, but she came right after him. Did she not know that resting was a necessary part of life?


    Recovering from his shock, Leon realized he should be running now.


    But, before he could lift his feet, a trembling, childish voice resonated in the air.


    "If you dare to take a step, I promise I''ll teleport your heart into your stomach¡­ I dare you to force me¡­"


    Leon raised his head and watched as the dark figure gradually became visible. In the end, he didn''t have the courage to take that step.


    Damn, she was too close!


    After thinking that, he was stunned by Lucy''s face.


    In her previous battle with the Worm Controller, Lucy had lost one of her eyes and suffered many cuts and bruises, but this time, the little Lolita was in an absolutely terrible state.


    The hollow socket where her right eye used to be was still empty, but now there were three gruesome scars stretching from the bottom of the right eye to the left corner of her lips. The skin around these scars was turning black, and the exposed flesh showed obvious signs of decay. Whenever Lucy spoke or did anything that moved her face, black blood oozed from those ugly wounds.


    Moreover, the number of injuries on her body had multiplied, and there were many bite marks on her exposed skin. The small, cute Lolita had been replaced by a distorted, voodoo doll-like creature.


    An indistinct vibration of spatial energy filled the area. After struggling for a moment, Lucy managed to finish her spatial energy construction, teleporting from one area to another. Normally, she could easily complete this simple spatial jump, but now she had to push every last drop of her strength just to manage it.


    Shortly after she exited the spell matrix, Lucy''s remaining eye was filled with a blazing flame of rage, glaring fiercely at Leon, who wore an empty expression. Although she barely reached Leon''s chest, her brutal and dominating presence was crushing him.


    Leon''s heart began to race even faster when he saw a large head hanging from Lucy''s waist.


    Judging by the cruel and ugly face, it had to be Sinbad''s head. It seemed that even the leader of the Ghost Nannies hadn''t escaped from the brutal Lucy.


    "You''re good... You''re really good..." Lucy murmured. Grinding her teeth, she looked at Leon. It was easy to see that she was unable to express all the anger and frustration she felt towards Leon right now.


    When she first stepped into this Magical Swamp, she was in a good mood and filled with pride. In her mind, apart from those exalted and venerable Mages, everyone else was just a monotonous variety of trash, not even worthy of carrying her shoes. Relying on her indestructible protective barrier and her mysterious spatial cutting, she felt qualified to face a pseudo-Mage.


    But who would have thought that, within this seemingly insignificant Magical Swamp, which was just a common resource location for a Third Grade Mage family, she would actually suffer such a heavy loss? At that moment, no one could understand how depressed and angry she was! She was like an ancient brutal beast devouring all the men before her.


    All she wanted to do was peel the skin off that slippery rat and tear every tendon from his muscles, crushing all his bones one by one and smashing his flesh into a pile of meat paste.


    Perhaps, by doing all this, she could alleviate the anger in her heart.


    "Boy, tell me honestly, how did you find the gap in my protective barrier?" Lucy''s fierce face smiled as both her hands began to grasp the air in front of her. A spatial rift, constantly elongating, appeared between her hands like a tamed snake. "As long as you tell me the truth, I promise, I won''t do anything to you today. I, Lucy, always honor my words!"


    ''Only a dead man would trust you! Even if you don''t attack me personally, you could just throw me into a swarm of demons, and that would kill me. Hmm, it''s clear that I know more about dirty tricks and sinister plots than you¡­''


    Leon began to complain in his mind, then he realized he was staring at a spatial rift behaving like a tamed snake in Lucy''s small hands. He wasn''t brave enough to say a single word in the face of such a display of power. Although he appeared calm on the outside, inside his mind was overheating.


    ''Damn, she really is a genius, she''s playing with a spatial rift with her own hands! This is a spatial rift! A FUCKING SPATIAL RIFT! Even the sharpest weapons in the world can''t compare to this! No matter if it''s in front of a shield made of pure steel, or iron that has gone through thousands of temperings, as long as there is no magical protection, it will be cut like a sheet of paper!''


    Despite being an extremely dangerous spatial spell, this little Lolita held it in her hands as if it were a cute puppy. This was proof of how crucial innate skills were for an Apprentice Mage. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I can''t see the Spatial Energy around you!" Leon hesitated for a brief moment, then decided to tell the truth.


    "Nonsense!" Lucy shouted angrily, saying, "If you can''t see them, then how did you find the exact location of my Wind Barrier?"


    "You must know that Spatial Energy has no specific Elementium characteristics. It is part of a Principle. Those who do not have an innate talent for a principle can never see it with the naked eye. But don''t forget this, there is a huge repulsive force between the opposite Elementium, and the Spatial Energy you''re using is incredibly harsh and lonely¡­ So¡­"


    "So you determined the shape and position of my protective barrier by detecting the area where there is no Elementium and, as a result, you were able to see that they were repelled by the spatial energy? Then¡­" Lucy concluded from what Leon said and soon found the source of the gap, saying, "Damn, I shouldn''t have used a Wind Elementium spell to cover that hole.


    Next time, I''ll use a Force Field spell that doesn''t contain Elementium."


    ...


    1991 Words

 Chapter 25 - 25: Final explosion

    Lucy deserved her status as an Advanced Apprentice Mage. Although Leon had only said a few words, she was able to immediately discern what his weakness was.


    Her innate spatial talent was still worthy of being called ''invincible.''


    At least, she was invincible when facing enemies of the same level.


    As long as someone was unable to break through her paper-thin protective barrier, her body was completely safe. No matter what was thrown at her, there was no way to penetrate that invisible shield and harm her. At the same time, she could always casually torment her enemy with her Spatial Cut and Telekinesis.


    But no matter how resilient a shield was, there would always be a weak point, and Lucy''s Protection Barrier was no exception.


    To avoid being completely isolated from the world while the protection barrier was active, she had to leave a hole that allowed her to ''communicate'' with the outside world. This hole was how she was able to launch attacks at her enemy while her Barrier was active.


    So, to cover this ''gap,'' she purposefully studied Wind Elementium spells. After that, using invisible wind Elementium, she patched the hole. The invisible protection barrier was mixed with the invisible barrier of Wind Elementium, creating a combination that had previously deceived all her enemies, giving them the impression that her protection barrier was perfect and flawless, with no weak points.


    But she would never have thought that today, at the end of the world, she would encounter a group of such strange beings that challenged her invincible status. One was a disgusting man who had modified his body and transformed into a bug-man, while the other was a novice apprentice who could actually see Elementium in the world around him with the naked eye.


    Encountering these two strange men brought her to the unluckiest day of her life.


    If that bug had stung any other Advanced Apprentice, perhaps the enemy would have been killed by his unpredictable Telekinesis ability. How could she have known she would find someone with such a strange body modification, which gave them time to discover the gap in her defense?


    Furthermore, without this Beginner Apprentice who was able to see Elementium with the naked eye, how could her Protection Barrier have been broken, forcing her to feel the pain of a thousand scorpion stings?


    The more she thought about it, the more irritated Lucy became. She wished she could immediately rip off his skin and crush his bones, but without the information she was even more concerned about, she could only contain her rage and continue, "Is it a magical eye or some kind of special magical spell?"


    "It''s a spell!" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Give it to me, and I will spare your life today!"


    "Can I trust your words?"


    "Hmph! It seems to me that you have no choice! Don''t force me to rip out your soul. If that happens, I will tortuously dig through your entire brain!"


    Although Lucy''s personal image had been completely corroded by the day''s events, her pride was still present, and the threatening and domineering tone of her words told Leon that she was not accepting a no as an answer.


    Leon quickly examined Lucy''s current state.


    Either because she had suffered so much damage, or because her Protection Barrier was on standby, the Protection Barrier was nowhere around Lucy.


    Was she not afraid of a sneak attack?


    I will do it!


    Being cautious and indecisive in front of this extremely strong Advanced Apprentice was simply asking for death.


    A moment later, Leon shook his sleeve, throwing a small dark green bottle towards Lucy''s face. Not needing to activate any spell, once the bottle hit the ground, the green substance released from the bottle, and a strange smoke exploded from the point of impact.


    "Splash~~"


    A second later, an ugly, slime-covered man, about a meter tall, slowly rose from the ground.


    This low-grade humanoid puppet was only a temporary product, as it could last a maximum of seven minutes, and its only method of attack was to surround the enemy, causing them to suffocate within its slimy body. Of course, using a temporary slave to attack an Advanced Apprentice was a joke, but it could keep even a powerful enemy occupied for a second.


    Meanwhile, Leon quickly took a few steps back, both hands moving rapidly through the air as he recited magical spells aloud.


    "Fire Arrow~~"


    "I conjure~~"


    "Fire, come burn~~"


    "Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."


    A Fire Arrow began to form in front of him. Once the solidification of the Fire Arrow spell was complete, compared to the previous casting time of over 10 seconds, Leon could now cast it in 5 seconds. It was obvious that this was a significant advancement in his combat power.


    But, what a pity, what he did made no difference in front of that terrifying little girl. An invisible protection barrier instantly appeared between the puppet and Leon, severing the spiritual connection between them. In the next second, the slime creature fell to the ground and simply disappeared.


    This was the greatest weakness of Summoning Spells.


    Once the spiritual connection between the summoner and the summoning was lost, under the effect of the Principles of this world, no matter how strong the summoning was, it was forced to return to where it came from. Therefore, before that cheap doll could do anything, it transformed into a puddle of acidic liquid.


    As for the Fire Arrow that Leon had launched with great effort, Lucy simply responded with a look of disdain; she didn''t even try to stop him from casting.


    "Buzz~~"


    Soon after the Fire Arrow left Leon''s hand, it instantly struck a small ''Mirror Space'' hanging in the air in front of him.


    Blocked by this small protective barrier that reflected energy, the Fire Arrow simply exploded.


    "BOOM~~"


    Clearly, this explosion was happening very close to Leon. In the next instant, the raging flames were reflected by the ''Mirror Space'' and sent back toward Leon, engulfing the body of the young Apprentice.


    Although Leon could sense any change in the area with his Elementium Sight, he was unable to react to this type of sudden change in the space around him. He could cast a familiar magical spell in 3 to 5 seconds, but Lucy could unleash her innate spatial magic in less than a second.


    The enormous gap between them allowed Lucy to sit back and watch as Leon completed his spell-casting process. She had plenty of time to decide whether to block him or launch a counterattack. Not only that, if she wanted, Leon would never be able to finish casting any spell that took more than 3 seconds.


    As she watched the flames engulf the Beginner Apprentice in front of her, a look of disdain appeared in Lucy''s one remaining eye.


    How dare a Beginner Apprentice take the initiative to attack an Advanced Apprentice? This guy was simply asking for death!


    Suddenly, she felt something was wrong.


    A pebble the size of an egg suddenly shot out from the rolling flames, racing toward Lucy. At the same time, Leon also emerged from the flames, both hands covering his head.


    The raging fire obviously didn''t distinguish between friend and foe, and thus Leon suffered great pain forcing his way out of hell. His body was severely burned by the flames, and both exposed arms were covered in burn marks and blisters.


    With a cruel and hideous smile on her face, Lucy gently waved her fingers, sending some barely visible streaks flickering through the air. The flying stone was cut into four pieces upon contact with the streaks.


    "Lightning Strikes~~"


    Violent blue lightning spread through the air for a second and then disappeared.


    Her attempt to use the Lightning Stone to attack was a complete failure.


    Without hesitation, Leon pulled out another blackened object and threw it toward Lucy. After that, he simply turned and ran, as if trying to escape another explosion.


    "Didn''t you hear what I said before? You''re forcing me to cut off your legs! Well, if that''s what you really want¡­" Lucy spoke mockingly, but before she could finish, her expression suddenly changed, and she immediately turned to face the approaching object, as it had just dodged one of her casually cast Spatial Cuts.


    A small bat made a quick loop in the air and avoided the Spatial Cut aimed at it, flapping its wing at an incredible speed. It quickly reached above Lucy''s head.


    A summoning? Was it a contracted creature or some kind of demon?


    Lucy couldn''t immediately identify the origin of this strange bat that had come to her. Shrugging, she waved her hands, unleashing a pair of spatial cuts and completely sealing off any path that the palm-sized bat could take. After doing this, she felt at ease, thinking the bat would be no more trouble.


    But in the next second, something happened that made her scream in surprise.


    "Holy shit!!"


    Quickly transforming, the tiny palm-sized bat inflated like a balloon, turning into a tall, slender human girl wearing an impressive red dress. Not only that, but she didn''t make any evasive moves and simply fell directly toward the spatial cuts, aggressively leaping over Lucy''s body.


    Enjoying Lucy''s terrified expression, claws appeared on the fingers of the girl in red, becoming extremely sharp and pointed, gleaming indistinctly like molten metal. Furthermore, as she fell, the look of this young woman changed dramatically, her green eyes turning blood red, as if blood were going to drip from them.


    When the red-eyed girl was caught by the spatial cuts, the sound of flesh being torn by the spatial attack echoed through the air.


    "Ripping~~"


    A huge amount of blood sprayed from the back of the girl in red, and several cross-shaped holes could be seen in her body. The series of cuts transformed her beautiful milf body into that of a masochist.


    But the girl in red didn''t stop or retreat when her bright red lips were opening wider, revealing two terrifying fangs. When she finally reached Lucy, she simply bit into her exposed neck.


    Damn, she was a vampire!


    Like everyone else, she had heard of these damned beasts before, but as an Advanced Apprentice Mage, Lucy immediately realized what she was facing.


    "Bite~~"


    Like a mosquito biting her neck, a tingling sensation was felt, which quickly transformed into a pleasurable feeling that made her feel as if she were walking on clouds.


    Following the drawing of her blood, she clearly sensed her life force rapidly fading away.


    "Drinking~~"


    "Sucking~~"


    Her body felt drowsy and was so comfortable that she just wished she could let everything go and fall into a deep sleep.


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    But no matter what, Lucy was an Advanced Apprentice with a strong will, and she had high resistance to the paralytic poison being injected into her body through the vampire''s fangs. After being dazed for only a brief moment, she managed to regain control of her will.


    For the first time in her life, Lucy felt as if death were knocking on her front door.


    In her two previous battles, although he had managed to harm her, the worm controller was no match for her. As for Sinbad, if they hadn''t fought in her swamp, the leader of the Ghost Nannies would have been killed instantly.


    But at this moment, Lucy truly felt the threat of death.


    If she didn''t properly manage her current situation, she¡ªwho was very likely to become a great Mage¡ªwould die in this filthy land.


    With no other options, Lucy gathered the last drops of her strength and once again let out a terrifying scream that shook the world around her.


    "Space!"


    "Listen to my desire!"


    "Space, break and destroy my enemies!"


    "Spatial Crack~~"


    "Tremor~~"


    In the next second, the space shattered, and everything around her was crushed to dust!


    "BOOOOMMM~~"


    ...


    1994 Words

 Chapter 26 - 26: Recovery of a vampire

    This was the third time Lucy used her Spatial Shatterer ability.


    As she had an innate talent for using spatial magic, although she was still an Apprentice, she was able to cast terrifying and devastating spells. However, it was clear that her body was not strong enough to endure the repeated use of these high-level spatial magics.


    Therefore, after tearing and shattering everything within a fifty-meter radius, part of her body disintegrated as well, showing how much damage she had suffered from the day''s events.


    Taking the opportunity to escape while the girl in red was being sliced apart by her devastating ability, Lucy struggled and squeezed herself into a spatial tunnel that suddenly appeared behind her, disappearing without a trace.


    As blood gushed from every inch of her body, Bleia remained standing where she was, her body broken. There wasn''t a single piece of unbroken skin on her body. In her entire life, she had never seen anyone in such a miserable state.


    It was as if she had just been thrown through a turbine, as all her skin was torn apart, and her flesh was severely mutilated. Blood continuously streamed from all her wounds, of various sizes, staining her pale white skin a deep red. Beneath her feet, a small puddle of blood was forming.


    Leon slowly approached the battlefield.


    "Hey¡­ Are you still alive?" Leon asked, his voice trembling.


    The bloodied figure trembled, moving her blood-red eyes to look at Leon. A look of extreme thirst completely filled her eyes, which had turned as red as her blood.


    "Blood¡­ I need blood¡­ Quickly, give me blood¡­" The figure spoke in a deep, hoarse voice. If Leon hadn''t been paying extra attention, he wouldn''t have heard what she said.


    Just saying those few words, the movement of her lips caused the muscles in her face to tear again, causing more blood to gush out.


    "Don''t tell me you want my blood!" An ugly expression immediately appeared on Leon''s face.


    Judging by the severity of Bleia''s injuries, even if she drank every drop of blood in his body, it probably still wouldn''t be enough for her to fully recover!


    Just when Bleia could barely control herself and was preparing to lunge at Leon, he remembered something. Without hesitation, he pulled out eight bags of blood, which looked like red spheres, from a pocket on his waist. This was something he had "earned" from the Ghost Nanny''s nest.


    Bleia instantly grabbed the bags of blood and began to swallow them frantically, one by one, proving how terrifying vampires, a species that had inherited from the ancient era, could be. The terrible wounds all over her body began to heal at an incredible speed, and the whole process was so miraculous that Leon simply couldn''t believe his eyes.


    A second ago she had been dying, looking like she might faint at any moment, but now, it was as if someone had just cast a magical spell that could turn back time. She was recovering at an unbelievable pace.


    After devouring three bags of blood, all the small and tiny wounds on her body disappeared, and the larger wounds began to stitch themselves. After swallowing the fifth bag of blood, none of the terrifying-looking wounds on her body remained, and once again her skin, although covered in blood, became smooth and clear.


    After the seventh bag of blood, her entire body began to glow in blood red, and finally, Bleia came back to life.


    When she was about to swallow the last bag of blood, she hesitated, then turned and tossed it back to Leon. She was now fully recovered, so it seemed unnecessary to waste another bag of blood. Looking at Leon''s heartbroken face, it was easy to tell that these bags of blood were probably very valuable.


    After tossing the bag of blood, a multitude of small cracking sounds came from her body. This was the sound of the crystallized blood in her body starting to crack, falling from her slender and shapely form and revealing her perfect, curvy, seductive, and incredibly naked body to Leon.


    Even having lived two lives, at that moment Leon had a strong erection.


    Although he tried his best to control himself, he looked at Bleia''s body, just as she had looked at him moments before.


    Although it seemed she really didn''t care.


    For some unknown reasons, the chip completed a deep scanning process on its own. Although Leon only took a brief glance at the report, all data related to Bleia was saved in his mind. Furthermore, the Chip thought ahead and saved a 100% accurate and realistic model of Bleia''s current appearance...


    Name: Bleia


    Class: Apprentice Mage (Advanced)


    Attributes: Strength: 9 | Agility: 17 | Physique: 10/12 | Spirit: 17/18


    Innate Abilities: Vampiric Regeneration and Bat Transformation


    Ugh¡­ Just reading those ridiculous numbers made Leon feel like his heart was going to stop beating.


    Her agility was 17, which meant she had extraordinary reflexes, and that was why she was able to move so quickly. No wonder that even when she wasn''t moving at full speed, she could still produce numerous afterimages to confuse her enemies.


    In contrast, her Strength was her weakest attribute, but it was still quite strong.


    With a Strength of 9, she could easily wield a two-handed sword with one hand and could send a large man flying with a single punch.


    As Leon delved into the world of numbers, Bleia donned her stunning red dress. In fact, her method of dressing seemed impossible. With just a snap of her fingers, the blood beneath her feet began to swirl around her body, moving like a wave of flexible snakes. When they finally stopped, a beautiful red dress appeared on her body.


    A round object hit Leon''s chest.


    Startled, Leon looked down at the object. He was instantly taken aback by the twisted, ugly, and terrifying face in his hands and almost threw it away in fear. But in the next moment, he realized it was Sinbad''s head.


    "That girl had to make a hasty retreat, but she left this behind. Consider it compensation for all those bags of blood you gave me!" Bleia said, showing a carefree expression as she curled her lips as if she didn''t care.


    "You¡­ After suffering such a huge defeat, did you get what you were looking for?" Leon couldn''t help but ask. When he thought about how she had been so corporeal and disfigured just seconds ago, his heart nearly stopped in shock.


    "Hehehe¡­" Bleia let out a laugh of extreme pleasure when Leon mentioned that, blinding him with an incredible smile and saying, "I devoured a bit of that girl''s blood essence, so it will take her at least two or three months to recover! Besides, I have a feeling that the blood of that girl is going to help me make significant progress¡­ Haha..."


    Leon was shocked; he was finally beginning to clearly understand why vampires were considered so incredible.


    From what the Chip had detected about Bleia''s attributes, her Physique was 10/12, and Spirit was 17/18. The first number was her current attribute, and the second value was her potential. Originally, Bleia had a maximum of 10 in Physique and 17 in Spirit. Now that she had fed on that scary Lucy''s blood, she was able to rapidly increase those attributes.


    Although they were still the same, as long as she continued her training over the next few days, she should be able to raise both her Physique and Spirit to their maximum potential, and only then would today''s harvest be considered complete.


    A vampire who could increase her personal attributes just by sucking the blood of others¡­ Just thinking about it made Leon feel dizzy. Once again, it proved how powerful innate abilities could be!


    Judging by her appearance, that terrifying Loli, Lucy, was at most thirteen or fourteen years old. At that age, if she didn''t have an innate talent for Spatial Magic, she might just be a novice who had just entered the Beginner Apprentice level. But the reality was quite different, as she was a terrifying Loli with high intelligence but low emotional control. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Because of her innate talent for Spatial Magic, she became an elite among all the other Advanced Apprentices.


    It was the same for Bleia.


    Before that, she was just a Beginner Apprentice who had only mastered two magic spells. But after she was transformed into a vampire, her overall ability skyrocketed immediately, and she became one of the strongest Advanced Apprentices.


    Analyzing the data, Bleia had a 60% chance of defeating the Fatal Shot and a 30% chance of defeating the Super Girl. As for the Worm Controller, Bleia had less than a 10% chance of defeating him.


    After all, no matter how incredible her vampiric abilities were, they would only be effective when she had a supply of blood. Additionally, her desperate fighting style could be used against the Fatal Shot. If she broke through his defenses, no matter what kind of injuries she suffered, she would be able to recover.


    But if she used the same method against the Super Girl or the Worm Controller, Leon saw no hope for her victory.


    The terrifying metal sword of the Super Girl was not just for decoration, and with her Strength of 15 and Physique of 16, she had more than enough to unleash brutal physical attacks. Perhaps her 8 in Agility was her weakness, but with the help of magic spells, it would be very difficult for ordinary enemies to exploit that weakness against her.


    And although the Worm Controller didn''t perform so well when confronted with Lucy, that didn''t mean his actual fighting ability was weak. Furthermore, since his body was made up of scorpions, didn''t that mean there was still blood for Bleia to use her vampirism on?


    Thus, in conclusion, while Bleia gained strong abilities, she had not reached the incredible stage that Lucy had.


    Since Bleia was willing to protect him, Leon hid nothing and, like a loyal military advisor, shared all his analyses with her, so she could abandon any unrealistic fantasies she might have.


    After becoming a vampire, Bleia''s temperament changed dramatically. It was not hard to see that the strength of that foreign lineage had profoundly affected her mind and consciousness. She was being nice to Leon, but that was mainly because, during the mutation of her lineage, he showed her compassion.


    But feelings did not last forever, and they would quickly fade in the harsh, rational, and cruel daily life of an Apprentice. Therefore, he had to demonstrate his abilities to avoid giving the impression that he was simply hiding under Bleia''s wings.


    ...


    1787 Words

 Chapter 27 - 27: The tower master

    Leon needed time to grow.


    Although he firmly believed that, with the experience of having lived a previous life and the help of the Chip, his growth rate should not be lower than those geniuses born with extraordinary innate talents, he still needed time to grow.


    Just like a young beast, even if Leon received a pair of wings, his growth would still require a tremendous amount of time and the investment of significant resources.


    Currently, he was weak. If he had someone to protect him, he could grow much faster in the safety provided by that person. Therefore, when Bleia took the initiative to spread her wings and offer him shelter, although her approach was unsettling, he now gladly accepted her protection.


    But Leon wished he could show his worth, trying his best to make this "relationship" seem more like a form of alliance that would benefit both partners, and not just him, as Bleia will still be useful, even when he violates her. Her value in Bleia''s eyes has to be immense to make her think twice before protesting against the forced motherhood to which she will be imposed.


    Leon gave a long look at Sinbad''s head, which was in his hand. If he was right, Sinbad''s soul was still trapped in that head, and if he didn''t manage it properly, the quality of his prize might be reduced.


    In any case, this was the head of a Leader of the Ghost Babysitters, comparable to some Advanced Apprentices. Thus, no matter how he could use it, this was excellent material for experiments.


    There were a total of three outsiders who had intruded into the Magical Swamp. Although they hadn''t killed Lucy, they had at least made her suffer. At that moment, that spoiled and arrogant girl was either dead or in very bad shape. As for the other two intruders, Super Girl and Deadly Shot should be dealing with them, so it wasn''t something Leon needed to worry about.


    As for Bleia, she was clearly more interested in the blood of the other two intruders because, without saying goodbye to Leon, she transformed into her bat form and shot off into the misty fog. In the end, Leon was left alone in the swamp.


    After recovering from the shock of finally having a moment of calm on this hectic day, he stealthily made his way back to the Wizard''s Tower, wanting to safely take his loot back to his room.


    ...


    A dazzling light show was flashing before her eyes. At the same time, an intense dizziness made it difficult for her to identify directions, or even where she was!


    But, with the help of her spatial senses, Lucy struggled to free herself from the chaotic spatial storm, opening a spatial rift and returning to the physical world.


    A twisted spatial rift appeared in the air, and soon after, Lucy emerged from it upside down.


    "Ouch!"


    Lucy, who was completely exhausted, hit her head on the hard, cold surface of a rock, and then she cried out in pain and surprise.


    Damn scoundrel. Damn vampire. You''d better not let me recover fully. Once I''m fully healed, I will definitely¡­


    As she cursed madly in her mind, Lucy suddenly froze completely. With her intact eye wide open and filled with great fear, she looked directly at the terrifying figure that had suddenly appeared in front of her. The fear made her stop, forcing her to refrain from acting recklessly.


    Lucy examined her surroundings in confusion. Only now did she realize that she was in a dark, enclosed stone room. This place was not the safe zone she had established beforehand, and the person standing in front of her was no Apprentice Mage she was familiar with.


    Looking at the thin, almost skeletal body of the man, his long gray Mage robe, his old wizard hat, and that mischievous, sinister smile¡­


    Lucy finally realized who was in front of her and couldn''t help but let out a scream of shock, "Mage Eclivel!"


    The thin old man standing in front of her was none other than the master of the Tower, First-Rank Mage Eclivel.


    He was the highest authority of the Tower. Thus, as soon as Lucy used the Teleportation spell and retreated, her destination was altered, bringing this little Loli, who had already suffered so much, straight to his doorstep.


    The terrifying ability of a true Mage was not something any common mortal could comprehend.


    Honestly, from the beginning of their training, many Apprentice Mages began to modify their bodies. In their minds, the appearance of their body and face was much less important than their overall power.


    If someone thoroughly examined everyone in this city, of the more than fifty Apprentice Mages, perhaps less than half of them still had pure human bodies.


    Lineage modification, biological modification, spell contamination¡­ All of this was the direct result of their tireless efforts to become stronger. The boundary between human and inhuman was not so significant in this world of Mages.


    Knowing that even the Apprentice Mages were heavily modifying their bodies, one can only imagine what the full-fledged Mages must do with their bodies.


    Capable of enduring the cruel and painful modification process, able to persevere in the solitary lifestyle of the pursuit of knowledge, capable of using any means to become stronger¡­ After going through all this suffering and finally becoming an official Mage, do you think they would still have a kind and compassionate personality?


    When mentioning these Mages in the Magical World, what most common people thought of were powerful, unscrupulous, malevolent beings who were sensible in all scenarios. Although they declared themselves slaves to knowledge, always walking the path of knowledge-seeking, their methods of gathering that knowledge could never be described as merciful or moderate.


    In the entire multiverse, being one of the rare large-scale planes, it was inevitable that the Magical World had enslaved over a thousand medium and small-scale planes. They had brutally "appropriated" all the resources and knowledge of the planes they conquered, using them to arm themselves and grow stronger. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If a Mage family did not have its own particular plane, they weren''t even considered at the lowest level of Mage Families.


    The central force of the army representing the Magical World was made up of members of these Mage Families. If a First-Rank Mage like Eclivel were placed on the limitless battlefield of the endless conquering expedition, he would simply be cannon fodder.


    Yes, the entry requirement to be in the army of the Magical World was to be a First-Rank Mage. As for Apprentice Mages, they were merely novices without experience in the Principles of the Planes. They weren''t even qualified to be cannon fodder.


    Thus, after encountering so many Mages, Lucy held a deep fear and respect for these powerful individuals.


    Although her innate Spatial ability made her an extraordinary talent, when faced with these official Mages, even with her incredible protective barrier, she was just trash that could be killed by them at any moment. In the Magical World, innate talent represented potential, not strength. Over the past millions of years, countless geniuses had lost their lives to stronger Mages with lesser potential.


    Therefore, when Lucy realized she was facing an official Mage, her arrogant and violent attitude immediately vanished. Even though the severe injuries to her body caused her to feel intense pain, so much so that she was drenched in cold sweat, she still acted as if nothing was wrong, slightly bending her body forward and patiently waiting for the man to question her.


    "I''m in a really bad mood today. It seems some insects have intruded into my garden while I was busy with experiments. So, stinky little girl¡­ Who gave you permission to enter my territory?" Mage Eclivel''s face was completely emotionless, and his cold voice sent shivers down Lucy''s spine.


    "The honorable Mage Eclivel, my mentor, the great Deborah, sent me here to deliver a message." Lucy did not hesitate and immediately declared her purpose for coming here.


    "Deborah, the Insane?" Eclivel frowned: "So, you''re that brilliant Apprentice that Deborah got three years ago? Then what the hell is this? Are you trying to show off in my home after learning some tricks from her? Hahahaha¡­ Little girl, didn''t your mentor tell you that I don''t like to be disturbed? Oh, right, the other two little insects are from the Fragrance House as well?"


    Cautiously rising while keeping her back straight, Lucy quickly replied, "No. We met outside the swamp area. We''re all here for our respective missions. One of them is from the Mandasor Academy, the other from the Black Glove Association."


    "Mission? You all came to my Magical Swamp for a mission?"


    "Yes! Each of us received training missions from our own organizations. That''s why we came here uninvited!"


    "Damn it, damn it¡­ I knew those damned Zhentarim would never stop trying to take this place. This is the Magical Swamp! My territory! How dare these guys define this place as one of their mission locations. At the next Mage meeting, I will definitely report your damned behavior to the council¡­"


    Perhaps what Lucy said was a delicate matter for Mage Eclivel, but even though he had already been acting crazily, upon learning about the situation, he became even more insane. Almost shouting, he began to curse and swear at someone in some distant land. At one point, Eclivel started speaking in several different languages, and Lucy could only identify no more than three of them.


    At some moment, Mage Eclivel calmed down and suddenly fell silent. Once again, his empty eyes locked onto Lucy''s face.


    "Because you showed respect, I won''t keep you here. But since you intruded into my garden and caused havoc, I can''t let you go without punishment. This will serve as your lesson!" Mage Eclivel gently pointed his staff at the air and released a small, bright green point, which shot directly into Lucy''s empty eye socket.


    At the same time, a bizarre ring suddenly appeared beneath Lucy''s feet. After blinking a few times, a bright light flashed, and Lucy disappeared from the stone room.


    Almost at the same time Lucy was expelled, the same teleportation ring also appeared beneath the feet of the other two Apprentice Mages, who were still searching in the depths of the swamp. With a flash, they too were expelled from the Magical Swamp.


    ...


    At the entrance of the Magical Swamp.


    It was a small, desolate slope that looked miserable.


    Facing the slope was the Magical Swamp, shrouded in thick fog. Looking out from the top of the hill, beyond the numerous muddy lakes, one could only see a hint of tattered foliage. Otherwise, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.


    After a dazzling flash, Lucy was thrown onto the ground of the empty space.


    Before she could get up, two more flashes of light occurred, and two familiar figures appeared in the space around her.


    While whining, Lucy rose from the ground, hurriedly pulling all sorts of bottles from the pockets of her waist and starting to heal herself restlessly. Although she had left the confines of the Magical Swamp, she did not dare to utter any curses against that Mage.


    Who knew if that damned Mage had any way of spying on them? If he heard her say anything bad, they might be killed right where they were¡­


    ...


    1908 Words

 Chapter 28 - 28: Crystal

    "Urrrr~~"


    Moaning non-stop, the two newcomers dropped to their knees. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Compared to the spatially talented Lucy, the other two rarely teleported, so besides the usual dizziness that accompanied teleportation, both felt nauseous, almost to the point of vomiting. However, both had extraordinary physiques, which made them quite adaptable. Thus, after a brief moment of rest, they recovered.


    Apparently, before being teleported to this place, these two had been in fierce battles, as both their bodies were covered in scars. Even now, they were holding their weapons tightly, as if they thought they could be attacked at any moment.


    When they saw Lucy, who looked incredibly unhappy, the two men exchanged glances, incredulous expressions in their eyes. Before entering the Magical Swamp, the three had fought, trying to determine who would be the leader of this temporary team.


    Although both were very confident in themselves, they were both defeated by Lucy''s mysterious telekinetic ability. If they were being honest with themselves, this Lucy definitely had the ability to kill them instantly.


    But unexpectedly, after separating for a short time, Lucy suffered very serious injuries. Compared to her, their injuries were not worth mentioning.


    "Lucy, who were you fighting? Was it a Pseudo-Mage?" Hesitant, the muscular man with a huge sword on his back asked the terrifying Loli what was wrong. The man with the snake head, standing next to him, also showed a worried expression, silently waiting for Lucy''s response.


    "Kerry, don''t get involved in my business¡­" Lucy didn''t want to answer the question and simply continued focusing on healing her own wounds.


    Lucy secretly felt a great fear in her heart. She wasn''t worried about her injuries; she had suffered worse wounds before. What she feared was what the Eclivel Mage had done to her when he threw that bizarre green light into her eye. No matter how much she examined herself, she couldn''t find anything unusual in her body, so she had no choice but to focus on healing her wounds.


    After drinking all kinds of potions, the wounds on her body finally stopped bleeding. Then Lucy began to apply a dark purple, foul-smelling medicinal paste to her injuries.


    Strangely, the result of this seemingly insignificant mud-like paste worked very well. No matter how terrible a wound was, as long as it was covered by the paste for a short period, the skin would be restored to its former state.


    After she finished healing all her wounds, Lucy began to heal her right eye.


    If a normal human lost a part of their body, it would be a scar for life that could never be healed. But for these Apprentice Mages, who had stepped into the realm of mysticism and supernatural forces, restoring lost body parts was quite possible.


    From a black clay pot, Lucy carefully picked out a strange-looking creature that resembled a small snake. Squeezing its tail, she carefully placed it into her empty eye socket.


    This strange creature was tightly held by Lucy so it couldn''t move, causing it to continue spinning in the air while making a sharp, whistling sound. It had a head that resembled a meatball and a mouth that opened like a flower. Inside this oddly-shaped mouth were many tiny, sharp teeth.


    "Serpentine Sakura Herb!"


    Obviously, the muscular man knew about this creature and couldn''t help but sigh at its value.


    "What is this thing?" The snake-headed man had never seen anything like it before.


    "It''s a sacred healing remedy, capable of replacing any missing vital organ in the body. Don''t judge by its ugly appearance. It''s a mutant plant specifically cultivated for this purpose. Its base price is about 70 Magic Crystals." The muscular man explained briefly. At the same time, his face was full of envy.


    "70 Magic Crystals?" The snake-headed man was shocked, and he instantly grasped the value of this item.


    Numerous large-scale Mage associations existed in the Mage World. There were simply too many to count. Internally, each of these organizations and associations implemented a system of knowledge points or exchange points, none of which were interchangeable. Thus, to facilitate trade between organizations, Magic Crystals were born.


    This was an advanced magical universe with countless planes. Every space in each of these planes was filled with magical energy. Normally, this magical energy was evenly distributed throughout the space, but on rare occasions or in unique environments, very dense clusters of magical energy could be found.


    Therefore, in these unique environments, the excessively dense magical energy would infest the surrounding minerals, transforming them into crystals. These crystals were unique items that allowed Mages to quickly replenish their Elementium consumption. Hence, it became an item that gained acceptance from all users across all major planes.


    As a result, Magic Crystals became an important strategic resource for the Mage World, as they were constantly conquering other worlds. Thus, it was used as the basic currency for the entire Mage World.


    The snake-headed man couldn''t help but swallow hard.


    For example, in the Black Glove Association where he came from, after successfully completing this training mission, he would receive 15 knowledge points and 30 Magic Crystals. To obtain 70 Magic Crystals, he would have to complete two ''Dangerous'' missions or seven ''Difficult'' missions or thirty-five ''Normal'' missions.


    So, when he saw Lucy use the Serpentine Sakura Herb without hesitation, which cost 70 Magic Crystals, the muscles in his face began to twitch uncontrollably.


    Despite its fierce and strange appearance, the Serpentine Sakura Herb was just a special mutant plant. Once Lucy placed it in her empty eye socket, it immediately coiled its body and centered itself. Its viscous body began to break down, transforming into tiny threads that looked like micro-sized snakes. Countless threads began to twist and intertwine, soon taking the shape of a human eye.


    But just a moment before the eyeball formed by the Serpentine Sakura Herb was about to finish, a bizarre green light suddenly shone around it. In the next second, the Serpentine Sakura Herb went completely berserk.


    Countless tiny tentacles began to pierce Lucy''s eye socket and continued to grow, flailing violently. Soon, some of these tentacles expanded to the size of Lucy''s arm and continued to stretch further.


    After a long period of healing, most of Lucy''s wounds had fully recovered. Thus, her beautiful Loli appearance had returned.


    But at that moment, a gigantic and terrifying ''living octopus'' was emerging from the eye socket of the small, cute Lolita; anyone who witnessed this would definitely tremble in disgust at the scene before them.


    Lucy''s flesh stimulated the disorderly growth of this Serpentine Sakura Herb.


    Under the influence of a mystical curse, Lucy''s newly recovered body began to wither rapidly, and almost half of her flesh was devoured by the rapidly expanding Serpentine Sakura Herb.


    Without hesitation, and using all her strength, Lucy was able to forcefully pull out the Serpentine Sakura Herb that was currently occupying her right eye socket. Raising the twisted, octopus-like monster into the air, Lucy let out a deep, hoarse roar to the sky while blood gushed from her eye socket.


    "Damn¡­ You bunch of damned scoundrels¡­ I will kill all of you!"


    The unusual situation startled the other two Apprentice Mages. Although they had no idea what this little Lolita had experienced in the Magical Swamp, they could still clearly feel a deep hatred in her furious roar.


    Judging by what had happened, it must have been the Mage who did this personally.


    That Eclivel Mage, who led a sedentary life in this Magical Swamp and didn''t even show respect for the mage Deborah, who was Lucy''s mentor, how could he let them go so easily? Because they were both expelled by the Eclivel Mage personally! Who knew what he had cast upon their bodies?


    Just as they were struck by these doubts, the lewd moan of a young woman suddenly reached their ears. Soon, two vague and indescribable Enchanted Souls emerged from the ground beneath their feet, transforming into two magnificent girls that perfectly matched their tastes, clinging tightly to their bodies.


    Well, things would have been better if they were just two illusory souls, but as soon as they were grabbed by these animated beings, their Spirits began to gradually deplete.


    "Spirit-Sucking Demons!"


    The snake-headed man was the first to identify these enchanting spirits, and his loud shout was filled with unmistakable fear.


    Spirit-Sucking Demons were very frightening souls. They consumed a person''s Spirit, which was obtained through meditation. As long as someone''s Spirit wasn''t exhausted, they could survive being attacked by these terrifying demons. But once their Spiritual Points were depleted, the demons would start consuming the life force of their target.


    The snake-headed man went wild.


    He began to roar and scream, and his slender body started to stretch higher and higher, quickly becoming covered in dark green scales. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a huge, furious serpent that was nearly ten meters tall.


    But what a pity; no matter what he transformed into, the bizarre Spirit-Sucking Demon still clung tightly to his body, continuously draining his Spiritual Points.


    Roaring, thrashing, shaking, rolling¡­ He tried every kind of highly difficult movement, wreaking havoc on this small hillside with his giant body. He even turned his head back and spat poisonous liquids at his own body, but all his attempts failed to rid himself of the Spirit-Sucking Demon.


    No magical spell could do anything, no physical attack could touch them; it was as if this demon were merely an illusion that didn''t exist. It was as if it were all just his own fantasy. However, his Spirit was truly depleting. And with the restless and brutal movements of the giant serpent, his Spirit was being diminished at an accelerated rate.


    The muscular man did not foolishly try to remove the demon from his body, as his high Physical Points gave him better magical resistance than the snake-headed man; thus, by avoiding unnecessary movements, he lost Spirit at a slower rate.


    When dealing with a curse cast by an official Mage, these Apprentice Mages had no means to remove it. Therefore, he didn''t dare to stay any longer and began to run away.


    Only by returning to his own organization as quickly as possible could he seek help from his mentor; otherwise, he would die at the hands of this terrifying demon.


    After numerous failed attempts, the snake-headed man had no choice but to revert to his human form. Only then did his Spirit depletion slow down. He cursed angrily in his mind and then took a Magic Crystal from his pocket, absorbing its energy. He then did as the muscular man had done, relying solely on his muscular strength, he ran away.


    He also realized that as long as he didn''t use any magical spells, the rate of Spiritual Point depletion would be slower, and with the replenishment from the Magic Crystal, he could sustain himself for a long period.


    After the two male Apprentices plunged into the jungle and fled, Lucy used her Spatial Energy to crush the monstrous creature in her hand. But she immediately felt a subtle tingling at the back of her eye as another new tentacle appeared in her empty socket.


    In the moments before, Lucy may have only felt hatred and anger, but now indescribable fear arose from the depths of her heart.


    With an explosive noise, Lucy disappeared from her location, reappearing in a distant place. And just as her body solidified, she disappeared again¡­


    She was running out of time.


    If she allowed this terrifying curse to remain, she would soon be out of flesh. She had to return to her mentor as quickly as possible; only then could this frightening curse be removed.


    Therefore, even if it completely depleted her Spiritual Points, Lucy still had to do her best and run back to the House of Fragrances.


    Soon, peace returned once again to the hillside near one of the entrances to the Magical Swamp.


    ...


    2001 Words

 Chapter 29 - 29: Mages

    Leon was completely unaware of the events that occurred after he returned to the tower.


    As expected, whenever something good happened, it was almost always accompanied by misfortune.


    Before today, he thought he would have time to develop slowly and quietly, but after the events of the day, he realized that things wouldn''t be so easy for him.


    His previous peaceful life made him think that his life as an Apprentice could continue forever at a gradual pace. But after the exciting encounter today, he recognized the vast gap between a Beginner Apprentice and an Advanced Apprentice.


    Having witnessed the extraordinary potential of Advanced Apprentices and how they utilized magical spells that perfectly aligned with their talents, Leon realized how slow and delayed his progress was.


    Following his original development path, it might take him three to four years of daily meditation and relentlessly pursuing the accumulation of magical knowledge before he could become an Intermediate Apprentice. To become an Advanced Apprentice, Leon would need at least another ten years of hard work. As for becoming a Pseudo-Mage?


    With Leon''s current potential and innate talent, he had little hope of reaching that level.


    As an Apprentice Mage, each small increase in his Spirit was unimaginably valuable to him and resulted only from much hard work. His innate talent was no better than others, so if he wanted to grow faster than the other Apprentices, the only way was to leverage more resources and acquire enough magical knowledge.


    Beyond these, there was no alternative solution.


    And to enhance the power of his magical spells, his first priority was to improve the quality of his body. All magical spells, whether support spells or long-range attacks, were backed by the caster''s body. Magical spells could only unleash their full strength when used by a user who had improved the quality of their body.


    After safely returning to the Tower from the jaws of death, Leon immediately locked himself in his room and began to reflect on his future path.


    Thinking about the four main branches of Mages, Leon carefully pondered the advantages and disadvantages of each, associating them with his own abilities and silently assessing his future.


    Body Refinement Mage.


    To become a Body Refinement Mage, the first requirement was a firm will, which had to be as solid as steel. To stimulate and strengthen the body, these Body Refinement Mages had to be willing to do anything.


    As an example of a training method for Body Refinement Mages, they would soak in a container filled with toxins every day. Venoms from Scorpions, Snakes, Spiders, Poison Herbs, Nightmarish Herbs, Zombie Dust¡­ In short, no matter where the toxin came from, they would use anything they could get their hands on.


    From mild to strong, from weak to powerful, using all kinds of deadly toxins, they would continuously stimulate every cell in their body, forcing it to release its potential and gradually strengthening it.


    Of course, while doing this, survival was definitely the most important thing. They would have to discover the maximum amount of toxin they could endure so that they wouldn''t die from it.


    As they progressed in the body refinement process, as they surpassed the beginner threshold, they gained resistance to certain toxins, and perhaps no common toxin in the mortal world could harm them. If they wanted to go further, the only way was to tirelessly seek rarer and more powerful magical toxins.


    Thus, as a Body Refinement Mage, perhaps the first half of their life would be spent discovering the maximum amount of toxins their bodies could take and hunting for those rare magical toxins that worked best for their bodies.


    Of course, there were also some Body Refinement Mages who used objects with horrifying radioactive characteristics to stimulate and refine their bodies, and some specifically sought out hostile natural environments, using the terrifying forces of nature to advance.


    Overall, there was a variety of methods to train in this branch. But no matter the method used, a Body Refinement Mage would have to endure constant pain and hardships. Only then would they have a frightening body that no ordinary man could ever compare to.


    If Leon wanted to become a Body Refinement Mage, he would first need to find a complete body refinement method. After that, he would have to gather all the poisonous items he would need to use over the long refinement process. Furthermore, during the body refinement process, he would become extremely weak, so he would need better and more nutritious meals to nourish his weakened body.


    Additionally, he would also need to find some suitable fighting techniques so that he could unleash the power of his enhanced physique and strength.


    After analyzing these basic situations, Leon felt extremely doubtful about becoming a Body Refinement Mage. Setting aside the extreme difficulty of the body refinement techniques, it would be challenging to acquire the precious nutritious foods needed to complement the body refinement process.


    "Lineage Mage."


    Obviously, this was the easiest choice to gain a strong short-term combat capability.


    When talking about Lineage Mages, biological modification was a quite common topic, as it was the most popular method among Apprentice Mages. With just a ''small'' magical ceremony, they could transplant a highly efficient organ from a powerful demon, potentially granting them special abilities in the process.


    Most Apprentice Mages would never turn down such a simple method of strengthening themselves whenever the conditions allowed, and they would always perform certain degrees of modification on themselves. However, this was easier said than done! It came with the risk of having their lineage contaminated, losing vitality, or transplanting a faulty organ that didn''t provide good abilities.


    For Apprentice Mages like Leon, who lived in the Magical Swamp, isolated from the outside world, what kind of powerful demons could they encounter? With their skills and status, it was simply impossible for them to acquire organs from those truly frightening demons.


    Therefore, if these Apprentices could find a usable piece from a demon that matched the level of an Advanced Apprentice, it would be incredibly valuable.


    It was said that the lethal shot Evan, one of the three strongest Apprentices in the Tower, had transplanted the eyeball of a ''Red-Eyed Crow King'', which granted him the ability to control Carnivorous Crows.


    Leon felt that this decision was shortsighted.


    Perhaps this demon organ would allow him to reach a higher level in a quick step, becoming one of the Advanced Apprentices, the elite among all the Apprentice Mages in the Tower. But at the stage he was currently at, the potential brought by biological modification had reached its limit.


    If he were lucky, he might become a Pseudo-Mage in five years and begin his preparations to break through to the level of an official Mage. But if he were unlucky, he might never become an official Mage.


    After all, for anyone whose lineage was contaminated, the difficulty of becoming an official Mage would become exponentially harder!


    So, compared to a Lineage Mage, biological modification was a wasteful path that led nowhere, a deceptive power that would ruin one''s future.


    However, in comparison to biological modification, the path of a Lineage Mage was much, much harder.


    To become a Lineage Mage, one would have to find a creature with ancestral lineage, using a large amount of its blood, and a process called blood purification, to obtain the inherited power hidden in its blood.


    If he chose this path, there would be many challenges he would have to face.


    First, many of the known powerful lineages were controlled by different families of Mages.


    These Mage families were descendants of some original Bloodline Mage who had become powerful in the past. As descendants of someone with a strong lineage, they naturally inherited the superior lineage of their ancestor. To ensure the continuity of their family lineage, they refused to marry anyone outside their own family, maintaining a closed circle to protect the purity of their family lineage.


    Besides these known powerful lineages, if any other Apprentice Mage wished to pursue the branch of Lineage Mages, they could only try their luck with the lineages of other inexperienced demons.


    If they happened to obtain a Third Grade lineage, perhaps their descendants wouldn''t even become Second Grade Lineage Mages, and those Second Grade Lineage Mages would be lucky if their descendants became First Grade Lineage Mages.


    So, for junior members of families with strong lineages, if they did not possess powerful abilities, once they left their homes, they would be attacked by others. Some unscrupulous Apprentice Mages would happily capture them, trying to squeeze the essence of their lineage, in turn granting themselves some powerful abilities.


    But to achieve this, a huge amount of blood from the lineage Apprentice was required, and the success rate was quite low. Another thing to consider was that this was a great taboo for these lineage families.


    With the incredible resources and strengths of these lineage families, would they simply sit by and let their lineage be obtained by others? Thus, even if they had to pay a high price, they would hunt down the culprit and kill them. Hence, in the history of the Mage World, there have been many incidents of great turmoil caused by the theft of a lineage from a powerful lineage family.


    In fact, perhaps the Serpent Head Apprentice from earlier today was also a descendant of a lineage family, or else he wouldn''t have displayed such distinct characteristics of a demon. Perhaps Leon could have obtained his blood¡­ but he did not.


    Of course, he did not regret it.


    This descendant of a Lineage Mage was merely an Advanced Apprentice, so he wouldn''t have a very strong lineage inherited in his blood. To ensure that Leon became a Pseudo-Mage, he might need at least a dozen of these descendants. Only then could he extract enough blood to purify his lineage.


    This would be as difficult for Leon as fighting a Mega Dragon!


    Moreover, according to what Leon had learned from the books, currently, among all the Lineage families still active at the center of the Mage Continent, the highest level among them was only Seventh Grade. The Ninth Grade was the current pinnacle of the structure of Lineage Mages.


    As a Lineage Mage, there was no need to do much cultivation or knowledge accumulation. All they needed to do was continue purifying their own lineages, and eventually, they would be able to obtain the abilities of their ancestral lineage. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For example, let''s say a Mage was the heir of a Fifth Grade lineage; just by being a Lineage Mage, he would be able to level up at a speed that was dozens to hundreds of times faster than that of the other branches. This allowed him to advance with an indomitable spirit during the first half of his life and live a life of glory.


    Furthermore, the Mage who possessed a unique lineage might have some special abilities as well, giving them an advantage when fighting against a Mage of the same grade.


    However, the peak of the original lineage was also the end of their path as a Mage.


    When a Mage with a Fifth Grade lineage finally became a Fifth Grade Mage, he would be forced to face the fact that the road ahead of him was completely cut off. He would never be able to progress further after reaching that point.


    This was the saddest thing about these Lineage Mages!


    Once they chose to follow this path, and picked the wrong lineage, the chances of reaching the top of the Mage World were lost forever.


    ....


    1944 Words

 Chapter 30 - 30: Golem

    Since the path of a Lineage Mage was so difficult to enter and the fact that, although they could grow quickly, their growth was limited from the start, Leon decided to eliminate that possibility.


    So, all he had ahead of him was to become a Principle Mage or a Deep Mage.


    Among these two choices, Leon strongly preferred the Principle Mage. Whenever he envisioned those powerful Elementium spells capable of such vast destruction, and the bizarre and frightening curse spells, Leon yearned for that power and truly wanted to master some incredible spells.


    However, the path of the Principle Mage was also the hardest, as it had no shortcuts. In order to ascend the higher tiers of the Adept hierarchy, a Principle Mage had to take one step at a time, diligently improve their elemental affinity, and then master any related Elementium spells. They also had to have a strong understanding of the Central Principles of the Planes.


    Only when he became the master of a principle could he proudly announce that he was a Principle Mage.


    This was generally something that could be achieved after reaching the seventh rank.


    If he didn''t have the Chip, Leon would never choose this path. Because, if he did, it would also mean that he would have to spend a lot of time meditating and improving his elemental affinity.


    In fact, in order to gain better elemental affinity, many Mages would go to great lengths to replace their body with the Elementium to which they had the greatest affinity, even if it turned them into a form of Elementium life. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Analyzing from all aspects, undoubtedly, the path of the Principle Mage was an obvious choice for any Mage, as it was the path with the greatest potential to reach the pinnacle of the Mage World. So, with the plan set by the Chip, Leon felt that this was the best path for him.


    However, before truly becoming strong, Leon would have to find ways to compensate for his weakness, or else how could he survive the intense and brutal competition among the Apprentices?


    Thus, after deciding to become a Principle Mage, Leon also planned to learn some of the skills of the Deep Mages to support the slow growth of his main path. And undoubtedly, the ''Golem Creation Manual'' he obtained earlier was one of those Deep Mage methods that could help improve his current combat ability.


    "Chip, what is the progress on organizing the data from the ''Golem Creation Manual''?"


    "Beep"


    "The copy of the spellbook ''Golem Creation Manual'' has been completed¡­"


    "The data has been optimized, and useless content has been removed."


    "The list of suitable Golems has been constructed¡­"


    Leon''s eyes sparkled instantly as he heard the message.


    "Send me all the data!"


    "Beep" A stream of data was immediately transferred. Closing his eyes, he silently absorbed the additional magical knowledge that suddenly emerged in his mind.


    Strictly speaking, it was a list of items.


    "Clay Golem"


    "A basic life form that fights using its core to manipulate Earth Elementium."


    "Estimated Attributes: Strength: 11 | Agility: 4 | Physical: 13 | Spirit: 4"


    Innate Abilities: (Passive) The Earth is in the Air (Regain 5 health points every minute within a location rich in Earth Elementium)


    Magical Resistances: Curse Resistance | Piercing Resistance | Cutting Resistance | Acid Resistance | Earth Elementium Resistance


    Materials: Core of an Earth Elementium Demon (Advanced Apprentice)


    Knowledge Required: Basic Golem Creation Skill | Basic Runes Inscription Skill | Energy Transfer Circuit System | Elementium Life Grant | Mental Control Printing System


    "Acid Golem"


    "A simple life form that uses its core to fight by manipulating Water Elementium."


    "Estimated Attributes: Strength: 8 | Agility: 7 | Physical: 10 | Spirit: 5"


    Innate Abilities: (Active) Acid Spray (Single Target) | Acid Pool (20 Meters AOE Range)


    Magical Resistances: Curse Resistance | Piercing Resistance | Cutting Resistance | Acid Resistance | Water Elementium Resistance


    Materials: Core of a Water Elementium Demon


    Knowledge Required: Basic Golem Creation Skill | Basic Runes Inscription Skill | Energy Transfer Circuit System | Elementium Life Grant | Mental Control Printing System


    Previously, it was a long list, but after the Chip removed the Golems that were beyond Leon''s current abilities and other useless content, all that remained were these two elemental Golems, which had been repeatedly optimized.


    Yes, the Chip recommended a Golem instead of a Titan.


    Comparing their combat abilities, undoubtedly a Titan, which had a fixed body, was stronger than a Golem, which was more like a summoning. But, with the scarce resources that Leon currently possessed, it might not be realistic to expect him to gather enough resources to create a Titan.


    Take the most basic Clay Titan as an example.


    An eight-foot-tall Clay Titan weighing 600 pounds was made entirely of soft clay. This didn''t take into account the manufacturing cost in construction. Just the soft clay alone would cost him nine thousand gold coins. For everything he would need to make a Clay Titan, the base price was twenty-one thousand gold coins.


    In contrast, the Golem suggested by the Chip was much cheaper, as the only raw material required was a core from an Advanced Apprentice-level demon. Although a lot of magical knowledge was needed to successfully create one, the total cost was around seven thousand gold coins.


    By his calculations, Leon would be able to save a significant amount of money, which was a great relief for him.


    Leon couldn''t create an Acid Golem now because he didn''t have a suitable Water Elementium demon core. But the Clay Golem was a perfect choice, as he had just obtained the head of an Earth Elementium demon, which would be a perfect core for the Clay Golem.


    When he thought of this, Leon quickly walked over to the wooden shelf in the corner of his room.


    A large glass jar sat atop a wooden tray. It was covered with a black cloth so that no one could see what was inside.


    Leon gently lifted the black cloth, leaned forward, and silently gazed at the head of Sinbad, which was soaked in a yellowish liquid. Perhaps sensing Leon''s gaze, some indistinct spasms could be seen on Sinbad''s face, and he felt the weak soul pleading for mercy.


    A strong odor, reminiscent of formaldehyde, lingered near the jar.


    Scientifically speaking, the Ghost Nanny was not considered an immortal creature, so its organs had to be carefully preserved after being removed from its body, or else their usable value would quickly diminish. Although Sinbad''s head had not originally been acquired by Leon, it was clear that Lucy had taken good care of it. She had also trapped Sinbad''s soul within it.


    Of course, Leon had no idea whether this was because Lucy wanted to vent her anger by torturing Sinbad, or if she had other plans, but no matter what, this gave him a huge advantage. At least he didn''t complain about not having obtained Sinbad''s heart.


    To maximize the benefits brought by this head, Leon even sought out some Apprentices who were specialists in anatomy and borrowed a complete set of tools.


    To protect his secret, Leon was forced to use his room as a laboratory.


    A few minutes later, Leon had prepared everything for the operation. He donned a sterile, non-magical white cloth and stood in front of the operating table. Sinbad''s head was also removed from the liquid and lay on the table with its eyes wide open, angrily cursing the human in front of it.


    Since Leon had been working to become a Mage for the past few years, he was mentally prepared for this type of surgical operation. Even though it was his first time conducting a biological experiment, he remained calm, in control, and well-prepared.


    Ignoring Sinbad''s malevolent glare, Leon calmly gave a command to the chip.


    "Chip, perform a deep scan of Sinbad''s head!"


    "Beep" "Mission received¡­"


    "Starting scan¡­"


    With the blue light glowing in his eyes, a unique spiritual wave began to scan up and down Sinbad''s head, revealing the secrets hidden within it, centimeter by centimeter.


    Most demons, due to their strong life force mixed with their bizarre innate abilities, formed an energy field similar to a shield. Thus, Leon normally could not scan beneath their skin with his Elementium Vision and Spiritual Vision, making it nearly impossible to analyze what was inside.


    But because Sinbad had lost all his strength, and his life force was nearly exhausted, the energy field that would have blocked Leon''s vision was now ineffective. After probing and scanning several times, a three-dimensional image of Sinbad''s head was constructed in his mind.


    A hard skull wrapped around an emptied brain. The brain, cerebellum, and brainstem were hidden deep within the cranial chamber. This complete model of Sinbad''s brain was presented right before Leon''s eyes. And right at the center of the emptied brain, a yellowish crystal the size of a thumb could be seen.


    Since Sinbad was a Leader of the Ghost Nannies and had mastered some Elementium abilities, a unique core had grown in his brain. Thus, his heart, brain, throat, and stomach were no longer vital organs. As long as this core and his soul still existed, his damaged organs could always be restored.


    Without hesitation, Leon plunged his sharp scalpel into Sinbad''s head. When the skull opened, a putrid dark purple blood instantly sprayed out, staining Leon''s clothes. But he didn''t care and continued adjusting the depth and angle of his cut. With the help of a hammer, chisel, and other tools, Leon carefully dismantled the skull.


    With dozens of large candles lit, the room was ablaze with light. Covered in sweat, Leon stood firmly in front of the operating table. With the sound of a chisel cutting through flesh and bone echoing in the room, he slowly broke apart Sinbad''s skull.


    Finally, under the flickering light of a candle, Leon extracted a light yellowish transparent crystal that smelled of decay and held it up against the light for a closer look.


    At the same time, a message from the Chip resonated in his mind.


    "Beep" "High-energy demon core detected. Type: Elementium Earth Creature¡­"


    A relieved smile finally appeared on Leon''s bloodied face.


    He now had a core from which he could create a Clay Golem!


    ....


    1698

 Chapter 31 - 31: Creating a Golem

    It was impossible to create the equipment needed to summon a Clay Golem in Leon''s room. So, he left and ran to the Alchemy Laboratory located on the third floor of the tower.


    After paying three Knowledge Points and thirty gold coins, Leon was allowed to use the most sophisticated alchemy station available for three hours. This was nearly half of Leon''s savings, so if he didn''t have the highest success rate for this first Golem, he would never have been willing to spend so much money.


    The floor was clean and tidy, and the walls were smooth and shiny. Wooden shelves lined the walls, holding all sorts of items. There were labeled containers for all commonly used magical materials, and Elementium rods used to detect the Elementium characteristics of an item. There was a complete set of metal armor used to test the strength of a magical item...


    In addition to all that, there were many items whose purpose Leon had no idea about.


    But Leon didn''t care about any of that. What interested him most was the gleaming Magical Alchemy Station at the center of the room.


    Metal chains hung from the ceiling. A glowing stone was attached to the end of each metal chain. Eight metal chains; eight glowing stones. They formed a perfect circle around the Alchemy Station. With this, the operator could focus entirely on creating a magical item without being disturbed by shadows.


    These were essentially magical versions of astral lamps!


    And the Alchemy Station was, in fact, a magical version of an industrial workbench. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Alchemy Station was an 8 x 4-meter object with some elevating platforms and indentations on its surface. It was covered with mystical equipment beyond the imagination of ordinary people. To be precise, the station''s surface was divided into sixteen work areas, each capable of performing a specific crafting task.


    For a master alchemist familiar with the crafting process, they would be fully competent with all this equipment and able to conduct a well-planned experiment seamlessly. But for someone new to this Alchemy Station, it might take several days just to get used to this magical equipment.


    However, this was not an obstacle for Leon, who relied on the Chip''s help.


    "Chip, start scanning this Alchemy Station. Analyze the procedures for a crafting experiment!"


    "Beep!"


    "Mission created¡­"


    "Commencing scan¡­"


    When a flashing blue light appeared in his eyes, all the equipment placed on the Alchemy Station, as well as hidden magical mechanisms and formations within the Alchemy Station, were scanned by the Chip and stored in Leon''s mind.


    Combining the previously analyzed data with the on-site scan task, the equipment placed on top of the Alchemy Station was quickly stored in the Chip''s database. Then, they were projected onto Leon''s retina.


    Now, whenever Leon looked around the Alchemy Station, whenever a strange or mysterious item came into his view, a clear annotation would appear next to it.


    In simpler terms, the Alchemy Station was an amalgamation of many of Earth''s forging and crafting machines, all merged into one convenient platform.


    A magnifying glass was mounted on a movable mechanical arm. It didn''t use the same concave-convex lens as he had on Earth but rather a glass engraved with a special magical formation. Leon had chosen the highest-standard Alchemy Laboratory, so this glass could give him a magnification power of 300-500x.


    If he had chosen a regular Alchemy Laboratory, perhaps the maximum power of the magnifying glass would only be 150x.


    This was so important because, when creating most magical items, microscopic engraving was necessary. Typically, in a specific region of the magical item, it would be essential to engrave some independent but highly interconnected magical formations. Some experienced alchemists could even engrave more than a hundred magical formations on a fist-sized ruby crystal.


    As a beginner, Leon was not capable of accomplishing this, but he only needed to carve seven magical formations into a thumb-sized demon core.


    The Summoning Rune was mandatory, as it was the most integral rune necessary to summon the Clay Golem. It was found in every magical summoning item.


    The Elementium Body Construction formation was also essential, as it would weave the magical forces of this world to construct an Elementium body for the Golem. His current design was to build a body of soft clay.


    The Mental Control System Imprint was the most important among all the formations because, during the crafting process, Leon had to leave an imprint of his own soul on the formation. This would make the Clay Golem obey his commands.


    To allow the Golem to freely control the constructed Elementium body, the necessary energy nodes and circuits would also have to be carved, as they directly affected the mobility and combat capability of the Golem. Obviously, he couldn''t afford any mistakes with them.


    Of course, Leon did not understand these highly complex runes, but, fortunately, he had the Chip, which helped him complete the design and optimization. Therefore, all he needed to do was follow the plan established by the Chip.


    But even with that, the difficulty of Leon''s work was still beyond imagination.


    Over the past six years, Leon had conducted only a handful of alchemy experiments and had only performed some common experiments, like purification and Elementium extraction. Honestly speaking, he was still a novice in the field of alchemy.


    But today, he had no resources for a trial, because he only had one demon core!


    If he failed, his dreams of an army of Golems would be shattered.


    ...


    Leon stood in front of the Alchemy Station for almost fifteen minutes without moving an inch. In his mind, using a simulation, the Chip was repeatedly showing him the procedure for creating the Golem core. It only stopped when he could vividly recall every detail.


    Leon, after standing still for over fifteen minutes, finally moved.


    From his waist pouch, he took out a bar of Magic Black Iron and tossed it into the crucible. In the next second, he sent his spiritual energy to the controlling magical formation of the Alchemy Station. A cracking sound was heard as an Elementium fire ignited beneath the crucible.


    If he worked without this magical alchemy station, he would need to create his own Elementium fire to heat and melt the Magic Black Iron. Throughout the entire process, he would have to maintain a stable output of Elementium fire for more than fifteen minutes; otherwise, it would not melt properly.


    And now, with the help of this Alchemy Station, he only needed to activate the hidden magical formation beneath it, and the equipment would automatically heat and melt the crafting material according to the temperature and time he set. And while waiting for the Magic Black Iron to fully melt, he could take the time for other preparations.


    This alone fully demonstrated the benefits of using a Magical Alchemy Station.


    After carefully placing the core taken from Sinbad''s head on top of the Alchemy Station, Leon adjusted the magnifying lens to an appropriate position and the correct power level. Only then did he start preparing the equipment for microscopic carving.


    The tool used for microscopic carving was a special magical item. Depending on the strength of the magical energy injected into it, this tool could produce a heat beam similar to a laser as fine as a mosquito''s leg. This heat beam was specifically modified and adjusted by the master Alchemist. Although it was small, it excelled at cutting.


    Not to mention those commonly used magical metals, even Grade Eight Gold, Refined Subterranean Iron, and Kryptonium Steel, which were all unique metals with hardness beyond the imagination of any ordinary man, were easily carved by this heat beam.


    What Leon needed to do now was use this equipment to carve the seven required magical formations into the thumb-sized core: one summoning formation, one mental control system imprint formation, one Elementium life-granting formation, four energy nodes, and some additional energy circuits...


    All of this was easier said than done. Leon calmed his mind, then leaned forward and placed his eyes above the magnifying lens, finally starting on the project he had been preparing for.


    Under the 300x magnification power, the thumb-sized crystalline core became a massive object, its surface entirely covered by coarse bumps. Following the Chip''s instructions, Leon controlled the magical formation, adjusting the core to the perfect position and angle. Only then did he activate the heat beam.


    A heat beam, only a tenth the width of an ox''s hair, hit the core, turning the spot red and soft, gradually creating a recess the size of a quarter of a human hair. After that, Leon moved the heat beam with his spiritual energy, slowly traversing the core''s surface. As this happened, a narrow, straight line appeared.


    Everything, from the beam''s position to the depth of each cut, was marked in different colors in Leon''s mind. All he needed to do was control the heat beam with his Spirit energy and draw according to the layout and speed given by the Chip, meticulously completing this highly focused task.


    One by one, magical runes, which looked like scribbles, were engraved in a cross-pattern and surrounded by magical formations. All four corners were left empty so he could carve the necessary energy nodes and create an energy circuit in the center to connect them all...


    After an hour and a half of concentrated effort, all seven magical formations were interwoven onto the core''s surface, forming a flawless magical formation as a whole.


    The first step had been completed.


    The next step was to connect these magical formations, which also required patience and precision.


    The microscopic carving only produced the outlines of these magical formations. Magical energy would never flow through these recesses by itself, so a medium was needed that could respond to magical energy and allow it to flow freely.


    This medium was the Magic Black Iron that had been melted into a liquid form.


    Of course, if it were a wealthy official Mage, the medium would be replaced with Mithril. But Leon did not have such resources or money, so he could only use Magic Black Iron, which was what he could afford.


    Although using it would cause significant energy loss as it conducted magical energy, for a simple Clay Golem that did not require advanced crafting skills, it was more than sufficient.


    Thus, Leon had to endure another hour of spiritually exhausting work. Though he was only using a tiny bit every second, after an hour of constant expenditure, blue veins began to appear on his forehead.


    With the help of the magical formation, Leon slowly poured the melted Magic Black Iron into the grooves carved by the heat beam. He had to be careful not to leave cracks or let anything spill outside the marks. For a Beginner Apprentice, this extremely difficult task was simply a powerful miracle that seemed impossible to achieve.


    But with the powerful Chip''s assistance, Leon truly turned this impossibility into reality.


    When the last thread of the Magic Black Iron liquid fused into the groove, Leon cut the magical formation, pushed the magnifying lens aside, and silently looked at the Golem core, which was now floating atop the Alchemy Station. At that exact moment, his mind was reeling with thundering waves, and he felt like he was being torn in two.


    His first Golem was complete!


    ....


    1901 Words

 Chapter 32 - 32: Missions

    Leon left the Alchemy Laboratory. Originally, he had planned to sneak away and test the combat strength of the Clay Golem in the swamp, but he was distracted by a large crowd of people running through the tower''s corridors.


    "Hurried footsteps~~"


    "Voices of many people~~"


    Not once in Leon''s memory had the Tower been so lively.


    Usually, everyone was busy with their own affairs. Those who received tasks would go about their business; those without tasks would meditate, copy books, or work on some magical experiment¡­ Every day in this Tower, except during mealtime, very few sounds could be heard. Even when two Apprentices met in a hallway, they would just nod at each other and move on.


    But today was an exception, as almost all Apprentice Mages were running down the hallway in the same direction.


    Leon was surprised and confused. He called out to his ''friend'' Benson, whom he barely knew, who was also a Novice Apprentice.


    "What''s happening? Where are you going?"


    Right after Leon asked this, Benson responded with a surprised voice, saying, "You don''t know? Haven''t you checked your magic talisman? Master Eclivel is summoning all official Apprentices for a meeting in the auditorium. Don''t be late!"


    Benson ran down the hallway after saying this.


    Master Eclivel calling a meeting?


    Leon was shocked by this rare event.


    According to the proposal of the Zhentarim Association of the Mage Continent, as the Mage stationed in this Swamp Tower, Master Eclivel was required to give a free magic class every three months to the Apprentices in the tower.


    And normally, if an Apprentice had a question about magic, they would need to pay knowledge points or magic crystals in exchange for the right to ask Master Eclivel privately.


    But unfortunately, in this Swamp Tower, which was almost isolated from the outside world, Master Eclivel was the supreme authority. Thus, he simply ignored all the rules and regulations set by the Zhentarim Association.


    Over the last six years that Leon had lived in this Tower, Master Eclivel had given only a handful of open lectures¡­ In fact, it couldn''t have happened more than four times. The rest of the time, he hid in the upper floors of the Tower, rarely interacting with any Apprentice.


    So, upon receiving this news, Leon was simply amazed.


    Quickly pulling out a magic talisman from around his neck, Leon noticed that it was blinking with a red glow and felt slightly warm to the touch.


    It seems that while performing the alchemy experiment just now, to avoid any interruptions, he had temporarily turned off the communication ability of the talisman. When he turned it on now, a deep and hoarse voice immediately came out of it.


    "All Apprentice Mages who hear this message must proceed to the auditorium immediately! If you do not reach it within fifteen minutes, I will revoke your Apprentice status!"


    Leon shuddered violently. He quickly put away the magic talisman and joined the running crowd.


    The seats in this lecture hall were similar to the theaters of Earth from his previous life, but the raised round stage at the front of the seats was replaced by a high platform. With this arrangement, no matter where an Apprentice sat, they had to tilt their head slightly upward to look at the Mage teaching.


    Apparently, the person who designed this lecture hall refused to allow any Apprentice to sit higher than the Mage, even if it was only a physical position in a space.


    The spacious classroom held more than two hundred people, but the Tower had only about fifty Apprentices, so everyone sat scattered. Three well-defined groups were seen, with the three strongest apprentices at the center of each group. Additionally, a fourth group gathered around the new Lead Apprentice, Brandon. The rest of the Apprentices sat alone, showing their status as ''Lone Wolves.''


    In the past, Leon had been one of those ''Lone Wolves.''


    As he observed the situation in the classroom, Leon saw a figure that stood out from the rest of the crowd.


    A striking red dress. A cold and arrogant face, yet beautiful and alluring¡­ The owner of this face was waving for him to join her.


    Naturally, Bleia, sitting alone, was the focus of almost everyone in the hall, and, without a doubt, her action had made Leon the sworn enemy of most of the male Apprentices in the hall.


    Countless stares were landing on Leon, causing his expression to change.


    That Bleia really knew how to stir things up!


    But at this moment, he had no room to hesitate. He walked over to Bleia and sat next to her in silence.


    "Remember, you''re my subordinate. Arrive earlier next time!"


    Bleia leaned toward Leon, placed her charming face next to his ear, and whispered her threatening speech. Leon felt a terrifying killing intent accompanied by her voice. It seemed that Bleia was genuinely satisfied with this outcome. With an expression resembling that of a cat that had just eaten a canary, she straightened up in her chair.


    Leon sighed and thought. "I will still violate you, you bitch... Just wait... Just... wait..."


    Bleia''s green eyes scanned the entire hall, enchanting all the male Apprentices who met her gaze, only to make them shudder, quickly lower their heads, and avoid her eyes.


    At that very moment, Leon felt another ''strong'' gaze land on him, making his hair stand on end.


    Shocked, he lifted his head and realized who it was!


    The man who was staring at him was one of the three strongest, the Worm Controller, whose real name was Blake.


    Two bizarre green lights could be seen under his hood, looking coldly at Leon. Although no words came from him, an invisible pressure began to fill the air around Leon.


    Facing a guy with a Spirit stat of 19, Leon was obviously at a complete disadvantage. If they fought, Leon couldn''t guarantee he would be able to complete a magical incantation under such powerful spiritual pressure.


    But when he remembered the fierce battle that happened yesterday, and the look of panic in Blake''s eyes as he ran for his life from the terrifying Lucy, the fear in Leon''s mind immediately diminished.


    ''You covered your head and ran like a rat to its hole, but I saw you flee before me. Maybe you haven''t even fully healed from your wounds! Covering yourself so tightly with that hood, I guess you''re just trying to hide all the scars on your body, right?''


    Internally, Leon was giving himself a pep talk. Whenever he thought of Blake''s disfigured face hidden behind the hood, a sense of pride immediately surged in his mind, boosting his confidence and allowing him to return the Worm Controller''s stare.


    The Worm Controller''s gaze grew colder.


    Though no words were exchanged between them, both could clearly sense the slightest changes in the opponent''s emotions. Blake could even see the mocking smile hidden behind Leon''s stern and feigned expression.


    In an instant, two flickering green flames flared up under the shadow of Blake''s hood, and condensed spiritual energy began to surge violently around him, almost spilling into the surrounding area.


    But in the next second, Leon, who had been locking eyes with him, disappeared, replaced by a charming face. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bleia stepped in front of Leon and relentlessly stared at Blake. Her lips moved, but no words could be heard. Although there were a dozen meters between them, Blake could still read her lips.


    "He is my man! If you dare touch him, I will kill you one by one!"


    It was a short speech but depicted her fierce and authoritative nature clearly.


    The Worm Controller''s eyes grew even colder.


    Judging by all aspects, this Bleia, who had just reached the level of Advanced Apprentice, was no match for him. Most of her abilities were countered by his. But¡­ Apparently, Blake wasn''t in his best shape at the moment. To be frankly honest, his combat strength was pathetic right now.


    He would need a few more days to replenish his dead scorpions. If he were forced to fight Bleia now, even if he could win, his vitality would be greatly reduced.


    However, the Worm Controller was a patient man who knew when to retreat. He shifted his eyes away, avoiding Bleia''s challenging gaze, suppressed all thoughts of anger, and stayed silent.


    "You''re a real troublemaker! How dare you offend the Worm Controller!" Satisfied that she had forced her opponent to retreat, Bleia turned to Leon and teased him in a tone of mock threat.


    Leon smiled wryly to himself.


    I was forced into this situation, okay?


    But faced with the domineering Bleia, he had no resentment or complaints. Because, between the two, he could feel an indescribable trust and¡­ Dependence.


    Dependence?


    Leon shook his head, once again feeling that his thoughts were absurd. Bleia depended on him? Probably because he had exhausted his Spirit during his alchemy experiment. That must be why he had such a ridiculous thought¡ªor was it?


    Obviously, the delicate interaction between the Worm Controller and Bleia attracted the attention of the other two Advanced Apprentices, as they continued glancing between Bleia and Leon.


    Like a mother cat trying to defend her territory, Bleia kept showing her fierce and dominant expression to these guys, giving them a look that said she would never yield to any threat.


    As the atmosphere in the hall grew tense due to the interaction between the Worm Controller and Bleia, a shadow was suddenly seen swaying at the top of the high platform. Soon, the thin form of Mage Eclivel emerged from the shadows.


    Holding his Magic Staff in hand, Mage Eclivel looked around the hall with his indifferent eyes. After a brief moment of silence, he finally spoke.


    "Today, I have both good and bad news for you!"


    Everyone in the hall immediately held their breath and focused on Eclivel.


    "The good news is that you will all receive a batch of resources, which will be the most generous gift you have ever received in your entire lives." Casting a wicked glance around the hall, he noted that these Apprentices remained focused on him, even though he had said something shocking.


    Eclivel nodded in satisfaction, then continued, "And the bad news is¡­ Each of you will have to take on a mandatory mission!"


    "Zap!"


    Mage Eclivel struck the floor with his staff, and a semi-transparent image was immediately projected at the top of the platform. Numerous green characters were seen flickering on the surface of this projection.


    ...


    "Investigate an abnormal creature in Red Forest Village."


    "Acquire a Bellflower from the Tower."


    "Defend Fort Fir."


    "Guard Twilight Vale."


    "Eliminate an enemy in the Whispering Hunting Grounds."


    "Hunt and find a low-level Succubus."


    "Investigate supernatural occurrences in Black Crow Forest."


    ...


    Line by line, most of them were Apprentice-level missions within the territory controlled by Zhentarim.


    Originally, as Apprentices of the Swamp Tower, they were only required to complete the inspection mission of this resource site, which meant they were living a relatively isolated life. But now, Mage Eclivel had opened up all the Apprentice-level missions from the entire Zhentarim territory to them¡­ Could this mean that significant changes awaited them?


    Some of the older Apprentices couldn''t help it, and their eyes clouded over as they got lost in thought.


    ...


    1889 Words

 Chapter 33 - 33: About the missions

    After spending so many years facing life-and-death situations around the tower and dealing with others, most of these Apprentice Mages had long understood one thing: pies don''t fall from the sky, and nothing is ever truly free. If something claimed to be free, it was definitely a trap!


    As they looked at the green-colored missions in front of them, they sensed something suspicious.


    As expected, with a wave of Mage Eclivel''s hand, most of the words colored in green instantly vanished, being replaced by orange text, representing dangerous missions, and red text, representing extremely dangerous missions.


    "These green missions that you saw earlier are Apprentice missions you may take on in the future. But before that, each of you will have to complete a mandatory mission! You have three months to complete any one of these mandatory missions, and if you fail... Hehehe... You will be punished with the loss of your Apprentice status!"


    At this moment, the expressions of all the Apprentices changed.


    For the Apprentices who trusted in their own abilities, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity to earn Knowledge Points and resources. But for those weaker Apprentices, perhaps all that awaited them was death.


    Everyone quickly scanned through the list of mandatory missions. At the end of the list was the only green-colored mission.


    Swamp Tower Garrison: This mission required ten apprentices, one librarian, one lab administrator, one tutor for apprentices, and two tower inspectors...


    A glimmer of hope rekindled on the faces of the few new novice apprentices, who were the weakest of the entire group, and they quickly turned to their leader apprentice, Brandon, who coincidentally had a joyful expression on his face. Meanwhile, the four ''good friends'' surrounding Brandon had triumphant looks, holding their heads high.


    Leon''s gaze briefly paused on that green-colored mission before moving on to thoroughly examine the list of mandatory missions.


    With his skills and qualifications, he knew it was impossible for him to become one of those ten lucky ones. Perhaps, after today''s meeting ended, many Apprentices would immediately begin covert negotiations among themselves, and some might even meet with Leader Apprentice Brandon privately, submitting to him in exchange for access to the safe mission.


    After all, out of the 57 official Apprentices present, there were 4 Advanced Apprentices, 21 Intermediate Apprentices, and 32 Novice Apprentices, including Leon.


    Looking at the list of mandatory missions, an orange mission could be dangerous even for an Advanced Apprentice. How difficult must the blood-red mission be? Perhaps only a Pseudo-Mage could complete it safely!


    No wonder that, after all the Apprentices saw the list, the room immediately filled with somber expressions.


    "Hmph! I''ll go to that Brandon and force him to give you a spot in that safe mission. If he refuses, I''ll¡­" For some unknown reasons, Bleia became quite angry. Although she was baring her tiny canine teeth and had a fierce look on her face, her actions were cute to Leon, making him feel warm inside.


    Leon grabbed her arm.


    "No! You have to trust me. I can handle these orange missions!" At that exact moment, a firm and calm look could be seen in Leon''s eyes.


    "Well, since you''re so confident, then you should focus and choose a good mission!" Bleia was very good at changing the pace and continued, saying, "Oh, right, what do you think of my skin? Is it delicate and smooth? I can feel that my skin condition is getting better and better!"


    Seeing how Bleia gently licked her lips and showed an arrogant expression, Leon shuddered. He knew that Bleia was testing him, so he quickly released her arm and did his best to focus on the list in front of him.


    After all, being a man full of hormones, he could end up getting an erection.


    ...


    Clearing the Great Cemetery (3/10) Orange Mission


    Mission Details: Elite-Level Undead Creatures have been found in the Great Cemetery, located to the south of the Tiga region. Ten Apprentice Mages are needed. During the mission, Viscount Gary will send a squad of two hundred elite guards to assist with the clearing.


    Mission Rewards: 30 Knowledge Points, 3 Magic Crystals, 10 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    ...


    Abnormal Creature in the Lands of the Giant Willow (2/3) Orange Mission


    Mission Details: Traces of an abnormal creature have been found in the Land of the Giant Willow, located near the southern border of Talion Forest. Eleven local residents are missing. Three Apprentice Mages are urgently needed for an expedition deep into the mountain to find the source of this abnormal creature.


    Upon completion of the mission, the local base of the Zhentarim Association will issue a certificate of mission completion.


    Mission Rewards: 20 Knowledge Points, 1 Magic Crystal, 5 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    (If the Apprentices completing this mission can resolve the source of the disaster, based on the evidence provided, the reward will be considerably increased.)


    ...


    Cliff Griffin Taming Mission (0/3) Red Mission


    Mission Details: The Cliff Griffin, located in Rahia. The expertise of three Apprentice Mages is urgently needed to assist Beast Master Hank in the capture of Griffins. The mission will be concluded upon the successful taming of ten Griffins.


    The mission completion certificate will be issued by Beast Master Hank of Rahia.


    Mission Rewards: 50 Knowledge Points, 10 Magic Crystals, 30 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    (Upon mission completion, the Hamilton Company will provide a private reward.)


    ...


    Subterranean Cave Investigation Mission (4/10) Red Mission


    Mission Details: Traces of subterranean creatures have been found in the Subterranean Cave of Nigond. An investigation team of ten Apprentice Mages is urgently needed. The team will be required to venture at least sixteen kilometers underground, investigating the activity of living creatures in that area.


    The mission status will be determined by the Zhentarim Association base in Nigond.


    Mission Rewards: 70 Knowledge Points, 12 Magic Crystals, 50 Merit Points from the Zhentarim Association.


    (The Subterranean Cave is well known for being rich in Black Herbs, Poisonous Mushrooms, and Night Eye Stones. If any of these materials are collected during the mission, you may keep them.)


    ...


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    Line by line, a list of missions occurring in almost all dangerous regions controlled by the Zhentarim Association was presented to them.


    In the center of the Mage Continent, in order to protect the ecosystem that nurtured the demonic resources of their home Plane, all Mage associations and alliances strictly prohibited high-ranking Mages from engaging in any development that would devastate the continent. Thus, humans only occupied about 35% of the land, with the rest being boundless wildlands, devoid of human activity.


    Countless demons and strange creatures roamed freely in these places.


    When confronted with some of the more commonly seen wild beasts or demons, the local inhabitants were capable of defending themselves or driving these creatures away by force. But when they encountered those terrifying demons, possessing frightening abilities... small villages being massacred overnight was not uncommon in this world...


    Thus, whenever something like this occurred, to eliminate these terrifying demons that encroached on the human world, these local authorities would need the help of powerful and supernatural Mages.


    Naturally, these Mages would never travel such distances for these petty matters. Therefore, most of these supernatural forces were dealt with by Apprentice Mages. Through all sorts of missions, they obtained the resources they needed, training themselves while helping to maintain the safety of human society along the way.


    And that was how the Mages maintained this world.


    Leon carefully examined every message he found on the list of mandatory missions. At the same time, the chip, which Leon had ordered to deactivate its scanning capabilities, was sorting and summarizing each mission, quickly copying all the data into its memory.


    Among all these mandatory missions, Leon was only able to take on Orange missions. He would never dare touch the red missions.


    A legend at the top of the list stated that Orange missions were only suitable for Advanced Apprentices. Apprentices below that level would have to be prepared to face a certain degree of danger. As for red missions, they were prepared for Pseudo-Mages. Perhaps even an Advanced Apprentice would have slim chances of surviving those missions.


    But, obviously, this was a bizarre and fantastical world of Mages. There was enormous uncertainty in any of these missions¡­ Even those simple ones labeled as ''safe.''


    Take, for instance, investigation-type missions, the most common type on this list. Venturing deep into a dangerous area was extremely risky, yet these investigation missions in ''safe'' regions were also not places where one could relax. The demons that typically appeared around mortal villages were low-risk creatures, such as Swamp Slimes, Gnomes, or Stirges.


    A Novice Apprentice could handle them with ease.


    But if luck was against them, they might have to face Wyverns, Stone Monsters, or Forest Spirits. All of these were extremely frightening creatures. Even an Advanced Apprentice would be in a life-threatening situation if they actually encountered these demons.


    Thus, choosing a mission was like gambling, as no one knew when bad luck would strike. Every year, 13% of Apprentice Mages died while trying to complete missions.


    After a quick selection process, the Chip chose an Orange mission that was a perfect match for Leon. It examined each mission and removed those with the most uncertain elements.


    ---


    **Training Apprentice Alchemist Mission from Klage (1/3) Orange Mission**


    **Mission Details**: An Apprentice Alchemist from Klage is completing his training mission. He urgently needs three Apprentice Mages to accompany him to the Treasure Pit.


    The mission will be considered complete once the Apprentice Alchemist''s training mission is finished. The mission completion certificate will be issued by the Apprentice Alchemist.


    **Mission Rewards**: 20 Knowledge Points, 3 Magic Crystals, 1 Tranquility Potion, 1 Invisibility Potion.


    ---


    The difficulty of this mission was not high. The Treasure Pit was a training field that all Apprentice Alchemists had to visit. It was a place filled with countless ''trinkets'' that had been casually placed by master Alchemists over thousands of years, waiting for newcomers to unearth them.


    Although they were just small trinkets, no matter what, they were created by master alchemists. Each one held great research value. Some might even find the legacy of a master alchemist in a random object.


    Therefore, this Treasure Pit was the traditional treasure-hunting site for all Apprentice Alchemists.


    But every Apprentice Alchemist could only enter that place once. They could bring one item from the location but also had to leave an item behind. This was the true purpose of the Treasure Pit.


    There were all sorts of items created there, and most were quite dangerous. For example, if an Apprentice Alchemist wanted to bring out a created Golem, the only way to obtain it was by defeating it. Since most Apprentice Alchemists were quite weak at the elemental stage, the Alchemist Association allowed these Apprentices to hire three helpers.


    However, these three helpers were not allowed to take anything from that place.


    It seemed like a relatively easy Orange mission, as long as that Apprentice Alchemist wasn''t excessively greedy and didn''t try to challenge one of those truly dangerous items, this mission could be completed without much trouble.


    Additionally, the mission reward of 1 Tranquility Potion also attracted Leon. It could increase the Spirit of an Apprentice who had less than 10 Spirit by 1. It was considered a supreme treasure among all Beginner Apprentices! (This item could only be used once. Afterward, it would have no further effect!)


    After making his decision, Leon whispered it to Bleia, and she also felt it was the right choice after assessing the risks. As for Bleia herself, she simply chose the Red mission to investigate the Underground Cave.


    Relying on her Vampire traits of flying, fighting, and regenerating, she was confident that she could stay alive, even when confronted with some fairly dangerous demons. Thus, she purposely chose the mission where she had the highest chance of encountering many different species of demons.


    It was not hard to tell that Bleia was in a stage of exponential growth, and what she needed most was the blood of powerful creatures!


    ...


    2022 Words

 Chapter 34 - 34: Trap

    Now that he had decided on the mission he was undertaking, he needed to register quickly. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, each mission noted how many apprentices had currently applied and how many total spots were available for that mission. These numbers were listed in parentheses. Once a mission filled all its spots, it would disappear from the list. If he arrived too late, his preferred mission might slip away right before his eyes.


    After making the announcement, Mage Eclivel disappeared without saying another word. Naturally, all the clerical work was left to the Apprentice Leader, Brandon.


    As expected, Brandon immediately took the garrison mission for the Swamp Tower, which was also the only Green mission on the list. His ''Followers'' also joined that mission. Although the mission still had room for a few more apprentices, Brandon had already claimed the dominant position, wearing a look that said whoever paid the highest price could get a spot in the mission.


    Feeling indignant but not daring to speak, some weak Novice Apprentices gathered around Brandon, lowered their voices, and tried to bargain with him. Some beauties even gave him appreciative glances, clinging tightly to Brandon''s arms. However, most of the Novice Apprentices actually gathered around the three strongest apprentices, talking amongst themselves as if they were discussing something.


    Obviously, they couldn''t decide what to do.


    Bleia grabbed Leon and approached the crowd surrounding Brandon. Raising their eyebrows, those softly speaking companions immediately moved aside, revealing Brandon, who sat comfortably in the middle.


    Although Brandon maintained a distant look in front of these apprentices, when confronted by the three strongest and Bleia, he didn''t dare to act tough.


    The three strongest were Advanced Apprentices, recognized by all apprentices. If a confrontation arose, Brandon, who was barely an Intermediate Apprentice even with the help of magical items, would never stand a chance against them.


    As for Bleia, Brandon was truly afraid of her.


    Even after becoming the Apprentice Leader, whenever he recalled his previous encounter with Bleia, with her fierce, terrifying face and blood-splattered body, Brandon couldn''t stop the shiver that ran down his spine.


    Moreover, after being taken by Mage Eclivel, Bleia was released safely. It was clear that she was being groomed by Mage Eclivel at the Tower. Without sufficient excuses and reasons, Brandon would never want to cross Bleia.


    Looking at Bleia, who now approached him, Brandon tried his best to maintain a calm appearance, but his pale face and wandering eyes betrayed what he truly felt. Faced with this terrifying vampire, he felt an intense fear in his heart!


    "I''m applying for the Underground Cave investigation mission. Register me now!" Bleia never took him seriously and acted with a domineering attitude.


    Without a word, Brandon took the Apprentice Leader''s magic talisman, infused it with his Spiritual Energy, and a small screen immediately lit up above it. The content displayed on the screen was the Underground Cave investigation mission that Bleia chose.


    Bleia took her magic talisman and pointed it at the screen. Immediately, the number of apprentices registered for the mission changed from (4/10) to (5/10). It seemed that four apprentices had registered for this mission before her.


    Now it was Leon''s turn to register.


    "I would like to accept the Klage''s Alchemist Apprentice Mission!" Leon spoke in a calm voice.


    Brandon glanced briefly at him, then silently adjusted the screen''s content. With the screen''s shift, the mission chosen by Leon appeared.


    Leon said nothing. Without hesitation, he took his magic talisman and pointed it at the screen. But something unexpected happened. Just as his magic talisman was about to touch the screen, the mission on the display suddenly flickered in an odd way and reverted to the previous mission Bleia had chosen.


    Caught off guard, Leon''s magic talisman touched the screen.


    The next second, the number of participants for the Underground Cave investigation mission changed from (5/10) to (6/10).


    This unprecedented occurrence surprised everyone present, and even Brandon seemed puzzled by it. With an ironic smile, he said, "Aiyaya¡­ What''s going on? It looks like the magic equipment malfunctioned! What should we do now¡­ Uh¡­ Would you like to see the Master Mage? Maybe he can cancel this mission for you?"


    While everyone was still in shock, Bleia erupted. "Brandon. I will kill you!"


    Without warning, Bleia''s sharp nails began to shine as they slashed through the air toward Brandon''s heart with a discordant noise.


    "Buzz~~"


    It was a short distance, and given the huge gap in their Agility, Brandon might not have even realized he was being attacked until Bleia was crushing his heart in her hand.


    But when Bleia''s deadly claws were halfway to Brandon''s body, a huge, dark hand that gleamed like chain mail suddenly stretched out from the side, both hands colliding instantly.


    "POW~~"


    It seemed like the two hands had collided only once, but for some unknown reason, in an instant, the massive hand, resembling a monster''s claw, shattered. In fact, it was sliced into pieces by Bleia''s sharp nails.


    Although it seemed like Bleia was at an advantage in that exchange, there were no pieces of flesh or blood from the shredded hand; the small fragments turned into countless black scorpions, quickly clinging to Bleia''s arm.


    Bleia stepped back and swiftly moved her arms, quickly killing all the scorpions that were trying to attack her. At this moment, Worm Controller, whose body was completely covered by a cloak, was seen next to Brandon.


    The huge hand belonged to him.


    Buzzing as they flew, the swarm of scorpions soon returned to Blake''s sleeve like bees to their hive. In the next few seconds, peace returned to the area. A bizarre scene unfolded before them, showcasing Worm Controller''s terrifying abilities.


    Leon''s pale face gave one last glance at the screen, turned around, grabbed Bleia, who acted like an overprotective mother cat, and left quietly. Strangely, the aggressive Bleia did not act recklessly this time. That was because, with her keen senses, she noticed that the other two Advanced Mages had silently risen and were stealthily approaching the scene.


    No fool could become a Mage Apprentice, and those Advanced Apprentices were as cunning as foxes. Except for a few oddballs, most Advanced Apprentices knew how to restrain themselves to ensure their survival.


    Bleia, a girl who suddenly rose to Advanced Apprentice, clearly posed a serious threat to the position of the top three. Thus, intentionally or not, the three grouped together in an attempt to elbow Bleia out.


    ...


    Before parting at Leon''s door, Bleia seemed like she intended to say some words of comfort but stopped when she saw his sad smile.


    Back in his room, Leon closed the wooden door softly and remained silent in the dark for a long time.


    He was clear about what happened today, and it wasn''t entirely Bleia''s fault. If he really thought about it, Leon was sure it must have been Worm Controller who ordered his mission to be switched to Bleia''s. Whether it was because of the intruder incident yesterday or the top three trying to intimidate Bleia, in short, Brandon''s little trick was likely authorized by Worm Controller.


    Conflict between the powerful brought disaster to the powerless!


    A situation like this was, indeed, the sad reality of the powerless.


    Leon had no intention of seeking the truth about today''s misfortune, as he decided to work hard for his future.


    The red Underground Cave Investigation mission was a dangerous one. If he were a Pseudo-Mage, it would be a challenging mission. If he had the skills of an Advanced Apprentice, it could be fatal. But he was only a Novice Apprentice!


    Mixing with a group of Advanced Apprentices while being so weak... Although Bleia would definitely look out for him, he would still need some usable skills. Yes, perhaps Bleia appreciated his kindness during her hard times, but that wasn''t enough for her to risk her life to save him.


    Considering everything he was about to face, what Leon really needed was a skill to protect himself.


    In the dark, Leon took out the newly created Clay Golem from his waist pouch. The thumb-sized core glowed faintly with the light of Earth Elementium. The four energy nodes carved into it could continuously absorb Earth Elementium from the world around it, converting it into usable energy and storing it for future use.


    Out of the four energy nodes, two were lit, indicating it was 2/4 charged with Earth Elementium, which should be enough to conduct some tests.


    Leon tilted his head to listen for any movement outside his room. Then he gently opened the door and snuck out.


    At that moment, most of the Apprentices were still gathered in the lecture hall, dealing with the frustration of the mandatory mission. Therefore, Leon did not encounter any Apprentices as he stepped out.


    ...


    Fifteen minutes later, Leon was once again walking along the familiar rocky path outside the tower.


    The fierce battle among the Advanced Apprentices yesterday had clearly killed many of the demons in this swampy land. Along the way, when he saw the scattered demons, an unusual sense of pity actually arose in Leon''s mind.


    Although these demons usually looked truly terrifying and evil, once confronted by Mage Apprentices stronger than them, they immediately became trembling cattle, unable to resist the oppressive forces of the Mages.


    Perhaps, in the eyes of these demons, these Mage Apprentices were the real monsters, even crueler than them!


    Quickly traveling along the rocky paths, Leon soon arrived at the testing ground he had chosen ¨C the Muddy Swamp.


    Sinbad was dead, having been transformed into the Clay Golem in his hand. Now, the Phantom Nannies had no leader, meaning it was the perfect time for him to train here.


    Standing firmly at the edge of the Muddy Swamp, five steps from the filthy, stinking lake, he could faintly sense the weak soul waves of three Phantom Nannies hidden beneath the muddy water.


    Leon casually threw the Clay Golem''s summoning core to the edge of the lake. When the light yellow core touched the mud, a faint vibration reverberated from it.


    "Tremor~~"


    Guided by Leon''s Spiritual Energy, no activation spell was necessary, and a large amount of earthy yellow smoke began to form around the core. Driven by strange forces, the clay on the ground started to twist, quickly shaping into a form that was roughly human.


    Leon closed his eyes and sensed the Clay Golem, quickly locating the core he had created in the chest of the clay being.


    He opened his eyes and gave it an examining look.


    He was placing his trust in this Clay Golem to change his destiny!


    ...


    1776 Words

 Chapter 35 - 35: Golem Abilities

    The Golem in front of him weighed about 90 kilograms and was 1.7 meters tall.


    The yellow surface of its body was constructed from loose, damp clay. It had four distinct limbs and a head, but all were very poorly made. Additionally, it did not have as many joints as a real human.


    Its legs were two thick columns of clay that seemed to merge with the ground beneath its feet. Its arms appeared capable of moving in any direction, and on those arms were a pair of giant hands, which were likely capable of gripping things with force. It had no face, but there were some protrusions where a face would normally be.


    From a distance, this Clay Golem looked like a bald man wearing yellow leather armor. If a cloak were draped over its body, it could be used to deceive an enemy.


    Leon commanded the Clay Golem to approach and stand in front of him.


    This Clay Golem was indeed a creature made of earth, as it could move its heavy body over soft ground without making a single sound. Its movement was faster and lighter than that of a leopard, and no trace of its passage could be found on the ground. However, it left strong traces of Earth Elementium in its wake!


    When Sinbad''s core was obtained, his soul was captured within it. As a direct result of being made from a high-quality demon core, this Clay Golem possessed intermediate intelligence, which was not as rigid as other Titans and Golems. Through the mental control runes he had carved into the core, Leon only needed to give a command, and it would do its best to fulfill the order without issue.


    Looking at the Clay Golem standing in front of him, Leon stretched his arm out and touched it. Its skin was rough and solid. Although it was built from soft clay, it still had decent defense.


    He picked up a dagger and stabbed the Clay Golem''s waist a few times.


    "Zap!"


    "Zap!"


    "Zap!"


    The dagger simply penetrated the skin and left a few marks, which soon disappeared as a faint yellow glow appeared around the mark while the Golem regenerated.


    Well, it had basic defense, was mostly immune to piercing damage, and could heal itself. In summary, the basic defense of a Clay Golem was equal to that of a human fighter wearing a full set of leather armor. Of course, it couldn''t compare to a Stone or Iron Golem, and the only noteworthy feature was its self-healing ability.


    Leon walked in a circle around the Clay Golem. He thought the Golem''s 1.7-meter height didn''t make it look powerful enough.


    So, he tried to make the Clay Golem bigger.


    Following Leon''s command, the silent Clay Golem began to grow taller and larger. However, the once solid clay body became soft and light. When it finally reached a height of four meters, its entire body looked like a cluster of gray mist. The once solid clay body had turned into a gaseous Earth Elementium body.


    What was wrong?


    After communicating with the Chip, Leon finally understood. The demon core used to create this Clay Golem only had the ability of an Advanced Apprentice. Therefore, it could only control a total of ninety kilograms of Earth Elementium. Once this weight was exceeded, it lost any substantial form it previously had.


    The 1.7-meter height was the most optimized size after extensive calculations performed by the Chip. At this size, the density of the Earth Elementium was at an optimal level, giving it maximum defensive capability. If he tried to make it taller, the total volume of Earth Elementium remained unchanged, causing the defense strength of the Clay Golem to drop significantly.


    Thus, although it looked taller, its density decreased. As a result, it would be difficult to protect the core hidden within its body.


    Sighing helplessly, Leon had no choice but to let the Clay Golem revert to its previous form.


    Next, he needed to test the few basic abilities that came with this Clay Golem.


    Although weakened, the Earthquake ability that came with this Golem was still an offensive skill.


    "Tremorr~~"


    When activated, the ground around trembled as the Clay Golem moved. Leon tested it, and the vibrations had a greater impact on smaller creatures, as they could barely remain still around the Clay Golem, let alone launch attacks against it. It could also be used decently against medium-sized creatures. As for larger creatures, this ability was useless.


    The second offensive ability to test was Mud Clump.


    To test it, Leon made the Clay Golem lure three lurking Ghost Nannies from a nearby lake. As a result, the Clay Golem and the three Ghost Nannies engaged in a ''great fight'' on Leon''s behalf.


    Strictly speaking, compared to a Ghost Nanny, which barely had decent offensive or defensive abilities, the Clay Golem, which was the equivalent of a pseudo-summoned demon, could easily suppress them in every aspect.


    No matter how these three Ghost Nannies continued scratching or biting its solid skin, all scratch marks would disappear in the blink of an eye. But when the Clay Golem attacked with its heavy fists, the Ghost Nannies would be knocked down, suffering greatly.


    Following Leon''s orders, the Clay Golem grabbed a Ghost Nanny with one of its hands and squeezed until a cracking sound could be heard.


    "Crak~~"


    Then, it threw it far away.


    "Zosh~~"


    While the Ghost Nanny was still flying through the air, the Clay Golem grabbed at the air above its head, and immediately, a one-meter-long spear of hardened mud appeared in its hands.


    "Transformation~~"


    "Buzz~~"


    It threw the spear through the air, penetrating the weak body of the Ghost Nanny and pinning it to a Murderous Tree growing at the edge of the lake. As a demon itself, the Ghost Nanny had strong vitality. Although its body had been pierced by the spear, it still struggled tirelessly, trying to break free.


    "Bang~~"


    A second spear was thrown, hitting the Ghost Nanny''s head, leaving it hanging lifelessly on the Murderous Tree.


    At that moment, the remaining two Ghost Nannies clung to the Clay Golem''s body like two mad dogs on a meaty bone. With both arms, the Clay Golem forcefully pulled them away from its body and threw them to the ground. As they struggled to get up, the Clay Golem raised both arms in the air. The next second, countless earth spikes emerged from the ground, turning them into two chicken skewers.


    "Xink~~"


    In a brief moment, all three Ghost Nannies were annihilated, and the Clay Golem remained intact.


    Throughout the entire process, Leon remained an indifferent spectator, letting the Chip collect real-time battle data to devise a better-optimized strategy for using the Clay Golem in combat.


    Soon, detailed battle data of the Clay Golem was projected in Leon''s mind.


    Clay Golem


    A simple life form named Pseudo-Summoned Combat Golem


    Overall Combat Strength: Advanced Apprentice (Low Level)


    Attributes: Strength: 12 | Agility: 4 | Constitution: 14 | Spirit: 7


    Innate Abilities: (Active)


    Earthquake (Weak)


    Area of Effect: 5 Meters


    Vibration Magnitude: Excellent against small creatures, moderate against medium-sized creatures, and ineffective against large creatures


    Cooldown: None


    ...


    Mud Clump (Single Target)


    Damage: 12 Physical Damage (Based on Strength), 7 Earth Damage (Based on Spirit)


    Range: 5 ¨C 80 Meters


    Cooldown: 3 Seconds


    ..


    Spikes (AOE)


    Damage: 7 Physical Damage and 5 Earth Damage


    Range: 10¡Á8 Meters


    ...


    Innate Abilities: (Passive)


    Earth is in the Air (Recovers 7% health per minute)


    Through these detailed data, Leon was able to better understand this Clay Golem he had created.


    Judging by this data, the Clay Golem was only comparable to an Intermediate Apprentice. However, considering its self-healing and lack of fear of death, it could unleash a basic combat strength similar to an Advanced Apprentice.


    According to Leon''s understanding, the damage that could be inflicted by a spell cast by an Advanced Apprentice Mage was around 20-30 points, varying according to the caster''s Spirit. As for an Advanced Apprentice''s defensive spells, they had a defensive value of about 30-40 points, so two attacks from an opponent of a similar level would be enough to break a defensive spell.


    In this aspect, the offensive strength of a Clay Golem was rather weak. If confronted by an Advanced Apprentice, the Clay Golem would need offensive support from Leon. Only then would it have the chance to defeat the enemy. After all, Leon''s Fire Arrow spell could deal 13-18 points of Fire damage and 6-7 points of Physical damage.


    If he and the Clay Golem worked together, they could break through an Advanced Apprentice''s defenses in a single round of attacks.


    And once the enemy lost their magical defenses, unless they were a Body Refinement Mage, they would be like a meek sheep that Leon could easily kill, not even worth mentioning. So, as long as he didn''t have to face someone like the worm controller or that scary little Loli, the combination of Leon and the Clay Golem was enough to threaten even an Advanced Apprentice.


    But, unfortunately, the mission for the Underground Cave Investigation exceeded the abilities of an Advanced Apprentice. Most likely, he would be working with a group of Pseudo-Mages, so, even with a Clay Golem now, Leon was still too weak.


    According to the mission requirements, they had to depart in half a month to reach the mission location. So, Leon was left with fifteen days to prepare. Such a short period was clearly not enough for Leon to improve his magical abilities. Therefore, he had to continue exploring the potential offered by Golems to increase his strength while he still had the chance.


    Leon stood where he was, pondering what this meant for him. Finally, he looked far into another area of the swamp, which was obscured by a thick mist. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was looking at the habitat of the Giant Alligators, which he believed were also Earth demons.


    If he could kill the Giant Alligator King there, he would probably acquire another useful Earth Elementium core. As for a Water Elementium core, Leon simply couldn''t think of a demon in this swampy land that met the requirements.


    "Alright, I''ll spend the next few days fighting those giant alligators!"


    With a fierce look gleaming in his eyes, he spoke maliciously while gazing in the direction where those Giant Alligators lived.


    After that, he pointed at the Clay Golem, causing the human-sized Golem to collapse. Freed from the constraints of the Earth Elementium, a large amount of clay formed a pile where the Golem had stood.


    Leon grabbed the summoning core, rolled it in his palms, and examined it closely. Initially, there were two lit energy nodes, but now, one of them was slightly darkened. Based on this rate of consumption, with all four energy nodes lit, this Clay Golem could probably only fight in an intense battle for fifteen minutes. If it wasn''t a fierce fight, it might last longer.


    Since the energy stored in the Clay Golem wasn''t suitable for hunting that Giant Alligator King today, Leon put away the summoning core. Then, using Burning Hand, he ignited all three destroyed Ghost Nanny bodies. He pulled up his hood and disappeared into the dark mist.


    ...


    1878 Words

 Chapter 36 - 36: blood bag

    Once Leon was gone, all that remained was a pile of earth and three charred bodies. At the top of a slanted Killer Tree not far from the scene, a Scavenger Crow with blood-red eyes let out a soft caw and flapped its wings, taking flight in the misty air.


    "Caw~~"


    But at that very moment, a smooth, snow-white arm suddenly extended, firmly grabbing the Scavenger Crow before it could get too far. Without allowing this foolish creature to struggle, the small hand casually clenched, and then one of the demons titled the ''Swamp Butcher'' was crushed into a mess of flesh, sending tiny splashes of blood in all directions.


    "Splash~~"


    The curvaceous and alluring figure of Bleia appeared on the highest branch of the Killer Tree.


    She stood there gracefully, gazing in the direction Leon had left. A faint smile appeared on her face. Then, as suddenly as she had appeared, she vanished.


    Although Leon considered himself clever, he had underestimated how bizarre and unpredictable spells could be. There was no place in this Magical Swamp where one could conceal their movements. The Scavenger Crows, found everywhere, were, in fact, spies of Fatal Shot, secretly watching the actions of every Apprentice for him.


    In the dead of night, when Apprentice Mages hid in their rooms, conducting all kinds of strange magical experiments, they would never suspect that, in the nighttime sky outside the Tower, a pair of blood-red eyes was spying on them.


    As for this flying spy, only those with keen and sensitive Spiritual Senses could detect its presence.


    Had this spy not been killed, Leon''s trick would have been reported to Fatal Shot within half an hour. Therefore, although Fatal Shot had the weakest combat power among the Advanced Apprentices, his information-gathering abilities were, without a doubt, the highest.


    Thus, the only way any Apprentice could keep their secrets safe was to ensure that these ''spies,'' found everywhere, were removed from the equation.


    ...


    Leon had no idea what had just happened behind him. Although his Elementium vision had detected the Scavenger Crow, he hadn''t thought to associate it with Fatal Shot.


    After sneaking back into his room, Leon couldn''t help himself and started organizing his belongings.


    In addition to Sinbad''s core, he had gained a few items from the events involving the battle with Loli the other day. Since he was hurrying to transform the best resource he had into his personal strength, Leon focused all his attention on Sinbad''s core and hadn''t had time to properly examine the other items!


    The core of Sinbad was the most valuable among them and had been transformed into the summoning core for the Clay Golem. Of all the eight premium-quality Blood Sacs he found, Bleia devoured seven, leaving him with only one. Such a delicacy could only be sustained by a Master Mage like Eclivel without considering it a waste. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As everyone knew, aside from Body Refinement Mages and Bloodline Mages, most Mages had very weak bodies. Constantly dealing with Corrosive Elementium and spending long hours reading spellbooks and magical scrolls¡­ A lifestyle like that would only lead to a frail body. Thus, although most Mages weren''t so fragile as to be blown over by a gust of wind, almost all had weak constitutions.


    If one focused too much on utilizing and strengthening their Spirit but neglected their body, they would often have a very frail physique and would be forced to take extreme measures, using tonics to strengthen their bodies.


    The Blood Sac, harvested from the root of the Rattan, was an excellent supplement to nourish blood and qi. However, if someone could find an Alchemist to help them create a ''Bloody Banshee Potion,'' it could increase a Mage''s weak Physique by up to 2. Of course, this Potion only worked for those with 10 or fewer in Physique, and it only worked once.


    Obviously, Leon didn''t have the resources or skills to get an Alchemist to make a Bloody Banshee Potion for him! So, although he knew that consuming it directly would waste most of its essence, Leon drank the Blood Sac.


    When the soft, gelatinous Blood Sac burst in his mouth, a strong, bloody, and sweet taste exploded on his tongue. As the sticky essence of the blood began to flow down his throat and into his stomach, a warm sensation began to spread within Leon''s body.


    "Beep!"


    "Unknown energy detected in Host''s body, unable to predict what changes this energy may bring to Host''s vitality."


    "Would the Host like to cleanse it?"


    "If no response is received from the Host, the cleansing procedure will begin automatically in 5 seconds..."


    ¡­


    "5... 4... 3..."


    "Cancel the cleansing procedure!"


    "Host command received, cleansing procedure terminated¡­ Would the Host like to monitor internal body data in real-time?"


    "Yes!"


    "Host command received. Initiating real-time monitoring of internal body data..."


    A series of indistinct beeps followed, and then his body data was projected in his mind.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human


    Attributes: Strength: 4.03 | Agility: 4.07 | Physique: 3.05 (Changing) | Spirit: 8.20


    Alignment: Loyal-Neutral


    Class: Apprentice Mage


    HP: 11/12 (Changing)


    Experience: 650/1000


    Status: Healthy


    Skills: Scroll Copying | Spell Reading


    Personal Abilities: Burning Hand (Solidified) | Fire Arrow (Solidified)


    As he examined the information about his body, Leon discovered something unexpected. Beyond the Physique and Health Points, which were gradually increasing, it seemed that his experience had also gone up. If he remembered correctly, he had only around 530 experience points during his last self-inspection, but now it had risen to 650. This... was a significant jump of over 100 points!


    Where did these points come from?


    Ignoring the changes the Blood Sac was causing, Leon dedicated his full attention to reading the Chip''s records. He quickly found a message he had previously missed.


    "The Host has successfully created the first Clay Golem, earning 120 experience points."


    So they came from the creation of the Golem!


    It seemed he had found a suitable secondary class, as it could provide an additional way to gain experience. In the past, he had always feared that learning a magical spell would consume a significant amount of his experience points. But with these supplemental experience points, the pressure of learning magical spells would be slightly reduced.


    Strictly speaking, Leon was only 15 years old now, which meant he had plenty of time before reaching his peak, leaving him ample room for self-improvement. This could be easily seen from the slowly but steadily growing attributes he had recently acquired.


    But, unfortunately, living in such a dark and oppressive environment had altered his character, inclining him slightly toward darkness. Utilitarianism and materialism were all that occupied his mind. As for those seemingly beautiful emotions, like compassion and love, he had long since abandoned them for their uselessness.


    Before one could truly become powerful, they needed to be cautious and meticulous to guard against threats. But even with this mindset, he still couldn''t escape the power struggles of those Advanced Apprentices...


    He had a favorable impression of Bleia, and from what he observed, Bleia seemed to think positively of him. Although she appeared a bit arrogant, she always tried to protect Leon.


    But with Leon''s cautious and modest nature, he was obviously unwilling to place his safety in someone else''s hands. So, making full use of this period of security, he would dedicate all his efforts to growing as quickly as possible. This was his top priority. As for his future? Leon had no idea what the future held.


    He had no idea how he had arrived in this place or why he was here, if there even was a reason. So far, all he had done was drift with the tide, avoiding getting entangled in any intrigues. His current status and identity limited his vision, making it difficult for him to perceive the true nature of this world.


    Perhaps leaving this place wouldn''t be a bad thing¡­ At the very least, he could truly experience this strange world!


    And perhaps he could discover which path he should follow in this life.


    While his mind was preoccupied with imagining his future, the blood essence from the Blood Sac finally merged with his body, tinting his pale skin with a red aura and filling his body with a strength that couldn''t be exhausted.


    As he watched, the number representing his physique on the self-test report began to rise, eventually stopping at 4.37. Just as when the river rose, the boat floated higher, his digitized Health Points rose to 14.


    His Physique had changed from 3.05 to 4.37, an increase of 1.32 points. Although it wasn''t the result that a Bloody Banshee Potion could bring, it still exceeded his expectations. Perhaps this was related to his previously low physique.


    However, even though his Physique had increased to 4.37, it was still on par with other Apprentice Mages his age, and he still couldn''t withstand a single blow from those Body Refinement Apprentices.


    As for the 14 Health Points, this was merely a digital model constructed by the Chip based on the characteristics of life forms in this magical world. It wasn''t truly related to reality. It was more of a representation of Leon''s current vitality.


    Moreover, with Leon''s frail physique, if he had no protection against an offensive magical spell, any spell that directly struck him would kill him on the spot. Therefore, in the coming days, aside from relentlessly pursuing the potential of his Golem, he had to find a defensive spell.


    If he didn''t, when he faced wars in the future, let alone participate in them, even the shockwaves caused by battles among those powerful warriors would kill him.


    After he finished with the Blood Sac, Leon resumed his inspection of the rest of his loot from the previous day.


    A broken piece of magical equipment, degraded to the point that no one could tell what it originally was; a fist-sized piece of metal ore shining in a strange blue; a peculiar white stone the size of an egg.


    That magical equipment was obviously a low-quality item, made from the most common material, Thorium. It likely belonged to an Apprentice Mage who had been devoured by those Phantom Nannies, and it was almost useless. Leon tossed it aside.


    The egg-sized white stone was indeed a valuable find. After several tests, he finally identified what it was.


    A giant lizard''s egg!


    Giant Lizards were demons resembling a crocodile, like the one Sinbad had ridden. Their natural habitat included places like small lakes or swampy areas, and they had the innate ability to petrify things with their Petrifying Ray skill. If it weren''t for its short range, it would actually make a good contractual companion.


    He sensed the egg''s vitality, indicating that it was still alive. If he could trade it with other Apprentices, he should be able to get something useful in return.


    ...


    1819 Words

 Chapter 37 - 37: Little revenge

    As for the last item, which was a fist-sized ore, after a few seconds of analyzing it, Leon realized it was Magic Iron.


    With proper smelting, refining, and forging, weapons made from this ore would stand out from standard iron weapons, exhibiting improvements in sharpness or penetration capability. Among mortals, this was an incredible treasure, but among Apprentice Mages, who possessed supernatural powers, it was just a common item.


    After briefly examining all the items, Leon picked up a magic book and began reading. In truth, he wasn''t in the mood to immerse himself in the atmosphere of researching magical knowledge. But he needed to make use of every second he had. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When his Spiritual Energy was full, he practiced magic spells. Although he could solidify useful spells with the Chip''s help, he still needed to practice them. Additionally, he had the capacity to learn a skill. Whether it was ''Spellcasting Mastery,'' ''Walking and Reciting,'' or even ''Wondrous Item Crafting,'' all were excellent options for him.


    Only by purposefully strengthening a specific skill could he obtain abilities that would complement his current capabilities, allowing him to survive the next mission.


    ''Spellcasting Mastery'' was a skill that decreased the casting time of an Apprentice Mage. He only needed to recite up to 80% of a spell, then it would be cast automatically. Although it only reduced the casting time by 20%, it was a prerequisite skill for the ''Quick Spell'' ability.


    The value of the ''Quick Spell'' ability was immense for Elemental Mages. But it was beyond Leon''s current skills.


    ''Walking and Reciting'' was the Apprentice-level skill that Leon most wanted. It allowed an Apprentice Mage to cast a spell while moving. Without it, whether it was an offensive or defensive skill, he could only cast them while stationary.


    Thus, this skill was mandatory for all combat Mages.


    ''Wondrous Item Crafting'' was a skill necessary for Apprentice Mages who wanted to create potions, artifacts, or magical equipment. Only by mastering this skill could someone further develop their abilities in crafting magical items.


    As for the process of acquiring these skills, most magic books did not mention it in detail. However, they all mentioned the term ''Will of the Mage World.'' Leon had always been skeptical of this.


    Regardless of the kind of knowledge or technique one knew, as long as they could practice it diligently, the body would remember it and it would eventually become second nature. But, depending on feedback from the ''Will of the Mage World,'' one could gain some mysterious skill without doing anything. It was like a pie falling from the sky and landing perfectly in someone''s hands.


    Leon couldn''t understand how this could work.


    Could this boundless world truly have its own will? Was there some supreme divinity dwelling in this world, paying attention to each individual living within its body, and when an individual did something it approved of, would it reward them at the right time?


    If this Will did indeed exist, what did it look like? And where was it hidden? Furthermore, what kind of power did it have that allowed it to overcome everything and control this universe?


    However, regarding this extremely mysterious and obscure testament, Leon couldn''t guarantee that it didn''t exist. After all, the Mage World, where he currently lived, was a large-scale Plane surrounded by a vast magical ocean. With such an abundant amount of magical energy, it was not surprising to see all kinds of mystical events occur.


    So, before uncovering the forces behind this mystical world, he had to maintain a reverent and respectful attitude toward everything. And that was the right approach for an Apprentice Mage seeking knowledge and universal truths.


    Leon continued copying the knowledge from the book into his database until he was left with 1 Spirit point. Then he stopped ''reading.'' He couldn''t use up all his Spirit because the Fire Arrow spell was in the process of optimization and would use 1 Spirit point every day.


    He looked out the window and saw the dark sky. He quickly realized it was already past midnight.


    Leon closed the book, exhausted, stood up, and stretched his body, making cracking sounds as he stretched. Then he went to his bed.


    But he still wasn''t going to sleep because he hadn''t completed his daily meditation!


    Thus, within his quiet, silent room, his breathing slowly stabilized as his conscious soul plunged into the spiritual world, filled with glowing ''points.''


    This was one of the harsh realities an Apprentice Mage had to deal with.


    Every day, from the moment they opened their eyes, they had to face a full schedule. Even when they finally returned to their beds after being completely exhausted, what awaited them wasn''t sweet dreams, but tedious meditation. And only by meditating daily could they increase their Spirit little by little.


    ...


    However, as the candles within the Tower went out one by one, eventually leaving the tower in complete darkness, except for the faint moonlight that could penetrate the mist and clouds above the tower, a strange figure suddenly appeared on one of the Tower''s outer walls.


    On an almost perfectly perpendicular wall; countless hidden and mysterious magical formations lay in place, yet none of them were obstacles, for it was still crawling around the tower faster than any ordinary person. From its movement, you could tell it had a target in mind. It continually passed by many open windows, never stopping even once, moving from shadow to shadow at an incredible speed.


    It wasn''t a type of shadow creature that could leap freely between shadows, but its extremely high agility gave it fantastic mobility. For it, walking on the perpendicular wall of the tower was like walking on a flat road, and it could do it all without making a sound. It was like an assassin thriving in the shadows.


    Finally, it found its target.


    With a leap, the figure quickly jumped from the outside of the narrow window, hiding its body in the shadow where no light could reach. It seemed to be listening to something.


    No sound could be heard from the room, except for a steady and long breath. Obviously, the Apprentice inside was in deep meditation. An Apprentice Mage in a meditative state was defenseless. As long as a thief, or someone of a similar profession, could sneak into their room, they would be able to easily kill a future ambitious Mage.


    But, clearly, the figure hanging outside the window was experienced, as it didn''t impatiently jump through the window. It examined the window carefully.


    Calm! Silent! As still as death!


    Everything around seemed perfectly normal, but, for some unknown reason, a sense of apprehension grew within it.


    It didn''t sense anything, but it had a premonition, from the depths of its strange bloodline, as if there was something truly dangerous waiting inside the window.


    Though it truly hated this damned bloodline, which made it partly human and partly inhuman, as a Vampire who had undergone the awakening of its bloodline, it had absolute confidence in anything that came from it.


    That bastard dared to go against it earlier that day, and now he was in deep meditation, seemingly defenseless. This Apprentice Mage was truly careless!


    Within the dark shadows below the window, parts of a bizarre smile could be seen in a pair of glowing eyes. Bleia gracefully waved her arm, tossing a round, fist-sized object through the narrow window, then she immediately transformed into a black bat and merged into the dark night, flapping her wings and flying away.


    Just as the round object crossed the window, a hidden magical formation on the inner side of the window was triggered.


    A blue ''Stunning Thunder'' instantly swept across the area the round object passed through. As it was electrical energy, even if she doubled her speed, Bleia wouldn''t have been able to dodge this trap.


    Not only that, in the darkness of the room, a pair of bizarre, colorful magical spells suddenly shot from an empty spot, instantly striking the round object that had safely passed through the Stunning Thunder trap.


    After all, the round object was just a hard shell made of common clay. It stood no chance against so many magical spells and thus immediately shattered!


    The outer shell was broken, revealing the gelatinous goo trapped inside. It was actually a living creature, and a human face could be seen on its pale green body, which seemed to be made of mud, human excrement, and foul water.


    "Oh crap, it''s the Sludge!"


    "Damn, it''s the Sludge¡­"


    "Everyone, run¡­"


    "..."


    As they were intelligent Apprentice Mages, they all recognized this ''terrifying'' demon, which was truly infamous within this Magic Swamp. Those who had experienced its terrifying ability would be overwhelmed with sorrow. On normal days, if someone encountered it in the Magic Swamp, they would definitely stay far away from it. This included even the three strongest.


    Because it was the filthiest demon living in the swamp: the Sludge.


    The Sludge was a super disgusting demon with a soft and flexible body. It looked like a strange organic object with soft, slimy tissue, messy teeth, and a pair of eyes. Its pale green body looked like a pile of mud, but it was actually more like a goo.


    Its offensive strength was so weak that it could be easily ignored. But it had a ''terrifying'' ability that brought pain to those who faced it: ''Acid Vomit.''


    This strange creature contained a certain amount of Elementium within its body, but it had been contaminated by a chaotic force. If any object or creature became stained by its vomit, they would suffer a bit from the corrosive acid¡­ But there was also its incredible and terrifying stench.


    This filthy smell could not be removed by any magical spell. Those who made physical contact with this ''Acid Vomit'' would have to endure it for ten to fourteen days! During this time, anything the person touched would also pick up the stench.


    Imagine this: if an Apprentice Mage who had touched this ''Acid Vomit'' tried to eat, even if it was the most delicious delicacy in the world, it would smell like sewage that had been soaking in filthy water for a thousand years. The torture, the ridicule from people who avoided them like the plague¡­ it would simply drive an Apprentice Mage mad.


    And now, the Sludge, which had previously been trapped in a hardened clay shell, was broken open by the spells. Then, what followed was a very entertaining scene!


    When the pale green acidic liquid splashed across the room, sounds of vomiting immediately echoed.


    "Ble-¡­ Ugh¡­ Bleia¡­ I¡­ Urrgh¡­ Haven''t finished with you¡­ Blargh¡­"


    An extremely tragic and furious roar escaped from the mouth of Apprentice Leader Brandon. But before he could finish, his voice was drowned out by the loud sounds of vomiting.


    ...


    1814 Words

 Chapter 38 - 38: A stupid alligator

    The next day, Leon encountered two smelly Apprentice Mages.


    Clearly, they were two unlucky guys who had been attacked by the Sludge, which seemed to have hit them with both ''Acid Vomit'' and a ''Shrink'' curse, transforming them into their current forms. But before Leon could learn how it had happened, the two, upon noticing his presence, clenched their jaws and glared at him.


    Faced with their furious glares, although completely confused as to why they were doing this, he quickly handed his list of items he wanted to exchange to Danny, turned, and left.


    Danny was considered one of the friendliest guys among all the Apprentice Mages in the tower, and he had established an underground market selling information on supply and demand. Leon had come to tell him he was selling a Giant Lizard egg and some Magical Iron Ore. If any Apprentice Mage was interested, they would come to him for a trade.


    At the same time, he bought a few useful items from Danny at a high price.


    Compared to previous days, the Tower was quite lively today. Most of the Apprentice Mages had left their rooms, going out and conversing with their familiar ''friends'' about everything that had happened the day before. The mandatory mission that Mage Eclivel had set for them was like a bomb, bringing a massive storm into these Apprentices'' once peaceful lives.


    All the Apprentices were forced to discontinue their research projects and pay attention to the latest developments, as their very status as ''Apprentices'' was at stake.


    After all, only a handful of Apprentices had immediately decided on their missions yesterday, and most of them were still hesitant. In fact, everyone could tell that these missions had been issued by the Zhentarim Association. This also meant they would have to form a temporary team with Apprentice Mages from across the Zhentarim region to fight together.


    This was a situation that had never happened before, so while the uniqueness of this event in their previously monotonous lives was refreshing, it also terrified and unsettled most of them.


    Walking slowly in the second-floor public hall, Leon passed by all these disturbed Apprentice Mages. When these Apprentice Mages saw him pass, they immediately fell silent, casting him a ''not welcome here'' look. Even some of the ''lone wolves,'' who usually conversed with him, avoided him, their faces filled with mixed emotions.


    Leon was like a lone wolf who had just been rejected by the wolf pack, slowly wandering across the grasslands. Pulling his hood up and covering his head, Leon turned and left the hall. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Only the three strongest could make everyone stay away from him. Brandon couldn''t do that.


    Leon had no intention of finding out why the three strongest were being so hostile to him. In any case, it was probably because of Bleia. What he cared about most was how to improve himself in the shortest possible time, so he could survive the next mission.


    Taking advantage of the moment when no one was watching, Leon once again slipped out of the Mage Tower.


    Returning to the muddy swamp, Leon suddenly felt how desolate this place had become.


    Originally, no matter how desolate this place seemed, Leon could always sense a group of ghost nannies hiding around the muddy lake shores, waiting for their prey. But now, after conducting numerous scans, he simply couldn''t find the red dots representing the ghost nannies in his Elementium vision.


    In his line of sight, there were about four to five large, stinky ponds. According to the habits of the Ghost Nannies, each pond should be inhabited by a group of them, at most thirty, at least seven.


    But now, after going through all those intense battles, the largest group of Ghost Nannies that had inhabited the largest pond had suffered greatly, causing the groups living near the borders to weaken, making their lives seem truly miserable.


    However, this was better for Leon, as it saved him some effort.


    Today, Leon had purposely come here to kill demons, so he really needed a large battlefield. If any ghost nannies from previous days remained, they would be killed by him today.


    After inspecting the area once more and checking all the surrounding areas (he had the Chip record the terrain data), only then did Leon take out the core of the Clay Golem.


    After more than ten hours of recovery, all four energy nodes on the summoning core were lit up, indicating they had been fully charged with Earth Elementium. The Golem was ready to display its power!


    Leon tossed the summoning core onto the muddy shore of the lake.


    "Boom~~"


    Just like before, when it touched the muddy shore, an enormous amount of yellow smoke instantly exploded. This wasn''t real smoke, but rather dense Earth Elementium burning around the core.


    The Earth Elementium quickly gathered. Driven by invisible forces, the damp soil began to rise and twist, quickly forming a humanoid Golem about Leon''s height.


    Too bad it wasn''t a Stone or Iron Golem; otherwise, its defense would be strong enough that it might be able to fight head-to-head with the Giant Alligator King, Leon''s target today. You get what you pay for! Indeed, the Clay Golem was cheap, but its defense was only on par with that of a human fighter in full leather armor.


    It could hardly withstand the sharp fangs and powerful tail of a giant alligator.


    But the Giant Alligator had a weakness, or else, with its formidable strength comparable to an Advanced Apprentice, it would only be a dream for Leon to battle it.


    ...


    In the early morning, the muddy swamp was still peaceful.


    Less than 800 meters from the stinking lakes where the Ghost Nannies lived, there was a vast area inhabited by Giant Alligators. Some terrifying giant alligators were just lying among grass bushes, lazily sleeping.


    But as they enjoyed their quiet, leisurely lifestyle, a loud noise was heard, and a crooked figure was seen jumping into the lake where they lived.


    Looking at its disheveled, moss-covered hair, pitch-black filthy claws, and thin but vigorous body¡­ It was actually one of their neighbors, a Ghost Nanny.


    As a native creature of the Magic Swamp, all the strong demons had their own fixed territories, and the borders of these territories were distinct. No one was allowed to enter another''s territory. But today, this smelly, filthy Ghost Nanny dared to invade the Giant Alligators'' territory, and this made the Giant Alligators, who had just been rudely awakened from their sleep, extremely angry.


    Without making a sound, seven to eight giant alligators left the grassy bushes, sank into the water, and disappeared. The only signs of them were a few lines of fast-moving water heading toward the Ghost Nanny.


    Somehow, the Ghost Nanny had all her arms and legs broken by someone. So, even with a strong body, she simply couldn''t do anything to save herself. Soon, a large, fierce mouth leapt from the water and bit down hard on the upper part of her body, dragging her under as it dove back into the water.


    More giant alligators arrived, causing water to splash everywhere and mud to churn furiously. Once these alligators tasted blood, they entered a Berserk state and began to relentlessly tear the Ghost Nanny apart.


    A massive Giant Alligator appeared on the lake shore.


    Unlike the other giant alligators, it didn''t rush to devour the intruder who had invaded its territory. Instead, it raised its upper body, like a true king, and slowly surveyed the surroundings.


    These ghost nannies had their own leader, so it was impossible for them to invade another''s territory without a reason. Could that Sinbad be trying to provoke a war between them?


    As a demon leader that had undergone a unique evolution, this Giant Alligator King obviously possessed some basic intelligence. Thus, it was able to rationally ponder a few simple issues.


    But as it was still wondering, another Ghost Nanny came flying through the air, drawing a strange arc as it fell into the depths of the swamp. After tearing an intruder to pieces, the alligators were completely enraged, and the noise immediately attracted those Giant Alligators, causing them to swarm toward the new "arrival."


    Only the Giant Alligator King, standing firm on the shore, could see that this new Ghost Nanny had been thrown here by someone, and that "someone" was hiding behind a Killer Tree not far from the lake.


    Without hesitation, the Giant Alligator King moved its short but powerful legs, beginning to waddle toward the Killer Tree. To avoid alerting the "enemy," it deliberately moved around the lake, hiding in dense waist-high weeds as it stealthily approached its target.


    Obviously, it had a massive body, but it still attempted to sneak around like an assassin. Hidden behind another Killer Tree in the distance, Leon couldn''t help but shake his head.


    Even though it had evolved and possessed some basic intelligence, it was still a mere demon. Compared to deep human intelligence, its limited mind was nothing more than a joke.


    Even with its stomach nearly touching the ground, the Giant Alligator King''s enormous body still stood over two meters high. No matter how dense the weeds were, they barely covered its legs and stomach. Its gigantic body was fully covered in hard scales, and sharp spikes stood high on its back, easily visible from afar. In such a situation, it still thought it couldn''t be seen.


    This situation was simply laughable.


    What was even more ridiculous was its enormous body, weighing over thirty tons, causing the ground to briefly tremble with every step it took. Yet, it still tried to sneak, as if it would really launch a stealth attack. It seemed to have no idea how much it shook the ground with each step it took.


    Having maneuvered smoothly past several obstacles, the Giant Alligator King finally spotted a suspicious figure behind the Killer Tree.


    It was a hateful human dressed in an Apprentice''s robe. He also had a few immobilized ghost nannies beside him. Every so often, "he" would toss one into the distant lake. Thanks to "him," the once peaceful and quiet swamp had become a lively, bloody battlefield, with the frightening sight of giant alligators ripping apart their prey everywhere.


    The Giant Alligator King glared angrily at this wicked Apprentice, and to prevent the enemy from escaping, it patiently, slowly, but steadily advanced toward him.


    100 meters...


    70 meters...


    50 meters...


    20 meters...


    Today was its lucky day.


    It had almost reached the back of that vile Apprentice, and "he" still hadn''t sensed anything unusual coming from behind.


    While congratulating itself on how well it had closed in on its target, the Giant Alligator King lowered its body, making the final preparations for a devastating attack.


    Time to die, human! I''ll have Apprentice Mage for dinner!


    Moving explosively, the Giant Alligator King lunged at its target.


    ....


    1826 Words

 Chapter 39 - 39: Golem vs Alligator

    When the Giant Alligator King opened his mouth fully, it was even taller than an adult human. Terrifying-looking teeth were chaotically scattered across his upper and lower jaws, each resembling a sharp dagger.


    "Bite!"


    With its incredible biting force, this unprepared Apprentice might have been immediately torn in half.


    But something surprising happened. The human Apprentice turned, throwing the Ghost Nanny in his hand directly into the Giant Alligator King''s mouth. Then, twisting and spinning in a strange way, he escaped the frightening bite of the Giant Alligator King at lightning speed.


    "Splat~~"


    The thin, resilient body of the Ghost Nanny was instantly torn in half, causing coagulated, foul black blood to ooze between its sharp teeth.


    The Giant Alligator King let out a disgusted roar.


    "Roarrrrrr~~~"


    Like a demon itself, it was never picky about food. However, it would definitely refuse these neighbors without hesitation. Even from a demon''s perspective, these Ghost Nannies really stank. Only when food truly ran out would it consider eating one or two of these Ghost Nannies.


    The Giant Alligator King spat out the torn body from his mouth. The next second, he spotted a fleeing human figure. He could tell that this human Apprentice couldn''t run very fast, as he was stumbling and tripping through puddles.


    With a gleeful roar, it moved its gigantic body and charged forward toward its target, like a small mountain.


    "Rushed footsteps~~"


    Due to the terrain in this area, the Giant Alligator King actually moved faster than that human Apprentice, quickly catching up from behind.


    Although he kept running, the bizarre human constantly dodged miraculously out of the path of its giant mouth. This made the Giant Alligator King even more furious, and it became increasingly reckless as this went on. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, in a successful attempt, the Giant Alligator King crushed the human''s arm with a fierce bite. But strangely, there was no taste of blood or flesh in its mouth. In fact, it seemed as if it had just bitten into a mouthful of clay.


    Furthermore, after the Apprentice''s cloak was torn away, it revealed that the being in front of it wasn''t a human Apprentice at all but a strange humanoid Clay Creature.


    The Giant Alligator King immediately realized it had been tricked. Enraged, it pounced on the unlucky creature that had lured it here, preparing to tear it into a thousand pieces.


    Now that its true identity was exposed, the Clay Golem had no need to continue acting.


    Tearing off the troublesome cloak, the Golem was finally able to reveal its full power. It began to fight this clumsy Giant Alligator King in an orderly manner.


    After all, the Giant Alligator King was a water demon, which meant it could move like a fish in the swamp''s muddy water. But when it came to land movement, its massive body was extremely clumsy.


    With its entire body covered in hard scales, it continued pushing forward like a frenzied war machine, sending grass flying everywhere, breaking trees, and leaving a deep trail in the ground.


    "Pow~~"


    "Crack~~"


    "Tremor~~"


    But its attacks were overly focused on its head and tail.


    Most of its offensive abilities could strike within a fan-shaped area around the front of its head. Within this area, its fierce bite could easily destroy an enemy. Furthermore, whenever it used its long tail to attack, it would shatter the enemy''s bones.


    However, the region between its front and hind limbs was its offensive weak spot, as neither its head nor its tail could reach it. If an enemy hid within this area, it would have to slowly shift its massive body to position the enemy where it could strike.


    And this cursed Golem had clearly found its weakness, as it dashed straight into that area and continued attacking its body madly.


    "Bang~~"


    "Bang~~"


    "Bang~~"


    Using its heavy and powerful fists, the Clay Golem continued pounding on the hard scales that lined the Giant Alligator King''s ribs.


    In addition to physical attacks, the Clay Golem also used Mud Spear to support its offense. But all of this was useless. With its body fully covered in thick, hard scales, the Giant Alligator King didn''t even care about these ineffective blows. It simply kept twisting its body, tirelessly trying to shake off this unpleasant enemy that dared to fight so close to it.


    But the Golem kept close to the Giant Alligator King, ensuring it couldn''t be struck.


    The thick, resilient scales served as a defensive mechanism for the Giant Alligator King, but they also limited its offensive reach to its mouth. The enemy was so close, yet it simply couldn''t do anything.


    Although the Golem was dominating from a position of advantage, Leon, who was controlling it remotely from a distance, didn''t feel pleased at all.


    This wouldn''t work!


    Without penetrating the enemy''s scales, there was no way the Golem could deal enough damage. If this continued, the battle would end in a stalemate, as neither side would be able to harm the other.


    The Giant Alligator King was blinded by its rage now, which was why it kept fighting the Clay Golem. Once it regained its senses and returned to the swamp water, there would be no way for the Clay Golem to fight it.


    Fortunately, before Leon came here, he had done a complete analysis of the Giant Alligator''s strengths and weaknesses, so he had an idea of how to defeat it. After receiving his command, the Golem stopped wasting its energy attacking the opponent''s body with its fists and began releasing ''Spikes'' under the Giant Alligator King''s body.


    Most parts of the Alligator King''s body were covered with a thick layer of scales, which provided excellent protection against physical attacks. But there was one area these scales didn''t cover: its abdomen.


    These spikes not only caused physical damage but also inflicted Earth Elementium damage. Since the Giant Alligator was an Earth Elementium demon, it had significant resistance to Earth Elementium damage, so it suffered no harm from this part of the spike attack.


    Nevertheless, the pure physical damage still caused the Giant Alligator King pain, making it continuously groan in agony.


    "Urrr~~"


    Throughout the entire Magic Swamp, no demon could pierce its thick scales and attack its weak spot, and this had made it the Lord of this vast swampy land. But today, this unpleasant Golem had truly upset this king.


    Only after feeling pain did the Giant Alligator King remember that it had a similar innate ability. So, with an enraged roar, a thick concentration of Earth Elementium immediately began to gather around its body.


    "Mire Mire Spell!"


    Leon clenched his fists tightly as he watched the Giant Alligator King''s innate ability activate. When he confirmed that it was indeed the ''Mire Spell,'' he couldn''t contain his excitement and let out a loud cheer.


    Excellent! The Giant Alligator King was as good as dead now!


    To be honest, if this Giant Alligator King had the innate ability to use offensive spells or those supplementary spells that could provide additional defense, Leon would have called back the Clay Golem and left immediately. But since it was only the Mire Spell, the success rate for today''s battle shot up to 70%.


    As expected, just as Leon was jumping with joy, a rather amusing scene unfolded on the battlefield.


    "Hahaha¡­"


    "What a stupid creature!" Leon thought.


    Less than 50 meters from the Giant Alligator King, the ground had turned into a thick, deep mire, acting like quicksand. If other creatures fought him, they might be caught off guard and trapped in the quicksand. It was a type of restriction spell that covered a large area. This, combined with his terrifying physical abilities, brought the Giant Alligator King to a dominant position in this land.


    Unfortunately for him, the Clay Golem was an Earth Elementium creature!


    While other creatures would be trapped by it, the Golem stood in this constantly shifting mire as if it were solid ground; nothing actually happened. It seemed as though the Golem''s heavy, solid body had suddenly lost all its weight, as it moved easily through the quicksand, showing no signs of sinking.


    Thus, on this slowly shifting quicksand, an intense yet strange game of cat and mouse erupted between two Earth creatures.


    The Clay Golem gave up on attacking with Mud Spear, which hadn''t caused any real damage, and continued releasing Spikes beneath its opponent''s body. On average, it could cast this once every 11 seconds. After all, Spikes was an AoE spell.


    Although the Clay Golem couldn''t see the exact weak spot on the Giant Alligator King''s abdomen or gauge the attack''s effectiveness, as long as the attack was focused under the Giant Alligator King, it would be enough to hurt it.


    After fifteen minutes of this intense battle, it was obvious the Giant Alligator King couldn''t hold on much longer, as its movements became slower than before.


    Not only was it unable to strike the enemy, but it also continued to feel immense pain in its abdomen. This frustrating battle had left it furious. As a demon with basic intelligence, it realized that if things continued like this, it would indeed be killed by this creature.


    Thus, the Giant Alligator King decided to stop bothering with this Golem. It turned its body and started moving toward a distant lake.


    However, this was within Leon''s expectations. When it began to turn its body, it noticed another human blocking its retreat. Moreover, the human was holding a strange-looking object that resembled a spider.


    Relying on its keen sense of smell, the Giant Alligator King sensed real blood and flesh from this obstacle. Unable to contain its rage, it let out an enraged roar. "Roarrrr!" Before the true culprit behind today''s sinister scheme, it lunged forward ferociously, planning to take down this enemy and return to its home territory.


    In the next moment, a white spider web covered its head, sticking to its short, thick front paws. At the same time, a blazing fire arrow shot forth, quickly embedding itself in the upper part of its long, narrow snout.


    "Zoshh~~"


    This was where its head was located and also the area closest to its eyes.


    The Giant Alligator King closed its eyes, and a layer of small scales appeared on its eyelids. It felt a sharp pain on its forehead as a violent flame erupted across its face.


    "BOOM~~"


    With its front paws tangled in spider webs and both eyes forced shut by the fire, it couldn''t see anything and had to slow down. As a result, the Clay Golem, which was accompanying it, began to increase the frequency of its attacks.


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    To win this battle, Leon was almost broke.


    These one-time-use spider web items weren''t cheap. Every time he used one, his heart bled. But to prevent the Giant Alligator King from escaping, he had no choice but to keep using them to restrain its legs.


    The Giant Alligator King had overwhelming strength. According to Leon''s preliminary estimate, it had at least 14 in Strength. With that incredible power, each spider web could only hold it for six to seven seconds.


    If it weren''t for Leon continuously attacking its eyes with Fire Arrow, preventing it from finding its way back, it might have forcefully pushed through these obstacles and returned to its lair.


    Thus, with careful and precise planning, after nearly seven to eight minutes of relentless attacks, the abdomen of the Giant Alligator King was finally pierced by the Clay Golem''s Spike spell.


    ...


    1925 Words

 Chapter 40 - 40: Merging golems

    The Giant Alligator King had died, and at the hands of two seemingly insignificant beings!


    Leon ordered the Clay Golem to explore the corpse of the Giant Alligator King so he could gather some important materials, including an Earth Elemental core the size of an egg. After that, before all the other giant alligators could bother them, they hurriedly left the area.


    After Leon disappeared at the end of the path, behind a Killing Tree less than 800 meters from the battlefield, Bleia was distractedly watching the giant alligators roaring furiously in the distance. Around her on the ground, fourteen broken bodies of Carnivorous Crows lay scattered.


    She had witnessed the entire course of Leon''s battle now, and she was filled with mixed emotions.


    The Giant Alligator King was a terrifying demon that even she had not dared to provoke!


    Although the Giant Alligator King was considered to be on the same level as an Advanced Apprentice, this was not a good representation of his true fighting ability. With his high agility, even if the Giant Alligator King had a pair of wings, he still wouldn''t be able to think of catching her.


    However, the thick and tough scales of the Giant Alligator King were also not something she could break through, as she was ''weak.''


    If they fought, the Giant Alligator King wouldn''t be able to do anything about her speed, and she couldn''t do anything about his defense.


    Bleia was aware of the limitations of her abilities. While they were weak, she might be able to intimidate most of those Apprentice Mages. But after the inevitable improvement, her advantage was, in fact, diminishing.


    And now this seemingly insignificant ''subordinate'' Apprentice of hers had actually been able to use that strange Clay Golem to kill the Giant Alligator King.


    This¡­ This brought a great confusion to her!


    Turning her eyes back to those broken crow bodies, her eyes clouded, and her mind wandered.


    He was a ''subordinate'' that she had personally subjugated! Since when had he become the main combat force, and she had become the slave responsible for clearing out the spies in the perimeter? A flame of anger erupted in Bleia''s mind, and a blood-red thread appeared in the middle of her green eyes.


    She was the boss, and he was just a weak subordinate. That relationship could never be changed! It seemed it was time to teach this arrogant brat a lesson. Although he had treated her well in the past, she wouldn''t allow him to take her to the top¡­ Yes, she would give him a lesson when she got back!


    Suppressing the growing anger and frustration in her mind, Bleia leaped into the air, transformed into a small bat, flapping her wings as she flew toward the tower.


    When Bleia knocked on Leon''s door, furious anger in her heart, she was surprised when the door opened to reveal Leon''s dazzling smile.


    Pulling Bleia into his room, Leon presented his gift to her as if offering her a precious treasure.


    "Bleia, look at this! I know you like the blood of strong beings, right? Would this be useful for you?"


    Pungent, sticky blood was inside a small jar. With both hands, Leon extended it toward Bleia. His face shone with anticipation, his expression like that of a small child begging to be praised.


    "This¡­ What is this?" Bleia stammered.


    Somehow, even though she had come here to teach Leon a lesson, her anger instantly vanished, and she even stammered while speaking to him.


    "Don''t ask. Just try it first and see if you like it! I collected many of them this time. If you like it, I''ll go to the lab to purify them and get rid of the pungent smell, and I''m sure it will taste better!"


    Making a poker face, Bleia criticized him to cover her surprise at the situation.


    "Who would give such a gift? You didn''t even wrap it properly. You just put it in a rough ceramic pot. At the very least, you should pour it into a crystal goblet! And how did you get this blood? Don''t you know that the sweetest blood of a creature is the blood from the heart?


    For your sincerity, I''ll forgive your rudeness this time. Remember! Next time, prepare your gift properly before presenting it to me!"


    "I understand¡­ I totally understand¡­ But¡­ Bleia! Look, it''s going to take me a long time to prepare all this, and I think I don''t have enough Knowledge Points at the moment¡­"


    Her beautiful green pupils constricted, and a dangerous glint shone in her eyes.


    "So¡­ are you trying to ask me for a loan?"


    "No¡­ Well, yes, but just temporarily. As soon as I sell all the items I''ve listed, I''ll pay you back." Leon couldn''t help but smile awkwardly. The quality of the Earth Elemental core he harvested this time was better than the first, and thus he had more space to incorporate Magic Formations into it. So, he was worried about how to use it fully.


    He didn''t have much time until they had to leave for the mission, but he still had some urgent matters that needed to be resolved.


    The newly harvested Earth Elemental core was definitely one of them.


    Leon had come up with a unique plan for this new core. Since it was also an elemental core of earth, why couldn''t he connect the energy of both the summoned Clay Golems? When separated, each Golem would work on its own, and when connected, they would share their energy. Wouldn''t that be better?


    Thinking about this, Leon had the Chip perform some preliminary calculations. What he needed now was to learn about energy connections and soul synergy. Once he acquired that knowledge, he should be able to create this new Golem.


    Leon also needed to find a suitable defensive magic spell.


    At present, he had mastered two Fire magic spells: one used for close combat with minor defensive uses, and the other was a pure long-range offensive spell. Thus, he still had a significant weakness in dealing with his defense. If he didn''t resolve this issue, he would likely die on the next mission.


    Using his insect fusion ability, Worm Controller was like an unbeatable cockroach, and he never feared enemy attacks.


    The Super Girl had an incredible physique, and her offensive strength was nearly invincible, so she never had to worry about her own safety.


    The abilities of Fatal Shot were unknown.


    Bleia possessed inhuman agility and the frightening ability to suck blood, which granted her powerful regeneration. Therefore, she was also as invincible as a cockroach.


    All these Advanced Apprentices had their own complete and systematic paths of magic. It didn''t matter if it was offensive or defensive; they possessed their unique skills and therefore differed greatly. But regardless of whom he had to face, Leon had no confidence in surviving their attacks.


    This was Leon''s current weakness.


    Due to a lack of knowledge and resources, Leon was considered an underdog, even among the Beginner Apprentices, and he had yet to decide on his development path. Thus, he had not developed a systematic way to cultivate his magical ability.


    Although he had wished to become a Principle Mage before this and had even learned some Deep Mage skills, the damn mandatory mission had interrupted his original development plan.


    According to his initial plan, he was supposed to invest most of his resources in learning elemental knowledge and theories of Fire Elementium magic spells, trying his best to increase his Spirit so he could reach the same level as most of the other Apprentices his age, advancing to the Intermediate Apprentice grade. By his estimates, this process would take at least three months.


    But now, that mandatory red mission was pressing down on him like a nightmare. If he didn''t have any appropriate countermeasures before starting, he might die in that terrifying Underground Cave. Because of this, Leon had no choice but to readjust the allocation of his resources, putting all of them into the Golems.


    As a direct result of this, Leon was nearly bankrupt!


    He didn''t have enough Knowledge Points to rent the Alchemy Laboratory; he didn''t have enough Knowledge Points to learn defensive spells; and he didn''t have enough gold coins to buy suitable items for anything¡­


    Setting aside the gold, without enough Knowledge Points to support the creation of a new summoning core, Leon had no hope of surviving in that cave. If it weren''t for this, he would never have swallowed his pride to try to obtain something from Bleia.


    Bleia looked directly at Leon''s face with her dazzling eyes. Finally, she nodded without saying anything.


    After receiving an ''investment'' from Bleia, and unaware of the beating he had narrowly escaped, Leon rushed to the Alchemy Laboratory and, like a spendthrift, rented the high-quality Alchemy Station for seven hours.


    The Earth Elemental Core obtained from the Giant Alligator King was as large as a pigeon''s egg. According to the Chip''s designs, in addition to some basic magical control formations, he could add a few more energy nodes in the extra space. Thus, while the previous summoning core could only have four energy nodes, this one could have nine.


    More energy nodes meant a more complex magical formation and countless modifications throughout the structure. So, from the moment Leon obtained the core, the Chip had been busy calculating and testing the design. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When Leon finally prepared all the magical materials, the Chip completed the task.


    "Beep!"


    "The latest structural design for the Golem summoning core has been completed."


    "Start data transfer?"


    "Transfer!"


    After the data transfer was completed, Leon closed his eyes and saw the customized three-dimensional design of the magical formation.


    After these calculations, he needed to carve fifteen magical formations of all sizes onto the surface of the pigeon-sized summoning core. He also needed to connect them all together, forming them into a larger and more complex magical formation. A design task like this could only be completed by the Chip in such a short time. For Leon, he could barely recognize any of the runic structures on it.


    After spending a few minutes trying to understand it, Leon stopped trying and turned his attention to the problems he would face later during the carving process.


    With the help of the Chip, Leon was able to completely avoid the issue of insufficient knowledge and skill and was capable of breaking down the entire complex task of creation into numerous simple and straightforward operations.


    Through these small and trivial operations, Leon, who was just a novice in Alchemy, could complete the intricate runic structures all at once, something that would typically only be possible in the hands of those Master Alchemists.


    Therefore, at this moment, what Leon was concerned about was not whether he was competent enough to complete this project, but whether his Spirit was strong enough to withstand the enormous strain he was about to place on it.


    But he had no alternatives.


    He had to build his army of Golems as quickly as possible to optimize his offensive capability. Then he had to find time to learn a suitable defensive magic spell to give himself both offensive and defensive advantages. And this was the key to his survival in the mandatory mission!


    Leon took a deep breath and once again stood before the Alchemy Station. He cleared his mind of any disturbing thoughts and focused entirely on creating the new summoning core.


    ...


    1921 Words

 Chapter 41 - 41: Pedro

    Several hours later, when Leon exuberantly ran back to his room, he found an Adept Apprentice waiting for him.


    To his surprise, after putting up the ''item for sale'' notice, the first person to come and see him was actually Pedro, the manager of the Magic Practice Room. Although Leon had barely had contact with anyone, he had heard that this Pedro had not managed to squeeze onto the list of ten men for the mission to guard the Swamp Tower.


    This also meant that Pedro, who was an Intermediate Apprentice, had to face the risks brought by the upcoming mandatory missions.


    "I heard you have a Giant Lizard egg in your possession?" Upon meeting Leon, Pedro didn''t hide his purpose for being there. With the ticking of the clock, all beginner and intermediate Apprentices were gripped by a sense of urgency, seizing every second they had to strengthen themselves.


    As a result, items very useful for small-scale battles between Apprentices, like potions and scrolls, had skyrocketed in price. They were so expensive that even the wealthiest Apprentices felt a pang in their hearts when buying them.


    If it weren''t for this, Leon wouldn''t have nearly gone broke just for purchasing a few single-use spider webs.


    But this wasn''t all bad either.


    From the ''black market'' list provided by Danny, Leon saw many rare materials that he could hardly find under normal circumstances. These items were definitely the treasures of other Apprentices, many of which were set aside to be used when they advanced to the next level in the future.


    But what a pity¡­ Due to this mandatory mission, which was a life-or-death matter, they were forced to give up on their future, selling these treasures in exchange for items that would instantly boost their combat abilities.


    Leon politely invited Pedro into his room.


    As Pedro stepped into the room, the strong smell of blood and the pungent scent of formalin filled his nose. Glass jars of all sizes could be seen placed on a shelf in the corner of the room. They were filled with light green liquid, and all kinds of demon organs floated inside these jars. Hearts, stomach pouches, brains, eyeballs¡­ Many of them still had blood within and on them.


    Clearly, they were freshly harvested.


    A lively croak resounded in the air from Pedro''s companion beast, the Poison Dart Frog, as it suddenly appeared on his shoulder, croaking restlessly at these materials. After Pedro finally calmed it down, it crawled next to his ear and began whispering something.


    "Looks like you''ve got some new materials. Why don''t you sell them to me?" Pedro quickly made a demand.


    "All these materials were harvested from the Giant Alligator King. I think there are people out there eager enough to improve their ability that they wouldn''t mind implanting the Giant Alligator King''s heart into their bodies. If you really want to buy it, you''d better give me a good price!" Leon remained calm and reminded Pedro.


    In this unique period, anything that could enhance one''s battle ability could no longer be traded at a reasonably normal price. As for the price hike, it was actually proportional to the quality of the item and also depended on the urgency of the individual who wanted to buy it. Therefore, faced with a desperately needed item, anyone would have to be prepared to go broke.


    "The Giant Alligator King? That''s even better!" What Leon said made Pedro feel his heart burn with desire, but then he paused, puzzled. He looked at Leon, asking, "Were you able to kill the Giant Alligator King?"


    Leon shook his head briefly and pointed to the wall between his room and Bleia''s.


    Pedro quickly realized what that meant and nodded, obviously believing that it was Bleia who had killed it.


    When a Beginner Apprentice tried to challenge the Giant Alligator King, it was no different from courting death. But if it was an Advanced Apprentice, who was also a Vampire, attempting it, it was a totally different story. Although it still seemed uncertain, it wasn''t hard to accept.


    In the minutes that followed, the two Apprentices haggled intensely with each other. Although one was eager to buy and the other was impatiently trying to sell his items, neither was willing to give up their profit so easily.


    Finally, after two hours of intense negotiations, Leon sold all his organic materials in exchange for seventeen Knowledge Points, three Magic Crystals, a ''Screaming Tree Gramal,'' and a Weak Invisibility Potion.


    As for the scales, fangs, and claws of the Giant Alligator King, Pedro showed no interest in them. However, Leon considered selling them to some of the Apprentices who were preparing to follow the Body Refinement Adept path.


    If it weren''t for the difficult times, Leon had actually planned to extract the Giant Alligator King''s spine and tendons, as both were in high demand among Body Refinement Apprentices. But if he really ran back to the scene, the Giant Alligator King''s corpse might already have been devoured by the other Giant Alligators.


    Pedro took a few trips to move all the materials, and as soon as he was done, Leon immediately rushed to the library with his newly obtained Knowledge Points.


    He was searching for a good Fire Element defensive spell.


    ...


    Infernal Force Field, a basic fire magic defensive spell capable of forming a high-temperature field around the body, scorching any enemy that entered the region and causing them to suffer rapid bodily dehydration. Effective Range: 10 meters. (Note: This is a prerequisite magic spell for Fire Ring, an advanced Fire Element defensive spell.)


    ...


    Fire Burst, a basic fire elemental defensive magic spell capable of placing Elementium orbs rotating around the body. Any enemy that touches the Elementium orbs will suffer a Fire Burst, dealing 3-5 Fire damage. Effective Range: 8 meters. Number of Elementium orbs: 17.


    ...


    Infernal Body, a fire elemental defensive magic spell capable of temporarily transforming part of the body into Elementium to avoid a lethal offensive attack. Significantly enhances Fire Elemental resistance for the caster. Effective Range: 0 meters. (Note: This is a prerequisite magic spell for Fire Elementium Body Modification.)


    ...


    Fire Shield, a basic Fire Element defensive magic spell capable of forming a small fire shield in front of the caster''s body. It can block most long-range magical spells and melee attacks. Any enemy that attacks the shield will receive 1-2 points of fire damage. Effective Range: 3 meters. Defensive Strength: 35 points. (Note: This is a prerequisite magic spell for Infernal Shield.)


    ...


    Infernal Shield, an intermediate fire element defensive magic spell capable of forming three rotating fire shields around the caster''s body. Before the shields are broken, they can block all long-range and melee attacks. Deals 3-5 Fire damage to melee attackers. Effective Range: 5 meters. Defensive Strength: 80 points. (Note: Requires Fire Shield as a prerequisite magic spell.)


    ...


    Fire Ring, an intermediate fire element defensive magic spell capable of using a large amount of Elementium to form a ring of fire around the caster''s body. It inflicts 5-7 points of fire damage per second on any enemy that enters the ring. Effective Range: 15 meters. (Note: Requires Infernal Force Field as a prerequisite magic spell.)


    ...


    ...


    This dazzling array of Fire Element defensive spells presented a tough choice for Leon. Each of these magic spells had its own pros and cons, so to choose a suitable spell, he needed to carefully identify their differences and weigh them against each other.


    Furthermore, since most defensive magic spells came in sets, some intermediate and advanced defensive spells required a caster to master certain basic prerequisite spells. So, if he chose the wrong spell and later wished to learn other advanced spells, it would take more time and energy.


    Infernal Force Field and Fire Ring were part of sets, both being field control spells. They didn''t provide substantial individual defense, so they couldn''t block any long-range attacks. However, when faced with melee attacks, their field control was quite effective.


    Especially the intermediate spell, Fire Ring, which could deal 5 to 7 Fire damage every second¡ªagainst enemies who only possessed melee abilities, it was almost impossible to endure. Take Leon, for instance: he currently had only 14 Health Points. If he entered the Fire Ring, he might be burned to ash within three seconds.


    And what could he do in three seconds? If he hadn''t solidified any magic spells, he might be killed by the fire damage before he even cast a spell.


    Imagine this: within a group of Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices, a Pseudo-Adept who had mastered Fire Ring suddenly appeared and cast the spell on these novices, subjecting them to intense pain. Not only that, he might not even need to attack personally, as the Fire damage alone would be enough to kill any novice without Fire elemental resistance.


    Whenever Leon pictured this breathtaking scene, he couldn''t help but shiver with excitement. But when he remembered that Fire Ring couldn''t prevent an enemy from attacking, his excitement quickly turned to dislike. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    On the other hand, Fire Shield and Infernal Shield were more discreet.


    Forming a dense shield of Fire Elementium and having it hover around the caster''s body to block any potential direct spells and melee attacks¡ªand if an enemy dared to get close before the shield was fully broken, it could also inflict some Fire damage.


    In general, it didn''t have any obvious offensive abilities, but it possessed excellent defensive qualities.


    So, as expected, Leon borrowed two spell books: Fire Shield and Infernal Shield.


    In this place, it cost fifteen Knowledge Points to purchase the Fire Shield spell book, but only three Knowledge Points to borrow it once. Thus, most Apprentices preferred to borrow it a few times and take their time copying it rather than spending so many of their precious Knowledge Points on buying a book.


    It was time for the Chip to shine.


    Leon only needed to borrow the book once, and the Chip would be able to scan all its contents and store them in his mind. Then, he could take his time studying them, saving a huge amount of Knowledge Points that he could use to borrow more books.


    Moreover, he couldn''t master a defensive magic spell just by reading. He still needed to do a lot of preliminary studies. Clenching his jaw and strengthening his resolve, Leon borrowed all the necessary books at once.


    ...


    ''The Influences of Fire Element Density on the Effectiveness of a Magic Spell''


    ''Elementary Fire Control Techniques''


    ''Analysis on the Usage of Fire Shield''


    ''Characteristics of Fire Element Distribution''


    ...


    ...


    Carrying a tall stack of borrowed books, Leon once again dashed back to his room. As he reached his door, he heard the neighboring door open and saw Bleia''s cold, elegant face appear behind it.


    "Where''s my gift?"


    "Uh¡­"


    Suddenly, Leon was at a loss for words, feeling like he was glued to the spot.


    Since he''d been so focused on his summoning core, he had completely forgotten about Bleia!


    Seeing Bleia''s darkening expression and realizing she was about to lose her temper, Leon quickly let out a loud plea.


    "One hour¡­ Just give me one more hour. The gift will be ready soon!"


    With that, he rushed into his room.


    ...


    1879 Words

 Chapter 42 - 42: Preparation

    After making sure Bleia was appeased, Leon was finally able to finish preparing for the upcoming mission.


    In order to better protect his life, Leon had nearly used up all his resources adding all kinds of items to his inventory, each capable of helping him handle different situations.


    The ''Screaming Tree Branch'' that he had received when trading with Pedro was one of them.


    The Screaming Tree Branch was a unique item produced by nature. If one cut a branch from it and tied it to their skin, it would let out a shrill scream when the holder was struck by a curse. The one Pedro traded with Leon could still be used three times, and was vital for the mission.


    Before leaving the Tower, he had to prepare quite a lot of similar items. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Blood coagulating medicinal paste, which made wounds heal more quickly; Purple Wistaria, which could reattach an amputated limb; basic antidotes for common poisons; Absinthe Powder, which could repel insects and snakes in the wild; a talisman that could detect spiritual creatures...


    Being away from the tower, besides forgetting all those strange and unpredictable demons, beasts, and monsters, the most troubling of all were other Apprentice Mages. who possessed all sorts of fanciful abilities. The more thoroughly he prepared, the more likely he could save his own life at a critical juncture. Therefore, during the preparation of these items, Leon tried his best to take into account all possible situations so as to be ready for anything.


    Most importantly, as the mission was taking place underground, Leon purposely studied the information related to the Underground Cave. So he had gained a basic understanding of the location.


    To Leon''s surprise, the underground of the Mage Mainland was not entirely hard rock and soil, but included vast networks of underground caverns and karst caves, and twisting tunnels that connecting them together. In this underground world, one could find glowing rocks, crystals, and phosphorescent mosses, lichens and fungi. Compared to the world above, strange plants were very common in this place. Without using any magical methods, it would be impossible to identify which of them were poisonous and which were edible.


    However, these mutated plants and creatures weren''t the most frightening things in this underground world, but the countless monstrous, evil, dark creatures and Fallen Mages who had separated themselves from the path of official Mages.


    Most of these Fallen Mages had committed serious crimes against the Mage Mainland. In order to escape being hunted down by Mage Associations, they were forced to hide in the underground, choosing to live among all those ugly and twisted creatures. Some said that these Fallen Mages had actually built a small city for themselves. It was a lawless place where evil ran rampant, a true city of crime.


    As the underground world had a complicated terrain and countless tunnels, although the major Mage Associations had organized numerous clean-up operations, never once had they been able to completely wipe out these dark Mages. Thus allowing these criminals to grow stronger. By now, this underground city of sin had several hundred official Mages, and were considered an abnormal branch of official Mages: the Fallen Mages.


    The Underground Cave, where Leon going to investigate, was just one of the entrances to the underground world, of which there were dozens. Although an Mage Tower had been built there, and was guarded by an official Mage, they still couldn''t stop those Fallen Mages from trying to sneak through this cave with all kind of methods.


    With the abilities of Apprentice Mages, such as Leon, there was no way they could fight with those Fallen Mages. Thus, they were only required to investigate the distribution of demon creatures within ten miles of the surface. Also, they needed to report if they found any traces of Fallen Mages.


    The first mission was easy, but the second one would bring them great danger. If they actually ran into Fallen Mages during their investigation trip, even those Pseudo-Mages would find it hard to escape.


    Therefore, knowing he might face such a situation, Leon had to specifically prepare some unique items.


    Since the place was filled with rough, twisting tunnels and caverns, any creature from the surface world would find it hard to see things in the dark. So, the first thing Leon had to solve was how to maintain his vision when traveling underground.


    In order to solve this problem, there were two solutions.


    The first solution was to purchase some crafted items which came with the effect of Low-light Vision. Of course, it would be better if it carried the function of Dark Vision. But taking his finances into consideration, Leon had no choice but to lower his expectations.


    Low-light Vision allowed the bearer to maintain normal vision in a dusky environment, and Dark Vision was an enhanced version of it, allowing the bearer to have a perfect vision, even in total darkness.


    The second solution was to implant an ''Eye of Void'' or ''Thousand Eyes Bug'' in his body.


    Using some techniques from biological modification, replacing one of his eye with an ''Eye of Void'', which was an eyeball modified with a magical spell. With that, he would possess the ability to see invisible objects and vision in total darkness. But as this method involved biological modification, the purity of his bloodline risk being contaminated.


    As for the latter, he had to swallow a ''Thousand Eyes Bug''. After that, the bug would live in his body, and a compound eye would grow on his forehead. After the Thousand Eyes Bug integrated with a body, it would form a symbiotic relation with the host and thus the host would gain its special vision: Infrared Senses.


    This parasitic method did bring an amazing effect, but, at the same time, it came with some irritating side effects. Every day, the host had to consume moth larvae, which was the favorite food of the Thousand Eyes Bug. Without it, from time to time, the parasite bug would feed on the host''s blood essence and flesh. According to the description in the book, those larvae looked nearly identical to silkworm in his past life, which made Leon nearly thrown up when reading about it.


    After taking all situations into consideration, Leon felt his priority would be on those supplementary crafted items. If he really couldn''t find anything, then he would have to force himself to use the Thousand Eyes Bug.


    After taking care of his vision problem, Leon started to ponder about the issue of mobility.


    That place was underground, fully surrounded by wet soil and hard rock. Any intense fights could cause a devastating collapse. How was he going to rescue himself if he was trapped in a pocket cavern?


    Leon''s mind was deeply troubled by this question. However, the Chip gave him the answer. The Clay Golem!


    Leon''s elemental affinity was Fire Elementium, but the Clay Golems he owned now both had an affinity for Earth Elementium, and all Earth creatures were experts in traveling underground. With help from the Clay Golems, there shouldn''t be any earthen place that could trap Leon.


    But after all, this supposed to work theoretically. In order to get first-hand information, he had to test it out himself. Therefore, after meeting with Danny and telling him he was looking for a Low-light Vision talisman, Leon once again snuck out from the Tower.


    To be honest, after the compulsory mission was announced, most of the Apprentice Mages were busy preparing. Hence, the inspection mission of the tower had temporarily been halted. With that, Leon didn''t have to worry that someone would disturb his practice.


    Following the familiar path that led to the outer perimeter of the swampy area, Leon found himself a flat field, planning to practice the offensive model he envisioned. The reason he chose this pace was because Sinbad, the leader of Ghost Nannies, had been killed. Without their leader, and with all the recent deaths, no Ghost Nannies would come and disturb him.


    He casually threw out the two Clay Golem summoning cores. When they touched the ground, two totally different looking Clay Golems immediately appeared in front of Leon. The core obtained from Sinbad summoned a human-shaped golem that was nearly two meters tall, and the newly crafted Giant Alligator King core actually brought forth an alligator shaped golem. Aside from being smaller than the real Giant Alligator King, they looked nearly identical.


    Leon narrowed his eyes and pondered on this for a brief moment.


    Both cores were extracted from demons heads, so it wasn''t surprising that they contained part of the demon''s soul. So, when the summoning core gathered Earth Elementium and formed a body, the conscious of the former demon, before they were killed, decided the final shape of their body after being crafted into a golem.


    Of course, as this body was formed with Earth Elementium, as long as Leon gave a precise order through the Mind Control Imprint System, the golems could still change into any shape Leon wanted, by adjusting their distribution of Earth Elementium. But this process would consume a certain amount of their energy reserve.


    Staring at his two subordinate golems, standing side by side in front of him, Leon couldn''t control the excitement growing in his mind. Three days ago, he was still a lone wolf that no one seemed to care about, but now he had completed the first steps of building a loyal army of golems. Although the number of his subordinate was still small, he still took heart in his progress.


    The Chip had gathered statistics on this new golem, so Leon focused his attention on the data.


    As expected, as the Giant Alligator King was way stronger than Sinbad, as the attributes of the Clay Alligator Golem totally surpassed his first Clay Golem, excluding Agility. Also, all its fighting skills were perfectly matched with Leon''s abilities. At a glance, it looked like it was perfect for melee battles.


    But Leon didn''t bring them out to show off their muscles, as he wanted to practice the first combat tactics he had envisioned in his mind.


    Taking a brief moment to calm his mind, Leon howled, giving a battle command to both golems.


    "My golems! Use your braveness and fearless to open up the path to victory! Now, follow my command! Combine!"


    ...


    1728 words

 Chapter 43 - 43: Carnage

    Following Leon''s order, the humanoid Clay Golem trembled, like a statue that had its internal supports taken away, and collapsed. At the same time, an earthy yellow dust exploded from the back of the Clay Alligator Golem, which quickly molded itself into the shape of the humanoid Clay Golem.


    Therefore, the previously separated humanoid Clay Golem and the alligator Clay Golem merged, transforming into a strange looking ''Demon Alligator Hunter'' form.


    From a far distance, they looked like a masculine hunter riding on a nearly three meter long demon alligator, holding a dirt spear in his hand. As the summoner of both golems, Leon was able to clearly see this newly formed golem. Actually, the hunter was not riding on top of the alligator, but its entire lower body had merged with the back of the alligator.


    A Clay Golem could never detach themselves from the ground, or else they would lose their endless supply of Earth Elementium. Now that they had merged, most of their abilities had been combined. The dense Earth Elementium had formed a layer of sparkling and crystal-clear Earth armor on their body, showing some signs of being similar to stone armor.


    Demon Alligator Hunter!


    Through extensive calculations performed by the Chip, and the merging of magical formations, two Clay Golems, with nearly identical sources, had been merged together, giving birth to a brand new golem.


    Leon strode forward. Following his arrival, the Demon Alligator lowered its body, gently coiling its long tail around Leon''s body and lifting him onto its back. The spikes on its back wriggled, transformed into the shape of a chair.


    Placing his body firmly into the clay chair, Leon lightly tapped his feet.


    "Let''s go!"


    Following his command, the Demon Alligator opened its mouth and let out a deep howl as it began to waddle its huge body toward the Ghost Nanny''s nest in the distance.


    Actually, those Ghost Nannies resting in the muddy swamp not far away had noticed their presense. But after going through two devastating mass killings, they had become like birds which jumped at the mere twang of a bow-string ¨C badly frightened. Thus none of them dared to come out and look for trouble. However, having such a large Demon Alligator intrude into their territory and begin to wreak havoc to the muddy swamp they lived in, no matter how weak they were in comparison, these Ghost Nannies had no choice but to force themselves to face this foul intruder.


    Sharp, shrill howls, like night owls call, started ringing through the air of the muddy swamp. Skinny, yet surprisingly strong, figures kept squeezing out from the muddy pond, one after another one, letting out sharp cries and crowding in from all directions.


    Their hair was dirty and disheveled; their bodies pale and wrinkled; their nails pitch-black and razor-sharp... Like frightening ghosts, these demons charged toward the intruders while letting out terrifying howls. If an ordinary Apprentice Mage was here, perhaps he would have scurried away at this frightening scene, but Leon was just the opposite.


    Today, he was testing the strength of his newly combined Golems. How could he be scared at such a small scene?


    After ran his eyes over the swarm of Ghost Nannies storming in from all directions, Leon had a cruel smile come over his face as he stomped his feet.


    "Kill! Kill them all for me!"


    Upon receiving Leon''s command, the seemingly stiff and dumb Demon Alligator Hunter suddenly ''woke up''. Although it didn''t have clear facial features, a strange ''roar'' actually rang through the air, causing ripples to spread across the water.


    Biting with its mouth; ripping with it''s sharp claws; swinging around its long and powerful tail, the Demon Alligator dashed into the swarm of Ghost Nannies while launching frightening attacks. Though walking on the muddy, stinking water, its gigantic body moved like it was walking on flat ground. Shock waves could be seen spreading out from underneath its body, causing any Ghost Nanny that came within 5 meters of Demon Alligator to tremble, barely able to stay on their feet.


    Any Ghost Nanny who fell into the sharp claws and gigantic mouth would be ripped into a bloody mess in an instant, staining the water with their stinking, black blood. But even so, wave after wave of Ghost Nannies still broke through Demon Alligator''s head and tail attack, successfully squeezed themselves into both sides of its body, restlessly climbing up onto its back, trying to pull Leon and the ''Hunter'' into the muddy pond.


    Faced with few hundred black, dirty hands clustered below its body, the Hunter showed no fear at all. Holding the spear in its hand, the Hunter kept piercing through the heads of Ghost Nannies. Since the Ghost Nanny was a demon and not an immortal creature, once their head was pierced through by the spear, they would die. Thus, ugly, twisted bodies of Ghost Nanny continuously fell off from Demon Alligator''s back, sinking to the bottom of the muddy pond.


    When the fight became furious, the Hunter would wave its arms, unleashing countless Spikes in a 10 x 8 meter area, puncturing the bodies of Ghost Nanny on the ground.


    On his side, Leon clapped his palms before separated them, shooting out two frightening flames. In an instant, the Ghost Nannies, who had nearly reached his pant legs, were drawn into the scorching flame.


    Burned by the intense heat, the Ghost Nannies started screeching. For a moment, countless flaming bodies rolled off the back of the Demon Alligator, struggling in the muddy pond while letting out miserably cries, turning the entire muddy swamp into a living hell.


    Moving forward while growling aggressively, the Demon Alligator ripped apart everything that got in its way. Located at the highest point of its back, the Hunter attacked anything that got too close, while occasionally throwing its spear at a long range target. If there were too many enemies, it would unleash a Spike spell, causing Ghost Nannies to shed blood like fountains.


    Even though both Golems had combined their strength, they were nowhere near as flashy as Leon, who had transformed fire wielding maniac. He sat firmly on the rear end of Demon Alligator''s back, both arms slightly stretched out, shooting two frightening flames out a few meters, causing any Ghost Nanny who got too close to be caught up in a terrifyingly hot inferno.


    Following the reckless charging of Demon Alligator in the Ghost Nanny army, Leon''s frightening flame had nearly set the entire muddy pond on fire. Moments ago, these Ghost Nannies were still leaping to them crazily, but they were now filled with great terror, each and every single one was screaming and swimming away from the battlefield.


    Within the blazing, scorching hot muddy pond, the putrid smell of burnt flesh filled every inch of the air, making anyone who smelt it feel like throwing out. Leon had transformed into a frantic demon lord, controlling his frightening flames arbitrarily, killing every single enemy he could found on his way, totally had no idea that all the enemies around him had been turned into charcoal.


    When the blazing flames formed by Burning Hand finally died down, Leon finally woke up from the satisfying slaughter. After waking up, the first thing came to his attention was the pungent smell that filled his nose, which nearly made him suffocate.


    Stamping his right foot a few times and giving the golem a mental command, the Demon Alligator moved. Though it looked slow, it actually left the muddy pond at an incredible speed. When they finally left the pond, Leon looked over his shoulder, a miserable scene immediately revealed in front of his eyes, and he was filled with a great shock.


    Just a brief moment ago, when he was recklessly killing all those ''weaklings'', countless terrifying, horrible consciouses had swarmed into his mind, making him frantic and crazy. Although it had been satisfying, it went against the elementary Mage teachings, which said all Mage had to keep calm and rational at all times.


    "Chip, activate Elementium Vision!" As if Leon had sensed something, he gave out his command with a soft voice. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Beep* "Elementium Vision activated."


    The multi-colored Elementium Vision projected into Leon''s eyes. Looking around, he found the entire sky above the muddy swamp was full of broken souls, who were howling and groaning endlessly. No wonder his conscious had been occupied by something else just now. It was all because of these broken souls!


    If he was an Apprentice Mage who had an affinity Darkness, he would definitely have been struck with a wild joy, skipping around as he gathered all these broken souls. For them, these high quality broken souls were the best materials for their experiments. But Leon was unable to do these things.


    Without protection from Dark Elementium, if he got too close to these broken souls, who mainly comprised of negative energy, his Spirit and body would suffer a certain degree of corrosion. If this situation persisted, his body would become skinny, as his blood and soul were slowly corrupted by the negative energy. Therefore, Leon always kept a safe distance from any souls.


    Just now, he was immersed in a satisfying emotion of slaughter, forgetting his original purpose in coming here. Now, thinking back, he started to ponder on the combat performance of his Demon Alligator Hunter.


    Overall, the Demon Alligator Hunter possessed the ability of an Advanced Apprentice, thus it had no problem suppressing an Intermediate Apprentice. Leon even had the confidence to fight the strongest three, but, of course, it was tough to tell if he could actually beat them in a fight.


    Among all the Advanced Apprentices Leon met before, perhaps only the frightening Loli, Lucy, would be able to suppress his Demon Alligator Hunter. As for the other Advanced Apprentices, he could only evaluate their abilities after fighting with them.


    Actually, the real weakness of this Demon Alligator Hunter was Leon.


    As the Demon Alligator Hunter was summoned by Leon, as long as the enemy took care of Leon, it would no longer be a threat. So, when a real fight erupted, perhaps most of the enemy''s offensive attack would be aimed at Leon. If he couldn''t withstand another Mage''s massive firepower, no matter how tough was his Demon Alligator Hunter was, he would have no chance of winning a fight.


    Therefore, Leon had to find a way to solve this weakness, and this was also the second test would run today.


    "Demon Alligator Hunter! Dive down!"


    Following Leon''s command, the small ''throne'' he was sitting on started to move forward. At the same time, the Hunter golem in front of him started to expand as Leon slowly merged with it.


    When Leon''s body finally disappeared into golem''s body, the Demon Alligator underneath let out a short growl, and an earthy yellow smoke started emitting from its body. In next moment, the entire Demon Alligator Hunter disappeared without a trace.


    As if suddenly he had sunk into a pitch black abyss. Leon''s breath suddenly stopped, being replaced by the strong smell of dirt. All of his senses had vanished, but there was a massive external force pressing onto his body. The force was so strong, it nearly made all his bones start to crack.


    But following the dispersion of Earth Elementium around Demon Alligator Hunter''s body, this external force started to subside, eventually disappearing.


    Although he couldn''t see with his eyes, nor hear with his ears, Leon slowly sent forth his Spirit energy, using it as a replacement for his eyes and ears, allowing him to sense everything around himself.


    He was traveling underground! Although he was not moving at an incredible speed, Leon still felt like he was riding on the clouds. It was like Demon Alligator Hunter was floating within a pool of sticky, heavy liquid, continually consuming the Earth Elementium energy stored within its body and breaking through the dirt around him, traveling by slipping through the earth.


    ...


    2003 Words

 Chapter 44 - 44: fire spear

    Leon was ''swimming'' three meters underground, like a fish in the water.


    His Spirit energy went through the dense fog of Earth Elementium surrounding him, showing him the surrounding earth. Twisting roots of old trees; coarse sand and rocks; wriggling insects; gophers hiding in their nests; rotten tree branches, and some other unidentifiable things...


    It was only a short journey, but it allowed Leon to glimpse a completely different world that had always been right under his feet. In this secret world, Leon was like an untouchable king overlooking his kingdom, not caring about anything. If he really wanted to do something, with just a command, Demon Alligator Hunter would be able to wreak havoc in this place.


    Although he wished he could spend a little longer traveling underground, but after merely seven to eight minutes, he could no longer stand it anymore. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was not because he had depleted his Spirit, but because he was out of breath.


    As an Apprentice Mage who worked with supernatural forces every day, no matter if it was resistance or endurance, Leon''s body was way stronger than an ordinary mortal. Any ordinary human would go into a coma after holding his breath for a few minutes, but he was able to hold his breath for nearly eight minutes before needing to catch his breath.


    Following his command, the Earth Elementium around the outside of the Demon Alligator Hunter''s body started to vibrate, pushing away the thick and heavy soil above its head and slowly squeezing its way to the surface.


    The sudden arrival of the Demon Alligator Hunter had shocked the surrounding demons. Numerous sharp cries rung through the air, as curses poured onto them like rain.


    "Damn it! We surfaced in the nest of the Demon Babies!" Leon cursed, driving the Demon Alligator Hunter forward and breaking his way out of the swarm of Demon Babies.


    Although the Demon Babies'' Curse spell was unpredictable and hard to defend against, they were just low-ranked demons. Faced with the Elementium formed Demon Alligator Hunter, the success rate of their curses was not very high. Instead, two Demon Babies were killed by spears thrown by the Hunter, causing the rest of them to scurry away, hiding in nearby bushes and daring not to move the tiniest bit.


    At this moment, Leon had dimly tasted the mentality of Lucy and the other two Advanced Apprentices when they intruded into the Magical Swamp. Once a person possessed the abilities and resources of an Advanced Apprentice, ordinary low-ranked demons were no longer a threat to them. As they were only faced with a bunch of ''ants'' they could kill easily, no wonder that, even they knew this was a forbidden place, they could still behave so recklessly.


    To be honest, if Mage Eclivel hadn''t done anything, with just the Apprentice Mages and demons of the Magical Swamp alone, there was no way they could''ve stopped the trio.


    As for Lucy''s sad encounter, it was completely by accident.


    Just because Lucy possessed an overpowered skill and a frightening ability, it had forced Worm controller to fight her with his life. Then she had chased Leon all over the swamp and suffered a great loss at the hands of Bleia.


    In the past, these hateful Demon Babies were a group of frightening and hard to deal monsters. If he had been surrounded by them, even with the protection of his magical talisman, he would have faced miserable consequences. But now, with the help of the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon could actually kill them easily, and no longer feared them.


    Unknowingly, Leon''s mentality had started to change.


    Use one''s strength to bully the weak; the weak are easy prey to the strong; be pushy and overbearing... all these phrases sounded nasty to the ear, but, now that he was in the position of the strong, it was rather an enjoyable experience.


    Driving his Demon Alligator Hunter forward and rushing out from the Garden of Whispers, Leon came to the stony trail and jumped off his Golem. He dispersed the Earth Elementium and picked up the two summoning cores. He was quite close to the entrance of the Tower, thus, Leon decided to try to appear like his former weak self.


    Pulled his hood up and covering his face, Leon stealthily returned to the Tower.


    The experiment had been successful, and Leon''s confidence had grown. But, at the same time, it had exposed some problems, the most serious of which was how to handle long periods of time underground.


    Perhaps the Demon Alligator Hunter didn''t need to breathe, but Leon did! Deep underground, protected by the Earth Elementium emitting from the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon had been given the ability to travel through the Earth. However, there was no air underground. If he didn''t solve this breathing problem, he would never be able to stay underground for more than 8 minutes.


    Hence, after returned to the Tower, for the next few days Leon spent most of his time running between different Apprentices, searching for a solution that would allow him to have dark vision and breath underground. When he had some spare time, he would sneak out from the Tower to hunt for suitable demons that he could use to craft new Golems.


    But too bad, up until the last day before he had to set off, he still couldn''t find any suitable demons.


    After all, this Magical Swamp was just an extremely common resource site of an Mage family. It was all ordinary demons and plants being raised and planted here, where they were all easy to maintain and harvest. Therefore, it was just a fancy dream to harvest a large quantity of demon cores from this place. In fact, both Sinbad and the Giant Alligator King were rare advanced demons of the Magical Swamp, which only leveled up in the past hundred years. If not because of this, Leon would never have found any demon cores he could use.


    But though he didn''t find any new demon cores, Leon still harvested a bunch of magical materials and ingredients for magical medicine. Using these materials, Leon was able to exchange for some rather useful items from other Apprentices.


    Out of these items, Leon was most satisfied with an exquisitely made Circlet of Nobility.


    Wearing the Circlet of Nobility on his head, the crystal clear diamond socked right in front of the circlet was pressed against Leon''s forehead. Besides making him look a little regal, it also increased his Spirit by one.


    For an Advanced Apprentice, this circlet was unable to supplement their Spirit. But for Leon, who only possessed 8 Spirit, it brought him a rather significant improvement.


    Also, his dark vision problem had been solved.


    The solution? A pair of Gnome Goggles!


    According to the explanation he had received from the Intermediate Apprentice who had sold this item to Leon, the goggles were a product from another Plane. It was made from combining a black leather belt with two transparent crystals. Wearing it, Leon had clear vision in low-light environments.


    Leon had the Chip run an analysis when he returned. This strange object was supposed to be a product of a mechanical civilization. The Chip couldn''t sense any Elementium ripples coming from it, as if it was just an ordinary item used by mortals. It was made from a type of underground crystal and was polished using a special method. This allowed the wearer to pierce the veil of low-light environments.


    The Chip had also performed an analysis on the composition of the crystals. They were not a product that could be found in the World of Mages, and should be a unique material that only existed in the plane of that mechanical civilization.


    As a major scale Plane, the World of Mages had conquered countless small and middle sized Planes. These Gnome Goggles most likely came from a secondary Plane that had been conquered.


    It was common knowledge in the Mage World that only those who were official Mages were qualified to travel between Planes. Anyone below this level, even those Pseudo-Mages who possessed extraordinary talent, were not allowed to participate in the conquering war for other Planes. Therefore, Leon could only let his mind run wild as he tried to imagine what this mechanical civilization was like. Meanwhile, he carefully placed this Gnome Goggle in his waist pouch.


    As for the problem of breathing underground, Leon had also solved it by employing a biological method.


    Within the Tower, some Apprentices were experts in biological modification. Using ''Snake Vine'' and ''Purple Left Flower'', together with ''worm ointment'', toad poop, and some other bizarre items, an Apprentice had produced a bulbous looking breathing organ. When Leon needed to travel underground, he just had to place this biological apparatus into his mouth and he would gain the ability to breathe through his skin.


    As it was only a supplementary organ, and not a replacement for his own organs, the risk of having his bloodline contaminated was non-existent.


    After solving all these problems, Leon could finally put his heart to rest. He spent all his day on either meditating or restlessly researching those magical books he had just copied.


    On the fifth day after signing up the compulsory mission, Leon finally received the message he had been waiting for from the Chip. The optimization of Fire Arrow spell had finally been completed!


    "Beep"


    "Optimization for the spiritual model of Fire Arrow has been completed."


    "Does the host wish to see the optimized content?"


    "Show me!" Leon yelled out in impatience.


    Following a long stream of data, the look of his long-ranged offensive spell, Fire Arrow, after extensive optimizations done by the Chip, was projected into Leon''s mind.


    If the look of Fire Arrow before this was a magical arrow, it had now transformed into a flaming spear. The seemingly tame flame had formed into a blazing spear. With a thought from Leon, it would shoot out with an incredible speed, dealing twice the damage the Fire Arrow had.


    While wearing the Circlet of Nobility, Leon had a total of 9.37 Spirit, giving him a little less than 94 Mage energy. As the Flaming Spear used 24 Mage Energy every time it was used, his Spirit would be depleted after using it four times. Thus, a skill like this would have to be reserved, only being used at the most critical moments.


    After all, with the offensive strength of the Flaming Spear, he could easily break apart an Intermediate Apprentice''s magical defenses. Even if he had to face an Advanced Apprentice who had mastered defensive magic spells, the Flaming Spear would still be able to put a dent in it.


    To be honest, only now did Leon feel that he had finally mastered a good skill. With it, he felt a slight bit of confidence in surviving the mission he was going to undertake.


    Finally, after a nerve-wracking few days, it was time for the mission.


    ...


    1834 Words

 Chapter 45 - 45: Ship in the sky

    To Leon''s surprise, it was not a long parade of coaches that came to pick them up, but a flying ship that descended from the sky.


    Of course, it was not the same as a ship that sailed on the ocean.


    It had a wide, flat bottom and an exquisitely built and spacious three floor tower, but there wasn''t any mast or sail to be seen. This meant it was not an air powered ship. When the hundred meter long, thirty meters wide ship came thundering down, all the Apprentice Mages waiting in front of the Tower were filled with fear, their breath catching at the sight of, seemingly, impending doom.


    Leon had no idea what any of the other Apprentices were feeling. Through his Elementium Vision, he saw the bottom of the ship had been carved with runes and strange magical formations, and a massive magical energy was flowing rapidly between these lines. From what he saw, the Elementium was no longer a singular and isolated particle, but had been kneaded together by a mystical and majestic force, transforming into a mighty magical melody of energy that could no longer be differentiated into different elements.


    The reason why Leon paid so much attention to it was that this magical energy had mysterious and strange characteristics. As they came out of the runes, they showed no specific attributes, but when they passed through certain magical formations, they started showing signs of specific Elementium.


    For example, the billowing wall of air that was surrounding the flying ship had been shot out after the energy passed through a magical formation. Carried by this powerful wind, the flying ship could gracefully and firmly land on the large empty area in front of the Mage Tower.


    Mage Eclivel, who rarely showed his face in public, was standing in front of the Tower. Wearing a resentful expression on his face, he was staring at the flying ship landing in front of him. When he saw a figure flying off from the flying ship, his expression became even more incensed.


    "It really is you. I was still wondering why we suddenly have to visit one more mission site, but now I understand. Now you can''t hide from us anymore." It was a burly man who came flying from the ship. His defining features were a pair of thick eyebrows and the shining, luxurious, golden armor he was wearing. His bulky muscles were so large they looked to be trying to burst from his armor.


    Waving the magical staff in his hand angrily, Mage Eclivel let out a raging roar.


    "You bunch of damn thieves! You bandits! I have emphasized it many times... this is my private territory and place of residence, you have no right to turn it into a mission site... Regarding this, I''ll keep complaining to the Zhentarim Association..."


    Disdainfully, the masculine guy saying,


    "What are you scared of? Afraid your petty tricks would be discovered by the association? Hahaha... don''t forget, you''ve just been stationed here and this piece of land is still owned by the Sarubo Family. Now that the head of the Sarubo family has agreed to open this place up, can you stop him? Let me give you a friendly reminder, you better hurry up and clean up your mess. Don''t let those inspection Mages find your dirty secrets!"


    After saying that, the masculine man turned around and swept his eyes over the Apprentices waiting in front of the Tower. An ''as expected'' expression appeared on his face.


    "So, this is the result of you garrisoning this place for twenty years? Three half-Advanced Apprentices and not a single Pseudo-Mage! En, that little Vampire does seem to have potential, but why is her foundation so weak? I can smell that she is still acclimating to her bloodline!" With his sharp vision, the masculine man ran his eyes over the few Advanced Apprentices. Those who met his eyes would feel a prickling pain and quickly lower their gaze.


    The guy had briefly looked at Bleia, said a little, and moved on. He didn''t even look at Fatal shot and went straight to Worm controller. The moment he saw Worm controller, a disgusted and disdaining expression covered his face. Only after he saw Super girl, a girl with a similar body structure to him, did his expression relax.


    As for all the other Intermediate and Beginner Apprentices, the guy simply turned a blind eye to them, not showing the slightest interest in checking on them.


    "Looks like the association should''ve made this place a mission site long ago. Look at you. After being stationed here for so long, and you were only able to cultivate three advanced Apprentices?"


    "Let me emphasize this one more time. This place is my private territory. According to the aLeonent signed between me and the head of Sarubo family, I..." The gloomy faced Mage Eclivel was still raging.


    "Haha... you better tell that to the association! My mission is to bring all the Apprentices of various mission sites to their respective destinations. I am not troubling with any other matters. Oh right, I heard you had taught a lesson to Deborah''s apprentice a few days ago? That woman said she is not finished with you..." Delighting in Mage Eclivel''s future misfortunes, the guy grinned evilly.


    "That crazy woman, Deborah? She dared to say that? Her apprentice intruded on my resource site and wreaked havoc. If not for Deborah''s sake, I would have used that little wretch as an experimental specimen... I only gave her a petty punishment, and that crazy woman still wants to look for trouble..." As he mentioned this, Mage Eclivel''s face filled with rage.


    "A petty punishment? I heard that you planted a Blood Worm in her body, and nearly sucked all that little girl''s blood essence out? She is a valuable individual that possesses an innate talent for spatial magic, and also the only one who has been found in the past hundred years of the House of Fragrance. Why would Deborah not be angry with you? Also, they said you had given a good torture to the other two apprentices, which made their mentors very angry. In my opinion, you''d better be very careful the next time you leave this swamp!"


    "You think I''m afraid of them? If they are capable, let them come to this Magical Swamp! I, Eclivel, have never feared anybody!"


    The masculine guy laughed, then ignored ''tough guy'' Eclivel and turned to face the awaiting apprentices.


    "This ship is going to Erathia, Bracada, and Dagon. Apprentices who are going to attend missions in these places, board the ship now. If you miss this ship, you''re going to travel by foot. For those apprentices who don''t arrive at their respective mission site on time, the association will revoke their Apprentice status!"


    Leon was shocked, but he quickly calmed himself.


    The mission he ''chose'' was located in the Dagon region. It looked like he was among the first batch of apprentices to leave this Magical Swamp. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the masculine man waved his hand, a couple dozen apprentices started hurrying towards the flying ship, carrying simple luggage on their backs. Walking along a wood plank lowered from the ship, the group boarded this mystical vehicle in an orderly manner.


    The spacious deck of the ship was crowded with people. Judging from their dress, all of them were Apprentice Mages as well.


    As late comers, when the apprentices of Swampy Tower boarded the deck, they were welcomed with countless demeaning gazes and criticisms. Although none of them could hear what was said, but, just from their disdainful expressions and exaggerated tones, clearly they were not saying anything positive.


    Since all three destinations of this ship were advanced mission sites, the majority of the passengers were Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices. There were even a few Pseudo-Mages with extraordinary bearing hidden among them. On the flip side, most of the Swamp Tower apprentices who boarded the ship were Intermediate Apprentices, and only three of them were at the Advanced Apprentice level: Super girl, Worm controller, and Bleia.


    When Leon followed the group and boarded the ship, the crowd suddenly heated up.


    "What? A Beginner Apprentice is going to an advanced mission site? Is he looking to die?"


    "Yeah... I bet he must be an idiot that performed too many experiments on himself!"


    "Perhaps he will piss his pants when we arrive!"


    "..."


    Countless discussions were resounding across the deck. Anyone who saw Leon would have a disbelievable expression come over their face, as if they had suddenly discovered an underground dwarf in a kingdom of giants.


    Leon''s expression went rigid for a second, but he had no choice but to lower his head and followed the group to a corner of the deck.


    Intentionally or unintentionally, even the apprentices of the Swamp Tower, including Super girl and few others, kept a distance from Leon. Bleia didn''t move away, and she still stood firmly beside Leon, responding to those ill-intentioned gazes with her normal, overbearing manner.


    For some unknown reasons, Fatal shot actually chose an orange mission. Thus, he hadn''t boarded this flying ship.


    As the crowd was measuring up the newcomers, the masculine man boarded the ship once again. Throwing a fierce gaze at all the Apprentice Mages, he saw Bleia and Leon being isolated by the crowd, and his gaze paused.


    "Why is there a Beginner Apprentice here? Didn''t those old men who released the compulsory mission label them correctly?" Muttered to himself, then, with a serious expression, he continued speaking, "I don''t care which institute or region you are from, as long as you are on this ship, you better behave for me. Arriving at your destination safely is the only request I have for you. If anyone dares to cause trouble on the ship, don''t blame me for being cruel!"


    As a powerful Body Refining Mage, when the masculine guy made no effort to hide his strength, a powerful aura came from his body, making all the Apprentice Mages tremble.


    "You live on the deck, and no one is allowed to step into the cabin. Anyone who disobeys the order will be thrown off the ship. You hear me?" Sweeping his fierce gaze around, when the masculine man saw the crowd remaining silent, like cicadas in cold weather, he felt satisfied. He retracted his aura and entered the cabin.


    Following this, loud yells from dozens of boatmen, who dressed like sailors, the flying ship trembled, and a loud buzzing noise came from the bottom of the ship. At the same time, a pressure started building on all the apprentices.


    The ship gradually ascended into the sky.


    Looking at the people on the ground getting smaller and smaller, Leon was struck with a brief thrill. He was finally going to the outside world.


    There was no hypocritical affection between Apprentice Mages, hence, Leon had no intention to wave goodbye from the side of the ship. But he saw a female apprentice of the Swamp Tower rushing alongside the ship, continually waving her hand at someone down below while crying.


    This made all the Apprentices on board look at her with disdain.


    ...


    1867 Words

 Chapter 46 - 46: Traveling

    The flying ship streaked through the air, leaving a cloud-like trail of Wind Elementium behind it.


    Anything on the ground, no matter if it was a human, a beast, or a tree, had become a tiny little black dot. Even the magical swamp, which Leon had spent the past six years in, just looked like a filthy pond covered by a dense fog.


    After staying in the magical swamp for so long, Leon felt that the outside world was quite strange.


    After the ship ascended to cruising altitude, Leon walked over to the ship''s side to have a good look at the land below. Asides from the magical swamp, Leon saw a few human villages and a small city.


    There were pale yellow wheat fields everywhere, each decorated here and there with thumb-size windmills. On the road, which stretched on and on like a silver belt, he could also see some ant-sized coaches.


    The flying ship was heading South.


    The further South they got, the greener the earth became, but human activities were still rare. Whenever they approached a human colony, Leon could always see vast, thick forests around it, and the lively activities of the wild beasts within them.


    This was the current situation on the Mage Mainland.


    Every human colony was surrounded by a boundless virgin forest and savage woods. Countless wild beasts, demonic beasts, and demons were living within them. The human forces of the colony could deal with those ordinary wild and demonic beasts, but when they were forced to face those strange and unpredictable demons, they would have to rely on the help of more powerful forces.


    And these forces were, obviously, Mages.


    As powerful individuals possessing supernatural powers, Mages were the true masters of this land. Although they had ceased to be normal humans, most official Mages were willing to contribute part of their strength to allow ordinary humans to continue live and multiply in this land.


    Ordinary human society was like the sheep living in captivity, and the Mages were the shepherds who looking after these ranches, looking forward to new blood joining their ranks. In the eyes of ordinary humans, Apprentice Mages like Leon had powerful, mystical, and bizarre abilities, but in the eyes of official Mages, they were still just ants. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As long as they hadn''t crossed the threshold and become an official Mage, these apprentices were still creatures that couldn''t be mentioned in the same breath with official Mage.


    As he saw the world unfolding in front of his eyes, his desire to become stronger rose in Leon''s mind alongside a sense of urgency.


    Although he had poured forth a lot of effort recently, that was more because of habit and had been required for survival. But today the desire of becoming stronger actually came from the bottom of his heart.


    This was a mysterious, profound, and strange world, totally different from the Earth, where he had come from. Back on Earth, the strength of an individual was insignificant, and one could only grow stronger by relying on the strength of the masses. But in this world, which had an ocean of magical energy, the strength of an individual had great meaning. Things that couldn''t be achieved on Earth were possible here.


    For the first time, Leon couldn''t restrain his desires. He wanted to stand at the pinnacle of this world with his own strength, so he could the real shape of the world. Perhaps this was the why the mighty Will of the Mage World had drawn him from Earth, a world where no magic existed, into this world of advanced magic.


    A bitter wind scraped it way up the side of the ship.


    Although the deck was protected by a Barrier, sparing these apprentices from the brunt of the gale-force winds, the temperature was still very low on deck.


    Leon only had a Physique of 5. Obviously, he couldn''t withstand the changing temperature with his body alone, thus, he pulled his robe tight to keep warm. Bleia was still wearing her same iconic thin red chiffon dress, exposing a large amount of her fair skin, yet she didn''t seem to feel the chilling breeze.


    With more than 10 Physique, an Apprentice Mage would never be affected by the temperature changes caused by the seasons. For Leon, it was a freezing wind, but for Bleia, it was just a rather cool breeze. When an Apprentice Mage had more than 15 Physique, those ordinary harsh environments would no longer be impossible places to live.


    Beyond 20 Physique was a frightening level that only Body Refining Mages could attain. If someone really reached that level, he would be tough to kill even by being thrown into a pit of lava or an extremely cold abyss.


    Although much weaker than Body Refining Mages, Principle Mages would also gain some resistance to the elements when became official Mages.


    As it was his first time seeing it, the scenery outside of the ship was indeed breathtaking, and was too beautiful to be absorbed all at once. But after looking at it for quite some time, it became boring. Thus, Leon laid out a cloth and invited Bleia to sit together with him, stealthily measuring the crowd with his eyes as he did so.


    He had a feeling when he boarded the ship that he was the only Beginner Apprentice on board. Now, through the passive probing with his Elementium Vision, he was able to get a clearer understanding of the situation.


    Striking red glows, which represented danger, were spread out amongst the crowd. There were even a few people who glowed purple, which meant extreme danger.


    The Chip quickly presented the actual statistics of the crowd to Leon.


    There were a total of 317 Apprentice Mages on board. 11 Pseudo-Mages, 92 Advanced Apprentices, and the rest were Intermediate Apprentices. Leon was excluded from the statistics.


    Those Pseudo-Mages were the big shots among the population of Apprentices. Each of them was surrounded by a large group of opportunists. But, the relationship between these Pseudo-Mages was cold and detached, as if there was a clear distinction between them, and no one wanted to communicate with the other.


    Actually, this was understandable.


    At their current level, as long as they could break through the frightening barrier, they would be able to have a meteoric rise, becoming supreme existences that stood out from the crowd. At that point in time, these opportunists surrounding them would become disgusting flies, which they would never take seriously.


    They were not willing to spend time in making friendly contacts with other Pseudo-Mages at the same level. After all, there was a huge risk they had to face during the ceremony of becoming an official Mage. If the Pseudo-Mage they had established a friendly relationship failed in breaking through the barrier, then the previous investment of affection would be wasted. At that point in time, one person was an official Mage, while the other was still an apprentice, and so they wouldn''t be able to communicate as peers.


    As for a true relationship, they could totally have it after both became official Mages. Presumably, no newly promoted Mage would reject a friendly relationship with same level Mages!


    Therefore, influenced by such proud and aloof, yet narcissistic mentalities, all eleven Pseudo-Mages had divided into their own factions, each showing no intention of communicating with others. The lively communication between Advanced Apprentices was in sharp contrast with the Pseudo-Mages.


    Across various groups of all sizes, Advanced Apprentices were the group had the liveliest and most frequent communication. While the Intermediate Apprentices, who was also the largest group, kept silent or simply agreed with what other people said. They were like green plants that accented the beauty of red roses, insignificant and unworthy of being mentioned.


    By contrast, Bleia, who quietly sitting beside Leon had become the perfect target for a friendly relationship. Even a few male Pseudo-Mages were peeking at her.


    A female Advanced Apprentice who excelled in both appearance and body shape, even though she always wore a cold and aloof expression, she still attracted frequent glances from many male Apprentices.


    "Don''t you want to make a few friends?" Trying hard to hold his smile, Leon continued whispering, "I can tell many of them really wish to get to know you!"


    Bleia opened her green eyes and swept across the crowd. She chuckled disdainfully, then said, "Too bad, I have no interest in their filthy blood. If they bother me, I''ll let them know how the Bloody Queen handles annoyances!"


    "Bloody Queen? Is this a nickname you came up with yourself?" Leon chuckled, "That''s rather appropriate. I wonder when I will have the honor of experiencing it?"


    "You?" Bleia coolly gazed at Leon''s face with her beautiful eyes, saying, "You''ll have to work really hard for that!"


    After that, she stretched her curvy body, laid on her side, and placed her head on Leon''s lap, started her daily meditation.


    Leon sighed softly.


    After hearing her words, he realized that had definitely come from Bleia''s heart.


    From the day they stepped onto the path of becoming Mages, strength became the only measurement of status. When looking for a lover, even if Bleia had a favorable impression of Leon, the huge difference between their strengths had become a gap, and Bleia didn''t want a ''partner'' who was too weak.


    Leon had a feeling that, if he had pushed for it, Bleia wouldn''t mind playing with him in bed. But if she was truly looking for a partner to spend the rest of her life with, Leon was only a weakling in her eyes, and would never be a candidate in his current state.


    This cold reality watered down the joy of having a beauty sleeping on his lap. Leon shook his head and smiled wryly. Then he took a book out from his luggage and started to read.


    But as he read, he thought. ''Well, when I rape her, it won''t matter!''


    In the current situation, where everyone was talking, meditating was rather rude. Therefore, Bleia had used meditation to isolate herself from the crowd, avoiding the trouble that came from rejecting their invitations. It was actually a rather brilliant method, but now Leon had become her temporary guardian, and had to endure hostile glances from the crowd.


    Worm controller had sat down cross-legged near Leon and Bleia. His face was covered with a hood, making sure that nobody could see his current expression.


    No matter what, there was no serious resentment between him and Leon. He set the trap for Leon out of a dispute caused by personal feelings. If not because he had promised Brandon, the new Apprentice leader, that he would protect his safety, Brandon would never have had the guts to provoke Bleia.


    Regarding how he felt about setting this trap, perhaps Worm controller had no feelings at all.


    In his mind, Leon was just a roadside ant that he could kill at anytime. Not worth his time remembering. Perhaps, when he returned to the Swamp Tower after finishing his compulsory mission, the person with the name ''Leon'' would have long since vanished, never to be seen again.


    Therefore, For Worm controller, Leon had never been his enemy. Only Bleia was qualified to be his enemy.


    ...


    1870 Words

 Chapter 47 - 47: Continuing the journey

    Life on the flying ship was monotonous and boring.


    Though there was magnificent scenery underneath, it eventually got boring, causing some to even turn a blind eye to it.


    As the deck was packed with over three hundred apprentices, it was not a comfortable place to stay. But fortunately, around noon the next day, the flying ship had arrived at the first mission site, in the Erathia region.


    It was a stronghold built in the middle of the mountains, fully surrounded by dangerous high peaks that stretched far into the sky. Clouds were floating within deep valleys, making sure no one could peak through them and get a glimpse at the ground below. The flying ship docked at a massive thirty-meter-tall tower in the center of a stronghold.


    The entire tower was built with huge logs, all of each were at least half a meter thick. Although it looked rough and simple, it had a touch of solidarity that would give one the feeling that nothing could destroy it.


    The flying ship didn''t land on the ground, but hovered on the side of the tower. A wood plank was placed between the ship and the tower, allowing apprentices to leave the ship. Wind Elementium was swirling around the flying ship violently, creating a small windstorm. Therefore, all apprentices who needed to disembark here would have to withstand the strong wind as they walked along the trembling wood plank before arrived at the top of the tower. As the result, when each and every single apprentice walked on the wood plank, their heart was trembling just like the wooden plank.


    Lying on the side of the ship, Leon glanced down beneath the flying ship. He saw numerous hardworking figures within the stronghold.


    No matter whether it was the masculine guy carrying huge wooden logs and walked through the empty field, or the guards who had bows and arrows on their back and spear in hand as they patrolled the top of the outer wall, the majority of them were not human. Some had the heads of lions, some had the heads of tigers, and others the heads of wolves. They were not human.


    Humans only accounted for a small portion of the population of this place, and most of them were supervisors.


    Looking at these weak human supervisors, a few of whom were waving their whips and yelling at a ferocious looking ''beast man'', who was far larger than them, Leon couldn''t help but be impressed with their courage. Judging from the muscles of these beast-men, perhaps even without using any weapon they could easily squeeze and crush these supervisors'' head with a single hand! However, these supervisors showed no signs of fear, instead, they held their heads high, yelling and scolding these beast men as if they were lowly ants.


    Also, from time to time, people wearing the gray robe of Apprentice Mages would appear around the stronghold. Their status was clearly higher than the human supervisors. Wherever they went, those human supervisors would bow to them act in a flattering manner, while the masculine, tall beast men would have frightened expressions appear on their faces as they clumsily bowed to the Apprentice Mages.


    Most likely these beast men were slaves brought from some secondary Planes which had been conquered by Mages! No wonder they were acting so tame!


    Leon suddenly realized something.


    Although these beast-men had great physical strength and constitution, and tall, muscular bodies, they didn''t possess any supernatural powers. So, they didn''t have any way of countering apprentice Mages who had mastered mystical forces. Perhaps, even a beginner apprentice could kill dozens of beast men without too much trouble. That''s was probably the reason why they were so respectful to apprentice Mages.


    Actually, this place was considering a small mission site, and only around twenty to thirty apprentices left the ship. Most of them were intermediate apprentices, and two were advanced apprentices. No Pseudo-Mages left the ship.


    Soon, under the submissive yet numbed glances of countless beast men, the flying ship once again ascended into the sky, flying along the steep and rough mountains as it continued heading South.


    ...


    After passing countless mountains and rivers and a vast virgin forest that stretched tens of thousand miles, the flying ship finally arrived at another human colony. The slope of the terrain gracefully flattened out, and large scale of human activities could be found around the place. But too bad, as most of the mission sites picked by Zhentarim Association were at the borders of the colony, the ship never went too deep into the heart of the Erathia region. Instead, it turned its nose, started to fly along the edge of the colony.


    Over the next two days, the ship visited five mission sites. Nearly half of the apprentices had left the ship by this point. The third day after Leon boarded the ship, it adjusted its course to South West and left the Erathia region, quickly approaching the Bracada region.


    Compared to the warm sunny days in Erathia, Bracada was simply a world covered by freezing snow.


    As the flying ship entered the region, the greenery started to diminish, being quickly replaced by a boundless land of white snow.


    Pure white snowflakes were swirling in the air as the temperature started to drop significantly.


    Some apprentices with high Physique still had their shirt loosened, happily exposed their ripped muscles. On the flipside, those with low Physiques had pulled their robes tight, using all kind of methods to keep warm.


    As Leon only had a Physique of 5, he hadn''t reached the level where he could ignore this extreme cold. Hence, he summoned Fire Elementium and had it hover around his body, warming him up.


    But fortunately, the flying ship never visited the deepest area of this realm of ice and snow, but kept flying along it''s edge. It visited three snowy remote towns along its way, and, by the end, had dropped off most of the apprentices.


    As the flying ship turned its nose and adjusted its course to fly East, there were less than fifty apprentices left on the deck. Five Pseudo-Mages, twenty-seven advanced apprentices, thirteen intermediate apprentices, and the one and only beginner apprentice, Leon.


    After spending a couple of days on the ship, with regards to the world outside the Magical Swamp, Leon was no longer as ignorant as before.


    The world Leon was currently living in was an Mage World named ''Lethon''.


    Throughout the entire multiverse, the Plane of Lethon was a rather rare major scale Plane. It was a Plane with a single political system, led by Mages, which made it a pure Mage world. Their enemies were other major scales Planes. For example, the Plane of the Gods, which was guarded by deities; the Plane of the Dragon, which was protected by Divine Dragons; The Plane of the Gnomes, which was a highly advanced mechanical civilization; The Dark Plane, which was filled with foul demons and evil spirits...


    All major scale Plane had mature civilizations. The Mage World of Lethon had established a complete framework for Mage development, with it, batch after batch of qualified and powerful Mages were cultivated. Afterwards, they used these new Mages to expand their territory, invading intermediate and small-scale Planes.


    In order to seize the resources and intellectual property of different Planes, there would be violent conflicts and wars between all major Planes. Therefore, if one wanted to describe it, the Mage World was a powerful and aggressive civilization that loved engaging in wars.


    This was the current state of the Mage World''s foreign ''policies''. Internally, there wasn''t a single clan powerful enough to unify all the Mages. Thus, according to territories and regions, many clans of Mage had formed. Among them, four of them held the most dominate positions.


    The Northern Witches occupied the northern region of the Mage Mainland, controlling a land that covered more than six million square kilometers, which was then divided into dozens of human kingdoms of all sizes. The rulers and nobles of these kingdoms were ordinary humans, but they all recognized the Northern Witches as the guardians of their kingdoms.


    In fact, whenever a mighty female Fourth Grade Mage came into power amongst the Northern Witches, she would call upon a group of followers and venture out into the vast wilderness, blazing her way through all manners of obstacles and established a great kingdom that would only belong to her.


    Relying on the constantly emerging, powerful female Mages, the Northern Witches were constantly fighting for living space in this savage world. Whenever a new kingdom was born, and a magnificent Mage Tower was built, it also meant that another Female Mage has risen to power.


    The Northern Witches were experts in Curses and Prophesy, thus they were all Principle Mages.


    The South West side of the Mage Mainland was mainly the territory of the Silver Alliance.


    Strictly speaking, it was the haven for Profound Mages.


    The Silver Alliance was made from a group of Profound Mages who were notable for always wearing silver robes. Using alchemical knowledge and resources gathered from countless Planes, they constructed a magnificent and majestic floating city in the sky and countless fortresses which they used to invade new Planes.


    In brief, most of the crafted weapons used by the Mage World when invading new Planes were supplied by the Silver Alliance. They were like a group of crazy, yet amazing, engineers, machinists, and alchemists. Using massive amounts of resources and tremendous knowledge, they invented all sorts of creatively crafted machines, providing the Mage World with powerful devices.


    The eastern region of the Mage Mainland was the territory of the United Mage Association. Nearly all kinds of Mages could be found in this association. By utilizing a systematic cultivation road map, and a shareable knowledge system, it had attracted many Mages who possessed powerful abilities. These Mages had formed an association governed by strict rules, yet emphasizing impartiality. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Aside from these three major Mage associations and clans, within the center of the Mage Mainland, which was also the region with the densest population, there was a rather loosely organized Mage association: The Zhentarim Association. Honestly speaking, unlike the other three major Mage forces, the Zhantarim Association didn''t have a clear direction of development or core bond between its members. It was more like a consortium of Mage families.


    Actually, it had something to do with how Mage forces were distributed in the center of the Mage Mainland.


    The center region of Mage Mainland was a vast land with abundant resources, but the human colonies here were scattered. Each human colony was a small kingdom, usually guarded by at least one Mage family. Therefore, the center region was made up by many Mage Families.


    In order to counter the invasion from all three major Mage forces toward the center region, Mage families of all sizes had grouped together and formed the Zhantarim Association, combining their might to ensure they maintained their place in the world.


    Therefore, the Mage forces that Zhentarim Association could call upon were definitely stronger than the other three surrounding forces, making them the strongest of the three. But, unfortunately, as the internal workings of the Zhantarim Association were quite loose, and there were too many different families, which prompted many internal rivalries, whenever they were in a battle, the Zhentarim Association could never be as effective as the other three major forces.


    In light of this, the newly elected top management of the Zhantarim Association had decided to strengthen the intensity of their Apprentice Mage training, and thus Leon was forced to face this dangerous training mission.


    ...


    1945 Words

 Chapter 48 - 48: Arrival

    According to the annals of the Mage Mainland, the Zhentarim Association controlled thirty-one regions. The smallest region covered seven to eight hundred thousand square kilometers, while the largest occupied more than a million square kilometers. It was a boundless area rich in resources. These areas contained 60% of the entire Mage Mainland''s population.


    Leon''s mission site was located in the Kerala mountain range, northeast of the Dagon region.


    After discovering an entrance to the Underground, the Zhentarim Association had constructed an Mage Tower nearby, and sent a powerful Second Grade Mage to guard it. Ninth Grade was the highest rank in the Mage hierarchy, so a Second Grade Mage sounded like a weak entity, hardly capable of shouldering such an important task, but, as a matter of fact, within the Mage Mainland, which was the source of most of the Mage population, the highest grade Mage one could get in touch with, or even hear about, was a Fourth Grade Mage.


    Even for Zhentarim Association, the highest grade Mages on duty were Fourth Grade Mages. As for all the higher graded Mages, rumors said they had left the Mage World, to explore and conquer worlds in the vast ocean of stars.


    This had led to the current power structure of the Mage Mainland: First Grade Mages were crazily gathering knowledge and enriching themselves so they could grow, and were the most numerous grade of Mage across all the major clans; Second Grade Mages were the backbone of all different institutes, and most of them were able to undertake tasks alone; Third Grade Mages could gather a group of followers and build themselves a small Mage clan or family.


    As for Fourth Grade Mages, they were powerful entities that all major clans wanted. Of course, if a Fourth Grade Mage had the will, he could always explore a new region and establish an Mage kingdom that belonged to himself.


    Therefore, the ranking of all Mage associations and clans were based on the number of Fourth Grade Mages they had.


    As for the Fallen Mages in the Underground, Second Grade was as high as they went. Thus, by sending a Second Grade Mage to stand guard at the Mage Tower, it was more than possible to resist surprise attacks from those Fallen Mages.


    No matter what, the war between these official Mages was not something an apprentice Mage like Leon could involve themselves in. So, this mission was more about investigating the distribution and activities of the underground creatures, and noting signs of Fallen Mage activity.


    Whether intentionally not, within the shallow area of the Underground Cave, the most active Mages presence were the apprentice Mages cultivated by the Fallen Mages. Also, the Zhentarim Association rarely sent official Mages into that area. The missions were mostly carried out by apprentice Mages.


    Therefore, not surprisingly, this place had become a slaughterhouse for apprentice Mages, as brutal battles happened nearly every day. A lot of Apprentice Mages had gone through life and death battles here, hardening themselves for their futures.


    ......


    When the flying ship started descending to the mission site, Leon was shocked by what he saw.


    Their mission site was actually a small city.


    Considering their proximity to the Underground Cave, from time to time, rare resources from underground would be found and traded here. So, upon introspection, it wasn''t actually that strange for so many merchants and black market ''tradesmen'' to be found in this place.


    As the flying ship landed on a large square outside of the city, a man could be seen waiting for them. He had an uncaring expression on his face, and reeked of the smell of blood. Judging from his Spirit Energy, he was an Advanced Apprentice.


    While staring at the five people coming down from the ship, this man wore a strange smile on his face, portraying a disdainful and proud look, like an experienced veteran looking down on some weak rookies. But when he saw the masculine Mage jump off the ship, he retracted all unnecessary expressions and bowed respectfully.


    "Alright, alright! Save yourself the trouble. This batch of apprentice Mages is for you. You guys better use them carefully. The next batch will come in two months time. If you kill them all, it will cause trouble, and you will have issues with the Association!" The masculine man waved his hand unconcernedly, pushing the last five Apprentices off the ship, like shooing chickens.


    "Don''t worry, master Sammir. The underground activities have been rather calm lately, and it has been more than two weeks since our patrol team has encountered any of those black bastards. Oh, the ''Black Wood Lotus'' and ''Night Eyes Stone'' you ordered have been prepared, and are waiting for you." The ferocious looking male apprentice smiled politely as he said this.


    Finally, Leon and the other apprentices knew the name of this Body Refining Mage, Sammir.


    "En. You go ahead and settle these new apprentices, I''ll make a trip to the city. After you are done with them, find me at Old Kerry!" Without waiting for the male apprentice to reply, Mage Sammir strode off into the distance.


    As the rest bowed as master Sammir left, only the ferocious looking male apprentice stood tall.


    "All of you, follow me!" The male apprentice quickly ran his eyes over these five apprentices. His expression didn''t change when saw the two Pseudo-Mages, but frowned when he saw Leon, "My name is Kevin. You can call me Black-hand Kev."


    It was a rather simple introductory, but judging from his proud undertone, it seemed he preferred his nickname over his real name.


    "Black-hand Kev? Don''t tell me you have a brother called White-hand?" A young man laughed. He was wearing a short yellow robe, and numerous magical items could be seen on his exposing skin. He was one of the Pseudo-Mages, and, obviously, he was dissatisfied that this ''Black-hand'' Kevin didn''t respect him.


    Surprisingly, the Pseudo-Mage started preparing a spell to strike out at the ''rude'' Black-Hand Kev.


    Nearly at the same moment he began to chant, Black-hand Kevin disappeared. In next second, a vague figure appeared behind that young Pseudo-Mage. Each of his hands held a dagger. Black-Hand Kev aggressively leaped toward the Pseudo-Mage.


    As a Pseudo-Mage with 20 Spirit, even the slightest changes in his surroundings could be detected. Although he was shocked by Kev''s sudden strike, that didn''t stop this young Pseudo-Mage from reacting.


    A series of zapping noises rang through the air, as a blue colored electrical defensive web appeared behind his back. The Pseudo-Mage remained calm and turned around, shooting out two thick lightning beams from both of his palms, aiming right at the advanced apprentice who was surrounded by an electrical web.


    "BUZZZZZZ~~"


    Right at the very moment when he was launching the attack, this Pseudo-Mage hesitated.


    This was the first time here, and he was about to kill a ''teammate''? That might get him into trouble!


    When he was wondering whether he should reduce the strength of his ''Electro Charge'', a sharp pain suddenly came from his back, and a pitch-black dagger came out from his chest. Only now the vague figure who was struggling in the electrical web transformed, shattering, like glass in front of them. At the same time, a cruel and hoarse voice spoke into his ears.


    "In this place, Pseudo-Mage means nothing! Remember, next time, don''t make fun of that which you don''t know!"


    Finished speaking, Black-hand Kevin pulled the dagger out from the young Pseudo-Mage, took two steps back, and coolly gazed at him.


    The Pseudo-Mage''s face was bathed in sweat, due to pain. He was shocked by Black-Hand Kev''s great dexterity and preternatural swiftness. Suppressing the intense pain, he took a purple potion from his waist pouch, drank half of it and poured the other half into the wound on his chest. Strangely, in few seconds the punch-through wound healed, leaving nothing but bloody crust.


    The young Pseudo-Mage wiped off the blood crust, revealing smooth and fair skin underneath.


    "Hell!" Kevin whistled, "A Bloody Mary? You Pseudo-Mages do have a lot of good stuff, don''t ya! I should''ve given you a bigger wound just now! Now you know why they call me Black-hand Kevin, because I always like to attack the enemy''s back. Next time you are looking for trouble, remember to watch your back!"


    The suffering young Pseudo-Mage clenched his jaw tightly, but had no intentions of provoking him again. On the other side, the other Pseudo-Mage furrowed his brows, obviously, he too was startled by the aggressiveness of this place.


    But what really frightened these two men was not Kevin''s aggressiveness, but his bizarre ability.


    Firstly, he was not using any sort of spatial attack, or else, they would have sensed the ripple of the spatial. Secondly, it was also not a shadow clone technique, because there was no sign when Kevin revealed his true self at the end, and they could still sense the spirit ripple of him from the vague figure which served as a lure. How could that young Pseudo-Mage be deceived so easily?


    For the moment, the group was pondering what just happened in front of them, but no one had any clue on how Kevin did that. Though he was just an advanced apprentice, he was able to easily defeat a Pseudo-Mage. Of course, it was partially because it was a surprise attack, but more was because of Kevin''s unpredictable and strange magical ability.


    Before getting to the root of Kevin''s abilities, the young Pseudo-Mage decided not to agitate him anymore.


    Although Bleia was an assassin who fought in close combat with her high speed, she was unable to see how Kevin had done that. This made her knit her brows in a tight frown.


    While she was frustrated by this, Leon gently nudged her arm and mouthed the word: ''Illusion''.


    Perhaps only Leon could clearly saw the entire process of that extremely short battle.


    The Kevin''s ability was the rare ''illusion''.


    While all the other apprentice Mages were going after for more powerful magic spells, Kevin was emphasized on combining his innate magical ability and his own combat ability. Just now, using his illusion to deceive the enemy''s five senses, he never moved, but simply covered himself with an illusion.


    While the young Pseudo-Mage was deceived by the illusive figure, which looked like a real human, and turned his body around, he had exposed his defenseless back to Kevin, who was also an assassin who fought with his high Dexterity. Judging from the swiftness of his movement, Kevin''s Dexterity was just slightly lower than Bleia, perhaps around 13 to 15.


    If a guy like this was moving with his full speed, without Elementium Vision, perhaps Leon couldn''t even find out where he actually was, let alone counter the full force of his attacks.


    Thus, among all Body Refining Mage, a high agility assassins like Bleia and Kevin, were the biggest threat to apprentices who fought with offensive magic spells.


    ... S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    1833 Words

 Chapter 49 - 49: Meeting

    Led by Black-hand Kevin, the group of Apprentices soon arrived at a rather shabby stone room located on the first floor of the Mage Tower. There, they finally met the other mission members.


    Out of ten apprentices who signed up for the Underground Cave investigation mission, three of them were Pseudo-Mages. They were Leo, from the Mushroom Forest of the Rofen region, Sabrina, from the Tracy family of the Woodrow region, and Marcus from the Black Forest Institute of the Sidney region. Leo was the young Pseudo-Mage who was wounded by Kevin previously.


    As for the six advanced apprentices, Shila, Matthew, Leander, Bleia, Isaac, and Bruce, four were male and two female, and they all came from different regions and families. The magical spells they studied were different in a thousand ways, but now, because of the mission, they were grouped together in this room.


    As for Leon, the only beginner apprentice within the group, he was elbowed out from their interactions, as if he never existed. As one of the members of a ten man team, no doubt Leon''s existence would lower their overall strength. Thus, when facing Leon, no one would give him face.


    And there was no way Leon could explain why he was here. So, he just kept his mouth shut and listened to their conversation, all the while secretly having the Chip gather basic information on these people.


    All ten apprentices were brought here via three different flying ships. The earliest had arrived two days ago and, after spending a few days in this Mage Tower, they were rather familiar with this place. Hence, they were now briefly talking about the details of the mission site.


    But as they were talking, a middle-aged male Mage wearing a white robe and a pointy hat, rushed into the stone room.


    "Looks like all of you are here. This is perfect, I don''t have to explain this for the second time. Wait, why there is a beginner apprentice here? Alright, alright, this must be the mistake by the old fools of the association. Heh... since all of you are here, you will have to resign yourself to your fate! Those Hooked Horrors in the Underground are going to have a lovely feast..."


    A vicious grin followed his words, sending chills up everyone''s spines. But obviously, no one would dare refute his terrifying comment.


    "Fine, fine... apparently you''re a group of boring fellows, none of you even dare to get declare otherwise... but this may not be a bad thing, as you, likely, won''t get yourself killed in the dark underground because of your arrogance. The duration of this mission is six months, and the ten of you will be a team. Every ten days, you need to patrol the underground, and you''ll have to visit five inspection sites every time. They are all located in different locations."


    "Therefore, if you don''t want anything bad to happen to you, you''d better move in a full group of ten, following the provided route and inspecting these five mission sites in order. If you''re quick, you can complete it within five days, and then you''ll have five days to rest. Of course, you can split your team up, and that way you might even finish the inspection trip within two days. But if you bump into those black bastards in the underground area, you''re on your own. Hehehe..."


    The explanation of the mission brought unsightly expressions to all ten apprentices, but at this point, the middle-aged Mage introduced himself.


    "My name is Angus. You can come to my residence to complete the mission later. Remember, no matter what kinds of dangerous situations you encounter in the Underground, you''re on your own. No one will be there to save you. If you''re lucky and kill some stupid black bastards, remember to bring their heads back. You can exchange them for rewards from me!"


    "......"


    Faced with a group of silence apprentice Mages, this Mage Angus had no interest in providing further explanations. He turned around and quickly left. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now, there weren''t any outsider remaining in the room. The ten apprentices, who were thrown together by the compulsory mission, had no choice but to sit down together, beginning to discuss how were they going to complete the mission.


    The young female Pseudo-Mage, Sabrina, who had arrived two days earlier, became the primary source of information for the group. She began to explain the mission in greater detail.


    She had long dark hair, which flowed down to her waist. The left side of her face was covered with a silver mask, but the other side of her faced showed that she was a fairly pretty girl. But strangely, under the silver mask, her left eye was replaced with a mechanical mechanism. Her left arm was also mechanical. When she moved, metal noises could be heard coming from her body.


    All five mission sites were located fairly close to the surface, and the furthest one was around ten miles away from the entrance. If this distance was on the surface, it wouldn''t take more than seven to eight minutes for these few Pseudo-Mages to complete the patrol. But when it was in the underground world, this distance amounted to quite the challenge.


    From the entrance of the cave to the last mission site, the linear distance was ten miles. But, between them were rough mines, tunnels, rift valleys and large cracks. Asides from some rather safe routes, which had been found, the underground was filled with twisting and turning tunnels. If they followed the safe route, they should only bump into lesser underground creatures. But if they struck out in a random direction, perhaps all that would await them would be something nasty.


    "The first patrol will start in three days, so we need to come up with a detailed plan today. With that, we can prepare ourselves." Sabrina concluded her explanation of the mission with this, which brought deep frowns to everyone''s faces.


    Three days? This was such a short amount of time to prepare!


    "Did you guys forget that we have a burden on our team?" One of the male apprentices, Isaac, gazed at Leon discontentedly. Clearly, he wasn''t happy that Leon was dragging down the strength of the entire team.


    "I brought him here, I''ll be responsible for his safety!" Bleia''s green eyes brightened suddenly, glaring at Isaac as she spoke with a cold and stern voice.


    "If that is the case, I suggest we''ll split up for the mission. Let this beautiful lady bring her knight along. With this, we''ll be more efficient in completing the mission, and we''ll have more spare time to study and rest!" Isaac spoke with a cold grin.


    "Are you sure about this?" Sabrina shook her head, then said, "Don''t think that we can just ditch this burden. Since we''re a team, we need to take the whole situation into account and plan accordingly. Every time we patrol, if we miss two sites, our earnings will be cut in half, and if we miss three, we won''t receive any earnings at all. If two people are assigned to a mission site, of course we can complete the patrol quicker. But if a small team is too weak, they might not come back..."


    "What''s wrong? Are you feeling sorry for the rookie?" Obviously, Isaac had decided that someone on the team had to be the realist.


    "It''s not that I feel sorry for him, but, if we follow your suggestion, that also means we might need to complete the ten men mission with just eight of us the next time. And the time after that, we might need to complete it with just six of us. With this, even if you are strong individually, in the end, you might still end up getting killed while between all mission sites!" Sabrina spoke with a cold tone.


    Obviously, for the past two days, she had thoroughly studied their mission, and had clearly analyzed all the possible traps hidden within it.


    She felt she this was a dilemma!


    If they carried out the mission as a team, as all five mission sites were scattered in different locations, it would take them extra time to travel between them. But there was strength in numbers, and they could face all possible dangers with ease. If they split up, unavoidably, their overall strength would be diluted. If they were unlucky and had one or two small teams annihilated, they would suffer over the next few months!


    For the moment, everyone was lost in deep thought, and even Isaac, who was upset of Leon''s presence, kept his mouth shut.


    For any simple task flow, not only did they had to consider the time efficiency, they also had to give consideration to the balance of strength. Even if some Pseudo-Mage thought he had a superb ability and left his companions to die, he alone wouldn''t be able to complete the patrols by himself, and would tire out before the end of the mission.


    They had to carry out their mission underground, so no matter how strong an individual was, there was no way he could spend seven to eight days without resting. Wandering through the underground alone would never be as relaxing as having a group of people together. That''s the reason why the Mage association created this mission, not only was it was an assessment of their teamwork, but it also served as an examination of their individual combat abilities.


    "I think we should split up! All of us are here to train and improve ourselves. We''re not here to relax and enjoy ourselves. I''ll team up with Bleia, we should be able to handle one mission site, I have confidence in this." Leon spoke.


    Hearing what he said, many people silently breathed out sighs of relief.


    After all, if they had to bring a burden into the dark and bizarre Underground, even those three Pseudo-Mages would be troubled.


    "Alright, so be it. Everybody use the next two days to rest and prepare yourself with the items needed for our mission. Three days from now, we''ll meet up here." All three Pseudo-Mages couldn''t help but look at Leon, once again reconfirming that he was only a beginner apprentice. Obviously, that Sabrina intended to become the leader of this team, which is why she promptly concluded the meeting.


    Silently, everybody nodded their heads, then left the stone room one after the other.


    When they were the only ones left in the room, Bleia teasingly asked, "Why are you so sure I''ll team up with you?"


    "Heh. You want blood; I want demon core. We''ll split up any other materials we find later. There is no conflict in this, so it''s a win-win situation for the both of us." Leon stretched his right hand out towards the blood-loving girl with the green eyes.


    "Hmm! I want first pick of the loot!" Bleia placed her soft, fragile-seeming palm into Leon''s and shook his head. Then she turned around and left the room.


    They only had three days, and she needed to prepare a few more items. After becoming an apprentice Mage, this was the first time they had left the Magical Swamp, so Bleia decided to go for a walk...


    After the room became completely quiet, Leon closed his eyes, pretending he was thinking about something, while, in fact, he was communicating with the Chip in his mind.


    "Chip, have you gathered all the data on those people just now?"


    "Beep!"


    "Data sampling has been completed."


    "Transmitting..."


    Following a series of beeps, data starting flowing into his mind.


    ...


    ...


    This data really showed him nothing...


    Left speechless, Leon breathed out a long sigh. It looked like, without witnessing them actually fight, it would be really difficult for him to get data on the actual abilities of his teammates.


    ...


    1981 Words

 Chapter 50 - 50: Cave

    Within the dark underground tunnel, a perfect silence prevailed.


    Originally, there weren''t any routes in the Underground world. Only irregular rock fractures and water channels formed after thousands of years of water erosion. However, through the endless excavating efforts by many generations of underground creatures, the winding cave system with many chambers, large and small were interconnected by tunnels of all length, forming an awe-inspiring three-dimensional tunnel system that extended in all directions.


    There weren''t any straight paths down here, like the ones back on the on the surface. All the passages were meticulously excavated along rock fractures. Stretching through those ancient water channels, twisting and turning. Sometimes, when the walls between caves were relatively thin, you could hear sound from other passages, but they were still forced to travel a long, winding passage of tens of miles in complete darkness, before reaching their destination.


    Countless stalactites were hanging from the ceiling of caverns; stalagmites protruded unevenly from the damp floor. Water continually dripping down through the uneven rock formations, allowing for the ground to be damp and covered with moss.


    To be honest, when traveling in such an isolated and quiet environment, it was very easy to feel a creeping sensation. Thinking that just the few hundred tons of rocks and soil on top of your head could collapse at any time, and in turn, crushing you.


    Everyone was holding a torch in. The group of ten, including Leon, were formed in a long line, walking slowly and difficulty in the underground tunnel.


    The glow of their torches could only light up a region of five meters. From time to time a bone chilling breeze would squeeze out from some unseen cracks in the rock wall, causing the torches to flicker in the wind. The flickering projected their shadows on the other side of the rock wall.


    Although they had tried their best to keep complete silence while walking. But the indistinct noise of their footsteps and the sounds that came from their bodies scratching against the rock wall, all of them were still echoed far away in this dark and quiet tunnel. And, this would bring them so much more unexpected dangers in their journey later.


    After walking continuously for three hours, the team finally arrived at their first stop on the inspection route.


    Strictly speaking, the first three hours journey was just a small assessment before they truly entered the Underground Cave. The real starting point of their investigation and inspection mission started here.


    "Alright, this is where we split. Try your best to complete the mission as soon as possible, then we''ll meet back here again. I wish you all the best!" The clear and melodious voice of Sabrina became hollow in this oppressive cavern.


    Ten Apprentice Mages split into five small teams. All traveling to different sites to complete their own mission. The deepest mission site was taken care by Sabrina and Shila. Of course, no one would have any objection when she volunteered for the most dangerous mission, thus, they too had tacitly approved her leadership.


    As for the team of Leon and Bleia, although everyone was jealous, but they had no choice and gave them the easiest mission. Because if the rest of the group sought momentary satisfaction and gave Leon''s group a tougher mission, which eventually brought them to death. Next time, they would have to complete the ten person mission with only eight members.


    Every single person was wearing a thick black robe, which fully covered every single inch of their skin. This was to prevent their aura and body temperature from exposing their positions in the eyes of those underground creature who possessed infrared vision. After whispering wishes to each other, five small teams disappeared themselves into the darkness, heading to their respective destination.


    After split up, Leon and Bleia continued walking in the dark tunnel for nearly seven to eight minutes, then they stopped.


    Leon listened for any sound that might be audible. When he finally confirmed there wasn''t anything nearby, he casually killed off the torch in his hand. When the last glow of light faded into the darkness, a mystery and bizarre world was made revealed in front of Leon''s eyes.


    The illuminating mosses on the cave walls were glowing coldly in the dark. Drawing out a completely different yet bizarre scene in Leon''s eyes, which had temporarily been granted with the ability of low-light vision. Lit up by this faded glow, darkness gradually retracted, replacing by a mysterious world of glittering.


    The color of the cold, gruesome-looking cave wall was black, and the region where water gathered was gray. Within Leon''s Elementium Vision, besides from a large patch of green illuminating glow, the world in front of him was full of black and gray colors. However, hidden in a dark corner not far from where he stood, he could barely see a few creepy moving red dots.


    Red dots represents the leaking life force.


    Judging from the size of the red dots, they should be some tiny creatures. Perhaps Rock Scorpions or wall lizards.


    Leon turned around and saw Bleia. She was still wearing the same bright red chiffon dress, exposing a large area of her fair skin. But strangely, even though Leon was only three steps away from her, but he couldn''t sense any temperature that all living beings had. If just looking at her with infrared vision, perhaps Bleia was no different from a human shaped stalagmite.


    Alright, a Vampire''s ability was indeed unpredictable.


    With infrared vision, able to hide her vitality aura, and together with her supreme agility, the dark Underground was a perfect place for an assassin like her.


    Leon pulled down his hood, took up the lead and resumed their journey, walking along the winding rough slope in front of him. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Their mission site was near an underground pond located seven miles away. They might pass by a couple of Underground creature habitats along their way, but there wasn''t too much of a risk to worry. As long as they paid more attention to their surroundings, they should be able to walk passed them without any issue.


    ...


    Although both of them possessed powerful magical abilities, yet when traveling in The Underground world where dangers were everywhere even Bleia, who was an advanced apprentice, was still like a toddler who just started learning how to walk.


    Leon thought he had been well prepared, but before he reached one hundred meters from starting point, he was met with the first ambush in this Underground world.


    Yes, an ambush!


    When Leon was passing by a rock crack, a Rock Python who was hiding within it suddenly darted out, opening its stinking and ferocious mouth, biting toward his neck.


    "Bite~~" He was caught off guard.


    The cold, hard rock wall had provided a well cover for this Rock Python''s indistinct vitality aura. So, when Leon saw a red dot suddenly jumped into his vision, the venomous fangs of Rock Python had nearly reached his face.


    If Leon had 10 or above Agility, perhaps he could respond on time. But, his 4 Agility had severely limited his instinctive reflex, forcing him to shut his eyes in great fear while waiting for the brutal bite to hit him.


    A Rock Python wouldn''t kill him, but a painful wound was inevitable.


    A shrill whistling sound of object piercing through the air beside his ear.


    "Zosh~~"


    "Zap~~"


    Bleia, who was apparently walking behind of him second ago, suddenly jumped in front of him. With her fingers pointing like a blade, she sliced through the air with incredible speed. In just a split second, the Rock Python had been sliced into seven pieces.


    A pungent smell of blood filled the air within the tunnel.


    Leon took a few deep breathes, finally making his racing heart beats returned to normal. His body was wet with cold sweat. Damn Underground creatures, they sure knew how to pick a perfect spot to ambush!


    Although the tunnel was dark, Leon felt his face was burning.


    He was overconfident. A theory was always just a theory. He thought he had stored a huge amount of skills and experiences required for the adventure, but in real life there was always traps that he could never predict.


    After the first setback, two people exchanged their position.


    Nimble and noiseless, Bleia took the lead. No Underground creature that tried to ambush them could escape from her sharp magical weapon-like nails. Even if it was an extremely close range ambush, she could always slice the enemy into pieces with her supreme Agility.


    Thus, within just an hour, eleven Underground creatures were killed by her.


    Indistinctly, Leon heard the noise of creatures fighting from the tunnel far behind him. It seemed like a small scale of war was inevitable. In this Underground world, no matter how loud noise was or how small of a wound is, they were both a huge taboo. As both could easily lure bigger and more aggressive Underground creatures.


    Although with Bleia and Leon''s overall strength, they had no fear in these weak creatures, but they could still bring Leon and Bleia unnecessary troubles for their journey.


    The first real trouble occurred at the seventh hour after they entered the Underground world. A group of eleven Hooked Horrors struck them.


    Hook Horrors were widely distributed in all parts of Underworld world. They looked rather similar to a small dinosaur with its body fully covered in hard scales. When they stood straight, they reached the height of two meters. Although they weren''t considered a large creature, but they had a strong bone, and a mouthful of big, shining, sharp fangs. Their sticky saliva was dripping down from this brutal mouth, looking like they were going to have a big feast.


    Unlike other smaller creatures, they didn''t use ambush as their strategy, but patiently waited until Leon and Bleia entered their encirclement, only then did they steadily walked out from the darkness. Before seeing their body, Leon was greeted with pairs of pale yellow eyes.


    A hard-skin creature like this was tough to deal with, at least, Bleia''s sharp claws couldn''t penetrate their strong scales. Without hitting their armpit, eyes, or neck, the weak spots of their defense, Bleia''s attack was harmless to them. On the opposite, their slim but sharp upper limbs, located on their chests, could cause her devastating damage.


    Together with the tremendous slamming force that came from its heavy body, plus the Paralyze and Slowing effect that was innate to all Earth Elemental creatures, this all made it really tough for an ordinary Apprentice Mage to escape safely with such limited space.


    A wry smile emerged on Leon''s face, he shook his head, quickly took out two summoning cores and threw them onto a nearby dirt patch.


    Although majority of the underground tunnel was excavated on the solid rock wall, utilizing the hardness of the rock to prevent the tunnel from collapsing, but there was always dirt and sand to be found everywhere. Thus, Leon never lacked the material to shape his Clay Golems.


    A soundless roar rang through the air. The Demon Alligator Hunter gradually took its shape beside Leon.


    "Oh, good kid! You have a hidden trick!" Bleia''s voice came from the darkness.


    With Bleia''s 17 Agility, freeing herself from these Hooked Horrors was a piece of cake. If not because of Leon, it would just take her five seconds to pass through the enemy''s rather shabby encirclement.


    After a few failed random attacks at those Hooked Horrors, Bleia gave up trying. She returned to Leon, started to give an examining look at this new, strange golem.


    This... it seemed different from the one she saw last time! Could this clay alligator a new golem he obtained, after killed the Giant Alligator King? Apparently, this kid wasn''t as weak as she imagined!


    Filling her mind with countless questions, Bleia saw Leon walk up to the clay alligator''s back and sit down. Following a mild vibration, the clay alligator moved its huge body, crushing its way to those Hooked Horrors who starting to tighten up the circle.


    ...


    2021 Words

 Chapter 51 - 51: This golem is a real help

    The clay alligator charged forward, and, with the breeze it caused sweeping up dead leaves, it looked as if it were invincible.


    It was worth mentioning that the build of the Demon Alligator Hunter had entered the scope of large creatures. In comparison, the ferocious Hooked Horror was only considered a medium size creature.


    Fights between demon beasts always came down to strength, and no doubt, the size of their bodies was the most direct method of showing off their strength.


    Facing the charging Demon Alligator Hunter, the Hooked Horrors, who even Bleia couldn''t harm, had transformed into a group of terrified little bunnies putting up a deathbed struggle.


    "Smash~~"


    One after another they were thrown to the ground by the Demon Alligator, who used his powerful jaw to shred them into little pieces.


    "Bang~~"


    "Bang!!"


    At the same time, the hunter, who sat up high, kept throwing spears down. Each spear pinned the Hooked Horrors, who tried to leap onto the Demon Alligator''s back, to the ground.


    Although Hooked Horrors were also Earth Elemental creatures, which granted them immunity from the Earth Elemental damage brought by the Dirt Spear, they couldn''t escape from the brutal physical damage. Hence, while charging towards their enemy, many Hooked Horrors were nailed into the ground by the spear, putting up a useless struggle.


    A few of the lucky Hooked Horrors managed to land beside the Demon Alligator. They vented their anger by using the most powerful attacks they could muster. They tirelessly hit the thick, tough clay armour covering the top of the Demon Alligator''s body. They attacked aggressively.


    "Pow~~"


    "POWW~~"


    "BANG~~"


    Their scratching and biting caused dirt chunks to fall off continuously. But from time to time, an earthy yellow ring of light would burst out from the Demon Alligator''s body, bringing the Demon Alligator another layer of new clay armour.


    The hunter who sat high up would never let the enemies who tried to destroy the body of the Demon Alligator go. The dirt spears, that were fired from close range,


    penetrated the Hooked Horrors'' skulls instantly, making them fall to the ground while letting out miserably cries.


    In just ten minutes, this group of Hooked Horrors had been wiped out completely by the Demon Alligator Hunter.


    Once the battle was over, Leon started to clean up the battlefield. But the result, once again, made him scorn these Hook Horrors who died miserably. Even amongst this rather large group of wandering creatures, there wasn''t even a single demon core to be found. Leon hastily harvested some of the still intact razor sharp claws. After harvesting, Bleia and Leon climbed back up onto the Demon Alligator and ventured deeper into the Underground World.


    In around half day, the broken bodies of the Hooked Horrors they had left behind would be digested by other Underground creatures. The other creatures would be lured in by the smell of the dead bodies. Within the Underground world, there were plenty of ''natural scavengers'', as food was extremely scarce, and anything that could be eaten would not go to waste. These ''natural scavengers'' would wander around the dark and quiet Underground world all day looking for food that would cure their hunger.


    However, something happened that Leon hadn''t considered. Not long after they left the battlefield, a short stalagmite in a corner of the cave suddenly trembled and transformed into a weird-looking human figure who had, what seemed to be rock-like skin. It was staring blankly in the direction in which Leon and Bleia disappeared, seeming like a lifeless object. The creature then sent a strange wave forth and, by using a secret message, transmitted it far into the distance.


    Only after transmitting all the information, did the stone figure difficulty and slowly merge back together with the short stalagmite, leaving no trace that it was ever there. It was such a strange life form, that, even if Leon had the intention to find it, he would find it really hard to differentiate it from other ordinary stalagmites.


    ...


    Deep down in the Underground world, within a secret cave.


    A bonfire was brightly burning in the centre of the cave, spreading its toasty warmth throughout it. Four bizarre-looking figures, covered in black cloaks, were standing in a circle around the fire. They remained quiet, as if they were waiting for something.


    In order to prevent their aura from leaking out, the placed a thick, transparent barrier at the entrance of the cave.


    All of a sudden, a strange croaking sound was heard from one of the members.


    Apparently, this figure was female, as her arm, that stretched out from underneath the black cloak, was very slim. An extremely ugly toad was squatting in the middle of her palm. It kept letting out jarring, croaking sounds by squeezing and expanding its huge yet half-transparent stomach.


    "There is also activity detected in sector seven! Including sector four and five, which were triggered moments ago, this makes three sectors in total. We can be sure that they''re from the outside," The lady finally spoke.


    "Jajaja... We had just received the news that a group of delicious prey are coming from the outside, and now we''ve finally detected their whereabouts. What a bunch of fearless rookies! Since the triggering time of these few sites are so close to each other, they must have split up. Jajaja... this is the best news we''ve heard all day!" A sinister laugh came from another man in a black cloak.


    "Can you find anything out about the overall strength of each small team? I heard that there are a few Pseudo-Mages in this group? I just need one more Pseudo-Mage soul to complete my corpse puppet!" Another man in a black cloak spoke. From his lofty and domineering voice, it wasn''t hard to tell that this guy was the leader of this four-people group. This man also had the strongest treacherous undertone.


    "It is really tough to tell! After all, any overly aggressive spying methods would be easily detected by them. Therefore, the message I received only tells me that some


    creatures, who have fulfilled the preset requirements, passed by. However, we can''t confirm their actual strength and numbers," The same lady replied.


    "Hmm! Once they split up, they are not far from meeting their death. According to their tradition, most of them will probably form a two-person team, and, at most, a three people one. We have four people here and three of us are Pseudo-Mages. Can''t we capture one of their small teams?" Grinning hideously, the black cloak leader continued saying, "Let''s go to site number four first, as that''s the closest site from here. If everything goes smoothly, we can visit a few more sites afterwards, and try our best to capture few more teams!"


    "Let''s go!"


    The group put their words into action immediately. They were a group of people who handle things with resolute and cruel means. After a short discussion, they had given up this temporary camp and started squeezing their way out of the cave, relinquishing themselves to the eternal darkness outside.


    ...


    At the same time, Leon was enjoying a relaxed journey. He absolutely had no idea that great danger was approaching from a far distance.


    He and Bleia had become indifferent spectators who did nothing. The Demon Alligator Hunter alone was able to make a clean sweep of all Underground creatures who kept leaping out from the darkness. Marching and crushing all in their way, they had virtually turned this extremely dangerous mission into a relaxed and peaceful sightseeing trip.


    But, a discovery had brought all sorts of feeling to his mind. The Underground world was a place where all dirty things hid, and a place where different species crossbred with each other. All sorts of messy bloodlines could be found here.


    The aggressiveness and cruelty of these Underground creatures were stronger than those on the surface. Sometimes, even though they knew they were not the match of Leon and his minions, they still launched an attack on him.


    They attacked in such a way that they seemed to not take their own safety into consideration. In fact, some hunters only needed to throw their spear at the weaker charging creatures in order to kill them. As for those stronger creatures, before they could break up Demon Alligator''s tough clay armour, it''s sharp and powerful front legs would have crushed them into meat paste.


    Facing such an enormous creature, who could absorb Earth Elementium from the surrounding environment and continuously self-heal, these creatures'' attacks could never bring any threat. If they really wanted to defeat the Demon Alligator, they would have to use a devastating magic spell and crush the summoning core that was buried deep inside its body in one go. The only other option was to use a continuous amount of super energy to smash its tough shell. But, obviously, none of these small Underground creatures was capable of achieving either one of the options.


    Actually, this was related to the environment they were living in.


    The Underground world was full of long, narrow tunnels, caverns with protruding stalagmites on the ground, and countless stalactites that hung from the ceiling of caverns. Living in such environment, an overly grown body brought two major harms. Firstly, it was very hard to find sufficient food to sustain their life, and, secondly, it was very difficult to pass through all the narrow tunnels without getting stuck.


    Therefore, in order to adapt to such an environment, the majority of the Underground creature had evolved. Although they became cruel and aggressive, their bodies were short and flat. This meant that they when faced with the Demon Alligator, who was clearly a massive monster in this Underground world, were suppressed in both Strength and Physique.


    As the golem was moulded from Earth Elementium, the size of the Demon Alligator was controlled directly by the summoning core. When it was required to face battle, it would charge in with its biggest form. However, when it was required to travel underground, it would adjust its body shape according to the shape of the tunnel.


    For example, when travelling in some really narrow and rough tunnels, it could even adjust itself into the shape of huge Rock Python, which allowed it to squeeze through the tight space more easily. The two ''masters'' who owned this self-moving golem, who was capable of changing its shape, needed only to sit on its back and allow the golem to do all the work. Was there anything else that could be more relaxing than this?


    In order to see throughout their long and boring journey in the dark, Leon and Bleia even lit up their torches on the back of Demon Alligator. They tried to overcome their own boredom by studying their own magical topic. As for those Underground creatures, who had eyes but failed to see Mount Tai, they just let their dedicated Demon Alligator Hunter handle them!


    Therefore, the mission which initially required them to embark on a tiring seventeen-hour long journey, only took seven hours before they arrived at their destination.


    It was an enormous limestone cavern and was filled with all kinds of strangely shaped stalactites. In a lower region in a corner of the cave, water fell off the cavern wall and formed a small pond. The pond made this place become one where surrounding Underground creatures always visited.


    The team stopped in this dark limestone cavern. Lit up by the dancing flame of the torch, the huge body of the Demon Alligator appeared even more frightening and ruthless. Frightened by it, most of the Underground creatures who came here for water immediately scurried away, and only a handful of creatures who didn''t possess sufficient intelligence initiated their attack. Of course, these poor fellows were all killed on the spot.


    Leon''s soft, thick and waterproof black deerskin boots stepped onto the muddy and slippery stone path. As Leon climbed down from the Demon Alligator Hunter, he pushed back his hood. He quickly started scanning the mission site through his strange goggles. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was unexpectedly calm, a mission like this was considered an Orange mission?


    But, before he could continue pondering this strange occurrence, an extremely gentle and lovely female voice suddenly rang out from behind him.


    "As an elegant gentleman, don''t you think you should help the beautiful lady get down from the vehicle?"


    A cold shudder suddenly went down Leon''s back. He was taken aback by Bleia''s ''frightening'' voice. To be honest, Bleia always showed him the brutal and aggressive side of hers during a fight. By suddenly portraying the look of a gentle lady, clearly, because of boredom, she was once again trying to fool him.


    After knowing her for a long time, he now had a clearly understood Bleia''s temper.


    She was an extremely dangerous girl; she was a wounded girl who lacked trust in the outside world.


    Leon had absolutely no idea how Bleia endured all those frightening magical experiments done by Mage Eclivel. However, Leon was sure of one thing: the current Bleia was showing signs of having split personalities. One was the original Bleia, who was a shy and introverted girl, while another was the cruel vampire Bleia, whose mind was twisted. The two totally opposite personalities were placed in the same body, producing a Bleia who always felt insecure.


    She was like a mind twisted dowager. On one hand, she wanted to use her beautiful and sexy appearance to make everyone crazy about her. Whilst, on the other hand, she couldn''t restrain her desire for fresh blood and wished she could rip every single human into pieces, pouring their blood onto her beautiful body.


    Therefore, her behaviour swung between seduction and cruelty. Even a slight mistake would trigger the pain hiding deep within her heart, causing her to transform into the ''Bloody Queen'' that she always dreamed of!


    In brief, it was extremely rare to see a perfect human being to walk on the path of Mage!


    ...


    2334 Words

 Chapter 52 - 52: A lizard man

    The biggest benefit of owning the Chip was the near encyclopedic knowledge it granted him.


    After searching through its database, the Chip transmitted the most appropriate action into Leon''s mind.


    After receiving this data, Leon bowed like a noble. He bent down on one knee and offered Bleia his hand, allowing Bleia to use his knee as a way to dismount the Demon Alligator.


    Bleia was obviously satisfied with Leon''s sweet and considerate behavior. She gracefully turned, her soft, striking red dress contrasting vividly against her delicate and fair skin. Under the reflection of the dim torchlight, she seemed to become the most dazzling object in the eternal darkness.


    "If I were powerful enough, I would rape you right here in this exact place." Leon thought as he looked at Mary.


    "I like this place and wish to take a bath here. So, I''ll need to trouble my honorable knight to stand guard for me!" Bleia gave her wish, once again portraying the lofty manner of a noble lady.


    "As you wish!"


    Clearly, when compared to Bleia, Leon seemed much more familiar with these types of role-playing games. Leon placed his arm on his chest and bowed. He then grabbed the Demon Alligator Hunter and left to patrol the surrounding area.


    They were sent here to complete their mission and, coincidentally, the mission site was located in the middle of that water pond. So, after leaving Bleia behind, Leon couldn''t refrain himself from starting to search for the biggest benefit of this trip.


    There was a reason why this Underground Cave was so famous. This Underground Cave produced some rare and special resources that couldn''t be found anywhere on the surface. An example of one such resource was the Soul Mushroom.


    The Soul Mushroom was a kind of white mushroom, which existed in two different forms: its incorporeal form and its corporeal one. It was one of the main ingredients used to produce Invisible Potion and Shadow Perish Enchantment. They grew in shady and cool places and were able to feed off of negative energy. Therefore, Soul Mushrooms were frequently found growing near evil spirits. This was the reason why normal people couldn''t see them. Only apprentice Mages who possessed supernatural power, like Leon, were qualified to harvest them.


    Before they left, Mage Angus had told them about these Soul Mushrooms, promising that if anyone was to find some on their mission, he would purchase them off them for a good price. From his desire for the mushrooms, Leon believed that Mage Angus had decided to become a pharmacist.


    It was because of this that Leon showed great enthusiasm for this additional job, as he could easily accomplish it. After all, in order to prepare himself for this mission, he had depleted nearly all of his accumulated resources and savings. Right now, apart from some necessary spell casting materials and travel kits, the only things left in Leon''s waist pouch were three Magical Crystals.


    With just this meager wealth, it was impossible for him to buy anything good in this place.


    As Leon was traveling further and further away, Bleia had just reached the edge of the pond.


    Here in the Underground world, everything was covered in an oppressive, eternal darkness. From time to time, indistinct noises were even heard echoing throughout the caves.


    If any ordinary human had found themselves in this place, perhaps they would have long screamed their lungs out by now, frightened by the terrifying and gruesome environment. But, Bleia was the complete opposite to them. She inserted her torch into a crack in the wall, and, while humming a joyful tune, she slowly peeled the thin red dress off her body. She tested the temperature by


    placing her perfectly shaped leg into the water, and, finding it to her liking, she cheered and dived in.


    The water splashed in all directions, presenting a barely visible beautiful body. If this sight was not seen in the Underground, it would definitely be called a seductive and magnificent wonderland.


    But, whilst Bleia was happily swimming in the water, at the ceiling, where the light of the torch couldn''t reach, a pair of bizarre eyes lit up.


    Clearly, those pair of eyes belonged to an intelligent creature. They were fluttering from side to side, looking puzzled and undecided.


    To be honest, this Underground world was a land where darkness was eternal and slaughter and blood were as common as flies. Nothing in this land could be related to the words ''beautiful'' and ''warm''. Although he had learned about the free and peaceful life on the surface from books and knowledge shared by wandering travelers, he had never believed in any of those fairytales.


    He knew that the surface was cruelly and brutally ruled by frightening and evil human Mages. Since this was the case, how could the humans on the surface live a free and peaceful life? Those fairytales must be the lies that the evil Mages used to deceive the weak-minded humans. From what he could tell, they had seemed to work, as the foolish humans had fallen hook, line, and sinker, into believing them.


    This was something that he firmly believed in, so, when suddenly seeing a beautiful naked girl bathing in his hunting zone, he was struck with uncertainty.


    The numerous ferocious actions, performed by apprentice Mages, had caused a wariness to develop in him. Thus, without making any noise, he started to crawl along the ceiling, inching closer and closer towards the beautiful girl.


    His delicate and flexible body enabled him to perform extraordinary movements, so, even if he was moving along a surface covered with slippery moss, he was still able to move as if it was flat ground. He moved silently, and, like a spider


    creating its web in darkness, he slipped down a crack in the wall. He hid behind the various stalagmites and stalactites, and, unseen, he approached the edge of the pond.


    Bleia had just finished swimming and was now sitting on a rock at the edge of the pond, slowly and gently squeezing out the water from her hair. Her long, dark hair flowed down her body and reached just below her perfect asset. Her hair covered her body perfectly, preventing anyone from witnessing the ultimate beauty. What a sad moment!


    The perfectly hidden humanoid figure stealthily arrived at Bleia''s red dress. After searching for a while, he found nothing that seemed to be a storage pouch or a magical weapon.


    Could this beautiful girl not an apprentice Mage?


    After stealing a glance at the barely visible beautiful body, he couldn''t help but gulp. As he watched her an evil thought arose in his mind.


    Regardless of whether she was an apprentice Mage or not, shipping such a high quality ''product'' to Elysium city would definitely result in a high profit. If he could get that profit he would be able to live a nice life; he wouldn''t have to run around in the oppressive tunnels all day trying to make his living


    The person who had left earlier was definitely an apprentice Mage. A man who was able to control such a frightening Golem monster was obviously something that he, as an Underground Rogue Hunter, could possibly deal with. However, since the beginning, this lady never showed any special ability. It was likely that she was just a mistress the male apprentice had brought along. If she was really a normal human, then it was possible that he could successfully abduct her.


    After making up his mind, the shadowy figure hid behind the rock that the naked lady was sitting on. He quietly pulled out the leather pouch that was tied onto his waist. A palm-sized green object climbed out of the leather pouch and quickly moved onto the rock, climbing towards the naked lady.


    After a brief moment, Bleia cried out.


    "ARG~~... what??!"


    As soon as this happened, the shadowy figure instantly bolted out, like a lightning strike, and placed his two bent blades against her neck.


    The tiny green lizard opened its mouth, draping itself over Bleia''s naked body and sticking its tongue out. It had actually bitten Bleia''s sexy butt! Greenish liquid oozed from the small wound, and Bleia seemed to be paralyzed, looking as if she could hardly stand by herself.


    The shadowy figure had no use but to use one of his hands to hold up Bleia''s body. He had to do this in order to prevent Bleia from slipping into the pond.


    "You better make sure to hold her tight. If you tear any of her skin then you''ll suffer some nasty consequences." A deep and steady male voice suddenly rang out throughout the cave, scaring the shit out of the shadowy figure.


    Somehow Leon had returned from patrolling and was leaning against a stalagmite. He was watching the scene with a smile on his face. Behind him, the frightening Demon Alligator Hunter walked out of the darkness. The noise it made as it walked was comparable to a giant.


    The shadowy figure seemed not to have expected this situation. He stepped back and positioned his body behind Bleia''s. He then raised one of his bent blades to Bleia''s throat and gripped her arm with his other hand. He looked like he was holding Bleia hostage.


    However, the figure was puzzled, as the male apprentice didn''t seem to want to rescue his companion. On the contrary, he seemed to be preparing himself to watch a good show.


    ''Her... life... is in my hands, don''t...try... anything rash!" The shadowy creature was speaking in the Salus language, which was different from the universally used human language. However, this didn''t stop Leon from understanding what it was saying. Language, with the help of the Chip, was perhaps the easiest thing for Leon.


    Leon, still leaning against the stalagmite, watched the scene before him.


    The perfectly curved, seductive body of Bleia was a magnificent view and Green would never miss such a good opportunity to enjoy it. Also, as Leon was extremely interested in this creature, he ordered the chip to scan it.


    "Beep! Scanning of creature completed. Found a matching species in the living beings database. Does the host wish to view it?"


    "Yes! Show it to me!"


    After Leon''s aLeonent, the detailed information on the creature in front of him was sent into his mind.


    The Lizardmen race are intelligent creatures found in the Underground. They possess the bloodline of both a lizard and a human. They are mutated creatures and are able to move stealthily, and control their body temperature. In the Underground world, they are found in every major region working as assassins.


    Lizardman?


    While studying the information, Leon quietly matched the shadowy figure in front of his eyes with the one in his mind.


    The creature had a skinny, human-like body and wasn''t wearing any clothes. Dark green lumps could be found everywhere on its rough, thick skin. It only had four fingers, and its hands were like webbed like a frog. It also had long and curvy nails, which looked like razor-sharp blades.


    The creature seemed to have human-like facial features, but, as its skin was too dark, no one could clearly see its expression. Its transparent eyelids kept blinking, allowing its protruding eyeballs to focus freely and turn in any direction it wanted.


    Judging from its voice, it should be a man, no, a male.


    However, this was beside the point. In any case, it was an ugly fellow who made Green feel disgusted after just one look.


    Especially, after it recklessly abducted Bleia!


    Inwardly, Leon gave out his final verdict.


    If it wasn''t for the advantage it had in this environment, it would only be able to, at most, match up to an intermediate apprentice. Leon scoffed. With this little ability, it still dreamed of abducting the frightening Bleia?


    A faint smile emerged on Leon''s face. He really didn''t know whether he should give a three-second tribute for its unfortunate encounter.


    Leon only hoped that it wouldn''t come to regret its decision.


    ... sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2017 Words

 Chapter 53 - 53: Explosion in the cave

    Leon''s overly calm attitude had caused the Lizardman to start to doubt the value of the hostage he held in his hands.


    But, before he could do anything, the frail Bleia moved first.


    With just a few twists, her fair and slippery naked body was freed from Lizardman''s control. Bleia then dodged nimbly, suddenly appearing behind the Lizardman. Leon could see that the Lizardman''s arms were hanging limply by his sides, and he seemed to have lost the ability to defend itself.


    Blood was oozing out from the joints of the Lizardman, dying his dark green scales red. It seemed that Bleia had cut his muscle tendons using her sharp nails.


    Any ordinary human, when getting wounds like these, wouldn''t be able to fight, however, Lizardmen were different. They had a strong vitality and excellent resistance, so, to them, it was simply a minor injury. After all, although the Lizardman couldn''t move his limbs, he still had a mouth full of sharp fangs.


    But, because Bleia was hiding behind him, all of his attacks had failed.


    As he was trying to detach himself from the frightening lady, his body turned numb and, like a robot losing power, he stiffened. A smile graced Bleia''s features as she slowly pulled her long, sharp nail out of the Lizardman''s back.


    In close combat, by using the gap between the Lizardman''s scales, Bleia could sever his neck instantly. At this moment, the Lizardman was completely powerless and had no way to fight back.


    "What? Are you going to stay here and watch?"


    After ridiculing Leon, who was in a rather embarrassing situation, Bleia draped herself over the Lizardman''s body, gradually moving her tender lips towards his fragile neck.


    "Beauty and the Beast!"


    "Little Green Man Fighting the Vampire!"


    It was such an erotic drama, that Leon hoped he could enjoy it close-up. He wanted to clap excitedly.


    However, whenever he imagined the potential scene that was going to unfold, he felt that it was better to just avoid it. Unlike those vampires who, in his memory, would gently poke their sharp fangs into their lover''s necks, Bleia obviously preferred to ravage her meal and enjoy it completely.


    Leon felt that if he saw the scene of fresh blood mixing with organs, he would lose his appetite. Therefore, he just spun around and sulkily left.


    As he passed by a stalagmite, he heard the frightening sound of muscle ripping, followed by Bleia''s excited moans.


    "Bite~~"


    "GLUB~~"


    "Sucking~~"


    "Break~~"


    "Crak~~~"


    As Leon heard the weak cries of a creature in the throes of death, he couldn''t help but shudder and increase his speed.


    After nearly half an hour, Leon saw Bleia fixing her dress as she walked out of the cave. It seemed that she had enjoyed her ''restaurant''.


    Anyone looking at her beautiful face brimming with energy, wouldn''t be able to tell what had just happened.


    "Have you taken the sample from the mission site?" Leon closed up his magical book and asked.


    "This is just a small matter, so obviously it''s completed!" Bleia said contentedly. After agreeing, she casually tossed a Rune Crystal to Leon.


    Leon cast a verification spell, and, after finding it suitable, he placed it into his waist pouch.


    Every pond located in the mission sites had a small magical formation placed at the bottom of it. These formations helped the Mages on garrison duty grasp the situation in the Underground Cave. It enabled them to observe the terrain without leaving their Mage Towers.


    The duty Leon and the other apprentices were given was to collect the information stored in the formations by using a custom-made Rune Crystal. After completing this duty, they were free to use their spare time to harvest some rare Underground resources.


    The team, after splitting up, had agreed to reunite in three days. Thus, they had plenty of time to harvest all the resources located around the mission site. Since both of them had completed their mission in half a day, they had some spare time they could use to leisurely travel around.


    However, while both of them were traveling around, a heart-pounding battle was occurring in another cave just five miles away!


    Leo, the apprentice Mage from the Mushroom Forest in the Rofen region, was fleeing. Two black-robed Pseudo-Mages were chasing after him. Matthew, the other advanced Mage in Leo''s team, was nowhere to be found. It seemed that he had been struck with great misfortune.


    Leo truly deserved to be the young Pseudo-Mage his family had high hopes for. It could be seen that he had extraordinary talent in Thunder Elemental magic spells. Although he didn''t have great Agility, he could move freely thanks to the layer of white Wind Elementium surrounding his body. In fact, one could even liken his speed to that of a feather or a fast stallion. If it wasn''t for the winding tunnels and stalagmites, Leo probably would''ve already escaped his pursuers by now.


    Whenever he ran by some narrow areas, he would stretch both his hands outward and form an arc of blue electricity, allowing it to dance violently between his palms. Then he would toss it over his shoulder and, without even bothering to check the result, continue onwards. After throwing it, within ten seconds, a loud boom would ring out from behind him, followed by a bunch of cursing.


    Following that, two sorry-looking, burnt figures would emerge from the dust. This happened so often that, every time they exited, the small Lightning Storm would''ve ripped off a bit more of their black robes. Their robes were falling off like butterflies.


    After one of the black robes was completely torn to pieces, it revealed a man wearing pitch-black, soft leather armor. He carried a snake-headed staff and had bloodshot vertical pupils. He was absolutely terrifying.


    "Are we still going to chase? This guy is a tough nut to crack!" A middle-aged man asked through clenched teeth.


    The figure on the left pulled off his hood, revealing a malicious and cruel looking face.


    "Chase! This guy isn''t familiar with the surrounding terrain, and, once he runs into a dead end, we''ll teach him a slow lesson."


    "Where are Anna and Gary? Why aren''t they here yet? Do they really need to take so long just to settle an advanced apprentice?" The man with bloodshot eyes asked, looking over his shoulder.


    "They changed their route! They''ve already sent me the details about the enemy team''s situation. They sent me all the information they got from that advanced apprentice. I think that they''re on their way to sector seven right now in order to search for the weakest team." It seemed that judging by the way he gave orders, the middle-aged man was the leader of the group.


    "Damn it! I knew this was going to happen! It looks like we have to try harder. If we let this guy go, then we''ll have to return empty-handed." The man with bloodshot eyes cursed with clenched teeth. After hitting the ground with his staff, he transformed into smoke and merged with the cave wall, disappearing without a trace.


    The black-robed leader grinned somberly, and a ring of black light flickered out from his body, doubling his running speed.


    A moment later, a ground shaking boom echoed out from a tunnel far away.


    "BOOM~~"


    The brutal and violent shock wave swept across the winding tunnel, crushing everything in its way. Anything that stood in the way of it, be it stalagmites, stalactites, sand, stone or dirt, was all swept up and thrown in a random direction. The residue magic energy caused the debris to act like sharp arrows, shattering the cave in a violent explosion.


    The battle of life and death that had occurred between the Pseudo-Mages had brought about devastating damage to the Underground tunnel. It had even caused widespread damage within a two-three mile radius. A large amount of the area had collapsed, causing rocks to shift positions and block tunnels. This caused many tunnels to become unavailable for usage, however, at the same time, new passages were being formed. The old saying "When one door shuts, another one opens" had never been so true before.


    Of course, such a massive commotion could never escape from the eyes of the apprentice Mages in this region. After witnessing the destruction, they all quickly found themselves a stable spot and hid. They were all quietly wondering what had caused this huge turmoil. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Within a dark, quiet and broken cave, a soft popping sound was heard, and a huge, dark figure suddenly emerged from underground. The figure nearly occupied the entire space in the cave.


    "Damn it! Why is there suddenly an earthquake? Could those other Mages have stumbled upon an active region during their inspection? Damn it..." Bleia''s sweet and seductive voice echoed throughout the darkness of the cave.


    "I''m afraid this earthquake isn''t a natural one!" Leon''s stable and calm voice quickly followed. His eyes flickered with an intelligent expression as he continued saying, "The source of the quake is located five miles to the south-east of us, and is around twenty metres deeper than us. If this was a natural earthquake, the focal point wouldn''t be so close to the surface, so..."


    "So... someone caused it!" Bleia looked over her shoulder at Leon. Obviously, she was surprised by the fact that Leon could still remain calm in such an situation. She was also surprised that he could have such an accurate sense of direction, even though they were in an underground area with no light. After thinking these thoughts, she continued with her speech, "Are you saying one of our teammates has met with enemies?"


    "That''s highly possible!" Leon analysed. "Firstly, because the source of the quake is so close to us, it is unlikely that it has no relation to our team. Besides, you know the strength of the Underground creatures in this place, and, except for a few rare creatures, it is impossible for any of them to harm us. Therefore, the earthquake cannot be because of a Pseudo-Mage going all out against a creature. Since that isn''t a possibility, there can only be one logical explanation!"


    "En!" Bleia nodded her head in aLeonent. "It should be those black-clothed bastards from before. The only thing is, is that we have no idea who bumped into them. Truthfully, I really want to test out their ability. I mean, with your golem we can travel underground, so maybe we can launch a sneak attack!"


    "We were overconfident on this mission. After all, this is our first mission and the first time we''ve come to the Underground. Hence, before we understood the unique environment and the new style of fighting here, we shouldn''t have split up. We should''ve completed our mission together and waited until the next mission to split up. Also..."


    "Also what?"


    "Also, don''t forget that we''re the weakest team amongst all of them. If the enemy really wants to ambush our group, we''re the most likely to be targeted!"


    "So what? I really want to test out their ability. Since you claim your Earth Elemental golem is so amazing, can you sense the surrounding enemy''s activities? I''ll tell you what, if you help your sister catch one of those bastards, I''ll spend the night with you. What do you think?" Bleia trailed her finger across Leon''s lips and giggled carefreely.


    For some unknown reason, Leon suddenly shuddered. He couldn''t help but feel heartache due to Bleia''s naughty behaviour.


    Bleia''s interest in teasing men had grown stronger, and she never forgot to keep flirting with Leon. However, after noticing that her bloodshot eyes would grow darker when she got excited, Leon had no choice but to use his powerful will to suppress his lust. He did this because he didn''t want to become Bleia''s lab rat and someone she could just toy with whenever she wanted.


    ...


    1987 Words

 Chapter 54 - 54: A trap

    After trying his best to get rid of the thoughts brought about by Bleia, Leon used the chip to connect his mind with the controlling core of the Demon Alligator Hunter.


    Leon''s surroundings seemed to suddenly dissolve into complete silence, and, by using the golem''s crystal core, Leon found himself looking at a whole new world. In this strange new world, Leon could see the all of the Earth Elementium in his surroundings. By using this feature, Leon could observe any movement made on the ground, as even a slight movement would cause ripples in the surrounding Earth Elementium.


    However, these ripples were extremely weak, and only occurred in the Earth Elementium. So, anything that wasn''t an Earth Elemental creature would find it extremely difficult to sense movements happening far away.


    But, Leon had actually done it!


    While he was immersed in that strange world, he could sense movement from as far away as a hundred metres! Not even the sounds of snakes crawling or scorpions nesting could escape his notice. He could sense all of these movements through the delicate spiritual connection between each Earth Elementium. He could then project these movements into his mind, forming an image that looked almost identical to the real world.


    As he was limited by his Spirit, the maximum distance he could sense was only one hundred meters. If he tried to sense anything beyond one hundred meters, he could only roughly sense the direction where the vibration originated. In addition to this, he couldn''t picture the exact scene in his mind like he could when it was within his range.


    When on the surface, observing a distance of one hundred meters was an easy thing to do. In fact, any apprentice Mage could see dozens of miles by simply standing on high enough ground. If the apprentice was capable of flight, then they could see over an area of nearly one hundred miles. However, when this one hundred meters was placed within the Underground world, where everything was coated in thick rocks, sand and dirt, it became really impressive.


    After all, whilst in this Underground world, even if two men were separated by a ten meter thick rock wall, it would still be very hard for them to discover each other. The Underground Cave was a strange place, because there was more metal the deeper you went. This metal greatly interfered with spiritual sense and detection magical spells. Therefore, unless a special method was used, it was near-impossible that these two men would discover each other.


    Either way, the ability to move stealthily and to see in the dark were basic abilities for all intelligent Underground creatures. Without these abilities, it would be very hard for them to earn their living in this eternally dark place.


    Like a man talking in their sleep, Leon kept muttering things under his breath, describing everything he was sensing. Suddenly, his body trembled violently and he whispered urgently into Bleia''s ears.


    "There are two human-like creatures located one hundred meters down, at an angle of seventeen-degrees south-east. I''m sensing a strong Elementium aura. It is highly likely that they are both apprentice Mages."


    Bleia''s body went stiff, and her bloodshot eyes narrowed.


    The source of the quake had originated from that same direction, and, now there were two apprentice Mages emerging from there. It wasn''t hard to put two and two together. They both knew that there was a higher possibility of it being a bad situation than a good one! Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Can you identify who they are? It would be best if you could get a clear sense of their strength!" Bleia whispered, placing her lips beside Leon''s ears.


    It seemed that Leon hadn''t heard what she said, as he continued immersing himself in his detection. "They are heading in our direction right now, but there is a four-degree deviation... between us, there are three tunnels and two caves. They are ninety-three meters away... they have arrived at the first cave, however, the cave has collapsed. There is no tunnel leading to where we are. Wait... it seems that they are casting some kind of spell, as I can sense a strong Elementium ripple. It seems that they''re holding something in their hand that can pinpoint our location... that is..."


    Leon suddenly opened his eyes, a shocked expression emerging on his face. He whispered, "It''s a communication crystal! They have the communication crystal we were all given before we split up! They''re using it to track us!"


    After arriving in the Underground Cave, each person, in order to make communication easier, had exchanged their respective personal auras. The fact that the enemy had gotten hold of a communication crystal meant that one of their group members had already been caught by them.


    Leon took out a fist-size blue crystal from his waist pouch and prepared to toss it far away, but before he could, Bleia stopped him.


    "If they are really locating us through the personal aura in the communication crystal, then why don''t we just prepare a trap for them...?" Bleia asked. It seemed that whenever slaughtering was involved, a strong killing intent would always leaked from her eyes.


    Both of them were scheming and merciless people, so, after a short discussion, Bleia took Leon''s communication crystal and hid in the darkness. Leon grinned evilly before kicking the Demon Alligator and sinking into the soil.


    ...


    Anna lead the way as they wormed their way through the broken and winding tunnel.


    Before entering the next cave, she quickly scanned the surrounding area.


    Her eyes swept across the silent tunnel before stopping. She looked far into the distance. Broken rocks and stalagmites were scattered around at the edge of the winding tunnel. Dimmed light, coming from unknown sources, was shining through the gaps between them, resembling the sharp fangs of grinning devils.


    She tilted her head slightly and listened to any audible sound. She heard a muffled rumbling coming from the beneath her. Sprays of mist were constantly bursting out from the cracks in-between the rocks; while the glow of illuminating fungus shone onto these mists, created a strange and unusual illusion-like scene.


    In such an environment the difficulty of hunting enemies was huge.


    The battle that had happened previously had caused a lot of damage to the surrounding terrain, resulting in many passages becoming hard to recognize. This caused the natives'' advantage to weaken, as they no longer had a solid grasp over the area.


    As the enemies they were hunting were very cunning, Anna made sure not to leave too many traces in the air. It was because of this that, after travelling a certain distance, she had to reconfirm the enemy''s location.


    Anna placed the blood-stained communication crystal on the ground and began to softly recite some strange, unintelligible spells. After she had finished casting, a pale, long-haired women, who didn''t have any facial features, manifested itself in front of her.


    "The great ancient banshee, please show me the location of our enemy!"


    After hearing her request, the faceless banshee, who was hovering above the communication crystal, slowly turned her head before stopping when she faced a certain direction.


    "Looks like they''re moving towards sector eleven!" Gary, the black-robed Pseudo-Mage, who was following behind Anna, said excitedly.


    Gary''s interruption had clearly caused the summoning ceremony to rebound. The faceless banshee''s head turned around until her gruesome face faced Gary. A mouth appeared and opened up on her face. It seemed like she was preparing to let loose a howl and devour Gary''s soul.


    Anna, who was an advanced apprentice, abruptly bit the tip of her tongue. She immediately spat out a mouthful of warm blood. An extremely miserable cry rang through the air as the banshee instantly disappeared.


    At the same time the banshee disappeared, Anna gave out a muffled grunt. It was clear that she too had suffered some backlash.


    Gary, showing no remorse for his reckless actions, flapped his robe and transformed into a strong wind, disappearing from where he was. His voice rushed into Anna''s ears and lingered there for a while.


    "I''ll go ahead and hunt for those enemies. Take your time and catch up quickly!"


    As soon as Gary had left, a hateful and venomous expression leaked out from Anna''s cold eyes. However, she knew, that with her status of only an advanced apprentice, there was no way she could offend those Pseudo-Mages. If not for their need for her ''summoning'' abilities, perhaps these Pseudo-Mages would never even have allowed her to join in their hunting group in the first place.


    Their target was only a beginner apprentice and an advanced apprentice. Why did they dare traverse this Underground world with such weak strength? Sometimes Anna really wondered whether there was something wrong with the brains of the Mages on the surface. How could they send such weaklings to the Underground world? This was no different than sending them to their death!


    Anna hastily grabbed the things she had left on the ground, before pulling her black robe tightly against her and rushing through the dark tunnel. If she was late, then that Gary would never leave anything good for her. Now, Anna''s only wish was that the enemy''s advanced apprentices could hold on for a little bit longer. If they did that, then she might have a chance to capture the beginner apprentice.


    In Elysium City, the city of Fallen Mages, resources were extremely scarce. The resources she could get in exchange for a beginner apprentice from the surface could let her relax for nearly a year.


    The abyss-like tunnel didn''t seem to have an end. The winding passages full of obstacles made it difficult for her to run at full speed. Fortunately, there was still some residue Wind Elementium, left behind by Gary, in the tunnel. This not only prevented Anna from getting lost but also saved time.


    Anna had almost arrived at the huge cavern in sector eleven, however, she stopped in the middle of the last tunnel.


    For some unknown reason, her intuition was warning her that there was danger.


    Rumble...


    The ground suddenly shook, causing Anna to be terrified, as she felt that the source of the quake came from right under her feet.


    The violent quake caused the tunnel ceiling to collapse and huge amounts of sand and rocks to pour down from the ceiling. Soon, Anna was forced to retreat to the cave she had previously entered.


    In the dark and cold cave, a bizarre human figure silently waited for her.


    For any outsider, the darkness was the source of terror. However, Anna had lived in this Underground world for her entire life, so, for her, it was the best source of protection. But, right at this moment, she couldn''t help but be shocked. She stared at the apprentice Mage, who was standing far away.


    Anna used the enemy''s spiritual ripples to quickly identify them.


    It was actually that advanced apprentice! She couldn''t believe that he actually dared to confront her face to face!


    "Just let your companion show themselves!" Anna''s clever mind had quickly analyzed the whole situation. She continued by saying, "I can''t believe this! A beginner apprentice actually has the ability to travel through the earth! It looks like he really is suitable for living in this kind of place!"


    The mild earthquake just now had happened at the perfect time. It executed just the right amount of force to it had utilize the surrounding terrain and separate Garry and her. It looked like her enemies had chosen to ambush them and had picked her as she was the weakest. She scoffed. They actually dared to try and seek advantages over her, an advanced apprentice.


    A cruel grin lit up Anna''s face. She bent down and charged towards the girl in the red dress.


    ...


    1977 Words

 Chapter 55 - 55: Leon and Bleia vs Anna

    As Anna was charging towards the enemy, she quickly tossed a few bizarre magical rings onto Bleia''s body.


    Confusion spell!


    Slow spell!


    "Zoshhhh~~"


    One spell could confuse the target''s mind and cause there to be a delay in their reactions, while the other one could reduce the target''s movement speed by nearly half. If the target didn''t have immunity or couldn''t quickly dispel them, then these two simple curses could lower their strength by more than thirty percent.


    But, Anna wasn''t done yet! She cried out and stretched her arms out, facing her palms towards the sky. A strange-looking, glowing green rune soon appeared on each palm. Almost as soon as those runes appeared, the lower section of Anna''s arm began to transform into green vines. These vines brought about a fierce gale and began to whip Bleia, who was standing there, motionless.


    It was Spirit Summoning.


    However, Anna''s Spirit Summoning spell was quite unique and could massively enhance her combat ability. This was because she could actually let a part of her body merge with the summoned spirit.


    The powerful whip smashed into the ground, causing two large cracks to branch out like a spider web.


    "Pow~~"


    "Pow~~"


    As the debris shot in all directions, Bleia''s body suddenly turned into a series of after-images, and, within a split second, she appeared beside Anna.


    Anna couldn''t help but be shocked by Bleia''s ghostly speed.


    In actual fact, Bleia''s after-images were formed under the effect of the Slow spell. Anna shuddered as she realized that if the Slow spell wasn''t activated Bleia probably wouldn''t even have left after-images at all. As soon as she realized that she was facing an opponent who possessed super speed, Anna couldn''t help but curse at her reckless and impulsive actions.


    Damn it! She shouldn''t have tried to start a melee fight with an opponent like this!


    However, it was too late to pull back the whip now.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


    Anna cried out loudly as she unleashed a dazzling ring of green light that started to spread around her body. Soon, the light transformed into a thorny set of armor that perfectly covered her well-rounded body. After ensuring that she had a proper defense, Anna restlessly swung the whip above to protect her head, shattering all the after-images that had appeared in front of her.


    "Zosh~~"


    Although Anna had a nearly impenetrable defence, ripples still continuously appeared on the surface of her armor. A few crisscrossed scratches were seen on the armor near her chest and ribcage. Also, after suffering a few hits from the enemy''s sharp nail, a long strand of the vine had been cut off from her left arm. Despite the fact that only green liquid was oozing from the wound, Anna couldn''t stop herself from taking a step back and letting out a painful groan.


    Anna crazily forced a new strand of the vine whip to regrow. After regrowing, it once again began swinging violently in all directions, brutally attacking every possible enemy that appeared. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a matter of fact, she had absolutely no idea where the true form of the enemy lay. The only thing she could catch was the bizarre after-images that were left behind by the enemy attacking at their top speed.


    It was clear that Anna wasn''t familiar with melee fighting, and she could only decently attack by using the summoned spirit. Thus, when comparing Anna, a beginner-level melee fighter, with Bleia, who was a master of melee combat, it was obvious that she would suffer a tragedy today!


    Her whip vine, that she crazily swung from side to side, couldn''t touch Bleia at all, and her body armor could only barely spare her from Bleia''s attack. However, despite this, she was still hanging on. At least, under Anna''s crazy offensive strikes, Bleia found it rather tough to get close and attack the body armor. Although from time to time, Bleia could successfully attack it, it still wasn''t enough to deal a deadly blow.


    At the same time, far behind them, sudden, rapid booms were heard from the other side of the tunnel.


    "Bang!"


    "Tremor~~"


    "This tunnel had been clogged up by countless rocks and sand. It was obvious that the black-robed Pseudo-Mage, who was led down the wrong tunnel, had discovered that something was amiss. The rapid booms were probably caused by him crazily attacking the clogged tunnel.


    The raging magic spells that the Pseudo-Mage was unleashing caused a large amount of rock debris, and countless stalagmites and stalactites to fall down and break into pieces. They were falling apart in haphazardly, filling the entire battlefield with smoky, rock dust.


    If that Pseudo-Mage was given sufficient time, it was likely that he could really break through the cave wall and open a new temporary passage.


    Anna knew that her reinforcement would soon arrive, so she gave up on attacking and just focused on defense. Anna ignored the fact that Bleia kept leaving bloody scratch marks on her body and just kept crazily swinging her whip.


    Indeed, it seemed that none of these advanced apprentices could be taken lightly.


    Although the magic spells they had mastered hadn''t yet reached an extravagant stage, they still covered all the aspects of combat: offensive, defensive, distraction and self-enhancement. This meant that the outsiders barely any weaknesses to exploit. This eventually led to the outsiders gaining a quick win.


    Anna and Bleia were both advanced apprentices, but, judging from the situation, Anna was clearly weaker than the quick and aggressive Bleia. Although Bleia wished to end the fight as soon as possible, it was something that was easily said but not done. At the very least, Bleia couldn''t do it without paying a price!


    Bleia''s attacks had caused the cave wall to be on the brink of collapse, with many cracks decorating it. After seeing this, Bleia gave up on killing Anna alone.


    "Rascal! Don''t just hide there and do nothing! Quickly come over and help me!"


    After dodging the vine whips attacking her sides, Bleia once again waved her hands. She then left two deep, bloody scratches on Anna''s body. However, as Anna had quickly regained the initiative and had begun to attack again, Bleia was unable to attack any more. She quickly dodged the vine whip that curled backwards. When she once again broke Anna''s defence and managed to move closer, she found that both the wounds had been completely covered by the thorny armor.


    It had happened again and again. Eventually, Bleia couldn''t tolerate anymore and called for help.


    Anna''s face turned pale in an instant.


    Anna was already struggling with fighting Bleia alone. She was absolutely convinced that, if she had to face the combined attacks of two people, she would face disaster.


    Anna didn''t dare to neglect this thought, so she immediately bit off half of her tongue. As she spat out a mouthful of blood, her body suddenly became taller.


    Before this, only a small part of her arms had been transformed into green vines. But now, her body started to expand and her skin started to break apart, exposing countless green vines worming in between.


    By forcefully increasing her summoned spirit''s level, Anna had completely transformed her body into a frightening Man Eating Flower. Her feet had transformed into green roots that dug their way into the ground, her arms were fully transformed into whip-like green vines, and her body played the part of the thorny flower stalk. However, her head, the only thing left that resembled a human, was surrounded by a countless number of huge flower petals.


    After transforming into the carnivorous, violent "Flogger", all of her vital organs had disappeared from her body. She knew that as long as she could hold on until Gary arrived, all the energy spent on performing the secondary transformation of her summoned spirit would be worth it.


    Leon, who had been hiding in the dark, dared not to neglect the fight anymore. He finally made up his mind and got himself involved in the battle between the two advanced apprentices.


    A vibration suddenly resonated through the ground. The ground underneath the Flogger''s feet had turned into a slippery, muddy swamp-like area. Before Anna could flee from this area, a huge and frightening figure emerged beside her. It opened up its huge mouth and bit on the flower stalk that made up her waist.


    Anna let out a jarring shriek as the pain hit her. She violently waved her two thick, long vine whips, hitting the Demon Alligator''s clay armor over and over again. Debris and clay flew across the room, turning the cave into a violent battlefield. At the same time, behind the heavy protection of the huge petals, she opened her mouth and spat out a clump of sticky, stinking, green, acidic vomit.


    The acidic vomit sprayed at the Hunter who was riding on the back of the Demon Alligator. The vomit instantly corroded and melted its upper limbs and skull. If the crystal control core of the Hunter wasn''t located at its chest, it would have likely been completely destroyed in this attack.


    Leon, who was lurking in the shadows, was struck by terror.


    It was as expected. The battle between advanced apprentices was not something he, a beginner apprentice, could easily get involved with. If it wasn''t because he was being cautious, and only let the Demon Alligator Hunter ride on the Demon Alligator instead of him, he probably would have been killed.


    He hadn''t mastered a defense magic spell, so, when facing a furious counterattack by an advanced apprentice, he had no trump cards that he could use to bring him out alive.


    But, the Demon Alligator Hunter, controlled by Leon, only needed to briefly restrain Anna''s attacks. That was more than enough to turn the tides of battle.


    Before Anna could save herself from the Demon Alligator''s gaping jaw, Bleia''s attack had arrived.


    The sound of flesh being cut rang through the air.


    "Zap!"


    Splah~~


    Bleia bent over and stared at Anna''s head. She reached out and, using her sharp nails, she sliced through Anna''s firm skin. Then, she sunk her fangs into the area where the head and the stalk met.


    The quick, sucking motion made Anna go berserk. She struggled desperately, waving her arms and using them to violently whip Bleia''s mutilated back. However, no matter how hard she tried, there was no way to stop the vampire from wildly sucking her blood.


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    "Glub~~"


    As more of her blood essence was drained, the power behind Anna''s whip began to shrink. Finally, her arm dropped and her body began to quickly dry up. Her eyes, hiding behind her petals, began to hopelessly close.


    As her life force was quickly departing from her body, Anna could no longer maintain her summoned spirit body transformation. Her body kept shrinking


    and transforming and finally returned to her original human form. Just as she died, Leon ordered the Demon Alligator to open its huge mouth and swallow Bleia and the dead body into its body. It then turned to Leon and did the same before quickly descending into the earth again.


    The moment after they had disappeared, a loud boom was sounded out from a cave wall on the far side. Parts of the cave wall crumbled, resulting in a huge hold. A Pseudo-Mage, whose black robe was covered in a mist of green, illuminating light, sprinted into the cave.


    As he stared at the remains of, what seemed to be, an incredibly tumultuous battle, and smelled the stinking vomit that had spilled all over the cave, Gary unintentionally let out an extremely angry roar.


    He didn''t roar because he was heartbroken about Anna''s death. He simply hated the fact that the enemy had used the simple method of luring the strong and striking at the weak to eliminate his partner. This... this action simply displayed contempt towards him!


    "You bastards! Come out and fight me now, damn it! I''ve remembered your auras. You better not let me bump into you again. I..."


    After spending a long time furiously roaring into the cave, Gary had never sensed any abnormal auras. Left with no choice, Pseudo-Mage Gary turned around and dissolved into the darkness of the tunnel.


    ...


    2044 Words

 Chapter 56 - 56: Loot

    [WOODD here! We''ve decided to change the term "Elemental" to "Element" when talking about a specific element to avoid any confusion. For example, Saying Fire Elemental could give an entirely different meaning which could mean a being made of fire. So in this case, Fire Element or the Element of Fire is going to be used. Also, we''ve changed "Blood Clotting Medicinal Paste" to "Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste". Sorry for the inconvenience and enjoy the chapter below. :D]


    ...


    After travelling for nearly two hundred meters underneath the earth, Leon was forced to resurface.


    After all, traveling underground underneath the earth''s surface wasn''t as easy as it is on the surface. Areas full of rock formations and random patches of sand had brought no small amount of trouble for the golem. For this very reason, Leon had immediately ordered the Demon Alligator to resurface by making their way out of a random tunnel just after they had left the danger zone.


    Leon closed his eyes and used his senses to probe things out. Inside the Demon Alligator''s stomach, Leon found Bleia breathing rapidly, her body as hot as boiling water. As for Leon''s reaction to this, he just shook his head and sighed.


    The ancient bloodline of the vampires was, as expected, quite incredible. Just by sucking blood alone, their strength would continue to soar into greater heights.


    During the previous battle, Bleia had forcefully sucked the blood essence of the enemy advanced apprentice, filling her body with great amounts of blood energy enabling her to, once again, undergo another round of evolution.


    Due to the lack of necessary information pertaining to Bleia''s situation, Leon did not dare to disturb her natural evolution. What he could do, however, was to find a relatively safe place, he then made the Demon Alligator spit her out and placed her on a warm and cozy blanket. After that, he excitedly started to search the dead body for treasures it won''t need anymore.


    Before he started, he clasped both of his hands together forming a posture of a prayer, closing both of his eyes as he prayed to all of the gods he could think of. After he finished praying, Leon rubbed his palms excitedly, kneeling besides Anna''s miserable-looking body and started to conduct a search for possible loot.


    Being an advanced apprentice, she must have some magical items she carried with her. No matter how poor she was, she should at least have some magical books or notes containing valuable magic insights. Even if she didn''t brought those with her, Leon still hoped he could at least find some magic crystals or magical materials.


    When Anna was still alive, she was beautiful while also having a well-developed body which added another level of attractiveness towards her. Unfortunately, the last battle was incredibly violent, resulting in most of her skin being torn into bloody scars, making her current looks a far cry to her previous one. Despite her body being in such a state, most of her clothes and equipment were still intact.


    The very first item that Leon looted from her body was a bracelet Anna had worn on her right wrist.


    Through his Elementium Vision, he could see that the bracelet emitted a bright green glow making it obvious it was indeed a unique magical item. Leon spent quite some time in identifying it and found out that the bracelet could swiftly unleash a plant element armor made of countless thorns.


    Although the plant element was not in line with Leon''s elemental affinity, as long as there is energy stored in the bracelet, Leon could still forcibly use it. Having mastered not even one defensive magic spell, being able to use it as a substitute for such spells brought him a great sense of happiness. He even gave the bracelet a few kisses out of joy and wore it on his wrist with not an ounce of hesitation.


    The next item Leon looted was Anna''s leather boots.


    After going through identification, Leon found out it was a pair of magical boots made from Lantern Grass and the leather from a Demon Flower. The boots had the magical effect of being unhindered when walking through a forest. When wearing them, one wouldn''t be stopped by the bushes,vines and brambles when walking through a virgin forest. Even if it was in an impassable forest that no one could walk through, these boots would allow the wearer to pass through it as if he was walking on flat ground.


    Unfortunately, it was a lady''s boots!


    Leon had tried putting it on a few times, but it clearly wasn''t suitable for him. Left with no other choice, he set it aside for now and decided to go and ask Bleia in the future to see if she has any interest in them.


    The third item he discovered was a pair of magical earrings.


    It had the effect of self-recovery magic of the plant element. By wearing these earrings while standing still in a place filled with lush vegetation, the wearer would recover approximately ten health points every fifteen minutes. Although it comes with a strict condition, it could still help during certain types of situations.


    After all, just using Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste would only heal external wounds but not provide any restoration to health points. For this very reason, wearing these earrings might be able to save his life in precarious situations.


    With Anna''s status of an advanced apprentice, owning three magical items was considerably good. Soon, Leon stripped off her waistband and quietly identified it while holding it within his hand.


    It was a well-made and luxurious-looking waistband. A bunch of bizarre runes were engraved at its inner side. Leon spent a decent amount of time reading them but he could only recognize four of them from the eleven runes present.


    Feeling hopeless, Leon borrowed the strength of the Chip.


    "Chip! Scan these runes!"


    "Beep. Scanning of storage waistband completed... discovered eleven Ancient Mage Runes, initial result shows they are the activation spell of the waistband... the content of the spell is..." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Following the data transmitted by the Chip, Leon furrowed his brows and imitated the pronunciation of the eleven Ancient Mage Runes.


    Right after the spell was recited, Leon sent out his senses and discovered the existence of a small spatial space from the waistband. Within this tiny space, dozens of unknown items floated around.


    A storage waistband! It really is a storage waistband!


    Leon had long coveted a convenient treasure like this one.


    Although the storage waist pouch was quite common among apprentice Mages, it wasn''t a spatial item, that''s why it wasn''t capable of eliminating the weight of the items stored within and it was also unable to isolate the magical ripples emitted by magical items. While the waistband was considered to be of the lowest grade of spatial items, anything stored inside would no longer weight anything and no outsider would be able to sense the magical ripples inside.


    Therefore, he was pleasantly surprised for being able to harvest a luxurious treasure such as a storage waistband. For his very first battle in the underground world, it was considered to be really good.


    Leon carefully looked over his shoulders and realized Bleia was still in a state of deep meditation. He immediately put on the storage waistband carefully hiding it beneath his waist pouch.


    This precious treasure cannot be exposed!


    This was an incredibly amazing item. Leon already had one even though not all pseudo-Mages have the fortune to own one!


    After glancing at Anna''s corpse several times, making sure there weren''t any leftover magical items on this Fallen Apprentice Mage''s body, Leon went on to inspect the contents of the storage waistband, taking them out one by one.


    Inside, he found seven magic crystals, a notebook about magic spells, a Croaking Frog used for special magic spells, a communication crystal, a crystal green wooden stick which was as long as his arm, a magic mythril the size of a thumb, and a wooden statue normally used by priests.


    ...


    Including today''s loot, Leon currently owns a total of ten magic crystals indicating how rich he had become with this small fortune of his.


    The notebook about magic spells recorded Anna''s insight and her experiences on her learnings of plant element magic spells. It also contains incomplete knowledge concerning the use of summoned spirits to possess and strengthen the summoner''s body. Unfortunately, all of these weren''t of much use to Leon because of his magical affinity towards fire which contradicts the element of plant. It looks like he has to find a way to trade it for something else of use after his return.


    The Croaking Frog was a common magical material. It''s primarily used for setting up alert-type magic arrays which belongs to the auxiliary magic array type.


    The communication crystal Leon found was obviously from one of his groupmates who was captured by Anna. By sensing the personal imprint stored inside it, he knew the unlucky owner of it was in fact, Matthew, an advanced apprentice.


    Both the crystal green wooden stick and the magic mythril were rare magical materials. The former was a semi-finished product, a plant element magical item Anna was crafting but only managed to finish halfway. The latter was a high-grade material used for crafting magical staves, which could greatly improve the conductivity of magical energy. Effectively reducing the loss of energy when casting spells.


    The amount of magic mythril Leon has on hand was enough for him to craft a small-sized single-handed magical staff.


    Leon was uncertain about the purpose of the last item, the wooden statue. A magical aura exuded from it but there wasn''t any magical runes or characters engraved on this item. It looks like he has to return to the Mage Tower and have an expert appraise it for him to know what exactly it is used for.


    While Leon was observing the wooden statue and silently pondered, a soft and warm body suddenly assaulted him from his back.


    "Hehe, my dear, handsome Leon! Since you treated me so nicely, how do you want me to repay your kindness?" A sweet and seductive rang beside Leon''s ears. After that, Bleia squeezed her arms beneath his armpits, gently stroking the area around his chest.


    Ugh...


    This sudden and unexpected lustful development instantly made all of Leon''s hair on his body stand on ceremony, also causing his body to become as stiff as a stone statue.


    "Do you want me to give you a kiss?" Bleia''s sweet voice lingered in his ears.


    "I..."


    Just when Leon was about to say something, a fragrant but sloppy tongue forced its way inside his mouth.


    It was as if a Magma Fireball spell suddenly exploded in Leon''s mind, blowing all other thoughts away! His mind lost on cloud nine, losing himself over the blissful moment of the present.


    A fairly long time had passed by, and only then did Leon finally struggled to get his mind out of this dream-like state. At this moment, Bleia could be seen sitting beside him, holding a pair of magical leather boots in her hand.


    "Chip, tell me what happened just now? Why does Bleia affect me so deeply?" Leon secretly asked the Chip this question.


    "Beep. Detected traces of a magic spell... Host might have been charmed by a spiritual magic spell. Judging from the experience the host went through just now, it should be the ''Natural Charm'' spiritual spell..."


    Natural Charm?


    Leon couldn''t help having his lips twitch.


    Damn! This particular one is extremely effective!


    Ultimately, most magic spells of the spiritual type would show obvious spirit ripples when being casted. So long as one paid close attention, it''s rather easy to guard against them. But, what makes Natural Charm a cut above the rest lies in the word ''Natural''.


    This spell cannot be learned at all, as it only awakens in a limited number of species. Once it was awakened, it would bring the host a tremendous but hidden benefit.


    Whenever a creature possessing the ability of Natural Charm entered a dangerous region, it would not gain the hostility of those neutral creatures as long as the creature didn''t have any destructive behavior.


    If Bleia does indeed possess this ability, then every word and action from her would be more seductive and charming compared to before, making it harder for enemies to be on guard against her.


    Leon couldn''t help but start to doubt, did Anna possessed some kind of special bloodline in her body, for example, that of a Demon Flower or a Demon Tree? If not, how could she bring out such a weird ability by having her blood absorbed by Bleia?


    "You''re awake now, Leon?" Marry seemed to be fully satisfied by how the situation turned out.


    "I never thought just a single kiss from me could bring your head up in the heavens! Looks like you really have to temper your willpower more often!"


    Leon stared at Bleia with a distressed expression. He noticed that Bleia is still unable to properly control her newly obtained ability, that''s why each and every word and action of hers carried a strong power of suggestion and seduction.


    "We already killed an advanced apprentice Fallen Mage, should we continue looking for more resources or return back as soon as possible? Leon can only try his best and divert Bleia''s attention.


    "Let''s go back!" Even though Bleia was an overenthusiastic, her mind was still clear and logical saying, "We have created more than enough of a racket here. Maybe the other teams are already rushing back to our base as we speak. And so, I''ve decided we should be heading back too! I don''t want any more of this underground world place crawling with those black-robed Pseudo-Mages!"


    "Yes!"


    Leon nodded his head, fully agreeing to Bleia''s suggestion.


    ...


    2320 words

 Chapter 57 - 57: Return

    When Leon and Bleia finally arrived to where the groups had split apart, there were four people waiting for them already.


    Noticing the weakest team had successfully returned safely, a relaxed smile simultaneously appeared on the faces of Marcus, Leander, Isaac, and Bruce as their hearts finally felt at ease. If something happened to the Leon and Bleia duo, someone would have to do investigation missions all alone.


    But before they could ease their blooming smiles, they were slack-jawed after seeing the dead body Bleia had brought back with her. Seeing the black-colored Mage robe with distinct characteristics from the ones they''re wearing, they all came up with an idea... this apprentice Mage''s corpse belonged to a Fallen apprentice Mage.


    While the three advanced apprentices could still remain impassive, the Pseudo-Mage Marcus sported an unnatural expression on his face.


    "Did that body belonged to an advanced apprentice or a Pseudo-Mage?" Marcus asked in a deep voice.


    "Of course she''s an advanced apprentice. If she was a Pseudo-Mage, we won''t be standing here before you, safe and sound." Bleia said naturally.


    Hearing her answer slightly relaxed Marcus'' stiff expression, but he was still unable to get rid of his unnatural expression. If he didn''t experienced going to the underground world himself, he might not even be the slightest bit interested regarding this kind of result. But if there was one thing the cruel experiences of the underground world had taught him, it would be that using any kind of elemental magic spell in a place like this would be catastrophic. He knew their victory didn''t come easy as most apprentices only know a few elemental magic spells.


    Elemental magic spells could inflict a massive amount of damage within a large area of effect, thus making them stand at the very forefront among all other kinds of magic. This made apprentice Mages who mastered elemental spells to be likened to a magic cannon with frightening firepower, able to bombard the battlefields with magic spells and cause mass slaughter. What limited their potential was not the number of enemies but the very little amount of magic energy they had.


    However, in this underground environment, all of these skills would no longer be of much use.


    In the event of an unexpected fight occurring underground, the fiery elemental spells would destroy not only the enemy, but also the area around them. With that said, immeasurable amounts of dirt and sand would pour down from above. Even if it was a Pseudo-Mage, once he''s trapped in this dreadful situation, escape would have an extremely slim chance.


    What apprentice Mages want in this location was not some kind of magic spell that has a highly destructive power, but one with just enough power to defeat their foes. An apprentice Mage can only be called a qualified spellcaster when he/she is able to both control the power and effect of the spell, and efficiently cast it towards the enemy accurately.


    Put it this way, a swarm of Rat Men ambushed you amidst the darkness, it''s not them that is more likely to kill you, but the explosive fireball you nonchalantly sent to the enemy. After being viciously swarmed by the underground creatures and being ambushed by strange demon beasts of the darkness, apprentice Mages who had gone through this stressful and miserable situation would slowly adapt, shrugging off their previous arrogant and pretentious attitudes. Becoming someone ruthless but calm, yet smart and shrewd.


    These few apprentice Mages experienced firsthand how painfully hard it was to fight an enemy of the same level in this underground world making them feel shock over the corpse of an advanced apprentice brought by Bleia.


    Not one Body Refining Mage was present among the apprentices who signed up for the Underground Cave exploration mission. But why is that? It is because the deep and narrow underground tunnels aren''t suitable for Body Refining Mages who fought with pure strength. When fighting in this kind of environment, mini magic spells with moderate power and quick casting speed would be preferable.


    In a fight between apprentice Mages, the two parties need to constantly change their battleground and slowly accumulate advantages to devour the enemy one bite at a time. Once either side realized the situation wasn''t looking good for them and decided to flee, it would be incredibly difficult for the chasing side to entrap the enemy without having any special ability.


    But this red-dressed Bleia could actually accomplish this feat, showing that she must have some kind of strange magic spells that are extremely suitable for use in this types of places. What would that be?


    The group couldn''t help but ponder upon this. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At this time, thirty-four hours had already passed since they decided to split up. From what they could infer from the distances from here to the paths each of them took, even Sabrina''s group who took the toughest mission site should have returned by now. When they connected the dots between their absence and the violent ''earthquakes'', the group was struck with worries.


    Fortunately, the worst case scenario never happened. After three hours of waiting, Sabrina and Shila returned in a relatively bad shape.The mission site they chose was located nearly ten miles deep beneath the ground, thus being greatly affected by the violent earthquake earlier. If it wasn''t for Sabrina mainly studying mechanical spells, having replaced a few of her vital organs with powerful magical machinery, perhaps it would be very difficult for them to break through the collapsed underground passages that led them back to the surface.


    Out of the five teams that had gone here, only four had returned safely. Hence, it was painfully obvious who among them were attacked.


    Right when the group was about to bitterly accept the loss of two fellow members in their very first trip to the underground world, the young Pseudo-Mage named Leo fled back to their camp, bathed in blood.


    His gray apprentice robe had torn apart here and there, his skinny body full of crisscrossing wounds. Dark smoke emanated from these wounds, staining the flesh around them in pitch-black color. Leo''s face had also been hit by an Acid Arrow, with half of his face making a sizzling sound resulting from the corrosive effects of the strong acid. If not for his distinct spiritual ripple revealing his identity, the group would''ve treated him as an enemy.


    Although he was severely wounded, Leo still refused his teammates'' treatment. Especially because they were yet to truly establish trust between each other. He does not want his body''s secrets to fall into the control of any outsider.


    Hiding in a corner alone, Leo hastily treated his wounds. He then came back to the group with a gloomy expression, prepared to be questioned by his teammates.


    When they heard there were three black-robed Pseudo-Mages and one advanced apprentice attacked Leo and Matthew''s group, even Sabrina couldn''t help but ponder in silence. If she was the one who bumped into the enemy group, maybe she herself wouldn''t escape uscathed. Seeing Leo was able to preserve his own life, it meant he possessed good enough ability to do so.


    "How was the overall strength of the enemies you guys encountered?" Sabrina asked Bleia after she was done with Leo.


    "We met two enemies, one Pseudo-Mage, and one advanced apprentice. We set up a plan and lured away the Pseudo-Mage then ambushed this advanced apprentice. Leon and I cooperated to kill her!" Bleia described lightly.


    Although she told them it was her and Leon together that killed the enemy, whether it was intentional or not, the group naturally ignored Leon''s existence.


    No way, a beginner apprentice who had less than ten Spirit points and only mastered a spell or two, could a guy like this really participate in a battle between advanced apprentices? The group had a hard time imagining this.


    It was only at this time that Leo noticed the female corpse lying besides Bleia''s feet. Immediately after, he shrieked out loudly.


    "S-she... she was among the four who attacked us. After Matthew and I split up and fled on our own, two Pseudo-Mages went after me while this girl and the other Pseudo-Mage chased after Matthew. I only managed to escape from their pursuit after a bitter fight."


    Although Leo spoke evasively, the group didn''t really care much.


    Split up and flee separately? Hmph. Under such perilous circumstances, would a mere advanced apprentice like Matthew even have the courage to flee on his own? Leo must have realized the situation wasn''t looking too good, thus he ditched Matthew and ran for his life. By doing that, he divided the enemy''s strength and attention.


    Although everyone had already guessed what probably happened, no one blamed Leo for his actions. If they were in his shoes, they might have done the same thing as him.


    Matthew''s inability to escape can only be blame to his own lack of ability. Who gave him the audacity to take on this Red Mission without any life-preserving methods?


    After gathering information from both teams, Sabrina finally concluded the intelligence gathering about the enemies.


    There were three Pseudo-Mages. The first among them took the path of Bloodline Mages possessing the frightening bloodline of the Demonic Serpent; the second one took the path of Profound Mages able to summon some corpse puppets with powerful battle power; the last Pseudo-Mage walk the path of Principle Mages having an elemental affinity with Wind Elementium.


    With this intelligence in their hands and the dead body of an enemy advanced apprentice, the group received rewards from Mage Angus when they returned to the Mage Tower. Although Leo was ambushed on his way back, he was still able to return and complete his mission, thus he also received his share of the reward.


    As for Bleia, the girl who got lucky and was able to kill an enemy of the same rank all alone, she obtained a special reward from Mage Angus. But no one knows what kind of reward she actually received since the process of giving out rewards was done with utmost secrecy.


    At the time the group was about to leave, Mage Angus warned them in a ghastly voice saying, "Little apprentices, you better not regard yourselves as veterans already after only one successful trip from the underground world. In the upcoming mission you will have, you''ll be met with more difficulty with the frequency of attacks from the enemy will rise. Only those who are cautious and prepared will live longer lives. So take advantage of the few days of rest you have, otherwise, you won''t be as lucky as you are now in your next trip."


    "Moreover, the intelligence you brought back is useful. I''ll pass them onto the hunting team here. I assure you, the ones who attacked you wouldn''t have a peaceful trip back towards their base. Jajaja..."


    From the hidden meaning faintly revealed by Mage Angus'' words, the group finally understood the importance of the few apprentice teams that only consisted of pure veterans.


    If we were to talk about it figuratively then, them, the new team would be the bait to lure out the prey. While the team of Blackhand Kevin would be the harpooner that strikes down the enemy. One acting as a prey to lure out the strong enemy apprentices, while the other acted as the hunter, specialized in hunting down these black-robed Pseudo-Mages who took the bait and exposed themselves.


    In fact, when those black-robed Pseudo-Mages failed to kill Leo and Bleia, they had also exposed their whereabouts. With just a send of a message, the hunting group who had roamed the underground world for many years would immediately pursue them.


    Upon imagining the possible cruel fates the ones who ambushed him and made him flee in desperation, a savage smile emerged on the Leo''s half-festered face.


    ...


    1998 Words

 Chapter 58 - 58: Another Core

    The reward they received was directly tied to the difficulty of the mission they turned over.


    The mission that Bleia and Leon completed together had the lowest degree of risk, so the reward they received was much lesser compared to the others. But the special reward they got from bringing back an enemy''s body made them smile widely.


    After they returned to their residences, Leon was planning on having a good rest in his room. But Bleia stopped him and threw an object at him.


    It was an Earth Element Crystal Core the size of an egg. An earthly yellow halo can be seen floating around the brownish yellow core with bits of tiny bright specks of light emitted from it. When he was holding it in his hand, It shined beautifully like a bright and shimmering star!


    Leon could not help but hold his breath.


    Through the rhythm of the undulating elemental ripples, he could clearly see that it was a Pseudo-Mage level Earth Element Crystal Core.


    "You deserve this. I had already savored my reward by sucking dry all the blood essence of the enemy. Let this be the reward for your hard work!" Bleia was still as generous as always and with that said, she turned towards her own room and went in.


    Leon was pleasantly surprise and hesitated for a while but finally decided to keep the gift and went back to his room.


    Leon waited for a bit to ascertain the surroundings were safe and calmed his mind. He remained silent as he started communicating with the Chip.


    "Chip, can you digitize Bleia''s attributes?"


    "Beep. Data collection has been completed... Detailed information is as follows..."


    Ugh... She does indeed have a powerful ability that allows her to evolve just by sucking blood. Leon wondered what kind of magical experiment Mage Eclivel, one who had resided in the Swamp Tower all these years, did to Bleia. How is he able to create such a frightening magical puppet?


    If Leon guessed correctly, Mage Eclivel must have placed some kind of controlling mechanism in Bleia''s body, deeply rooted in her Vampire bloodline. Although Mage Eclivel might be lenient towards Bleia now, once she matured sufficiently to his taste, perhaps that will be the time he will come and harvest what he had fostered.


    What was the limit of Bleia''s growth? Pseudo-Mage or official Mage? Could it be, Mage Aderson is planning to use some kind of method to create an Mage-level magical puppet?


    Most importantly, once Bleia becomes a Pseudo-Mage, she would have the terrifying ability to produce blood slaves. At that time, if Mage Eclivel really wants her to, Bleia could give him a loyal army of blood slaves. For a first grade Mage like him, this would be an excellent trump card against his enemies!


    Bleia might already be aware of her own situation which is why she was rather self-indulgent in both her actions and words. She did everything arbitrarily, unrestrained by her own natural instincts. She probably isn''t able to distinguish whether her thoughts was coming from her true self or from the will Mage Eclivel planted deep within her soul using magic.


    That''s why even though the relationship between Leon and Bleia had been rather good as of late, he still harbored vigilance deep within his heart because he did not know when the trigger hidden in Bleia''s body would be activated.


    But this was a ''small problem'' that can be solved with time. So long as Leon successfully become an official Mage, that Mage Eclivel would no longer be a superior existence he couldn''t reach. Perhaps he could even solve Bleia''s problem through exchanging benefits or other means.


    Leon sat comfortably in front of the wooden table in his temporary shelter. He took out the spoils of the previous underground trip examining them one by one.


    Naturally so, the thorny armor bracelet and the storage waistband he looted from Anna had to be kept for his own use. As for the earrings that has a self-healing effect, he would put it up for sale in exchange for magical equipment that''s more suitable for him. Since he already scanned and copied the contents of the notes about magic spells, it was no longer valuable to Leon. He would sell it too and see if anyone was interested.


    The crystal green wooden stick and magical Mythril looked like the materials Anna had prepared to craft her future magical staff. Too bad though, as she hadn''t collected all the required materials, so she had to carry them with her which ended up as loot for Leon.


    After having Mage Angus identify the crystal green wooden stick, he found out it was a tree branch from an Mage-level Treant that boosts the power of all Plant Element magic spells. Regarding the magical Mythril, it was a native product of the underground world, unable to be found above the surface. The thumb-size Mythril Leon found can easily fetch a price of more than a thousand magic crystals. It''s also quite rare and highly demanded that once it was sold, it can''t be bought back with the same price. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This is only natural as magic Mythril is a high-class consumable product and those who already got it after spending a hefty amount of money will also soon use them up. So a situation of high demand but low supply persisted.


    Therefore, if Leon really wanted to craft his first-ever magic staff, he doesn''t have to find magic Mythril anymore. Though he needed to replace the material used as the main body of the staff. In the end, Leon''s elemental affinity was Fire and not the Plant Element.


    Concerning the last item, the wooden statue, Mage Angus identified it as a spiritual beacon used to communicate with creatures from other planes. According to Mage Angus'' explanation, that female apprentice Fallen Mage that they killed could establish a stable and strong connection with an unknown powerful being from another plane through the ritual of Spirit Summoning. And it seems that from time to time, they would exchange items from the other''s plane that they needed.


    However, for this matter, Mage Angus expressed serious contempt.


    The World of Mages itself is a major plane that attracted the universe''s attention, dominating more than thousands of small and medium-sized planes. And thus, no matter what kind of resources one needed, anyone could obtain it through the local trading system. There wasn''t any need to use the backward method of communicating with other planes. Because each and every one of these planes have their own respective principles, added to that the severe interference caused by the tidal waves of energy from the oceans of stars, the resources consumed by a successful long-range item exchange would be three to five times higher or more, in contrast to the cost to get it via the normal method.


    If it wasn''t for some extremely rare types of resources, no one would use such a primitive method anymore. As for the reason why that female apprentice still kept this communication beacon, it is most probable that she wanted to exchange knowledge with that existence.


    And this was strictly forbidden by the entire Mage society!


    Most importantly, if a native Mage carried out such scornful behavior that betrays the Will of the Mage World, then it would essentially reduce the beneficial response that person gets from the Will itself. As a result, it would become progressively harder for the Mage to advance to a higher grade compared to others.


    That''s why there are not that many official Mages who would do something like this, an act that would give them more losses than what they would gain. Probably only those Fallen Mages that were banned by official Mages would be willing to use this inefficient and harmful method similar to quenching thirst with poison.


    Being just a mere beginner apprentice, Leon still haven''t qualified to get in contact with the Will of the world in a direct and clear manner. So, regarding the Will that Mage Angus had revered in utmost respect, Leon''s mind was filled with curiosity. Even though he has no specific plan to use it for magic experiments, he still kept the wooden statue with him.


    Maybe, just maybe, when his ability has improved a bit allowing him full control of his own life, he might consider exchanging something that he''s interested in with the powerful beings that existed in other magical and mysterious planes.


    As for the Pseudo-Mage level Earth Element Crystal Core he got unexpectedly, Leon did not dare to deal with it carelessly. He ordered the Chip to give it a full scan then have it draft a plan for a custom golem modification.


    After Leon was done with all these, he took out a magic book and began his daily routine of studying while working with the Chip to run simulated experiments within his spiritual domain. When his Spirit was at the brink of depletion, he lied down on his bed and started to go in a state of deep meditation.


    Now, with the help of the Chip, he could enter into a deep meditative state whenever he wanted. Every meditation would give him an increase of 0.08 Spirit and four experience points. This was very important for any Mage since it could increase their maximum level of Spirit. While there are many Mages who would consume magic medicines or special potions to increase their Spirit, this isn''t an option for those ordinary apprentices without the support of a wealthy family who would offset the astronomical cost of the said special consumables.


    For example, the ''Mind Concentrating Potion'' which was very effective in increasing the Spirit of any apprentices below the level of advanced apprentice. The list price for it in the Potion Hall of the Mage Tower was five merit points plus five magic crystals for every bottle. A bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion could bring an increase of 0.5 to 0.7 Spirit to a beginner and intermediate apprentice. Despite the fact that the number wasn''t that remarkable, it was still a precious item for those ordinary apprentice Mages.


    After all, before Leon had the help from the Chip, he could hardly enter into a deep state of meditation. Besides, normal meditation could only bring an additional increase of 0.01 to 0.02 to Leon which was vastly inferior to his current rate of growth from his deep meditations.


    Strictly speaking, merely a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion could save two full months of strenuous meditation for an apprentice Mage. By looking at its wondrous effects, even if the price of Mind Concentrating Potion was rather expensive, it was still sought after by countless apprentices.


    Merit points is used to purchase most of the resources in this place. It was completely different from the knowledge points Leon gained back in the Swamp Tower. The knowledge points he knew of were merely a currency implemented by Mage Eclivel solely for use inside the Swamp Tower. On the other hand, merit points implemented by the Zhentarim Association could be used in any area that was under them.


    As for the other three major Mage associations, they also have their very own independent currency system. There is clear dissimilarity between them and they also couldn''t be exchanged with one another.


    After risking his life through the completion of his very first underground inspection mission, aside from the rewards he got, Leon also received five merit points which was just enough for him to buy one bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion.


    It was already midnight when he was done meditating. After verifying the results from his meditation, his body was wracked with exhaustion. Leon shook away all other thoughts and went to a deep slumber.


    ...


    1974 Words

 Chapter 59 - 59: Selling item

    Built by the Zhentarim Association, the Mage Tower garrisoned in the Underground Cave was considered a small one. It had seven floors aboveground and two floors below, making it a building that consisted of nine floors.


    It''s worth noting that the structure of the building was also similar to the Swamp Tower which Leon had stayed before.


    The first to third floors above the ground was a public area. They were open to all apprentice Mages, functioning as the main area of activity for them. The public facilities available for them covered nearly every field of study an apprentice could ever be involved in. On the other hand, the fourth to seventh floors were only available to official Mages, serving as their living quarters and a site for experimentations. If any apprentice intruded in these places without special permission, they would be mercilessly attacked by the defensive mechanisms of the Mage Tower.


    Currently, Leon was out on a stroll around the public hall located on the first floor of the tower.


    Unlike Swamp Tower, the Underground Cave was an open territory, allowing apprentice Mages to form their own items to visit different areas in search of materials and harvest resources. That''s why the materials and resources available in this place was many times more abundant compared to the Swamp Tower.


    In addition to the gloomy and dark underground world, there''s also the resource-rich Kerala Mountain Range in the surface. Within the confines of these steep mountains, countless exotic flowers and rare herbs can be found growing healthily. While numerous powerful magic creatures were hiding in their respective nests deep within mountains.


    Actually, the surrounding area of the Underground Cave was perfectly suitable in nurturing apprentice Mages.


    For beginner apprentices, they could team up together and venture into the wild forest around the Mage Tower to harvest the resources they need. They could even practice their magic spells while they were at it at the animals that can be commonly found in the woods. Intermediate apprentices could venture deeper, able to set foot into the depths of the mountain range and go for solitary training. As for advanced apprentices, they could journey to the upper regions of the underground world, fighting Ratmen, Hooked Horrors and many more undead creatures.


    An apprentice Mage who honed his skills through these methods would be far more brutal and strong-willed than an apprentice from the Swamp Tower who only know how to grow with time through long-term meditation. In other words, Leon gave off the impression of a typical apprentice that came from a low-tier Mage academy, while the others seemed to be battle hardened apprentices who learned from real combat. There was too much of a difference between them that they cannot be compared at all.


    Early in the morning, the public hall had already been packed to the brim with apprentice Mages who are seeking for new additions to their teams. Most of them were beginner and intermediate apprentices with a small number of advanced apprentices can be found among them. Even more apprentices were on the corners of the hall with black cloth spread out on the floor, with a couple of strange looking items on top of it, all the while holding a book in their hands. When an apprentice came up to them, only then would they lazily answer a few words. They would just read their books quietly most of the time.


    This lifestyle was completely different from the Swamp Tower making Leon feel envy but helpless before it.


    After all, before they entered Swamp Tower to learn, all apprentice Mages were required to sign a magic contract with Mage Eclivel, making them lifetime apprentices of the tower. In order to break free of this contract, there were only two methods: Either obtain Mage Eclivel''s permission or become an official Mage.


    If any apprentice bound by the contract secretly escapes from the Mage Tower he belonged to, he would lose his status as an apprentice, becoming a traitor that will be sought after by hunters. Truth was, among those Fallen Mages living in the depths of the Underground Cave, majority of them were traitors before they became Mages. However, with their status as an Mage not being approved by the Zhentarim Association, they could only conceal their identities and become stray Mages.


    Although Leon envied the lifestyles of apprentices in this place, he could only shake his head and sigh as he felt sad for his fate.


    Taking cover within the crowd of apprentices, Leon browsed through the stalls located on the sides of the road while secretly examining these apprentice Mages of the Underground Cave.


    From the apprentices who were recruiting members in the center of the main hall, Leon found out something about them. He noticed that even a beginner apprentice here would be fully equipped with decent magic equipments and magical items. The magic wand that can hasten casting speed, a waist pouch full of magic scrolls and potions, a dazzling display of tiny decorations... each and every one of them here was considered a mini arsenal. Although their individual battle power wasn''t strong, but with the help of so many items to supplement them, they would be able to bombard the enemy with a plethora of magic spells.


    In Leon''s eyes, these apprentices were walking human gold coins. From top to bottom, inside and out, every single inch of their body was giving off the strong smell of money. Comparing himself to them, Leon can''t help but feel ashamed of his own unbecoming, quickly erasing the proud feeling he had after the small victory he accomplished.


    Possibly only the beginner apprentices who ran stalls while reading books would be the only people as poor as Leon. Anyone can easily tell they just became beginner apprentices, the rookies who are still unqualified to venture into the wild.


    Leon circled around the public hall and when he had stored enough information, he stopped and came to a rather lively stall and interacted with the owner.


    The owner of the stall was a young man. He looked quite heavy, donning a poorly fitted short apprentice robe provided by the Mage Tower. This gave him a funny appearance. Together with his facial features that kept changing while he was talking, all of these had made his stall the liveliest place in this area.


    "Hello, my name is Leon!" Leon walked up to the owner and introduced himself.


    "That... hello to you too, my name is Sam." The fatty responded with humorous atmosphere. He continued, "Is there anything I can help you with?"


    "Hello, Sam. I would like to inquire, is there any special procedure that I have to go through to become a vendor here?"


    "Ugh...


    Sam stared at Leon from top to bottom and asked curiously, "You''re a new beginner apprentice here, aren''t you?"


    "That''s right! I just came here two days ago." Leon replied vaguely. He didn''t want to waste any energy in explaining why he, a mere beginner apprentice, would come to this place and carried out a deadly mission here in the Underground Cave.


    "You poor thing! You must be a newcomer who was ditched by your mentor. I knew it at first sight! But don''t worry, just follow your big brother Sam and sooner or later, you''ll be like them, armored to the teeth with all kinds of magical equipment.." Unexpectedly, Sam was actually a warm-hearted person, as he quickly activated his enthusiastic brother mode.


    But when Leon had glanced on this guy''s face, he was left speechless after seeing the data detected from Sam in his mind.


    This person who proclaimed himself as big brother was actually a super rookie, a beginner apprentice who only has six Spirit points. This had nearly driven Leon insane.


    "Ugh...Sam, I just wanted to ask you... Can I also put up a stall here to sell a few items?"


    "No problem, it''s not a problem at all! I, Sam, is known for taking good care for all newcomers. Come here... I still have some extra spare space here, you can just place your things here!"


    After he obtained Sam''s permission, Leon quickly paced a tray-sized black cloth on the ground then took out five items from his waist pouch, placing them on top. There was the Plant element self-healing earrings, the crystal green wooden stick used as the body of a magic staff, leather boots that has the ability of "Jungle Walk" that enables the user to walk unhindered in jungles or woods, the Croaking Frog and lastly, the notebook of magic spells he got from the enemy.


    The leather boots were here too, and the reason why made Leon angry. The reason was simple, Bleia didn''t like it as the magical pattern on top of the boots wasn''t exquisite enough for her taste. So, early in the morning, she simply threw them back to Leon asking him to get rid of it himself.


    Leon totally could not understand this reason at all. And thus, he labeled Bleia as one of the most incomprehensible creatures of this world. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Watching how Leon had made a fuss while setting up his stall, Sam, who sat beside him wasn''t able to hold his laughter. He gave Leon''s shoulder a pat and warmly said, "Yo brother. Don''t blame your big brother for not reminding you. You''re going to have a hard time selling your item by doing that."


    "Take a look at me! My stall is so big while yours is very small. With what are you going to attract people''s attention? Look, my stall even has a superb collection of beautiful things, but you only have... wait, what''s that?"


    No matter how weak Sam''s Spirit was, he was still able to quickly sense the distinct magical ripples from the items that Leon took out. Good heavens! He had a total of five items, and four of them were obviously magical items! From the design of those items and the magic runes carved on them, they clearly looked like items from the underground world.


    Puzzled, Sam stretched out his arm and picked up the pair of magic earrings and carefully gave it a look. In an instant, he let out a cry full of shock, "Recovery Earrings! This is a pair of Recovery Earrings!"


    Although his voice wasn''t that loud, it still alerted a few apprentice Mages who happened to pass by. One after another, they stopped by the stall and turned their eyes to the earrings held in fatty''s palm.


    "Fatty, what are you shouting at? Can you really get yourself a pair of Recovery Earrings? Don''t try to bluff with us!"


    "That''s right! Sam, you must have gone mad from wanting a pair of Recovery Earrings! Can a poor vendor like you really find yourself a pair of Recovery Earrings? Hahaha..."


    Ridiculed by the surrounding crowd, Sam''s face flushed with embarrassment but he never loosened his tight grip on the pair of earrings.


    Among the crowd, a girl with delicate features and a sweet smile suddenly walked towards the stall.


    "Sam, can you let me have a look at those earrings?"


    "This... the muscles on the fatty'' face twitched as he showed a look of wanting to give himself two slaps on his face.


    In the end, he had no choice but to helplessly open his palm revealing the beautifully crafted earrings in front of this female apprentice.


    Curious, this female intermediate apprentice picked up the pair of magical earrings and examined it. After that, a pleasantly surprised expression was portrayed on her face. Under her skillful control, a bright green glow quickly and flashily emitted from this seemingly unimportant looking magical item. A faint fragrance of vegetation spread out and filled the surrounding air.


    A series of gasping sounds could be heard.


    "There really was a pair of Recovery Earrings!"


    "Heavens! Someone is selling a tier-3 magical item in the main hall..."


    "No way! I have to inform Lina quickly! She had always wanted a pair of Recovery Earrings!"


    "You''re right! I have to inform my boss too..."


    "..."


    Within the crowd, many people hastily took out strange looking communication devices. In an instant, sounds of frogs croaking, birds chirping, insects calling, wolf howling... all kinds of weird animal noises reverberated in the entirety of the main hall.


    ...


    2062 Words

 Chapter 60 - 60: Tier-3 magical item!

    Leon rubbed his nose, clearly taken aback by the massive uproar. On the other hand, the fatty Sam couldn''t help but keep whispering to himself.


    "This is bad... this is really bad... if I knew beforehand that it was truly a pair of Recovery Earrings, I wouldn''t have shouted out loud with my big fat mouth! If boss Kern knows about this, he''ll surely give me a good scolding..." after he finished saying that, he also took out a round crystal ball and used it to call someone. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The messy situation made Leon''s brows furrow. He had no idea what had caused this commotion. It was just some ordinary self-healing earrings, how was it able to cause such a commotion? However, through the help of his sensitive senses, he soon heard a keyword from the conversations between the surrounding apprentices.


    Tier-3 magical item!


    Leon had only read a few books of Alchemy before and had never comprehensively learned or researched much about the classification of magical items. That''s why he was totally unfamiliar with the term of Tier-3 magical item.


    Right when he was hesitating while thinking, the delicate looking female apprentice finally asked her question.


    "Pardon me, between the two of you, who is the owner of these Recovery Earrings?"


    Meanwhile, fatty Sam had gloomily set aside his communication crystal and with a discouraged look, he pointed his finger at Leon.


    Left without any choice, Leon nodded his head and rubbed his nose saying, "I own this item!"


    "How much are you selling it for? How many magic crystals?" The female apprentice asked, full of anticipation.


    "I''m not selling it!"


    "Not selling? Then why did you display it?"


    "Instead of selling, this item can only be traded. Items of the plant element doesn''t suit me, so that''s why I planned to exchange it with...:"


    Before Leon was able to finish his words, an uproar suddenly broke out from the crowd. Soon, a few men covered in sweat pushed through the crowd and arrived in front of him.


    These men were shocked to see each other in front of the stall and glared at each other furiously.


    "Boy from the Patton family, it''s you again? One of my man saw this item first today, don''t you go on thinking you can seize it from us!" A burly man said in an imposing manner. He was also carrying a broadsword strapped on his back, wearing a finely made leather armor.


    On the other hand, while showing a sinister expression and unwilling to be outdone, an apprentice in a gray robe who had rushed here responded disdainfully, "Your man saw it first? Hmph. Just with that childish thinking alone makes you unworthy of my time. Whoever bids the highest price will get the item, this is the rule of this place. If you''re so great as you say, why don''t you buy everything you see here?"


    Apparently, both men were team leaders of two established teams with both possessing the ability of advance apprentices. Therefore, when they started to challenge each other, the raging killing intent they exuded gave made everyone suffocate to the pressure. Since this place was the inner area of the Mage Tower, none of them dared to start a real fight. What they could do, however, was to keep pressuring the other side using their powerful spirit.


    "Alright, alright! Why are you two doing this every time you meet? Since all of us came across the Recovery Earrings together, let''s name our prices. We''ll see who get''s it at the end!"


    The voice came from a young man dressed in a red robe who pushed his way out through the crowd.


    Although he looked young, he had a calm and cold expression, like someone who had been through many things. He didn''t have a handsome face but he wasn''t ugly either, his looks were quite common, a faint smile formed from his slips.


    "What a surprise, Boss Kern is here too!"


    "This is going to become lively!"


    "Don''t push me aside! I still want to see what will happen!"


    ...


    ...


    The crowd''s commotion was getting louder and louder.


    The man in the red robe turned around, sweeping his eyes over the crowd that had gathered. They quickly settled down when his glanced passed by them. Afterwards, he gave the crowd a warm smile.


    "Alright, let''s stop making a racket. It''s quite rare to encounter a pair of Recovery Earrings here, and we all know everybody would want to get their hands on it, but we''ll see who has the fortune of becoming its owner in the end!"


    Being suppressed by the man in the red robe, the two team leaders had no other choice but to retract their spiritual pressure. Together, they all went in front of Leon''s stall, casting greedy looks towards the earrings resting on the female apprentice''s palm.


    This female apprentice was clearly a team member of the guy with the broadsword as his brows quivered with extreme pleasure when he saw her.


    "Heidi, you truly have a good pair of sharp eyes. How is it? Are you able to buy this pair of earrings? If you don''t have enough magic crystals, the few of us together can go gather more. You have to buy it, no matter what!"


    The man in the gray robe and Kern furrowed their brows at the same time.


    "But he doesn''t want to sell, he only wants to trade it with something else!" Heidi couldn''t help but stomp her foot.


    "Trade?" All the three leaders were struck dumb and immediately asked, "Trade with what?"


    "Trade it with fire element magical items!"


    The three men simultaneously became silent.


    Where was this place? It was the Underground Cave!


    Fire element materials were extremely rare in this place. As a result, all Fire element magical items were considered a rare commodity.


    However, all three of them were obviously not someone who would give up easily. One after the other, they all secretly communicated with Leon through Spiritual Whisper, seeking for an alternative deal but Leon was firmly turned them all down.


    Right when the three leaders were calling their men to help out and look for fire element magical items, Leon found a chance to ask fatty Sam and learned the main reason why Recovery Earrings was a sought after item by many people.


    For most of the beginner and intermediate apprentices here, although the resources and materials found in Underground Cave had a high value, the risk from obtaining them was consequentially enormous. So most of their training and the areas of activity were carried out in the Kerala Mountain Range. Catching demon beasts, harvesting magical medicines, exploring secret places, all of these were always accompanied with unpredictable dangers. Therefore, if a team could have a member with them who was well-versed in healing during their trip, it would definitely bring massive benefits to any apprentice team.


    That''s because if they only use Blood Coagulating Medicinal Paste and Health Potions in healing their injured team members, the expenses they would incur would be too much, cutting down their earnings. Under such circumstances, a plant element Recovery spell would definitely help them save a large amount of additional expenses. Also, one advantage of the Recovery earrings was that, once the plant element energy stored within it ran out, they only have to stay within a place filled with lush vegetation for a period of time and the energy would be refilled automatically.


    This, without a doubt, gave it a higher value!


    As for the so-called tier-3 magical items, it was actually a classification of magical items given by apprentices. Magical items that could provide an effect 10 to 20 energy points were classified as tier-1. Most small decorative items crafted by apprentice Mage belong to this category.


    Meanwhile, items that could provide 20 to 30 energy points of effect were tier-2 magical items. Sometimes, a few top quality items that were crafted by apprentices would be able to reach this tier as well.


    As for the tier-3 magical items, their effects had reached an outstanding 30 to 40 energy points. Most of these items were crafted by official Mages, usually as the products of their alchemy training. But when it falls to the hands of an apprentice Mage, it would become their trump card that can increase their strength.


    After listening to fatty''s explanation, Leon was confused and said, "This is impossible! I have tested it myself and these earrings can only provide me at most 10 green life energy. It can''t be a tier-3 magical item!"


    Hearing what Leon had said, fatty couldn''t help but pat his shoulder.


    "Don''t tell me you were using your own energy to test it? In order to activate the Recovery Earrings'' maximum healing effect, there are two conditions. Firstly, you have to use it at place filled with vegetation like for example, a forest. Secondly, the user must also be a plant element apprentice. Since you''re a fire element apprentice, the effect would surely be reduced!"


    At last, Leon was lit with a flame of comprehension.


    No wonder these earrings gave him such a weak response when he tested it. Although the female apprentice only gave it a brief test, it instantly showed a distinct green glow. Apparently, he had used the wrong energy for it!


    Glancing at the noisy scene, fatty shook his head while saying, "This have become such a mess... if this continues, those bastards of the enforcement force might be drawn to the commotion here soon..."


    Maybe fatty was truly a real jinx or bad things were really just supposed to happen. A commotion broke out from the crowd once again as two intermediate apprentices wearing blue uniforms rushed in through the audience.


    "Who was the one? Who dared selling tier-3 magical item in this place? Who gave you the audacity to do this? Don''t you all know tier-2 and above magical items and equipment can only be traded by us, the Murphy Association?" Showing a fierce expression, the young apprentice who was in the lead viciously glared at fatty Sam upon his arrival, convinced that the guy was the culprit.


    "Sure enough, it''s you again! Sam! How dare you!"


    His face covered with fury, Sam refused, "Ryan, you better not speak without knowing the truth. This thing doesn''t belong to me. No matter how unreasonable you are, you can''t incriminate an innocent man!"


    The enforcement guy named Ryan moved his somber glance away from Sam''s face and came to a stop on Leon who was wearing a calm and relaxed expression. He was suddenly hit with uncertainty.


    Although there were many apprentices in this Mage Tower, he knew who possessed strong abilities among them. However, he never once saw this beginner apprentice before, and from where did this guy found a tier-3 magical item?


    "Kid, I think you don''t probably know the rules in this place!" Ryan stood loftily in front of Leon and continued, "As I said earlier, in this Mage Tower, any tier-2 and above magical item can only be sold to us, the Murphy Association. This is the magic contract that was signed between our association and Mage Howard. If you don''t obey the rule, you''ll risk having your apprentice status being revoked! Hmph..."


    After he finished saying that, he timely snatched the earrings away from the female apprentice''s palm and held it in front of his face. After inspecting it, he nodded with satisfaction.


    "The quality of this earrings is pretty good. According to the rules of Murphy Association, I''ll buy it from you using the market price. The price is..." Ryan rolled his eyes and added, "Fifteen magic crystals!"


    Ryan actually only wanted to say twelve magic crystals but he realized there were too many apprentices gathered around. He had no choice but increase it by a tiny bit.


    But even so, when the price of fifteen magic crystals was heard by the crowd, an uproar quickly ensued.


    "Why don''t you go and rob someone else?"


    "Heavens! Only fifteen magic crystals! This price can''t even buy a mere tier-1 magical item!"


    "That''s right, this is robbery in broad daylight!"


    ...


    ...


    The agitated replies of the apprentices obviously made Ryan angry from embarrassment.


    "Shut up! This is the aLeonent between our association and the master Mage himself! Who dares to question me? If any of you still make irresponsible remarks, I''ll immediately report you to the Mage on duty!"


    His blunt threats eventually quieted down the crowd. Even the three leaders who were standing in front of the stall were wearing annoyed expressions, suppressing their fury.


    ...


    2108 Words

 Chapter 61 - 61: Training camp

    After finding out that the crowd had become quiet, Ryan nodded in satisfaction.


    Right at this moment, a servant who had followed him here suddenly pulled on his sleeve from behind, pouting his lips at Leon''s stall.


    "Master Ryan, why do I have a feeling that those other items aren''t ordinary things too?"


    Ryan leaned his face forward and gave those items a careful look. Indeed, it was as the servant had said. He discovered some rather uncommon characteristics among them.


    "Croaking Frog, Elven Boot, Treant Branch..."


    For every name he called out, the crowd would gasp in amazement. And when the name of Treant Branch was called out, a few apprentices who were experts in plant element magic spells couldn''t help but place their palms against their chests, as if they couldn''t withstand the intense shock with their heart breaking into pieces.


    At the same time, fatty Sam was wearing an unsightly expression. He was portraying a look as if his heart had died, much like the look one would have if their father had just passed away.


    As for the other few team leaders, they had totally given up their intention of owning these treasures. They called their men back and walked away from the stall, becoming one of the bystanders instead. They had a clear judgement. If a beginner apprentice was struck by luck, it was possible that he could find himself a tier-3 magical item. But if this beginner apprentice was able to take out a couple of tier-3 magical items together, then it wasn''t luck anymore.


    Only a beginner apprentice who was backed by a powerful clan or one who was exceptionally powerful could do so. Either person was not someone they could afford to offend. Perhaps it was only Ryan, who was blinded by his own greed, who could not see such a simple fact!


    Indeed, upon seeing so many tier-3 magical items, Ryan could no longer maintain his calm. He immediately stretched his arms forward and tried to snatch all of them away.


    "holding~~"


    A large hand reached out from the side and grabbed his wrist.


    "Mister, I don''t think you have the right to forcibly buy my items!" Leon could no longer stand the lousy show this clown was putting on, so he decided to stop this man from continuing to behave recklessly.


    "Why? You dare to disagree with me? Every single apprentice who lives in this Mage Tower knows that all tier-3 magical items are traded solely by us, the Murphy Association. You''ve already violated the rules for trading in this place, so you better be careful or else I''ll put you into custody!"


    "Haha, mister. I think the agreement signed between your Murphy Association and master Mage himself is only limited to the members of this Mage Tower, right? However, I''m not an apprentice of this place. Furthermore, these items weren''t produced by your Mage Tower. Therefore, what gives you the right to forcibly buy them off me?"


    "Kid, don''t try to fool me. If you''re not a part of this Mage Tower, how did you enter this place? Hmph. You better let go of your grip, or else..."


    "Or else what?"


    "Or else, I''ll take you to Enforcement Quarter and teach you a good lesson!"


    "Hehe, if you really plan to do so, you should prepare to be humiliated!" Leon laughed through clenched teeth. He was finally unable to take it anymore and was completely pissed off by this idiot.


    "What? Are you going to assault me?"


    While saying that, Ryan slapped on his waist. In that instant, black and thick hairs suddenly burst out from his once fair and clean face, and his body vaguely started to expand.


    Beastialize!


    A frown appeared on Leon''s face. He took two steps back, and swiped his fingers across his waist pouch, taking out two summoning crystal cores.


    Right when he was hesitating about whether or not he should really fight, a cold voice could be heard from the middle of the crowd.


    "Stop right there!"


    The voice sounded familiar to Leon.


    Leon immediately recognized him after being hinted by the Chip.


    A thought came over him, so he clenched his right palm tightly and didn''t throw the summoning crystal cores out.


    To be honest, this place wasn''t suitable for the Demon Alligator Hunter to fight. Firstly, there wasn''t any clay in the public hall. The only way to get the Earth Elementium was to try and absorb it from the surrounding air, however, this wasn''t an easy task. Also, as the Demon Alligator Hunter was his trump card, the better he kept it a secret, the better the result would be in a real fight. Thus, unless it was a critical moment, he didn''t want to expose this secret.


    Right when both men were confronting each other aggressively, a man strode out from the crowd. Judging from the way the crowd parted to make way for this man, it was obvious he was quite well-known.


    "Master Kevin!"


    ...


    One after another, the apprentice Mages bowed and greeted the man. Soon, Blackhand Kevin, the advanced apprentice who Leon had run into once, arrived next to both the men.


    "Master Kevin, why are you here?" Ryan, the blue-robed law enforcement, nodded while bowing towards Kevin.


    The young, yet prestigious, Kevin wouldn''t even bother responding to Ryan. Instead, he nodded his head at Leon. He then squatted in front of Leon''s stall and examined the items.


    "Elven Boot, Croaking Frog, Treant Branch... good stuff, they''re all tier-3 magical items. No wonder these guys are so crazy about it. But, I thought I heard someone say that there was a pair of Recovery Earrings here?"


    "That... that... master, the Recovery Earrings are here!" Ryan hesitantly handed over the Recovery Earrings.


    "Alright!" Kevin took over the earring and tossed it back to the stall. Then he assumed a serious attitude and grabbed the magical notes. He gave it a few flips and briefly read through.


    Finally, Kevin raised his head and lightly sighed.


    "Just as I came back, I received news that the Demon Vine Lady was killed in the underground world, but I didn''t believe it. I''d never have thought that you''d even brought back her notes about magic spells. I suppose these items are taken from her, too? You''re really one of the younger generation who is worthy of respect!"


    "Demon Vine Lady? Are you referring to the girl who can transform her body? She was killed by Master Bleia, and it was her who ordered me to sell these equipments!"


    "Bleia? The girl who can transform into a vampire?" After pondering for a few moments, Kevin chose to believe Leon''s explanation. After all, no matter how he looked at it, it was impossible to believe that a beginner apprentice would have the ability to kill a notorious advanced apprentice Fallen Mage. "Pack up all your things and follow me! You won''t find anything you want here. I''ll bring you to the place you''re supposed to go!"


    After finishing speaking, he helped Leon roll up the cloth before striding away. Throughout the entire process, he simply ignored the existence of Ryan.


    After both men finally disappeared from the sight of the crowd, an uproar once again broke out from the public hall. The few team leaders even dragged fatty Sam to a corner to thoroughly question him about the background of that mysterious young man.


    But those questions had lost all meaning to Leon. He was totally struck dumb by what he saw now.


    Kevin had brought him to a small training camp outside of the Mage Tower. In order to reach the camp, they had to fly. Therefore Kevin led him to a flying demon beast. For the first time in his life, Leon had the chance to ride on a flying demon beast. The demon beast Kevin had led him to was referred to as a ''Socrates Condor''.


    Socrates Condor was an advanced apprentice level Wind Element demon beast. It stood three meters tall and had a full wing span of five meters. It had a big, strong body and possessed the ability to cast Wind Blade, Wind Vortex and a few other basic Wind Element magic spells. It was a rare flying creature that dominated the forest region.


    Because of its great physical strength and incredible flying speed, they were often captured by Mages and tamed into excellent flying vehicles.


    It was the first time he had the opportunity to fly on a demon beast, so he was rather nervous about the experience.


    When the majestic looking condor soared up into the sky, its golden feathers sparkling in the sun, Leon couldn''t help but grip the soft feathers behind the condor''s neck. He felt like his heart was beating so fast it would jump out of his chest.


    Whilst riding on the other condor, and leading the way, Kevin looked over his shoulder. He saw Leon''s nervousness and simply let out a loud laugh. Clearly, this wasn''t the first time he saw someone behaving like this.


    Leon had his eyes closed tightly. It was only when the condor stopped its acceleration, and started to cruise steadily in the bright blue sky, did he finally let loose of his sweaty palms and tried his best to open his eyes.


    For the first time, Leon felt like he was so close to the sky. Those pure white, fluffy clouds were hovering over his head like cotton candy. Below him were steep and tall mountains, valleys and woods that rolled through the land, and a dense forest littered with wild animals. From time to time, he could even see some birds chirping on treetops...


    All of these had brought light to Leon''s mind, who had been spending too long in a dark and treacherous world. To be honest, after staying for a while in that gloomy and bizarre Swamp Tower, Leon had felt his body and mental state become rotten. He could no longer retain the relaxed and easy-going attitude he had when he just arrived in this world.


    Following the relaxation of his mind, the feeling of nervous he felt from his first time flying gradually subsided. Leon folded his legs and sat on the back of the condor. He started to enjoy the magnificent scenery he saw underneath the condor.


    It was lucky he wasn''t afraid of heights! Or else, if a future great Mage was afraid of heights, it would become lasting stain on his mighty reputation. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The training camp wasn''t far and was located approximately thirty miles from the Mage Tower. It was situated right in the middle of a serene valley.


    The two Socrates Condors flapped their wings and slowly descended from the sky. Although Leon still had a pale face, his performance descending was much better compared to when he was ascending.


    After getting off the condor, Kevin casually tossed out a magic crystal. His condor immediately grabbed it with its mouth and swallowed it. At the same time, the condor ridden by Leon was staring at him with a cold gaze.


    This was probably the fee for riding this flying creature!


    Leon copied Kevin and tossed out a magic crystal, which made the condor previous anger turn to joy. After swallowing the magic crystal, it slowly walked to an empty field beside them.


    "Let''s go. I''ll bring you to a real circle of friends. We and those people in the public hall are from two different worlds! You''ll get nothing good by hanging around with them. Besides, what you really want can never be found in that place!" Kevin spread out his arms and said, "Only here can you find the true value of yourself. And this place is the future that belongs to all combat Mages!"


    Ugh... what a dramatic opening speech! But too bad there wasn''t a round of applause. Instead, there was a rather awkward silence.


    But before Leon could think of a way of handling such a situation, a haughty laugh was heard coming from a far distance.


    "Cheesy Kevin, you''re giving the same speech again. Who are you trying to fool into your team? Quickly bring him to me, the bald Hulk, and let me have a good look!"


    The fervent and excited Kevin''s enthusiastic expression was completely crushed. While cursing under his breath, he and Leon walked towards the man who just undermined him.


    ...


    2072 Words

 Chapter 62 - 62: Duel

    The entire training camp occupied a vast tract of land, however, there weren''t many buildings that could be found in this place.


    On the east side was a row of solidly built wooden cabins. They were all built with huge logs. Although they looked simple and primitive, they were extremely sturdy. While on the west side, a number of tents were found scattered around. Judging by the size of them, each could only house one to two people and were used for resting.


    In the entire camp, the thing that drew one''s eyes the most was a large area occupied by a training ground. Countless apprentice Mages were using this training ground and were seriously fighting each other. Yes, they were all apprentice Mages. They weren''t some ordinary human fighters. Looking at those bowl-size fireballs that dashed through the air like shooting stars and the frightening figure of a man, covered in raging lightning, raising his axe high up, made Leon''s heart, once again, start to pound fast.


    All this while, the impression Leon had toward apprentice Mages was rather dark and crafty, with many of them having a twisted mind. Thus, this was the first time he saw something like this. Out in the broad daylight, these apprentice Mages were fighting each other, face to face, with their raging magical spells.


    At the edge of a large training ground, a group of men could be seen gathered together, watching the fight between two advanced apprentices.


    One was like Leon, a long ranged spell caster who had mastered Fire Element magic spells.


    The other took the path of a Body Refining Mage, a frightening god of war who possessed the powerful ability of thunder.


    Both men were exchanging attacks in the field, locking themselves in a fierce battle.


    Three Inferno Shields were spinning around the body of the Fire Element apprentice and helped him block most of the dirt and sand that splashed into his direction. The thunderbolts flew towards the Fire Element apprentice like huge silver serpents. At the same time, a strange magical array could be seen flickering under his feet.


    Apparently, this magical array had some sort of quickening effect, which allowed him to run at a speed not slower than those apprentices who had high Agility. In addition to this, a fireball, which was enshrouded between his palms, kept spitting out continuous fireballs. He was bombarding his opponent like the pouring down of a heavy rain of flames.


    On the other hand, the wrathful Body Refining Mage, with the help of his intrepid physique and the lightning web that covering around his body, had withstood the continuous bombardment of fireballs. He kept letting out raging roars before charging forward, trying his best to follow after the Fire Elemental apprentice.


    Frightening thunderbolts kept bolting out from his giant axe. If he was allowed to get closer to his opponent, even if it was just by a little bit, then he would be able to throw out the thunderous axe and instantly inflict severe damage on his opponent, as they had a weak physique.


    Following behind Kevin, Leon came to the edge of the battlefield. Before he arrived, he could already smell the pungent smell of lightning burning through the air. His ears were also filled with loud booming sounds coming from the explosion of those fireballs.


    Although the field was large, it appeared to be too small to accommodate the overly brutal and violent magic spells. Previously, a few fireballs even flew out from the battlefield and shot towards the crowd of bystanders. Whenever this happened, everyone would cheer like it was a great party.


    Some would take out their magical staffs, shooting out freezing beams to freeze the fireball into an ice cube. Meanwhile, some would jump up in the air and slash through the fireball that passed besides them, breaking it into small fireworks. No matter who stood out and showed off their incredible magical ability, the crowd would always respond with loud cheers and applause.


    The man who had jeered at Kevin was seen standing in the middle of the crowd. He was a bald man with a burly body, with chunks of muscles that looked like pieces of metal filling every inch of his body. Although he was standing there bare-handed, he was releasing a mighty air of indomitable spirit.


    He was a Body Refining Pseudo-Mage. The enormous pressure he gave off had almost turned into a physical pressure. Standing right beside him, Leon felt that he was having a hard time breathing normally.


    His mind had been bombarded by a series of warning tones given by the Chip.


    "Warning! Warning! A high-frequency spiritual radiation is detected... The host needs to leave the source of said radiation immediately, or else, signs of Spirit decay will appear in three seconds. Countdown started: 3... 2... 1..."


    Leon couldn''t help but wear a bitter smile on his face.


    In this Mage World of advanced magic, all apprentice Mages had accumulated magical Elementium in their body by constantly meditating and consuming magical medicine. The more Elementium that was in one''s body, the stronger their spirit radiation would be. For them, perhaps this was something normal, however, for ordinary humans, this spirit radiation was the equivalent of the nuclear radiation that could be found on Earth in his previous life.


    Apprentice Mages could only be considered as nuclear material or nuclear waste, as, although they were dangerous, there was a limit to the damage they could inflict. However, those official Mages had crossed the line of qualitative change and had transformed from nuclear material to a nuclear reactor. Thus, their hazardousness was brought to another higher level.


    This burly bald man who always wearing a smile on his face was definitely a Pseudo-Mage who could break through the line of official Mage at any time. Even though Leon had just gotten a little bit closer to him, as a beginner apprentice, he nearly couldn''t withstand the frightening spirit radiation he unintentionally emitted.


    After greeting Kevin, the bald Hulk''s eyes rested on Leon''s face. However, after a brief gaze over at Leon, his metal-like square face showed a curious expression.


    "How come he is only a beginner apprentice? Don''t tell me that those black bastards of the Underground world were fed with Corpse Worms, which caused them to be defeated by a mere beginner apprentice? You, Dark Wood, go and test him out!" Clearly, Hulk was the true leader of this training camp, as he simply picked an opponent for Leon without asking for anyone''s permission.


    "Hey, both of you, don''t you feel tired after jumping around in the battlefield for so long? Hurry come over here, we have a new game now!"


    Soon, following Hulk''s shout, both advanced apprentices left the battlefield. They were bathed in sweat and their bodies were full of wounds. You could tell this wasn''t the first time they had fought each other. It seemed that both of them had fully understood each other''s ability. Although, before their opponent revealed any significant weakness, both of them did have the chance to defeat each other. However, it wasn''t easy to grab hold of this winning chance.


    The burly man who possessed thunder elemental ability had his body fully covered in burned marks of all sizes. While receiving treatment from someone, he asked with a loud, hollow voice, "Where does this beginner apprentice come from? Chief, are you trying to get him killed by asking him to fight? Look at his tiny body that is as weak as a bean sprout. I''m scared he won''t be able to withstand this torture!"


    Hulk threw his head back and let out a ground shaking laugh.


    "Mark, you better not brag without feeling shame! Do you have any idea what this little guy did? This tiny beginner apprentice is the guy who killed the Demon Vine Lady. So, among all of you advanced apprentices, who of you dares to slam their chest and guarantee that they can defeat that Demon Vine Lady?"


    Hearing what Hulk said, the confused crowd instantly threw their glances over to Leon, who was currently smiling wryly. They tried to figure out what made this tiny man so strong.


    Leon opened his mouth, wanting to say a few words to cover his secret. However, Kevin immediately patted his shoulder lightly. He moved closer to his ear and whispered, "Little man, let me teach you a lesson today. If you don''t want others to spy on your secret, then, next time, remember to destroy your enemy''s soul!"


    Leon''s mouth hung open for a minute before he finally realized what gave himself away.


    Damn it, the dead body of that Demon Vine Lady.


    Indeed, he and Bleia had killed her, but they never extracted and destroyed her soul. After submitting her body to the Mage Tower, those Mages must have learned his secret by studying the memory that remained in her broken soul.


    Fuck! Damn!


    Right at this very moment, Leon wished he could give himself a really good slap. He wanted to cry and shed bitter tears for his thoughtless mistake. At the same time, he felt a sense of powerlessness when he thought about the bizarre magic spells that existed in this strange world of Mages.


    There were all kinds of magic spells, and, while no one could really tell how many spells were out there, their bizarre results were simply impossible to guard against. It looked like his plan of hiding behind Bleia and earning his fortune secretly had just burst. Today, in this place, he had to show out his true ability.


    Fortunately, his strongest ability was something that none of these guys could ever spy upon. In actual fact, the ability that they thought he possessed was actually the tiniest part of it and was not worth of mentioning.


    After making up his mind, Leon decided to give up the idea of concealing himself anymore. A wicked smile emerged on his face.


    "Alright, since you guys want to see my true ability, then send your fighter now! Let him show himself. I wonder who my opponent will be?"


    "Err... excuse me. I''ll be your opponent! My name is Dark Wood!" A rather deep, hoarse voice came from the crowd. After that, an old, skinny hunchback, walked out from the crowd. He was carrying a staff made from black wood.


    He had loose and wrinkled skin, a skinny and shriveled body, a somber and ferocious expression and a head full of dried and yellow disheveled hair. His hands and legs looked dark and dirty, and his pitch-black curved nails looked like the sharp claws of an eagle. He gave Leon a gruesome smile, revealing a mouthful of brown, broken teeth.


    On top of the black wood staff, he carried in his left hand, were chains of teeth and miniature skulls. Whenever a shivering breeze blow by, they would produce a rattling sound that sent chill down one''s back.


    Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be approaching the end of his life, as he looked like a skeleton with one leg already in the grave. But, upon seeing this man, Leon''s pupils contracted, and his expression gradually turned dignified. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although this guy only had the spiritual ripple of an advanced apprentice, the threat of death he brought to Leon was distinct and straightforward. If Leon''s guess was correct, this frightening guy must be someone with the elemental affinity of negative energy. The only thing he didn''t know now was whether this guy was one who played with dead bodies or a frightening one who played with curses.


    Perhaps, in order to understand his real ability, Leon would have to experience it personally on the battlefield!


    "Hehe! Don''t you think it''s unfair to let an advanced apprentice, fight with a mere beginner apprentice like me? Since you guys wish to see my real ability, you''ll have to pay a price. Before we start the match, I need to know what I''ll be earning when I win the match?" Leon folded his arms in front of his chest, portraying a look of confidence.


    "Kid, you''re pretty cocky!" Dark Wood once again showed his insidious smile, saying, "Initially, Master Hulk only wanted to see how long you could hold out when facing my attack. So, do you still think you have the chance to win this match? Jajaja..."


    "What if I really win this match? Do you dare to bet with me?" Leon took the opportunity and counter-checked the guy.


    "Why not? For the sake of your courage, I can give you odds of ten to one. No matter how many magic crystals you bet, as long as you can defeat me, I''ll pay ten times back!" The insidious smile of Dark Wood, along with his skeleton-like head, made him looked really frightening.


    "Who else wants to bet with me? Come on, show me your courage!"


    Leon yelled out loudly and tossed out all his belongings.


    He offered all the contents wrapped in that black cloth and the last nine magic crystals he had.


    He had instantly kindled the atmosphere of the scene!


    ...


    2197 Words

 Chapter 63 - 63: Leon vs Dark Wood

    They had seen many arrogant people before, however none were as arrogant as this guy!


    How dare a mere beginner apprentice provoke and challenge a group of elite enforcers who were, at the minimum, advanced apprentices? No doubt this was an act that truly provoked the ire of the crowd.


    While grinning viciously, one after another elite apprentice accepted this bet. At the same time, they kept cheering, encouraging, threatening and teasing Dark Wood, wanting him to teach this unbridled rascal a good lesson. Following the piling up of the bet, the crowd became more excited. Eventually they even pushed Hulk aside, and started clustering around both men to escort them into the battlefield.


    Watching his enthusiastic peers, Hulk''s expression couldn''t help but turn strange. He secretly pulled Kevin into a corner.


    "Kid, you''re the one who referred this guy here. You better not give me trouble. Do you think he has a chance of winning?"


    "Ugh... according to the memory that Mage Angus extracted from her soul, this Leon owns a pretty powerful Earth Element Golem. Perhaps... maybe... if he brings all his ability into play, I think there is a possibility he can save himself from losing. However, it is absolutely impossible he can defeat Dark Wood!"


    After obtained a satisfying answer, Hulk couldn''t help but feel excited too.


    "Guys, get your ass out from the field and leave them alone! I don''t want that kid to have any excuse for his defeat later. Mensa, come here and help me calculate the total bet. Don''t forget to include my bet. I''ll bet two hundred Magic Crystals on Dark Wood!"


    Hulk''s loud roar resounded throughout the entire place and further ignited the atmosphere of the scene.


    Weird yells and roars of the name ''Dark Wood'' echoed around the field and lingered in the air.


    Right at this moment, Leon and Dark Wood had entered the battlefield. They facing each other with a distance of a hundred meters between them.


    While he was staring at how Leon calmly and unhurried began preparing for the battle, Dark Wood grinned broadly, exposing his broken and brownish teeth. He grinned and said, "Kid, you do have guts! But I hope later you won''t be howling sorrowfully of your own blood, with a rotted body. Don''t worry, as long as you are willing to lie flat on your face and admit your defeat and ignorance, I''ll consider sparing you! Jajaja..."


    In regard to his opponent''s offensive remark, Leon simply responded with a cold gaze, before continuing his preparation and tossing out the summoning crystal core.


    It was a perfect battlefield for him. Although the ground he was stepping on a was made by magically hardened dirt, it they was still dirt!


    In next moment, a huge amount of Earth Elementium gathered around the summoning core. It gradually revealed a vague, mammoth figure in front of the crowd.


    Ugh... wasn''t this a little too oversized?!


    Staring at the huge Demon Alligator Hunter who slowly making its debut, the exciting clamor from the edge of the battlefield starting to subside, while a feeling of doubtful starting to rise in the heart of these bystanders.


    Was this kid a summoner? Why did he summon such a huge creature?


    Following the condensation of Earth Elementium, the body of Demon Alligator Hunter became firmer and sturdier. It continued like this until its massive body and ferocious appearance had finally revealed itself in front of everyone. Leon strode forward and climbed on top of the Demon Alligator''s back, sitting there comfortably.


    Damn it, this kid surely had remarkable skill!


    Dark Wood cursed inwardly and quickly preparing his own magic spells.


    As this was a battle under the watchful eyes of the crowd, both parties were allowed to prepare themselves with some supplementary magic spells. However, they were forbidden from launching an attack in advance. Thus, the magic spells Dark Wood prepared were mostly assisting and summoning type spells.


    When Dark Wood waved his black wood staff in the air, the little decorative items tied on top of the staff hit with each other and produced a clanking noise. Numerous white illuminating balls burst out from the sharp teeth and miniature human skulls. They soon formed into two frightening bone shields that floated beside his body.


    The bone shield was assembled by countless pale white bones, and there was even a ferocious-looking skull protruding on the surface of the shield. Two pale green flames were floating in the eyes of the skull and the skull kept moving its jaw, portraying a frightening look of being constantly ready to devour someone.


    At the same time, Dark Wood was reciting some magic spells quickly. A bizarre- looking dark halo, whose purpose was unknown, began emanating from his right palm.


    "Have both of you prepared?" Hulk''s loud roar echoed throughout the entire battlefield.


    Upon seeing both men quietly nodding their heads, Hulk then yelled out loudly, "Then, I hereby announce that the battle has begun!"


    Right at the very moment when the announcement was given, the dark halo floating in Dark Wood''s palm trembled in a strange manner. On the other side, Leon, who had been on full alert, immediately noticed the incoming attack through his Elementium Vision.


    It was a curse attack!


    Only a curse attack could be so incorporeal, making it hard to defend against.


    Leon sat high up on the back of Demon Alligator. His apprentice short robe began to wave lightly in the breeze. Below his exquisite Circlet of Nobility was a pair of eyes, flicking with a blue glow. These eyes stared at Dark Wood, who was standing a hundred meters away.


    If it was another apprentice, perhaps he would''ve been hit by Dark Wood''s dirty trick without knowing anything prior. But Leon''s Elementium Vision allowed him to see all magical Elementium, so he could see this dirty trick vividly. An incorporeal, bizarre-looking dark lasso coiled out from the dark halo in Dark Wood''s palm and flew towards him.


    At this moment, the Screaming Tree Branch, which Leon had brought along, was sounding a constant alarm.


    But Leon''s mindset wasn''t disturbed at all by the Screaming Tree Branch. Instead, he had all his attention focused on the hints that the Chip was transmitting into his mind.


    "Warning... warning... A hostile Spiritual lockdown is detected... Host, please move away from this spot immediately... Failure to do so will result in host being attacked by any subsequent curse spells... Upon matching the spells with current magic spells database, possibility of Spirit Confusion is 71%, possibility of Spirit Slow is 26%, possibility of Soul Borers is 3%..." sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Apparently, all curse spells needed to first lock down on the victim with spiritual energy, before they could establish the hidden spiritual tunnel that allowed the curse spells to reach the body. This method saved the time, as the curse spells no longer needed to fly through the air. Perhaps this was the main reason why all curse spells were so difficult to intercept or counter!


    Leon soon understood this fact. As soon as the Demon Alligator''s mind was interlinked with Leon''s, it instantly took a step back, dodging the curse by a split second. Leon used the Hunter as a replacement for himself and let the black lasso trap it.


    In next second, the dark halo in Dark Wood''s palm vanished after a flash. As soon as it disappeared, a clump of smoke bursted out from Hunter''s body, transforming into a black skull that flew a half circle around its body, before finally penetrating into the Hunter''s body.


    Damn it, it had failed!


    That guy had summoned an Elementium Golem.


    Through his Spiritual Sense, Dark Wood instantly realized his curse spell had never actually hit an actual Spiritual entity. This led him to curse under his breath. Without hesitation, he raised his right arm, which looked like a ghost claw, and began to draw in the air, preparing himself to cast his next spell.


    But, right at this moment, Leon''s attack had approached him.


    The Hunter mounted on top of Demon Alligator kept waving its arms, and threw out strong spears made from Earth Elementium onto Dark Wood. This caused his bone shields to violently tremble. Right after that, a Fire Arrow, which contained pure, high-concentrated Fire Elementium, broke through the air and pierced the bone shield.


    In the next second, the raging explosion of Fire Elementium had flooded the tiny region where Dark Wood was standing.


    "Eh..."


    At the same moment, the elite apprentices outside of the battlefield couldn''t help but exchange an astonished expression with each other. The strength of the attack and the attack pattern of magic spell didn''t look like something a beginner apprentice could do! The spell was casted quickly and had an offensive strength that was as high as 32 points. Were all these something a beginner apprentice could achieve?


    No sound could be heard coming from the crowd, as they started to treat this half playful battle with a more serious attitude.


    Even those apprentices outside of the battlefield could sense something. Dark Wood, who was being attacked by Dirt Spears and Fire Arrows. had an even stronger feeling. Damn it! It was a combined attack of Earth, Fire and Physical damage! The trembling bone shield, that was being burned by a raging flame, started to show signs of collapse.


    A gloomy expression emerged on Dark Wood''s face. Using his conscious, he quickly drove away the other bone shield and replaced the one that was defending all the attacks. Meanwhile, clenching his jaw tightly, he took out a few chunks of black, stinky, rotten meats. He conveniently tossed them beside his feet.


    In next moment, Leon drove the Demon Alligator and strode forward. He planned to use the massive body of the Demon Alligator to crush his opponent. Suddenly, a bizarre figure dashed out from the raging flame and threw itself on the ground. It used a totally weird style of running and sprinting around Demon Alligator.


    It was a frightening corpse that stood two meters tall. It had a pale body, two heads, five arms and seven legs. The entire body looked like a monster that had been messily pieced up together using a few broken human bodies. It crouched on the ground and moved forward using all five arms and seven legs. This made it move in an unpredictable pattern. It swiftly dodged a few dirt spears that were aimed at its body and soon approached the Demon Alligator who was coming in its way.


    The heavy front legs of Demon Alligator pounded on the ground forcefully, causing the ground to keep violently shake. The misshapen corpse, who had just arrived in front of him, was affected by this immediately. It staggered and seemed like it could no longer stand firm.


    The Demon Alligator moved aggressively and opened up its huge mouth. It leaped forward and pulled the corpse into its mouth. With a powerful clench, the razor sharp fangs instantly crushed its target into meat paste.


    But, a muffled boom suddenly rung through the air. The corpse surprisingly exploded into a huge amount of black blood, which stained the Demon Alligator''s head. After that, under the shocked gaze of Leon, the Earth Elementium that had molded with the Demon Alligator''s head collapsed within a split second. Tons of dirt lost their bond with the Demon Alligator and splattered all over the place.


    Damn it! What powerful corrosive black blood. It could even corrode and neutralize Elementium!


    But obviously, the controlling crystal of Demon Alligator wasn''t located in its head. If it was, then, perhaps Leon''s trump card would''ve been destroyed in an instant.


    Although it lost its head, the Demon Alligator still moved forward vigorously. Strong Earth Elementium once again gathered in front of its body, revealing the outline of a new head.


    The self-healing ability of Demon Alligator was pretty convenient, as, as long as its body was still in touch with earth, it would be able to heal 10% of damage every minute. This was one of the biggest reasons why the Demon Alligator Hunter was so hard to defeat!


    ...


    2028 Words

 Chapter 64 - 64: Victory

    Just as Leon was feeling proud of Alligator''s strong recovery ability, he suddenly heard strange noises. One after another, frightening misshapen corpses suddenly leapt out from the flames, sprinting their way towards the Demon Alligator while letting out terrifying groans.


    Damn it! There were too many of them!


    Moving as nimbly as squirrels, eleven of the misshapen corpses swarmed up in a fan shaped formation.


    Without hesitation, Leon quickly activated his bracelet, which unleashed body armor made up entirely of thorny vines. It blinked with a bright Leon glow as it covered his entire body.


    What happened next was a bloody and savage close-range battle between the Demon Alligator Hunter and the group of misshapen corpses.


    Although the misshapen corpses appeared to be attacking Demon Alligator, anyone could tell that their actual target was Leon, who was sitting high up on its back. This tactic was the go-to for most apprentices who primarily used summons as weapons when attacking their opponents.


    Compared to the powerful combat strength of a summon who was unafraid of death, the summoner himself had much less defence. Therefore, rather than waste a huge amount of energy trying to defeat the summon, it was easier and far more effective to just defeat the summoner. Thus, after he used his blood essence to create the eleven misshapen corpses and entangled Demon Alligator in the fight, Dark Wood stealthily moved far away to once again start casting the long-range curse spells that he was an expert in.


    While controlling Demon Alligator Hunter and trying to deal with the crazy attacks of the misshapen corpses, Leon also needed to focus his mind to defend against the mysterious dark lassoes that Dark Wood kept attacking him with. He was suffering greatly!


    Many of the misshapen corpses in close range of the Demon Alligator were being killed, but the death of each corpse would result in a large explosion, which would destroy a large part of Demon Alligator''s body. After the third corpse exploded, the front of the Demon Alligator, which had looked so strong and mighty before, was in a disastrous state.


    He couldn''t let this continue!


    A trace of a smile appeared on Leon''s lips, then he quickly put something into his mouth and lightly stomped his feet. The Hunter, who was mounting in front of him and kept throwing dirt spears at the enemy, expanded its body and moved backwards, swallowing Leon''s body into its own.


    In the next second, like a giant whale, the massive Demon Alligator Hunter sank into the ground and disappeared without a trace. The eight remaining misshapen corpses immediately stormed forward, restlessly digging into the hardened ground, but failed to find anything.


    Damn...


    Instant uproar from the side of the battlefield.


    The damn kid could actually travel under the ground? This was going to be fun for Dark Wood!


    To be honest, when Dark Wood saw his opponent and the summoned golem disappear from his line of sight, he was also filled with questions and frustrations.


    Damn it, how was he going to fight this battle? If he couldn''t see his opponent, how was he going to lock down the target with his curse attacks?


    While he was looking for a solution, his spiritual senses suddenly discovered something under his feet, bringing a dramatic change to his expression. Without hesitation, he forcefully hit the ground with his staff.


    A huge dirt claw suddenly stretched out from the ground beside Dark Wood. With tremendous force it slapped onto Dark Wood and crushed him into a pile of meat paste. After that, the upper body of Demon Alligator Hunter unearthed itself.


    Although it was a successful strike, Leon''s face on the Hunter didn''t show any sign of joy. Instead, he threw his gaze like two lighting beams into the far distance.


    He saw a misshapen corpse suddenly thrown itself onto the ground, violently twisting and struggling.


    In just a couple of seconds, Dark Wood had replaced the misshapen corpse and was standing where it had once been.


    The Hunter''s expression changed slightly and it started to squeeze back into the ground, but it was too late.


    The pile of meat paste under the Demon Alligator''s giant claw suddenly exploded, staining the exposed body of Demon Alligator Hunter with a large amount of a gray-colored substance. Hearing the sizzling sound of corrosion made Leon''s heart pound.


    Through the Hunter''s eyes, Leon viciously gazed at Dark Wood, who was standing up again. Without saying anything, he once again sank into the ground. The misshapen corpses who had fast been approaching once again missed their target.


    Fuck... staring at the emptied battlefield once again, except for the remaining seven misshapen corpses and the broken ground, there wasn''t any trace of that hateful kid. Dark Wood was furious.


    Under the command of Dark Wood, the seven misshapen corpses were stationed around his perimeter. With this, not only could he could instantly block that bastard from retreating the next time he tried to attack, the formation also allowed him the flexibility to shift himself to any of the corpses as needed.


    However, just as Dark Wood retracted his spiritual senses to the vicinity of his body, quietly observing every slight change under the ground, the ground under the feet of a corpse standing at a far distance suddenly started to boil. Countless dirt spikes poked up through the ground and turned the corpse into shish kabobs.


    Once again, the misshapen corpse exploded. But this time, the gray substance splashed onto the ground harmlessly. As the attack had been launched from beneath the ground, the Demon Alligator was never exposed.


    Dark Wood, standing on the battlefield, together with the audience at the side, gasped in astonishment.


    Damn it, it was hard to tell the outcome of today''s battle!


    In the next seven or eight minutes, Leon cunningly stopped launching any attacks at Dark Wood. Instead, he kept moving around Dark Wood''s perimeter, finding opportunities to kill the remaining misshapen corpses. Clearly, he wanted to destroy all Dark Wood''s minions.


    If they were all slaughtered by this kid, how was he going to shift himself to another corpse when he was again faced with danger?


    Left with no alternative, Dark Wood called all four remaining misshapen corpses to his side, having them surround him in a circle. With this, if Dark Wood was under attack, he could shift himself to another corpse, but he would still be inside the attack radius of his opponent, which significantly increased his risk!


    But under such circumstances, he had no choice but to take this risk. He was trying his best to lure that bastard from the ground, then he''d seek his winning chance, despite the great danger.


    At the thought of himself being forced into such a messy state by a Beginner Apprentice, a shivering ghost flame instantly ignited within Dark Wood''s gloomy eyes. He wished he could instantly capture the bastard and torture him good.


    But too bad, you couldn''t always get what you wished for, as it was Dark Wood himself who was being tortured by this mere Beginner Apprentice.


    In the second half of the battle, the hateful bastard never showed his face, but instead kept attacking from under the ground using long-range magic spells. Although most of the magic spells were noticed by Dark Wood before they hit him, two misshapen corpses had been miserably killed by the combination of a Quagmire Spell and dirt spikes.


    The sorrow of getting attacked but failing to catch the enemy was perfectly expressed by Dark Wood.


    As he witnessed one corpse puppet after another, each meticulously made by him to possess the fighting strength of an Advanced Apprentice, be destroyed by the ''enemy,'' Dark Wood''s emotions moved from anger to frustration to sadness until he nearly burst into loud sobbing from Leon''s torture.


    When Hulk finally shook his head, sighed, and announced the winner, Dark Wood, who had remained standing through will alone, immediately fainted from anger.


    The crowd gazed at each other helplessly. Although they wished to say a few words to comfort Dark Wood, no one seemed to know how to start.


    Without the ability to attack underground, no matter who encountered such an enemy, he would land himself in serious trouble. This situation could only be blamed on Dark Wood''s bad luck, as he was picked by Hulk to fight with this freak who had brought him such a miserable ending.


    Wearing a gloomy expression, Hulk pulled Kevin in front of himself, asking with a ferociously, "I thought you said he doesn''t have any special abilities? How did we end up with this kind of result? Tell me honestly, if you are fighting with an opponent like this, can you defeat him?"


    "Ugh..." Kevin gulped, then continued, saying, "If it is not a fair match, and the venue is a desolated wood, give me half day and I''ll be able to kill him in the dark. But if we were to fight in an emptied field like this, I... I wouldn''t have a chance of winning, because I can''t cause him any damage."


    Right at this moment, Leon carefully poked his upper body out from the ground. Once he determined that he had won, he squeezed out from the ground.


    After spending so long underground, all the outer wounds of the Demon Alligator had fully recovered and it looked exactly like it did before the fight began. The crowd felt wonder at the sight, but when they recalled the bets they had placed before the fight, no one could maintain a happy face.


    Looking at the young guy striding towards him, Hulk had no choice but to bite the bullet. With a loud voice, he asked, "Mensa, give me the number! I want to know how much we need to pay this guy?"


    Mensa wore black clothes and had a noble appearance. Without hesitation, he loudly read out.


    "Mister Leon pledged nine magic crystals, two tier-3 magical items, one tier-4 magical item, one tier-1 magical item, and the magic notebooks of the Demon Vine Lady. Estimated total is 417 Magic Crystals. According to ten to one odds, we need to pay him 4170 Magic Crystals. However, combined, we all only bet 3270 Magic Crystals, so..."


    "So we still owe this guy 900 Magic Crystals!"


    "Yes!"


    The crowd stared speechlessly at each other, before they couldn''t help it and moved their gazes to Kevin, who had brought this bastard here.


    In that instant, the generally calm Kevin had a forehead bathed in sweat.


    Leon, who stood beside him, was grinning from ear to ear as he quickly stepped out to ease the situation.


    "It''s good to have the love of all my Senior Apprentices. As you have given me the chance to prove myself, how dare I collect this debt from you! This amount is more than enough. I, Leon am not a greedy man!"


    Upon hearing Leon''s rather flattering speech, all the Advanced Apprentices and Pseudo-Mages shook their head and sighed. In fact, Dark Wood wasn''t weak. He could be considered as having middle tier strength within all the Advanced Apprentices in this training camp. But due to lack of preparation, he was defeated by this foxy kid, and fainted on the spot. Everybody really was frustrated.


    "Hey, you crafty kid, don''t get carried away. The reason you had such an easy win is because your ability naturally oppressed Dark Wood. We''ll pay those Magic Crystals we owe you, but do you have the guts to fight again with us? A fight between you and me, what do you say?" The man who said this was the violent burly man who Leon had seen carrying a thunderous axe when he had arrived. Obviously, this man had taken the path of a Body-Refining Mage, and used Thunder Element magic spells as his supplement ability.


    Leon grinned, saying, "Why not?! But my golem is damaged from today''s battle. I need time to readjust and fix it. Why don''t we fight tomorrow?"


    Hearing this, the violent burly man became extremely happy. The eyes of the surrounding men also brightened. Clearly, they were tempted as well.


    With the time of one night, they believed they could help Mark find a way to defeat this guy. This hateful kid only had a special ability in summoning his golem, which allowed him to hide underground and attack his enemy. As long as they could find a way to stop this ability, how could a rubbish made from dirt be the match of Mark, the man known for a mighty strength? It was simply a silly dream! S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Perhaps imagining some scenes that could vent their anger, all of the apprentices couldn''t hold themselves back and grinned coldly.


    In that moment, a shivering breeze blew through the scene, making one''s hair stand on end.


    ....


    2145 Words

 Chapter 65 - 65: Trusting

    Finally, as the sky darkened, Leon safely returned to his residence in the Mage Tower.


    Upon entering the room, he immediately locked the door. Then, he carefully took out all of the good items in the pouch at his waist and lined them up on the wooden table in his room. Looking at his trophies, he excitedly rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. He felt excited and restless. He was beyond words.


    The ten small bottles on the left were Mind Concentrating Potions, which he had always dreamed of having. They were even the high quality products that were only internally available to the elites of the training camp. They provided 20% better results than the potions found on the outside. Each bottle was sold for 200 magic crystals, so just these ten bottles would have cost Leon two thousand magic crystals. Thanks to today''s unexpected windfall, Leon didn''t have to spend a single crystal of his own to buy them.


    These Mind Concentrating Potions were more than enough to allow Leon to break through the barrier of Beginner Apprentice, and would immediately bring his Spirit to the level of peak Intermediate Apprentice. Whether he could easily enter the realm of Advanced Apprentice depended on Leon''s personal potential.


    His eyes lingered on the Mind Concentrating Potions for a long time before Leon reluctantly moved on to the next item.


    It was an azure magic crystal core. After Leon took it out from his waist pouch, he was finally able to see the tiny electric arcs lingering on its surface. It looked like the magical crystal possessed its own unique life force, as it was able to absorb the lightning energy hovering in the air. It produced a mystical realm that perfectly suited for Lightning Elementium.


    Judging from this, this was definitely a magical core taken from a Pseudo-Mage level Storm Giant.


    Based on their characteristics, Storm Giants should be categorized as Elemental beings. However, the only Storm Giant population that existed in the Mage World had a rather strange bloodline. It was said that in the ancient era, a Great Mage once conducted some extremely risky bloodline experiments. He used some kind of magical method to merge his bloodline with a group of Wind Elementium. He intended to increase the size of his heir, who had the same bloodline.


    In the Mage Continent, those called Great Mages were all Mages of the third grade and above.


    It was worth mentioning that his experiment was a huge success. He managed to create a species new to the World of Mages: the Storm Giants. They were powerful magical creatures who had the bloodline of an Mage and the body of an Elementium.


    Sadly, these Storm Giants experienced an identity crisis. Apparently, they preferred to be friends with their own kind, the Wind Elementium, who were rather simple and biddable. Therefore, a huge number of Storm Giants escaped the control of the Great Mage and gathered together with Wind Elementium found in the natural environment. In the end, they established a small Storm Giant Kingdom in the Emerald Hills at the center of the Mage Continent.


    Due to their special identity, and the fact that they possessed the double characteristics of both Mages and Wind Elementium, they were eventually able to summon countless Wind element creatures from the Element Plane after constructing a huge Storm Altar. As a result, they became a powerful middle-sized clan located at the center of the Mage Continent.


    It was likely that the Lightning crystal in Leon''s hand was a product from the Storm Kingdom.


    The Storm Kingdom and the Zhentarim Association had signed a magical contract.According to the magical contract no clans within the central region of the Mage Continent were free to hunt Storm Giants with intention of obtaining their Elementium core. However, such magical contracts could never prevent the existence of the black market and hunters. Privately, similar rare resources were still secretly traded by many parties.


    The Pseudo-Mage level Earth element core Leon obtained last time might only cost 500 Magic Crystals to buy, however, this Lightning element core would cost Leon 1200 Magic Crystals. The reason was simple: it was rare.


    Perhaps in terms of pure combat strength, an Earth element core would bring Leon more direct and powerful improvement. But since Leon wanted more diversified combat tactics, he felt it was better for him to have a Lightning element core. Since the Clay Golem brought Leon the ability to travel underground, how about a Lightning Golem? Maybe it would allow Leon to fly in the sky!


    To be honest, after he had taken a ride on Socrates Condor and soared freely through the sky, Leon had fallen in love with the feeling.


    But, in order to maximize the yield of this Lightning element core, Leon would need the Chip to perform tedious calculations and adjustments and, through the use of magical formations, uncover the true potential of this crystal. So he had no choice but to temporarily hoard it on the shelf and wait until the Chip had finished its calculation. Only then could he consider how he was going to craft a new Lightning Golem for himself.


    As for the third item lying on the table, it had been traded for the Demon Vine Lady''s magic notebook. It was a powerful Fire element treasure produced from an underground magma volcano: a Fire Diamond. Sadly, a Fire Diamond was a magical item and not the magical core of a Fire Element creature. It was very difficult to use it to craft a Fire Element Golem. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although it couldn''t be used to craft a golem, a Fire Diamond was also a magical item Leon had been eagerly looking for. With this item now in his possession, he was one step closer to the staff of his dreams.


    By using a Fire Diamond as the focus gem for his magic staff, not only would it hasten the gathering speed of Fire Elementium, it could also bolster the strength of any Fire element spells Leon cast. Therefore, the benefits it brought were not any less than those a golem would have.


    Currently, Leon had found the focus gem and the mithril used to create the runes on the body of his future staff. The only thing left was to find a magic staff that suited Leon the most. In order to craft the magic staff of his dreams, Fire Dragon Wood was the most inferior option, Fire Coral was the second best, while the backbone of a Fire element demon beast was the perfect choice.


    But the problem was, such rare resources could only be found accidentally and not by searching for them. How was Leon going to find a backbone of Fire Element demon beast? Leon had been worrying and hesitating recently. He didn''t know if he should wait until he found the perfect material, or try to find some Fire Corals to meet his urgent need.


    Pondering on such a question would never lead to any real answer.


    Left with no choice and with a wry smile on his face, Leon placed all the items back into his storage waistband.


    Although he was eager to try out the effect of those Mind Concentrating Potions, he couldn''t do it now. He had an important mission to accomplish tonight. The mission was directly related to the other bet he faced tomorrow.


    So, after briefly admiring his war trophies, Leon rushed to the third floor of the Mage Tower. He plunged into the Alchemy Experiment Room, only returning to his residence the next morning with a completely burned out body and mind.


    Sadly, before he could get even two hours of sleep, someone came knocking on the wooden door of his residence.


    It was Kevin.


    It seemed like he wanted to keep a close eye on Leon, as if he thought that Leon was afraid and was in danger of running away from the fight.


    But when he saw Leon''s relaxed face, he couldn''t stop himself and asked, "What were you doing yesterday night? Don''t tell me you totally forgot you have a very important battle today?"


    "Ugh... I was overexcited because of the sudden windfall yesterday, and was having a hard time sleeping." Leon simply made up a reason to explain the dark bags under his eyes.


    Kevin''s face showed that he obviously didn''t believe Leon. But out of curiosity, he asked the following question: "Are you confident about today''s battle? Let me tell you, in order to stop you, a kid who suddenly appeared and suppressed the head of those veterans, they spent the entire night working busily. Possibly, they''ve come up with all kinds of solutions to deal with your Earth elemental golem. You... are you really confident about fighting Mark today?"


    "Do you want me to win or lose?"


    "That... Kid, to be honest, I see a good future ahead of you. I''ve never seen any apprentices with abilities similar to yours. If you put them to good use, you''ll be do really well in the Underground Cave. And that''s why I''m so eager to get you into the elite group! But... your debut yesterday was offensive and conspicuous. Boss Hulk only intended to let you put on a show of your ability and introduce you to the members of the elite group, but... you went straight in and defeated Dark Wood, a veteran member."


    "Was it a big deal?"


    "More than big! I''ve never seen the members of the elite group bound by a common hatred for the enemy. Because of you, they''ve all contributed their strategies and their weapons, and have brought out all of their methods of dealing with an enemy who can travel underground. So, you better be extra careful today. I''ve reminded Mark; as long as you admit defeat, he''ll stop attacking at once. He won''t leave you with any permanent damage!"


    "Master Kevin, do you trust me?"


    "What?"


    "No matter how much they''ve prepared for this battle, I''m still confident about today''s battle. So... if you do trust me, why don''t you place your bet on me? What do you say?"


    Kevin was instantly silent. He stared at Leon, who was looking back at him seriously, and felt puzzled.


    Leon''s opponent was a unique, strong guy in the training camp: the Thunderous Axe Mark. Unlike Dark Wood, the guy didn''t have any significant weakness. After all, Dark Wood was a dark spell caster who spent his days with corpses. Once his curse spells and the army of monster corpses failed, he would have no more arrows left in his quiver. After all, Dark Wood himself was like a skeleton ¨C so weak that couldn''t even stand a gust of wind.


    But Thunderous Axe Mark was a totally different opponent. His mighty strength was more than enough to fight equally with Leon''s Demon Alligator, while his excellent Physique had brought him magic and a physical resistance that caused his opponents to despair. As long as he had ways to force Leon out from the ground, or had the ability to attack him underground, Leon''s Clay Golem wouldn''t even be able to last for three to five minutes.


    Under such circumstances, why was Leon still so confident?


    This huge mystery bugged Kevin for the entire journey. He was still pondering the answer even as both men stepped down from the condor and once again entered the training camp.


    Staring at the ocean of people, who were waiting at the side of the battlefield, Leon smiled and leaned over to speak into Kevin''s ears. He whispered, "Master, why are you so confused? You''re the one who brought me to this training camp yesterday, and that means you''ve also offended every single man in this place. Why don''t you place your bet on me today? Once you win, what can they do to you? Who will have all their money? Why are you still hesitating?"


    The distressed expression on Kevin''s face grew stronger.


    He really had boarded a sinking ship! Now, it would be difficult for him to disembark from this situation!


    ...


    2024 Words

 Chapter 66 - 66: Leon vs Mark

    When Leon stood once more in the middle of the battlefield, he was immediately overwhelmed by Mark''s imposing aura.


    Back when he was still on Earth in his previous life, being overwhelmed by a person''s imposing aura might just only be a metaphor. But in this world of highly advanced magic where even spirit and faith could become some kind of force, one can actually feel the intense spiritual pressure and the aura emanating from another person.


    Through the Chip''s feedback, Leon realized that his opponent had at least seventeen points in both Strength and Physique with a tiny bit lower amount of Spirit which was at least sixteen points.


    It was a powerful aura forged from an intrepid physique and powerful spirit. It made Leon have difficulties in movement making him feel as if he was standing right in the heart of a powerful storm from Mother Nature. He even felt a slight burning sensation of pain on his skin.


    Leon knitted his brows in a tight frown.


    Looks like he has to improve his Spirit as soon as possible, or else he would have to endure the intense suffocating pressure given off by advanced apprentice whenever he had to face one.


    This was all due to Leon''s rank being too low. If he had at least the overall strength of an intermediate apprentice, he would be capable of integrating his elemental energy and spirit to form a protective shield similar to that of an energy field. In that case, if he was to face an enemy stronger than him, he would not be like the way he is now who was similar to a man standing naked without any cloth.


    Thunder Axe Mark was a burly man who stood at 2.5 meters tall. He had broad shoulders and a muscular body. Although his axe was still strapped on his back and not in his hand, it still didn''t reduce the violent aura he was giving off.


    At the moment he saw Leon who seemed to have a poor physique, he wasn''t able to hold himself back and bursted out in a fit of laughter.


    "Kid, you''ve got guts! You already know you''re going to be tortured today but you still come out here and face me, hahaha... I like this!"


    Leon narrowed his eyes. While he was enduring the uncomfortable feeling brought by the gap between their ranks, he refuted vaguely.


    "It''s still too early to tell who will be the winner. I hope master Mark will be nice to me later!"


    "Haha... I wish I could. Despite the fact that these guys asked me to break both of your arms and legs and crush half of your bones, I, Mark, am rather fond of you. Good kid, I really didn''t expect you to be able to make Dark Wood, that living corpse, faint because of anger. Honestly, it was pretty enjoyable to watch that. Hehe, since I''m really happy today, I''ll just break both of your legs then. Take this suffering as the welcoming gift from our training camp!"


    "Ugh..." Although having both arms and legs being broken wasn''t an injury that couldn''t be healed in the first place, one would still have to go through a painful healing process. So, upon listening to how Mark talk about this "painful" topic with a rather ''charitable'' tone, Leon simply rolled his eyes taking all of this as a fart.


    "Hey, are you guys ready? Once you''re done with calculating the bets, I''ll start the fight! How long do you want me to wait?" Mark shouted at the side of the battlefield as he rubbed his palms together. Obviously, Mark was a hot-tempered man.


    Meanwhile, it was a lively scene at the side of the battlefield.


    There were oceans of apprentices and pseudo-Mage surrounding Messa who was eagerly shouting out their bets.


    "One hundred and seventy magic crystals! I bet on Mark!"


    "Two hundred and thirty magic crystals! Me too, will bet on Mark!"


    "Ninety magic crystals on Mark''s victory!"


    ...


    ...


    A large illuminated stone slab was erected at the side of the field, showing the bets on the fight. The number of magic crystals that had wagered on Mark was stacking up really fast, soon stopping at a total of 3680 magic crystals. On the other hand, below Leon''s name, it only showed merely 700 magic crystals.


    This actually included Leon''s own bet, otherwise, the bet would collapse with everybody only betting on one side.


    Today''s odds weren''t as exaggerated as yesterday. After being carefully considered and agreed on by everyone, Hulk had taken charge and hosted the bet, the ratio he gave out was four to one. With the odds like this, if Leon was defeated by Mark, aside from the pain and wounds he will be receiving, he would also have to owe a hefty debt. In that case, he would have to sell himself out to the camp, working restlessly in order to pay back his debt!


    For those fighting maniacs of the training camp, being able to profit or not was just a small matter. But pushing the newcomer off the edge was the entertainment they were all looking for.


    However, while the commotion was gradually subsiding and Hulk was about to announce the start of the battle, a deep and hoarse voice suddenly sounded through the scene.


    "Three hundred magic crystals, I bet on Leon!"


    Although the voice wasn''t that loud, it was like a cold breeze suddenly freezing the lively atmosphere. Everyone was stunned for a brief moment and only then did they remember to turn their heads and find out where the voice came from.


    Dark Wood?!


    It was Dark Wood!!!


    In that instant, everyone felt as if their world as they knew it, was suddenly turned upside down. This... how could this be possible? No one would find it strange even if everyone in the training camp had placed their bets on Leon, but it shouldn''t be Dark Wood! Didn''t he know they were actually helping him to vent out his resentment?


    Right when everybody still had their mouths wide open while gazing at each other, speechless, another voice came from the middle of the crowd.


    "I also bet on Leon, two hundred and seventy magic crystals!"


    Kevin! It was Blackhand Kevin!


    Everyone inhaled sharply while showing all kinds of expressions. As the host for today, for the first time, Hulk felt today''s sunlight was rather offending to his eyes. The magic crystals piled up beside him didn''t look so loveable anymore. Although he never had the time to study the art of prophecy, he still had the feeling that today''s wager had gone beyond his control.


    He glared at Dark Wood and Kevin then eagerly shouted with a loud voice.


    "The bet is decided and so I announce, the fight begins now!"


    Following the announcement of Hulk, both men standing inside the battlefield promptly moved.


    The burly man named Mark stretched out his arm, pulling out the giant axe from his back and then held it tightly with his giant palm. At the same time, cracking and popping sounds were heard coming from his body as countless blue electric arcs lingered around him.


    The electric arcs created a powerful chain reaction, causing Leon who stood a hundred meters away, smell the putrid odor of air being burned by electricity.


    Even though he had great confidence in the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon still did not dare to wait for Mark to gather enough energy for a power strike. He quickly stomped his right foot, rushing the Demon Alligator Hunter to sink into the ground with the fastest speed possible.


    Having his strength accumulated to the maximum, Mark threw his head back and let out a raging war cry, striding with steps that shook the earth while charging towards the Demon Alligator Hunter which was descending into the ground. He didn''t use too much of his strength on his feet but every step he took would leave behind a shallow crater full of cracks. Also, despite not charging at them with big steps, Mark still managed to arrive in front of Leon before the Demon Alligator Hunter completely disappeared to the ground below.


    A strong gust of wind brushed past his face as the Demon Alligator''s bulky tail full of spikes and lumps swept by, landing right onto Mark''s axe that was covered with raging electric arcs.


    A loud boom rang out, immediately followed by dirt scattering in all directions. A mini lightning storm then suddenly exploded.


    Leon, who had his body hidden within the Demon Alligator Hunter, sank underground just in time, successfully evading the shower of debris and the lightning storm. However, the crowd clearly saw that before the Demon Alligator was able to completely sink into the ground, a large portion of its long had already disappeared making it look really miserable.


    Concurrently, Mark crouched down and forcefully jumped up with both of his legs, borrowing the force from it and leaped high up in the sky. While his body was still in the air, he let out another raging cry. He used all of his strength and threw his axe down, aiming at the very spot Leon had disappeared to.


    Another earth-shaking explosion could be heard. Carrying with it a dazzling lightning storm, the axe forcefully struck the surface of the ground, shattering the ground and producing a large crater half a meter deep. The exploding lightning storm kept flaring violently at the the bottom of the crater, burning all the dirt into pieces and shaping the sand into molten glass.


    It was such a vicious strike. Let alone resisting it directly, even the shockwave alone would be enough to kill a beginner apprentice.


    In the sensitive spiritual senses of the crowd, Leon''s life force had significantly dropped. In just an instant, he had already lost two-thirds of it.


    Fortunately, the earth had helped Leon block most of the damage, making him suffer only a fraction of the damage from the shockwave. And so, Mark''s thunder strike wasn''t able to defeat him within a few seconds. This made the crowd feel pity and shock then they all sighed.


    If Mark was able to move just a bit faster, or if only he could strike with an even stronger force, perhaps he had already killed Leon who was still in the shallow level under the ground.


    A beginner apprentice challenging an advanced apprentice? What a joke! If the strike landed right on the target, Leon wouldn''t even be able to withstand a single strike from Mark. Maybe only a useless fool like Dark Wood would be defeated by a mere beginner apprentice!


    Enduring the gazes of either wonder, mocking, or disdain, Dark Wood hid his face under the shadow of his hood, showing only a pair of pale green ghastly flames dancing unclearly. No one knew what he was thinking about.


    Only Kevin''s expression changed following the situation of the fight.


    The vicious first strike of Mark nearly scared away Kevin''s soul. His bet of two hundred and seventy crystals was his hard-earned savings for two or three years which he had hoped to use to buy a nice, enchanted dagger. If his rash decision caused all of his savings to disappear, he would be crying out loud.


    What kind of trump card did that Leon have? If it was that Demon Alligator, once it shows up again, it would only be crushed into a pile of clay by Mark''s formidable strength. Kid, oh kid, you better not cheat me, or else I''ll go and bother you every single day!


    At this time, Leon was hiding underneath the ground and spitting blood.


    The enemy''s powerful strike had given him serious injuries. If not because he was able to act just in time, hastily diving deep underground, maybe with just the first strike alone would force him out. Even so, the tremendous shockwave that he felt from the squeezing of the ground had him coughing up a few mouthfuls of blood, nearly making him unable to recover.


    While he was moving quickly in the darkness of the underground, Leon hid inside a small space created within the Demon Alligator Hunter''s body and hastily treated his injuries. After he was done with that, he had a ferocious expression on his face as he tossed out a new golem he had created from the strenuous effort of a whole night. He then drove the Demon Alligator Hunter to slowly ascend to the surface.


    Sure enough, Mark had been on guard against Leon''s sneak attack from underground. On his foot were a pair of strange leather boots that were able to unleash bizarre magical ripples, enabling him to turn the ground underneath his feet into a hard rock, effectively blocking all the earth element spells casted by the Demon Alligator Hunter.


    In the end, Mark simply sat down and crossed his legs while wearing a disdainful look and he shouted, "Kid, from now on, any attack of yours coming from under the ground is useless to me. If you wish to fight me, show yourself now! If you want to prolong this battle, I have no problem doing this with you. I don''t believe your golem will be able to let you hide underground for so long!


    Before he finished speaking, Mark abruptly stood up and pulled out his axe again.


    At a spot nearly a hundred meters away from him, the Demon Alligator Hunter slowly emerged to the surface. Leon stared at him coldly.


    "Good kid, so you do know what you should do. Today, let your master Mark teach you what a true battle is!"


    After saying that, Mark covered his body again with countless arcs of blue lightning. He wielded his axe and charged towards Leon while howling out loud.


    "Didn''t you want to see what my trump card is? Fine, I''ll show it to you now". Leon grinned. With both hands raised up, he shouted, "Show yourself, my raging fighter!"


    Following his summons, the ground on the battlefield crumbled. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2351 Words

 Chapter 67 - 67: Golems and their capabilities

    At this moment, the entire battlefield collapsed.


    In between the locations of Mark and Leon, a large portion of the ground suddenly crumbled and caved-in, revealing a large and terrifying pit. At the heart of this hole, one could see dirt tumbling violently while clouds of dust rose to the surface. A massive figure could be seen gradually emerging from the depths of the pit.


    Mark was forced to give up on his assault. A dignified expression was present on his face as he stared hard at the frightening figure that was slowly coming into view as dust settled down and it revealed its features.


    The first thing he saw was a bizarre looking pair of fiery scarlet eyes, and after that he saw that its body was made up entirely of hard rocks. The triangle-shaped snake head which was molded from Adamantine Rock seemed to be indestructible, while a narrow seam can be found on its pointed snout. In fact, anyone blessed with a sharp vision would easily be able to tell that this gigantic snake, which was constructed entirely from rocks, even had a thin tongue and a pair of very sharp fangs.


    Beyond the snake head was a strange body made from countless rocks of all shapes and sizes stacking onto each other, layers and layers of this formed the intimidating body of this giant rock snake. Since only a part of this snake''s body showed up from the cover of the dust cloud, no one could get a full glimpse of it with most of its body still hiding underground.


    But from what Mark could tell from the body parts that were exposed, looking at it from the ground up to its head that was held high up in the air, he estimated it to be at least twelve meters tall. If its entire body was truly made up of those rocks with high metallic content that were commonly found underground, then with just its frightening weight along with its indestructible body would be enough for it to become the greatest nightmare of most of its enemies.


    This... was this terrifying Rock Snake one of that guy''s golems?


    Before he could dismiss his thoughts from his mind, the super Rock Snake had opened up its mouth wide, initiating a long-range attack named Gravel Spray at Mark. A vast amount of gravel and dirt was extracted from the end of its tail, channeling through a long winding tunnel inside its body and afterwards it shot out from its mouth, splashing Mark with a massive wall of dirt. From what they could tell, this Rock Snake didn''t bother filtering the things it absorbed from the ground. There were many dried branches, grass and plant rubbish mixed in the dirt that was used in this nasty attack, along with countless underground insects, rats, earthworms and other unknown creatures.


    Such a filthy attack made Mark feel stressed out.


    While letting out an angry roar, he gathered up all of the thunder energy he has and directed it in front of his chest, forming them into a large web of lightning big enough to protect his body. The spray of dirt full of filth that impacted on the finely and closely woven lightning web produced a hissing noise that resounded throughout the entire place. A pungent odor of something burning lingered in the air afterwards.


    In the moment Mark was using all of his strength to hold back the Gravel Spray attack, the audience located at the sides of the battlefield suddenly let out shocked cries.


    "Careful..."


    "Quickly, put up your defenses..."


    ...


    Since Mark''s line of sight was blocked by a huge amount of dirt, he wasn''t able to see beyond the Gravel Spray. However, in a small time frame within a split second, his formidable combat instincts and abundant fighting experience allowed him to react quickly, raising his axe and placing it in front of his chest.


    Puff!


    A muffled explosion sounded out as the web of lightning scattered.


    The terrifying and sturdy triangle-shaped snake head pierced through the dirt wall breaking the lightning web into tiny sparks. It then opened its large ferocious mouth and forcefully bit into Mark''s battle axe.


    An earth-shattering explosion echoed out to the surroundings. The Rock Snake clenched its huge mouth, using the sharp fangs made from tiny pointy rocks to tightly clutch onto the thunder axe, all the while taking advantage of the powerful thrusting force to crazily knock Mark far into the distance.


    If it was another advanced apprentice and not Mark, this tremendous body slam alone would be enough to break their bones and crush them into a meat paste. Fortunately, Mark was a rare apprentice Body-Refining Mage of this training camp, his overall strength second only to Hulk, who was a Pseudo-Mage. Therefore, instead of being turned into a human paste, he could be seen letting out continuous wild roars. His body being stimulated by berserk strength resulted into cracking and popping sounds that could be heard coming from his own bones, and his muscles started to expand and become more robust at an incredible rate. Countless thick snake-like blood vessels crazily twisted and crawled under his metallic muscles...


    The frantic Mark had one of his legs slightly bent down at the front while the other leg stretched out straight to support him from behind. His burly arm which had suddenly doubled in size held tightly on the axe. He had successfully blocked the full force of the Rock Snake''s thrust.


    Although he had succeeded in holding his ground, the land underneath his feet failed him.


    Following the violent thrust of the Rock Snake, Mark''s body kept being pushed backwards. His legs that were like pillars went through the hard ground, producing an increasing pile of dirt being accumulated behind him.


    When the violent strike of the Rock Snake finally had its strength depleted, Mark''s body had already been pushed back for more than twenty meters. The dirt that had piled up behind him became so tall it nearly drowned out his big burly body. The lower part of his body became completely submerged in dirt though.


    "You must have used up all your strength already, huh? Now it''s time for you to taste mine!"


    Mark suddenly raised his head up staring right in front of him at the frightening head of the snake which was still biting on his axe while making eerie sounds. He roared out loud as fury welled up within him.


    He forcefully knocked away the giant Rock Snake, and took advantage of the opportunity when its head drew back slightly. Mark suddenly jumped up with both feet while holding the axe with both hands, brutally chopping into the forehead of the Rock Snake.


    Just like before, another loud explosion exploded out which sounded like metal striking metal ringing through the air. The giant Rock Snake had a ring-shaped body with a circumference of two meters which was entirely composed of Adamantine Rock that can be found underground. The snake was forced back by Mark''s rapid chopping attacks causing huge amounts of rock fragments, dirt and sand to fall from its body like a waterfall.


    Together with the audience, Leon''s face twitched after witnessing how a muscular giant of a mere three meters high kept striking down on the gigantic rock monster which was many more times bigger than Mark. If this Rock Snake was a living creature, all of its bones would have been broken by now. It was a rock monster though and obviously not a living organism. Thus, that amount of damage wasn''t enough to kill it.


    Accordingly, under the long-distance control of Leon, the Rock Snake crazily twisted its body, coiling up into a dirt pillar that towered up in the sky. While that was in action, it retracted its body back into the dust cloud then prepared for another vicious thrust.


    Mark, who had been able to attack it unceasingly before, wouldn''t just let this go. He roared wildly and formed a lightning storm over his body as a protective shield, bending down and then sprinting right into the dust cloud to continue the intense fight he had with the Rock Snake in a chaotic fashion.


    The massive dust cloud was stirred up and wasn''t restrained anymore.


    The air was full of dust that covered everything, blocking the vision of everyone. The chaotic and violent clash of Earth Elementium and Mark''s lightning storm produced disruptions in their surroundings and isolated everything inside from the audience''s spiritual senses. No one was able to bypass those by-product barriers which made them unable to find out the actual situation in the heart of the battlefield.


    From time to time, large chunks of rocks would shoot out from within the dust cloud and sudden explosions of thunderclaps could be heard as well. Judging from these, the audience could infer indirectly how chaotic and intense the fight must be inside.


    Meanwhile, Leon, who was riding on the Demon Alligator Hunter which was standing far from the center of the fight, had a more vivid and direct perception towards the situation inside the dust cloud, compared to the those other people. Under his skillful control, the rapid firing of Dirt Spears from the Demon Alligator Hunter and the Fire Arrows he casted towards the dust cloud would always inflict great damage to the enemy.


    The furious roars that continued to sound out from within were the biggest evidence of how effective his attacks were.


    It was such a remarkable battle which was like that of monsters fighting. It brought an indescribable sense of shock to the onlookers at the sides. Countless eyes of different colors filled with variety of expressions rested on Leon''s face. They had changed their view towards him a lot of times already, previously from disdain to looking down and disregard but now, they had been startled after they examined him to be a rather dignified figure.


    This was a fucking beginner apprentice!


    Even so, he could still engage Thunder Axe Mark in such a fierce battle!


    Although he wasn''t fighting directly in person, but a summon was still part of an apprentice Mage''s strength!


    They couldn''t help but try to imagine. If it wasn''t Mark, who had a strong physique and muscles and clearly a man with powerful combat power that was fighting right now but them... Many elites among the people in the training camp showed painful and struggling expressions. Even though they didn''t want to admit this, but if they were the ones there instead of Mark, maybe they would be struck down on the ground by a mere beginner apprentice, unable to get up anymore.


    This mighty Rock Snake was just too strong!


    It''s overall strength was perhaps not weaker than that of an advanced apprentice of the path of Body-Refining Mage. If taken into consideration, the snake''s frightening rock armor and its fearless onslaught would probably make even those Pseudo-Mages in the camp hesitant to face this monstrosity!


    At the time when everybody still had their minds filled with troubled and distorted thoughts, a ground-shaking eruption flared up through the air. Mark, who had been transformed into a muscular giant, was thrown out of the dust cloud and flew away like a cannon ball, slamming into the ground with tremendous force.


    The crowd was shocked by this and hurriedly turned their eyes over to Mark. They instantly discovered countless frightening wounds covering the entirety of Mark''s body.


    Mark''s left arm was broken and twisted into an unnatural angle while his right arm still looked to be in a good shape, barely able to hold on his axe. The battle axe forged from multiple special alloys had become out of shape while its body was full of deep scratches and bite marks.


    Mark''s body also had the same type of scratches on his axe.


    When he tried to stand up on his feet while ferociously laughing, blood gushed out from the countless wounds he had, making his entire body bathe in blood. A terrifying cut from the bottom of his left eye to his right chin nearly ripped his face into two, of which the exposed flesh turned into a shade of earthly yellow color. A clear sign of being contaminated by Earth Elementium. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If Mark doesn''t try to remove this Earth Elementium, a wound like this wouldn''t completely heal even with his astounding self-recovery brought by his high Physique.


    "Cough... good kid..." Mark stood still at the place where he landed and coughed up blood then said, "This fellow is really strong! If not because I made a mistake of having few of my helpful magical equipment exchanged for all of these rubbish, you wouldn''t have been the one that had the advantage today... cough..."


    The dust cloud dispersed, revealing the gigantic snake.


    The crowd''s eyes shrank.


    The Rock Snake''s condition wasn''t any better than Mark''s.


    The gigantic snake with the size of a normal human house was now left with only one-third of its original size. Debris kept falling apart from its skull which had been crushed by Mark. The surface of the entire snake''s body was covered fully with black burn marks resulting from the violent lightning strikes. Many rocks on its body had melted and dripped down like hot wax.


    Right in the middle of the broken skull, behind the many layers of Adamantine Rocks, an egg-shaped summoning core could be vaguely seen.


    Although the Rock Snake was pretty much in a very bad shape, that didn''t hinder or cause any problem to its movement, offensive power, and defensive ability.


    Some people blessed with keen perception even saw through the cracks of its body how huge amounts of Earth Elementium carried a lot of rocks and sand all around its interior restlessly fixing up all of the damages it sustained. Even the massive damage that was on the head of the snake could be seen closing up at an incredible pace.


    It only took fifteen minutes for this Golem of the earth element to completely fix all of its injuries.


    ...


    2354 Words

 Chapter 68 - 68: Food

    Looking at the ferocious Mark who was able to remain standing, Leon secretly felt respect for the man but that doesn''t mean he eased up his vigilance on Mark.


    Clusters of earthly yellow smoke gathered at the severely broken parts of the Rock Snake. Using the Adamantine rocks it got from underground as materials, and the sticky Earth Elementium as the bonding agent, it only took a few seconds for the exposed summoning core to once again be concealed within.


    After it completed its self-recovery, the frightening Rock Snake stood erect and coiled up its long tail made from rocks then thrusted itself to the enemy. The broken mouth opened up widely, revealing a pair of sharp fangs formed from pointy rocks, aiming right at Thunder Axe Mark who could barely stand straight.


    The distance of under thirty meters took only a split-second of time.


    But right before the Rock Snake''s ferocious mouth and its sharp fangs reach its target, a taller, burlier and more terrifying human than Mark appeared in front of him.


    He had the same human body, the same muscles and bones, but this tall man only briefly clenched his fist and lightly punched the snout of the Rock Snake who approached him with a tremendous force. The Rock Snake which had put up quite a fierce battle with Mark shattered instantly into tiny bits, sending fragments everywhere.


    It seemed as if there was an invisible air barrier around this tall man as nothing of the flying debris was able to get close to his body. He was standing right there at the heart of the explosion of dirt and debris but he was still firm just like Mount Tai. He still even had the strength to slowly retract his outstretched right fist that he then pointed at the depths of the dirt storm, performing a grabbing gesture.


    A light puffing sound was heard, as the summoning core that dropped down between the slits on the ground was transported by a powerful force and it fell right into the tall man''s palm.


    The tall man raised his right hand up, and carefully examined the eye-catching core through the light from the bright sunlight.


    What was once a brownish crystal clear surface of the core was carved fully with countless micro runes and arrays with each magical rune emanating strong Earth Elementium and glimmered, forming a three-dimensional micro magical array in front of his eyes.


    To be honest, he was able to clearly see every single rune there is that was carved with lines a few hundred times finer than threads of hair, and he could also roughly identify each individual magical runes. But when he pieced them all together, Hulk could only scratch his bald head as he couldn''t understand how these runes were able to project and shape the incorporeal Earth Elementium into the powerful and ferocious Elementium Golem.


    After he spent an ample amount of time but still failed to comprehend the essence of the magical knowledge behind it, Hulk had no other choice but to secretly sigh for his own lack of talent concerning magical arrays. Meanwhile, Leon had led his Demon Alligator in front of Hulk, staring right at him anxiously.


    Appropriately tossing the summoning core back to Leon, Hulk wore an expression full of disdain as he said, "Look how panicked you are. Do you think I can break it just by staring at it? Alright, alright already! I''ll consider you the victor of today''s bout. I''ll even help Mark admit his defeat! Now you go and redeem your war trophy."


    Leon retrieved the summoning core in a flurry, and then immediately placed it in front of his eyes for a careful inspection. After it suffered violent impacts multiple times, Leon was worried the overpowering shockwave would damage the fragile magical arrays carved on the core.


    Fortunately, after having it carefully examined by the Chip, this summoning core which was able to summon a ferocious Rock Snake from underneath the ground, was still intact. This had eased Leon''s mind.


    As for Hulk''s unexpected interference, Leon did not dare sound any dissent.


    Although the chief of the training camp could easily stop the battle effortlessly, he deliberately used such a violent and savage method to destroy the rocky body of the Rock Snake. This was obviously Hulk''s way of giving a warning towards Leon.


    It looks like he had performed too well today, forcing the chief to use that kind of method to warn Leon not to overdo things. It was the ''gentlest'' method of cowing Leon into submission.


    Nonetheless, the strength of a Pseudo-Mage that Hulk showed truly shocked Leon. The pure power of his muscles and the mastery of such strength, Leon could totally sense something different between Hulk and the other apprentices.


    People had always said Pseudo-Mages were the ones closest to Mages, could this peculiarity be the origin of an Mage''s qualitative change from an apprentice Mage?


    Leon silently lowered his head and diligently remembered what he had comprehended into his heart so that he could take his time in analyzing it in the future.


    "It seems all of us here had really underestimated you!" Hulk said as he supported the wobbling Mark from the side. He continued, "Looks like you are quite reliant on Golems for most of your battle power. Indeed, this will allow you to gain a huge boost of your overall power. Alright, follow me. A talented man like you is needed in this camp. Let me see if I can find a suitable position for you!"


    After he finished saying that, Hulk carried Mark and turned, running towards a large wooden cabin that was quite far. Smiling wryly, Leon touched his nose and followed closely behind Hulk.


    Absolute silence was widespread among the onlookers that were on the side of the field, each and every one of them wore complicated expressions. It was clear that none of them was able to accept that kind of a surprising result. There were even a few advanced apprentices donning long faces, showing miserable looks that was as if their parents just passed away.


    When Hulk passed through the crowed, he suddenly stopped and turned to Dark Wood who also had a complicated expression.


    "Hey dead man, why did you bet on Leon?" he asked loudly.


    Dark Wood pulled down his hood and covered his skeleton-like face. A trembling voice came out from within his shadowed face.


    "If Mark won, wouldn''t that mean I''m useless? Isn''t this outcome better? Now, who would dare to say I was defeated because I''m useless?"


    Hulk''s mouth hung open for a while which seemed as if he had something to say but failed to think of any.


    Damn it, although this guy''s answer was rather disparaging, it was still an honest answer. It made the chief of this training camp unable to find a suitable reason to vent his anger on this person.


    "How about you? Why did you bet on him?" Hulk turned to Kevin and asked.


    "This kid told me he was confident in this fight and since I''m really poor, I thought why not try my luck!" Kevin''s nswer was also straightforward and honest.


    "Ahhh..." Hulk was at a loss for words and finally gave up on his intention of venting his anger on someone. "You two lucky guys, why didn''t anyone tell me about this earlier? Hmph. Go and get your rewards now. Hey kid, you follow me, I''ll be treating you to a meal..."


    Hulk really meant what he said.


    Different from what was common formalities where the host would welcome his guests and talk for a bit, a few burly men immediately came in while carrying heavy food boxes in their hands right after Hulk brought his guests in and made them sit comfortably in front of a long wooden table.


    An exquisitely made silver tray was placed in front of Leon. It had some simple but elegant decorations and the words carved on it looked quite mysterious as well. But Leon wasn''t interested in them at all. Instead, he kept staring blankly at the thick roasted meat that was on top of the tray.


    It was a very huge piece of roasted meat weighing at least two kilograms. There were still traces of blood and smoke that could be seen from them. A large glass was placed right beside the tray, the contents of it was some crimson, sticky liquid. Leon tried to sniff it and a pungent smell of blood invaded his nostrils.


    "Eat up!" Hulk said with a sinister and hideous smile, "I rarely treat someone to a meal, don''t tell me you''re not going to be giving me face!"


    The severely wounded Mark was supposed to find a quiet place to treat his serious injuries, but strangely enough, he, too, had struggled for the long table. The bloody meat ribs that was placed in front of him weighed nearly ten kilograms, and the wine glass that came together with the meal was replaced by a large copper basin.


    Leon then turned his head towards the host of this meal, Hulk. Right in front of Hulk was a large piece of medium rare animal rib and judging from its condition where it still had some blood, it seemed to be quite fresh as if it was just newly sliced from the body of some large wild beasts.


    Meanwhile, inside his mind, the Chip gave enlightened him from his silent inquiry.


    Underground Fire Dragon!


    This was the rib coming from an Underground Fire Dragon!


    The Underground Fire Dragon was a type of dragon who lived in the lava region deep within the ground. It possessed a little bit of the bloodline of dragons but didn''t possess frightening abilities like those mega dragons. They also loved to eat sulfur and the Dragon Fruit, therefore they were also a kind of Fire Element demon beast.


    While Leon was still hesitating, Mark had already started to indulge in his huge meal. He had tossed away the huge silver cutlery and used his bare hands to tear apart the rib, gobbled it while ignoring its raw taste.


    Hulk shouldn''t use this to harm him!


    After he ordered the Chip to give the rib a thorough scan and found that there was no problem, Leon finally took the cutlery and tried to cut through his meal. He wasn''t really paying any attention to these utensils but when he grabbed the knife, he realized that this seemingly insignificant silver knife was unexpectedly a magical item. It held two magic effects of Penetration and Sharpen. The silver fork he was holding on his other hand also had the magic effect of Pierce and Strengthen.


    Fuck, these were only cutlery used for cutting through the rib but the magic effects they had were so much better than those defensive magical items owned by most of the intermediate apprentices. Leon couldn''t help but marvel at the gap between different ranks of apprentices.


    Leon sighed and cut out a small piece of meat after considerable effort. He picked it up with the silver fork and placed it in his mouth.


    To be honest, for the very first time he tasted the meat, Leon nearly spat it all out. It tasted raw and bitter but Leon still tried his best and gave it a good chew until he felt his jaw become sore and reluctantly swallowed it into his stomach. When the meat had reached the inside of his stomach, a warm sensation then swiftly surged from his lower abdomen, causing his body to have a reaction towards this burning sensation.


    It was as if Leon''s body suddenly entered into a state of extreme hunger, a strong desire to consume food resonated from his entire body and mind, challenging his will.


    "What''s happening to me? Chip, activate dynamic body scan!"


    "Beep. Dynamic body scanning initiated... traces of Fire Element energy detected... host''s body is absorbing them in a high speed..."


    Accordingly, a dynamic body attribute sheet was projected in Leon''s eyes. Both his Physique and Spirit started to increase slowly. Although the gain was only three to four digits after the decimal point, at least it was still gradually increasing.


    Leon''s eyes flickered.


    Tonic food?


    Could this be the tonic food of this world?!


    ...


    2059 Words


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 Chapter 69 - 69: Full of energy

    The meat of Underground Fire Dragon tasted bitter and tough.


    Although the thing placed in front of Leon was technically considered cooked meat, he was still having a hard time ripping, chewing and swallowing it. He glanced towards the other two men who were happily gobbling up their own meal. Leon couldn''t help but wonder whether these two had enhanced their teeth with a Piercing and Tearing spell. Without it, how could they actually manage to chew this meat, which was tougher than cow leather?


    Leon was eating very slowly, but resolutely.


    After switching part of his attention to his increasing Physique and Spirit, he became even more determined to finish this piece of meat. However, it seemed that he was the only one who could have done this. After all, not everybody was able to detect such tiny changes to their attributes.


    The second piece of meat was served right after he finished the first one. The total size of both pieces was at least three times bigger than his stomach. But he still swallowed them down through clenched teeth. At the end, he had even given up trying to taste the meat. He had to rely on his strong will to force them into his mouth and desperately swallow them into his stomach.


    As every single piece of shredded meat and every single chunk of meat cube fell into Leon''s stomach, he found that they were all gradually, yet constantly, emanating an Elementium aura that brought Leon joy. It was the taste of Fire Elementium!


    Normally, if Leon wanted to increase his Spirit, he would have had to rely on his daily four hours of meditation to slowly absorb the Fire elementium freely swimming in his Spiritual domain. Usually, this process would increase the maximum level of his Spirit. It was as if his Spirit was a small pond, and his daily rest would refill the pond to its maximum level while meditating would help him expand the pond''s boundary.


    Leon had previously thought that the only way one could expand the upper limit of their Spirit was through some specially concocted Spirit Potions. However, today''s ''delicacy'' had made him think differently. He now knew that, apart from meditation and Spirit Potions, there was another method which could slowly improve the quality of an Apprentice Mage''s constitution.


    Although consuming a large amount of these potions could quickly increase the upper limit of one''s Spirit, the increase would usually result in some side effects. This method would bring harm to the normal functions of other body attributes. However, the ''delicacy'' that he had just eaten came with no side effects. It would increase his Spirit slowly and would show the same results as meditation.


    Leon had been told before that the Mind Concentrating Potion, like the one he had just bought, would increase one''s Spirit at the expense of one''s Physique. Therefore, this potion had to be taken in moderation or else Leon would become like Dark Wood and turn into a living skeleton.


    While pondering about how he could combine the delicacy and the Mind Concentrating Potion to yield the best result, a cube of meat suddenly got stuck in Leon''s throat. He couldn''t swallow it or cough it out, so he just picked up a glass of crimson liquid and gulped it down.


    As if a flame had entered his mouth and was flowing into his stomach, Leon''s face suddenly turned purple. It seemed as if blood was about to burst from his face.


    This... this was the blood of Underground Fire Dragon!


    Fire Elementium kept emanating from the meat of Underground Fire Dragon and was absorbed and merged into his hungry body. With great effort, Leon managed to swallow the last piece of meat. He finally couldn''t hold up anymore and lay his face on the dining table. His Spiritual conscious had become totally muddled and paralyzed because of the huge amount of Fire Elementium. He found himself being unable to think clearly.


    "Hehe, kid, this is the first truth I wanted to teach you." Before falling unconscious completely, Leon vaguely heard the loud voice of Hulk. "Only by knowing how to eat properly, can an Apprentice Mage, become a better fighter! Remember this!"


    Green didn''t remember a single thing that happened after that. The Fire Elementium exploded in his body like scorching lava melting its way to its destination. It was recklessly rushing through every single blood vessel and vein within his body. The overly-strong Fire Elementium had painted his skin fiery red and made his skin hot enough to burn one''s finger when touched. He was like a human shaped furnace that was on full power.


    Clearly, these Fire Elementium, that were full of strong bioactivity, were extremely suitable for human absorption. They were present in a huge amount and pounded through every single inch of his muscles, bones, tendons and blood. They continuously merging themselves into Leon''s body, bathing his entire body in a grand feast of Fire Elementium.


    Leon was drunk! He was drunk off Fire Elementium!


    ...


    When Leon finally woke up, seventeen hours had passed.


    The time was accurate to the millisecond, as he had been informed by the Chip.


    When Leon awoke, he found that he was lying on a warm, cozy blanket inside of a small single tent.


    As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt like he was going to explode.


    An unprecedented feeling of satisfaction from his bloodline flooded most of his conscious. Leon felt as if his entire body was trembling and moaning in enjoyment. He felt as if every single bone and muscle were cheering, eager to try out their new strength. His bloodline was fully satisfied for the first time ever. It kept urging him to fight and expel the steady flow of raging strength in his body.


    "Chip, what has happened to me? Why am I feeling this way?" Leon had always been a calm man who valued reason before everything else, so he was not accustomed to this unusual impulse.


    "Beep. Detected that the Host''s body attributes have all reached the upper limit... also detected a large amount of unabsorbed bioactive Elementium within the Host''s body... The abnormal feeling the Host is coming from the stimulation of these bioactive Elementium... It is suggested that the Host performs fire spell practice at once so that the accumulated bioactive Elementium can be absorbed..."


    Damn, it was all because of the overly low endurance limit of his body. It seemed that he just couldn''t bear the excessive nourishment he gained from the delicacy!


    Leon instantly bolted up from the blanket. He lightly clenched his fist and immediately felt explosive strength start to gather around his shoulder. For a moment, it made think that he had switched his path to one of a Body Refining Mage.


    He lifted the tent flap and exited from it. He realized that he was still in the training camp and had just been thrown in a tent on the west side. It was opposite from the wooden cabin in the east. With his sensitive senses, he could tell that some of these tents were empty, while others were occupied by men who were either meditating or sleeping soundly.


    It was the morning of the next day. Many elites in the training camp were conscientiously practicing their magic spells at the edge of the large training field. As Leon watched at the skilful and free way they practiced their instantaneous casting, he couldn''t help himself from starting to want to try out his spell too. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a matter of fact, instantaneous casting was an ability for matured spell casters.


    When an apprentice reached to a certain degree of mastery with a magic spell, they would try to compress or even skip a part of the incantation, while still keeping the continuity of spell casting. The final goal of this laborious training was to be able to cast the spell instantaneously.


    Some powerful Mages didn''t even need to chant the dozens, or even hundreds, of words in a chant. Instead, a few short incantations were all they needed to say to instantaneously cast the spell.


    However, compressing a long chant into a short one required the spell caster to spend hours upon hours of restless practice. In addition, a secret magical spell legacy was required.


    That was why an Mage family was so important to an Apprentice Mage. Each Mage family would have their own magic spell legacy. Only an apprentice belonging to that Mage family would be able to enjoy the legacies and techniques that were handed down by generations of senior Mages. This would result in making their path smoother and easier.


    Or else, without the aid of such ancient knowledge, an apprentice would have to grope in the dark for everything he tried to achieve. With that, even an apprentice with extraordinary magical talent would still have to waste the precious time he had.


    Take Leon as an example. Currently, if he recited one-third of a magic spell, the spell would enter into an irreversible molding process. If this process was interrupted or he stopped casting midway, he would have to withstand a certain degree of backlash. But, for those apprentices who had the legacy from their family, it was like they were cheating. They knew which part they had to stop, and they knew how to stop casting halfway while avoiding the backlash.


    Just this alone wasn''t something that Leon could learn by himself. He wouldn''t be able to learn it even if he spent countless years practicing spell casting.


    Therefore, this was the advantage of having legacies as their knowledge.


    Those apprentices who had learned ''Free Cast'' could practice their magic spells randomly, and when the spell had almost activated, they would dispel it. They would be able to improve their mastery of the magic spell by repeatedly practicing in this way.


    After all, there was a limit to an Apprentice Mage''s Spirit. Without using instantaneous casting or free casting, they would find their Spirit depleted after casting a dozen magical spells. After that, they could only sleep in order to restore their Spirit. But, by using instantaneous casting, they could practice a hundred or even a thousand times every single day.


    Hence, the progress of an apprentice who had access to a legacy and Leon, who seemed like a feral child, was vastly different.


    Right now Leon didn''t have the time to feel envious or jealous of these apprentices. He brought himself to a corner of the training field and found a large rock as his target. He started to repeatedly cast the latest solidified spell he had: Flaming Spear.


    In comparison to the quiet and calm free casting that was going on beside him, Leon''s spell casting practice was like a wild bombardment. Following his loud and clear reciting, he kept firing one Flaming Spear after the other. Things that looked like burning spears kept appearing in his hand and, while making a hissing noise, flew into the large rock that stood a hundred meters away. It exploded and filled the air with loud booms.


    The Flaming Spear''s swift and violent physical damage, along with its powerful explosion, instantly flooded the large rock target in a fierce and raging sea of flame. The ear-piercing noise of explosion never stopped even for one second.


    If the situation was normal, Leon''s pathetic nine Spirit points would have been depleted after four Flaming Spears. But for some unknown reason, the violent and raging Fire element energy kept emerging from his body. It was so strong that he even felt like his Spirit was going to explode.


    Therefore, Leon had no choice but to keep firing Flaming Spears in order to release the tremendous pressure he felt on his Spirit. This resulted in the entire training camp being shocked by him!


    ...


    1985 words

 Chapter 70 - 70: Magical Families

    Countless napping apprentices roared furiously as they jumped out of their tents, dark shadows under their eyes indicating their need for sleep, cursing their inconsiderate peer in loud voices. But when they saw the young man in front of a large rock target, they had no choice but to halt their actions and angrily return back to their tents.


    Soon, countless magical glows sprung up on the top of the tents. The sleepless apprentices had no choice but to use magic spells to shield themselves from the disturbance outside in order to return to their sweet dreams.


    After a full half hour, Leon was breathing heavily and his Spirit level was very low.


    Through his delicate senses, he could feel a steady stream of Fire element energy from the depths of his bone and flesh resupplying him with Spirit. This process was much slower than before, and finally at a rate that he could endure.


    "How is it? Do you feel better now?" A deep voice suddenly came from behind him.


    Leon looked over his shoulder and found Kevin standing there.


    "Do you know how many people in this training camp are jealous about the big feast you had yesterday?" His arms crossed, Kevin spoke with a smile on his face. "What you had yesterday was a grand feast of Underground Fire Dragon, which is something many people in this camp dream of having but never even have a chance of tasting. Being treated to a meal by Hulk is something that you should feel proud of, rather than return like a champion from the Underground World!"


    "I suppose that the meat is really expensive?" Leon asked, while scratching his head.


    "Expensive? Not really! In the market, you can buy 500 grams of fresh Underground Fire Dragon ribs with 100 magic crystals, and a glass of dragon blood only costs 200 magic crystals."


    Though Kevin said in a rather relaxed manner, Leon felt like the man was actually talking through his tightly clenched jaw.


    Leon was no longer the same young and inexperienced rookie. He could now clearly understand the true value of magic crystals.


    For an apprentice like him, who had come here while carrying out the simple Underground World inspection mission, each trip to the Underground World would bring him a reward of five merit points and ten magic crystals. For an elite apprentice like Kevin, the reward for each mission was roughly ten merit points and 30 to 40 magic crystals.


    Taking away the basic expenses of purchasing materials and necessities, an elite apprentice with savings of 200-300 magic crystals was considered a rich man. Otherwise, after yesterday''s bet, why had there been so many elite apprentices clenching their teeth tightly and wishing they could devour him alive?


    To be plain honest, after two bets, Leon had taken nearly all of the savings of every single elite apprentice in this training camp. If Hulk had not given out his order, perhaps right as Leon stepped out from this training camp, he would be greeted by countless apprentices waiting to knock him out and rob him!


    Even though he had won himself a huge sum of ''ill-gotten gains'', when Leon heard the actual price of Underground Fire Dragon, he still couldn''t control himself and his face twitching violently.


    After holding back for quite some time, Leon finally couldn''t contain himself and let out a raging roar into the sky.


    "If I had known that thing was so expensive, I would''ve... I would''ve.. definitely..."


    "Definitely not touched it at all?"


    "I would''ve definitely eaten more of them!"


    "..."


    After making fun for a bit, when both men looked at each other again, they actually felt closer.


    In fact, since the first day they had met, Leon had been in secret awe of these elite apprentices who had gone through life and death training. Though he had defeated two rather famous Advanced Apprentices, they were actually fighting publicly in an open field. If there hadn''t been a limitation because of the fighting ground or a restriction to the magic approach they could use, Leon, who was just a beginner apprentice, was still too weak.


    He was strong because of his Golems; he himself was just too weak.


    If he and Dark Wood had been in a thickly forested mountain, Dark Wood, who was an expert on curse spells, would have thousands of ways to drive Leon crazy. And if his opponent had been Kevin, Leon would have definitely died instantly.


    There was no way he could have hidden under the ground all day, trying to avoid the enemy''s attack. No matter what, he needed to come back to the surface to eat, drink, and sleep. When he relaxed his vigilance, the enemy would stealthily kill him.


    Therefore, though his fighting ability had gained acceptance from most people, Leon knew himself. Maybe he really could pose a threat to most of the people in this training camp, but it would not be fatal, and that''s why the members of this training camp could accept him rather leniently.


    If Leon had really been deceived by the glory of his own victories and tried to interact with these people arrogantly, all he would end up with is endless hostility and hatred.


    For this very reason, when Kevin expressed his kindness, Leon immediately repaid that with ten times the enthusiasm.


    Though Kevin was much older than Leon, he was only about twenty-seven, and was still a young man. Hence, they weren''t too different from each other.


    After talking for some time, Kevin pulled out an old sack and gave it to Leon.


    "This is your portion after yesterday''s victory. It''s inconvenient to carry so many magic crystals, so I exchanged most of them into a magic crystal card. It can be used in exchange of magic crystals in all Mage stations belonging to the Zhentarim Association. This is much better than carrying a few thousand magic crystals and swaggering through the streets!"


    Leon was pleasantly delighted and expressed his gratitude fervently.


    "It is just a small matter, there is nothing to thank me for. In fact, I should be the one to say thanks to you! If not for you, yesterday I wouldn''t have been able to earn a small fortune. Haha, you didn''t see how jealous those guys were; it was such an enjoyable moment!"


    Leon rubbed his palms, but didn''t know how to continue this conversion. Although it was nice to be friends with Kevin, it seemed that Leon had offended many more guys in this camp!


    "Don''t worry, Hulk''s given his order. From now on, you''ll be part of my team. But maybe you didn''t know that, since when Hulk mentioned this, you had passed out and were being carried away from the wooden cabin." Kevin couldn''t help but let out a loud laugh. Though he was teasing Leon, Leon could still hear an undertone of envy from Kevin''s words.


    "Brother Kevin, can you explain the responsibility and power of a camp apprentice?"


    "Haha, no problem! Come, let me bring you back to Mage Tower. I''ll tell you the actual situation of this training camp on our way back!"


    When Leon took his huge fortune and safely returned to his residence at Mage Tower, he finally had a better understanding of what a training camp was. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The training camp, just as its name implied, was a training camp used to train elite apprentices. But, it was also a collaboration used to maintain the interest of the small size Mage families.


    After all, though it was called the Underground Cave, along with the dark and deep Underground World, it also covered the Kerala mountain range and a vast forest full of resources that spanned thirty thousand miles of land. It was also one of the richest regions throughout the entire Dagon region.


    Also, the Second Grade Mage who had been sent here by the Zhentarim Association had lived in seclusion inside of the Mage Tower and rarely showed himself in public. As long as it wasn''t a major incident, like the Fallen Mages that had attacked them on the surface, he never really interfered in anything regarding the Underground Cave and only focused his attention on his own magical experiments.


    Occasionally, he would secretly venture into the Underground World, but it was mostly to harvest the knowledge and resources required by his experiment. He rarely got involved in the battle between Mages from the surface and the Fallen Mages.


    Truly, all seventeen of the First Grade Mages who ran the Mage Tower of the Underground Cave were the decision makers in every single affair. And behind each of them was an Mage family who was significant in the Dagon region.


    Of course, the overall strength of these Mage families was insignificant in the eyes of the Zhentarim Association, as they were only considered small Mage families. But in the Dagon region, they were the local villains who controlled everything. Ordinary human nobles and merchants could only seek the protection from the Mage families; only then could they make their living, bringing in endless profit from the Kerala mountain range.


    Herbs, woods, special plants, leather, the cores of demon beasts, mysterious demons... no matter what kind of material or resource, you could always find it here. Countless hunter groups, exploration teams that ventured between the steep mountains within the Kerala mountain range, brought a steady supply of precious resources out and gave the lion''s share to the investor who had supported them.


    But these were low-grade resources. The real items that made the Mage families so filthily rich were the magical materials that came from the Underground World. Dark Grass, Phantom Mushroom, Nine-Eyes Stone ¨C these items that could tempt even official Mages were the main reason why the Mage families could last for hundred or even thousands of years without decaying.


    No ordinary human had the ability to venture into the depths of the Underground World and harvest these resources. Only the mysterious existences who possessed all kind of special approaches, Apprentice Mages, had the ability to venture into the territory of underground creatures and bring back the rare and precious resources from specific regions.


    All seventeen stationed Mages represented the seventeen top Mage families in the Dagon region. As long as they still existed, no outsider could interfere in the interests of these Mage families. As official Mages, of course, they didn''t get themselves involved in such laborious yet time-consuming task. The junior apprentices from each family acted for them in order to complete this harvesting mission.


    In doing so, not only could they ensure the continuity of their family''s interest, they could also train the best juniors of their family. Eventually, the training camp was born.


    If all of the seventeen stationed Mages were the representatives of their respective Mage family, then all of the elite apprentices in this training camp were the hatchet men for their respective Mage family. Once something that would hurt the interests of their family happened, they would be the executioners who stood out to protect the interests and the face of their own family.


    Of course, if the exploration team who was sent out or invested in by a family discovered a rare demon beast or devil that they failed to capture, the apprentices stationed in the training camp would contribute their strength and provide the exploration team with the powerful support of magic spells.


    However, the most important activity for the elite apprentices still lay in the Underground Cave.


    Because that place was the lifeline for the Mage families, a resource they would never give up.


    ...


    1941 Words

 Chapter 71 - 71: Level Up

    Since the existence of the Underground Cave was very important for all of the Mage families in the Dagon region, foreign elite apprentices such as Leon became their favorite target for recruitment.


    First, having some foreign recruits wouldn''t cause too much of an impact on their current interests. Without the support of an Mage family, the Apprentice Mages wouldn''t have the guts to offend the official Mages openly. So, the recruited elite apprentices could become their most capable hatchet men, but were unable to become one of their competitors.


    Second, the Underground World wasn''t a peaceful place. The rare resources sought after by Mages from the surface were also the target for the black bastards of the underground. Therefore, the start of every single underground expedition trip and harvesting trip was also the beginning of a chaotic battle between the two parties.


    Due to extensive exploration and development, all of the rare resources produced in the Underground World had been excavated and their locations marked down as resource sites. What time these resources were matured and what time they needed to be harvested, these things both parties knew very well. Therefore, whenever it was time to harvest, a deadly slaughter would occur in the surroundings of these resource sites. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Neither party would send out their official Mages in this chaotic battle, but restricted the battle to the level of Apprentice Mages. Only the winner of the battle had the right to enter the resource site and harvest the resources. As for the loser, either they escaped with wounds or they would have been killed in the battle.


    Like this, a bloody slaughter had been ongoing for more than three hundred years in the Underground Cave, and it had become an unwritten edict in this place. Using their strongest apprentices as their token, both parties would fight for the fixed resources every month. The winner took it all, while the loser got killed miserably. It was an arena where all Pseudo-Mages could put on a good show.


    Now, because of the uniqueness of Leon''s ability, he was chosen by the training camp under the lead of Hulk, and was fortunate enough to become a member together with the other elite apprentices. With this, he became busier, as apart from carrying out the apprentice mission organized by the Zhentarim Association every fifteen days, he also needed to join the underground patrol of the training camp intermittently.


    With this, Leon''s speed of obtaining merit point was definitely faster than all other ordinary apprentices.


    After gaining a basic understanding of the situation at the training camp, Leon left Kevin and returned to his residence.


    Having entered his room and properly locked the door, Leon made sure his surrounding was safe. Then he started to take out all of the magical and wondrous items from his body.


    Circlet of Nobility, Thorn Armor Bracelet, Hasten Boot, Screaming Branch, Gnome Goggle...


    When he was sure there weren''t any magic spells still affecting his body, he inwardly gave out an order.


    "Chip, run a scan on the current situation of my body..."


    "Beep. Mission accepted. Commencing scanning of Host''s body..."


    After the slow yet meticulous spirit frequency spread across his body, Leon''s latest stats were projected into his eyes.


    As he stared at the statistics, a smile emerged from Leon''s face.


    Compared to his previously frail body, all of Leon''s attributes were now on a new level. Physique was the attribute with the most outstanding improvement, as it had jumped up by two points. After all, just one month ago, Leon had only had three points in his Physique. Compared to the other Apprentice Mages, he was too frail to stand even a gust of wind.


    Though the other three attributes hadn''t increased by a big margin, they all had a significant improvement, and were no longer in the stagnant state like the past.


    After he browsed through his own attributes, Leon sat comfortably in the chair. He casually pulled out a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion from his storage waistband, held it in front of his eyes, and examined it silently.


    The light blue potion was wobbling within the tiny bottle and some tiny blue pellets could be vaguely seen swimming within the liquid. But as their aura was isolated within the bottle, it was very difficult for the Chip to get an accurate analysis of the ingredients contained in this potion.


    Leon gently pulled out the cork and a unique smell of the sea instantly came to his nose. Without hesitation, Leon threw his head back and gulped down the potion in one go.


    Just as the potion entered his mouth, a light blue mist suddenly sprayed out from his nostril and formed into a thumb-size piteous mermaid in front of his eyes. The tiny mermaid quickly withered and aged in the air, and when its incorporeal body had nearly vanished, a sharp and miserable shriek suddenly resounded throughout the entire room.


    The shriek didn''t last long, and the image of mermaid quickly vanished, followed by the dissolving of the blue mist. But the mermaid''s sharp cry had penetrated Leon''s mind with a grieving and pathos curse.


    "Chip, what just happened?"


    "Beep. Detecting the existence of ''Flesh Curse''... Preliminary estimation shows it is the potion''s negative side effect. By dispelling it, the effectiveness of the potion will be lower... Does Host want to use Spirit and dispel this Flesh Curse?"


    Leon sighed inwardly.


    Before, he had heard that the Mind Concentrating Potion had a strong negative side effect; looked like the rumor was real. In order to increase his Spirit, he had no choice but to endure the ravages of this Flesh Curse.


    "Negative. Just keep the dynamic scanning going!"


    "Command accepted. The effect of the potion is starting..."


    On the attribute sheet projected in front of Leon''s eyes, the number representing his Spirit slowly started to rise. At the same time, his Physique also started to drop.


    8.43... 8.44... 8.47... 8.53... 8.62...


    4.98... 4.97... 4.95... 4.92...


    Fortunately, yesterday''s grand feast of Underground Fire Dragon meat had brought Leon plenty of vitality, which minimized much of the pain on his internal organs, though it still felt like being bitten by thousands of ants at the same time. Otherwise, even he himself couldn''t be sure if he would able to endure this painful process till the end.


    While enduring the heartbreaking pain coming from all over his body, he was only happy because of the ever increasing Spirit.


    8.98... 9.03... 9.08...


    Even in pain, Leon smiled as he witnessed his Spirit finally stepping over eight and successfully becoming nine.


    Finally, when his Spirit stopped at 9.27 and didn''t move again, Leon let out a muffled groan and gave out a command, "Chip, dispel the Flesh Curse!"


    "Command accepted! Releasing Fire Elementium..."


    A warm burst of energy started to flow through his entire body and the aching and tingling sensation gradually subsided before disappearing completely. Leon was more focused on the attributes that had changed:


    Ugh... this bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion had brought an increase of 0.85 to Leon''s Spirit. At the same time, his Physique had dropped by 0.77 and even his Strength had dropped by 0.05.


    Leon stood up and exercised his body. Though the feeling of emptiness brought by the reduction of his Physique was still there, it wasn''t as strong as he had expected. It seemed like the grand feast he had yesterday brought him some hidden benefits! Meanwhile, the increase of his Spirit brought Leon an improvement of his overall ability. Both the speed of his thought or the profoundness of his spirit senses had significant improvement.


    Tempted by the result, Leon hesitated for half a second before he took out another bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion, pulled out the cork, and gulped it down.


    Leon strenuously endured the huge negative effects of the potion: the same pain, the same Flesh Curse, the same anticipation. The only focus of his attention was the Spirit, which was constantly increasing.


    9.29... 9.33... 9.46... 9.52...


    ...


    Suddenly, the trifling tones of the Chip chimed out, "Warning, Host''s muscle damage has exceeded 17%."


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 19%."


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 21%."


    "Beep... warning! Muscle damage has exceeded 21%. Non-interference will result in Host entering a temporary state of decay. Does Host want to interfere?"


    Leon lightly clenched his jaw and replied with a deep voice. "Negative!"


    The original aching and tingling sensation had turned into a severe pain, like his heart were being sliced through, and beads of sweat started to roll down his forehead. On the chair, Leon twisted and struggled through the pain, relying on his strong will so that he wouldn''t pass out. If he passed out, he would lose control and the Flesh Curse would wreak havoc on his body before it dissolved itself. No doubt, that would bring even more damage to his Physique!


    So, even if it only spared him losing 0.01 Physique, Leon still tenaciously kept himself awake.


    9.87...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 22%."


    9.93...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 23%."


    9.99...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 24%."


    10.03...


    "Muscle damage has exceeded 25%."


    Sensing that his Spirit had stopped moving, Leon finally shouted, "Dispel!"


    As the warm burst of energy once again flowed through his body, the severe pain subsided entirely.


    Leon placed both hands on the armrest of the chair and tried to push himself up, but he failed twice in a row. The severe pain numbed his body and stopped it from responding to his control.


    Just at that moment, the latest attributes refreshed in front of his eyes.


    It finally broke through ten!


    As of now, Leon was honored to be an Intermediate Apprentice.


    From a Beginner Apprentice, who only had eight Spirit, to an Intermediate Apprentice of ten Spirit, it had only taken Leon one and a half months, but he had spent six whole years in the past just to increase from six to eight Spirit. This was clear evidence of the huge difference between someone with sufficient resources and someone without.


    But in order to achieve what he had now, Leon had paid a huge price with his body.


    His Spirit had increased from 9.27 to 10.03, a small change from single digit to two digits, but his Physique had shrunk back to 3.17 from 4.21, a jaw-dropping reduction. Along with that was a 0.01 reduction in his Strength and a reduction of 0.08 in his Agility.


    The damage caused by the Mind Concentrating Potion increased progressively!


    ...


    1785 Words

 Chapter 72 - 72: Spirit 10

    To be honest, Leon was acting rather impulsive by consuming the Mind Concentrating Potion!


    According to the process he had understood earlier, a time interval of at least three to four days was required between each intake of the potion. This was so that he could avoid the cumulation of damage. But, because he thought that he was a young, strong and growing man, he decided to take the second potion right after the first. After all, he didn''t have the patience to wait.


    The consequence brought about by his reckless decision was obvious.


    After the first potion, his Physique was only reduced by 0.85, but the second potion had brought it down by another 1.05. If Leon had taken the third potion, perhaps his Physique would''ve taken a nose dive of nearly two points.


    After all, the parameters calculated by the Chip were just the digitized representation of his body''s attributes. All four major body attributes weren''t isolated but supported and influenced each other. For example, Spirit and Agility influenced the hitting accuracy of long range attack and the frequency of attacks. Spirit and Strength together influenced reflex and explosive force. Meanwhile, Physique was the foundation for all attributes. It worked with other attributes and influenced a person''s amount of health, their physical and elemental resistance, evasion, and many other aspects.


    When Leon''s Physique dropped from 4.98 to 3.17, the reduction of two points not only lowered his health points, but also caused a decay to his entire life system.


    At this moment, Leon felt as if his entire body was empty.


    The feeling of emptiness and hunger brought by the quick decay of his Physique kept bugging him. It was a really uncomfortable feeling and made all his internal organs feel like they were being burnt by fire.


    As he was left with no other option, and temporary had no strength to stand up, Leon reached his hand to a small copper bell on his table and rung it.


    Following that, a unique soundless wave rippled through the air, and a wooden, human-like face suddenly protruded from the empty surface of the table.


    "Mister Leon, may I know what special service you need?" Surprisingly, the wooden face spoke.


    "Food! I need food right now! Now, immediately, right away!"


    "May I know what grade of food you need? We offer an ordinary set meal of nobility. The degree of luxury is guaranteed to be the ultimate enjoyment among human noble. Each set only costs one magic crystal. We also provide a magical energy set meal. All the ingredients are taken from intermediate to advanced level demon beasts found in the depth of Kerala mountain range. Each set only cost five magic crystals."


    "Magical energy set meal. I want it right now!"


    "Understood! Your order has been accepted, please place the meal fee inside of my mouth!" Following what it said, the protruding face opened up its mouth.


    Leon took out five magic crystals from his waist pouch and placed them into the mouth of the human face. It was originally a solid wood carving, but now it had turned into a crack that led to a secret place. It quickly swallowed the magic crystals.


    After the wooden human face swallowed the magic crystals, it suddenly expanded and transformed into a square wooden box. When the wooden box finally exploded into countless wooden fibers and retracted back into the table, a steaming hot rib placed on top of a silver tray was revealed in front of Leon.


    A set of exquisite cutlery lay next to the meal. The meal consisted of an appetizing fried rib, garnished with red, blue and white vegetables along with some tasty sauce. It was paired with a glass of fragrant grape wine.


    As Leon wasn''t a picky man, he didn''t pay too much attention to his meals. However, he had to admit that for the Apprentice Mages who had been immersed in a boring routine, a meticulously prepared meal like this was considered a huge mental compensation.


    Wasting no time on table manners, Leon savagely exterminated the fried rib like a hungry ghost rushing for his food. When the entire rib finally rested in his stomach, the burning hunger had finally subsided.


    "Chip, can you identify what this meat is?"


    "Beep. The possibility of Iron Rhinoceros is 87%, Berserk Beast is 10%, Gray Pocket Beast is 2%..."


    The Chip showed Leon a long list, but the possibility of the last seven to eight were so low that they could simply be ignored. Only the first few had the highest possibility.


    Leon moistened his hungry lips, threw his head back and gulped down the grape wine.


    He could clearly felt that the magical energy meal he had just now was far inferior to the Underground Fire Dragon meat he had yesterday. Also, the Iron Rhinoceros, who the meat had the highest possibility of coming from, should''ve just been an intermediate Earth element demon beast. The Elementium contained within the meat was totally unmatched with his elemental affinity. Although it could still bring him a huge amount of health points, it didn''t provide any benefit to his Fire element innate ability.


    It looked like if he wished to replenish both his health points and Fire element innate ability at the same time, he should choose meat from those Fire element demon beasts. The higher grade, the better.


    Therefore, urged by his hunger, Leon once again rung the copper bell.


    As expected, when Leon mentioned straight away that he wanted the Fire element demon beast as his meal, the wooden face immediately offered him a long list of delicacies.


    Flaming Tiger ¨C 15 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    Fire Lizard ¨C 20 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    Inferno Hound ¨C 25 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    Fire Swallowing Sparrow ¨C 30 Magic Crystals per 500 grams


    ...


    Leon quietly listening with his eyes closed. From time to time, he would ask for more information. Soon, he made up his mind and picked a delicacy that suited him the most: Fried Heart of Inferno Hound.


    After paying 25 magic crystals, the wooden face quickly swallowed the dishes on the table and revealed another luxurious meal.


    This time it was not a rib but a fresh heart that was still pumping lightly. It seemed there was a fire source concealed within the fist-size heart. It was still raw and fresh when it appeared, but following an explosion of the fire source, a scorching hot flame soared up to the roof before disappearing in an instant.


    When the enshrouding heat finally vanished into the air, a fresh and fragrant fried heart of Inferno Hound was revealed in front of Leon.


    Leon first used the table knife and poked a small hole on the surface of the heart, then suck all the warm blood inside of it in one go. When the warm and appetizing liquid flowed through down his throat and reached his stomach, a raging and explosive sensation made Leon so happy that he couldn''t help but close his eyes in enjoyment.


    Soon after wolfing down everything in his mouth, Leon sliced the heart of Flaming Hound into small equal sizes and tucked in one after another. Whenever a piece of heart exploded in his stomach and began to emanate a raging Fire element energy, Leon had the impulse to moan because of the pleasure feeling.


    The raging Fire element energy kept flushing throughout his entire body. Although it made him drenched in sweat, it was an extremely refreshing.


    After he finished two sets of Flaming Hound meals continuously, he finally managed to replenish part of his Physique, which had been reduced a lot. In addition, there was a slight increase to his Spirit.


    Strength ¨C 4.04, Agility ¨C 4.30, Physique ¨C 3.34, Spirit ¨C 10.07


    After the wooden face cleared up the leftover dishes on the table, Leon placed both palms on his big belly. He struggled his way to his bed, before starting his daily meditation routine.


    After experienced a targeted food tonic, today''s deep meditation had brought Leon''s Spirit the unprecedented increase of 0.11, which was an additional 0.03 comparing to the normal 0.08 increase. Judging from this alone, if he was able to increase the density of Fire element energy in his body or his surroundings, it would also increase the efficiency of his meditation.


    Leon ordered the Chip to record this finding, so he could use his free time to research for the best meditation formula. After finishing with all these, Leon breathed out a long sigh of satisfaction and sunk into a deep slumber.


    ...


    It was a good sleep!


    After a long hour of sleep, when Leon finally woke up from his sweet dream, he found that his entire body was filled with a powerful yet inexhaustible strength.


    Of course, this was only a sensation of fullness after his Strength had reached the maximum level. After all, he only had 3.34 of Physique and 4.04 of Strength. For a Beginner Apprentice, numbers like this weren''t considered a shame, but if it was an Intermediate Apprentice, it was considered rather ''frail''.


    Even though an Intermediate Apprentice didn''t take the path of Body Refining, he should also make his Strength, Agility and Physique reach the minimum level of five. It was only a body quality like this that wouldn''t hinder their Spirit, placing themselves in an unbalanced course of development. Of course, those like worm controller and Dark Wood were extreme examples and couldn''t be judged by this standard.


    For people like them, their bodies could no longer be judged by normal standards, as they had transformed into completely different body constitutions. The bug''s body of worm controller clearly showed the miraculous signs of vitality and damage sharing, and he could be considered an undefeated cockroach.


    Meanwhile, although Dark Wood''s Physique was extremely low, he obviously possessed some unspeakable special abilities. At least, Leon''s Demon Alligator had attacked him multiple times with Paralyze Gaze during their battle, but it seemed like he wasn''t affected at all. Clearly, his strange body constitution had an immunity toward such spell. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon briefly exercised his body. Right when he decided to pay a visit to the library in this place, someone came knocking on his door.


    It was Bleia.


    When Bleia strode into his room with rather charming steps, her eyes were instantly filled with unconcealed puzzlement.


    "You... your Spirit has reached ten?"


    The strange feeling coming from Leon''s body made Bleia think that there was something wrong with her senses, as it was obvious that the spiritual ripple could only be owned by an Intermediate Apprentice.


    "Yes, I just made a breakthrough yesterday. Oh, right. I suppose you''re here for the war trophies? Let me tell you some good news, I successfully sold all those war trophies, and I got us these treasures!" While saying that, Leon took out a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion from his waist pouch.


    Bleia took over the potion and gave it a closer look. An expression of sudden comprehension emerged on her face. She then gave it back to Leon.


    "You can keep this yourself! A low-grade potion like this has no effect for me, but it can still provide some benefits to you. Remember, don''t consume them continuously, and don''t forget to recuperate after having it. Or else, the condition of your body will become really bad!"


    Leon was startled.


    Although he did expect that Bleia wouldn''t care too much about this potion, but her indifferent attitude of giving it back still surprised him. After all, a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion was five merit points and five magic crystals in this Mage Tower. Anyone who went to the Underground World at least once would understand how valuable a merit point was.


    Therefore, Leon was left speechless.


    ...


    1981 Words

 Chapter 73 - 73: Underground World

    Unlike the eternal darkness, the Underground Cave was never a calm place.


    Because most of the regions had only been vaguely surveyed, even the native underground species who had occupied this domain for a long history, didn''t own a completely reliable map.


    The underground tunnels could stretch for miles; sometimes they expanded into massive caverns more than a thousand meters wide and sometimes they narrowed so even the Cave Dweller couldn''t squeeze through. The biggest cavern was like a miniature surface world: there were hills, valleys, an underground river, and lakes. In this three-dimensional environment, most of the species could utilize the cavern ceiling and walls, using their innate ability or a magic spell to fly, hover, or even ride on some of the creatures who could walk on walls (like the giant spiders or some kinds of lizards) and travel freely in this domain.


    As the only city built in the Underground World by the exiled Mages, the location of Elysium City was top secret. The rock stratum, rich in metal, could easily isolate any ill-intentioned probes from the outside world, and, together with the dark and deep caves scattered across the entire Underground World, the creatures of darkness hiding in the tunnels, Golems, and underground natives, made it so no outsider could distinguish the single passage that led to Elysium City from countless winding tunnels in the darkness without being led by an Elysium City resident.


    Some said the mighty Second Grade Fallen Mage of Elysium City had set up a massive formation of illusion outside of the city, and it was able to wipe out every single trace of Elysium City''s existence. With that, even if an enemy really did find his way to the area, he still wouldn''t be able to identify the exact location of the city, even if he left no stone unturned.


    Elysium City, Catsear Tavern.


    When the huge firestone hanging high up on the cavern ceiling started to go off, the tide of darkness flowed on.


    For the Fallen Mages who lived in the dark Underground World, there wasn''t a clear difference between day and night. Without using something to reference the time, their life would become muddled and it would become tough to arrange everything in a regular manner. Thus, having inherited some habits from the surface, the Fallen Mages with powerful abilities and a bagful of amazing tricks mined a huge number of firestones from the underground and used a magical array to make them light up according to the time on the surface world.


    Thus, Elysium City finally attracted a large group of Apprentice Mages who had been driven into a corner and made them the city''s first batch of loyal residents.


    When the night screen was down, the streets and alleyways of Elysium City lit up with torches and bonfires and a dimmed oil lamp hung on the door of Catsear Tavern.


    Pushing the dilapidated and dirty door open, a long-faced Langdon came through the door. Having entered, the noisy and lively atmosphere immediately brought a frown to his face.


    It was only seven in the evening, but the tavern was fully packed with drunkards of all species. Basically, all of the famous underground species had representatives here. Of course, this didn''t include the lower class species.


    Inferior species like Hooked Horrors and Petrified Lizards would definitely not have the status of an Elysium City resident. Instead, there were mostly demi-human or intelligent species, who looked human. For example, Lizardmen, Gnolls, Dwarves, and Ratmen.


    As he stared at a group of large-size rats walking upright in front of him, looking at their ugly hairy faces, Langdon''s mind filled with disgust. He was a genuine human being, after all.


    Of course, an ordinary human wouldn''t be able to survive in Elysium City, which was dominated by demons and monsters, but Langdon had no fear at all. He even ferociously kicked away a Ratman who got in his way. He could do this because he was an Apprentice Mage, a Pseudo-Mage.


    In Elysium City, aside from the Master Mages who rarely showed themselves in public, a Pseudo Fallen Mage like him was considered a supreme existence. Wherever he went, countless underground natives would give way to him in a rather flattering manner.


    His light blue apprentice robe was decorated with countless mysterious and undecipherable golden runes that blinked sometimes as he moved, giving him a magical and mysterious air. Combined with a handsome appearance and his cultural and elegant bearing, Langdon looked like a noble. But too bad, the once elegant face looked extremely gloomy right now.


    After he kicked away the Ratman who got in his way, and totally ignoring the squeaking protest, Langdon strode to the counter, forcefully slapped the counter-top, and let out a raging roar.


    "Give me a bottle of Flaming Wine!"


    The noisy and lively tavern suddenly became dead silent.


    Old John, who was leisurely cleaning wine glasses on the other side of the counter, rolled his eyes, murmured, and pulled out a bottle of wine from under the counter and slid it over the smooth counter top.


    Once the bottle was uncorked, the strong, spicy smell of wine immediately filled the air inside the packed tavern. Countless hairy faces poked their nose into the air and their shining saliva started to drip from their lips.


    Breathing heavily and with a pair of bloodshot eyes, Langdon, who rarely drank, threw his head back and ferociously gulped down a few mouthfuls of the hard liquor. The spicy liquor rushed into his stomach like raging flames and made it so he couldn''t hold it and burst out with a few dry, hoarse coughs.


    A splash of liquor danced in the air.


    Most of the liquor he had drunk was coughed out.


    The Ratmen, who dressed in old cloth, mimicked humans, and walked upright, immediately flocked up, lay down on the floor, and stick out their big wet tongues, savagely licking the liquor spilled on the stone floor. Though normally they behaved like humans, once they saw something that was good and cost nothing, they would immediately throw away their deceiving behavior and once again expose the true instinct as low-intelligence creatures.


    Elysium City was under strict governance: only intelligent creatures were allowed to become its residents, and they had to appear human. In order to get themselves status in the city, many Ratmen, Gnolls, Lizardmen had no choice but to dress in dirty cloth which they simply picked up from piles of rubbish, stand upright, and walk with strange and staggered steps, as if pretending they were some demi-human.


    In this mini city ruled by Fallen Mages, these creatures had no means or methods to earn their living. They ate the rubbish of the Mages. Of course, sometimes they would resort to dirty businesses like stealing from someone; only by that could they gain a better life.


    Looking at Ratmen punching and biting each other for his vomit, Langdon clenched his jaw tightly and wished he could kill them all with an Acid Pool spell.


    He was a distinguished Pseudo-Mage; how he had he ended up spending his days with a group of demons and monsters?! An unspeakable feeling of grief and hatred filled his mind with anger that couldn''t be vented. Langdon threw his head back and gulped the remaining Flaming wine in a swallow, casually tossed out a magic crystal, and staggered out from the tavern.


    "What happened to master Langdon? I think this is the first time we''ve seen him behave abnormally like this?" In a dark corner, two shadows whispered to each other.


    "What? You don''t know?" Another shadow said under its breath. "I heard that his partner is dead."


    "Demon Vine Lady?" The first shadow let out a shocked cry. "You said the Demon Vine Lady is dead?"


    "Quiet..." The first shadow looked around uneasily, realized no one was watching them, and then warned with a low voice, "You just came back from the west, that''s why you don''t know. The east region was rather lively in the past few days. I heard quite a few Pseudo-Mages were having a fierce fight there. They even collapsed a few tunnel levels."


    "Just now you said the Demon Vine Lady was dead? Who killed her?"


    "Who else? Of course she was killed by those bastards from the surface. I hear those Mages on the surface had nothing else to do, so they sent a group of apprentices to our world to seize our resources. The Demon Vine Lady was killed by this group of rookies. Rumor says..." The shadow paused and looked around, lowered its voice, and continued, "Rumor says that she was killed by a Beginner Apprentice whose name is Leon! She..." S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before the shadow could finish its words, a ground shaking boom drowned out its voice. The rock wall beside them had been punctured by a frightening fist and a large hole was left.


    A huge figure, over three meters tall, dashed through the large hole. With both hands, he forcefully pulled up the two shadows, who had been conversing secretly in the darkness.


    Light from the blazing stove in the room shone onto these two shadows. They were Gnolls.


    "You damn inferior creatures, who gave you the audacity to secretly talk about the matters of me, Langdon? I hate hearing the name of Leon. Whoever dares mention it again, this will be an example!"


    After the angry roar of the huge figure, an azure ice energy started to gather within his palms. Within the time of a breath, the two Gnolls froze into two ice statues. Right after that, the huge figure used all his strength and threw both ice statues onto the ground, shattering them into tiny pieces and splashing throughout the entire floor of the tavern.


    "All of you damn dregs, hear my words and remember. Nobody mention that damn name again! Anyone fails to obey this, I, Langdon, will remind them with their own death!" Langdon, who had transformed into a frightening giant, roared out furiously.


    "Leon! You damn bastard, I''ll be waiting for you in the darkness of the underground..."


    ......


    Having no knowledge of what happened in the remote Underground World, Leon was extremely busy for a few days.


    He had finished reading all the books from the Swampy Tower. Only the long-drawn-out process of magical knowledge accumulation and magic spell model analysis were left.


    For the first defensive magic spell he was going to possess, Leon poured in a hundred times the enthusiasm.


    Fire Shield, that was the first defensive magic spell he chose for himself. But, in order to truly master it, Leon first had to master four to five elementary subjects and a huge amount of magic spells. From the to the , and to ...


    Leon was required to master dozens of magic spells knowledge and techniques before he could learn Fire Shield. Though he was assisted by the Chip, it was still an extremely tough mission in order to thoroughly master them one by one.


    But according to the calculations and estimations of the Chip, Leon was delighted to learn that he would be able to bag this Fire Shield magic spell before his next trip to the Underground World.


    This was a great news!


    ...


    1881 Words

 Chapter 74 - 74: Training

    After discovering that the food tonic could bring great benefits to an apprentice Mage''s body, the magical energy meal which he only eats once a day became an essential part of his daily life.


    After being inspired and guided by him, it didn''t take too long for Bleia to become a slave of this "delicacy" as well, accompanying him in indulging in a frenzy eating spree. If not for having to carry out appropriate ''exercises'' after each meal to help in the digestion of bioactive element substance, Leon would surely change all of his regular meals into magical energy meals.


    For the following days, every morning was spent on studying for magic knowledge, be it rain or shine. Leon utilized fully the help of the Chip, instilling the huge amount of knowledge he learned into his brain, then saved them in a systematic manner.


    Noon time was the most important time of the day, being the time to enjoy the various delicacy available to them. Both of them had already tried every single one of the magical energy meals that was provided by the Mage Tower, but chose to eat the one that suited them the most. Leon still preferred the Fried Heart of a Flaming Hound while Bleia enjoyed drinking the blood of a Wyvern.


    The insanely high daily meal expenditure of fifty magic crystals had caused their Physique to skyrocket. Currently, Leon would have daily increase of 0.3 to his Physique. As for Bleia, although she didn''t experience such an incredible development, she was still euphoric, showing a look of satisfaction and contentment.


    After they finished eating, it was finally time for appropriate "exercises" where Bleia would give Leon a good beating. Leon practically turned into a high quality human punching bag, brutally tortured by Bleia.


    Facing Bleia who had used her full speed from the get-go, Leon was forced to wear his Circlet of Nobility and only then can he barely make out her flickering figure. Whenever his palms holding scorching flames moved slower, he would be rewarded with five bloody shallow scratches on his body.


    For the first three days, Leon''s body would be full of wounds after every fight. His body which had just grown a bit sturdy looked like it had been used as a scratching post by more than a hundred catwomen at the same time, was full of crisscrossing scratch marks.


    Leon had a sorrowful discovery that, without the help from his Golems, fighting Bleia all alone was as if he was inviting torture. Bleia could even use the gentlest ''touch'' to reduce his health points to one, while his flaming palms couldn''t even touch the corner of her dress.


    Initially, he thought of suddenly changing the direction of his flames to give Bleia a surprise attack, but the same technique had become useless the second time around when dealing with Bleia, who was an agility type assassin Mage. Without a suitable defensive magic spell, Leon would never be able to withstand Bleia''s attack just with the Burning Hand alone.


    As for the reason why he didn''t want to use Fire Arrow and Flaming Spear, the answer was too obvious. Even the Burning Hand, the type of magic spell that could be casted with just a thought, couldn''t intercept Bleia in such a close distance, how much more for the Fire Arrow and Flaming Spear which required three seconds of casting time.


    In order to save a little bit of his face, Leon was forced to break his personal vow, secretly ordering the Chip to perform a scan and save Bleia''s attack pattern and habits. After that, he asked the Chip to construct a mini battlefield spellcasting assist system. With the help of this system, the Chip could capture Bleia''s movements, using its incredible calculation speed to derive possible positions she would appear, and also the possible spots she would attack.


    Later, Leon followed the calculations of the Chip and finally caught Bleia.


    Unfortunately, Leon''s temporary success angered Bleia, and he received a continuous and brutal beating from a red figure who suddenly rampaged. Leon didn''t even last for five seconds with his body fully bathed with blood.


    Leon couldn''t help but think Bleia was a lunatic who would be a crazy sex machine in bed, as she could control her attacks at a very precise level without the help of something like the High Precision Chip. This... this shows fully how perfect her control over her enemy''s life is, and her aggressiveness that can overwhelm the enemy with grief.


    The Mage Tower''s arena also comes with various functions beyond an outsider''s imagination. Any apprentice Mage who fought inside it could choose between two modes: Training Match or Death Match.


    Under the training match mode, once an apprentice Mage had their health reduced to a dangerous level, any attack from their opponent would immediately trigger a defense mechanism of the arena, putting up a strong protective barrier that would protect the wounded apprentice inside. Meanwhile, the death match mode didn''t come with any life-preserving defense mechanism.


    This was where Bleia''s remarkable control stand out. Every time they fought, she could make Leon be covered in blood all over with her ferocious attacks, while never triggering the automatic defense mechanism of the arena. This really frightened Leon!


    Therefore, every afternoon had become the hardships of Leon''s painful journey. The match would always end with him being covered in blood and being dragged out from the arena by Bleia. The only difference was how long he could last.


    The first day, he lasted for seven minutes.


    The second day, he lasted for fifteen minutes.


    The third day, he initially had a chance to last for much longer but since he provoked Bleia, he was defeated close to five minutes.


    The fourth day, he lasted for half an hour. It was also the first time he and the Chip worked together flawlessly.


    The fifth day, he managed to last for one full hour without being hurt at all because his Fire Shield had finally appeared.


    That''s right, it was really a surprise!


    Under the tremendous pressure from Bleia, the frightening Blood Queen, Leon actually managed to master all of the preliminary knowledge required for Fire Shield one day ahead of schedule, and he was also successful in casting it before the match began.


    The Fire Shield was a shield-shaped defensive magic spell that was composed entirely of Fire Elementium. When successfully casted, it would automatically revolve around Leon''s body in a radius of one meter. The area the spell can defend covered 1.5 meters tall and 1 meter wide. Not only does it provide an excellent physical and magical defense, it also has the Reflect Damage effect during a melee battle.


    Bleia had once tried it. Using her super high agility, she came closer to Leon from the side but no matter how hard she tried, her razor sharp claws couldn''t break through the defense of Leon''s Fire Shield. The small Fire Shield actually had its own intelligent sensor capable of automatically moving by itself to the appropriate positions to block all attacks.


    So far, Bleia hadn''t master any close combat skills that had a name. Her offensive methods were primitive, mostly relying on her high agility, attacking the enemy with her strong body. If we were to talk about any special ability that was worth mentioning, it would be the the ability to infuse her blood element magic energy into her claws, making her every attack draw blood from her enemy that can also replenish herself.


    But the damage inflicted by that kind of offensive method would never be great. In fact, each strike would always inflict just nine to thirteen points of damage. Meanwhile, the defensive strength of the Fire Shield was thirty five points, making it obvious that it would take more than a single strike from Bleia''s attacks. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That''s why when Leon mastered the Fire Shield, he was able to turn the tables of the battle to his favor.


    Originally, it was Leon who tried hard to defend, having his health reduced bit by bit from the raging attacks of Bleia. The situation would''ve been better if he didn''t try to counterattack since he could last longer. But once he gave up on his defenses in order to have a chance to hit Bleia who moved swiftly like a ghost, he would be defeated by Bleia instantly, resulting to a miserable ending for himself.


    But now with the help of the Fire Shield, not only did Bleia fail to break through his defenses even after multiple tries, she also had her claws burned by the sudden explosions of flames from the Fire Shield. Her dress which didn''t come with any defensive magic wasn''t spared from being burned causing it to have a few large scorched holes.


    Finally! He finally got the upper hand for once and this brought great joy to Leon.


    While comfortable appreciating Bleia''s hot and seductive body, he was reciting the chant of Fire Arrow with a loud voice, manipulating the explosive flames to chase after her. For the first time ever, he never had to worry about suddenly getting scratch marks appearing on his body.


    Leon''s relaxed method of attack greatly angered Bleia. That''s why, after thirty seven seconds of complacency, he was once again bloodied all over after receiving the furious attacks of Bleia. Surprisingly, the defense mechanism triggered this time. A transparent protective barrier tightly covered around Leon''s body. Bleia was knocked away by it, showing her skin that had turned black because of the flame.


    Looking at the bloodshot eyes of Bleia who kept gazing at him savagely through the transparent barrier, Leon couldn''t help but sigh deeply.


    As always, Bleia would never let herself be outdone by someone else!


    With the current strength of Bleia''s melee attacks, there wasn''t any possibility she could pierce through the Fire Shield. It was at least correct according to theory!


    But when Leon met Bleia, a girl with a tremendous desire to excel over others, even the theory calculated by the Chip had become unreliable.


    Driven by anger, Bleia actually withstood the fire element damage from the Fire Shield and didn''t even back off. She also withstood the double fireball attacks from Leon''s Burning Hands and used an attack that was beyond anyone''s imagination. Forcefully hitting thrice on the same spot of the Fire Shield and took advantage of the cumulative damage to successfully break through Leon''s tough protective shell.


    What happened afterwards was a terrifying experience for Leon!


    The pain of having one''s flesh burned by elemental fire wasn''t something anybody could endure. Although Bleia could use her incredible regenerative ability and blood sucking to restore her health, there was no way she could avoid the pain from using those methods, and thus, she could only endure using her strong will.


    It was all due to her stubbornness, not wanting to let Leon suppress her in their daily practice. Even if it was just once, she refused to accept that. This mentality made her willing to endure such a tremendously painful torture, her firm and outrageous attitude had deeply moved Leon.


    Looking into his own heart, if he was in her position, he would definitely be unable to achieve this!


    Having to face this firm girl who was fierce towards her enemies but even more fierce towards herself, Leon could only continue to think about what it would be like to be hugged by and squeezed by a vampire pussy in a violent and crazy way.


    But at the same time, Leon secretly gave the Chip another research topic to work on.


    How to manipulate the Fire Shield using his Spirit, so that he would be able to avoid the cumulative damage caused by the enemy''s multiple attacks on the same spot?


    Unfortunately, ever since the fifth day of their training, Bleia had stopped dragging Leon over to the arena. Contrary to her normal behavior, she immersed herself in the public library of the Mage Tower, spending every day and night reading through books, searching for the possible methods of breaking through Elementium magic shields.


    This made Leon''s heart fill with anxiety once more!


    ...


    2042 Words

 Chapter 75 - 75: Returning to the underground

    Once again Leon returned to the Underground World. He was no longer nervous like the first time, instead, he was filled with anticipation.


    For all the elite apprentices of training camp, every single progress they made on the path of maturity was made by stepping on the bones of those Fallen apprentices. Therefore, if Leon really wanted to rise up in rank as soon as possible, he needed to feed on the flesh and blood of his brethren who lived in the Underground World. This was the only way he could make himself stronger.


    After grouping up in the mission hall, the team of nine members once again set out on their dangerous Underground World journey.


    The accidental death of Matthew and the severely wounded Leo had let the team to realize how dangerous the Underground World really was. Thus, while having a temporary rest at the front line camp, the team had an intense quarrel over how to accomplish their mission.


    Currently, Leo was still burdened with injuries.


    Of course, those flesh wounds had long been recovered. But, some of the treacherous curses were deeply rooted inside his body. These had caused him to suffer badly. Nevertheless, after spending the last couple of days healing himself, he had finally dispelled all the curses. But still, it was tough for him to restore his severely damaged body to its peak in such a short period of time.


    This also meant that the team had one less Advanced Apprentice. In addition, currently, Pseudo-Mage Leo could only be considered as an Advanced Apprentice.


    The weakening of the team''s overall strength had shaken their courage. A few of the conservative members kept voicing their desire of finishing the mission as one whole team. Even though it would mean tripling or quadrupling the time to finish, it would no doubt be the safest approach.


    Presumably, those underground black bastards wouldn''t have the courage to ambush a mission team consisting of three Pseudo-Mages, and five Advanced Apprentices.


    This suggestion was voiced by Isaac, and the majority of the Advanced Apprentices immediately agreed.


    The dancing light of the temporary bonfire shone onto the faces of each team member, leaving behind patches of shadows on their finely chiseled features. Everyone was hiding their facial expression behind the shadows, leaving Isaac alone expressing his opinion in an impassioned tone.


    "... We cannot take any more reduction in our overall strength again. If we lose another team member this time, our situation would be worst next time. So, wasting some extra time is necessary. It is only with that that we have a guarantee of finishing this mission properly! ..."


    "Agreed!"


    "I think Isaac is right!"


    "Agreed!"


    Three Advanced Apprentices, Shila, Leander and Bruce quickly approved the suggestion. Meanwhile, the only Advanced Apprentice who hadn''t voiced her mind was Bleia. She was standing soundlessly and motionlessly in the shadow of a large rock, where the light of bonfire could never reach. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Hence, everybody couldn''t help but turn their glance to Sabrina, who had been acting as the team leader.


    Sabrina raised her head and looked around. As she rolled her eyeballs, mechanical noises could be heard.


    Compared to last time, it was rather obvious that some minor and strange transformations had occurred to her. They could be traced to her head, which had gone through some mechanical magic spell modifications. However, no one seemed to be able to identify where the transformation was, and which part brought them the strange feeling. It was more of a subtle feeling they had!


    Sabrina retracted her glance. Just when she was about to announce something, a rather strange voice suddenly rang throughout the temporary camp.


    "If you wish to carry out the missions in a big group, go ahead. But Bleia and I will only carry out a single mission."


    The voice was clear and firm, but, when everyone turned their eyes to the source of it, they were all struck dumb. This was because the speaker was a burden they had never regarded as one of the team. It was Beginner Apprentice Leon!


    No, they could no longer address him as Beginner Apprentice Leon. It should now be Intermediate Apprentice Leon.


    In regard to Leon''s improvement, no one seemed to be bothered at all.


    In this gloomy and bizarre Underground World, even an Advanced Apprentice couldn''t keep himself safe when facing a dangerous situation. Let alone an Intermediate Apprentice who just broken through. Perhaps he couldn''t even escape the shock wave coming from the battle between those stronger apprentices. That''s why the group had always excluded him from the discussion.


    Bleia, who hid in the darkness, still didn''t say anything. It was clear that she had tacitly approved Leon''s answer. No doubt, this had puzzled the rest of the team members.


    "Are you sure you know what you''re saying?" The deep, strange voice of Sabrina rung through the scene. Although what she had said didn''t sound menacing, but it was clearly accompanied by a tyrannical aura.


    "Kid, keep your mouth shut and stand aside. This is no place for you to talk. If you really wish to carry out the mission alone, why don''t you go to the deepest cave?" Isaac wasn''t as reserved as Sabrina and roared at Leon in a threatening manner.


    "Fine, we''ll go to the deepest cave!" Leon''s answer was simple and direct.


    "You... what did you just say?" A bewildered expression emerged on Isaac''s face.


    "I said, Bleia and I will complete the mission in the furthest cave. We''ll return to Mage Tower straightaway after completing the mission. You guys can take your time and slowly visit all the other four mission sites!"


    "You..."


    Now not only Isaac, but even the other two Pseudo-Mages had raised their heads. They once again carefully examined this Intermediate Apprentice who was shamelessly bragging. But, no matter how they probed with their senses, the spiritual ripple feedback from this young kid seemed pretty weak. It was totally not like the disguise of a random strong man.


    Was there something he could rely on, or was there something strange with that Bleia?


    Finding no answer from Leon, everyone couldn''t help but turn their glances towards Bleia, who was hiding in the shadows.


    ''Hmph. This bastard only know how to put up a show, using me as his cover every single time!''


    Deep inside her mind, Bleia was roaring furiously, but on the outside, she still looked calm and peaceful. Nevertheless, it was hard for the three Pseudo-Mages to see under her foggy, blood red aura, and was near-impossible for them to use her blood element magical energy to see her overall strength.


    "You agreed to his suggestion?" Although Sabrina was sitting on the floor, an aggressive aura began to emanate from her and began crushing towards Bleia.


    "Yes! Give us the mission object!"


    Bleia left the shadows and moved towards the Pseudo-Mage, Sabrina. She spread her dazzling, pale right palm outward.


    After remaining silent for a brief moment, a magical item, that looked like a magic wand, was tossed into Bleia''s palm.


    Bleia focused her mind and verified the genuineness of the item, before nodding her head satisfyingly. She put the item away, turned around, and walked towards the dark, winding tunnel in front of her.


    "Hold on! Take this as well."


    What Sabrina gave her this time was a crystal ball.


    Bleia once again focused her mind and verified it. But, upon realizing what it was, her beautiful face startled. She nodded her head at Sabrina with a meaning only both of them could understand.


    "Thanks! I owe you a favor." Saying nothing else after that, Bleia brought Leon and dissolved into the darkness in the far distance.


    As the left side of her face was covered by a silver mask, no significant expression could be found on the other side of her face. Despite this, a scorching hot glow was seen shooting out of the left eye that had been modified with a mechanical eyeball.


    "We should be moving now! There''s a long way ahead of us."


    After a long moment of silence, the deep voice of Sabrina once again rung throughout the scene.


    At the same moment, Leon and Bleia were traveling the Underground World in a total darkness.


    For the first time, the Demon Alligator Hunter actually swallowed both of them at the same time, before submerging itself into the total darkness found underground. Following the indication given by the magical item, it started traveling through the numerous dark caverns and tunnels.


    Fortunately, Bleia wasn''t someone with an oversized body. Instead, after holding her in his arms, Leon actually felt that Bleia was overly slim and soft. Nevertheless, the silky smooth feeling came from his touch, and the fragrance that filled the darkness brought him an amazing experience.


    What to do? The Hunter could only create a limited space inside of its body, thus both Leon and Bleia had no choice but to tightly hug each other.


    Perhaps their current posture might seem romantic and erotic to an outsider, but in fact, Leon was unable to take advantage of it. All ten of Bleia''s razor sharp nails were moving around his back. In addition to this, her tiny yet frightening fangs were placed against his neck. If Leon had any evil intentions, Bleia would probably move without thinking and definitely leave Leon with a profound memory permanently engraved in his mind!


    Perhaps, this was the personal code of conduct which Bleia had been implementing on herself: I can flirt with you, but, if you tried to move recklessly, I''ll leave you with a bone-deep memory!


    So, although their bodies were tightly pressed against each other, Leon had to clench his jaw tightly. He was scared that slightly losing control would bring about an undeserved catastrophe. But, thankfully, there were plenty of things that could distract his focus. Therefore, when he focused solely on the unique vision of the Demon Alligator Hunter, he was able to temporarily forget the awkward position he was in. In addition, he was able to devote himself to controlling the traveling direction of his Golem.


    The crystal ball, Sabrina had given Bleia before they left, stored the route she had verified in their previous trip. It also stored the underground creatures they might bump into and the distribution of demons.


    With the help of this clear three-dimensional map, along with the precise direction control from the Chip, the trip was uneventful. Most of the time the Demon Alligator Hunter would travel through underground holes, and, if there was a rock in-between, it would choose to travel through the dirt. It was only when they bumped into a large area of solid rock would they would consider taking a longer route.


    Therefore, the mission site that took Sabrina twenty-seven hours to arrive last time, only took Leon four hours this time.


    The Demon Alligator emerged from the ground within a small, dark and quiet cave. Leon scooped Bleia up in his arms and jumped down.


    They used the magic item once to verify the exact location of the mission site. They only set their minds at ease when they realized it was indeed only two hundred away from them. But, soon after that, both of them quickly returned to a vigilant state.


    Those underground black bastards knew countless strange and bizarre magic spells. Who knew if they had set up some traps around the mission site? If Leon''s trace was noticed by them, then his return trip would be ten to a hundred times more dangerous.


    But Leon was rather unperturbed by this.


    For today''s trip, besides from the completion of the compulsory mission given by the Mage Tower, there was another more important mission he needed to accomplish.


    The elite mission of training camp!


    Besides from fighting each other for rare underground resources, the elite Apprentice Mages would normally try to ambush and kill the opponent''s other teams.


    Within the deeper region of the underground, apart from rare resources, there were many other unique metals that were rarely found in the surface world. However, most of these mines and resource sites were controlled by Fallen Mages, with each site being heavily guarded by five to ten apprentice teams.


    Today, the elite apprentice mission Leon received was: ''Raid the mine pit number seven!''


    ...


    2057 Words

 Chapter 76 - 76: Blood Stone

    The mine number seven was a Blood Stone mine that was located deeper than the deepest mission site.


    The most abundant resource in that place was a unique mineral called a ''Blood Stone''. By itself, a Blood Stone didn''t have much use, but it was frequently used as a catalyst in all kinds of magical experiments. The powdered form of Blood Stone was highly sought after in the black market, since it purified and extracted magical medicine.


    However, apparently, the training camp wasn''t looking for Blood Stones. The ambush planned by Kevin''s team was actually for the gem that accompanied Blood Stones: the Blood Garnet. As a kind of gem, once Blood Garnets were given to Master Jewelers, they were modified into all sorts of magical accessories. The jewelers did everything possible to draw out the mysterious energy contained inside of the gem, which provided the magical accessories with marvelous power.


    For example, the Resuscitate Earring which Leon had found previously was crafted from Deep Peridot, which was another kind of magical gem.


    Blood Stone, even if it was only the elementary Blood Stone that went through the initial extraction, would sell for 10 magic crystals per kilogram in the black market. In order to become rich by trading it, the elite apprentices of the training camp would have to hire a large group of underground merchants. Only then could they carry them away.


    The accompanying gem, Blood Garnet, was only the size of an egg, but was sought after by swarms of merchants and Mage families, who were willing to purchase it at the price of 200 magic crystals per kilogram. So, after evaluating the profit, Hulk decided to launch an ambush to the mine number seven and set their goal as looting the Blood Garnet supply, which had been stockpiled for nearly half a month, but not the overly heavy and cheap Blood Stone.


    In the past, the battle of the Underground World was more like a chess game.


    The resource sites and mines occupied by both parties were almost fixed, and both parties had a clear understanding of each other''s overall strength. Therefore, it was like ''you brought your team and ambushed one of my resource sites today, tomorrow I''ll bring my men and ambush your team on their way back.'' The roles switched sides every time and both parties fought savagely in the dark underground tunnels, shedding blood like water.


    But, there was one rule both parties followed strictly; never once had they broken this rule. No matter how they fought, no one was allowed to maliciously destroy any resource site or mine!


    Strictly speaking, for both Mages from the surface and Fallen Mages, a large portion of their interest depended on the constant supply of these resources and minerals. Once somebody set an example by maliciously destroying the opponent''s resource site, it would also be hard to keep their own resource sites from being destroyed at the same time. Therefore, in order to avoid a total disaster, through the constant battles over more than few hundred years, both parties had developed a kind of unspoken rule.


    ''You can seize my resources. As long as your elite apprentices can defeat my defenders, then the resources are yours. But, you can never destroy the environment of the resource site!'' Once any malicious destruction of a resource site was found, the apprentice who did that would be hunt down by Mages from both sides.


    Hence, taking the opportunity of the last 200 meters, while proceeding with high vigilance, Leon told Bleia everything he had learned so far regarding the situation of the Underground World. By pulling Bleia into Kevin''s team, he wanted to use this trip to the Underground World to make her one of the elite apprentices as soon as possible.


    But in order to accomplish this, he had to let Bleia distinguish herself in this mission. From what he heard from Kevin, the training camp had started to get in touch with the other Pseudo-Mage of their team, Sabrina. As for the other team members, before they showed any outstanding performances, they were only on the observation list, as they still hadn''t attracted Hulk''s interest.


    After all, there were three Pseudo-Mages in their team!


    For now, Leon was considered one of the members of the training camp, while Sabrina was in the process of getting in. As for the other two Pseudo-Mages, Leo and Marcus, none of them had hit Hulk''s liking. Therefore, in order to get Bleia into the training camp, she had to show an outstanding personal performance on this ambush mission.


    To be honest, Leon didn''t need to encourage or instigate Bleia. After knowing that damn training camp had made Leon one of their members without her, Bleia was already in a state of tantrum. But for someone like her who had an uncertain temper, the angrier she was, the brighter her smile.


    Perhaps, only at the very moment she was hunting for prey would she show her true color!


    ...


    In a serene, deep underground cavern:


    The peace had just returned not long ago, but five strange figures of all shapes had once again intruded into the place.


    The leading man was a tall, intrepid man. A pale blue ring of light made up of ice crystals hovered around his body. Wherever he walked, the wet air would freeze through the sudden drop of temperature and turn into ice crystals that fell to the ground.


    Clearly, he was the leader of the five man team. As he looked at the emptied underground cavern, the once silent atmosphere instantly filled with echoes of his angry roars.


    "Where are they? Someone told me they discovered some intruders here? So, tell me where are those damn intruders?"


    Judging from his deep, hoarse voice, he was the Pseudo-Mage Langdon.


    "Langdon, calm down. Since we promised to help you in your revenge, we won''t give up halfway. Something''s not right today, so we need to think," a black robed man said.


    "That''s right! This is rather abnormal. Since we got the news, we''ve been waiting for them. No matter which route they take to this mission site, there is no way they could hide from our probe. But..." The other man in black robe voiced out his doubt.


    "But they bizarrely bypassed our intercept. Gary, could he be the beginner apprentice you mentioned last time, the one who can freely travel in the ground?" The third black robe man questioned calmly.


    Upon hearing what he said, Langdon''s body shook briefly and the temperature of the air dropped by a few more degrees. Right after that, Langdon''s cold roar rang through the cavern. "I can still sense the aura of Elementium in this place, which means they just left. So long as we move faster, we might be able to intercept them. Philip, we''ll count on you now!"


    Philip was also a Pseudo-Mage. In fact, all the members of Langdon''s team were Pseudo-Mages. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Being able to gather four Fallen Pseudo-Mages to help him in seeking revenge, Langdon was a man with extraordinary ability. But, to be more precise, these men were helping him because of the face of his master. That was why they willingly accepted such a dangerous mission of revenge.


    Respected and feared by a group of Pseudo-Mages, obviously, his master was one of the few well-renowned Fallen Mages in Elysium City!


    Dark Light! This was the name known by every single being in Elysium City. As a mighty Fallen Mage, even in the Underground Cave region, Dark Light was an illustrious name. As his disciple, Langdon too was a man who had a strong calling power among the apprentices in Elysium City.


    Called out by him, though Philip was rather reluctant, he still stood up from the group.


    "Stand around me!" Philip instructed coolly. Then he lightly poked the staff in his hand into the hard rock under their feet.


    After the injection of a steady stream Earth element energy, the fist-size, earthy yellow crystal on top of the staff started to emanate a dazzling Elementium halo. Meanwhile, covered by this Elementium halo, a vague, mysterious looking magical array emerged on the floor underneath their feet.


    "Come closer to me, we''re going to be teleported soon!"


    After Philip''s reminder, the group quickly moved closer to him, placing themselves within the boundary of the mysterious magical array.


    "Prepare yourself! Don''t resist the Earth element teleportation energy. Let''s go!"


    Following a loud shout from Philip, a copious amount of Earth Elementium suddenly burst out from the mysterious array underneath their feet. The Earth Elementium was so dense it looked like a thick cloud of dust hovering around them. Soon, a bizarre earthy yellow ring of light flickered, the dust suddenly solidified, and the men turned into clay statues in an instant.


    When the mysterious magical array disappeared, the five clay statues shattered immediately, breaking into dirt debris that scattered across the floor. Not flesh nor bone could be found among the debris, and the five Pseudo-Mages had completely vanished from where they had been standing.


    ...


    Langdon had guessed wrongly by thinking Leon would rush back to the surface after he completed his mission, which eventually led them in the wrong direction. They were now on their way to bumping into Sabrina and the other team members.


    Using Philip''s Stratum Teleportation magic, the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages went straight to the upper-level tunnels close to the surface. Leon and Bleia were hiding in a place near the mine number seven, which was much deeper.


    The rest of Kevin''s team members hadn''t arrived, so working together, Leon and Bleia started to put their capabilities to use and investigate the situation surrounding the mine.


    Leon worked as transportation by using Demon Alligator Hunter''s ability to travel under the ground and send Bleia into the mine. Bleia transformed into a bloodsucking bat that flew without noise and surveyed the entire mine without alerting anybody. Surprisingly, Bleia, who flew around openly, even noted down every single tunnel, miner, and the position of every defending team of Fallen Apprentice Mages, and she stored the information into a crystal ball.


    When Kevin and the other five team members arrived at their secret rendezvous point, they were greeted by this extremely accurate three-dimensional image of the mine.


    The miners were all comprised of Ratmen, and there were more than two hundred of them within the entire mine number seven. Meanwhile, the defending force was made up of seventeen underground mercenaries and six Fallen Apprentice Mages. During the battle, the Ratmen would never get involved, so they only needed to consider the defending force in their plan.


    After all, for the Ratmen, no matter who controlled the mine, would always obey commands. So long they were provided with sufficient food every day, they didn''t care who they served!


    Staring at the panoramic image of the mine pit provided by the two new recruits, Kevin couldn''t help but feel a chill run down his back.


    Leon''s ability was a total cheat. In the Underground World, so long as a place wasn''t protected by any magical arrays, he would be able to infiltrate it in a way that was nearly impossible to guard against. Bleia''s ability of Bat Morphing made her able to come and go like a shadow, as no one could be on guard against a cold-blooded creature who could roam freely on the cavern ceiling. Through the infrared vision and life force sensing ability of the vampire, any arrangement of the enemy was transparent.


    With these two new recruits in a team, if the opponent didn''t have a way to guard against them, they could even find out what color underwear their opponent was wearing!


    ...


    1960 Words

 Chapter 77 - 77: Fallen mages

    Aside from the meager garrisoned force, Kevin was also concerned about the overall might of the Fallen Apprentice Mages.


    According to their standard practice, out of six Fallen apprentices there would be at least two to three Pseudo-Mages, with the rest being Advanced Apprentices. However, today''s situation was a bit abnormal. Out of the six Fallen apprentices, there was only one Fallen Pseudo-Mage. This seriously puzzled Kevin.


    After all, the circumstances surrounding the Fallen apprentices was completely different from the orthodox Mage Tower. The number of apprentices from the tower was basically a pyramid shape. In order to cultivate a Pseudo-Mage, it required at least five to ten advanced apprentices as backup. Advanced apprentices, on the other hand, also needed five to ten intermediate apprentices, and so on...


    The Mage Tower relied on a method of allocating more resources to those who showed more potential. When they combined this method with the vast amount of apprentices, it allowed them to cultivate elite apprentices out of the hundreds and thousands of apprentices. These elite apprentices possessed extraordinary potential and innate talent, and could be further trained and cultivated.


    However, for Fallen Mages who hid in the Underground World, the structure of their apprentices was completely different.


    In the Fallen Mage camps, there were next to no Beginner or Intermediate Apprentices. In their eyes, they didn''t need trash like this, as they weren''t worth wasting resources on. All of their resources could instead be focused on those apprentices who had potential, resulting in a strong overall strength. Many were eliminated by this law of the jungle, which was inherently cruel and savage. Therefore, the ratio of the Pseudo-Mages among the Fallen Apprentices was really high. Sometimes, they could even reach the ratio of one Pseudo-Mage per every Advanced Apprentice!


    This was also one of the things that brought the most headaches to those elite apprentices of training camp!


    When both parties came across each other, they could still put up a fight if the number of Pseudo-Mage was similar. But, once their Pseudo-Mages were outnumbered, then the battle would become a lopsided loss. After all, for any Advanced Apprentice from the surface, a Fallen Pseudo-Mage, who wasn''t tied up by an opponent at the same level, was like a fierce wolf. When facing this fierce wolf, the surface Advanced Apprentices found thay were like tame sheep. No matter how well the sheep equipped themselves, and even though they had twice the number of the fierce wolf, they still found themselves unable to resist when facing the fearless wolf.


    But surprisingly, out of six Fallen Apprentices in this mine today, only one of them was a Pseudo-Mage. This allocation was obviously lower than their normal standards. On the contrary, there were two Pseudo-Mages in Kevin''s team of six people, while the rest were all strong Advanced Apprentices.


    With their overall strength, it was more than enough to easily suppress the opponent!


    As for those seventeen underground mercenaries, besides a few who appeared to be strong and needed special attention, the rest could be simply ignored by these apprentices. If a battle between Apprentice Mages really erupted, no matter how many mercenaries there were, they would just end up as a bunch of suicidal corpses.


    According to Leon''s assumption, when a battle like this happened, where one side had a clear upper hand, it would probably be a battle filled with ambushes, assassinations, and all sort of treacherous approaches. But when the battle truly erupted, he was dumbstruck.


    So, this was how a battle was carried out in the Underground World!


    Without concealing their suppressive force, Kevin brought five of his team, including Leon and Bleia, and quickly blocked off the mine. After that, they threw two deterring Elementium fireballs into the mine, causing all the defending forces of the enemy to be ejected from the mine pit.


    It was a natural cavern that was nearly the size of three football fields. It was the perfect battlefield for slaughtering.


    It wasn''t tough to tell this place was well used. The place was cluttered with broken stalagmites and stalactites, and the cavern wall was marred with black burn marks. In addition, the ground was stained with old patches of blood that had never been washed off.


    At either ends of the cavern, both groups hastily arranged themselves in their own respective formations. They faced each other with a distance of two hundred meters in between.


    Naturally, it was the group of underground mercenaries who stood before the Fallen Apprentices.


    Most of these mercenaries didn''t even wear a complete set of leather armor. They simply walked into the battlefield with their shabby cloth. Out of these seventeen mercenaries, three of them were Gnoll assassins, two were Lizardman Beastmasters, one was a Soul Hunter, and eleven were Werewolves.


    The only ones that required some extra attention were the three Gnoll assassins and the Soul Hunter. The rest of them were just used to attract the attention of the enemy. They were just flesh targets used to absorb the firepower.


    The Fallen Pseudo-Mage, who hid behind the formation, was a dark, skinny middle-aged man. When he saw two Pseudo-Mages from the surface standing on the enemy''s side, his expression turned gloomy and dark.


    ''Damn it... Damn it... Damn it! That bastard Philip! He''s the one who said there wouldn''t be any problems even if he was away for one or two days! If that was truly the case, then how did this strong team break through the upper tunnel interception and reach this depth? Philip, you bastard! If this garrison mission fails, you''ll be the one who shoulders all the responsibility!''


    Although inwardly he was furiously roaring, this Fallen Pseudo-Mage still remained calm on the outside. He began to give out battle commands.


    ...


    Different colors of Elementium shields sprung up on the bodies of these Apprentice Mages. There was a bright red Fire Shield, a Lightning Shield, that kept sputtering violently, a powdery dust that hovered around someone''s body, a set of freezing Ice Crystal armor, and a vibrant green armor of thorns...


    In just split second, all Apprentice Mages had covered their body with Elementium protection that came in all different colors, shapes, and effects.


    Of course, this was a luxury that belonged only to apprentices. Those mercenaries, who served as flesh shields, wouldn''t able to enjoy it at all.


    Unnoticed, three enemy Gnoll assassins had managed to vanish from where they were. Two Lizardman summoners were loudly reciting some hard to understand chants in their language. They quickly summoned four Petrified Lizards, who had muscular bodies and tough skin. The eleven Werewolves fighters had their bodies covered with broken leather armor, a flail or wooden club in one hand and a crude wooden shield in the other. They savagely yelled as they charged their way towards the enemy.


    Behind them, after the Fallen apprentices had completed their personal defensive spells, they quickly followed with another round of loud chants of magic spells. But this time, all of them were reciting magic that would unleash offensive magic spells.


    "Leon, you can handle those trash!" Although Kevin was an Advanced Apprentice specializing in melee combat, he, after giving Leon an order, immediately joined his peers and began countering the enemy by using long-range offensive magic spells.


    After Bleia had mutated into a vampire, it seemed that she had forgotten all the magic spells she had learned in the past. She now only owned some innate passive abilities from her own species. Therefore, when faced with such a situation, she simply dissolved into the surrounding darkness and disappeared without a trace.


    Numerous colorful offensive magic spells flew past each other in the midair of this spacious cavern. They intercepted and clashed with each other, turning the scene into a glorious sea of Elementium. The raging and unregulated Elementium exploded and swept across the center of the battlefield, flooding the group of Werewolves who were charging the enemy.


    Less than half of the eleven Werewolf fighters managed to survive this devastating explosion. Even the remaining five of them could be seen to have suffered different degrees of injuries. A shocked expression covered their faces. However, they were just too unlucky. Before they could regroup and initiate the next charge, a massive figure suddenly revealed itself in front of them.


    With the rapid firing of Dirt Spears and a large area of Spikes, all of them were sent to meet their maker in an instant. This was how fragile these common underground creatures were when facing a spell caster.


    Leon sat on his Demon Alligator and remained on the spot. He didn''t dive right into the enemy.


    The formation of the Fallen Apprentices on the opposite looked rigid and disciplined. If he recklessly charged into them, all it would take was a simultaneously-casted magic spell for him and his Demon Alligator to instantly shatter into pieces.


    Leon had learned something new today. It was no wonder Apprentice Mages used the formations, that even ordinary humans used, in their battles. The offensive strength of the Elementium spells was just too terrifying! Even though those Pseudo-Mages could act lofty and slaughter a couple of Advanced Apprentices in a small scale battle, they couldn''t when they fought this kind of battle. No matter how conceited or unbridled they were, they didn''t have the courage to run into the enemy''s formation.


    The basic defensive strength of those Pseudo-Mages'' personal defensive magic spells mostly hovered between eighty to one hundred points. A strength like this could be easily broken with just a simultaneous firing of magic spells from three Advanced Apprentices. Therefore, before advancing into the realm of an official Mage, where their bodies could resist this simultaneous attack, none of them dared to take the risk.


    So, even though they had outnumbered the enemy in terms of their Pseudo-Mages, Kevin still opted for suppressive combat tactics. This was the safest approach and involved using the overwhelming advantage of their magical power to crush the enemy''s team.


    After two round of exchanges in magic spells, the gap between both side''s magical strength was evident. Although many of their magic spells were still being intercepted halfway, the number of magic spells that landed in the enemy''s camp was clearly more than theirs.


    As they were flooded by waves of glorious magic spells, the team of Fallen Apprentices started to panic.


    Most of the defensive barriers surrounding the Fallen Apprentices'' body had faded. Some of them were even wounded. Contrary to them, Kevin''s team still maintained a neat formation. All their defenses were still intact and they looked rigid and impenetrable.


    Sitting high up on Demon Alligator, Leon ordered the Hunter to keep firing Dirt Spikes at those Petrified Lizards who were slowly crawling in his direction. As he ordered, he also followed Kevin''s command and contributed a Flaming Spear. It hit an enemy Advanced Apprentice and made him miserably scream.


    As he was sitting high up, he had a clear sight of the entire battlefield. Soon he noticed Bleia''s whereabout.


    At the edge of the battlefield, within a patch of dark shadow, a muffled snort suddenly exploded.


    Right after that, a vague image of a Gnoll assassin suddenly emerged from the darkness. It held clutched its throat and staggered a few steps forward, before finally collapsing onto the ground. Blood kept bursting through its fingers, despite how hard he tried to stop it from leaving its body.


    Right when it was struggling to catch its last breath, a few clanging noises rang out from the darkness next to it. Soon, another Gnoll was forced out from the shadows. Both of its eyes were blinded and its body was fully covered with frightening scratch marks. Unwilling to admit defeat, it furiously swung its dagger into the air, while letting out wild roars. But, unfortunately, it could no longer see the enemy.


    When nearly all of the blood in its body was drained, it finally collapsed while groaning under its breath.


    The continuous death of its two peers had frightened the third Gnoll. This last Gnoll suddenly revealed itself and turned around to flee into a far direction, with the fastest speed it could. But, before it could reach the distance of ten meters, a dazzling red light flashed out. As it flashed out, the Gnoll''s head flew up into the sky, and the headless body was left running. It managed to run a few steps more, before falling to the ground.


    The skinny and ugly body twitched unconsciously a few times, before lying motionlessly in the dark.


    ... Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2099 Words

 Chapter 78 - 78: Confrontation

    Beautiful, beautifully done! Vampires truly deserved to be known as the nobles of the dark night! They could even kill in such a graceful and elegant manner, making it full of artistic flair. Magnificent!


    Leon couldn''t help but mutter some praise under his breath. He then refocused his mind and threw out the Flaming Spear in his hand. This time, his target was an apprentice who had five skulls hovering around his body!


    The Flaming Spear that suddenly exploded destroyed two skulls of the target. It also managed to trigger the apprentice''s anger. He kept waving his pitch-black staff at Leon, throwing curse spells one after the other at Leon. These spells were all invisible to the naked eye.


    After receiving the order from Leon, the Hunter took his position and blocked off all the curse spells. With the Hunter taking care of this, Leon focused his mind and kept launching attacks at the apprentice who appeared to be a necromancer. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All kind of curse spells were launched. There was Scavenger Bugs, Voodoo Skulls, Bone Spears, and even Unnerving Gazes. The magic spells this necromancer apprentice demonstrated had really widened Leon''s horizons. If not because of the fact that he had activated his Elementium Vision, he knew he wouldn''t be able to match this apprentice. He wouldn''t be able to even if he was given nine lives.


    Meanwhile, the only threat he brought to his enemy was his Flaming Spear and the Hunter''s Dirt Spear. The lack of long-range magic spells had made Leon realize something. Maybe he should find some time to develop a Golem which specialized in long-range attacks.


    Even though Leon''s overall strength was insufficient to break through the necromancer apprentice''s defense, the team members behind Leon could do that. After establishing an advantageous position in this battle, the reckless bombardment of magic spells had brought about tremendous pressure to those Fallen Apprentices.


    A few of these Fallen Apprentices started to slowly fall back, as they found it hard to withstand the massive suppressive force.


    This was also the basic pattern of the battle between both parties in the past.


    They started the battle by lining up in their formation. Both sides would launch long-range magic spell attacks, just like normal human soldiers did. They kept doing this until one side couldn''t withstand the attack and showed signs of defeat. Next would be a small scale of pursuit and annihilation. Small battles would normally occur between two to three Apprentice Mages anywhere in the surroundings.


    Finally, following the powerful sweep by two Pseudo-Mages from Kevin''s team, the team of Fallen Apprentices fell apart!


    Losing all their confidence in victory, the wounded Fallen Apprentices turned around and scurried into the surrounding underground tunnels. It wasn''t tough to tell they were all fleeing in a disorderly manner. Each of them just went their own way, with no one trying to cover their peers or trying to support each other.


    Also, all six Fallen Apprentices had actually fled in separate directions. They showed no signs of fleeing as a group.


    The distance between this place and Elysium City was long. Perhaps they found their peers with ulterior motives much more frightening than the enemy chasing behind them!


    Kevin whistled, splitting eight members of his team into smaller teams. They started to fiercely pursue those fleeing Fallen Apprentices.


    Kevin and a Pseudo-Mage had set the enemy''s Pseudo-Mage as their target. The other Pseudo-Mage in their team remained solo, while the rest of the team members had split into a few smaller groups. They all started to chase the enemies'' butt into the darkness.


    Leon didn''t team up with anybody. He wore a ferocious smile as he drove the Demon Alligator into the tunnel. He began to chase down the same opponent he was fighting with just now.


    ...


    In the darkness of the tunnel, there was a perfect silence.


    Aaron once again activated the Hasten Ring on his right pinkie, desperately trying to make his fleeing speed faster.


    The rough terrain in the darkness was never an obstacle for him. It seemed his skinny body never ran out of stamina, supporting him in rushing through cave after cave.


    The underground passage was forever winding and twisting. It came in a very complicated formation. In every single smaller cave or cavern, there were always countless narrow tunnels that could barely allow a person to squeeze through.


    Utilizing his knowledge of the surrounding terrain, Aaron had fled three miles in just ten minutes. He had travelled through dozens of tunnels and caverns.


    When the glow of the Hasten Spell was dismissed from his body, Aaron finally stopped. He leaned against a large solid cavern wall, panting for breath. His skinny chest was seen pumping rapidly, as he breathed like broken bellows.


    Although he was surrounded by silence, Aaron still had his hand tightly clenched around his pitch-black staff.


    So long as any noise or movement happened around him, he would be able to launch the bone spear that was stored in the white crystal on top of the staff within half a second.


    After catching his breath for a few minutes, Aaron finally managed to regulate his breathing. He listened for any sound that might be audible from the passage he had just come from, but he heard nothing abnormal.


    Could he be really so lucky as to not have an enemy following him?


    Aaron smiled coldly in self-mockery.


    After becoming a necromancer apprentice, his luck had never been good. It was as if the Will of the Mage World hated him, turning him into a sad child abandoned by destiny.


    Although he didn''t sense any unusual activity, Aaron was still overwhelmed by anxiety. He felt like a ferocious monster was hiding somewhere in the dark, eyeing him greedily. It was only waiting for the perfect moment to devour him in one brutal bite.


    No way! He had to get out of here as quick as possible!


    Right when Aaron had made up his mind to leave, he realized the wet soil underneath his feet had turned into a slow moving acid pool. Both his legs had sunk into it without his knowledge.


    Damn it, it was an Acid Pool spell!


    Aaron forcefully patted his neck, making the bone necklace on his neck flicker. He unleashed two skulls who hovered around his body. These skulls provided him with both offensive and defensive effects. When he was fleeing just now, in order to avoid attracting any attention, he had shut this personal defense mechanism down. This was why he was now caught in the trap by that enemy who hid in the dark.


    After he went through the tough battle previously, his defensive skulls were now at the lowest level of performance!


    As it was corroded by the strong negative energy, hissing noises was heard coming from the acid pool underneath his feet. This helped Aaron to quickly free himself from it.


    Two muffled booms were heard coming from the darkness not far away. A shadow that looked like a small hill started to march forward. The strong aura of Earth Elementium could be vividly identified from afar.


    Damn it! It was that bastard who rode on a clay alligator!


    What a brave kid. He was only an Intermediate Apprentice, yet he dared to chase after an Advanced Fallen Apprentice!


    A hideous smile emerged on Aaron''s face. He opened his brownish, dirty mouth and sprayed out a huge clump of black bugs. They turned into a large black cloud in an instant and swarmed towards the location of that large shadow. After that, he quickly recited some magic spell chants with his hoarse and jarring voice. He revealed fist size skulls in his hand from time to time and promptly them at the enemy.


    These were the Voodoo Skulls that he had made himself. They would explode violently when coming into contact with something. They would not only inflict massive physical damage to the enemy, they also carried a magical poison. This frightening magical poison was a type of mixed poison that could even melt down hard rocks.


    Yet, while he was waiting for the enemy''s miserable shriek, something happened. A flaming spear, that suddenly lit up the dull cavern, appeared on the opposite side of the cavern. A handsome young man, surrounded by raging flame, smiled at him. He carried the deadly flaming spear in his hand.


    "No... please don''t kill me, we can talk..."


    Aaron''s face was covered with panic. He watched how the Flaming Spear shot towards him and nailed one of his defensive skulls into the wall. It exploded violently and flooded him with dazzling flame and scorching heat.


    Three seconds later, Aaron staggered out from the sea of flames. He looked extremely miserable right now! The thin skin and flesh of his were burned by the flame and charred. Half of his remaining magical items were destroyed, and the white crystal socketed on top of his staff had shattered, releasing all the souls trapped by the Soul Spell.


    "Hmph. Kid, do you really think you can kill me like this? We''re not finished today. Wait until the next time we meet again, I''ll..." While cursing furiously, Aaron used his charred hand to slowly start digging into the ground. His pinkie started to emanate with a white glow.


    It was the glow of an Escaping Spell!


    This magic spell, which he had hidden inside of his pinkie, might have been his last life-saving trick.


    In two more seconds, he would be able to escape from this place. A ray of hope suddenly burst out from Aaron''s bleary eyes. But right at this moment, he suddenly felt the rock wall beside him move.


    When he turned around in astonishment, he was horrified to discover a pair of huge eyes gazing coldly at him. It had a huge triangle shape snake-like head, a wide, ferocious mouth, crisscrossing fangs, and a tongue that kept darting out. All of these were entirely made up of rock! Cold hard rock!


    When he finally realized this, the giant snake had opened its mouth and devoured him in one gulp.


    After a long time, peace finally returned to this cavern.


    Leon quietly stood at a corner of the cavern. He didn''t ride on the Demon Alligator. Just now, he had used the Demon Alligator Hunter to lure most of the enemy''s attack. While this was happening, he took the opportunity to break through the enemy''s defense with a sneak attack. However, the one who finished the enemy was his Giant Rock Snake, who made its first debut.


    A light vibration came from the dark. The Demon Alligator Hunter came to him with its body charred black. Half of the Hunter''s body was melted down by the enemy''s attack. On the other side, the giant Rock Snake crawled on the rock wall and crawled towards him. It opened its mouth and spat out a broken body.


    Haha! He had pocketed the head of an Advanced Fallen Apprentice!


    But the corpse of a necromancer was also very frightening. Therefore, Leon didn''t do it himself. He waited until the Hunter fixed itself, before letting it search the enemy''s body for any possible loot. After that, he let Demon Alligator swallow the dead body into its stomach, before swaggering back to the previous battlefield.


    Some of his teammates had returned. Only a few of them had actually come back with fruitful results. Most of them just returned empty-handed.


    What to do? The environment of the Underground World was perfect for fleeing. All they needed to do was cause a collapse in a random place. This was enough to cause the pursuer to fail. Also, all Fallen Apprentices were experts in staying alive. Thus, although it was easy to defeat them, it was far tougher to kill them.


    The Pseudo-Mage and Kevin had failed to capture the enemy''s Pseudo-Mage. However, the other Pseudo-Mage had managed to bring back an enemy''s head. All the remaining Advanced Apprentices harvested nothing. Therefore, when Leon''s Demon Alligator spat out an enemy''s corpse, everybody couldn''t help but look at him with different eyes.


    This was different from the battle in their training camp. Although Leon utilized an opportunity where everybody was unfamiliar with his abilities to ''luckily'' win two battles, this didn''t mean that he was really strong. But the appearance of this Fallen Advanced Apprentice''s corpse had caused the way these guys looked at him to completely change.


    This... this meant that he possessed enough strength to kill an Advanced Apprentice! This was a trait that everybody valued the most!


    ...


    2103 Words

 Chapter 79 - 79: Trap

    Right when everyone was praising Leon, a red figure flashed by. Bleia had returned.


    Upon her arrival, she forcefully flung an ugly and haggard head in front of everyone.


    Although Kevin was just an Advanced Apprentice, he was able to command two Pseudo-Mages. This showed that he was a man who possessed special abilities. However, today''s situation had put him in a rather awkward situation.


    The elite apprentices, who were specifically trained by the training camp, had only managed to get one head. This was out of all six of them. However, both new recruits had brought back one each. This made Kevin, the elite leader, secretly remark about the new recruits'' aggressiveness!


    Half of the six Fallen Apprentices who were guarding on this mine pit had been eliminated. This was a rare result and deserved praise. However, as they had spent more than an hour in battle, they didn''t have much time left to plunder the resources in this mine.


    After all, this mine number seven was located deep in the Underground World. It was tough for them to protect it. Once reinforcement from Elysium City arrived, perhaps a new round of catch and kill would occur.


    In regards to the arrival of Kevin''s team, those Ratman miners showed no sign of fear. Their queen even flung herself at the team for negotiation, suggesting that if any apprentice was willing to spend the night with her, she would exempt all of the mining fees, and even give them a small ''treasure'' that the Ratman tribe had saved for one whole year.


    But when they stared at the small and furry face of the Ratman queen and eyed her plump body and pair of big, saggy breasts, all these elite apprentices couldn''t help but feel disgusted. When her bean-sized, flirting eyes rested on any apprentice''s body, the apprentice would instantly feel a chill run down his back. They couldn''t help but feel like vomiting.


    As the result, after Kevin paid a double price of five hundred magic crystals, they finally received twenty-six Blood Garnets from the Ratman queen. Each of these Blood Garnets was the size of a chicken egg. They had an estimated worth of about four thousand and eight hundred magic crystals. If they could bring them back smoothly, each member would be able to receive two to five hundred magic crystals.


    The amount they earned was directly proportionate to the contribution of the person. People like Leon, Bleia, and the other Pseudo-Mage, who had each brought back an enemy''s head, would have their income definitely be more than others.


    After Kevin and the other two Pseudo-Mages had a discussion, they quickly decided on a solution. Pseudo-Mage Grimm received three Blood Garnets, Kevin two, Leon two, Bleia two, and the remaining three Advanced Apprentices received one each. As for the remaining twelve Blood Garnets, they had to be submitted back to the training camp. Hulk would have the Turlock Merchant who supported him purchased all of them. The profit would then be equally split amongst the team members.


    As for the Blood Garnet they received, they could settle it by themselves. Presumably, those filthy rich Mage families would definitely find them to discuss purchasing these precious treasure.


    Since they had completed the mission, it was now time to worry about how they would safely return to the surface.


    According to their past experience, the return journey would be the most dangerous journey. Most of the casualties the mission team had suffered were from this period. Thus, whether they could stay alive to enjoy their hard-earned fortune was still a very cruel question!


    Should they traveled together in a big group and returned to their camp? It was a rather objectionable thought, as there was no doubt that they would be ambushed by the enemy. No matter if it was those treacherous underground devils or the Fallen Apprentices who had gotten wind of their arrival, all who would make their return journey would have to face risks and obstacles.


    Therefore, the best solution was to split up and return to the surface using their own means. If they failed to return, they could only blame their own lack of strength. By doing it this way, it was no one''s fault but your own!


    Hence, once they were done with sharing their loot, they wished each other luck and went their own ways. After all, there were plenty of passages that led to the surface. So long as they were not struck by bad luck, their chances of bumping into the enemy would be low.


    ... sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once everybody dissolved into darkness, Bleia leaped onto the Demon Alligator. She gazed around with her bloodshot eyes and shouted impetuously, "We better get moving quickly! I keep feeling that there are some risks to this mission. It''s as if someone is keeping an eye on us. We better be careful during our way back!"


    Leon''s heart suddenly sank. He couldn''t help and knitted his brows in a tight frown.


    In this era where sense topped everything else, Leon never dared to neglect any symptom of danger. Especially one from Bleia, who inherited her ability from a mutated bloodline of an ancient species. Her grasp of the Principle of Plane was much more profound than his. If even she had a bad feeling about the mission, then it was almost determined that something bad going to happen.


    Leon once again carried Bleia in his arms and merged into the body of the Hunter. He controlled the massive body of the Demon Alligator and slowly sunk into the ground, disappearing without a trace.


    By utilizing the Earth element magic energy of the Demon Alligator Hunter, Leon gave the surrounding terrain a brief scan. But he didn''t find anything suspicious. After eliminating the possibility that this mine number seven was a trap, Leon had no choice but to half skeptically drive his Demon Alligator Hunter towards home.


    If he followed how they came here, Leon would travel through the underground tunnel at a high speed. He would only travel in the ground once they bumped into terrain which required a long detour. With that, he could minimize the consumption of the Demon Alligator Hunter''s Earth elemental magic energy.


    But since he was warned, he didn''t mind wasting more magic energy. He chose to travel underground for the entire journey, stealthily ascending to the upper layer.


    As their journey back was full of large stretches of metal ore or solid rock, they were required to keep making detours. This made it so they couldn''t travel at a high speed under the ground.


    Three hours later, they had traveled more than half of their journey. Leon finally relaxed his mind a little bit.


    But, right when he drove the Demon Alligator Hunter through the soil between two huge rock layers, he felt as if the body of the Demon Alligator Hunter had just passed through a quiet water surface. The Earth element magic energy that ran through its entire body suddenly became berserk.


    It''s a trap!


    He felt something amiss almost instantly. But, right after the Earth element magic energy started to rampage, the pressure coming from the huge amount of soil around them suddenly became stronger.


    Leon''s expression suddenly changed dramatically. He quickly drove the Demon Alligator and squeezed into the nearest underground tunnel.


    It was a dark, quiet and oppressive tunnel.


    The tunnel meandered gently into the darkness. It was as if it was the intestinal canal of an enormous monster and full of unknown danger.


    Most of the tunnel was excavated between the rock layers. Only a tiny portion was made up of wet and black soil. But right at this moment, this patch of soil wall suddenly began to boil. With a loud boom, a massive object invaded this quiet tunnel. It came with a large amount of dirt that splattered around.


    Soon, two human shaped shadows dashed out from this massive object.


    "What''s wrong? What happened to your Golem?" Bleia''s urgent voice came through the darkness.


    "We''re being ambushed! There is a special magic array in the region we passed through just now. It messed up the Demon Alligator''s Earth element magical energy! We have to get out of here as soon as possible!"


    Bleia was stunned, her bloodshot eyes looked dazzling in this total darkness.


    "Which way should we go?"


    "..." Leon''s eyes flickered under the cover of his goggles. He glanced over to the ends of the dark and unpredictable tunnel. He couldn''t make up his mind.


    "Hmph!" Bleia snorted coldly, saying, "Let me do this!"


    She suddenly stood up with her back straight. She faced one end of the tunnel, took a deep breath and let out a loud roar. Her voice was piercing and sonorous. Leon felt a buzz strike his brain before he lost his hearing totally.


    Following the strange sound wave that quickly rippled through the tunnel, Bleia stood quietly with her eyes closed. It was as if she was focusing her mind on listening to something.


    "The tunnel''s length is three hundred and twenty-seven meters, heading upwards. There is a small cavern at the end of it, and inside of the cavern..." Bleia paused for a brief moment, before her voice suddenly turned shrill, "Two men! There are two men coming our way at high speed!"


    Leon''s eyes instantly turned fierce and aggressive.


    Two men? They were rushing their way here brazenly? Needless to say, they must be thinking that they got two easy targets. Even without meeting them face to face, Leon was sure that they must be the two Pseudo-Mages.


    Since the enemy was so well-prepared, it was highly possible that the few surrounding tunnels weren''t safe either. Leon waved his hand and disintegrated the Demon Alligator Hunter. He picked up both summoning crystals from the dirt pile and turned around. He then sprinted towards the other end of the tunnel while dragging Bleia.


    The ground of the tunnel was always rough and wet. The uneven surface and small rocks that were scattered around made Leon, a guy who had less than five Agility, stumble along his way. One would be able to slip even when walking at a steady pace in a passage like this, let alone running at full speed.


    In fact, not only the ground was uneven, there were also obstacles that came from above.


    Numerous stalagmites of all sizes hung down quietly from the roof. If someone was only looking at the ground, it was very easy for him to knock his head into one of these obstacles.


    Therefore, for the first half of their fleeing journey, it was Leon who dragged Bleia and ran at full speed. But before they reached a ten-meter distance, it became Bleia who carried Leon in her arms while running full speed.


    The wet and cold air brushed against his face. It entered his mouth, nose and reached his rapidly pumping lungs through his windpipe. It brought down Leon''s body temperature, yet made his mind calm down. Under his low-light vision, the dark passage flashed by in an incredible speed. One after the other, stalagmites appeared right in front of Leon''s eyes, however, before he could cry out, Bleia dodged them.


    Bleia had transformed into a ghost who traveled through the darkness. All it took was a brief step with her soft and agile feet to make both of them glide through the air at an amazing speed. Every single overhanging stalagmite and every narrow passage was like a broad, smooth highway. She could always pass through noiselessly and agilely with just a gentle step of her feet.


    Perhaps Bleia had gotten used to such a high speed. However, for a rookie who only had less than five Agility, Leon''s mind was filled with panic. This panic was stronger than the type one gets by riding on the craziest and riskiest roller coaster. If not for the wind pressure that filled his throat, he probably would''ve vomited by now!


    Right when both of them were running through the dark underground at high speed, the tunnel in front suddenly contracted. It became so narrow that only one person could pass through. And, at the narrowest part of the tunnel, a lightning web suddenly appeared and stopped them from moving further.


    This lightning web covered the tunnel from the top to the bottom. It completely sealed up the entire passage. At the part where the lightning web connected with the cave wall, dazzling arcs of lightning could be seen dancing around violently.


    The popping noise of the electricity was clear and audible.


    It was a dead end!


    ...


    2109 Words

 Chapter 80 - 80: Desire for revenge

    With just a brief moment of hesitation, the tunnel behind them started to fill up with a cloud of dust, a strange-looking magic array could be seen vaguely surfacing on the ground.


    Soon, two tall figures emerged from the magic array.


    It was a Teleportation magic spell, not underground travel!


    A blue light flickered in Leon''s eyes, and with just one look, he already identified the method that was used by the enemy.


    Even though they used a Teleportation magic spell, there were no traces of spatial ripples. But he could sense a strong Earth element magic energy instead. It was as if this Teleportation magic spell was driven by Earth element magic energy!


    But this was not the right time to give it a thorough analysis. Currently, they were being chased by someone at their backs, while there was an ambush in front, this was a nasty situation!


    "You''re Bleia, am I right?" One of the men that were behind them slowly walked forward, saying with a cold voice, "Excellent. So the two who murdered Grier are here. I''m going to pull your souls out from your bodies, imprison them in the Soul Trapping Corpse and let the both of you howl painfully for more than ten thousand years!"


    The one who talked was a noble youth, tall and handsome. His light blue robe shimmered with multi-colored runes in the dark, while the frightening energy of frost started to spread throughout the entire tunnel.


    "Grier? Who''s that?" Bleia was perplexed.


    "If the name Grier is unfamiliar to you, then how about Demon Vine Lady?" The handsome face of the noble youth started to contort, showing a ferocious expression.


    "Demon Vine Lady!"


    "Demon Vine Lady!"


    Both Leon and Bleia let out cries of shock at the same time. They couldn''t help but feel that their unexpected calamity wasn''t just an accident after all!


    So they actually bumped into an old enemy! Judging from his age, he was most probably the companion of Demon Vine Lady. Things have now become interesting!


    "What''s that Soul Trapping Corpse he just mentioned?" Bleia wasn''t able to dispel her curiosity and whispered.


    "That''s an undead creature created using a living person. Before the enemy is dead, they will draw special magic arrays on the enemy''s body, so when the enemy is finally dead during the sacrifice ceremony, the soul would be trapped within the undead body, becoming the eternal slave of the spellcaster." Leon quickly answered her question.


    With the help of the Chip, Leon was gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory, thus he was able to remember a lot of elementary knowledge and seldomly used topics of this magical world.


    The noble youth strolled forward, and supplemented Leon''s answer by saying, "What you said is just the lightest punishment. Once both of you become Soul Trapping Corpses, I''ll find a remote place rarely visit by everybody. I will then bury the both of you deeply in the soil, and let you maintain your consciousness while painfully spending the next hundred years in complete darkness! Don''t worry, I''ll pay the both of you a visit from time to time, making sure your souls will stay forever intact, your memories stay clear, and your mind can''t become insane! Hahaha..."


    Ugh... Leon couldn''t help but feel a chill run down his back. He had underestimated the level of enemy''s evilness and madness!


    "Which way?" Taking advantage of the opportunity while the guy was still laughing wantonly, Bleia whispered to Leon.


    "In front!" Leon replied with a low voice, "There are two Pseudo-Mages behind us. But I only sensed one soul aura in front of us, that''s where we''re going!"


    "Alright!"


    Right after they ended their conversation, a raging flame bursted out from Leon''s body, revealing a Fire Shield shrouded in scorching flames. Bleia spread her arms and clung onto Leon, pressing her body closely with his. Without any hesitation, they turned around and propelled themselves into the lightning web that kept producing buzzing noises of electricity.


    "Still trying to run away from me?"


    The blue-clothed noble youth roared furiously. His body suddenly expanded a few times bigger than it was, and he stretched out his thick hand full of wiry hair and forcefully grabbed towards his enemies.


    The giant hand of the blue-clothed noble youth missed his targets. However, his fingertip touched the lightning web, and was instantly turned black by the noisy Paralyzing Lightning.


    Struck by the pain, the blue-clothed noble youth roared furiously again and retracted his giant hand. Within a split second, the giant hand which looked similar to a stone pillar returned to its original shape. Only a trace of burn mark could be seen on his fingers which emitted black smoke.


    "Damn it, Hegel, retract your lightning trap at once!" The blue-clothed noble youth roared out loudly, and obviously, the target of his roar wasn''t standing in front of him.


    Meanwhile, Bleia and Leon were about to throw themselves into the lightning web, and once they did, the violent and raging electricity immediately came surging through their bodies.


    Of course, the first target who bore the brunt of all these was the Fire Shield summoned by Leon.


    The violent electric arcs hit the Fire Shield producing countless dazzling sparks, the frightening electricity which had enough power to burn an ordinary human into charcoal caused the Fire Shield to keep making buzzing and crackling noise. The overly dense energy of electricity even gathered into some frightening blue plasmas, hovering at a distance less than a meter from Leon''s head, slowly moving toward its target.


    An ordinary Fire Shield only had thirty-five defensive strength, but as Leon''s element affinity was Fire, he was able to increase the defensive strength of his Fire Shield to fifty points. But this was still insufficient to protect them through their short journey of ten meters.


    10 meters!


    With Bleia''s extraordinary Agility, she could actually flash through this ten meters of distance within a blink of an eye. But right at this very moment, this short distance seemed so long and dangerous!


    The Fire Shield vanished into thin air before it could last for half of the distance. The scorching plasmas which had been waiting around them immediately swarmed their target. It would only take half a second before Leon would be turned into a thread of smoke by them. Since Bleia''s Physique was higher than Leon''s, she actually had a higher chance to survive the second half of a lightning-filled passage.


    Everything happened within just a split second of time! Right when Leon''s body trembled violently, closing his eyes and waiting for his death to come, Bleia suddenly shouted out, unleashing a vast amount of blood from her body that instantly covered both of them.


    No matter how pure was these Blood element energy, they just couldn''t withstand such a violent and raging plasmas. Both of them were like the raw meat placing on top of a roasting pit, countless Blood element energy that hovering around them were instantly devoured by the ferocious plasmas. At the end, the thin Blood element energy could no longer provide them with a full protection. Unexpectedly, Bleia clenched her jaw, shifted most of the Blood element energy to Leon, allowing most of her body exposed to the electricity and plasmas.


    The frightening noise of flesh being burnt by electricity could be continuously heard at the scene. The exposed parts of Bleia''s body quickly turned into charcoal, before crumbling into ashes that flew in the air.


    On the other side of this narrow tunnel, a short midget was staring in bewilderment, a look of disbelief present on his face to what just happened in front of him.


    What happened inside of the lightning web was clearly seen by him. Although he had witnessed it personally, but he was still unable to believe what he saw.


    Someone really had the courage to run through his lightning death trap!


    This... how could this be possible?


    Whether he believed it or not, this just actually happened. And right in front of him, a large charred object dashed out of the lightning web, forcefully slamming onto the ground.


    "Little kid, you''re pretty tough, huh! But this is better, as Langdon would owe me two big favors later!" Although the short midget looked skinny and ugly, he was surprisingly an actual human. When he saw the preys that brought themselves in front of him, he quickly leaned forward and tried to catch them using his hand.


    His palm could be seen being covered with a glove made up entirely from a dense layer of tame electricity.


    If any living being was touched by this Paralyzing Lightning, they would lose all their strength for fifteen minutes.


    An indistinct noise rang out in the air, as a crystal clear Elementium core fell on the ground.


    The midget became startled for a brief moment but decided to pick it up. But before he could get close to it, a dense cloud of Earth Elementium suddenly bubbled up and covered the core.


    "Eh, what is this thing?"


    The midget was struck with curiosity. At this time, Langdon''s loud roar could be heard through the lightning web and was heard by this midget.


    The midget hesitated, wondering if he should capture these two preys first or turned off the lightning web. A loud rumble suddenly came from the place where the thick cloud of Earth Elementium appeared. And a massive monster suddenly squeezed its way out from under the ground, moving its huge and long body, thrusting it ferociously into the midget.


    Its body was made entirely of rocks, a rocky snake head, tongue, and fangs... this... this was clearly a Rock Snake!


    With just a flick, the midget suddenly vanished from where he previously stood, only to reveal himself again behind a huge rock some twenty meters away. Meanwhile, with the use of its rock-solid mouth full of sharp fangs, the frightening Rock Snake forcefully slammed on the ground where the midget once stood at just mere moments ago. In just an instant, a powerful quake spread throughout the entire tunnel, causing the rock bed to shift, causing huge amounts of rocks to fall from the ceiling.


    The Rock Snake pulled out its head from the piles of stones, and once again held its head up high. With not even a second had passed by, it''s earthy yellow eyes had already locked down on midget located not far away from it, and readied itself to violently thrust again to its target.


    Damn it! What exactly was this?


    Taken aback by the surprise attack, the midget stamp with rage and cursed. He quickly rubbed his palms and unleashed a raging lightning, striking onto the snake head who was coming fast in his way, trying his best in holding it back. The wantonly splashing electricity burned the snake head of Rock Snake, producing a thick cloud of smoke, while the skin made from tough rock had also starting to melt like hot wax.


    However, the Rock Snake''s strength was on it''s tough skin. It wasn''t bothered by these damages and still charging toward the enemy savagely.


    Left with no alternative, the midget once again used his Lightning Jump ability and brought himself to another spot.


    "Hegel, what the hell are you doing there? Quickly turn off the lightning trap!" On the other side of the tunnel, Langdon became even more impetuous when he heard the violent rumbles.


    After not receiving a response from his peer after a long time, his eyes turned bloodshot. Langdon turned around and asked furiously, "Philip, can you bring me over there?"


    Holding his staff firmly, Philip, who stood behind Langdon, focused his mind and sent out his senses. Soon, he shook his head, saying, "The changes of terrain are really intense on the other side. The aura of the rock layers aren''t stable. I can''t establish a stable stratum node!"


    Damn it...


    The angry Langdon couldn''t wait any longer. He let out a furious shout and once again transformed into a giant three meters tall. A crystal clear blue armor was seen forming outside of his body. After that, he crazily shot himself into the lightning web.


    The raging electricity kept wreaking havoc on his body, while the blue plasmas restlessly destroying his ice armor. However, he used his hands and protected his eyes and face. In addition, with the help of the copious Ice energy that kept bursting out from his body, he managed to withstand the attack of the lightning. He then strode out from the lightning web.


    Revealed in front of his eyes was a broken tunnel with many parts collapsed. The original cavern was no longer there. Only broken ruins were left after the intense battle. An enormous rock snake was seen lying on the ground, motionless. Thick and pungent dark smoke was seen lingering around the over thirty meters long body. The position of the snake head was now replaced by a pool of flowing magma, while a crystal clear, earthy yellow core flashed a few times, before finally dimming down completely.


    The midget was squatting beside the snake head. It seemed as if he was examining something.


    "Where are the enemies I asked you to intercept? Where are the two bastards!?" Langdon, who had transformed into a blue giant, roared crazily.


    "Aren''t they there?" The midget turned around and pointed to a spot. "Eh? Where did they go?" sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The midget had finally realized that both charred humans had vanished without a trace!


    ...


    2259 Words

 Chapter 81 - 81: Blood for bleia

    Within the soil, the Demon Alligator Hunter was traveling at high speed.


    After they went past the lightning trap, the unusual interference affecting the Earth Elementium had disappeared.


    In order to save their life, Leon had no choice but to give up his Rock Snake. He had ordered it to trap the super frightening Thunder element Pseudo-Mage, while he secretly summoned the Demon Alligator Hunter. He then brought Bleia and fled for their life.


    Currently, Bleia couldn''t be referred to as a human. She seemed to be more like dark charcoal just pulled out from the fire.


    All of her skin was charred. Countless ashes would peel off with just a slight touch. Once the charred ashes had peeled off, her steaming hot, half-baked flesh was exposed. Apparently, the high heat brought by the raging electricity had killed most of Bleia''s bones and flesh.


    If it was any other ordinary human, a severe injury like would have long since killed the person!


    However, Bleia had proved herself as a Bloodline apprentice who had gone through a mutation. Her vampire bloodline had gifted her with an amazing ability. As long as her heart core wasn''t destroyed, her soul would be maintained intact. Within her charred and cooked body, a weak soul aura could still be sensed.


    "Chip, scan Bleia''s current condition. Provide me with the most reliable treatment!" Although Leon''s heart was trembling, his voice was still calm and cold.


    "Beep, scanning commence... Warning! Warning! The survival rate of the target is less than 7%. The core consciousness has shown signs of damage... Warning! Warning! Target''s life aura is deteriorating. If this is not treated then the heart core will start to break down..."


    "Don''t tell me all this crap! Just give me the best solution!" Leon interrupted impatiently.


    "Blood, a huge amount of blood... The target has the body constitution of a mutated vampire. As long as the target is provided with sufficient blood, it will survive. Even if the entire body is disintegrated, as long the target''s core consciousness touches fresh blood, they would be able to rise once again!"


    "Blood?"


    Leon shook his head, cursing inwardly at his own stupidity. Bleia was a vampire, what else could save her apart from blood?


    "Change our course immediately. Find me a region where there are abundant underground creatures. Quick!"


    A couple of minutes later, at a colony of green-skinned Goblins, the giant body of Demon Alligator Hunter suddenly emerged from the ground.


    Green-skinned Goblins were a subspecies of demi-humans and had the average height of one meter. Their green skin was as tough as cow leather, and they had a pair of donkey-like big ears. Their diet consisted of everything and anything. To be specific, in this Underground World, apart from rock and dirt, they could eat almost everything.


    But, as their individual strength was extremely weak, they had the habit of living in groups.


    In this Underground World, these Goblins were at the bottom of the food chain. However, they were widely distributed and had the largest population out of everything. Their biggest characteristic was their ability to eat anything. They also had an incredible rate of reproduction.


    Normally, such weak creatures wouldn''t be able to survive in this harsh environment. Despite this, they could be found in every region of the Underground World. The reason was actually rather simple.


    Food was a rare resource in Underground World, and it was extremely tough to find a stable source of food. Therefore, these Goblins were bred like livestock by the other underground creatures. When they lacked food to survive, they would come to a colony of Goblins and eat one or two in order to cure their hunger.


    To be honest, the meat of these Goblins was tough and bitter. It also came with a stinking smell that was hard to get rid of. Therefore, unless the hunger really drove them nuts, no underground creature would be willing to torture their stomach like that.


    Perhaps, this was the main reason why Goblins never went extinct.


    But today, this colony of Goblins had been struck with a great misfortune!


    Within a narrow cave, over one hundred Goblins were gathered in their camp cooking some ''delicacies''. The shabby condition of this camp looked absolutely hopeless. Besides from the crushed rocks scattered around the place, the only other things present were countless piles of dirt. Even though there was a tent found in this place, it was just a dirty cloth. It was supported by a wooden stick, and no one could tell its original color.


    This was a tent that even the homeless guys in the human society wouldn''t step into. But it was, in fact, the home of the Goblin who had the most prestigious status: the clan chief!


    It was dinner time for these Goblins. Goblins, who had gone out hunting, had returned to their base. They chattered on their way and threw their spoils (which were things like wall lizards and other small insects) into the large stone pot in the middle of the camp. The fire was burning brightly under the stock pot. The color of the liquid inside of the pot looked green and muddy. In addition, countless strange objects were seen floating inside of this nasty liquid.


    There were bones of unknown origin, strange-colored chunks of meat from unknown creatures, sharp teeth of demon beasts, small bugs that were struggling and crying violently and pale white eyeballs that looked really frightening...


    A few Goblins were standing on a platform, holding a wooden stick in their hands. These goblins kept stirring the bottom of the stone pot, bringing up many unknown objects from it. This was a pot of meat filled with poison and harmful ingredients, however, to these goblins, it was the most sought after ''delicacy'' of the day.


    Countless Goblins held a stone bowl in their hands and gathered around the bonfire. There were pushing each other and trying to fight for the forefront position while waiting for the arrival of their clan chief. As the chief of Goblins, it was natural that he held the right of enjoying this ''delicacy'' first.


    Therefore, right in the middle of this noisy scene, the Demon Alligator Hunter made its debut.


    Leon carried Bleia in his arms and squeezed out from Demon Alligator. He coldly gazed at this ugly scene, saying with a low voice, "Kill them all!"


    After saying that, he ignored everything and walked away.


    After finding a rather clean place, Leon gently placed Bleia on the ground.


    Just this gentle movement alone had made countless pieces of ashes fall off from Bleia''s charred body.


    Leon pulled out a dagger from his waist, poking it into Bleia''s chest without hesitation. He cut away her half-baked flesh while paying no attention to the steaming heat. Leon pushed aside her flesh, exposing the dying ''heart'' within her chest.


    This was Bleia''s heart and was also where her core conscious stayed.


    As long as her core conscious was still intact, even if her body was badly mutilated, she could still regenerate through the method of rising from the blood.


    After exposing Bleia''s heart, Leon cut his wrist without the slightest hesitation. As soon as his blood dripped onto the withered heart, a small amount of vitality was instantly brought to it. The once pale and earthy yellow flesh instantly turned red. Tiny blood vessels started to regrow like tree branches from the flesh, stretching out crazily.


    Soon, these blood vessels formed into a thin layer of blood film and covered the entire heart. They kept stretching outward, following the dripping of Leon''s blood, and moved to all the other parts of her body like some strange-looking tentacles.


    With incredible speed, Bleia''s heart soon restored its original look.


    The blood was still dripping. Whenever each drop of blood hit her heart, it would be absorbed instantly. Finally, following a light pumping sound, Bleia''s heart had once again resumed its pumping motion.


    "Blood, I need more blood..."


    Bleia''s charred lips moved, exposing the dark and red flesh inside her mouth.The hungry moaning of Bleia could be heard coming from her throat.


    His blood was far from enough!


    "Why is it taking so long!?" Leon roared with a deep voice.


    Meanwhile, the Goblin camp was in a state of chaos. Blood was being spilt everywhere.


    Using its Quake spell, the Demon Alligator had collapsed the entrance to this cave and was moving its massive body around. It was using the Spike spell to slaughter these green-skinned creatures. The Hunter had separated itself from Demon Alligator and strode to Leon. It was carrying a long dirt spear in its hand, which had two Goblins hanging off the tip of it.


    The Hunter waved its hand. It revealed a half a meter deep hole in the ground. It then it ripped apart the Goblin''s body and threw it into the edge of the hole. Following that, a huge amount of blue blood sprayed out from the broken body of Goblins. The bottom of the hole started to turn wet and muddy.


    The Demon Alligator handled the task of slaughtering, while the Hunter worked on draining blood from the Goblins. Within just a few minutes, the hole was fully filled with blue colored blood. Meanwhile, a large pile of dead bodies was seen at the edge of the hole. It was made up of all sorts of strange-looking Goblin corpses.


    Leon carefully placed Bleia''s body into the blood pool. Soon, her body was completely covered, and the pool of blood started to boil violently.


    The level of blood pool was lowering fast.


    "Hurry! I need more blood!" sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Urged by Leon, more Goblins were thrown to the edge of the pool. The blue colored blood flew over the ground like water. The blood that was being injected into the pool was just enough to support the consumption of Bleia''s resurrection.


    Fifteen minutes later, the sound of water splashing rung throughout the hole. A naked and perfectly-curved female body flew out from the blood pool and started hovering in the sky.


    An obvious look of confusion appeared on Bleia''s face, who was just raised from the dead. She suddenly opened up her greenish eyes, looking around in a confused manner. Her fair and silky smooth skin radiated with a brilliant glow. Her sexy body looked tender charming, seductive and delicious, all at the same time!


    She blinked her eyes and spent a few moments trying to recall her memories. Soon, Bleia had remembered everything.


    "You... You''re Leon? I... I''m Bleia!"


    Within just three seconds, the same Bleia had returned.


    "Damn it, how can you use such dirty blood to resurrect me!? Bastard! Don''t you know I hate the blood of low-grade creatures the most?" Before Leon could come forth and greet her, Bleia sniffed and immediately began screaming and complaining.


    Ugh... fine, Leon had no choice but to admit that he had too little understanding regarding the Vampire. He found that the combination of both vampire and woman made for the most frightening combination under the heavens. It made it a mysterious creature that was extremely hard to predict!


    "Welcome back! Thank you!" With utmost sincerity, Leon stepped up and bowed. His words carried two meanings, and the actual meanings could only be understood by the both of them.


    If it were not for Bleia protecting the fragile Leon in the previous battle, Bleia would have been able to go through the lightning trap by herself easily. However, she chose to use everything she had to protect Leon. This caused her to gain the most severe injury she had ever had. It was so serious that even her core consciousness was nearly broken.


    Leon wasn''t a cold man whose heart made from stone. He was truly touched by Bleia''s action. But, as an Apprentice Mage who had to maintain their calm and merciless behaviour at all times, he preferred to hide his true emotions deep in his heart. He would only bring them out when they were alone and lonely.


    ...


    2016 Words

 Chapter 82 - 82: Snorlax

    Regarding Leon''s gratefulness, Bleia expressed her disdain.


    Bleia lightly snorted, then the remaining pool of blood entwined her body fully, transforming into an exquisite red dress.


    Leon called back his Demon Alligator and decided to rush back to Mage Tower but Bleia, who had just recovered suddenly turned her head and stared at a random direction with her emerald green eyes.


    "Wait, what is that thing?"


    Leon was startled for a moment. He followed Bleia''s line of sight and his glance moved over. He saw a yellowish green rock with a circumference of 1 meter, placed right in the center of camp.


    Ugh... a rock?


    Leon''s eyes scanned the surrounding area. Aside from the small and shattered ones that scattered across the entire camp, there wasn''t any large rocks that could be found. But now, a large rock suddenly appeared beside the only broken tent in this camp. It was rather strange and and abrupt.


    Previously, Leon had all of his focus on saving Bleia therefore he didn''t really bother paying attention to anything that was present in this place. But since what they noticed is clearly abnormal, he quickly activated his Elementium Vision.


    Under the observation of the Elementium Vision which allowed him to see through every Elementium, the handsome face of Leon twitched a few times for reasons known only to him.


    Damn, this isn''t a rock, but it''s a...


    After his careless mistake of being deceived by the enemy, Leon angrily snapped his finger and commanded the Demon Alligator Hunter to stride towards the ''rock''.


    The ''rock'' clearly knew it''s trick was already exposed, that''s why before the dirt spear of the Hunter impaled it, this ''rock'' instantly disintegrated. Actually, it wasn''t disintegrated, but just a Goblin, slightly over one meter tall, putting away its cape, revealing its true form.


    "Spare my life, oh great one! Mighty master Mage, please spare my life! Please forgive this Snorlax! This Snorlax is willing to be your slave! Just please, don''t kill Snorlax!"


    Upon revealing its true self, the Goblin quickly threw itself onto the ground and kowtowed again and again, begging for his life while miserably howling to no end.


    "Ugh... wait!" Leon stopped the Hunter, and said, "You know how to speak in human language? A low-grade creature such as goblin possesses intelligence?"


    "Master, Snorlax is no ordinary goblin! Snorlax is the smartest goblin in the world, Snorlax can serve you tea and meals, prepare your sleep bed, and Snorlax can even guard the door for you. Snorlax is the most capable creature!" Realizing this young ''malefic'' person showing interests on it, the goblin quickly promoted itself.


    "What was the trick you used just now? If not because of my sharp vision, I would have been deceived by you."


    "That''s one of the tricks I secretly learned, a combination of a camouflage spell and a partial transformation spell, they are nothing much, really."


    "You know how to cast magic spells?" Leon''s face was plastered with astonishment, "Moreover, you know two magic spells!"


    "A-Actually, I-I know three magic spells!" The goblin who called itself Snorlax stammered.


    "Three? What''s the third spell you know?" Leon felt the world as he knew it, had turned upside down.


    Even a mere goblin could master three magic spells, but he... up until now, he seemed to have only mastered four, no, the Flaming Spear was just a variance of Fire Arrow. Therefore, strictly speaking, he only mastered three magic spells!


    Not knowing the complicated thoughts this young apprentice had on his head, Snorlax said under its breath with an embarrassed tone, "I... I also know I-Invisibility."


    Leon was completely speechless!


    A goblin, which was regarded by the entire Mage world as the weakest demon beast, could actually possess its very own intelligence, and even master three magic spells. What were all these spells? Invisibility, Camouflage, Partial Transformation... these skills made it an expert in stealth. If not because Leon had the Elementium Vision, and Bleia had the ability to sense life aura, perhaps this little guy with the name of Snorlax would really be able to avoid today''s unexpected calamity!


    Leon cupped his hand under his chin, and contemplated.


    At the time when he was still pondering what should he do to this strange goblin, Snorlax became frightened by Leon''s serious expression and quickly waved its hands around and exposed a bigger secret.


    "Your mightyness, you don''t want to kill Snorlax! Snorlax knows a secret treasure of a master Mage. Snorlax can bring you there!"


    If there was still anything that could move Leon today, what Snorlax said just now was definitely the one.


    Leon''s pupils contracted, and he clenched his jaw tightly and said the following words with a cold voice, "Looks like you are an escaped magical slave from an Mage Tower. Tell me, which Mage Tower did you come from?"


    Leon finally understood. How could a wild goblin suddenly be blessed with basic intelligence? Even if it did have it, from where could it get in touch with the mysterious and profound magical knowledge it possessed? Therefore, putting all those clues together, Leon came to the conclusion that this must be a magical slave who accidentally escaped from its Mage Tower that belonged to an unknown official Mage. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Snorlax hesitated for a few moments. Its tiny eyeballs could be seen moving around, but seeing the razor sharp dirt spear of the Hunter pressing against its shoulder, it realized there wasn''t any possibility of escape from this situation.


    Probably thinking that it didn''t have any chance of surviving if it didn''t tell the truth, Snorlax bowed his head down in sorrow and said out a name.


    "Elysium City! Master Mage Pridka!"


    "Mage Pridka from Elysium City? This name sounds unfamiliar! Leon, have you heard it before?" Bleia asked, perplexed.


    Leon had a cold face, squeezing out shivering words from his tightly clenched teeth.


    "Bleia, you really should pay more visits to the library. Understanding our enemy is essential to protect oneself."


    "Is this Pridka really famous?"


    "Of course. Because Mage Pridka is a Second Grade Mage!" Leon spewed out the last few words with great force.


    Hearing this, Bleia immediately drew in a sharp cold breath.


    Although Bleia behaved willfully and unscrupulously in normal times, but there was still a limit to her unbridled personality. When faced with an official Mage, she wouldn''t be as reckless as how she used to be, but instead, she would offer her respect wholeheartedly. Because she knew how frightening the existences known as an Mage are. They could easily kill her with just a wave of a single hand.


    As for a Second Grade Mage, perhaps that would be a frightening existence even an official Mage would tremble with fear upon meeting!


    Bleia and Leon exchanged glances, and understood each other''s thought with just a look.


    They have to make this Snorlax fall under their control!


    This was a goblin who once served a Second Grade Mage! Any magical knowledge or special information dug out from its mouth would be enough to bring great benefits to both of them. As for the secret treasure of the Mage mentioned by Snorlax, they simply forgot about it and never bothered again to ask any further.


    They weren''t idiots! Could a frightening Second Grade Mage really tell a mere goblin about the whereabouts of their treasure? This was a joke to an intelligent and experienced mighty Mage! Maybe this Snorlax had taken those magical experiment wastes the Mage casually threw away as treasure!


    With his mind filled with endless speculations, Leon held Bleia in a princess carry and climbed up to the Demon Alligator, also bringing along the goblin whose name was Snorlax. They, once again, submerged into the ground.


    ...


    Within the broken-down tunnel.


    Three figures of varying heights could be seen squatting in front of the remains of the Rock Snake, silently examining what''s left of it in front of their eyes. The broken core that had lost all its light and Elementium was now held in Pseudo-Mage Philip''s hand, as he gave it a thorough observation.


    "How is it? Did you find anything?" The short Pseudo-Mage, Hegel, yawned and asked impatiently, "You have spent the last half an hour just looking at it, just tell me what''s so unusual about it?"


    "This is an Elementium core taken from a Pseudo-Mage level Earth Giant!" After pondering for a long time, Philip finally voiced out his findings with a deep voice.


    "Garbage! Anyone can tell that easily. If that''s the only thing you can tell, why do we still need you, an expert in Earth element, to give us your insights about this thing." Hegel rudely said.


    Meanwhile, Langdon was standing quietly on the side. His eyes were filled with a frosty glow. It''s obvious he still hadn''t gotten rid of the anger caused by letting his enemies escape.


    "There''s a total of fourteen special rune arrays engraved on it, most of them are magical arrays used to absorb and store Earth element energy, while the rest have the purpose of Elementium Grant Life, Elementium Summoning, Mind Control Imprint System, and Elementium Tempering. Through a unique method, all these independent arrays are interconnected, transforming into a brand new three-dimensional magical array! This is the reason why this Rock Snake possessed such an incredible strength, able to trap a Pseudo-Mage which enabled their escape."


    Hearing the mocking words of the guy, Hegel was lit with the flames of anger.


    "Damn it, can you really blame me? You told me to stop an Advanced Apprentice and a Beginner Apprentice from leaving this place, but you never told me that guy owned a large beast like this! Hey Philip, with your amazing magical knowledge, do you know any Beginner Apprentice who can control a Pseudo-Mage level Golem? Do you think this is logical?"


    "Hmph. He''s an Intermediate Apprentice now!"


    "Alright, alright! Even if he''s an Intermediate Apprentice, don''t you think this situation is rather abnormal?"


    "This is nothing abnormal. If he can find a master Alchemist, drew out enough power from the core and utilized it, the amount of Spirit he will need in order to control it would be greatly reduced. It isn''t something unbelievable for a Beginner Apprentice to control a Pseudo-Mage level Golem. It''s just that with his Spirit, it''s very difficult to fully unleash the combat strength of the Golem!"


    After listening to the conversation of the two, Langdon finally spoke.


    "If these Golems were crafted by that Leon himself?"


    Philip was stunned for a brief moment, but shook his head before saying, "Then he must be a genius alchemist of this generation! If not, then I can''t think of any other method that can utilize an Elementium core up to such an incredible level."


    "As for the answer, we will know the next time we meet him again. No matter what, he still has to come back to the Underground World. And at that time, we''ll know all the answers we want after capturing him." Hegel said with a carefree manner, "Oh right, Langdon. Since I followed you for this mission, Mine No. Seven that I was supposed to guard had been robbed by those bastards from the surface. I''m afraid you will have to recompense for the losses! Also, if we are questioned by master Mage Puner, I hope you can calm down his anger!"


    Upon hearing what Hegel said, the handsome face of Langdon had twisted once again.


    The temperature of the cave dropped down by a few degrees!


    ...


    1925 Words

 Chapter 83 - 83: Guilty?

    Half a day later, Leon and Bleia finally returned to the Mage Tower.


    Upon their arrival, they were notified that their compulsory task force had lost another member, Shila, while the rest of the team were all wounded. The team suffered a great losses.


    What caused all of this was four Fallen Pseudo-Mage who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    After they were ambushed, Sabrina and the other two Pseudo-Mages fought against three of the enemies, but the remaining Fallen Pseudo-Mage put up a fierce fight with Shila, causing them to be at a disadvantage. Because of that, Shila and the other three had to flee in desperation. Shila was killed during their escape by her enemy.


    Before those Fallen Pseudo-Mages attacked them, they were told that they were here to seek revenge from Leon and Bleia. Therefore, after they managed to escape to the surface, the team members who were still suffering from the shock had pushed all the blame to the both of them. A few Advanced Apprentices even kept asking them to be responsible for Shila''s death, wanting the duo to bear all of the responsibility for their failure in completing their mission.


    Thus, when Mage Angus, who came to receive the mission item, arrived at the main hall, Isaac started to jump up and down furiously.


    "Master Mage, it''s all because of them... they insisted on leaving the team, which eventually attracted the revenge of four Fallen Pseudo-Mages, that is the reason why we failed in this mission. You have to punish them!"


    Leander and Bruce were also yelling out loudly, filled with righteous rage.


    As for the other two male Pseudo-Mages in the team, both of them were having long faces while not saying a single word. Even though they didn''t try to pin the responsibility to others, in their minds, they were still filled with dissatisfaction towards Leon and Bleia. Due to the difference between their levels, they were defeated in a fair fight with those underground Fallen Pseudo-Mages, and returned with bodies full of wounds.


    The only team member who was able to return unscathed was Sabrina.


    "Hahaha..." Mage Angus responded with a cold sneer then said, "Stop playing your childish tricks in front of me. I''ve seen too many internal discords between team members all these years, I have no time for your petty thoughts and plots. What I really care is, what have you brought back to the Mage Tower?"


    Everyone''s heads turned to Sabrina at the same time.


    Wearing an indifferent expression, Sabrina stretched her hand out and handed over four mission items. Out of all four of them, only one mission item was lit.


    "You only completed one mission? Where''s the other mission item?" Mage Angus''s expression turned cold in an instant.


    "It''s with me!" Bleia took a step forward and extended her palm.


    A brightly lit mission item was revealed in front of everyone.


    "Out of five missions, you only completed two. According to our agreemen, you''re spared from the punishment of failing the mission. But you can also forget about the rewards."


    When they realized that they were spared from the punishment, some of the Advanced Apprentices of the team relaxed their expressions. But what Mage Angus said afterwards came as a shock to them.


    "Also, I want to announce an internal decision of the Mage Tower Council. Considering that Leon and Bleia showed outstanding performances in the elite mission of the training camp, the council had decided to transfer them into the training camp. From now onwards, they don''t have to participate in any more compulsory missions."


    Although Mage Angus said it with a deep and hoarse voice, it sounded like a sudden thunder clap in the ears of all team members, greatly stupefying every one of them.


    "This... how can this be?" Seized by terror, Isaac yelled out loudly, "Master, this is unreasonable! Our team is left with only eight members, if you transfer two of them away, how are we going to complete the remaining missions? We want to protest..."


    Before he could finish his words, a black chain suddenly shot out from the void, tightly tying Isaac up in a bundle.


    "What? Is there anyone else who dares to challenge the authority of the Mage Tower Council? Kid, let me tell you, no matter what, don''t challenge the authority and dignity of an Mage. This is a lesson for you, next time, I will not be as nice today and won''t spare you as easily!"


    Following Mage Angus''s stern warning, the black chain suddenly turned red, transforming into a long chain of scorching hot metal, burning Isaac''s skin and flesh making them produce hissing noises. When Angus''s voice turned louder, the chain started to tighten, digging deep into Isaac''s flesh, causing his bones to produce cracking noises as well.


    It was as if Isaac''s magic resistance had suddenly disappeared, making him unable to withstand the fire chain punishment from Mage Angus. After letting out a few miserable shrieks, Isaac fainted as a result of severe pain.


    With a snap of a finger, the fire chain vanished out of thin air, just like how it appeared.


    Mage Angus then moved his dazzling eyes across everybody''s faces. When he did that, every team member felt a sharp pain in their eyes, and couldn''t help and lower their heads.


    "This is just a small punishment to all of you. Your purpose here is to train yourself and complete missions assigned to you, not blaming each other and putting up a stupid show of internal discord! If you''re lacking in strength in order to crush those black bastards, then be smarter, use your strategies and unite to defeat the enemy to complete your task. You don''t have enough manpower? Then go to the main hall in the first floor and get some new recruits! See for yourself if any fools are willing to be hired by you!"


    After a rare long-winded speech, Angus turned his eyes to Leon.


    "Kid, I heard you''re really good in hiding your ability! Haha, looks like you know how being lowkey is important in keeping your life safe. But sometimes, burying your strength too deep isn''t good as well. A strong man should show his bearing and dignity. If you showed your ability earlier, perhaps all the members of this team are now your minions, and the girls would''ve been your exclusive sleeping buddies, isn''t that more meaningful than laying low all by yourself? Come, show me your loot this time!"


    Ugh... Looks like Mage Angus was also a restless guy when he was still an apprentice. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While helplessly complaining inwardly, Leon and Bleia took out their war trophies from their underground trip. Two people brought back two heads of Fallen apprentices, and both were at the level of Advanced Apprentices.


    An unsightly expression surfaced upon the faces of the others who were watching quietly beside them. Only Mage Angus laughed out loud in satisfaction.


    "Not bad, not bad at all! You only visited Underground World twice, yet you brought back two heads already. Indeed, you possess the magical ability that is suited perfectly to the Underground Cave. Kid, you have a bright future, I have confidence in you! Now tell me, what kind of reward do you want to exchange for these heads?"


    The near death experiences of this trip had filled Leon''s mind with great anger. A Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake he just crafted had been destroyed by the enemy. This, without a doubt, deeply angered him!


    "Elementium core with life aura, it''s better if it''s of the Earth element, and it should also be at Pseudo-Mage level." Leon gritted his teeth and decided not to hide his talent in crafting golems. After all, he had already exposed the Rock Snake previously. So long as someone paid enough attention to him, that alone was more than enough for them to make some assumption.


    If he still laid low like how he did previously, perhaps he wouldn''t be as lucky on his next trip to the Underground World.


    "Hahaha... two heads, you can exchange them with two Pseudo-Mage level Earth element cores, here you go..." Angus grabbed the two heads, and casually tucked them into a bowl-sized spatial crack that suddenly opened up in front of him. He then pulled out two Earth element cores flashing brightly and tossed them over to Leon. After doing all that, he turned around and left.


    The host was now gone, leaving behind the group who were gazing at each other awkwardly.


    Leon nodded his head to Sabrina, pulled Bleia away, and returned to his very own residence.


    Their last journey had made Leon and Bleia realize their weakness. Therefore, for the following days, both of them started to get busy on their own, trying all they could in order to supplement their weaknesses.


    What Leon could do now was feed himself with the best food, strengthen the foundation of his constitution, and consume a bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion every three to five days so that he can restlessly increase his Spirit. As for the two Pseudo-Mage level Earth element cores, they had long ago turned into two brand new Rock Snake Golems.


    Bleia on the other hand, felt the lack of power behind her attacks and the vulnerability of her resistance. Thus, she spent a huge amount of magic crystals to purchased a pair of ''Cruel Claws'', using it to improve her offensive power.


    This pair of Cruel Claws was a set of melee finger-cot magical items. The effect attached on the left hand was tearing, while the right hand gave her attacks the effect of bleeding. They were considerably a perfect match to Bleia''s current abilities. In the middle of a fight, Bleia could inject her Blood element energy into these finger-cots, giving them a +2 effect of sharpness.


    Besides that, Bleia was also wringing her brain out concerning her magic resistance.


    It would take a long time for her to train to increase her magic resistance, that''s why Bleia purchased some small decorative items that could bring her additional magic resistances. If she had an Electric Resistant Necklace which could bring her +2 in electricity resistance, she wouldn''t be burned into a big piece of charcoal when she forcefully penetrated through the lightning web in the Underground World.


    Leon had given all his magic crystal cards to Bleia, therefore Bleia, who had her desire of spending unleashed completely, used this fortune and brought back a lot of magic resistance jewelries and magic potions. While Bleia was crazily spending Leon''s magic crystals, Leon was having a ''passionate and friendly'' conversation with the Snorlax in his room.


    Snorlax still looked like a green-skinned goblin. The only change it had was a magical collar on its neck, which a few runes could vaguely be seen on top of the collar. It was a special magical item used specifically for imprisoning those demi-humans who refuse to obey its master''s command.


    A ring of runes was engraved on the inner side of the collar. Three tiny needles that poked into the wearer''s neck were present, slowly drawing the magic energy of the wearer in keeping the collar''s normal functionality. Any action that causes any damage to the collar would immediately trigger a powerful lightning attack. The same effect applies to the wearer if it moved too far away from its master.


    The only way to remove this collar was for the caster to recite a magic spell according to a specific order.


    Therefore, after putting the collar on Snorlax upon their return, Leon finally had his mind relax.


    It was clear that this extremely intelligent goblin named Snorlax had long gotten used to the life of being a slave, and for that reason, it didn''t show any resistance to what Leon had done to it.


    ...


    1978 Words

 Chapter 84 - 84: Pridka

    This was an extremely clever little guy who knew how to understand people''s thoughts.


    Upon entering Leon''s room, it quickly carried out its duty. Taking care of the room''s cleanliness, organizing books on the table, wiping off ink stains, washing the quill pen and cleaning the remains of magical experiments, and even helping Leon take off his thick and heavy traveler robe...


    In short, all the tasks that a magical slave could do, it had completed them within a very short period of time after it came into the room. After that, it stood politely beside the table, awaiting Leon''s command.


    Carrying a smile in his eyes and watching how Snorlax completed all these tasks, Leon finally gave out his order in a rather cold manner.


    "Tell me about that Mage Pridka!"


    The goblin''s body trembled slightly, raising its head and taking a peek at the young apprentice who stood opposite to it, but its gaze was caught by Leon''s cold and calm glance. This made it shudder, quickly lowering its eyes and began to speak in a stuttered manner.


    The story was more or less as what Leon had been expecting. This green-skinned goblin who had the name of Snorlax was indeed a very lucky escaped slave.


    In order to tell the whole story, it had to start from fifteen years ago.


    To put it simply, that Second Grade Mage Pridka wanted to carry out some kind of soul experiment, so he captured a large group of underground creatures to serve as his magic spell experiment subjects. Like most of the magic spell experiments, this soul experiment was extremely dangerous and difficult to control, thus most of his test subjects eventually died painfully, while only this green-skinned goblin survived.


    With regards to the soul experiment, Snorlax didn''t have many memories, and most were not complete. But through its brief description, Leon suspected that Second Grade Mage Pridka was trying to perform a soul transfer experiment.


    As soul transfer was the only lead to immortality, it was a magic topic that must be researched privately by most of the Mages who wished for immortality.


    As for the Mage''s treasure mentioned by Snorlax, it was just one of the many laboratories Mage Pridka built in the Underground World. Since Snorlax accidentally awakened its intelligence during the soul experiment and managed to survive, in order to better observe any changes to its soul, Mage Pridka promoted it to become his personal slave. And out of curiosity, he taught it some magical knowledge.


    So, that was when Snorlax learned all three magic spells it knew.


    Despite only having the most basic intelligence, Snorlax was actually smart in its own unique way. The reason why it chose these three spells was so that it could escape from the Mage! Even though it didn''t have a brilliant brain and vast knowledge like an Mage, but it also knew as a test subject, sooner or later it would have to be cut open on an operating table.


    Since the day its intelligence awakened, it had been preparing for its grand escape.


    After listening to Snorlax''s story, Leon couldn''t help and speculate how this goblin must be a very lucky creature that was blessed by the Will of Mage World. After it served the Mage for eleven years, it finally found an opportunity for its great escape.


    It happened five years ago during an Underground World clean up mission. The Zhentarim Association sent a large group of Mages and ambushed Elysium City. Mage Pridka was forced to bring most of the Fallen Mages and moved to a deeper place underground, while Snorlax was abandoned in the laboratory.


    According to normal circumstances, Snorlax would disappear together with the self-destruction of Elysium City. But surprisingly, this lucky fellow was able to escape before the city was destroyed. And so, not knowing anybody, Snorlax had once again become a wild creature that roamed the Underground World.


    As for its situation after that, it was rather easy to guess.


    Despite the fact that Snorlax mastered a few peculiar magic spells that didn''t have much fighting ability, it was not something that could be easily captured by ordinary underground creatures. After wandering in the wild for some time, through its peculiar abilities, Snorlax actually gathered a large group of goblins and established a camp in the shallow region of Underground World, becoming the leader of a goblin colony.


    After he listened to Snorlax story, Leon sighed emotionally inside of his heart. This was simply a motivational story of this strange world. But too bad, no marvelous or extraordinary story could move him now. Leon snapped his finger angrily, causing the tiny needles that poked into Snorlax''s neck to inject a powerful electricity into its body.


    In next moment, dark smoke started to billow out from Snorlax''s body, as it fell to the ground, its body twitching.


    "Hmph, your story is indeed motivational, and is pleasant to hear. But tell me, what benefits can I get after putting all that effort to save you? Do you think I just want to listen to your fucking fantasy story?" The enraged Leon kept roaring at Snorlax, showing a look that seemed as if he was about to rip this goblin into pieces.


    "Mas... master... I.. I can... I can give you a magic spell laboratory of a Second Grade Mage!" Snorlax proved itself to be a tough creature who had both thick skin and strong guts, even though it was facing a threat to its life, its eyes and mouth twitching due to the electricity, it was still able to smoothly say its life-saving statement.


    "Where''s that laboratory?"


    "In Elysium City!"


    "Fuck! Damn you, goblin! Do you think a surface apprentice like me can freely enter Elysium City, the place where all Fallen Mages come together in crowds? Do you want to taste electricity again?"


    "Master, I was referring to the ruins of the old Elysium City, not the current one!" Greatly terrified by Leon, Snorlax nearly used up all of its strength in yelling out this sentence.


    "Oh? Give me more details!"


    "I didn''t really understand what the exact scenario was, but all I know is one thing, Elysium City had been destroyed three times before. Whenever the surface Mages came to the Underground Cave, the Elysium City would be destroyed. After that, those Fallen Mages will find another location and rebuild a brand new city. The Elysium City I mentioned to you just now is the ruins of the previous Elysium City after it was destroyed in the last war. The current Elysium City is built after that."


    "After it went through a massive self-destruction, would there still be anything left?" Leon pretentiously said in a disdainful manner.


    "Master, master! The laboratory built by Mage Pridka was protected by the strongest magical arrays. Although it''s impossible for it to remain completely intact, but I''m sure there will be some leftover resources. The resources that can be found there are left by a Second Grade Mage, though it might just be in a small quantity, but it''s still worth the risk!"


    Leon quieted down.


    "Chip, analyze the truthfulness of what Snorlax said."


    "Beep. Data analysis completed... Preliminary results show what it said is true... The reference data included: ''The Chronicles of Underground Cave'', ''The Secrets of Underground Creatures'', ''Bibliography of Fallen Mages''... Note: When the creature mentioned the laboratory in the ruins, an abnormal spiritual ripple was detected. The analysis shows there is something it needs in that place..."


    "Hmph, it can also be the chance for it to once again escape from the hands of someone else!" Leon had this thought in his mind.


    Of course, all these were secrets that was hidden within Leon''s mind. Externally, he had his face covered with a bright smile and raised Snorlax from the ground, vowing solemnly that, so long as it could bring Leon to the laboratory, he would set it free and reward it with a huge sum of magic crystals.


    In order to win over the heart of this new minion, Leon spent a big sum of his fortune and ordered the daily noble meal set for it. Therefore, while Leon was happily enjoying his magical energy meal set, Snorlax was also squatting at a corner of the room, devouring the delicacies like a wolf.


    After both of them came to an aLeonent, Snorlax had also ''committed'' itself to become Leon''s servant. After it was promoted, the first thing Leon did was threw it into the bathroom and gave it a thorough wash.


    In the Underground World, all resources were rare and precious, and these goblins had no habit of washing themselves regularly. That''s why Leon wasn''t able to stand the stinking smell that continuously emitted from its body. In order to get rid of this pungent smell, Leon had purposely purchased a bottle of deodorant, using it to thoroughly wash Snorlax from top to bottom.


    Afterwards, when Snorlax stood in front of Leon, it actually looked cute and adorable like those green-skinned cartoons in Leon''s previous life.


    "Alright, now show me all of your abilities!"


    "Master, which one do you want to look at first?"


    "Show me your Camouflage Spell!"


    Snorlax pulled out a small old wooden stick from its waist, then quietly recited some magic spells, and afterwards used the stick to point at its own body. Following the radiant glow of magical rays, the skin color of Snorlax turned exactly like the color of the floor. When it lied down on its stomach at a corner of the room, one could easily overlook its existence.


    "How about the Partial Transformation spell?"


    Hearing what Leon said, Snorlax made its ears stand erect as they slowly twisted and transformed into a withered flower. Although it wasn''t flawless, but it still looked like the real thing. It wasn''t easy to tell the difference with just one look.


    "Good!" Leon nodded his head, and then said, "Invisibility?"


    Snorlax shook its body, dismissing all abnormal transformations present. Following a murmur of an invocation, its wooden stick flickered as its body suddenly turned incorporeal. Five seconds later, it simply vanished into thin air.


    Leon turned his head over and gave it a careful observation. If he didn''t have his Elementium Vision and if Snorlax could move more nimbly, the result of this Invisibility spell would be pretty good.


    "Take a few steps!"


    A row of marks of water suddenly appeared on the floor. Snorlax took a bath previously, and that''s the water that remained on its body.


    Tracing its movement, Leon could vaguely see an abnormal reflection of light. But when it stopped, the abnormality instantly disappeared.


    "Here, hold this book!" Leon directly grabbed a book and gave it to Snorlax.


    Initially, the book floated all alone in midair, making it look really bizarre. But after five seconds passed by, it started to turn intangible and finally vanished without a trace.


    "Oh? You can also hold foreign objects and make them invisible as well! Are there any limitations to such foreign objects?" Leon asked curiously.


    "Firstly, it can''t be a living object. Secondly, its size cannot be bigger than one fifth of my body size." Snorlax''s answers didn''t go beyond Leon''s expectation. A magic spell with such excellent results always come with very strict restrictions.


    Leon hesitated for a moment, and then finally decided to give up the idea of learning this Invisibility spell.


    ...


    1908 Words S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 85 - 85: Flame Body

    The most orthodox path that was directly in front of Leon was doubtlessly furthering his research on the magic spell knowledge related to his elemental affinity ¨C Fire. Understanding this knowledge could help him when he breaks through the threshold of an Mage in the future. Meanwhile, the ability to craft golems, which currently was the greatest help to him, was considered unorthodox, as it deviated from the right path he chose.


    The relationship between them was like the relation between ''Dao'' and ''Technique'' in his previous life.


    The ''Dao'' was the path of development he chose for himself and was also the ultimate goal he would spend the rest of his life with in restless exploration. While ''Technique'' was merely the tricks used in order to achieve some smaller goals, it was just an auxiliary method.


    Although Leon only mastered a handful of fire element magic spells at this point of time, and their power wasn''t sufficient to deal with the current enemies he had to face, but that was still Leon''s ''Dao''. In order to avoid any deviation happening in his future Mage path, Leon had to spend a huge amount of time immersing himself in studying them, trying his best in mastering the characteristics and rules of the Fire element. Only by doing so, could he get hold of his very own ''Dao''.


    As for the Golem, for a short period of time, maybe it could allow Leon to rise above his peers, bringing him limitless glory with its formidable power. But after all, something like this was just a trick, it did not conform to his ''Dao''. Therefore, he could use it to his heart''s content or use it to seize the resources he needed, but if he really wanted to become an Mage in future, he couldn''t slack in his research of Fire element magic spells.


    For most people, it was tough to have both the Dao and Technique in their path, thus they could only choose one. But for Leon, there wasn''t any problem at all. After all, he had the help of the Chip. The most time-consuming task in magic spells research was the accumulation and analysis of data, which he could leave for the Chip to handle. What he just needed to do was wait for the final essence of knowledge derived by the Chip, and merge them into his own path of magic.


    Therefore, the difference between the Dao and Technique wasn''t that obvious when it comes to Leon.


    Leon''s Spirit had reached the level of an Intermediate Apprentice, which allowed him to have six solidified magic spell models in his Spiritual Domain. Currently, he already had four solidified magic spells: The Burning Hand, Fire Arrow, Flaming Spear, and Fire Shield.


    Therefore, it became difficult to decide which way he should go in researching Fire element magic spell. Currently, Leon took fancy to two magic spells, Flame Body and Molten Ball.


    Flame Body allowed Leon''s body to house more Fire Elementium, while it would greatly improve his Fire element resistance, it was also the only path which leads him to the advance magic ¨C Fire Elementium Modification. But in order to master this spell, besides from the continuous research of Fire element magic, he also needs to learn the knowledge of anatomy and its variation.


    Molten Ball, as the name implied, was a magic spell that merged a huge amount of Fire Elementium and Earth Elementium together, forming into a huge fireball of one meter in diameter. It could inflict Earth element damage to the enemy during its flight, and had the effect of knockback. And once it was detonated by the spell caster, it could also inflict a massive Fire element damage. Thus, it was an AoE, dual element damage magic spell.


    But in order to master it, Leon also needs to have some understanding of the Earth element.


    If only taking the offensive aspect of a magic spell into consideration, no doubt Molten Ball was the most appropriate choice. Leon had already mastered the Burning Hand, which was a close-ranged magic spell, while he had Fire Arrow and Flaming Spear that covered his long-ranged offensive ability. Unfortunately, both of them were magic spells that only attack a single target, that''s why he really need an AoE spell to supplement his lacking offensive strength.


    But considering his future, if Leon really wanted to have some achievements in the path of a Fire element Mage, he would need to have both Focused Wizardry and Elementium Body sooner or later. Thus, laying a proper foundation now could bring him greater help in the future.


    With just a slight hesitation, Leon made up his mind and chose the Flame Body.


    If it was any other Apprentice Mage, when faced with a similar situation, aside from considering their future, they also had to take their current situation into consideration. Flame Body could bring an improvement to his Fire element affinity and also a rapid increase of his Fire resistance, but it didn''t bring any notable help to magic battles between apprentices.


    Once an apprentice is killed in battle by an enemy of the same rank, there would be no future left to consider. That''s why even though the right path of magic was clearly in front of them, in order to survive in the endless battles many apprentices were forced to give up on their future, choosing to maximize their battle power.


    But this wasn''t a problem for Leon at all. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Because of the Chip, crafting Golems which seemed profound and difficult to master to others was a piece of cake for Leon. So, with the protection of his Golem army, he could totally ignore the threat brought by his enemies, while optimizing his path of magic as much as he like.


    Since he had made up his mind in learning Flame Body, Leon had to pay a visit to the library of Mage Tower, and purchase some books for elementary knowledge of anatomy and variation. Fortunately, this type of knowledge were only the elementary subjects for Necromancer, so long he had enough magic crystal, he would be able to purchase them. If it involved the more profound and advance knowledge of Spiritual Mutation and Spiritual Elementium, perhaps Leon would have to pay a visit to those official Mage, and only then could he gather the relevant knowledge he needs.


    Throughout this hectic process, Snorlax had been reverently holding all magic spell books its master purchased, following behind Leon like a loyal servant. Though some Apprentice Mage who passed by were greatly puzzled by the presence of this green-skinned goblin in the Mage Tower, but when they saw the glittering collar worn on Snorlax''s neck, they immediately understood its status.


    For the sake of offsetting their magic spell weakness, some apprentices would gather and enslave some demon beasts or demons. But most of them were creatures with powerful combat ability such as the Nightsaber Leopard, Rock Tortoise, Flaming Tiger, Socrates Condor, etc. It was rare for someone to have a green-skinned goblin as his servant.


    As Snorlax had been the servant of a Second Grade Mage, clearly it had the experience in facing such situations. Thus, not only did it not look nervous, instead, it immediately put itself into the position of a loyal servant. It even went as far as helping Leon negotiate the price with the vendor, and find pleasure in it.


    After having experienced a similar situation a few times, Leon was surprised to find out that not only does Snorlax have a good grasp of the market prices, it also had a very good eloquence, both abilities could absolutely make it into an outstanding profiteering merchant.


    Since the discovery, Leon simply delegated his authority to Snorlax. Whenever he had anything he needs, he would just give Snorlax a list of items and his magic crystal card, asking it to be fully in charge of the purchase. After that, Leon would shut himself in his room, spending all of his time in studying the magic knowledge transferred to him by the Chip.


    Also, in order to improve its enthusiasm, Leon even had an aLeonent with Snorlax, he would pay all the items he needed according to the market price, and any discount Snorlax obtained after the negotiation with the merchant would become its personal reward.


    With this reward scheme, Snorlax who never owned anything personal had instantly turned crazy, transforming itself into the greatest profiteering merchant in this Mage Tower. Everyday, it would spend all of its time befriending with a group of Beginner Apprentices.


    Surprisingly, Snorlax did have its own unique ideas and innate talents with regards to the price fluctuations in the market. Buying at a low price and selling at a high price, hoarding and profiteering, jacking up prices... all these complicated commercial approaches only a human could master, it had learned them within just a few days, using them to thrive in its own business.


    Soon, all of the Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices in the first level of Mage Tower were aware of this goblin merchant whose name was Snorlax, and it even carried an array of unique items that can hardly be found by ordinary people. Consequently, it had further set off its mysterious and strange background.


    What to do? Both underground guys killed by Leon and Bleia were Advanced Fallen Mage, thus their equipment and magic items weren''t something ordinary Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices would normally see. So when Leon gave all these items to Snorlax and asked it to settle them itself, it became even more confident in running its business.


    Yes, after Snorlax became well-known in the apprentice market located on the first floor, it had bought itself a full set of costume using the magic crystals it earned. An exquisite, luxurious magical robe, a full set of glittering magical equipment, though they were mostly equipment of low quality primarily used by Beginner Apprentices, but having a full set of this costume could still dazzle the eyes of the general public.


    Together with a finely made magic wand and a magic cape that trailed behind its body. Whenever it appeared in the apprentice market, it would always attract waves of greetings.


    The reason why so many Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices became its fans was because of the Third and Fourth Grade magical items it took out occasionally. As these were all premium wares that no ordinary apprentice could easily find.


    During the course of running its business, it was naturally greeted by a few market enforcers that came aggressively and asked Snorlax to pay taxes. But when Snorlax hinted at them the name of its master, the guy named Ryan had no other choice but to go away in dejection. Obviously, through the family that supported him, that Ryan learned the glorious story of Leon in the training camp. That''s why so long as Snorlax don''t push things too far, Ryan wouldn''t find fault with it as he didn''t want to let the family behind him offend an elite apprentice who was rising fast like a rocket.


    But there was no way ordinary apprentices could have known this. Instead, Ryan''s unusual behavior further attracted the curiosity of the public, making them continue finding out who master behind Snorlax was. But no one seemed to know the answer.


    Consequently, a rumor suddenly spread secretly between apprentices, that this Snorlax might be the servant of an official Mage. Hence, encouraged by these strange rumors, Snorlax''s business became extremely prosperous!


    Leon, who knew nothing about all of these, was currently shutting himself in his room, seriously working out on his future path.


    Since he had decided to study Flame Body first, thus in the short run, there wouldn''t be any notable improvements to his combat strength. If he wanted to maintain his advantage in the Underground Cave, he has to fully dig out the combat potential of his golems.


    Serving as his ride, Demon Alligator Hunter''s excellent ability to travel beneath the soil had let Leon established his competitive advantage. But the lack of offensive ability was still its weakness. It was more than enough to deal with an Intermediate Apprentice, but when it comes to an Advanced Apprentice, its ability falls short. And if were to face a Pseudo-Mage, the overly loose body structure made it unable withstand even just a single blow.


    Now, the arrival of the Rock Snake had made up for the weakness of having insufficient offensive power. A Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake alone might not be enough to fight with an agile Pseudo-Mage, but how about two Rock Snakes? Or maybe three?


    With a great determination and effort, it only took Leon three days to turn two new Pseudo-Mage level Earth element cores into two brand new Rock Snakes. With the protection from both of them, if he were to face with the very same Fallen Pseudo-Mage from the previous encounter, he wouldn''t be beaten into such a sorry state like last time, which nearly cost him his life in the Underground World.


    ...

 Chapter 86 - 86: Goblin Dreams

    After a period of research, Leon had roughly discovered some new techniques in using his Golems. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Demon Alligator Hunter was an Advanced Apprentice level Golem; using it would occupy two points of his Spirit. Such occupancy would last as long as the Golem is still in use. Meanwhile, the Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake would occupy three points of his Spirit. This also meant that if Leon go all out in battle, with his eleven points of Spirit (Circlet of Nobility gave him +1 in Spirit), he could only maintain one Demon Alligator Hunter and two Rock Snakes in the battlefield.


    After all, he still needed to conserve some Spirit in order to cast necessary magic spells.


    This was the best result after extensive calculations of the Chip and the advantage brought by the unique magical arrays, which had greatly reduced the Spirit requirement of the golems. If it was some other magical golem that was ordinarily made, with Leon''s current Spirit, he would only be able to maintain a single Rock Snake for his battles.


    One of the main reason for such situations is often caused by the unique characteristics of a Golem.


    Golems and those commonly seen Titans were different.


    Titans were human-liked creations with a fixed body created using huge amounts of rare resources. Because they have massive builds, there''s plenty of space on their bodies allowing the creator to draw all kinds of magical runes and special magic arrays. Naturally, a creation produced with this method had the Spirit requirement for its user reduced to the minimum level.


    In most cases, during a battle, the user only needed to give the Titan the simplest commands which it will follow unless otherwise ordered, and then the user could relinquish his control afterwards.


    But Golems were different. Before they were summoned, they didn''t have a fixed body, its manifestation was similar to magical summoning, with the only difference of having a Golem replacing the random outworld creature that would have been summoned. This was the reason why a Golem would consume Leon''s Spirit when it was in use.


    Also, a Golem doesn''t have a massive body that could let its creator freely put his talent in magical arrays to use. In order to carve a sufficient amount of control-type magical arrays and energy system in the chicken egg-sized Elementium core, it was simply an extremely strict challenge to the skill of the Golem creator.


    To be honest, with the help of the Chip, Leon being capable of creating powerful Rock Snake Golems was already a jaw-dropping achievement.


    Comparing the combat strength of both creations, the Titan, which possessed a unique body was no doubt stronger than a Golem who was summoned temporarily. But since the beginning, Leon could only create Golems but not a Titan, the main reason was... Titans occupied a huge amount of space, and it was not convenient to carry around.


    Take the cheapest Clay Titan as an example. A Clay Titan which wasn''t equipped with any magical equipment already weigh three hundred kilograms, standing at 2.4 meters tall. A giant like this was indeed powerful, but how was Leon going to bring it into a battlefield?


    Even in non-combat mode, a big guy like this was near impossible to pack and carry around. Also, its massive weight would mean a consumption of a lot of magic energy, thus, depending on the Titan''s ability to absorb the magical Elementium in the air wasn''t dependable as it wasn''t enough to supply its need in combat.


    Therefore, a Titan which possessed a fixed body was more likely to be used as a guardian for an Mage Tower or some important magical equipment. During normal times, they would be hidden in a secret spatial void, motionless. Making their magical energy consumption be at the lowest level. Whenever they were needed for a battle, the preset alert mechanism would then activate them, and then churn them out from the void in order to repulse the enemy or annihilate the intruder.


    To achieve all these, it required the support of a massive energy storage inside of an Mage Tower.


    With all these characteristics, it has been decided that Leon could only fight with the help of Golems. After all, bringing an egg size core everywhere he went was so much easier and concealable than bringing along a Titan which could shake the earth with every step it takes.


    As a result, in order to maximize the help of the Golems, while Leon continued to improve the fighting potential of his Golems, he''s also trying his best in increasing his Spirit. After all, his Spirit was directly related to the number of Golems he could use in his future battles.


    That''s why, on the fourth day after his safe return to the Mage Tower, and after his Physique increased to 3.82, he consumed another bottle of Mind Concentrating Potion. This time, it added 0.7 to Leon''s Spirit, slightly lower than the previous increase of 0.75.


    By continuously consuming the same type of magic potion, the result it yielded the next time would be lesser, until it had no more effect to its consumer. This was a normal phenomenon that had been thoroughly researched by Mages, and no one could do anything about it.


    The reason behind this phenomenon was because of the body''s natural resistance to drugs. After consuming the same type of magical potion for a long period of time, the residue of the drug that was hard to remove would accumulate in the body, reducing the magical effect of the same drug. Though this was a progressive process, but it did exist.


    So, after consuming the Mind Concentrating Potion, Leon''s body attributes were as below.


    Compared to last time, Leon''s Spirit had gained an increase of 1.07. 0.70 was gained through the Mind Concentrating Potion, while 0.37 was earned through the magical energy meal set and his daily meditation. Based on a rough calculation, if this 1.07 of increment was exchanged into magic crystals, it would cost around 350-400 magic crystals.


    This numerical figure had made Leon believe that a successful Apprentice Mage was indeed fostered by a huge amount of magic crystals.


    ...


    It was noon time. After finishing a tiring business deal in the morning, the most successful goblin merchant in the Mage Tower could be seen walking at a brisk pace toward its own room.


    Ever since it earned its first barrels of gold from Leon, Snorlax had rented a room beside its master''s residence as its own cozy home. Every day, it was only to report the daily result to its master at the evening, then it could spend the rest of the day at its leisure.


    Having a good night''s sleep, counting the money until its hands cramp.


    To be honest, a pleasant life like this was the perfect lifestyle it had always dreamed of. However, this dream was never realized when it was following the Second Grade Mage, it also never came true when it was still roaming in the Underground World, but instead, its dream was actually realized after it became the follower of an Apprentice Mage.


    For that reason, for the past few days, it had become totally insane, spending all its day bustling around.


    During daytime, it would spend all of its time in the apprentice market, using its eloquence and innate talent to earn a steady stream of magic crystals. At the evening, after enjoying its meal, it would dwell inside of its simple room, counting all the magic crystals it earned during daytime over and over again. In fact, every night it was sleeping in the middle of all the magic crystals it earned.


    But the smart Snorlax also knew one thing, it was that mysterious master behind it that gave it all these. Without the financial support and total delegation of this mysterious master, it was just a green-skinned goblin that was looked down by all Apprentice Mages. It wouldn''t even have the right to yell in the middle of these apprentices.


    Despite spending all day and surrounding Snorlax with honeyed words, it could still see that deep inside of the Beginner Apprentices'' eyes, there was still a hint of disdain that cannot be hidden by them. What they respected was not Snorlax, but the mysterious master was behind it.


    Despite having extraordinary talent, without a powerful master as the clever goblin''s backup, the only ending for it would be being pushed onto the ground, having its face branded with the mark of a slave, then thrown into the dark and wet dungeon, feeding on the leftover food of humans, yet carrying out tedious and laborious jobs.


    Snorlax was aware of all these, because before it was chosen as the test subject by the master Mage, that was the life it went through!


    Compared to that, although its current master wasn''t as powerful as the previous one, but after indulging in such a lifestyle, it had never even thought of escape anymore. Most of the time, it even kept hoping that a lifestyle like this could last forever!


    Filling its mind with endless fantasies, it used the rune talisman tied around its waist and a magical password to open up the door of its room. But upon entering, it was immediately stopped by a strong smell of blood.


    In just one morning, its room had transformed into a bloody and frightening slaughter house. Meanwhile, its lovely yet mysterious master was seen standing in front of a bloody autopsy table, seriously examining a strange body that had been dissected completely.


    He was seen holding a dissecting knife, wearing a pair of deerskin gloves fully stained with blood, and a long white robe that was covered in blood as well. It wasn''t hard to tell that he was busy working on an autopsy experiment.


    It looked like its master was a rookie in the biological autopsy.


    Even though Snorlax never personally dissected any creature, but it had spent a long time in the laboratory of a Second Grade Mage. Influenced by what it saw during that period of time, Snorlax actually possessed a richer knowledge in autopsy than Leon. If it was a necromancer apprentice, he would never make an autopsy experience into such a bloody scene.


    Which part to cut, how to avoid the blood vessels of the creature, all these were the basic skills of a necromancer apprentice, thus it was impossible to drag himself into such a messy state. Therefore, Snorlax was sure that it must be the first time its master carried out such an autopsy experiment.


    As the loyal servant of its master, how could it just sit back and ignore the awkward situation its master was facing right now?


    Moving over a small stool, Snorlax climbed up on it and started to passionately give advice and suggestions to its master, it wasn''t even afraid of being dirty and personally helped out to move the body of Lizardman so that its master could dissect the creature on a better position.


    Surprisingly, Snorlax actually turned into a tutor who possessed an excellent magical knowledge, wittingly or unwittingly starting to guide Leon on his first ever autopsy experience. Of course, because of the patience of the teacher, and the devoutness of the learner, none of them actually felt anything wrong with their current roles.


    Therefore, with the ''assistance'' of Snorlax, Leon smoothly completed his first autopsy exercise.


    It was right until Leon satisfyingly removed his deerskin glove, throwing them together with his long white robe into a dustbin beside the autopsy table, did Snorlax suddenly realize its ''rude'' behavior. It quickly rush off the small wooden stool, squatting down beside the stool and waited for the punishment of its master.


    "You''ve done great today. It looks like you learned quite a lot of things from that Second Grade Mage. I''ll have you as my assistant in my future autopsy exercises." Leon gave Snorlax a warm smile, and then continued saying, "Get up! Do you really think I''ll punish you for something that you never did wrong, just because of my pride? Alright, clean up the place, it''s time for lunch!"


    Conveniently tossing away the rubbish in his hand, Leon turned around and returned to his own room, leaving behind Snorlax who had a blank expression.


    Looking over its shoulder at the bloody ''slaughter house'', it sniffed the pungent smell of blood and after thinking for some time, Snorlax finally understood why its master didn''t want to put this autopsy station in his own room.


    He must be afraid the smell would affect his appetite!


    This was a really special master. Snorlax murmured inwardly.


    ...


    2124 Words

 Chapter 87 - 87: A Fire Lords Scepter!

    The Underground World had been in turmoil recently.


    This was the message that Kevin had specifically brought when he had paid Leon a visit.


    Of course, Kevin hadn''t visited him just to inform him of this message, but to also bring along the chief officer of Lothar Merchant who had been stationed in this place. The purpose for their visit was to purchase those Blood Garnets that had been awarded to Leon and Bleia in mine number seven.


    Having spent some time identifying them, Leon determined that these Blood Garnets were rather special magical materials. Those that were mainly used in crafting some types of unique magical items, however, they were of no help to the Golem that he needed now. Perhaps because of this, Leon briskly gave all six Blood Garnets that he and Bleia had owned to the Lothar Merchant and let them handle the sale.


    As for the fee, Leon had not asked for magic crystals, but instead had requested them to exchange all the profits into Pseudo-Mage level Elementium cores. In response to his request, the chief officer had agreed with a smile all over his face.


    Since Leon had been willing to give away his Blood Garnet, the chief officer was able to complete his half-yearly target. Additionally, since Leon didn''t accept the magic crystals and was willing to exchange them for Elementium cores with Lothar Merchant, the chief officer was able to complete two transactions in one go! How could he not be happy?


    The reason why Leon had acted so briskly earlier was because he had found out that this Lothar Merchant was supported by the Mage Angus whom he had been dealing with this entire time and that both Kevin and Mage Angus had belonged to the same family ¨C the Byron family.


    Due to these two reasons, Leon had agreed to the request of this chief officer without any hesitation, as it would also serve as a friendly gesture towards the Mage Angus. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To reciprocate Leon''s friendly gesture, before leaving with satisfaction, Kevin showed a warmer attitude to their friendship. Secretly, he told Leon that if there was anything in the future that Leon wasn''t able to solve by himself, Leon could definitely pay a visit to Mage Angus. Regardless of whether it was the purchase of knowledge or exchange of resources, Mage Angus would be sure to give him the best discount!


    In less than half a day, the Pseudo-Mage level Elementium cores that Leon had requested were delivered to him. There was a total of four Elementium cores, one of the Earth element, two of the Water element and one of the Wind element. In addition to the cores, he also received map of the entire Underground World which clearly marked every detail that had been discovered so far. However, this map could only be used as a reference, because it was very tough to perfectly line it up with the actual terrain and one needed to consider the changes in terrain.


    Leon had finally understood that the only thing that could help him establish the competitive advantage in future battles was a large quantity of Golems. There were many benefits that the Golems brought: they were convenient and fast, easy to hide, and could be owned in large quantities. If the conditions permitted, Leon even wished that he could build an army of Golems that would obey his every single command.


    If anyone so much as looked at him the wrong, he wouldn''t need to take care of them himself. With just with a signal from his eyes, a swarm of Golems would flood the enemy in an instant.


    Of course, such fantasy could only be realized in the distant future. As for now, however, he could only continue carefully crafting his team of Golems.


    Yes, Leon had already had a tentative idea ¨C using a variety of Golems and combining different tactics to effectively use the full combat force for each type of Golem. Since he had spent most of his time in the Underground World recently, he preferred to craft more Earth element Golems. However, considering the potential changes to the future battlefields he would encounter, he would have to prepare in advance.


    The Water and Wind element Golems were in preparation for his future.


    Especially a Wind element Golem, owning one of them meant that Leon would had a free flying demon pet, thus he would no longer have to worry about traveling long distances anymore.


    After the Chip had scanned those Elementium cores, Leon ordered it to start drafting the most suitable design for the Golems. Once this had commenced in an orderly fashion, Leon took the crystal ball and quietly gave the data and records stored inside a thorough study.


    Within the dark screen, he could only see bright dots on the uppermost layer. Even though it was just the uppermost layer, it had still been completely formed by numerous winding and twisting tunnels, cracks, secret passages, valleys, and water channels. Countless caves and caverns were marked in between making them look like the dazzling stars in the night sky. While there were innumerable passages that connected all locations, most of them were impassable by normal human beings.


    On this map, the spaces where one was only allowed to stay temporarily were marked in green, while the passable passages were marked with tiny blue lines. In between those dense and complicated arrays of blue and green were countless glowing red dots. These were the rough distribution of the currently known underground creatures, colonies and demons.


    Of course, in this three-dimensional map of the uppermost layer of Underground Cave, Leon wasn''t find any information related to the ruin of Elysium City.


    For this reason, Leon called upon Snorlax and asked it to point to the exact location of that Mage treasure. After spending half a day seriously studying the map, Snorlax finally pointed to a region. Leon didn''t see any indication of a city in that region. Instead, he saw a large patch of red that represented danger.


    In the Underground World, there were many regions filled with dangers that made no outsider want to step into them. Usually, either those regions had a harsh natural environment that no apprentice would be able to endure or they housed some extremely dangerous demons. No matter the reason, they were all dangerous regions that all Apprentice Mages had to handle with extreme care.


    Looking at the dazzling red glow on the map, Leon couldn''t help but start to hesitate.


    Judging from the brightness of the color, the region was a dead zone where even Pseudo-Mages would be faced with danger. Hence, when Snorlax pointed at it without the slightest hesitation, it seemed rather logical that it was the right place.


    Since the ancient era, Mages liked to build all sorts of laboratories in their own residence. From Snorlax''s description, Leon could tell that this Second Grade Mage had been an expert in biological modification. However, once his laboratory was abandoned, there was a very high chance that those mutants, golems and the magical energy that had been stored in the laboratory could irreversibly contaminate that particular region.


    It would have been fine if those mutants or modified creatures had died, but if a powerful fellow was lucky enough to have survived, those Apprentice Mages who went to explore the region would be facing a frightening monster similar to an Mage. Though Snorlax claimed it knew the magical password for some of the laboratories, the potential risk still held Leon back.


    While Leon was hesitating, a message from Snorlax boosted his confidence to take the risk.


    A Fire Lord''s Scepter!


    There was actually a Fire Lord''s Scepter in a secret chamber of that Second Grade Mage!


    For others, this Fire Lord''s Scepter was merely a powerful magical item that could summon three Pseudo-Mage level Fire Spirits every day. But for Leon, it had an inexplicably special use.


    With Leon''s elemental affinity of Fire, he could totally use this scepter to construct a Teleportation Gate to get to Fire Elementium Plane. By doing so, he would have an endless supply of Fire element cores. And once his overall strength reached a powerful stage, he could even try to occupy a territory in the Fire Elementium Plane and become a true Fire Lord himself.


    Putting aside everything else, just take those Elementium cores that Leon had been gathering. Perhaps most of them weren''t even produced in his own plane, but were harvested from those other Elementium Planes.


    The entire multiverse was boundless and deep. It was completely filled with elemental energies that came in all forms, which would eventually compose into a vast ocean of energy. Meanwhile, different planes were like islands ¨C isolated from each other and floating in this vast ocean of energy.


    Each plane was a completely different world of its own ¨C from earth, mountains, rivers to oceans, sky and living beings, nothing was lacking. But, when each plane was born, they were mixed with an imbalanced Elementium energies, thus making each plane show a totally different and unique characteristic.


    The plane where the world of Mage resided was a major one that was extremely suitable for the survival of living things. However, when the control of the plane fell into the hands of Mage who rose abruptly, the characteristics of the plane had changed as well and deviated towards the chaotic yet powerful energy of magic.


    And as for the Elementium Planes mentioned just now, when they were born, they resided in a region where a single Elementium gathered. Hence, when these planes had matured, they became a plane with a single Elementium.


    In an ordinary material plane, the distribution of Elementium matters would be nearly balanced. Earth Elementium gathered together forming mountains, hills, plains and different terrains. Water Elementium gathered together to form into streams, lakes, and ocean. Wind Elementium brought clouds, rains, thunder and lightning to material planes, while Fire Elementium brought lava, volcanoes, and life.


    Due to the collection of these Elementiums, it gave birth to numerous perfect material worlds that flourish and became the breeding ground for all living things.


    Elementium Planes, on the other hand, weren''t like these worlds.


    Take the Fire Elementium Plane that attracted Leon the most. Although there were mountains, hills, oceans and lakes, the basic Elementium that constructed them all were Fire Elementium. Inside of that plane, the mountain, the ocean, even the sky was on fire.


    Of course, a world like this was not suitable for the survival of normal living things, but it actually gave birth to Fire element creatures that used Fire element energy as their source of life: Fire Spirits, Fire Giants, Lava Hounds, Fire Deities, Fire Hawks, Magma Core Giants, Fire Demons, Fire Element Elders, Fire Lords, Fire Kings... It was a world ruled by Fire element creatures and similar to the human world, they also had a well-structured ruling hierarchy, based on the overall strength of each individual.


    If Leon really wished to have a great achievement in the Fire element, then sooner or later, he would have to visit the Fire Elementium Plane.


    The World of Mage was, after all, a major plane in itself. As invading and occupying was an Mage''s second nature, an Mage loved to search for new material planes in the vast ocean of stars. Once they found one, they would invade them straightaway, pulling them onto the bandwagon of planes that kept expanding at a rapid rate.


    Even with the cruel and ruthless characteristic of Mages, though they had long found the coordinates of these Elementium Planes, not even one Mage ever dreamt of conquering an Elementium Plane and making it into an auxiliary plane of the Mage World. The reason was that all these Elementium Planes were frightening major planes. Just judging from their overall strength alone, if the Mage World really connected these Elementium Planes, perhaps the happiest party would be those unambitious Elementium creatures.


    At that point in time, perhaps it would not be not the Mages who would happily carve up the massive resources of Elementium Planes, but the countless Elementium creatures who would swarm into the Mage World and turn this place into a brand new Elementium Plane.


    Therefore, in the rules of the Mage World, all Mages held a very careful attitude when managing the Teleportation Gate that connected to any major plane. Because even the slightest mismanage could have devastating consequences!


    ...


    2083 Words

 Chapter 88 - 88: Looking for

    Although it was impossible to verify in the meantime if the treasure of the Mage that was mentioned by Snorlax was real, it was still totally worth it to take some risks just for it.


    After all, for Leon who was giving his all in becoming an official Mage, an item which a Second Grade Mage turned his nose up might be a priceless treasure that he couldn''t even buy with a hefty price. Therefore, after roughly determining the location of that ruined Elysium City, Leon started planning on how he could go there and find out the actual situation on site.


    Judging from the location displayed on the map, it was located in the innermost area of the shallow layers in the Underground Cave. The distance between it and the surface was just seventeen miles as the crow flies, but it was deep within core area with abundant underground creatures. According to the data on the map, there existed a few large colonies of underground creatures that could be found at the surrounding area of the suspected site, including many powerful underground creatures which wandered around in the Underground World.


    (DragonFly: As the crow flies means the shortest path between two points in a map, disregarding the vagaries of intervening terrain)


    If he really wanted to explore the area, lacking a proper preparation wouldn''t be anything different from putting himself on a silver plate and placing in front of those evil and cruel creatures!


    For the past few days, Bleia was quite busy in strengthening and improving her overall strength, and had been running her feet off all day. When Leon finally found an opportunity to tell her about his plan, unlike her usual impulsive temper, she didn''t jump on board and agree to Leon''s idea. Instead, with a very calm manner, she told Leon that she had found herself a way to improve her combat strength, and was currently busy working on it, thus she couldn''t join him in this mission.


    Therefore, Leon naturally handed over the control of Snorlax to Bleia, asking her to keep an eye on this cunning little guy, while he focused all of his attention on preparing the resources he needed for the Underground World expedition.


    When he finally had everything ready, Leon paid a visit to Kevin, informing him that he was going to find some Dark Grasses in the Underground World, using it as an excuse to sneak into the Underground Cave.


    ...


    Honestly saying, the Underground Cave wasn''t a place suitable for travel and sightseeing.


    For any surface creature who were still mentally sound that stepped into the Underground Cave for the first time, the biggest change in behavior they showed was an extremely oppressive emotion. Whenever they thought of the possibility that there were thousands of tons of dirt and rocks above their head which might collapse and flood them at any moment, no creature could remain calm as they usually do in the surface. Meanwhile, in the Underground Cave, any irrational behavior would have the possibility to expose one''s whereabout, which in turn would attract a swarm of predators.


    For the sake of this trip, Leon had gone all out. Besides from the Demon Alligator Hunter he was riding with, he also had three Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snakes placed in his waist pouch. If he really bumped into some enemies that he need to fight, he would risk his life and unleashed all three Rock Snakes at once. With that, he didn''t believe there would still be any enemy that could stop him from fleeing with his life intact.


    As for the two Water element cores and two Wind element cores, Leon was still in the process of refining the design for their magical arrays. He estimated that he would have some results after the end of this trip to the Underground World.


    Upon entering the boundary of Underground Cave, Leon immediately summoned the Demon Alligator Hunter and sunk into the soil, following the direction shown on the map and kept venturing deeper into the ground. Every time after he traveled for some distances, Leon would always drive Demon Alligator Hunter to squeeze out into a random dark tunnel, making sure he was still on the right course.


    Using such method, in just slightly over three hours, Leon had already reached the depth of about ten miles under the ground. But the deeper he went, the slower the speed he could travel underground.


    Huge chunks of metal ores, large stretches of rock formations, all these had become the obstacles that Leon couldn''t penetrate through while he was traveling in the soil. Inside the soil where no light was present, Leon''s spiritual sense could, at most, cover a distance of nearly twenty meters. Trying to find a path that led straight to his destination under such circumstances was no doubt extremely difficult.


    Therefore, after running into rock walls several times, Leon had no choice but leave the soil and enter into a random tunnel. What to do? When traveling in a totally unfamiliar region like this, using the ready-made tunnels that were excavated by the underground creatures was so much more easier than poking his nose randomly in the pitch-black sea of soil.


    Inside the dark and wet tunnel, Leon took out his crystal ball, and used it to once again confirm his current position. After that, he continued his journey following the path of a tunnel descending into a path of darkness.


    Sitting high up on the flat back of the Demon Alligator, Leon could be seen wearing a thick and sturdy traveler robe, with the Circlet of Nobility mounted on his forehead, while his eyes were hidden behind a pair of strange looking Gnome Goggles. Through the night vision of the goggles and his Elementium Vision that could see through all Elementium, the tunnel had turned into a totally different and bizarre world inside of Leon''s eyes.


    The background color of his entire field of view was green, and even though everything seemed dark, he could still have a very clear vision on every single object. Within his field of view, everything that had the Elementium aura would glow with their own unique Elementium color, even though they were hiding behind a big stalagmite, or stuck inside some rock cracks. Physically, they might have an excellent disguise, but there was no way they could hide their colorful glows from Leon''s eyes.


    According to the brightness of their glow that was represented in the Elementium Vision, Leon could easily estimate their strengths even from a very far distance.


    Those weaker creatures would be handled by Demon Alligator Hunter. With just a few dirt spears, their concealed bodies would be instantly impaled. When their warm blood burst out of their broken bodies, the last trace of their life aura would soon vanish from Leon''s vision. If they bump into stronger creatures, Leon would summon his Rock Snakes, using their extremely strong body to crushed their enemies into meat paste.


    That''s why along their journey, those underground predators that were scattered around had finally met their slayers. Before they could wait for their prey to get closer, every single one of them would be killed at the place where they were hiding for an ambush.


    Although these solo predators were relatively easy to handle, but the underground colonies which gathered in a large group around the passage Leon must pass through were much tougher to deal with. For example, the Tunnel of Gnolls, the Nest of Lizardmen, even Leon wouldn''t dare to provoke them easily. Or else, if they come out in full force, even though he could still defeat them, he would have alerted all the monsters who lived in this region.


    Yet, without Leon''s knowledge, when he stealthily passed through the Tunnel of Gnolls, right at a dark and wet shadowy corner where he just went passed, a skinny body suddenly stood up from the ground.


    This was an old Gnoll who had one foot in the grave already. There wasn''t much muscle that could be found on its skinny body, and an antique looking black dagger was hanging down on its waist, while its old body could barely stand straight. But when it narrowed its murky yet cold eyes and looked into the direction where Leon disappeared, an awe-inspiring aura of a strength gradually emanated from its body, nearly freezing air in the surroundings.


    "Leader, that human has headed towards the direction of the ruins!" A dark figure suddenly emerged from the shadows.


    "Let him be! He is just merely an Intermediate Apprentice, there is nothing much he can do there." Two tiny flames could be seen igniting within the bloodshot eyes of the old leader of Gnolls. "Further down is the territory of the Lizardmen. Using their advantage in numbers, these damnable fellows kept us from getting close to the ruins. We''ll let this small bug in, perhaps he could cause some troubles for them!"


    "I understand! Your subordinate will make the necessary arrangements now, I''ll let our brothers at the sentry post to let him pass." The dark figure bowed, and soon dissolved into the darkness again.


    Leon was still slowly moving further down in the darkness. For some unknown reasons, he kept feeling a chill on his back, as if a shivering breeze was able to penetrate through his thick coat and entered his body, which caused him to tremble slightly.


    Damn it, where did this bad omen come from?


    Never once in his life did Leon wished something very much. He wished he knew some magical knowledge about predictions and whatnot. Even if he just knew the tiniest bit of it, he would be able to briefly predict which direction the danger was coming from. That would allow him to make some preparations beforehand.


    Leon even secretly took out the Screaming Branch and examined it a few times but he didn''t find anything unusual on it. This meant the danger was on its way, but the target wasn''t necessarily him. Could the danger come from inside the ruins?


    While he was pondering quietly, Leon put up an even more rapid scan at his surroundings that was hidden in darkness.


    By right, with the see through ability of his Elementium Vision, no Elementium user could get near him without alerting him. But in this Underground World, besides from those frightening demons, what kind of creature could pose a threat to his life?


    Leon''s brain was spun at high speed as he kept pondering about his situation. Various data of powerful underground creatures that was stored in the Chip flashed through his mind one after another. Suddenly, a few creatures aroused Leon''s vigilance.


    Gnoll Hunter... Lizardman Assassin...


    It seems that this region is part of their territories. As these two bizarre underground creatures weren''t classified as demons, that also meant there wasn''t any Elementium energy present in their bodies. However, in the list of dangerous underground creatures of Underground Cave, their names were still listed at the top. This meant even without relying on the power of Elementium, they still possessed enough fighting ability that could make just about anyone tremble in fear.


    Leon''s heart became heavy.


    With regards to these creatures who became excellent fighters just by using their intrepid bodies, it was very difficult for the Elementium Vision to detect them, while night vision fared even worse. Perhaps even Bleia''s infrared vision would not be of too much use here. So, how could he detect these bizarre and nasty fellows?


    When Leon was panicking, the Chip finally came out with useful information.


    The ability of Full Matching Field of View!


    This was a method of using spiritual sense that only Leon could achieve.


    For every short distance he traveled, Leon could always make a backup of the terrain feedback coming from his night vision and Elementium Vision. After that, using the incredible Field of View Matching ability of the Chip, he could find out the slightest difference in two terrain images that were captured in different times. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If there was really a cold-blooded assassin hiding around Leon, so long as it moved along with him, there would be a slight difference in the shadow where it was hiding. Nobody could detect such difference with just their naked eyes, but nothing could escape from the Full Matching Field of View provided by the Chip.


    So long as he discover them, the threat they posed to him would be reduced by at least 80%.


    At that time, it would not be them who can create trouble from the dark, but instead, Leon would be able to give their arrogance a fierce punishment!


    ...


    2116 Words

 Chapter 89 - 89: Lizardmen vs Demon Alligator

    The darkness was filled with twisted shadows, stalagmites, stalactites and rocks of all shapes and forms that occupied nearly every part of one''s vision. Inside the spacious and quiet cavern, even the slightest of noise would ripple through the winding tunnel and reach a very far distance.


    From high up on the back of the Demon Alligator, a grim blue light could be seen flicking through Leon''s eyes.


    Though he had been surrounded by complete silence, Leon''s mind was filled with a streak of warning tones. It seemed that a large group of enemies were approaching!


    An indistinct crackling sound rang through the air, as the fiery red Fire Shield made its dazzling appearance and started to hover around Leon''s body. The Chip was busy calculating in Leon''s mind and matching countless real-time images with each other. Numerous tiny differences that no naked eye could ever detect were found by the Chip''s incredible ability and projected onto Leon''s retina one after another.


    Leon turned his head towards a hanging stalactite on his left. He saw a shadow there that seemed thicker than before. Following a gentle stomp of his feet, the Hunter who was mounted in front of him raised its hand into the air and formed a razor sharp, earthy yellow dirt spear in its grip.


    With a twist of its body, the Hunter threw out the dirt spear in its hand using all its force. The spear instantly turned into a yellow bolt of lightning and nailed into the shadow in an instant.


    From Leon''s field of view, he hadn''t noticed anything at that spot, neither any reaction of Elementium nor any life aura. However, following the piercing of the dirt spear, he heard a muffled sound of flesh being pierced through, immediately followed by a shrill cry that rang out through the once dead silence.


    A commotion broke out through the darkness, as a human-like figure with tiny dark green scales completely covering its body suddenly showed up. The dirt spear had pierced through its chest and nailed it onto the stalactite.


    Warm blood was dripping down from the tip of the dirt spear. The human-like figure started to struggle restlessly. However, the more it struggled, the bigger the wound formed by the piercing of the dirt spear became and the fiercer the blood burst out.


    Pop!


    A second dirt spear sliced through the air, piercing through its head straightaway. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The movement of the figure came to a complete halt instantly. It was now hanging on the stalactite motionless, leaving behind only the crystal clear sound of blood dripping down in this quiet cavern.


    In the next moment, Leon raised his head and looked up at the ceiling of the darkened cave.


    The height from the ground to the ceiling was over tens of meters long. Due to the lack of light, even with him vision, Leon could only see a vague image. However, following the Hunter''s throwing of two dirt spears, another skinny, yet robust figure was seen falling down from the ceiling.


    The two dirt spears had pierced through its right chest and left leg, but hadn''t been able to claim its life. However, as it was lying on the hard cold ground painfully giving its dying kicks, the gigantic foot of Demon Alligator suddenly appeared in its line of sight.


    A muffled boom broke out through the silence, followed by the sound of a watermelon being crushed was heard in the cavern.


    Leisurely and slowly, the Demon Alligator continued its movement and strode away. Once its leg left the ground, the place where the human-like creature had been lying was instead replaced by a pile of crushed meat, making it impossible to identify its original shape, species or even gender.


    A sharp whistle suddenly echoed in the darkness.


    When the whistle resounded throughout the entire cavern, from the far-reaching darkness, countless shadows approached him at high speeds. Judging from the size of the group, perhaps there were more than hundreds of them.


    Twangs of bowstring burst out through the darkness, as noises of sharp object piercing through the air rang out from all directions. The arrows sliced through the air and were targeted at Leon who was covered by a raging flame all over his body.


    Aww! So they were going for a gang fight!


    Leon dared not underestimate his enemy. Without any hesitation, he dispelled the Fire Shield that was hovering around his body and then merged himself with the gigantic body of Demon Alligator ¨C it looked as if he was sinking into a muddy swamp.


    Right when Leon had disappeared, countless sharp arrows instantly struck at the back of Demon Alligator where he had been previously standing. All the arrowheads were flickering with a greenish glow; clearly, the arrowheads had some unknown poisons applied onto them.


    Like the Demon Alligator, the Hunter''s body had also been stuck by multiple arrows, however it showed no concern at all. With both hands continuously grabbing into the air over its head, it kept forming one dirt spear after another. Each spear had a length of one and a half meter. Without stopping its movements, it fired these dirt spears into those Lizardmen who had shown themselves in the far distance.


    Some of the spears were dodged by the Lizardman hunter and assassin, some shattered after hitting the stalagmites that blocked their path, and some hit right on target, eliminating the enemy in the total darkness.


    It was worth mentioning that the bodies of the Lizardman were overly delicate and slender. In order not detract from the agility and speed of their movement, their body hadn''t evolved with thick and dense hard scales like some of those huge size demons. Instead, they were given layers of tiny, light, dark-green scales, whose function was only to prevent the leaking of their body temperature.


    This evolution had given them with the incredible ability to move stealthily in the darkness of the Underground Cave, but it also made their defense so weak that they couldn''t even withstand a single blow. Regardless of which part of their body had been pierced through by the cup-sized dirt spear, it would instantly become a frightening injury. Their delicate bodies just weren''t able to withstand an attack like this.


    As they were facing of against an Elementium Golem, made entirely of clay, the poison arrows they usually used couldn''t bring them their desired effect. Left with no other option, these Lizardman hunters were forced to pull out their short daggers and run through the rock walls and stalagmites to leap onto the giant Demon Alligator that kept pushing its way forward.


    At this moment, their weakness ¨C the lack of a magically enhanced weapon ¨C had become clear.


    Though the weapon produced from the unique underground metal was extremely sharp, most of them were overly thin and short. A weapon like this could never break through the clay armor of Demon Alligator. Numerous Lizardmen surrounded the Demon Alligator and kept attacking it, using their dagger to shed off countless dirt chunks from its clay armor. However, within seconds, following the flash of an earthy yellow light ring, the clay armor had once again been restored to its original condition.


    They weren''t to defeat Demon Alligator, but Demon Alligator could easily kill them off.


    Though the attack frequency of Demon Alligator was rather slow, every time it cast an AoE Spikes spell, it would always claim the lives of three to five Lizardmen. The Demon Alligator was like a massive tank that kept moving forwards, while the Lizardmen were like a group of ignorant natives who carried bamboo sticks in their hand and bamboo arrows on their back. The gap between their strengths was simply huge. Thus, the massive casualties caused by this gap was reasonable.


    Finally, after more than half of the Lizardmen were either wounded or killed, a shrill whistle once again echoed out in the far distance from the darkness.


    Following a few deep and hoarse roars, the Lizardmen began to retreat.


    After peace had once again returned to the surroundings of the Demon Alligator, from under the covering of its thick coat, Leon finally emerged. He hesitated for a brief moment and decided not to drive Demon Alligator to pursue after the Lizardmen.


    Apparently, all of the underground populations had a very strong sense of territory. Perhaps it was because he had come too close to their habitat, that caused the Lizardmen to orchestrate their violent attack. Having suffered such a huge loss, it looked like these Lizardmen had returned to their nest to focus on defense.


    However, right when Leon drove Demon Alligator to continued his journey, he, due to his sensitive hearing, heard the miserable shrieks of Lizardmen coming from the far distance. It seemed as if a new round of battle had erupted in the darkness.


    Nevertheless, Leon showed no interest in this. He just stood up on Demon Alligator''s back, threw a few glances over into the far distance, before continuing his journey.


    Amidst a pitch-black shadow, the old Gnoll leader was hiding behind a rock pillar, looking at Leon as he strode away into the far distance. His skinny, gray, furry face showed an unconcealed expression of shock.


    Behind him, one after another, the vigorous Gnolls ran through the dark and rugged cavern as if they were on a flat surface, before leaping fiercely onto the group of defeated Lizardmen. Both parties were chasing and slaughtering each other within the darkness filled with countless rock pillars and stalactites. The muffled sounds of daggers slicing through throats kept ringing in the air.


    If this ambush mission had been carried out smoothly, maybe they would have at most been able to chase away that damn Lizardmen tribe from this region. At that point in time, all the profits found in the ruins would have belonged to the Gnolls.


    However, Gray Ear''s mind was still felt with scruples in regards to that surface apprentice who had suddenly intruded onto the inner area of the ruin.


    It waved its hand and a minion of the same species emerged from the shadows behind him.


    "Go and inform Cracked Tooth in Elysium City to pass a message to his master Fallen Mage that someone is trying to enter the ruins. Tell him that the tribe of Gray Ear had failed to stop the enemy and that we''ve suffered a huge loss, while the Lizardmen tribe of Dark Scale had been totally wiped out by the enemy!" From within the darkness, a shivering gleam flickered in the bloodshot eyes of that old Gnoll, with its pale white fangs looking extremely frightening.


    "Understand. Your subordinate will carry out your order now!"


    After slightly bending its body and bowing, the dark figure turned around and dissolved into the vast darkness.


    ...


    The further inside he went, the stronger the worry in Leon''s mind became.


    Front and back, left and right, even above his head and under his feet, the metal contained within the soil was getting denser and denser, while the exposed soil was becoming lesser and lesser. This also meant that if he encountered a frightening enemy in this area, it would be tougher for him to escape like how he usually did.


    For him, this was bad news that he really didn''t want to hear.


    But Leon had to admit, this was the perfect region to build a city.


    In order to build a city once and for all in the Underground World, in addition to taking into account living resources, mineral resources and water source in the surrounding area, the most important factor to consider was the stability and toughness of the geological structure. It was really rare to find a region like this in the Underground World, which was surrounded by countless metal ores and large stretches of stable rock stratum.


    Being able to find metal ores meant that the place would had a constant supply of resources which could attract the wandering merchants. The existence of a water source meant the place could support more lives. However, none of these are comparable to a stable ''sky''. No one wished to be crushed into meat paste by millions of tons of rock and sand during his sleep!


    Thus, when Snorlax had pointed out that this area was where the ruins of the previous Elysium City were, judging by just the terrain alone, it made perfect sense.


    Leon had passed through several habitats of different underground creatures. Perhaps as a result of the Lizardman''s defeat, all these underground creatures gathered in the far away darkness, but no one recklessly launched an attack.


    Under this intense threatening situation, the Demon Alligator had finally reached the end of its long and tiresome journey.


    When Leon passed through a huge arched door riding the Demon Alligator, the space in front of him suddenly expanded, revealing a gigantic cavern filled with bizarre and fantastical colors in front of his eyes.


    ...


    2162 Words

 Chapter 90 - 90: Forest

    A Forest!


    There was a forest in this Underground World!


    When Leon first saw this flourishing green forest, he felt dumbfounded.


    His first reaction was to use a spell to check whether it was actually real. The result assured Leon and confirmed that what he saw wasn''t caused by any illusion, but was instead an actual, genuine space within this Underground World.


    Leon stood at the cavern entrance and scanned the boundless and dense forest. He instinctively sensed a strange and twisted smell lingering in the air. He was standing on the dividing line. Taking a step back would bring him to a hard rock layer that was painted with darkness and a weak glow of metal; while taking a step forward would let him be greeted by greenish grass that touched his ankle, and tall trees and dense vines that tightly barricaded the passage. In addition to this, there were also rose and fruit bushes.


    Vaguely, through the greenery, Leon could even see the shadows of small, tiny animals that were sprinting through the forest. In the far distance, within the depths of the forest, tree branches and leaves were swaying up and down, and the howls of monkey and roars of tigers echoed across the place. This resulted in an extremely vigorous atmosphere in the forest.


    However, behind this flourishing scene, a strange energy aura could be sensed. This aura made Leon''s heart tremble.


    After three seconds, Leon had come to a conclusion. This place must be the ruins of the previous Elysium City that was mentioned by Snorlax. After the Mage Tower was destroyed, a huge amount of magical energy leaked. This frightening leakage was the direct cause of what was presented in front of Leon''s eyes.


    Every Mage Tower had an Elementium Pool built within it. It served as the source of energy for all their magical equipment. But once the Mage Tower was destroyed, the leakage of these energies would cause a tremendous and irreversible contamination to the surrounding environment. The abnormal energy level in this region was so strong that it had even caused the birth of this mutated forest.


    Yes, this was a mutated forest. However, but not those virgin forests which could be found everywhere on the surface world.


    When infected by such a strong energy, any plant or creature would violate the natural law, and grow at an incredible speed, before mutating into a totally different species. Therefore, although the forest looked normal on the outside, it was just a disguise.


    This place had become the paradise for demons!


    Leon took off the thick and sweltering traveler''s cloak from his body and wiped the sweat off his face. He took out his water bag and replenished his body with some water. After that, while sitting high up on the back of Demon Alligator, he slowly and carefully continued his journey by entering the forest.


    From the first step into this forest, anything around him could no longer be trusted.


    In fact, this seemingly blooming, evergreen demonized forest was far more fearful than the dark underground tunnel. There were far more menaces that lurked everywhere. Yet, Leon had no idea what kind of demons were waiting for him inside of this forest. However, since he had come this far, no matter what was hiding in this place, he still needed to give it a try!


    It was worth to mention, that, with the support of three Pseudo-Mage level Rock Snake Golems, Leon''s heart had become bolder.


    No doubt, walking in a forest that never been explored before was really tough.


    The ground was choked with weeds and wildflowers. Shrubs could be seen everywhere, roses and vines climbed wantonly and some of the large tree branches stretched many meters long! All of these plants grew disorderly, tightly knitted into each other. These plants filled up every single gap between the tall and old trees. Without the Demon Alligator, it would be difficult for Leon to move even a single step in this forest.


    But now, relying on the gigantic body and powerful muscle strength of the Demon Alligator, Leon was like someone who just had joined a demolishing team: crushing and ripping everything in his way. This resulted in a smooth and flat path being made in this densely grown forest.


    With every step the Demon Alligator took, wildflowers, weeds, shrubs, and bushes would turn into powder. As long as a tall and old tree got in the way of the Demon Alligator, it would be knocked down and crushed. Old trees were falling down, vines began to break off and colorful leaves flew in the air.


    However, countless bizarre scenes were hiding behind this seemingly normal situation.


    Whenever the huge feet of the Demon Alligator crushed a patch green grass, countless indistinct and strange noises could be heard coming from underneath its feet. They sounded like the cries of a baby, yet also resembled the shrill howls of bizarre demons. It was rather unsettling and forced people to cover their ears.


    When the Demon Alligator raised its feet again, Leon could see dozens of emerald green sprouts in the disc-shaped hole that was made. All the other weeds and wildflowers were crushed into a pile of greenish liquid, yet they were the only thing that survived. Not only did they survive, they even coiled up their green sprouts, like a living creature, and began to change into mouths full of sharp teeth. They began to tightly cling to the Demon Alligator''s feet and started biting like crazy.


    Under their insane attack, pieces of dirt kept falling off the Demon Alligator''s feet. In addition, its feet had started to suffer some damage.


    Meanwhile, right in front of Demon Alligator, some towering old trees were seen arduously pulling out their roots. They slowly ran away from the path the Demon Alligator would take later. However, there were still some fearless mutated plants who valiantly launched attacks at the Demon Alligator.


    These mutated plants strongly resembled a sunflower. The only difference was the middle of the petals. At the end of the thin stalk, where the bright yellow petals were blossoming, a woman''s face could be seen mounted right at the center. Their method of attack was rather primitive, as they kept spraying out venom from their tiny mouths. This venom was not only acidic, but was smelly and sticky as well.


    Many overhanging vines started to twist crazily. A frightening large mouth suddenly broke out from the end of these vines. It was full of countless tiny teeth that look frightening and sharp. If any creature passed by them, it might only take a single leap to bite off the creature''s head.


    A disgusted expression emerged on Leon''s young face.


    This forest was just like a gigantic beast in disguise. Once the Demon Alligator intruded, it instantly triggered all the snakes hiding in the bushes. If someone without sufficient strength came here by accident, they would probably find it difficult to keep even their corpse intact!


    Imagine this: without the Demon Alligator, those mutated sprouts, that hid between the ordinary grass, would cut through the soles of one''s feet. They would then squeeze into the body of the creature and begin to feast on the delicious flesh. Those old trees, who could walk freely, were most probably the Dryads who existed in the legend. Once an ordinary creature was entangled by their roots, their only ending would be suffering through the pain of having their flesh devoured by these frightening trees.


    As for those terrifying plants and snakes in disguise, they were just the companions of the Dryads. Although their individual strength wasn''t worth mentioning, there were a lot of them. It would be rather troublesome if Leon was caught by them.


    Leon slightly tilted his head upward and pointed with his finger. Beside him, a long vine, that hung from a tall and old tree, was nearly touching him. However, with this point of a finger, a flame suddenly broke out and coiled up the vine. Within the towering and scorching flame, the vine kept twisting and struggling violently, while its ferocious mouth started letting out a strange hissing sound that made one frown.


    But it was too bad. No matter how crazily it struggled, it just couldn''t escape the fate of being annihilated. The scorching flame soon devoured its body, transforming it into ashes that fell from the sky.


    Perhaps realizing this intruder was tough to handle, indistinct whispering noises could be heard coming from the depths of the forest. With great effort, countless mutated plants started to flee from the area around the Demon Alligator.


    After efficiently frightening these demonized plants, who had no idea of their limits, the Demon Alligator slowly and leisurely continued its journey into the depths of the forest.


    After they continued for a short distance, Leon looked over his shoulder. The path they came from had once again been blocked off by those strange plants. It looked like these demonized plants were not willing to let their food slip away. They still wished to feast on Leon''s corpse.


    The next wave was coming from the demons who lived in the demonized forest.


    The species who were affected by the environment the most were creatures of the forest. When they absorbed the Elementium energies that lingered in the air, they would evolve into frightening demon beasts who possessed the ability to use Elementium. However, demons and demon beasts were different. Demons weren''t the result of natural evolution. They were more like monsters created by the abnormal contamination in the environment.


    Their species were complicating and confusing and their abilities were wild and mystifying. So far, no Mage could slam their chest and brag that they understood every single demonic species. So to speak, in every unexplored virgin forest, there was a possibility of finding some new demon species. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And usually, compared to demon beasts, they were much more frightening and bizarre!


    The first wave of attackers that dashed out from the depths of the forest was a pack of mutated wolves.


    The bodies were as large as an adult cow and was dark red and bizarre looking. Most of their hair had fallen off, exposing countless lumps and dark spots. Even more strange was the fact that all of them had two heads. These heads were gruesome and frightening. They had pale white fangs and gigantic mouths. Green slime kept dripping down from the edges of their mouths, and a strange glow could be found at the end of its throat.


    Their movements were vigorous and agile, while their burly body could be compared to tigers and lions. When they leaped out from the forest in a large pack, howls that sent chills down one''s back immediately rung throughout the entire sky.


    A chain of half-transparent Wind Blades and a rain of snake-shape lightning instantly flooded the huge body of the Demon Alligator.


    Some of these double-headed wolves were prowling the outer perimeter. They kept casting spell after spell at the Demon Alligator. Some would howl and dash to the side of the Demon Alligator and use their half-inch long, sharp nails and their glowing fangs to crazily attack the clay armor of the Demon Alligator.


    Leon''s face turned slightly pale.


    With just one round of attacks, a large portion of the Demon Alligator''s clay armor had broken. If it were not for the protection of the Hunter, Leon would probably have had to face enemy''s attack directly.


    The individual overall strength of these double-headed wolves wasn''t too strong. They were, at the most, at the level of Intermediate Apprentices. But when more than a hundred giant wolves came together in a massive army, even the Demon Alligator Hunter, who had the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, would find it hard to defend against this frightening enemy!


    Leon gritted his teeth, pulled out an Elementium core and gently tossed to the ground.


    When it touched the ground, a Rock Snake, that was more frightening than the Demon Alligator, squeezed out from underneath the soil.


    The robust body of the Rock Snake was formed entirely from rocks. The internal diameter alone was slightly over two meters. When a massive object like this jumped into the pack of wolves, it signified the start of a reign of terror.


    Although the elemental and physical attacks of the double-headed wolf could shatter the Demon Alligator''s defense, they just couldn''t move or bite off anything from the rock solid body of Rock Snake. Thus, the battle between them was more like a one-sided slaughter, with the wolf pack having the miserable fate of being completely wiped out!


    ...


    2116 Words

 Chapter 91 - 91: Fairy

    Right at the heart of the forest, the ruins of an Mage Tower could be seen, the previous majestic building has now turned into a huge pile of rock fragments and debris.


    The once seven floors tall Mage Tower was now left with only the bottom three floors intact, and the collapsed brick fragments had buried all of its entrances. Meanwhile, large wild vines and flower bushes had littered all over the ruins, blanketing the entire place under a dense green foliage.


    Even so, wisps of light green smoke still rose continuously from under the debris, and the demonized plants present here in this area had become so much thicker and stronger than those outside.


    The muffled sound of footsteps came from the end of the street. Afterwards, a giant alligator appeared and strode forward, the green vines that blanketed the streets and the roof of houses could be seen retracting, revealing the traces of human activity in the past in front of the intruder.


    Following the noise of collapsing houses, an even more larger and stronger Rock Snake broke through these dilapidated houses and slithered away all over the place. Various things left a mark on its body, there were corrosive traces due to the green acid, burn marks caused by lightning strike, scars that was cut by Wind Blades, charred marks left by a fire burn... all these traces could still be evidently seen by one''s eyes, and they were the proof of how tedious and frightening the five miles journey was in the forest!


    If not because the Chip learned the elementary knowledge of Golem creation prior to this excursion, and enhanced the core of the Earth element Golem with a tempering magic array, thereby making the Earth Elementium dense enough to form hard solid rocks, just with Demon Alligator Hunter alone would be impossible for Leon to fight his way out, eventually arriving safely in the heart of this area where the ruins of the Mage Tower was situated.


    Behind their backs, the continuous roars of demons could still be heard from the forest. But strangely enough, as if they were frightened by the ferocious slaughter of Rock Snake, none of them dared to step into the innermost area of the ruins where Leon and his Golems are.


    Leon furrowed his brows, a gloomy expression surfacing upon his handsome face.


    Those were the type of demons which aren''t afraid of death. They would never allow any outsider come to this place and disrupt the source of magic energy which could give them a tremendous benefit. So the reason they dared not to pursue further was not that they were fearing at Leon''s group, but...


    Leon turned his head over and sent his glances towards the ruins blanketed in layers of demonized plants and his heart suddenly started to feel heavy.


    Could there be several stronger demons hiding in the ruins, which is why those fellows at the outer perimeter dared not to intrude in this territory? Even though it was just a speculation, but deep within Leon''s mind, he had a hunch that this was the most logical reason!


    Looking at the wisps of light green smoke, Leon suddenly had an idea.


    Although the Mage Tower looked like it was thoroughly destroyed, but part of its Elementium Pool still hadn''t completely lost its functionality. Many years had already passed but it was still working properly tenaciously. It''s a pity though that the Elementium energy gathered by it couldn''t be stored properly, that''s why they dispersed in the surrounding area, causing a tremendous transformation.


    "Go, dig out that place for me!"


    With Leon''s order, the Rock Snake moved its massive body and darted into the collapsed tower.


    Suddenly, an explosive sound burst out of nowhere, followed by a green beam piercing through the air and forcefully nailing the Rock Snake''s in the forehead. The sudden explosion of green energy quickly corroded away a fist-sized hole at the point of contact. Furiously, the Rock Snake let out a loud hiss, retreating to where it was with an incredible speed and coiled up its body.


    Leon was briefly overcome with panic. Tracing back the faded trail left in the air by the green arrow, he quickly found the attacker.


    It was a beautiful girl with a pair of translucent wings of light on her back. She had a perfectly curved body, a short dark green hair, and a small face with two emerald eyes. She was naked, with only her important body parts covered with brilliant rose branches and green vines, barely hiding her seductive figure.


    Right at this moment, she was hovering above the collapsed Mage Tower, a magical bow engraved with strange patterns held in her hands, she was staring angrily directly at Leon.


    Leon slowly gulped his saliva.


    An extremely strong green Elementium glow had flooded his Elementium Vision. If not because he had reduced the brightness of it, perhaps he wouldn''t be able to stare right at this extremely beautiful yet frightening demon.


    "Chip, can you detect the source species and overall strength level of this creature?"


    "Beep. Gathering energy aura..."


    "Analysis of the data is as follows:"


    "Source species of the demon: Fairy ¨C 70%, Flower Spirit ¨C 17%, Forest Genie ¨C 9%..." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Overall strength level: Mage level."


    "Elementium spectrum: Plant Element."


    "Scan results of magical item: Green Magical Bow. Able to unleash Elementium arrows that inflicts 30-40 points of damage. Attack Method: Single target. Also able to unleash Elementium Arrow Rain which inflicts 8-10 points of damage. Attack method: Area of Effect (30-50 meters)."


    "Scan of magical item: Armor of Rose. Seven mysterious flower branches were found growing on it. Each is capable of defending 60 points of physical damage and 40 points of elemental damage. When the damage is beyond the defending limit of the mysterious flower branch, it will be destroyed and vanish. Only when all of the flower branches disappear will the creature suffer the external attacks itself. Note: When mysterious flower branches are destroyed, a new flower branch will regrow every five minutes. Note again: Fire Elementium and Negative energy can inflict double the damage to the creature."


    When the data flowed into Leon''s mind like a waterfall, he finally couldn''t hold it in and drew in a few sharp cold breaths.


    This was extremely frightening; this was a formidable demon who had reached the level of an Mage! Also, judging from her powerful aura, perhaps even among all other demons in the area, she could be considered the most supreme existence.


    Especially when Leon found out the powerful AoE offensive ability that the magical item in her hand had, his mind was immediately filled with a raging storm, making him feel like abandoning this mission.


    Different from the magical items crafted by Apprentice Mages, the magical items that grew together with demons were the most frightening weapons. When an Apprentice Mage crafts a magical item, he would be constrained by the lack of materials and resources, thus it was impossible to use all ingredients that suited their innate elemental affinity. As a result, the final product would have limited power and doesn''t possess the characteristics of continued growth.


    As for the magical items used by demons, most of them were produced using part of the demon''s body and some rare resources. Not only were they powerful, they could also keep growing stronger following the improvement of the demon''s overall strength.


    Thus, it was pretty obvious which was a better weapon when comparing them together!


    Right when Leon was still hesitating, the powerful ''Fairy'' hovering in the sky suddenly spoke.


    "Hehehe... What a surprise, after so long, there''s still an Apprentice Mage who dares to seek his doom here! Little guy, could your master have forgotten to tell you there are some places you just can''t simply visit? But it''s too late to regret now. Be nice and surrender your flesh and soul, it has been a long time since I tasted the delicious flesh of humans... hehehe..." Upon speaking, it immediately revealed a mouth full of sharp fangs, exposing the true nature of a frightening demon.


    Damn, although it had an appearance of a beautiful woman, but it actually had a masculine and hoarse male voice. Within a split-second of time, the last bit of liking Leon had for it had vanished into thin air.


    However, before Leon could give out a response, the Fairy with indistinguishable gender had already pulled back the bowstring with its right hand, gathering the surrounding green plant element energies onto the string in an incredibly fast speed. In the next moment, more than thousands of glowing green Elementium arrows had rushed towards Leon like a raging storm.


    Not even three seconds had passed by, the Fire Shield that came out from Leon''s body and the clay armor outside of the Demon Alligator''s body already shattered from the spine-chilling attack. If not because the Rock Snake darted back to where Leon was standing and used its large and strong body to block in front of Leon, perhaps just this attack alone would bore through thousands of holes on Leon''s body.


    But even so, a glowing arrow still pierced through Leon''s shoulder. There were even some faint green energies attached to the finger sized wound, corroding his flesh and producing hissing sounds, making his forehead covered in sweat because of the severe pain.


    Leon endured severe pain and produced scorching hot flames from his fingertip, poking it in his wound. The strong Fire Elementium quickly neutralized the green energies that was left behind on the wound. After that, with his jaw tightly clenched, Leon pulled out bottles upon bottles of magical potions and medicinal paste, pouring them directly on his wound.


    The dizziness caused by the loss of blood, the feeling of weakness brought by the corrosion of green energy, the severe pain coming from the burn he himself inflicted, and the tingling sensation brought by the regeneration of his flesh as the result of magical medicines... all kinds of strange sensations mixed together, restlessly attacking Leon''s mind.


    Not daring to hide his true power anymore, Leon crazily tossed out the other two Elementium cores. Following a frightening loud boom that shook the earth, two brand new Rock Snakes squeezed out from the ground.


    Currently, Leon had 11.19 Spirit. Together with the +1 enhancement brought by the Circlet of Nobility, he had a total of slightly more than 12 Spirit points. Meanwhile, summoning a Rock Snake would consume 3 Spirit points, while the Demon Alligator Hunter would take 2 Spirit points. With the total Spirit he had now, he was barely able to support his troops.


    The Demon Alligator Hunter was carrying Leon and slowly retreated, while three gigantic Rock Snakes crazily rushed into the enemy, using their strong bodies and incredible physical damage to fight with the frightening Fairy.


    As if the sky was falling and the earth was opening up, the entire place was shaking violently!


    As usual, the Rock Snakes fought savagely and brutally!


    Their wicked attacks had made the ruins of the city deteriorate in a speed faster than normal.


    But even so, three powerful Rock Snake Golems were still not enough to overcome the terrifying ability of the Fairy. No matter if it was the glowing arrows that attack a single target or the AoE Arrow Rain, they always inflicted heavy damage to the bodies of the Rock Snakes.


    And it was clear that the Fairy was a demon possessing great agility. While flapping its wings, it was flying in between the three Rock Snakes with an incredible speed. No matter how they tried to bite or slam their foe using their bodies, they always failed to touch even slightest trace left behind by the Fairy. The only attack that could inflict a huge amount of damage to it was the AoE Sand Spray.


    Nevertheless, with the blossoming of beautiful roses on the Fairy body, a mass of green light continued to emerge around its body, helping it to block all of the physical and element damage it was supposed to receive.


    Also, this Fairy had a pretty strong melee ability. Whether it be punching or a palm strike, its tiny hands covered in a layer of greenish halo could always shatter the solid rock armor covering the Rock Snakes'' bodies easily, as if those rocks were made from tofu.


    Therefore, under the suppression of such an imbalance combat power, soon all three Rock Snakes had their bodies fully covered in scars, while you could see through the countless holes in their bodies!


    ...


    2102 Words

 Chapter 92 - 92: Strategies

    This was the first situation Leon was forced to throw away everything and flee by something other than Fallen Apprentices; a frightening Mage level Fairy had forced him scurry out of the demonized forest.


    Obviously, that frightening Fairy was a demon who was very territorial, so it just gave up the pursuit after Leon left the demonized forest. With that, Leon was fortunate enough to keep all three Rock Snakes of his, and hadn''t suffered any unrecoverable losses.


    Looking over his shoulder into the dense forest, Leon''s eyes couldn''t help but twitch. With a deep voice, he commanded the Chip, "Chip, create a mission file for Transvestite Fairy, find out the feasibility of defeating or killing it!"


    "Beep. Mission accepted... Mission File Name: Transvestite Fairy... Drafting feasible solution..."


    "Predicted offensive strategies to inflict substantial damage to Transvestite Fairy include:


    Curse Magic Spell;


    Group Attacks;


    3: Activate Project Lightning Giant;


    Destroy the True Form of the Fairy."


    Leon wrinkled his brows, then whispered, "Explain the practicality of these strategies."


    "Beep. First strategy, Curse magic spell. The target, Transvestite Fairy, is still a life form, curse magic spells can partially reduce its fighting ability. With that, Rock Snakes would have more time to break through its personal defense protecting its body.


    Second strategy, attack in a group. With the current fighting strength of the team, it is insufficient to defeat the Mage level Transvestite Fairy. In order to defeat it, it is necessary to have team members, who have strong overall strength, fighting it with each individual''s strength. The predicted combat mode is as follows...


    Third strategy, activate Project Lightning Giant. In order to stop the Transvestite Fairy from dodging Rock Snake''s attack with its incredible speed, it is necessary to have team members pin it down from close range. The members with whom this is possible include: Bloody Queen Bleia and Lightning Giant. If we choose Bloody Queen Bleia, based on the pre-battle evaluation, her mortality rate is more than 89%. Suggest Lightning Giant as the first choice.


    Fourth strategy, destroy the frue form of the Fairy. The Transvestite Fairy that appeared this time was just a parasite form. Its true form hadn''t shown up. Based on the biological characteristics of such demons, so long as the true form of the Fairy is found, with the support energy cut off, the fighting ability of the Fairy will decrease significantly."


    Leon closed his eyes and listened carefully, and kept throwing out questions after he thought about it.


    "With regards to the project Lighting Giant you mentioned, what stage are we at now? How long does it take to complete?"


    "Beep. The design of Lightning Giant has been completed. We currently lack the necessary magical materials to craft it."


    "What else do we need?"


    "Five Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores!"


    "After being successfully crafted, what will be the overall strength of Lightning Giant?"


    "Based on all the Apprentice Mage levels we know so far, upon completion, the Lightning Giant will possess the basic overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage."


    "How about in comparison to Hulk?"


    "According to results derived from basic statistics, out of one hundred matches between the completed form of Lightning Giant and Hulk, Lightning Giant would be defeated and killed in seventy-three matches, defeated and severely damaged in eleven matches, and end in a draw in sixteen matches. Based on preliminary estimates, the complete form of Lighting Giant can only use guerrilla tactics. Only by keeping an appropriate offensive distance with Hulk and attacking with lightning in between will the possibility to inflict sufficient damage to the enemy exist."


    "That means it totally can''t defeat a top level Pseudo-Mage!" Leon muttered to himself, then quietly recalled the short moment when Hulk struck.


    Though the battle was very short, but with the Chip''s function of image saving and replaying, Leon could still clearly and directly felt the frightening fighting strength Hulk showed. Extremely tough muscles and their brutal aggressive strength had given Hulk unapproachable power.


    With just one strike, he had broken Rock Snake''s base defense like it was nothing, and transferred extremely violent and powerful force into the inner body of Rock Snake. Otherwise, it was impossible for him to shatter Rock Snake''s body with just one punch and capture the summoning core straightaway.


    To be honest, after the Chip had scanned the Transvestite Fairy today, though its overall strength was Mage level, if it was to fight against Hulk, Leon wasn''t sure if the Fairy could still keep its dominating fighting style.


    If he had someone who was as strong as Hulk and could stand in front as the shield, and pulled together another four to five Pseudo-Mages who specialized in long-range magic spells, then the percentage of winning this battle would be around 20-30%. Of course, if Leon included all of his three Rock Snake Golems, the percentage would straightaway climb up to 50-60%.


    Therefore, the key to the battle was how to inflict sufficient damage to the Transvestite Fairy effectively and in a timely manner. Otherwise, if he just fought with his three Rock Snakes, the enemy would be able to rip them into pieces easily.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t get the help from Hulk, but if he did that, maybe he would have to give away most of the profits he found to someone else. According to Snorlax, there were several magical treasures that Leon was determined to get. Therefore, after giving the idea some thought, Leon decided to rely on his own strength for this mission.


    Since he couldn''t get the help from Hulk, he would have to find something else to substitute for Hulk''s position.


    The Lightning Giant project was a summoning core enhancement project that had been tailored to the Storm Giant core he obtained previously.


    For a simple Elementium core, due to its size, there was a limitation to the magical arrays that could be accommodated. It was impossible to add more powerful magical arrays on it without restriction. Therefore, currently, all the Golems that Leon crafted using Pseudo-Mage level cores were rather weak. Though they were enough to bully lower ranked opponents, once they were to face a similarly ranked opponent, the fighting strength they put out was just not satisfactory.


    In light of this, after being prompted by Leon, the Chip started enhancing the procedure of Golem crafting by trying to split the magical arrays that were all crafted on one single core to multiple cores. At a point in time, one core would serve as the bearer of the Golem''s conscious, while, using the method of energy sharing and magical arrays distribution, the rest of the cores would serve as the key nodes that constructed a brand new type of Golem.


    With this method, Leon would be able to maximize the limited space on each core by fitting more enhancement magical arrays onto each one of them, and eventually produce an even more powerful Elementium Golem.


    Of course, in this way, it was impossible to summon a complete Golem with an individual core. A Pseudo-Mage level core of a Storm Giant plus six Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores; each of them would bear part of the functions, and would use the method of consolidated cores and three-dimensional magical arrays to construct the Lightning Giant.


    However, though this project had been worked on for half a month, the Chip was busy calculating the distribution and connection between the primary core and node cores, so it hadn''t come out with a specific design solution. But since the Chip had included this project in the strategy today, it meant the calculations had completed, and the design solution of the Lighting Giant was done.


    This place was, after all, not rest stop. Thus, after having a short break, Leon quickly resumed his return journey. While he was leaving, some ignorant Gnolls actually tried to intercept him, which made Leon, who was filled with pent-up anger, explode. He commanded all three Rock Snakes to crush their nest straightaway.


    Faced with three near invincible super monsters, the arrows, daggers, and short spears of the Gnolls were useless. If not for the fact that Leon had no desire to continue fighting, with a single charge, this renowned Gnoll tribe of Gray Ear would have lost thirty percent of their members.


    Hence, when the two Pseudo-Mages sent by Elysium City, Langdon and Philip, arrived hurriedly later, all they saw was dead Gnolls and the Lizardman tribe who had been completely wiped out. Leon was long gone.


    With a gloomy expression, Langdon listened to the bloody story told by the leader of the Gnolls. He didn''t pay any attention to the story''s fishy details, but instead, focused all of his attention on the other side of the demonized forest.


    There many strange rumors were told in the Elysium City in regards to that place. Even his master, Mage Dark Light, once warned him not to simply try to seek the treasures inside of the ruin, as if there were some secrets hiding in it. As a result, he only had a superficial knowledge about the demonized forest, as he hadn''t spent any time trying to understand or explore it.


    Impatiently, Langdon interrupted the weepy complaint of the Gnoll leader, and asked with a cold voice, "Have you entered this demonized forest before? Is there anything inside of it?"


    He was not an idiot.


    In regards to the completely wiped out Lizardman tribe, many of their adult fighters had been killed by element damage caused by a throwing type of attack, which made Langdon think of the Clay Golem of that bastard. But the rest of them had been killed by sharp weapons at close range. Also, he didn''t believe that kid from the surface would have the patience to venture deep into the nest of Lizardmen, slaughtering every single woman and juvenile of the tribe.


    This place was the best habitable area closest to the demonized forest. For the underground creatures, having control of the magical materials harvested from that place would bring them tremendous benefit. Thus, it was understandable what kind of role the Gnoll had in wiping out the entire tribe of Lizardmen.


    But Langdon wasn''t interested in being the judge on this. He only wanted to find out why that bastard had been in the demonized forest.


    Could that guy intruded on this place by accident? Or, did he come here with a purpose and was searching for something?


    Having these questions in mind, Langdon invited Philip to explore the demonized forest. Therefore, the two Fallen Pseudo-Mages who thought they were strong enough simply walked into the demonized forest. But, not even half an hour later, both men were forced to run out from the forest in a sorry state.


    Their bodies were full of bloody holes, pierced through by the element arrows. Infected by bizarre and nasty energy, the blood dripping out from the wound had turned green. While they were fleeing, many lower grade demons had taken the opportunity to attack them as well, leaving more scars and wounds on their body.


    After Philip left a Teleportation mark at the edge of the forest, both men rushed back to Elysium City.


    Obviously, they had found some clues in the demonized forest. Judging from what they had found, they believed that the bastard must have gone straight to the ruins of the Mage Tower located in the depth of the forest. And since that guy had such a clear and precise target, clearly he wouldn''t abandon what he was looking for just because the place was guarded by a frightening Mage level demon.


    So, both men arrived at the conclusion that the kid must have temporarily withdrawn after learning of the difficulties, and would return once he got more help.


    That was why Philip had left a Teleportation mark behind. With that, they would be able to launch a surprise attack once Leon returned to the forest. If they were able to intercept them on their way back, with an advantage in the number of Fallen Apprentices and that frightening demon who lived in the demonized forest, it was highly possible they could destroy every single person in the surface team in one clean sweep.


    Even in the bloody battle history of Elysium City, that stretched more than hundred years, a result like this was extremely rare!


    ... Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2065 Words

 Chapter 93 - 93: Lightning Giant

    After smoothly returning from the Underground World, Leon busied himself once again. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, different from his usual, currently he was busily working towards a goal and was well-directed.


    After he returned, the first thing he did was pay a visit to the Lothar Merchant. By the time he left them, he had five Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores in his waist pouch. Nevertheless, a big purchase like this would mean a sharp decrease in Leon''s stash of crystal cores.


    In the blink of an eye, he had spent more than half of the over 3000 magic crystals he had won from the bet previously. Currently, Leon''s magic crystal savings had dropped below 800. Considering that he and Bleia had become ravenous beasts who had to have the daily magical energy meal set, he had to save the remaining magic crystals to support their daily consumption. Therefore, earning a lot of magic crystals in a short period of time had presently become a pressing matter.


    After he returned from the Underground World, the trio who had temporarily formed a treasure hunting alliance gathered together and had a meeting. When Leon briefed the team about the situation he had seen in the ruined Mage Tower, both Bleia and Snorlax were stupefied.


    An Mage level demon!


    This... was this something their small team could ever handle?


    Although Bleia had a high opinion of herself, in the end, she was just an Advanced Apprentice Vampire. If she were to fight that frightening Fairy, she would be instantly killed by it. As for Leon, so far he was still just an Intermediate Apprentice, even though, under the double tonics of the magical energy meal set and the Ming Concentrating potion, his Spirit was rising quickly every day. If they really were to fight an Mage level demon, not only could he not provide any help, it was possible that even the shock wave of the battle would cause him deadly injury!


    As for the mighty Goblin merchant Snorlax, though its unconventional ability of invisibility and ability to stay concealed was pretty amazing, they could not fight. Therefore, besides what little bit of help the memories that reside in its brain could provide, there was nothing it could do to help.


    Noticing the frightened expression on both his teammates'' faces, Leon let out an understanding smile. He then soberly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages between themselves and the enemy. Following his lead, both his teammates gradually overcame their fear towards the Mage level monster, and started to seriously and carefully plan out how to defeat the frightening Fairy.


    First of all, the three of them were sure of one thing. If they allowed that Fairy to keep its overall strength at Mage level, planning this treasure hunting mission was no different than planning their own death. Therefore, they had to find ways to weaken the overall strength of that frightening Fairy.


    There were two possible ways to do so. First was using curse magic spells, and secondly, targeting the true form of the Fairy.


    Leon could find a way to purchase some curse magic wands or one-time use magic spell scrolls. But they didn''t know if the inferior products produced by Apprentice Mages could penetrate the magic resistance of the Fairy. So, they couldn''t place too much hope on this.


    While they were discussing the issue, Leon secretly hinted that he could get in touch with Mage Angus, and maybe he could obtain some Mage level magic spell scrolls from him. But in order to trade with an official Mage, Leon had to produce something that could attract his interest.


    Therefore, Leon had to figure out this new problem!


    As for the true form of the Fairy, Leon''s predicted (actually it was the Chip''s prediction) that there was a high chance it was hiding close to the broken Elementium Pool. At this point, Snorlax finally came into play. Its familiarity with the Mage Tower let it quickly draw out the inner structure of the place, and it was able to precisely point out the location of the Elementium Pool.


    According to its description, the Elementium Pool was located in the second underground floor beneath the ruins of Mage Tower. In order to get there, they had to go through numerous magical secret doors and arrays. Though it was highly possible that most of these mechanisms had stopped working, if there were still a couple of them still functioning, it would cause immense problems for Bleia''s infiltration. So, upon Leon''s request, Snorlax had to follow Bleia when she snuck into the ruins of Mage Tower.


    In regards to this, Leon showed an unprecedented firm attitude. Left with no room to argue, Snorlax fearfully agreed.


    In order to achieve the above two things, Leon needed to have the overall strength to fight or pin down the Fairy. Being able to do so would heavily rely on the near completed Lightning Giant. Only when the Lightning Giant had the expected strength would Bleia and Snorlax have more confidence in this treasure hunting mission!


    With that in mind, in the following days, Leon, Bleia, and Snorlax became really busy. Leon lived night and day in the Alchemy Laboratory, crafting his new Golem, while Bleia would go out early and came back at dusk, covered in scars and wounds. Even with the extraordinary regeneration of Vampires, she still had so many scars. This showed how incredibly dangerous her training was, that it had gone beyond what even her body could endure.


    Snorlax, who dreamed of becoming the greatest Goblin merchant, was rarely seen in the public hall on the first floor of Mage Tower. Instead, it was wearing old and torn thief equipment, and spent all of its time in the Magic Spell Practice Room, practicing its stealth. As for its original glittering magical equipment, it had no choice but to lock it away in a wooden chest while crying.


    During this period, Leon and Bleia managed to find some time to participate in an Underground World ambush mission organized by the training camp. However, after the miserable defeat last time, the Fallen Apprentices had strengthened the defending forces in all of their resource sites. This caused the team, led by Kevin, to get entangled in a bitter battle.


    In this tough war, when two of the Pseudo-Mages from Kevin''s team became locked in combat with the Fallen Pseudo-Mages, Leon was forced to send out Rock Snakes in order to defend against the bombardment coming from an extra Fallen Pseudo-Mage.


    In the situation where the number of their Pseudo-Mages was outnumbered by the opponent, and the overall strength of their Advanced Apprentices wasn''t too strong compared to the enemy, for the sake of avoiding an ambush by the enemy''s reinforcements, Kevin had no choice but to abandon the mission.


    Even with such an ending, all of the team members had a calm attitude. In their usual battles with the Underground World enemy, a result like this was perfectly normal. With regards to Leon''s performance in the battle, no one seemed to have any opinion. With the overall strength of an Intermediate Apprentice, he was able to withstand bombardment from a Fallen Pseudo-Mage for more than fifteen minutes. A result like this could simply shut anyone''s mouth.


    It was because his firm standing that Kevin''s team hadn''t been defeated from a shortage of Pseudo-Mages. Otherwise, once their team had been scattered by the attack, among all of the Advanced Apprentices, who dared say he could escape from the enemy''s pursuit? As a matter of fact, it wasn''t rare for many ambitious and genius apprentices to get themselves killed in the dark and quiet underground tunnel.


    Every year, there were always more than a couple of Advanced Apprentices who died quietly in some random dark corner of the Underground Cave. Even an incident as big as the death of Pseudo-Mage wasn''t rare news. In fact, the root cause of the destruction of the previous Elysium City by the surface Mages was because a surface team consisting of six people bumped into a Fallen Mage while they were patrolling in the Underground World.


    No one knew what exactly happened, because all of the two Pseudo-Mages and four Advanced Apprentices were killed silently in the Underground World. With reinforcements sent by the Zhentarim Association, the raging surface Mages stormed into the Underground World and forcefully destroyed the stronghold of the enemy ¨C Elysium City.


    But too bad, the Second Grade Mage of the enemy, Mage Pridka, had self-detonated the Mage Tower, taken some of Fallen Mages, and escaped from Elysium City, which allowed them to escape from the catastrophe. Consequently, within just a few years, a new Elysium City had been built up once again.


    The more understanding they had about this history, the more alert the elite apprentices were for a major scale conflict. Once either side pushed too far, it was highly possible that it would attract a strong reaction from the other side.


    In the unique environment of the Underground Cave, no matter how talented or how strong an Apprentice Mage, once they provoked their opponent''s Mage, the inevitable result would be death. Therefore, after bringing back three Fallen Pseudo-Mages'' heads in their previous mission, Kevin''s team had anticipated danger in every sound. Thus, their latest mission''s defeat had instead let both Pseudo-Mages in the team breathe out a long sigh of relief.


    As a passing traveler in the Underground Cave, Leon wouldn''t spend too much of his time in this place, so he didn''t really understand the petty thoughts behind their action. The only reason he didn''t fight with everything he had was simply that his Spirit and Physique were in a weak state.


    A few days ago, Leon had consumed another bottle of the Mind Concentrating potion, which only brought an increment of 0.51 to his Spirit. In relation to that, his Physique had dropped below 3. As a result, the Chip had revised his body''s status from healthy to weak.


    Under the circumstances, Leon had to temporarily stop consuming the Mind Concentrating potion and focus on tuning his body. With the vigorous vitality of a fifteen year old youth and the strengthening effect from the Spirit to his muscles, the normal level of his Physique should be between 4 ¨C 5.


    But this was a common failing for all apprentices who took the path of Elementium, as they usually only focused on cultivation and training their Spirit, either they were meditating or studying magical knowledge, spending long hours copying magical books, and exposing themselves to dangerous magical materials which could harm their body in the long-term. These unhealthy habits led all the Elementium apprentices to have the same unhealthy appearance. They always looked skinny and sick.


    If they were able to advance and become official Mages, they would have plenty of time and countless methods of finding some miraculous items that could remedy the weakness of their body. But for now, they could only clench their jaw tightly and endure with a strong mind. They kept damaging their body in exchange for every little bit of increase in their Spirit.


    The failure of the mission didn''t affect Leon. Upon his return from the Underground World, he immediately rushed back into the Alchemy Laboratory. He spent most of his time in there, meticulously and carefully crafting his number one Golem ¨C the Lightning Giant.


    Finally, after torturously working for dozens of days, Leon waved his hand and killed the magical flame on on the Alchemy Station, brought the primary core that he used as the bearer of the Golem''s conscious in front of his face, narrowed his eyes, and gave it a thorough look over.


    Right at this very moment, he finally breathed out a long sigh of relief, because...


    The Lightning Giant was born!


    ....


    1974 Words

 Chapter 94 - 94: Does anyone want Bleia?

    This was a magnificent piece of art that would subvert the knowledge of all the Magical Automaton Crafters!


    The dazzling primary core looked nearly transparent under the bright light. On its irregular surface, countless magical micro runes that looked like tiny spider webs were engraved following the shape of the core, making them look like natural blood veins of the core. Following the rippling of the surrounding Elementium energy, tiny golden electric arcs started to appear, moving around on its clean and sparkling surface.


    For every rotation these electric arcs made, more roaming electric Elementium were absorbed in from the surrounding environment and the bigger these golden electric arcs grew, interlocking with each other. Finally, the crackling and dazzling lightning storm started to roll up around the primary core. Though the aura didn''t carry a strong force, anyone would be frightened by the concentrated aura emanating from it.


    Leon held the primary core with two fingers. The more he looked at it, the more he liked this core. Meanwhile, a vast amount of pride flooded his mind.


    This primary core was the key to constructing the Lightning Giant. For the sake of leaving more space for both tempering and strengthening arrays, the energy storing and energy forming magical arrays had been shifted to the other five Wind element cores. Even so, when the primary core was exposed in the air, those roaming Lightning energies still couldn''t be controlled and were absorbed, leading to the strange scene that was happening now.


    Leon clenched his right palm and conveniently dispersed the disorderly lightning energy. Then, he placed his right hand which was holding the primary core in front of his forehead, quietly connecting his mind with the Mind Control Imprint System on the core. From the entire primary core, it could be said that this Mind Control Imprint System was the most important part, as this was the magical array that Leon would use to take control of the future Lightning Giant.


    Leon''s Spirit energy smoothly penetrated into the Mind Control Imprint System, resonating with the tiny thread of Spirit energy that he placed there while crafting the core. Once he had finally finished with this action which was similar to ''consecration'', the Mind Control Imprint System on the primary core had officially been activated. From this point onwards, no one would be able to seize the control of it from Leon.


    Of course, this was a compulsory process for all privately owned Golem. On the other hand, for those Titans or other automatons crafted by a Magical Automaton Crafter, as the person who controlled them frequently changed, most of them had their Mind Control Imprint Systems replaced with Rune Controls. The Automaton Crafter would then craft the Controlling Rune into something that was easier to transfer and carry around ¨C for example, a plaque or talisman. Then, they would sell them to the public, so that, anyone who held the Controlling Rune in their hand would be able to give commands to the Titan or Automaton.


    As a result, a Titan''s ''loyalty'' was far less than that of a Golem''s!


    Right when the fully satisfied Leon had arrived at the entrance of his room, he bumped into Bleia who had also returned looking worn out. Though covered by her red dress, the frightening scars and wounds on her body could still be clearly seen; even her pretty face was covered with crisscrossing wounds.


    "You... what happened to you?" Leon had been busy working on his Golems in the past few days. Thus, he just hadn''t had time to pay close attention to Bleia''s every move, which was why he was so shocked seeing her condition.


    "Hmph. These are just some small wounds, that bastard is suffering from injuries worse than mine! If not for the fact that it could help me master magical combat skill, I would have long turned him into dried meat!" Bleia waved her hand fiercely, cursing through her tightly clenched teeth. Though she sounded like she had had the advantage, as Leon was very familiar with her character, he was sure that Bleia must have been defeated by someone in a match.


    "Bleia, since you always seem to visit the Kerala mountain range recently, perhaps you could find me an appropriate training opponent? Preferably a Pseudo-Mage level opponent and more importantly, someone who can keep a secret!" Leon said hesitatingly.


    "You''ve successfully crafted the Lightning Golem?" Bleia''s eyes flickered.


    "Yes! But I haven''t run a field test yet, to test its overall strength..."


    "Excellent. Let''s go, you can also help me get revenge!"


    Bleia had been suffering a lot recently, as her mind was consumed by the flames of revenge. Nevertheless, she had never had the idea of bringing a group of men and fight the enemy as a gang. So, after suddenly hearing Leon''s request, she simply gave up all intentions of healing herself in her room and instead, turned around and dragged Leon out of the Mage Tower.


    Completely ignoring the strange glances coming from the surrounding Apprentice Mages, Bleia immediately transformed into a giant blood-sucking bat upon rushing out of the Mage Tower. She, then, grabbed on Leon''s shoulder and soared into the sky.


    It was late in the afternoon, the dusky sky could seen filled with the last orange rays for the day. The Kerala mountain range in the far distance looked like a sleeping giant, as it stood in the darkness and in the far end of the sky.


    Bleia was flying deep into the mountain range.


    After Bleia had sucked Lucy''s blood, her Strength and Physique had experienced a significant improvement. Back in the days, it was rather laborious for her to carry Leon while flying and she could only fly nearly at the altitude of treetops. But now, while restlessly flapping her leather wings, she was actually able to carry Leon up to the altitude of nearly hundred meters in the air, and was able to fly forward like a sharp arrow piercing through the air.


    The wet and cold night breeze fiercely slapped Leon''s face, the strong wind pressure forcing him to narrow his eyes and making it difficult to maintain his normal vision. Left with no other alternative, he once again put on the Gnome Goggles and only had he felt much better.


    With the help of low-light vision from the goggles, he looked downwards at the earth and saw that at the edge of the dusky forest, there were long lines formed by countless torches rushing towards the Mage Tower.


    These were probably the expedition teams that ventured deep into the mountain range every day, hunting demon beasts and harvesting magical herbs.


    While Leon was pondering, Bleia had carried him and streaked through the night sky at an incredible speed, passing over those expedition teams.


    The sky had yet to turn completely dark and obviously, some expedition teams had discovered the abnormality in the sky. Following their shouts, a few of their leaders had also tilted their head up and looked into the sky. But, before they could spot the tiny black dot, it dissolved into the dusky night sky as Bleia and Leon squeezed into the depths of the forests of the mountain.


    The distance between Bleia''s destination and the Mage Tower as the crow flies was about seventy miles. If they had traveled by foot through the forests, it would have taken them more than half day to reach their destination. However, when it came to Bleia, it had just been a forty-five minute journey.


    Their destination was a small hill that connected to a huge mountain range. When Bleia and Leon approached the hill, she slowed down and started to descend. On top of this small hill, there was a flat and emptied field the size of two football fields. Though there were some wild bushes and weeds growing on top of the field, they were scattered around and one could tell with just one look that this place must have gone through a great amount of torture.


    Casually throwing Leon onto a patch of grass, the blood sucking bat exploded into a clump of blood mist and transformed into the red dressed Bleia within a blink of an eye.


    "Toril, you bastard! Show yourself quickly! I, the red-dressed Bleia, am back for revenge again!" Upon being restored to her human form, Bleia stood there with her hands on her hips and let out a furious roar. Her shrill voice kept echoing through the dusky mountain forest. Indistinctly, the reverberation of her voice could be heard coming from a far distance.


    What was she doing?


    At this moment, Leon''s mind was fully bewildered and he found it funny to see Bleia acting like that.


    He had long heard that Bleia had been searching everywhere for an appropriate opponent to train her melee combat skills with. However, no matter how pressing the matter was, she wouldn''t have come to a remote and desolated mountain forest like this to try and search for the right candidate! In this place, besides those wild animals and demon beasts in the forest, what else could she find? Could she had been training with a demon beast?


    Having his mind filled with endless fantasies, Leon shook his head and let out a wry smile. Right as he was about to ask Bleia to stop making fun of him, a deep sigh rang out, followed by a robust and burly body squeezing itself out from the forest and revealing itself on this small hill.


    Dark clouds hovered in the sky, while the silver moon jumped out from behind these clouds, pouring its bright light onto the body of this figure.


    This was a strong man with a perfectly fitted and well-balanced body. He had a pair of dark green eyes, a somber face, and was wearing a full set of green armor on his body. With just one look, one could tell he must be a strong man who focused on melee fighting.


    The guy came out with a warmth smile on his face, clearly, intending to have a good talk with Bleia. However, when he realized that Bleia wasn''t the only person on this hill, his expression immediately turned cold. He threw his glance over at Leon from a far distance and remained silent, looking like he was pondering over something.


    "Toril, I have told you before, if you want me to be your woman, you have to truly defeat me! I''ve found you an opponent today. As long as you can defeat him, I''ll agree to your request! What do you say? This isn''t too strict of a condition, right? Don''t tell me that you''re scared of an Intermediate Apprentice?" With her hands on her hips, Bleia clamored in high spirits, totally ignoring Leon who had an expression showing that he didn''t know whether to cry or to laugh.


    Since when had Bleia had an admirer? Judging from the look of that guy, he should also be an Apprentice Mage, but Leon had no idea why this guy wanted to live in this wilderness. As for his overall strength level... Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon couldn''t help but furrow his brows.


    The wave of this guy''s spirit was rather strange, but from the information feedback from the Chip, he was verified as a genuine Pseudo-Mage.


    As Leon stared straight at this guy and kept examining him, the green armor guy was also silently giving Leon an examining look.


    "You kept telling me that you already have a boyfriend, could he be that little guy who can''t even stand a gust of wind? The wave of his Spirit is so messy and heterogeneous, I supposed they were forcefully increased using some kind of medicinal potions, huh? I don''t see anything how this weakling could be worth your love. Can he endure your enchanting kiss? With his weak and frail body, how many kisses can he even withstand..." The more the guy spoke, the angrier he became. By the end of his rant, he could barely control his anger.


    Awww, so this guy was his rival in love! Bah! This was absurd, what was this nonsense about a rival in love? At most, he and Bleia had a little bit of dubious relationship; they couldn''t even be considered a pair of lovers. So, where had him being a rival in love came from?


    Wearing a strange smile on his face, Leon stared at this green armor guy. But, before he could tease the guy, an unbelievable, miraculous transformation started to happen on this guy.


    His body started to expand slowly, pushing the loose armor on his body causing it to produce cracking noise. Countless dark hairs squeezed out from underneath his skin, while his face started to twist and protrude. Two razor sharp fangs had poked out from his lips. The most attracting part was his eyes, as the two dark green glows became brighter and brighter. By the end, they had even become brighter than the silver moon in the sky, making Leon feel a tremendous pressure.


    Within just five seconds, the green armor guy had transformed into a giant raging ape with an extremely masculine body that stood more than four meters tall.


    ...


    2209 Words

 Chapter 95 - 95: Fight

    Bloodline Transformation?


    He was a Pseudo-Mage who had taken the path of a Bloodline Mage!


    It would have been a lie if he said that he wasn''t nervous at this moment. After all, in the eyes of all apprentices, the overall strength of a Bloodline Apprentice was considered the strongest among all other similarly ranked apprentices.


    Take the guy in front of him as an example! According to the records of history, the Giant Raging Ape was a powerful Grade Five demon beast. This also meant that as long as this guy kept purifying the bloodline of Giant Raging Ape in his body, then he would have the potential to become a Fifth Grade Mage.


    If he really was fortunate enough to reach Grade Five Mage, perhaps he would have to worry about his future development. But as for now, he could enjoy the tremendous benefits that were brought to him by the bloodline body transformation. The intrepid physique, strong strength, tall and masculine body, and a fighting style that would that let him fight continuously, only stopping once he was killed, without any fear of death...


    Stimulated by the bloodline of the Giant Raging Ape, the consciousness of the green armor guy had become rather disordered and confused. He kept slamming into his chest with both of his huge hands, while letting out a series of furious roars at Leon.


    Alright, perhaps this was the only weakness that was brought upon by the path of the Bloodlines. The person could rather easily be immersed into a restless state by his bloodline, causing him to lose the proper sense and calm sober mind. Of course, there was some bloodline fanatics that didn''t regard this as a weakness. In their minds, the raging inner state could further stimulate their desire for a fight and would allow them to unleash an even more powerful combative strength. When compared to that, losing a little bit of sense didn''t mean anything!


    "Don''t you need to prepare yourself? Be careful, once this guy transforms, he will attack anyone he sees!" Bleia chuckled and left the hill, while saying, "I am looking forward to your great performance!"


    Leon raised his head upwards to look at the Giant Raging Ape who stood tall in front of him and shook his head, letting out a wry smile on his face. Finally, he took out a small leather pouch from his waist and tossed it onto the ground. Once it hit the ground, the neck of the pouch opened up, as a dazzling magical glow shot out from inside the pouch.


    Five crystal clear Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores flew out from inside the pouch and gradually hovered in midair. When they revealed themselves in the air, shrill sounds of wind suddenly rung through the air on this small hill. Drawn in by a mysterious force, a huge amount of Wind Elementiums started to swarm into the hovering Elementium cores crazily, surrounding them as they started to revolve around the cores while continuing to produce shrill noises.


    Wind was invisible.


    And Wind Elementiums couldn''t be seen with naked eyes as well.


    But when such a massive amount of Wind Elementiums gathered together, a green vortex had become visible to the naked eye.


    These Wind Elementiums came at an incredible speed, causing the night sky to be sliced into thousands of tiny threads. Soon, with the five Wind element cores as the center, the gathered Wind Elementium formed into a human-like body with four limbs.


    A green body, green hands, and green legs.


    When the body of this green giant was successfully formed, a new element core flew out from inside the pouch and threw itself into the broad chest of the giant. In next second, a green head struggled out from the top of this burly giant. Nevertheless, it didn''t have a vivid facial appearance ¨C no eyes, no ears, no mouth, and no nose. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If the previous five Advanced Apprentice level Wind element cores had been used to construct the body, then this Pseudo-Mage level Wind element core was used to support the entire body, as the bone of this green giant.


    But, this was not yet the end.


    A mini sun gradually rose up from the pouch.


    The Elementium let out a dazzling glow, while the lightning barrier let out crackling noises. When this last priBleia core merged into the body of this green giant, it brought about an incredible and mystical transformation to the Golem.


    The giant which had looked rather lifeless previously, in this moment, had become alive!


    It had a massive body that stood five meters tall and brilliant green skin, covered by a layer of golden armor. Though its limbs didn''t look as slim and agile as a human''s, it had arms, palms and fingers. Even so, when the two mini golden suns on its face lit up, a magical shield entirely constructed by static electricity emerged on its giant left hand, while a dazzling lightning spear had appeared on its right palm.


    Counting the Wind Vortex Shield and Lightning Armor outside of this giant''s body, the personal defense mechanism of this Golem could make anyone''s jaw drop.


    The Lightning element was in fact, a branch of the Wind element. Thus, there weren''t any obstacles stopping the both of them from merging with each other. The five Wind element cores that scattered across the body and limbs of the giant kept drawing Wind Elementium to the body. Besides using some to form the physical Wind body, all the other Wind Elementiums had been used by the primary core to strengthen and temper. The core turned them into lightning energy to supply the bottomless energy demanded by the Lightning Giant.


    On one side was the Giant Raging Ape who stood four-meter-tall and on the other side was the Lighting Giant who stood five meters tall. Two massive objects stood facing each other with a distance of nearly forty meters in between.


    Though the green armor guy who had transformed into the Giant Raging Ape had appeared to be savage, when it came to facing a formidable opponent whom he had no idea of the true overall strength of, he showed a rather dignified and good control of himself. Nevertheless, the tremendous pressure that the Lightning Giant brought to him had also further stimulated him and made him even more maniacally. White gas could be seen spraying out from his nostrils, as he kept slamming the ground with both giant arms and making loud noises.


    Finally, unable to contain the near boiling fighting spirit in his body, the Giant Raging Ape let out a furious roar that echoed throughout the forest and moved its gigantic body, charging towards the opponent while roaring violently.


    Leon kept backing away from the battlefield. While he was doing so, he continued staring at the Giant Raging Ape, with his eyes flickering with bright blue light. Rows of numbers were pouring down in front of his eyes, flooding his vision with a vast amount of data.


    Soon, most of the irrelevant data had been removed, leaving behind only the data that was provided by the Chip after having scanned the Giant Raging Ape.


    "Target: Toril. Gender: Male. Mage path: Bloodline. Body attributes: Strength ¨C 20 (+2), Physique ¨C 20 (+2), Agility ¨C 11, Spirit ¨C 17(-3)"


    Upon reading Toril''s body statistics, Leon was struck with awe inspiring envy.


    20 points of Strength! A Strength like that could probably defeat every single demon beast who was well-known for its Strength in this Kerala mountain range!


    20 points of Physique! With such Physique, even if this Toril didn''t wear any armor, just the strength of his muscle alone, he could defend himself from all the common weapons used by normal humans in this world. Those common weapons that don''t possess any supernatural force could no longer inflict any damage on him.


    Leon even speculated that with 20 points of Physique, even if there was really someone who could chop off one of Toril''s arms, he would probably be able to regrow it in just a few days, because it seemed as though all creatures who had their Physique reach the level 20 would possess the passive ability to regrow their limbs.


    Analyzing the data provided by the Chip, the normal body attributes for Toril should be: Strength ¨C 18, Physique ¨C 18, Agility ¨C 11, Spirit ¨C 20. Once he had completed his bloodline body transform, then his Strength and Physique would be boosted to 20, however, it was surprising that his Spirit had dropped to 17.


    Perhaps, this was one of the weaknesses of the bloodline of Giant Raging Ape!


    Though it seemed as if Leon had spent a long time in thinking all this, in reality, it had all happened within a split second.


    While Leon was backing off, the Lighting Giant chose to charge at the Giant Raging Ape.


    With a wave of its hand, the Lightning Spear held in the right hand of this Lightning Golem had disappeared, flying out with a speed that no naked eye could detect and nailed into the broad chest of the Giant Raging Ape. The spear suddenly exploded and the mini Lighting Storm instantly flooded the body of the Giant Raging Ape.


    From the projection of Leon''s vision, the basic strength of this mini Lightning Storm was 21 points.


    However, a lightning damage of this level was insufficient to stop a powerful magical creature who had both its Strength and Physique reach level 20. Through the body transformation, Toril was temporarily given the intrepid body and magic resistance of the Giant Raging Ape. Besides bringing him intense pain, these crackling electric arcs would never be able to halt his movements.


    A loud boom rung in the air, as the massive body of the giant ape pierced through the Lightning Storm, spread out its large palm and forcefully waved toward the Lightning Giant. Compared to the savage and brutal manner of a giant ape, though Lightning Giant had a bigger body, its movements were rather nimble.


    With just a slight dodging movement, the Lightning Giant avoided the large palm of the Giant Raging Ape and reappeared behind its opponent within the blink of an eye. It then shook its right arm and unleashed a lightning whip that coiled around the Giant Raging Ape''s waist. Through the lightning whip, streaks of brutal and violent high voltage electricity instantly transmitted over to every single corner of the giant ape''s body, causing it to continuously let out a furious roar into the sky. Soon, the smell of burning flesh emitted from the point of contact.


    The failure in executing its first strike and the severe pain coming from its body both greatly agitated the Giant Ape, causing it to become even more maniacal. It stretched out its hand, grabbed the long whip on its waist and with just some light force from its hand, it simply shattered the whip into pieces. Having freed itself from the trap, the Giant Ape turned around and punched out both fists at the same time that came crushing towards the Lighting Giant, while producing two loud booms that pierced through the air.


    Though it had a double the defense from the Wind Vortex Shield and the Lightning Shield that carried in its left hand, under the heavy blow of the extreme raging force of the Giant Ape, the outer defense of the Lightning Giant was shattered in an instant.


    A loud boom rang through the air.


    The Lightning Giant sailed through the air and drew out a pale green trail in the sky, flying away nearly hundred meters before it could stabilize its body once again. At this very moment, the end of its left arm had disappeared, while a huge dent could be seen on the chest part of its golden armor.


    Leon, who had back off to the edge of the forest in the far distance, knitted his brows with a tight frown.


    Compared to the bloodline transformation which possessed a physical body, the body of Lightning Giant formed by pure Wind Elementium was rather fragile. Therefore, during the a melee battle with a big guy like this whose body emphasized Strength and muscles, obviously it was at a disadvantage.


    But because of the two-layer defenses, the iron fists of Giant Raging Ape couldn''t penetrate the basic defense of the Lightning Giant, or else, it would have been too troublesome for it to recover.


    Within a few blinks of an eye, followed by the golden flashes on the huge dent on the Lightning Giant''s chest, it was once again restored to its original shape.


    And right at this moment, the raging and furious Giant Ape had once again charged towards it with tremendous momentum.


    "Don''t fight it in such a close range, keep a distance of thirty to fifty meters and attack it with lightning!"


    From the far distance, Leon transmitted his thoughts to the primary core of the Lightning Giant.


    ...


    2166 Words

 Chapter 96 - 96: A little blood

    Within the spacious field shrouded in darkness and silence, two giants were fighting each other restlessly; it was a fantasy that had never appeared in Leon''s memory before.


    But today, in this mysterious and bizarre outworld, such a fantasy had become reality.


    Like a bulldozer that never got tired, the Giant Raging Ape forcefully leveled the forest surrounding this small hill; even the ground was completely filled with deep footprints and cracks, making the ground look like spider webs.


    Meanwhile, the Lightning Giant with a green body and golden armor was like a nimble spirit. It kept dashing around the perimeter of this giant ape, luring its opponent into launching attack after attack, while continuously throwing Lightning Spears and Wind Blades at the giant ape.


    As the battle progressed, the data gathered by Green''s eyes had become more vivid and direct. Though the Lightning Giant was personally crafted by him, throughout the entire process, he was working like a human spirit energy projector, as he knew nearly nothing about all the theories and knowledge in crafting it. Therefore, with regards to the fighting abilities and body attributes of the Lightning Giant, the Chip had only given him a vague estimation. In comparison, the data he had gathered in the battlefield, which was much more direct and detail.


    The Lightning Giant with the overall strength of peak Pseudo-Mage, had the combined element characteristic of both Lightning and Wind. Body attributes: Strength ¨C 12, Physique ¨C 18, Agility ¨C 18, Spirit ¨C 20. Skills: Wind Vortex (Passive), Thunder Armor (Passive), Lightning Shield (Active), Lightning Spear (Active), Lightning Whip (Active), Wind Blade (Active), Thunder Storm (Active), Chain Lightning (Active), Lightning Jump (Active).


    It was a long-range Golem focused on agility. Though it was rather weak in Strength and Physique, its dazzling array of offensive skills made up for these weaknesses, making it the strongest Elementium Golem that Leon owned currently.


    Also, its overall strength had not disappointed Leon''s expectations. In the second half of the battle, relying on its nimble movement, the Lightning Giant kept moving around the giant ape and attacked it by throwing Lightning Spears and Winds Blades. No matter how the Giant Raging Ape leapt at it furiously, there was no way it could catch up to the Lightning Giant.


    Nevertheless, after failing to catch up with the enemy several times, the Giant Raging Ape quickly showed its frightening innate combat ability, as it started to attack using ''Soul Crunching Roar'' and ''Rock Throwing''. The former attack consisted of a raging roar that instantly stunned the surrounding enemies, causing the enemies to be struck into a soulless state for three to five seconds. Of course, this skill could also instantly kill those ordinary humans who had no magical protection. This skill covered an area of fifty meters.


    The second skill allowed the Giant Raging Ape to form an irregular shaped rock with a diameter of two meters between its palms and then throw it at the enemy. The rock was enchanted with a raging force, which could easily smash into the gigantic body of the Lightning Giant.


    Though the Giant Raging Ape only possessed a few bloodline abilities, they were all perfectly matched with its incredible Physique and Strength. Once any enemy was struck by its Soul Crunching Roar, as a result of the brief moment of soullessness, the enemy wouldn''t be able to escape from the brutal melee attack from this Giant Ape.


    But too bad, such kind of offensive Spirit skill was useless against an Elementium Golem.


    Therefore, the Giant Raging Ape could only futilely chase behind the Lightning Giant. Although the Giant Ape continued leaping and charging forward, knocking down countless trees in its stead like a crazy monkey, it still failed to even touch the shadow of the enemy.


    Right when Leon thought that he could win today''s battle with such a method, the Giant Raging Ape transformed from the green armored man, Toril, who suddenly ditched the tough to catch Lightning Giant, roaring furiously and leaping into Leon''s direction.


    Leon silently sighed.


    Not any idiot could become an Apprentice Mage. This guy had just been unable to control his anger because of the enticement from the Lightning Giant and his mind was further disturbed by the force of bloodline. Now, having yielded no results for such a long time, Toril''s consciousness had once again obtained control of the Giant Raging Ape''s body. Thus, he had given up chasing behind the Lightning Giant like an idiot and switched his target to Leon, the mastermind behind all this.


    As long as he could defeat Leon, the bastard who kept escaping him would vanish into thin air. Even if his attack couldn''t reach Leon, at least he could lure that bastard to Leon''s side and with that, he could finally put his raging force into use.


    With such a simple thought in his mind, the Giant Raging Ape''s eyes turned bloodshot, as he slammed into the ground with both hands and jumped towards Leon. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon was easily able to tell the petty thoughts his opponent had in his mind.


    Indeed, the Lightning Giant had an excellent fighting ability, but it also had a deadly weakness ¨C the person who controlled it was too weak! Thus, Leon was the weak link that anyone could use to defeat the Lightning Giant!


    Relying on the Lightning Giant to block off the assault was no doubt the worst decision. With the melee offensive ability of the Giant Raging Ape, perhaps it would only take it a few dozen of seconds to smash the Lightning Giant completely, which would eventually damage to the Elementium cores hiding inside of its body.


    Leon checked his own body attributes, the summon of Lightning Giant had consumed seven Spirit points, which left him with less than six. Staring at the Giant Raging Ape who had lept at him with tremendous momentum and feeling the violent shakes on the ground, Leon once again tossed out a crystal clear Elementium core.


    "Show yourself, my Rock Snake!"


    Following Leon''s loud roar, a wide, bottomless trench suddenly broke out in the ground in front of him and a frightening giant snake made up entirely of rock slithered out from the cracks.


    The place where the Rock Snake had come out from was right in the charging path of the Giant Raging Ape. With a coiling movement from its massive body, the Rock Snake climbed up and entangled itself with the Giant Raging Ape''s body.


    In next second, the frightening scene of ''King Kong'' fighting a giant snake unveiled in front of Leon''s eyes. Too bad, the violence and savageness brought him no interest in watching this cool battle unfold at a close distance. Instead, he crazily fled from the center of the frightening battle.


    Sand flew into clouds, pebbles swept along the ground, debris of grass flew in the air and huge clouds of dust dispersed quickly in all directions, while countless rock fragments shot out from the battlefield like bullets and smashed into the surrounding forest.


    When the dust cloud had settled down a little bit, Leon finally stopped running further away. The green glow on the his Quicken Boots gradually faded away, as he had ran to a place half a mile away from the battlefield.


    Throwing a glance over his shoulder and staring into the shaking battlefield, Leon saw that the Lightning Giant was hovering in midair and had lifted both arms in the air. Over its tall body, a funnel shape, slow revolving Thunder Storm was forming at an incredible speed, while the tail of the Thunder Storm was pointing directly at the Giant Raging Ape who had been violently fighting on the battlefield.


    Though it was in the middle of a violent battle, the Giant Raging Ape had quickly noticed the abnormality over its head. With great efforts, it tried to move away from the location the Thunder Storm had locked down on. However, the Rock Snake, who had had its body nearly broken into pieces by the Giant Ape''s earlier attack, had tightly tangled with the giant ape''s feet. No matter how the giant ape tried to attack it, it showed no signs of letting go.


    Soon, after over twenty seconds of brewing, the Thunder Storm had been finally completed.


    A sudden streak of huge lightning strike sliced the dark night sky into two and filled the entire place with undying flashes of radiance.


    The raging, violent, and scorching hot electricity wantonly slithered around the body of Giant Raging Ape and Rock Snake. The tremendous lightning energy instantly broke through the crimson colored life barrier outside of the Giant Raging Ape''s body and had penetrated straight away into its huge body.


    In next second, the raging energy exploded inside of the Giant Raging Ape''s body and burst a huge bloody hole in its broad back. Blood sprayed out like a waterfall, but before it could touch the ground, it had been simply evaporated by the violent lightning energy that was wreaking havoc in the air.


    It was a brutal attack, one the Giant Raging Ape couldn''t withstand even with its tough Physique.


    Under the uninterrupted attack from the Thunder Storm, it threw its head back and let out a furious roar into the sky. The Giant Raging Ape finally fell down to the ground and the masculine body starting to shrink slowly until the original look of the green armor guy was revealed.


    "Quick, quick... ask your Golem to gather some of his blood for me!" Not knowing when, Bleia suddenly appeared beside Leon. She looked at the scene where the dust had finally settled, actually showing a more joyful expression than Leon.


    Ugh...


    Leon turned around and looked at Bleia whose face had turned red from excitement and finally realized that he had been used by her. Nevertheless, an ending like this was not bad either ¨C she got the blood she had wanted and Leon had obtained the most satisfying data from the battle. It was a win-win situation! Perhaps, the only one who suffered from all this was that Pseudo-Mage Toril who had possessed a powerful bloodline!


    Leon totally had no intention of killing Toril.


    This place was within the coverage of Mage Tower''s power. Since Toril was able to have his secluded cultivation here, he must have had some kind of connection with those Mages in the Mage Tower. It was a little bit over to severely wound this guy for no reason. However, if Leon had taken the opportunity to kill him, perhaps before Leon could even return to the Mage Tower, he would be greeted by someone on his way back.


    Secretly giving out his order to the Lightning Giant, Leon turned around and dragged Bleia before running from the scene.


    He had very sensitive senses. While two monsters were fighting, he had detected seven to eight indistinct, yet powerful Spirit waves hiding around the battlefield. Out of all these Spirit waves, one had actually belonged to someone whom Leon was rather familiar with ¨C Mage Angus.


    Hence, the Lighting Giant hovering in the air waved its arm and dispersed the Thunder Storm, before transforming into a dazzling lighting streak and following Leon. As for the Rock Snake who had been left behind on the battlefield, after struggling and freeing itself from the fainted green armor guy, it dragged its broken body and slithered through the grass and also chasing Leon and left this place.


    Without anyone''s knowledge, before the Rock Snake left, it had secretly swallowed a mouthful of dirt underneath the body of the guy, dirt which was mixed with a huge amount of his blood.


    When peace had once again returned to the place, two dark figures suddenly emerged beside the green armor guy.


    Leaning forward and giving the guy a look, one of the dark shadows shook his head, sighing.


    "Toril is a junior from your clan. So, are you going to let that kid leave just like that?"


    Another dark shadow was seen hiding behind a dense black cloud, only showing two bizarre looking flames in his eyes. With a cold voice, he said, "Hmph, if not for the fact that Angus had stopped me, do you think anyone can leave this place alive even after bullying a member of the Wharton family?"


    "Angus? Oh right! It is his turn on duty at the Mage Tower now. Could this kid be a new junior from his family?" The first dark figure asked wonderingly. "Why would he just let his junior to cause trouble freely like this? Don''t tell me he is not afraid of stirring up a war between Mage families?"


    "Hmph, that kid is not from his family. I think he was sent by the Zhentarim Association. He is just a little guy who is training here."


    "Eh, there is such a good seed among the newcomers? Once I finish with my magical experiment, I''ll thoroughly examine him."


    After a short conversation, both men nodded their heads and departed.


    The first dark figure quickly dissolved into the forest, while the other leaned down to pick up Toril into his arms. Following the spread of the dark cloud, they too vanished into thin air.


    At last, the forest had truly become quiet, leaving behind only the messy battlefield, which quietly showed the miserable experience it had just went through!


    ...


    2228 Words

 Chapter 97 - 97: Contract

    Though their minds were filled with worries, the return journey back to the Mage Tower had gone rather smoothly.


    After Leon used a secret magic word to disperse the huge Wind Elementium body of Lightning Giant, within the blink of an eye, the massive monster simply turned back into seven crystal clear, dazzling magical cores.


    Before Leon could put them all away, Bleia had leapt forward and placed them in her palms, giving them a good fondle and careful examination, while showing a look of great affection. After some time, as if just looking at them wasn''t enough to express her love, Bleia actually brought the primary core to her face and kept stroking it gently, quietly feeling the slight tingling sensations caused by the tiny electricity sparks on her face.


    Ugh... looking at this scene, Leon couldn''t help but feel helpless, as some black lines appeared on his forehead.


    Come on, though these cores looked beautiful and glittery like some pure and magnificent objects, they were actually a fighting Golem that killed without blinking its eyes! After Bleia had witnessed the savage and brutal performance of the Golem, she actually showed great attachment to it. This... Leon couldn''t help but sigh with mixed emotions, telling himself that most of the people who took the path of an Mage were those who had some sort of weird mentalities.


    Suppressing the complaints he had in his mind, Leon finally took back his number one Golem from Bleia''s hand. At the same time, he tossed a blood-colored crystal over to her. With Rock Snake''s ability to control Earth Elementium, it wasn''t too big an issue to filter out blood mixed with the dirt. His only hope was that after losing such a huge amount of blood, Toril wouldn''t have his overall strength drop too much, or else, for no reason, Leon would have to face another deadlier enemy in future.


    Even after such a violent battle, all the summoning cores of Lightning Giant were still intact, but the summoning core of Rock Snake had suffered a lot of damage, which was the result of getting an Advanced Apprentice level Rock Snake to risk its life to pin down a formidable Bloodline Pseudo-Mage. After Leon dispersed the Golem''s body, only then had he realized that the Elementium on this summoning core was in a state of disorder and the magical energy was leaking uncontrollably. It simply looked as if it couldn''t be used anymore.


    Leon took some time and examined it thoroughly. When the Chip finally confirmed this summoning core could no longer be repaired, he had no choice but to put it away regretfully.


    And after tidying up themselves at the edge of the mountain range, both of them finally returned to the Mage Tower stealthily. However, as they were about to step into the main entrance of the Mage Tower, the two rock ghost statues placed on either side of the entrance suddenly moved.


    Following a creaking noise produced by their movements, the rock ghost statue on the left, while maintaining their standing position on top of the tall rock platform, leaned forward and laboriously moved its rock eyes to stare into Leon''s face.


    "Hey, little guy, the enforcer, Master Angus asked you to pay him a visit at his residence."


    After saying that, it retracted its body and once again resumed its original leaping posture ¨C motionless and noiseless.


    Leon was suddenly startled.


    During his stay in this place, he had passed by this entrance many times and every time he would see this pair of rock ghost statues guarding the entrance. But, he never thought they were actually automatons. Not only that, they were... Mage level automatons.


    It looked like this seemingly defenseless public Mage Tower wasn''t as fragile as he had initially thought!


    Therefore, the journey that followed was a terrifying one that made his hair stand on end. Wherever Leon and Bleia seemed to go, no matter if it was those lifeless statues or the shepherdess in the oil painting that hung on the corridor wall, they all had become alive and continuously repeated the same words.


    "Quickly pay a visit to Mage Angus!"


    With regards to these repeating messages, if both of them still had no clue that they were being watched by Mage Angus, then they really were idiots. But this also struck fear into their minds, because they weren''t able to tell what kind of method Mage Angus was using to watch them.


    Hence, immersed in the oppressive atmosphere, both of them soon arrived at Mage Angus''s residence which was located on the fifth floor of the Mage Tower.


    Mage Angus met with them in his laboratory.


    Compared to their imagination, this place didn''t look as frightening, ghastly and filled with blood a they as they had fantasized. It was a clean and tidy private laboratory of an official Mage; the entire place was brightly lit and looked rather like an advanced laboratory. However, from the many jars that were placed around the laboratory, Leon could sense a dazzling red glow. From the living and kicking tiny creatures to the magical organs, all of them emanated a strong aura of energy.


    And clearly, Mage Angus was in the middle of concocting some kind of special potion, as the table in front of him was fully covered with small bottles and test tubes of different shapes. When the both of them have arrived at the laboratory, Angus was seen gently shaking a test tube in his hand, and from time to time, he would bring it in front of his eyes to give it a careful examination.


    A mysterious, azure potion was contained in the test tube. Every time Angus shook the test tube, there would be countless tiny bubbles bursting out from the azure potion, and transforming into all sorts of marine creatures. Sometimes it was a mermaid riding on a seahorse, sometimes it was a magical Narwhal flipping its tail and swimming around or sometimes it was a swarm of Silver Swordfish leaping and chasing each other around... In short, whenever he shook the test tube, they would transform into another creature, giving it a touch of bizarreness and mystery.


    Bleia always had little resistance to something as peculiar as this, but since they were in the laboratory of an official Mage, she just couldn''t act as recklessly as she usually did. Thus, she could only throw her question to Leon using the movement of her lips. Perhaps Bleia''s rank was way beyond that of Leon''s, but in terms of magical knowledge and their application in real life, Leon could defeat her easily.


    The blood of a deep sea mermaid!


    Likewise, Leon replied her question moving just his lips. Only the blood of those deep sea mermaids who lived in the deepest area of the ocean could have such a unique illusive effect. That''s right, what they saw just now was not real, but just the illusionary force ignited by the shaking of the azure colored blood.


    After a long time, Mage Angus finally put down the test tube in his hand and turned around to stare at both his visitors.


    "Moments ago, the leader of Wharton family lodged a complaint. He thinks your reckless behavior has seriously damaged the honor of their family and asked me to hand you over to them. So, tell me, should I listen to his request?"


    Bleia frowned, as she had no idea how to answer this question. She tilted her head and threw her gaze over to Leon and hinted at him to answer the question.


    Leon smiled and bowed deeply, saying, "Your respectful Master Angus, to my knowledge, the leader of Wharton family is just an ordinary human! How can a mere mortal with no special status give you an order? If they really wanted me and Bleia to atone for our mistakes with our life, then the Master Mage behind the family will definitely give out his order personally."


    Mage Angus narrowed his eyes, staring at the duo with a tilted glance.


    Vampire + Golem Controller!


    And that too, they were an Advanced Apprentice level Vampire and Intermediate Apprentice level Golem Controller!


    But there was one thing surprised him ¨C this team was actually headed by the Intermediate Apprentice who was much weaker!


    Could it be because of the excellent potential of Golem Controller put out by this kid or was there another reason? Or else, why else would that little girl, who was an Advanced Apprentice level Vampire, be willing to give up her authority between them?


    After all, not one of the apprentices who took upon the path of Mage had a kind heart. Instead, their mind was completely filled with arrogance and pride. They were just a group of self-centering people with wild ambitions. It would be absurd if they had willingly treated weaker peers with modesty and an amiable attitude.


    As the result, when any Mage had the need to team up with someone else, the team would usually be headed by the strongest amongst them, while the rest of the team members obeyed all his commands. This situation was even more obvious amongst the Apprentice Mages. Therefore, Angus showed great interest in the duo in front of him.


    "Kid, being a good talker is useless. The man you provoked this time was Toril, the member of Wharton family who has the highest chance of becoming an official Mage. I heard that because of your willful action, the time for that guy to become an official Mage was pushed back by three years! Hahaha... now all the members of Wharton family are showering in flames of anger and they are searching for you two everywhere. Perhaps, once you two leave this place, there will be a large group of people waiting for you outside, wanting to capture you and exchange you for a reward!" A treacherous smile emerged on Mage Angus''s face.


    Leon''s heart began to race, as he felt helpless about their current situation.


    If that Wharton family was really as aggressive as Mage Angus described, perhaps before both of them could even enter the Mage Tower, they would have already been captured. Since Mage Angus said it like that, based on the strong implication of a warning in his words, perhaps he was just intimidating them and forcing them into a trap. Facing the intimidation of an official Mage, what options did these two little Apprentice Mages have?


    "Your respectful Master Angus, Bleia and I are just two mere Apprentice Mages, naturally, we''re willing to follow anything you say. I wonder is there anything we can offer you our services for?"


    Seeing as Leon had behaved as he had expected, Mage Angus let out a satisfied smile.


    "Show me your Golem!"


    Without saying another word, Leon presented the summoning cores respectfully with both hands.


    Using his fingers, he pinched each core a few times and gave them all an examining glance; the smile on Angus''s face grew stronger.


    "It looks like they were all personally crafted by you!"


    "Yes!"


    "If you''re given with three years, can you become an official Mage?" Mage Angus suddenly changed the topic.


    "Ah..." Leon was dumbstruck and didn''t know what to say. Even Bleia couldn''t control herself, as her eyes went wide.


    "There is nothing to feel surprised about! Because I can only protect you for three years. If that Toril becomes an official Mage before you, then I have no reason to stop him from seeking his revenge. As for the complaints coming from his family, they won''t affect me at all. After all, you defeated him in a fair match. If a defeat like that causes the family to jump onto their feet, then the Wharton family will have lost all face completely. But..."


    "Bleia and I are willing to pay any price in exchange for your protection, is there anything we can do for you?"


    "Hahaha... talking to a smart kid like you really saves me a lot of trouble. Here, this is a magical contract, I want both of you to sign your name on it! Don''t worry, with your current overall strength, I don''t need anything from you. Once you''ve signed the contract, it also means you have signed a contract with my family, the Byron family. With that, I can use the name of the Byron family and provide you with three years of protection and spare you from the retaliation and harassment of the Wharton family."


    "What do I need to do in exchange for the protection?"


    "You need to become an official Mage in three years. After that, you have to represent the Byron family and participate in a competition. A competition that only Titan Controllers, Golem Controllers and Automaton Controllers can participate in."


    ....


    2138 Words S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 98 - 98: Competition

    "You mean, the minimum requirement to join this competition is being an official Mage? Could it be... could it be..." Leon spoke hesitatingly, as he recalled some relevant content from the vast information about the Mage World he had stored in his mind.


    "That''s right. The competition I want you to participate in is the Advancement Competition of Profound Mages, which will be held in the Sky City in five years. As long as you can help us, the Byron family maintain our selling rights in the Sky City, when everything is over, our family will also reward you with a great gift."


    "I see what you mean now, what you need is a promise. As long as I can promise you that I''ll become an official Mage within three years and represent the Byron family to participate in that competition, you''ll provide us with three years of protection. This is a deal where both of us benefit and fulfills the usual practices of fair deals between Mages. Hence, I accept the deal!"


    "Hehe, excellent! Remember, you will only have three years. Once that Toril becomes an official Mage, the agreement between us will be voided. After all, no one is willing to had a fall out with a Bloodline Mage who is a good fighter."


    "I understand. I''ll definitely become an official Mage before he does!" Leon pledged with sincerity and seriousness.


    Looking at Leon''s seemingly sincere expression, Mage Angus waved his hand, and a clump of gray smoke instantly exploded in front of Leon, before condensing into a magical contract within a split second.


    Leon took a step forward and seriously and detailedly read the magical contract multiple times. After making sure there weren''t any wording or style traps, he carefully inked his magical mark.


    Under normal situations, when a spell caster signed a contract, they disliked leaving behind their soul mark. Though that provided a higher binding effect, it made it rather easy for an outsider to obtain his soul aura. Therefore, in order to deal with such situations, Mages had created the magical mark. It was a special mark formed with the individual''s unique Spirit wave and the energy of their element.


    With that, not only did they not have to worry about someone obtaining their aura and using it against him, it was also impossible to fake by someone else. That was why it had become accepted by all spell casters.


    The magical seal Leon that designed for himself was a tightly clenched fist, covered in flames and soared up into the sky.


    The flames surrounding the iron fist represented his element affinity of Fire, while the iron fist represented strength. His magical seal also represented the wild ambitious that starting to burgeoning deep inside Leon''s heart.


    After putting away the contract, Mage Angus tossed over a chest badge that represented the Byron family over to Leon.


    "By wearing this, as long as you''re in Dagon Region, no one will take the initiative to provoke you. Alright, you can leave now!"


    Upon completing the deal, Mage Angus simply turned Leon and Bleia away from his laboratory. For him, this was just one of the backup plans he had prepared for his family. While there were countless other measures he had prepared, it hadn''t reached the level where he needed to handle it solemnly.


    Hence, before that little guy became an official Mage, everything was just casual preparation!


    After Leon and Bleia left Angus''s residence with great respect, they were shocked to find that more than twenty elite apprentices had gathered outside of Angus'' residence. They had split into two groups and were confronting each other. When Leon made his appearance, the leaders of both groups immediately rested their eyes on his face.


    When their eyes gazed over the badge pinned on Leon''s chest, the leaders of both fractions had their expressions change at the same time. One gnashed his teeth angrily, while the other''s face was covered with a bright smile; he even took the initiative to hug Leon''s shoulder.


    "So? Now you have seen it for yourself." A gloating expression could be clearly seen on Kevin''s face. "Leon is part of the Byron family now. Stop wasting your time here and leave. Why are you still standing around here?"


    Leon roughly remembered that he had seen the leader of the other group in the training camp before. It seemed like his name was Hamill and he was also a Pseudo-Mage. But judging from his unconcealed Spirit wave, obviously, his overall strength was so much weaker compared to Toril.


    "Leon... very good..." With a ferocious manner, Hamill threatened, "You''re smart, kid, knowing to hide under the protection of Master Angus. Or else, I, Hamill would have definitely let you known the serious consequences of provoking the Wharton family."


    Leon let out a somber smile.


    "The reason I joined Byron family is because of the care from Mage Angus, as he didn''t want me to be defeated by the crafty plot of a shameless person. However, for someone like you, a coward who only knows how to show his aggressiveness with his mouth, I''ll never be afraid!"


    "You..."


    "Since you have the desire to seek revenge for that Toril, why don''t we find a chance tomorrow and have a fair fight? As long as you can defeat me in a fair match, I''m willing to give up the protection from Master Angus. So, do you have the guts to accept my challenge?"


    "You..."


    "Arrogant...!"


    "This is absurd...!"


    For the moment, all those elite apprentices who followed behind Hamill couldn''t control their anger anymore. Each of them kept scolding and yelling out with a loud voice. Though Hamill was also letting out furious shouts, his eyes flickered and his face looked gloomy. Obviously, he didn''t have the courage to accept Leon''s challenge.


    Leon laughed scornfully.


    "Same goes to all of you. For those who want to seek revenge for Toril, I''m open for a fair bet with anyone. As long as you can come out with a satisfying stake, I''ll fight with you right away. So, is anyone willing to have a fair match with me?!"


    Leon asked with a severe countenance and a harsh voice. As he glared at this group of guys who appeared to be tough outwardly, but actually were timid inside, an indistinct bright light could be seen flickering in his eyes. Even Kevin, who was standing closest to him, was secretly shocked by the aggressiveness emanating from Leon''s eyes.


    Though the group had been here to capture the wild kid who had offended the dignity of Wharton family, when they stared into the aggressive glances of their target, those who kept yelling angrily just now actually had shut their mouth. Some even turned their head sideways to avoid being directly gazed at by Leon.


    At that moment, tens of Advanced Apprentices and Pseudo-Mages were stuck in an awkward situation, brought on by Leon who was just an Intermediate Apprentice.


    Though they knew by losing their face like this, they would definitely be punished by their family when they returned, no one was willing to stand up and fight this mad guy who was in high spirits.


    Now, they were losing their face as a group, which allowed them to still have room to turn the situation around when they returned. But, if anyone accepted the challenge in a moment of madness, the problem they faced would not only be losing their face anymore. It was very likely that they might also have their reputation crushed, which was something they had been building restlessly for the past seven to eight years, and eventually become the laughing stock of everyone.


    If their opponent was someone else, they wouldn''t have behaved so cowardly, but this kid in front of them was too strange. He... he actually defeated Toril, who was about to hold his advancement ceremony, also... also they heard he had done that in a fair one-to-one fight.


    When Toril was severely wounded and thrown to the ground, the official Mage sent by Wharton family and stationed in the Underground Cave was right at the spot, but it hadn''t been convenient for him to capture this rascal personally. If this Leon had the courage to directly offended the dignity of an official Mage, no one would stop a Master Mage from killing him personally.


    But... but the problem was, this kid actually beaten Toril to coma in a fair match. If the Master Mage struck at that point in time, other families would have definitely been laughing at him, teasing him for not having any other successors in his family, as they even needed an official Mage to handle something as petty as dealing with an Intermediate Apprentice.


    Therefore, after weighing and considering the situation, this group had come here together to question Leon and capture him in the name of their family. However, since this guy was now part of the Byron family, it was impossible for them to give him a serious beating without any forethought. But... in order to capture him with a one versus one fight, none of this guys had the confidence.


    Depressed, extremely depressed! Indignation, an indescribable indignation!


    Tens of elite apprentices from Wharton family had their face turned livid with rage. It was as if their bodies were attacked by hundreds of thousands of ants; it was an extremely awkward situation for them.


    "Let''s go, we''ll settle this score with him in future!" Realizing that the situation was going out of his control, Hamill furiously waved his hand and took all his men and quickly left the scene.


    Watching how the group of elite apprentices had come in a threatening and ready to fight manner, but eventually left sheepishly, the members of the Byron family remained at the scene and kept exchanging glances with each other speechlessly. They were all veterans of the training camp. Although because of the competition, both families didn''t have a concord relationship, actually, both groups were pretty familiar with each other. If their positions were reversed in this situation, perhaps their performance wouldn''t have been better than those from Wharton family.


    It was not because they were incompetent, but because this rascal had strange abilities!


    Since Kevin was experienced in such scenes, he pushed Leon and brought him out from the place.


    "Brother, since you have become a part of us, then as your brother, I''ll not regard you as an outsider anymore. Don''t worry, in Dagon region, as long as you show the badge of the Byron family, no one will give you any trouble. If someone does, tell me and I''ll bring our men to annihilate him!"


    A big smile was immediately brought to Leon''s face and he expressed his gratitude to Kevin.


    Kevin was not bragging, what he had said was actually real.


    According to the Chronicle of Mage Families, there were more than twenty Mage Families with the proper name who could be found in this Dagon region. Among these families, the Byron family, which Kevin was working for, could easily be ranked among the top three of all Mage families in this region. Also, the Byron and Mises family had supported a small human kingdom which had occupied a huge area of fertile land in the central area of the Dagon region.


    Therefore, the promise of providing him protection within the entire Dagon region wasn''t a lie at all.


    In fact, not only the entire Dagon region, this kind of situation was common throughout the entire Zhentarim territory. In this world ruled by Mages, the noble or even imperial families of human were just tools and servants who helped Mage families manage ordinary mortals. If any of them offended the Mage family who supported them, even if he was a king of a human kingdom, he would have to step down from his throne or even die of ''sickness''.


    For Kevin, as the nephew of Mage Angus, if he paid a visit to a human kingdom, he would be welcomed with the most luxurious, grandest reception and treatment. As long as he nodded his head slightly, even if he wanted some princesses to serve him on his bed, those kings would personally send them to his bed with a bright smile on their faces. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was in fact, the most realistic yet cruel reality of the current Mage World!


    ...


    2072 Words

 Chapter 99 - 99: Invasion

    Right from the start, the Underground Cave was a place where one was apt to get into trouble.


    Though no one had purposefully spread the news, early next morning, nearly the entire Mage Tower was startled by a frightening news that had spread like the plague.


    In a fair one-on-one match, an individual who had recently broken through to Intermediate Apprentice Mage had defeated Toril, the member of the Wharton family who had the highest chance of becoming an official Mage in the shortest amount of time. When the news was freshly heard, countless Apprentice Mages simply sniffed at it to show their contempt.


    In the World of Mage, even within the same grade, but just different by one or two minor tiers, let alone the gap between two major grades, there would be a jaw-dropping difference between their overall strength. Some busybodies actually performed a statistical study before. In a normal battle, a Pseudo-Mage could easily defend himself from the joint attack of two to three Advanced Apprentices and could just as easily defend himself against the joint attack from a double digit number of Intermediate Apprentices.


    Therefore, when they heard the news for the first time, most of the people just treated it as a lousy lie used by an enemy of the Wharton family to bring shame to them. But as time went by, the ''lie'' had grown hotter and hotter, so much so that many guys who were well-known among the elite apprentices vowed solemnly that it was real.


    As the result, a massive storm broke out in the circle of Apprentice Mages within the Mage Tower of Underground Cave!


    Countless Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices ran around, spreading the news, while inquiring about the genuine version of that ''rumor''. Soon, all the rumors gathered through the grapevine had pointed to a name that everybody was unfamiliar with ¨C Leon. Hence, more news about Leon was dug out.


    For example, when Leon had arrived at the Underground Cave, he had just been a Beginner Apprentice. Also, during his first trip to the Underground World, he had killed the frightening Demon Vine Lady and gotten himself the first head of a Fallen Apprentice. Not only that, when he was invited to join the training camp, he actually had defeated two elite Advanced Apprentices...


    When the series of outstanding results were pieced together, every single apprentice who heard about it was struck with astonishment.


    This... how could this be possible?


    Everyone was very familiar with the overall strength of an apprentice who had just become an Intermediate Apprentice. During this stage, their overall strength was in a rather awkward situation, as usually they had only mastered two to three offensive magic spells. Some with a stronger overall strength would master a defensive magic spell in advance, while those ordinary Intermediate Apprentices would have to fight nakedly for a long period of time before they mastered the first defensive magic spell in their life.


    Comparing an overall strength like this to an Advanced Apprentice who been thoroughly tempered or even those Pseudo-Mages who had nearly reached the pinnacle of apprenticeship, it was like the difference between a five to six year old toddler and a youth who had nearly become an adult. Most of the time, a gap in overall strength like this could never be covered up by skillful techniques or experience.


    But they soon learned that, it was highly possible that this man of marvel, Leon, was a Golem Controller who had extraordinary talent. He was able to overstep the constraints of his level and control many powerful magical Golems. After this news was spread, it immediately made the few rare Golem controllers within the apprentice circle feel proud of themselves; they even walked and talked with a higher spirit as compared to before.


    However, none of them knew at this moment when they were discussing about this miraculous Golem Controller with much warmth, Leon, whose face would have blushed because of the discussion, had brought Bleia and Snorlax and ventured deep into the Underground Cave. They followed the path he found on his previous trip and stealthily traveled towards the ruins of the Mage Tower.


    To be honest, with regards to this treasure hunting trip, though Leon had prepared numerous plans and strategies in his mind, when his opponent was an Mage level demon, it was unknown whether these plans and strategies would work as they were designed to.


    Riding on the back of the Demon Alligator Hunter, the trio had a meeting and repeatedly cross-checked each other''s tasks. In order to defeat the Transvestite Fairy, not only Leon had to face a tremendous amount of pressure, he even arranged an extremely important task for both Bleia and Snorlax to complete.


    As the main force for the war, Leon''s existence was used to attract attention. Only by luring the frightening Fairy away from the entrance of the ruin could Bleia and Snorlax have the chance to sneak into the place and search for the true form of the Fairy.


    And only by finding a way to cut off the spiritual connection between the Fairy and its true form would Leon have the possibility of defeating it face-to-face. Or else, if he had to fight a complete Fairy, even if Leon sacrificed all of his Golems, he might not be able to obtain any advantage.


    Perhaps the previous lesson was overly painful as all the Gnolls that had been prowling at the outer perimeter of the ruin had actually disappeared. This really surprised Leon who had planned to make a clean wipe of the outer perimeter first.


    When Demon Alligator Hunter once again arrived in front of the demonized forest, both Bleia and Snorlax had their jaws dropped in amazement. They wouldn''t be so surprised if what they saw was on the surface world. However, when they were at nearly twenty miles underneath the surface, yet were still able to see such a wild profusion of vegetation. This really astounded both of them who had got used to the desolate and lonely environment of the Underground World!


    "Let''s move, and don''t forget about your task. Once that Fairy leaves the place, both of you need to act fast, because I can''t stand against it for a long time!" Before they separated, Leon couldn''t help but urge once again.


    A sweet smile emerged on Bleia''s pretty face. Her slim body leapt into the air and within a split second, she had transformed into a fist-sized red bat and flew into the forest.


    Leon didn''t have too many worries for Bleia. Both her overall strength of an Advance Apprentice Vampire and her new ability, Natural Charm were the biggest guarantees for her survival. Especially the latter, in a chaotic demonized forest such as this, as long as she didn''t actively attack the enemy, ordinary demonized creatures and plants wouldn''t attack her actively either.


    In fact, the ability of Natural Charm could actually ignore the species, genders, factions, and some other factors, and directly influence the subconscious mind of any intelligent creature. Thus, it could simply be regarded as the best innate ability for treasure hunting in the wilderness. Allegedly, the advancement requirement for this very unique class actually needed the ability of Natural Charm as a foundation.


    The current Snorlax was seen wearing a torn and tattered leather armor, while having a perfectly matching old cloak flinging behind its back. Also, the short wooden stick that it always carried around was found in its hand.


    "Master, rest assure, I''ll try my best to complete the task!" Snorlax bowed respectfully before jumping off from the Demon Alligator. It moved its short legs and strode into the depths of the forest.


    Though the demonized forest was a place filled with dangers, for a goblin who had mastered Invisibility and Camouflage, those low ranked demons could never threaten its life. Also, with Bleia protecting it in the dark, even if some demons had discovered Snorlax, they would be ''lucky'' enough to have gotten themselves killed.


    When both peers disappeared, only then had Leon dispersed the Demon Alligator Hunter and freed up two Spirit points used to summon it. For the upcoming battle, he needed his most powerful combative force, thus every single Spirit point was extremely precious and couldn''t afford to waste any of them.


    After adjusting and calmed down his Spirit, without any hesitation, Leon summoned the Lightning Giant and a Rock Snake. It took seven Spirit points to maintain the existence of the Lightning Giant, while Rock Snake occupies three Spirit points. Currently, Leon''s Spirit had reached 13.25 (including the +1 effect from the Circlet of Nobility), if he was pushed to his limit, he could summon another Rock Snake or a Water Elemental.


    This was the strongest battle group Leon could achieve after pushing himself to the limit.


    Nevertheless, considering the surrounding environment in this place wasn''t suitable to let out his latest golem, the Water Elemental, to unleash its strongest combative strength, Leon preferred the former option.


    Upon the appearance of the Lightning Giant, deep and muffled thunderclaps immediately echoed throughout this spacious underground space. With its entire body covered by a crackling lightning storm, the Lightning Giant opened up its dazzling eyes and hovered in the air over ten meters from the group. It took the lead and charged into the demonized forest.


    Leon gritted his teeth and briefly organized the equipment on his body, before following behind the Lightning Giant without another glance backwards. Meanwhile, the massive Rock Snake was slowly slithering behind Leon, keeping its high vigilance towards any possible attacks that might come from his back.


    A man and two monsters were slowly walking in the demonized forest.


    Leon didn''t need to waste his time or effort cleaning any of those troublesome vines or bushes on their way, as the Lightning Giant''s tall body flashed through any plants that got too close to it, turning them into a pile of ashes by the sudden strike of the thunderstorm. Even those little animals hiding in the dense woods couldn''t escape from it! As long as their life aura was detected by the Lightning Giant, they would be greeted by a lightning strike.


    With the peak Pseudo-Mage level overall strength of the Lightning Giant, even those Iron Rhinoceros who were known for their strong vitality couldn''t withstand the lightning strike it casually unleashed, let alone those small demons who only had with their strange abilities and the ability to hide!


    Completely advancing while crushing everything in their path!


    Wherever they passed, everything would be turned into ashes, even the ground was filled with burned cracks caused by the lightning strikes!


    Though the demons wished to protect the magical source which brought them endless power, when the largest pack of violent wolves were totally wiped out by the Lightning Giant, these demons had finally become scared and started to crazily flee from the messenger from hell who could bring death upon all of them.


    At the same time, right in front of the collapsed Mage Tower where Leon had visited last time, the seductive body of Fairy was seen gradually emerging from thin air.


    It was overlooking the rocking dark cloud that had formed above the forest. From time to time, a dazzling lightning strike would struck out from it, following by a series of muffled thunderclaps. Though it couldn''t see the numbers of the enemy from here, but judging from the power of this summoned thunder cloud, the Fairy had furrowed its brows slightly, as if trying to make a tough decision.


    Looking at the direction where the thunder cloud was headed, it seemed its destination was right where the Fairy was. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If these intruders were allowed to bring those flames of war to this place, perhaps they would cause an inestimable damage to the life source hidden underground. Finally, a firm expression emerged on the beautiful and delicate face of the Fairy. With its hand making a grabbing movement in the air, the magical bow that it had owned since the day it had been born appeared in its grip.


    Following a whisper from the Fairy, the demonized plants around the ruins started to grow crazily and soon a dense green foliage had totally covered up the secret entrance to the ruin.


    After finishing all these, the Fairly shouted angrily, flipping its near transparent wings, before leaping towards the enemy with tremendous speed.


    ...


    2078 Words

 Chapter 100 - 100: Pow

    The Fairy had an incredible flying speed. It actually intercepted Leon and his golems in the middle of the demonized jungle.


    "It''s you again? You don''t know the difference between life and death! This time, don''t even think about leaving this place alive!"


    Looking at the rather familiar face of Leon, two Spirit flames of anger immediately shot out from the Fairy''s eyes. Even though there were nearly a hundred meters of distance between them, the intense Spiritual pressure still cause Leon''s heart to tremble violently. He struggled to maintain a calm mentality.


    Damn it! As expected, he couldn''t handle an Mage level demon at his current level of strength!


    Leon kept backing off. It was only when the Rock Snake coiled its body around Leon and protected him inside its coils that he could calm his panicked mind down and regain his thoughts.


    ''Lightning Giant, engage it. Don''t let it have any opportunity to attack me!'' Leon transmitted his order through a hidden Spiritual channel.


    Almost straight away, the Lightning Giant placed its palms together and unleashed a huge lightning strike that had the diameter of a washbowl. It flew straight at the Fairy, who was hovering in the air.


    Obviously, the Fairy was very confident in its Rose Armor, since it actually didn''t speed up and dodge the attack. Instead, it pushed through the raging Elementium Lightning and ferociously leapt onto the Lightning Giant, who was in the middle of attracting lightning.


    While it did so, numerous rose stalks burst out from its body and started twisting and interlocking with each other. The stalks formed an exquisite looking rose armor that protected its body within. After that, it braved the splashing electric arcs, stretched out one of its hand, and forcefully pierced toward the target''s chest.


    The Fairy had extraordinary combat instinct, which allowed it to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Lightning Giant.


    When fighting an Elementium Golem like this, reducing its strength slowly was definitely not the best method. Though doing so would allow the Fairy to suffer less attacks, it would also drag the battle into an unpredictable and tough to control fight of attrition. Therefore, it had to kill the Lightning Giant using the least amount of time possible, even if that would consume some of its defensive strength. This was, in fact, the best method of preventing the enemy from controlling the pace of the battle.


    In the face of the enemy''s solo onrush, the Lightning Giant showed no emotion at all. A sudden thunderclap emanated from its body, and immediately, the Lightning Chain unleashed from its palms became thicker. Also, half a second before the sparkling arm of the Fairy drilled a hole through its chest, the electricity surrounded the Lightning Giant''s body flashed, and it suddenly vanished from the scene.


    Lightning Jump!


    Though it had ''jump'' in the name, the actual result was no different than a short distance teleportation.


    A loud thunderclap was heard from hundred meters away. With its body shrouded in violent electricity, the Lightning Giant reappeared where the noise had originated. There wasn''t any delay or hesitation. Right as it reappeared, a brand new Lightning Chain streaked across the hundred-meter distance and struck the Fairy''s delicate body.


    It was worth mentioning, among all of the Elementium magic spells, Lightning element magic spells held the top position in speed. It had nearly reached the stage of reaching the enemy with just a thought. Only those who had Agility at level 20 could dodge an attack with such incredible speed.


    A joyful expression emerged on Leon''s face.


    But, before the smile could fully bloom on his face, Leon couldn''t help but show a bitter expression.


    Indeed, with the overall strength of the Lightning Giant, it was more than enough to deal with the frightening Fairy. But, it was also because of the extraordinary overall strength of the Lightning Giant, that it had clearly portrayed the weakness of its master, Leon. Thus, when the frightening Fairy couldn''t find any loophole on the Lightning Giant, perhaps it would switch its attention to...


    While Leon was pondering silently, as expected, after quickly exchanging a few rounds of attack with the Lightning Giant, the Fairy suddenly halted, slowly turned its head, and looked over at Leon.


    Damn it, damn it, damn it...


    Without saying another word, Leon simply turned around, taking the Rock Snake, and fled into the distance.


    ...


    While the thunder cloud hovered over the demonized forest and the loud boom of lightning strikes echoed throughout the entire cavern, at the edge of the forest closest to the cavern entrance, a dense clump of Earth Elementium suddenly sprayed out from underground. It quickly formed into a ring-shaped magical array with a three meter diameter.


    A massive gray dust cloud burst out from the magical array. Soon, five incorporeal, strange looking human figures formed.


    Following a muffled boom, a light yellow ring made of Earth Elementium flashed and the dust pillar hovering in the air suddenly exploded, revealing five Fallen Pseudo-Mages, who had arrived via teleportation.


    Langdon, Philip, Hegel, and the other two Fallen Pseudo-Mages whose names were unknown.


    All five men were swaying, but, relying on their powerful Spirit, they quickly dispelled the Earth Elementium which had invaded into their body and once again calmed their minds.


    Though Stratum Teleportation provided greater speed compared to running on their feet, they experienced a short period of dizziness after each teleportation. Thus, it was totally unsuitable to use in a sudden ambush, but instead, a supplementary method when traveling long distances.


    When the group of men finally got rid of the dizziness caused by the teleportation, they started glancing over to the forest not far away. They were immediately attracted by the deafening noise of the violent thunderclaps.


    Clearly, that place had turned into a frightening killing field!


    Standing straight and tall, Langdon looked over at the thunder cloud in the far distance. His gaze followed two vague figures who were flying at top speed and attacking each other under the thunder cloud. A strangely satisfied emotion surged up in his mind.


    Damn kid, let me see where can you run this time! No matter how many people you brought here, I want all of you to die in this demonized forest!


    "Let''s go! It is about time for us to make our debut!" With a hideous smile, Langdon took the lead and walked into the forest. Behind him, the remaining four Fallen Pseudo-Mages exchanged glances with each other, said nothing, and followed his footsteps.


    ...


    While thunderous rumbling was heard in the distance, a red bat was flapping its wings and approaching the entrance of the ruin.


    Upon sensing the life aura that came from the body of the red bat, a long thin vine suddenly shot out from the dense bushes that tightly blanketed the entire ruin. It coiled towards the red bat, who was flying at low altitude but with incredible speed.


    Bleia let out a loud shout. Her body instantly transformed back to human form, and she used her pair of razor sharp claws to swing fiercely in the air. Within the time of a few blinks, the demon vine''s tentacle was sliced into countless pieces.


    It was like she had stirred up a nest of hornets! In the next second, countless vines shot out from the foliage, forming into a dense green forest, crazily piercing and coiling towards Bleia.


    A hideous expression came on to Bleia''s face. She then turned into crimson lightning, savagely streaking into the heart of the green forest. She kept swinging her razor sharp claws. Each strike cut through a thick vine, causing sticky green liquid to spray out from the broken vine.


    As Bleia was restlessly fighting with the vine forest, a bizarre demon vine poked out from a huge green leaf, pointing its end right at Bleia from a distance. The end of the demon vine spread out like a flower and revealed a strange eyeball that looked steadily at Bleia. No matter how she twisted and turned, she just couldn''t escape from the eyeball''s vision.


    While fighting in another battlefield in the far distance, the Fairy recieved the projected image of Bleia restlessly slaughtering the demon vine, causing it to slow down its movements slightly.


    For other people, such a slow down was nearly impossible to detect, but in the eyes of the Lightning Giant, it was distinct and clear. A crackling lightning spear instantly hit the flower armor of the Fairy.


    The sudden mini lightning storm flooded the Fairy and fully tested the magic resistance of the Rose Armor.


    So far, though the Lightning Giant had fought with the Fairy for such a long time, it still hadn''t broken through the defense of the Rose Armor. It was like those flower stalks could regrow forever. Whenever one was burned off, soon another would regrow.


    Though the Lightning Giant had tried its best, it still hadn''t inflicted any actual damage. At most, it only managed to destroy some of the Fairy''s defensive magical equipment.


    The new enemy in the distance distracted the Fairy''s mind, making it let out a furious roar and want to leave the battlefield. Therefore, the Lighting Giant, who had been fighting with guerrilla tactics, immediately charged forward, pushing through the violent arrow showers of the Fairy, and entangled them together.


    Meanwhile, at the ruins of Mage Tower, because of Bleia''s daring and savage attack, the ground was fully filled with countless twisting and struggling broken demon vines. When the number of demon vines was reduced to a certain level, a concealed dark hole was revealed.


    While the demon vine forest and Bleia were fighting with all they had, a gray rock that no one noticed was seen moving toward the hole, one step at a time.


    Carefully dodging the demon vines that rolled all over the ground, trying its best to avoid being stained by the green liquid, Snorlax kept scanning for danger around its body through the opening of its cloak. Then, moving one step at a time, it slowly approached the entrance to the ruin.


    Bleia knew what it was doing, and was working hard to attract all the attacks of the demon vines to one side, allowing the goblin, Snorlax, to infiltrate the heart of the enemy using its camouflage skill.


    Finally, after journeying over numerous obstacles, Snorlax arrived at the hole.


    Hesitating for a few seconds, Snorlax touched the magical collar strapped around its neck. Sensing the magical contract that was taking effect in its body, it finally made up its mind to complete the task given by its master.


    What to do? Before they had come, in order to ensure the success of the mission, Leon had purposely paid a visit to Mage Angus and purchased a magical servant contract from him.


    The magical servant contract was currently taking effect on Snorlax. Once it thought or behaved in a way that betrayed its master, that young man could sense it. And at that point in time, all he needed to do was recite some secret magic words, then the magical collar strapped on Snorlax''s neck would instantly crush its head.


    Therefore, if Snorlax wished to live on, it would have to complete its task, according to the order of its master!


    Throwing away all of the unnecessary fantasies in its mind, Snorlax gently shook off the magical camouflage from its body. Then it waved the short wooden stick and cast an Invisibility spell on itself. Finally, it dashed into the hole without looking back.


    Just as Snorlax dashed into the hole, at the far distance, a few of the main characters of the event were instantly struck with a vague feeling. All of them sent a glance over to the location of the ruin''s entrance at the same time.


    ...


    1977 Words


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 Chapter 101 - 101: Magic demons

    Within just five minutes, the Lightning Giant had been hurt by an unprecedented torture.


    Though it had the overall strength to crush the strongest Pseudo-Mage, its weakness was as vivid as its strength ¨C its defense was overly weak!


    The Wind Vortex surrounding its body could deflect an enemy''s attack using its powerful airflow, while the Lightning Shield and golden armor also effectively reduced the strength of an enemy''s attack. With these three layers of magical defense, the Lightning Giant could audaciously launch attacks at the enemy and dodge the enemy attacks with its lightning speed without too much worry.


    Due to the Lightning Giant''s Lightning Jump ability, not many enemies were able to catch up to its movements.


    But when using to intercept the enemy, especially the Fairy who had a stronger overall strength than the Lightning Giant, its'' fatal weakness of rather a fragile individual defense and the lack of a solid body had been revealed. Within the period of five minutes, the magical defense outside of its body had been broken through seven times, while multiple parts of its tall, mighty and cloud-like body had been ripped apart by the Fairy.


    If Leon had not sent the Rock Snake as reinforcement in time, the Lighting Giant probably would have been forced to abandon a part of its body in order to protect the two most critical cores inside of its body.


    Nevertheless, the Transvestite Fairy was, after all, an Mage level demon. Thus, any offensive magic spell or physical attack casually unleashed by it would always cause frightening damage to the Rock Snake or Lightning Giant. Since the Rock Snake had a body made of a thick and dense underground sedimentary rock, even if faced a Pseudo-Mage opponent, as long as it didn''t let the opponent hit the same spot multiple times, it did not have to worry about its rocky body being broken by the enemy.


    But when facing against the Mage level Fairy, the rocky body had not been tempered and the magical defense was overly fragile. Struck by the rain of greenish arrows, the entire body of the Rock Snake looked like it was soaking in a highly concentrated acid, as its surface corroded with countless holes of all sizes. And due the lack of Earth Elementium, the bonding agent on many parts of its body, the rocks on those parts had started to fall off its body.


    The entire body of the snake had become three sizes ''skinnier''.


    As the offensive strength of the Light Arrow Shower had exceeded the self-regenerating speed of the Rock Snake, thus, it was only a matter of time before the Rock Snake disintegrated completely.


    But in this tough battle, Rock Snake was not the main force. It was only responsible for assisting and supporting the attacks and defenses of the Lightning Giant. Thus, just the shock wave from the battle of those two mighty monsters had nearly made it break down. From this, one could easily imagine how tremendous the pressure the Lightning Giant was enduring right now.


    The once dense and solid green body was filled with holes now, the cloud-like Wind Elementium that had been torn and ripped into shreds were lingering around its body. These Wind Elementiums were originally part of the Lightning Giant''s body, but they had turned green as the result of being corroded by the mutated energy of the Fairy and thus could no longer be recalled to use again.


    The golden armor had also fallen apart, as threads of lightning energy continued to dissipate into the air ¨C a clear sign that the Lightning Giant''s ability to restrict its own energy had been reduced to the lowest level.


    However, the beautiful Fairy, who had the upper hand and was in an advantageous position in the battlefield, actually looked restless and feverish. In fact, many times it had been able to push the Rock Snake to a corner. With just another round of fierce attack, it would have been able to pierce through the triangle-shaped head of the Rock Snake and crush the crystal core hiding inside its skull. Instead, it behaved like it was rushing for a very important date. As whenever there was a chance, it would turn around and try to leave the place, wasting the best opportunity to kill one of its enemies.


    Therefore, relying on just the alternating cover fire, while being desperately held down by the Rock Snake and Lightning Giant, the Fairy continued to retreat while counter attacking. However, it just wasn''t able to get rid of these two super glues even after spending fifteen minutes.


    Yet, right at this moment, the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages from Elysium City had suddenly appeared at the edge of the battlefield.


    No doubt, for both parties in battle, their arrival was a massive storm.


    The Fairy was struck by a sudden sense of danger. It had felt with its own strength, it was probable that it wouldn''t be able to chase these group of enemies out of here today. Meanwhile, Leon''s heart started to race as he was hiding outside of the battlefield. He realized there was a huge loophole in his plan and thus, it looked like there was going to be a long day ahead.


    Upon stepping into the battlefield, the faces of all five Fallen Pseudo-Mages showed a horrified expression.


    Previously, when they had sensed the uproarious battle happening in the demonized forest from a far distance, they thought that Leon had invited a whole group of surface Apprentice Mages to jointly attack the Mage level Fairy. Who knew that when they came to the scene and took a look, it was actually... just Leon''s Golem team that was fighting against the frightening Fairy. The discovery had no doubt made them more fearful of this strange kid, who appeared to only possess the overall strength of an Intermediate Apprentice.


    There was absolutely no way they could allow someone like this to continue to grow!


    Facing the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had come in a very threatening manner, Leon waved his hand and called the Rock Snake and Lightning Giant back, before turning around and starting to flee.


    The miserable looking Rock Snake caught up to Leon, opened its giant mouth and swallowed him, before simply diving into the ground and disappearing without a trace. At the same time, enshrouded by crackling and dazzling electricity, the Lightning Giant vanished from the scene, and in next second, suddenly reappeared at the far end of one''s line of sight. But before they could catch up with it, the muffled sound of thunderclap rang out once again and the Lightning Giant had disappeared again without a trace.


    Freed from the tangles of the Lightning Giant, the frightening Fairy completely ignored these few newcomers, flapped its wings and rushed back to the entrance to the ruins.


    When it finally returned to the ruins, the Fairy found that the entire demon vine forest was in shambles.


    Scattered, broken branches of demon vines and stinky, sticky green acid decorated this place and making it look like a miserable battlefield. Yet, the culprit behind this, the red-dressed Bleia had long disappeared from the scene.


    The Fairy let out a furious roar, retracted its wings and dived into the dark entrance.


    Originally, there hadn''t been any passage under the ground.


    When the self-destructing magical array of the Mage Tower had been activated, by a series of explosions, most of the magical equipment in this place had been turned into broken gravel and debris that scattered everywhere, burying everything under the collapsed rocks and sand. However, a Human-face Flower that originally planted in the magical garden had been fortunate enough to survive the explosion.


    After sensing the huge amount of green Plant element energy leaking out from deep underground, the Human-face Flower had commenced the tireless journey of digging. Supported by its wild hunger for the Plant element energy, it had actually bored through the dense and solid heap of rubbles as far as dozens of meters underground, before setting its root into a surviving broken Elementium Pool inside of the Mage Tower.


    Dominated by and by absorbing the mutated energy, the Human-face flower was able to step over numerous thresholds that ordinary demons could hardly overcome and eventually became the first frightening demon in this demonized forest to possess the overall strength of an Mage.


    Although its overall strength had skyrocketed, it had been still lacking in intelligence and magical knowledge. As a matter of fact, this was the weakness of all wild demons. Even though by using the method of seizing resources, they were also able to become formidable existences that could compete with human Mages, because they lacked the legacy of a magic spell, it was tough for them to fight against a human Mage of the same grade.


    And, once they exposed themselves, often times they became prey hunted by human Mages. Where had all the rare materials in the Mage World come from? They actually came from these wild demons who had never gotten acceptance from human Mages.


    Of course, there existed some foreign species Mage that were accepted by humans.


    According to Leon''s knowledge, in the World of Mage, the number of marine species Mages was nearly equal to the number of human Mages. Apart from that, there was also some foreign species who possessed strange innate abilities who were also accepted by the World of Mage and become part of the population of official Mages.


    Take this frightening Fairy as an example. If there was a human Mage family who was willing to accept it and taught it some of the customs and knowledge of the Mage World, then it would have had the possibility of being accepted by human Mages. Unfortunately, in this uncivilized and dark Underground Cave, it could only mix with a bunch of low-grade demons who had low intelligence and had only come to evolve by slaughtering, which caused it to fear contact with any humans.


    Driven by its fear, this demonized forest dweller had developed the xenophobia and aggressiveness toward any outsider. Those underground races who had lived in the surrounding areas of the demonized forest kept coming here to harvest some of the materials that Mages wanted, had further intensified its feelings of confrontation and conflict.


    In the eyes of humans, this demonized forest was like a magical treasure vault containing numerous magical materials. Yet, in the eyes of the Fairy and all other demons in this forest, the humans and underground creatures were the fresh food that could satiate their hunger. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a result as this hostile relationship, any foreign species who intruded into the demonized forest would immediately attract a violent response from the demons.


    Flying down the dark and narrow tunnel in top speed, the Fairy''s mind was completely filled with anger. It wished to charge into the place and slaughter everything in sight and cruelly kill every single enemy who dared to intrude on its territory.


    But before that, it had to guarantee the safety of the source of its power.


    It had personally excavated the dark and deep tunnel; it was a winding tunnel that twisted and turned in all directions and its diameter was just enough to allow the Fairy''s slim body to travel through. The entire stretch of tunnel was filled with countless openings, most of them led to some crafty trap or a dead end. There was only one path that would lead to its nest directly.


    Though most of the upper floors of the Mage Tower had collapsed, in the first and second underground floors, there were still some magical equipment that were preserved in good shape. After coming out of the dark tunnel, one would come upon a broken corridor which had originally belonged to the first underground floor. Most of the stone rooms and magical secret rooms on both sides of the tunnel had been broken through by force. Looking through the broken stone doors, it was evident that there was nothing left inside.


    Originally, this place had been used as a storage warehouse for the Mage Tower, thus there were many spare resources. However, throughout the years, they were all breached by the Fairy and it had looted everything stored inside.


    The Fairy hadn''t stopped here and had continued to rush through the corridor, following the spiral stone stair located at the end of the passage and leaping towards the second underground floor, where its true form was located.


    However, without its detections, right inside of an emptied stone room, in a dark corner where no light could reach, a pair of crimson eyes had suddenly opened.


    ...


    2115 Words

 Chapter 102 - 102: Alchemy Bomb

    The second underground floor, which served as the energy room for Mage Tower, was a huge and spacious space.


    The collapse of the above-ground buildings had caused an immeasurable amount of damage to this floor. Out of the five Elementium Pools, four of them had been completely destroyed by the devastating explosion. The last Elementium Pool had suffered some damage as well, as the supposedly balanced magical elementium contained within had skewed. It now contained primarily Plant Elementium.


    Every Elementium Pool was a huge pool. The pool wall was completely engraved with countless magic spell runes and magical lines. The energy gathering array at the bottom of the pool constantly absorbed magical Elementium from the surrounding space and filled the huge pool.


    Four of the Elementium Pools had collapsed and broken down. The debris and rock fragments that had fallen from above had fully filled the pool, and the remaining magical arrays had stopped giving out the glow which meant the magical energy was functioning. The surviving Elementium Pool was functioning, but one could see a huge crack in the pool wall.


    Elementium water was leaking out from the crack and was diffusing into the surrounding air.


    Clearly, the dissipating magical energy was mainly Plant element energy, for an indescribably pleasant scent of vegetation had filled the entire underground floor.


    Right in the middle of the remaining Elementium Pool, there was a huge, ancient looking tree that filled every inch of the pool with its sprawling roots. Its trunk took five men to encircle. On top of the ancient tree was a huge room made up of pink flower petals, and inside was a warm and sweet little bed made of fragrant and soft flower pistils. All of it emanated a luscious scent that could make anyone drunk.


    Although it looked like a tall and ancient tree, in fact, it was not a real tree, but the true form of the Fairy, who was originally a tiny and delicate Human-faced Flower. Because it had absorbed a huge amount of Plant element magical Elementium, it had grown explosively into its current form.


    Honestly speaking, from its current looks, perhaps even the most knowledgeable Mage would have a tough time identifying its original species. After all, it was extremely rare to see a demon who had solely occupied an Elementium Pool!


    After it had rushed to the underground floor, upon realizing nothing had happened to its true form, which occupied almost 1/5 of the underground space, the Fairy finally breathed out a sigh of relief. But when it communicated with its true form''s sleeping consciousness, it suddenly let out a shrill roar.


    It had a jarring and sharp voice, a combination of male and female, that was noisy and unpleasant to the ears.


    "You damn bastard, get out here! What have you done to my true form?"


    After the Fairy waved its slim arm, countless green acid arrows shot out instantly, targeting a seemingly insignificant rock at the corner of a far away wall.


    "Don''t hit me, don''t hit me! I''m coming out now!" A panic-stricken cry was heard, and then the short and green body of Snorlax rolled out from where the incorporeal rock had been.


    The powerful acid arrows pierced through the rock, which was actually camouflage from the gray cloak, and right into the wall behind it. A hissing sound betrayed the presence of the corrosive acid as a large patch of the wall simply melted like hot wax, exposing the magical runes and lines that were engraved on the wall''s insides.


    Taken aback by the power of the acid arrows, Snorlax kept jumping up and down while swinging the short wooden stick in its hand. With a loud voice, it threatened, "Stop attacking me, or else I''ll detonate the alchemy bomb I placed inside the Elementium Pool!"


    "Alchemy bomb?!" Worried, the Fairy immediately stopped its movement.


    The events of the past half day were quickly transmitted to it from its true form. After the damn goblin had intruded, it had spent a long time searching for all of the hidden places. Then it climbed into the Elementium Pool and tossed in quite a few strange cylindrical scroll-like objects into the pool. Not only that, the fellow had also stuck many of the cylinders into different parts of the true form''s body.


    The Fairy opened its soft and fair hand, and the root of its true form pushed up a cylinder and placed it onto the Fairy''s palm. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What was this object?


    Curiously, the Fairy flipped it around in its palm and spent some time looking at it, but it just couldn''t figure out the exact function of the cylinder. There weren''t any identifiable magical patterns engraved on top of it, and there weren''t any Elementium crystals that could be used as a source of energy. How could something like this cause any damage to it?


    Just as the Fairy''s face showed perplexity and it decided to capture the goblin, Snorlax raised the short wooden stick high and let out a stern shout, "Explode!"


    In next moment, under the Fairy''s disbelieving gaze, the cylinder in its hand exploded.


    A huge fireball instantly swallowed the upper body of the Fairy. The raging airwave blew away all of the debris and rock fragments around it, shooting them out in all directions, and a mini mushroom dust cloud bloomed. When the dust gradually settled down and the fireball slowly disappeared, the smoky black body of the Fairy finally was revealed.


    However, after a bright green ring of light flashed, the fair and beautiful face of the Fairy had returned and it didn''t seem to be hurt by the explosion.


    Clenching its jaw tightly in anger, the Fairy crushed the remaining half of the iron tube in its palm. It decided to straightaway kill the damn goblin who dared to provoke the almighty.


    But, before it could charge towards its target, Snorlax suddenly pointed its short stick in the direction of the Elementium Pool. "Don''t move! If you move a little bit, I''ll detonate the alchemy bomb placed in that place!"


    Coming from Snorlax, it was a rather weak threat, but it caused the Fairy to change its expression instantly.


    The power of the previous explosion wasn''t really strong ¨C trying to use it to kill a formidable Mage level demon was no different than an ant, ludicrously ignorant of its own weakness, trying to topple a huge tree. But it was strong enough to destroy the Elementium Pool.


    The Elementium Pool had been damaged into a very fragile state. With one wrong touch, it could be destroyed. Even the Fairy''s true form had to be careful when growing in it. It was afraid that it might burst the pool wall and destroy the energy source which had brought it the power it now had.


    It wouldn''t take many of those alchemy bombs. Just one or two would be sufficient to inflict massive and irreversible damage to the Elementium Pool. If that really happened, the Fairy''s ability to continue growing strong would disappear. The Fairy cried out in terror but didn''t dare move anymore.


    "Can you please not destroy my home?" Its eyes damp with tears, the Fairy begged in a soft voice. "I''m willing to pay any price."


    The Fairy spoke with an affectedly sweet voice. Together with its ethereal beauty, it could easily make any male creature in the world desire to indulge in its delicate appearance.


    Perhaps living together with a Fairy like this was not a bad choice. It would no longer be the green-skinned goblin who was looked down by everybody, but a...


    Before the perfect lifestyle in Snorlax''s imagination completely unfolded, Leon''s cold snort suddenly rang out in its mind. Snorlax shuddered, recalling the magical collar strapped around its neck and the magical slave contract binding it.


    "Ugly, don''t think that you can seduce the great Snorlax. If you don''t obey me, I''ll detonate all of the alchemy bombs at the same time!" After being warned by its master, Snorlax, angry from embarrassment, jumped up from the ground and waved its fist angrily at the Fairy.


    Oh dear, in front of Snorlax was an Mage level demon Fairy! Normally, a frightening demon like this could vanish Snorlax with a single finger. But now, this demon could only swallow the insults and humiliation silently and flatter Snorlax in a hundred and one ways. The indescribably pleasant feeling coming from the situation was more enjoyable than having ten goblin girls giving it a massage.


    Any other time, if an insignificant green-skinned goblin-like this one was served as food to the Fairy, it would complain about the stinking and sour meat which was tough to chew. But now, with the goblin''s dominating position in the situation, it actually kept yelling and shouting at the Fairy.


    The Fairy''s face turned red from anger, then it gradually turned pale green, and eventually became as dark as the bottom of a used pot.


    However, as it was a demon by nature, it didn''t care about the virtue and dignity that normal human held so dear. In an instant, it had brought up a smiling face and said, "Since your honorable self has risked your life and intruded into this place, I supposed you''re looking for the treasures buried deep under the ruin, huh? I''ve saved the trouble for your honorable self, because I have cleaned up that place, and found some pretty good treasures. Here!"


    Following the sweet chuckle of the Fairy, the tall and thick trunk of the Human-faced Flower, which looked like an ancient tree, suddenly trembled slightly, and the exotic little bed placed in the flower petal room split open, revealing a pile of magical gems and magic spell materials.


    Damn it, no wonder all of the treasure vaults and secret rooms along the way were empty. The Fairy had transferred them here!


    When Snorlax''s eyes came to rest on the splendid gems, gold coins, mithril, diamonds, and crystal essence, it could no longer move its glance away. Deep in its mind, countless greedy voices were hysterically howling.


    Mine... mine... they are all mine!


    The deafening howl of its soul deeply shook Snorlax''s mind, causing it to sink into a state of ecstasy. It never noticed the bright flicker that flashed in the Fairy''s eyes.


    "Die now, you damn goblin!" As it roared out the words furiously, the voice of the Fairy suddenly changed from a delicate female voice to a hoarse and masculine male voice.


    As the Fairy suddenly turned hostile, countless thick and strong roots shot out from the rubble around Snorlax, crazily piercing toward it from all directions.


    With such a sudden change, Snorlax was caught unprepared and didn''t even have time to respond. It could only helplessly stare at countless roots, with their end shining brightly like metal, piercing toward its body.


    The sound of objects slicing through the air was heard from around its body. The strong wind caused by the razor sharp roots swept across its body and face, causing pain like someone was slicing it with a knife. Snorlax closed its eyes and waited for death, but it suddenly felt itself flying through the air, dashing and darting in between the crisscrossing web woven by the roots, dodging every single attack by a matter of inches.


    Snorlax turned around, only to see the beautiful face of its female master. Bleia was right by its side, holding on to its body and dashing through the root forest. But she was having a tough time dodging all of the attacks!


    "You fool, hurry up and tell it to stop the attack!" Noticing that the stupid goblin still hadn''t realized the situation, Bleia wished she could just throw it right into the root forest.


    "Oh." Finally, Snorlax awakened, turned its face, and pointed its finger at the huge tree sitting far away from where they were.


    A loud boom echoed through the air. A fireball erupted from the center of the huge Human-faced Flower''s trunk. A bowl-sized amount of skin was broken by the explosion, causing sticky green liquid to spray out like a water fountain.


    "Are you going to stop? If not, I''ll detonate them all in a row!" Snorlax shouted out in a loud voice.


    Furious, the Fairy finally stopped all of its attacks.


    ...


    2059 Words

 Chapter 103 - 103: Treasures

    An absolutely stagnant atmosphere reigned in the place.


    After its true form had gotten hurt, the Fairy continued roaring out raging curses. Its jarring and delicate feminine voice overlapped with a hoarse and deep masculine one, causing nearly no one to understand what had been it roaring about.


    Finally, after venting the pent-up anger in its chest, the Fairy who had a slender and delicate female outlook flapped its transparent wings and hovered midair in the second underground floor, firing its question furiously.


    "You damn intruders, why did you invade my home? Tell me your purpose!"


    "Your honorable, we''re just a group of people who came here for treasure hunting. As long as we can find the treasures we are looking for here, we have no intention of becoming your enemy!" After Bleia dropped it on safe ground, Snorlax eagerly commenced a negotiation.


    Although it was not an expert in fighting, when it came to commercial negotiation, Snorlax actually possessed some excellent talents which in no way matched its status and position.


    In regards to Snorlax''s hateful flattering appearance and guileful words, Bleia showed a disgusted manner and she felt disdain for the negotiation. Thus, she simply handed the whole negotiation to Snorlax, while maintaining a high vigilance for any possible sudden attack coming from the Fairy.


    All negotiations needed a trump card!


    There was absolutely no need for a negotiation with an imbalance strength to be carried out.


    If not for the protection from Bleia, the Fairy would have just need a quick sudden attack and it would be able to completely wipe out the body and soul of this disgusting goblin merchant, sparing itself from stiflingly and depressingly negotiating with the goblin.


    To be honest, not many of those materials, resources, and treasures looted from the ruins of Mage Tower were suitable for its use. The reason the Fairy had gathered them together was purely for the purpose of appreciating them, with the intention of using them to decorate its flower room. Even if it gave out all of them to these intruders, it wouldn''t have felt too much pity either. However, the depressing emotion of being robbed by some lower class creatures just kept bugging it.


    During normal times, it had always regarded itself as the master of this demonized forest. Countless demonized plants and creatures in the entire demonized forest had to obey all its command. Those who could flatter it in a good way would be able to occupy a piece of land closer to the ruins, while those wild and stubborn demons could only live at the outer perimeter and absorb the rarefied demon energy that had been filtered multiple times by others.


    When it was in a good mood, it would leak out slightly more Elementium aura. And just with this tiny bit of bestowment, it could always make the demons in the forest struck with extreme joy and shed tears of gratitude. When it had a bad mood, it would occupy all the demon energy, causing all the demons outside of the ruins to scratch their ears and cheeks in anxiety, immersing themselves in a restless state and start killing each other.


    Just with an approach like this, throughout the entire demonized forest, it had been worthy of the title of the strongest existence, the king whom all the demons had to flatter!


    But today, the ''king'' was forced to control its temper and negotiate with a low and degrading green-skinned goblin and the topic of their discussion was actually how much of its collections it had to give up to fill the seemingly bottomless greed of the opponent.


    Right when both parties were restlessly tussling with each other, the lower level of these ruins suddenly shook violently, as huge amounts of stone slabs immediately fell off from the shaky ceiling, bringing dust clouds into the air, impairing their vision.


    "Damn it... damn it..." The anger of the Fairy was approaching the boiling point. "There is another group of bastards wreaking havoc above, I..."


    It wanted to rush out and drive away that group of invaders, but it also felt worried about leaving behind these two time bombs in its home. Therefore, it became even more fidgety and restless.


    As a feral demon, it didn''t have sufficient magical knowledge to repair the broken Elementium Pool. Once the last Elementium Pool had totally broken down because of the fighting by those invaders, then the hope for it to continue growing stronger would be completely cut off.


    Right as it was hesitating, another ground-shaking quake came from above, causing the rock wall of this second underground floor to burst with a massive crack.


    "You group of damn bastards... Once I go up, I''ll catch you and kill you with the cruelest of torture..." After letting out a furious roar, the Fairy waved its hand, and the huge flower room wriggled, sending out dozens of vines which moved flexibly like human fingers, cupping a large pile of secret treasures and throwing them in front of both the outsiders.


    "Take these with you and get the hell out of here now! Next time, if you dare to intrude this place again, I''ll kill you even if that means I''ll have to lose this nest! Leave behind that magical wand and scram!" Losing its patience, the Fairy started to chase away its guests.


    "You asked us to hand over the controlling magic wand now? Aren''t you asking us to get ourselves killed here? Who knows if you will even keep your promise!" It looked like Snorlax was pushing all the way through to be a bad guy. Since it was a one-time deal, it did not care about the impression the Fairy had of it.


    "Take these things and give me the controlling magic wand once you leave this territory, hurry up!" The Fairy was so angry that even its beautiful face had started to twist.


    Snorlax was indeed a talented goblin, as it placed its hand on its body and actually pulled out a huge bag full of patches and placed all the dazzling magical gems, precious diamonds, magical materials, and some peculiarly shaped magical items into it.


    Snorlax in burdensome manner carried the big bag on its back, while urging Bleia to leave this place quickly. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Under the hostile gaze of the Fairy, Bleia transformed into a huge bloodsucking bat and grabbed onto Snorlax, before flying out from the second underground floor. Once they left the place, the Fairy immediately waved its hands, and the crisscrossing demon vines and rose stalks instantly occupied all the empty space of the place.


    Meanwhile, it was seen flapping its wings and followed closely behind the two outsiders, flying towards the upper level of the ruins.


    For every short distance it had traveled, the Fairy would cast a spell, using the dense flower stalks and vines to seal off the path leading to the lower ground. From now on, it would never underestimate these lower class creatures who had a weak overall strength, but possessed quick wits and a crafty mind.


    One after another, when the three of them flew out from the entrance of the ruins, they were shocked to find out that the demonized forest had turned into a tattered battlefield of slaughter. It looked like before driving away all the intruders, the Fairy had no intention of returning to its nest.


    The Fairy gently pulled the string of the magic bow in its hand and unleashed more than hundred green light arrows, instantly destroying the temporary tunnel that led to the lower ground.


    "Once you give me the magic wand, you can leave this place immediately. I still need to settle the score with those few bastards for destroying my territory!" Frost starting to condense on the Fairy''s beautiful face, as it spoke with an extremely cold voice.


    Snorlax and Bleia exchanged a glance, communicating soundlessly.


    Eventually, Snorlax carefully pulled out the magic wand, lightly tossing it over to the Fairy.


    "One more thing, that Intermediate Apprentice who can control the Lightning Giant is my master. As long as you can help us defeat those few Fallen Apprentices, we promise to never step into your territory in future!"


    The Fairy snorted and took the magic wand and sensed it briefly. Once it had sensed there was some magical connection between the wand and a place at the lower ground, it set its mind at rest and tucked the magic wand into its rose armor.


    "Leave here now. If I ever see you again, you''ll be sorry!" After leaving behind a threatening word, the Fairy suddenly transformed into a trail of green light and rushed towards the battlefield not too far away.


    Meanwhile, Leon was currently experiencing a rapid feeling of despair.


    What kind of a feeling was brought by suffering from the bombardment and being chased by five Fallen Apprentices? Leon was feeling that very deeply right now.


    Both the legs of the Lightning Giant had disappeared. The two crystal cores hiding inside that were used to gather Wind element energy had been destroyed. The disorderly and messy Wind Elementium that was gathering underneath the lower body of the giant could barely keep the shape of a wind vortex. The tattered and torn golden armor was falling off from its broken body, exposing the Wind element core that had been hiding inside of the mist form green body.


    After having its combative strength greatly reduced, the Lightning Giant dared not meet the attacks coming from five Fallen Apprentices head on. Instead, it kept flying and flashing in the sky, dodging the magic spell attacks that came in succession.


    However, its condition was considered good. The Rock Snake where Leon was hiding inside, was dragging its half broken body and kept digging into the soil, but it wouldn''t take long before it was forced out from underground by that hateful Philip. And when it showed itself, it was the moment when all five Fallen Apprentices would launch a massive attack.


    The violent quake the Fairy sensed in the lower ground was the result of the combined raging attacks of five Fallen Apprentices.


    Meanwhile, there was another thing that looked as tattered and torn as the Rock Snake ¨C the most innocent demonized forest!


    Clearly, the Fallen Pseudo-Mage, Langdon, had taken the path of a Bloodline Apprentice and the magical bloodline he had chosen was the Frost Giant.


    When he went all out and revealed its magical transformation, Leon could clearly feel the surging energy of frost emanating from his tall and burly body.


    After the transformation, the Frost Giant stood over four meters tall. It had light blue skin and countless icicles hanging on the Frost Armor on his muscular body. Every movement of his brought forth a freezing breeze that sent chills down one''s spines. The Snow Storm spell covered a large area and the Ice Spear that he threw also had brought tremendous damage to this land. Whenever a magic spell was cast, the ground was always filled with broken and fallen ancient trees and demons, frozen in transparent ice crystals.


    Obviously, the other Fallen Pseudo-Mages weren''t fighting with all they could like how Langdon fought, but even so, the powerful Elementium magic spells still brought about frightening damage to the Rock Snake where Leon was hiding.


    Nevertheless, the person who had threatened Leon the most was that Philip.


    By now, Leon could be sure that he must have been the mysterious guy who had forced him out from the soil last time.


    He was a Pseudo-Mage level Earth element expert. Though he seldom directly attacked at Leon, he could always use the Earth element ability he had mastered to isolate the deep connection between the Rock Snake and Earth Elementium. As the result, after traveling for a short distance in the soil, the Rock Snake would be forced out to the surface by the Earth Elementium that squeezed it from all directions.


    If previously, the Earth Elementium was like an ocean that the Rock Snake could travel through freely, now, this ocean had actually become solidified, preventing it from traveling through it freely.


    The lower half body of the Rock Snake had been broken off by that Thunder element Pseudo-Mage, Hegel. He had used a lightning chain and trapped the Rock Snake, then all five of them launched a combined attack and broke it. If not for the fact that Leon had summoned another Rock Snake on time that attracted their firepower, perhaps he would have long died in the besiegement of the five Fallen Pseudo-Mages.


    Nevertheless, as he was persisting through the extremely painful experience, a message came from Bleia through the magical seal, which had finally let him breathe out a sigh of relief.


    The Fairy had returned!


    ...


    2135 Words

 Chapter 104 - 104: Brutal

    When the frightening Fairy had arrived with its chest filled with anger, all five Fallen Apprentices were launching a violent bombardment at the Rock Snake who had just been squeezed out from the ground.


    Ice blades and snow swords that covered a large area, an unbroken lightning chain, a volcano that shook the earth and sky, and shadow arrows that blotted out the sky and the land...


    It was true that these raging magic spells had caused tremendous damage to the Rock Snake inside which Leon had been hiding, but they had also took this demonized forest into an abyss of misery. Looking around, one-third of the demonized forest had been leveled by the raging magic spells. Hovering high up in the sky, when the Fairy saw this scene of devastation, it could no longer control the flames of anger that were boiling in its heart.


    Since he had received the message from Bleia, Leon would rather scurry around dodging the enemies'' attacks, rather than simply launching a counter-attack recklessly. Even the Lighting Giant who was seen flickering frequently in the sky had put away all the magic spells that covered a large area. Instead, it was just using the lightning strike which only attacked a single target and barely dealt with the attacks coming from the enemy.


    Therefore, when the Fairy had arrived at the scene, the first thing it saw were five Fallen Pseudo-Mages in the middle of brazenly launching full-blown attacks, which was turning the entire forest upside down with their bombardment.


    The Fairy shouted out loud as it moved with the speed of lightning. It chose Philip, who was standing at the tail of the group, as its first target and initiated a deadly attack.


    In the previous battle, all the other guys were responsible for attacking, while this Philip was responsible for forcing Leon out from underground. Thus, in contrast, he was standing at a rather far behind the others, causing him to encounter the frightening Fairy who had just launched an attack out of anger.


    How frightful was an Mage level demon who attacked with all its power? One would have a rough idea just by looking at this strike.


    The bowstring of the magical bow held in its hand was instantly pulled to its maximum length. The powerful Plant element magical energy that made one''s heart tremble had quickly gathered around the fingertip of the Fairy, condensing into a small bright green arrow. Aghast with horror, when Philip turned his head around, the bowstring was released and the arrow left the string like a lightning, nailing into his chest in an instant.


    A stone armor had been quickly formed, but was instantly shattered by the arrow beam upon contact. If Philip had not tried his best to stop and instead had moved a little bit to a side, perhaps this arrow would have pierced through his heart.


    But even so, the frightening arrow beam which pierced through his right shoulder had also blown half of his body away. Under the corrosion from the green energy that suddenly exploded, the flesh on the right side of his body started to melt. His bones were destroyed, exposing most of his vital internal organs in the air, which were also making a hissing noise as the result of being corroded by the mutated energy.


    With just one move, Philip who had been taken by surprise was seriously injured and dying!


    Only now had the remaining four men turned their heads around furious and shocked. But right at this moment, the Fairy''s devastating arrow showers had approached them. It came towards them with incredible momentum and tremendous force causing the four men to instantly sink into a situation of restless defending and counter-attacking.


    Philip was first beaten until he was half dead by the full power attack of the Fairy, then he was plunged into an abyss of misery as a result of the shower of frightening arrows. Suffering from double the injuries, Philip dared not to hesitate anymore. He immediately detonated the long magical staff in his hand, causing a huge clump of earthy yellow dust in the shape of a cloud to rise up from the ground. When the dust cloud was quickly dispersed by the shower of arrows, his trace was nowhere to be found at the scene.


    Struck with the feeling of anger and astonishment, the remaining four Fallen Pseudo-Mages dared not hesitate as well. Almost instantly, they displayed all their incredible skills and vigorously threw out the fiercest magic spells they knew onto the delicate body of the Fairy.


    Ice Blast!


    Electric Jail!


    Shadow Invasion!


    Fire Blast!


    Four distinctly different Pseudo-Mage level magic spells, the most powerful single target magic spells they could cast, were thrown at the Fairy. Actually, they knew other major scale magic spells, but when fighting with a demon leader who had incredible speed, it was still these magic spells that focuses the attack on a single target that would yield the maximum results.


    It was worth to mention that although a wild demon like the Fairy had an Mage level body constitution, it didn''t actually possess the true ability of an Mage. Although the body constitution of human Mages was weaker than demons, relying on the magic spell legacies that had been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years and their accumulation of knowledge, they could unleash those terrifying magic spells that were many times stronger than their ''frail'' body.


    Hence, despite these Fallen Pseudo-Mages being one grade lower than the Fairy, their offensive magic spells weren''t as weak as one might expect.


    Four raging magic spells that represented their strongest combative ability were crazily wreaking havoc on the Fairy''s body. Green rings of light continuously flickered and exploded on top of the rose armor which was protecting the body of the Fairy. One after the other, rose stalks that stretched out from the armor vanished as a result of the attack from the magic spells, but they still dedicatedly protected the Fairy''s body.


    In some area, the raging magic spells broke through the defense of the rose armor, causing the violent Elementium to explode on the Fairy''s body. For the first time since the battle had commenced, the Fairy had blood spilling out from its mouth, as it had been truly hurt this time.


    The Fairy became berserk, flipping its wings in the quickest speed it could and hastily brought it out from the region where the firepower was concentrated at. At the same time, the arrows shower unleashed from its hand was getting more intense, as it intended to break through the defensive magic spell of the four men with a full blown attack.


    Langdon, who had completed his bloodline transformation, let out a loud roar. An angry expression could be seen covering his azure blue face. One after another ice spears quickly condensed in his palm. Using the fastest speed he could, he continuously threw them at the Fairy who was in turn, dashing around and dodging the attacks.


    The bloodline of Frost Giant had given him the ability to cast Ice element magic spells limitlessly and also strengthened each of the Ice element magic spells unleashed by him to the maximum power. Although all the ice spears that exploded around the Fairy''s body hadn''t hit right onto the target, the dissipating frost energy still invaded its body, covering its rose armor with a thick ice crystal that slowed down its dodging and flying speed.


    The other three Pseudo-Mages saw this opportunity and immediately increased their attack frequency. The magic spells blotted out the sky and pierced through the air, continually shooting at the Fairy.


    The reward was limited if they just killed an Intermediate Apprentice from the surface. But if they could kill an Mage level wild demon leader, then just by splitting the Mage level magical materials they had obtained ¨C it would be enough for all four of them to laugh for an entire day!


    However, right as both parties were locked up in a fierce fight, Leon who had previously fled to a far distance, had come back after taking a short break. Of course, the target he chose for himself were the Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had brought him into a sorry state.


    Hovering high up in midair and quietly brewing for seventeen seconds, the major scale thunderstorm of the Lightning Giant had once again circled all four Fallen Pseudo-Mages in the attack range.


    The suddenly denseness of Lightning Elementium in the air had squeezed out all the other Elementiums. Thus, except for Hegel who was also an expert in Lightning element magic spells, all the other were facing difficulty when casting their respective element magic spells. Also, the lighting strike that had come down in a row had brought the effect of paralysis, interrupting the casting of their magic spells.


    Though they knew that by standing close to each other, they would have to face large area offensive magic spell attacks from the enemy, however, when facing a frightening Fairy who could move like the wind, though all four Fallen Pseudo-Mages had confidence in themselves, they dared not stay too far away from their peers. Or else, if the Fairy ignored the damage inflicted on it and forcefully launched an onrush assault, neither of them had the confidence that they could withstand it unless their peers came to the rescue.


    Except for the Frost Giant that Langdon had transformed into that possessed some melee abilities, the rest of them were purely element apprentices. Once they let the enemy get closer to them, though they would not be at a loss of what to do, their combative strength would be greatly reduced.


    Realizing they had been attacked from both the front and rear, Langdon who was leading the team let out a furious roar, "Hegel, you go and fight with that kid''s golem, the three of us will hold up against this crazy woman!"


    Hegel answered the call, turned around and unleashed a chain lighting, forcing the Lightning Giant who had continued to approach to back off. After that, he and the golem started a fierce exchange of attacks.


    Meanwhile, relying on the toughness of the rose armor and the powerful magic bow in its hand, the Fairy was dashing around through the massive showers of offensive magic spells and continued to reduce the individual defense of those few Fallen Pseudo-Mages using guerrilla methods. Under its continuous attack, the Pseudo-Mage level defense could not last more than thirty seconds. Whenever a defensive magic spell was broken, it was the dangerous time for that Pseudo-Mage to hide behind his peer and recast a defensive magic spell for himself. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nevertheless, by the mutual support and cover fire of the three Pseudo-Mages, they actually were able to put up a fierce fight against the Fairy. They were even able to add a few more new wounds onto its body.


    As a wild demon, besides a few limited magical spells, the Fairy had nearly no other offensive approaches. In order to quickly penetrate the enemy''s defense, it would have to take the risk and fight in close range. However, this meant that the attack it would receive would also increase significantly, while the guerrilla-style right now was much safer.


    Of course, it could also hold up against the enemy''s attack and unleash another full blown arrow showers. But in a battle like this where every second counted, the casting time of seven seconds just seemed unrealistic. Hence, it could only rely on its fast and rapid attacks by moving around at top speed while slowly reducing the enemy''s strength.


    Nevertheless, opportunities always came at the least expected moment!


    When the Inferno Shield hovering outside of the Fire element Pseudo-Mage had once again been shattered by the Fairy, he quickly hid behind Langdon who had a tall body, while reciting the magic spell incantation that summoned the Inferno Shield with a loud voice. Meanwhile, though the Fairy had already discovered his weakness, it had to face both the rapid fire of Langdon''s Ice Blast and a crafty and strange Dark Curse from the other Pseudo-Mage. Thus, it had no choice but to let him recast his defensive magic spell.


    Right when the casting of the Pseudo-Mage''s Inferno Shield had been nearly completed, the ground underneath their feet suddenly trembled violently. The once solid hard rock layer actually burst out and cracked, and a giant snake poked its head out from the crack.


    The expressions of these Fallen Apprentices instantly changed!


    The violent changes in the terrain forced them to keep dodging and jumping around, it also meant their mutual dependence on their defensive formations had been broken. In this chaotic situation, each of them could only take care of themselves and had no time to look after their fragile peers!


    The other Pseudo-Mages were in a better condition, as they were protected by their own defensive magic spell. So, while continuously attacking the enemy, they also quickly dodged the scene and safely escaped the attack range of the Rock Snake. But this was not the case for that Fire element Pseudo-Mage, his near complete Inferno Shield had been forcefully interrupted and as he was busy fleeing away from the scene, he just didn''t have the chance to recast the spell.


    While he was running away restlessly, he suddenly felt a strong wind come from behind him. The Fire element Pseudo-Mage''s heart immediately sank. With no time to consider any other options, his eyes went wide as he let out a loud shout, quickly forming a temporary Fire Shield behind his back.


    But it had been too late, before the Fire Shield could fully reveal itself, a super sharp slim hand pierced through the enshrouding flame and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him into midair.


    Damn it, it was that Fairy!


    Realizing this instantly, a couple of magical items hanging on the Fire element Pseudo-Mage lit up at the same time, a Fire Field covered his body immediately turning his surroundings into a realm of flame.


    In the raging and soaring flames, Fire Crows flew around happily, some partly hidden and some partly visible Fire Spirits...


    At that moment, countless Fire element creatures revealed themselves within the Fire Field, instantly igniting everything around the Fire element Pseudo-Mage!


    However, following the sound of an exhale, another slim hand pierced through his shield and poked into his body. When both slim hands let out a powerful force, a loud tearing noise was heard ¨C the Fire element Pseudo-Mage had been torn into two by the Fairy!


    ...


    2438 Words

 Chapter 105 - 105: The death

    When the steaming hot small and large intestines, heart, liver, lungs and all sorts of internal organs fell from the sky along with a shower of blood, all of the human apprentices standing on the battlefield couldn''t help but have their minds go blank from shock.


    That was a Pseudo-Mage! A Pseudo-Mage was killed this time!


    All of the Fallen Apprentices were yelling crazily in their minds. On their twisted faces, besides their anger, there was also a slight expression of fear that couldn''t be concealed.


    If... if in the previous moment, it was them whose defensive magic spell had broken, then perhaps the broken corpse falling from the sky right now would be theirs! Upon thinking about this, all of the Fallen Apprentices had their mind fully filled with a shivering sensation. For the first time, all of the Fallen Apprentices were in awe of an Mage level demon.


    Without saying anything, Hegel fully wrapped his body in a dazzling electric web and instantly disappeared from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was at the far edge of the demonized forest. On the other side, the Dark element Pseudo-Mage''s body exploded into a large clump of dark smoke which sank into the ground underneath his feet. Right after that, a small mound was seen moving quickly towards the outer perimeter of the forest.


    Langdon, who had transformed into the Frost Giant, instantly changed his expression. He took a small step back, squatted down, and placed both arms on his chest. In an instant, a large chunk of crystal clear ice surrounded him until he resembled an ice cube. Judging from the thickness of the ice and the magical runes flashing within it, perhaps even the Fairy''s strongest attack would not be able to break it in a short amount of time.


    What to do? The transformation into a Frost Giant had given Langdon an powerful body and incredible muscle strength. It also brought him an extraordinary talent in Ice element magic energy. But too bad, none of this had anything to do with speed! Once he was defeated in a battle and tried to escape, such a huge body would instead bring him even more enemies.


    Therefore, Langdon could only use the Wall of Ice to protect his safety temporarily. Meanwhile, within the transparent ice cube, the tall and burly body of Langdon had started to shrink quickly and once again was restored to his normal shape. Standing inside of the transparent ice cube, he took out a magic spell scroll, fully inscribed with ancient looking patterns, threw a furious glance over at the Fairy and Leon a few times, and finally had no choice but to activate the scroll.


    Following a flash of bright light, a violent spatial ripple reverberated within the battlefield. When the bright light faded out, Langdon had disappeared from the ice cube.


    The escaping scroll! It was not something an ordinary apprentice could buy by paying a hefty price. Usually, it could only be produced by official Mages, and the destination was most likely some safe and hidden place!


    Leon didn''t try to break the Ice Wall. Instead, he carefully commanded the Lighting Giant and the other two Rock Snakes to surround him and slowly left the battlefield.


    The few Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had been used as buffers had run away, leaving only him and the Fairy on the battlefield. With the demon''s bad habit of seeking revenge for the smallest grievances, perhaps it would not regard him as its ''comrade'' who just fought together with it. Therefore, it was best to...


    Too bad, just as Leon reached a hundred meters away, a green light suddenly flashed in front of his eyes, and the Fairy, whose body was covered in scars, blocked his path.


    Leon silently sighed. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though the Fairy had gained a huge advantage in the previous battle by severely wounding, killing, and scaring off three Pseudo-Mages, it had paid a serious price for it.


    Weakened by countless powerful magic spells, the Rose Armor on its body looked dull. Its slim and delicate body was covered in traces left behind by the magic spells, especially from when it had launched an ambush at the Fire element Pseudo-Mage. Although the battle had only lasted a very short period of time, the counter attack he had unleashed before his death had still caused tremendous damage to its body.


    From what Leon could see, its short green hair was a hideous mess from being burned by fire and countless burn marks and blisters could be found all over its seductive and tender body. Burn marks could also be seen on the corners of the transparent wings on its back, causing it to fly unstably, and its speed had greatly reduced as well.


    "So, after wreaking havoc in my territory, you still think to leave just like that?" The Fairy''s beautiful face was covered in a ferocious and twisted smile. It continued, saying, "You better stay back obediently. Use your flesh and soul as the compensation for my loss!"


    After it finished saying that, the Fairy immediately prepared to attack.


    Without hesitation, Leon quickly shouted out, "Hold on! Honorable Fairy, we were fighting side by side just now, weren''t we?"


    "Hmph, all of you are damn intruders, and you all deserve to be killed. They paid their price. As for you... you have to pay the price as well!"


    "Honorable Fairy, you really need to consider carefully. Now you''re seriously wounded too, and if you want to defeat me, the price might not be something you can withstand currently! Why not..."


    "You''re dreaming! No matter how high the price I have to pay today, I still want to tear you to pieces!"


    Looking at the resolute expression of the Fairy, Leon simply showed a look of ''you''re the one who forced me.'' He suddenly stood up with his back straight, gazed straight at the approaching Fairy, and shouted out with a stern and loud voice, "Since you insist on fighting, I''ve no choice but to keep you company. Detonate! Detonate everything for me!"


    Obviously, the last words were not intended for the Fairy.


    Hearing the sharp and stern shout of this wildly arrogant kid, a bad feeling suddenly surged up in the Fairy''s mind.


    Indeed, as Leon''s shrill voice dissolved into the air, a loud rumbling suddenly came from the ground underneath their feet. Following a violent shake of the ground, the earth where the ruins were located suddenly rose and immediately collapsed into the ground. The same process repeated three times. Only then did the frightening shock wave from the explosion completely vanish.


    This time, it was the Fairy''s turn to let out a shrill cry.


    Because, just now, the inseparable spiritual connection between it and its true form was completely cut off. It was not concealed or interrupted by something, but it was... it was completely cut off.


    Without the endless energy transmitted through the soul layer of its true form, the soul aura of the Fairy started to weaken significantly. "You damn human. What have you done? I''m going to kill you!"


    The Fairy pulled out the short wooden stick, only to realize it had broken into pieces and turned into ash in an instant. As the ashes flew away, an enshrouding curse shot right into the Fairy''s body, causing its aura to become even weaker.


    Despite suffering from a series of attack, the Fairy''s soul still hadn''t dropped below Mage level. From this, one could tell it had stored a vast amount of soul energy after occupying an Elementium Pool. But when its true form and the Elementium Pool exploded into thousands of broken pieces from the alchemy bomb, the Fairy''s soul pressure suddenly disappeared.


    Looking into the distance at Bleia, who was flapping her wings and quickly flying to him, Leon waved his hand and ordered the Lightning Giant and two Rock Snakes to leap toward the Fairy. In an instant, the flame of war, which had just settled down, reignited.


    The brutal and intense battle lasted for two hours before it ended. In truth, the result of the battle had been decided when the Fairy''s true form was destroyed. If the Fairy had been a demon with sufficient intelligence and a crafty mind, it would have immediately escaped from the place when it had lost the connection with its true form.


    But obviously, the Fairy hadn''t learned the cunning and treachery of a human. Hence, when it made its desperate assault, intending to perish together with Leon, it actually allowed Bleia to latch herself to its body and savagely bite into its neck.


    The vampire''s hunger for blood was unimaginable. This was especially true for an Advanced Apprentice level vampire!


    Without the lighting whip of the Lightning Giant, perhaps Bleia would have been destroyed by the final counter attacks of the Fairy. But with the help from the Lightning Giant and Rock Snakes, Bleia simply clung onto the Fairy''s body regardless of her own safety, crazily sucking out all its Plant element energy-filled blood.


    While resisting the attacks coming from golems, the Fairy crazily tore Bleia''s body apart. However, no matter how she was attacked, Bleia didn''t stop, but kept sucking the blood of the Fairy.


    Meanwhile, the blood swallowed by Bleia brought her tremendous benefit. Besides fixing her broken body at an incredible speed, the spirit wave emanating from her became stronger and her soul aura also became more powerful. On the opposite side, the spirit wave and soul aura of the Fairy were decreasing at a constant pace. Eventually, its breathing was as thin as a thread.


    Initially, it was Bleia''s tiny body coiled up on the Fairy''s body, but later, as the Fairy''s body became weaker and lost all of its strength, Bleia had to hug it tightly to prevent it from collapsing.


    When the last thread of soul aura vanished from the Fairy''s body, only then did Bleia loosen her arms, satisfied. The slim and tender body of the Fairy was like a drooping leather pouch that had lost all its air. It was now lying motionlessly on the floor.


    Bleia let out a loud belch. Her beautiful face turned red from abundant vitality. She only had the time to give Leon a sweet smile before she fell down beside the Fairy''s body. She actually fell asleep!


    Damn it! It was really troublesome when a woman went crazy! Couldn''t you just wait until we returned to the Mage Tower, and only start your enjoyment once we confirm everything is safe?


    After silently complaining in his head, Leon had no choice but to carry Bleia with one arm and pull the Fairy''s corpse with the other. Then he started to command the Lightning Giant and loot the battlefield.


    The dead Fire element Pseudo-Mage''s body was scattered across the place; perhaps he could find some useful treasures among the broken bodies. Of course, Leon really wanted to find the magic spell notebooks that may have been in the guy''s waist pouch.


    As Leon was busy working, a grass bush not far from him split apart and Snorlax squeezed out from under it with a huge bag on its back. "Master, master! There are still some treasures underground!"


    Leon gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, then ferociously said, "I''ll have Rock Snake help you. Get everything you can ¨C you only have fifteen minutes!"


    A Rock Snake hastily slithered over, opened its huge mouth, and swallowed Snorlax. After that, it raised its head high before slamming it into the ground, digging out a huge hole, and diving into the soil. Breaking through all kinds of soil and rock strata, the Rock Snake rushed towards the second underground floor with incredible speed.


    With the raging energy that had leaked out as its beacon, there was no way they could go in the wrong direction!


    ....


    1984 Words

 Chapter 106 - 106: Object: Fire Lord’s Scepter

    Most of the time, Leon was too busy to individually identify what kind of objects were hidden inside the grass, like which of them were useful and which weren''t. As long as he sensed an element aura lingering in a certain spot, he would let the Rock Snake swallow the object together with a large patch of dirt. He would then store them inside of the Rock Snake''s stomach and slowly identify them when they returned to safety.


    Fifteen minutes later, the ground shook violently before bursting apart. The Rock Snake that had squeezed underground had smoothly returned.


    "Let''s go, quick!" The more rewards Leon harvested, the faster his heart raced. Without saying another word, he jumped into the stomach of another Rock Snake and left the place straightaway.


    Half an hour later, a bizarre looking dark figure suddenly appeared at the destroyed battlefield.


    Through his strong spiritual sense, he walked with light steps on the battlefield like a wandering soul. Soon, he stopped at the spot where the Fairy had died. Quietly, he sensed and identified the traces of elemental aura in the air.


    For others, the remains of aura didn''t have any meaning, but they provided him with a vast amount of information and critical data about the battlefield. Soon, scene after scene of the battle started to play in his mind, and eventually assembled into a complete scene.


    He showed no emotion in regards to the violent battle that had just happened. He even maintained the same indifferent expression when he realized a Fallen Pseudo-Mage was killed in the battle. However, his body slightly trembled when he saw Leon order the Rock Snake and take away the dead body of the Fairy. A frightful, bright beam suddenly shot out from his eyes, which were hidden behind his drooped hat.


    Since the most valuable Fairy was gone, there wasn''t any need for this place to continue existing!


    Following a deep voice''s reciting of an incantation, countless ghost-like dark shadows shot out from his body, charging in all directions within the demonized forest. Soon, the entire forest became dead silent and no life aura could be sensed anymore.


    The demonized forest had become something that only existed in the past. Once again, this place would become a dead zone where no life could exist!


    After finishing with all of this, like how he had appeared, the dark figure simply vanished into thin air! Throughout the entire process, no living creature or thing could sense his existence, as if he was just a soul that wandered in this world.


    ...


    Leon didn''t rush back to the Mage Tower. But instead, after he brought his team of golems to the surface, immediately snuck into the Kerala mountain range. They found a secret place and dug out a cave. Only then did they started slowly organizing their war trophies for this trip.


    The first object Rock Snake spat out was Bleia, who was sleeping soundly, and the Fairy who had become mummified.


    Once again, Leon gave Bleia a thorough examination. She was just overstuffed with a huge amount of blood from a mighty existence, and had no choice but to sleep to slowly digest the energy contained within the blood. According to the Chip''s estimation after it gave Bleia a scan, she had earned a good fortune this time. Most probably, she was going to advance into the Pseudo-Mage realm.


    Leon placed a thick and warm blanket in a corner of the cave and carefully placed Bleia on top of it. She was wearing a sweet and calm smile on her face, her rosy cheeks looked like a ripe apple, her lips were juicy and delicate, and her beautiful eyelashes were moving like butterflies... The sleeping Bleia was showing the rare, gentle, and serene look of a young girl, so Leon couldn''t help but gently kiss her forehead, but then doubts crept into his mind.


    Would this be the perfect time to rape Bleia?


    Swallowing hard, he shook his head and trembled in fear, after all even Bleia''s vaginal contractions would be enough to break his human dick.


    He needs to strengthen his physical body before raping her.


    After he settled Bleia, Leon moved his glance over to the Fairy''s corpse.


    After losing the support of endless energy and having all of its blood sucked out, the shriveled corpse of the Fairy looked like a deflated leather skin. Nevertheless, both the Rose Armor, that fully covered its body, and the magic bow were still the items attracted Leon the most. In the previous battle, those two items had given Leon a really hard time.


    Holding the magic bow in his hand and spending some time in examining it, Leon finally heard the exciting ''beep'' sound in his mind.


    "Beep! Scanning of the object completed!


    A magic bow is found. Detail information as below: ...[omitted]...


    Modifiable!"


    Leon was very excited. He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes.


    In his first battle with the Fairy, the Chip had roughly scanned the basic information of this magic bow. Now it was adding more detailed information about it. There wasn''t anything to be excited about this information, however. The only thing that made Leon really excited was the conclusion just given out by the Chip: the magic bow was modifiable!


    As the Fairy was the only user of this magic bow, the energy spectrum used to unleash light arrows was also Plant element. This meant that the magic bow couldn''t be used by anyone else! But now, since the Chip had determined that it could be modified, it also meant the energy spectrum used to drive it could be modified as well, so it could be changed to Fire element or Blood element...


    When Leon thought that in future battles, he could just sit high up on the Rock Snake''s head and pour down countless light arrows to the enemy just by moving his fingers, Leon just couldn''t help but feel really excited.


    Gently placing the magic bow aside, Leon murmured under his breath, "Calm down, calm down... let me see if there is a magic staff that I can use. If there is one, I''ll give this bow to Bleia. If not, hehehe..."


    The second item pulled from the Fairy''s body was the Rose Armor.


    Leon really wanted to keep the protective gear for himself. But, at the thought that once the Rose Armor was attacked by the enemy, his body would be covered by countless rose stalks, Leon instantly felt no love for it. Fuck, a grown man wearing Rose Armor and fighting with the enemy... Upon thinking about that peculiar scene, Leon just couldn''t accept it.


    Never mind, just give it to Bleia after modifying!


    As a wild demon, the Fairy only had these two magical items with it. Looked like it was really poor.


    After the Rose Armor was stripped away, the petite body of the Fairy was totally naked. However, after losing the nourishment from its blood, the once silky smooth and glittering skin had dried and shriveled like an eighty year old granny. It was no longer as beautiful as before and felt like a dried bark upon touching.


    Although the Fairy was dead, Leon could still sense an extraordinary, powerful aura coming from all of its organs. Should he slice it into pieces and harvest the magical materials? Or keep the corpse intact and find a way to maximize his profit?


    Leon hesitated for a moment before he decided to put it aside for now. He would make the decision after he consulted with some professionals.


    If he was a necromancer apprentice, for sure he would use the Fairy''s corpse and produce a powerful corpse automaton. However, as he was a fake and inferior golem controller, it would be tough for him to squeeze the value of this Mage level demon to the last drop!


    He ordered the Chip to give the body structure of the Fairy a detailed and complete scan. After that, he extracted the flesh and blood information from some critical parts of its body, handed them to the Chip, and let it analysis slowly. Finally, Leon started to organize all of the other war trophies.


    Snorlax, who had been attentively serving its master, carefully placed a huge bag in front of Leon. Following the opening of the bag, countless colorful lights immediately shone upon Leon''s face, forcing him to close his eyes.


    Shadow Stone, Tiger''s Eye Stone, Malachite, Green Agate, Lesser Moonstone, Emerald, Topaz, Aquamarine, Blood of the Old God, Ruby, Opal, Sapphire, Azure Moonstone, Deep Peridot, Flame Spessarite, Golden Dranite, Blood Gem, Dawn Stone, Talasite, Night''s Eye, Noble Topaz, Pyre Stone, Living Ruby, Lion''s Eye Stone, Crimson Spinal Stone...


    Leon couldn''t help but be overcome with emotion. He firmly believed that the Fairy must be a gemstone collecting maniac. Nearly every magical stone and gem he had ever heard of could be found in this bag. Any gemstone taken out from this bag could be exchanged for dozens of miles of lands and peasants in a mortal kingdom. Especially the few with higher values, they could even be used in exchange for the title of Count.


    But in the eyes of an Apprentice Mage, they were only consumable magical materials. Nevertheless, only official Mages could use these expensive magical materials without changing their expression.


    Leon lightly fiddled with the gem stones. Occasionally, he would pick one up and give it a careful look. After all, he only knew most of these magical stones from books, it was far less direct and clear than holding them with his own hand.


    Standing beside Leon, Snorlax too was breathing heavily.


    Looking at the colorful reflection of these gemstones, it felt it was getting harder to breathe smoothly, and its heart was pounding extremely fast.


    Leon casually picked a few gemstones that he could put them to a good use, then pointed the remaining gemstones and said lightly, "I''ll let you settle with these gemstones. You can take 1/3 of them. That''s your reward for this adventure. You''ve done great today, especially the loophole you left on the controlling magic wand, it was brilliant. You deserve all of this!" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After it heard what Leon said, Snorlax''s green face started to twitch. Before a smile could bloom on its face, its eyes rolled up and it fainted.


    Leon shook his head, never paid any attention to his minion who just begun to show its value, and continued to glance through the gem stones. Very soon, he pulled out a fiery red magic scepter, which looked like it was made from the Fire Coral found in the bottom of the ocean.


    A Fire Lord''s Scepter!


    When the scepter revealed itself, Leon immediately sensed the surging Fire element energy hiding within it. Before he could put his hand on it, Leon could also felt the scorching hot element fire from it. However, when he finally gripped on the scepter, the heat disappeared without a trace. The scepter had become warm and nice to hold, and a warm stream of energy kept flowing into his body.


    At the same time, the Fire element energy gathering in Leon''s body started to become restless, and became at least three times more active than before.


    "Chip, scan this Fire Lord''s Scepter!"


    "Beep. Task accepted! Commencing scanning operation... beep! Operation completed. The result of the scan is as follow:


    Object: Fire Lord''s Scepter


    Attribute: Fire Element


    Secondary Skills: Added Fire Resistant (Intermediate) to Bearer. Immune to any lower grade Fire element damage. Fast Cast. [Fire Element]


    Ability: Inferno Shield (3 times / day), Summon Fire Deity (Pseudo-Mage level) (1 / day)


    Additional functions: When placed on top of a special magical altar, it can be used to establish a small teleportation gate to the Fire Element Plane. Able to summon a Fire Deity (Pseudo-Mage level) every day without any consumption, or two Fire Giants (Advanced Apprentice level), or five Lava Hounds (Intermediate Apprentice level), or ten Fire Spirits (Beginner Apprentice level).


    These Fire element creatures cannot go beyond 1000 meters from the magical altar. Once the Fire Lord''s Scepter is taken away from the altar, all Fire element creatures will be repatriated to their original plane."


    Ugh... Leon couldn''t help but draw in a sharp cold breath.


    This Fire Lord''s Scepter was much stronger than his original estimation!


    ...


    2060 Words

 Chapter 107 - 107: A Old book?

    It was a powerful magical item, and it was almost like it was specifically made for Leon.


    Leon held the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand and kept inspecting it over and over. He could hardly tear himself away from it.


    The scepter consisted of three parts: The tail, body, and head. It had a one-meter long body, which was entirely made from a bright fiery red material. Although it was glowing red, it felt warm upon touch, and felt comfortable when held in the hand.


    A magical gemstone with no attribute was socketed on the tail of the scepter. Obviously, it was a design used to allow the scepter to be placed on a Fire Altar. Three inter-coiling Fire Dragons were engraved on the head of the scepter. A Heart of the Fire Lord was placed in the middle, where the three dragon heads met.


    It was a unique magical gemstone that came from the Fire Element Plane and possessed a thread of Source Energy of Fire Element. With this magical gemstone, the bearer of the scepter would be given with the ability of fire resistance. Of course, the fire mentioned here should be the ordinary fire found in the natural environment, not the Elemental Fire created by magic spells.


    By just holding the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand, Leon was given the ability to take a bath in the magma pool of a volcano.


    After fiddling with it over and over for a long time, Leon finally placed it into his storage waist belt with reluctance. From now on, he finally owned a suitable magical item for himself. It was not surprising that the Fairy only kept this extraordinary item but did not use it, as the element spectrum was totally different from its own!


    Leon glanced through the pile of gemstones again, and this time, he pulled out two strange objects: a test tube containing a mysterious purple potion, and a magical book that had a gruesome ghost head drawn on its cover.


    Leon picked up the mysterious test tube with his fingers, uncorked it ,and gave it a brief smell. A pungent smell, like a mixture of fish and pepper, immediately brought a frown on his face. The test tube was fully filled with a purple colored magical potion. With a gentle shake, the potion immediately began emanating a purple glow.


    Bloodline Strengthening Potion?


    Leon''s eyes brightened. He couldn''t bear it and brought a tiny dot of the purple potion up to his mouth with a fingertip. After a brief moment, the Chip gave out a confirmed answer.


    Bloodline Strengthening Potion!


    Maybe for Leon, who aimed to take the path of an Elementium Mage, this item didn''t serve too much of a purpose. But for Bleia, or other apprentices who took the path of the Bloodline, it was a priceless treasure. Its biggest value was that it could provide a preliminary purification of the bloodline of an apprentice, allowing the apprentice to take a step closer to the source of their bloodline.


    Therefore, after confirming the ingredients of the potion, without saying another word, Leon immediately poured it into Bleia''s mouth. After all, Bleia was using sleep to digest the surging energy of blood that came from the Fairy. In another word, it was also an evolution of the innate talent of her vampire bloodline. Therefore, if she could receive some external help at this moment, it would no doubt help make the breakthrough easier!


    Devouring the blood of stronger existences was an effective method to improve the grade of a vampire, while the Bloodline Strengthening Potion could further stimulate the evolution of a vampire. With these two factors complementing each other, it was a huge boost to Bleia. Hence, after pouring all of the potion into Bleia''s mouth, Leon rubbed his palms excitedly, his mind filled with anticipation.


    He just couldn''t wait to see what Bleia would looked like, after having both her overall strength and bloodline improved!


    After dealing with the Bloodline Strengthening Potion, Leon calmed himself down and started to give the gruesome magical book a thorough examination.


    When Leon rested his gaze on the horrendous ghost head drawn on the cover of the book, a pale white mist suddenly diffused from the book itself, and the ghost head became alive within the mist.


    It was a ghastly and bloodcurdling ghost face that hid within the shadows, so no one could see the expression on it, as sight was impaired by the mist. Just as Leon knit his brows in a tight frown, a strange, indistinct, and near inaudible voice suddenly rung up in his mind.


    "In accordance with the ancient will, following strictly with the principle of equivalent exchange! Little guy who is walking on the path of an Mage, do you want to obtain the mighty and mysterious knowledge from the ancient era? Then open me up quickly!"


    Leon was slightly shocked.


    He had heard of this kind of magical book, that had its own consciousness. Most of them were produced by Mages of the ancient era. Inside of these books, it was highly possible one would find some unique magic spell or mysterious knowledge that no one knew. Of course, it could also be a prank left behind by an ancient Mage. There were even funny, true stories of official Mages being fooled by such pranks!


    In order to open up such magical books protected by a demon spirit, not only would one have to follow the will left behind by the previous owner of the book, he also needed to fulfill some random in-bad-taste requests given out by the demon spirit itself. Therefore, it was a ''fair trade'' that really depend on the luck of the person.


    "Your honorable demon spirit, if I really want to read the contents of this book, what kind of price do I have to pay?" Leon wasn''t fooled by the flowery words and cunning statements of the guardian demon spirit, but instead, he soberly asked the most critical question.


    From the relevant knowledge Leon had studied before, it was mentioned that when some Apprentice Mages with insufficient overall strength found a demon spirit book, they couldn''t wait and opened it up straightaway, only to realize the price they had to pay after reading the book was not something they could afford, but it was all too late! Not only did the unlucky fellows not learn any ancient magic spells, they even paid the price with their own precious lives!


    Therefore, in the fundamental code of practice for Apprentice Mages, when they bumped into some living creatures from the outerworld or demon spirits, they had to be really careful in any choices they made. Once they fell into these creatures'' word traps or were bound with a mandatory contract, getting themselves killed was, in fact, the lightest consequence. The most frightful was having their soul became these creatures'' war trophy.


    In the aspect of toying with someone else''s soul, these demon spirits could even be compared with a powerful existence, such as an official Necromancer.


    Perhaps realizing its small trick was discovered by Leon, the gruesome ghost face turned listless. "As expected, you''re a hateful boring guy. Aren''t you excited by knowing that you can learn ancient magic spells and mysterious knowledge? Why are you fussing with these boring questions!"


    "Your honorable ancient demon spirit, please answer my question!"


    "Alright, alright! If you wish to read this book, you need to give me 15 points of your Physique..." The demon spirit''s voice was getting lower and lower. The last few words sounded so vague it was as if it was the snoring of a kitten. Leon nearly didn''t hear what it said.


    Leon broke out in a cold sweat, nearly couldn''t hold himself back from throwing the demon spirit book from his hand.


    Damn it, 15 points of Physique!


    No wonder this book wasn''t opened up by the Fairy. Presumably even it grudged the loss of a precious 15 points of Physique. For Leon, he only had three points in Physique. If he had accidentally opened this book, the mandatory contract between him and the demon spirit book would be taken effect immediately. And since he couldn''t fulfill the requirement of the contract, let alone anything else, the only consequence would be an inevitable death, by having his soul extracted from his body!


    Just as Leon raised the book high up and want to forcefully throw it to a corner of the cave, a stream of data transmitted from the Chip stopped his movement.


    Within the on-site data, which had been restored and magnified a few times by the chip, the last few vague words spoke by the demon spirit book were clearly presented in front of him.


    "... or replaced with something of equivalent value!"


    It was spoken in an ancient language of ''Amarr,'' and had been spoken with a weird tone by the demon spirit. Perhaps, most of the targets it ever spoke with had been deceived by this petty trick.


    Though the ancient Mages had forced demon spirits to guard the inheritance of their knowledge, and had laid down the strictest rules for them, as long as any late-comers could achieve the requirement of reading the book, the demon spirit had to follow the will of the Mage and hand over the knowledge without hiding anything. But no matter how strict the rules, the crafty and cunning demon spirit could always find a workaround. This demon spirit had found a loophole in the contract, not only it increased the requirement of reading to a jaw-dropping condition, it had also hidden the most critical rule of the contract.


    Yes, even if that ancient Mage could come back alive, he couldn''t accuse the demon spirit for violating the contract. It had acted according to the contract between it and the ancient Mage! As for whether can you understand the ancient language of Amarr, it had nothing to do with the demon spirit! It is you who are lacking knowledge, and never serious in handling the situation.


    Leon wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead, and with a serious tone, he told the ghost face, "Your honorable demon spirit, please tell me what are the substitute requirements. I want to give it serious consideration!"


    The ghost face on the cover of the magical book suddenly became extremely angry, ferociously letting out a raging roar at Leon. However, as Leon had gained insight into this seemingly ferocious appearance, he just narrowed his eyes and enjoyed the demon spirit''s performance.


    Realizing that the threatening was ineffective, and its previous petty trick had been exposed, it knew by dragging anything further, it might trigger the frightful ancient contract. Left with no alternative, the ghost face of the demon spirit dully told Leon the real requirements of reading the book.


    "With 15 points of Physique, you can have a total control of this magical book. With 8 points of Physique, you can read all of the contents of this book. With 5 points of Physique, you can read any content that is below the grade of Mage, 3 points of Physique allow you to learn a specific magic spell, 1 point of Physique gives you a random magic spell."


    "Substitute objects, I was asking about substitute objects! What kind of objects can be used as the substitution?" It was Leon''s turn to interrogate the demon spirit. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Magical gemstones, magical materials, any mysterious knowledge which is not inside of this book... anything and everything. As long as they are related to magic spell, they could all become the substitute objects, but the required amount would be a lot!"


    "How about this?" Leon tried his luck by placing an Emerald on top of the magical book.


    It was a large Emerald with a size similar to a human heart. It would cost at least 230 magic crystals in the Mage market.


    "0.3 Physique."


    The answer given by the demon spirit shocked Leon.


    If calculated based on this, then if he wanted to gain total control of this book, 15 points of Physique would be equivalent to twelve thousand magic crystals! Maybe for an official Mage, this price was nothing, but for Apprentice Mages who were constantly in need of resources, it was simply an astronomical figure.


    The corner of Leon''s eyes twitched. He tilted his head and looked at the pile of gemstones, which he had thought were plenty moments ago. But now, he felt that even if he had more of them, it was still not enough for him to spend.


    Placing the demon spirit book on the ground, Leon started to place magical gemstones on top of it. Every time after he placed one gemstone, the demon spirit would tell him a small figure.


    Shadow Stone, Tiger''s Eye stone, Malachite, Green Agate, Lesser Moonstone, Emerald, Topaz, Aquamarine, Ruby, Opal, Sapphire, Azure Moonstone, Flame Spessarite, Golden Dranite, Dawn Stone, Living Ruby, Noble Topaz...


    Following the piling up of the magical gemstones, the figures eventually reached 11. The remaining gemstones were all top grade. For example, Blood of the Old God, Blood Gem, Deep Peridot, Dawn Stone, Talasite, Night''s Eye, Lion''s Eye Stone, Crimson Spinal Stone. All of them were gems which Leon felt reluctant to give away.


    ...


    2220 Words

 Chapter 108 - 108: Voodoo

    Leon hesitated for a brief moment, then waved his hand, ordering the Rock Snake to a corner of the cave to spit out a huge amount of dirt, gravel, weeds, broken vines and other debris. Afterwards, he started to thoroughly search through the messy pile to find some magical items that had been left over by the Fire element Fallen Pseudo-Mage.


    Snorlax had awakened long ago and was cleverly squatting beside Leon, helping him accomplish the dirty job.


    After searching through the entire pile, Leon had found three magical items.


    One was a necklace that allowed the bearer to unleash Flame Balls instantly, another was a bracelet that could improve the efficiency of Fire element meditation, and the last one was a magical staff made of Fire Coral.


    As effects of all three magical items were for Fire element apprentices, they were suitable for Leon as well. However, since he had found the Fire Lord''s Scepter, they would no longer bring him those huge benefits.


    Gnashing his teeth, Leon placed all three magical items on top of the demon spirit book.


    "14 points." The number announced by the demon spirit made Leon clench his jaw forcefully.


    It only needed one more point!


    Leon searched through his storage waist belt and waist pouch, he couldn''t find anything else that was suitable. As for the remaining items, he felt reluctant to give up any of them!


    Right as he was hesitating, a goose egg shaped Opal suddenly fell into the pile of gemstones.


    "15 points, you have reached the upper limit for unsealing the demon spirit book. The book will now start unsealing!" At this moment, the ghost face had finally shown the frightful manner of an ancient demon spirit. Soon, numerous magical arrays started to emerge on the cover of the book. Following a barely audible muttering voice, one after another, the arrays disintegrated and vanished along with those gemstones and magical items which had been used as substitute objects!


    After the ghost face had gradually faded away from the book cover, the real appearance of this magical book was finally revealed.


    Struck by surprise, Leon gazed at Snorlax who had an aching heart expression on its face. A smile emerged on Leon''s face. He nodded his head praisingly at Snorlax, before switching his focus back to the magical book.


    This book was called a demon spirit book initially, because the entire book was concealed by the demon spirit and one had to achieve the basic requirement to read it. But now, as the requirement of reading it had been achieved, according to the ancient contract, the demon spirit had taken the war trophies it deserved and disappeared from this world. That was why the magical book was now present in front of Leon.


    The book had a black cover and was made of leather. The corners of the book were installed with golden frames, giving it a touch of a dignified and ancient look. Leon tried to weigh it in his hand, though the book was at most thirty pages, it weighed a whopping three to four kilograms.


    When Leon used his finger and gently stroked the rather coarse hardcover, the name of the book condensed from greenish ghost flames and was revealed. It was written in the ancient language of Amarr ¨C The Secret Scroll of Voodoo.


    As Leon had unsealed the book with the highest requirement, when he held the book, a feeling of kinship immediately filled his mind. He didn''t even need to flip the pages with his own hands, as when he penetrated the Scroll of Voodoo with his Spirit, the book started to flip the pages by itself and stopped at any page that Leon showed an interest in.


    After giving it a brief read, Leon was instantly shocked by the contents of the book.


    The entire Scroll of Voodoo was simply an encyclopedia of voodoo, compiled by an ancient Mage. From the origin of voodoo to the prevalence of voodoo, records of different voodoo ceremonies, and detailed process of creating a voodoo doll... this book had them all in extreme detail.


    Besides the vast knowledge of voodoo, it also included many bizarre and unpredictable voodoo curses from the ancient era. For example, Scourge Cauldron, Curse of Bloodline, the Spell of Great Pestilence, Kiss of Death, Spirit of Pestilence... Just hearing their names alone would be enough to make one''s hair stand on its end, but casting them was surprisingly simple. The materials used were not rare resources or expensive materials, but... humans.


    To be more precise, the casting required a large amount of humans, including their souls and flesh!


    The entire Scroll of Voodoo seemed to be teaching someone how to use the simplest method to create the Scourge Cauldron. Then how to use the Spell of Great Pestilence to produce a deadly pestilence that could wipe out all living being in an entire continent. After that, gathering all the variants of pestilence and merging them together to eventually produce the mighty Spirit of Pestilence.


    And this Spirit of Pestilence would be the strongest warrior working for the owner of this secret scroll.


    By sending it out, Pestilence would wreak havoc to wherever it went, causing death to spread across the land. Any living beings without a proper defensive magic spell would unable to stand against the invasion of this Pestilence, which had been mixed with a small percentage of source rules of Voodoo.


    Since the ancient era, the Spirit of Pestilence had been the best agent in warfare and was used by Mages to deal with those lower grade Planes who put up a desperate struggle. For smaller scale Planes, they just need to throw a Spirit of Pestilence onto it, and they would be able to have their harvest one month later. The entire Plane would have been filled with howling souls that wandered everywhere, and they could seize any materials and resources they had wanted from that place. Compared to sending a large army of Mages to eliminate enemies everywhere and repress the revolts from the natives of the place day and night, this method saved a lot of time.


    However, this method was overly evil, and frequently it would evoke a strong reaction from the Will of the Plane that was being invaded. After all, the Will of the Plane was the collection of every single material and living beings'' wills. When all the living beings on a Plane were wiped out, the Will of the Plane would perish altogether. Therefore, those who possessed the Spirit of Pestilence would often receive a curse from the Will of Plane which had perished and would become an enemy of that particular Plane.


    Once an Mage was labeled as the enemy of the Plane, he would be disgusted by all the Planes, including the origin Plane where he was born and raised. And when someone like that entered into a random Plane, he would immediately be welcomed by the wrath of everything in that Plane, as all the living beings within the particular Plane would advance wave upon wave, launching attacks at him without any fear of death and would only stop once one side was dead!


    Hence, as he was holding a weapon of mass destruction like this in his hand, even Leon couldn''t remain calm anymore!


    Leon restlessly connected his mind with the Scroll of Voodoo, asking the Chip to make an identical copy of the content in his mind, then ordered it to slowly organize and analyze the data. He wanted to know if the Chip could find something suitable for him to use from these ancient voodoo magic spells.


    Once Leon had established a deeper spiritual connection with the Scroll of Voodoo, to his surprise, he found out that this Scroll of Voodoo could be used as a magic spell book. He could store six spiritual models of magic spell in a secret space within the book. This also meant, as long as he held the book in his hand, he would have six free magic spells which he could instantly cast.


    Of course, he had to store the spiritual models of these six magic spells in the book first.


    Damn, wasn''t this just like the cache in his Chip, but an outworldly version?


    At this point in time, Leon couldn''t help but feel respect towards those ancient Mages. Though they were fighting alone, and they didn''t have a complete education system which allowed one to slowly accumulate knowledge like how it was done back in the Earth, with just a tiny little spark in the mind of a random and unknown genius, they could actually create a mysterious space like this, which looked like an advanced technology from the modern world.


    With regards to this, Leon couldn''t help but admire them speechlessly!


    Initially, he thought he was the only one who had the technique to solidify magic spells and stored their spiritual models in his mind. But judging from what he had just discovered, this mysterious world did indeed have a similar technique. The only difference was, once the spiritual model stored in the mysterious space of the book was used, it would vanish, and would once again need to be re-injected before it could be used again. Based on this point alone, it was not as effective as the cache in his Chip.


    It looked like he was going to have an additional magical equipment ¨C an extremely powerful magic spell sequencer!


    In future when fighting with enemies, without using any of his Spirit, Leon could use the advantage of instant casting brought by magic spell sequencer and shower the enemy with a raging bombardment.


    Upon thinking about this, Leon couldn''t help but feel really excited.


    In order to express his love towards this Scroll of Voodoo, he purposely found a half meter long silver chain from his storage waist belt and used it to tie the magical book around his waist. After tinkering with it a few times, he was very satisfied with the results. Now, with just a thought in his mind, the magical book would automatically fly into his left hand, flip through the pages by itself and stop at the page where the magic spell Leon wanted to use was located.


    As for keeping it a secret, Leon had no worries at all.


    He had gained total control of this book, and it had a constant hidden connection with his spirit. Thus, even if it fell into the hands of an outsider, what the outsider would see would be the pages of totally emptied goat skin. Without Leon''s permission, no one could overtake him and read the contents of the book.


    Perhaps, this was the biggest benefit of unsealing it with the highest requirement!


    Right as Leon was showing his fondness towards the magical book and could hardly tear himself away from it, Snorlax was keeping itself busy as well. It kept searching through the dirt pile that the Rock Snake spat out. Eventually, its hard work did pay off, because it really found something surprising.


    The partial fragment of the Fairy''s true form!


    Among some of broken pieces of dried up tree skin, a sticky green liquid and some strange broken pieces of what looked like internal organs of a human could be found. It looked like during the evolution of the Fairy''s true form, some unexpected mutation had happened.


    However, when Leon picked up those fragments in his hand and gave them a careful look, his mind was immediately filled with a series of messages from the Chip.


    "Beep, unique active molecules of bloodline gene is detected, data saved..."


    "Beep, unique active molecules of bloodline gene is detected, data saved..." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Beep, unique active molecules of bloodline gene is detected, data saved..."


    ...


    ...


    A series of prompting sounds rang through Leon''s mind and also caused his eyes to be filled with unconcealed awe.


    It was not because the Chip had crashed that the messages kept repeating themselves, but because every new prompt meant that the Chip had found another new bloodline gene in the fragment of the Fairy''s true form. Eventually, a total of twenty-seven brand new bloodline genes were found. The discovery had suddenly made Leon feel that something was not right.


    A demon leader who was trapped in a small place like that. Where had it gotten in touch with and devoured so many bloodline genes? After all, among the population of Apprentice Mages, these bloodline genes were priceless treasure that one couldn''t even purchase with money! With just a small bottle of purified ancestor''s bloodline, any apprentice would be able to step onto the broad road of the Bloodline Mage.


    With twenty-seven brand new bloodline genes, it also meant that frightening Fairy had once devoured twenty-six creatures who possessed mutated bloodline genes! Could there be twenty-six Bloodline apprentices from different species that had visited the demonized forest and gotten themselves killed there?


    Of course, it was impossible!


    Even by searching all the Bloodline Apprentice in the Dagon region, it would not possible to find twenty-six different species.


    So, how had this frightening Fairy achieve something that even an official Mage would find tough to do?


    ...


    2225 Words

 Chapter 109 - 109: Level 2 Mage?

    He sort of had the feeling that he had unintentionally intruded into a dangerous domain that he shouldn''t have stepped into at all!


    It was impossible for the Fairy to have absorbed so many bloodline genes just by relying on its own ability. So there was only one possibility: the fragments of bloodline genes were being stored by the Mage Tower. When that place had been abandoned by the Fallen Mages, the Human-faced Flower that was lucky enough to survive had absorbed the other bloodline genes, and so had grown into an Mage level Fairy.


    After all, due to the mightiness of Mage''s bloodline and the powerful strength of the family behind them, in the entire Mage Continent, any behavior that led to the stealing of Mage''s bloodline was forbidden and any research related to that was totally prohibited as well. Therefore, that within an Mage Tower built by Fallen Mages, Leon had actually found the trace of so many bloodline genes, perhaps... there was a severe secret hiding behind this!


    On instinct, the first assumption Leon had was that Second Grade Fallen Mage Pridka had carried out a secret experiment related to synthetic bloodlines. And it was highly possible this assumption was real! After all, for a First Grade Mage, carrying out any research related to bloodlines was nearly impossible.


    But the deeper Leon dug into this matter, the more he just couldn''t help but gulped a mouthful of his own saliva as his mind was overcast by a huge patch of shadow.


    Could a Second Grade Fallen Mage complete bloodline research on such a huge scale alone?


    After all, Bloodline Apprentices were high-quality resources that were sought after by clans of all different sizes. The treatment they received was much better than that given to Elemental Apprentices, Body Refining Apprentices, and Profound Apprentices. If more than double digit numbers of Bloodline Apprentices had been murdered or went missing in the Dagon region, a massive storm would have long broken out.


    However, Leon had been in this place for quite some time but he had never heard any rumors or news regarding this.


    Could this mean that the Second Grade Fallen Mage had handled this matter brilliantly and kept it well hidden, or there was an unknown, yet powerful, clan that was hiding this for him? In the Dagon Region, a couple of small Mage families wouldn''t be able to achieve that; even the big families would not be able to keep this matter very secret.


    If that was the case, then the only possibility would be...


    Leon turned his head slightly, looking into the direction of the Mage Tower of Underground Cave. Sudden comprehension bloomed in his mind.


    Only the Zhentarim Association had the ability to cover the matter up to the level of no leakage!


    Based on this assumption and extrapolated further, the purpose of designing the Underground Cave was rather thought-provoking.


    On the face of it, it seemed like a few Fallen Mages had fled to the Underground World, engaged in guerrilla warfare, and fought with the surface Mages for rare and precious resources. But if one looked from a higher perspective, that place did look like a conflict zone purposely created by someone, with the hidden purpose of training their minions through constant battles.


    If the higher grade Mages who managed this region truly had a selfish motive, were taking the opportunity to secretly carry out forbidden research, it could actually be covered up with a good reason. After all, the place was in constant warfare. From time to time, many apprentices would get themselves killed. At most, people would felt pity for their death but it was tough for them to relate their deaths to something else.


    If Leon were the true mastermind behind this, he would just need to assign more Bloodline Apprentices when announcing a mandatory mission, then purposely create some conflicts during their mission. With that, the death of the Bloodline Apprentices would become well-reasoned and no one would notice anything fishy.


    Leon recalled, among the ten people on the compulsory mission team of his, four of them were Bloodline Apprentices, including Bleia. So far, out of two Advanced Apprentices who were dead, Shila had been a Bloodline Apprentice. Also, it seemed like the Demon Vine Lady killed by Leon had also been a Bloodline Apprentice.


    He had never felt anything wrong before this. But thinking back now, as the superior existence among same level apprentices, the death rate of Bloodline Apprentices was extremely high! This... this told him something was not right.


    So how were they going to handle Leon, an outsider who accidentally intruded onto their secret experiment field? Were they going to assign him a highly dangerous compulsory mission without his knowledge and have him killed in the Underground World? Or maybe the mastermind would settle this matter personally, killing Leon straightaway and shutting his mouth? After all, he was just an Intermediate Apprentice who had no background, and no one would confront a Second Grade Mage for the death of a mere apprentice!


    Quietly, from his waist pouch, Leon took out the chest badge that represented the Byron family, which he had been given by Mage Angus, and carefully pinned it onto his chest. For the first time, he realized the tremendous benefit of having support from an Mage family!


    ...


    One hour later, when Leon, carrying the sleeping Bleia, and Snorlax, who was carrying a huge bag on its back, approached the entrance of the Mage Tower, they were blocked by a magical golem.


    With no explanation, they were brought to a huge secret room on the ninth floor of the Mage Tower.


    They were greeted by a young Mage who looked only a few years older than Leon. He had a delicate and handsome face and a tall and strong body. He was wearing a luxurious Mage robe with a pointy Mage hat on his head. Standing in front of them, he sent forth a youthful aura that felt rather strange.


    If not for the powerful spiritual pressure indistinctly leaking out from his body, perhaps Leon would thought this Mage was disguised by an Apprentice Mage. But when he sensed the pure and reserved spiritual wave, Leon immediately felt like he was staring at a dazzling sun which made his eyes sore. Under the brilliant radiation of such strong glow, he nearly turned into a blind man.


    Leon immediately lowered his head, bent his back slightly, and expressed his respect. At the same time, he quietly unleashed some Fire Elementium and covered his eyes. Only then did he feel the pain in his eyes relieve a little bit. In his arms, as if the sleeping Bleia had also sensed some threat, she restlessly moved her body and buried her beautiful face under Leon''s arms.


    At the same time, Snorlax, who was standing behind Leon, shrank its body away from fear, lying on the ground with its face down, and did not dare stand up again.


    As a demon, Snorlax''s sense of danger was more direct and sensitive compared to human beings, so the spiritual pressure it felt was much stronger than anybody else.


    This was a simple and rather crude meeting room; the wooden table and chairs placed inside had never gone through any polish, as they still had the original color of the wood.


    The young, evil looking Mage was sitting in one of the chairs, holding a cup of a steaming hot beverage in his hand. He was none other than the Second Grade Mage who controlled this Mage Tower, Master Andre.


    After all, he was in a bizarre world, which was totally different from the Earth in his previous life. Though the appearance, behavior, and habit of the people here were pretty similar to Middle Ages Europe back on Earth, there was still a huge difference. The most obvious difference was their name.


    In Leon''s memory, Europeans always had complicated names that were used to indicate the origin of their family. But in this world, where the strong would gain authority, the family influence had been weakened. A new type of family was found here, which was established around a powerful Mage.


    Usually, the leader of the family would not be the strongest of that family, but an elder of the family who was an expert in managing their territory. The direction of development of the family was actually held in the hand of the higher grade Mages, who hid behind curtains and possessed powerful abilities.


    The Mage and the family were like twin trees that supported each other; when the family was strong, the Mage of the family would become the vine that parasitized the tree. And once the Mage became stronger, the family would, in turn, became the accessory of the Mage, allowing him to demand anything he wanted.


    Therefore, many mighty Mages didn''t have a family name. On the contrary, his family would felt honored to have his name as their family name. It was a reversed relationship of dependence.


    Since the first day Leon had arrived at the Mage Tower of the Underground Cave, he had memorized the name of Master Andre. But with his status and position, there was no chance he could have met with such mighty existence.


    Apparently, today was obviously an exception!


    Therefore, Leon lowered his head and bent down his body, waiting quietly and never showed any disrespect.


    After a long time, after Mage Andre had slowly finished with the hot beverage in his hand, he placed the cup down gently and moved his glance over to Leon, who was standing respectfully.


    Without raising his head, Leon could feel the scorching hot glance. It didn''t mean Mage Andre''s element affinity was Fire, but that the element energy soaking his eyes was too dense. When he moved his glance over to Leon, the sudden increase in element density had caused element damage to him.


    This was why Leon felt like he was burning! sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Have you gone to the Underground World recently?" Mage Andre finally spoke.


    Leon''s body trembled slightly. He lowered his head further and said, "Yes, master. I just came back from the Underground World!"


    "Did you find anything?"


    Leon moved his head a little, as if he had tried to raise his head to have a look but quickly held down the impulse.


    "Yes, master. I did find something on this trip!"


    A wondering expression emerged on Leon''s face, which was still pointed at the floor. Clearly, he was puzzled about why a Second Grade Mage would show concern to a mere Intermediate Apprentice. Of course, Leon had purposely put on this expression!


    With the powerful Spirit of a Second Grade Mage, perhaps the entire Mage Tower was under his control and senses. Therefore, though Leon had lowered his head, any changes on his face would still be sensed by Mage Andre.


    Leon had to put on a real show!


    Since the moment he had stepped into Mage Tower, Leon had been hypnotizing himself restlessly, disguising himself as a reckless boy who knew nothing.


    After all, the information he had obtained previously was based on the data gathering, information summarization, and analysis of the powerful Chip. If any ordinary Apprentice Mage had wished to dig out the hidden secret from the Fairy''s body, perhaps he would have needed to use the precise equipment found in the Alchemy Laboratory.


    Therefore, if Leon wanted to lower the risk he would face, he needed to pretend that he knew nothing about the secret!


    Also, Leon had tried to sound out Snorlax secretly, but the goblin had shown no knowledge of the bloodline experiments. It didn''t even have an idea about how it possessed such bizarre abilities.


    This had strengthened Leon''s decision to play stupid!


    ...


    1968 Words

 Chapter 110 - 110: Convincing

    "What did you find? Show me!" Mage Andre ordered.


    Without any hesitation, Leon respectfully bowed and gently placed Bleia on the floor beside him. He then turned around and asked Snorlax to bring the bag over. But too bad, his order had already lost its effectiveness, as Snorlax had collapsed on the floor and couldn''t get up.


    Left with no other choice, Leon walked over to the huge bag and arduously dragged it to the center of the meeting room. He opened up the bag and poured everything out on the floor.


    Immediately, precious stones, dazzlingly magical gemstones and an exceptionally designed rose armor and magical bow rolled out onto the ground. Meanwhile, the Fairy''s body which looked like a saggy leather pouch and the broken stalks of its true form were mixed among them. They looked like they hadn''t gone through any sorting.


    Looking at the scene, Mage Andre who looked like an evil youth narrowed his eyes, showing a ruminating expression. But when he gazed at the bright chest badge on Leon''s chest, the smile on his face became stronger, while the oppressive atmosphere that had suffocated Leon instantly disappeared.


    "An Mage level demon leader! I never expected an Intermediate Apprentice like you could harvest a prey of this level, no wonder Angus was so impatient to recruit you into his family!"


    "It is all because of the care Master Angus has shown for me. Actually, we were able to defeat this frightening Fairy because of Bleia; she had risked her life for this. Also, we were helped by a few Fallen Pseudo-Mages!" An excited expression immediately appeared on Leon''s face. Without waiting for Master Andre to ask the questions, he started to narrate the battle of the demonized forest in a detailed manner.


    He had no idea whether this Mage Andre had any methods of learning the truth of what had happened in the Underground World. Out of careful consideration, Leon chose not to tell any lies, and he told the entire process without covering anything up, expressing how proud he was for participating in such an incredible battle.


    It was a rare occurrence, as Mage Andre patiently and carefully listened to everything Leon had to say. From time to time, he even nodded his head praisingly.


    Leon was able to fight an Mage level demon for such a long hour, employing some tricks, he even dragged a few Fallen Pseudo-Mages who had come to ambush him into the battle, and eventually became the final winner who looted everything. To be honest, when such crafty planning and strategy was seen from an Intermediate Apprentice, it clearly showed his amazing ability to control a battlefield.


    "You only found these after killing an Mage level demon?" Mage Andre''s eyes kept lingering on the magical book tied to the side of Leon''s waist. It was not until after Leon finally took out a strange looking, fiery red scepter from his storage waist belt, that his expression had relaxed a little bit, "So it is a Fire Lord''s Scepter! Not bad, with your Fire element affinity, currently this scepter is the perfect magical item for you!"


    Andre lowered his head and pondered for a brief moment, he then raised his head and said, "I need some magical materials for the experiment I''m working on right now, so, I''ll purchase all your war trophies. And since you''ve risked your life to find all these items, I''ll not seek profit at the expense of a little guy like you. Here are a few items, the value of each is higher than your magical materials. You can pick which one you want for yourself."


    Following a wave of Mage Andre''s hand, though it was mixed with all the other war trophies, the Fairy''s corpse and the fragments of its true form started to fly up into the air by a mysterious force. In an instant, they were thrown into a dark rift that suddenly tore up in midair. After they disappeared, three small bubbles flew out from the dark rift, each of them was holding a bizarre magical item of peculiar design.


    One was a narrow-necked flask the size of a human palm, containing a mysterious, light-blue potion.


    Another one was a pair of red colored wings. It shone with a cold metal glaze, and a special glow kept circulating on top of it.


    The last one was a token engraved with mysterious and complicated patterns, the purpose of which was unknown.


    "The value of these three items are not lower than that of your demon corpse. The first one is an ''Elementary Intelligence Potion'', with the current level of your Spirit, it will increase your Spirit by three points without causing any harm to you. The second item is an Mage level Wing of Flamingo, with a simple transplant operation, you''ll be given the ability to fly freely in the air. And the last one is a Token of Permit, with it, you can visit the World of Deep Red once, a place where you can improve your Fire element affinity."


    Leon''s body shook, his eyes instantly went wide, as he greedily stared at the three peculiar items floating inside of the bubbles. A wild beast was making an uproar in his mind, asking him to pull over all these items and make them his.


    Clenching his fist tightly, after put in a huge effort, Leon finally pressed down the restless emotions in his mind. He raised his head and asked with a stammering voice, "Your respectful Master Andre, I... can I chose more than one?"


    "You can only pick one! The value of your demon is only worth one."


    Leon fixed his bloodshot eyes on all three items in front of him. Meanwhile, his mind was spinning fast to decide the right choice.


    Though the Elementary Intelligence Potion was a good item, it was only effective for apprentices below the Pseudo-Mage grade. Also, using it just to increase Spirit was rather wasteful, as the biggest purpose of it was used to bring enlightenment to one''s intelligence. As the matter of fact, not everyone who lived in the Mage Continent was given the ability to study magic when they born. Even when two official Mages got married, it was also possible that they would give birth to an ordinary child who had no talent in magic at all. In that situation, the purpose of Elementary Intelligence Potion had come into play.


    It could promote an ordinary child into a Beginner Apprentice Mage straightaway. This was the biggest value of it!


    The Wings of Flamingo, it was a pretty good assisting magical organ. And best of all, it was an option that brought the least amount of bloodline contamination. After owning it, Leon would have the ability to fly freely in the air.


    Also, for this kind of transplanted magical organ, usually it would just be a small bloodline mark that solidified on the body. From the face of it, no one could tell any difference. Only when he recited a simple magic incantation would the magical organ activate and a pair of magical wings would stretch out from his back.


    For him, whether for pursuing enemies or for fleeing at high speeds, it was an excellent option!


    But, after clenching his jaw tightly and hesitating for some time, Leon eventually stretched his hand towards the third bubble.


    Though the first two items were extremely rare and precious, but if he was willing to spend some magic crystals, he could still find them in the market. But for the third item, which would allow him to improve his Fire element affinity, it was something that could hardly be found anywhere else!


    The bubble burst, and a cold metal token fell into Leon''s hand.


    "Good, very good! The deal is complete, and you can leave now. As for how to use this token, you can go and ask Angus!" Andre waved his hand after finished saying that. In an instant, Leon felt the sky and the earth spinning around. When his mind had finally settled down, he realized he had returned to his own room located on the second floor.


    Right beside him, he saw Bleia who was sleeping soundly, Snorlax who was struggling in getting on its feet again and the opened bag with glows of gemstones all over the place, the Rose Armor shining brightly, magical bow and the Fire Lord''s Scepter... after a careful counting, none of them was missing. Everything was lying on the floor, emanating its own glow quietly.


    Haha, it looked like these items couldn''t enter the eyes of a Second Grade Mage. He was being overly worried previously!


    Before Leon returned to the Mage Tower, he had successfully hypnotized himself to forget every single assumption he had made before this, and only made a backup of them in the storage area of the Chip. Now, after leaving the control of that Second Grade Mage, the backup data stored inside the Chip had once again transmitted into his mind, allowing him to remember those memories he had forgotten.


    He had no choice, as when faced with a Second Grade Mage, he had to be extremely careful.


    Leon carefully placed Bleia on the bed, before putting all the gemstones into the bag and tossing it over to Snorlax, asking it to find a way to settle them. As for himself, after putting away those magical items, he turned around and left his room, rushing toward Mage Angus''s residence.


    It was hard to describe what kind of strange expression Mage Angus had when he saw the mysterious token. However, after he listened to Leon''s much-varnished explanation, though he still had his brows knitted in a tight frown and felt puzzled, he just couldn''t find anything wrong with it.


    Angus dared not show any hesitation with regards to the order from a Second Grade Mage. He stomped his feet lightly, and immediately, a mysterious magical array that covered the entire main hall emerged on the hard rock floor.


    "Insert that token into the center of this magical array!" Angus ordered with a low voice.


    Only now Leon had noticed that right in the center of this magical array which was entirely made up of element energy, there was a round shaped notch, and the size which perfectly matched the bottom of the mysterious token.


    After Leon inserted the token, Angus, while slowly activating the magical array, exhorted Leon with a deep voice, "The place you''re going to visit is the World of Deep Red. It is a small space created inside of an underground volcano by the Mage Tower. A place suitable for those apprentices with Fire element affinity to train. After you arrive there, do not do anything extra, as the place is heavily guarded by numerous magical automatons, also... in a few simple words, just follow everything ''she'' says!"


    Angus''s voice became slightly hesitant at the last few words. Especially when he mentioned ''she'', his face was filled with a strange mixed expression of envy and hatred.


    This had caused a nervous feeling to slowly enter into Leon''s mind.


    Could that place have something special or strange?


    However, before he could ask any other questions, the magical array had activated. Once again, Leon was forced to go through a violent dizziness that overwhelmed all his senses. Everything in front of his eyes had been stretched out and became a vague image. The space around him would sometimes elongate and sometimes compress ¨C it just looked like a dough that anyone could knead freely.


    Leon had no idea how much time had passed.


    According to the Chip, the entire process only lasted five seconds. However, Leon himself felt as if it had lasted for one whole day.


    When the dizziness brought by the disorientation of space finally faded away, Leon rolled his eyes and leapt out from the magical array, throwing himself onto his knees to retch. Never in his life had he hated this simple space teleportation so much! He didn''t possess the integrated and near materialized Spirit like an official Mage, thus without the protection from the magical array, there was no way he could defend himself from the invasion of the spatial force.


    Yet, while he was cursing inwardly, a pair of slim and soft long legs suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. After that, a female''s charming, seductive voice rang into his ears.


    "Eh, how come this time it is a handsome boy? I thought that old man Angus has finally come to see me! Handsome boy, what''s your name?"


    To his horror, Leon raised his head! S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    2110 words

 Chapter 111 - 111: New#1

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 Chapter 112 - 112: succubus

    She was a very graceful and charming lady, and a bantering smile could be found on her juicy lips.


    Her skin was silky smooth and as white as snow, some tiny purple colored freckles could be seen indistinctly spread across them. Her sexy hot body made her the most beautiful creature Leon had ever seen in his entire life.


    A pair of curving horns stretched out from her forehead, and her purple colored long hair was hanging loosely down her back. A dangerous look of lust was lingering in her narrow yet charming eyes, making any man in the world want to indulge in her magnificent beauty upon staring at her face.


    On her back were a pair of large bat wings with distinct joints, one could even see sharp claws poking out from these joints. A flat and slender bone tail stretched out from her lower back, glowing like a metal. All of these gave her a touch dangerous, yet inviting look ¨C it was like a forbidden excitement.


    She was wearing a curvaceous silk gown with a leather belt with silver ornaments strapped around her waist. She leisurely fiddled with a long whip made from wrought gold chain which produced electric sparks when it swung around.


    The devil''s horns, those flaming lips, and the signature bat wings, long tail and hoof legs, this... She was an abyss creature that shouldn''t appear in the Material Plane ¨C a Succubus.


    Right when Leon saw this Succubus, his thoughts had nearly stagnated. In a trance, he thought the previous teleportation had transported him into the horrible World of Abyss. When he recovered from his shock and glanced around, only that had he realized that he was in a unique space that was trapped by some sort of magical spells.


    In front of Leon was a spacious and deep hall of lava. Nearly half the space of this hall was occupied by a huge lava pool. The pool was filled with slow-moving molten lava and scorching hot white lava stones. A three acres'' stone platform was found on a corner of the hall, on top of it was a simple stone cottage, a simple stone table, and chairs ¨C everything looked so simple and crude.


    Leon was now kneeling on this platform. Behind him was the teleportation magical array with its glow slowly fading away, and in front of him was... an Abyss Succubus with a charming face and sexy body.


    With Leon''s vast knowledge, he roughly understood the layout of this place with just a brief glance.


    Fuck, what bullshit World of Deep Red. It was merely a small living space established within the inner part of an underground volcano! And, the reason why those old goats had established this space wasn''t for any magic spell research at all, but purely... to house this seductive Succubus of the Abyss.


    After all, the Abyss Succubus was the native creature from the World of Abyss, which was a lower grade plane. Though they didn''t possess a powerful combative strength, relying on their sexy and charming bodies and their extraordinary smart brains, they had been the favorite concubines and advisers of many powerful Devil Lords of the Abyss.


    Though they could also enter into a material plane, the perfect living environment for them was still a hot and harsh world like the World of Abyss. Meanwhile, a primary material plane, like the World of Mage, would seriously reject the chaotic and brutal aura emanating from the body of these creatures from the Abyss.


    Therefore, since those old goats wanted to let this Abyss Succubus survive in this world, they had no other option but to establish a ''World of Deep Red'' near the underground volcano, which had a similar environment to the Abyss Plane.


    To put it plainly, this was a ''recreation and entertainment'' place those Mages had set up for themselves. And judging from what this Succubus had just said, perhaps she was not even the exclusive concubine for someone, but...


    Leon shuddered suddenly, quickly stopped himself from pondering further.


    When Leon was curiously measuring the surrounding with his eyes, the Succubus was also staring at him in wonderment!


    To be honest, only those human Mages could enter this place at their pleasure. And as for any existence below the grade of Mage, Leon was the first to come to this place!


    Right when Leon was contemplating how to introduce himself, a tall humanoid stone figure suddenly walked out from a wall beside the stone platform. A low, muffled voice came out from its bee hive-like face full of holes.


    "Outsider, according to the message transmitted from the master, you can only stay in this place for two hours. Please do not display any behavior that will harm the stability of this space, or else, you''ll be killed!"


    Having finished saying that, the huge humanoid stone figure took a step back, before once again merging back into the stone wall. No one could see any difference from the spot where it came out.


    An Mage level magical automaton!


    With just one gaze, Leon had determined the overall strength of this huge humanoid stone figure. And with such a mighty overall strength and within this tiny space, a magical automaton would be able to kill him easily. Even if he had summoned all his Golems, he would not be able to save his life, because there wasn''t any space he could run to, to get away from the attack! sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon finally sensed the unique environment of this place.


    The dried and hot fire air made it extremely difficult to breathe. It was as if there was a fireball residing in his lungs, every inhale and exhale was a scorching hot airflow. As Leon''s element affinity was Fire, within his Spiritual Domain, his entire body and soul were rejoicing for the dense and active Fire Elementium found in the surrounding environment. However, his overly frail body just couldn''t withstand the harsh environment. Indistinctly, signs of self-destruction had appeared on his body.


    With no time to interact with the Succubus standing beside him, Leon immediately sat down folding his legs and started cultivating his Inferno Body.


    For any Element Mages, if they wish to maximize the power of their element magic spell, they had to carry out a magical modification to their body. And, having the body totally transformed into Elementium was an inevitable path! It was an extremely slow process and also consumed a huge amount of resources.


    They had to consume Fire element demon beasts'' meat on a regular basis and use it to slowly and gently stimulate their body to allow their body to get used to the gradually denser Fire Elementium. And the cultivating of Inferno Body was just the first step to transforming the body into Elementium, and it was also the initial threshold.


    Only once he had completed the cultivation of Inferno Body, Leon would have the ability to travel to some unique environments which were rich with Fire Elementium and continue his meditation and cultivation. While his innate talent might have welcomed these rich Fire Elementiums, his body wouldn''t be able to withstand the entire cultivation process.


    Leon closed his eyes, calmed his mind and entered into deep meditation. Before, he had to use his Spiritual tentacles to capture those Fire Elementiums, but now, they were flooding into his Spiritual Domain like they had just burst out from a huge dam. Also, because of the overly dense Fire Elementiums, the incorporeal process that normally only happened in his Spiritual Domain had become visible to the naked eye.


    Countless flickering tiny red dots were lingering around Leon''s body, constantly merging into his body, penetrating into his bones and tendons, flesh and blood, some even penetrated into the source of his Spirit.


    However, this process didn''t bring him only benefits.


    Following the penetration of countless Fire Elementiums, within his flesh, blood, bones, tendons, internal organs and some other parts of his body, Fire Elementiums started to pile up and couldn''t be absorbed in a timely manner. They started to show their active, unstable and destructive characteristics, as they had begun to erode Leon''s body.


    Looking from a far distance, it was like an invisible furnace was burning violently inside of Leon''s body. His skin turned red and just as his sweat had emerged, they immediately evaporated before they could roll off his skin. Leon''s breathing became heavier, and even the air he let out had turned into a scorching hot flame.


    Due to a lack of magic spell protection, Leon''s cloth had started to burn off, enshrouding him within a huge fireball. However, as the flame didn''t possess any supernatural power, obviously, it couldn''t hurt Leon at all. Instead, it was giving him a touch of mystery.


    Though Leon''s mind was indulging in the deep meditation, his brows started to furrow, and his mind slowly retracted from the Spiritual Domain.


    His body constitution was too weak, so there was no way he could withstand a Fire element cultivation of this level. Usually, he could maintain three hours of deep meditation, but in this place, he was forced to stop before reaching fifteen minutes.


    When he regained consciousness, two totally opposed logical judgments came out from his burning hot body. Guided by his Fire element innate talent, the Spiritual Domain had become unprecedentedly strong and nourished. The raging Fire element energy kept storming into it at a constant pace, bringing tremendous benefits. On the other side, the body which had suffered a constant erosion from the Fire element energy was moaning and howling miserably. While the body had undergone the tempering process, it was also being weakened at the same time.


    The corner of Leon''s eyes twitched.


    Could this be the end of his rare opportunity of being able to cultivate in the underground lava? After he was transported to this place, the mysterious token had disappeared. Apparently, it could only be used one time. If he was forced to leave this place now, he wouldn''t have any more opportunities to visit this place!


    This was an extremely unique environment, and it would be extremely difficult for him to find a similar place to continue his cultivation.


    "Chip, is there any solution to the current situation?"


    "Beep, Fire Lord''s Scepter..."


    The Chip''s answer was simple and straightforward. Leon forcefully slapped his forehead, cursing his own stupidity.


    With a flip of his palm, the Fire Lord''s Scepter, placed inside his storage waist belt, appeared immediately. Upon holding it, the painful and numbing sensation he had felt throughout the entire body disappeared instantly. Even the flames that had tortured him previously had become a suitable temperature.


    Leon lifted his fair right hand; he saw numerous blazing red fireballs ragingly burning the surface of his skin. The dancing flames and the scorching hot blaze now looked like a crimson outfit, completely covering his entire body, making anyone who saw this admire the miraculousness and bizarreness of the magic spell.


    With the help of the Fire Lord''s Scepter, Leon was now spared from the harm that might come about from those low-intensity flames. With that, he was tempted and moved his glance over to the boiling lava pool not far away.


    Since it was a rare opportunity for him to come here, he had to maximize the gains no matter what!


    Leon gritted his teeth and stood up suddenly. The few remaining magical equipment detached from his body automatically. Fully naked and holding only the Fire Lord''s Scepter, Leon strode to the edge of the lava pool.


    He had no choice; perhaps with the Fire Lord''s Scepter, his body would be able to withstand the lava pool, but his magical equipment wouldn''t. If they were destroyed in the lava pool, it would be a huge loss for him! Therefore, Leon could only carry out the experiment with a naked body.


    As for the Succubus who had been standing beside him smiling, Leon simply ignored her existence!


    At this moment, Leon''s thoughts of becoming stronger were extremely firm and tough ¨C the petty charm spell of the Succubus couldn''t affect him.


    Standing at the edge of the pool, normally the burning hot air wave would have been enough to half-cook him, but now, it felt like a warm breeze.


    Leon poked his toe lightly into the boiling molten lava. Judging from the feeling, it felt like a hot water with a temperature of fifty degree Celsius. Though it felt hot to the touch, he could still bear it.


    Leon clenched his jaws, gently placing his first leg into the pool, then the second leg. Marching forward step by step, soon his entire body had submerged into the boiling molten lava.


    Sensing the increasing temperature right in front of him, Leon stopped moving forward and stopped at a position where his head was just barely under the surface. Once again, he started the cultivation of his Inferno Body.


    ...


    2156 Word

 Chapter 113 - 113: Lava Pool

    As the matter of fact, the cultivation of Inferno Body was more of a process of attracting the Fire Elementiums in the air and making them merged into the cultivator''s body. Using them, the cultivator was able to temper and strengthen his Fire element innate talent.


    Thus, during the cultivating process, the density of the Fire Elementiums in the surrounding environment played an important role in the speed of the cultivation!


    If Leon was placed in a wet and cold environment like the Swampy Tower, the speed of his cultivation would be at least ten times slower. On the contrary, when he was cultivating in this underground lava pool where Fire Elementium was in an extreme majority, his progress in cultivation had simply skyrocketed.


    The comparison between two different environments couldn''t even be calculated with mere numbers!


    Countless Fire Elementiums kept pouring into Leon''s body together with some mysterious lava materials. They were condensing his flesh and blood, tempering his bones and strengthened his tendons, helping his body which had become corroded by the Mind Concentrating Potion, become strong once again.


    Washed by the slow-moving molten lava, Leon''s bones and tendons had started to produce cracking noise, a sign of their growing and becoming stronger. At the same time, his blood and flesh had become sturdier and filled with more vitality. His dark long hair which had once hung loosely on his shoulders had been completely burned off by the lava. However, they were now slowly regrowing while making a strange hissing sound. Surprisingly, the color of his hair had changed to dark red and was glowing now with magical luster!


    Within Leon''s mind, the dynamic data about his body attribute was refreshing at a crazy speed.


    Before he could get a glimpse at the rows of tiny green characters that were pouring in with insane speeds, they were immediately flooded with new prompts given out by the Chip.


    "Beep. An incoming unusual foreign material detected. It will increase host''s Physique by 0.01 points..."


    "Beep. Merging of a foreign Fire element energy into the Spirit source detected. It will increase host''s Spirit by 0.01 points..."


    "Beep. An incoming unusual foreign material detected. It will increase host''s Physique by 0.01 points..."


    ...


    ...


    Two different messages kept alternating off his vision. From time to time, a message that prompted the successful cultivation of Inferno Body would mix between them.


    "Beep. The host''s body and Spirit have reached the lowest requirement of the cultivation of Inferno Body. Current progress: 1%."


    When Leon finally stepped over the threshold for cultivating the Inferno Body, the temperature of the lava, which had caused him to reach the limit of his endurance, suddenly dropped. He felt that he was able to handle the extreme temperatures better now.


    A thought suddenly struck Leon, and he couldn''t hold himself and took a step forward. He wanted to keep himself at the border of his limits, and force himself to endure the painful torture throughout the entire cultivation.


    "Beep. The Inferno Body has been strengthened. Current progress: 2%."


    Trying his best to ignore the tremendous pain resulting in his body going through the tempering process, Leon diverted his attention by staring at the rolling text in his vision. Only by doing that could he feel an excitement filling his mind, making the pain he was suffering endurable.


    Following the strengthening of the Inferno Body, the enduring limit Leon had towards the high temperatures of the lava had become higher, and he himself also moved deeper into the lava pool.


    The Succubus was standing on the edge of the lava pool, overlooking at the rocking and burning hot lava. Her green glowing eyes were filled with strong surprise and a look of disbelief! How could this be possible? That kid who had just came in was only a mere Apprentice Mage, how could he directly touch the frightening underground lava?!


    Could it have been because of that mysterious looking magical scepter? Or, he was a kid with extraordinary innate talent, having amazing potential in his bloodline?


    The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. The Succubus couldn''t help but lick her juicy flaming lips in a seductive manner. A hot stream suddenly surged in her heart, as the once charming eyes turned watery.


    Although she was a Succubus from the World of Abyss and was regarded as a Fire element demon by the common people, when facing a underground lava at this degree, she only dared to play with the fire at the edge of the pool. She could only cup a handful of white and boiling lava, pour them on her curvy and perfect body, and let them roll off her silky smooth skin freely. But if asked to dive deeper into the lava pool, even she couldn''t withstand the devastating and deadly high temperatures.


    After all, she was just a Succubus, not a Flaming Demon who could dance with fire. She could only endure the fire, not like it from the depths of her soul.


    After more than an hour, following the splashing of fire sparks, Leon poked his head out from the lava near the edge of the pool. He started to walk slowly back to the platform.


    A moment ago when he was at the bottom of the lava pool, he had received a prompt from the Chip.


    The Inferno Body had reached to the maximum level that he could withstand currently. His tempered body had started to show signs of decay as a result of over cultivating. Therefore, he had no choice but to leave the lava pool slowly and prepare to cool down his body that had been constantly been in extreme limits.


    Previously, Leon had looked like a slightly skinny, immature youth of sixteen years. But now, he actually possessed a muscular body that would make a lot of people envious.


    With just an hour of tempering, his body had grown to the height of two meters. His burly body was now filled with toned muscles that popped right out, and together with the long dark red hair hanging loosely on his back, he was sending forth a devil-like charisma.


    When remaining standing in the boiling hot lava pool that had reached his waist level, the Chip had finally refreshed the latest body attributes in Leon''s mind.


    "Leon (Advanced Apprentice): Strength ¨C 7.12, Agility ¨C 7.35, Physique ¨C 9.17, Spirit ¨C 16.25."


    Without any notice, Leon had grown to the Advanced Apprentice level that he once had looked up to. Also, his Physique and Strength had finally crossed the threshold of five points, matching the grade of his Spirit.


    Clenching his fists slightly, for the first time, Leon felt that his body was filled with mighty forces that he could never deplete. At the same time, the raging Fire element energy was pushing around violently within his body, making it hard to sit still and urging him to smash something to release the active energy.


    Leon lowered his head and looked at the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his left hand. He couldn''t help and sigh with mixed emotions at his heaven-defying luck. Without this scepter, at most he could only have a short moment of meditation right beside the lava pool. And if he had wanted to cross into the threshold for the Inferno Body, it would have been simply impossible without tens of days of restless cultivation. Because of this scepter, Leon was given with the ability of intermediate level Fire resistance, allowing him to be spared from the Fire element damage caused by the scorching hot lava.


    Just because of this, the progress of his cultivation had skyrocketed. Without it, he would have had to express his thanks to heaven and earth just for having a one-point increment in his Spirit!


    Right when he had all his attention focused on his brand new body attribute, a soft and warm body suddenly attached onto his back and was stroking up and down slowly. At the same time, a sweet, seductive voice suddenly squeezed into his ears.


    "My handsome boy, I just losing sight of you for a short time, I never thought that your body would become so strong, so attractive! Do you want this sister to accompany you for a lava bath?"


    After that, two tender and lovely arms stretched out from his back, gently and slowly stroking on his toned chest. In an instant, the marvelous sensation of being touched by silky smooth skin had filled Leon''s mind.


    Right at this very moment, the Succubus who had her charming fame spread across the universe had fully revealed the tenderness and agileness of her body. While sticking out her flexible tongue and lightly licking on Leon''s neck, she pressed her curvy body tightly onto Leon''s back, at the same time her hand were skillfully flirting and stroking his chest.


    Inside of the lava pool where no one could see what happened, her long bone tail gently coiled up around Leon''s ripped thigh like a nimble snake, using the huge contrast between the touch of coarse bone and sensitive skin to further provoke this young man''s ''anger''.


    For an evil creature like this Abyss Succubus, the concept of chastity and dignity was something that would never cross their minds. In the World of Abyss ruled by the jungle rules, the mighty strength that brutally destroyed everything was the only thing they were after and also the ultimate guide of the Will of Abyss World. Since Succubus don''t possess a strong body constitution or powerful magic spells, attaching themselves to mighty existences became their only method for making a living.


    The material world wasn''t a place suitable for their survival, yet they still stubbornly tried to come to a material world. What they wanted was in fact, the bloodline and soul of a mighty existence.


    The reason those human Mages summoned and imprisoned this Succubus in their own plane was for nothing more than to enjoy her wonderful body and her wild techniques when making love. Although this Succubus knew this clearly, she still came to this place without any hesitation, because she was proud and had confidence in her body.


    Once she was allowed to spend a long time with an Mage, she would use her own ways to make the Mage fall in love with her uncontrollably. At that point in time, not only she would gain control of huge sum of fortune, she could also devour the Mage''s body, and return to the World of Abyss with the soul of a mighty human.


    For the Will of Abyss, any behavior regarding bringing back the soul of a mighty existence from a primary plane was well worth the praise. If these Abyss Succubus couldn''t improve themselves by slaughtering, then carrying out the business of smuggling the souls of mighty existences was still beneficial! sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Only through this method, would she have the chance to grow into an advanced devil ¨C a Pleasure Devil, which was the advanced shape of Succubus.


    It was worth mentioning, the flirting techniques that the Succubus knew were most effective!


    In nearly a few seconds, Leon''s face became flush.


    But at the moment this Succubus had attained her success, she had failed at the same time. Because the huge humanoid stone figure hidden inside of the stone wall had once again revealed itself.


    "Time''s up! Outsider, you have to leave here at once. Or else, you''ll be attacked by all the Lava Guards. Countdown starts now! 10... 9... 8..."


    Fuck! The time was up!


    The intense sense of danger brutally pulled Leon out of his lustful fantasy. He forcefully shook off the Succubus clinging on his body and rushed towards his magical equipment that were scattered on the ground and picked them up. When he had finally rushed into the center of the teleportation array, he saw the Succubus standing in the lava pool, breaking into a furious rage.


    She had already bitten the well-cooked duck, however, it had just slipped away because of a stupid reason. How could she not get angry?


    Surrounded by her furious roar, the attractive and inviting body of Succubus gradually rose from the lava pool. The widespread bat wings on her back kept flapping in the air, while the raging aura of Abyss emanated from her body like a blood mist, covering a large area.


    But too bad, before she could increase her power to the maximum level, two tiny, delicate and mysterious looking magical arrays suddenly emerged on her round and smooth shoulders. Under the suppression of the two mysterious magical arrays on her shoulders, the power gathered by the Succubus suddenly dispersed without making any noise. From a brutal and violent Abyss Devil, she was once again transformed back to the little Succubus that could be freely toyed with by anybody.


    She let out a shrill curse, before throwing herself back into the lava pool.


    ...


    2158 Words

 Chapter 114 - 114: Bleia

    One month later, Bleia finally woke up.


    Because the energy level of the blood she had drunk was way beyond her vampire grade, she had been forced to continue her sleep in order to digest such powerful blood energy. Of course, this was also an innate ability unique to the vampire!


    If it were any other creature devouring so many different mutated energies in one go, it would be very easy to contaminate the direction of its own bloodline. But it was a completely different case for the vampire. No matter how many different mutated energies they were fed, after digestion, they would all become nourishment for the vampire''s bloodline. Their bloodline being contaminated would never happen.


    But this time, her evolution was clearly different. After she woke up from her deep sleep, Bleia felt like she was dying of starvation.


    The feeling greatly frightened her.


    In the past, when she devoured some blood energy and went to sleep, she would always have the feeling of repletion and satisfaction coming from her bloodline upon waking up. But for some unknown reason, after devouring all of the blood from an Mages level demon, she actually felt hungry when she woke up. She was so hungry that her stomach was beginning to gurgle.


    Also, the feeling of hunger was coming from the deepest part of her body, from the source of her bloodline. As if... as if, after this evolution, the progress of her bloodline was greater than the progress of her body constitution, and in a more radical manner.


    Could there be a factor that stimulated the growth of bloodlines hiding within the blood of that Fairy? Bearing the heavy question in her mind, Bleia moistened her lips and opened her eyes.


    This was not her room! There was somebody else in this room!


    Without making any noise, Bleia sat up on the bed. Her bloodshot eyes stared straight at the back of a stalwart figure.


    She was in Leon''s room. However, the figure sitting in front of the writing table and reading a book quietly was obviously not him. The broad and ripped body was rather strange to her. But the familiar soul ripple and the familiar aura emanating from the body... eh, something was not right! Why was there a pungent smell of sulfur mixed with that familiar smell?


    Bleia drifted into the air noiselessly. In a flash, she arrived at the back of that familiar yet strange figure. The nails on her fingertips stretched out with incredible speed, and with a crimson glow, they turned extremely sharp. Meanwhile, her bloodshot eyes were on the figure''s neck. She could give it a ferocious bite any time she wanted. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Following Bleia''s movement, two objects that had been placed on top of her body fell to the ground, producing a crystal clear noise.


    Alerted by the noise, the burly figure turned his head. When he saw Bleia, a delighted smile immediately emerged on his face.


    "You''ve awakened?!"


    It was a sincere smile; a smile full of delight!


    Bleia stopped her leaping movement. She narrowed her bloodshot eyes, asking with a cold voice, "Who are you? Why do you smell like Leon?"


    Looking at how nervous and panicked Bleia was, an expression wavering between laughing and crying appeared on Leon''s handsome face. It looked like after her long period of sleep, both of them had changed a lot, resulting in Bleia suspecting her own eyes.


    Leon stood up from the chair. In the past, he used to be as tall as Bleia, but now, he was a head taller than her. With his burly body, when both of them stood face to face, the pressure unintentionally caused by his body actually forced Bleia to take a step back.


    "To determine the real identity of a person, the best proof is his soul ripple. Bleia, can you sense my soul ripple now?" Leon asked in a calm manner.


    At the moment, he didn''t want to overly provoke Bleia, because she was like a strictly vigilant leopardess, looking as if Leon did something wrong, she would leap onto him and give him a fierce bite. Although his increased overall strength had given Leon more confidence, when they were in a tiny room with limited space, even five of him tied together would not be enough to hold against the ripping of a Pseudo-Mages level vampire.


    Yes, as Leon was very sensitive, he could tell that Bleia was a Pseudo-Mages level vampire now! According to the classification of Vampires from the books he had read, Bleia should possess her own noble title now.


    The titles of Vampire nobility were not the rankings used by ordinary mortal kingdoms. They were a form of hierarchy used by the Vampire clan based on the overall strength of their members. Due to the fact that vampires loved to stay hidden within human society, they disguised themselves as human nobles to conceal their true identity. Therefore they had adapted the same rankings used by human nobles.


    With Bleia''s current level, perhaps she could be given the title of Baron!


    Vampire, Knight, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, Duke, Grand Duke, Prince! These were the noble titles used by the vampire clan. Yet sometimes, the grade of their bloodline was not accurately reflected by the grade of their overall strength.


    For example, Bleia''s current grade of bloodline made her a Baron, but her overall strength was Pseudo-Mages. If she were met with a vampire who owned the best blood of the orthodox vampire family, it was highly possible that his overall strength would only be Intermediate Apprentice level, but he had already been given the title of Viscount.


    For any race other than the vampire, the title didn''t carry any meaning. But within the vampire clan, it would bring tremendous benefit. At least, for that Intermediate Apprentice level vampire Viscount, when he was faced with Bleia, it was highly possible that he would use the suppressive effect coming from the bloodline and force Bleia to become his slave. As to whether he would succeed or not, that would depend on the level of suppression from the bloodline and the fight between their wills.


    Bleia once again stared at Leon''s face wonderingly. She couldn''t stop sniffing the smell coming from Leon''s body. It was indeed Leon''s soul ripple! After making sure of this, the nervous expression on her face finally eased up a little bit. But, where did that pungent smell of sulfur and the feeling of sweetness come from?


    Once again, Bleia brought herself closer to Leon''s body, opened up her juicy lips, ready to give him a small bite so that she could taste his blood. But just as her tiny fangs approached Leon''s neck, a small fireball suddenly exploded and blew her away.


    With just a small swaying movement in the air, Bleia returned to Leon''s side. She stared right at a small flame that had suddenly burst out from Leon''s neck.


    It was a golden flame the size of a human thumb, quietly hovering on top of Leon''s skin and burning soundlessly. It did not produce the crackling noise of ordinary flames. After five seconds, perhaps not sensing any foreign hostility or intention of attack, the golden flame simply submerged into Leon''s skin without leaving a trace.


    Now Bleia finally understood. The fireball hadn''t been summoned by Leon using a magic spell, but was a self-defense mechanism put out by the instincts of his body.


    Curiously, Bleia stretched out a finger and pressed the spot where the flame had emerged from. But this time, though she pressed and stroked Leon''s skin with her silky smooth finger for quite some time, no flame appeared. Bleia startled for a brief moment. After that, she seemed to have learnt something.


    A shivering killing intention suddenly filled the air, and crackling noises were heard as Bleia''s nails started to grow longer. Filled up with Blood element energy, the tip of her nails became extremely sharp. Nearly at the same moment, right at the spot Bleia had her finger pressed, a golden flame burst out and ignited her finger.


    Her mind filled with curiosity, Bleia brought her hand to her face and looked at it. The flame actually detached from Leon''s body, stubbornly burning her fingertip and continuously causing damage to her.


    A blood red beam shot out from Bleia''s fingertip. Very soon, the Blood element energy neutralized and annihilated the flame. After that, she turned her head and looked into Leon''s face.


    "What exactly is this? It looks pretty amazing!"


    "The combination of Inferno Body and Fire Shield."


    "Where did you get that smell of sulfur on your body?"


    "It is the aftereffect of soaking in underground lava. I''m looking for a way to get rid of it."


    "Soaking in underground lava?"


    "You know, you''ve been sleeping for 32 days without waking up!" Leon spread his arms helplessly and continued, saying, "During this time, many things have happened and you need time to understand them all!"


    "Then tell me from the beginning!" Bleia''s furrowed her brows and curled her tiny lips. "I want you to tell me while I''m eating!"


    Within two hours, Bleia had swallowed five magical energy set meals continuously. Only then was she able to barely stop feeling the hunger from the depths of her soul. Meanwhile, Leon sat by her side, watching her wolf down her food, and he started to tell her what all had happened.


    Of course, Leon only told her what had actually happened. As for those speculations and doubts he had derived at the cave, he said not a word. After all, they were at the Mages Tower, which was controlled by others. Who knew if that Second Grade Mages Andre was watching them secretly. Therefore, to be on the safe side, he decided to keep the secret to himself!


    When Bleia finally stopped eating, Leon brought out the two presents and gave them to Bleia once again.


    Touching the exquisite Rose Armor and magical bow that she only had a vague impression of, Bleia tilted her head up and waited for Leon''s explanation, puzzled.


    "Both of them were the Fairy''s magical items, but I''ve modified them. Now you can use them with your Blood element energy. In the past, you were lacking a long-range offensive approach. Now with these two magical items, we''ve fixed your weakness!"


    Leon had always complained about Bleia''s simple approach to using her bloodline power. Although she had such an amazing innate talent, she still fought like a mad dog, trying to hurt the enemy by risking herself at the same time! If she was faced with an enemy who had the ability to stop her bloodsucking and regenerating ability, her fighting style was simply an act of courting death!


    Now, with the Rose Armor, her vulnerable defense had been patched up. And with the crimson magic bow, her lack of long-range offense had also been repaired. With both magical items, she could make use of her high agility, fighting with guerrilla style and slowly biting away the enemy''s offensive and defensive approach. If she was required to fight close-range, she could also put away the magic bow, change her weapon into her cruel claws, and lock the enemy in a close fight.


    Essentially, not only was she well-equipped for long-range and close-range battle, she also now possessed the necessary defense. With all of these, Bleia''s full combative ability was able to be unleashed!


    During this period of time, Leon had also been working busily on something else.


    After he completed the modification of Bleia''s magical items, he spent all of his time mastering Fire element magic spells and restoring his golems.


    The Inferno Body was just an elementary threshold on his path to the Focused Fire Element. Although it didn''t give any direct combative ability to Leon, it was the best foundation for all Fire element magic spells. For example, the combination of Inferno Body and Fire Shield had given Leon the self-defense mechanism that triggered automatically upon touch. Any behavior that would harm him at close-range would immediately be countered by the self-activating flame, and it brought three to five points of damage.


    Although the damage inflicted by the flame was not strong, it didn''t require him to cast any spell, and it also didn''t consume any of his Spirit. It was considered a pretty nifty self-defense ability!


    ...


    2069 Words

 Chapter 115 - 115: New Status

    Recently, Leon had been carried out an in-depth research on the Inferno Force Field.


    He had completed studying all prerequisite knowledge related to Inferno Force Field. Currently, he was able to cast it and maintain it for ten minutes. However, regarding combining his Inferno Body and the Inferno Force Field, there were still many tough questions to solve.


    According to the best scenario Leon had thought of, he wanted to make the damage caused by the auto triggering self-defense flame to be reflected onto the force field. With that, once any enemy entered his Inferno Force Field, the enemy would have to constantly suffer from the damage caused by the flames. This was almost equivalent to a small Ring of Fire magic spell!


    Leon had estimated this before, if he wanted to fully master the Ring of Fire, he would most probably have to wait until after he became an official Mage. As for now, he was trying to achieve it with an irregular way ¨C using a combination of Inferno Body and Inferno Force Field to eventually yield a result similar to that of the Ring of Fire.


    Yet, in order to achieve this, he still needed a huge amount of magic spell knowledge and analysis, and he also needed to further optimize the control of the Inferno Force Field''s nodes. In short, most of his energy had been reserved for the Chip, so it could perform the heavy load calculations. Meanwhile, Leon only needed to work on some simple tasks like reading, meditating and the restoring his golems.


    After the battle in the demonized forest, Leon''s team of golems had suffered heavy damage.


    The Lightning Giant had lost two auxiliary cores; it would be able to restore to its full power once they were replenished. However, out of the three Rock Snakes, two of them had been completely destroyed beyond repair. Therefore, during this period, besides hiding in his room and studying some related magic spells, Leon had spent most of his time in the Alchemy Laboratory.


    Through the enthusiastic promotion of Snorlax, those magical gemstones they had brought back from the Underground World had all sold out, bringing Leon a huge amount of magic crystals and handy magical equipment.


    Also, Leon had acquired a completely new body attribute, as his combative strength had skyrocketed.


    Name: Leon


    Species: Human


    Attributes: Strength ¨C 7.32 (+1), Agility ¨C 7.51 (+1), Physique ¨C 9.47 (+1), Spirit ¨C 16.67 (+3)


    Profession: Apprentice Mage (Advanced)


    Health Points: 34/34


    Experience: 871 / 1000


    Status: Healthy sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Skills: Scroll Copying, Spell Reading, Golem Crafting (Intermediate), Casting Mastery


    Personal Abilities: Inferno Body (Passive), The Burning Hand (Solidified), Fire Arrow (Solidified), Flaming Spear (Solidified), Fire Shield, Fire Damage Reflect (Proximity Passive)


    Magical Equipment: Fire Lord''s Scepter, Storage Waist Belt, Secret Scroll of Voodoo, Circlet of Nobility (Spirit +1), Ioun Stone (Spirit +2), Boots of Speed (Agility +1), Talisman of Force (Physique, Strength +1), Wand of Dispel, Wand of Healing, Wand of Prophecy, Green Spirit (Curse Resistance +5), Screaming Tree Branch.


    After spending a huge amount of magic crystals, Leon finally experienced the huge gap in overall strength by having most of his magical equipment replaced. There was a Star of Felune gemstone among the loot he had brought back from the Underground World, after having it cut and crafted by a Jewel Master, he had acquired an Ioun Stone which had the effect of Spirit +2. Together with the Circlet of Nobility that gave him +1 in Spirit, although Leon only had 16 points of Spirit, he was able to unleash a frightening combative strength of 19 points.


    This also meant, if Leon had pushed all the way to his limits in a battle, he would be able to simultaneously control six Rock Snakes, or two Lighting Giants and one Rock Snake.


    Nevertheless, crafting a Lightning Giant would require a Pseudo-Mage level core from the Storm Giant, which was a prohibited item that he could only obtain by luck, not by searching for it. Therefore, even after Snorlax nearly visited all the merchants within the surrounding regions of the Mage Tower, they never found another one.


    During this period of time, the name of Snorlax had become famous in the middle and lower tiers of the Mage Tower. Nearly all the merchants supported by Mage families had learned of its existence.


    In fact, within the Underground Cave region, all high-end materials and resources were almost monopolized by these merchants supported by Mage families. They purchased every single local product that was produced in the Underground Cave and sold them to other regions, earning a huge amount of profit through the price differences.


    Although other ordinary merchants or traveling tradesmen tried to achieve this as well, they just didn''t possess the abundant economic capabilities and a communication network that spread across the entire Mage Continent like those Mage Families'' merchants. There was no way they could compete with these giants. As the result, just by selling off a Night-Eyes Stone and a Talasite gemstone, Snorlax had quickly won over the hearts of these small merchants and traveling tradesmen.


    And perhaps, these powerful merchants had received a warning from the Mage families that supported them, though Snorlax had undercut them and sold off these high-end materials and resources, it didn''t face any attacks from anyone. With that, it simply created the mysterious and mighty image of Snorlax. Most of the mysterious magical equipment Leon acquired actually came from these traveling lower grade tradesmen.


    Leon was the one who had the most understanding about his own overall strength. Currently, a large percentage of his overall strength was focused on golems. At least, until he could complete the framework of his Fire element magic spells, he could only rely on his golems to maintain a powerful offensive strength.


    Since he didn''t have to worry about his offensive strength, Leon had shifted the focus of his research in Fire element magic spell to defensive magic spells. Whether it was the Fire Shield, the Inferno Body or the Inferno Force Field, all of them were Fire element defensive magic spells. As long as he wasn''t facing an Mage level opponent, even if he had to fight a Pseudo-Mage, it would be very difficult for his opponent to bypass his multi-layers Fire element defense when surrounded by a group of golems.


    But, as there were numerous magic spells of all kind, and most of the lower tier magic spells were invisible, incorporeal and tough to predict. Therefore, in order to avoid any accidents, Leon had crazily purchased some higher grade magic wands.


    The Wand of Dispel could eliminate some abnormal statuses that could be applied to his body. For example, poison, slow, frost, paralysis and some others.


    The Wand of Healing could help cure some obvious injuries in his body.


    The Wand of Prophecy could predict the direction where the dangers might come from in advance.


    Aa the Dagon region was a place with an abundant choice of items, Leon even planned to prepare a preventive measure or healing approach for each possible magic spell attack that he might have to deal with in the Underground Cave. Preparedness prevents calamities, this was the core belief that Leon had in his life!


    After equipping himself, Leon was confident that he could even fight against those Pseudo-Mage level experts. Of course, not an ultimate expert like Hulk! When faced with an ultimate expert like Hulk, the golem crafted using an advanced apprentice level core was still too fragile. It was really difficult to use the characteristic of element golems to reduce Hulk''s overall strength.


    If Leon really wanted to fight with Hulk, perhaps he would have to promote the level of all his Golems to the Pseudo-Mage level and use two Lightning Giants as his primary combat force. Therefore, though with his current combative strength, Leon already had the ability to imperil Hulk, he still lacked the confidence to defeat him!


    As for those apprentices under Hulk, Leon wasn''t being arrogant, but if they were to fight fairly, no Apprentice Mage would be his match!


    Nevertheless, though his overall strength was improving at a steady pace, Leon dared not stepped into the Underground Cave again. The reason was simple. After the battle of demonized forest, one Fallen Pseudo-Mage was killed and the others were severely wounded, and the Elysium City had announced a kill order toward Leon. As long as he stepped into the Underground Cave, Elysium City would try to kill him at all costs!


    This also meant, at that point in time, it was highly possible that he would see a Fallen Mage from the group who ambushed him halfway.


    For this reason, after Leon learned the news from Mage Angus, he was left completely speechless. He had no choice but obediently throw himself in secluded cultivation, never stepping out of the Mage Tower.


    Though the surface Mages had occupied the dominant position in this region, when those Fallen Mages were determined to kill an Apprentice Mage, they would have hundreds if not even thousands of methods to achieve their goal. Therefore, after Leon offered a few of his most precious gemstones to Angus, his name was finally removed from the compulsory mission and the training camp missions. Now, he could just spend his sweet time in the Mage Tower until the compulsory missions had ended.


    What to do? This Mage Angus was the appraiser for their compulsory mission!


    While Leon and Bleia were spending their days leisurely, other team members who had come here together with them were in a bad situation. After two Advanced Apprentices had died and Leon and Bleia dropping out, the team of six remaining apprentices tried to recruit some temporary teammates in the Mage Tower, hoping to get some help in completing their mission. But too bad, no one answered their call.


    Left with no alternative, they could only stick together, spending days and nights rushing between five mission sites. For the mission duration of fifteen days, they would have to spend eleven to twelve days to visit all five mission sites. And after they returned, they were only left with two to three days of resting time, before they needed to attend the next mission.


    Also, after the death of a Fallen Pseudo-Mage, the attacks coming from the Elysium City directed at the surface apprentices had become more frequent. Nearly every day, the six-person team would have to face all kinds of ambushes and traps. If not for the strong overall strength of three Pseudo-Mage working hand-in-hand, perhaps it would have been extremely difficult for them to stand up to these frightening attack that kept repeating day after day.


    But as the result of going through this intensive battlefield and warfare training of magic spells, all six of their overall strengths had grown at an incredible speed. Compared to when they had just arrived this place a few months ago, though they still maintained the same grade, their true combative strength had doubled.


    It was especially true for Sabrina, who was the leader of the team. Vaguely, she was now portraying a slight fiercer killing intent and a ferocious manner, just like the Black-hand Kevin they had met when they just arrived.


    There was one time that Leon and Bleia had bumped into the team who had just come back from their mission in the Mage Tower. The hostility between them had reached to a level where no hiding was needed.


    Although they had heard that Leon had put out an astonishing combative strength in this place and even defeated a Bloodline Pseudo-Mage who was about to advanced into an official Mage. But, after experiencing the tough life in the Underground World, they thought their combative strength had improved a lot. Hence, when they bumped into each other, a fight had nearly broken out.


    The location they had bumped into each other at was right outside Mage Angus''s residence. Leon and Bleia were here to ask some questions related to magic spells, while the team was here to submit their mission items after completing another round of Underground World training.


    The team members who had had a hard time kept staring at both Leon and Bleia angrily, but not their leader, Sabrina. She was seen wearing a smile on her face as she greeted both of them.


    When Leon and Bleia had left the place, Sabrina was still looking at the direction where they had gone. She didn''t say anything and was pondering about something in her mind.


    "What''s wrong, chief? Why are you caring about two bastards? If not for their dropping out from our team halfway, our training mission wouldn''t have become so tough!" The Thunder element Pseudo-Mage, Leo came closer to her and whispered. From the way he talked, it wasn''t tough to tell he had truly submitted to Sabrina.


    Hiding under her silver mask, Sabrina''s mechanical eyes were glowing greenly. With a cold voice, she said, "You never noticed that, didn''t you? One of them is a Pseudo-Mage now, and the other is an Advanced Apprentice!"


    The team members who had just crowded around were immediately dumbstruck!


    ....


    2191 Words

 Chapter 116 - 116: Tower Again

    Two months later.


    The gradual descent of the flying ship in the center of the square signaled that the compulsory mission of the Underground Cave had come to an end.


    Just like the time when they came here, it was the same masculine guy wearing a golden armor who was in charge of escorting them back.


    When he saw Leon and the other apprentices, a smile with unknown meanings emerged on the masculine man''s face.


    "Hahaha, little bastards, how was the life in the Underground World? Let me see... not bad, not bad at all! Out of ten apprentices, there are still seven of you left. It looks like those underground fellows are being courteous to you. Eh? How come there is one additional Pseudo-Mage? It seems someone is doing pretty well! Haha, is that little beginner apprentice the first one to get killed? How brave is the mere beginner apprentice to come to this place, he was just courting death! Hahaha..."


    Hearing how the masculine man lectured them with a self-entertaining manner, an unsightly expression appeared on the faces of these few apprentices.


    During the last underground patrol for the mission team, they were struck by a planned ambush from the Fallen Apprentices. The Advanced Apprentice, Bruce, was killed on that trip, while the rest managed to flee with different degrees of injuries. Hence, when they heard the mocking words from the masculine man, they immediately lowered their heads, as their eyes were filled with flames of anger.


    With a bitter expression, Leon bowed slightly and greeted, "Master Sammir, I''m the Beginner Apprentice you mentioned!"


    The haughty laughter of Sammir suddenly came to a stop.


    His eyes went wide as he stared right at Leon''s face. Since Leon had changed tremendously, only now could he slightly see Leon''s previous look.


    "You''re an Advanced Apprentice now! Kid, so you''re the one who had the best luck from this place! Alright, alright! I don''t care a shit about how you live your life here, I want everybody aboard the ship now! I still need to rush back and report the completion of the task!"


    Without saying anything else, the group started to board the flying ship one after another one. As Leon''s contracted servant, after paying one magic crystal, Snorlax was allowed to board the ship as well.


    After an indistinct swaying movement, the flying ship rose high into the sky. The group of apprentices leaned on the side of the ship and stared at the crowd and buildings that became smaller and smaller. Their mind was filled with complicated feelings. Like birds that had managed to escape from the cage, everyone''s minds relaxed. Those who were familiar with each other even gathered in a group, happily sharing their experiences while laughing.


    However, huge gaps between each team still existed. The team of seven apprentices was split into two distinct groups.


    During the last few days before leaving the Underground Cave''s Mage Tower, Leon ordered Snorlax to sell off all magical gemstones and materials that he wouldn''t be using in the coming days, while purchasing a huge amount of demon beasts'' meat, magical knowledge and element crystal cores that they could find in the market.


    He knew very well that comparing to this place, the Swampy Tower was simply a desolate land. Once they returned to that place, they wouldn''t be able to enjoy the daily magical energy meal anymore. Not only that, there wasn''t any apprentice markets, so no more merchants that provided them with numerous resources. At that point in time, even if they wanted to be well-fed and well-clothed, they would have to depend on themselves!


    The huge amount of resources and goods had completely filled his storage waist belt. In order to bring everything they had purchased back, Leon even purchased another five to six storage waist belts. But even so, there was still many materials that couldn''t fit. To solve this problem, Snorlax simply placed them into a huge bag and carried it on its back. No matter where it went, it just couldn''t tear itself away from the huge bag.


    The flying ship continued to fly high in the sky. As they were at the inner area of the well-developed human colony, the ship was flying with its top speed. When they had come here previously, the Underground Cave was the last stop, but now it had become the first stop. Therefore, as the ship stopped at the mission sites in different regions, more and more apprentices were boarding the ship.


    Compared to the arrogant manner these apprentices had when they first came, it seemed the hardship had rubbed off their sharp edges. They had become more reserved and composed. But once there were more than a hundred apprentices aboard the ship, it was inevitable that the ship had become a noisy scene.


    The group that kept walking around the deck and made the most clamor were those Advanced Apprentices. Although Intermediate Apprentice had the most numbers here, most of the time, they would just serve as the backdrop. But still, the real stars among the apprentice circle were those Pseudo-Mages.


    After their training, these Pseudo-Mages would certainly become the future hope of their families who received focused cultivation. Therefore, taking this opportunity, they would also like to get in touch with their competitors of the same rank.


    In the eyes of a Pseudo-Mage, he or she could only see another Pseudo-Mage!


    When the flying ship had passed the Dagon and Bracada region, there were more than ten Pseudo-Mages gathering on the ship, including Bleia, who was a Blood element Pseudo-Mage who had just made a breakthrough and... Worm controller Blake.


    Yes, unfortunately, that Worm controller Blake had also successfully leveled up as Pseudo-Mage during his training!


    Perhaps he was satisfied with his own progress, when he boarded the flying ship at the Bracada mission site, he didn''t cover his face with the cap like how he usually had. Compared to before, his face had become uglier. The complexion of his face was dark and dull. Also, an array of tiny, bizarre looking eyes surrounded his purple pupils. All the eyes were blinking at the same time, sending chills down one''s spine.


    His mouth had replaced by a lotus shaped organ that looked like the mouthparts of a beetle. Whenever the black mouthparts moved or opened, one could even see the blood red mouth cavity and green saliva inside.


    It wasn''t hard to tell that Worm controller had gone deeper in the modification of his own body. Currently, he could even be addressed as a ''half-bug man''! Though Leon had felt disdain in regards to such behavior of abandoning a human body totally, he had to admit, among all the apprentices he had met, Worm controller was the only one who treated himself in the cruelest manner!


    The overall powerful strength had given Blake strong confidence, allowing him to ignore the eyes and judgment from any outsiders. It was easy to tell from the way how he stepped onto the ship with his head held high in the air. His purple compound eyes gazed across the lively crowd, before finally resting on Bleia and Leon''s face. The Advanced Apprentices who followed and regarded him as their chief actually sensed a feelings of anger coming from Blake.


    When they followed the gaze of their chief and saw Bleia, who was wearing a red dress and red armor with a red bow on her back, a captivated and intoxicated expression immediately appeared on their faces. However, when they sensed the reserved yet powerful spiritual ripples emanating from Bleia, they were struck by awe. Without hesitation, they quickly put away their lustful looks and bent their bodies slightly to show respect to Bleia.


    A cold and strikingly pretty woman like her was actually a Pseudo-Mage? This group of men couldn''t help by sigh emotionally inwardly, complaining about the unfair treatment that the Will of the World had shown.


    After gazing at Bleia coldly for some time, finally, Blake pulled down his cap and covered his face. Silently, he walked over to a corner. Throughout the entire process, his gaze had never stopped on Leon''s face for more than one second.


    "Looks like we''ll have more fights when we return! This Blake seemed to also have gained a lot during this trip." Leon wasn''t bothered by the disdain Worm controller had for him, instead, he banteringly spoke with a smile on his face.


    "Hmph. No matter how deeply hidden his abilities are, he is no way a match for you. Among all many people I''ve met so far, you''re the master in the art of disguise! It is undisputable that you possess such a powerful ability, yet you just pretend that you''re a harmless apprentice, waiting for some idiots to poke their heads in front of you and only to get themselves killed by you. Are you addicted to self-torture?" Bleia refuted in a rather discontented manner.


    She was feeling doubtful now! By pushing her up to the position of Pseudo-Mage, was this damn bastard doing it for her own good, or just out of his usual habit of pushing her to the front so he could hide behind and plan evil plots against the enemy?


    At the last mission site of Bracada region, Super girl had boarded the ship too.


    When they suddenly met, not only did they not have any joyful feeling of reunion, the atmosphere seemed to have turned heavier and more bizarre.


    Super girl was still at the same rank ¨C an Advanced Apprentice. But during the training mission, she had also had significant growth in her overall strength. But compared to Worm controller and Bleia, obviously, she was out of luck.


    Previously, in order to stand up against Bleia, an ''outsider'' who had suddenly emerged, the relationship between Super girl and Worm controller had been rather harmonious. But now, since Worm controller had become a Pseudo-Mage, an estrangement suddenly occurred between her and Worm controller. Super girl walked alone to a corner and found herself a resting spot, showing no intention of congratulating Worm controller on his breakthrough.


    Her behavior had puzzled Leon. He started to ponder about the true relationship between both of them.


    Soon, when the flying ship entered the Erathia region, more than two hundred sixty Apprentice Mages had boarded the ship. As for those who didn''t board the ship, most probably they were killed during the mission.


    There was a total of eleven Pseudo-Mages when they first came, but on their return trip, the number had reached to fourteen. This also meant, during the training mission, three lucky Advanced Apprentices had taken the leap and became the fortunate ones. Everyone was looking at these three lucky apprentices, casting countless glances of unexplainable envy and hatred, buried deep in their minds.


    After tens of days of flying, when the ship entered the center region of Zhentarim, one after another, the apprentices started to leave the flying ship. Eventually, Leon and few others had smoothly arrived at the Swampy Tower.


    As their group was heading to the Dagon region, which was the most remote area of the Zhentarim territory, they were the last group of apprentices that had returned to the Swampy Tower. As the result, those apprentices that gathered at the entrance of the Swampy Tower represented nearly all the official apprentices of this place.


    While he was still on the ship, Leon gave the crowd a rough gaze. Within seconds, the Chip had given him the numbers of apprentices he saw: thirty-seven apprentices. Including the nine apprentices on the ship, the total was only forty-six. Comparing to sixty-two apprentices that had attended the mission, one-third of the apprentices were gone.


    Presumably, among all Mage Towers, a depletion ratio like this was considered the highest. And obviously, the reason for this was closely related to the slacking off of Mage Eclivel, the master of Swampy Tower. In the previous years, Leon and all the other apprentices were locked up in this magical swampy land, a place with sparse resources. During normal days, in order to carry out a magical experiment, they even had to restlessly harvest the materials themselves or exchange with other apprentices.


    As the result, compared to those apprentices from other Mage Towers, the overall strength of the apprentices from Swampy Tower was shockingly weak, and they were poor to a jaw-dropping extent. And by participating in the dangerous apprentice training with such overall strength, any minor accident would be a life-threatening event for them!


    Even for those apprentices who had lived through the training mission, most of them completed their mission with the poorest results, hence their improvement wasn''t much. On the contrary, led by Ellen, the ten apprentices who stayed back were covering their face with a flattering smile. Facing with these apprentices who risked their life but harvested a little, they felt that they really had great foresight and had made a wise decision.


    But, when the last batch of nine apprentices stepped down from the flying ship, everyone at the scene couldn''t help but change their expressions drastically!


    ...


    2192 Words S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 117 - 117: Experiments

    Bleia had become a Pseudo-Mage?!


    Though everybody was surprised that Worm controller Blake had a breakthrough, it wasn''t something unexpected. After all, he had been one of the strongest three in the Swampy Tower!


    However, Bleia''s breakthrough had confounded these people, and they simply felt it hard to believe.


    Therefore, overshadowed by Bleia''s huge glory of becoming a Pseudo-Mage, the fact that Leon had also made the leap and become an Advanced Apprentice was merely discussed among the Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices. For those Advanced Apprentices who held the discourse power of apprentices, they just locked their gazes onto the two brand new Pseudo-Mages.


    Virtually overnight, the power structure of Swampy Tower was going to change!


    As the newly appointed Apprentice Leader, Brandon had prepared a long welcoming speech full of beautiful words and affection. But when he stood right in front of the evil looking Blake and the ghostly Bleia, he was instantly pressured by the shivering aura emanating from both of them. His body started to tremble, and he couldn''t utter out a single word that would be fitting for the atmosphere.


    "We''re tired, and we need rest. Everybody just go back to where you belong!" Bleia, in the same self-centered manner, said with a cold voice.


    Only when she was facing her prey would she let out a pretty and coquettish smile that came from the bottom of her heart. As for these people of no importance, to be honest, even if they stretched their neck and placed themselves in front of her, she would be too lazy to take a bite.


    Faced with such an overbearing ''subordinate'', Brandon''s overall strength was simply not enough for him to do anything. As a result, he wittily moved aside, clearing the path that led to the entrance.


    Following behind Leon, Snorlax was seen having six to seven fully packed waist pouches tied around its waist, and carrying a huge bag on its back, as it also staggered into the Swampy Tower.


    According to Mage Eclivel''s temperament, it was obvious that he wouldn''t waste any time in welcoming the apprentices'' return. Of course, if he was informed earlier that two of his apprentices had successfully become Pseudo-Mages, perhaps he might have changed his mind and showed his face, trying to win over their hearts.


    After all, Pseudo-Mages were a unique group of apprentices! If someone was lucky enough to make the breakthrough, that Pseudo-Mage would instantly become an existence of the same grade as him. If Sarubo family knew he had conveniently ''wasted'' drawing in Pseudo-Mages, those advanced Mages of the family would have definitely invited him for a ''polite'' discussion.


    Therefore, in this isolated and private resource site, even Advanced Apprentices were mere targets he could torture and bully as he like. But when it came to Pseudo-Mages, it would be a totally different case. Any damage done to Pseudo-Mages was behavior that strangled the future of the Mage Families.


    Instead, as long as Eclivel reported the news about the two Pseudo-Mages to Sarubo family, the management of the family would definitely reward him handsomely for the ''cultivating'' credit he had put out. Also, the yearly resources, materials he received from the family would also be increased significantly.


    Of course, if Blake and Bleia wished to gain a further support in resources from the Sarubo Family, they would have to sign a magical contract with them, using the years of service they could provide to the family after they became an official Mage in exchange for a portion of resources. The longer they served, the more resources they would receive. If they were willing to join the family, they could even receive the best cultivation conditions from the family.


    Hence, the same night after Leon and the others returned to the Swampy Tower, Blake and Bleia were called up to the fifth floor of the tower by Mage Eclivel. There, they met another official Mage from Sarubo Family, Mage Keoghan.


    From the introduction given by this Mage Keoghan, both of them had roughly learned the basic situation of Sarubo Family.


    One thousand three hundred years ago, Sarubo Family was established by a great Fourth Grade Element Mage, Sarubo. During that period, Sarubo was the deputy chairman of the Zhentarim Association and had a great reputation in the center region of the continent. And just five hundred years ago, this founder of the family had even made a breakthrough and became a Fifth Grade Principle Mage. After that, he had traveled to the Ocean of Stars and was never seen again.


    As the matter of fact, in the Mage Continent, this was the most common situation for the nearly all Mage Families!


    Every single Mage Family was founded by a mighty Mage. If this Mage stepped into Fifth Grade successfully, he would inevitably have to travel to the Ocean of Stars, searching and conquering those weaker planes in the vast ocean of stars. Any Mage who failed to attain Fifth Grade would have to face his death one day.


    When an Mage Family lost the deterrent force coming from a powerful Mage, their inevitable fate would be devoured by other Mage Families. Those families who had a Fifth Grade Mage conquering the weaker planes elsewhere were considered stable, after all, though the Fifth Grade Mage wasn''t allowed to return to the World of Mage personally, he could still supply the family with the resources he found at the outside world.


    With these premium resources coming from other planes, the family would be able to maintain their power, while constantly cultivating new blood to supply the vacuum left over by the departure of the family''s experts. On the other hand, the reason those Fifth Grade Mages were willing to supply the hard earned resources to their families, was so that the family could cultivate more Mages that he could use to conquer new planes.


    When they were on a major scale conquering mission at another place, the Mages coming from their family would be the main force used to expand their kingdom.


    Therefore, when Blake and Bleia signed the family contract with the Sarubo Family, after they became an official Mage, unavoidably, they would have to participate in the plane warfare initiated by the Sarubo Family.


    According to the introduction by Mage Keoghan, currently Sarubo Family didn''t have any Fourth Grade Mages. They only have one Third Grade Mage, one Second Grade Mage and seven First Grade Mages. Among the regions ruled by Zhentarim Association, an overall strength like this was only considered an intermediate force.


    Sarubo Family was stationed at Feidnan City, two thousand six hundred miles from the Swampy Tower. Meanwhile, this place was just one of the four major resource sites of the family and was stationed by Mage Eclivel. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After briefly explaining the situation of the family, Mage Keoghan started to ask about their decisions. They had to choose between exchanging their portion of resources with the years of service, or joining the family in order to receive full fledged support. Unexpectedly, Blake chose to join the family, while Bleia went for ten years of service.


    Actually, if there were shorter years of service, Bleia would have rather chosen that, as that was also the decision that she made after discussing with Leon. But too bad, the minimum years of service Keoghan gave her was ten years!


    Soon, both of them left their own magical seal on the magical contract drafted by Mage Keoghan. From now onwards, their status and position would be completely different than that of other apprentices.


    As they had made different choices, the treatment they received was also completely different!


    After Worm controller Blake made the decision, he was immediately given a family chest badge by Keoghan, and was urged to move his residence up to the fourth level of the tower as soon as possible. That was a region that no ordinary apprentice could set their feet on! Though Bleia was also allowed to temporarily stay at the fourth floor, she had to pay a fee of two magic crystals every day.


    As for the reason, the density of a particular Elementium at the fourth floor''s residence could be controlled, which had a tremendous benefits for their meditation and the modification of their body. As Bleia was only employed by the family, obviously she couldn''t enjoy this benefit exclusive only to the members of the family.


    After Mage Keoghan left, Bleia and Mage Eclivel carried out an in-depth discussion. And through a tedious bargain, both of them eventually came out with a fair deal where both parties were satisfied.


    After agreeing to give a huge bucket of her own blood, Bleia got herself and Leon the right to move their residence to the fourth floor. Along with that, Bleia also promised after she became an official Mage, she would not seek revenge against Eclivel. She also promised to provide her Mage level blood sample, allowing Eclivel to complete his research.


    Strictly speaking, the experiment Eclivel carried out on Bleia was in fact, a bloodline experiment that couldn''t be known by the public. Thanks to Bleia''s good fortune, she was able to survive the painful bloodline modification that could get her killed, and was lucky enough to become a mutated vampire.


    She was a mutated vampire because the vampire bloodline Mage Eclivel possessed wasn''t of pure blood, and the source was somewhat dubious. Therefore, after repeatedly being preached at by Leon, Bleia expressed her willingness to forget the grudge from the past, but with the condition that she needed some samples and data of the source bloodline.


    As a result, everybody was happy with the outcome, and both parties had obtained the things they wanted the most.


    Bleia vacillating and staggered her way back to Leon''s residence, threw the things in her hand over to Leon before she threw herself onto the bed and fainted. What to do? She had lost a huge amount of blood, even with her body constitution, she would need a good sleep before she could recover.


    After settling Bleia in a good position, Leon calmly sat back on his wooden table and started to give the small test tube in front of him a careful and serious examination.


    It was a glass test tube the size of a human finger, and wasn''t too long either. Bringing it in front of his face and staring at it seriously, Leon could only see some nearly dried up blood at the bottom of this test tube.


    Actually, that Mage Eclivel was a half-baked bloodline researcher. During an occasion, he was sent to investigate a haunting event in a territory ruled by Sarubo Family. He was met with a vampire who had hid deeply in the human society.


    Though three Mages of the family were working hand-in-hand, they still couldn''t defeat this powerful vampire. At the end, the Second Grade Mage of the family struck personally, only then they were able to expel that fellow from their family''s territory. When they searched through the mysterious castle where this vampire lived a secluded life, Mage Eclivel accidentally found a test tube containing highly concentrated vampire blood.


    Obviously, that escaped vampire was also carrying out some kind of secret research related to bloodlines.


    Hence, Mage Eclivel secretly concealed this war trophy, and hid in this remote and desolate Swampy Tower. Without anybody else''s knowledge, he conducted research regarding the mutated vampire.


    But too bad, most of his initial experiments had failed miserably. All the creatures injected with the vampire blood were dead because of the disintegration of their genes. Among all bloodline creatures, the bloodline gene of the vampire was considering tyrannical. When any other bloodlines tried to merge with it, they would always become nourishment to it, and it was impossible to have the situation where both would co-exist.


    Initially, Eclivel thought it was because those test creatures he used had an overly weak body constitution, making them unable to withstand the violent bloodline modification. Therefore, he used the authority he had and started to run the experiment on apprentices of the Swampy Tower.


    Three Intermediate Apprentices were injected with the source vampire blood sample; Bleia was the only survivor. Undoubtedly, she had become the key to his future experiments.


    When it came to vampires, locking them up and conducting the research would yield no results. Because vampires needed to keep sucking the blood of experts to purify and cleanse their own bloodline. That was the reason why Eclivel had set Bleia free, with the intention that she could evolve by herself and complete the purification of her vampire bloodline.


    It was worth mentioning that his view on this matter was accurate. At least, Bleia''s current progress had gone way beyond his expectation. Presumably, through analyzing and experimenting with both the old and new vampire blood, he would be able to make a step forward in his research of mutated vampires.


    Therefore, since he was given with new experimental material, Mage Eclivel generously gave Bleia a drop of the source blood. Nevertheless, this drop of source blood was almost reaching the end of its life expectancy and would soon lose all its gene activity!


    ...


    2201 Words

 Chapter 118 - 118: A meeting

    The next day.


    It was a rare occasion, as Mage Eclivel had called all the Apprentice Mages of the Swampy Tower together. In front of everyone, he announced the new statuses of Blake, Bleia and Leon. From now onwards, the three of them would no longer be bound by the system of apprentices, and could arrange their lives according to their own will. Also, they had become the people who had the highest authority in the entire tower, under Mage Eclivel.


    Within the crowd, the newly appointed Apprentice Leader, Brandon''s expression turned extremely awful, but at the same time, was mixed with a helpless look.


    Pseudo-Mage!


    They were a group of monsters standing between Apprentice Mages and official Mages!


    It was tough to predict which of them would have a greater chance to become an official Mage smoothly. Therefore, for all the lower ranked apprentices, offending any one of them could turn into a future catastrophe!


    But... but Brandon had deeply offended one of them.


    Hence, right when the meeting was dismissed, Brandon immediately paid a visit to Blake, while bringing along all the resources he could find. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since Blake, Bleia and Leon had moved their residences to the fourth level of Mage Tower, even Brandon, the Apprentice Leader, had to send a visiting request prior to meeting Blake. Then, he had to stand mortifyingly at the entrance to the fourth floor, waiting for approval from Blake.


    And this was still considering nothing! What angered him the most was that that damn Leon had actually brought his contracted creature, a goblin, to the fourth floor without feeling ashamed, and made it one of the residents there. This had further stirred up Brandon''s hatred!


    A goblin, a cheap, insignificant, dirty, cowardly... goblin, how could it rise above his head? Whenever this thought came into Brandon''s mind, he felt like his heart was filled with weeds and felt extremely depressed!


    No one knew what had happened during the secret meeting between Brandon and Worm controller. But when Brandon left Blake''s room, he was seen holding his head high and once again resumed the arrogant and lofty manner he had previously.


    While Brandon''s mood had transformed, a small meeting was carried out inside of Super Girl''s room. There were only two participants, Super Girl and Fatal Shot Evan.


    It was not long before this, in order to keep the same pace and protect the interest of their minions, the strongest three of the Swampy Tower had a regular meeting like this. But today, after Worm controller Blake had become a Pseudo-Mage, the once harmonious circle of strongest three had become a past tense. Everything had changed from the root!


    "How is it? Is your circle still stable?" A shivering glow could be seen filling Super Girl''s eyes. She had shed off her previous violent and reckless attitude and was now portraying the calm and intelligent nature of a proper Advanced Apprentice.


    "Benson and Carl made the call for a meeting, those few fence-sitters used the excuse of conducting an important magic spell experiment and didn''t turn up. Looks like they are going to switch sides." Fatal Shot Evan let out a helpless and bitter smile, before continuing, "One of the hardcore fans of Worm controller, Chris, is recruiting new followers, those fence-sitters might have been getting in touch with him secretly. Hmph..."


    Having finished saying that, Evan raised his head and gazed at Super Girl, asking, "How about you? What is the situation from your side?"


    "Hmph... not any better than yours! Donna can''t make those few subordinates listen to her anymore and was complaining to me just now!"


    Both apprentices sat facing each other in silence, with their minds filled with disconsolate emotions.


    At the beginning of the compulsory mission, they had been underestimating this training mission, and didn''t push themselves too hard. Super Girl only chose a Red mission, which was not really dangerous. On the other side, Evan even chose a lower risk Orange mission. Now, faced with two new Pseudo-Mages who had raised up abruptly, as the veteran Advanced Apprentices, they felt discontented and helpless about changing the situation.


    After remained silent for a brief moment, Evan finally spoke again.


    "Judging from the current situation, the relationship between Blake and that Bleia is rather hostile. In your opinion, do we need to decide which side we should join?"


    "Between the two of them, who do you want to join?" Super Girl''s face darkened. As the most experienced and oldest Advanced Apprentice, asking her to put down her face and became a minion for someone else, she... she just couldn''t imagine the horrifying and humiliating life she was going to face.


    "Perhaps, if we wait for a few more days, we''ll not be able to make the decision ourselves." Evan was rather calm and realistic. "Bleia is too arrogant. Besides her peacock, she never cares about other people''s feelings and face, and she won''t be taking care of our current interests. So..."


    "So you want to get in touch with Blake?"


    "Yes! Although Worm controller has a slightly extreme mind, after all, we had been getting along for a long time. As long as we give up some of our interest, I think he''ll accept us. No matter what, if he wants to deal with that Bleia, he will need the help from both of us. No matter how many insignificant apprentices he recruits, they are completely useless in fighting when with a Pseudo-Mage. We are the only ones he could use!"


    Super Girl snorted depressingly, holding back her anger, as she nodded in aLeonent to Fatal Shot''s opinion.


    However, before she could say anything, the deep, hoarse voice of Worm controller suddenly rang out through the secret room that only the both of them were in.


    "I certainly didn''t expect that Fatal Shot could still judge the hour and size up the situation so accurately. You''re right, I really do need the help from both of you!"


    Both apprentices were aghast.


    Super Girl widened her big eyes and quickly gazed at surroundings of her own room.


    Under the restless glances of both apprentices, some noises suddenly came out from the shadow behind Evan''s back. Soon, a strange looking scorpion with peculiar appearance squeezed out from the shadow, waving its huge pincers towards both of them. On the black crust behind of this scorpion, a pale human face emerged, it was the ugly face of Blake after his mutation.


    "Hello, long time no see! How come you never informed me about your meeting?"


    Super Girl and Fatal Shot remained silent and didn''t respond to Blake''s question. However, their flickering eyes had betrayed the nervous emotions hiding in their mind. They hadn''t expected this at all, with just a small tier difference between them, they could no longer detect Worm controller'' magic spell approach.


    "You don''t have to be panic. Just as Fatal Shot said, I''m in urgent need of your help. If you can condescend to me and join the Worm controller''s alliance, I, Blake, will welcome you with open arms!"


    The corner of Super Girl''s lips twitched violently a few times.


    She was not an idiot, since this so-called alliance was named after Blake''s title, then he would be the true master. To say the least, they were his allies, but as the matter of fact, they were just his advanced level hatchet men! Though they were discontent by this, Super Girl still wanted to hear the true motives of Worm controller.


    "What do you need us to do for you?"


    "Help me watch every single move of those two. When times come, help me in fighting against them. Don''t worry, I won''t make you fight face-to-face against that Bleia. If we really engage in a fight, I''ll just need the two of you to pin down that Leon. I''ll handle Bleia myself!"


    After hearing what Blake said, a hardly concealed shocking expression emerged on their faces. Evan couldn''t bear himself and asked, "You only need both of us to pin down that Leon? He... he only just became an Advanced Apprentice! For a newbie like this, even I alone should be able to defeat him, right?"


    "Hehehe..." The human face on the back of the scorpion let out Blake''s signature gruesome laugh, "Fatal Shot, don''t think so highly of yourself! Perhaps, both of you haven''t found out this. In that team of Bleia and Leon, it is obvious that Leon is the mastermind behind everything. Or, put this way, he is the key person on their team!"


    "What?"


    "Impossible!"


    The response Super Girl and Fatal Shot gave out was exactly the same as the one they had when they first heard Worm controller had become a Pseudo-Mage, extreme shock. Worm controller Blake, who was now a Pseudo-Mage, actually gave such serious consideration to the once little Beginner Apprentice. This... this was really out of their expectations.


    Could that Leon really have some strange abilities?


    "Don''t you forget this, after all, Bleia is just an inferior vampire who had her bloodline mutated! With such a lousy bloodline and innate talent, wanting to have quick progress in her rank is just like a fat hope. So, the only possible reason that brought her such a mystical transformation would be that strange boy whose overall strength had skyrocketed. This Leon is the only person on their team whose true strength I can''t tell!"


    Evan remained silent for a while, before asking, "Bleia is now a Pseudo-Mage, will Master Mage agree to your behavior of publicly attacking her?"


    Right after he finished his words, Fatal Shot immediately heard the arrogant and gruesome laugh of Blake.


    "Hehehe... I''ve signed the family contract, yet she only signed on an employment contract. So, if something really happens, who do you think the family would help? Also... if there aren''t any orders coming from the top, why do you think I would be so passionate about fighting against a Pseudo-Mage, who is the same rank with me?"


    "What you are saying is... the person who wants to deal with Bleia is Ander..." Evan cried out involuntarily.


    "Shut up! Fatal Shot, if you don''t want to get killed in the dark, then stop these damn words in your mouth. There are things you just have to do and don''t have to get to the bottom of and will bring no good to you!" Worm controller Blake hurriedly interrupted Evan, a threatening expression finally showing up on his ugly bug-like face.


    Evan arduously swallowed a lump in his throat. He exchanged a glance with Super Girl and eventually, nodded his head silently.


    "Hehehe... I knew you''d make the smartest decision. Alright, when the time comes, I''ll contact you again. Fatal Shot will keep an eye on them, as for Super Girl, you''ll train those Intermediate Apprentices, so we can put them to good use later. Hmph, once I find the right opportunity, we''ll teach both of them a good lesson!"


    After saying that, the evil and arrogant cries of bugs echoed out in the room. In an instant, the black scorpion exploded into a puddle of poisonous liquid, before slowly submerging into the floor and disappearing without a trace.


    Inside the room, Super Girl and Fatal Shot sat facing each other in silence!


    Meanwhile, inside a secret room within the fourth floor of the Swampy Tower, the scorpion who had suddenly disappeared from Super Girl''s room squeezed out from the floor, climbing onto a somber looking figure who had his body completely covered in a black cloak.


    The somber figure suddenly stretched out a bizarre looking huge hand, half flesh and half shell, picked up the scorpion and shoved it into his mouth. After the scorpion was crushed into a puddle of blood and fragments by his razor sharp teeth, only then did Worm controller tilt his head up and reveal his face.


    Within just a few days, one could tell that the degree of bug transformation on his body had gone deeper.


    Now, rather than referring to him as a human apprentice, he was more like a bug man who had the identity of a human.


    He had transformed into ''it''!


    ...


    2034 Words

 Chapter 119 - 119: Lucy and her master

    From within the darkness outside the tower, a red-eyed crow flew into the night sky without a sound.


    Suddenly, from a brightly lit room located on the fourth floor of the tower, a crimson glow ignited, shooting through the window and hitting the crow, making it explode into a huge clump of blood mist that covered the night sky.


    "Hmph, this is the fourth one! What exactly does that Fatal Shot want to do?" Bleia gently put away the crimson bow in her hand, cursing angrily, "Does he wants me to have a heart-to-heart talk with him now?"


    "It looks like few of them have collaborated again!" While busy with his own stuff, Leon casually responded.


    Bleia tilted her head and gave it a thought, before nodding her head, agreeing to Leon''s opinion.


    Though part of previous strongest three, Fatal Shot, was at most an Advanced Apprentice now. If he really provoked Bleia, she could rip his crow''s nest up at any time! Since he was brave enough to keep sending his minions to watch them, there must be someone else backing him. And currently, the only apprentice who could be doing this within the Swampy Tower would be Worm controller, Blake.


    Most of the residences located on the fourth floor were for official Mages. That was why not only had they had a super luxurious and comfortable bedroom, they were also equipped with their own study and small laboratory. At this moment, Leon was meticulously leaning onto a micro alchemy station, watching the transformation of the drop of source blood through a special magical array.


    During the last few days, in order to activate the gene activity of this drop of source blood, Leon had tried nearly all magical approaches he knew. Eventually, he learned that only the blood full of energy aura could save this drop of source blood. Therefore, Leon cut his own arm, pouring his blood which was full of Fire element energy into the cultivating test tube.


    Soon, he obtained a test tube full of boiling blood which was slightly mutated.


    No, strictly speaking, it didn''t look like a test tube of blood, but more like a blood monster that had been held captive within the test tube.


    After the blood injected by Leon was devoured by the source blood, it had quickly contaminated and mutated into the same vampire blood as the source blood itself. Though the Fire element energy contained within Leon''s blood had killed a lot of vampire blood gene, under the constant attack from the newly contaminated blood genes, the Fire element energy had been neutralized, causing all of Leon''s blood to be contaminated and mutated.


    After that, the test tube of blood transformed into a blood monster that seemed to have its own consciousness. Needle-like tentacles kept stretching out from the sticky blood, crazily poking at the strong surface of the test tube. If not for the fact that the toughness of the test tube was not weaker than magical alloy, perhaps this blood monster would really escape.


    While observing its behavior, Leon kept praising it unstoppably.


    Miraculous, this was absolutely miraculous! In this world of advanced magic, even a drop of advanced grade vampire source blood could portray such a terrifying destructive force. Imagine if a vampire injected this kind of blood gene into its prey, perhaps the life of its enemy would be in its hand completely.


    Could this be the secret behind why those advanced grade vampires were able to produce large armies of blood slaves?


    After the drop of source blood had assimilated so much of blood, it had hidden deep inside the lump of blood. If wasn''t for the help from the Chip which had attached a spiritual label to it, perhaps Leon wouldn''t have been able to find its exact position within the lump of blood which kept changing its shape and surface structure.


    The energy used to support the violent activity of the blood came from the nutrients after the blood gene had self-decomposed. Hence, the more violent its activity was, the smaller its size became. It was like a raging burning flame, and the fuel was coming from its own mass.


    Eventually, when it finally realized it couldn''t escape from the test tube, the lump of blood finally quiet down, entering into a hibernation state. Also, from the size of a chicken egg, it had turned into the size of a thumb. According to the Chip''s calculation, this thumb-sized blood lump was sufficient to support its life for half a year. Only when it was stimulated by some external forces, would it be reactivated.


    Did all the vampires in this world possess the same frightening ability? Or was there something special about the vampire that Eclivel and the other Mages attacked?


    No wonder after Bleia was mutated into a vampire, her intelligence seemed to suffer some damage, and she became rather ill-tempered and irritable. As a matter of fact, no matter who had this kind of blood in his or her body, which was one that could self-burn and boil at any time, he or she wouldn''t be able to maintain a calm and delicate manner.


    According to the characteristics portrayed by this drop of source blood, Leon even suspected that when the original owner of the blood got close enough with it, it was highly possible he could regain the control of this blood, and eventually gain control of the consciousness and life of the one who had this blood in the body.


    In connection to this, Leon performed a thorough search through all the records and experiments related to vampires, bit by bit he puzzled together the direction of evolution and strengthening path for vampires, arduously finding ways and approaches that could allow Bleia to break through the current bottleneck in her bloodline.


    After all, Bleia was a mutated vampire. In a way, she was just an advanced blood slave. Once that higher-order vampire appeared in front of Bleia, perhaps she wouldn''t have the chance to control her own fate anymore. Therefore, the reason why Leon became so obsessed in carrying out research on the source blood was to cut off the spiritual connection between her mutated blood and the source blood, making her the true master of her own body!


    ......


    At the entrance of Magical Swamp.


    It was still the same small, desolate and miserable looking hillside. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Following an ear-splitting cry, a witch, wearing a gray Mage robe and a pointy Mage hat, rode on her flying broom and descended from the sky, setting her feet on this desolate land.


    When she got down from the broom, a lovely, active and pretty little girl who looked like a doll jumping out from her back. She was wearing a light yellow dress, had a baby face, wasn''t tall, and was carrying a golden bird cage in her hand. She was none other than Lucy, the little girl who had suffered a great deal last time she visited the Magical Swamp.


    "Great Granny, here it is!" Though Lucy had a sweet and beautiful look, when she was looking at the familiar scene in front, her azure blue eyes immediately shot out two bright glows of hatred.


    "Those rascals who bullied me are living inside this place!" She said.


    The witch, who Lucy addressed as her Great Granny, had a really old face.


    Under the crooked and dirty hat was the ugly and aged face of a female. Her face was fully filled with wrinkles making her skin look like that of a dried and withered tree. She had a hook nose that looked like the hawk''s beak, a pair of murky gray eyes, and a mouthful of brownish and broken teeth. She was bending her body while holding onto the flying broom, and after every movement, she would stop and pant for a long time.


    However, this old witch, who looked so weak as to be unable to stand any breeze, as if she would collapse and die at any moment, was actually emanating a powerful spiritual ripple that could send a chill down anyone''s spine.


    After she held the broom and panted for some time, she took out a dirty and black biscuit-like object from her pocket. With a cold voice, she said, "Go, Lucy. Crush this into powder and sprinkle it into the swamp!"


    Although the old witch had an aged voice, her words carried an authoritative air that no one could disobey. Even Lucy, who was a cunning and wicked girl, dared to not refute her will. Obediently, she took over the biscuit-like object and walked in front of the Magical Swamp, crushed it into powder and sprinkled it into the pond which was blanketed by a thick fog.


    While she was doing that, Lucy even covered her hands with a thin layer of spatial barrier, to avoid touching the insignificant looking biscuit. As it was an object taken from the pocket of Endor, the infamous ''Poisonous Witch'', it was definitely something that came with a deadly poison!


    As expected, not long after the powder was sprinkled into the water, a new clump of mist was seen rising up from the wet pond. Bit by bit, it merged into the misty fog of the Magical Swamp. Following the spreading of this mist, all the demons living in this region were struck with a deadly calamity.


    A Red-eyed Crow, which had just landed on top of a Killer Tree at the border of Magical Swamp, tilted its head and watching wonderingly at these two outsiders who appeared out of nowhere. But suddenly, its fluffy dark feathers exploded without making any noise. The broken flesh and bones soon transformed into new bloody mist that merged into the air.


    Following the flow of the mist, all living beings who possessed magical element in their body, be it plants or animals, exploded when they were touched by the mist. However, those ordinary plants right beside them were not affected by it at all.


    As the incorporeal mist spreading across the land, Red-eyed Crows, Killer Trees, Bloodsucking Rattans, Green Spot Snakes, Ghost Nannies, Demon Babies, and even those parasitic demon worms, all exploded while they were moving freely within their own habitat. After a huge amount of demons were killed, the remaining creatures were those who had a very sensitive sense of dangers. They ignored the territory of other demons within the Magical Swamp and rushed towards the direction opposite to the mist using the fastest speed they could.


    At the beginning, the clamor was only limited to within the outer perimeter of the Magical Swamp. But when the mist slowly pushed through and penetrated into the inner area of it, a large group of escaping demons finally broke out.


    And right at this moment, the inspecting Apprentice Mage had finally realized that something was wrong. The news was spreading quickly, and the entire Swampy Tower had been lit up, floor after floor.


    Compared to those standard Mage Towers like the one at the Underground Cave, the tower at Magical Swamp was clearly weaker and cruder. Although the internal facilities were rather complete, it was weak in terms of the surveillance throughout the entire swampy area.


    Although Sarubo Family was once prosperous, following the absence of that Fourth Grade Mage for a long time, and with no new Fourth Grade Mages, the prestige and influence of the family could no longer be compared to what they had before.


    For a small resource site like this, the Sarubo Family didn''t even have the financial capacity to build a proper Mage Tower, and could only substitute with a weaker version of the tower. Therefore, when faced with the invasion of a powerful enemy, their response was slow and clumsy.


    When the Magical Swamp plunged into a big mess, Mage Eclivel, the man who controlled the Swampy Tower, finally walked out from his magic spell laboratory. Very soon, he had locked down on the enemy''s position.


    Following a muffled ''clang'' noise, dust and grass blew upwards at the small hill near the entrance of Magical Swamp. Mage Eclivel had traveled through the space of nearly ten miles and suddenly appeared in front of the old witch.


    ...


    2040 Words

 Chapter 120 - 120: A promise

    "So it''s you, Endor! I don''t think there are any old grudges between us, is there? Why are you causing problems at my place?" Stepping out from the vortex, Eclivel immediately saw the old witch with a peculiar look. Unable to press down his anger, he roared, "Don''t you forget, this is the territory of the Zhentarim Association! You, the Northern Witches, have no right to show your arrogance here!"


    Still holding onto her broom, the old witch let out a shivering laugh that sounded like the cries of a night owl. She looked at Eclivel, who appeared to be ferocious in appearance but feeble in essence, with a disdainful expression, and said, "Zhentarim Association? Would they publicly drive off us, the Northern Witches, just because of your tiny little resource site?"


    "Then why are you here today? Don''t tell me you''re here to be a guest?!" Eclivel still roaring furiously, nevertheless, he had lowered his voice. He was facing at a Combat Witch from the Far Land of North, although he had the topographical advantages, if a fight really broke out between them, perhaps the chances of him winning would be slim.


    Though these Northern Witches looked weak and ill, they were able to open up new worlds in the Land of Far North, a place with extreme cold temperature and harsh environment. They had a strong will and frightening approaches that no male Mage could ever compare with. Putting others aside and just talking about this Endor, she was sent to station at the Zhentarim region for merely seven years, before she had brought herself the famous title of ''Poisonous Witch''.


    According to rumors, once there was a wandering Mage who had recruited a group of bandits and robbed a company of traveling merchants sent by the Northern Witches, they also killed an Apprentice Witch who had followed the merchant. When this Endor heard the news, she struck immediately, and found that group of bandits just after half a day.


    She didn''t charge into the group and slaughter everyone in her sight. She just sprinkled some poisonous stuff around their camp site. Virtually overnight, all the bandits, including the wandering Mage, were killed by the horrifying, deadly poison. Just with this warfare alone, this ferocious, tough and old witch from the Land of Far North had killed nearly three hundred men with her poison, causing her reputation of ''Poisonous Witch'' reach to ultimate heights. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was a Northern Witch, yet she had killed so many people in a region ruled by the Zhentarim Association. Her actions had immediately evoked a strong reaction from some Mage Families at the center region of Mage Continent. But with regards to this matter, after all, the old witch had the valid reason for seeking revenge for her disciple, hence, no matter how discontent those Mage Families were, they had no choice but acquiesce her action.


    Therefore, whenever the name of this poisonous witch was mentioned, all the Mages from center region of the continent would feel a headache. After all, in the center region of the continent controlled by the Zhentarim Association, there weren''t any major scale of invasions coming from demons, and the conditions of the natural environment were so much better comparing to the Land of Far North. As the result, most of the Mages here had spent too much time carrying out magical experiments, which caused their combative abilities and approaches to recede. That was why they were not as ferocious and brutal as those Northern Witches.


    If not because Zhentarim Association had controlled a huge area with abundant resources, which allowed them to produce countless Mages, with the quality of the Mages in this place, there was no way they could compete with the other three major Mage powers that surrounded them.


    The Magical Swamp was, after all, a private resource site for Sarubo Family. If it were any other Mage of the same grade who had come and gave him trouble, Eclivel would have attacked him or her without another word. But when facing this infamous ''Poisonous Witch'', even with his unsociable and eccentric temperament, he wouldn''t initiate any attacks easily.


    Faced with Eclivel''s question, the poisonous witch let out a few ghastly sneers, turned behind her and said, "Lucy, come out and show yourself to this master Eclivel, so he can save his breath in uttering that nonsense!"


    When Eclivel saw the little girl who had jumped out from behind the poisonous witch, his gloomy face turned as dark as the bottom of a used pot. "Endor, who is this little girl to you? I remember she is Deborah''s disciple."


    "You do have a good memory. She is doing her apprenticeship under Deborah currently. But she is also my blood descendant! She is an Apprentice Witch with the most potential from my family, Moya Family! However, she had suffered a shameful ambush and humiliation from you! Today, I''m here to settle the scores with you!"


    Fuck! Right at this very moment, who knew how many times had Eclivel cursed in his mind! Who would know by simply teaching a lesson to an Advanced Apprentice who had intruded Magical Swamp, he would provoke a junior from the clan of the ''Poisonous Witch''? Could what he had done disgusted the Will of the Mage World, causing it to bring him such punishment?


    While cursing his bad luck inwardly, Eclivel roared out furiously with a cold expression, "I did teach a lesson to this little girl! So what? Are you going to fight me just because of her? Endor, don''t you forget you''re just a representative sent by Northern Witch, attacking me would stir up a clan war between our families!"


    "Clan war? Hmph. Would the family behind you, Sarubo Family, declare a war against my Moya Family just because of such a petty matter? But, you don''t have to worry, my purpose today is not to teach you a lesson, but to let Lucy vent her spleen." Hearing what the poisonous witch had said, the doll-like Lucy''s eyes immediately turned red, as she threw herself into the old witch''s arms and acted like a spoiled child. She even turned her head and gave Eclivel a fierce gaze.


    "So what exactly do you want? I was just punishing a little fellow who was rude to me, do you really want me to pay a price for that?" Eclivel''s voice lowered by a few degrees.


    "Hmph, I can accept your action of teaching Lucy a lesson! But your apprentices had jointly attacked Lucy, and we need to settle this score in a proper manner! I''ll not bully the weak by being strong, so get those few fellows who had hurt Lucy before and let them have another fight again. If your apprentices win, I''ll leave immediately. If your apprentices lose, hehehe... they will have to face their death!"


    The gloomy face of Eclivel twisted violently a few times. He then waved his hand and recited some incantations that no one could understand. Following an enshrouding magical ring that flashed through the top of this small hill, three figures of different appearances appeared in midair.


    As Mage Eclivel owned the highest control power of the Swampy Tower, therefore, without communicating with Leon and the others, he had used his right and forcefully teleported Acteon, Bleia and Leon over to this small hill. Obviously, the three of them still had no idea what was going on, they were busy with their own matters in their own residences, but with a magical ring that suddenly flashed underneath their feet, they had come to this wilderness for no apparent reason.


    The three of them were first struck with bewilderment, then they were startled. And when they saw Mage Eclivel, they quickly bowed deeply and paid him respect, waiting for his orders quietly.


    "They are the ones! All of them are bad people, they had hurt me repeatedly! Especially that disgusting vampire, she even sucked away a lot of my blood..."


    Right when Lucy jumped out and scolded angrily, the poisonous witch who had brought her here knitted her brows in a tight frown.


    Two Pseudo-Mages and an Advanced Apprentice!


    How came their rank was slightly different from what Lucy had described?


    "Lucy, are you sure they are the ones? Why they are different from what you told me?" The poisonous witch''s expression turned cold.


    "Yes, I''m sure! But last time two of them were only Advanced Apprentices, and this..." Lucy pointed her finger at Leon, a vicious glow could be seen flickering on her cute little face, "This guy, he was only a Beginner Apprentice last time!"


    They had been promoted?


    Facing two Pseudo-Mages, even the Poisonous Witch Endor started to worry.


    With her overall strength and the aggressiveness of Moya Family that supported her, it wouldn''t be a big deal if Lucy killed two Advanced Apprentices. But when it involved Pseudo-Mages, things became a bit trickier to handle!


    For any Mage Family, Pseudo-Mages were the backup force they prepared for their future, and they wouldn''t give any of them up. According to Endor''s understanding, this Sarubo Family didn''t even own more than a two digit number of Pseudo-Mages, if she killed two of them at the same time, even though Sarubo Family was a weak family, perhaps they would still declare a war to the Moya Family!


    "Lucy, you can''t touch those two Pseudo-Mages! I thought you said you hated that kid the most? Go challenge that Advanced Apprentice! Kill him and vent your spleen, I''ll find a way to settle the other two." Showing no changes on the outside, Endor had transmitted her thought over to Lucy''s mind via telepathy.


    Lucy, who was in the middle of yelling and scolding, stopped for a brief moment. Then, she pointed her finger at Leon and announced her challenge.


    By right, a meaningless challenge like this would not be approved. As the apprentice of Swampy Tower, Mage Eclivel was obliged to provide protection to Leon. But obviously, today was an exception. When Lucy announced her challenge in front of everyone, Mage Eclivel never said another word, clearly, he had tacitly assented such behavior.


    Leon sneered a few times inwardly.


    Though he only arrived here for a very short amount of time, but right when he saw Lucy, he had grasped the reasons behind this farce. Therefore, when confronted with Lucy''s challenge, Leon took a step forward.


    "After beating you last time, I never expected to see you back for revenge so soon! So, if I beat you again this time, when are you going to come back for your revenge?"


    Though Lucy was a black-hearted and merciless girl, she still took her honor seriously. When she heard the ridicule coming from Leon, she immediately jumped up and down from anger, screaming furiously, "Do you really think you can defeat me? Last time, if it weren''t for the fact that you all had taken turns attacking me and had gotten help from the sneak attack of that vampire, do you really think you could live until today?"


    "So, if I really defeat you this time, what are you going to do?" Leon was waiting for these words from her. Without hesitation, he immediately countered her statement.


    "If I''m really defeated by you, my life will be yours, and I''ll be your slave forever! But if you''re defeated by me, your life will be mine!" In a towering rage, Lucy roared out this statement without thinking twice.


    Endor, standing behind Lucy, furrowed her brows. For some unknown reasons, an inauspicious feeling suddenly surged up in her mind. This young kid, who was going to fight Lucy, portrayed an overly calm and peaceful manner. Could he really possess some powerful trump cards?


    Secretly, a tentacle stretched out from Endor''s powerful spirit, slowly but surely it reached Leon''s body, and gave its target a serious examination. Overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice and ordinary Fire element innate talent. The magical equipment on his body could be considered as finely made. But, with such overall strength, it was far from enough to defeat Lucy.


    Since she stepped into the path of an Mage, Endor never saw anyone possessing a more powerful innate ability than Lucy''s spatial innate ability. No matter what kind of powerful magic spells those elemental apprentices mastered, when facing against Lucy, an opponent who had total control of the spatial aspects of the battlefield, nothing would matter when they couldn''t hit her with their spells.


    As for Body Refining and Profound Apprentices, in front of Lucy, they were as fragile as scarecrows. Only those Bloodline Apprentice with extraordinary innate talents would be a threat to Lucy.


    But, after the last defeat, Lucy had gone through a painful torture, which eventually made her skyrocket in her mastery in short distance teleportation. When facing against Lucy, who could now travel freely within a battlefield, Endor couldn''t think of how those Apprentice Mages could defend against her Spatial Cut that was capable of destroying anything, and how were they going to capture Lucy who kept teleporting across the battlefield!


    After making sure the overall strength of Lucy''s opponent, Endor let out a shivering sneer, saying, "Kid, save your breath, go inside and have a fight with Lucy!"


    Having finished saying that, she stretched her arm and took the golden bird cage from Lucy, then waved it towards both Leon and Lucy.


    In next second, both Leon and Lucy had disappeared from the scene!


    ...


    2253 Words

 Chapter 121 - 121: Lucy vc Leon

    When Leon finally got a hold of himself, he discovered that he was standing right inside of the golden bird cage.


    Through the fence of the bird cage that now looked like rows of stone pillars poking into the sky, Leon could vaguely see the view outside of the cage. Especially when the frightening poisonous witch was leaning close to the cage, her enormous eyeballs that nearly occupied half of the sky simply sent chills down Leon''s back.


    When he looked into the distance, right at the other end of the cage, nearly three miles away from him, the petite figure of Lucy was seen continuously teleporting her way and rushing in his direction.


    Leon knitted his brows into a tight frown.


    At this moment, he wasn''t sure on whether this place was just a small space in a different dimension or if old witch really did transform him into a smaller size. Nevertheless, now was not the right time to research further on this. In less than ten seconds, that Lucy who had gone berserk would arrive in front of him.


    Previously, he had been concealing his capabilities and avoided the limelight, so he could further polish his own overall strength, and design a set of combat tactic that suited him the most. It seemed that now was the perfect timing for him to test if those combat tactics were suitable!


    Leon started to equip himself swiftly.


    While remained standing at where he was, he touched his waist belt with his right hand. A strange scepter with peculiar designs immediately appeared in his grip. At the same time, he stretched out his left hand, the magical book, tied by a silver chain that was hanging on his waist automatically flew into his hand, and started to flip through the pages by itself.


    Following one after another the fiery red ring flashed out from Leon''s body, Inferno Body, Inferno Shield, Inferno Force Field, Fire Damage Reflect, multiple Fire element defensive magic spells had revealed themselves. After finishing preparing his defense, Leon pointed in front of him with the Fire Lord''s Scepter, and started to recite with a loud voice, "Redmond Carina, Anya Roset, in the name of flames..."


    From all directions, countless fiery red flames started to gather in midair. Within the blink of an eye, a tall Fire Deity over seven meters stood right in front of Leon. It was surrounded by raging and boiling flames, and the color of the flames had turned from ordinary fiery red into flame with a purple colored core. This also meant that this Fire Deity possessed the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage.


    But, this was not the end!


    Countless brilliantly lit objects flew out from Leon''s storage waist belt and scattered around. After a burst of furious crackling coming from the explosions of Elementiums, these objects formed into different elemental golems with a variety of heights, shapes and looks.


    The most attractive among them would be the Lightning Giant. Every time it made its debut, it would always bring forth a frightening scene, where the sky would be filled with raging thunder strikes. Also, the tall, green body which was completely covered in the golden armor, the lightning serpents that kept bolting out and lingering around its body, all had given it a touch of mightiness.


    While the Lightning Giant slowly ascended into the sky, the Fire Deity strode toward Lucy and the Water Elementiums started to gather on both sides of Leon at an incredible speed. Soon, two Pseudo-Mage level Water Elementals had emerged out from thin air.


    Leon stomped his feet on the ground with great force, though they looked like they were made from stone, they were actually transformed from the Protection Barrier. Since he couldn''t squeeze into the underground, there was no need to summon the Demon Alligator Hunter or Rock Snake. Leon gave up on the thought of summoning Earth element golems and switched his attention to the battle that was happening in the far distance.


    The summon of Lightning Giant had consumed 7 points of his Spirit, while two Water Elementals took away 6 points of his Spirit. As for the Inferno Shield and the Fire Deity, both of them were abilities brought to him by the Fire Lord''s Scepter, thus they didn''t consume any of his Spirit. With Leon''s total Spirit of 19 points, he still had 6 points that he could use in case of emergencies, and, judging from the development of the battle later, only then would he decide which golem to summon next.


    The Lightning Giant was focused on offense with the Fire Deity as its assistant, and two Water Elementals handled both offense and defense at the same time.


    These Water Elementals were the brand new golems crafted by Leon using Water element cores. They had an appearance that resembled a large clump of water that could stand straight and walk around. They didn''t have feet, so their lower bodies were just thick water pillars, and water could be seen kept splashing around from the bottom of these water pillars. Their upper bodies had the vague look of a human, there was a body, a head, and even two arms. But all these body parts looked rather crude, there didn''t have any facial features on their heads, and both arms were just two thick water pillars.


    Though these Water Elementals had a humble outlook, their strange abilities could cause eyebrows to raise.


    Right after both Water Elementals appeared, they immediately waved their arms several times in the air. After each wave, there would be a smaller size Water Elementals pulled out of their bodies, and within a blink of an eye, the smaller Water Elementals changed their appearances into that of Leon''s. They even had the same magical equipment as Leon had.


    Nearly in an instant, two Water Elementals working together and produced twelve ''Leon''. And, after all thirteen Leon switched their positions in a messy order, the real Leon, who was now mixed among the other ''Leon'', had a bright smile blooming on his face.


    There were so many ''Leon'' that looked exactly like him, to be honest, when he saw he was surrounded by copies of ''himself'', even he nearly burst out into laughter.


    And, this was not the end. Following the waving movement of both Water Elementals, a large sheet of billowing water vapor emerged, blanketing this group of ''Leon''. From the outside, one could only see some wobbling figures behind this sheet of water vapor, and couldn''t get a glimpse at the true scene at all.


    Right at this moment, not only Lucy, who was standing right opposite to Leon, nearly collapsed by what she was facing, even both Mages who were standing outside of the cage and were observing the situation had their expression changed slightly, each portraying a different look on their faces.


    Of course, Mage Eclivel showed a surprised look at first, then it was replaced by a delightful expression. Initially, he thought it would be a one-sided slaughter, but because of the sudden explosive performance put out by this mysterious kid, everything became unpredictable. Though he could sense that because of Leon''s existence his control over Bleia had weakened, the thought of killing Leon in the dark had long hatched in his mind.


    But, on an occasion like this, Eclivel preferred to see that cute little Lucy having her head severely beaten. After all, he still had plenty of time to deal with that kid. Therefore, Mage Eclivel simply eased his mind, and for the first time, he was praising at Leon in his mind.


    You just can''t keep all the people happy at the same time!


    When Eclivel brought upon a bizarre smile on his face and quietly watched the battlefield, a complex look could be seen in Endor''s eyes, as she seemed to dither over her decision.


    Damn it, what kind of abilities did this kid possess! Lightning Elementals, Water Elementals, Fire Elementals... each and every single one of this element golems possessed the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage, were these something he could own and control? Could it be that old rascal, Eclivel, knew that she would come and passed these advanced magical items to this young kid? But this didn''t make sense either. How could an Advanced Apprentice control so many Pseudo-Mage level element golems at the same time?


    You couldn''t blame this Poisonous Witch''s bewilderment, after all, summoning ordinary element golems would consume a huge amount of Spirit. If not because the golems owned by Leon had been optimized and used the special magical arrays designed by the Chip, perhaps just one Lighting Giant alone would occupy more than half his Spirit, and he would have no way to fight against Lucy using a small team of golems.


    Meanwhile, right at a corner outside of the cage, Worm controller was watching Leon''s approaches without making any noises. However, a huge wave that could devour his entire body and soul had been rocking violently in his mind.


    Damn it, damn it! How did this bastard own such frightening approaches?


    If he placed himself in Lucy''s position, even Blake would feel a headache if he had to face more than one Pseudo-Mage level element golems, let alone Lucy who would always fight alone.


    Right when everyone outside of the battlefield was watching the intense battle that nearly broke out inside of the golden bird cage, Lucy, who was supposed to fight against Leon, nearly broke out into a rampage.


    Last time, this was just a poor guy who had to cover his head and scurry away from her, but this time, he was actually able to summon so many different element golems. Apparently, he was going to gang fight her! Lucy felt as if her heart had been thrown into boiling oil, it was going through all sorts of torture right now. She just couldn''t believe this was real.


    But, the situation simply didn''t permit her to ponder further. The Lightning Giant, whose body was surrounded by raging lightning serpents, was charging towards her.


    Within a tiny fraction of a second, the powerful high-voltage current had filled her entire field of view. Lucy didn''t want to fight face-to-face with a mighty element golem, so, with a flash of her body, she had disappeared from where she was.


    This time, her destination of teleportation was right above the head of that damn bastard.


    She had made up her mind, once she got rid of those troublesome element golems, the first thing she wanted to do was cut that bastard into tens of pieces with her Spatial Cut.


    But, something horrifying had struck Lucy. When she stepped on the vibrating spatial and squeezed out into mid air, the Lightning Giant, together with a suddenly exploding thunderclap, had appeared beside her at the same time. A crackling noise echoed out from the scene, as a Lightning Chain covered with violent electricity was whipping toward Lucy''s body in a ferocious manner.


    Bastard, how had this Lightning Giant caught up with her speed?


    The thought flashed through Lucy''s mind, but before she could come out with any answers, with a sway of her body, she once again disappeared from where she was.


    It must because she had been obvious about her motives and target, that was why the Lightning Giant could find out her teleportation destination. There was no way it could guess where she was going this time!


    Having the thought of making fool of this Lightning Giant, this time, the destination Lucy chose was thirty meters behind Leon''s group. Right as she came out to the normal spatial, Lucy spread her arms and prepared to pull out a Spatial Cut, hoping to give this group of ''Leon'' a brutal attack.


    But, before the spatial crack appeared between her hands and stabilized into an ideal Spatial Cut, the terrifying Lightning Chain had once again coiled up and forcefully slapped onto her back.


    @#&%£¤...


    Right at this very moment, Lucy''s mind was filled with infinite anger. But at the same time, she felt a shivering sensation that was creeping up from the bottom of her heart.


    How was this possible? How did this lightning man, who apparently had no brain, accurately grasp her destination, twice in a row? This was simply something impossible to be accomplished!


    Filling her mind with endless resentment, Lucy disappeared from the scene once again.


    This time, Lucy emerged at a short sixty meters to the left of Leon, and she didn''t rush in launching an attack like last time. She patiently and carefully monitored the activity surrounding her. As expected, within seconds after she teleported, the powerful lightning man had also emerged after a flash of electricity.


    And, the spot it emerged was still the same five meters behind of her!


    Even for someone with a scheming mind like Lucy''s, she also couldn''t control herself and nearly cursed out some bad words. Because when she gazed at the group of ''Leon'' who were hiding behind the layers of the water barrier, she discovered that each of them was secretly holding onto a Wand of Prophecy, and was murmuring something while facing in her direction.


    Damn it, so it was you that kept playing tricks on me!


    ... sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2215 Words

 Chapter 122 - 122: Win

    At this moment, Lucy''s anger had reached an uncontrollable degree.


    When she let loose of herself and attacked in rage, Lucy, who possessed the spatial innate talent, had perfectly exhibited the frightening ability of the spatial magic spells.


    With her delicate, fair and tiny little hands, she performed a gentle ripping gesture in the air. In an instant, one after another spatial crack, which looked like black pearls necklaces, were produced between her palms. After that, this pair of little hands started to knead them in the air, transforming them into all kinds of weapons that beyond anyone''s imagination.


    An arc-shaped ''Moon Bent Blade'', a ''Dark Spear'' that looked like a throwing spear, a perfectly round ''Explosive Ball''...


    And, following Lucy''s shrill screams, one after another bizarre weapon was thrown at the group of Leons at the same time.


    The cutting and piercing abilities of these spatial cracks were simply incredible.


    A ''Moon Bent Blade'' streaked passed Leon silently, on its way, two mirrored Leons were cut into halves. Also, the Inferno Shield and Inferno Force Field were both missing a chunk, after being grazed by it. Judging from the size and shape of the missing parts, it was identical to that Moon Bent Blade.


    It looked like when facing the spatial magic that Lucy was an expert with, these ordinary defensive magic spells would hardly function as they were supposed to! As the matter of fact, in front of spatial magic, which had a higher order in the source of their principles, any element magic spell was like a bubble that could be burst easily. Both of them were simply not on the same level.


    If Leon allowed Lucy to keep bombing savagely like this, even if he summoned all his golems, he wouldn''t be able to keep his life safe. Realizing he couldn''t hold up against Lucy''s attacks, Leon clenched his jaws tightly and ordered his team of golems to counterattack, so that he could suppress Lucy''s attack frequency.


    Therefore, a magnificent show of firework had broken out within the ''tiny'' space of the bird cage.


    Nearly every single time when Lucy teleported to a new location, the Lightning Giant who followed right after her would flood the region with its raging lightning attack, immediately followed by a Flame Throwing launched by the Fire Deity and the Frost Nova unleashed by the Water Elemental.


    Though in the past, the Protection Barrier covering outside Lucy''s body was ''indestructible'', when facing Leon, who had the ability to pinpoint her ''weaknesses'', and together with a group of mighty fighters with no fear of death, whenever a new Protection Barrier was created, it would be shattered into pieces after one round of violent attacks.


    And, within such a short period of time, she only had enough time to complete a long-range attack.


    Although every time she was able to teleport away before the Protection Barrier shattered, such a frequent teleportation and attack routine was a heavy burden for Lucy.


    Whenever the Protection Barrier was broken, she had to teleport herself to a far distance and fix it, only then could she launch the next round of attacks. And when she teleported herself to Leon''s side, even with her high casting speed and the powerful Spatial Magic of hers, she would have to run away after launching a single attack. If she made any mistakes in her move, she would have to face the miserable fate of being burned by the explosive fireball and frozen by the azure ice ring.


    But that was not the worst, as the most frightening attack was the strike of high voltage electricity!


    As the result, just after seven rounds of attack, Lucy''s cute, light yellow dress had turned into broken rags, while her precious golden hair was standing up on its end and became a dark and fluffy bird nest after being burned by the raging electricity. Also, her skin was completely covered in burns and frost marks, dark and green patches could be seen everywhere.


    Meanwhile, out of twelve mirrored Leons, nine of them had been destroyed, leaving only three that mixed together with the real Leon, and no one could tell which one was his true form. As for the team of golems, they were now standing around Leon and protecting him with high vigilance and waiting for Lucy to come forth and meet her death.


    The Lightning Giant was hovering in midair with its body covered with raging lightning that producing loud thunderclaps, from time to time, dazzling electric arcs would bolt out from its green body. A huge thunderstorm was brewing right above its head; the funnel shape dark cloud had covered nearly half of the space of the cage.


    Staring at this Lightning Giant who portrayed a mighty bearing, Lucy angrily clenched her tiny fists, wishing she could use the most violent spatial magic and wipe it off the face of this world completely.


    It was all because of this hateful Lightning Giant that she was now suffering from a very serious injury.


    It was worth it to mention that the speed and frequency of the Lightning element magic spells were the fastest among all other magic spells. Every time, right when her Protection Barrier broke, that damn lightning strike unleashed by the Lightning Giant would always lock onto Lucy''s whereabouts and land right on her body. Not only that, the arc-shaped lightning of the Lightning Giant actually... actually brought a slight paralysis effect.


    This had caused Lucy''s dodging movements to become slower and resulted in her facing the shower of elemental magic spells.


    As the blood descendant of Endor, Lucy had countless magic spell and element talismans with her. But even so, she also couldn''t withstand the damage brought by such violent element magic spells.


    The magic spell talisman used to isolate herself from element attacks exploded before it could even last three rounds of attack.


    The element talisman, which was used to increase her element resistance, had also shattered into pieces after being tortured by a massive amount of elemental magic spells.


    In the end, after her element resistance was reduced to a very low level, Lucy had to fight the battle using purely her strong will.


    Whenever her Spirit had depleted, she would run to the outer perimeter and gulp down a large bottle of magic potion. With that, she would become brimming with Spirit seconds after, with her Spirit restored to the maximum level!


    And, whenever her magical energy had depleted, she would once again run to outer perimeter and drink up a bottle of magical energy potion. Right after that, she would once again have vigorous magical energy!


    With the help of these bottles of magical potions, Lucy was like an undefeatable cockroach, crazily charging into Leon''s team of golems, again and again.


    The Fire Deity was shattered into pieces twice by the raging spatial cuts and had been summoned by Leon for the third time.


    The bodies of both Water Elementals were full of holes now. If not for the fact that they were element golems with the ability to absorb the wandering elementiums in the air and fix their own body, perhaps they would have long disintegrated into a puddle of water.


    The only member of the golems team who was still in a good shape would be the Lightning Giant.


    But even so, after going through many rounds of spatial magic attacks, its body had also been badly mutilated, as many parts of it had been hanging and falling off. When Lucy realized it was extremely difficult for her to attack the real Leon, she eventually switched her target, placing the focus of her attacks onto the Lightning Giant, who had posted the biggest threat to her safety.


    The adjustment in her tactic had soon brought her the best results!


    One of the Lightning Giant''s arms had disappeared.


    The Wind element core hiding inside the arm was shattered by a spatial cut, resulted in the total disintegration of that part of the body and was no longer able to restore its original shape.


    But too bad, the changes made to her guerrilla tactic had come too late.


    Right when Lucy smoothly destroyed the left arm of Lightning Giant, her Protection Barrier was broken by the incredible fast lightning chain, and her petite body was coiled up by the same lightning chain.


    In next second, the furious flaming pillar and the frost nova had flooded the region where she was trapped.


    Before Leon could see the result of this massive attack, an egg-shaped shock wave as violent as a sudden thunderclap burst out from where Lucy was. The shock wave swept across the area, shattering the spatial of the area like a thin sheet of glass. The spatial was broken, and the air was shaking violently. All the materials within the area had been annihilated and reassembled, yet any living creatures within the area would be wiped off completely and turned into a puff of smoke.


    The Lightning Giant was standing closest to the attack. Though it had noticed the attack and fled with top speed, half of its body was swept across by the broken spatial. A sudden lightning flashed by with a loud boom, the Lightning Giant reappeared at a random place some three hundred meters away. The once burly and tall body was left with a half and a head. As for the rest of its body, it was all cut off by the spatial cracks.


    The body of the Fire Deity, who had suffered badly from the attack, had collapsed onto the ground once again.


    Hiding at a far distance, Leon''s facial muscles kept twitching uncontrollably. He had reached the summoning limit of the Fire Deity using the Fire Lord''s Scepter. He couldn''t summon it again today.


    The violent spatial shockwave expanded outward at an incredible speed. As Leon''s speed had been enhanced with the Hasten spell, he barely managed to escape from the attack boundary.


    Both Water Elementals had transformed into two water lines and fled from the battlefield. But too bad, one of them had been caught by the spatial shockwave, and exploded into a splatter of water that splashed into all directions. The last one managed to escape from the attack, and had reformed its body while standing beside Leon, putting up a high vigilance.


    When the spatial crack at the heart of the shockwave started to heal slowly, only then Leon stopped from running. He turned around, and through the dense spatial fragments, he saw Lucy.


    Right at this moment, Lucy looked so ferocious and violent, as if she was a mighty deity that had just descended from the heavens!


    Her dress had been shattered into pieces, exposing her petite and cute body in front of everyone. Her eyes were closed, her fists clenched tightly, and she threw her head back and let out shrill cry into the sky. The Spatial Shockwave that swept across half of the space within the cage just now, was the last attack she unleashed after being agitated by the intense sense of danger.


    After unleashed this last attack, the Spatial Energy contained within her body had been depleted completely.


    Two streams of blood suddenly flowed down from the corner of Lucy''s tightly closed eyes. Meanwhile, her delicate and fragile body was shivering like a dried body left in the cold breeze, eventually, she drifted down from midair without making any noise. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She was defeated!


    She was defeated, in the middle of a fair match and by an enemy she had looked down the most!


    The cruel reality had deeply pierced through Lucy''s heart and soul, causing her who had lost all strength, to wish that she was killed by having her head slammed onto the ground in this cage, so that she could be spared from facing the reality that she never wanted to accept!


    But, in next moment, her cold and weak body was cupped by a pair of warm arms. And after that, a long robe, which had an unfamiliar smell, was placed on top of her naked body.


    She opened her blurred eyes, staring at the silhouette that had been inscribed deeply in her mind, before murmuring, "You... bastard..." Finally, she passed out completely. At the same time, Leon was looking at the weak little girl in his arms, inwardly, he kept roaring out furiously, "You can''t die like this! You can''t die here! Or else, your Granny Witch would definitely go berserk..."


    A sudden shake struck the spatial.


    The scene in front of his eyes changed, and Leon felt the burden in his arms was lifted as Lucy was taken away by that Poisonous Witch Endor.


    Endor placed Lucy on the ground, and after thoroughly examining her a few times and making sure that she had only passed out as the result of depleting all her energy, Endor finally set her mind at rest.


    She turned around and stared at Leon''s face for a long time, until he felt a chill running down his spine, only then had Endor let out a frightening smile, which was uglier than someone who was crying out loud. "Kid, you''re very good! You''re very good... I''ll remember you!"


    Having finished with her words that were buried with some unknown meaning, Endor carried Lucy and mounted her flying broom, and with a blink of an eye, they disappeared into the sky.


    Leaving behind a group of people who were exchanging glances with each other, not knowing what to say.


    What happened today was too damn strange!


    ...


    2264 Words

 Chapter 123 - 123: Conspiracy

    In just a short amount of time, the disturbance brought forth by Lucy had died off.


    As a matter of fact, before most of the apprentices within the tower had gotten to the root of this matter, it had passed away into silence. Not to mention that Mage Eclivel, who rarely showed himself in front of his apprentices, and even Worm controller Blake, who had witnessed the entire process himself, had become very quiet.


    With regards to Leon''s performance, except Bleia who didn''t express any surprise, the other two had been struck with awe. It was especially true for Blake, the degree of his shocking emotion had even elevated to a state where he felt uneasy to even eat or sleep.


    Although Leon never publicly exhibited any hostility towards Blake, as a Bloodline Apprentice who had taken a mutated path and took the initiative to strike at any potential enemy, the guideline Blake had been practicing all his life was put all his efforts to construct an aggressive position in his living circle, which could bring him all the benefits.


    In the past, as he was constrained by his overall strength, he had no choice but to keep a relatively balanced relationship with the other two strongest. But after his breakthrough in the recent training mission, he could no longer hold down his true nature and had stood out, ''subduing'' both Super girl and Fatal shot.


    If he hadn''t witnessed the battle of that bizarre kid, perhaps, he would have thought the scale of victory had skewed to his side. Bleia, who was only an expert in running fast, had nothing worth mentioning in her defensive and offensive ability and was not his opponent. As for Leon, a mere Advanced Apprentice, how big a storm could he bring up?


    However, the battle in the bird cage between Lucy and Leon had deeply touched Blake.


    From that day onwards, he kept asking himself inwardly. If he and Leon had fought in the bird cage, could he break through the line of defense formed by the group of golems and land his attack onto Leon? Obviously, the answer was something that he didn''t like to hear.


    Therefore, since that day, he had become extremely reticent!


    ...


    Within a dark secret room.


    Blake, wearing a black robe, was sitting within the shadow of a corner, pondering himself while remaining silent.


    Throughout the entire secret room, there was only a magical torch lit up, and was placed on a wall in the far distance. Not only was the dimmed, jumping flame not able to bring any significant light to this space, instead, it gave a touch of gruesomeness and fear to the place.


    There wasn''t any furniture or decorations in this secret room, not even the commonly seen table or chairs. Even Blake was sitting on the cold, hard surface of the floor with his legs folded. Behind him, in a corner of the room where light couldn''t reach, a mysterious cocoon was seen hanging down from the roof, and was expanding and creeping in a creepy manner.


    Rather than referring to this place as a secret room, it was more like a bug''s nest.


    Right beside Blake, countless black bugs were swarming across the floor like a dark wave. Sometimes they would move to the east, and sometimes they would move to the west, the buzzing noise of their legs scratching the floor was incessantly lingering in the air.


    As if affected by these bugs, Blake''s body which hid underneath the black robe started to move restlessly, as if there were hundreds of thousands of bugs trying to rush out from within, wanting to mix together with their peers which were crawling outside. Right when these black bugs nearly went out of control, finally, Blake raised his head up, and within the shadow of his hood, two bright green glows ignited.


    A sharp, ear-piercing cry of bugs echoed out from within the secret room.


    Blake opened his mouth widely. Right at the center of his mouth, which was formed with layers of lips, a peculiar head of bug suddenly poked out. The bug cry just now was let out from the mouth of this bug.


    Upon hearing the cry, the restless bugs had returned to a calm state once again. All the black bugs now surrounded Blake, like people worshiping their king, they all held their heads low and remained silent, waiting for the order of their master.


    Blake casually picked up a black bug and threw into his mouth, starting to munch on it and producing the crystal clear sound of biting and crushing. The stinking green liquid leaked out from his lips, and the pungent smell of it had made the air in this secret room even more filthy.


    "So, this is the path you picked for yourself? It is really unique!" An old voice suddenly rang out from within the secret room.


    "Master Eclivel, you''re finally here!" Eclivel lightly raised his head, as if he wasn''t surprised by the voice that suddenly broke the silence of the room.


    "You knew I''ll be here?" The old voice sounded surprised. It was the voice of the master of this Swampy Tower, Mage Eclivel.


    "Of course! As long as you''re still the true master of this tower, I know you will contact me sooner or later!"


    "So, I assume you have also guessed my purpose in contacting you?"


    "You wish for my help in dealing with that Leon!"


    "Hmph, you''re a clever kid. Indeed! I need you to stand out and get rid of that hateful kid. And, I believe you''re willing to do this!"


    "Your respectful master Eclivel, can I ask you a question? Do you really need help killing an Advanced Apprentice? Can''t you just kill him straightaway? Could that bring you any consequences, unbearable even to you?" Clearly, Blake wasn''t an idiot. Without knowing the answer to this critical question, he wouldn''t want to become the gun held in someone else''s hand!


    "Because I still want to control that little vampire. She is the key sample to the next step in my blood research. Based on the relationship between her and that kid, if I do this myself, perhaps it would be extremely difficult for me to control her again." Mage Eclivel remained silent for a brief moment, before finally saying the reason.


    "With the combative ability that kid showed us yesterday, do you think I can defeat him?" Eclivel was never bothered by Mage Eclivel''s answer, instead, he quickly threw out the next question.


    "With my judgment, it is extremely difficult. If you''re fighting him alone, you''ll face an inevitable death. But, it seems you have formed an Worm controller Alliance. If you can bring in the strength of this alliance, perhaps it will be enough."


    "But, by doing all these, what kind of benefits would I be getting? Instead, I''ll be offending Bleia, a Pseudo-Mage for no apparent reason!"


    "What if I say I can make you stronger?"


    "..."


    "I suppose your contracted partner is that Queen Bug? The queen of Carrion Beetle, hehe, you''re really lucky to bump into such a great fortune. It looks like you did have pretty good luck in the past!"


    "..."


    "Right now, probably you''re worrying about how to improve your overall strength. You have tied your life with that Queen Bug, as the result, not only do you have to fulfill the level up requirement by yourself, you also need to fulfill the level up requirement of the Queen of Carrion Beetle. With that, though the half-bug body has given you an advantage when facing an opponent of the same rank, the speed of progress has also dragged you down."


    "..." S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "How many Pseudo-Mages had you devoured in your training mission? One or two? Without such lucky encounters, there is no way you can become a Pseudo-Mage smoothly. So, what are you going to do after that? In order to level up as an Mage, how many Mages are you planning to devour?"


    "Master Eclivel, I''ve understood what you mean. So, with regards to my current situation, do you have any better suggestions?"


    "It is no doubt you have to strengthen yourself first!" With a disdainful voice, Eclivel gave his lecture, "Although currently, that Queen Bug is your contracted creature, and you two are sharing a life together, however, there is an issue of dominance that resides within your relationship. When you become stronger, naturally, it will be your best servant. But if it evolves faster than you, though there is no risk in terms of your life, but when it comes to the true master of this body, perhaps most of the time it will be controlled by the Queen Bug!"


    "Then, how can I strengthen myself even faster?"


    "Hehehe... kid, most probably you have forgotten that I turned Bleia into her current appearance! As long as you''re willing to participate in my magic spell experiment, I can promise you, I''ll give you an intrepid body that is not weaker than Bleia''s!"


    "I agree to this condition. What do you need me to do?"


    "First, I need a drop of blood from your Queen Bug! Only by obtaining its blood can I accurately concoct the mutated blood most suitable for your body constitution."


    After remaining silent and pondering for a long time, Blake finally nodded his head in aLeonent.


    And after obtaining Blake''s aLeonent, Mage Eclivel immediately urged him to hand over a drop of Queen Bug''s blood.


    Blake gritted his teeth and opened his lotus-shaped mouth, the bug resided inside once again poked out part of its body. Upon revealing itself, the bug immediately let out a miserable cry, causing the dark Carrion Beetles surrounded Blake to become restless and furious. But after forced by Blake, the Queen bug had no choice but opened its mouth and spat out a drop of strange liquid, which was extremely stinky and sticky.


    The air within the secret room briefly vibrated. When the drop of liquid left the mouth of Queen Bug, before it could reach the ground, a spatial ripple appeared at the right time cupping it from below. A bright light of teleportation flashed through the room, the liquid had disappeared in a strange manner.


    Blake''s compound eyes flickered. Obviously, he was frightened by how tight a control Mage Eclivel had on the tower.


    "Kid, you have made a wise decision! Alright, with this thing, I''ll be able to concoct a mutated blood soon. Once you have also owned the bloodline of a vampire, that will be the moment for you to shine!"


    Sensing that Mage Eclivel''s powerful Spirit had gradually withdrawn from the secret room, only then Blake blended himself back into the vast darkness. Within the dark shadow where no one could peek through, the chirping of beetle could be heard without end, no one knew what was the contents of the violent communication between Blake and the Queen Bug.


    The entire space was filled with a ghastly and wicked atmosphere!


    ...


    After returning to his residence, Leon once again dwelled into the secluded lifestyle he used to have.


    Deep meditation, reading books, magic spell experiments... All these boring yet fixed routine had filled up his daily life. For some unknown reasons, a deep sense of danger had been enveloping Leon''s body and soul, urging him to keep accumulate knowledge and strengthening himself.


    He had a feeling, if he didn''t put in all his effort to run faster, some frightening events would happen on him. Although it was tough to explain where or who these dangers would come from, Leon believed in his instincts without a shadow of the doubt. And he had put out real action as preventive measures.


    Also, the magic spell study he carried out in succession had brought him tremendous benefits. Having been organized and classified by the Chip, all those magic spell books he had read in the past had transformed into the mystical knowledge that he could use at anytime he wanted. The vacancy of his elementary knowledge about Fire element magic spell had now been filled up.


    Therefore, unknowingly, both Inferno Shield and Inferno Force Field had become skills in his bag, while the mastery of Inferno Body had increased to 41% from 37%.


    Strictly speaking, currently, the fundamental knowledge in Fire element that Leon had was not weaker than that of any official Mage''s!


    ...


    2069 Words

 Chapter 124 - 124: Shop

    Since the last compulsory mission had been completed, the Swampy Tower was like a clogged up water channel that had suddenly opened up. In a natural way, the fresh water from the outside world started to influence the life within the isolated world.


    And obviously, Mage Eclivel wasn''t happy to see such changes. However, when he was faced with the will of the entire Zhentarim Association, which was a clan that even the Third Grade Mage from Sarubo Family dared not disobey, there was just nothing he could do to change the situation!


    Therefore, when the apprentices that had attended the training mission made their return, the Mission Hall of the Swampy Tower, which had not been used for a very long time, once again opened up. Every day, the mission board placed in the hall refreshed with countless new missions, from advanced missions like hunting feral demons of Mage level, which only Pseudo-Mage could participate in, to petty missions like gathering resources, expelling demons, and investigating abnormal events. It all refreshed in real-time.


    Put it this way, even at the center of the continent, the well-developed region and the priBleia colony of human society, every day there would be hundreds of thousands of bizarre incidents happening. Either it was the discovery of demon traces near a small town located at the border, or a village near the wilderness was attacked by some unknown beings, or some expedition team had discovered an uncultivated resource site.


    Without exception, whenever something like this happened, the Zhentarim Association would bring the matter in, and announce a time-limited mission to all the Apprentice Mages within the entire central region of the continent. With this method, they could bring all the apprentices within the center region into play. Not only could they train these apprentices, they could also solve the problem occurring at the border of their territory. In another way, they used these apprentices to shoulder the heavy burden of defence missions instead of official Mages.


    Leon could hole himself up in his residence and improve the foundation of his magic spells bit by bit. But, Bleia and Snorlax couldn''t behave like that. Hence, during this time, they were like prisoners who had bloodshot eyes, hanging around all day inside of the Mission Hall, quietly filtering through the missions and finding ones they like the most.


    After all, Bleia had taken the path of a Bloodline Mage, and it would slow her progress to just rely on the accumulation of magic spell knowledge. Only by constantly devouring the blood of experts would ensure her quick progress. Therefore, she had shown enthusiasm when picking her missions, and she had been working hard in completing them. Within just a month, she completed two missions and earned herself twenty merit points.


    But it was too bad that all the missions she chose were located within the perimeter of the Swampy Tower. It was a region where human society was well-developed. Though sometimes demons intruded into the place, it was just impossible to have any Pseudo-Mage level monsters. Therefore, she had no alternative but to look for a distant location.


    Very soon, a suitable mission jumped into her eyes.


    At the Timbermaw Hold, located seven thousand miles away, a camp of Lycanthropes who moved from the depths of the jungle was suddenly discovered. Therefore, the local authority had announced a mission to recruit Pseudo-Mage or Advanced Apprentice and was preparing to eliminate this camp.


    When Bleia enthusiastically invited Leon to join her in this mission, she was turned down straightaway.


    As an Element Apprentice who prepared to take the path of Focused Fire Element, Leon felt he needed to be more focused on the mission of his choice. Last time, he had gained tremendous benefit by soaking himself inside the underground lava pool in the Underground Cave region, so he wished to find another place which had a similar environment like the volcano, so he could make further progress with his Inferno Body.


    He had a feeling that in order for him to advance into the realm of official Mage steadily and surely, the Inferno Body played a very important role.


    Fortunately enough, on the third day after Bleia left excitedly, Snorlax, who had been spending all day in the Mission Hall, rushed back to Leon. The mission that suited him the most had appeared!


    It was a mission to gather resources, which had a rather low risk, and the location of the mission was right within a volcano which would erupt on a fixed interval. Cotopaxi Volcano was located near the border, east of the Sidney region. It was a place rich in Fire Diamonds of premium quality, and was one of the main incomes for the local Mage Family. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Cotopaxi Volcano was a very powerful active volcano. Out of the twelve months in a year, it would be in a dangerous active period for nine months. During this period, even Mages wouldn''t risk their life by stepping into it. Only during the three-month resting period would the Cotopaxi Volcano calm down slightly and give the nearby Mage Family a chance to harvest the Fire Diamond that could be found underneath it.


    Even during the resting period of the volcano, the temperature inside was still incredibly high. Also, as most of the Fire Diamonds were found at the edge of lava pool or floating inside of the pool, no ordinary humans could harvest them, and only Advanced Apprentices who had element resistance could achieve this seemingly impossible mission.


    Therefore, in order to increase the productivity of Fire Diamonds during this resting period, aside from sending their own family members to harvest the Fire Diamonds, the local Mage Family would also announce a mission publicly. Any apprentice that entered the Cotopaxi Volcano just needed to submit a fixed portion of Fire Diamonds at the end of their mission, and they could keep the rest as a reward for their mission.


    As a result, every year before the volcano entered its resting period, it also was the time to announce this mission!


    Leon rushed to the Mission Hall. Without hesitation, he immediately undertook the mission of harvesting Fire Diamonds. Looking at the message of the mission, it was only open to twenty apprentices and Leon was the nineteenth apprentice who undertook the mission. Nearly at the same time that he accepted the mission, it disappeared from the mission board.


    The quota of twenty apprentices had been completely filled up!


    The mission required Leon to report to the mission site located in the Sidney region within fifteen days. Time was pressing, so Leon immediately started to arrange all the necessary matters.


    The first issue was how to settle Snorlax.


    Snorlax had a timid and cowardly character, which made it not fit for a fighter''s position. Instead, it showed great interest in becoming a goblin merchant. For this reason, Leon decided to leave Snorlax in the Swampy Tower and gave it all of the resources he wouldn''t be using temporarily.


    The magical gemstones he had brought back from the Underground Cave, the magical equipment he stripped from the dead bodies of Fallen Apprentices, and the remaining four Mind Concentrating Potions he had ¨C none of them fit in the path Leon was currently taking. So he simply handed them to Snorlax, making them the highest quality treasures for the newly opened Goblin Shop.


    In the eyes of the Pseudo-Mages that came from some big family, perhaps the items were worth nothing. But when they were placed in Swampy Tower, a place where all resources were scarce, nearly on the first day that the Goblin Shop opened for business, it became a mystical place passionately sought after by all Beginner and Intermediate apprentices.


    Mind Concentrating Potions?!


    What kind of miraculous item were they? Why they never heard of it before? A bottle of it could bring an increment of 0.5 ¨C 0.7 in their Spirit? This... how could such miraculous magical potions exist in the world?


    As for the side effects of the Mind Concentrating Potion, in the eyes of the apprentices who could go to every extent just to improve their overall strength, it was simply nothing! After all, inside of the Swampy Tower, through their daily meditation, most Apprentice Mages could only obtain a tiny fraction of increase in their Spirit.


    In the end, only a handful of apprentices could enter a deep meditation state every single time like how Leon was able to. Thus, an increment of 0.5 in Spirit would also mean three months of restless meditation for most of them.


    In the past, they had to laboriously meditate for three months in order to achieve the same result, but now, it could be obtained with just one single bottle of potion. How could a miraculous result like this not attract their craziness?


    Unfortunately, the high price of it had made them shrink back at the sight of it, and they could only jealously watch as Fatal shot purchased all four Mind Concentrating Potions in one go.


    Clearly, the results brought by the Mind Concentrating Potion to an Advanced Apprentice weren''t as significant as when it was used by an Intermediate Apprentice, however, for Evan, any tiny bit of increment in his Spirit was extremely valuable. It was because he had eighteen points in his Spirit now. So long as he could increase it just by a little bit, perhaps he could become a Pseudo-Mage.


    Most of the Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices couldn''t get their hands on a top grade product like Mind Concentrating Potions, but their eyes were dazed by the dazzling arrays of magical resources and materials. Perhaps Leon only put his concern towards the Fire element magical equipment he could use but Snorlax was never picky.


    Using the first pot of gold it had saved, Snorlax purchased a lot of local products from the Underground Cave. Now, by putting them on display in its own Goblin Shop, they immediately attracted a crazy spending spree from the apprentices within the tower.


    Ironwood Branch that brought the effect of +1 in the speed of vitality restoration, the Mantle of Intelligence that brought the effect of +1 in the speed of Spirit restoration, Ogre Gauntlets that brought the effect of +1 in Strength, Boot of Haste that brought +1 in Agility, Minor Antidote, Gem of True Sight that could detect any invisible creature...


    Although the magical equipment wasn''t of a high grade, they were perfectly suitable to be used by Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices, and their price was within a range they could afford. As the result, once they were put on sale, a great rush for them broke out within the Swampy Tower.


    With that, Snorlax was catapulted into the limelight!


    A Goblin that was able to possess such a ''massive'' fortune, of course, it attracted jealousy from outsiders. However, anyone with a sensible mind would know that behind this goblin was a Pseudo-Mage and an Advanced Apprentice. So long as their brain wasn''t damaged by fever, they would know that by offending this goblin, they would also provoke the Bloody Queen and the frightening malefic Leon.


    Therefore, after settling with Snorlax, Leon packed his luggage and left Swampy Tower without alerting anyone.


    If Leon traveled 7000 miles by foot or coach, he would be lucky to arrive at the mission site before the mission ended. So, after Leon left the Magical Swamp, he found himself a public flying site at the nearest city.


    There, he could get a ride on a flying boat!


    The so-called flying boat was a vehicle that was at least few times inferior to the flying ship used by the Mage Association. However, it was the most common and convenient method of travel within the center region of the continent. When Leon saw the flying boat for the first time, his facial muscle twitched uncontrollably.


    This... wasn''t this the hot air balloon back on Earth in his previous life?


    A huge, long, cigar-shaped balloon was floating above. Apparently, it was made from the leather of a unique demon beast. A large cabin was hanging under the balloon: the bottom level was used to house cargo while the upper level was the place where the travelers would stay. Nevertheless, it did send forth a mystical aura.


    Of course, the fee of riding the flying boat wasn''t cheap either, and ordinary cargo wouldn''t be shipped using the flying boat. Same goes with the travelers. The only ones who could afford to rent a whole room on the flying boat and experience a luxurious and romantic flying trip would be either the nobles from human society, rich merchants who traveled between places, or Apprentice Mages who were rushing to different mission sites.


    ....


    2128 words

 Chapter 125 - 125: Volcano

    Palmyra Town was the resource supply point nearest to Cotopaxi Volcano.


    It was also the place where all visiting apprentices reported for duty.


    When Leon arrived at the town, riding on a leisurely moving coach from the outpost, it was dinner time.


    Palmyra Town was a remote but not quite desolate town. It was not a big town, and there was only a main street that cut through the center of it. It was a small place where one could glance over the entire town just by standing at the street corner.


    Dozens of wooden houses were built along both sides of the main street. Just with one look, one could tell they were all ordinary folk houses. In addition to that, there was also a tavern, a grocery shop, and a shabby, wet, little hostel. Together with a population of around a hundred, that was everything one could find in this tiny town!


    Right after Leon came down from the coach, he vaguely heard a loud yet muffled noise that kept coming from the volcano located in the far distance. The noise didn''t come at random intervals but had always lingered in Leon''s ears ever since he had approached the region. When at the outer perimeter, it wasn''t that clear, and was just like the muffled thunder one could hear in the wilderness during winter. But, when he came into this tiny town, he was immediately amazed by the mightiness of Mother Nature.


    This, perhaps, was the noise caused by the restless underground activity of the volcano!


    At the thought that the residents of the town had to live in such an environment year in and year out, Leon just couldn''t hold down his curiosity. What was the reason behind them willingly enduring such a harsh environment and staying in this place?


    Although currently, the resting period of Cotopaxi Volcano was approaching, the dense dust cloud was still bursting out from the crater that was located in a far of distance at high altitude. The town was built fewer than seven miles from the foot of the volcano and because of volcanic activity the sky was forever hazy. No matter if it was outside or inside the town, whether it was in the buildings or on the stony pavement, everything was blanketed with a thick layer of volcanic ash.


    Inside the hostel, there was an Advanced Apprentice waiting for Leon. His name was Ivan. Judging from the badge pinned on the chest of his gray long robe, he came from the local Mage Family, the Zuber Family. The Cotopaxi Volcano was a family resource site they owned and no visiting Mage could step into the volcano without getting their permission prior.


    When Ivan saw Leon was just an Advanced Apprentice, he could hardly believe it and was unable to hold down his emotion. Then, with a cold voice, he said, "Even during the resting period, the inner area of the volcano isn''t a safe place. It is filled with terrifyingly hot airflow and Magmakin. Are you sure you can survive in a place like that?"


    In an indifferent manner, Leon ran his eyes around the main hall of the hostel. He then casually waved his hand a few times in the air, revealing a magical talisman burning with fire element hovering in midair. Of course, his behavior attracted the eyes of everyone at the scene. The people who were sitting around the six to seven tables in the hall immediately turned their gazes over to him.


    Honestly speaking, after Leon had stepped over the threshold of the Inferno Body and after he was injected with the energy from the underground lava pool, his more than two-meter tall body was rather offending to the eyes. Yet, his long, dark red hair, and the reserved aura of cruelty and brutality had also given him an extraordinary bearing that could easily attract people''s gazes.


    "Eh, so you''re a Fire Element Apprentice! Then the hard underground environment will bring little effect to you. So long you can avoid those hateful Magmakin, perhaps, you can pay a visit to a deeper area!" Ivan nodded his head, took out a white stone, and handed it over to Leon.


    It was the visiting permit for him that allowed him to enter the inner area of volcano a few days later!


    "Go and talk with them! All the people you find in this hall are visiting apprentices who have come here for the mission. If you can form a team with them, it will be easier for you to complete the mission!" Since he had discovered that Leon was a Fire Element Apprentice, Ivan displayed a warmer reception.


    Leon nodded his head to express his understanding and then slowly walked toward the hall, gradually gazing at all of the unfamiliar faces who were chitchatting across the tables in low voices. At the end, he decided to sit at a table alone.


    For this underground trip, his primary goal was to complete his Inferno Body, and he wasn''t too eager to get the rewards of the mission. Therefore, he had no intention to form a team with other apprentices. That was also why he had been putting up a cold look upon his arrival. It prevented any strangers from talking with him, as he wanted to avoid any unnecessary trouble.


    All Apprentice Mages were acute observers. Since Leon had put up an invisible barrier around him, naturally, no one would come and bother him. Meanwhile, Leon took the opportunity to slowly observe the entire situation around this group of apprentices, so that he could make any necessary preparations for future.


    The main hall of the small hostel wasn''t big and it was dim. There were approximately seventeen Apprentice Mages; only two of them were Pseudo-Mages and the rest were the same as Leon, Advanced Apprentices. In fact, this demographic matched the characteristics of this mission.


    In order to harvest the resources at the underground volcano, on one hand, they had to endure the influence from the extreme environment, on the other hand, they had to deal with Magmakin, Fire Spirits, and other elemental creatures who inhabited the place. Therefore, Advanced Apprentice was the lowest requirement for this mission!


    Leon came to a conclusion, that among all these Advanced Apprentices, more than half of them must have Fire as their affinity element. While the rest of them may not be Fire element apprentices, they would be fellows with extreme confidence in themselves. And, the reason why there were so few Pseudo-Mages? It was because resource harvesting missions like this depended largely on one''s luck.


    If they were lucky, they might bump into a Fire Diamond mine that was exposed after the lava subsided. But, if they were out of luck, the story of someone returning with empty hands after three months of the mission was not a rare occasion either.


    At that point in time, not only would they not receive any mission rewards, they even had to compensate the portion of resources required by the mission from their own stores.


    Therefore, if not for a special need, no Pseudo-Mage would visit the underground volcano and test their luck.


    After getting hold of the rough situation of the mission''s apprentices, Leon hurried through a meal before he went in his own room and never came out again. He had arrived rather early, and there were still five days before the resting period of the volcano. So, for the next few days, he never stepped out from the room and even asked the servant to send his meals straight to his room.


    Using the few days of spare time he had, Leon put in all his effort and arduously researched about the Ring of Fire. He had a feeling that the advanced Fire element defensive magic spell was the perfect match to his Inferno Body. If he could master it sooner, it was highly possible that he could form a Protective Flame similar to that of a Balrog of Abyss. If he really succeeded, anyone who tried to attack him would have to first suffer from constant fire damage. It fit better with his treacherous mentality of killing the enemy in the dark.


    During this period, there were a couple of Apprentice Mages who paid him a visit, trying to pull him into their exploration teams. Leon turned all of them down. Therefore, after a few rounds of rejections, all of the Advanced Apprentices who would visit the underground volcano had learned about the guy who had the intention of visiting the volcano alone.


    As they were all able to become Advanced Apprentices, none of them were people with simple minds. They realized that a guy who had the courage to do that was someone who had extreme confidence in his trump cards. As a result, no one made any thoughtless comments about him. However, many of them were secretly waiting to see some shit happen to Leon!


    Soon, the day everybody was waiting for arrived!


    On this very day, the loud rumble that kept lingering in everybody''s ears finally came to a complete stop.


    The towering dust pillar in the far distant sky started to scatter and the shower of volcanic dust that had never stopped also reduced gradually and eventually came to a complete stop.


    Leon, who was quietly studying a book in his room, felt the changes in the outside world. He pushed open the wooden window pane and looked into the street. Without hesitation, he packed everything around him and walked out from the room. Similar to him, many apprentices prepared themselves, and they nodded their head at each other in the corridor as they gathered in the main hall of the hostel.


    Ivan, who was responsible for leading the group, was waiting in the main hall.


    After another fifteen minutes, when all twenty apprentices had arrived, the group left the hostel, following behind Ivan as they rushed to the foot of the volcano.


    For this group of Apprentice Mages, a distance of seven to eight miles was nothing. In less than fifteen minutes, the group came to a natural cave located halfway up the volcano. Two Pseudo-Mages from Zuber Family were waiting for them here. After verifying everybody''s visiting permit, only then did they let them into the cave.


    It was not a big cave and it only occupied around seventy square meters of area. Inside the cave, countless rocks with sharp edges and limestone were arranged in a crisscross pattern. Most probably, it was the tunnel that led to the depth of the volcano, as no moss, lichen or any similar things could be found here. Large cracks and deep trenches filled the wall on the both sides, and frequently, hot airflow that could cook a person instantly would burst out from them.


    Perhaps because the underground lava had just subsided not long ago, even the ground in the cave was boiling hot. The air inside of the tunnel was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur. Without a unique approach, when an ordinary human stayed in this dirty air for more than ten minutes, his body would be invaded by the poisonous fire, turning his trachea and lungs into a sack full of blood.


    But, no hardship in this environment could bring any harm to the apprentices who had the courage to visit the place. One after another, protective barriers of different colors emerged and covered them inside, isolated from any distraction coming from the outside. Leon didn''t show off his Inferno Body, but instead cast an Inferno Force Field around him.


    Quietly, he looked to the left and right, noticing eight apprentices had cast a similar Fire element defensive magic spell. They occupied nearly half of the entire twenty apprentices. Yet, the rest of them were either Earth or Wind element apprentices, and he couldn''t find any Water element apprentices. Presumably, those apprentice with Water as their affinity element wouldn''t want to suffer in an environment like this. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Compared to other spectrums of the element, when residing in a harsh environment like this, not only those Water element apprentices would have a hard time in gathering Water Elementiums, the strength and effect of their magic spell would also be reduced by at least seventy percent. So long their brain was functioning properly, none of them would come to this place and torture themselves!


    When the group arrived at this place, they split up into their own smaller teams.


    Few apprentices who had formed a team gathered together, and the Fire element apprentice among them cast a Fire element resistance spell on everyone in the team. After that, they simply squeezed into the tunnel without saying anything else. The residual temperature within the tunnel was still very high. In a narrow space like this, if they encountered an unexpected hot airflow burst of a major scale, even Advanced Apprentices would have to face a life-endangering situation.


    Therefore, after wishing everyone good luck, the group split up and entered different tunnels, disappearing into the depths of the volcano.


    Leon noticed that the Apprentice Mages from the Zuber Family didn''t follow any visiting apprentices into the tunnel. It looked like they were more familiar with the terrain of this area, and they had a more convenient destination to visit. There was no need to try their luck by poking around like the visiting apprentices.


    Leon shook his head and sighed. Then, he scrunched his body and squeezed into one of the lava tunnels.


    .


    2258 Words

 Chapter 126 - 126: Spa

    Compared to the Underground World at the Underground Cave region, the volcanic cave in this place was more dangerous and frightening.


    All the tunnels were created by the violent geologic activity of the volcano, they were actually cracks and channels made for lava to flow freely. Thus, it was a place filled with uncertainty.


    Perhaps, when you were walking in the middle of a red-hot tunnel, a sudden burst of hot air from a crack in the wall could bake you into a pile of charred bones. You might also take a wrong step and fall into a bottomless valley, eventually diving into a lava pool that could melt you entirely in seconds.


    Though the volcano had gradually entered its resting period, at some random areas, violent geologic activity still existed. And if the sudden sinking of strata happened right next you, it was most probable that you would be crushed into meat paste by the cave that suddenly closed up or by the shifting of the stratum.


    Therefore, when walking around in a place like this, one would really have to pay extra attention to the stability of the surrounding rock strata.


    Absolute safety never existed here, each and every single apprentice had to be extreme cautious, so that they could avoid getting themselves dragged into sudden changes of the terrain.


    However, danger not only came from the shifting of terrain in this volcano, most of it were actually coming from the unique creatures that inhabited this region ¨C Fire Spirits, Lava Hounds, Fire Lizards, Flame Imps, Guardian of Flames... one could easily find more than dozens of Fire element creatures that were named here, yet, there were still countless unnamed creatures hiding in every corner of the place.


    These Fire element creatures who lived by fire and feasted on fire had called this volcano their home, constructing a unique food chain in this world of lava. Of course, the ones who stood on top of the food chain would certainly be the dreadful Molten Giants. They were like a group of flaming giants who possessed a high intelligence, and owned some frightful element abilities that were not weaker than human Mages.


    It was a pity that they were overly dependent on the environment to live their lives, as once they left the world of volcanoes, their overall strength would be slowly, but constantly reduced. Therefore, all Molten Giants lived in the deepest areas of this underground volcano, and could hardly be seen in the outside world. With the abilities of ordinary Apprentice Mages, it was insufficient for them to visit such a deep area within the world of volcano, thus, it was nearly impossible for them to bump into each other.


    And yet, the ones who took the place at the bottom of this food chain would most probably be those disgusting Flame Imps. They look similar to Goblins, but their skins were red. Also, they didn''t have any flesh or blood, but were a product mixed from balls of source flames and some broken consciousnesses.


    They would shuttle back and forth between lava tunnels while chattering like magpies, searching everywhere for the area dense with Fire Elementiums. They would also attack any outsiders who intruded into the areas where they were residing, and their attack methods were rather primitive ¨C by shooting fire arrows. Once they realized they couldn''t defeat their opponent, they would simply dive into a random lava pool or hot flame and flee to another place within split seconds.


    If a treasure hunter let a Flame Imp escape in front of him, then within a very short period of time, his surroundings would be flooded by a swarm of Flame Imps.


    But, these Flame Imps were extremely poor. When you exhausted all mental efforts and eliminated them, what you would most probably get was a pile of volcanic ash, and there wouldn''t be any other war trophies you could find. On this point alone, the value of Flame Imps was far lower than that of Fire Spirits. Though Fire Spirit were also stood at the bottom of the food chain in this volcano world, once they were eliminated, you could at least obtain some broken element cores, far better than Flame Imp who gave nothing.


    Flame Imps possessed the abilities of Fire Arrow and Fire Teleportation, if they were placed in the outside world, they would be a nasty type of element creature. However, in this volcanic world where everything had a very strong fire resistance, their bizarre abilities were useless when using against other fire element creatures.


    And this, was the root cause as to why they were reduced to the bottom of the food chain!


    Leon chose not to travel with others. Alone, he squeezed into one of the lava tunnels and ran with quick steps through the passage that led downwards. There weren''t any straight paths in this place, and no tunnels with regular shapes could be seen either. Every path would wind and twist following the changes in the terrain, and there were many forks along the way.


    This world of volcano was like an enormous beehive, the paths within were rough and rugged, and between each tunnel were caves of different sizes. When walking in this place, if one didn''t have any method to identify his way, it was really easy to get trapped in this gigantic maze, and eventually be killed by the heat after depleting all food and water.


    Nevertheless, this was not a problem for Leon at all. Not only that, the deeper he traveled into the world of volcano, the more active and restless the blood and flesh of his entire body became. They were rejoicing and cheering for how dense the Fire Elementium in this place were. Even without putting up an element protection, the misty red glow lingering about his body would never bring any harm to him, instead, they actually brought him some benefits.


    But, for the sake of appearances, he had to put up his Inferno Force Field, so that his clothes wouldn''t be burned off by the high temperature. After all, he was a human, and he didn''t have the habit of running naked like those Fire element creatures!


    He had no map, yet he didn''t need one. Leon never showed any hesitation when he arrived at all forks on his way, he just kept striding forward and heading deep underground. In fact, the beacon that guided his way was the density of the Fire Elementiums in the air! He hadn''t come here for treasure hunting, but to go to a ''spa''. Thus, wherever Fire Elementium were denser, he would head that way.


    The twists and turns in passages might fool him, but the Fire Elementium hovering in the air would never lie to him. Hence, without missing any turns, he arrived in front of a small lava pool.


    This place was not considered the depths of the volcano world; it was just a sunken region that existed naturally. Thus, after most of the molten lava subsided back into the underground, a small portion of it was trapped in this hole, forming a small lava pool.


    Right now, a group of Flame Imps and a Lava Hound were seen gathering in this place, swimming and floating in the lava pool, and pouring the boiling hot lava onto their body happily.


    Within this group of monsters, it was obvious that the Lava Hound had a higher status, as alone it had occupied nearly half the space. While the rest of the Flame Imps could only squeeze together on the other side of the pool, none of them daring to step closer to the Lava Hound.


    When they saw that a human had suddenly come through the tunnel and stood in front of them, the Lava Hound, who had a very strong sense of territory, became the first to jump out from the lava pool, blocking Leon. It slightly crouched down its body, opened up its huge mouth where scorching hot flame could be seen dancing inside, and let out a deep growl in a threatening manner.


    So, this was the Lava Hound?


    Leon stopped, blue light could be seen flickering in his dark eyes, as he kept scanning on the internal structure of this peculiar creature in front.


    It was a Fire element creature whose size similar to that of a tiger''s back on Earth in his previous life. Most parts of its body were molded from boiling hot half-molten lava, and scorching hot flames enshrouded the surface of its body. When this Lava Hound opened its ferocious mouth and howled at Leon, the searing lava that dripped from its sharp fangs could even pierce small holes on the ground.


    This was a sign that the lava found on its body was stronger than that found in the natural world, and the Fire Elementium soaking in them was more violent and more corrosive.


    A moment later, the biological information about this creature as scanned by the Chip was projected into Leon''s mind.


    Lava Hound. A unique half-element creature of the Underground Volcano World.


    Overall strength level: Intermediate Apprentice.


    Body Attribute: Strength ¨C 9, Agility ¨C 13, Physique ¨C 10, Spirit ¨C 8.


    Abilities: High-speed Charge, Flaming Jump, Flame Throw, Ferocious Bite.


    Part of this information was constructed after analyzing the body structure of the Lava Hound, while the other was supplemented by the information found in books. When both informations merged, all its secrets were completely revealed in front of Leon.


    Though the Chip labeled this Lava Hound as having the overall strength of an Intermediate Apprentice, in this unique environment, an ordinary Intermediate Apprentice would find it tough to defeat it.


    Right when Leon had found out all the secrets of this Lava Hound, his silence had completely provoked the creature.


    The powerful hind leg of Lava Hound forcefully kicked on the ground, catapulting its large body into the air and leaping towards Leon and forcefully slammed into the Fire Shield that Leon had just summoned. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A deep, muffled boom echoed out.


    The Lava Hound''s body brushed the Fire Shield and dodged to Leon''s sides, with just a twist of its heavy and agile body, it had once again repositioned itself, and leapt towards the opponent once again. Yet right at this very moment, four vividly deep claw marks hadn''t completely faded away from the Fire Shield.


    The Lava Hound forcefully slammed onto the Fire Shield once again!


    This time, the Fire Shield could no longer withstand the attack from the flaming claws and the powerful impact coming from the heavy body of Lava Hound. With a loud rumble, it exploded into fragments of fire that shot in all directions.


    Following the waving movement of the Fire Lord''s Scepter in Leon''s hand, a new Inferno Shield popped up from his body, knocking back the Lava Hound who had taken the opportunity to launch another attack.


    Leon frowned. It looked like the Fire Shield of Beginner Apprentice level could hardly help in the current battle of such magnitude. Even an ordinary Lava Hound could break it with just two rounds of attack. Presumably, if he was facing with stronger Fire element creature, this Fire Shield wouldn''t be stronger than a soap bubble.


    Yet, the Inferno Shield had proved itself to be the upgraded version of Fire Shield, as its defensive strength was at least five to six times stronger. Leon remained standing where he was, letting the Lava Hound continuously launch attack after attack. The Inferno Shield took nearly ten rounds of attacks before its energy was depleted to a stage of near collapse.


    Through his experiences from the battle, Leon modified some necessary parameters of his strategy. After that, he had no mood to keep ''playing'' with this Lava Hound anymore. An element core was tossed out, and a gigantic Rock Snake, nearly occupied half of the space in this cave, immediately poked its head out from the ground.


    Looking at this new intruder who appeared out of nowhere, the Lava Hound still leaped forward without caring about its own safety, wanting to defend its own territory to the last drop of its blood. But too bad, when facing against the Rock Snake, who had the advantage of a bigger body, the offensive ability which the Lava Hound was proud of was just a joke. Before it could bite off a few chunks of rock from the Rock Snake''s body, its body had fallen by the brutal bite of the Rock Snake, resulting in total disintegration of its body.


    After the Lava Hound''s body fell apart, from the lava rocks that scattered around, Leon picked up a Fire Stone that was still burning violently. This, was the only valuable thing he could find from the body of this Lava Hound!


    Leon stayed at where he was and examining the Fire Stone, while the Rock Snake continued its way and slithered towards the remaining Flame Imps.


    A shower of Fire Arrows fell onto the grayish green head of the Rock Snake, only managing to leave behind holes the size of a chicken egg. For the Rock Snake whose entire body made from hard rock, a damage like this could even be compared to a gentle tickle. It slithered in front of them, using its huge mouth to chomp, its long tail to slam, and its body to crush. Very soon, most of the Flame Imps were eliminated.


    Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, the rest of the Flame Imps quickly dove into the scorching flame dancing above the boiling lava pool, disappeared without a trace. Soon, the entire cave had finally become quiet!


    ...


    2276 Words

 Chapter 127 - 127: Deep

    Once peace and quiet returned to this place once again, those disturbing Fire element creatures had long left the scene.


    Dragging its heavy and long body, the Rock Snake was slithering around the outer perimeter and on high vigilance. Meanwhile, Leon took off all his clothes and while fully naked, walked into the lava pool step by step.


    The boiling molten lava quickly flooded to his ankles, then to his calves and then his thighs. Whenever a bubble stirred up by his movement broke, steaming hot airflow with the temperature of at least few hundred degrees would burst out from it. And yet, it seemed like Leon couldn''t feel anything, as he continued to march deeper into the pool, allowing the sticky and scorching hot lava to devour his body, and eventually, his head.


    Following the injecting of the frightful high temperatures into his body at a steady pace, Leon felt as if every single cell in his body was cheering and rejoicing. However, though the Fire element energy inside of his body was soaring at an incredible speed, he couldn''t felt the same pleasure he had last time, where both his body and Spirit were improving at the same time.


    As if... as if this lava pool was lacking a fundamental element that allowed his Inferno Body to progress.


    Leon stood up from the lava pool, wonderingly, he ran his eyes around the area. Finally, he couldn''t hold on anymore and asked out his question, "Chip, give this situation a thorough analysis. Tell me what is the reason that is preventing Inferno Body from continuing its progress?"


    In next second, countless messages of analysis rolled off his vision, and disappeared at the end, leaving behind only the final conclusion. The most possible reason why this lava pool couldn''t accelerate the progress of the Inferno Body was that it wasn''t connected to the volcano core located at the deepest level. This lava pool was just a small region of leftover lava after all the lava had subsided to the underground, and it had lost direct connection to the core of the lava.


    Seemed like it was meaningless for him to keep visiting the outer perimeter. Only by traveled deeper underground and finding the lava lake that directly connected to the core, would this trip be well worthwhile.


    Nevertheless, it didn''t mean by having a bath in this lava pool brought no benefit to him. Leon sent out his spirit and penetrated through the sticky and scorching lava, and very soon, he discovered some strange objects underneath the pool.


    Leon walked into the direction of South East within the pool, using Inferno Force Field he pushed away the surrounding lava, exposing the red-hot pool wall. He passed the Fire Lord''s Scepter to his left hand, while gathering some violent Fire element energies on his right hand. Then, he forcefully pierced his right hand into the spongy pool wall.


    When he pulled his right hand out from the wall, a chicken-egg-sized rock was seen tightly gripped in his palm. Following the injecting of raging Fire element energy, the outer layer of the rock started to melt like hot wax, eventually, revealing a dazzling red glow together with a sizzling heat wave.


    An underground Fire Diamond!


    It had only been the size of a human thumb. Judging from its color, it was merely an intermediate quality Fire Diamond. However, just an ordinary Fire Diamond like this could be sold at a hefty price of 120 magic crystals in any arcane shop. Also, for all Apprentice Mages who visited deep into the volcano, they just needed to submit five similar Fire Diamonds, and they would be considered as fulfilling the portion of resources required by the mission. As for any other things they harvested, they could be treated as personal rewards for the apprentice.


    Since this place brought him no significant help, Leon had no intention of staying any longer. He hurriedly put on his clothes, took the Rock Snake and rushed to the next destination with a high density of Fire Elementiums.


    One hour later, there was still not a single soul in this underground cave, but, bizarrely, a light sound of footsteps suddenly echoed out.


    A moment later, a vague figure with the shape of a human was revealed within the boiling heat wave right beside the edge of the lava pool.


    This was a young male with a long brown hair hanging loosely on his shoulders. He had a somber and stern face. Mystical and profound magical runes were seen fully drawn on his exposed neck, giving him a touch of wickedness.


    He was one of the visiting Pseudo-Mages who Leon paid special attention to previously.


    He seemed startled right when he arrived at the cave. As a Pseudo-Mage, he always acted alone, as he felt disdain to be in the same group as those rookies. Relying on his strange ability of invisibility, most of the Fire element creatures in this place couldn''t find any trace of him, allowing him to avoid most of the unnecessary battles, eventually arriving at this cave smoothly.


    However, from the burning fragments of lava rocks left over by the Lava Hound, and the volcanic ashes of the Flame Imps, together with the traces found on the ground left behind by some large crawling creature from the surface, he came to a conclusion that this place was visited by someone else before.


    Quietly, Tamora stood at the edge of the lava pool with his back straight, using his spirit to give the surroundings a quick scan. He found nothing. It looked like even if there were creatures here, they had become the war trophies of the person who had come before him.


    How could it be possible that someone was faster than him? Could it have been the other Pseudo-Mage?


    Having his mind filled with questions, Tamora had no choice but made a last-minute change to his route. He didn''t want to follow behind another expert and feast on the crumbs from the table. He had three months of time, and it was more than enough for him to dig out sufficient magical crystals to support his two years of consumption.


    ...


    During the second half of his journey, Leon had stopped behaved timidly like he had previously, and became bold and enthusiastic.


    Sitting high up on the body of Rock Snake, he let it crush through one after another lava tunnel like a bulldozer. When a tunnel was large enough, they would charge through it. When a tunnel was too small, once the Rock Snake squeezed through, it would become big enough.


    Anyhow, with the self-repairing speed of Rock Snake, the mild scratching and damage on its body could cause no real damage to it.


    Throughout their journey, when they encountered some smaller sized Fire element creatures, the Rock Snake would simply crush them. If it were some middle-sized creatures, it would first forcefully slammed and break the creature''s body, then continued by crushing over it. As for the desperate counterattacks put out by these Fire element creatures, they could barely bring additional tiny wounds onto the Rock Snake''s body, let alone stop it from pushing through.


    Leon didn''t even bother to come down and pick the Fire Stones or broken cores that fell out from the bodies of these Fire element creatures. He just let the Rock Snake swallow them straightaway, and only when he needed to organize them in future, would he sort through and filter them slowly.


    Also, for every place with a high density of Fire Elementiums, basically there would be a big or small sized lava pool. The only thing Leon needed to do was using his spirit and penetrate through the sticky and scorching lava, and find out those Fire Diamonds buried deep inside of rock stratum or covered inside some of the hard rocks.


    Of course, occasionally, he would discover some other magical gemstones or unique metal ores.


    Then, in the course of marching forward at great speeds, Leon saw another common Fire element creature.


    Fire Spirit was considered the natural spirit that numbered the greatest in this world of volcano. Usually, they took the form of a humanoid flame that stood over one meter tall and could walk around freely. They didn''t have any eyes, ears, mouth, nose, or internal organs. Their bodies were totally made up of steaming hot fire, and they couldn''t be too far away from a lava pool.


    For these fellows who had no corporeal body and were just a collection of Elementium, the Rock Snake could easily crush them just with its heavy and rock solid body, saving the time of putting out an intense fight. And, from penniless vagrant like these, Leon would never find anything useful.


    Fire Lizards were a type of Fire element demon beasts. They did have flesh and blood, and similar to those ordinary large-scale lizards, they liked to hide in the dark and sneak up on their enemies. However, these underground Fire Lizard had rough skins and thick muscles, and they also possessed the ability to spit out flames from their mouth. Not only that, they also had excellent fire resistance. They had a habit of lurking at the edge of a lava pool, waiting for Fire element creatures to fall into their snare.


    The Fire Stones with a high density of Fire Elementium and the conscious cores found inside the bodies of Fire element creatures were their favorite food.


    Before came to this underground world, Leon already had an initial understanding about this world of volcano. In order to save the maximum amount of time, he had decided not to leave this place until the end time of the mission. With that, the issue Leon needed to solve urgently was regarding food and water.


    As for water, besides having a water sack in his storage waist belt, Leon could always collect it by gathering Water Elementiums. Although his element affinity was Fire and he was in a volcanic environment, which could be extremely tough to summon his Water Elementals, he could still solve his water issue easily.


    So, the next issue he needed to solve was food!


    The food Leon brought with him could only last him for one week. No matter how much more food he brought, it would be really difficult to keep it for a long time in such an extreme environment. Also, as Leon couldn''t consume fire as his food like how those Fire element creatures could, searching for a new food source in this underground world had become an inevitable task.


    Yet, in this world of volcano, only Fire Lizards who were made up of flesh and blood could be used as a food source. Nevertheless, the meat of Fire Lizards was tough and tensile, and its blood had a stinky odor and was hot. If not for the fact that the Fire element energy contained within would bring a tremendous benefit to his body, Leon would never torture his stomach with this nasty food. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Basically, these middle and small sized Fire element creatures couldn''t pose any threat to Leon. But, those Magmakins and Guardian of Flames who had a stronger overall strength were difficult to handle.


    Both Magmakins and Lava Hounds were actually two different creatures with the same foundation, it just that one of them took the shape of a human, while the other looked like a hound. When facing a Lava Hound, a Rock Snake could tear it apart with just a powerful slam and a ferocious bite. But when facing a Magmakin, the same tactic was completely useless!


    Magmakin was a humanoid monster who possessed an intermediate intelligence. The outer layer of its body was underground lava stone of all sizes, ordinary offensive magic spells could hardly penetrate this layer of extremely tough rock armor. Also, they were extremely cunning creatures, and would never act like the Lava Hounds who couldn''t even judge the overall strength between itself and its enemy.


    The Magmakin liked to tenaciously defend the lava pool it took it as its home, and would never allow any outsider took a step into its territory. Also, its offensive methods were rather similar to that of a Fire element Mage. For example, it would use an endless shower of spells ¨C Firestone Throwing, Ignite, Flamestrike or some other similar spells ¨C when it fought. Frequently, it would use these Fire element spells that blotted out the sky and turned the lava cave into a sea of fire.


    When Leon bumped into a fellow like this who hid in a far distance and kept launching long-range offensive magic spells, he had no choice but to command the Rock Snake to charge into the lava pool and engage the enemy in a melee fight. Though both Rock Snakes and Magmakins were Advanced Apprentice level creatures, as the Rock Snake had the advantage of a bigger body, it had a stronger strength compared to the opponent.


    A fierce melee battle would always break out within the lava pool. Eventually, the final victor would always be the Rock Snake, who had a bigger body, a greater strength, and a better Physique.


    Nevertheless, whenever an intense battle was over, the burly body of Rock Snake would always be slimmed down. After all, it was just an Earth element golem, thus, when fighting against the same grade opponent, in the opponent''s territory, just soaking its body in the lava pool would bring a huge damage to itself.


    Therefore, every time after it killed a Magmakin, the rounded and thick body of Rock Snake would always slim down by at least three times.


    The Rock Snake could defeat these Magmakins after a fierce fight, but when facing the Guardian of Flames, the outcome would be near impossible to predict.


    ...


    2305 Words

 Chapter 128 - 128: Lava ocean

    If the appearance of Magmakin could still be considered human-like, then the Guardian of Flames would be purely a Fire element creature who had reincarnated from an evil creature.


    It had a tall and ferocious stature. Countless sharp rock peaks or spikes had covered the entire surface of its body. It had a strength similar to that of the Rock Snake, hence, when it wielded its huge rock fists and fought against the Rock Snake, the entire lava cave would shake and sway violently.


    Two huge monsters clashed against each other, rolling on the floor and punching each other fiercely. The massive activity and noise produced by them was not weaker than a remarkable battle between two world-class monsters. Even Leon was forced to step back, so that he could avoid the flying debris and rocks that kept falling off from above.


    After nearly ten minutes of violently battling, the Rock Snake finally showed slight signs of defeat.


    After all, the rocky body of Rock Snake was temporarily molded using ordinary underground rocks. In comparison, the Guardian of the Flames'' steel body was made up of hard ore and special steel rocks it gathered from different places, when it was wandering in this underground world. Hence, when the Rock Snake lost its advantage in body size and strength, there was no way it could withstand attacks from a relentless opponent like this.


    For Leon, however, he always scored his victory through numerical superiority of his golems. Since he couldn''t defeat the enemy with one golem, then he could just send two of them together!


    As the result, a moment later, the second Rock Snake made its debut with a loud rumble.


    Following the debut of the second Rock Snake, the previously brutal and oppressive Guardian of Flames was defeated swiftly. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What to do? No matter how brutal and violent it was, there was no way it could withstand its body coiled up and trapped by one Rock Snake, while the other focused on biting at its head ferociously. Each Rock Snake had a clear task of their own, with their ingenious teamwork, they cut off the control this Guardian of Flames'' conscious core had on its body with one blow.


    A man would die when he lost his head; a snake would lose its direction when lost its head!


    Though this Guardian of Flames had the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage, once its conscious core was pulled out from its body, its gigantic body made from steel rock instantly became a mere skeleton and tumbled down within split seconds.


    Recently, Leon had been collecting Pseudo-Mage level Fire element core. However, it seemed pretty difficult to find something that could satisfy his requirement. One of the main reason was the toughness of these Fire element creatures!


    Taking this Guardian of Flames who he had just killed as an example. It owned an absolutely intrepid body made from steel rock, which ordinary magic spells could not harm at all. Along with that, it also possessed an array of powerful Fire element abilities and melee skills that brought despair to its opponent. When both of them combined together, even if a human Pseudo-Mage bumped into it, he would have to find a way to bypass this Guardian of Flames and wouldn''t waste his time and energy to risk his life and fight a fruitless battle.


    Therefore, when facing a frightening fire monster like this, excluding an official Mage who had the ability to kill them surely and steadily, among all Apprentice Mages, only those Pseudo-Mages who stood at the pinnacle could defeat it after suffering a mild degree of losses. Also, within the body of this Guardian of Flames, the only valuable item would be the Pseudo-Mage level conscious core. If these human Pseudo-Mages didn''t kill it swiftly and quickly with a thunderous approach, then it would be end up being a miserable event, as they usually would obtain a broken conscious core.


    All in all, because of these factors, the Pseudo-Mage level Fire element core had become scarce.


    However, with the help of two Rock Snakes, Leon had just obtained one smoothly. The joyful emotion in his mind had made his face melt into smiles.


    Currently, besides making a great effort in expanding his knowledge regarding magic spells, he had used the rest of his time to craft a team of golems that were loyal only to him, trying his best to standardize, quantify and systematize them.


    The most vital advantage of a team of golems was their numbers, then only came the comprehensiveness of their types and the cultivation of elite fighters. When having battles in different kinds of terrain, the combative ability put out by different types of golems could differ greatly.


    Like when he fought the Fairy in the Underground Cave region last time. If Leon only had Rock Snake, then even if he summoned a couple dozens of them, he wouldn''t be able to bring any harm to that Fairy who could fly in the sky. Thus, in a situation like that, the Lighting Giant had used its high-speed movement to its advantage and had put its fierce long-range firepower into play.


    But in today''s situation, no matter how powerful the Lightning Storm and high-voltage electricity of the Lightning Giant was, most probably, it also couldn''t penetrate the thick skin of the Guardian of Flames which was made from steel rock. Once element magic spells were useless against the enemy, the effect a peak Pseudo-Mage level Lighting Giant could bring wouldn''t be able to compare to that of a Rock Snake''s, who only had the overall strength of Advanced Apprentice.


    Thus, predictably, when he had to fight with an enemy on the surface of the ocean, the golems who could bring the maximum combative abilities would be those Water Elementals.


    For this reason, increasing the number of golems and diversifying their types had become the direction that Leon was arduously working on going towards recently.


    Leon already had a certain number of backups for Earth, Wind and Water element golems, and only the team of Fire element golems took forever to build. The main reason was the lack of Pseudo-Mage level Fire element cores. But after obtaining this Fire element core today, Leon had seen the light of hope in constructing his future army of Fire element golems.


    Therefore, under the deliberate control of Leon, two Rock Snakes slithered everywhere in the underground lava tunnel, one behind the other. When they came to an ordinary lava pool, they would just skip it without taking a second look, never wasting their time on those ordinary Fire element creatures, instead, they were focused and determined to hunt for Guardian of Flames.


    As the result, along their way of traveling deeper, besides obtaining two Fire Diamonds, seven Fire Stones and a large pile of different gemstones and ores, Leon also found himself four Pseudo-Mage level Fire element cores. And this, was the thing that made Leon go wild with joy!


    After running around madly for two days in this world of volcano, Leon merely passed through the shallow region of this place and set foot into the core region of this underground volcano for the first time. From this moment on, Leon couldn''t be as bold and as wild as before, because he had come to the habitat of those Molten Giants. Once he provoked them, even with the help of a team of powerful golems, the torture would be more than Leon could ever stand.


    Basically, a Molten Giant who had just been born would possess the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, while those adult Molten Giants were mighty existences comparable to human Mages. If not because their survival solely depended on the endless supply of Fire element energy from the underground volcano, perhaps there would be another species of Mages that would appear on the Mage Continent.


    Undoubtedly, there was an Mage level Fire element core found in the body of an adult Molten Giant, which was a rare treasure coveted even by Leon! But, dealing with Molten Giants wasn''t as simple as dealing with the Guardian of Flames. Though Guardian of Flames had a strong combative strength and a smart mind, they, after all, were living in the wild and were always alone. Thus, it was pretty easy for a group of apprentices to beat them in a group.


    Yet, the intelligence of these Molten Giants was not weaker than human Mages, and they had inhabited the core regions of the volcano in the form of a big clan. So, if any one of them was attacked, it would immediately attract a group of Molten Giants who came to help.


    At that point in time, it would not be the golem team who was beating the Molten Giant in a circle, but instead, them being circled by a swarm of Molten Giants!


    Whenever the vision of such terrifying scenes came into his mind, Leon just couldn''t help but tremble with fear.


    Upon entering the core region of the volcano world, the first thing Leon saw was a boundless ocean of lava. As if an enormous empty space suddenly opened up in the underground world, and the matters that filled this empty space was the slow-moving, sticky and glowing red hot molten lava.


    Throughout his journey in this place, Leon had witnessed countless lava pool of all sizes, however, this was the first time he saw a lava region where a vast amount of lava formed a boundless ocean.


    To be honest, when Leon took his first step out of the tunnel and saw the quiet, red hot ocean of lava, he nearly forgot how to breathe.


    Inside an enormous space stretched as far as eyes could see, an ocean made from steaming hot lava of black and red color was moving slowly. There was over one hundred meters of distance between the surface of the lava ocean and the cave ceiling, those thick flame jets frequently burst out, brightening the entire space, casting an unchanging tone of red in this place.


    Inside of this lava ocean, besides the molten lava which was at an astonishing temperature, there were also some rock blocks with peculiar shapes floating around. Some only was the size of a washbowl, some were the size of a house. They bobbed up and down in the molten lava like islands.


    Yet, on top of these big and small islands were numerous rock pillars with strange gemstones of different colors mounted in them, shimmering like stars in the night sky. Many of them were actually Fire Diamonds the size of a human fist. One could even find Fire Diamonds the size of a human head.


    As far as the eye could see, this lava ocean was virtually a massive magical treasury vault, lying quietly here, awaiting for one to visit.


    Nevertheless, the environment here was exceptionally dreadful.


    According to the Chip''s reading, the temperature at the border region of this lava ocean had approached one thousand degrees Celsius, yet the temperature at the inner region had reached a jaw-dropping two thousand degrees Celsius. In an environment such as this, once an apprentice lost the protection of his magic spell, even a Pseudo-Mage would face the fate of turning into a pile of charred bones in an instant.


    For Leon, he was relying on the double protection of his Fire Lord''s Scepter and Fire element affinity, only then was he able to survive in this harsh environment. Or else, not only would he be unable to dive into this lava ocean and cultivate, it would also be extremely tough for him to even get close to the region.


    Leon waved his hand and dispersed both Rock Snakes, then he picked up the two golem cores and put them away. After giving the surroundings a thorough examination and making sure it was safe, he hid all his equipment and clothes behind a pile of rocks. Then, with his jaw clenched tightly, he dove into the lava ocean.


    Painful... a pain that went straight into his heart!


    Right when he stepped into the lava ocean, the terrifying high temperature had brought a pain that nearly killed Leon instantly. It felt like his body was stabbed by hundreds of thousands of steel needles at the same time, the severe pain had clouded Leon''s conscious immediately.


    Like a fresh steak was placed on top of a frying pan, his skin and flesh was made sizzling noises inside of the boiling hot molten lava. Leon''s entire body was fuming with dark smoke and a burned smell started to linger in the air.


    Contrary to the torture his body was facing, Leon''s Spiritual Domain had shown an unprecedented activity. Like the flood that had just breached the dam, Fire element energies kept injecting into his body violently, washing and cleaning his body at a constant pace and at the same time, improving his Spiritual Domain bit by bit.


    Apparently, there were some mysterious, unidentified, and tough to capture elements that had entered Leon''s body together with the Fire element energies. They were strengthening Leon''s innate talent in the Fire element and forging a brand new Flame Body for him. This method of injecting energy was usually used by those Element Mages after they successfully advanced into the Mage realm, as once they had a powerful Spirit to control their body, only they could withstand the violent process of body modification.


    And this, was the inevitable course for an Element Mage to transform his body into Elementium completely. Only when his body and spirit were at the same frequency and essence, could he lay a solid foundation for the future, which was transforming his spirit into Elementium.


    So, when Leon, with the weak overall strength of an Apprentice Mage, tried to set foot in a territory that only official Mages could handle, it was inevitable that he had to suffer some torture!


    ...


    2329 Words

 Chapter 129 - 129: Enhancement

    Only by facing calamities could a person truly grow!


    At the edge of this lava ocean filled with infinite and copious fire energies, what Leon obtained was not only being able to gather the Fire element energy. His innate talent affinity to Fire element was like a stranded fish put back into the water, allowing him to sense the progress of his Inferno Body at every single second.


    If not because deep in his mind, the real-time data transmitted by the Chip was refreshing the progress of his Inferno Body continuously, perhaps Leon would have long given up and back off from the lava ocean, as he couldn''t endure the severe pain that made him feel like he was being cooked by the raging flames.


    Under the impact of an even more violent Fire element energies, the Inferno Body, which had stopped its progress since Leon had left the World of Deep Red in Underground Cave Region and had been stuck in the progress of 17%, started to skyrocket, placing him in both a state of pain and of joy!


    18%...


    19%...


    20%...


    ...


    ...


    The strengthening of his Fire element innate talent had also spurred the self-evolution of his corporeal body. Under the scrubbing from the raging Fire element energy, some internal organs, flesh and tissues that didn''t match with his Fire element innate talent were baked into coke and incinerated into ashes. Meanwhile, with the support of the powerful energy, new body parts had quickly regenerated, replacing the position of those old ones.


    Originally, this was a chaotic and disorderly process, and was basically carried out automatically by body instincts. However, with the refine control the Chip had over the body, Leon was able to overcome the severe pain he felt on his body, and focus his spirit on the balance between the speed of the Fire element energy entering his body and the speed of regeneration on his body parts.


    No doubt having both Spirit and body evolving at the same time was a good thing, but it had to be controlled to an appropriate rate. Without a strong Physique, no ordinary apprentice could withstand this overly violent modification of body. Hence, only after soaking his body in the lava ocean for two minutes, after the progress of Inferno Body increased from 17% to 23%, Leon had no choice but to grit his teeth and get out.


    When he climbed out to the shore filled with rubble, the boiling hot half-molten lava was rolling off his body, making the volcanic rocks underneath his feet burn and produce sizzling noises. When all the lava left his body, an ugly body of black and red was revealed.


    The darkened part was his skin that had turned into coke and started to peel off within the flames of frightening temperatures. The red part was his newly regenerated flesh, the crimson tissue was exposed directly under the high temperature and heat, but clearly, they possessed a higher resistance and endurance toward the deadly fire.


    Though, the body in the past was part of Leon, but obviously, it wasn''t fitted perfectly for his Fire element energy. Now, after going through the modification as the result of having copious Fire element energy injected into his body, together with the help from his powerful flesh-regeneration ability, it had formed into a brand new body that perfectly matched with his innate ability.


    However, a body modification like this couldn''t be completed in one go!


    After all, Leon''s Physique was still very weak. Doing it in one go would be an overly brutal process, and it was very easy for the balance of the body to collapse. That was why he only scratched the surface of it. When the Chip detected his body had reached the limit of his endurance, it immediately gave him the warning, which led him to halt the cultivation of Inferno Body at once.


    Right at this very moment, his body looked slimmer than before, however, it had become dapper. Nevertheless, compared to the glorious look on the outside, all his internal organs, bones and tendons were now fully filled with cracks and wounds of different sizes. Before he could fix all these injuries, he had to temporarily stop this overly violent body modification.


    He had given himself a brief moment to rest at the shore, once he finally got used to this body, Leon put on his clothes, squeezed into one of the lava tunnels in the wall without looking back.


    At a place half an hour distance from the lava ocean, Leon found himself a half-isolated lava cave. After modifying it slightly, he had turned it into his temporary base camp. Perhaps, within this period of time, he would have to dwell here days and nights, waiting patiently for his body to recover.


    He summoned a Rock Snake, using its thick body to block off the only entrance to the cave. With that, he wouldn''t have to worry about enemies sneaking up on him when he was sleeping. After all, the Rock Snake''s body was made up of rock, as long as it coiled up its body, and reduced the frequency of its consciousness, it could disguise itself well as a rock wall.


    Leon took out a small pile of Fire Stones and placed them inside a small hole located at the center of the cave, using them as his fuel, he started to cook a magical energy meal set himself. As his ingredients were the flesh of a Fire element creature, it only required a simple roasting. After he was done, Leon immediately wolfed down to heal his hunger.


    It was worth to mention, following the improvement of his Physique and Strength, those meats of demon beast which were overly tough and sour to him in the past, had become one of the recipes of his diet. Though every time after he finished eating them, his cheek would hurt for quite a long time. However, whenever he sensed the comfortable energy slowly released inside of his body, he thought that the torture wasn''t that hard to endure at all!


    When he finished eating the magical energy meal set, Leon poured another gallon of clean water into his mouth, only then he satisfyingly laid down on a soft blanket placed beside and went into deep slumber. This time, he didn''t perform his meditation. His broken body could no longer withstand any more changes, and only the soundest sleep would bring him into the state of worried-free, which was the thing he needed the most now! S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While indulging in a sound sleep, little to his knowledge, right at this moment, within the lava ocean, something related to him was happening.


    Not knowing which time of the day, an extremely bizarre battleship had drifted into this lava ocean.


    Why was it described as bizarre? Because this battleship was modified from a floating rocky island. The rugged and rough rocks made the ship look tattered. There weren''t any sails on the ship, and vaguely, there were some tall and burly figures onboard.


    It was a group of tall rock men that looked rather like rock golems. Their bodies were entirely pieced up together with granite of high hardness. Numerous large cracks could be found on the surface of their bodies which stood four-meters-tall, high-temperature flames could be seen leaking from these cracks, forming into balls of frightening flames which took different colors.


    For those adults, the flames protecting their bodies were the color of gold, while the juveniles had a crimson color flame.


    They had the body and limbs that looked exactly like those of a human, and had rugged heads. However, their facial features weren''t arranged in a regular and neat pattern like those on a human''s, but more like messily placed rock formations.


    At the position of their eyes were two deep holes, vaguely, one could see the gleams of magical gemstone shining from them. Their nose and ears looked exactly like black beehives, while their mouth was simply large rifts that stretched across their faces. If they were fully opened, they could easily swallow a wild boar in one bite.


    This mysterious battleship was swiftly sailing through the sticky molten lava, avoiding those big chunks of floating islands on its way. As for those smaller rocks, they simply crushed through them, smashing them into pieces and turning them into debris that floated on the surface of the lava ocean.


    From time to time, the tall giants on the ship would bow down on the side of the ship, poking their large palm into the high-temperature lava, and scoop up one after another magical gemstone or metal ore that emitted a unique element rhythms.


    For these guardians who were patrolling the lava ocean, not all things could meet the fancy of their eyes. Whenever they scooped up one object, they would bring it in front of their face and give it a careful examination and would only toss those with excellent colors into ship''s deck. The entire deck of the massive battleship had been fully filled with a thick layer of war trophies.


    As for those magical gemstones or metal ores of ordinary colors, the tall giants would toss them back into the lava ocean, let them eventually melt down and became part of the vast lava ocean.


    The lava ocean was like a super gigantic furnace, sinking all the waste and sediment to the bottom, yet pushing the most beautiful treasures to the surface, waiting for the arrival of these Sons of the Flaming Ocean.


    As the Sons of the Flaming Ocean who had lived their entire lives in this world of volcano, the Molten Giants were the natural rulers of this realm. Not only did each of them possess a formidable overall strength individually, each also had a high intelligence and relatively complicated social structure.


    There were seven Molten Giants onboard this battleship of lava rock. Two of them were at Mage level, while five were at Pseudo-Mage level. This also meant that the basic deployment for a lava rock battleship was two adults and five juveniles.


    The nest of these Molten Giants was located on a ring-shaped reef at the heart of this lava ocean. In order to avoid the intrusion of human Mages, they had organized four to five patrol teams who spent all day patrolling this vast lava ocean.


    During ordinary times, when the volcano was at its erupting phase, their life would be rather calm and peaceful. But once the volcano entered its resting phase and the waterline in the lava ocean reduced, numerous tunnels that led to their nest would be exposed. And whenever this period of the year arrived, it was also the time those human Mages sent their minions into this world of volcano.


    Those countless Fire element creatures found at the outer perimeter were actually intentionally driven out by the Molten Giants, to use as the cannon fodder to block off the path of Apprentice Mages. But there were many times, some fearful humans would still intrude into their home, stealing the supreme quality delicacies they had gathered laboriously (Supreme Fire Diamonds), and killing their juveniles that hadn''t reach their mature phase.


    Hence, whenever the resting phase of the volcano arrived, it was also the time when these Molten Giants underwent a lot of stress, as it was the dangerous period when they would increase the frequency of patrol.


    But for this time, when this lava rock battleship was slowly sailing forward along the shore of the lava ocean, a tall Molten Giant, who was standing at the bow of the ship and kept sniffing with its nose, before suddenly letting out a loud roar.


    "Halt... halt... I can smell a human! Quickly stop the ship and check it out!"


    With the work put in together by all Molten Giants, the lava rock battleship stopped near a pile of rocks on the bank.


    A few tall, heavy figures jumped straight onto the shore, starting to seek the trace of the scent left over by a human and any other clues.


    Soon, the place where Leon dove into the ocean and the spot where he hid his clothes were identified by them.


    "Arghol, it looks like some human had intruded into our world again! What should we do now?" In a low, muffled voice, a juvenile Molten Giant asked.


    One of the adult Molten Giants was seen touching its chin with its large palm. A pondering expression emerged on its face. Finally, in a resolute manner, it said, "Send someone and report this to the Elder, ask the elder to send more help here. Three of us will stay here and search for traces of that human. Since he could bypass the blockade of Fire Beasts in such a short amount of time, he is surely a guy with bad intentions. We can''t allow him to keep wandering in our world!"


    Another adult Molten Giant agreed, so he said, "Then let me bring two little ones and bear the task! It had been many years since those human Mages invaded the lava ocean, and this time, it is highly possible he is just an Apprentice Mage. I can handle an intruder like this!"


    After obtained the approval from Arghol, the leader of this group of Molten Giants, the second adult Molten Giant raised its flaming arm in the air, with a soft voice, it read, "In the name of the Mighty Lord of Lava Rock, my servants, awake now!"


    Following with its loud roar, not far away from them, the lava ocean started to roll and rock violently, over thirty strong and vigorous Lava Hounds made their debut by squeezing out from the surface of the lava ocean, and gathering in front of the Molten Giant.


    "Go now, my servants, and help me find that damn human!"


    Upon hearing the command from this Son of the Flaming Ocean, these Lava Hounds threw their heads back and let out loud and sharp howls, pressing forward and sprinting into the complex lava tunnels.


    Without Leon''s knowledge and sense, a great hunt targeted at him had begun!


    ....


    2360 Words

 Chapter 130 - 130: Worlds

    Leon was awoken with a start by a noisy clamor.


    Outside of the cave, a commotion had broken out. Even the Rock Snake, who was supposed to guard the cave entrance, had poked half of its body out and was ferociously attacking something, only blocking off the entrance with its thick tail.


    When Leon packed everything and walked out from the cave, the battle outside had ended.


    Within the not so spacious cave, seven broken Lava Hound bodies were scattered on the ground and red-hot half-molten lava was running freely everywhere. For the Lava Hounds, if rocks were their body, then the molten lava would be their blood.


    Since there was so much of their ''blood'' flowing everywhere, the chances of their survival were rather slim!


    Why were there so many Lava Hounds? Could the small cave Leon occupied be their nest?


    A bunch of questions appeared in Leon''s mind, but very soon, he rejected them.


    Yesterday, when he was looking for a place as his temporary shelter, Leon had put in quite a lot of effort. He had avoided most of the areas of activity for Fire element creatures. Under such circumstances, why was he still attacked by this pack of Lava Hounds? Also, the order he gave the Rock Snake was to defend and fight back only when it was under attack. This meant that it was the pack of Lava Hounds who had initiated the attack!


    The more he thought about it, the tighter Leon''s brows became. He had a feeling, this was not an accident, but...


    Indeed, after the Chip performed a quick search, from the description of Molten Giants, Leon saw their ability to summon and command Fire element creatures.


    And just as he made up his mind, the noisy howls of Lava Hounds could be heard coming from a few lava tunnels. Judging from the volume of noise, there was a large pack of Lava Hounds sprinting towards him.


    Damn it, the enemy had come to him! He just wondered if there was a Molten Giant in this group of approaching enemies.


    With no time to ponder further, Leon turned around and jumped into the large mouth of the Rock Snake, quickly squeezing into the tunnel that led to the upper level of the volcano. No matter where the enemy came from, the further he distanced himself from the lava ocean, which was the claimed home of the Molten Giants, the better!


    Moving its thick and long body, the Rock Snake forcefully squeezed into a rather narrow lava tunnel. The protruding rocky scales on its body brushed across the rock wall and produced a lot of sparks, sending broken stones flying in all directions. After its entire body squeezed into the tunnel, the Rock Snake swung its tail with a tremendous force. In an instant, the entrance of the lava tunnel collapsed and the falling rocks quickly sealed off the entire entrance.


    At the same time, tens of Lava Hounds leaped out from nearby tunnels, yet they were blocked from going any further by the falling rocks. Like a bear with a sore head, the Lava Hounds immediately let out furious roars. While arduously digging at the piles of broken rocks, they sent out a warning to their master, who was at a far distance.


    A moment later, an adult and two juvenile Molten Giants came to the scene with heavy steps. What could they do? As their bodies were overly huge, they just couldn''t squeeze through the ordinary and narrow tunnels. Most of the time they could only travel through the large tunnels produced by the erosion of underground lava. As for enemies who hid in narrow spaces, the Molten Giants could only rely on their Fire element creatures to chase them out.


    Upon seeing the collapsed tunnels, a sudden comprehension struck them.


    Under the orders of the adult Molten Giant, Alexios, the remaining Lava Hounds gave up the decision of digging a path, turned around, and leapt into a few nearby lava tunnels which were still in a good condition with the intention of intercepting the enemy by taking a circuitous route.


    Alexios turned around and gave its order to the two juveniles of its clan. "There is only one enemy, and he is a mere human Apprentice Mage, so there is no danger ahead. Bring my message to Arghol: he needn''t belabor our people. I''ll hunt him down myself."


    Having finished saying that, it turned around and walked towards the tunnel that had been completely sealed off. Following its striding, a scorching hot flame of extreme temperature burst out from its body. And, right in front of it, the once rock solid piles of broken rocks started to soften and melt, and eventually, turned into boiling lava that flowed all over the place.


    Unobstructed, using the fearful flame, Alexios had melted a human-shaped tunnel in front of it, allowing it to keep striding forward at high-speed. Yet, it left a path full of lava behind, so no outsider could follow.


    However, at that time, Leon had fled to some five miles away.


    Nevertheless, in this underground world filled with twisting and winding tunnels, although he had fled for five miles, if it was measured in a straight line, it might just be a distance of four to five hundred meters. Also, the Fire Elementium contained in the rock strata here was extremely high. If the Rock Snake wished to travel through the ground like it did in the Underground Cave, it would have to consume a jaw-dropping amount of Earth Elementium.


    Therefore, before reaching the most critical moment, Leon didn''t want to waste the Rock Snake''s energy.


    The pursuit lasted only an hour before it ended, and it was the Molten Giant who gave up the hunt. It was as if there was a clear-cut line in their mind; once the fleeing enemy crossed that line, they wouldn''t take the risk and continue the pursuit beyond that boundary.


    Sensing the intense source of Fire chasing behind him was departing, Leon finally breathed out a long sigh of relief. He was pretty sure that it must have been an adult Molten Giant of Mage level. If he was forced to fight with a big fellow like this, even if he summoned all his golems, he would end up with a miserable defeat.


    He lacked a big guy of Earth element that could stand up against this Molten Giant, and he didn''t own any element golems that could provide maximum power in this volcanic environment. It looked like there was still a huge gap before he could construct a fully fledged golem army.


    Moreover, he could tell the Molten Giants showed great care for the younger generations of their clan. With his senses, he discovered that two little Pseudo-Mage fellows hadn''t participated in the hunt and they didn''t travel alone. Undoubtedly, this increased the difficulty of capturing one of them.


    After all, with Leon''s current overall strength, he didn''t have the courage to plan anything against adult Molten Giant of Mage level. Yet, there was some hope for the little guys of the Pseudo-Mage level!


    Since he had been driven off from the core region of the lava ocean, Leon had nothing else could do but wander around the upper region. While waiting for the full recovery of his body, he was searching for a new route that led to the lava ocean. After all, for years, this enormous volcano had been corroded by the underground lava and hundreds of thousands of lava tunnels had been formed and interconnected like a complicated spiderweb. Thus, nearly all of the tunnels would point to the miraculous and profound world of lava. It was impossible for the Molten Giants to block off every single route.


    Without wasting any more time, when his body had fully restored to its best condition, Leon once again snuck into the lava ocean. This round, he doubled the time he spent soaking in it and the progress he achieved surprised him.


    The modification progress of his Inferno Body had skyrocketed to 37%, from the previous 23%. Yet, Leon''s body had once again gone through great torture, as 1/7 of his flesh was burned off. But his booming Physique had stimulated the quick regeneration of new flesh and blood.


    His body was like a factory that kept being pushed down and rebuilt. Every time, the delicate balance constructed by the regeneration of his flesh would be broken by the strengthening of his Fire element innate talent. And when everything was pushed down, new internal organs and flesh would regrow slowly, so that they could match the latest state of his Inferno Body.


    And, within the progress of this seemingly endless loop, those modifications, that perfectly matched with his Inferno Body constitution, remained. And yet, the temporary unfitted modifications would be placed in line, waiting to be modified again.


    Initially, Leon wanted to let the Chip to participate in this process of body modification and reconstruction. But after a few small scale experiments, he had no choice but to give up the idea. Due to the constraint of his experience and vision, it was impossible for the Chip to predictively leave appropriate room for the future strengthening of his Fire element innate element. Yet, it was marvelously achieved by the instincts of his own body, amidst obscurity and out of chaos.


    Also, under the instruction from the instinct of his body, many tiny changes made to his organs were determined as useless or redundant by the Chip. However, after going through another couple rounds of body modification, to Leon''s surprise, the portions which had been deemed useless and redundant actually turned into the flawless foundations for the latest modification.


    If such discovery only happened once in awhile, Leon wouldn''t be so surprised. But, following the Chip''s overall monitoring of his entire body, a similar discovery could be found in almost every modified part of his body.


    At this point, Leon was forced to stop the Chip from meddling in the process and let the instinct of the body lead the entire process. The Chip would be a general observer, recording the entire process with detailed and accurate data.


    The more he observed the process, the deeper he pondered it. And that brought Leon more understanding about the ''Will of the World'' he always heard from Mages.


    The world Leon was staying in right now was just a large-scale plane inside of the enormous multi-verse. Yet, a boundless world with abundant resources like this was merely a tiny grain of sand within the depths of the vast ocean of stars. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If Earth, and the universe where Earth was located in Leon''s previous life, was referred as a world of low-magic, then in this life of his, the Plane of Mages and the multi-verse would be referred to as a world of advanced-magic. Countless energy tidal waves fully filled every inch of space in this world.


    Influenced by the copious energy tidal waves, Occultism itself had transformed into a frightening force. Any world, any plane, any human, could unleash fearful power far beyond the limit of their own ability. And all this could be put together under the scope of mighty Occultism!


    Back on Earth in his previous life, if someone claimed that the Earth had its own conscious and possessed its own will, it would simply be a joke that made people laugh their heads off! Because the mass of the Earth was too huge; for a massive object like this to produce its own will, it was far from enough just to rely on the materials and energy contained within itself.


    Therefore, in the world of low-magic, it was impossible for a planet to produce its own will!


    But... but Leon was living in a world of advanced-magic. The mighty energy tidal wave was everywhere. And this had given a solid foundation for the planet to give birth to its self-conscious. Of course, in this multi-verse, there weren''t any planets, only planes!


    At all times, one after another, floating continents covering the insides of plane barriers were soaking in immense energy. Using their own body of boundless land, they carried massive amounts of dirt, sand, rocks, trees, woods, forests, mountains, lakes, oceans, metal, mines, minerals, and last but not least, hundreds of thousands of living creatures of different species. No matter if it was just an ordinary rock or a mighty Mage who stood at the pinnacle of the world, they were all part of the plane.


    Innumerable materials, millions upon millions of living beings of different species, together with the immense energy tidal wave; all of these had provided a solid foundation for the birth of the collective consciousness. Perhaps the prime form of the Will of the World was this collective consciousness, as it was the grand fusion of the countless living beings and elementary materials found within its body. But, as time went on, the plane became stronger, and a vague, incorporeal conscious of the plane was born, virtually.


    ...


    2179 Words

 Chapter 131 - 131: Cemetery

    With the massive scale of a plane, the Will of the Plane born within could never be as nimble and as witty as a human brain, which answered to every single plea it received.


    Nevertheless, the basic likes and dislikes were no different from a normal human!


    Every single individual who lived in its bosom, regardless of if they were living beings with consciousness, or rocks and woods without any consciousness, they were all humble existences that formed the entire Will of the Plane. If a plane was completely sealed off and the resources and living beings contained within maintained at the same volume, then the Will of the Plane would lose its opportunity to evolve and become stronger.


    Only by diligently keeping what it owned and seizing the resources required for its growth from outside of its own body could the Will of the Plane continue to grow stronger. Eventually, this would allow it to awaken and become an even mightier existence.


    As a major scale plane, obviously, the Mage Continent had long given birth to its own mighty conscious that solely belong to itself, which had then transformed into the Will of the World that perfectly matched the Mage Continent.


    And, after the birth of this Will, the only method to control this plane was using the Hand of Principle that took no shape and was nothingness. Thus, every single material and living being that existed in this plane was bound by the power of countless principles.


    Wood could produce fire, fire could melt metal, metal could chop down trees and break rocks, while earth bore the weight of everything, dirt gave birth to life, and water nourished and cherish all things... yet all of this was just the surface of the world. The ultimate hand that controlled and guided everything behind was the ubiquitous invincible Principle of the Plane.


    Even the supreme Mages, who claimed they could conquer every plane and were formidable enough to compete with deities, couldn''t ignore the existence of the Principle of the Plane and act wantonly.


    Therefore, the stronger an Mage became, the deeper comprehension he had for the Will of the World, while weaker living beings would only have a vague feeling towards everything. Just like the evolution of Leon''s Inferno Body, at a given time, the Will of the Plane had shown its existence.


    There was no God nor Deity here, but a selfless Will of the Plane hiding in the depths of the plane, quietly but surely pushing the course of the world in an orderly fashion. Any behavior that was of benefit to the evolution of the plane would receive positive feedback from the vague Will, which eventually improved the individual''s degree of mastery and control toward the Principle of the Plane.


    As for the behavior which defied the Will of the Plane, it would attract ''its'' dislike, and thus make the individual a target that was hated by every single living being of that particular plane.


    And yet for Leon, it was through the monitoring of and analyzing the overall data of his body that he noticed that there was a huge, invisible hand who controlled everything inside of the plane. Otherwise, if he had really thought this was just an unconscious behavior that was put out by the instinct of the body, it would be an insult to his intelligence.


    And if an Apprentice Mage wished to become an official Mage, it seemed that one of the thresholds he had to step over was the understanding of the Principle of the Plane. Otherwise, why was there such a huge gap between a Pseudo-Mage with 20 Spirit and an Mage with 21 Spirit?


    His mind filled with questions, when Leon finished soaking his Inferno Body, he hurriedly left the lava ocean to avoid being caught by the patrolling Molten Giants.


    After rushing to the safe zone in one go, Leon found himself another place as his temporary shelter.


    After some time, the food and water he had brought were nearly depleted. Having no other alternative, Leon had to live a primitive life of eating raw meat and blood. His food source were the Fire Lizards he hunted, while the water came from condensing it using magic spells and Fire Lizard blood.


    In order to make the best of his soaking time, every two days, Leon would change the location of his temporary shelter. With that, the time and location he appeared at the lava ocean would be completely different. Using this method, he managed to avoid several ambushes and traps set by the Molten Giants, making them really angry. But there was nothing they could do about it.


    Through the countless times he ''communicated'' with the Molten Giants, even though they had never met face to face, Leon had quickly figured out his enemies'' way of thinking and acting. Also, through the countless probes and results, he finally broke through the blockade of the Molten Giant patrol team at the outer perimeter, and successfully drew close to their nest ¨C the Ring-shaped Reef.


    Although it was referred to as Ring-shaped Reef, it was in fact, a chain of interlocking huge rocks floating on the surface of the lava ocean. Using a thick alloy chain, the Molten Giants had tied them together, forming into a large floating island anchored right at the center of the lava ocean.


    The nest of the Molten Giants was placed on top of these floating islands.


    So to speak, from the womb to the tomb, a Molten Giant spent nearly its entire life in this boundless lava ocean. This resulted in the fact that though they had the overall strength of an Mage and high intelligence, they didn''t own the advanced wisdom that matched it.


    In brief, they were smart, but hadn''t reached the state of ''cunning!''


    That was the reason why, though they had such formidable overall strength, they were thrown into unrest by a mere ''Advanced Apprentice,'' Leon.


    Of course, an Advanced Apprentice who was like Leon was rather rare to come by.


    Through secret observation of the Molten Giants, a thief-like thought arose in his mind. He actually intended to rob the Molten Giant''s clan treasure vault. The Molten Giants were born and brought up here, and they had been patrolling the lava ocean every single day. Nearly all the advanced magical gemstones and top grade magic spell materials that one could find in the underground volcano had to be piled up like a mountain in their treasure vault.


    If he could rob a clan treasure vault of this magnitude, Leon felt that he wouldn''t have to worry about harvesting resources himself for the next few hundred years. Just doing it once was more than enough to fill his need to the maximum!


    However, after a few more times of careful survey, Leon was discouraged once again.


    As expected, the Molten Giants attached a very great importance to their treasure vault. Not only had they built the treasure vault on the largest floating island, it was placed right next to the residence of their elders. Also, round the clock, two elite level Molten Giants guarded its entrance with high vigilance to make sure there would be no leakage of any kind.


    Leon had the Chip design him countless plans, but still he couldn''t find a safe and sound method that allowed him to sneak into the treasure vault under the watchful eyes of two elite level Molten Giants.


    Nevertheless, during the fruitless course of finding his path to the loot, unintentionally, Leon made another discovery.


    He discovered the graves of the Molten Giants!


    Although Molten Giants could live more than 2000 years, as time went by, unavoidably, they still had to face their deaths. In order to give their deceased people a place to rest forever, the Molten Giants had built a graveyard on one of the floating islands amidst the Ring-shaped Islands. Whenever a Molten Giant was facing its own death, it would enter this graveyard and wait there quietly for its death to come.


    Once they were dead, their huge and flaming hot bodies would cool down gradually, and eventually solidify into a stone statue that stood quietly. Hence, in this graveyard stood great numbers of stone statues, and many of them were the dead bodies of formidable existence that stood seven to eight meters tall.


    No doubt the Molten Giants had put a heavy guard on their treasure vault, to stop any human Mages or some Fire element creatures from sneaking into it and stealing their treasures. But for the clan graveyard, Leon didn''t find any real safety precautions.


    Actually, this was understandable. After all, no one or creature would have improper thoughts toward a lifeless stone statue! But when the Molten Giants were met with Leon, an expert who could even squeeze oil out of stone, their clan graveyard was facing great peril.


    Leon was after the element core that remained in the dead bodies of the Molten Giants. Of course, the element cores which had been dead for a long time had no soul aura and couldn''t be used anymore. However, among the element cores from Molten Giants that had been dead for less than one hundred years, Leon might be able to find some which could be used as the conscious core for his golem.


    After all, the Molten Giants who had the right to enter their clan graveyard were all old fellows, so the lowest level element core he could find would be of that of Mage level. If he was lucky enough, perhaps... perhaps he might even find a Second Grade Mage level core.


    Whenever Leon thought of owning a golem of such level, his heart raced and he couldn''t hold down his emotions. He wished he could just bolt into the Ring-shaped Islands, crush all of the giant dead bodies, and seize all of the element cores into his arms.


    It was a pity that such thought would always remain a mere fantasy. If he really put it to action, he would face his death, as the Molten Giants would definitely skin him and swallow him alive!


    Approximately, there were over two hundred Molten Giants living on the island. Around seventy of them were juveniles of the Pseudo-Mage level, yet more than one hundred forty of them were adult Molten Giants. In this environment where they had no natural enemy and no worries about food, their defensive mechanism wasn''t considered too strong.


    If it weren''t for Leon''s level being too low, the stupid giants who only possessed a large body and strong overall strength would definitely become his best prey. But as for now, even if it was just a juvenile Molten Giant, Leon would have to put in huge effort in order to defeat it.


    Hence, if he wanted to pull chestnuts out of the fire, the only way would be to fish in troubled waters.


    After he tentatively drafted out his plan, he wasn''t in a hurry to provoke the Molten Giants. Instead, he became quieter than before. Every day, he only traveled and hunted at the outer perimeter of the volcano world, took a bath at the border of the lava ocean every three to five days, and stealthily scurried away.


    Relying on this regular mode of action, Leon successfully deceived the Molten Giant patrol teams, causing them to loosen their vigilance and not consider him as an enemy that could pose any threat to them. Although the hunt for Leon was still going on, it was more like a routine activity; every couple of days, the game of cat and mouse would be carried out.


    Of course, Leon wasn''t in a hurry.


    The duration of his mission was three months, and if he wanted any progress in his Inferno Body, he needed time to accumulate the energy. What he needed to do now was wait for the breakthrough of his Inferno Body. When the day came, that would be the moment he put his plan into action.


    Finally, two months after he entered the volcano world, the Inferno Body he had anticipated for long made the breakthrough.


    When the progress projected into his mind by the Chip jumped from 99% to 100%, Leon felt a tremendous transformation suddenly happen to his body. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everything had become different from the past!


    Flame Body!


    He had finally stepped over the stage of Inferno Body and owned a Flame Body of his own!


    ...


    2081 Words

 Chapter 132 - 132: Apprentice Mage (Pseudo-Mage)

    There was a huge difference between Inferno Body and Flame Body.


    If with Inferno Body, Leon''s body was still considered flesh and blood, then now, after having evolved into Flame Body, he could be considered truly immune to fire. Even without relying on his Fire Lord''s Scepter, he could now swim freely in the lava ocean anytime he wanted and he wouldn''t be hurt by the high temperature.


    After all, the so-called fire immunity cast externally could only spare him from lower grade Fire element damage. Once an element flame went beyond a certain degree, he would still bear some damage caused by the flame. Previously, during the strengthening process of his Inferno Body, his body was easily damaged by the brutal modification performed by the Fire element energy. The strength of the Fire element energies had gone beyond the maximum endurance limit of his fire immunity.


    Now, after having completed the modification of his Flame Body, he could transform parts of his body into Elementium any time he deemed it was necessary, which gave him immunity from all Fire element damage. In the future, even if he was facing a Second Grade Mage, he wouldn''t be hurt by an element fireball cast towards him. However, such damage immunity was limited to only the Fire element. If he was attacked with a mutated Fire element magic spell, he would still be hurt by it.


    For example, a Magma Fireball, which was a magic spell that combined the damage of both the Fire element and physical damage. Although Leon would be immune from the Fire element damage, he could not escape from being hurt by the physical damage. Yet, a mutated Fire element magic spell like that composed more than half of all magic spells, as it was a common counter measurement employed by Mages so that their element attack would not be totally ignored by their enemy.


    Previously, if Leon had gone too deep into the lava ocean, he would have had to face the possibility of being hurt by the flame. But now, with his Flame Body, any region with dense Fire Elementium would become his home. No matter how high the temperature of an element fire, he would not be hurt by it anymore. In fact, they became the biggest tonic for him.


    With the lava ocean, the topographical advantage of Molten Giants had evened out!


    For the Leon of the past, if the controlling of element fire was a superb magical skill, then the same ability had now become an instinct. From now onwards, he didn''t have to dive nakedly into a sea of fire, because he was fire, and fire was he. Thus, under his control, no element fire could burn off his clothes anymore!


    In addition to that, the biggest advantage brought by Flame Body was Focused Fire Element. All of the offensive strength of Fire element magic spell doubled, casting time reduced by half, and the cost of Spirit halved as well. In any region rich in Fire Elementium, the recovery speed of his Spirit would double, and the Flame Body would self-heal the damage on his body.


    But, there was a trade-off for this!


    It was not all benefits brought by the Flame Body. At least, if Leon was hurt by Water or Ice element magic spell, the damage would double. Also, when he was in a region rich in Water Elementium, the recovery of his Spirit and self-healing would also be repressed.


    Nevertheless, Leon knew this in advance, so he didn''t feel surprised at all. Currently, he was more concerned about his overall strength. After the Chip performed a thorough scan of his body, the latest data of his overall strength was projected into his vision.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human (Half-Elementium)


    Attribute: Strength ¨C 9.24 (+1), Agility ¨C 7.87 (+1), Physique ¨C 13.22 (+1), Spirit ¨C 20.


    Profession: Apprentice Mage (Pseudo-Mage)


    Health Points: 62/62 (Healthy)


    Experience: 927/1000


    Skills: Scroll Copying, Spell Reading, Golem Crafting (Intermediate), Focused Fire Element.


    Personal Abilities: Flame Body (Passive), The Burning Hand, Fire Arrow, Flaming Spear, Fire Shield, Fire Damage Reflect (Proximity Passive), Inferno Force Field.


    Magical Equipment: Fire Lord''s Scepter, Storage Waist Belt, Secret Scroll of Voodoo, Boots of Speed (Agility +1), Talisman of Force (Physique, Strength +1), Wand of Dispel, Wand of Healing, Wand of Prophecy, Green Spirit (Curse Resistance +5), Screaming Tree Branch.


    Upon reading the latest body statistics produced by the Chip, even if Leon had a steady and resolute mind, he couldn''t hold down his surging emotions. He had finally become a Pseudo-Mage! From now onwards, he was no longer a rookie apprentice whose fate could be freely decided by anybody!


    However, it was a pity that since his Spirit had skyrocketed from 16 to 20, the Circlet of Nobility that brought +1 to his Spirit and the Purple Ioun Stone of +2 Spirit had lost their effect. His Spirit had now reached 20, which was the maximum Spirit for an Apprentice Mage. If he wished to increase it more, then he would have to gain understanding in the force of principle and aided with the ceremony of advancement.


    No doubt this had to come later. But as for now, the most important thing about becoming a Pseudo-Mage was that he could finally put the plan he had plotted for a long time into action!


    After obtaining the Flame Body, the human aura on his body had faded. So long as he carefully disguised himself, with the harsh and cruel environment of the lava ocean, it would be extremely difficult for those Molten Giants to find any trace of him.


    Leon returned to the shore and equipped himself with all of his magical equipment. Then he dove into the lava ocean once again, disappearing without a trace.


    ...


    Over the last few days, Elder Nimr had felt ill at ease.


    As the leader of the surviving Molten Giant clan, Nimr was obliged to use its intelligence and life to safeguard and continue the existence of the Molten Giants.


    This world didn''t belong to them!


    Although Molten Giants had a large body and formidable individual overall strength, as a special race that couldn''t survive outside of the volcano world, they could only firmly stay entrenched in their own environment, avoiding any intrusion from outsiders.


    This was a world that belonged only to human Mages.


    With regards to this, even the first Molten Giant born from the depths of the earth core had realized it. The human Mages tolerated the existence of their unique race so that they could enslave them and loot their treasures.


    The volcano world belonged to them, yet they belonged to the Zuber Family.


    Bonded by a 1000 year old magical contract, the mighty clan of Molten Giants had become special miners who worked for the local human Mage family. Every five years, they had to hand in a long list of resources. Yet, even they, who were Sons of the Flaming Ocean, had a headache over the required numbers of resources on the list.


    As a powerful and proud race, they did try to revolt. However, the power of human Mages was not something they could stand up against. Without experiencing it personally, no one could imagine how frightening the ability of a Third Grade Mage was. As a direct result of their rebellion, 1/3s of their clan members had been wiped out completely. It was a severe loss that took them nearly four hundred years to recover.


    Before the rebellion, though the human Mages had treated them cruelly and harshly, they wouldn''t enter their territory. However, for the past few hundred years, the Zuber Family had been pushing them more and more. Frequently, when the volcano entered its resting period, they would send some Apprentice Mages to train down here.


    It might just be training for the human apprentices, but for the Molten Giants, the apprentices were actually slaughtering their enslaved beasts. Not only that, sometimes they even besieged a juvenile Molten Giant who had been leaving them alone. This further attracted the anger of Molten Giants.


    However, though Elder Nimr had negotiated a few times with the Third Grade Mage of Zuber Family, it was always warned not to randomly hurt the Zuber Family apprentices who had their training here. But visiting apprentices were excluded.


    But too bad, in the eyes of the Molten Giants, human apprentices were nearly impossible to differentiate. Hence, they had no choice but to swallow insult and humiliation silently, organizing their own patrol teams to prevent any human apprentices from getting close to their habitat. Fortunately, the human apprentices who came for training weren''t too strong. Also, by intentionally driving Fire element creatures towards the outer perimeter, thereby forming a blockade, someone disturbing their life in the lava ocean was rare.


    Nevertheless, this year''s situation was obviously different from the past.


    This time, there was a mysterious guy among the human Apprentice Mages who had breached the borders of lava ocean several times. It seemed like he was researching some kind of unknown magic spell. Due to his treacherousness, they had failed to intercept him even after sending a couple of patrolling teams. Therefore, Nimr could only order his clan members to heighten their vigilance and ban their juveniles from leaving their habitat alone.


    In order to avoid any outsiders from casting their covetous eyes on their harvested gemstones and materials, Nimr even deployed two more formidable fighters to safeguard their treasure vault. But from time to time, even when it was comfortably soaking in a lava pool, a feeling of fear still surged up in its mind, as if it had missed something really important.


    Nimr was an enormous Molten Giant who stood at seven meters tall and was the oldest member of their clan. It had turned 1815 years old this year, and its overall strength had reached the pinnacle of Molten Giant. If it was converted into the hierarchy of human Mages, it had the mighty overall strength of at least a Second Grade Mage.


    But, as a special race who relied on their strong bodies and innate talent when fighting, it had mastered less than ten powerful Fire element abilities. Yet, the same grade human Mage could have nearly one hundred incredible magic spells, which they could use freely.


    They lacked the profound accumulation of knowledge with the history of over hundreds and thousands of years like human Mages, lacked the endless bizarre magical equipment which human Mages owned, and did not have the massive numbers of minions who could be called for freely. By just relying on the powerful innate abilities gifted by the Will of the Plane, the Molten Giants would never escape their fate of being enslaved by human Mages!


    With the overall strength of Nimr, so long as that frightening Third Grade Mage of Zuber Family didn''t come personally, in its home of the lava ocean, it never feared, even when faced with an opponent of the same grade. But, for the past few days, a frequent chill had been flowing through its mind, as if something bad was going to happen to its clan.


    For this reason, it felt uneasy even when eating and sleeping. Every single day, it urged its clan members to patrol every region and inspected all the islands regularly, causing everybody to be busy and tired. But it felt rather relieved, as after this restless period, the three month resting phase of the volcano was approaching its end. Upon sensing the rumble coming from the earth core that became louder gradually day by day, its mind calmed down slightly.


    But as the ending of resting phase approached, the more its fear grew.


    Yet today, the uneasy feeling in Nimr''s mind had reached maximum level, so that it could hardly sleep in the lava pool within its cave. It couldn''t stop itself from walking out from its residence, placing itself at the edge of the island that it had taken as its home, and quietly watching any surrounding activities.


    ....


    2006 Words


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 Chapter 133 - 133: Profane

    The inner ocean, which was enclosed by the Ring-shaped Island, covered an area of five miles in a straight line. While Nimr stood at the edge of its own island, it could barely see the outline of the island to its opposite. It threw its glance over to the islands one after another and could see the busy figures of its clan members everywhere, yet it saw more juveniles who were swimming in the inner lava ocean, playing and chasing with each other. Though it was a little bit noisy, it actually made the clan look more lively and full of energy.


    Right as it was about to shut its eyes, trying to sense the possible direction where the danger might come from, far at the Southeast border of the Ring-shaped Island, an unprecedented explosion suddenly broke out. A rock wall of nearly one hundred meters in circumference shattered into pieces, shooting countless rocks fragments and debris like a shower into the lava ocean and causing a massive flame and dust pillar to rise up.


    Nimr sprinted with big steps. One after another floating island flitted across under its feet. In less than fifteen minutes, it had arrived at the floating island located nearest to the explosion. Standing at the edge of the floating island, half of its body was submerged in the boiling hot lava. Using its right palm that was as large as a coach, it scooped up a huge pool of molten lava and poured it onto its body, while reciting a series of profound, obscure and strange incantations. After finished with that, an enormous Eye of the Flame appeared right in front of it.


    "The mighty Spirit of Fire, please show me what happened at that place?" Using its deep and hoarse voice, Nimr spoke out its request.


    Supported by the powerful Fire element energy, the Eye of the Flame trembled, soon, the scene located dozens of miles away was projected in front of it.


    "These damn intruders! It must be them who are destroying our home and profaning our holy ocean! Elders, follow me to banish them from our land!"


    Nearly one hundred strong giant fighters saw the scene as well, and the air filled with their furious roars. After greeting each other, they quickly boarded one after another primitive looking lava rock battleship and sailed towards the place of the explosion at top speed.


    Elder Nimr was controlling the Eye of the Flame and kept watchful eyes on any activities happening in the region afar. Though there was a huge commotion, but it just couldn''t find any traces of the intruder. This... no doubt had made Elder Nimr more worried! sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What exactly did these intruders want? Could it be merely an act of vandalism?


    With the understanding Nimr had toward those Human Mages, regardless of what they did, they were all well-targeted with hidden motives. It was rare that they would meaninglessly destroy something, just to vent their anger!


    If their true motive wasn''t to destroy the lava ocean, then...


    A shudder struck Elder Nimr''s mind. It turned around and roared at the remaining clan members, "I want a total locked down on the entire island! All adult giants must act right now..."


    Before it could finish its word, a huge dust pillar suddenly arose from an island located at the Northwest corner of the Ring-shaped Island, as if something with a gigantic body was rolling on the ground and wreaking havoc.


    That island... that island was their clan graveyard!


    "Damn it, those foul humans should be devoured by the Spirit of the Flames, how dare they make trouble at the place where our ancestors are sleeping! Quick... hurry up... I want everyone to go there right now!"


    Hearing the roar of their Elder, all the remaining Molten Giants immediately strode in the direction of the graveyard in top speed. At the same time, some giants who possessed the ability of Fire Teleportation were even seen slightly squatting down and immediately disappeared within a towering fiery explosion. And a moment later, at a distance of two to three hundred meters, a similar fire pillar appeared, revealing the body of the same giant.


    After pausing for four, five seconds, once the surrounding Fire Elementiums was back in its control, the giant would initiate Fire Teleportation once again, bringing it three hundred meters closer to the destination.


    Although Molten Giants owned an intrepid body and physique, agility was never their strong point. Those giants who possessed the ability of Fire Teleportation could still put out a considerable speed, as each time when their body flickered and reappeared, they always drew themselves closer to the island destination. Yet, those ordinary giants could only run past island after island using their feet, causing a great commotion along their way.


    And, right at this very same moment, Leon''s eyes shined brightly, while busily looting the mighty war trophies that he dared not imagine in the past.


    This was an island with an irregular shape that occupied nearly one hundred acres of land. The shore of the island was fully filled with rocky peaks and stone pillars arranged in a crisscrossing pattern. On the empty field within the island, nearly forty dead bodies of Molten Giants who had completely solidified into stone statue were seen standing quietly.


    If it was according to Leon''s initial plan, he would come to this island stealthily without alerting anybody. But too bad, though the plan was well-designed, when he finally swam his way to this graveyard of giants, he realized that it was extremely difficult to harvest everything here without making any noise.


    When alive, these Molten Giants had been known for the hardness and high-density of their bodies. After they died, the Fire Elementiums inside of their body would fade away, and their conscious core would be tightly trapped inside of the stone statue who served like a super thick armor. These rocks were the toughest steel rocks or granites found in the underground, and they even mixed with Black Iron, Wrought Gold, and Mithril which had the hardness beyond one''s imagination.


    Not only a stone armor like this possessed a fearful strength in physical defense, it also carried an excellent resistance against magic spells. Hence, since Leon came to the island stealthily, he had broken three enchanted longswords but failed to even crack a stone statue.


    Looking at the precious treasures that spread out everywhere over the hills and dales, yet unable to make them his, had nearly driven Leon insane!


    Also, the practical environment didn''t allow him to spend a long time to slowly chisel away the hard shell of the giant. Once those giants who went out patrolling returned after hearing the news, perhaps he, a mere Fire element Pseudo-Mage, would be skinned alive and swallowed by over three hundred giants.


    Left with no alternatives, Leon summoned six Rock Snakes in one go, using their savageness to put out a show of ''hit, slam, rob'' that shook the heaven and startled the earth in this graveyard of the giant. Six Rock Snakes pulled out all tricks in their bag, either using their rock solid body to crazily slam, or coiled up a stone statue and kept smashing it onto the ground. In short, they resorted to the most violent methods they had and used the craziest manner to achieve their goal!


    So, the huge dust pillar Elder Nimr saw just now, was actually the result of the violent actions put out by the team of Rock Snakes!


    While directing the Rock Snakes to restlessly destroy the dead bodies of the giants, Leon kept running his eyes nervously at the surroundings.


    Due to the fact that this island was the clan graveyard, rarely anyone chose to live on the surrounding islands. Also, the massive explosion that happened previously had attracted most of the giants to the other side of the Ring-shaped Island. Hence for time being, this place was still considered safe.


    However, following the huge dust clouds and noise caused by the activities of Rock Snakes, the figures of giants who were running wildly at top speed could now be seen at the far side of the Ring-shaped Island. Yet that was not the most frightening part. A dozen of Molten Giants who stood over five meters tall were driving on flames that kept leaping up and approaching to the graveyard at incredible speeds.


    It was an enormous Molten Giant with the height of seven meters that led the pursuit. The powerful Fire and Earth element energy contained within its body had reached to a dazzling stage that could blind anyone''s eyes just by staring into it.


    Damn it, damn it... this was a Second Grade Molten Giant!


    While calculating the enemy''s'' speed, Leon kept urging his minions of Rock Snakes to make the best use of their time and work harder. After all, for those who were eligible to enter the graveyard of giants, the weakest would also be the mighty existence of that Mage level and many of them were even Second Grade Molten Giants.


    In a treasure vault like this, even if he spent one more second in it, and grabbed one more handful of treasures, it would become the mightiest opportunity for his future debut!


    While throwing an examining look at the enemy''s besiege, Leon kept crazily slamming and smashing the rock statues. His heart was racing so fast it almost jumped out of his mouth. Even with his Physique, cold sweat started to exude from his palm and back.


    "Beep..."


    Upon hearing the dangerous warning tone sent out by the Chip in his mind, without the slightest hesitation, Leon turned around and jumped into the mouth of one of the Rock Snake, brought his dismantling team and dove into the lava ocean in lightning speed. Then, each of them simply fled into different directions on their own.


    Naturally, the Rock Snake who carried Leon was the only one with all the war trophies. Once it entered the lava ocean, it immediately sunk deeper into the half-molten lava that hardly flowed, swaying its body and bolting toward the nearest escape route. Meanwhile, the other five Rock Snakes were swimming on the surface of the lava ocean, creating a huge uproar and fleeing in different directions.


    A moment ago, it was a calm and peaceful world of flame; a moment later, it had transformed into an explosive ocean that rocked violently.


    When they were hiding inside the graveyard of giants, these Molten Giants dared not attack them using violent long-range abilities, fearing that they might destroy this holy island of theirs. But once they left the island, these Molten Giants wouldn''t be easy with them anymore. While getting closer to them in high-speed, they kept crazily launching long-range Fire element abilities to attack at the Rock Snakes.


    Flaming Storm!


    Lava Flare!


    Fire Stone Shower!


    Hellfire Pulse!


    ...


    ...


    One after another Fire element abilities of massive power had stirred the lava ocean into a rocking sea of fire, and a violent explosion of energies immediately swept across the entire space. Elementium storm visible to naked eyes quickly spread out on the surface of the lava ocean and soon covered all Rock Snakes who were fleeing.


    Though a Rock Snake had a thick and large body and its Strength and Physique was considered superb among all element golems, when it was facing a tyrannical and brutal attack that saturated every inch of the space like this, the body made up of hard rocks still melted like hot wax.


    The bodies of two Rock Snakes were broken into half from the middle and were swept up into the sky by the Elementium storm like a whirlwind that swept away scattered clouds. The broken bodies flew high up above the sea of fire. And in next moment, more raging energies had rolled them up like a mat.


    At the same time, though the bodies of the other three remaining Rock Snakes were badly damaged as well, they still desperately fled towards the outside of the storm. However, before they could run to a far enough distance, a series of fire explosion came into the scene, which brought a Molten Giant who had a tall and mighty body beside them. Upon making its debut, it raised its huge stone fist and simply punched the Rock Snakes'' bodies.


    Sensing the conscious nodes that died off one after another on his back, Leon''s heart was pounding violently. He had completed half of his plan, and what was left would be how he could make his escape!


    In the beginning, Leon''s existence wasn''t noticed by any of the Molten Giants. But following the annihilation of the Rock Snakes and the help from its Fire Sense, Elder Nimr who possessed a formidable overall strength had finally discovered the Rock Snake that had hid deep inside the lava ocean and was fleeing at top speed.


    But right at this moment, Leon had fled some seven miles away.


    The miserable situation of their clan graveyard had completely infuriated this group of Molten Giants. Whether they were sailing on lava rock battleship or swimming in the lava ocean, they used all their efforts to chase Leon. In addition to that, each giant had summoned a large group of Fire element creatures and organized them into an army of fire that consisted of an insane number of soldiers, vowing that they would capture the foul human.


    But too bad, due to the disadvantage in their speed, they were extremely furious and helpless at the same time.


    The little human thief who had robbed their clan graveyard, had smoothly escaped the lava ocean and rampaged his way towards the outer perimeter of the volcano world.


    The greatly angered giants no longer stayed within the restraints of the contract they had signed with the Human Mages. Riding on the rocking lava they stormed into the lava tunnels, following that little human thief and pushing their way to the upper level of the volcano. Yet, on this route, there were many human apprentices who came here for training, and was laboriously searching for magical gemstones and underground materials that had been washed up to the upper level by the lava.


    As the result of being caught unprepared, these apprentices had suffered a great deal.


    A dozen of Advanced Apprentices failed to escape in time and were killed by the besiegement of Fire element creatures who flooded them like a tsunami. The other apprentices put out every single skill and approach they knew and only managed to miserably escape this world of volcano which had gone on a rampage.


    ...


    2444 Words

 Chapter 134 - 134: Outworld

    As for what had happened exactly at the depths of the volcano, no one really knew.


    Nevertheless, the volcano world which had gone fully rampage was no longer a place suitable for treasure hunting, and it was a fact that everybody knew. Hence, Leon too, mixed among all other visiting apprentices and expressed his anger, before submitting his required portion of mission item and leaving Palmyra Town without alerting anybody.


    When Leon returned smoothly to the Magical Swamp with his brand new status as a Pseudo-Mage, a massive storm immediately broke out in the entire Swampy Tower.


    Once upon a time, Leon was just a nobody among the apprentices of the Swampy Tower and many people hadn''t even realized his existence. But now, following his mighty rise, those experts who Leon used to look up to had been ditched at his back and became the group who had the most dejected emotions.


    And right when a portion of apprentices was still doubting on the authenticity of the news, Mage Keoghan, who represented Sarubo Family had visited Swampy Tower once again and had a meeting with Leon at the fifth floor of the tower. As expected, Leon''s decision was exactly same as Bleia''s ¨C he chose to serve Sarubo Family ten years in exchange for the resources required for his level up.


    Of course, if Leon had the confidence to find all resources required for the official Mage Advancement Ceremony by himself, then he could always choose to leave Sarubo Family and become a wanderer. However, with the current development situation of Zhentarim Association, they had employed a rather hostile and oppressive policy towards any wandering Mages and apprentices who didn''t belong to a family. Thus, if Leon wished to spend his apprenticeship smoothly, unavoidably, he had to join an Mage Family.


    As for the Byron Family''s chest badge that Leon had obtained at the Underground Cave, it only meant the Byron Family was willing to protect him at the Dagon region, as he hadn''t sign any magical contract and officially joined the Byron Family.


    After meeting with Mage Keoghan, Leon was immediately dragged into Bleia''s room, by the vampire girl who had heard the news of his return.


    "Tell me now, what had you done during the mission? How is it possible that you made the breakthrough and became a Pseudo-Mage?" With Bleia understanding of Leon, this guy could never complete a mission smoothly, as every time he would create big troubles halfway.


    Leon responded with a big smile on his face, but said nothing. However, after he stroked his hand across the tabletop, he left behind one big and four small, a total of five mysterious, dark red gemstones.


    "What are these?" Curiously, Bleia stretched her hand toward the biggest gemstone, but right when her little hand touched the mysterious gemstone, she retracted it instantly.


    A light crackling noise was heard, as a small flame ignited on top of the gemstone and ferociously burned her fingers.


    Even with Bleia''s body constitution of vampire, her fingers which had touched the gemstone had turned dark. But she wasn''t bothered by it, with a gentle wave of her palm, the burn marks immediately disappeared and her fair and delicate fingers had returned.


    Bleia didn''t act recklessly this time, but stood still and pondered for a moment.


    Obviously, the flame wasn''t controlled by someone, and it wasn''t the result of some magical arrays. It was a defensive mechanism initiated by the instincts of the gemstone. It was like as if... as if it possessed its own consciousness!


    "What exactly is this?" Bleia asked the question once again, but this time, she wore a fierce expression on her face and revealed a pair of her sharp fangs. She had a look as if to say that if Leon didn''t give her the answer, she would leap onto him and gave him a brutal bite. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Second Grade Core!" A weird smile emerged on Leon''s face, as he spoke the answer one word at a time.


    The juicy red lips of Bleia murmured the same answer a few times, before she came to a rude awakening. "Second Grade Core? Did you kill a Second Grade demon? Where is the corpse? Did you extract its blood? Hurry up... tell me quickly!"


    "Ugh..." Leon spread his arms and expressed his speechless at Bleia''s response. "If I really meet with a Second Grade demon, do you think I can still come back alive?"


    "You''re right!" Bleia smiled slightly and felt surprised for losing her cool just now.


    She just couldn''t help it. She was at the most important transition period throughout the entire life of a vampire, and the fastest method for increasing her overall strength was being fed the blood of experts. With these two reasons combined, it was more than enough for Bleia to become nervousness enough to lose her cool and become restless and passionate upon hearing news about a powerful creature!


    Of course, in the eyes of Bleia, the current Leon could barely be considered an expert. Nevertheless, no matter how much Bleia tried to convince Leon until the roof fell down, Leon would never agree to let her suck his blood. Because according to the Chip''s analysis, any individual who had his blood sucked by a vampire, would always suffer from a different degree of decay in his overall strength.


    And, this decay was most likely the key to why the vampire could evolve by sucking blood!


    To put it simply, if Leon allowed Bleia to suck his blood, most probably his attribute would drop, and it would effect his Physique and Spirit, which were the attributes he cared about the most. With regard to this, Toril, the Bloodline Apprentice they met at the Underground Cave, was the perfect example.


    Originally, that guy had reached the pinnacle of his apprenticeship, and was about to hold his official Mage Advancement Ceremony. However, he was miserably defeated by Leon''s golem team. Such injuries would only take him one to two weeks of resting to fully recover. However, from the news from his family, the Pseudo-Mage Toril had experienced a decay in his Spirit. Though it hadn''t dropped below 20 points, it was more than enough to affect him from advancing normally.


    Hence, after summarizing from so many bloody examples, Leon had reason to believe that through sucking the blood of others, the race of vampire could extract the bloodline factor of the host and use it to strengthen themselves and weaken the enemy. Try to think about it, under such circumstances, how could Leon let Bleia suck his blood?


    After exchanging the latest developments of each other, Bleia rushed back to the Mission Hall, continued searching for apprentice missions that suit her the most. As for Leon, he returned to his own room and started listening to the briefing of the goblin merchant, Snorlax.


    During the three months that Leon was not here, following the injecting of information and resources from the outside world, the Swampy Tower had become livelier, no longer a place of stagnancy and dead quietness like how it was in the past. With Bleia''s backing, Snorlax had opened the first Goblin Store in the tower.


    There weren''t many items available to buy in this little store, yet they were all rare resources that could hardly be found in the outside world. Also, recently Snorlax had put its eyes on those Beginner and Intermediate Apprentices and had started to purchase magical materials and ordinary resources that they wouldn''t be using for now.


    Nevertheless, in order for such a little store to operate in full scale, it needed an endless supply of high-grade items, or else, it would be pretty tough to attract these apprentices.


    After finished listening to Snorlax''s briefing, Leon nodded his head satisfyingly. Then, he casually poured out a large pile of magical gemstones and materials from his storage waist belt, and most of them were Fire Diamonds. After all, compared to those apprentices who spent all days wandering at the outer perimeter of the volcano world, Leon had ventured into the depths of the lava ocean countless of times and the chances of him finding high-grade magical gemstones were much higher.


    Also, those Fire Diamonds and magical gemstones were mostly washed out from the lava ocean during the active periods of the volcano. And, after going through the filtration of Fire element creatures, the leftover would be all of that lesser quality materials. Yet, the Fire Diamonds Leon brought back from the lava ocean were at least supreme grade Fire Diamonds, the size of a human fist. Leon even tossed a huge human skull-sized Fire Diamond over to Snorlax, asking it to find someone to craft it into the shape of a jade pillow.


    With that, when Leon laid his head on top of it and meditated in the future, the result would definitely be better!


    After Snorlax left happily with a packed waist pouch, the smile on Leon''s face gradually subsided. He started to ponder seriously on some very important information.


    During his absence of the past three months, Mage Eclivel had actually publicly announced that he would take Worm controller Blake as his disciple. And according to what Snorlax told him, nearly every day of these past three months, Blake had dwelt in the fifth floor of the Mage Tower, and no one knew what he and Mage Eclivel were doing up there!


    Facing two enemies who might have joined forces, Leon''s feeling of joy after becoming a Pseudo-Mage immediately vanished in a flash. Once again, he felt the pressure of time that waited for no man. Though, after he made the advancement and became Pseudo-Mage and managed to obtain the protection from the family preventing Mage Eclivel from harming him openly, it was still possible the Mage would have planned something treacherous in the dark.


    And by getting so close with Worm controller, could Eclivel use Blake to deal with Leon?


    Leon let out a bitter laugh.


    Since the day he had a thorough understanding of the conflict of interest between Mage Eclivel and Bleia, he knew sooner or later, he would be hated by Eclivel. He just didn''t think that the enemy would move so quickly, so pressing against the time!


    In the eyes of these treachery and cunning Mages, all apprentices were merely a bunch of materials who knew how to walk by themselves. If not for the fact that the top management of the Mages had put a constraint on their behavior, perhaps these selfish fellows would never allow the rising of new Mages, who would stand up and fight for rare resources against them.


    Nevertheless, no matter what the enemy was planning, as long as the speed of his progress went beyond their expectations, any dangers and traps would pass away like a cloud, and none of them could shake the direction of his progress.


    After giving the current situation a thorough analysis, Leon immediately drafted out a long working plan for the time to come. Under his arrangement, perhaps for the next half year, every single day would be filled with numerous tasks and no time for leisure.


    In this mysterious world, in order to keep his life safe, Leon had poured all his energy and time in the learning and researching magic spells.


    ...


    Inside Snorlax''s room.


    After coming back from its master''s room, Snorlax had been indulging in an enthusiastic stage.


    Every time when it took out a magical gemstone from its waist pouch, it would always dance with joy, repeatedly kissing and stroking it, before using its magical probing stick to verify the element and quality of the gemstone.


    Staring at the pile of gemstones which was getting taller and taller, Snorlax''s heart was filled with wild excitement. At this time, it just wished it could run back to its master and passionately kiss his shoes. Perhaps, only by doing this it could let its master experience the passion and loyalty of Snorlax!


    But, during this delightful process, a small setback had struck Snorlax.


    Within the pile of gemstones its master had given it, Snorlax discovered a mysterious, white stone the size of a human fist. No matter what method it used to verify the stone, it just couldn''t find out its element, and couldn''t confirm whether it was a magical gemstone, material or egg of demon beast!


    Even after using its magical probing stick to test it, the message it got in its mind was a simple ''unknown item from Outworld''. Since the magical probing stick confirmed it was an item rather than a living being, it also meant it wasn''t an egg of some demon beast. Yet, its master had included the white stone in the pile of gemstones, it told Snorlax that this was an item of great value.


    The info Snorlax concerned the most was the word ''Outworld''.


    Could this white stone be a mysterious gemstone from another plane?


    Snorlax scratched its head and had no choice but to put the mysterious white stone back onto the table and turn around and continue to organize the rest of the gemstones.


    ...


    2193 Words

 Chapter 135 - 135: Giant bloodsucking bug

    Right when Snorlax was busy settling the large quantity of Fire Diamonds and gemstones brought back by its master, Leon had also started to seriously go through the loot he had brought back during the trip to the volcano.


    A Second Grade Crystal Core of Molten Giant, four First Grade Crystal Cores of Molten Giant.


    Perhaps, even an official Mage would felt jealous of a loot like this!


    However, with Leon''s current ability of golem crafting, he still couldn''t work on this Second Grade core. After all, any external modification would mean damaging the core itself and the self-defense mechanism initiated by this Second Grade core alone was enough to give Leon a huge headache. It was impossible for him to focus all his attention on controlling the alchemy station, while keeping a lookout on the rampaging behavior put out of the core itself.


    If anything unexpected happened during the critical moments, it was highly possible this hard to come by supreme treasure would be destroyed!


    As a result, before he could improve his overall strength to another level, he had no choice but to put this precious core aside and only work on it once he had the confidence to do so in future.


    As for the other four First Grade cores of Molten Giant, they were the focus of Leon''s work.


    Using the most primitive method, Leon meticulously and carefully scanned every single aspect of each core into his mind. The data gathered by the Chip included the hardness of each core, the flatness of each side of the core, the direction of every single thread of crystal grown into and the distribution of their thickness... and it put the utmost focus in scanning the surface area of each core that it could use later.


    Using this complicated and vast statistical data, the Chip would design the most appropriate three-dimensional magical array for each of the core, then through multiple optimizations, make the arrays able to fit perfectly onto the core.


    As Molten Giant was a double-elements magical creature of Fire and Earth, no doubt, by only utilizing one of the element would be a huge waste. Therefore, in order to dig out their potential to the last drop, the Chip would need a long time to calculate and analyze before coming out with the best solution.


    After handing this tedious task to the Chip, Leon spent all his time busily working on learning Fire element magic spells. Since his body transformed into Flame Body, the time took Leon to learn these Fire element magic spells was cut into half. In the past, it took him one to two months to learn a new magic spell, but now, his list of personal skills was refreshed with a new skill on a daily basis.


    Nevertheless, for magic spells which could give him multiple effects and required different magical knowledge, Leon still needed to put in a huge amount of effort in order to master them.


    During his previous trip to the volcano world, Leon''s newly constructed team of Earth element golems was nearly wiped out completely, and it would take him some time before he could restock the loss of five Rock Snake''s cores. As the Swampy Tower didn''t carry the huge resources of core Leon needed, hence he could only ask Bleia to buy some when she was out for her mission.


    But, this could at most bring him Pseudo-Mage level cores, and each of them cost a hefty price. After all, Leon had a higher requirements about the quality of the cores. And, though he hoped to find some Mage level cores at the apprentice market, it was merely wishful thinking!


    According to the normal system of administrative, if Leon needed any high-level Mage resources, the most convenient way would be through the help of Mage Eclivel. But too bad, it was obvious that Mage Eclivel was just a selfish guy, as he only concerned on his own magic spell experiments and would never show concern to any of his Apprentice Mages.


    As the result, by compared to apprentices from other Mage Towers, the apprentices of Swampy Tower were so much weaker.


    ...


    On the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower.


    In the depth of night, Acteon came to this place once again.


    Inside the large stone hall, a huge magical array was seen drawn on the rock solid surface of the floor. It was an array constructed from numerous strange and profound magical runes and lines. No matter how hard Acteon tried to recall his knowledge, out of so many runes, he could barely recognize a couple of runes that he felt familiar with.


    They were all mysterious runes related to bloodline, souls, and fusion. As for their specific usage, it was sad that with the knowledge of an Apprentice Mage, there was no way he could decipher any further.


    In addition to that, what really startled Acteon was the strong scent of blood inside of the magical array, and the dark blood stain on the floor that couldn''t be washed away. All this was the direct evidence to the torture he had suffered in the past few months. If not because he was supported by a crazy will of becoming stronger, even with his body being half-bug, he wouldn''t be able to withstand the process of bloodline quenching and fusing that went on repeatedly.


    Clad in a dark Mage robe, Eclivel was seen adjusting the magical array. His lips moved as he murmured, his ghost-claws like fingers streaking through the air in a mysterious manner, and with that, one after another profound magical rune emerged out of nowhere and kept merging with the magical array lying quietly on the floor.


    As the result, all energy nodes of the magical array lit up in an orderly fashion.


    "Take off all your clothes and stand in the magical array!"


    The order from Mage Eclivel was straight and clear, but his words carried an undertone of authority that allowed no one to disobey.


    With a pale face, Acteon followed his orders.


    After the robe clad on his body was taken off, exposing in the air was a twisted, fearful looking body that was half-bug!


    On his body, the part that belonged to human was rare to see, as most of his body part portrayed the obvious characteristics of bugs. A pair of colorful, hue-shifting eyes, countless tiny compound eyes surrounded his pupil, a layered, lotus-shaped mouthpiece, a black hard shell that formed a layer of protection on his entire body, and the pair of sickle shaped arms that folded on the side of his body...


    Since he transformed himself into a bizarre look of half-human, half-bug, Acteon had never revealed his body in front of anyone. Put it bluntly, anyone who had the privilege of witnessing his true form had been devoured by him, became the nourishment of this body of half-bug.


    But for today, he was forced to expose his body, in the most humiliating manner!


    The gruesome and shivering air, the icy cold stone floor that sent a chill down his spine, all made him felt extremely uncomfortable. Yet, he still stood with his back straight in the center of the magical array, inside a magical ring that could only be occupied by a single person.


    "Good... excellent..." Within the spacious hall, the cold voice of Mage Eclivel sounded out like the curse coming from the misty void. "Although the function of your body has decayed slightly, the result of bloodline infusion is coming along well! Kid, if you can survive this round of magical experiment, you''ll definitely become the one and only one giant bloodsucking bug in this world!"


    Hee hee hee...


    Following the near insane howl let out by Mage Eclivel, the surging energy within the magical array started to gather toward the magical ring at the center of it. The bright glow of the intense magical energy even illuminated Acteon''s body, making it half transparent and allowing anyone to see his internal organs and bones. Within the intense light, a vague, incorporeal yet broken figure of soul emerged out of nowhere, standing right at the position where Acteon was at, throwing a blank look at the surroundings.


    At the same time, right above the magical array, a crack was broken out on the ceiling, and a human fist-sized, crystal clear Soul Diamond was seen gradually making its descent. With the help from the strong glow emitted by the circulating of the magical array, one could even see through the Soul Diamond and see a glittering and translucent crystal of crimson rolling within the core of it.


    Step by step, Mage Eclivel controlled the Soul Diamond, making it attach to Acteon''s forehead slowly. In an instant, a burning smell filled the air, as the Soul Diamond radiated a high temperature and scorched Acteon''s forehead, burning it and producing dark smoke. Finally, the Soul Diamond successfully socked itself onto his forehead.


    The crimson crystal was revolving swiftly. For each turned it revolved, it would shot out a tiny crimson thread. Guided by the Soul Diamond, this tiny crimson thread merged into Acteon''s body slowly. At the beginning, the transformation wasn''t that clear. But following the merging of more of these threads with him, Acteon''s body started to turn dark red and crimson demonic runes could vaguely be seen on the surface of his body.


    No doubt, for Acteon, such degree of body modification was frightfully torturous. His half-bug body which had taken a deep root in the control would never allow his bloodline to be contaminated by any external bloodline. At the depths of his bloodline, a place where no outsider could ever take a peek of, a battle of life and death had broken out, and the situation could be described as intense and severe!


    Suppressed by the magical array, the home advantage of half-bug bloodline was reducing at a constant speed. On the other side, supported by the endless energy from the Mage Tower, the weak vampire bloodline was doing its job with ease, as it kept expanding its territory inside of Acteon''s body, seizing one part at a time.


    His body had become the battlefield of life and death between two bloodlines. Right at this very moment, Acteon was like an ordinary mortal who had all his mysterious and powerful abilities stripped away, the cold air of the hall even made him tremble, as he could hardly endure the cold temperature.


    Both bloodlines had shown the same overbearing manner, and both had regarded the other as a contaminant, making it impossible for either one of them to compromise and co-exist with the other. Whenever a bloodline became weaker, it would find a way to invade those body factors, and produce more peers by contaminated them, bringing in more soldiers into the battle.


    Yes, it was a battle! A battle fought for dominance between half-bug bloodline and vampire bloodline! Unless one side completely defeated the other side or the body of the host was too weak for the battle to continue, the battle would continue like this forever.


    Following the progress of the battle, black, pungent and sticky liquid started to ooze from Acteon''s eyes, ears, mouths, nose, and all parts of his body, flowing across his skin and dripping onto the floor.


    The liquid was actually his life factors that were killed in the battle of the bloodline.


    Meanwhile, Acteon''s life aura had started to turn lifeless.


    Upon sensing the body of the host had become extremely weak and could die at any time due to the battle that happened at the depths of bloodline and soul, both mutated bloodlines had finally compromised. They retreated to their own source territory, slowed down the speed of pressuring the host''s body and put out a high vigilance at any movement of the enemy bloodline. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Using the Queen Bug as its base, the half-bug bloodline retreated and hid in Acteon''s brain, while the mutated vampire bloodline had modified Acteon''s heart, and placed its home there. Although the initial planning of having both bloodlines merged as one didn''t happen, but having them co-exist had worked out smoothly.


    Mage Eclivel, who had been focusing all his attention on watching every activity happened inside of Acteon''s body, finally let out a long sigh of relief. With a thought of his mind, he shot out a hidden spiritual ripple.


    Taking the opportunity when Acteon''s soul, body, and bloodline were all at their weakest moment, a soul contract hidden inside the Soul Diamond had snuck its way into Acteon''s body.


    "You..." After all, Acteon did own the Spirit of that Pseudo-Mage level. Though he was weak now, he would still notice any danger that came to him. However, before he could plan his counterattack, the soul contract had seared deeply into his soul.


    As the result, in next second, the naked Acteon had become as obedient a puppet.


    "Waiting for your order, my great master Eclivel!"


    Upon hearing the expected response, Mage Eclivel couldn''t control himself anymore and let out a loud laugh. The entire hall was filled with cruel and high-pitched laughter that sounded like cries of the night owl.


    ...


    2200 Words

 Chapter 136 - 136: Goblin Empire

    Snorlax was very upset!


    And, the thing upset the optimistic Snorlax was actually that mysterious white stone.


    Since it couldn''t figure out the actual usage of the white stone, Snorlax had put it aside and continued busying itself with its Goblin Store. It just had no time to find an expert to identify what it was.


    But unexpectedly, after spent two busy days, it suddenly discovered the white stone was glowing.


    The white stone was lying quietly on the wooden table near the window. Under the shine of the fading moonlight, it was emitting with a faint white glow.


    Yes, it was a glow emitted by the white stone itself and not the reflection of moonlight. Snorlax was certain about this!


    Step by step, Snorlax drew closer to the white stone, and carefully, it touched the stone with its hand. It was neither warm nor cold. The white glow wasn''t caused by a heat source, but from some kind of mysterious magical energy inside the white stone. Based on the fact that the stone could absorb moonlight and transform into energy of its own, Snorlax determined it was possibly a special magical equipment that came from another plane.


    Once it had reached this conclusion, merely for experimentation, Snorlax took out a magic crystal. To its surprise, when it placed the magic crystal near the white stone, the white stone actually dismantled and transformed. After a series of dismantling and assembling movements that dazzled Snorlax''s eyes, a mysterious magical machine that looked similar to a communicative mirror was unveiled in front of its eyes.


    A mechanical arm stretched out from this magical machine, clamped onto the magic crystal and placed it onto a hole located at the lower part of its body. Right after that, a strange mechanical voice echoed out in the room.


    "A mutated entry level energy crystal is detected. It can be used as energy source. Magical Kernel serial number 03768, estimated recovery of function reached 17%. Initiating now..."


    After that, following a series of peculiar noises, this Magical Kernel transformed from the white stone actually stood up, tilted a screen that was located at the top part of its body and pointed it right at Snorlax.


    A violent distortion of images flashed through the screen, and suddenly, an enormous glass eye appeared on it, followed by a noisy and hoarse voice.


    "Peculiar... this is peculiar... why did a Magical Kernel that had not show any activity for more than two hundred years suddenly activate? Hey, little guy, are you the one who activated this Magical Kernel?" Snorlax was certain that the language spoken by the voice came from the Magical Kernel was something that it had never heard or learnt before.


    "Who are you? How did you squeeze into this tiny object? This... what is this... what exactly is this object?" The naturally timid character of Snorlax had struck again. Judging from the size of the eyeball, Snorlax bet it must be a terrifying and enormous giant. If it jumped out from this tiny object, how could Snorlax escape from its death? sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Right at this very moment, Snorlax was seized with remorse. Why hadn''t it mentioned this discovery to its master earlier! Perhaps, only that miraculous master of its could save it from the giant mouth of this giant.


    Right as a fierce mental struggle was going on inside of Snorlax''s mind, the glassy eyeball on the screen backed off some distance, and eventually, allowed Snorlax to get a clear look at the appearance of the giant.


    Fancy that! The ''giant'' was actually someone with a near identical appearance and build like Snorlax! It had a similar height of around one meter tall and had green skin, a pair of large ears, a long and pointy nose, and disheveled, fluffy, short yellow hair. The enormous glassy eyeball that Snorlax saw just now was actually a special goggles.


    Yes, this fellow was actually a goblin too!


    The goblin on the other side was clad in a dirty white coat, a drawing pen was placed in one ear, and it was wearing a high-power magnifier on its eyes. That was why it looked so strange. However, no matter how strange it looked, Snorlax was certain that this fellow was a... goblin!


    After bent over the screen and spending some time looking left and right, obviously, the goblin on the other side never expected it was also a goblin who had just sent a request for communication from a far distance plane. Therefore, after murmuring some complaints for some time, it finally became friendlier, and commenced a warm interaction with Snorlax.


    "You... are you a goblin too?" Snorlax asked timidly.


    "Little guy, you are now meeting with the greatest chief inventor of the Goblin Empire, Duke Gazlowe. So, before you ask any question, you better add in the proper honorifics!" On the other side of the screen, the yellow-hair goblin was seen waving its arms dissatisfied and speaking in a threatening manner.


    "Oh, the Great Duke Gazlowe, could you tell me what exactly is this object? Also, why is that I can understand your words?"


    "Damn you #%@£¤%... it looks like you this little guy had not understand anything yet." The yellow-hair goblin crazily cursed, before it explained to Snorlax with a helpless expression. "What you''re looking at right now is the Magical Kernel I invented: the Super Long Distance Magical-Mechanical Communication and Transmitting Machine. To put it simply, it is a little equipment that allows two goblins to communicate and transmit items across a super long distance.


    As for why you can understand my words, it is because you''re a goblin too! As long as you''re a goblin, no matter which plane you are living in, it is natural that you can understand the Goblin language, as it is one unique to Goblins!"


    Snorlax''s eyes went wider and wider, as it hardly believed what it had just heard.


    "If this machine was invented by you, why was it stranded in this place?" Snorlax asked wonderingly.


    "Since this machine is called Super Long Distance Magical-Mechanical Communication and Transmitting Machine, it is of course used to carry out trading of items between planes! When I was young, I produced a few hundred of them at one go, and randomly tossed them into different places in the multi-verse. So, when the local experts picked up this machine, they could become my customers. If my memory served me well, last time, it was a powerful Molten Giant who used this machine with the serial number of 03768 to communicate with me. But too bad, that giant was really poor, and didn''t own any good stuff that met the fancy of my eyes!"


    "You... you are actually a Mighty Transplanar Merchant?" The greedy-in-nature, keen on receiving petty advantages Snorlax had its eyes pop out instantly. For Snorlax, obviously, compared to the status of Chief Inventor of the Goblin Empire, the yellow-hair goblin''s status of a transplanar merchant was so much more respectable.


    "Certainly! As the greatest engineer, inventor and transplanar merchant of the Goblin Empire, I, Duke Gazlowe, am well-known throughout the entire multi-verse!"


    "You''ve mentioned many times about Goblin Empire? This... what is it then?" Snorlax asked curiously.


    Gazlowe said out loud with a proud voice, "Goblin Empire is, of course, the empire of Goblins! It is a kingdom built by us, Goblins, after occupying an entire plane. In this kingdom, we, the Goblins are the true master of the plane. Since you''ve asked this question, presumably, in the plane you''re living right now, goblins have an inferior status?"


    Hearing what it said, Snorlax clenched its fists tightly in excitement, while both of its eyes were filled with tiny sparks of envy. However, it soon recalled its current situation and couldn''t help but lower its big ears dejectedly.


    Gazlowe sighed silently.


    It had seen many situations like this. In most of the material planes, Goblins were discriminated against and lived miserable lives being bullied by everybody. They didn''t possess any ability in fighting, and they didn''t have any extraordinary innate abilities. Even among all demons, their place belonged in the bottom of the food chain.


    Nevertheless, with regards to this goblin who had accidentally activated the Magical Kernel in another plane, Gazlowe expressed its extreme curiosity. After patiently questioning Snorlax, it was told that this dejected little goblin was actually a slave who served a mysterious Mage.


    And when Gazlowe couldn''t bear itself and suspected that Snorlax was just a penniless vagrant who owned nothing, the angry Snorlax opened up its waist pouch and revealed all its treasures to Gazlowe.


    Human fist-sized Fire Diamonds; Sapphire, Ruby, Green Agate, Topaz, and Beryl which sent forth a powerful aura of magical element, and rare Night-Eye Stones, Pyre Stones, Crimson Spinel Stones and other treasures which could only found in certain planes...


    A little, seemingly insignificant goblin actually took out so many rare gemstones in one go, this had made Gazlowe nearly dropped its eyes out. It paid no attention to those elemental gemstones, because at the plane where it was living, it could find plenty of them easily. However, the Night-Eye Stones, Pyre Stones, Crimson Spinel Stones and few other special gemstones and materials that Snorlax took out the last were something it had never seen before, and it took a great interest in a few of them.


    In the Goblin Empire where it came from, the one single most powerful creation was all kind of magical machines. And, the energy that drove these magical machines would be a huge amount of energy crystals and distinguished magical gemstones. If it could bring all these special magical gemstones back to the Goblin Empire, figured out the mode of existence and the method of sharing the special energies, no doubt it would bring a tremendous help to the development of the magical machine.


    Thus, the more this two goblins talked, the friendlier they became with each other. By the end, they actually reached a trade agreement, planning to carry out a transplanar barter trade in secret.


    The trade list drafted by each of them was extremely long.


    For Snorlax, it had listed every single magical gemstone, magical materials and some unique Mage resources it heard or seen before in the World of Mage. As for Gazlowe, its list comprised all sorts of powerful yet dangerous magical machines and some local resources produced in the Goblin Plane.


    While browsing through the trade list provided by the other party, when one of them was interested in some random item on the other''s list, it would offer a price and started the negotiation process. Sure enough, Goblins deserved to be generally regarded as a race that cared about nothing but profit, and they were also the greediest race in the world.


    When it came to the price of the item, this pair of Goblin brothers who were happily chatting with each other moment ago immediately turned into someone as mean as a miser, fighting over the smallest trifles. Because of a difference in one or two magic crystals, they would rage at each other, cursing loudly all the familial relatives of the other goblins, and portray a fierce look of ''take it or leave it''.


    Therefore, Snorlax didn''t sleep for the entire night, spent all its effort and more than twenty hours fighting with Duke Gazlowe, who was a greedy, stingy, shameless, selfish, narrow-minded... goblin. In addition to that, it also paid no attention to hygiene and carried a pungent body odor. As for the result? Two transplanar deals that were worth less than five magic crystals.


    And yet, in order to maintain the smooth communication, Snorlax had literally spent three magic crystals in just one night.


    But with regards to this, none of them actually felt strange. Snorlax was dancing in joy as it was able to negotiate a discount of one single magic crystal for the deal. On the other side, Gazlowe was seen roaring furiously, cursing Snorlax as the most shameless and despicable green-skinned goblin it ever met.


    Finally, both ended their first communication in such ''friendly'' atmosphere!


    ...


    2020 words

 Chapter 137 - 137: Infusion

    Three months later


    When Leon woke up from a long period of meditation, he couldn''t help and have a worried expression on his face.


    "Chip, how efficient is this meditation?"


    "Calculating... Spirit has increased by another 0.007. According to the current progress, in order to reach the maximum of 20 points, an estimated 139 days will be needed."


    The muscle near the corner of Leon''s lips twitched.


    His body had turned into Flame Body and he had also used his authority in the Mage Tower to make himself a room with abundant Fire Elementiums. In addition to that, his daily meals were all magical energy foods that would bring great benefits to his body and Spirit. Even combined with the Fire Diamond pillow and Deep Sea Flower, he had actually just gained an increment of 0.007 in a day. Compared to the past, where he could easily gain 0.05 increment in every meditation, Leon felt it difficult to adapt to the situation.


    Since he had become a Pseudo-Mage, Leon had discovered that the increase in Spirit brought by basic meditation and studying magic spells was not as significant as in the past. Because he had the help of the Chip, he was able to detect the increment of his Spirit on a daily basis. Yet, for those Pseudo-Mages who didn''t own such ability, their productiveness was ten times lower than his. What was the thing that they relied upon in order to go through this painful period?


    Leon closed his eyes and pondered for a brief moment. Only then did he realize something.


    It seemed like those Pseudo-Mages rarely stayed in their own rooms and meditated days and night. Instead, they spent most of their time bustling about, training themselves laboriously through different missions. In the past, Leon had thought they did this for the sake of getting more resources. Now, looking back and pondering deeper, it was more likely that due to the slow progress in their Spirit, they were pushing themselves to the brink of death as a method of stimulating their Spirit.


    This might not be a bad idea!


    "Chip, you spent quite a long time doing analysis. Have you found out why there''s such a slow progress for Spirit?"


    "Beep. The modeling of the mission has been completed. The result shows that during the period of apprenticeship for humans, the primary task is to arduously increase the density of Elementium in the body and strive for a qualitative change that comes from quantitative accumulation. The ultimate goal is to rise and become a magical creature: Mage.


    After entering the grade of Pseudo-Mage, the increase of Spirit becomes slower because the accumulation of element energy is approaching its bottleneck. Due of the lack of traction from a vital core, and because of the characteristics of elements, the energy accumulated in the early state will cause an unpredicted distraction to the energy that comes in later. This causes the efficiency of energy accumulation in the later state to weaken significantly."


    The Same-Element Attraction and Universal Repulsion of element energy?


    Both of them were elementary theories of elemental magic spells that had long been known by all senior Mages. To put it simply, among the different types of Elementiums, it was easier for the Elementiums with the same element to gather together and produce a homogeneous region. The Mages referred to this phenomenon as Same-Element Attraction!


    However, there was a limit to such aggregation. Once it reached or exceeded this limit, Mages had discovered that it would become extremely difficult to bring in more Elementium of the same element. It was as if there was a powerful repulsive force between those Elementiums of the same element which caused them to reject each other. As a result, Mages had referred to this phenomenon as Universal Repulsion.


    The characteristics of Same-Element Attraction and Universal Repulsion existed within all Elementiums at the same time. The key was the regional density of the Elementium. If the density was lower than the limit, they would portray the characteristics of Same-Element Attraction, but when it was higher than the limit, they would show the characteristics of Universal Repulsion. The Mages didn''t know the details and exact theory for this phenomenon, or perhaps they did have a conclusion but magical knowledge of such an advanced degree was not something Leon had the right to know right now.


    "Chip, do you have any workable methods that can solve the current problem?"


    "Beep. Data analysis complete. There are two workable solutions:


    Solution number 1: Core Transplant.


    The Spirit of Apprentice Mages is scattered, as it is not bound by a vital core. Transplanting a Fire element core into the brain can reduce the repulsiveness between Fire Elementiums.


    Pros: Able to solve the issue of having Spirit increase at a slow rate, and eventually increase the success rate of official Mage Advancement Ceremony.


    Cons: The transplanted Fire element core cannot compare to the Element Core formed by oneself and it will restrict the possibility of future development.


    Solution number 2: Stimulate the Spirit.


    Bypass the weak stimulation toward the Spiritual Domain which is caused by the accumulation of Elementium. Instead, use a more direct approach which can stimulate the source of the Spirit, using the method of reducing the tenacity of the Spirit to obtain increments of the Spirit''s maximum limit."


    Leon knitted his brows in a tight frown.


    Ugh, restricted to the knowledge mastered by the Chip, Leon didn''t like either of the solutions it provided. The first solution was a method that attended to the superficials and neglected the essentials; it was the lousiest approach that could destroy his future totally, and was only useful to those Pseudo-Mages who had no more hope of becoming an official Mage. As for the second solution, it wasn''t too dependable either. It was still unknown whether this method could really cultivate an official Mage, but it for sure could give birth to a freak.


    Since the crooked ways weren''t feasible at all, Leon had no choice but to focus all of his attention on the source of Mages.


    Spirit!


    The reason for human Mages to set 21 points of Spirit as the basic threshold of breaking through the limits of humans and becoming official Mages was most probably because 20 points was the maximum limit of Spirit a human''s body could ever achieve!


    Once they stepped over this threshold, there would be some essential differences between a human Mage and an ordinary human, as the human Mage would become more like a magical creature. Therefore, the reason why there was such a huge gap in the overall strength between an Mage of 21 points Spirit and a Pseudo-Mage of 20 points Spirit was most probably because the basic data of their bodies had become totally different!


    With the aid of so many outside advantages, without the need to participate in any life and death training, Leon could still achieve an increment of 0.007 in his Spirit on a daily basis. If this was known by any other Pseudo-Mages, for sure they would be extremely jealous. For Leon, however, it was still very slow!


    Because... because the recent transformation of Worm controller Blake had made his heart tremble!


    Initially, he had thought his progress had gone beyond all other people. Thus, catching up or even suppressing Blake was just a matter of time. But, after he had accidentally bumped into Blake in the Tower a few days ago, such thoughts had become rather inconclusive!


    That Worm controller nearly had a new transformation every single day and his massive Spiritual pressure had become more visible. After having the Chip perform a scan on him, Leon knew that it was highly possible Worm controller''s Spirit had gone beyond the half-mark of a Pseudo-Mage. That meant his Spirit must have reached beyond 20.50. Yet, he had only become a Pseudo-Mage less than half a year ago!


    This proved that the increase rate of Worm controller Blake''s Spirit was not weaker than Leon''s.


    Of course, it might be the result of Blake visiting the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower every couple of days. From the scan results of the Chip, it was highly possible that Mage Eclivel was performing a bloodline infusion experiment on Blake, because the Chip had detected the familiar scent of blood from Blake''s body.


    Although the smell of blood was rather faint, with the Chip''s gene detection approach that scanned up to the cellular level, it was still detectable and was presented in front of Leon. He was really angry with such a discovery, as the source of the bloodline factor was actually pointing directly at Bleia.


    This meant that the blood sample Bleia had given Mage Eclivel was being used on Worm controller. Having two different bloodlines that kept fighting each other inside of Blake''s body was no different than placing him at the brink of life and death every single day. No wonder his Spirit was increasing at such an incredible rate.


    There was no room for reconciliation between Worm controller Blake and Leon. And yet, there was one thing that worried Leon the most. If Blake was able to stand at the pinnacle of Pseudo-Mage before him, then it was highly possible that something he didn''t want to see would happen.


    From the information publicly available in magical books, he knew that the success rate of becoming an official Mage in the Zhentarim region wasn''t that high. Basically, out of ten Pseudo-Mages, if two or three of them could become official Mages, that would be something worth a grand celebration. During an official Mage Advancement Ceremony, though the innate talent of an apprentice played a big role, a large part of the success rate was actually pure luck.


    Indeed, a Pseudo-Mage with a powerful innate ability would have a higher success rate than those Pseudo-Mages of that weaker innate talent, however, it was not absolutely certain. Even a Pseudo-Mage with extraordinary innate talent would still have to face the possibility of failing when advancing into the realm of official Mage! Yet, for some fellows with lousy innate talent, if they were lucky enough, they might take the leap and rise to be the master of this world ¨C an official Mage!


    Therefore, in the Mage Continent, every single Pseudo-Mage felt nervous during the official Mage Advancement Ceremony, fearing they might miss their steps and became a total failure for their life. After all, once the advancement ceremony was failed, there would be a significant decay in the Pseudo-Mage''s Spirit and the success rate of next advancement would drop by 50%.


    Hence, except for those favored children who received special attention from big families, no Mage Family wanted to pour another round of new investment into a Pseudo-Mage who had failed once. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And this was what worried Leon the most!


    If... if Blake reached the top of Pseudo-Mage first, he would only have to tell those Mages who were in charge of the advancement ceremony that his success rate of advancement was 100% if he could devour Bleia. Then... what kind of outcome would happen?


    On one side was a Pseudo-Mage who had signed an Mage contract with the family, and on the other side were two Pseudo-Mages who had only signed the servicing contract. One had a 100% success rate of advancement, the other side had two Pseudo-Mages who had an uncertain success rate of advancement...


    If it was that situation, together with the involvement of Mage Eclivel, Bleia would face a life-threatening situation!


    Leon hadn''t told Bleia about this. Before he had a method to solve this situation, telling the situation to the irritable Bleia would be no help at all. Unless Leon could capture tens of Mage level demons at one go and give them all to Bleia as a supplements, he would have to depend only on himself in order to change the situation.


    Leon lowered his head and looked at his right palm. On top of it, there were two black fragments of bugs. Through his powerful Elementium Vision, Leon could barely see some constantly changing Musta scripts on top of the fragments. On one of the fragments, he read ''save me,'' while the other was ''devour Bleia.''


    The two fragments of bugs didn''t come to him at the same time. The first one had arrived during the night, one month ago. When he had been meditating, a fingernail sized black bug had crawled through the window into Leon''s room. It had exploded upon touching on Leon''s wooden table, leaving behind only a bizarre shell covered with words. As for the second one, it had appeared one week ago.


    It was only because of the clues brought by these fragments that Leon had drawn the conclusion that Blake had the intention of devouring Bleia. Otherwise, no matter how profound his intelligence, there was no way he could have thought of such an absurd conclusion.


    ...


    2165 Words

 Chapter 138 - 138: Slave

    No doubt, the bugs had been sent by the Worm controller Blake himself!


    Save me?


    Could he really be pleading for help?


    Devour Bleia? sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Why would he leak his best workable plan to Leon?


    After posting a bunch of questions to the Chip and having it analyze the possible answers, a terrible plot was soon discovered, and it simply left Leon chilled to the bone!


    Most probably, Worm controller had been totally controlled by Mage Eclivel until now, and that had forced him to seek help from his enemy, Leon. As for how a Pseudo-Mage who was under the total control of an Mage was able to deceive his master and retain his soul consciousness, perhaps that had something to do with his unique bug body!


    Though he was fortunate enough to retain his self-conscious under the evil plot of Mage Eclivel, obviously, there was no way he could escape from the control. Therefore, he used the method of leaking their treacherous plot in exchange for Leon''s interference.


    However, even though Leon knew all this, was there anything he could do about it?


    Should he lodge a complaint with Mage Keoghan, who was also an Mage from the Sarubo Family, and tell him about the impudent behavior of Mage Eclivel? That might make Mage Eclivel suffer some punishment, but it wouldn''t change the situation at the root, as Blake would be still under his control. And if Eclivel made it clear that he was willing to give up the right of control, perhaps the Sarubo Family would take over the control of a family Mage who obeyed all their orders, wholeheartedly.


    If that happened, Bleia still wouldn''t escape her tragic destiny!


    Defeat and kill Eclivel? This was simply something impossible to achieve!


    If all of the four formidable golems anticipated by Leon were ready and he could lure Mage Eclivel to some pre-set place, together with the help from Bleia and Blake, they might have a slight chance of killing him. However, the success rate for a plan like this would never exceed 12%, according to the Chip. Leon would never take such a huge risk!


    In the past, whenever someone had mentioned how powerful an Mage was, he had only had a rather vague and general idea. But through the training he had gone through in the past half a year, Leon finally had a basic outline in his mind.


    Take Beginner Apprentices as an example. Their bodies were nearly identical to a normal human; the only difference was that they had mastered one or two magic spells of average power, and that was a really low number. With this grade, if an apprentice went to carry out a mission, they usually hired some human mercenaries to protect them from being hurt by ordinary humans, such as damage coming from arrows, flying daggers, traps, and other similar weapons.


    Once they had managed to become an Intermediate Apprentice, the power of an Apprentice Mage would start to show up. At this grade, either they had chosen their direction of future development or they possessed some approach that would bring them strong power; no ordinary human could compare anymore. Even the militia organized by the common cities would not provoke anyone from this group of fearful existences. However, so long as they employed an appropriate approach, the possibility of ordinary humans killing Intermediate Apprentices still existed.


    But, once an apprentice entered the Advanced Apprentice realm, then even a mortal army would not be able to defeat him anymore. Imagine this, a person who possessed the vigorous vitality of a wild buffalo, was able to run as fast as a cheetah, and could put out the formidable strength that was no weaker than a burly adult. For an existence like this, even without using any magic spells, they would be able to wreak havoc within the mortal army. If he was aided with magic spells, annihilating an army of two hundred men would be like cutting through butter with a hot knife.


    Of course, if a human noble was willing to pay a huge price to equip an army of fearless soldiers with the finest weapons and armor, it was still possible to defeat an Advanced Apprentice by sacrificing the lives of over three hundred soldiers.


    But once an Apprentice Mage became a Pseudo-Mage, then the army of an ordinary human noble would lose any effectiveness. If this Pseudo-Mage was shameless enough to conduct guerrilla warfare, he might even be able to collapse some small kingdoms. In order to deal with a Pseudo-Mage, it would need the life of at least 1000 elite soldiers. As for whether could they kill the Pseudo-Mage, it would purely depend on their luck during the battle!


    Of course, the comparison of overall strength mentioned was derived from a situation where the mortal powers weren''t aid by any mysterious forces. Yet currently, throughout the entire Mage Continent, if a kingdom didn''t seek protection from an Mage Family, there was no way it could survive. Many Kings or Grand Dukes of human kingdoms were actually agents sent by Mage Families, random mortals who were experts in managing and running a territory, or Apprentice Mages who had lost all hope of advancing further.


    In brief, mortal power was always a tool for Mages, and the relationship was never reciprocal.


    So, in order to deal with an Mage, mortal forces would never be dependable.


    Only an Mage had the possibility of killing another Mage!


    This true saying had been deeply engraved into the bones of all mortals. No human nobles, big and small, who were protected by Mage Families would want to offend any Mages, even if the one in question was the lousiest Mage. After all, the power of an Mage was extremely dreadful!


    Therefore, after estimating the overall strength of both sides, Leon quickly gave up the stupid idea of fighting Mage Eclivel face to face.


    Although Mages were dangerous and fearful, so long as one could find the right way, an Mage was rather fragile!


    Every year, there were a bunch of Mages who accidentally died in magical experiments and there was also many of them who ventured deep into a savage forest and never came back. But most of them actually died in the conquering warfare of the Mage Families.


    Sometimes, it was the war for territory between different Mage Families of the original plane, sometimes it was the conquering and colonization warfare the Mage Family conducted in the other planes. In brief, if Leon and others became official Mages, they too would probably have to participate in many bloody wars.


    However, sitting back and waiting quietly for Mage Eclivel to kill them was an absurd thought. With the nasty character of Mage Eclivel, where he would spend years dwelling in the Swampy Tower and never go out, one could easily tell that he was a research type Mage and not an expert in battling.


    But even so, Leon still didn''t want to fight him face to face!


    Since he had no intention to fight head on, then the only option left would be scheming.


    Therefore, during this period of time, aside from spending all day arduously improving his overall strength, Leon also quietly planned and prepared for something. However, because the target of his scheme this time was an official Mage, Leon had to consider carefully before making any decisions. After all, if Blake wished to reach the pinnacle of the Pseudo-Mage stage, it would take another three months, so Leon still had some time to plot his scheme.


    ......


    Inside Worm controller Blake''s room.


    It was dark and wet like the true nest of a bug. White cocoons could be seen all over the floor. Some of them were broken, with numerous larvae crawling out from these broken cocoons and their body covered in sticky, yellow slime. Whenever a rune was lit from within a magical array engraved on the floor, bright light would shine upon the intact cocoons, turning them transparent, and one could even see countless larvae inside of the cocoons.


    There was the mutilated dead body of a wild buffalo on one corner of the room, and traces of bug bites could be found on top of it. The black blood of the buffalo oozed from the dead body and spilled all over the place, sending forth a pungent and foul smell.


    The air within the room was extremely filthy. It smelled like strong acid mixed with blood and a rotting scent. Yet, it was as if Blake never noticed it. He was sitting on the floor, both legs folded, his body bent forward and stock still. Though he didn''t move his body, subtle movement could be seen within the gray robe on his body. From time to time, it would bulge for a brief moment before returning to its original shape.


    This was a sign that within his seemingly calm body, it was not as peaceful as the outside indicated.


    Since he had come back from the bloodline infusion ceremony carried out by Eclivel, most of the time, Blake would sit quietly like a dead man, not moving at all. Yet, inside of his body, a bloody war without any physical expression had just come to a temporary stop.


    Every day, the Half-Bug Bloodline, lead by the queen of Carrion Beetles, and the Vampire Bloodline, lead by the Heart of Bloodthirsty, would use his body as a battlefield and fight an intense war. Both parties wished to devour the other and use the other as nourishment to strengthen themselves. Hence, in this war of bloodlines where the winner would survive and the loser would die, neither of them was willing to compromise and co-exist with the other.


    If two mutated bloodlines could be fused together easily, there would be plenty of Bloodline Mages in this world. Why would there be still so many Mages who dwelt deeply in dark and wet towers, carrying out frightening experiments that mostly yielded no results?


    If the potential of two separate bloodlines was imbalanced, then the inevitable outcome would be having one devoured by the other. Yet, if the potential was balanced, it would end up with both being losers and cause the body of the host to disintegrate. All in all, in order to make two incompatible bloodlines coexist harmoniously, it seemed like a key neutralizing agent was missing, which meant that the Mages couldn''t create the results they wanted through any bloodline experiments.


    If the development followed such trend, Blake would eventually face the miserable outcome of being killed.


    Initially, the Half-Bug Bloodline had occupied the home advantage in his body and had had the absolute advantage in the war with the Vampire Bloodline. However, whenever the Vampire Bloodline was going to be defeated, Mage Eclivel would always call him to the secret room located on the fifth floor of the tower and inject a new dose of the source blood into his body.


    It was all because of this endless supply of new blood that the Vampire Bloodline was able to contaminate a vital organ of Blake; it had modified Blake''s heart into the Heart of Bloodthirsty. With the aid of the Heart of Bloodthirsty, the Vampire Bloodline had gained the upper hand in the war of bloodlines for the first time. The obvious symptom of this was that Blake''s bug body had deteriorated and his skin had started to turn dark red.


    Blake''s head had sunk to his breast. Even when the battle of the two bloodlines caused a significant decay in his vitality, making him stand at the gates of death, he still didn''t move. However, right at this moment, in the depths of his Spiritual Domain, on top of the source of his soul, an even crueler and brutal battle was happening.


    The conscious seal formed by the soul contract was deeply seared on the source of Blake''s soul. But strangely, some cracks surrounded the part of his soul which bore the soul contract, and it seemed that part of his soul had almost departed from the entire source of the soul.


    By hiding most of his consciousness in the queen of Carrion Beetles'' body and escaping from the control of Mage Eclivel, Blake was able to barely maintain the independence of his own consciousness. At this point in time, he dared not let his primary consciousness to return to the source of the soul. Once it made the return, the fact that he still had an independent consciousness would be sensed by Mage Eclivel through the soul contract.


    Therefore, currently in his body, Mage Eclivel was only controlling his secondary consciousness, which he had broken up earlier. But his primary consciousness was hiding inside, waiting for the perfect opportunity to seize back the control of his body.


    It was extremely tough to escape from Mage Eclivel''s control just by relying on his strength alone. That was why he had secretly sent a few of his bugs to seek help from the enemy he hated the most. But too bad, both distress calls he had sent were like stones dropped into the sea, producing no response at all. With that, Blake couldn''t bear it and became restless with anxiety.


    ...


    2210 Words

 Chapter 139 - 139: Confession

    The third floor of the Swampy Tower, inside of the Alchemy Laboratory.


    After occupying the highest standard Alchemy Laboratory alone, Leon had made it his home and hadn''t stepped out from it for three days and three nights.


    The first day, he hadn''t done anything. He had just held the core of the First Grade Molten Giant, which would become the target of his experiment, and turned it round and round for careful examination, allowing the Chip to finish its final molding and design.


    Through the powerful see through ability provided by Elementium Vision, he could see every single crystal that formed the entire crystal core, every single thread of crystal, from the direction of where they stretched to the distribution of Earth and Fire Elementium, together with each part''s hardness; every single detail, every single node, was stored in his mind without leaving out anything. The gathered information was then turned into groups of data and eventually transformed into a three-dimensional and detailed virtual model.


    After finishing with all that, without saying another word, Leon simply laid down on the floor inside the Alchemy Laboratory and went into deep slumber. He only woke up early morning of the next day. He stretched his back and yawned, standing up from the floor.


    He washed his face with some fresh water summoned using a magic spell and tidied himself up. When he felt his Spirit had freshened up again, Leon once again stood in front of the Alchemy Station with a solemn expression.


    After going through so long a period of preparation and brewing, the design of a brand new golem was deeply engraved in his mind. Today, he would turn them into reality.


    He curved the corner of his lips upward a little bit, giving himself encouragement with a brief smile. Gradually, the hesitation and worries in Leon''s eyes faded away and were replaced with resolution and confidence.


    Without hesitation, Leon waved his hand and activated the Alchemy Station.


    A brand new golem with a brand new design concept. In order to exert the power of this double-element core of Earth and Fire to the fullest, the Chip had specially designed a brand new three-dimensional magical array for them. Five Energy Gathering Arrays, three Elementium Strengthening Arrays, two Elementium Switching Arrays, two Energy Force Field Arrays, one Lava Armor Activator, one Summoning Runes Array, one Elementium Life Granting Array, several energy nodes and circuits...


    The Beginner Apprentice level clay golem only had seven magical arrays. While the Lightning Giant employed the decentralized approach of a three-dimensional magical array, it only had nine magical arrays on top of the priBleia core. Yet, for this core of a First Grade Molten Giant, which was only the size of a chicken egg, Leon planned to carve sixteen magical arrays in one go. Not only that, he also needed to connect them together and eventually make them into one massive and compact entity.


    Back on Earth in his previous life, he could let the smart computer control and finish such microscopic carving work on the molecular level. However, in this miraculous and mystical world, the only thing Leon could rely on was the guidance and assistance of the Chip, and he had to personally complete all of the tasks himself.


    Throughout the entire three hours of the rune carving process, not a single careless mistake or slack behavior was permitted. If the carving of any rune deviated from the original design, even if it was just the distance of a single crystal thread, it would cause significant influence on the finished golem. Yet, if the deviation went beyond the distance of two crystal threads, it meant that the Mage level core he had obtained by risking his life would be destroyed.


    In addition to that, during the carving process, he needed to maintain a stable and constant output of his Spirit. If the output was too low, it would affect the circulating efficiency of the Elementium energy and if it was too high, it might poke through the surface of the crystal core and damage the inner core. As for stopping half way during the crafting process, it was a huge taboo. He had to complete the entire process in one go, and had no room for any hesitation.


    In order to make the crystal core unleash its full power, it must be matched with sufficient magical arrays. Yet, more magical arrays meant there was little room for mistakes during the crafting process, as any slight mistake would cause the crystal core to be destroyed. Therefore on the Mage Continent, anyone who could carve more than ten magical arrays on top of an Mage level crystal core was regarded as a Master Alchemist. Meanwhile, only a Grandmaster of Alchemy could carve sixteen magical arrays on top of a single core in one go.


    Therefore... naturally, the first Mage level golem crafted by Leon was a total failure!


    During the carving process, the heat beam controlled by Leon''s Spirit had stopped at a spot for an additional 0.7 seconds. It poked through the surface of the crystal core and when the internal core was touched by the heat beam, it instantly exploded and disintegrated.


    A crystal core worth more than 4000 magic crystals was destroyed just like that!


    With no time to feel upset or regret and no time to sigh with emotion or indulge in sorrow. Leon simply threw away the residues of the broken crystal core in his hand and waved his arm to shut off the Alchemy Station, laid himself on the floor, and sunk into deep slumber once again.


    If time were with him, he could have performed this task after becoming an official Mage. At that point, with the help of his Spirit which would have multiplied many times, it would be easier and more relaxed than now.


    But time was pressing on him!


    The feeling of urgency had forced him to reinforce his overall strength as soon as possible. Yet, trying to challenge a task at the Mage level with the ability of Pseudo-Mage, he faced unimaginable risks. However, he had no alternative but to choose now.


    Seven hours later, after freshening his Spirit, Leon stood back up, once again in front of the Alchemy Station bravely.


    But too bad, just two hours later, the second crystal core was still a failure.


    This time, Leon didn''t rush to lay down. He sat on the cold stone floor with his leg folded, took out some food, and ate it quickly. When he finished his meal, he laid flat on the blanket and sank into a deep sleep. Two teardrops rolled off his face silently, but he wasn''t aware of that.


    Ten hours later, right after his Spirit had been restored to its maximum level, prompted by the Chip, Leon opened his eyes. Inside of his black and crystal clear eyes, there was no hesitation or helplessness, or even any remorse or regret. There was only tenacity and perseverance with no chance of turning back.


    After thirteen seconds, Leon once again stood in front of the Alchemy Station. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Perhaps it was because no difficulty was insurmountable if one set his mind to it, or maybe everything would come easy at the right time, the third crystal core was completed just like that!


    Leon didn''t roar out loudly and he didn''t cheer with tears bursting out from his eyes. As calm as ever, Leon carefully placed the crystal core in a safe place. Then he once again laid down on the blanket and went into a deep and sound sleep.


    Fifteen hours later, the fourth crystal core was a success too!


    Not until the last magical rune was carved, the entire set of three-dimensional lines composed into a perfectly intact and closed magical array, and the Elementium energy absorbed from the air started to flow freely in the magical rings, did Leon''s rigid face start to have a slight expression.


    He couldn''t tell whether he felt joy or heartache and couldn''t tell if his mind was filled with pleasure or sorrow. The repeated process of having his Spirit depleted and refilled multiple times had long wearied him.


    After cleaning up everything in the Alchemy Laboratory, he shut down the Alchemy Station, walked out from the laboratory, and returned to his room. Upon reaching his room, Leon simply let go of everything and fell into a deep sleep.


    He was asleep for a full day and night before he could get rid of the fatigued feeling and escape from a dark nightmare where he kept falling off a cliff into a bottomless abyss. But before he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the delicious aroma of food.


    He opened his eyes and saw that a familiar face was bowed over the bed, looking at him. The pretty face displayed confusion and bewilderment, but most of it looked thoughtful. She carried a wooden tray in her hands. A plate of beef fillet dressed with juicy gravy and a few sweet, fluffy white buns could be seen on the tray, along with a plate of assorted fresh fruit.


    "Are you hiding something from me?" Bleia asked slowly.


    Though the man in front of her looked only 16 or 17 years old, he actually possessed a staid and tactful temperament, which even many adults didn''t have, and he always had a look of perfect calm, as if he could accomplish any task with ease. Although a man like this could bring confidence and a feeling of dependability to his peers, she just felt that the man had buried his true feelings very deep.


    The current exhausted look was rare for the man. Every time he looked like this, it meant that they were facing a tough issue that was beyond the imagination of ordinary people.


    What kind of tough issue had forced him to this degree of exhaustion?


    Bleia was greatly puzzled.


    By rights, now was the period they had the most freedom and leisure! Since both of them had become Pseudo-Mages, many restrictions that had shackled them in the past had vanished like mist and smoke. Even Mage Bleia had been solicitous and become friendlier.


    As long as they followed the current path and walked steadily, relying on their innate talent and potential, stepping to the pinnacle of the Pseudo-Mage stage was just a matter of one or two years. At that point, if they tried their luck, they might even have the possibility of becoming noble Mages who could control their own fates!


    When that moment came... it would be when they could always keep each other company, like birds flying and nesting together, and the moment they officially became spouses!


    Since everything seemed so beautiful, Bleia was greatly puzzled about why Leon was still working so hard. With her knowledge about Leon after spending so much time with him, she was sure that there must be a new crisis of a great magnitude ahead, and it was a crisis that she couldn''t sense at all. Otherwise, there was no way this man would work like there was no tomorrow!


    Of course, with Bleia''s temperament, she would straightaway ask anything that came to her mind.


    Leon let out a wry smile. He took the meal tray from Bleia, staying on his bed, and polished off the foods.


    After he finished his meal, his face filled with a bright smile, Leon grabbed Bleia''s tiny palm and started asking about her training. However, secretly, he quickly told Bleia everything through Spiritual Whisper.


    Since Bleia had noticed something, Leon had no intention of keeping her in dark anymore. He would need her to participate in many things to come, so it was vital to tell her early so that she could mentally prepare.


    Initially, after telling her everything he knew at one go, Leon had prepared to use force to prevent Bleia from going on a rampage. But unexpectedly, after learning everything through his Spiritual Whisper, Bleia, who supposed to blow a fuse, was actually rather calm. She even... even stared at his face with an interesting expression.


    Could the Bleia in front of him be fake?


    Just as Leon started to suspect that he was talking to a dummy, Bleia finally chuckled and asked, "You did all this just because of me? They just want to claim my life. Why are you making such a desperate effort?"


    Although she was talking about a topic concerning her life, looking at her face, which was melting in smiles, it was as if she wasn''t concerned at all.


    Did she know exactly what they were facing? Why wasn''t she showing any concern over her own life but wandering from the subject and talking about something else?


    Leon startled for a brief moment, speechless, and said, "You... because I want to Rape you and impregnate you with my dirty sperm forever.."


    Before he could finish his words, a pair of sweet, juicy, and soft lips had locked onto his lips.


    ...


    2172

 Chapter 140 - 140: Again

    The man was masculine and hearty and the girl was seductive and charming; a grand show of eroticism was about to occur.


    But the two performers didn''t throw themselves into the show enthusiastically, and the words quickly exchanged between them would make anyone who heard them speechless.


    "Hey, that thing on your body is so hard! You''ve hurt me..."


    "Hmph! If you dare to bite me, I''ll blow you away from here!"


    "Alright, alright! Don''t be mad... anyhow, the smell of your blood is getting sweeter, I just can''t help but wish to taste it!"


    Bleia was now kneeling and sitting intimately on top of Leon''s body, while he was sitting half way up from the bed. Her juicy lips had just left his shoulder and she was touching her pair of tiny fangs and complaining about the pain. Meanwhile, a small Fire Shield that had suddenly burst out was hovering on top of Leon''s shoulder; the fierce flames had just subsided.


    One of Leon''s hand was gently stroking Bleia''s back while the other hand was pressing against her lower abdomen. Both hands were now glowing faintly with red light. With a single thought, the explosion of Fire Elementium could blow Bleia away from his body.


    "Leon, the smell coming from your body is getting tastier! Couldn''t you please let me taste just a little bit? Just one tiny little bite will do..." Bleia brought her tongue to her lips. She couldn''t bear it and kept trying to enchant the man.


    But too bad, Leon had long become immune towards her tactics.


    "Hmph. I''m sorry, I don''t have the luck to enjoy it. You female vampires are simply too terrifying! I''m scared that if I really received an ecstatic kiss from you, by the time I stepped down from this bed, I would have dropped back to Advanced Apprentice from Pseudo-Mage! Do you know the situation right now? Don''t be ridiculous!"


    "I just can''t stop myself!"


    "Ugh... this vampire race''s illness of biting someone when they get excited has really gained a deep root in you..."


    "Alright, let''s call a stop for now. Since we still have some time, I''ll need to improve my strength as well!" After she finished saying that, a pair of large leather bat wings spread out from her back. Following a gentle swinging motion from the wings, she gracefully leapt into the air, flying backward and out from the narrow room.


    She gave Leon a beautiful smile before turning around and leaving.


    As Bleia disappeared from his sight, Leon finally breathed out a brief sigh of relief.


    He couldn''t help it. The power of Bleia''s charm was getting stronger and she had better learned how to use her innate Natural Charm. Although Leon had confidence that she wouldn''t hurt him, the habit of female vampires where they would simply bite someone when they were aroused really made Leon''s hair stand on end.


    Although both he and Bleia were Pseudo-Mages, once he allowed Bleia to bite through the protective layer of Fire Shield, the sharp fangs would release a frightening hallucinogenic agent upon contact with his blood. It was a hallucinogenic agent that even he as a Pseudo-Mage did not have immunity for. That was the reason why the fellows with weak resistance factors in their body couldn''t struggle, even as they were killed by Bleia''s bloodsucking ability.


    Leon also didn''t have confidence that he could survive the ecstatic kiss of a Pseudo-Mage level female vampire!


    Even though they were having fun just now, the information Leon wished to tell her had been transmitted into her mind using Spiritual Whisper. Yes, Bleia was a hot-tempered person, but when she was faced with a life-threatening situation, she still showed prudent behavior. If during normal times, she behaved like a hot-tempered and irritable person, it was because she believed she could solve everything with her sharp fangs and claws, and therefore, she was too lazy to employ any treacherous plot or scheme.


    However, when her enemy was an official Mage, the profound knowledge and life experience she had accumulated during her apprenticeship would instinctively tell her what to do. This was also a must-have survival skill for every single Apprentice Mage!


    When fist and fireball could solve everything, using force to break through the tough situation was the easiest approach! And when fist and fireball couldn''t crack the nut, the smart brain of an Apprentice was something that no one could underestimate!


    Leon stepped down from his bed and walked slowly to the living hall. He recited a short incantation and summoned a smooth mirror of water. He took a few slow turns in front of the mirror, giving his own body a serious look.


    After he had gone through the washing in the underground lava ocean, his current body was completely different from the past. The tall and burly body was now clad in a simple long robe; by putting out slight force, bits of lean muscles would poke right out. He had dark red skin, long dark red hair, and there was even a ring of tiny dark red spots surrounding his black pupils.


    Flowing under the tough muscle was a copious amount of bodily strength. With his current muscle strength, he could fight face to face with an Iron Rhinoceros. With his Physique and the toughness of his muscle, he could resist the piercing of some small sharp weapons. Taking the super high resistance and personal protection of his Flame Body into consideration, he could even take a walk naked in the Magical Swamp and only a handful of demons could hurt him.


    And that was not because the level of demons in the Magical Swamp was not high!


    Although he was only 17 years old, his two meter tall burly body and the glossy skin hardly anyone would believe that he was just a teenager who hadn''t reached adulthood. Both the firm muscle and the dark red skin tone had given him an impressive touch of evilness and charm.


    Just as Leon was admiring his near perfect body, a chuckle that spoiled the pleasure suddenly broke out from the side.


    "Eh, I never know you had such a hobby? You''re growing into a narcissist now!"


    It was Bleia!


    Leon rolled his eyes. Only Bleia could enter his residence freely and never knocked the door before she came! Also, she could move at high speeds and lightly; on many occasions, even the Chip could hardly detect her until she drew very close.


    Embarrassed, Leon waved his hand and dispelled the water mirror. Then, with a shake of both arms, all of the magical equipment scattered over the floor flew back onto his body, armoring him rapidly.


    "I thought you had gone for training? Why did you come back?" Leon asked grumpily.


    As he had just gone through a few days of painful torture, he was planning to give himself a half day''s break so that he could just relax and enjoy the happiness and joy brought by his skyrocketed overall strength.


    "Hmph! Do you really think I like to watch how you pose yourself in front of a mirror? Your old friend is here; that''s what I''m here to tell you about!"


    "Old friend?" Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That Lucy who was defeated twice by you. She is now standing right in front of the Swampy Tower main entrance and is demanding to see you in person!"


    Leon drew in a cold breath instantly. He had just begun to feel the beauty of the life, but now he was struck with a headache.


    ...


    At the main entrance of the Swampy Tower.


    Clad in a long princess dress, the petite doll-like Lucy was standing right in front of the main entrance, expressionless. Even though she didn''t express any emotions, there was an oppressive and low-pressure force field that kept emanating from her tiny body, pressing against the two Advanced Apprentices in front of her and making them furrow their brows.


    A Beginner Apprentice, Nolan, who used to be rather ''familiar'' to Leon, lay in pain at her feet. Both his arms were twisted like dough. If he didn''t go through a full healing, it would likely be extremely tough to recover.


    Though it was Super Girl and Fatal Shot Evan who blocked Lucy, they showed no intention to attack the little girl. It was because they actually sensed a Pseudo-Mage level spiritual ripple come from the ''petite and cute'' Lucy.


    This was the only kind of spiritual ripple that made them hate with gnashing teeth!


    Because... because in just the short period of half a year, they had repeatedly sensed it at least three or four times!


    Damn it, since when did the Pseudo-Mage stage became so easy to achieve? How were there so many new Pseudo-Mages appearing in front of them!


    To be honest, Super Girl and Fatal Shot had no opinion with regards to any outsiders who became Pseudo-Mages. However, when, one after another, ''familiar'' people around them suddenly became Pseudo-Mages, yet it had been so long for them and they had hardly obtained any critical breakthroughs; this was the main reason why they hated and were jealous to their bones!


    Just as they joined forces and barely held up the brutal and violent spiritual pressure coming from Lucy, they heard footsteps coming from inside the tower behind them. It was Leon and Bleia who walked out side by side.


    Lucy suddenly retracted her spiritual pressure. Then she threw her cold glance onto Leon''s face like a razor-sharp blade. Super Girl and Fatal Shot, who were struggling miserably from the pressure, instantly felt the burden lift. Without hesitation, they quickly moved backwards and gave way to Leon. Though their hearts were filled with hate, when the two Pseudo-Mages, Leon and Bleia, made their appearance, they couldn''t help but breathe out a sigh of relief.


    The spiritual ripples of Lucy and Leon collided in midair. Then they retracted it at the same time.


    She had become a Pseudo-Mage!


    He had also advanced into the realm of Pseudo-Mages!


    An astonishment of unknown sentiment surged up in both hearts at the same time.


    Compared to the past, both of them had significant changed, from their outward appearance to their temperament. However, there was no way they could fake their spiritual ripple. Therefore, just through brief contact, they immediately realized the transformation of their opponent. Of course, what had changed and what remained the same was still obvious, as always, which made both of them gnash their teeth in hatred!


    "Are you here to have another fight with me or are you here to fulfill your pledge?" Leon crossed his arms on his chest, touching his clean chin with one hand. Following the improvement of his overall strength, his self-confidence had taken a leap; together with that, his personal charisma had increased significantly as well.


    "I''m here to, of course, I''m here to... to..." Initially, Lucy, who had come with an imposing manner, had intended to flaunt her prowess. However, when faced with Leon, who was not any weaker than her, for some unknown reason, she actually lost some of her confidence. "Last time was just an accident, this... if you can defeat me this time, I''ll be sincerely convinced!"


    "Are you sure this is the last time? And there won''t be a fourth time, or fifth time..." Leon tilted his body forward slightly, so he sent forth a stronger sense of pressure.


    "Bullsh... Nonsense! You only defeated me once... the first time I was defeated because of the sneak attack that came from that rascal female vampire. That didn''t count..." Though she realized her oppressive air was weakening, Lucy still clenched her fists tightly, wanting to fight for her honor. "Also... also if I defeat you this time, I''ll not kill you... I''ll spare you once too, and give you a chance to seek your revenge..."


    After she finished saying that, she once again held her head high and snorted coldly at Leon.


    "It seems like you lost to me in the previous fight. Why should I use my own possessions to bet with again?" Leon let out an evil laugh, with a weird expression of flirting a little loli.


    "Hmph! I knew you would say this!" Lucy said, like she was disdainful and refuting Leon. She reached her hand into the air and pulled out a magical scroll that emanated with a startling magical ripple. "Not long ago, you visited the territory of the Zuber Family and wreaked havoc, nearly destroying their resource site. If not for Granny Endor helping you stop this crisis, do you think you could have escaped from the revenge of the Zuber Family? Their Second Grade Mage almost come here to strangle you! Do you really think they are just a bunch of idiots and cannot figure out the trouble you caused underground?"


    The expression on Leon''s face became rigid.


    True enough, he had been rather thoughtless in what he did, as he had only concentrated on how to strengthen his overall strength. He had neglected the possible reaction of the Molten Giants. He had gone too far by destroying their ancestor''s graveyard!


    "So, what do you want?" Leon now spoke in a milder tone.


    "So long as you accept my challenge and fight another round with me, we, the Northern Witches, will assume part of your responsibility in causing that trouble. Now, sign this magical scroll. With that, it will make sure we fulfill our pledge!"


    "Is this all you want? Since you''re so eager to defeat me and get rid of the pledge you made before, don''t tell me you are from the clan of Destiny Witches?" With the aid from the Chip, Leon knew nearly all of the experts from the different powerful clans throughout the entire Mage Continent. That was why he could sense something from Lucy''s eager attitude.


    "That is none of your business! My only question for you is whether you want to sign it or not. Sign the contract and we''ll have a new bet. If you win, I''ll still be your slave, and we''ll bear the responsibility. If you lose, we''ll still help you, but all previous pledges between us will be voided. I''ll not kill you, but grant you the opportunity to seek your revenge. So, are you going to sign it or not?"


    "I''ll sign it! Of course I will! You''re going to suffer from this!" Leon burst into laughter.


    As his words left his mouth and rippled through the space, the magical scroll suddenly broke out into fierce flames.


    ...


    2435 Words

 Chapter 141 - 141: Leon and Bleia vs Lucy

    When the Chain of Principle merged into their body, indicating that the contract had taken effect, the dust for the new bet finally settled down and there was no way they could alter anything.


    However, before either party could say anything in response, thick black smoke suddenly burst out from a sea snail pendant hanging at Lucy''s waist. After that, it condensed into the wrinkled and aged face of the Poisonous Witch, Endor.


    "Lucy, what mischief are you getting up to again? I thought I just asked you have him revoke the last pledge? Why is there suddenly a new bet on the contract?" As the lips made from smoke moved, a dreadful, hoarse, and deep voice, like the hissing of a poisonous snake, echoed out into the scene.


    "Granny, please don''t interfere. I''ll definitely defeat him this time! Could you have forgotten that I''m a Pseudo-Mage now? Besides... I''ve learned that skill..." Putting away her previous fierce and stern manner, Lucy spoke with that Poisonous Witch using a sweet and fawning voice. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Obviously, Endor too was very confident in Lucy''s overall strength. When she saw Lucy''s resolute attitude, she couldn''t help but waver a little from her stance. But when the smoky face of the Poisonous Witch turned towards Leon, her eyes immediately went wide, and she cried out with an unbelieving voice, "What is going on? This is absurd! Why is he a Pseudo-Mage too now? No way, I''d definitely not..."


    But too bad, before she could finish her words, Lucy gently patted on the sea snail, using spatial force to isolate it from the outside world. Without the support of the magical equipment, the smoky and incorporeal head of Endor immediately vanished into thin air.


    "Alright, now there is no one that can interfere with us. Come, let''s find a place and begin our fight!" Apparently, Lucy had made up her mind, regardless of if she would be punished by the Poisonous Witch later.


    After saying that, Lucy turned around, and with a brief swaying movement of her body, she disappeared from where she stood. When she appeared again, she hovered in midair some 300 meters away.


    A slight frown appeared on Leon''s brow.


    This Lucy indeed had extraordinary talent with Spatial Magic. She had shown her ability to use Spatial Teleportation smoothly, without causing the slightest ripple and not even showing any sign prior. Leon was going to fight a tough battle today, as he was faced with an opponent who had total control of every inch of the space within the battlefield!


    Leon dared not underestimate her. He waved his hand and tossed out a few element cores. Within a split second, they transformed into his once strongest fighter: the Lightning Giant. Upon its debut, all the apprentices of the Swampy Tower who had clustered around were extremely shocked. Their eyes were instantly filled with an awestruck expression that could not be hidden. Super Girl and Fatal Shot had a more direct feeling, and the look in their eyes was much more complicated.


    They could sense it vividly. Not only Leon, even this elemental golem he had summoned possessed a terrifying overall strength that could torture them easily.


    Leon again took out a bottle of the advanced healing potion he had brought back from the Underground Cave, gently tossed it over to Nolan''s side. He was now lying on the ground and not moving even a tiny bit. Leon nodded his head slightly towards the wounded apprentice. After that, the Lightning Giant leaned forward and grabbed Leon with its huge palm and a fierce wind suddenly blew by as it transformed into a whirlwind, streaking through the air, following closely behind Lucy.


    Bleia snorted coldly. She didn''t morph into a bloodsucking bat like in the past. With a flashing movement of her body, she leapt into the sky. Her tall and graceful body stopped in midair for a brief second before a pair of huge bat wings spread out on her back and then started to flap in a violent manner, giving her incredible speed as she chased behind the duo.


    Since she had become a Pseudo-Mage, she had been able to perform partial morphing. Never again would she have to face a situation where she couldn''t fly when she was in a human form, yet couldn''t use any Blood element magic spells when she morphed. The present Bleia was considered as having truly mastered the bat morphing ability of the vampires.


    Using their own distinctive methods, the three Pseudo-Mages rushed through the sky like three shooting stars and left the Magical Swamp, heading toward a wilderness not far away.


    When they were inside the boundary of the Magical Swamp, every act and every move was under the surveillance of Mage Eclivel, so it was tough for them to put all of their skills and tricks into play. As a result, without prior arrangement, they had chosen a wilderness where no one was around as their battlefield.


    After the three Pseudo-Mages finally disappeared from their line of sight, all of the remaining apprentices had their face filled with all sorts of expressions. Some looked like they had lost all hope, some were beaming with joy, some sank into deep ponderings, some had mixed feelings of jealousy and hatred... Super Girl furiously slammed her huge sword onto the ground; the iron sword, even without sharp edges, immediately sunk a few inches deep into the stone ground.


    As the veteran apprentice experts of the Swampy Tower, they had actually fallen to the status of bystanders who these few fellows had never paid attention to. The significant psychological gap had given them a depressive emotion. They exchanged glances, trying their best to hold back the bitter taste in their mouths. They didn''t even have the mood to talk with each other, simply turning around and returning to the tower with their hearts filled with disappointment.


    Meanwhile, at a place some twenty miles away from the Magical Swamp, with just a slight flash of her body, Lucy appeared in a wilderness that covered a large piece of land. The place was fully grown over with withered and yellow weeds that reached waist-height; under the constant blowing of the shivering and dry wind, they leaned from side to side, giving the place a touch of desolation.


    No one knew what kind of ability Lucy had obtained after she became a Pseudo-Mage, that it actually gave her such strong confidence. Nevertheless, compared to her, Leon too had explosive self-confidence, and showed a look of eagerly wanting to fight.


    When he saw Lucy had landed and was waiting for his arrival, Leon controlled the Lightning Giant and soared up high into the sky. Using his special Elementium Vision, he gave the surroundings of the battlefield a quick scan. Once he confirmed that there weren''t any traps, he returned to the ground with a flicker.


    At the same time, Bleia, who was clad in a red dress, also rushed her way to the battle site with the help of her black wings. She landed not too far away from the center of the battlefield.


    "Hmph, since both of you are here, then I''ll fight both of you at the same time!" Lucy was standing under a crooked tree, wearing a face of disdain and arrogance.


    The feverish and hot-tempered Bleia''s blue eyes turned bloodshot instantly. She spread her wings and bared her fangs, ready to leap at the arrogant little girl at once. But in the next second, a sudden thunderbolt struck from the sky above, casting out a violent electrical web and blocking her from going further.


    "Don''t fall into her trap! If you really fight her now, I''ll be considered as violating the contract. At that point, even if we defeat her, most probably she will use this as an excuse to tear up the contract." Leon walked down from the Lightning Giant''s palm, looked at Bleia, and shook his head.


    "Hmph! Such impudent thoughts can only come from someone as despicable as you! With your lousy skills and pathetic innate talent, what makes you think you can compare to me, the great Lucy? You''re merely a little vampire, and you won''t make any difference at all. If you don''t want to see this guy die in an awful manner, you better fight together with him!" Lucy scolded angrily, with her hands on her hips, portraying a look of disdain towards Bleia.


    If it were in the past, the impulsive Bleia would have already dashed forward without thinking twice. However, it was obvious that she had gained a greater control over her bloodline innate talent. Hence, when faced with Lucy''s provocation, though her fangs were bared and she had a threatening look, her bat wings flipped and slowly brought her body backward, leaving the battlefield for the duo.


    Unknowingly, Bleia''s trust towards Leon was approaching blindness. In her opinion, Leon never fought a battle unprepared, and since he had dared to accept a challenge from the arrogant and cocky Lucy, he must have a method to deal with her.


    As the result, with regards to Leon''s battle, she wasn''t worried at all!


    Upon noticing that the female vampire wasn''t provoked and had simply left the battlefield, the doll-like Lucy furiously vented her anger by tearing the weeds around her, murmuring in her mouth like she was cursing viciously.


    "That''s enough. There aren''t any other people here, so you don''t have to keep wearing that cute mask of yours. An apprentice who can become a Pseudo-Mage at such a young age, I''m sure you must be a wicked girl with a black-hearted and vicious approach. Since you wish to defeat me to prove your overall strength, show me what you have!" Leon taunted with a disdainful expression; he had no intention of taking pity on the weak.


    "I''ll show you what I have, and you''ll definitely regret your decision today!" Lucy gnashed her teeth furiously.


    When the conversation is disagreeable, saying even one word more is a waste of breath!


    Though they were both Pseudo-Mages, true respect always came after a real fight.


    Nearly at the same time, both parties'' eyes flickered with a stern look. Without saying another word, they initiated their attack.


    Swift of foot like a wind, quick like a greased lightning; these descriptions were nothing in front of Lucy''s Spatial Teleportation. Relying on this ability allowed her to move anywhere she wanted, and any opponent''s movement was like a still image in her eyes.


    Nearly right after both of them decided to attack, Lucy appeared less than five meters from Leon. Yet, her body suddenly came to a halt as a half-sphere shaped, frightening electrical web descended from the sky and completely covered Leon. If she took a half-step further, the high-voltage current slithering over the electrical web would instantly burn her body.


    Meanwhile, inside of the electrical web, it had turned into a world of leaping flame.


    The Ring of Fire bursting out from that damn rascal''s body nearly covered every single inch of the space inside; not only the grass and dirt on the ground, even the seemingly empty air started to burn. Yet, the cocky guy just gave Lucy a smile before his entire body merged into the fierce flames.


    Seeing that its master had completed his Fire element defense, the Lightning Giant, who was hovering in midair, dispelled the Electrical Barrier. After that, the gigantic body, made up of countless greenish gray vortexes, instantly transformed into a sharp arrow, dashing ferociously towards Lucy.


    At the same time, from within the Ring of Fire, which had exploded into a massive sea of flame, three Fire Balls shot out, rushing through the air and hurtling towards Lucy''s petite and fragile body.


    Though she was faced with a joint attack from top and bottom, no fear could be seen on Lucy''s face. With just a flash, she disappeared from where she stood and reappeared on the other side of the Ring of Fire. Right after she reappeared, she performed a pulling and tearing gesture with her hands and a deadly Spatial Crack appeared between her hands.


    It was a mystery about how she could control it; the spatial crack actually produced an enormous pulling force. All of the Fire Elementiums swimming within the Ring of Fire were immediately pulled into the spatial crack like flying moths darting into flame, disappearing without a trace. In less than three seconds, the part of the sea of flame closest to her was sucked dry, exposing the charred surface of the ground and the grass ashes flying around in the heatwave.


    During this brief moment, the Lightning Giant once again leapt towards the enemy. Before it arrived, a dazzling Lightning Chain streaked through the air and approached the enemy.


    She teleported a few times, but every time, she could only attack for a few seconds before the hateful Lightning Giant tracked her down and came towards her. In the aspect of high-speed moving alone, the Lightning Giant''s Lightning Jump was not much weaker than Lucy''s Spatial Teleportation.


    After several attempts, Lucy finally grew angry again.


    With a Spatial Teleportation, she jumped to a high altitude some 200 meters away. Lucy had stopped trying to attack Leon; instead, she loosened her hair and started to recite a mysterious magical spell in a loud voice. When the Lightning Giant once again tracked her down and approached her, using her tiny hand, Lucy pointed at it angrily.


    "Ammiclatten... Rosa, Spatial Seal!"


    A silver beam shot out from Lucy''s tiny finger, piercing through the air at top speed to hit the space right in front of the Lightning Giant. Right after that, countless silver chains made from runes stretched out from the space, coiling and tightly tying the Lightning Giant''s body instantly.


    At the same time, at the spot where the silver beam hit, a spatial hole suddenly opened up and the silver rune chains dragged the Lightning Giant into it before disappearing.


    In the next second, Leon lost track of the position of the Lightning Giant!


    ...


    2352 Words

 Chapter 142 - 142: 4000oC

    Within the depths of the flaming ocean.


    A cluster of leaping flame suddenly twisted and transformed, revealing Leon''s face, which had a rather shocked and startled expression.


    For golems, who were a kind of elemental summon, seals or expelling magic was their biggest enemy. Of course, it was impossible for either type of magic spell to cause any damage to the golem itself, but they were capable of temporarily banishing the golem from the battlefield.


    With Lucy''s achievements in Spatial Magic, even if the Lightning Giant struggled with all its strength, it would still have to stay in that isolated spatial for more than fifteen minutes. During this period of time, Leon would lose any aid from this formidable fighter, and would be forced to step out and face the aggressive Lucy personally.


    A gentle ripple spread out in the space. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucy appeared in front of the massive flaming ocean that covered nearly one hundred meters in circumference. Her face was beamed with a sweet and cute smile.


    "Big brother, where are you? Are you playing hide and seek with Lucy? Then you better hide properly! Lucy is coming for you..." The voice was sweet and enchanting, but the shivering gleam shooting out from the depths of her eyes would make anyone who saw it tremble.


    Leon''s face quickly reappeared from the other cluster of flame. Looking at Lucy, he let out a cold smile and said, "It seems you have learned something new. I certainly didn''t expect you to have learned a Seal Magic Spell. I''m hiding inside the flame. Catch me if you can!"


    Right after he finished saying that, the face faded away and transformed back into a soaring flame that sent forth deadly heat. Meanwhile, using his home advantage, he teleported himself to hide on the other side of the flame field. Within seconds, two large spatial blades in an x-pattern streaked through the place where he had showed his face previously.


    The flame shattered, bursting into a devastating heat wave.


    If he hadn''t run quick enough, he would have been wounded by the frightening Spatial Cut Lucy unleashed.


    This was the defensive tactic Leon had designed for himself.


    After he had succeeded in turning his body into a Flame Body, both his elemental resistance and his physical resistance had improved hugely. However, he still couldn''t change the weakness of his ''short-legs''. Within all his body attributes, currently his Agility was his biggest weakness and his slow speed had become his deadliest impediment.


    In order to close up this breach, Leon had utilized the Inferno Force Field and Flame Body to create a massive flame field. After that, relying on the copious amount of Fire Elementiums gathered by the flame field, Leon had finally been able to move at high speeds without any issue. From time to time, he could also use the Elemental Nodes found in the Inferno Force Field to fulfill his dream of short-distance Fire Teleportation.


    This also meant that if enemies couldn''t destroy his flame field, they would have to hold back their anger and chase behind him as he disappeared and reappeared randomly, suffering all the while from the endless fire attacks he unleashed.


    Faced with Leon''s provocation, Lucy''s smile became even sweeter. Casually, she created a zigzagging spatial crack and tossed it into the flame field. She twisted her body and dodged a huge dreadful hand made up from fire, and then, with a flash, she appeared at another place of the battlefield.


    Lucy wasn''t rushed, so she just teleported herself to a new spot after each attack. Every time, she created a half-meter long spatial crack and tossed it towards a random place within the flame field. As time went on, gradually, aside from being filled with steaming heat waves, the flame field was now packed with countless seemingly insignificant, yet slow moving, spatial cracks.


    These spatial cracks kept devouring flames that drew too close to them. At the same time, any object that clashed into them split apart without making any noise. Their sharpness was comparable to top grade magical equipment. The few times that Leon clashed with them while moving inside the ocean of fire, if not for the fact that he was protected by Inferno Shield, just his Flame Body wouldn''t have been enough to withstand the cuts from the deadly spatial cracks.


    Whenever Leon touched a random spatial crack, in the next second, the spot where he had stood would be covered with a swarm of spatial cracks. That damn Lucy actually could shrink so many spatial cracks and toss them out like marbles.


    When faced with this kind of broad attacks, Leon had no choice but to rely on short-distance Fire Teleportation to dodge them.


    However, with the increasing number of spatial cracks that were wandering around in the flame field, the number of nodes that he could use for a safe teleportation had become very small. Leon was like a lone wolf being cornered by several hunters; his heart had started to fill up with frustration and anger.


    Earlier, he had tossed out the Demon Alligator Hunter to distract Lucy''s attention. But too bad, upon revealing itself, the Earth element golem, who had gone through some good times with him, was immediately riddled with countless spatial cracks unleashed by Lucy and nearly became scrap.


    Following the improvement of Leon''s overall strength, the enemies he faced had also become stronger. The Demon Alligator Hunter, who merely had the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, could now only play the role of cannon fodder and could no longer be the main character of the battlefield.


    After being invaded by countless of Lucy''s spatial cracks, the flame field unleashed by Leon was shrinking; many regions within it had their Fire Elementium sucked dry. As a result, Leon was forced to reveal himself!


    At this critical moment, Leon swung the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand, summoning a tall Fire Deity from within the sea of flame, and used it to block off the shower of spatial magic spells cast by Lucy.


    For the first time since the battle had begun, Lucy set foot into the boundaries of the flame field.


    Though Lucy was unbridled and arrogant, she was not silly! Before the flame field was destroyed, she would never step into a field that wasn''t controlled by her.


    But as the flame was shrinking, the area occupied by the sea of flame had shrunk to less than half of its original size and it was filled with many empty regions where flames had vanished. Hence, faced with an enemy who had lost his ability to fight back and with the idea of humiliating the guy face to face, Lucy finally stepped into the outer area of the flame field.


    Under her feet the soil was charred and black, all of the grass had turned into ashes floating in the air as a result of being covered by the deadly high-temperature flame. The air was filled with high-temperature traps and spatial flames, and no breathable air existed inside of the flame field. If Lucy had been a mere mortal, she would have long been toasted into a dried corpse by the high temperature and then burned into a charcoal by the deadly flame.


    Yet she was like a cute little girl taking a happy stroll in the royal garden, holding the end of her skirt gently, walking on tiptoe half a meter above the ground. It was as if there was a completely transparent path underneath her feet, sparing her from touching the thick layer of ashes on the ground.


    Just like that, Lucy moved step by step like a fairy in a merry mood and drew closer to Leon, who had retreated to the center of the flame field.


    Leon was finally hurt!


    While he had been moving in the flame field, he had accidentally slammed into a wandering spatial crack. When the Inferno Shield, which had suffered from terrible damage, clashed with the spatial crack, it instantly exploded into sparks and flares and shot in all directions. It was too late to dodge and the spatial crack brushed over his left arm.


    Without a sound, the flesh on his arm vanished. Even his arm bone had a cut of shining gold. It was a jagged cut, as if it had been bitten by a ferocious beast.


    Bright red blood burst out from the wound, quickly flowing down from Leon''s arm.


    However, there were swaying flares attached to the top of the blood, which made it look like a tiny fire serpent slithering on his body. After his body had transformed into a Flame Body, even his blood had changed and become different from others.


    Hiding some three miles away and watching the battle, Bleia couldn''t bear it and lightly licked her juicy lips. She felt a pain in her heart as she watched that large concentration of flaming blood go to waste. As for the dangerous situation Leon was facing now, she paid no attention at all.


    After being together for so long, she had a very good understanding of the ''crafty'' little man. He would fight desperately to profit at other people''s expense and would rather die than suffer any losses. This was the true motto of his life. Since he currently looked like a masochist, then he must have a powerful approach that could defeat the enemy.


    Similar to Lucy, who liked to stand facing the enemy and enjoy the despairing look in their eyes, Leon also loved to create misconceptions for his enemies and make them feel like they were standing at the pinnacle of their life. And yet what happened next would be the fearsome process of him using his strongest approach and bringing his enemies down from the pinnacle, sending them into a bottomless abyss!


    First step, second step...


    Third step... fourth step...


    As Lucy approached slowly, both of them finally stood face to face at a very close distance.


    Fifty meters! For the two formidable Pseudo-Mages, it was a super close distance where they could touch each other just by stretching out their hand and they could hear each other''s breathing!


    "So, are you giving up your struggle? Without those elemental golems, with just your pathetic strength, how could you compare to me, the great Lucy? Keep on struggling! Let out your miserable cries! I want to rip your disgusting face into pieces... hahaha..."


    As she laughed frantically, Lucy pulled the silver chain in her hand. Behind her, the Fire Deity, who was tightly tied by hundreds of thousands of rune chains, immediately collapsed with a loud boom. Its entire body exploded into falling flares that blanketed the sky.


    This gave a touch of ruthlessness and savageness to her aggressive manner.


    Yet Leon, who had all of his retreats blocked by silver rune chains poking out from the spatial cuts, was still wearing a bright smile on his face as he looked at the little loli, who was enjoying the pleasure of finally getting her full revenge. He suddenly pointed behind Lucy with his finger.


    "Look behind you... look behind you... hurry up and look over your shoulder!"


    Lucy tilted her head up and let out a pleased, piercing laugh into the sky. "What? Don''t you have any other approach? How could you use such a boring approach and try to sneak..."


    Before she could finish her words, a fierce wind suddenly approached from behind her, blotting out the sky and covering up the earth. With tremendous momentum, it blanketed the area she was standing in within a split second.


    The temperature of the air climbed up with terrifying speed; within the time it took to blink an eye, it approached nearly 4000oC. Out of nowhere, countless pure white flames emerged in the space and burned through every single inch of the area. It even caused the spatial structure that Lucy could freely control to become unstable.


    Lucy turned back, shocked.


    A great menacing Flaming Giant was stooping like a cloud, stretching out a gigantic flaming hand, trying to grab her!


    "Ahhhhhh!" An ear-splitting screech echoed from the battlefield as Lucy slammed through the spatial cut in front of her, hiding in the boundless void she was familiar with.


    The gigantic flaming hand roared over the place where she had stood. Five deep trenches were immediately carved out on the ground, and they slowly filled with charred black soil.


    ...


    2080 Words

 Chapter 143 - 143: Win again

    Lucy couldn''t escape very far!


    In order to stop her from flashing around and fighting with guerrilla warfare, Leon was willing to take some damage so that he could scheme her into his trap. Strictly speaking, if Lucy could put away her proud attitude and didn''t care if the scene turned ugly, she could be near invincible among all of the Apprentice Mages!


    Even though he owned the Lightning Giant, who was a Pseudo-Mage level fighter, and even aided by an elite warrior like the Fire Deity, Leon still didn''t have the confidence to defeat and capture Lucy. It was all because Lucy''s innate talent in spatial magic was simply heaven-defying!


    When you just poured in all your effort and unleashed a great attack, she simply teleported to a far distance and watched you act like a fool. When you relaxed a little bit, she would teleport back in front of you. Faced with an opponent like this, even if one''s overall strength was stronger than hers, perhaps he would be tortured into becoming half-insanity by her.


    Since today was the debut of his brand new golem, the Fire Lord, Leon had no intention of turning the scene into a low comedy of lions hunting for flies. Hence, he had put in a huge amount of effort, and even went into the battle personally, with the goal of luring Lucy into the flame field that he had prepared for her.


    With the help of the chaotic flame field, and together with the Elementium turbulence that distracted one''s spiritual sense, Leon was able to sneakily bury the core of his brand new golem into the soil and wait patiently for Lucy to arrive on the battlefield he had prepared.


    He had guessed that, with Lucy''s character, if there was a chance that she could humiliate him face to face, the treacherous little loli would never let it slip away from her.


    In order to improve the mightiness of his brand new golem, together with the core, Leon had also buried a few supreme quality Fire Diamonds and Fire Stones he obtained from the underground volcano. When Lucy set her mind at ease and came daring to the predetermined position, Leon had finally summoned his trump card: The Fire Lord.


    Fire Lord. Mage level element golem, a large-scale and double-elements creatures of Earth and Fire. Basic body attribute: Strength ¨C 14, Agility ¨C 8, Physique ¨C 16, Spirit ¨C 21. Element magic spells mastered by it: Lava Armor, Shroud of Flame, Fire Core Explosion, Firestorm, Meteor Shower, Earth Quake, Elemental Summoning, Fire Teleportation, Fire Cage.


    Aside from the Earth Quake being a pure Earth element magic spell and the Fire Teleportation and Firestorm being pure Fire element magic spells, the rest of them were all mixed magic spells of Earth and Fire element. More importantly, the Fire Lord had also mastered the skill of Elemental Summoning, which was the best ability for a gang fight.


    At fifteen minute intervals, the Fire Lord was able to randomly summon twenty Fire element creatures from the Fire Element Plane. From a Fire Deity of a Pseudo-Mage level down to Fire Bats of Beginner Apprentice level, who answered the summon and came through the space was based on pure luck!


    Yet, what Leon used to deal with Lucy was the only imprison type magic spell the Fire Lord knew, the Fire Cage. Using the double-element characteristics of Earth and Fire, the magic spell could produce a near isolated space in a particular region. Using this magic spell, the Fire Lord could force some opponents to fight a melee battle. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Right after Lucy broke through the space, and before she could get far enough, she was forced out from the layer of space by a huge lava pillar that lay in front of her. When she was once again returned to the material plane, she was shocked to find that she had been trapped inside of a gigantic flaming cage, 30 meters in width and length.


    Each of the lava rock pillars constructed in the flaming cage had a diameter of half a meter and there were huge gaps between these pillars. With her body size, she could easily squeeze through them. However, before she could put this thought into action, bright red flares started to burst out from between the lava rock pillars and clusters of scorching hot flame had filled the gap. Soon, the flaming cage was completely sealed.


    Any creature that tried to get close to the pillars would have to withstand 8 points of fire damage every second!


    Meanwhile, the six meter tall Fire Lord was running toward her from behind her with heavy steps that shook the ground.


    The look of the Fire Lord was rather similar to a Fire Deity, yet it was stronger and more ferocious. The human-shaped body was completely made up of materialized fire and was covered with a layer of Lava Armor filled with dark red patterns.


    The entire body was enshrouded in leaping flame and flowing lava. Wherever it stood, the ground would be toasted dry by the extreme heat. The dark soil and sand would start to soften and became glowing red, eventually melting into a substance that looked like lava.


    The color of the flame outside of its body was bright red, yet the flame inside of its body was pure white. One could even see a shade of gold at the core of it. It had a pair of gigantic palms made from condensed lava. Ferociously high temperature flares and flame were emanating from their cracks, making them into a pair of deadly palms covered in violent flame.


    The space within the flaming cage wasn''t big. It was surrounded by flaming fire pillars that no one could get close to and there was a Fire Lord who crazily punched and attacked the enemy. From time to time, it would raise both hands high up in the air and unleash an AoE Fire Core Explosion or Firestorm.


    A combination like this instantly drove Lucy to desperation.


    Lucy kept teleporting herself crazily and running for her life within the confined space of the cage while trying her best to search for the weak point of this isolated space. But it was a pity that the ominous environment didn''t allow her to halt even a brief second, hence she wasn''t able to focus her attack at the constantly moving weak point. Instead, the dreadfully high temperature and the flame that filled every inch of the space had worn away at her Protection Barrier, making it as thin as a piece of paper.


    The Spatial Cut she unleashed did slice through some of the lava rock pillars and shattered them, causing flame and sparks to leap everywhere. But too bad, following the circulation of a red glow on the lava pillars, all damage done to them was instantly repaired. As for attacking the Fire Lord directly, Lucy had also tried that, yet all of her hard efforts had yielded no result.


    After all, Fire Lord was a real Mage level golem and it had cost Leon 18 points of Spirit to summon. If the Flame Body hadn''t been able to reduce the cost of all Fire element magic spell to half, it would have been impossible for him to deploy it and Lightning Giant at the same time.


    Nevertheless, the debut of such formidable golem always meant catastrophe. With Lucy''s current overall strength, she could only flee at the mere sight of the oncoming attack and there was no possibility that she could fight it head to head. If the flaming cage hadn''t existed, with just a teleportation, Lucy could have always escaped from the attack range of the Fire Lord. Then she could have just fled without turning back.


    But now...


    What would be the consequences when a person was placed in a cage together with a fierce lion?


    No matter how crazily Lucy dodged, the flame in the air still burned through her Protection Barrier. Her dress was kindle, her long hair started to curl up, and one after another blisters started to appear on her delicate skin... Wherever she went she would be greeted with flame; the air was filled with scorching hot flares and everywhere had a deadly high temperature. Where could she run?


    Even under such a miserable and tragic situation, even if Lucy''s voice turned hoarse as a result of constantly letting out pained shrieks, and even if her face was washed with tears, she still clenched her jaw tightly and didn''t want to bow her head and admit defeat to her damn enemy!


    If she was defeated once again today, she would rather be killed instantly in this place, a place that brought her despair!


    Finally, the fire poison that existed in every inch of the air invaded her body, turning her feet heavy so that she could barely move and her vision started to sway and blurr. Eventually, through her tear-filled vision, the last image she saw was the frighteningly gigantic hand of the Fire Lord grabbing toward her and filling up her entire line of sight.


    Losing all her strength, Lucy relaxed her tensed mind and her consciousness immediately sank into a vast darkness.


    ...


    She had no idea how long she had lost consciousness for.


    When a stream of pure and sweet water flowed into her dried and cracked mouth, Lucy finally regained her conscious.


    She choked on the water and kept coughing, yet she still swallowed, in her mind, the most refreshing and sweet dew, with big gulps. When her belly was bloated and could no longer swallow anymore, only then did she stop this nearly insane behavior.


    She was in a simple and neat apprentice''s residence. She couldn''t find a magnificent and comfortable bed, no luxurious furniture, and no glittering magical crystal lamps. The only thing she saw was a simple wooden bed, a wooden table, a chair, and some experimental equipment, like jars and bottles that were commonly seen among apprentices.


    In front of the bed stood a man holding a water-skin and staring at her silently. Of course, the man was none other than the man she hated with gnashing teeth, Leon.


    Right at this moment, Lucy finally realized that she was completely naked!


    Her princess dress had been badly burned, it had become rubbish not better than a pile of ashes, and all her magical equipment was placed on top of the wooden table. As for herself, she was now stripped naked and all of her various burn wounds of all sizes had been covered with a thick layer of pungent black medicinal paste.


    Originally, her body had been covered with a thin sheet, but following her sudden movements of sitting up and drinking water, the blanket had slipped off, exposing her delicate, budding body.


    Lucy was twenty-six years old this year, but her body had been locked forever at the stage she had been at when she was seven years old, the moment she had awakened her innate spatial talent!


    There was no screaming, no bursting into tears; Lucy just kept staring at Leon''s face, emotionless. She didn''t even pull up the blanket to cover her naked body.


    "Why can you control an Mage level element golem?" She asked with a hollow and faint voice, as if she was a puppet who had no soul.


    There was no need for her to verify the fact she had been defeated by the rascal in front of her, she could feel it vividly. Because... because the magical contract she had personally drafted was currently tightly tying her to this rascal. She was now a possession of this guy!


    Hmph. You didn''t kill me because you don''t want to lose a precious fighter, eh? Also, I suppose you don''t want to offend those frightening Northern Witches! Lucy thought pensively. At this moment, her thoughts and mind had become unprecedentedly clear and incisive. Looking back at what she had done during this period, she looked at an arrogant girl who was courting for her own death, a fool who ran further into the path of her own peril.


    Since when had she become so stupid? Damn it, I pushed myself to a dead end!


    From the moment she had been defeated, it was like Lucy had changed into someone else. She had become totally different from the crazy, extreme, and treacherous little loli in the past.


    Starting from the moment she had woken up, Lucy had begun to walk on the dark path of self-salvation.


    Lucy''s eyes stared straight into Leon''s pupils, which were black with shades of dark red. She didn''t find any lust in them. When she looked out of the corner of her eyes, she didn''t find any trace of that female vampire.


    What is this? Stripped me naked and personally applied medicine on me? Is he trying to soften my grudge and pull me into his camp? If he really wanted me to serve him, why didn''t he ask that Bleia to apply medicine? Isn''t that a better way to win my heart?


    Could it be... could it be he had an improper desire for the body of a loli?


    ...


    2204 Words

 Chapter 144 - 144: Servant

    Right as Lucy was staring expressionlessly at Leon, her mind filled with various fancies and conjectures, a green-skinned goblin suddenly poked its head from behind the man, throwing a puzzled and alert glance over at her.


    "Alright, Snorlax, this is the Lucy I told you about. From today onwards, she will be an exclusive servant-girl for me. Your task is to teach her the proper manner of a servant-girl, I hope I can see her carrying her duty as soon as possible. Now, bring her with you!" S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What he said was like a sudden thunderbolt out of a clear sky that struck right into Lucy''s mind and caused her to feel giddy, as sparks flew before her eyes. Was this guy serious? He really planned to make a Pseudo-Mage who possessed a rare innate talent of spatial his servant-girl?


    A moment ago, Lucy had tried her best to keep a calm exterior, yet her face was blushing right now, as she fiercely gazed at this bumptious... master.


    "What''s wrong? Do you have any opinions of your own, Lucy?" The smile on Leon''s face becoming weirder and weirder. "Before we agreed to our bet, you had said it clearly that you''ll make me your master. So, don''t tell me you can''t even carry out the duties of a servant-girl?"


    "You... fine..." Lucy spewed out a few words from her tightly clenched teeth, furiously pulling the blanket and covering her body, before stepping down from the bed.


    When her feet touched the floor, Lucy felt a severe pain coming from every part of her body. This had made her lose her balance and stagger her steps, nearly falling to the ground. However, though she was a little loli with the pretty face of an angel, Leon wasn''t moved a tiny bit at all and didn''t show any signs that he was going to stretch his arms out and help her stabilize herself.


    After all, Lucy was a Pseudo-Mage who took the element path, thus her Physique was far weaker than that of Leon, who had his body transformed into Elementium. So far, Lucy''s Physique hadn''t reached more than 10, and this had even caused her ability of body recovery to be inferior than those of Advanced Apprentices who had a high Physique.


    Gnashing her teeth and holding the severe pain, Lucy left Leon''s residence, and came to Snorlax''s room located next to Leon''s.


    Upon entering Snorlax''s room, all her expressions of pain, resentment, and mortification immediately disappeared from her face. They were replaced by the same old arrogant and overbearing look. Even her frail and weak appearance was gone, as if the injuries and pain all over her body couldn''t even affect her a tiny bit.


    "I need some better healing medicines and Asun Water which can remove scars. Also, I''m hungry, get someone prepare me a set of mushroom trout fish rolls, golden roasted goose and Schiffman tea. Remember, the trout fish must be those devil trouts caught from the Abyss of Darkness, and can only have three whiskers below its jaw... also, the honey applied on the skin of golden roasted goose must be from the Snow Bee''s honey from the East Coast, in addition to that..."


    As the true owner of the room, Snorlax had its mouth opened wider and wider. In the end, it was so angry that it simply jumped to its feet, waved its fists and let out a furious roar. "You''re dreaming! You wildly arrogant little human! This place is the territory of the great Snorlax, and you''re just a servant-girl newly recruited by the master! I came here before you, and you must..."


    Snorlax hadn''t finished its lecturing, because Lucy had ripped open a tiny spatial crack and kicked it inside.


    Nearly ten minutes later, when Lucy reopened the spatial crack and let Snorlax out, the robe clad on its body had turned ripped like those wore by street beggars, and its skin was covered with scratch marks as a result of being attacked by some sharp fangs and claws. From the other side of the spatial crack, one could even hear the savage howls of wolves.


    Just looking at the wounds that were only found on the Snorlax''s back, Lucy had instantly drawn a conclusion to its character. She casually dismissed the spatial crack and with a cold voice, she said, "Now you should know who the boss in this room is, eh? If the pack of Carnassial Tooth Wolves just now can''t satisfy you, I can always send you into the nest of Two-legged Flying Dragons!"


    Though Carnassial Tooth Wolves could only be considered as Beginner Apprentice level demon beasts and didn''t possess formidable offensive strength, but for Snorlax, a goblin who didn''t own any offensive ability and could only escape by relying on a handful of disguising abilities, they were no doubt dreadful monsters. If thrown into the nest of Two-legged Flying Dragons, a type of demon beasts who had an incredible sense of smell, it would be impossible for it to make its return!


    In next second, Snorlax simply went down on its knee, hugging Lucy''s silky smooth legs and crying out loudly, "Boss! Boss! Boss! You''re the boss here... I''ll obey everything you tell me to in future..."


    Lucy gave it a kick in disgust, furrowed her brows and said, "Go now! Prepare me some clothes, foods, and healing medicines. When I''m having my meal later, I want you to tell me everything between you and that ras... that guy!"


    The backlash coming from the magical contract imprinted in her soul made Lucy halt for a brief second, she had no choice but to change the way she addressed that ''rascal'' into ''guy'', a rather neutral way of addressing him. If she didn''t do that, even if she was a Pseudo-Witch, she too couldn''t be immune from the severe pricking she felt at the depths of her soul.


    Only the heaven or ghost might know why it happened. In order to have a better control over that ''guy'', she specifically picked a magical contract with the best binding force from the private treasures of her granny. But now... she had actually trapped herself into this awful situation, and it simply made Lucy feel frustrated and furious!


    Only by gaining a better understanding of the enemy, could one defeat the enemy with the minimum cost!


    Lucy had made up her mind, from now onwards, she would never underestimate that hateful rasca... ouch... guy. She would take her time in patiently and meticulously understanding everything about that guy, after that... hmph, he better not has the wishful thinking of using a rubbish contract to confine a great... ouch, ouch! Pain, it was really painful!


    As the loser of the bet, every word and action of Lucy was restricted and bounded by the powerful magical contract. Once a disrespectful thought or intentions of hurting her ''master'' arose in her mind, her soul would have to suffer from different degrees of backlash by the magical contract. If such backlash occurred too rapidly, it could cause a frightening and irreversible damage to her soul.


    At that point in time, her future path as a Witch would have to come to a premature end!


    ...


    Unavoidably, the spiritual ripple happened on the other side of the contract had also affected Leon.


    It had been less than fifteen minutes since that little girl left his residence, yet he had sensed seventeen strange ripples coming from the magical contract. Most of them were mere ripples of curses or disrespect, so Leon had simply handed over the executive right of the contract to the Chip, then he had just cut off the spiritual connection between him and the contract.


    With the arrogance and wild pride of that little girl, if she wasn''t taught a hard lesson, she would never stop from continuing to do what she did. Therefore, the order Leon gave the Chip was to have a full feedback to all the spiritual ripples, any disrespectful thoughts would be punished through the contract, no delay was allowed, and no indulgence would be given as well.


    Right when he finished settling that nasty little girl, a fragrant scent wafted from behind, before a warm, soft body cuddled onto his back.


    "Leon, why don''t you hand me that Lucy and let me teach her? I promise I''ll make her into an obedient servant-girl and guarantee it''ll be more effective than that magical contract." The seductive and charming voice of Bleia resounded beside his ears, it was even mixed in with a subtle nasal voice of moaning.


    Aww, here came another one!


    Leon nearly couldn''t hold onto himself and rubbed his forehead.


    "Bleia, let me give you a grave warning, you better give up the idea of turning Lucy into your blood slave!" Leon said solemnly. "The true identity of Lucy is still a mystery, but I''m certainly sure that she is connected with those witches from the North. Although you can have a strong binding force to those blood slaves created after you ''embrace'' them, but it doesn''t mean there is no weakness at all. As long as the source of the bloodlines is killed, which is you, your control over Lucy''s soul would vanish. So, if this Lucy does have a serious background, then you''re just asking to get killed!"


    "I Understand, I understand! I''ll not be that silly and fight a girl with you. But..." Bleia licked her red lips excitedly, continuing to say, "I don''t think it will be a big problem if I suck a little bit of her blood?"


    Leon sighed softly.


    "Don''t tell me you can''t see it? This Lucy must have just become a Pseudo-Mage, and she couldn''t wait any longer so she came straight to fight with me. She didn''t even nurse her body and Spirit to the best condition. If you suck her blood now, perhaps she would drop back to the level of Advanced Apprentice immediately. Don''t be silly, we need to cultivate her properly! Her abilities play a very vital role in my plans!"


    "You just don''t let me suck anyone''s blood! Then how am I going to improve my overall strength? No way, I need to find a suitable apprentice mission, I have more freedom outside than I do in this place!" With Bleia''s hot-temper, she meant what she said. She turned around and left Leon''s residence, rushing to the Mission Hall.


    Leon sighed again, turned around and took out a magical spell book, placed it on the table and started to read it quietly.


    ...


    On the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower.


    Inside of a dark and gruesome secret room, Eclivel waved his hand and dispelled the magical mirror in front of him. A pondering and hesitant expression was on his face.


    "Mage level element golem? How did that kid do it? In my memory, there is never an Apprentice Mage that could bypass the threshold and control an Mage level golem or magical beast. If anyone tried to do it by force, perhaps just the requirement of summoning would instantly draw all his Spirit to the last drop, turning him into an idiot who had all his brain power depleted. Yet, that kid had done it with ease! Maybe, I should find an Automata Master and get him to verify if there is anything special on his summoning cores?"


    After pondering for some moments, Eclivel waved his hands again in front of his face, revealing a mirror that showed him the image of another secret room.


    It was a magical secret room that was nearly isolated from the outside world. Countless complicated runes and secret magical arrays were carved on the floor at the center of the room. They consisted of numerous strange symbols and characters which looked like tadpoles, and many of them were in the mysterious knowledge that never appeared in the outside world.


    Although the magical array looked complicated and mysterious, but all the runes, arrays and magical rings were pointing to the three core nodes. At these three core nodes, one could see three objects that looked rather similar to a torture chair.


    Judging from the overall design and structure, this should be a vicious magical array with the mixed functions of official Mage Advancement Ceremony and vitality extraction. The two torture chairs placed at the outer perimeter were the source of energy that drove the entire magical array, and it seemed they were prepared for Blake and Bleia. As long as they forcefully advanced into official Mages with the help of a special magical ceremony, then the magical array would extract all their vitality and injected the energy into the center magical ring.


    At that moment, with the nourishment from the flesh, blood, and innate talent of two new Mages, it was highly possible that Eclivel could breakthrough the threshold that was holding him back for a long time, and eventually, make him into a formidable Second Grade Mage.


    ...


    2170 Words

 Chapter 145 - 145: Eclivel

    It had been more than 300 years since Eclivel had become an official Mage!


    Due to his timid and prudent disposition, he hardly participated in any conflicts or battles among the Mages. As a result, the improvement of his overall strength was very slow. In the last 100 years, he had even fallen into the terrifying situation of having his overall strength nearly stopped from progressing.


    But a new round of the family''s interplanar warfare was going to begin soon. According to statistics obtained from analyzing all of the previous data, the minimum fatality rate of First Grade Mages in interplanar warfare was 50%. For an Mage like him, who was not good at fighting, the rate would be even higher. Therefore, in order to bring his overall strength up another grade before the warfare began, Eclivel had no choice but to take the risk and cast his evil eyes on to the few Pseudo-Mages under him.


    Initially, the magical array had only been prepared for Blake and Bleia. But following the debut of Leon and Lucy, Eclivel felt like he might need to give the magical array some modifications so that he could include the latter two in his evil scheme.


    By devouring three Pseudo-Mages cultivated by the family in one go, even if Eclivel succeeded in making an advancement, he would still receive punishment from the Sarubo Family. However, as he would be a Second Grade Mage at that point in time, so long as he was willing to give up more of his rights, presumably, the punishment coming from the family would not be that severe.


    After all, anyone could easily tell the difference between the value of a Second Grade Mage and three Pseudo-Mages.


    Currently, the only high-end Mages owned by Sarubo Family were one Third Grade and one Second Grade Mage. If they could have a new Second Grade Mage, the overall strength of the family would definitely take a huge leap. With that, their position and interests in the Zhentarim Association would also rise accordingly.


    Under such circumstances, who would really take action against the wrongdoings of a Second Grade Mage?


    After he finished checking the magical secret room, Eclivel wasn''t tired, so he continued by checking on the situation of Blake, Bleia, and Leon. As he was the highest authority in the Swampy Tower, he could examine and observe every single nook and cranny within the tower and within a three mile radius of the tower. In addition to that, the subject of his surveillance would not notice his presence at all.


    By relying on this method, Eclivel was able to get a detailed grasp of the recent developments among those few apprentices.


    Despite that, Leon entered his line of sight only once in awhile, so Eclivel understood him the least among all three Pseudo-Mages of the tower. For the sake of safety, Eclivel felt that he should just devour Blake and Bleia.


    As for Leon, once Eclivel gained control over his body, Eclivel would force him to make an advancement. If Leon managed to breakthrough, he would become one of Eclivel''s food items. If he failed, then he would be given to Bleia and she would suck his blood, increasing the success rate of Bleia''s advancement. Blake was aided by a huge amount of Bleia''s source blood, which had greatly increased the success rate of his advancement. Though Bleia''s overall strength would suffer major decay because of that, with the nourishment from the blood of Leon and Lucy, she too would have the possibility of making a breakthrough.


    If necessary, he could even throw Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices over to Bleia, making them her tonic!


    In addition to that, what he needed from them wasn''t a normal breakthrough. At that point in time, he could just use some prohibited magical medicine to stimulate them, causing their Spirit to boom, and the success rate of forced advancement would be at least 80%. He just had to devour their blood and flesh before they were killed by the backlash of the magic spell. The path of advancing into Second Grade Mage was still bright and dazzling!


    Trying his best to hold down his restless excitement, Mage Eclivel repeatedly pondered every single step and flow of his plot for advancement, thinking carefully about any possible event that might happen during its execution and arduously patching up the loopholes.


    According to the news leaked by Master Herbert, the Second Grade Mage of the family, in just one year the founding ancestor of the family would open the door of the plane, sending all the family''s Mages, including Eclivel, into the war zone. Therefore, he was only left with a short half year!


    Through the mirror, Eclivel covetously ran his eyes over the images of all three Pseudo-Mages, who resided in different locations within the tower. He moved his dried, thin lips and murmured under his breath, "Work hard and grow stronger, my fruits! Once you reach your mature stage, you''ll have the right to merge together with me... hehehe..."


    ...


    The day after Lucy had her bet with Leon, the Poisonous Witch, Endor, once again appeared in front of Leon.


    Leon was pretty sure that if killing him would release Lucy from the bounds of the magical contract, he would be a dead man already!


    After Endor gave Lucy''s soul a thorough and detailed examination, her face became so dark that one could even squeeze out some black water from it. Under the restriction of that powerful magical contract, Lucy had virtually become Leon''s contracted slave and she was the one who was being controlled.


    More importantly, Lucy was a descendant of the Northern Witches and the blood flowing through her body was from the clan of Destiny Witches. The attention this clan attached to a contract was heavier than all the other few clans of witches. Hence, the matter had become rather tricky to solve.


    In the center region of the Mage Continent, when one was referred as a witch, she was usually a female Mage. But in the northern region of the continent, where the heart of the Northern Witches was situated, the title of witch usually referred to those mysterious existences who owned the bloodline inherited from the ancient era. Every single one of them possessed extraordinary power from their bloodline, and the source of their bloodline would always trace back to Salem, a Ninth Grade Witch, and the first existence who had stood at the pinnacle of the Mage World.


    With regards to this Ninth Grade female Mage of the Mage World, she was commonly referred to as the Witch Queen. Since she had left the Mage World, she had left behind thirteen different witch clans among her descendants. And through the historical changes of more than ten thousand years, many of them had withered away. Currently, only seven of them remained in the territory of the Northern Witches.


    As for the six clans that had withered away, under the influence of the mighty Will of the World, they wouldn''t vanish totally. Every once in awhile, some random descendant of the witch would suddenly awake with some special powers, and was able to revive the witch clans that had nearly vanished from the world.


    According to some rumors, the reason behind this was because the Witch Queen Salem had an agreement with the Will of the Mage World. The overall strength of someone like a Ninth Grade Mage was too formidable and she was able to cause tremendous distraction in the normal function of the plane. Therefore, in order to kick these ''burdens'' from the Mage World, the Will of the World had no alternative but to compromise to their requests.


    Since then, anyone who became Fifth Grade Mage or above would be ''squeezed'' out of the Mage World. In return, the Will of the World allowed these Mages to include part of their own principles in the functioning system of the Mage World.


    Although the Witch Queen had left, she had also left behind thirteen World Principles in the Mage World, all of which carried her unique mark. With that, as long as the system of the world kept functioning properly, it was impossible for her followers to vanish completely! Even if some formidable Mages killed off all of her descendants, as long as the World Principles still existed, as time went by, when a suitable vessel was found, the principle that carried her mark would still light.


    Therefore, in the Mage Continent, the Mage Family that possessed a principle inherited from the ancient era was a monument that would never collapse!


    Lucy belonged to the clan of Destiny Witches. A few thousand years ago, due to some unique reasons, the clan had withered away. However, in the last few hundred years, a large group of witches from different places around the Mage Continent had awakened with special innate talents. As a result, the leader of the Northern Witches had dispatched many of her subordinates to bring these witches back to their sacred land.


    With regards to these newly awakened, some witches took them as a new hope and some looked at them as troublemakers, and neither side could come to a mutual aLeonent. Because of this, the task of bringing them back had become a rather awkward situation.


    The Poisonous Witch Endor came from the clan of Dark Witches, and this clan had a very good relationship with the clan of Destiny Witches. That was why, when Endor discovered that Lucy had awakened the bloodline of Destiny Witches, she took initiative and assumed the responsibility of Lucy''s return ceremony.


    But too bad, before the ceremony was prepared, Lucy had become a contracted slave of someone else. If it was any other witch, perhaps she would have long strangled Leon to death. Even if it might kill Lucy at the same time, the witches would never allow the bloodline of a witch to be contaminated by any outsiders!


    Nevertheless, considering the bloodline abilities of the Destiny Witches possessed by Lucy, Endor felt that it was an omen given by the Force of Destiny, which led her to give up the idea of killing Leon. Instead, she dragged him into a secret room and carried out an in-depth discussion.


    Endor gave Leon a warning. If he wanted to bind Lucy to his side, the only way was to make her bloodline abilities grow as quickly as possible and bring her to the territory of Northern Witches within ten years, so that she could complete her baptism of destiny. During this round of large scale awakenings, Lucy had not been the only one who had possessed the bloodline of the Destiny Witches, but only one of them could survive after going through the baptism.


    If Lucy couldn''t make it to the ceremony, once another witch completed her baptism and became the Destiny Witch, then, under the influence of the World Principle, Lucy''s power would become a sacrificial offering for that particular witch. In the end, Lucy''s existence would be completely wiped away by the Will of the World!


    For no apparent reason, Leon had been dragged into an unnecessary conflict, from which he felt tremendous pressure. But, considering that he would need help from Lucy in the upcoming mission of self-rescuing, he had no choice but to accept this ''hot potato'' while sighing.


    Yet, when he vaguely hinted at the situation with Endor and asked if he could borrow her power in solving a ''small problem'' of his, Endor simply turned around and left! Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Though Endor didn''t embrace Destiny, she still held reverence toward Destiny.


    It was because of Leon that Lucy was able to become a Pseudo-Mage smoothly. This also meant that the Force of Destiny had tightly tangled both of them together. Before she could tell whether her help with Lucy was positive or negative, Endor would never get involved in the natural selection of a Destiny Witch.


    With regards to the explanation from this ''Poisonous Witch'', inwardly, Leon just gave her two huge middle fingers to express his despisement. If you don''t want to help, just say so! Why are you giving me such a ''refreshing'' reason in order to shirk the burden? Leon couldn''t help but admire her excuse!


    Therefore, drawn by the mighty Force of Destiny, this future ''Destiny Witch'' had come to Leon, like she was supposed to, and become the fourth member of Leon''s camp!


    ...


    2080 words

 Chapter 146 - 146: Curiosity

    It was like the last calm before a major storm, the atmosphere within the Swampy Tower was rather strange.


    The Swampy Tower was just a small resource site owned by Mage Family, and it only had a total of 49 Apprentice Mages. There were even three Beginner Apprentices who had just learned how to meditate.


    Yet, in this group of apprentices whose overall strength was on the low side, four famous Pseudo-Mages had made their appearance without a proper ground. In addition to that, among the population of all Pseudo-Mages, any one of these four alone could be considered an outstanding existence. This was an abnormal situation, no matter where it happened, people would shout at its bizarreness.


    After all, it took a huge amount of resources to cultivate a Pseudo-Mage. And in order to become an Mage, besides hefty resources, they also needed some luck. With the current situation of the Swampy Tower, it would take extreme fortune to cultivate a single Pseudo-Mage, let alone produce all four of them at the same time.


    Perhaps, it was because of the existence of these four Pseudo-Mages, Sarubo Family had paid more attention to the Magical Swamp. In addition to the Mission Hall, the Arcane Hut of Clute, the Popoli Merchant, the Dephene Association of Delicacy, the Fenrir Pet Shop... all these shops and merchants who focused on apprentices had opened their businesses in the Swampy Tower.


    Mixing amongst them, the Little Shop of Goblin opened by Snorlax had flourished in business.


    Different from other businesses, from time to time, there would be one or two items that could be rated as that of premium quality that appeared in Snorlax''s little shop. They were either magical gemstones or magical materials or magical equipment. In short, no matter what sort of items, they would always attract a large crowd of Intermediate and Advanced Apprentices rushing to purchase them.


    As for that honorable Snorlax who didn''t have an impressive appearance, it actually had an exalted rank amongst the apprentices of the tower, which was something hardly matched by any outsiders. The reason was simple, just with the three Pseudo-Mages standing behind it, nobody in this Swampy Tower had the courage to provoke it.


    Since Lucy had become a part of the Swampy Tower, initially, she had thought that Leon would ask her to do all kinds of tasks every day. But to her surprise, since that day, she had never met her nominal ''master'' again. She didn''t expect that Leon was actually a nerd who rarely stepped out from his residence. Every day, he was either dwelling in his room and reading books or locking himself in the Alchemy Laboratory, doing some secret experiments.


    All his meals were sent into his residence by Snorlax, and he never showed himself during normal days. Although this had spared Lucy from feeling embarrassed when meeting him, but it actually made her feel a little bit angry as she was being treated coldly.


    Utilizing the few days of free time she had, Lucy questioned Snorlax repeatedly. From its mouth, she managed to dig out every single thing Leon had achieved since he had made his debut until now. In addition to that, using her status as an Pseudo-Mage, she too had an understanding about Leon''s behavior in the early days from the mouth of a few apprentices in the tower.


    Put it this way, the more Lucy understood, the more confused she became!


    If a person was shaped by all the events he or she encountered throughout the entire life, then the trail of Bleia''s life was clear at a glance.


    The apprentice career of Bleia which was worth mentioning had all started because of that magical experiment. Before she became a vampire, there wasn''t anything significant in her life. But once she became a vampire, she started to soar high up into the sky, taking a leap, jumping from a Beginner to an Advanced Apprentice, and eventually giving her all the glory of becoming a Pseudo-Mage later.


    Therefore, the event that changed Bleia''s life was that bizarre magical experiment carried out by Mage Eclivel!


    From this information she obtained, Lucy could clearly see the pattern of development for Bleia, and according to Bleia''s behavior, she could also have an estimation of the potential height Bleia would attain in her life. Everything was so vivid and straightforward!


    Yet, when applying this theory on Leon, it just didn''t make any sense!


    The turning point in Leon''s life happened almost at the same time as Bleia''s. It was as if he suddenly possessed some kind of mystical power overnight. This had led Lucy to suspect, could it be at the same time that Mage Eclivel was carrying out an experiment on Bleia, he too had done something to Leon? Or else, his transformation in the later stage was simply incredible!


    Within the period of mission that lasted for three months, he had grown into an Advanced Apprentice from a mere Beginner Apprentice, and even skipped the stage of Intermediate Apprentice. The secret to all his victories laid on the powerful element golems. As for himself, it was obvious that he took the path of an Element Mage.


    With regard to those element golems owned by Leon, they were still fresh in Lucy''s memory. As both her miserable defeats were all caused by those hateful element golems!


    Of sufficient numbers, great variety, and each was extremely powerful and well-directed!


    This was the personal review Lucy had for these element golems.


    By right, for golems such as these, if they were controlled using the method of Elemental Summoning, not only it would require a special magical ceremony, the summoners himself also had to bear a tremendous burden on his Spirit. It would never be like Leon''s case, where he had handled them with such composure and ease.


    Lucy also noticed, every time when Leon summoned his element golems, he would need an element core as the magical material, and the surface of the crystal core was always fully engraved with runes, portraying the look of going through a thorough modification. With this finding, she drew a conclusion that the deepest secret of Leon''s mightiness must be hiding inside of these crystal cores.


    Because of this, she had the intention of getting closer to Leon, so she could find out more answers from him to uncover his secret. But too bad that Leon was a nerd who rarely left his room, this had made her, the nominal servant-girl of his, became totally unused.


    As a result, after holding herself patiently for seven days, Lucy snatched over the meal plate from Snorlax, took its place and stood in front of the door to Leon''s residence. That hateful Bleia was the only person who could freely enter Leon''s residence, even Snorlax had to obtain Leon''s permission every time before delivering the meal to him.


    Not long after that, Leon sensed Lucy''s spiritual ripple, and he finally disarmed the defense mechanism on the door.


    Lucy stretched her arm and pushed open the door and strode into the residence, carrying the meal plate.


    The room was still as simple and crude as before.


    Yet, compared to the last time, it had become even messier!


    Though it was daytime, the illuminating crystal placed on top of the wooden table still shone with a bright and soft light. This made Lucy puzzled, could this guy have been working since last night, without resting during the course?


    The floor was fully filled with scrapped goat-skin scrolls, some were curled up, some were spread out, and some were crumbled into small balls... each of them had extremely complicated runes and mysterious magical arrays drawn on them. As Lucy didn''t have any knowledge of magical arrays, hence, she felt a headache upon looking at this mysterious knowledge which required a professional to understand it.


    Walking on her tiptoes, Lucy carefully skipped over the mess on the floor and came in front of the wooden table.


    The wooden table was also messy like the floor, books were opened and placed all over the tabletop, stacking on top of each other and nearly flooding the entire table. Leon was now leaning against the table silently, using a pen brush to draw something on a goat-skin paper.


    But obviously, his progress wasn''t smooth.


    Half-way through the drawing, he brought the goat-skin paper in front of his face and gave it a careful examination. Soon, he shook his head, cursing under his breath and crumbled the paper into a small ball, and tossed it over his shoulder.


    Lucy tilted her head so she could dodge the paper ball that had came to her face. Angrily, she placed the meal tray on top of the table with a rather strong force. Due to her ''carelessness'', the tall stack of books had finally collapsed with a loud noise.


    Ugh... What was going on?


    Leon raised his head, confusingly, and ran his eyes around. His sulky eyes were immediately met with the vision of Lucy, who was looking at him in a provoking manner.


    "Eh? When did you come here?" Leon rubbed his forehead, as he felt a prickle in his brain. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since his overall strength skyrocketed, Leon had discovered many benefits brought by a high Physique.


    He had been awake for three days and three nights. If it was in the past, perhaps he would have been extremely exhausted by now. However, besides feeling a slight tiredness from consuming too much of his Spirit, his body was as healthy and vigorous as it was three days ago.


    "The purpose I came here today is to ask you a question: what are you going to do with me? Are you going to let me live like I am now, spending all my days boringly strolling around in this filthy and broken place? The magical facilities here are just too obsolete and behind on times, compared to other places, this place is simply a desolate desert of the Mage World!" Lucy stood with arms akimbo, complaining angrily at Leon.


    One could tell that she had had enough of staying in this Swampy Tower.


    She couldn''t find any higher grade magical potions, she couldn''t enjoy a slightly normal delicacy, she couldn''t obtain any of the advanced magical materials required for her magical experiments, and her residence was simply like a sheep pen... In this backward and dilapidated place, Lucy just couldn''t imagine how Leon and the others managed to survive!


    If not because of those merchants or associations who recently came into this place, bringing some changes to the Swampy Tower, Lucy felt like she was going to rot in this dark and wet Magical Swamp.


    Faced with a hard working ''subordinate'' who took the initiative and to come to him for work, a gratifying smile emerged on Leon''s face. He casually took a white bread from the meal tray and placed it into Lucy''s hand, and said with a smile on his face, "If you want to find something to do, why don''t you show me your abilities first? Can you toss this thing over at Snorlax''s head?"


    Right after he finished his words, the white bread in Lucy''s hands had disappeared.


    She clapped her palms and rubbed off the bread crumbs, throwing a disdainful gaze over at Leon and portrayed a look of ''just try me''.


    Leon opened his mouth slightly out of surprise.


    He quickly readjusted his mentality, picked up another piece of bread and placed into Lucy''s hand. This time, he snapped his fingers and activated all the defense mechanisms of this magical residence.


    Lucy curled up her lips in disdain, grabbing the bread with both hands and gave it a rub. A strange spatial ripple was sensed in the air, before the bread disappeared once again.


    Leon''s expression became even more dignified.


    After he gave the last piece of bread over to Lucy, not only had Leon activated every single defense mechanisms of his magical residence, he also focused his mind and unleashed a light red force field that covered the entire room.


    Right now, Lucy was residing within four layers of element defense or magical force fields, if she could still...


    But too bad, before the thought could fully form in Leon''s mind, he saw Lucy waved one of her hands, as a small spatial black hole emerged in front of her. After that, she quickly stretched the other hand with the bread into the black hole. When she finally pulled her hand out, there was nothing left in her palm.


    Meanwhile, the spatial black hole had disappeared instantly!


    ...


    2105 Words

 Chapter 147 - 147: Union

    A few moments later, three pieces of intact white bread were delivered back by Snorlax.


    But Snorlax had a pretty unsightly expression!


    To be honest, no matter who was hiding in a secret room and happily admiring and counting his treasures, to be suddenly hit on his head by two pieces of white bread, he would have the same unsightly expression. And besides, the last time a tiny female hand had suddenly appeared in midair and tossed a piece of white bread over to its face.


    No body, no arms, it was just the fair, tender, little hand of a female... Snorlax was frightened out of its wits because of such terrifying scene. If it had not received the Spiritual Whisper from its master on time, it would definitely think that it was haunted by some evil female ghost!


    Leon picked up all three pieces of white bread one after another. Using the exact scanning and see-through vision of the Chip, he once again confirmed their integrity. The teleportation just now hadn''t altered their material property, nor did it destroy any of their material structure.


    Leon again placed the bread into Lucy''s hand. With a smile, he said, "This time, send them into my hand!"


    After he finished saying that, a leaping flame burst out from Leon''s body. The high-temperature force field instantly covered his entire body. After going through a period of hard training and closely working with it, Leon could now easily manipulate his own fire element.


    Even when he had the flame spread all over his body, he never caused any harm to the wooden chair underneath him or the books laying around. But if the clothes on his body hadn''t been protected by magical power, they would have been burned off by the fierce flame. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A slightly disdainful expression emerged on Lucy''s cute face, which still had a little bit of baby-fat. Displeased, she asked, "Do you really think my Spatial Teleportation can do anything you ask? If it could penetrate your Elementium Protection, do you think you could have still defeated me?"


    "Give it your best shot. I want to see what kind of results it can achieve!" Leon encouraged the little girl while stretching out his right arm, enshrouded in steaming hot flame.


    Looking from afar, it was as if the flame was burning directly on Leon''s skin. Yet, when looked at a close distance, there was actually a thin layer of crimson Elementium film attached tightly on the surface of his skin, which separated his skin from the element fire.


    This was actually a product produced from merging Flame Body and Inferno Force Field!


    Some day in the future, when Leon eventually became an official Mage, and when he totally transformed his Spirit into Elementium, this thin layer of film would disappear, and eventually make him into a type of elemental life form. When the time came, even though his vitality would not be endless like genuine elemental life forms, it would still sufficient for him to slowly explore the boundless multi-verse!


    Under Leon''s attentive gaze, a ripple starting to appear in the space near his flaming right hand. Obviously, the bread sent through the space by Lucy couldn''t penetrate the dense and tough Inferno Force Field and was forced out from the inter-layer of space by its force.


    When it lost the protection from the force of space, the white bread was instantly turned into ashes upon contact with the defensive flame.


    Later, Leon retracted the defensive flame and Inferno Force Field, but it was too bad that Lucy still couldn''t teleport anything into his hand. Though he felt that it was a pity, it was in fact, a reasonable situation. If Lucy''s Spatial Teleportation could freely travel through the target''s element defense, then under the heaven, what kind of opponent that had the same rank as her could stand up against her?


    She could totally transfer a bottle of explosive potion into her opponent''s heart or plunge an explosive fireball into the enemy''s stomach... Just thinking of such scene made one tremble with fear!


    After several failed attempts, finally Lucy ran out of patience. "What exactly do you want me to do? Are you just going to ask me to teleport this thing over and over again?"


    "What I need from you is very simple: during a special occasion, I want you to teleport something I need into my hand!" Leon once again unleashed his Inferno Force Field, covering both him and Lucy; only then did he seriously tell her his motive.


    Lucy glanced around, looking at this layer of force field which was obviously used to prevent any outsiders from peeking or overhearing their conversation. Not saying any words, she nodded her head as if she understood something. But right after that, she rested her arms on her hips, and said in a disdainful manner, "Why should I listen to you and do something that is totally impossible to achieve? This brings me no benefits at all. Don''t think that I''ll help you!"


    Leon smiled. With a flick of his wrist, an element core emanating a powerful element wave appeared in the palm of his hand. When Lucy saw its dazzling appearance, looked at the crystal clear material, and sensed the rhythmic element wave that felt like a tidal wave... she couldn''t contain herself and swallowed a lump in her throat.


    It was an Mage level crystal core! This was the true form of that frightening lava monster who defeated her! However, when she looked at it, not only did it not bring her the slightest feeling of fear, it actually carried a vague magnificence and perfection!


    "Are you going to give it to me?" Right at this very moment, Lucy nearly stopped breathing completely; her eyes went wide as she held her breath, waiting for Leon''s answer.


    "I can''t give it to you right now, of course!" Leon answered grumpily. "But, within a month, if you can teleport anything into my hand, I''ll let you own it temporarily!"


    Lucy was dejected for a brief moment when she heard Leon''s answer, but soon, her face was beaming with high spirits again.


    "Will you keep your promise? Rest assured, as long as I double my effort and keep practicing, I can definitely do it. But, I''ll need to examine this treasure of yours first, give it to me now and let me play for one night!"


    Leon hesitated, but eventually he nodded his head and agreed. But before he placed the summoning core of Fire Lord golem into Lucy''s spread palm, he earnestly warned her and said, "You can have some fun with it, but you can''t damage the summoning core. Also, when you summon it, remember to protect yourself properly!"


    As he said that, Leon purposely pointed at the ceiling with his finger. Lucy nodded her head, expressing her understanding.


    This place was the Swampy Tower, and they were inside of Leon''s personal residence. Yet, even when he was talking, he had to cover himself with his own element defense and didn''t take the magical defense mechanism of the residence into consideration. Just this point alone was enough to tell her something!


    Judging from this, it seemed like the relationship between Leon and the stationed Mage of the Swampy Tower wasn''t that harmonious. It might even be at the stage of diametrical opposition. Considering that her life was now tied to Leon''s, Lucy had no alternative but to start thinking for this small team.


    Although Leon didn''t mention it explicitly, Lucy could still guess. The request he had expressed was very important for him and it might even reach to the level that could affect his life and future!


    Hmph, I''ll just help him for once! Or else, if he died, I''ll die as well. Also, his request sounds pretty fun. If I can include it in my offensive approach, perhaps it will be quite a breakthrough.


    Filling her mind with fanciful thoughts, Lucy casually shoved the summoning core into an opened spatial hole before she turned around and left Leon''s residence.


    Compared to Leon, Lucy had never needed any magical equipment like a waist pouch or storage waist belt. She only needed to find herself a safe layer of space and open up an isolated space which bore her conscious''s seal; she could store all of her personal belongings in it. However, with her Pseudo-Mage Spirit, this isolated space only had a maximum size of five meters square.


    After Lucy left, Leon appeared to be the sole person in the room. But, he still didn''t retract his Inferno Force Field.


    Right at this moment, a hoarse, deep voice suddenly came out from his body. "So, this is your plan? I don''t think it is a good idea! Are you sure you can keep that Eclivel from finding out?"


    A creeping movement was seen on the cloth near Leon''s chest; a thumb-sized black bug crawled out from underneath it and stopped on his shoulder. The voice came from this black bug.


    "Hmph, Blake, what''s the point of you saying such sarcastic remarks now? If you had not come to a dead end, you''d never come begging for my help!" Leon refuted with a cold voice.


    "Hehe, we''re just using each other for our own benefits!" The beetle that Leon referred to as Blake vibrated its wings, producing some noise that sounded like the chirping of insects. "Can''t you tell that from the information I gave you? Not only does Eclivel have his eyes on me and Bleia, recently, he has started to cast his evil gaze on you and this little girl. If we don''t do something, perhaps all of us will be thrown into a pot by that Eclivel and our blood and flesh will become the foundation of his advancement!"


    Leon became as silent as a stone!


    With regards to this point, Blake had accurate judgment. From all of the intelligence they had gathered so far, this Eclivel was indeed an insane Mage who would devour someone to the point of not even spitting the bones out. In order to improve his overall strength, he was preparing a horrible sacrifice of blood and flesh.


    Once the preparation came to its conclusion, most probably, this Swampy Tower would immediately turn into a massive graveyard as every single one Apprentice Mages who lived here would be unable to escape from becoming part of the offering for his ritual. The lower grade apprentices might just become the fuel used to heat the cauldron, and they, the Pseudo-Mages and Advanced Apprentices, would be the main ingredients for this sacrificial ritual of blood and flesh.


    Thus, during this critical moment, any selfish behavior of paying attention to oneself without thinking of others would be stupid!


    Perhaps it was because he had realized this reality that Blake finally gathered up his courage and transferred his remaining consciousness into this beetle, coming to Leon to discuss working together towards a common goal.


    As for escaping from the Swampy Tower and never returning, Leon never even considered it at all.


    He lived in the Mage Continent; nearly all of the territory occupied by the human race was under the tight control and surveillance of Mages. If Leon wished to escape without putting up a fight, Mage Eclivel would just need to use a sly approach and labeled them as apprentices who turned renegade and escaped; with that, no matter how high the sky and how vast the land, there would be no way of survival for them!


    As a matter of fact, he could easily tell this from the Fallen Mages and Fallen Apprentices he had met at the Underground Cave.


    Therefore, when faced with this Worm controller Blake who had solely come for help, Leon could only suppress the disgusted feeling he had in his mind and tentatively reach a strategic cooperation with him!


    They would unite to fight against that frightful Eclivel!


    ...


    2000 Words

 Chapter 148 - 148: Rune

    Trying to confront a veteran Mage who had become an official Mage for more than 300 years with the status of a Pseudo-Mage, such thought was no doubt as mad as a hatter. If not because he really didn''t have any other alternative, Leon would have never come up with this idea!


    Leon counted on his fingers, at the very most, his team only consisted of three good fighters.


    The actual body of Worm controller was now under the total control of Eclivel. Although the beetle which hosted the primary consciousness of Blake guaranteed that he could seize back the control for a very short period of time, such statement didn''t contain any elements worth trusting! Hence, inwardly, Leon had been treating Blake as half a Pseudo-Mage. At the critical moment, it would be considered fortunate if Blake didn''t turn his back on Leon and helped Eclivel. Leon would never place the hopes for victory on this guy.


    On the contrary, Bleia was a helper whom he could count on. But unfortunately, her vampire bloodline was the work of Eclivel himself, If Eclivel didn''t leave any contingency measurement in it, Leon would really have to despise Eclivel for being an incompetent Mage.


    Knowledge is power!


    A true wise Mage would always defeat his enemies using his brain and knowledge.


    Therefore, with regards to how to use Bleia in his Plan, Leon had his nerves on tenterhooks. Similar to Worm controller Blake, when counting on the overall combative strength of his team, Leon could only take Bleia as half a Pseudo-Mage.


    In this iron triangle of resisting Eclivel, two of them actually couldn''t be totally trusted. It was imaginable how depressed Leon was feeling right now in his mind and how tremendous the pressure he was enduring at the moment was!


    It seemed that at the most critical moment, perhaps only he himself could stand out to resist the enemy!


    As for the enemy they had to face, the First Grade Mage Eclivel, if according to the calculations derived from the Chip, he possessed the combative strength of at least eight to ten Pseudo-Mages. This also meant, even taking away the aid he received from the Swampy Tower, and the amplification he had from additional magical equipment he owned, just Eclivel alone would be able to easily withstand the besiegement from eight to ten Pseudo-Mages at the same time.


    Of course, if they really did have ten Pseudo-Mages, most probably they would be able to force Mage Eclivel to give in. It was a pity that they didn''t!


    There were simply too many uncertainties from Worm controller and Bleia. Once the war started, the possibility of them turning into burdens was higher than becoming his strengths. If not because he really had run out of methods, Leon would never willing to form an alliance with such teammates who might betray him at any time!


    With that, once the war started, it was possible that most of the pressure would be shouldered by Leon alone.


    Meanwhile, since the birth of the Fire Lord, Leon''s personal overall strength had gone through a significant transformation. Currently, he could be considered a qualified Pseudo-Mage. No matter whether it was his defensive or offensive abilities, he was nowhere weaker than any ordinary Pseudo-Mage. And if he poured in all he got, he could even support two Fire Lords in the battlefield at the same time.


    It could be said that from the last battle between the Fire Lord and Lucy. The combative strength that an Mage level Fire Lord could bring into play was equal to at least two to three Element Pseudo-Mages. Thus, even taking the maximum combative strength from two Fire Lords was only equivalent to six Element Pseudo-Mages. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a combative strength like this, together with Leon, Blake, and Bleia, they merely had the combined strength to fight that Eclivel. As for who would obtain the final victory and who would be defeated? The chances of victory for Leon''s team was, in fact, less than 10%!


    And even for this 10% of chance, it was based on the situation that all Leon''s plots were successfully executed and that Mage Eclivel didn''t have any too much of an incredible preparation.


    Just because of the overly low success rate, Leon had no choice but to arduously increase every single advantage he could on his side, while trying his best to eliminate the advantage on Eclivel''s side!


    Strictly speaking, Leon''s team actually did had some hidden approaches. The biggest piece of good news was that Worm controller could constantly supply them with the intelligence of the enemy. As the saying goes, know the enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat! In Leon''s scheme, he had to get to the bottom of Mage Eclivel''s plot and plan, then came out with well-directed countermeasures and counter-attacks, as this would be the safest strategy.


    On the other side, there was a super expert hiding in Leon''s camp: Lucy. Although the relationship between her and Leon was rather stiff, when her life was in an endangering situation, presumably, she would also become one of the main fighting forces in Leon''s team. In Leon''s mind, at least this Lucy was much more dependable than Blake and Bleia!


    In order to increase the odds of winning the battle, even if it was just a small advantage that was not worth mentioning, Leon would still give it a meticulous and detailed consideration, altering and perfecting his plan and strategy. Even Snorlax was included in his plan and had undertaken some very important tasks.


    While plotting his counter attack, Leon was also working hard to improve his survival abilities.


    Imaginable, once things turned ugly between both sides, Leon, as the leader of their camp, would definitely become the primary target who Mage Eclivel focused his attacks on. Therefore, currently, it was more important for him to improve his survival abilities than train his combative abilities, as it would be more beneficial for him in the upcoming warfare!


    After going through a large number of filtrations and comparisons, there weren''t many methods that he could master in a short period of time to improve his ability quickly. However, the drawing of Magic Runes was definitely an exception.


    According to the records found in some magic books, the origin of magic spells actually came from observing and copying natural magic runes found on demon beasts by the ancestors of the human race. Most of the time, these demon beasts and demons didn''t have any knowledge of magic spells, and they didn''t understand any theories of magic spells at all. Yet, relying on the combination of their own innate abilities and the world around them, they could always master some mysterious abilities without being taught by anyone.


    Although these magic runes were rather simple and primitive, they actually pointed to the very core of the World Principle, and they were the specific representation of Plane Principles for some lower tier planes. Therefore, it allowed them to possess some bizarre abilities that left one speechless.


    Initially, the ancestors of the human race hadn''t known anything about it. However, the human race had proved themselves to be the species good at learning and creating. Some wise people among them had observed these natural magic runes and copied them, and had drawn them on their own body, which eventually became man-made magic runes.


    And this was the origin of the magical array!


    Later, as the ancestors of human race mastered more and more magic runes, they extracted the best, and through a continuous effort of reorganizing and restructuring, they eventually gave themselves a new power that never existed before. And, these unique runes extracted from natural magic runes were in fact, the magic spell runes that every single Mage had to learn and master today!


    Put this way, ancient Mages were actually a group of ordinary humans. They used a unique paint and drew all kinds of peculiar and bizarre magic rune patterns on their body, allowing them to possess some strange abilities that was similar to demon beasts or demons.


    Through the historical changes of more than hundreds of thousands of years, this group of humans who kept studying on the arcane knowledge had eventually freed themselves from the status of ordinary humans and became the leaders and protectors of the entire human race. They no longer drew any magic runes on their body, instead, they had them engraved on top of their weapons or some special equipment, turning them into frightening magical weapons and magical equipment.


    They even learned how to meditate, using progressive methods to modify themselves into magical creatures similar to demon beasts. They also studied and analyzed the Plane Principle, ultimately, leaving the conscious seal that belonged to them in the functioning system of the plane.


    As for now, Leon really wished he could borrow the help from these magic runes, so he could quickly improve his basic combative strength. Those scraped goatskin papers Lucy saw in his room were actually the magic runes array Leon specifically made for himself.


    Initially, Leon thought it would not be a difficult task. After all, he was a Grand Master of Automata who could carve seven magical arrays on top of a thumb-sized crystal core. The only difference now was the working area had shifted over to his own body, and the area had expanded to at least few hundred times, supposedly, it should be an easier task!


    But too bad, when he really gave the task over to the Chip, and after the Chip ran through a thorough scan and analysis of his body, he was shocked to find out that on a human body, the area that could draw with magic runes was actually less than 1/7 of the total surface area. Yet, these areas were scattered everywhere on the body, and they were overly broken and in a disordered manner.


    According to the distribution of these magic runes area, Leon came to the conclusion that the magical energy area on the surface of the human body was mostly interconnected with the vital organs. For example, the heart, brain, and lower abdomen, these were the places with dense magical energy, while the limbs and the edges of the body were the regions with thin magical energy.


    Each region were interconnected with different vital organs, therefore, the magical energy they could support had slight differences as well. In order to better utilize them, he really needed to gave them a thorough and detailed examination and a huge amount of calculations and statistical analyses of data.


    This was also the reason why Master of Magic Runes was a rare occupation and why it was also very expensive to draw a magic rune!


    According to the information Leon had learned, if an ordinary apprentice wished to draw a magic rune on his body, even if it was just an Array of Agility (Agility +1) on his leg, the lowest fee he needed to pay a Master of Magic Runes was 1000 magic crystals. As for having an Energy Gathering Array (Doubles the speed of Elementium gathering) drawn on his chest, the lowest price was 3000 magic crystals.


    Yet, for a magic array which could bring the ability to see through to the apprentice''s eyes, the cost of having it drawn was a hefty 5000 magic crystals.


    Looking at the list of expensive prices, Leon felt his heart jerking spasmodically. Maybe, when he had nothing else to do in the future, he could consider becoming a Master of Magic Runes!


    As Leon had completed the transformation of his Flame Body, the regions of magical energy on his body were larger than those on other ordinary apprentices''. Therefore, how he could make a good use of these magical energy regions had become a hard nut to crack. As the result, during this period of time, Leon had locked himself in his room, repeatedly examining the characteristics of the different regions on his body, using the Chip to construct the perfect magic runes drawings for him.


    By carrying out this laborious task himself, Leon now knew why despite meeting with so many Mages, rarely had he seen anyone of them have magic runes drawn on their body. In order to draw a magic rune on the body, the Master of Magic Runes had to fully understand the body attribute of the target. Try to think about this, would any Mage willing let an outsider learn every single detail of the secrets found in his body?


    Therefore, this probably was one of the most important reasons why magic runes were not popular!


    After going through comprehensive and detailed calculations, the plan to draw magic runes that Leon had drafted for himself was unprecedentedly humongous and complicated.


    According to his plan, he would need to draw an Energy Gathering rune array at the bottom of both feet, both palms and wrists would need to have a Precise Strike rune array (Instantly enhances the output of Elementium, causing element damage to be doubles), a Major Elementium Strengthening rune array on his chest, a Major Elementium Defense rune array on his back, and a Light of Spirit rune array on both his forehead and temples (able to directly transform Spirit into offensive Fire Element magic spell).


    Each and every single one of them was tailor made for and by Leon himself!


    ...


    2244 Words

 Chapter 149 - 149: Cat and mouse

    Etching magic runes on one''s own body was not something that could be easily accomplished!


    It required special magic rune ingredients, a Master of Magic Runes who possessed peculiar innate talent, exclusive drawing experience and skill... and not a single requirement could be omitted. However, Leon didn''t have even one of them.


    Inside of the Alchemy Laboratory of the Swampy Tower.


    The radiance from dozens of illuminating crystals had made the laboratory as bright as day; not a single shadow could be seen. Unlike in the past, Leon didn''t stand in front of the Alchemy Station. Instead, he was lying down on top of the Alchemy Station. Today, he was both the operator and the target of the operation!


    He didn''t have any of the special ingredients required for the drawing of magic runes, so Leon could only use the method of crafting golems to carve the magic runes; he couldn''t hire any professional Master Magic Runes, so Leon could only do it himself, drawing on his own body; he didn''t possess any of the experience and skill in drawing magic runes that were passed down for generations, and he was solely depending on the optimized combination and simulated experiments carried out by the Chip in his Spiritual Domain...


    Today, it was destined that Leon would become a bull in a china shop, as he would throw every single pot and bottle that represented all of the previous expectations and rules onto the ground and then break a new path that belonged solely to himself.


    In a normal process of magic runes drawing, the Master of Magic Runes would usually need the aid of some medicines, so that he could reduce the recovery ability of flesh and blood in a particular region. Every single rune array that functioned properly was composed of hundred and thousand of runes and magical lines. If the target of the drawing was someone with high Physique, before the last line of rune could be drawn, the first line of rune would have completely self-healed.


    This would completely destroy the entire process of magic rune drawing!


    Using a special medicine to anesthetize and repress the recovery ability of blood and flesh on a particular region of the target''s body, and using the magic rune ingredients meticulously concocted to etch the corresponding magic runes on the skin of the target, and finally, interconnecting them with the magical energy organ inside of the target''s body. This was the elementary theory that let magic runes stimulate the human''s body, which could make the target unleash a special ability.


    It was because of this tedious and complicated process that the importance of a Master of Magic Runes was so significant. There had been some fellows who wished to save the hefty amount of magic crystals that one cost, and fancied that they could use the simplest method of drawing magic runes on themselves. They thought such magic runes could bring them some effects for a short period of time, and following the self-recovery of the body, every external change made to their bodies would eventually fade away.


    And very soon, they had realized that they were just drawing water with a bamboo basket ¨C it achieved nothing. Not only would the magic runes not be solidified forever, it also cost them a dearly expensive amount of ingredients.


    Unfortunately, the magic rune suit of the Flame Fiend that Leon was custom making for himself was an example of that mentioned above. Nevertheless, relying on his extremely high control over his Flame Body, the process of losing effectiveness would definitely be slowed down. Also, he had never had the hope that the magic rune suit could be used forever; so long as it could support him in making his way through this ''calamity,'' it would be enough.


    Leon lay flat on top of the Alchemy Station. Using his Spirit, he activated the alchemy equipment.


    As the needle-sized heat beam hit his body, Leon started to smell a pungent burning scent coming from the burning of his muscle and fat and he heard the hissing sound of boiling fat. The heat beam moved slowly across the surface of his body, scorching his skin and turning it black, leaving behind lines like shallow trenches.


    Expressionless, Leon silently endured the burning from the heat beam. At the same time, he had to pour in all his effort to repress this Flame Body''s instinctive defense and counterattack against the heat beam. In addition to that, he had to hold down the regeneration speed of his flesh. Before those shallow trenches could recover, Leon controlled the other alchemy arm, using it to inject the filler that he had prepared beforehand into them.


    The strange hissing sound of the heat beam burning his flesh, the pungent stinking smell that came from the filler slowly corroding the muscle of a human body... the weird sound, the strange smell, both filled the entire Alchemy Laboratory almost immediately. It would make someone feel like he had come to a dark, ugly room of torture!


    Leon was trying to draw a rune array composed of complicated, hard to understand runes, and full of numerous winding lines onto a random part of the body. At the same time, the core nodes of the rune array had to perfectly overlap with the magical nodes found on the body itself. During this process, any slight deviation would cause the total destruction of the entire rune array.


    Therefore, even though the severe pain coming from the surface of his body kept stimulating his nerves, Leon still retained the same expression and focused his vision on the tiny light beam that kept jumping over his skin. With an attentive gaze, he watched the entire process as his skin turned red, softened, collapsed, turned dark, and eventually, became coke.


    There would be a total of fourteen rune arrays drawn on his body, each of them an independent entity, and all possessed the effect of stimulating the body function of that particular region. But when they were interconnected and activated, they would create an extremely complicated, profound and mysterious magic rune suit ¨C the transformation of a Flame Fiend.


    And this was the direction of advancement Leon had set for his Fire Element magic spell!


    The Flame Fiend was a dreadful creature of the Abyss that came from the lower tier plane. They usually possessed a huge and menacing body, however, their combative strength actually came from their terrifying flame ability that was beyond any comparison. Once they flew into a rage, their entire body would ignite, turning them into a horrible flaming humanoid. Any living beings that got too close to their body would have to withstand a constant fire damage.


    Without high fire resistance, ordinary enemies didn''t even have the qualifications to fight a battle with it, and would be turned into coke by the constantly burning flame. As for the enemies that had the qualification to stand face to face with the Flame Fiend, they would have to deal with raging Fire element magic spells that blotted out the sky and covered the earth, and the hand-to-hand combat skills of the Flame Fiend, which were not weaker than those of ordinary demons.


    Flame Fiends may not be the strongest creatures among all of the experts of the Fire element, but they were definitely the creatures that stood out from the rest who practiced Fire element magic spells. That was why Leon had drawn fourteen rune arrays on his body; he wanted to use them to fully arouse his potential and mimic part of the Flame Fiend''s abilities.


    This was also the main reason this magic rune suit was called ''the transformation of a Flame Fiend!''


    Of course, all of this was based on Leon''s first and earliest assumptions and speculations. If he really wanted to transform into a true Flame Fiend, the best and most straightforward method would be to pay a visit to the lower tier plane, slaughter, and dissect a real Flame Fiend himself. As for now, he could only mimic and improve his design.


    The process of drawing the magic runes lasted for one whole day and night, until noon of the second day. Only then did Leon drag his exhausted body back to his residence. Meanwhile, Bleia, who had just come back from outside, had been waiting for him in his room.


    When she saw that Leon was completely exhausted, yet still trying his best to keep up his spirit, a saddened expression emerged on Bleia''s pretty, travel-worn face.


    After she helped Leon lie flat on his bed, Bleia gently touched his face and softly said, "Sleep well! I''ll guard you right here!" S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon was barely able to give her a smile before he sank into deep slumber.


    ......


    Inside another room.


    Within the faint, transparent force field of a barrier, Lucy could hardly tear herself away from the Mages level element crystal core; she kept turning the summoning core over and over in her palm. The fist-sized, transparent crystal core was emitting an enchanting glow that could grasp the soul of one who looked at it.


    With each turn and new angle, the transparent crystal core reflected another gorgeously bright and colorful, yet extraordinarily beautiful halo. Lucy''s gaze rested on it, and her face had an expression of obsession; for a very long time, she couldn''t pull herself away from such emotion. With her vision, of course she could peer onto the surface of the crystal core and see the mysterious magical arrays that were as tiny as cow hair, but extremely complicated and profound.


    No matter how you looked at it, it was no doubt a great work of art produced by a skillful Grand Master.


    Relying on the exceptionally designed magical array, the unique power stored within the element core was guided and unleashed; by combining this power with the vast element energy gathered from the outside world, it gave birth to a frightful Mages level element golem that was capable of causing a major catastrophe!


    Whenever she recalled the fact that she was miserably defeated by this crystal clear, extremely beautiful, little object, an indefinable flame of anger immediately surged up from the bottom of Lucy''s heart. But immediately after that, the flame of anger would melt away bit by bit under the strange, fantastic elemental halo of the element core.


    Oh right, I had promised that rasca... ouch... master one thing. It looks like I need to make the best use of my time and practice!


    While rolling about on her bed without care over her own image, Lucy slowly stretched out her Spirit. Through the slight spiritual sense brought to her from the magical contract buried deep in her soul, she quietly confirmed the current location of her master.


    That... he was in his own room now, and he hadn''t fully activated all of the defense mechanisms. Also, it was obvious that his Spirit was on the low side, and he had sunk into a deep state. He should be sleeping now. Wow, isn''t this a great opportunity? As long as I can teleport one object into his hand, then I''ll have this precious thing accompany me for a few more days!


    Her mind filled with a restless excitement, Lucy stretched out her hand and drew a magic rune in midair. After that, she took out an earring and tossed it over. The magic rune was covered by an extremely complicated magic ring; when the earring traveled through it, it was like penetrating a layer of transparent water mirror. Within a split second, it disappeared without a trace.


    Meanwhile, inside the other room, some enshrouding runes suddenly appeared on Leon''s right palm. Following the vibration of these runes, an elegant earring slowly penetrated through the spatial distortion; in the next moment, it would fall into Leon''s palm.


    Pap! Bleia stretched out her hand and swung gently; the earring was instantly slapped into the corner of the room.


    "What a nuisance, it must be that little girl again! Hmph, trying to secretly give her earring to Leon, I knew she was up to something bad!"


    As the earring was slapped away, Lucy immediately sensed it. "Eh, what happened? It is obvious I''m going to succeed this time, why was it slapped away suddenly? Could it be some kind of new defense mechanism? No way, I have to give it another try!"


    It wasn''t an accident; the second time, the third time... all of Lucy''s attempts were interrupted by some kind of unknown defense mechanism. Instead of giving up, it actually aroused her anger. "What''s all this about? It is obvious that guy is sleeping now. Why there is still such a strange defense mechanism? You''re the one who forced me now!"


    Gnashing her teeth in anger, Lucy started to move both her arms quickly in midair. She actually unleashed a total of four spatial magic runes at the same time. However, before she had the time to teleport anything through them, all four spatial magic runes that had appeared on different part of Leon''s body vanished at the same time.


    Damn it, you''re challenging me right now!


    Lucy, who had her competitiveness evoked, immediately started continuous and endless attempts, but to no effect. Unsurprisingly, every attempt was interrupted by something or someone. This made her even angrier, and she poured in more effort to try harder.


    At the same time, inside of Leon''s room, Bleia was seen yawning and stretching her back while moving her fingers to quickly poke the air. Whenever a new spatial magic rune was formed, before it could establish a stable minor spatial tunnel with the other room, it would be instantly broken by Bleia''s finger, which had been injected with Blood element energy.


    Therefore, unknowingly, Lucy had started to play a game of ''cat and mouse'' with Bleia!


    ...


    2313 Words

 Chapter 150 - 150: Insects

    Within a dark, wet room, a bloody magical array loomed in front of one''s eyes.


    It was a mysterious magical array drawn using the mixed blood of seven different species of demons. All the runes and magical lines that composed the magical array were drawn using fresh blood. The fresh blood was warm and the lines carried a slightly crimson hue; they looked bizarre and evil.


    In a corner of the room, there were countless dried bodies of demons from the Magical Swamp, all thrown messily in a pile. Each of them looked extremely miserable; anyone who saw them would be struck with shudders instantly.


    A previous member of the three strongest apprentices in the tower, Fatal Shot Evan, now sat with his legs folded inside of a magical ring, which was drawn right in the center of the magical array. His body was fully covered with the pungent and stinking blood of the demons. Meanwhile, outside of this magical array, Super girl stood, holding her huge blade. It seemed like she was thinking about something.


    In the next few moments, following a weird murmuring coming from the magical array, countless crows with black feathers and red eyes flew in from the opened window and leapt straight into the crimson magical array.


    Every single red-eyed crow who had leapt into the magical array exploded into tiny pieces of flesh and blood that shot in all direction. Countless black feathers floated through the air, but before they could touch the ground, they turned into wisps of smoke and vanished into thin air. Their flesh turned into countless skinless bloody snakes, whose bodies clustered outside of the magical ring that Fatal Shot sat in.


    When there were enough bloody snakes gathered around the magical ring, Evan''s body flickered as he removed himself from the center of the magical ring and reappeared beside Super girl.


    "Alright, the magical array has started to function. It is your turn now!" Evan glanced around at everything inside of the room. Then he nodded his head, satisfied. A hideous and dreadful smile emerged on his face.


    Though it was the last moment, Super girl still hesitated. She couldn''t help but ask, "Evan, are you sure this Blood Sacrifice magical array can really stimulate my Physique and make it grow stronger? But why I can sense a slight smell of danger from it?"


    Evan replied, with a hideous smile on his face, "At our current stage, keep dreaming if you want to obtain significant growth in your overall strength without paying any price! Dangerous? Tell me, what magical array is not dangerous? This is the only Blood Sacrifice magical array that is within our ability and is also the only one that can help you! If this magical array wasn''t only focused on improving Physique, do you really think I would be so generous and give away the opportunity to improve my overall strength to you? Remember, once you become a Pseudo-Mage, you must help me complete that mission!"


    A determined expression flashed upon Super girl''s savage face; she no longer hesitated. Some loud *doom* noises were heard, as she finally removed the thick and heavy magical armor on her body, removed her inner dress, and revealing her lean and perfect body. Naked, she stepped into the magical array.


    When she sat with both legs folded in the center of the magical ring, a shivering gleam flickered in Evan''s bloodshot eyes, before he let out a deep, hoarse cry.


    As a result, more and more red-eyed crows started to leap through the window, and more and more bloody snakes clustered outside of the magical ring. Countless snake heads were poking around and their crimson bodies stacked, layer upon layer. Anyone who saw this would tremble in fear.


    In the center of the magical ring, Super girl immediately felt a raging crimson tidal wave swarm into her body. Stimulated by this crimson tidal wave, the body factors which had been stagnating for a long time once again filled with vigor and vitality; they started to grow slowly yet steadily.


    Super girl purposely held back the repelling force of her body from these external energies and allowed the crimson tidal wave to sweep across every single part of her body.


    However, while her overall strength was increasing, Super girl had a vague feeling that something was not right.


    While the crimson tidal wave was stimulating her Physique''s potential, it seemed like it was also slowly corroding her nerve system, which resulted in significantly decreasing her control over her body.


    This... why was this process a little bit different from how Fatal Shot Evan had described?


    Super girl struggled, sat up straight, and opened her mouth, wanting to ask Evan about this. But when she opened her mouth, only then did she realize that all of the nerves on her face had become paralyzed, as she couldn''t let out any voice at all. Yet, when she tried to stand up from the floor, she felt as if every single part of her body had been dislocated and would never respond to her will.


    Super girl''s heart started to race. Taking the opportunity before she lost all her strength, she poured in all her effort and turned her head. Only then was she able to see Evan.


    Evan stood at the edge of the magical array, wearing a weird smile on his face and staring at her. His once bloodshot eyes had transformed into a bright green. As he opened his mouth, a bizarre looking bug head poked out from it. It had a ferocious mouthpiece and a pair of dreadful looking compound eyes. Anyone who looked at it felt their flesh creep.


    Perhaps sensing that the time was right, the scorpion pushed with its razor sharp legs and leapt out from Evan''s mouth. It then crawled quickly across the floor, climbing over the creeping bloody snakes, until it got to Super girl''s feet. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The magical ring which had blocked all of bloody snakes on the outside had no effect on this scorpion. It moved and swayed its body at top speed, climbing up Super girl''s burly body to her mouth. Super girl tried her best to clench her jaw, but the paralyzed nerves prevented her from doing so. Using its front legs, the scorpion opened up a tiny slit in her lips. Then, without hesitation, it simply squeezed through the slit.


    The raging and furious Super girl understood everything in an instant.


    Worm controller Blake! It was him behind all this!


    The raging flame of anger burnt her body and mind. Using her strong will, bit by bit she expelled the crimson energies in her body. But too bad, when she had nearly succeeded in seizing back control of her body, her body started to tremble violently. It lasted for quite a long time, before everything calmed.


    Quietly and calmly, Super girl rose to her feet. When she suddenly opened her eyes, deep within her pupils, one could see a slightly bright green hue.


    When she stood to face at Fatal Shot Evan, both of their mouths opened at the same time, revealing the hideous, dreadful, and ugly looking head of a bug.


    At the same time, in many dark corners throughout the entire Swampy Tower, some fearful looking and ugly scorpions were hidden quietly. They were either hidden underneath the bed inside of an apprentice''s residence or hidden in the darkest corner of the room. Silently and motionlessly, they kept watch over each and every move of all of the Apprentice Mages.


    If any apprentice sank into the deepest slumber, they would move noiselessly. Crawling along the bed-leg and over the soft blanket, inch by inch they moved closer to the target. Once there was an opportunity, they would leap forward immediately, with their quickest speed, and jump into the mouth of the apprentice.


    Frightened and hoarse cries, together with the sound of struggling and retching, were heard from many of the apprentices'' residences. None of that made any difference to the matter. Their throats swelled up and a small lump dug quickly through them. In just a short amount of time, the apprentices who had put up such a furious struggle would calm and lie back on their bed, continuing their sleep.


    Meanwhile, inside their body, the head of bug was vaguely seen swaying its feelers happily!


    ......


    Inside of the bloody, stinking bug nest of Worm controller, Blake.


    Blake, still clad in the same thick, heavy black robe, bowed his head and sat quietly in the center of the secret room. Though the clothes on his body were seen moving, he didn''t look like a living being.


    So long his master, Eclivel, didn''t give him any orders, he would always remain in the same posture and behavior: eating, resting, multiplying, and growing mechanically. All of the scorpions were the result of his own multiplication and fission, and it happened right in his huge abdomen, which looked like a pregnant woman''s. Countless tiny larvae kept splitting and multiplying. Then they would cluster together, slaughtering and devouring each other.


    Only the scorpions that were strong enough could devour enough of their peers to leave Blake''s body and join the swarm of bugs that were in the secret room.


    In a corner of the secret room, a swarm of scorpions had clustered together and formed a new wave of bugs. There were now two groups of distinctly different bugs and they never mixed together. In the heart of this new wave of bugs, the bizarre bug that hosted Blake''s primary consciousness constantly let out a faint chirping, keeping a secret spiritual connection with all of the bugs that had divided from it and now hid in different parts of the Swampy Tower.


    Within its senses, one after another, Apprentice Mages in different parts of the tower had fallen into its control. This had allowed it to spread its spiritual tentacles wantonly to every single remote corner of the place.


    However, this army of its didn''t go the expedient route and invade every single individual. Instead, it only targeted the Apprentice Mages who possessed basic combative abilities. As for the human slaves who lived in the lowest tier of this population, it disdained to waste its energy on them. In addition to that, it also purposely avoided a few specific targets in this invasion that had spread throughout the entire tower and so didn''t capture all the apprentices in one net.


    Leon, Bleia, Lucy, and Snorlax the goblin: this four unique individuals had become the exceptions who mixed among the group of bug-infested humans and hadn''t detected any changes to their surrounding environment.


    Meanwhile, Blake''s primary consciousness, which was hiding behind the scenes and remotely controlling everything, now quietly accumulated and conserved his energy. Once the dreadful moment arrived, the individuals whose soul consciousness he controlled would become his fearless fighters. Although he had reached a strategic agreement with Leon, even though they were working together with a common effort, he still wished to keep some final trump cards that could allow him to turn the situation over at the last moment.


    ......


    Snorlax lay on its stomach in the Little Shop of Goblin, bored.


    Recently, things had seemed to become rather strange. All of the apprentices in the tower had been behaving weirdly.


    A few of the Beginner Apprentices who used to gather in its shop had gone missing; the Swampy Tower, which had just turned lively and restless, had once again become deserted and quiet.


    It was as if all of those apprentices had suddenly gone into a hibernation, dwelling in their own residence and rarely coming out. Occasionally, it would bump into a few of them in the corridor, but they just brushed past it expressionlessly, without even giving it a greeting.


    After suffering a few days in such a bizarre atmosphere, Snorlax had started slacking. It simply closed the shop, returned to its residence, and started to arduously practice its Camouflage spell and Partial Transformation spell. For some unknown reason, its master had secretly given it a mission a few days ago. In order to it to achieve the goal set by its master, it would need to pour in more hard work!


    After it returned to its residence and activated all the magical defensive mechanisms, Snorlax carefully took out its magic wand, pointed at its own body, and cast a Camouflage spell. Influenced by the magical energy, its body started to transform slowly.


    The ugly and short body stretched a little bit taller, becoming similar to the target of its practice. The green skin also gradually turned fair and delicate. More importantly, it''s ugly and withered face started to twist and turn; vaguely, the look of a cute little girl appeared.


    Standing in front of a mirror and examining its looks, Snorlax shook its head, dissatisfied. It then stretched out the slim and fair hand that gripped the magic wand and kept waving and pointing at its body. Every time the magic wand touched its body, a small Partial Transformation spell transformed that part of the body closer to the image found in its mind.


    After an hour of tedious and hard work, the ugly, stupid Snorlax disappeared. Standing inside of the room now was the proud, arrogant figure of Lucy.


    ...


    2224 Words

 Chapter 151 - 151: Apocalypse

    The Magical Swamp was still the same as always, wet and dark, like a pond of stagnant water that exuded a stinking smell.


    However, under the surface of this filthy and troubled water, a terrible undercurrent was brewing.


    For the Probationary Apprentices, who spent days and nights on the first floor of the tower, their minds were always filled with envy whenever official Apprentices walked past them proudly. Yet, little did they know, a deadly storm, more than enough to destroy everything, was blotting out the sky and covering the earth while sweeping towards their direction.


    In this massive storm, those who lacked preparation would not be able to escape death by sheer good luck.


    Another ten days passed in this harsh environment. Finally, the frightful day arrived!


    It was early in the morning of a gloomy and overcast day. Most of the apprentices were still indulging in their sweet dreams. However, the devilish Mage Eclivel had just completed the construction and modification of his mysterious magical array.


    After he came out from the specifically isolated inter-space, Mage Eclivel quickly connected his Spirit with the controlling core of the tower and brought all the tower''s information into his mind.


    He had been busy working in the inter-space recently, so he didn''t have a complete understanding regarding any changes in the outside world. But as he was the highest authority in the Mage Tower, nothing that happened within the tower could hide from his senses and examination.


    Perhaps it was a response towards his spiritual prying, but one after another, the spirit of a few Pseudo-Mages turned lively, as if they had been startled from their dreams.


    Hmph. Since all of the intended targets were here, there was no need to choose another day. Today would be the day for his plan to be executed!


    The skinny, wizened Mage Eclivel wore a pointy Mage hat on his head and was clad in a gray Mage robe. He stood quietly in the controlling hall of the tower. Both of his arms moved in the air, drawing and forming one dazzling rune after another. The runes disappeared immediately after they emerged, and their disappearances caused the tower to tremble slightly.


    Under the control of Mage Eclivel, the entire Magical Swamp was now tightly blanketed by a dense layer of fog. Even the few eye-catching entrances had dissolved into it. With the slight vibrations of the tower, the outer wall of the tower was brightly lit.


    When the raging element energies flowed past the augite stone used to construct the tower, it immediately lit with a cold and dreary magical glow. The Spirits of Death and Wandering Souls that normally hid in the depths of the swamp came swarming in, hovering and swirling around the tower, and kept letting out ghostly howls that could take one''s soul away.


    All of the frightening demons, who had signed a magical contract with the Swampy Tower and inhabited in different parts of the Magical Swamp, started to become restless. One after another, they left their nests, gathering around the tall tower with high vigilance for any possible visitors.


    Layers upon layers of magical halos hovered on top of the tower. Countless magical traps and magical defense mechanisms activated. All magical secret doors and passages leading into the tower completely sealed; even all of the windows in the tower were covered up by countless invisible air barriers.


    Nearly at the same time, every single apprentice of the tower was trapped where they were; none of them could move even a little bit.


    " Blake, bring all of them here!" Eclivel gave his order coldly.


    Following his order, Worm controller Blake, who had been sitting in the secret room like a dead man, suddenly raised his head. Two bright and blazing flames of soul ignited in his eyes. He shouted, commanding the army of countless scorpions that swarmed out from the secret room and instantly flooded the entire corridor.


    Every single residence of the apprentices, which used to be protected by countless magical defense mechanisms, were now wide open. The army of scorpions came sweeping by like a fierce tsunami and carried all of the apprentices from their room and into the corridor, one after another.


    With the aid of this army of countless scorpions, Blake sent all of the apprentices of the tower to the fifth floor, a high-level floor that none of these apprentices had ever stepped in before.


    In the spacious and well-lighted magical main hall on the fifth floor, the scorpions moved in and out, bringing all the apprentices of the tower. Leon and the other three Pseudo-Mages were the first ones who had been brought here. They were now trapped and tightly tied up with half-transparent air chain like mummies. Their eyes were shut and they had lost consciousness.


    In order to avoid any unnecessary trouble, Mage Eclivel had used the power of a Sleep talisman and made all the apprentices sink into a deep slumber.


    Once all of the personnel had taken their place, only then did Mage Eclivel drift through the air and come into the main hall. He lowered his head and looked at all of the apprentices of the tower who were now sleeping. A hideous smile emerged on his lips.


    "Stop pretending that you''re sleeping. Do you really think I can''t sense your restless spiritual wave? When you''re facing an Mage, any petty tricks are useless!"


    Upon hearing what Eclivel said, all three Pseudo-Mages opened their eyes at the same time.


    "Respectable master Eclivel, can you tell us what are you trying to do? Please don''t tell me you want to kill all the apprentices of the tower in this place? If that really happens, how are you going to answer to the Sarubo family?" Leon struggled a few times. When he realized that there was no way he could escape from the shackles, he angrily threw his questions towards Eclivel, who was hovering in midair.


    "Hmph! Family? Once I use your blood, flesh, soul and break through my shackles, I''ll be a mighty Second Grade Mage. At that moment, the Sarubo family will do their best to maintain a good relationship with me. Do you really think they will question my wrongdoings for you, a group of mere Apprentice Mages?"


    "What? You really want to kill us all? I..."


    Too lazy to hear the pathetic cries of a dying sheep anymore, Eclivel pointed with his finger. A Silence rune immediately fell onto Leon''s body, causing him to lose his voice instantly.


    Bleia and Lucy were also struggling with all their might, but they just couldn''t escape from the shackles on their body.


    Mage Eclivel gently pointed his finger again. In an instant, the storage waist belt left Leon and fell into his hand. He closed his eyes and gave the item a careful examination. A few moments later, a joyful expression came to his brows. He flicked his palm, revealing a crystal clear golem summoning core emanating powerful elemental ripples in his palm.


    Even among all of the official Mages, such a finely made element golem was a rare item. If he could remove the consciousness seal left by Leon, perhaps he could bring himself an additional free slave. He casually waved his hand a few times, sealing up this Mage level crystal core with a simple method. Only then did Eclivel place it into his pocket with a big smile.


    He gave the surroundings another quick glance, and when he felt there was nothing amiss, Mage Eclivel raised both hands high in the air. An intense spatial ripple swept across, so that the entire main hall was covered in a soft white light. When the white light faded away gradually, they were no longer on the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower, but in a secret magical room located at an unknown location.


    The secret magical room was a pretty big space; it covered an area of nearly three football fields. Right in the center of this secret room, a strange, triangle shape altar had been built. It was not a big altar, but was divided into three levels. Each level had a height of around two meters and they were connected with a ten step stair.


    On the stone wall of each level of the altar, countless carvings of human faces could be seen; they had different shapes and expressions, some were painful, some were howling, some were crying, some had a sorrowful look... none of them had the same look. Nevertheless, they all looked real, as if they were made by real living humans. Anyone who saw them felt a shiver run down their back!


    Eclivel flew above the highest level of the altar, hovering steadily in midair. As a hard to understand, profound incantation echoed throughout the heavens and earth, this secret magical room completely sealed off with a loud booming noise. The connection between it and the outside world was now completely cut off.


    This was actually a precautionary measure of Eclivel''s.


    In order to avoid any distractions from the outside world, he had temporarily shut away this piece of space. Before his blood sacrifice ritual was completed, no one could escape from this space. Perhaps, at the same time of tomorrow, the person who reopened this space and walked out with head held high would be a brand new Eclivel, a Second Grade Mage!


    At that point in time, all those who used to look down on him would have to lower their heads when faced with his dazzling glory, their minds filled with fear, and submit their respects to Eclivel. Meanwhile, the news of the birth of a new Second Grade Mage would be sung throughout the entire region under the Zhentarim Association!


    While envisioning a beautiful future, Eclivel leaned forward and ran his eyes over the Apprentice Mages who were now lying messily on the floor. He waved his hand and dispelled the Wind Chain on Bleia''s body. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The first moment she was freed, Bleia moved with lightning speed to leap in front of Eclivel. Her hand''s crimson sharp claws struck at his throat with a speed no naked eye could see.


    If it had not been for that invisible barrier which appeared in a peculiar manner, perhaps Bleia would have had the opportunity to hurt Eclivel. But it was a pity, as she was facing a veteran Mage who had been an official Mage for more than 300 years, no matter how fast Bleia''s surprise attack, it would never be faster than the speed of Eclivel''s thoughts.


    Countless claw marks continuously appeared on the invisible barrier. Bleia clenched her jaw tightly and kept launching attack after attack, but she just couldn''t break through the thin layer of the protective barrier.


    Using the entire Swampy Tower as his background support, the endless supply of pure magical energy that came through space and reached this isolated space kept being injected into the invisible barrier outside of Eclivel''s body. To injure him, Bleia''s attack had be powerful enough to break this barrier with one single strike, or else, with the supplement of this endless energy, it was absolutely impossible for her to deplete the Wind element energy on this barrier.


    "My beautiful, elegant personal guard and servant, stop pressing down your true savage and wild nature. Give up your meaningless resistance, and from now on, continue to bow under the feet of your great master, Eclivel..."


    As Mage Eclivel, hovering on top of the altar, murmured under his breath, in the middle of a frenzied attack, Bleia''s body suddenly trembled and her bloodshot eyes instantly turned pale white. Unconsciously, she stopped her attack.


    "Yes, that''s right! Go now, go... Under the altar are the countless sheep I prepared specifically for you. Go now and taste their blood; let their boiling hot, fresh blood warm your cold body once again..."


    A slightly pained, struggling expression appeared on Bleia''s beautiful face. But unfortunately, under the restriction of Mage Eclivel''s talisman, her will was unworthy of mention. In less than three seconds, her primary consciousness was toppled by the raging instinct of the vampire.


    Some cracking noises came from Bleia''s throat. Her body flickered as she jumped off the altar, landing on top of the Apprentice Mage closest to her. A pair of razor sharp vampire fangs poked through her lips and impaled the arteries on the apprentice''s neck. Startled from slumber, the apprentice cried out loudly in pain, but too bad, his cries and struggle made no difference. In just a brief moment, his voice petered out.


    When Bleia left his body and leapt toward the next target, a sweet smile could be vaguely seen on the face of this apprentice, whose blood had all been sucked out. It was as if he was still indulging in some sweet dream of happiness.


    ...


    2147 Words

 Chapter 152 - 152: The Plan

    Inside of Snorlax''s room.


    A large lump of black beetles was seen creeping at a corner of the room. Using their great numbers, they drew out the vague outline of a human.


    When the tower became completely silent, the pile of black beetles suddenly exploded with a boom. In a messy state, Lucy squeezed out from inside of this pile of insects.


    Using her hands, she swiped away some beetles remained on her shoulder, dress, and hair. And while pinching her nose and wearing a disgusted expression, she crushed a few of them who were running around her feet. Only after done with that, did she close her eyes and start to sense the current situation of the tower.


    At this moment, the tower had become completely empty and no aura of life could be sensed anymore. All the Apprentice Mages located on the second floor and above had vanished, and the only humans remained were those juvenile Probationary Apprentices. They were all lying flat quietly on their wooden bed, and had stopped breathing.


    It wasn''t tough to tell that Mage Eclivel had burned all his boats and didn''t leave any leeway for himself.


    If during this time tomorrow, he failed to turn himself into a Second Grade Mage using the blood sacrifice ritual, then he wouldn''t be able to escape from the punishment from Sarubo family. According to the rules of Zhentarim Association, any fellow who used the method of blood sacrifice ritual to improve their overall strength would have to be punished. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If he was able to advance into a Second Grade Mage smoothly, and was willing to continue his service with the family, then presumably, Sarubo family would be happy to cover up what happened in the Magical Swamp for him. By just simply making up a story of demons outbreak or magical experiment leakage, they would be able to wipe clean everything that happened in this place.


    Therefore, though Mage Eclivel portrayed a confident look and behaved like everything was under his control, once he failed in the advancement, the only consequence waiting for him would be to be forced to sign a life-long contract with the Sarubo family, in which he had to give up all the rights of being an Mage, and serve the family obediently for the rest of his life!


    As for putting him to death? Hmph, no Mage family would waste such a precious resource!


    Even if he was a human being!


    Lucy flying in midair along the emptied corridor, the wave of black beetles was following closely behind her. Their destination was the controlling main hall located on the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower.


    Although Mage Eclivel had brought all the apprentices and teleported into that mysterious magical secret room, but this unmanned tower still followed his order, not only it had totally shut off any access to itself, it also kept transmitting the powerful element energies into that mysterious place.


    If they didn''t find a way to cut off the connection between Mage Eclivel and this tower, then Leon''s team would be facing with a formidable Mage who supported by an endless amount of elemental energies. When faced with an enemy like this, even all of them poured in whatever they got, perhaps it would be near impossible to withstand even a casual strike unleashed by Eclivel.


    Lucy went through the quiet long corridor, continuing her way up the narrow and steep stone staircase. Soon, she came to the intersection between the fourth and fifth floor. She was stopped by a half-transparent energy barrier. Any action of touching it would immediately trigger the defense mechanism of the tower and she would have to face a ferocious counter attack.


    Although it had lost the real-time control from the stationed Mage, once the overall strength of an Mage Tower hiding under the surface of the water revealed itself, it was still not something an ordinary Apprentice Mage could compete with.


    Lucy clenched her teeth, without even a second thought she forcefully leaped into the energy barrier.


    Behind her, the swarm of black beetles had also rushed towards the barrier, instantly flooding the entire spiral staircase.


    Right when Lucy stepped into the corridor of the fifth floor, the emptied corridor immediately turned gruesome and dreadful. The wall on both side suddenly transformed into a thin layer of sticky and tough diaphragm and rose up and down, as if countless of monsters were trying hard to break through it and come into the corridor.


    One after another, the ferocious, frightful heads of monster were showing on the stone wall, which had now turned as thin as the wings on a cicada. While struggling desperately, they kept roaring savagely at Lucy.


    Two crystal clear popping sounds were heard coming from the other end of the long corridor. From either side of the stone wall, two monsters had managed to escape from the trap and fell onto the cold, gray floor with strange fluid splashing around from their body. Their appearance was like a signal, within the next few seconds, a succession of popping sounds started to ring through the place, as one after another monster made their escape from the wall. In an instant, the long corridor had been fully filled with these nasty monsters.


    Magical Beasts!


    They were all magical beasts!


    These were all frightening beasts modified using magic spell by the stationed Mage. Each of them possessed the overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice, and they came in great numbers. If all of them came forth in a rush, even though Lucy was a Pseudo-Mage now, she would still fall in the waves of besiegement.


    Lucy''s face turned dark, yet she dared not hesitate. She let out a shriek and dashed into this group of savage beasts.


    She was faced with a tough situation, indeed. However, it was most probable that Leon and the other were facing with the situation ten times, or even hundred times tougher than hers! Instead of standing in front of that frightful Mage Eclivel, who had revealed all his sharp claws and fangs, Lucy would rather stay here and fight a fierce battle with these magical beasts which had the number hundred times more than hers!


    Two huge Spatial Cuts broke through the passage, thrusting into the swarm of magical beasts in an instant. They swept away all obstacles in the way, slicing through flesh and bones, sending sticky fluid all over the places... After all, these were just magical beasts who had received magical modification, though their body had turned near invincible against the attack of ordinary swords and blades, when faced with the Spatial Cut that was extremely sharp and capable of destroying anything, they could only let out miserable howls, while their limbs were ripped apart, and theirs head were removed from their bodies.


    Yet, as there were too many of these magical beasts, a dozen of them had managed to dodge the attacks and came rushing in front of Lucy, crazily they started to slam, bite, and rip the paper-thin Protection Barrier.


    Lucy tried her best to hold back the uncomfortable feeling of staring so close to these magical beasts, who were ugly, wizened, and had their bodies covered in sticky fluids. Clenching her jaw tightly, she kept unleashing Spatial Cuts in top speed. In front of her Spatial Cut magic spells, any flesh and blood was like a ball of rotten meat, like a hot blade slicing through the butter, they cut through everything on their way, noiselessly.


    Lucy was hovering in midair, any magical beasts came in front of her looked like they were jumping into a meat grinding machine. They had instantly been ripped apart, their flesh and blood splashing in all directions. All sorts of broken limbs kept flying past in front of her eyes, there was even a half broken head of magical beast that suddenly flew into her direction, fell onto the Protection Barrier, before slowly rolling off onto the ground.


    Meanwhile, the ground underneath her feet had turned completely into a slaughter house. Countless broken bodies were scattered around, each had an extremely miserable look. The purple and green color blood had stained the entire wall of the corridor, and unknown fluid was dripping down from the ceiling.


    The cute little face of Lucy had turned stiff, her eyes filled with a severe murderous look. At this dreadful moment of life and death, she had given up pretending to be a cute and harmless little girl, and had totally revealed her true nature of being treacherous and brutal.


    It was a corridor of less than 30 meters, yet it took Lucy a full fifteen minutes to reach the other end. Behind her, was a hell on earth that no one had to guts to take a second look.


    When she used the Spatial Wave and shook away all the colorful blood and intestines that stuck to her Protection Barrier, and countless debris of flesh that no one could tell where they had originally belonged, in front of her was another long corridor.


    There were many colorful oil paintings hanging on both sides of the wall. Some were beautiful sceneries, some were finely painted portraits. But it was a pity that all these paintings had their main object missing, no exception. Yet, inside of this corridor, she saw a large crowd of incorporeal, vague figure of souls and spirit, and many demonic plants, which had twisted and deformed bodies. They were either lingering around aimlessly, or climbing the ceilings.


    Undoubtedly, Lucy''s appearance had attracted their attention. All souls, spirit, and demons stopped their movement, turned their heads and looked towards Lucy. Under the dimmed light of the corridor, countless crimson ghost flames and greenish glows were ignited, one after another.


    Lucy''s face turned dark in an instant.


    Every single one of these bastards had the overall strength of a Pseudo-Mage!


    "Leon, I hate you...!"


    The furious and shrill shriek of Lucy echoed throughout the quiet long corridor, lingering in the air for a long time, just like how much she hated that guy!


    ......


    Within the secret space.


    Standing on top of the terrifying altar, Mage Eclivel closed his eyes as he tried to sense something. A surprise expression was brought upon his face.


    "I never expect that you had left a helper on the outside. Since Lucy is outside, then this one here must be a fake!"


    Eclivel pointed out his finger, unleashed a dark beam and shot it into the ''Lucy''s'' body, which was now lying quietly on the floor. After a brief moment of twisting and transforming, the ugly, short and green body of Snorlax had showed up in front of him.


    "Not bad, not bad at all! You do have a complete and thorough plan." Eclivel''s expression turned dark, but he didn''t look panicked at all. Instead, he showed a regretful expression on his face. "Since you had hidden someone outside in advance, I''m sure you must have taken precautions against this. And the only way for you to obtain this information would be..."


    Eclivel paused, and suddenly, countless Wind Chains stretched out from around Blake, who was standing quietly beside the altar and tightly tied him up.


    However, although Eclivel''s action had shown a serious hostility, Blake didn''t put out any resisting behavior. He still looked absolutely submissive toward Eclivel.


    "Not him?" Eclivel cast a few spells in a row and threw them into Blake''s body, he didn''t find anything worth suspecting. The blood contract in Blake''s soul was still intact, showing no sign of being touched by someone else before.


    Pondering hard and with no results, Eclivel decided to give up.


    "If I have to give up one Pseudo-Mage, so be it! As the matter of fact, just the three of you is enough for me to break through the threshold of Second Grade Mage. But I''m curious, since you can come out with the idea of arranging someone on the outside, then what is your plan in fighting against me? Don''t tell me that you are going to fight me with just you few Pseudo-Mages? If that truly is your plan, I''ll really feel sorry for your laughable, naive ideas!"


    Mage Eclivel rested his shivering gaze over at Leon.


    Despite being tied up by Wind Chains and lying on the floor, Leon still maintained the same sneer on his face.


    "Even though we had become Pseudo-Mages, we still cannot get rid of the status of Apprentice Mage. Indeed, we come short in fighting against you! But, what if we are replaced by a few Mages?"


    The look in Eclivel''s eyes became even more stern and cold.


    ...


    2116 Words

 Chapter 153 - 153: Brandons end

    "Aren''t you afraid that I''ll kill you right now?" Eclivel roared with rage.


    Hearing what he said, Leon smiled. "You''re welcome to do anything you want! I''ve given up resisting now, and you can just kill me straightaway. But... if you do that, how are you going to execute your plan of becoming a Second Grade Mage? You have brought so many apprentices here, I''m afraid that only by turning a few of us into official Mages then it will be the help for you to make your breakthrough. If you are afraid of our resistance, why don''t you just kill all of us now? Then, tomorrow you can wag your tail at the messenger from Sarubo family. Perhaps you''ll still be the same Mage Eclivel, but your dream is destined to be shattered!"


    "Since you''ve told me about your plan, do you think that I''ll allow you to destroy my plan?"


    "Does it make any difference if you know about our plan? One way or another, you have to make us into Mage today; then you''ll devour us. This is the path you''ve chosen for yourself, and it is also the destiny that none of us could escape! We''ve arrived at this moment and it is impossible for you to simply change your plan. As for us, we can only put up a desperate fight for our own survival!"


    "If that is the case, you''re not supposed to be so straightforward, so honest with me! Don''t tell me that you still have some backup plans?"


    "Haha... what kind of backup plans could I have? Today, right at this place, I only have three companions. You weren''t being serious when making that puppet slave of yours, so you actually allowed him to save his primary consciousness. But it seems like he is not here with us; it looks like he has made me into his cannon fodder. If that is the case, why should I cover for him?"


    "I knew it was him! Hmph, I''m surprised; that half-bug body does have some incredible abilities, as it actually escaped from the binding of a soul blood contract. Besides this, is there anything else?"


    "Of course! My only helper, Bleia, has now become the chip held in your hand. Taking everything into consideration, it seems that I''m the only one who can risk my life with you! I hope you can be more careful later!" After he finished saying that, Leon closed his eyes, completely ignoring Eclivel.


    Eclivel became silent. He stared at Leon''s face, which was now showing a determined expression. His mind was filled with surprise.


    He had never expected this; a little guy who had borne patiently under him for seven years, an apprentice who he had never paid attention to before, actually possessed such a wild and unyielding attitude and was courageous enough to challenge him face to face.


    If this had happened one month ago, if Leon had dared to be so arrogant and unbridled, Eclivel would have definitely countered him with even crueler and fearsome approaches. He would have used the dreadful reality to teach this little kid a lesson; in this world, an Mage was the true master who controlled everything!


    But it was a pity, during the recent months, he hadn''t done anything but pour most of his time into the modification of this bloody altar. Three Pseudo-Mages, three key nodes of blood sacrifice; not a single one could be omitted. Only when everything was functioning perfectly according to his will, could he obtain the perfect result he had longed for.


    As for the foreign Pseudo-Mage, Lucy, because Eclivel wasn''t sure of her background, he could only treat her as a backup sacrificial offering. But things had gone a little out of his control; the surviving consciousness of his puppet slave had leaked his plan and had caused all these sacrificial offerings to prepare in advance.


    Lucy hadn''t entered the secret space, which meant that he couldn''t afford to lose any one of the three Pseudo-Mages who served as his sacrificial offerings. Or else, the ritual of blood sacrifice wouldn''t be able to function properly.


    Once the ritual of blood sacrifice began, the first stage would be extracting the life, soul, blood, and flesh of all the Apprentice Mages and use them as sacrificial offerings to boost the three selected Pseudo-Mages. Pushed by this evil and twisted life force, they would have at least 70% to 80% odds in becoming an official Mage.


    And once they became Mages, the second stage of blood sacrifice ritual could begin. At that moment, the powerful and surging blood, flesh, forces of soul from three newly advanced Mages would become his tonic, helping him in breaking through the shackles and becoming a Second Grade Mage in one go.


    Leon had expressed his plan explicitly; his counterattack would come during the moment after the first stage of the blood sacrifice ritual ended and before the second stage began. No doubt, it was the perfect time to launch his counterattack, if he still had the ability to do it!


    When faced with a fearless young Pseudo-Mage, Eclivel only responded with a savage smile. Using one hand, he drew something in midair. A black rune appeared, before it vanished instantly. A dark shadow underneath Leon''s body suddenly came alive.


    The dark shadow didn''t have tall stature and it was as thin as a sheet of goat-skin paper. However, it exhibited extremely dexterous movement. Like a paper-man, it crawled and climbed onto Leon''s chest, pulling out a dagger from its tiny paper-like body. Ferociously, it thrust the dagger into Leon''s chest.


    Leon let out a muffled grunt because of the pain. His blood burst and splashed all over the paper-man''s body.


    Like a real living being, the paper-man stuck out its thin, tiny hand and touched Leon''s flowing golden blood, brought it over to its body, and evenly smeared it onto its body. Once it had completed the task, a soul ripple identical to Leon suddenly emanated from the body of this paper-man. Immediately after that, it smiled hideously, climbed over to Leon''s mouth, pried open his tightly clenched jaw, and disappeared into the depths of his throat.


    Even though he had estimated all of the possible approaches of Mage Eclivel, when faced with such bizarre scene, Leon was still struck with chills and had his flesh creep. He was the meat on someone''s chopping block now. Although he had known that the opponent would use some kind of mind-control method, when it really happened, Leon was still shaken by the bizarre approaches of Mages! S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before the thought could fade away from Leon''s mind, his body started to struggle and tremble violently. The Wind Chains were so tight that they cut into his flesh, every single one of Leon''s muscles stiffened, and his blood vessels, thick as earthworms, poked up under his skin. These were signs of how violent and intense the battle of consciousness happening inside his body was.


    Too bad, with his Spirit of an Apprentice Mage, there was no way he could fight against a veteran Mage. In less than five seconds, his held up body was once again slammed back onto the ground; cracking noises kept coming out from his throat, but he couldn''t say a single word.


    After a few moment later, Leon finally became completely calm. He now lay flat where he was, motionlessly. If his chest had not still been moving up and down slightly, he would have looked exactly like a dead man.


    "Hahaha... all your consciousness and soul are in my control now. So, with what are you going to resist me later? Hmph, just another pathetic fellow who tried to imagine the frightening abilities of Mages through some crude books and mere legends! If you had just a little bit more understanding of the mightiness and approaches of an official Mage, you would not have behaved so arrogantly in front of an Mage! The world of Mages is not something you, a mere chicken, could ever imagine! Hahaha..."


    It was not the end after Eclivel gained control over Leon''s consciousness and soul. He stretched his arm and beckoned, every single magical equipment and strange object found on Leon''s body and emanating with elemental aura left his body, flying in a row, like a long snake, towards the altar. Among the magical equipment, Eclivel was attracted by a unique object.


    It was a magic spell book Leon had tied around his waist with a silver chain. Under Eclivel''s control, it left Leon''s body, but before reaching ten meters away, it flickered and escaped from his control and then reappeared back on Leon''s waist.


    Eh, a Soul Gear? Eclivel couldn''t help but feel extremely curious about Leon now. Judging from the behavior of this book, it should be a Soul Gear recorded in ancient books and was a piece of magical equipment tied up with the soul of the owner.


    Frequently, Soul Gear like this possessed tremendous power that went beyond any ordinary magical equipment. However, each and every single Soul Gear had a very strict external requirement for their growth. Without nurturing them with a huge amount of resources and effort, the Soul Gear would not be able to unleash its full potential and would just behave like an ordinary magical equipment.


    To a certain extent, they could provide some unique approaches! Yet, when faced with an official Mage, the approaches employed by these apprentices could not be more frightening than the bite of a mosquito!


    Though he had found a rare Soul Gear, Eclivel simply had no time to further study the secret hiding in it. Now, he could only cast a simple energy seal and let it continue hanging on Leon''s waist. He had no other choice, as every single Soul Gear had the same behavior! Before its owner was completely killed, no one could separate it from its true owner.


    After he settled Leon, Eclivel finally moved his glance over to Bleia.


    Currently, Bleia had crazily sucked all of the blood from four apprentices. Her lower abdomen had bloated, her eyes had turned bloodshot, her fangs had poked out, and her face was fully stained with blood.


    Eclivel shouted out with a low voice, "Come over here!"


    Bleia''s body trembled suddenly upon hearing his voice. A pained and struggling expression emerged on her face. On one side, a message coming from a consciousness seal hiding deep in her soul was asking her to obey the order, on the other side, within her subconscious mind, the wild and restless vampire instinct was resisting the order.


    Noticing the effect of consciousness seal had become weaker, Eclivel''s face started to turn dark.


    In order not to obstruct the possibility of evolution for the vampire innate talent, Eclivel hadn''t wiped off Bleia''s instinctive consciousness. It was true that Bleia had grown quickly into a satisfying sacrificial offering, but after she had advanced into a Pseudo-Mage, it had also caused her to no longer be under his total control.


    But, as Eclivel increased the strength of his conscious wave, eventually Bleia reluctantly walked in front of him.


    Eclivel swiped his hand in the air and a cut was immediately made on Bleia''s neck. An arrow of blood shot out from the cut. Before the blood could touch the floor, it was collected by Eclivel using a magic spell.


    As Bleia was attacked, she immediately started rampaging. She took a few steps back, bared her teeth, and showed Eclivel a threatening look. Still, she didn''t have the courage to leap at him.


    Eclivel was in an agitated mood now, so he became really angry with Bleia''s behavior. He cast a Wind Vortex and sent Bleia high up into the sky. When she finally struggled out from the vortex full of sharp wind blades while letting out miserable shrieks, her body was like it had just been pulled out from a grinder. Her skin was filled with countless cuts of all sizes; there were even some deep cuts that exposed her bones!


    The severely wounded Bleia immediately let out a sharp and miserable cry. Like an injured puppy, she rushed far away at top speed, crouched on the floor, and gently licked her wounds.


    "Suck his blood and heal your wounds!" Eclivel used his long staff and jerked up an apprentice, throwing him over to Bleia. Then, coldly he warned, "This is a warning for you. Remember this next time. I''m your master! If you dare to show me disrespect again, I''ll drain all of the blood in your body!"


    The apprentice jerked up by Eclivel was none other than the new Apprentice Leader, Brandon. However, right at this very moment, he could only watch helplessly as his body flew toward the frightfully savage demon. With a leap, Bleia caught Brandon in her arms. Without hesitation, she bowed her head over his neck and gave it a ferocious bite.


    Although Brandon had a sound mind, his body was totally not under his own control. He could feel two cold, sharp fangs poking into his blood vessel noiselessly, then his head started spinning. In a trance, he saw a dazzling glow right before his eyes, and he suddenly came to in a magical hall packed with people.


    Familiar and unfamiliar apprentices and Mages were lined up on both side of a red carpet, their face filled with smiles, and staring at him. Thunderous applause and cheers deafened his ears. And he was clad in a luxurious and noble Mage long robe and held an exquisite and splendid Mage long staff in his hand. He was smiling and nodding his head at the crowd while walking step by step toward the magnificent stage, where everybody was looking at...


    On the lofty stage, a gorgeous lady in red was looking at him with a sweet smile on her face.


    Who is she? Oh right, she is my intimate lover who swore to walk the rest of our lives together! Upon thinking about this, Brandon couldn''t help but hasten his pace, wishing he could reach the stage quicker and hold the fair, delicate hand of his lover.


    But, somehow, it was as if the red carpet underneath his feet kept stretching longer and longer. No matter how hard he tried to run and shout, the distance between him and the slender hand of his beautiful lover grew and grew...


    Finally, the scene around him distorted, and his conscious grew dim and faded.


    As Bleia''s creepy sucking continued, Brandon''s arm finally drooped!


    ...


    2430 Words

 Chapter 154 - 154: Sacrifice

    On top of the bloody altar.


    Three torture chairs besmeared with blood were placed in a triangle shape on top of it. Leon, Blake, and Bleia were now sitting in these chairs. They had a blank look on their face, as if they were waiting for something to happen.


    Below them, on the first and second level of the altar, all Apprentice Mages were messily placed and piled up. A huge bloody hole could be seen on each and every single one of these dead bodies, blood was gurgling out from them. The magical runes on the altar had absorbed these fresh blood and became full and started to light up one after another.


    A bloody mist gradually diffused from the altar, giving it a touch of mysteriousness and evil.


    When all the evil runes on the altar were lit, a faint murmur of souls begun to linger in the air. Immediately after that, countless wraiths and spirits made their appearance in this place, flying and hovering in a circle around the altar. From time to time, their vague, incorporeal visage would transform into beautiful girls with splendid outlooks or transformed into a dreadful ghosts with withered faces...


    A creepy, ghostly laughter incessantly lingered on.


    Within this evil and bizarre scene where angels and demons kept shifting like the clouds, the dead bodies of apprentices lying flat on the altar quickly withered. It was as if all their blood, flesh, and soul were extracted by some external beings. Very soon, they shrunk and turned into messengers of death which looked similar to Ghouls.


    The red glow on the altar became more striking!


    If someone tried to perform a blood sacrifice ritual in a material plane with a tight and complete principles, he would immediately attract the strong backlash from the Will of the Plane. It was especially true for the Mage World, which was a major scale plane, as it was highly possible that the master of the ritual would evoke a deadly backlash.


    Mage Eclivel had spent a huge effort in constructing this bloody altar. And obviously, he was able to divert the backlash coming from the Will of the Plane into three nodes of the ritual. As the result, when the blood sacrifice ritual was commencing, Leon, Blake, Bleia, all three of them were tightly strapped onto the torture chairs, and their bodies were shivering violently.


    It was not fear that caused them to shiver, but because they were locked down by an unspeakable Will of Vastness from a remote space. Through the layer of principle, it kept sending forth its anger over into these three apprentices. Pressured by this Will of Vastness, blood starting to burst out from their mouth and nose, while a flow of blood also seen coming down from the corner of their eyes and ears.


    Yet, these damages to their corporeal bodies could not be compared with the severe injuries inflicted on their souls. If not because the bloody altar kept extracting the life force of those apprentices and replenishing their consumption, perhaps right at the very moment when Leon and the other two got in touch with the Will of Vastness, they had already vanished into thin air.


    But even so, during the continuous collision between their own will and the consciousness of the Plane, their soul had been riddled with a thousand gaping wounds and became extremely weak and fragile. Although such wounds on their soul could be fixed using the fragments of soul sent over by the altar, it was rather easy that these foreign souls would contaminate their own soul.


    In addition to that, these fragments of soul extracted by the altar were stained with a huge amount of negative emotions, such as anger, hatred, fear, sadness, which was the last thing that filled those apprentices before they were killed.


    By letting so many negative emotions surge into their minds, for an ordinary soul, no doubt it was something extremely frightening. Judging from this point alone, that Mage Eclivel simply never cared whether the three of them could truly become an Mage or not. He was using the method of blood sacrifice to repeatedly stimulate their soul and potential of their body, using the approach of ''help the shoots grow by pulling them upward'' to overdraw their vitality and Spirit.


    When their entire body and soul were brewed to the maximum, strongest moment, perhaps it would be the moment their Spirit crossed the line of qualitative change that came from quantitative accumulation, thereby using the huge amounts of negative emotions as the core and formed into their own conscious core. As the matter of fact, many books of magic called this process of Pseudo-Mage advanced into Mage as ''Crystallizing the Spirit Consciousness''.


    Only when a Pseudo-Mage could smoothly, completely, and steadily formed his own conscious core, his advancement ceremony was considered a true success. What Mage Eclivel prepared for Leon and the other two was actually an immature, unstable ceremony of Mage Advancement.


    Affected by the power of blood sacrifice, the trio might be able to improve their bodies, souls, and Spirits to the lowest requirement of advancing into the realm of Mage in a very short amount of time, and eventually, form their very own conscious core. But once the power of the blood sacrifice faded away, under the condition where they didn''t have a stable understanding of the Principles, sooner or later, their conscious core would disintegrate and cause irreversible damage to their souls.


    Nevertheless, Mage Eclivel didn''t care anything about this. What he wanted was the brief moment when the trio entered the period of qualitative change!


    He just had to take the opportunity of that brief moment when the trio became official Mages, using them as the sacrificial offerings and performed a second blood sacrifice ritual. With that done, he would only have to withstand a little amount of backlash from the Will of the Plane and would be able to instantly devour three conscious cores which had just formed into shape. At that moment, he would have 30-40% of chances of breaking through the bottleneck that had been holding him back for many years and becoming a Second Grade Mage who would be highly sought after in the Zhentarim Association.


    At the thought of a magnificent future waiting in front of him, Eclivel''s mind started to boil with excitement. But the further he progressed into his plan, the lesser room was left for him to relax and slacken. Therefore, he forcefully calmed down his surging emotions and payed a close and tight attention to the slightest changes to the trio who were now strapping on the torture chairs.


    By this time, the blood sacrifice ritual had slowly entered to its climax. Three sacrificial offerings were now in the critical moment of forming their conscious cores. If that little kid really did have some special preparation, then this would be the best moment for him to launch his counterattack.


    That was the reason why Mage Eclivel used his powerful Spirit and through different approaches, he put up a high vigilance, closely monitoring even the tiniest bit of changes of the trio. Enduring the painful mental suffering, he waited patiently for any abnormal changes that might happen at any time.


    Just as he expected, right at the moment when the force of blood sacrifice on the bloody altar reached to its densest level, the damn change of situation had finally arrived.


    It happened right from that Leon!


    He was now sitting straight on the torture chair. Stimulated by the intense life force and soul aura, his entire body had expanded a few times larger than before. Tiny cracks were seen filled up every single inch on his burly and tough muscle. An extremely high temperature was emanating from within his body.


    It was obvious that he took the path of Element Mage, and was focusing on Fire element. However, within this Mage Advancement Ceremony, there wasn''t any resource available to support and strengthened his Fire element innate talent. As the result, once the backlash of advancement occurred, among three of them, most probably he would be the one who suffered the most severe consequence.


    It was perhaps he had sensed his own miserable destiny, Leon, who had his body and soul totally controlled by the paper-man, suddenly trembled in a violent manner. An intense Fire element source energy was ignited and starting to burn fiercely within his body, kindled his entire body in an instant, including even his soul.


    Mage Eclivel''s face turned livid immediately.


    Within his spiritual sense, the paper-man hiding inside of Leon''s soul kept letting out shrill cries of dread. However, it was not the paper-man who gave out the order of igniting his body and soul!


    Could it be... could this Leon like that Blake, be hiding a secondary consciousness within the depths of his soul?


    No matter how hard Mage Eclivel tried to ponder, he would never understand the Chip''s unique form of existence.


    The Chip had merged into Leon''s genes, and in fact, it was more like an auxiliary brain of his. All the functioning and thinking of this brain was carried out with the method of bioelectric currents, thus it was near impossible for it to be detected from the outside. Even though Mage Eclivel was a treacherous and careful person, throughout the dozens of monitoring he performed, he actually just focused on traces of magic spell and ripples of Elementium and Spirit.


    Through such extraordinary form of existence, the Chip was able to conceal itself from his detection and hid quietly within Leon''s body.


    As the matter of fact, with regard to the possible changes and development of the blood sacrifice ritual, Leon had carried out countless inferences and deductions with the Chip. As long as that Mage Eclivel didn''t go crazy, then before the ritual begun, using a magic spell or method to gain the control over Leon and the other two was a certain choice for him!


    Therefore, at the beginning of the event, Leon didn''t hide anything and straightaway showed Eclivel his trump card. After all, no matter what he said or did, Eclivel would still do what he supposed to do, so, Leon might as well not hide anything from him. And by doing that, he actually stirred Eclivel''s mind and caused Eclivel to be filled with suspicions.


    Actually, Leon really couldn''t stop the bizarre paper-men from invading his body, and was controlled by it using a special method. Fortunately, by predicting all kinds of possible situations that he might face, Leon had drafted out hundreds and thousands of counter measurements with the Chip.


    What the Chip needed to do was, when Leon lost his self-consciousness, and right at the most critical moment of the blood sacrifice ritual, it would just have to select a most suitable solution and execute it. After all, in the aspect of controlling the body, the paper-man could never be compared to the Chip, which was part of Leon''s body.


    And the solution picked by the Chip was: Self-burning!


    The Chip had no idea about what kind of form the paper-man existed in. Nevertheless, it had just known one thing: the paper-man was not a Fire element creature!


    Burning himself completely, ignited himself thoroughly, from his body to his blood and flesh to his soul, anything that could be burned was now covered in fierce flames.


    Sitting on the torture chair, Leon''s body kept trembling violently. He threw his head back and let out a long, painful groan into the sky. A flame jet of extremely high temperature burst out from his nose and mouth. Amidst this deadly flame jet, the paper-man was struggling and roaring furiously in pain. But very soon, it was kindled by the fierce flame, starting to burn, and eventually, turned into a pile of ashes and vanished into thin air.


    Leon had finally freed himself from the restrictions put on his soul and regained his consciousness from the emptiness!


    Right after he was awakened, Leon immediately frowned his brows painfully.


    In a trance, two extremely opposite consciousnesses came from his body and soul made him felt like as if his mind had been broken into two. Or else, why was he sensing two totally opposite yet sharp feelings from his consciousness?


    One of the feelings kept telling him that he was in a perfectly fine condition. The endless supply of life force, fragments of soul that filled with deep understanding of different knowledge, all these things were rushing into his body and soul continuously, kept strengthening and expanding him.


    He had a false impression, that he could keep growing stronger like this without any limit! sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    On the other end, the second feeling was totally opposite to the first. An intense crisis of death had wrapped his entire body and soul, causing his soul to turn gloomy and dark. He never felt so weak and small before, it was like a balloon filling with air had reached its limit, and maybe in the next seconds, it would burst with a loud boom and vanished into nothingness.


    Both feelings were so vivid and direct and they both had deeply engraved the strongest feeling into the depths of Leon''s soul, making him believe them without a shadow of the doubt.


    Was he strong or weak? Was he walking toward the pinnacle of his life or still lingering at the brink of death?


    In an instant, Leon was perplexed by the feelings he felt!


    ...


    2256 Words

 Chapter 155 - 155: The Wizard

    Though Leon might be perplexed, the Chip would never be!


    The Chip was dynamically monitoring every single piece of data within Leon''s body; it could detect or even predict the upcoming transformation through the movement of its graphs for all of the functions in his body. If he continued to receive the endless supply of mutated energy that had no filtration and sorting, perhaps he could form a random and unknown conscious core.


    But once the mutated energy supporting this transformation faded away, he would suffer a devastating fall. It wouldn''t even matter if the conscious core shattered, because at that point in time, even his soul would not be able to escape from the dreadful backlash that came from failing in advancement.


    It was time for the counter attack! He couldn''t afford to wait until the moment his conscious core formed or he would lose the chance of using his Fire element innate talent as the core to form his own conscious core!


    All of a sudden, Leon put up a violent struggle. But all four of his limbs were strapped by a special rope, and there was even a half-ball shape iron cap covering the top of his head. Any slight movement would immediately trigger a strong reaction from the torture chair. Some bizarre runes emerged on top of the black rope, scorching his skin and making them produce a hissing noise.


    The rope tightened, making it looked like it was sinking into his flesh.


    There were even seven or eight sharp, flaming red spines poking through from the inner side of the iron cap and forcefully impaled into his skull, releasing a peculiar wave that would distract the normal thinking of a human. Severe pain and distraction to his thinking, either one of those was more than enough to interrupt Leon''s upcoming actions!


    Leon had 13 points of Physique; a high Physique like this was enough to help him endure most of the pain coming from his body. But even so, he found it tough to withstand the unique instruments of torture Mage Eclivel had specifically prepared for him and the other two.


    It was worth mentioning that in order to hold them captive, Eclivel had really put in a lot of effort.


    The rope was made from the skin of a Black Serpent from the East Coast. It was capable of withstanding any Pseudo-Mage level offensive magic spells. In addition to that, among three of them, none was an apprentice with great strength, so it was impossible for them to escape the fetters of the torture chair with only their body strength.


    Together with the distraction coming from the Brain Wash Cap of Gnoll, even if all three of them really became Mages, they were in a situation where they didn''t have the chance to absorb elemental energy from the outside world and recover their body. They would be just three delicious dishes who had the identity of official Mages, but not the overall strength of an Mage.


    This place was a small inter-space controlled by Eclivel, and he was the highest authority. Without his permission, the trio could never absorb even the tiniest bit of elemental energy. Three Mage level sacrificial offerings who had stepped into the realm of Mages, yet only had the overall strength of Pseudo-Mage. This was the grand feast Mage Eclivel had prepared for himself!


    Through the torture chair, the mutated energies coming from the altar still continued penetrating Leon''s body, pushing him closer and closer to the most frightful abyss. However, even when he was confronted with a crisis of life and death, Leon was still as calm and sober as usual. In fact, his thoughts were far clearer than normal and he could see things far more thoroughly.


    "Lucy, why are you taking so long? If you delay further, it is true that I can''t escape from death, perhaps you''ll have to die together with me too!"


    "It is almost... done.... give me another... ten... minutes... these... damn defenses... of the tower... are really tough... to kill..." Lucy''s conscious wave that came from the depth of his soul was breaking up. Obviously, she was in the middle of an intense slaughter.


    "Remember, you only have ten minutes. Now, teleport the thing I need over here first!"


    "Damn it... this is insane... why are you... asking things... at this... moment? Rascal... I... awwww..."


    Lucy cursed hurriedly, and judging from her last shrill cry, it was obvious that she had unleashed her most deadly strike: Spatial Shatter. Having temporarily wiped clean the enemy around her, she was finally able to seize the opportunity and teleport over the thing Leon needed.


    Leon felt a slight vibration on his palms. While still strapped on the torture chair, he flipped both palms and saw two micro magical arrays, emitting wave after wave of spatial ripples. When these spatial ripples reached a very dense degree, a tiny spatial tunnel was torn open.


    Two faint noises were heard as two objects traveled through the magical arrays, similar to a short-distance teleportation array, and fell into his palms.


    Over the past month, Lucy had repeatedly tried all sorts of methods to teleport an object over to Leon''s palm, but they were all blocked off by his elementium shield, protection barrier, or some other similar defensive mechanisms. As she was being pushed to a corner, Lucy eventually thought outside of the box and came out with the idea of designing a strange thing: a micro space positioning array.


    The Chip started to work on her idea. With that, a mysterious array, now found on both of Leon''s palms, was produced!


    Relying on the positioning function of the array, it had become simpler for Lucy to teleport objects over to Leon. Most of the time, it was as easy as performing a short-distance teleportation herself.


    The item that fell into Leon''s left palm was the summoning core of his Fire Lord golem, while the item fell into his right palm was his favorite weapon: the Fire Lord''s Scepter.


    He had foreseen that all of the equipment and items found on his body would be taken away by Eclivel, therefore, long before anything else, he had left both of his ultimate weapons, which could help him turn the situation around, with Lucy. When the time was right, he would ask her to teleport them over.


    Now, with his magical weapon and his strongest golem in his hands, it was time to fight Mage Eclivel!


    With a gentle swing of the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his right hand, a large gate of flame immediately emerged behind Leon. It was enshrouded with leaping and steaming flame, creating an extremely high temperature. Through the smoky and hazy opening of the gate, one could vaguely see the realm of Fire Elementium, a world of terror purely made up of flames.


    Endless Fire Elementium burst out from the flaming gate; in an instant, they transformed the surrounding space into a sea of flame. Meanwhile, amidst this raging and soaring sea of flame, Leon tossed the summoning core of his strongest golem onto the ground.


    In next seconds, a formidable, tall and burly Fire Lord was born amidst the raging sea of flame!


    After making its debut, the first thing Fire Lord did was wield its huge, flaming lava rock hand and crush the torture chair which Leon was trapped in.


    While stretching his slightly numbed arms, amidst the flame that spread all over his body, all of the frightening wounds on Leon''s body started to close, healed, and eventually, disappeared without a trace. After owning the Flame Body, any place with fire would be his home and he could even conveniently self-heal.


    Mage Eclivel was hovering on top of the bloody altar, staring at that little Pseudo-Mage who stood with his back straight. The emotion of fury and resentment in his mind had reached their maximum degree. Because of that powerful gate of flame, the function of the bloody altar had suffered a great distraction. The other two sacrificial offerings on the altar had also started to move and struggle, showing signs of awakening soon.


    Damn it... damn it... damn it...!


    Curses rolled from Eclivel''s tongue. Without hesitation, he launched an attack at Leon.


    Hundreds and thousands of wild and ferocious Wind Blades immediately rushed towards Leon.


    Without Leon''s needing to confront the attack personally, the Fire Lord, who occupied nearly half of the space on top of the altar, took two steps forward and unleashed a Firestorm to throw it over to the incoming attack.


    The Wind Blade and Firestorm collided in midair, instantly smearing the surrounding space with a red hue. Countless raging flame and razor sharp wind blades were crashing and slicing each other in the air. Very soon, the difference in their power was revealed in front of everyone.


    The energies contained within the Firestorm were overly divided, and their power was far weaker than of those Wind Blades on the opposite side.


    As a result, sliced by countless Wind Blades that came whistling in before the Firestorm could bring all of its power into play, all the Fire Elementium was churned and shattered into pieces. And after annihilating the Firestorm, the remaining Wind Blades finally caught up to the body of the flaming giant.


    The flaming giant was standing aloft; its leaping flame armor of lava had combined the violence of Fire element and the sturdiness of Earth element. Thus, although the surface of the armor was all scratched up, the source of Fire element in its body remained intact.


    Relying on the protection of this flaming giant, Leon roared out with a loud voice, and he finally summoned the Fire Deity smoothly. Unlike what he usually did, where he always sent the Fire Deity into the battlefield as cannon fodder, Leon actually departed from his normal behavior. He forcefully poked his hand into the chest of the Fire Deity and pulled out a unique fire stone with some indistinct runes.


    He threw his head back and roared again. Then Leon opened his mouth, placed the flaming fire stone inside, and swallowed it. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was as if he had just swallowed a mini sun; from his mouth to his throat, and also from his stomach, a dazzling bright light and an intense heat emanated from within his body. It almost transformed him into a transparent and flaming humanoid. After such a strong congregation of Fire Elementium entered his body, driven by Fire element energy of the same origin, numerous magic runes engraved on the surface of his body started to light up, one after another.


    Leon kept roaring furiously and loudly. Intense heat and dazzling light were emanating from all over his body. An Elementium Flame coming from the source of his soul had finally kindled his body and soul.


    In the past, Leon had been bathed countless of times in the element of fire, yet those were fires produced from the collision between Fire element energy and his Flame Body. But right at this very moment, Leon was kindled by the flame that diffused from the depths of his soul.


    After a long history of learning fire, playing with fire, and researching fire, for the very first time, Leon had touched the inner principles of Fire Elementium and established a slight connection with the Fire element principle residing within the Will of the Plane. And this was the true source that could allow Leon to keep walking further in the path of an Mage.


    "Not enough... this is far from enough! I need more..."


    While letting out a thunderous roar, Leon finally activated the mystical ability the magic rune suit brought to him: the transformation of the Flame Fiend.


    A flaming humanoid far stronger and purer than the flaming giant made his debut in the scene. The two-meter tall body kept expanding and becoming bigger and bigger after being injected with a vast amount of Fire element energy; soon it reached the height of three meters. Meanwhile, a thick fire pillar shot out from the gate of flame behind him, injecting an endless amount of Fire element energy into his body.


    Due to this flaming humanoid drawing and absorbing the Fire element energy in an overly violent, quick manner, the gate of flame nearly couldn''t supply his demand. The flame on the tall gate pillars and the gate itself gradually faded away, exposed an ancient-looking stone frame fully engraved with runes.


    Supported by such vast Fire element energy, Leon once again let out a terrifying roar that shook the entire space. Driven by his powerful will, all of the Fire element energies he absorbed rushed crazily into his Spiritual Domain. In that place, they were repeatedly compressed and tempered, again and again.


    Such degree of fire congregation was no longer something that could be controlled by his mere Flame Body. For every time his Spiritual Domain shook and contracted, the powerful fire energy compressed and tempered by the true form of his spiritual consciousness would bring him devastating fire damage.


    When the strength of the fire damage reached a certain degree, the Flame Body of that lower grade could no longer provide him any resistance toward the damage!


    Every time his true form of spiritual consciousness compressed the fire energy, it was no different than an ordinary human hugging a fire pan that could bring him severe injury. However, there wasn''t any sizzling sound of skin and flesh being burned, the only thing was a severe pain that penetrated the depths of his soul.


    Amidst the severe pain that kept striking him, Leon''s senses had become blunted. Yet, most of the impurities and useless waste found in the true form of his spiritual consciousness were burned off by the dreadful flame. Backed up by the attitude of not fearing pain, and being repeatedly compressed by his spiritual consciousness, the powerful fire energy had finally starting to take its shape. Using that tiny thread of Fire element principal as the core, they crystallized and formed into the conscious core that was required to advance into the realm of an Mage.


    In the middle of a battlefield, Leon had finally advanced and become a Fire element Mage!


    ...


    2376 Words

 Chapter 156 - 156: Conscience

    Never once before in his entire life had Leon felt so close to the Will of the World!


    In the past, he was always having trouble differentiating between the consciousness of the plane and the will of the world. He kept having the feeling that they was just two different names for the same matter from two different angles. Yet, at this moment when he finally made the advancement and became a Fire element Mage, only then was he profoundly enlightened by the huge difference between the two.


    A plane was an enormous vessel that carried all living beings, a place where all things lived, bred, and expanded. At the beginning when a plane was born, basically the consciousness of the plane had also been born with it. After all, it was just a congregation of consciousnesses produced by all living beings and materials within the plane itself ¨C chaotic and unclear. During this period, due to the consciousness of the plane only possessing a simple instinctive response, without developing a clear and direct self-consciousness, it was generally referred as the consciousness of the plane.


    So to speak, most of the planes within the multi-verse only possessed the consciousness of the plane!


    And it was obvious that the will of the plane was more advanced and possessed higher intelligence than the consciousness of the plane. On the foundation where a plane possessed its own consciousness, when this particular plane developed and expanded to a certain magnitude, the consciousness of the plane would give birth to the will of the plane, which was something similar to the soul of a human.


    Thus, most of the consciousnesses of planes were primitive, naive like a babies who just begun to babble. They would respond to any event that might hurt them, but the process was clumsy and slow. On the other side, the will of the world was in fact, a consciousness of the plane that matured and grown up a little bit, and it had given birth to an independent self-consciousness from the chaotic congregation of consciousness. It was capable of using principles of the plane as its weapon to interfere or adjust any event that happening right within its body.


    The rare few major planes in the multi-verse belonged to this category.


    There was even some more matured will of the worlds, which were able to rely on their preferences to influence and guide those individuals who lived under their protection. Those who do something right would be rewarded and wrongdoings would be punished. Using the power of the world principle, they guided themselves to moving towards the direction they anticipated.


    Throughout the entire multi-verse, there was only one world had given birth to a matured will of the world. It was a lower tier realm infested with foul demons and devils ¨C the World of Abyss.


    Meanwhile, the World of Mage where Leon lived in right now was obviously a major plane who had given birth to its own will of the world. Together, millions upon millions of living beings and billions upon billions of materials within the plane had formed and produced a consciousness of the plane that owned a partial self-consciousness. No matter whether it was a stalk of flower, a shrub of weed, a human being, a stone, regardless the level of their status, whether they were a noble or a mere peasant, irrespective of whether they were strong or weak, they were just a tiny part of this powerful will of the world.


    Apparently, this will of the world was similar to those consciousnesses of the plane born in most of the material planes. It was against the blood sacrificial ritual which would cause a great number of souls in its world to vanish and be used as the sacrificial offering for a foreign world. As the result, with regards to Leon''s behavior of directly fighting against the bloody altar, the will of the world had used the power of principle and given him preferential treatment. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Or else, with the current capability of Leon''s soul, he would have to face a great challenge if he wished to become an official Mage. According to the Chip''s estimation, if the will of the world didn''t make a concession for Leon, the odds of Leon advancing into the realm of Mage just now was less than 7%.


    According to the information Leon had, usually Mages would call the process of adapting the principles, using the principles and complying with the guidance from the will of the world in order to obtain personal experience and improved one''s skill, as the ''feedback of the world.'' And as the matter of fact, such feedback was part of the world principle itself!


    Therefore, it could be said that literally because of the power from the feedback of the world, that Leon was able to complete his Mage Advancement Ceremony!


    Since he had advanced smoothly and became an official Mage, he was now freed from the shackles of the bloody altar. However, when he stood up with his back straight and ran his eyes around this completely isolated inter-space, he realized that the situation of the battle was still in the worst condition.


    In less than ten minutes, the Fire Lord was showing signs of defeat, as now it could barely defend against the violent bombardment coming from Mage Eclivel. As for the other two companions of his, Bleia was strapped on a torture chair placed on the other end of the altar, letting out a painful shriek into the sky. It was obvious that her situation wasn''t good at all. Lucy had just slaughtered her way into the controlling main hall of the Swampy Tower and was fighting a fierce battle against two Mage level magical beasts. She was now running around busily, chased by the enemies, hence there was no way she could help create trouble.


    As for that Blake, after receiving an order from Mage Eclivel, he had escaped from the torture chair, and was roaring with a deep voice while dashing towards Leon who had just opened his eyes.


    Leon let out a deep and lordly laugh. He stretched his tall and burly stature, moved both arms over his head and unleashed a red force field from his body, covering an area of fifty meters in diameter.


    Right after Worm controller leaped into the red force field, an elemental flame appeared out of nowhere immediately coiled up his body. The frightful high-temperature evaporated all the water in his body, which was few in volume, and the scorching hot flame jet roasted his body and made it produce crackling noises. In less than three seconds, his formidable half-bug body was nearly toasted by Leon''s Ring of Fire.


    In a speed faster than he came, Blake scurried away from this red force field.


    Although he had escaped from it, he had left behind a great number of charred and cracked bug fragments. If not because he ran away in time, even without Leon attacking him personally, just with the Ring of Fire outside of Leon''s body alone would have been enough to roast him into a bug barbecue.


    Blake spent a long time strolling around the Ring of Fire. He had no courage to take another step into it.


    After becoming an official Mage, a Pseudo-Mage like Blake was hardly his opponent.


    Through the Chip''s Elementium Vision which provided him a comprehensive and thorough sight, Mage Eclivel, who was now hovering in midair carried by wind vortex, was no longer enveloped in mystery like in the past. From the battle between him and Fire Lord, Leon could vaguely detect some information relating to him.


    "Chip, can you digitize Eclivel''s combative ability?"


    "Beep. The thread of task has been established... Initializing... Beep! Beep! Beep! ... Warning! Warning! Unable to complete the task... An error occurred in the digitalization of the target..."


    "Chip, find the reason why we can''t construct the model of the target."


    "Beep. Analyzing of error data has been completed... the highest possibility is that the sample template of the target model is no longer appropriate... the host needs to recollect the data of Mage level targets in order to reconstruct the template..."


    Leon saw the light suddenly.


    After the Chip was activated, the first digitalization model he built was based on an ordinary human. Using the body attribute data of an ordinary adult as the foundation, the Chip had constructed the scale of overall strength for Apprentice Mage. And since he had become an Mage himself, this basic template could no longer be used on Mage Eclivel. As the result, the Chip couldn''t construct the digitized model of him.


    "Chip, expand the scope of collecting data, including all data in the database of the Mages I''ve met into the calculation. Use Mage level creatures to reconstruct the basic digitized template."


    "Beep. Task has been established... beginning extraction of data about Mages. The samples included: Eclivel, Sammir, Angus, Flower Fairy, Andre, Endor, Molten Giant... Constructing new digitized template..."


    Taking the time when the Chip was busy constructing the new template, Leon moved his feet and appeared beside the flaming giant, helping it to block off Mage Eclivel''s attacks.


    In just less than ten minutes, the flaming giant''s body had been heavily damaged.


    One after another powerful Fire element magic spells cast by it landed on the elemental barrier outside of Eclivel''s body, causing it to ripple and make the surrounding air to vibrate violently. However, with the endless and constant supply of element energy from the Swampy Tower, there was no way these attacks could break through his defense, and his defense was also enhanced by the tower. The attacks unleashed by Eclivel were also something it could not stand up against.


    An attack was countered by another attack, after the Fire element magic spell cast by Fire Lord was shattered by Eclivel''s Wind element magic spell, the remaining magical energy still riddled a thousand holes on its lava armor. If this Fire Lord wasn''t an elemental creature, perhaps it would have already been defeated by Eclivel''s brutal and savage attack.


    Leon didn''t want his most competent minion to be destroyed by Eclivel, so he took the initiative to replace Fire Lord and stood in front of Eclivel, while the Fire Lord turned around and dashed towards Bleia, trying to rescue her from the torture chair.


    "What a lucky kid. You better not think that just because you became an Mage, you have the ability to resist me. Today, I''ll make you realize the huge difference between you and me!" Upon seeing Leon, a frenzied and vicious expression immediately emerged on Mage Eclivel''s gloomy old face.


    As the events developed into the current stage, Eclivel realized that his plan had been completely ruined. Although there wasn''t any risks to his life, the plans of advancement he had been thinking for more than one hundred years were destroyed by this seemingly insignificant Pseudo-Mage. The resentment and unwillingness of accepting such fact in his mind could no longer be described with any words or any spoken language.


    With his mind filled with a slight thread of craziness brought on by the shattering of his hope, Eclivel rode on a strong wind and unleashed a fierce assault at Leon.


    After just exchanging three rounds of attack, Leon had deeply felt the pain Fire Lord was suffering just now.


    There was absolutely no way he could destroy Eclivel''s elemental defense outside!


    From the strength of element the Chip detected, the elemental defense outside of Eclivel''s body actually possessed a whopping 120 degree of defensive strength. The ''degree'' here was a quantifier fixed by all Mages, it was used to standardize the basic data of offensive and defensive ability. It used the full energy a magic crystal could unleash as the basic unit, which was 1 degree, and using it to quantify all kind of standards.


    Basically, the power of a magic spell cast by a Beginner Apprentice using his own energy was around 1 to 5 degrees. As for Intermediate Apprentice, it was around 5 to 10 degrees, and Advanced Apprentice could have 15 to 20 degrees. As for Pseudo-Mage, their power was between 30 to 50 degrees.


    The power of Eclivel''s elemental defense was as high as 120 degrees. This also meant, if the magic spell Leon cast couldn''t break his defense with one hit, by the time the next magic spell was ready, Eclivel''s defense would have already recovered back to its peak.


    With the energy of Swampy Tower as his support, Eclivel didn''t have to worry about his defense.


    Contrary to that, Leon could hardly withstand the swift and violent attacks coming from Eclivel.


    After all, Leon had just completed his advancement. His Ring of Fire hadn''t merged perfectly with his Fire element innate talent, and his basic defensive strength was only 70 degrees, which was far behind that of his opponent''s.


    In just the time of fewer than ten seconds, Leon had received waves of bombardment from three large scale magic spells. Part of the power of these magic spells penetrated through the gap of his Ring of Fire and had inflicted some damage onto his body.


    ...


    2203 Words

 Chapter 157 - 157: Blake

    Leon was having a hard time in the battle of Mages against Eclivel.


    It was worth mentioning that as an Mage who just made the advancement, compared to a veteran Mage like Eclivel, whether it was his combat experience or his ability to cast magic spell, there was a huge gap between them. If you took the support and enhancement the Swampy Tower provided to Eclivel into consideration, this battle had slowly become a one-sided one.


    With just five minutes into the battle, Eclivel had determined his combative superiority. A raging tornado carried countless wind blades and daggers kept breaking through the interception from Leon''s magic spells, spreading the flames of war closer to his side.


    The transformation of Flame Fiend had given Leon a lofty and burly body, allowing him to own an intrepidly built and near limitless Fire element energy in the magic spell battle. But once he suffered a setback in the battle, the loophole in his defense was actually bigger than normal.


    Leon himself was not a velocity-type Mage who specialized in agility. As a matter of fact, among all the data of his body attributes, Agility was his biggest weakness.


    Therefore, the lofty flaming humanoid transformed from Leon was seen simply standing still where he was, the ground underneath his feet had melted into half-molten lava, and the space covered fifty meters radius around him was filled with rolling and steaming flames. Anyone who tried to get closer to him would have to first withstand an endless fire elemental damage.


    It was perhaps this that might have helped him in establishing some superiority when fighting with an Mage who specialized in agility. However, when he was facing an Mage who never needed to worry about defense, an Element Mage who just had to attack with all he had, Leon''s weakness had become apparent.


    The elemental affinity of Mage Eclivel was Dark and Wind Elementium. As the result, though all the magic spells cast by him were mainly using Wind Elementium, they also carried Dark Elementium which brought a strong corrosive effect. A faint dark smoke always enshrouded the wounds on Leon''s body which were cut by those wind blades. If he didn''t use a huge amount of Fire element energy to wash and wipe off these Dark Elementiums, even with his high Physique, he wouldn''t be able to heal them quickly.


    This had made this battle tougher for Leon!


    If the situation continued to develop in this direction, even if Leon devoted all his effort, it was still very difficult for him to defend against Eclivel''s assault. And once he was defeated, as they were in a completely sealed off inter-space, there wasn''t any paths that could allow him to escape.


    Leon bowed down and poked his left hand into the floor which had turned into flowing lava. When he pulled his left hand out, a big chunk of floor nearly five meters wide was pulled out together, turning into a flaming lava shield and was placed in front to block him.


    The noise of wind blades cutting kept ringing through the scene. The lava shield had blocked off a tornado that swept right in his direction. The wind blades that came together with this frightful tornado were like countless spinning steel blades, cutting and slicing out a few hundred crisscrossing deep trenches on the surface of the shield in an instant.


    Leon roared and raised the lava shield high, both his feet had sunk deeply into the molten lava underneath. Driven by him, the scorching hot lava flowed up along his body and resupplied into the lava shield in his hands. But unfortunately, before he could patch up the damage, an extremely sharp Wind Spear hit and crushed onto the surface of the lava shield, instantly exploded it into countless tiny wind blades and vortexes that dispersed into all directions.


    With this hit, the thickness of the lava shield was reduced by half, and with the thickness that was remaining, it was impossible for him to defend against the next attack.


    Leon kept waving the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand. Assisted by the Secret Scroll of Voodoo, three major Fire magic spells exploded beside Eclivel in a row. It was a pity that such attacks could only destroy the magic spell Eclivel was about to cast, but were unable to penetrate through his elemental barrier and inflict any damage on him.


    In this situation, actually, a melee battle was more likely to harm to the enemy. However, with Leon''s heavy and slow pace, it was simply a foolish dream if he wished to chase Eclivel who was riding in the wind!


    Leon turned around and let out a furious roar, "Blake, I know you are here. Don''t tell me you''re going to wait until I am defeated, then only wag your tail at that ugly fellow? If you still wish to seize back your freedom, show yourself. I need your help now!"


    The target of Leon''s roar was, of course, not that Blake who kept wandering around his Ring of Fire and seeking opportunities to strike, but the primary consciousness of Worm controller who had formed a strategic alliance with him.


    Right at this moment, within this completely sealed off interspace, the situation of the entire battlefield was clear at a glance.


    There was only a handful of people still alive in this place. Besides Eclivel who was hovering and flying in the air, the rest were Leon, who had made his advancement and became a Fire element Mage, Bleia, who had been freed from the torture chair and was fighting against the flaming giant, Blake, who had become the loyal slave of Eclivel, and Snorlax, who had turned invisible and was hiding at the furthest distance from the battlefield.


    At this very moment in time, the only person who could help him was most probably that primary consciousness of Worm controller, who had concealed himself and couldn''t be traced. If he didn''t want to watch the entire battle go in the direction of complete failure, and lose all hopes of seizing his body back, then he must come out and do something!


    Leon continued shouted for one more round. Right as he was about to give up hope, a strange occurrence suddenly happened right on the battlefield!


    Odd noises of bones cracking suddenly were heard.


    Dead bodies of apprentices who appeared to be long dead started to struggle and climb back up, dragging their twisted and deformed body and limbs, staggering their steps and moving towards Eclivel''s direction. At the beginning, their movements were slow and stiff, but just after three to five seconds, their movement suddenly became nimble and swift. They started to run, crawl, leap... moving as nimble as a monkey, they kept climbing up from the bottom of the altar and crazily charged towards Eclivel who had a slightly startled expression.


    Meanwhile, that Blake who didn''t put out a great performance since the beginning of the battle suddenly had his body tremble violently. All sorts of beetles and scorpions began to fall out from behind his black robe. And strangely, these bugs actually split into two distinct groups, forming into two waves of bugs and that started to crazily bite and kill the other.


    Hmph. This guy had finally done something!


    Leon stood still and glanced around the battlefield.


    Those apprentices who transformed into bugs-men by Worm controller had been dead for a long time, the thing that controlling their dead bodies now was actually some Carrion Beetles hidden within their body. They were like a group of fighters with no fear of death, clustering below Mage Eclivel and piled up into a small hill of corpses, continuously leaping into the air and attacking with their teeth.


    After all, this place was an isolated space expanded with the power of the tower, thus it could only reach a certain height. As the result, when thirty odd apprentices stacked on each other and formed into a small hill, it seemed they might really able to drag Mage Eclivel down from the air.


    The elemental barrier covering outside of Mage Eclivel''s body could defend against offensive magic spells, and as a result was near invincible. However, when faced with physical attacks at a close-quarter, this layer of protection became rather ordinary.


    Upon looking at the frightful faces of ugly and twisted bodies kept leaping in front of him, howling and launching attacks, Mage Eclivel furiously tossed out a tornado onto the hill of corpses. The violent wind blades and the dreadful vortexes instantly ground them into pieces.


    But in the next seconds, a loud boom exploded from the scene. Countless frightening flying bugs burst out from the broken bodies of apprentice, clustered into a dense dark cloud and instantly flooded Mage Eclivel''s body.


    The assault of such magnitude might cause some troubles for Eclivel, yet would not enough to kill him. Therefore, when Leon saw what happened, an aggressive gleam flickered in his eyes. Without hesitation, he threw out the trump card that he had prepared for a long time.


    Self-explosion of golem!


    After received an order from Leon''s spiritual consciousness, the summoning core of Mage level golem which Eclivel placed in his pocket immediately exploded!


    It was actually a summoning core purposely modified by him. When he was fighting with Lucy last time, he bore patiently and only activate one Fire Lord. Thus, in Eclivel''s subconscious mind, Leon only owned one single summoning core of Mage level.


    As the result, during the period Eclivel had the control over Leon''s body, after he found the summoning core, he had lowered down his guard against Leon. He never expected that Leon had hidden another summoning core on Lucy, while the one that remained with him was a summoning core that had been thoroughly modified, waiting for Eclivel to find it.


    And at this moment, taking the opportunity when Mage Eclivel was trapped by Worm controller'' minions, Leon had finally given out the order to the core to explode.


    In the next second, a huge lava pillar exploded from within this isolated interspace. Extreme high temperatures, deadly heat, raging and violent lava, and terrifying flame jets shot in all directions, all of which had formed into a world of lava that could annihilate every single living being, coiling and spreading towards Eclivel at top speed.


    The swarm of bugs that spread all over the place immediately suffered from a devastating blow. Among the tens of thousands of bugs, only a handful of them managed to survive. Inside of Blake''s body, within the bugs tide that was crazily fighting for the control over the body, a shrill bug cry suddenly echoed out.


    "Leon, you bastard, you..."


    But before his high-pitch curse could be finished, the voice was flooded by a more frightening and savage hiss of bugs.


    Apparently, the battle happening on his side was in a very dangerous state as well, and it was a life-and-death struggle!


    "Serve you right! Who let you use me as your escape goat. I really hate to be used by someone else, take this as a lesson. You better focus your attention on your internal war! And be careful, don''t let that puppet consciousness to devour you. If that really happened, it''ll be really interesting!" Leon sneered in a disdainful manner.


    In the far distance, the figure of Eclivel had been enveloped by the raging explosion of Elementium and turbulences, and no one could peek at what was happening inside. Leon had no choice but to turned around and walked towards Bleia.


    Indeed, the power of bloodline could allow an apprentice to grow up in a very short amount of time. But once the source of the bloodline fell into the hand of enemies, then the apprentice would become a puppet who had no command over oneself and would be left at the mercy of someone else!


    The current Bleia had turned into a ghostly assassin that went on rampage. She kept leaping and dashing around the Fire Lord at lightning speed, while the crimson longbow in her hand kept bursting out sounds of ''twang''s, unleashing one after another crimson arrow and hitting the vitals of her opponent. It was obvious that Fire Lord only specialized in offensive and wasn''t really good in capturing and trapping. Therefore, after thrusting crazily toward Bleia for a few times, relying on her high Agility, all its attempts were dodged by her with ease.


    Yet, as Bleia was an ''ally'' of its master, the Fire Lord couldn''t wantonly launch attacks at her. Thus, when Leon was fighting Eclivel with all his effort, the Fire Lord was locked in a tough battle against Bleia!


    At this point in time, Leon came over to their battlefield with his lofty body. When Bleia intruded into his Ring of Fire, the flame in the air immediately transformed into flaming chains and tied her up tightly, pulling her in front of Leon.


    Although Leon just became an official Mage, but when he wanted to deal with a Pseudo-Mage, he could still handle him or her with ease.


    ... S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    2191 Words

 Chapter 158 - 158: Energy

    Even Leon''s current overall strength was insufficient to entirely capture Bleia.


    Crimson armor had appeared on Bleia''s body to repel the flaming chain and had gained her some time to struggle.


    This crimson armor had been modified for her by Leon! But now, it had actually become an accomplice to help Bleia fight against him. Leon''s mind was filled with mixed emotions.


    However, no matter how hard Bleia tried to struggle, her tall and slim body was still dragged toward Leon, inch by inch.


    In next second, Leon''s large lava palm, spread like a folding fan, grabbed Bleia''s head. The boiling hot, bright red lava rock instantly scorched her skin and made it split. The foul scent of roasted flesh suddenly filled the surrounding air.


    Even with such cruel torture, it was still not enough to free Bleia from Eclivel''s spiritual shackles. She bared her pale-white fangs at Leon and portrayed a murderous look, without even the tiniest bit of care towards her face, which had been burnt beyond recognition. She just kept biting crazily at the lava hand.


    Leon had a feeling that perhaps with just a gentle squeeze, the vigorous life that kept struggling in his palm, the once beautiful and splendid head would explode like a watermelon that was thrown forcefully to the ground. With that, he would be able to free himself and seriously deal with the wounded Eclivel.


    If he just let Bleia barge around wantonly, even a small soldier could become an important element that turns the entire situation around. In order to solve this problem, he just had to give a gentle squeeze!


    The consequences of his decision had instantly brought Leon into a dilemma.


    However, right at this moment, the raging sea of flame at the far side suddenly shrank. A familiar figure was seen staggering out from within.


    Apparently, the golem''s self-explosion just how had inflicted severe damage to Mage Eclivel''s corporeal body. With the naked eye, one could see his body was now fully covered in burn marks after being scorched by fire, and there was even some damage on his face. It was clearly because of the flying black bugs.


    His left eye was missing; blood kept flowing and dripping down from the black and gruesome looking hole where it used to be.


    His Mage hat was gone due to the explosion; a few strands of dried, yellowish hair were seen waving above his skinny, shriveled head. A cold gleam, murderous and hideous, shone from his remaining right eye. It stared straight at Leon''s face, portraying an aggressive look of not stopping until death!


    Obviously, the sudden explosion had not been something his elemental barrier could withstand. The long robe on Eclivel''s body had been ripped to pieces and become shreds of fraying cloth that barely covered his body. Bloody wounds of all sizes covered his skinny and bony chest and traces of burns could be found all over his body.


    "Good... you''re very good..." Anyone could hear the enmity in Eclivel''s words. "You really caught me by surprise. Very good... but, a mere Mage level summoning core is not enough to kill me. Now, it is your turn to face your death!"


    While burning in the raging flame of anger, Eclivel raised his right hand into the air and loudly started to recite a profound and hard to understand magic spell incantation. In an instant, innumerable dark spears came shooting toward Leon like a heavy rain.


    While looking coolly at this overwhelming attack, Leon murmured under his breath, "Three... two... one... burst!"


    The entire isolated inter-space suddenly shook violently; one could even see spatial ripples in the air with the naked eye. Cracking noises were heard coming from the loft altar as numerous tiny cracks starting to spread across the stone wall like spider webs. Blood-colored mist burst out from the tiny cracks, like blood flowing from someone who was wounded.


    Even when it had been hit with the self-explosion of an Mage level summoning core, the elemental barrier enshrouding Eclivel hadn''t shattered completely. However, for some unknown reason, this time, it started to disintegrate amidst the violent quaking.


    The tight connection between Eclivel and the Swampy Tower was suddenly cut off!


    Mage Eclivel was stunned, and then he suddenly realized something. "Lucy! It is that hateful little girl! I''m going to rip all of you into pieces. Then I''ll use your body and make the ugliest, evilest misshapen corpse, trapping your souls in it forever... all of you deserve to be killed..."


    The Flame Fiend that was the transformed Leon smiled. Then he said, "You better deal with her first!"


    Right after he finished saying that, a red light flashed from Leon''s hand, and a strange magic spell was seen penetrated Bleia''s head. After that, he brought her up in the air and forcefully threw her towards Eclivel.


    His action was like a signal, for a brand new battle instantly broke out!


    The Fire Lord strode forward with heavy steps, charging toward Eclivel. While it was on its way, it tossed out a series of Magma Fireballs toward the enemy. Meanwhile, Leon was hiding behind it. He stretched out his hand and the Secret Scroll of Voodoo coiled around his waist instantly appeared in his palm. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the cover of the magical book unfolded itself, pages within it started to flip quickly. Whenever the goat-skin paper stopped at a certain page, a violent Fire element magic spell would cast out from it and fly fiercely towards Eclivel.


    The pages kept on flipping; one after another Fire element magic spells were activated and flew out from it. Very soon, Mage Eclivel was surrounded and flooded by a raging sea of flame.


    Flaming Storm!


    Chain of Fireballs!


    Explosive Fire Pillars!


    Thermal Shock!


    Venom Flame!


    ...


    One after another, violent Fire element magic spells almost turned that particular area into a raging ocean of flame. They were mixed with physical attacks and venomous attacks, so the enemy could hardly defend against them.


    However, all of them collided right into the Shattering Wave that had been unleashed by Eclivel. The attacks launched by both sides fought against each other in the center of the battlefield. The Elementium turbulence shooting out from the collision brushed and washed through everything in the area, turning everything into tiny bits of debris that couldn''t be seen with the naked eye, and continued pushing and splashing into the far distance within the isolated inter-space.


    Eclivel once again barged out from the ocean of flame while roaring furiously. The last-minute Wind Barrier he had unleashed by him broke into pieces with the impact, causing more wounds on his body. Nevertheless, a large incorporeal hand produced by him was now holding a severely mutilated human body. Not even a piece of intact skin could be found on the miserable looking thing.


    It seemed he had used Bleia''s body as his shield just now. Only then could he barely avoid the combined attack from Leon and Fire Lord. Without the endless supply of energy from Swampy Tower, Eclivel had also lost his defense, the elemental barrier that could protect his safety. In a situation where he had to face two opponents alone, his tiny bit of combat experience and spell casting skill were nothing worth mentioning.


    The second half of the battle quickly elevated into an intense situation!


    Eclivel sprung up into the sky again. Riding on a vast wind and flying in midair, he used Tornado Storm, Sound Burst, Dark Dragon Spear, and Wind Blades to assault Leon. Meanwhile, Leon and the Fire Lord were chasing behind him, using magic spells of even more violence, such as Fire Core Explosion, Magma Fireball, and Firestorm to counterattack.


    Magic spells that emanated intense Elementium ripples kept striking through the sky. They either exploded into fireworks on the opponent''s protection barrier or were dodged and fell to a far corner of this isolated inter-space, turning that corner into a small sea of flame or deadly tornados.


    Relying on its invisibility, Snorlax was lying flat on its stomach and hiding carefully in a remote corner. While covering its head with both hands, it watched as the frightful magic spells flew over it; the fear in its mind had reached a level beyond words. Whenever a fireball exploded close by, countless dirt and debris would splash toward its direction, hitting its body and causing it to be covered in bruises.


    But Snorlax didn''t pay any attention to the injury. Instead, it opened its eyes wide and put all of its efforts in identifying which magic spell might fall onto its head.


    "The Mighty God of Goblins, please give me your blessing and don''t let any magic spell fall on me!"


    Though the isolated inter-space looked spacious, it just couldn''t contain the torture wantonly put out by two Mages and one Mage level golem. In addition to that, the target of Snorlax''s prayer was obviously not a deity local to the Mage World. As a result, no matter how much or how madly it prayed, a Magma Fireball still came straight to it, with a long tail of dark smoke behind.


    "Damn it! I hope you are not deceiving me..."


    While crying out in terror, Snorlax pulled out a strange round orb from its pocket and threw it forcefully onto the floor.


    After a loud explosive boom, a huge deep pit with a five meter diameter was created on the floor of the inter-space. It was surrounded by numerous tiny cracks arranged in a spider web pattern. In the next moment, the raging fireball hit and a sea of fire immediately coiled up every single inch of space in this area.


    Under an elemental attack of such magnitude, perhaps even a Pseudo-Mage would find it tough to protect himself, while any apprentices below the level of Pseudo-Mage simply had no chance to survive. Yet, after this deadly explosion of Elementium gradually faded away, an invisible energy shield actually appeared inside of the deep pit, and Snorlax was seen coiled up inside of it with its face turned deathly pale. Its eyes were still filled with the image of blooming fireworks.


    The energy shield didn''t last for a very long time, but it had saved Snorlax from the attack of a ''stray fireball.''


    Snorlax patted around few times on its body and felt nothing; then it pinched its thigh forcefully. The pain made it jump up.


    "Gazlowe, I love you! I shouldn''t have doubted you..."


    With regards to this Full Covered Energy Deflection Force Field ¨C Goblin Improved Version 3, Snorlax had no more doubt. Although it cost ten magic crystals to activate it every time, no matter how much it cost, it would never be more precious than its own life!


    Without hesitation, Snorlax pulled out another two goose-egg-sized energy shield activators from its pocket. While watching at the center of battlefield where the intense battle was going on, it wore a big silly smile and said, "Come on, come on, I''m not scared anymore..."


    A moment ago, it had feared the stray magic spells in the air like they were some ferocious tigers, but now it actually hoped it could be visited by some of them, so it could give the treasures holding in its hand another test!


    It was worth mentioning, after some time pestering that Gazlowe, the goblin engineer, Snorlax did find and exchange some strange and peculiar objects. Although all of these objects had names that sounded mighty and incredible and each of them possessed some miraculous ability that could hardly be imagined by anyone, anyone who had experience in dealing with goblins would know that, though they were indeed miraculous, they were also very unstable!


    To perfectly illustrate this, when Snorlax was eagerly wanting to carry out a second test of this miraculous energy shield, it... it actually exploded by itself. Fortunately, the mini explosion of the energy shield activator knocked Snorlax tens of meters away, just enough for it to escape another Fire Core Explosion. Or else, even if Snorlax had survived, it would have suffered a severe injury.


    Snorlax rolled up from the floor, looking at the activator, which had melted into molten iron in the sea of flame. Its legs were trembling in fear.


    "That damn Gazlowe, how dare he sell me a counterfeit and inferior product! Once I return, I''ll settle this score with you..."


    After cursing furiously at the sky, Snorlax had lost all its courage to be so arrogant. Carefully, it took out its magic wand and cast an Invisible spell on itself before hiding in a remote corner once again.


    ...


    2106 Words

 Chapter 159 - 159: A new Mage

    The formidable strength of a veteran Mage was indeed way beyond anyone imagination!


    Even though he had suffered from the impact from the self-explosion of the golem, had the control of main hall in Swampy Tower destroyed, and was besieged by both Leon and the Fire Lord, the combative strength that Mage Eclivel put out was still way stronger than anybody else in this place.


    And right at this moment, the Chip who had been quiet for a long time finally completed the damn reconstruction of the template.


    "Beep. Reconstruction of the target model has been completed. Shall I show them to you right now?"


    "Show me! Show me quickly!" Leon replied impatiently.


    "Beep. Below are the data for the target:"


    "Eclivel. First Grade Human Element Mage. Expert in Wind and Dark Elements. Strength ¨C 1.2, Agility ¨C 1.3, Physique ¨C 2.1, Spirit ¨C 8.4."


    "How about my data?" S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Beep. Below are the data for the target:"


    "Leon. First Grade Human Element Mage. Expert in Fire Element. Strength ¨C 4.6 (1.4) Agility ¨C 0.6 (0.8), Physique ¨C 3.6 (1.2), Spirit ¨C 1.6 (0.9). Currently in the state of Transformation of Flame Fiend."


    While looking at the latest body attributes of his own, Leon finally understood why there was such a huge gap between an Mage who just advanced and a veteran Mage. He was currently under a special state of transformation of the Flame Fiend, that was why all of his body attributes, except for Agility, had skyrocketed. Both his Strength and Physique was now stronger than Mage Eclivel''s. However, his Spirit, which was the most important attribute for any Mage, was far weaker than that of the opponent.


    Most probably, if not for the the transformation of the Flame Fiend, those numbers inside the parentheses were his body attributes'' actual numbers!


    Judging from the data provided by the Chip, Eclivel''s Spirit wasn''t too much greater than his, it was only eight to nine times more! Taking the environment of the battlefield, combative skills and experience of spell casting into consideration, although there was a huge difference between their body attributes, there was still room for Leon to fight against Eclivel.


    Though Eclivel was a research-type Mage and not an expert in fighting, as a veteran Mage, among all magic spells he mastered, he still owned an achievement that no one else''s could ever compare to. As his affine elements were Wind and Dark element, therefore, Eclivel had found a way to merge Dark Elementium into all his Wind element magic spells.


    With that, when any Wind element magic spells that he cast hit the enemy, the spells would always bring the double elemental damage of Wind and Dark. As for his personal defense, after losing the aid and support of the Swampy Tower, Eclivel had no choice but to unleash his Wind Barrier to escape from the radiating damage brought on by the frightening Fire element magic spells.


    As for those magic spells he failed to dodge, Eclivel would use Bleia, whom he still held in his hands, as his humanoid shield.


    By doing so, not only could he use Bleia to block off the attack, he could also make that damn kid, Leon, hesitate when attacking, killing two birds with one stone, what was the sense of not doing that?


    Yet, little to his knowledge, on the face of the darkened, charred body that he held in his hand and used as a shield, two tiny slits suddenly cracked open, and a shivering, a crimson glow was seen shining through from these slits. Finally, the spell Leon sent into Bleia''s body not too long ago had taken effect!


    Bleia''s mind was in a whirl. The severe pain came from the surface of her body didn''t mean much to her now. Inside of her body, under an unknown influence, her blood was slowly heating up and beginning to boil. The boiling hot blood was rushing through her dried and charred body at high speeds, passing through a few internal organs which had completed the vampire modification and activated them, making them continuously burst with incredible vitality.


    All this was the mutated energies her body had absorbed during the blood sacrifice ritual just now and had yet to be fully digested. As her body was badly wounded now, these mutated energies had transformed into vitality energy by her powerful vampire instincts, using them to repair her heavily damage body.


    The temperature of her blood was still increasing slowly. It felt like as if all her blood vessels were injected with molten iron. Tiny cracks started to appear on Bleia''s charred and darkened skin, the hot air flow kept bursting out from these cracks. Bleia, whose source bloodline was controlled by Eclivel with a consciousness rune, couldn''t bear it anymore and let out a painful groan. Interfered by this powerful external factor, her vampire instincts had finally suppressed the order forcefully implemented by Eclivel.


    The charred body opened up a darkened mouth and exhaled a stream of hot steam.


    Bleia was back again!


    Amidst the intense battle, Eclivel suddenly sensed something was not right in his hand. It felt like the vampire he held in his hands was...


    Before he could ponder any further, the charred body that didn''t move and looked like a dead body moments ago suddenly turned her head around, giving him a cold and frightening smile. From within her darkened mouth, he saw two rows of pale-white teeth that made his heart tremble, while two vampire fangs were growing longer at an incredible speed and protruding from her lips.


    In the next second, the charred body suddenly opened her mouth wide and ferociously, she bit into Eclivel''s neck.


    Eclivel had just used a Dark Dragon Spear and shattered the lava armor of Fire Lord and was about to continue his attack by throwing a Wind Vortex into its wound so he could inflict an injury that it could barely recover from. Yet, right at this critical moment, Bleia who had been controlled and held in his hands suddenly betrayed him. The fear that struck Eclivel''s mind could no longer be described with any words.


    A crazy shriek instantly rolled off of Eclivel''s tongue. Using both hands he quickly formed more than one hundred Wind Vortexes which had been compressed into the size of thumbnails and sent all of them onto Bleia''s body. Each and every single one of these wind vortexes was like a mini sized meat grinder, wherever they passed, no matter how high the Bleia''s Physique was, there was no way she could withstand their slicing and cutting. All her bones, tendons, blood, and flesh were like pieces of cheese that met with a drill head, there just now way they could stop these Wind Vortexes from moving further.


    When more than one hundred of such deadly objects exploded in her body, the frightful damages they brought to Bleia were self-explanatory!


    In the next seconds, Bleia''s chest simply exploded like it had just gone through a thorough dissection. Fresh dark and purple-colored blood, pieces of intestines that fallen apart, and fragments of flesh whose origin could not be recognized, all of them burst and splashed out from inside in one go. They even besmeared Eclivel who was standing close to her into a bloody man!


    With such a terrifying damage to the corporeal body, if it were any other people, perhaps the pain alone would have been enough to kill that person! Yet, Bleia didn''t show any response to it. Instead, all ten fingernails of her started to grow crazily, and using all her strength, she clung tightly onto Eclivel''s body, while sucking and gobbling the sweet and abundant blood.


    The sounds of gobbling were so loud that they could even be vividly heard from a far distance!


    At this point in time, Bleia had lost her shape as a normal human being. From below her neck, the flesh on the front of her body was nearly missing entirely, and there wasn''t anything could be found in her abdomen. The only thing left were the fragments of blood vessels that were falling apart, chunks and slices of minced flesh that barely hung onto her twisted backbone. Except for these, all her internal organs were gone!


    Though she had lost all her internal organs, the blood that flowed down through her throat didn''t disperse and spill all over the place. It was as if there were some totally invisible organs and blood vessels remaining and guiding the blood that carried with abundant elemental energy through a winding passage within her chest and abdomen, using the crimson-colored bloodstream to redraw the outline and position of all her organs.


    Bleia''s heart was nowhere to be found after the explosion. But right at this moment, a couple dozens and hundreds of bloodstreams converged and interwove together in front of her backbones, and in just a brief moment of three seconds, these streams of blood had formed into the shape of a heart.


    Very soon, the blood on the outer layer of the heart had dried up and coagulated, hardened and turned into a bloody, thin layer of diaphragm. Through this half-transparent diaphragm, one could clearly see that more blood was gathering inside and constructing a complete heart.


    A light pumping sound was heard.


    The heart suddenly pumped once ¨C a sign of it starting to perform its duty and responsibility!


    In a very short amount of time, the emptied chest of Bleia had been covered by a thin layer of bloody diaphragm. Underneath this layer of diaphragm, countless bones and organs were regrowing in an incredible speed, creeping and moving like a factory of flesh that stunned anyone who looked at them. The only thing was, they were using Eclivel''s blood as their raw material, and the end product was a brand new body!


    Compared to the trifling matter of fixing her body, the transformation of Bleia''s spiritual ripple was the thing that was truly astounding. From being just one step away from the gate of death, it became beaming with vitality, and her Spirit started to skyrocket. The changes that happened to her were like riding a roller coaster, and the huge difference of before and after simply made one''s eyes go wide and made them tongue-tied.


    In contrast to Bleia''s skyrocketing presence, Mage Eclivel who was being pushed closer and closer to the gate of death had his flesh and blood vanish quickly, as his body withered and wizened.


    He cast a couple of magic spells in a row, making Bleia''s body riddled with blood, but still couldn''t get her off of his body. Sensing that his blood essence and vitality was fading quickly from his body, Eclivel stretched his trembling right hand and grabbed Bleia''s head, wanting to use a magic spell to shatter the source of his calamity.


    But it was too bad, just as his hand reached half way, it was coiled up by a flaming whip thrown over by Leon.


    "Bleia, take this opportunity and quickly form your own blood core. Whether you''ll be a dragon or a worm will all depend on this moment!" Leon''s deep shout filled with powerful spiritual force burst within Bleia''s mind.


    Bleia''s body trembled, as if she suddenly realized something. She immediately stopped using the blood of Mage Eclivel she sucked to fix her body, instead, she gathered a great amount of them into the newly formed heart, making them slam and rock amongst each other repeatedly.


    Noticing that Bleia was having a hard time in her progress of breaking through into the realm of Mage, Leon stomped his feet furiously. He injected his powerful Fire element energy into the bloody altar, causing the altar which had suffered from a great torture because of the battle to let out its last cry, and squeeze out the last drop of its energy.


    The raging mutated energy billowed crazily and rushed into Bleia''s body, thrusting into her vampiric heart which had turned into a furnace of blood. If any other Pseudo-Mage was invaded by such a frightening mutated energy during the process of advancing, he would have certainly exploded into a huge firework of blood and flesh. No one could absorb any foreign energy of different element without precipitating and filtering it, yet, the vampire wasn''t scared of this at all!


    The formidable bloodline innate talent of the vampire had given its blood the ability of assimilation. It could turn the blood of any element into its own blood element energy, and any bloodline factor could only be modified into the factor of the vampire. In the history of Mage, there were only records of vampire assimilating other people''s bloodline ability, and no examples of anyone succeeding in assimilating the bloodline factor of the vampire.


    There wasn''t any reasonable explanation to this, as the bloodline innate talent of a vampire was always so domineering!


    That was why Leon was never worried about Bleia exploding due to this mutated energy, instead, he was actually worried if this energy would be sufficient to support Bleia in helping her complete forming her blood core.


    ...


    2195 Words

 Chapter 160 - 160: Escape

    After he handed the task of guarding Bleia over to the Fire Lord, Leon finally had some time to clean up the battlefield.


    The spiritual connection with Lucy had broken long ago, and the reason was unknown. Leon had a vague feeling that something was happening in the outside world.


    To prevent him from being at a loss of what to do later, Leon thought it was better to first adjust his condition to the best he could; only then would he leave this place.


    He had took back the storage waist belt that had been taken away by Eclivel, together with all of his magical equipment. But it was a pity; since he had become an official Mage, this Apprentice Mage level equipment was no longer useful to him.


    At this moment, some rubble not far away started to roll about, revealing a short, vague figure of green. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Master, master! You''ve really become an Mage! This is excellent! Congratulations my master..."


    Leon looked at the goblin, whose face was kindled with joy mixed with flattering expression; he couldn''t help but be surprised. During the devastating war that had happened not long ago, the raging magic spells had nearly plowed through the entire isolated inter-space. Even the bloody altar, protected by magical arrays as it was, had collapsed and disintegrated. Yet, this goblin slave who didn''t have much self-protecting ability actually survived?


    It looked like this fellow also had some secrets that nobody else knew!


    With a smirk, Leon snorted coldly and said, "Go search that place. Anything left over by those apprentices is yours!"


    "Thank you, master! Thank you..." Snorlax was so happy that even the voice of its cheer had changed.


    In this major war, although Snorlax hadn''t contributed any combative strength, just the fact that it had forced itself to disguise as Lucy was worthy of praise. Therefore, Leon waved his hand and gave the right of looting the battlefield to Snorlax.


    After all, the apprentice level equipment and items were no longer something of significance to him. In addition to that, there was another important task that he needed to attend to right now!


    Leon strode forward, and soon he came to a pile of rubble. An explosive fireball was thrown over, blowing away all of the wreckage and rubble, revealing a dark robe that showed signs of movement underneath.


    "Blake, do you think that I''ll forget about you? It is time for us to settle the score between us!" Leon said with a cold voice.


    Since the primary enemy had been defeated, this ''ally'' who had always harbored evil intentions toward him couldn''t be spared as well.


    A Magma Fireball wrapped in raging flames was tossed onto the dark robe. The exploding elemental flames immediately ripped the cloth apart. Amidst the scorching flame towering into the air, countless black scorpions screamed, cried, and eventually burned to ashes.


    Leon focused his mind and sensed around, making sure that he didn''t leave out anything. Only then did he turn around and leave this sea of flame which had turned into a mini lava pool.


    At the same time, Bleia had long sucked dry the last drop of blood inside of Mage Eclivel''s body. She was now hovering in midair, three meters above the ground, fully naked, with her head buried between her knees and her arms wrapped around them. Tiny threads of crimson waves kept rippling out from inside of her body.


    The dead body of Mage Eclivel was lying flat on a pile of rubble. His withered skin was clinging tightly to his bones, and not much flesh could be found in anywhere on his body. He had totally turned into a mummy.


    She had enjoyed Mage Eclivel''s fresh blood all by herself. For a vampire who lived on blood, it was definitely the rarest nourishment. It was especially true when she was at the critical moment of advancement. It had simply become the strongest aid to help Bleia become an official Mage.


    A powerful yet subtle wave of condensed air suddenly burst out from Bleia''s body. At the same time, she unfolded and stood tall, her body still in midair. She threw her head back and let out a crystal clear cry that pierced everyone''s ears.


    Her skin was silky smooth and glittering; her body was curvy and well-shaped; her fair, long legs were slim and slender; she had a pair of crimson eyes that shone like rubies; and her long, bright red hair was hanging loosely down her back... When her naked feet stepped on the ground, a red mist immediately climbed around her body.


    A few moments later, when the red mist faded away, a perfect, luxurious crimson armor had appeared on Bleia''s body. She was giving Leon a dimply smile.


    "I really have to thank you for this time. If not for this, it would have been extremely difficult for me to become an official Mage."


    "Are there any side effects?"


    "Trying to control an Mage is not something easy. When I was forming my blood core just now, I wiped away all of the restrictions on my soul. From now on, I''m considered totally free!" It was obvious that after succeeding in becoming an Mage, Bleia was in an extremely good mood. After she had a few words with Leon, she couldn''t bear it anymore and started to examine her transformation after the advancement.


    With just a light push of her feet, Bleia started to dash around at lightning speed and in a ghostly manner. While running around, she used her toes to kick gravel as large as a milling stone into midair, and with a flash of her body she pierced through from the center of it.


    After she passed through it, behind her was a pile of small stones and dust.


    Leon simply picked up a broken piece of gravel and examined it. The edge was flat and smooth; obviously, just in offensive strength alone, Bleia had taken a qualitative leap. There was something even more extraordinary. With just a gentle squeeze, the broken gravel shattered and turned into dust that fell to the ground. It was corroded by Bleia''s Blood element energy and crumbled with a squeeze!


    Bleia''s body flickered and flashed around. Her soft and agile body actually left behind numerous vague afterimages in the air. Sometimes she would transform into a tiny bat and fly inches above the ground; sometimes she would transform back into human shape and run at high-speed. At the same moment, there were six to seven afterimages of different postures appearing in the scene; each of them looked so real and condensed, no one could differentiate which was real and which was just an afterimage.


    Taking the opportunity, while Bleia was examining her overall strength, a blue light flickered within Leon''s dark eyes. Very soon, he had gathered enough data.


    As a result, the latest of Bleia''s body attributes after becoming an Mage were projected into Leon''s mind.


    "Bleia. First Grade Bloodline Mage. Vampire. Expert in Blood Element. Strength ¨C 2.6, Agility ¨C 4.7, Physique ¨C 2.6, Spirit ¨C 0.7."


    While reading through Bleia''s data, Leon''s mind was fully filled with envy.


    Without the help from the transformation of the Flame Fiend, his body attributes were in no way comparable with Bleia. Although Bloodline Mages only mastered few magic spells, they owned an intrepid body that could perfectly match their magic spells.


    It was fortunate that Leon still had the backup of his golems; or else, if he was to fight Bleia alone, there wouldn''t be any advantage left for him!


    Since Bleia had succeeded in her advancement, there wasn''t any real reason to keep staying in this isolated inter-space. Leon called Bleia and Snorlax, held their hands with each hand, and walked toward the edge of this space.


    While walking, a burning hot flame started to emerge from Leon''s body. After becoming an Mage, Leon was more proficient in controlling Fire Elementium. Under his command, a glowing red fire pillar hit the spatial barrier, and very soon it melted out a large hole that allowed them to pass through.


    Though the fire pillar radiated a frighteningly high-temperature, it didn''t bring any harm to Bleia and Snorlax, who were standing so close to it. Judging from this alone, one could tell that Leon had made significant progress in his Fire element innate talent.


    As for where exactly this isolate inter-space was located, none of them had any idea. But presumably, as Mage Eclivel wanted to obtain the enhancement provided by the Swampy Tower, it was impossible for him to build it in a remote place. It was certainly still within the boundaries of the Magical Swamp.


    When they melted through the barrier and squeezed out from the secret space, they found themselves standing inside of the earth.


    Leon closed his eyes and sensed for a brief moment. Their current location was merely twenty meters below the surface. After telling Bleia about it, Leon''s body exploded into a flaming torch and shot right up into the soil.


    Right after they disappeared from the scene, some changes suddenly happened within the emptied and quiet, secret underground space.


    After Leon and others had cleaned up this place, besides the rubble that was scattered all over the ground, the only thing left was the extremely frightful looking dried corpse of Mage Eclivel. However, right after Leon''s aura disappeared, the largest pile of rubble found in the center of the secret space suddenly collapsed. A swarm of black scorpions burst out from within.


    Compared to when they were at their peak, there were less than one hundred of these black scorpions left. It was indeed miserable. Right at the heart of these scorpions, on the back of a black bug who looked bigger and stronger than others, a miniature face of Blake actually showed up.


    Looking at the edge of this secret space starting to collapse slowly as the integrity of the structure was damaged, Worm controller Blake let out a hateful bug cry.


    "Trying to kill me? Leon, you''ll never succeed in your lifetime. Hmph, since you don''t want this dried corpse, it will serve as my war trophy. Once I swallow it and become an Mage, it will also be the end of your happy days!"


    While roaring furiously, Blake commanded his bugs to cover Eclivel''s remains.


    Soon, the only sound left in the scene was the dreadful noise of biting and crunching!


    ...


    The once mysterious and gruesome Magical Swamp had now completely turned into a real death zone.


    Covered by the thick fog, a fireball suddenly soared up high into the sky and exploded from within an abandoned garden located in a remote corner.


    The fireball came in fast, and it faded away just as quickly.


    When the flame dispersing in all directions finally vanished into thin air, three strange figures of different heights appeared from the center of the fireball.


    Because it was the first time he had tried the Fire Teleportation, Leon still didn''t have a precise control over the distance. As a result, the position where the trio appeared was ten meters above the ground.


    For Bleia, hovering in midair was a piece of cake; but obviously, it was a different story for Leon.


    Therefore, a faint cry was heard, as Leon took Snorlax with him and fell to the ground like a heavy rock.


    On the ground, a Baby Demon was dragging its body and wandering around aimlessly, but it was suddenly frightened and startled by the fireball that exploded over its head. Just as it was staring blankly at the few bizarre figures who had suddenly appeared, their bodies started to grow bigger and bigger while moving closer to it...


    The Demon Baby let out a sharp cry as it woke up, and prepared to run away from where it had stopped. But it was too late!


    In the next few seconds, a muffled boom burst out, as Leon fell and landed steadily on the ground, throwing up a huge amount of dust.


    "Garden of Whispers! It is surprising that Eclivel actually built the secret space underneath the Garden of Whispers. Surely he was secret enough!" Bleia gradually descended beside Leon. Her crimson eyes were cast over to the Swampy Tower, barely visible within the misty fog in the far distance.


    As both of them were exchanging glances and puzzled over the quietness surrounding this place, light and shadow suddenly flashed through their eyes and their heads started to feel dizzy. In just a brief moment, they actually reappeared back inside the fifth floor of the Swampy Tower. In front of them was an old man, clad in a black robe, who had a cold and arrogant expression.


    "Both of you have made the breakthrough and become Mages? Where is that Eclivel?"


    Though he didn''t say much, the terrifying pressure of a high-grade Mage instantly startled Leon and Bleia, and Snorlax simply laid flat on its stomach on the floor, trembling violently without being able to stop.


    He was a Second... Second Grade Mage!


    ...


    2185 Words

 Chapter 161 - 161: Three Mages

    The three Mages stood silently side by side in the magical hall. With eyes radiating distrust, they evaluated Leon and Bleia, both bound in place. In one corner of the hall, Lucy, whose connection with Leon had been severed, lay peacefully on the floor. She seemed unconscious.


    Leon only recognized the Mage named Keoghan among the three. Clearly, the other two were also Mages belonging to the Sarubo clan. In particular, every time Leon cast his gaze upon the elderly man in the black robe with a grim expression, he felt a bone-chilling cold that seemed to freeze his sight, even though the man did not emit a particularly strong mental flux.


    "Is Eclivel dead?" the old man in the black robe asked coldly.


    The other two Mages kept their mouths shut as he spoke, almost as if they dared not speak.


    Leon truly wanted to answer the question. But not knowing how the Mages would deal with him, he didn''t want to say the wrong thing. So he simply nodded in silence.


    "Fools will always be fools! A weakling like him, who didn''t even dare to step onto the battlefield, was killed by the apprentice Mages he trained himself. What a fool!" The elder turned to the side and ordered, "You, go see what''s left of that Eclivel!"


    Keoghan bowed and left to carry out the order.


    If the secret space had been destroyed, it would have been difficult to find. But given that Leon had just melted a massive hole in the spatial barrier, it was easily located.


    After a brief moment, Keoghan returned with Eclivel''s corpse in his hands. To everyone''s disgust, the broken body had been completely consumed and transformed into a sack of human skin. Countless black scorpions crawled in and out of the corpse.


    "What a complete death!" the elder in black said coldly. "It seems all his preparations ended up benefiting you! Good! Good! Good! Three Mages for one fool. That wasn''t a loss!"


    Leon lowered his head, hiding the shock in his eyes.


    From this Second Grade Mage''s words, it wasn''t difficult to infer that the Sarubo clan was aware of every one of Eclivel''s actions, including the blood sacrifice ritual he had secretly organized. If Eclivel''s plan had succeeded and he had advanced to a Second Grade Mage, these people would have congratulated him and signed a new Mage contract with him.


    The cold reality reminded Leon of a horrifying truth. In the eyes of the Mages, the lives of apprentice Mages were merely a resource to be harvested at any moment. It didn''t matter to all the Mage families that the leaders of major Mage factions prohibited such events. As long as it increased the family''s strength, all they needed to do was keep their actions secret.


    If even the Sarubo clan had been awaiting Eclivel''s success... how would they deal with him and Bleia? Damn it! He should have thoroughly checked the secret space. The evil insect Blake wasn''t dead! It seemed Blake had advanced to a Mage using the remaining Mage powers in Eclivel''s body!


    Despite all the thoughts in his mind, Leon wasted no time resolving them. He held his breath and waited for the Second Grade Mage''s decision.


    Mages were precious assets of any clan. There was no possibility they would abandon or waste such resources. Killing them as revenge for Eclivel was out of the question. Most likely, they would face a far stricter Mage contract than the usual agreement. All of this was within Leon''s expectations.


    "Why are you still hiding? Come out and let me see who you are, to be able to devour Eclivel completely!"


    Countless scorpions emerged from Eclivel''s remains in response to the Second Grade Mage''s cold command before forming into the horrific half-insect body that was Blake.


    Even the grim Blake had to be cautious when placed before a Second Grade Mage. He bowed and waited silently for the elder''s judgment.


    Keoghan''s cold eyes lingered briefly on Eclivel''s remains, then on Leon and the others, before turning to ask, "Mr. Fugen, what should we do with them?"


    "Hmph! What''s there to consider? Throw them all into a battlefield in some plane as soon as their contracts are signed. That would have been Eclivel''s work. And since Eclivel is no longer around, let the three of them handle it. They can live and enjoy their status as a Mage of the clan or die; only their luck can decide that."


    Hearing this, Leon and the others felt a sense of relief. But simultaneously, their hearts sank.


    What is this battlefield? Why had they never heard of it? Was it really so dangerous there?


    A slew of questions flooded Leon''s mind. Although Leon had calmly organized most of the knowledge and Mage mythology an apprentice could access with the chip''s help, he still knew almost nothing about planar wars. Even in the books that touched upon these wars, there were only brief mentions without detailed descriptions.


    The fact that this was the case was likely due to the Mages restricting information about them.


    It seems that all information about planar wars was not something common apprentice Mages were meant to access!


    Following Mage Eclivel''s actions, all apprentice Mages would now rest eternally beneath the earth. The magical swamp resource site was completely destroyed. Of the three Mages from the clan, aside from Second Grade Mage Fugen and Mage Keoghan, the third Mage was here to take over Eclivel''s tower.


    This place would be repopulated in a few years, with an official Mage stationed here to manage it. But Leon, Bleia, and Blake could only follow Mr. Fugen back to the clan''s outpost and await the beginning of the war.


    In the blink of an eye, Leon''s seven years in the magical swamp became nothing more than a fleeting memory in the long journey of his life.


    ---


    "Sarubo Clan Outpost, Feidnan City.


    Leon walked through the bustling streets with a serious expression. Silently, he entered an arcane shop.


    This was a Goblin shop specializing in selling all kinds of strange alchemical items. Snorlax, the shop''s owner, stood on a wooden stool, diligently promoting the incredible pieces of alchemical equipment he had purchased from a certain cunning Goblin merchant to three apprentice Mages¡ªtwo girls and a boy.


    Rocket boots that can instantly propel their owner forward (Note: Make sure there are no obstacles like rocks or shrubs before activation)¡­


    Alchemical bombs that create terrifying noise disruptions (Note: Sometimes¡­ just sometimes, they explode for no real reason, so¡­)


    A magic core capable of creating a dome-shaped energy shield (Note: Break it on the ground once, and the energy shield will activate. If you don''t see a shield¡­ please break it a few more times!)


    A Goblin aircraft that allows free movement among the clouds (Of course, its direction and trajectory will also be entirely "free"!)


    Parachute cloaks to bring you safely and stylishly back to the ground (This seems like an accessory for the previous item? Otherwise, how would you come down from the sky? Hmm, freefall seems like a fun option!)


    ...


    Leon frowned as he looked at the various Goblin alchemical devices. All he felt was disdain for these toys, yet he remained silent.


    These items were useless to him now, but for apprentice Mages who had no means of saving themselves, they were fairly decent options. Although the merchandise sold in this Goblin shop might have some issues, they could save lives if they worked!


    Not a single apprentice had requested a refund in the month since Snorlax started his business. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That is, of course, if they were still alive to ask for a refund!


    The Goblin Snorlax immediately abandoned the three apprentices when he saw Leon entering. Instantly, he jumped off the stool and rushed to greet his master. The three apprentices were initially annoyed, but after noticing Leon''s dark red robe, they nervously paid their respects and slowly left the Goblin shop.


    They had long known that the person behind this unassuming shop was a newly-advanced Mage, but this was the first time they had seen him with their own eyes. They held their breath until they were a certain distance away before finally exhaling.


    "That Mage was so handsome! He''s so fit! He''s a whole head taller than Hans..."


    "Yes! Yes! Especially his long red hair and his face. He''s so good-looking!"


    Hearing his two infatuated companions talking loudly, the male apprentice couldn''t help but complain, "You''re both too bold. That''s a real Mage! Didn''t you hear the senior apprentices? Never look directly at a true Mage when you meet one. If you offend them, they might punish you right then and there. Not to mention, you can''t trust a Mage''s appearance. Even if they look young, they could be a hundred-year-old geezer on the inside."


    One of the female apprentices pouted disdainfully, "Hans, stop being jealous. That''s Mr. Leon. We''ve already asked around. He''s a young Mage who''s not even 20 years old yet. Besides, he advanced to a Mage in some rural area you''ve probably never even heard of."


    "Yes, I heard that too!" The other apprentice couldn''t help but interrupt. "I heard he arrived at the clan with two other Mages. In particular, Mage Bleia¡­ she''s totally an idol for all of us apprentices. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but she''s also really powerful. I heard she defeated Mr. Kiel right after she arrived. Mr. Kiel has been a Mage for several hundred years, you know!?"


    "What? She defeated Mr. Kiel? How is that possible¡­ Mr. Kiel is a renowned Body Refinement Mage across the entire clan¡­"


    "Oh, right, did any of you see the Worm Controller? I heard he looks terrifying¡­"


    The three continued chatting as they slowly walked away.


    ....


    1638 Words

 Chapter 162 - 162: Preparation

    At this moment, Leon and Snorlax were secretly conversing in a room behind the Goblin shop.


    "Sir, these are the crystal cores and the information you requested." Snorlax respectfully offered a leather pouch. Inside, it was filled with the items Leon needed. There was also a knowledge crystal within the pouch¡ªthis was the specific information Leon had asked to be collected.


    Leon lifted the knowledge crystal and placed it against his forehead. The chip''s voice resonated in his mind.


    "Beep, external data port detected. Awaiting host instructions. Allow data transfer?"


    "Allow!"


    "Beep, instruction received. Initiating data transfer..."


    A blue light flickered at the bottom of Leon''s black pupils. In mere seconds, he had recorded all the contents of the knowledge crystal into his mind. The chip took over the organization and processing of the data.


    Having dealt with the knowledge crystal, Leon opened the pouch. Inside were all sorts of crystal cores of various attributes and grades. From the most common Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire cores to rarer attributes like Darkness, Nature, Poison, and Light, everything was there. The grades of the crystal cores ranged from Beginner to Pseudo-Mage. Nearly every type of crystal core could be found inside.


    Unfortunately, the only thing missing was Mage-grade crystal cores.


    Leon had expected this outcome. Not surprised, he quickly counted the items before storing them in his bag.


    Apprentice-level golems were no longer as useful to him as they once were, now that he had become a Mage. However, in certain special situations, these low-level golems could still prove extremely powerful. That was why Leon was gradually gathering the knowledge he needed while slowly building his golem army.


    His understanding of Mages during his time as an apprentice had been overly narrow and simplistic. In his mind, pseudo-Mages were apprentice Mages whose Spirit had reached 20 points, and newly advanced Mages were simply casters with 21 points in Spirit!


    But now, after that risky and perilous breakthrough, he too was a Mage. Only now did Leon grasp the stark difference between a Mage and an apprentice.


    Becoming a Mage was not just a simple increase in Spirit from 20 points to 21 points. It was a process of completely altering the nature of the spirit''s origin. Before his advancement, he had 20 points in Spirit. After the advancement, his Spirit points were drastically reduced to 0.9 points.


    This did not mean his Spirit had decreased. Rather, it signified that the fundamental means of calculating status for a Mage and an apprentice were entirely different. The character and status model for an apprentice was based on the physical data of an average adult, used as a comparison point for an apprentice''s combat strength. Mages, on the other hand, were pseudo-magical beings.


    Magical beasts and monsters in nature would form a crystalline substance at the center of their bodies based on their innate talents. This allowed them to control the Elementium floating around them more easily. Mages, in a way, mimicked this process, albeit with some clear distinctions.


    Crystal cores were physical material objects found within creatures. Once killed, these could be retrieved from their bodies. However, a Mage''s consciousness core existed in the spiritual realm. The core was akin to a virtual and abstract form of the Elementium crystal cores.


    Even if someone managed to kill a Mage, they would not be able to obtain a crystal core. Yet the consciousness core was something that undeniably existed. Every Mage relied on it to control Elementium more quickly and easily.


    If the Spirit standard for newly advanced Mages was 1, Leon had not yet reached it. His Spirit was only at 0.9! This was related to the fact that he had not advanced through the usual advancement ceremony. Given enough time for his volatile spirit to settle, Leon would eventually reach the standard of 1.


    During his month in Feidnan City, Leon repeatedly compared the differences between Mages and pseudo-Mages. If the Spirit limit for a pseudo-Mage was 20 points, then 1 point of a Mage''s Spirit was roughly equivalent to 100 points of a pseudo-Mage''s Spirit.


    Setting aside factors like spiritual intimidation, Mage equipment, Mage knowledge, and casting techniques, this meant that a single Mage could match 5 pseudo-Mages in terms of Spirit strength. Without any limitations, an experienced Mage could easily defeat 7 to 8 pseudo-Mages.


    Mages will always be Mages!


    You would remain nothing more than an inferior species in the eyes of Mages until you reached the Mage grade. Most Mages would train and carefully nurture apprentices with potential, adhering to the principle of preserving the source of new Mages. But deep down, they would never see apprentices as their own kind or consider them equals!


    Having obtained what he wanted, Leon didn''t linger in the shop. Instead, he returned to the Mage Tower located on the northern outskirts of the city.


    The Mage Tower in Feidnan City was vastly different from the simplified tower in the swamp. This was the tower of a true Mage. The entire structure had 17 floors, each using a special method to expand its internal space. Its internal facilities were complete and advanced. This tower was leagues ahead of the Swamp Tower in quality.


    Despite the quality of the Mage Tower, few Mages resided there.


    Apart from Second Grade Mage Fugen, there were three other First Grade Mages from the clan. During Leon''s one-month stay, he could count on one hand the number of times he had encountered another Mage due to how few they were.


    All these Mages had stubborn and eccentric personalities. If they weren''t hidden away in their laboratories conducting dangerous experiments, they were out gathering the knowledge and resources they needed. It was rare to see them casually wandering about. Furthermore, the Sarubo Clan was preparing for an interplanar war in six months. Even seasoned Mages risked death if they failed to make adequate preparations.


    Thus, every Mage in the clan was exceptionally busy!


    Leon had grown familiar with the concept of interplanar wars during this period of adjustment and accumulation. From what he had learned, these wars were an inevitable choice for any Mage clan.


    How does a Mage clan rapidly expand? Interplanar wars! sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    How does a Mage clan face rapid destruction? Interplanar wars!


    These wars were both a path to glory and wealth for Mages and a nightmare that could drag clans into the depths of ruin.


    A correct target and a successful invasion of another world¡ªwhen done right, the mountains of rare resources and precious arcane knowledge from another plane could allow a weak Mage clan to rise swiftly to prominence. The clan could easily use the resources and knowledge brought back to train and cultivate more and better Mages.


    The new Mages produced from the resources of an interplanar war would then provide the opportunity and capability to launch a war in an even greater plane. Only through this cycle could a Mage clan initiate a beneficial and enviable growth cycle, gradually strengthening and expanding.


    But just as success lies in these wars, so does failure.


    If a Mage clan became bogged down in an interplanar war, with large numbers of Mages dying for little to no gain, it would deal a severe blow even to the mightiest clans. Falling into a cycle of slow development would be the least of their concerns. If an opposing or opportunistic clan seized the moment to invade, the entire Mage clan could face complete annihilation.


    Hundreds of Mage clans were scattered across the Zhentarim Association''s territory in the central region of the Mage Continent. Through means like marriages, alliances, and mergers, these clans formed various forces, both small and large, creating a complex political landscape.


    Each clan, academy, school, or Mage alliance possessed exclusive lower planes.


    The so-called lower planes were, in truth, small- to medium-sized planes still in the process of development. While their resources and overall strength couldn''t compare to a massive plane like the Mage World, they were still material planes with complete world structures and their own power hierarchies.


    It wasn''t out of the question for these planes to become new massive planes if given enough time to develop. However, they would turn into lambs for slaughter if their planar world was discovered by Mages in the depths of the galaxies. There would be no escaping their fate of being invaded.


    The overall strength of the Mage World was at the pinnacle of material planes, as one of the rare giant planes in the infinite galaxies. Mages would meticulously assess the overall strength of another material plane whenever they discovered one during their travels through the depths of the galaxies. If there were any benefits to be gained, they would return to the Mage World to assemble an invasion force.


    Giant planes rarely waged war against one another. The difficulty of invasion was exceedingly high, and the resources invested would not yield returns for a very long time. Thus, medium- and small-sized planes became the most common targets for invasions.


    Strong medium-sized planes required the might of major forces like the Zhentarim Association, the Northern Witches, the Mages'' Association, or the Silver Union to stand a chance of a successful invasion. However, a common Mage clan was sufficient to conquer ordinary medium- and small-sized planes.


    As a result, an important indicator of a Mage clan''s strength was the number of planes they had invaded and how many resources they could extract from those planes annually. The coordinates of each enslaved plane were the most valuable assets of any clan. They were guarded as the most critical secrets, never to be revealed to their enemies.


    It was said that the Sarubo Clan possessed two small lower planes. However, both planes operated under the less profitable regional cooperation model. The returns were much lower than what full enslavement could provide.


    The regional cooperation model was a system devised by Mage clans that lacked the strength to suppress internal rebellions within the invaded planes. To avoid further losses, the invading clan signed agreements with the plane''s natives to trade with each other under the guise of regional cooperation and joint development.


    Although the invading clan had to use currency recognized by both parties to purchase resources, once those resources were resold in the Mage World, they still yielded very lucrative returns. The risk of war was significantly reduced by this approach, although it was not as efficient or profitable as outright domination and enslavement of the plane.


    The Sarubo Clan was ranked in the middle of all the clans within the Zhentarim Association precisely because of these two small lower planes. The upcoming interplanar war was clearly aimed at bringing a third lower plane under the clan''s control.


    ...


    1795 Words


    ...


    ...


    Power Stones Campaign!


    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


    - 500 Power Stones = 5 chapters


    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


    - 3000 Power Stones = 10 chapters


    ...


    Gift campaign!


    - 20 Golden Tickets = 1 chapter


    - Magic Castle = 5 chapters.


    - Spacecraft = 15 chapters.


    - Gachapon = 20 chapters.

 Chapter 163 - 163: Half a year

    The altar connecting the two worlds was located in Feidnan City''s Mage''s tower. This was to protect the world coordinates of the lesser plane.


    Half a year was not very long.


    After becoming an Mage, the greatest change for Leon was the immense slowdown in the speed at which his powers increased. The meditation technique used by apprentices was meaningless for Mages. Leon''s daily meditation only brought about an increase of Spirit of 0.0001 every time. Even Leon would have suspected his daily meditations to have lost all of its effects had it not been for the chip''s thorough monitoring of his body.


    Of course the Sarubo clan had meditation techniques suited for Mages, but unfortunately, with Leon''s current qualifications, there was no chance for him to get his hands on them. Leon could have a chance if he contributed a lot to the clan''s plane war this time. Otherwise, he can only silently bear with the turtling speed of his Spirit increase.


    On the surface, Leon, Bleia, and Blake were all Mages of the Sarubo clan. But in truth, they were the clan''s prisoners. The Second Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen had left a special curse in their mental world. They would instantly be killed by it should they leave Feidnan City at their own discretion.


    Thus the three didn''t dare step a single foot out of the city even though they walked about freely in the City of Feidnan.


    On the other hand, Lucy was mad at the fact that Leon and Lucy had advanced into Mages.


    She kept suspecting Leon had intentionally sent her outside of the secret space, and let Bleia take her place instead, causing her to lose her chance to become an Mage. As for all the risks and dangers Bleia had to experience in the process, Lucy completely disregarded them.


    Anger makes people lose their rationality.


    Thus Lucy has been clearing missions at an insane rate lately, accepting all of the most dangerous missions around Feidnan City. It was hard to catch her in the Mage''s tower with how busy she was every single day.


    As for Bleia. After becoming an Mage, she rapidly became far more powerful. Bleia became a terrifying killer on the battlefield with her super high speed, deadly melee attacks and her barbaric eye-for-an-eye style of fighting.


    Even experienced Mages more powerful than her would have trouble facing the wraith-like her if they didn''t have special methods to control her movements. Otherwise, Body Refining Mage Kiel wouldn''t have suffered defeat at the fangs and bow of Bleia.


    But as Bleia was beginning to catch the attention of people, Leon was once again keeping a low profile.


    Most of his prowess previously came from the golems. As the threat of apprentice level golems became smaller and smaller against future Mage level opponents, Leon''s advantage was diminished as well. Leon needed to increase his own powers, as well as find a means of obtaining numerous Mage level summoning cores to regain his advantage in combat.


    The only Mage level golem Leon currently had was the Fire Lord. Besides that, he also had a Second Grade Molten Giant core waiting to be processed. But it was way too hard to deal with an Elementium crystal core of this level with his current skills. Thus in the remaining time, Leon became a hermit, diligently converting crystal cores into battle golems of various attributes.


    He was trying to increase the numbers of the golems, striving to create a golem army with golems of different specialisations, given that he cannot increase the quality of the golems in the short term.


    Besides crafting golems and his daily meditations, Leon also collected other resources, seeking to fix the magic rune suit of Flame Fiend transformation onto his body permanently. In his remaining time, Leon examined the Scroll of Voodoo that had been soulbound to him.


    Leon had never heard of such a mysterious Mage equipment. Now he was trying to uncover the uses of the Scroll of Voodoo bit by bit based on the information he could find in the library.


    Soul Gear?


    Leon first heard this odd name from Eclivel. With this clue, he quickly found related information and got an initial picture of the uniqueness of Soul Gears.


    Soul Gears are a kind of magical item! And they were a unique magical item that could grow alongside its soul host!


    Besides its ability to return to Leon''s side after a certain distance, its greatest help to him was the six spell storage slots. 6 powerful spells that took a single second to cast. This was more than enough to give him the combat initiative and advantage when facing enemies.


    Leon found a new method of using the Scroll now that he had advanced into an Mage.


    Plague Curse!


    Write the name of an enemy onto the Scroll using their blood, and the enemy will constantly be inflicted by the Plague Curse. This attack is autonomously done by the Scroll of Voodoo and didn''t require any additional Spirit or energy on Leon''s part.


    Thus, buried in his daily meditations, his golem crafting and his examinations of the Scroll, half a year passed in the blink of an eye. It was now the start of the clan''s plane war.


    ...


    Half a month before departure, the Sarubo clan''s Mages returned to the tower one after another.


    There were now seven clan Mages in the tower!


    It''s important to note that the total amount of First Grade Mages of the Sarubo family was only seven before the addition of Leon and the others. The fact that seven Mages had shown up reflects how important this plane war was for the Sarubo clan. They were sending almost all of their active forces.


    The Sarubo clan Mages had returned to the tower in the most secretive manner to avoid being discovered by enemy clans. Had they found out about the power vacuum of the Sarubo clan, trouble might occur. Their departing location was on the 10th floor of the Mage''s tower.


    The party was led by Second Grade Mage Lord F¨¹gen, which included a total of 7 Mages.


    F¨¹gen looked coldly upon the party as they stood before the teleportation array. Calmly, he spoke:"Prepare yourselves! Later, we will be transported to the outlands, and regroup with the other parties there. This teleportation will break through plane barriers. This is an ultra-long range transportation. Those who have never experienced it should guard their own mental self. Do not extend your Spirit outside of this teleportation array! "


    F¨¹gen drew a magic rune concentrating a terrifyingly cold aura in the air with a single hand and sent it into the array beneath his feet.


    In a series of flashes, the Mages within the array disappeared.


    Even though Leon had well expected the terrors of an ultra-long-range teleportation, but as his body was stretched and compressed within the teleportation array, Leon truly experienced the pain and torture of having his spirit origin at the mercy of Spatial Energy.


    Mottled and blurred patches of color took up all of his vision. Everything before his eyes looked like they were obstructed by a thick stained glass. It was all blurry.


    Even worse was the nausea of space flipping up and down. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon had no means of telling the direction with the limited vision he had and the feeling of space bending in his mind. Of course, there was the possibility that there was no such thing as direction during the spatial transfer!


    It was hard to determine how long the ultra-long-range teleportation took. Leon had completely lost all sense of time and space.


    When he finally appeared at a teleportation array on another end, he shut his eyes and recalibrated for half a minute before he was back to usual.


    The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the bright and boundless galaxy.


    Never had there been such a moment where Leon felt so at peace and his mind and mind so relaxed. Above his head, high above the skies, was a thick transparent energy dome. Outside that dome was the boundless galaxy and the exhilarating energy sea of the multiverse.


    The sky is boundless. The stars are countless.


    Looking at the starry skies without the interference of the plane barriers, Leon felt like his entire being had sunk into the dark but shining night sky. The barrier between man and the world had disappeared. It was all so fantastical and beautiful.


    Leon drew his line of vision away from the night sky with much effort. Only then did he have the chance to survey the teleportation platform he was on.


    This was a massive pseudo-plane floating in the depths of the galaxy.


    The inside of the pseudo-plane wasn''t the most commonly seen continent form common to the material worlds. Rather, it was a mountain peak so massive it was beyond imagination. Steep cliffs. Forests of stones. There were terrifying peaks everywhere that stood tall like unsheathed swords.


    And the teleportation array where the party was was located on the top of such a peak. Someone had sliced the sharp peak, turning it into a flat platform. Looking from atop, numerous holes had been dug in the peaks. Countless flying creatures that looked like two-footed dragons were weaving in and out of them.


    The array on the top of the sharp peak wasn''t the only one. In Leon''s vision alone, there were three to four more teleportation platforms exactly like the one beneath his feet. Teleportation light flashed there as well. There were up to three other parties that seemed to consist of Mages as well.


    "Come with me! We need to first regroup with the others! " F¨¹gen called out and took to the air.


    Almost anyone who became an Mage had their own unique method of flying.


    Some summoned flying creatures out of beast-slaving rings. Some grew an odd pair of wings. Some called upon the wind Elementium particles to surround them and help them fly..... Leon summoned the Lightning Giant, and had it carry him and follow behind F¨¹gen towards a platform with several other people.


    It was hard to tell how huge this pseudo-plane was, but when they flew high up in the sky, Leon''s pupils couldn''t help but shrink. This...this was a pseudo-plane so huge it could be called a small continent of its own!


    ...


    1737 Words

 Chapter 164 - 164: Space with Energy

    The night sky hung low. The countless stars were spotted across it.


    The familiar stars seen from within the plane now hung directly above in the boundless skies, so close it seemed one could just fly up and pluck them.


    But Leon knew that each of these stars represented a plane world that carried the lives of hundreds of millions. Although they seemed really close, in truth, it would take at least a hundred years to cross the infinite sea of stars to reach them.


    The term "sea of stars" was not a metaphor. It was a description.


    Any two planes within the multiverse were separated by an extremely long distance. It is not emptiness that was between them, but rather energy tides so strong and powerful it''s hard to even imagine. Where there were energy tides, there were high tides and low tides. There were times of storms and times of calm seas.


    In this seemingly empty space, chaotic energy flows were everywhere. The first thing any being needs to do when they enter the infinite space is to protect themselves from the damage of turbulent energy flows.


    Space was not empty. Energy reigns there.


    Energy tides flowed aimlessly in space. Sometimes they gathered in a place, forming powerful and terrifying energy storms. These stormy areas easily extended up to hundreds of thousands of miles wide. The large ones even went up to millions of miles large.


    The energy corrosion strength at the eye of the space storm could go up to a shocking 10000 points. Even a Fifth Grade Mage would die if he was pulled into such a storm. Even at the edge of a storm, the strength of turbulent energy flows could reach up to 100 points.


    What this meant for any Mages that breached into an energy storm was that their energy shield had to constantly bear energy corrosion of up to 100 points. This...this was equal to the normal damage of an actual Mage!


    Once the Mage''s energy shield is broken, a First Grade Mage would be minced into tiny particles within seconds by the energy flows. The particles would then be swept away by the energy tides to any corner in the multiverse.


    Thus a First Grade Mage would have trouble surviving in the sea of stars once they left the protection of the plane barrier behind. To rely solely on bodily strength to travel across space, this was something only Grand Mages could do!


    The pseudo-plane slowly drifted in space.


    Sparkling fireworks could be seen everywhere on the world membrane that protected the pseudo-plane.


    That was the result of friction between the turbulent energy flows and the membrane. It looked beautiful from afar, but the strength of the energy contained was no weaker than the strongest attack an advanced apprentice could fire. If someone left the protection of the world membrane and entered the infinite galaxies, their protective shield had to constantly bear no less than 50 points of energy damage.


    And this was the energy tides at their most calm.


    Even with Leon could only stay within the infinite galaxies for no more than 15 minutes with his current power.


    Leon''s temporary quarters was within one of the exceptionally tall stone peaks. It was a small room dug out of the stone. He has already been here for three days, but there was nothing to do. Everyday Leon could only meditate, stare at the stars or speak with the Mage that lived nearby.


    He had thought the 7 First Grade Mages in the party this time had been all of the Sarubo''s clan active forces. But when another three Mage parties appeared before him, Leon realised that the Sarubo had hidden some of its Mage forces. These Mages usually were hidden in those lesser planes.


    This was a need born out of reality.


    Lesser planes were smaller planes enslaved by Mages through barbaric strength and bloody means. The Mages'' ruling structure would easily be toppled if they lacked the necessary numbers to defend.


    Thus, tall Mage''s towers were built in every lesser plane, stationed with numerous Mages. This was to ensure that the exploitation of the lesser planes'' resources would proceed smoothly.


    This was the true core profit that every Mage family needed to protect.


    The clan outpost in the World of Mages, on the other hand, was no more than a source of fresh blood to keep training new Mages. Of course, the value of the source of fresh blood could not be replaced by any lesser planes. The clan could continue to produce new Mages and strengthen itself as long as the clan''s roots in the Continent of Mages were never destroyed.


    Thus many Mage clans have extended their reach to all over the infinite sea of stars even though their roots remained in the World of Mages. Every time they found a material world weaker than themselves, they would find a way to invade, and squeeze the sweet sweet nectar out of it, making their roots stronger, making them more powerful...


    The Mages that regrouped with Leon''s party were Mages reassigned from the two lesser planes that belonged to the Sarubo clan. If these experienced Mages were the main combat forces of the Sarubo clan, Leon''s party were only a bunch of rookies. A bunch of rookies that haven''t experienced the grind and refinement of plane wars.


    All sorts of unexpected situation could happen in the initial invasion of a new plane. The clan''s spine would be shattered if these veterans were lost in such a careless fashion. Naturally, this meant that the best scouts were the Mages such as Leon, the newly advanced Mages.


    Of course, no Mage would come out and so publicly and explicitly point this out to Leon. This was a conclusion Leon came to through his own evaluation and sorting of various detailed information.


    Their party was a scouting party meant to explore unexplored territory for the clan. One mistake and their lives could be in danger!


    Leon could tell this was the case, but there was nothing he could do. After all, this is a process all Mages have to go through. Why else would the clan spend a huge amount of resources on them!


    This mostly referred to those Mages of the Sarubo clan. Leon, Bleia, and Blake, on the other hand, were basically like the bastards of the clan. Hardly any resources for them, but a hell lot of work to be done.


    ... S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The fifth day on the pseudo-plane. The day of action had arrived.


    Leon''s party were brought to a well hidden arcane hall under Sir F¨¹gen''s lead.


    There, Leon saw the most shocking scene of his life.


    A single person, a single Mage, sat in the middle of the hall, legs crossed.


    Below his body was a gigantic array Leon had never seen before. Behind him, an odd space vortex was opened in the middle of the air. Tens of thousands of golden chains that were somewhere between solid and nothingness extended out of the vortex, tightly latching on to the body of the man.


    The Mage had a black robe on his body. The hood was pulled down low, obscuring his face. The gigantic array was continually functioning, helping him resist the corrosion of the mysterious chains.


    Leon could feel a terrifying strength that could shatter space and shake planes around him even though he couldn''t tell the power level of this mystery Mage. From those chains of space, Leon could sense the aura of the laws of planes.


    Was this.....the material projection of the strength of a certain law of planes?!


    Leon was shocked into silence.


    He had only understood a small and insignificant piece of the laws of flames and it was sufficient to allow him to advance to an Mage. But the Mage before him was clearly grappling with a major law of a certain plane. How unimaginably terrifying was this!


    Even the cold F¨¹gen became cautious as they approached this place.


    F¨¹gen didn''t dare to take a single step into the gigantic array. Instead, he bowed at the edge of the hall and greeted the Mage:"Reverent Lord Sarubo, I''ve brought the first batch of Mages to enter the plane. "


    All the clan Mages were shocked as they heard F¨¹gen''s words.


    Was this...was this mysterious Mage the person who created the clan thousands of years ago? Was this...Lord Sarubo? If it was him, didn''t that mean they were looking at a Fifth.... no, maybe even Sixth Grade Mage!


    Almost instantly, everyone lowered their heads. They no longer dared to stare at this mysterious Mage.


    As Sarubo Mages, the terrifying Great Mage who created the clan was a deity in their hearts. Although they could not pray to him and believe him as a true god, they were still deeply impressed by his strength and power.


    First Grade Mage was most possibly the peak of their lives for many of the people here. A Fifth or Sixth Grade Great Mage was well beyond the realms of their imagination! It was a dream that couldn''t even dare to think of!


    When their dream was put right before their eyes, none of the Mages could stay calm. Their mental flux started to boil and bubble, reflecting their excitement.


    The Mages didn''t lift their heads, but a deep and compelling voice boomed in everyone''s mind.


    "I have corroded a wormhole on this plane barrier. A spirit clone split off from my consciousness has found a suitable location on the other side.


    You are all First Grade Mages. The brand of the World of Mages isn''t as strong on you. As long as you remain inconspicuous, the will of this plane will not retaliate too strongly. Your first mission there is to construct a forward operating base, to construct a simplified Mage''s tower.


    Take note!


    Although I have suppressed most of the plane''s retaliation on the other side, you will still need to get used to the new laws of the plane on the other side.


    Remember, under the pretext of not exposing your identities to the natives, you must protect this forward base with your lives. You must protect my spirit clone. Your mission is done once I have finished a basic analysis of that plane''s laws.


    All of you will receive more than you can imagine!


    Now, prepare! I will send you over immediately. "


    The 7 Mages who were to be the vanguards listened respectfully to the mysterious Mage''s words as they prepared silently. With a wave of his hand, a single gold chain split off from the space vortex. In one swift move, it pierced all the Mages.


    The next moment, all 7 Mages disappeared into the vortex under the powerful pull of the strength of the plane law. They didn''t even have the opportunity to scream.


    ....


    1816 words


    ...


    Power Stones Campaign!


    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


    - 500 Power Stones = 5 chapters


    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


    - 3000 Power Stones = 10 chapters


    ...


    Gift campaign!


    - 20 Golden Tickets = 1 chapter


    - Magic Castle = 5 chapters.


    - Spacecraft = 15 chapters.


    - Gachapon = 20 chapters.

 Chapter 165 - 165: Travel

    It might not take long to pass through a space vortex, but for Leon and the others, it felt like an entire century.


    The space constantly stretched and compressed and rolled over their bodies...An apprentice Mage would have had their bodies disintegrated, their Spirit shattered and died a painful death in the process. Fortunately, the Mages were supported by a tough Physique and a powerful Spirit after their advancements.


    Even Leon had to try his very best to resist the odd twists of the mutated space.


    The mysterious Mage Sarubo had clearly used a unique means to corrode a tiny wormhole on the plane barrier to avoid alerting the plane''s plane consciousness. Countless space turbulence filled the space vortex. These were the result of Sarubo''s battle against the plane laws.


    With the power of Leon and the others, they would be minced to pieces instantly if they were caught in any of them.


    Fortunately, under the guidance of Sarubo''s consciousness projection, Leon and the others did not get lost in the space vortex. They sped through the vortex, avoiding one after another terrifying turbulence. Soon, they appeared in another world.


    It was a silent valley in the middle of a vast mountain range.


    The ancient trees within the forests were large and strong. Their branches easily extended to several hundred square meters wide. Tall mountains and vast forests were everywhere around. Ravines were strewn about the valley. The songs of birds and the calls of insects never stopped.


    But a disaster that could tear this entire world apart was slowly brewing amidst this beautiful land.


    A small hole was opened in the middle of the field. In front of the hole, a black-robed Mage sat silently, his legs crossed. Many chains were wrapped around his body. One end of the chain disappeared into the body of the Mage. The other end disappeared into the boundless space. It looked bizarre.


    The Mage in the black robe didn''t dare to make any large movements with to the restrictions of the golden chains on him. A simple wave of a hand, a cough, all of these could result in severe retaliation from the chains, causing damage to the structure of space around him. This was a small material plane after all. The size of the continent within was a hundred times smaller than that of the Continent of Mages. This was a plane world that could not support powerful beings.


    Trying to squeeze into this material world as a Sixth Grade Mage was no less hard than trying to shove a tiger into a cat cage. Moreover, as a being from the World of Mages, Sarubo radiated a thick scent of his world from his body and soul. He could not fit in with the plane laws here.


    Different plane worlds had different laws. Vastly different at times.


    The more powerful the soul of an Mage was, the more resistance he received from a foreign plane.


    If Sarubo managed to break into this plane, it might be hard to find an opponent of his caliber. But as long as he has yet to dissect the differences of this plane''s laws, both his body and soul will continually be suppressed and repelled by the plane''s consciousness.


    His power would be very limited before he gets rid of this foreign force. If his acts of resisting suppression were too large, it would also attract the attention of the plane consciousness. Then more enemies would be attracted to where he was and as suppressed and weakened as he was, even he would not be able to resist mobs of weak enemies.


    Thus, as the standard procedure of plane invasions, the mastermind Sarubo was only responsible for creating a wormhole and projecting his consciousness to the other side. Then it''s up to the following low-level Mages to swarm into the plane, corroding the world bit-by-bit.


    ...


    There was a sudden movement in the calm space vortex.


    Bo Bo Bo...


    Following the continuous ripples in space, one after another Mages were spat out of the vortex, tumbling on the ground.


    Leon climbed up from the ground painfully. But just as he stood up, he moaned and squat down once more. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Terrifying plane suppression came from the skies above. Countless chains of laws appeared out of the space around him. All of a sudden, his power had been suppressed to complete insignificance.


    Goddammit!...


    It was a terrible feeling of depression, being subdued and twisted....


    It felt like his mouth and nose had been covered with a thick wet cloth. Leon could hardly breathe!


    Even the plentiful and powerful Elementium within his body was completely drained, much like a bottle without a bottom.


    The Body Refining Mage Kiel reacted the best out of the 7 Mages. After all, he still had a tough body even though his Spirit had been suppressed. The few elemental Mages with weaker bodies were pressed to the grounds, still frowning.


    In truth, their physique was not too weak as experienced Mages who had to search everywhere for resources to strengthen themselves. Them being too used to their power was the main reason they looked so bad now. Once the power within their body was taken away, even breathing and walking became a task.


    Leon slowly rose from the grass field and move a little bit.


    He could feel it. The plane laws here were way too different from his original world. He had to slowly get used to the laws here to regain his strength. As long as he didn''t move the Elementium powers merged within his body, the suppression of the plane laws would not be as strong and violent.


    After everyone had gotten somewhat used to the environment, they went before Sarubo, bowing as they waited for their orders.


    This was, of course, not Sarubo''s true body. It was only a mental projection. But even then, the retaliation of the plane laws was still so obvious on Sarubo. The suppression on these First Grade Mages was insignificant in comparison!


    "You have all made it through! Good. Now leave behind a few to terraform the environment. The rest of you scatter in each direction and seal all the paths to her. Make sure no outsiders can disturb my analysis of the plane laws. Be very careful. The space ripples from your journey here just now may have drawn the attention of powerful beings in this plane. The second batch of Mages will arrive in a month. Before that, you must defend this place with your lives! "After some quick advice, Sarubo''s projection went silent.


    All the Mages looked at each other, then backed off and begun preparing the next steps.


    Although everyone, including Mage Keoghan, was First Grade Mages, they still had to obey the orders of Mage Keoghan. After all, Sir F¨¹gen had emphasised this several times before the trip here.


    "We have just arrived. Our powers are at our weakest. So, for the time being, we should not initiate any grand gestures. I now set forth a rule. For the first three days, our range of activity will be limited to 1 mile. Do not initiate contact with the natives too early.


    Kiel, Vincomier, Cowen and I will stay at the base. We will try and construct a functioning base in the shortest time possible to hide Lord Sarubo and the space vortex. Blake, Bleia, and Leon. The three of you are responsible for the outer ring. Kill all the dangerous living beings nearby. Do not let them bust in here and disturb Lord Sarubo.


    Understood? "


    Everyone nodded their heads. Even Leon, Bleia, and Blake did not express any disaLeonents.


    This was well within expectations. As newly recruited Mages who had yet to be trusted, Keoghan would not possibly let them near the weakened mental projection. Thus it was expected that the experienced Mages were left in the base and the three outsiders sent to the outer ring.


    Everyone began seeing to their jobs once it had been assigned.


    The four people left in the base didn''t actually have any less work than Leon and the others.


    Kiel in particular, as a Body Refining Mage, was an important person in the construction of the base. With one fist, he could down trees that were as thick as a man''s embrace. With a few chops of his steel palms, branches as thick as a child''s arm were removed. And alone, he could carry the half-a-ton trunk back to the base.


    The restrictions by the law chains were extremely strong as they had just entered the plane. They couldn''t use any powerful spells. Even the simplest of cantrips were changed due to a change in plane laws.


    You might have wanted to summon a little flame for dinner, only to realise the little flame is now a giant fireball. And there goes your pot. You might have wanted to summon a flame tornado to attack your enemies, only to have a little flame flicker in your palms. It''s hardly enough to even warm the enemies....


    The difference in plane laws made all spells function weirdly. The Mage''s individual strength was probably not much stronger than the plane natives before they get familiar with the plane laws.


    Leon snapped his fingers to ignite a flame at his fingertips. After the Elementium flashed in the air, something appeared in his hands. A jade green frog.


    It was a normal frog with rough skin on its back. And it clearly was as surprised as Leon about him appearing out of thin air. After blinking its googly eyes and looking about, it leaped out of Leon''s palm and with a few hops, it disappeared in the bush.


    Dammit! The difference in plane laws was so large? To have caused a fire spell to become a random nature summon?


    Leon calmed himself down and communicated with the chip.


    "Chip, how''s the plane law analysis going? "


    "Beep, this plane world is a low-level material plane. Elementium saturation rate is low, at 27% of the World of Mages. Law similarity 69%. Expected analysis time is 235 hours 27 minutes 18 seconds..... Current analysis progress is 0.013%.....


    The long progress bar in Leon''s mind was mostly occupied by a blinding rate. The green that represented progress only took up a thin line on the bar. Even Leon with his self-proclaimed 20/20 vision could hardly see any increase of the green bar.


    Leon turned and looked at Blake:"Which way are you going? "


    Although they hated each other thoroughly, they had to call a truce in this foreign world. Preserving their lives came first.


    Dim green eyes flashed beneath Blake''s hood. He pointed in a direction and left. After Blake''s scrawny silhouette disappeared in the distance, Bleia appeared beside Leon. Her eyes shot a questioning look at Leon as she slid her hand across her throat.


    Leon shook his head after a moment''s thought, then left in another direction. Bleia sighed due to a lost opportunity. Silently, she transformed into a bat and disappeared in a different direction from the other two.


    Her transformation was a Bloodline ability and she received very little repercussions from the change in plane laws. This was her source of confidence in killing Blake!


    ...


    1877 Words

 Chapter 166 - 166: Another World

    Leon slowly walked into the forest.


    He was weakened now, but he was an Mage after all. Even barehanded, he could deal with all non-magical creatures. Moreover, he had a vague feeling that his golems wouldn''t be affected by the law changes. He was trying to find a hidden place to verify if this was the case.


    Tangling vines and low bushes were everywhere in the forest. Fruits that were half green and half red swung on the branches above. The wind carried with it the sweet smell of grass and the moisture of the air.


    It was almost a quarter of a mile away. Looking back, Leon could only see tall trees that covered the sunshine. It wouldn''t be easy for someone far away to notice anything that happened here.


    Leon took an earth summoning core from his storage belt and threw it to the ground. Black shiny dirt began to rise as the earth Elementium gathered around the core. In 5 seconds, the dirt had shaped itself into a humanoid clay golem. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Countless broken branches, decaying leaves, and insects were wriggling about the body of the golem as Leon hadn''t filter the dirt used to form the golem.


    Leon frowned.


    Even though this was a beginner-level golem and wasn''t as powerful as something like the Demon Alligator Hunter, but it shouldn''t be this weak.


    A beginner clay golem such as this one should be 2 meters tall and weigh six to seven hundred pounds according to his tests in the World of Mages. But here, the clay golem was at most 1.5 meters tall, and it had lost 1/3 of its weight.


    It seems that the golem''s strength had been reduced due to a lack of magic Elementium even though the golem summoning was not affected by plane laws. The tiny flaw wasn''t enough to get Leon down. Just for this plane war, he had prepared over 300 golem summoning cores of all types, all hidden in his storage belt.


    These were the fruits of his labor of the past six months. Leon firmly believed that if you cannot crush the enemy with raw strength, then flood them with terrifying numbers!


    Leon shut his eyes to get a sense of the mental drain of summoning the clay golem. With his current Spirit, he could sustain over 100 clay golems on the battlefield simultaneously. Next, Leon repeatedly tested the other golems, including the Water Elemental, the Stone Serpent, the Wind Critter, the Lightning Giant, the Flamehound and the Fire Lord....


    Leon took his time and effort to sense the mental drain of each and every one of them, etching it to his brain.


    The sudden increase in Spirit since his advancement to Mage made his idea of a golem army much more realistic. With Leon''s current Spirit, he could approximately support 100 beginner golems (clay golems, flamehounds, wind critters) or 25 advanced golems (water elementals, demon alligator hunters, stone serpents) or 10 pseudo-Mage golems (lightning giants, water sprites, magma hounds) or 5 Mage golems (Fire Lords)


    Leon had only one Fire Lord and very few higher level golems. The only strategy left for Leon was golem swarming!


    Just as Leon finished evaluating the golems, the chip suddenly let out a sharp siren.


    "Beep, discovered odd biological existence transmitting mental flux..."


    Leon turned around, his eyes bright as stars. Instantly, his vision pierced through hundreds of meters and locked onto an odd flying bug resting within a bush.


    This was a bug with a dark black shell the size of a finger. It was resting on a thick branch, using the leaves to hide its body. If it wasn''t for the chip, Leon wouldn''t have been able to pick up on such a hidden "infiltrator" with his Spirit badly suppressed.


    Jerk. It was Blake''s spy.


    Leon frowned. Red shone in his eyes, and the bush where the bug was hidden instantly caught fire, ignited by the concentrated fire Elementium.


    The insect realised it had been exposed and started to flap its metallic wings to leave. Sadly, Leon had locked on to it with his second "Ignite." The different plane laws of another world had affected Leon''s first spell, forcing him to cast another.


    The sudden flame enveloped the bug. It began to scream like a human as it wriggled its fat body. It seems that Blake had attached a strand of his Spirit on the spy bug, and was hurt by Leon''s spell.


    500 meters away from Leon, in an empty field within the forest, the black-robed Blake let out a groan from under his hood.


    Blake, much like Bleia, had a special physique. He didn''t rely too much on Elementium, and so the effect of the changed laws was not evident on him either. This was what made him think of taking the chance to kill Leon.


    The reason he didn''t choose Bleia instead was because vampires were annoying and resilient creatures that were hard to kill. Leon, on the other hand, was merely an Elementium mage. Once his powers had been suppressed, killing him would be a breeze.


    But the images sent by the bug sent chills down Blake''s spine. That damn Leon had so many golems! It irritated and terrified Blake to no ends.


    The volatile emotions were what caused a spike in his mental flux and allowed the chip to detect the existence of the bug. Blake''s mental world stung as the bug was consumed by the fire.


    Hmph! I''ll let you live for a little longer!


    Blake cursed and quickly disappeared from where he was.


    He looked calm on the surface, but in truth, nervousness filled his heart.


    That Leon''s power didn''t seem to have weakened. In fact, he seems to be way more terrifying now. If his army of golems surrounded him, along with the wraith-like Bleia.....Blake was confident in his power after he became an Mage, but still, he had no chance against the both of them.


    So he ran as fast as he could after cursing.


    After all, he was scared that Leon would have a change of heart and come after him.


    ...


    Bleia sped through the forest.


    The vampiric bat she had turned herself into moved freely in the forest. At times, she flew up towards the skies and looking down on the valley. At times, she dove into the forest thick with trees and weaved between the branches, vines, and leaves.


    Everywhere she went, countless critters were scared into hiding, where they looked upon this giant bat with frightened eyes.


    Bleia would occasionally break into the homes of powerful magic beasts, where they would attack her. Sadly, their immobile bodies could only eat the dust before Bleia''s lightning speed.


    Winged dragons, gryphons, rocs, four-arm apes, razor boars, sabertooth elephants, man-eating demons...


    Bleia couldn''t help but be impressed by the plentiful biological resources of this plane. It was way beyond her imaginations. The density of the creatures was even more impressive.


    Of course, in comparison, the power of the creatures here was much weaker than those of the World of Mages. It was rare to see any magical creatures in the forest!


    The lack of magical creatures might be a fortune for the average human. This way human settlements would be much safer and suffer much fewer sacrifices. But this was terrible news for those with supernatural powers. This gave them far fewer opportunities to train themselves and learn from the wild.


    The reason the Mages were so powerful was precisely because the World of Mages was home to many equally powerful magical beings! To protect the peace of the human world, to allow the continued existence of humans, the Mages had to be more powerful, smarter and stronger than those beings.


    Thus the power of Mages was the natural result of millenniums of bloody battles against magical beings, not because of the rise of one or two talented Mages.


    If this plane lacked powerful magical creatures or beings, it was natural that the natives here could not give rise to an extremely powerful individual. This was the plane development theory every Mage firmly believed in!


    Why did the World of Mages exile all Mages beyond the Fourth Grade? Precisely to maintain the balance of power between the Mages and the magical beings, to ensure a cruel and unforgiving world for their descendants, to grind and create more powerful Mages.


    This was a theory Leon came to after collating the state of development of multiple areas, so Bleia naturally knew about it as well. But she had never given a damn about any such theories. The only thing she cared about was whether there were delicious blood treats here!


    The giant rampant bat finally caught the attention of the ruler of this forest. A rare three-headed chimera took to the skies, rushing towards where Bleia was.


    The chimera was a powerful magical creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake. Normal chimeras had only one head that was capable of spewing flames that could resiliently stick to its victim. And once a chimera has three heads, it would simultaneously wield the powers of flame, poison, and wind.


    In the World of Mages, such a creature might barely make it as a middle-tier magical being, but here, it was considered an extremely powerful beast.


    Bleia was excited that she had found a magical creature that attracted her attention. Instantly, she began baiting the three-headed chimera into a chase in the woods. Her body was much slimmer and much more capable of speeding through the thick canopies of all the ancient trees. The large chimera with a wingspan of 12 meters, on the other hand, was having trouble.


    Amidst the sounds of snapping branches, the chimera charged through the forest like a bulldozer.


    The strong but immobile chimera was at a huge disadvantage against the bat in such narrow quarters. Thus the angered chimera took to the skies after a fruitless chase. With all its power and all three of its elemental attacks, it bombarded the area where the giant bat was.


    ...


    1691 Words

 Chapter 167 - 167: Knight

    Violent and ferocious attacks of three elements instantly covered the area where the giant bat was.


    Exploding elemental fireballs, slimy and corrosive green globs of poison, continuous waves of ferocious wind blades...


    Spells of three different elements, each with their own attributes now spew out of the three unique heads of the chimera, engulfing the forest in a magnificent and fiery funeral of magic.


    But just as the chimera roared and reveled in the feeling of dominating the battlefield, a slim and tall figure broke through the wave of Elementium. It charged from the forest, quickly nearing the chimera.


    The chimera was a magical being, but it also had powerful muscles and strength in a close quarters fight, Sharp claws and a powerful armored tail were all powerful weapons of the chimera. The three ferocious jaws tripled its threat to any enemy that dared to go close.


    But today was not this chimera''s lucky day.


    Three magical breaths fired in a panic were easily dodged by the ghostly figure with a flap of her thin bat wings. Its sharp claws that could tear apart a tiger were also deflected by the opponent''s blood red armor. Nauseating blood thorns appeared on the surface of the armor, silently deflecting most of the chimera''s blows.


    The very next moment, a bat-winged demon that looked like a young human girl dodged the three jaws by a hair''s breath. As she dodged, a chain of blood red magic arrows shot through the lion head in the middle.


    The closely woven and tough scales of the chimera were no better than paper in front of the magic arrows. They shot through its eye and exploded inside the skull, blasting the skullcap far away. Scarlet red blood mixed with spots of white brain matter splattered everywhere. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bleia''s petite body was like a buzzing fly about a lion as compared to the large physique of the three-headed chimera. But the blood red bow in her hands was a true weapon of killing, continuously sending blood red arrows to the chimera''s weak spots.


    The piercing power of the arrows along with the bloodsucking effect of the blood-attribute energy made it an unreachable dream for the chimera to even deal a little damage to Bleia. It had only been three minutes since the start of the battle, but the chimera was already riddled with holes, blood pouring out of everywhere.


    The chimera cried in pain. With a swipe of its menacing tail, it forced Bleia back and turned its large body, desperately flapping its scaled wings, trying to escape back to its den.


    But it was too late!


    Bleia stopped in the air, her bat wings slowly beating and spat out coldly: "Now you want to run? You are too late! "


    The very next instance, a blood red beam slashed across the sky and already Bleia was on the back of the scurrying chimera. For the first time since the battle started, her blood red bow was pulled into a full moon. Terrifying blood energy gathered on the bowstring, concentrating into a crystalline blood red arrow.


    "Die! "


    Bleia''s finger let go following her battle cry. The blood red arrow pierced the chimera''s green scales at lightning speed, exploding at the part where the three heads met.


    A big fountain of blood surged out of the chimera as it let out one final cry of sorrow that reverberated across the woods. Finally, it lost control of its large body and spiraled out of the sky.


    A terrifying magical being that had ruled these woods for over a hundred years had so easily died at the hands of the fledgling Bleia.


    In all honesty, this chimera was no weaker than an actual Mage. Sadly the difference in combat ability, equipment and the lack of a powerful means of attacking made it a bumbling target practice. So, he had to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the speedy assassin Bleia.


    Bleia licked her lips. She was still not satisfied. Like a wild beast, she let out a crisp and sweet roar with her voice, letting all the beasts of the woods know of her dominating will.


    Her skintight blood armor, the vast leathery bat wings, a perfect body and her domineering aura..... These were what gave Bleia an attractiveness unique to herself, a special quality that merged both seductiveness with the chaos of bloody violence.


    If Bleia was so beautiful she was a rose, she would absolutely be a thorny one and in particular, thorns with lethal venom on it!


    Bleia stayed in the air for a few more moments as she waited for her will to be clearly transmitted to every corner of the forest before diving back down to the ground. She was going to savor her first blood treat in another world.


    Far away, in the base, Keoghan stopped summoning his voodoo creatures. He tapped into the faint ripples of magic to sense the battle far away.


    When he heard Bleia''s arrogant and overbearing roar, the always strict Keoghan broke into an ugly smile.


    "What a character! I like her. These kinds of exquisite vampires are hard to come by! It''s unfortunate..."


    He turned to where Leon had disappeared and shook his head in disappointment.


    He could see that these two newly advanced Mages were very close. That Bloody Bleia, in particular, heeded every word of Leon. It seems there was no chance for the male Mages in the clan!


    Keoghan shrugged, took a few more toy-like robotic models from his storage space and threw them to the ground. The palm-sized models began to grow and expand as he continued to chant his spell.


    Soon, 4 bizarre robotic creatures 3 meters tall stood before him.


    Keoghan then drew a rune glowing with magic and put it into the core of the robotic beasts. Suddenly the robotic beasts started creaking and moving. After a slight delay, they joined the ranks of the construction army.


    Already there were a dozen voodoo creatures with large and tough physiques and three to four giant clay golems in the previously silent base. The Mages were filling the roles of taskmasters, ordering the magic creatures to and fro, carrying timber, flattening ground, shaping the earth...


    An outline for a simple and practical base was already surfacing.


    And it had only been two hours since they arrived in this odd and mysterious other world.


    ...


    200 miles to the east of the base, there was a human city.


    Inside the city hall, the polished floorboards were shining and the bright sun was flushing in through the lattice window. As the light reflected on the floor, the whole room was brightly lit, like the halls of heaven.


    Ninther Mino walked into the hall with heavy steps. The crisp sound of stone clashing against metal rang throughout the hall as his metal boots stomped on the white stone floor.


    As the only witcher who had advanced to a Spellbreaker Knight in the City of Herdurand, he was an important character for all the Witcher Knights.


    The glimmering knight''s armor, the metal gloves with their clearly defined edges, the delicate knight''s sword by his waist, the polished and shiny war boots, the metal bow on his back and the covered helmet under his arms.....When you put all this together along with his stalwart body measuring up to 2 meters and his handsome face, made him the dream prince of all noble ladies of Herdurand City.


    Four similarly equipped witcher knights followed behind him as he stepped into this gorgeous and elegant city hall.


    The government officials sat around the long table stopped their boring speeches and turned to look in horror at these uninvited guests.


    Grand Duke Lington who was seated at the head of the table rang his golden bell and summoned his bodyguards. Then he spoke, unhappy: "Ninther, this is the sacred city hall, not your witcher knights'' base. When not summoned, you have no right to step in here! "


    Grand Duke Lington was the owner of the City of Herdurand. In fact, he was the ruler of the entire Dulan Province. Within his lands, there were more than 3 major cities with a population over 100,000 men, and 16 smaller cities with a population below 30,000 men. The number of towns and villages were so numerous it was impossible to do a detailed count.


    He had one of the most power even amongst the nobles of the Continent of Witchers.


    Sadly, even with this much power, he had no means to make the arrogant witcher knights bend the knee. After all, all witcher knights on the continent belonged to the Central Kingdom. They took orders directly from the king himself. Even the nobles had no say.


    On the Continent of Witchers, this group of people was the ones who dominated and ruled. These powerful knights who had powerful Battle Skills, these witchers who were loyal to the king. And the purpose of their existence.....was to purge the continent of the evil spellcasters that appeared.


    In this proud nation where witcher knights ruled, several casters that awakened their evil powers would appear every year. They didn''t have tough physiques, or a will of steel from constant training, or knight''s equipment crafted to fit. But they could summon mysterious and evil flames out of thin air and freeze enemies in ice or let the dead climb out of their graves...


    These evil casters were a hidden but terrible threat to society and humans. Thus countless righteous and noble knights responded to the king''s summons. Together, they ran to every rural and desolate village or town to judge and execute each and every evil caster who had exposed themselves.


    These noble knights called themselves witcher knights and formed a massive but organised power structure. And this Ninther Mino who stood before their eyes right now was a respected witcher knight who had completed their advancement: a Spellbreaker Knight.


    These witcher knights had a very respected status. They weren''t even bound by the laws set by the nobles. It was a pain for every government official in cities where there was a witcher knight base.


    This bunch of witcher knights marched in recklessly just as Grand Duke Lington was about to shout at his subordinates over the reduced tax profits.


    This made the Grand Duke so much angrier!


    ...


    Golden Ticket = 20. Goal achieved.


    ...


    1732 Words

 Chapter 168 - 168: Precognition

    The handsome Ninther was not bothered by the Grand Duke''s anger.


    Ever since he became the youngest Spellbreaker Knight of the Dulan Province, he had been the leader of the witcher knights here.


    Eliminating the darkness, protector of the weak, fearless!


    This 28-year-old youthful knight followed the precepts passed down by the holy knights strictly. He avoided all luxurious entertainments of the nobles and put all his efforts and energy into "the purging of evil".


    "Your honor, Grand Duke Lington, I heard you have a subordinate known as Sage Goth? I wish to see him immediately! "Ninther stood tall before the Grand Duke and said his target, ignoring the threatening looks of the bodyguards behind the Duke.


    Although the words were those of a request, coming out of his mouth, they sounded nothing like a request!


    The Grand Duke''s face turned green in an instant. He waved the exquisite ruby-adorned scepter about in anger as he shouted furiously: "Goth is the guiding mentor I hired for my daughter. He is no Sage! He is not the caster you lot are looking for! You have no right to search a Grand Duke''s property..."


    Unfortunately, the Grand Duke''s protests were completely ignored by Ninther. He stared coldly at the Duke''s eyes, spitting out one word at a time: "I am not here to search for evidence, and I have no intention to bother this Sage Goth. Perhaps..."Ninther paused for a moment as he said this:"Perhaps we may need the powers of this Sage Goth for certain matters! "


    Even the Grand Duke Lington couldn''t help but be surprised as he saw the hesitating look on Knight Ninther''s face. Before he could reject Ninther again, a crisp and sweet female voice rang out from a corner of the hall.


    "Follow me if you wish to see Teacher Goth. "


    When he heard this familiar voice, the Grand Duke couldn''t help but exclaim:"El, it''s you? Quick, go back. Here..."


    A beautiful girl of about sixteen years of age and wearing a light yellow dress walked in from a small door in the corner of the hall. It was the Grand Duke''s daughter Elena.


    "Father, don''t stop Knight Ninther! This is also the will of my teacher. "


    The Grand Duke frowned and spoke: "Since it''s Goth''s will as well, then bring Ninther to see him! But these witcher knights will have to stay here. "


    Ninther nodded and turned to leave some orders with his companions before following Elena into the inside of the Duke''s home.


    The place where Sage Goth lived was a tall tower. The only path to the tower was a narrow spiraling stone staircase. Ninther had a huge build, and the armor on his body was exceptionally heavy, which caused occasional clattering as he walked up the steps and his armor clashed against the walls.


    Ninther couldn''t help but sneer as he watched the Duke''s daughter in front of him.


    That Goth knew it the moment I arrived. The title of "Sage" was well deserved!


    But he was here to visit this "Sage" Goth, with orders from above to seek help. He had to tolerate this fellow and wait for another time to fulfill his oath even though this fellow had already revealed a trace of his true identity as a "spawn of evil."


    On the way, Ninther finally couldn''t suppress the urge to ask: "Lady Elena, what do you learn from Sage Goth?" "


    "Language, Script, and History! "Elena replied without even turning her head. Her tone was cold and distant like she didn''t want to speak more.


    "He probably teaches u astrology as well, doesn''t he? " Ninther couldn''t help but add.


    Elena''s petite body shook. Still not turning her head she spoke: "Not all knowledge is evil! Even the king recognises the use of astrology. What is it, Knight Ninther? Do you intend to kill everyone who has learned astrology? "


    Ninther didn''t reply.


    The stone tower had five levels. Sage Goth was waiting for them on the fifth.


    This was a wise old man wearing a long red robe with a monocle on his nose bridge. The long hair covering his shoulders were snow white, and his face was covered with wrinkles. His eyes were brown but the light had faded from the pupils, leaving only a sharp glint at the bottom of his eyes that gave him an air of refinement.


    Ninther looked all around this narrow room. Although there were books and parchments laid everywhere, there was a sense of order amongst the mess. There were more books of every kind on a huge bookshelf that reached all the way to the roof in the corner of the room.


    Books weren''t all that valuable in the Continent of Witchers, but they were still something that was beyond the reach of peasants. Looking at the size of it, Ninther suspected that even the public library of Herdurand paled in size and value to the collection here!


    "You must be Goth! I am Ninther. I am here under the orders of ....." Ninther stepped forward and loudly introduced himself, beating his chest once as he did so. Sadly, he was interrupted by the old man.


    "Of course it was Wells that sent you! Otherwise, you would not have been able to see me! "An odd smile appeared on the elderly''s face:"He must have sent you to ask me whether the nightmares of the past month were real. "


    Ninther''s face couldn''t help but twitch.


    The messenger pigeon from Ayran Castle, the headquarters of the witcher knights had arrived in his hands for less than an hour and this hermit already found out?


    Ninther coldly asked:"This must be the special ability you awakened, isn''t it? Is it precognition or divination? Or is it soul enslavement? "


    His tone was full of disdain. It wasn''t the first believer of evil of this sort that he had judged himself.


    Precognition, it allowed the believers of evil to sense looming danger before it happened, and avoid the witcher knight''s pursuit accordingly. The greatest weakness of this ability was its limitation to sense only things that had to do with oneself. It could not be used to help others.


    Divination was slightly better. The user could tell the future fate of certain events through the use of ceremonial equipment such as animal bones, cards or crystal balls. Unfortunately, the results of divination were often vague and unclear, unlike the clear future images of precognition.


    As for the last type, soul enslavement. This was an extremely cruel and terrifying evil spell. Casters that awakened to this ability could enslave the souls of the dead and bend them to their will. They could be used to gather information, uncover private secrets, or even drain the life of the living..... Whichever it was, they were all evil acts that Ninther hated with a passion.


    Sage Goth laughed in the face of the young knight''s provocation. He didn''t mind at all. Instead, he took out a crystal ball the size of a duck''s egg from his wide sleeves and passed it to the knight.


    "What Wells wishes to know, I have already etched into this crystal ball. You only need to deliver this crystal ball to his hands. "


    Elena, who had been silent by a side, opened her eyes wide in shock, looking at her teacher with worry in her eyes. With the Grand Duke''s protection, the witcher knights would have no means to discover her teacher''s identity as a medium as long as he insistently denied his possession of any special abilities. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But now that he had taken out the crystal ball with his own hands, he was practically admitting his identity to Ninther the Spellbreaker Knight.


    This...


    As expected, Ninther couldn''t help but unsheath his sword and point it at the old man''s heart when he saw the crystal ball, even with the special orders from headquarters.


    "Hmph! As expected, you are a heretic. You had better follow me to see Sir Wells in person after all! "


    "Don''t..."Elena shouted as she charged forward to protect her teacher, but was stopped by the elderly man.


    Even with a sword to his chest, there was no fear on his face. Instead, he asked calmly:"Truly the evil-loathing Ninther! But Sir Ninther, I have a question for you. How old do you think I am? "


    The opponent''s calm conduct confused Ninther.


    Sage Ninther was someone specifically named to be seen by the only Fourth Grade Holy Knight that was revered by all witcher knights. If the old man truly had precognitive abilities, why did he not run but wait here when he found out that I was coming?


    Hesitation appeared on Ninther''s handsome face. Probingly, he asked:"Eighty?" "


    This was a very high age for the Continent of Witchers, where the average life expectancy was 70.


    Sage Goth smiled as he shook his head. Suddenly, his tone turned desolate and low.


    "27! I''m only 27 this year! "


    It wasn''t just Knight Ninther, even Elena couldn''t help but let out a gasp of surprise.


    Although they had been together for 5 years, she didn''t know of her teacher''s secret.


    "Ever since I awakened the powers of a medium at the age of 13, I have aged several times faster than everyone else. Every time I used my ability of precognition, my life force is what is drained from me! I have had the same nightmare every night for the past 5 years in particular. A group of...A group of powerful demons appears in our world, taking away all that we have, turning everyone into slaves..."


    "This is not my divination. This is what our world wishes to tell me! So I used certain means to pass my dream on to you Sir Wells. Perhaps, in this world, only a powerful person such as himself can lead the people and fight against the terrifying demons in the dream in unity..."


    Sir Ninther''s face became deathly pale.


    The matter before his hands was clearly out of his control. He didn''t even have any means to determine the truth of the words of this believer of evil. Even though his instincts forged by constant fighting against believers of evil told him not to trust any of them, but deep in his heart, Ninther had a feeling that this Sage Goth was trustworthy.


    Sage Goth thrust the crystal ball into his arms as Ninther was hesitating. He then turned to the window, and with his arms spread out, shouted to the skies.


    "Mother World, I have done what you asked me to. Ever since you drew me into that terrifying dream world, I have wanted to ask, does our world have a future? Mother World, if you hear me, please tell me..."


    As he shouted, a holy milk-white light surfaced around his body. But Goth didn''t seem to realise. He stumbled as he sunk into a terrifying dream world.


    "No...no...no...this shouldn''t be how it is! Our world shouldn''t be like this...Mother World, please let me see the face of that terrifying demon..."


    Sage Goth''s body shook as he said that.


    "So this is how you look! Demon...I''ve seen you..."Sage Goth turned around, his face flushed with excitement:"Quick, tell Wells, they are at the eas...aghhhhhhh..."


    Ninther could see clearly. Just as Sage Goth was about to say something in his fervor, his eyes had been poked blind by someone. Two bloody holes were what was left.


    A spooky voice rang out in the stone room.


    "I couldn''t have imagined that there were prophets in this world that could communicate with the plane consciousness. Hmph! Worthless worm, since you dared to spy on me, then you should die! "


    Following his words, the blood and flesh all over Goth''s body withered quickly, leaving him as a pile of bones in seconds. Then, under the horrified gaze of two people, they turned into a pile of grey powder...


    Far away from the eyes of the two, in the forward base of the Mages, a human-shaped projection bound by heavy chains of laws opened his eyes, poked the air before him twice lightly and blew a breath of air.


    But even such minor actions triggered the retaliation of the chains of laws.


    The projection grunted. He expended huge amounts of energy to stabilise this body, ensuring it didn''t break down.


    Finally, after a long time, he shut his eyes again and went back to his eternal silence.


    ...


    2086 Words

 Chapter 169 - 169: Information

    Three days later.


    Leon and the others who had been out to scout had returned to the base, bringing with them the information they had collected.


    Although it had only been three days, the once grassy field where the Mages had arrived in was already looking like a small town.


    A tall stone house stood from the ground, covering the projection and the space vortex within. There were no windows on the structure, only an arcane entrance in the front. Row after row of wooden and stone houses were built with the stone building in the center, spread around on the outside haphazardly.


    The ones responsible for guarding the outer rim of the forward base was a bunch of voodoo beasts of all sorts. There were lions, tigers, jaguars and many more, but without exception, there was the special flux of magic organs from within their bodies. The voodoo beasts with the power of intermediate apprentices might not be much to an Mage, but they were most suited to deal with any normal native or beasts that wandered into the base by accident.


    On the other hand, the security system within the base were the numerous and plentiful magic arrays and troops of weird-looking robotic beasts. These robotic beasts were clearly exquisite products from the Castle in the Sky, as each of them had the power of an advanced apprentice. Considering their bodies that had high resistance to damage, with good cooperation, surrounding and killing a pseudo Mage was an easy matter.


    Besides all this, there were also a few winged dragon knights.


    Judging from their appearance, these were created by using voodoo magic to modify some sort of humanoid being and sew them to the back of winged dragons, giving them the ability of both flight and long ranged attacks. The ingredients were probably taken locally and the product just finished, considering their bloody bodies.


    The entire lower half of the humanoid beings had been amputated and forcibly merged onto the winged dragons back due to the rushed job. It was still bloody where the flesh of the two creatures met. The thick corpse-weaving thread could still be seen clearly.


    A winged dragon knight beat its wings and stopped Leon''s path as he returned.


    The humanoid on the dragon''s back was a male with a large physique and solid muscles, baring his chest. In his hand was a magic weapon shaped like a spear with light blue light flickering about it. He bent his body and sniffed. Perhaps because he sensed the thick Mage''s smell around Leon''s body, he flew back into the woods after bowing and giving his respects.


    Leon paid no attention and walked boldly forward. Twenty or so clay golems dragged a dozen large forest creatures behind them as they followed behind Leon. The pained howls and screams of the creatures filled the woods as they were dragged into the base.


    Mage Keoghan, his robe still caked with blood, came out after hearing the calls of the creatures. An expression of wild surprise and delight filled his face as he saw one after another living sabertooth elephants, four-arm apes, swamp alligators, and gryphons.


    "Hahaha...Just in time! I was missing ingredients! Quick, send them over..."


    Only then did Leon realise that Keoghan also had such talent on the modification and creation of voodoo beasts. All the new voodoo beasts he saw earlier were probably his handiwork. It''s important to note that those winged dragon knights each had the power of a pseudo-Mage!


    The temporary base leader rubbed his hands together in excitement as he ordered the clay golems to send the "ingredients" into the giant slaughterhouse. Looking at the nimble and agile golems, Keoghan couldn''t help but exclaim: "I have long heard of your amazing talent in the creation of elemental golems. It seems you live up to your reputation." If this had been the case, you should have gone down the route of the Profound Mages. Being a puppet master is not bad at all. "


    Leon was standing beside Keoghan when he shook his head and spoke: "The roots of an Mage, ultimately, lies within oneself. My talent in creating puppets might be enough for me to dominate for a while, but it''s not beneficial for my own growth. Between a powerful First Grade Puppet Master or a weak Second Grade Elementium Mage, I would rather pick the latter! "


    Keoghan stopped smiling and narrowed his eyes as he said, surprised: "To think you already have such an understanding so quick after your advancement! Very good...If that Eclivel had understood this 300 years earlier, perhaps he wouldn''t have landed such a tragic end..."


    Leon remained silent.


    Keoghan smiled awkwardly as he instructed Leon: "Go rest! We might still need to have a meeting tonight! "


    Leon nodded. One after another, the clay golems walked to his side and dispelled the earth Elementium and dirt that formed their bodies, their summoning cores lightly landing in Leon''s hand.


    Leon kept the summoning cores and swiftly went to a row of the simple stone houses.


    A dozen of stone houses of the same design stood in a row. Some of them were shut tight, the emblems of their occupants etched onto the door, glowing with magic. Other stone houses were wide open, with nothing inside them.


    The houses with emblems on the door were clearly occupied, so Leon just picked one of the empty houses and went in. Following a red flash on the door, the image of a burning iron fist raised towards the sky appeared on the stone door. This was the emblem Leon chose for himself, meant to express the path he had chosen for himself.


    He had already checked earlier. There was no sign of Bleia or Blake''s emblem. It seemed that they had yet to return. Leon crossed his legs on the stone bed and shut his eyes as he communicated with the chip.


    "Chip, what''s the progress on the plane law analysis? "


    "Beep, current progress is 97.14%. Estimated time remaining: 3 hours 27 minutes 11 seconds....."


    Leon nodded in satisfaction. He could finally relax.


    Those who have never broken into another world would never understand the terror of plane suppression. Like a lion tossed into a sea, the change in environment would make every action in daily life so much more difficult and painful.


    Mages were, after all, a being that rooted their strength in the laws of the world. Once there was a change in laws, they would feel the deepest and most intense of its effects. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ever since he entered this plane, Leon had felt like his nose and mouth were covered with a thick wet cloth. Even breathing had turned into a chore. His Spirits that had replaced his eyes had been suppressed within his body, with no means of extending outwards, barring him from detecting every single little change around him as he had before.


    This limited his powers greatly.


    A lion might not survive if it fell into a sea, but Mages were way smarter than that. As long as they could analyse the source of the change in plane laws, Mages could adjust the laws and allow themselves to become accustomed to the environment and regain their strength.


    ...


    The Mages'' meeting happened in tandem with dinner.


    A large campfire was burning in the middle of the camp. The seven Mages sat around it, enjoying golden ribs cooked to perfection as they listened to the information gathered by Leon, Bleia, and Blake.


    Mages were always a group of clear-headed and knowledgeable individuals.


    Even though Keoghan hadn''t set out any specific tasks for them, Leon and the others had already swept the forest, drew a map, investigate this plane''s power structure and completed many other tasks.


    It could be safely said, in just three days, the three had made sure that even half a large-sized beast or magical being could no longer be found within 25 kilometers of the base. The three each threw a ball of smoke to Keoghan. After he inhaled it into his body, he waved his hand and the previously flat ground started to rise like waves.


    Once all the earth Elementium in the air had gradually settled down, the geography of the base''s surroundings was perfectly presented before everyone. The ridge of mountains, the cascade of rocks, the dense forests, the flowing rivers, the dark caves, the deep canyons....Without needing to step out of the base, they had a clear view and understanding of the surrounding''s geography.


    The first to speak was Blake. His voice was hoarse and low and had a tinge of a bug''s hissing attached to it.


    "I did not discover much in the direction I went. After going past 15 kilometers of forest, there is a human settlement. I found a small human city there. There is also a small town and three to four villages nearby.


    I caught several natives from a small village and interrogated their souls. This place is located in the east and is known as the Great Greenland Forest. As for the powerful beings of their plane, they had very little knowledge of them. I only managed to find out that the organisation known as the Witcher Knights are pretty powerful. There''s nothing more besides these.


    If we really want to understand this plane''s power structure, we might have to enter the human city for a clue..."


    The next to speak was Bleia.


    "The direction I went in should lead towards the depths of the forest. The deeper I went, the denser the trees and the more beasts and magical creatures there were. Some of them tasted pretty good! "Bleia licked her red lips: "I found the rallying points of several large magical beings. There''s the man-eating demon''s tribe. There are two dozens adults and they are located here...There''s a group of poison dragons of around a dozen located here...There''s a den of gryphons with 5 adults and 3 cubs here..."


    Bleia lived up to her reputation as an agility-focused Mage. In just three days, her investigation radius covered a range of 100 kilometers. Judging from her familiarity with the locations, she had probably personally visited each rallying point. Of course, this meant she had already had a feast of her own!


    Then it was Leon''s turn.


    "The forest on my side is less dense. 10 kilometers of trekking brings you outside of the forest. There are 3 small human villages at the edge of the forest here.....here.....and here...One of the villages is pretty developed. I saw many mercenaries and hunters there. Their range of activity is pretty large and are very likely to wander into our base.


    I caught a mercenary and from the information I got, the main fighting force of this plane is that group of witcher knights. From his depictions, it seems that a normal witcher knight is at the standard of an apprentice Mage, and the so-called Spellbreaker Knights can reach the level of a First Grade Mage.


    There the Spellbreaker Knights there are Radiant Knights, Dragon Knights, and Holy Knights. Unfortunately, this means that we might encounter a group of magic fighters that will hate Mages with a passion in this plane. "


    The power structure of both planes was very different. It would need an actual confrontation for both parties to have a better understanding of the other''s abilities and powers. But based on Leon''s information, it seems that it is highly possible that a Fourth Grade opponent will appear in this plane.


    For this group of First Grade Mages, that was way too powerful!


    ...


    1943 Words

 Chapter 170 - 170: Scorpios

    Based on the information brought back by Leon and the others, along with Keoghan''s conversations with Lord Sarubo, the Mages quickly determined that this was a small-sized material plane where the highest tier of power was limited at the Fourth Grade.


    Magic Elementium was lacking.


    Arcanology was incomplete.


    The characteristic of magic in the entire plane hindered the casting of spells. This meant that way more effort had to be put in to successfully cast spells. Even so, there was still a rather high chance of the spell failing.


    The powerful Elementium manipulators and casters could not maintain their class advantage before the classes that relied mostly on physical damage due to the difficulty of casting. That was why the terrible situation of witcher knights oppressing casters happened on this plane.


    How were a bunch of "barbarians" wearing heavy armor, carrying metal shields, riding horses and wielding swords fit to chase the great casters all over the world?


    Even though the Mages present had no sympathy for the casters of this plane, but just thinking of their "counterparts" being hunted like wild beasts by a bunch of knights that could only brandish about their barbaric and uncivilised strength filled them with anger.


    Leon couldn''t help but worry once he thought of how low the plane''s limit of power was. He asked Mage Keoghan: "Sir Keoghan, if this plane can only hold power up to the Fourth Grade, then Lord Sarubo....."


    Leon didn''t finish his sentence, but everyone present understood.


    Lord Sarubo was a terrifying Sixth Grade Great Mage. With how much power he had, would he be able to squeeze into this plane?


    Before Keoghan could reply, a deep but gentle voice rang in everyone''s mind.


    "Of course not! This plane could never accommodate all of my powers. "It sounded like that Great Mage Sarubo''s voice:"I have no intention to project all my strength in. All I need is just a fraction of it. What you all need to do now is to protect this place and wait for the arrival of the reinforcing Mages.


    They will build an Mage''s tower here.


    Once the tower is done, then I may be able to project all my strength within the radius covered by the Mage''s tower. Then, if the so-called "powerful beings" of this plane dare come, I will be able to put them to eternal rest! "


    Leon gritted his teeth and asked hesitatingly: "Then why didn''t you let a Fourth Grade Mage break into this world first? It must be easier for him to enter this world than for you too! "


    "A Fourth Grade Mage?" Hahaha...Little brat, you underestimate the plane''s suppression of Mages. One one end you have to maintain the space vortex so it''s not closed by space''s ability to regenerate, on the other you need to suppress the flux and commotion of the space vortex such that it is not detected by the outside world, all while battling against a powerful plane consciousness. Do you think a Fourth Grade Mage is capable of this? "


    Several Mages nodded their heads.


    They had an in-depth and thorough experience the past few days. The various pains brought about by the plane suppression of a hostile world had almost driven them insane.


    If a Fourth Grade Mage had been put in Lord Sarubo''s position, would he be able to maintain his battle strength under this heavy suppression and limitation? Could a Fourth Grade Mage at his limits maintain his power advantage before the enemy if he was attacked by an individual of the same tier from this plane?


    At that moment, everyone present went silent as they contemplated the meaning behind the words of the projection of the Great Mage.


    If they hadn''t heard wrong, this forward base is probably the safest place on this plane. At least for the Mages, this was the case!


    If they met an unopposable powerful enemy outside, they could lure them here and use the power of the Great Mage''s projection to vanquish the enemy. Of course, this was only possible after the Mage''s tower had been built. Before the tower was constructed, the amount of power the Great Mage''s projection could spare was very limited and needed to be used with great care.


    Everyone wanted to ask what tier of power was the amount the Great Mage could spare currently, but this concerned classified information about this invasion. Asking such a question would only invite the doubts and suspicions of the Great Mage. Everyone decided to remain silent instead.


    The Great Mage needed one month''s time of buffer to bring in the second batch, having brought this first batch over. This information alone already hinted at the amount of power he had. Thus several quick-thinking Mages had silently begun to make estimates of their own while changing the topic of conversation to questions on spells.


    The following task assignment remained the same as before. The 4 clan Mages were responsible for the construction and furnishing of the base, while Leon and the others were responsible for the outer rim. But this time there were no limitations!


    Mage Keoghan set out strict requests for the three before they left.


    They were to lie low for the time being and not alert or draw the enemy''s attention to anywhere near the base. In the meantime, the three Mages had to use all the means at their disposal to plant eyes within the ranks of the native humans, turn the forces of the enemy to their side and use them to monitor all regions near the base.


    If there were small groups of enemies, the three could secretly kill them depending on the situation. If the enemy forces came in with large numbers, then they had to try to redirect them to another region. At least before any unopposable Second Grade opponents appear, the three would not get any reinforcements or assistance from the base.


    The three had already expected this. There was nothing to complain about. After a quick rest at the base, they set off on their journey once more.


    ......


    Colca Village, a tiny village close to the Great Greenland Forest.


    There were many of such simple villages within the Greenland Forest. They were the kind of extremely small villages where you would be able to see all the houses from one end of the village. The total population of the village did not even reach 60.


    Due to the numerous beasts within the mountains, most of the residents were hunters. Years hunting had given them the ability to deal with beasts, as well as proficiency in bows and setting traps.


    Most slept early in the mountain villages.


    The sky had just gone dark, but already there were little lights to be seen within the village.


    In a small wooden house by the edge of the village, seven or eight men dressed like hunters were warming themselves by a fireplace, the steam rising from the wooden cups in their hands obscuring the concern on their faces.


    "We can''t go on like this! It''s been half a month since we saw the tracks of a large beast. I went to the beast trap on the east to see. There was absolutely no catch. "A hunter with a scar on his face started the conversation.


    "Yea, it''s been really weird recently, almost like all the beasts has gone into hiding...."


    "It''s the same over at my side...Even 15 kilometers deep, I still can''t even find wild chickens or ducks..."


    "Yea..."


    ...


    Everyone chattered and discussed, with plenty of confusion and incomprehension in their words.


    "Could a scary magical being have shown up? "A smaller built hunter asked out of the blue. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All of a sudden, everyone went silent.


    Nothing was scarier than running into a magical creature for these hunters making a living in the woods. Even though they were well equipped to deal with forest beasts, but they would have no chance to even escape if they met a magical creature.


    "Those creatures all live deep in the mountains and have their own bases. They shouldn''t come out for no reason, right? "A young hunter couldn''t help but ask.


    "The herd splitting off, avoiding disasters, loss in a tribe war, or the appearance of an even stronger magical creature...This could all make those scary creatures move their homes..."An experienced veteran hunter replied coldly.


    Everyone fell silent again.


    "How about we gather tomorrow and explore the depths of the forests? After all, we can''t just let this problem be..."A hunter asked probingly.


    His suggestion immediately got the agreement of everyone, and the discussion heated up.


    But just as everyone was in the midst of their passionate discussion, "dududu" came the sound of the door being knocked.


    Everyone was surprised.


    It couldn''t be someone from the village. Otherwise, they would just walk in. Who would knock the door so politely in the cold wind? But their village was on the waist of the mountain. The cliffs were steep and the roads were windy and hard to traverse. How could someone have made it here after dark?


    Also, many traps had been laid around the perimeter of the village to prevent wild beasts from breaking into the village in the night.


    "Who is it? "The owner of the house stood up and asked in a gruff voice.


    No one replied, but the knocking on the door didn''t stop.


    Just as everyone felt a chill run through their hearts, a weird chittering sound came from above. With a "bata" sound, some odd things began falling from the roof onto their bodies.


    "They are scorpions..."


    A hunter with a sharp eye shouted in surprise and began to shake his body, trying to chase away these black scorpions he had never seen before. But following light stings all over their body, the hunters froze. A sensation of paralysis they have never felt before spread through their bodies.


    The hunters that had been stung by the scorpions'' tail froze on the spot, their mouth and tongue mildly shaking, their eyes reflecting an expression of fear and terror, but they had lost all ability to move.


    One after another odd scorpion with bloated abdomens appeared in the house under their terrified gaze and crawled across their bodies onto their faces. Using their sharp joints to open their mouths, the odd scorpions dove inside without hesitation.


    Every hunter looked in horror at their closest companion. They could very clearly see a bloated spot slowly moving down the throats of their companion. They themselves could only feel an intense pain coming from their throats as their trachea and esophagus burst from the insertion of the foreign object. The terrifying scorpion was still tunneling its way downwards!


    They wanted to scream for help, but their throats had been blocked. They wanted to use their hands to dig the scorpion out of their throats, but their bodies were so paralyzed even moving their pinky was impossible.


    Such a scary scene terrified all the hunters. One after another, they eyes flipped over and they fainted in pain. Only the toughest of them, Hanks managed to endure the pain and not faint.


    And so, he had the luck to see the silhouette of the mastermind.


    He didn''t know when, but a mysterious man in a hood had walked into the house and was slowly sitting down by the fireplace.


    In the dim light, Hanks could see the two ghostly green will-o-wisps of eyes and the face that was too ugly for any human eyes under the hood.


    Was this a bug or a human?


    Hanks consciousness sunk into the eternal darkness as he contemplated this silly question.


    ....


    1952 Words

 Chapter 171 - 171: Collecting a little more information

    Blue Hillock City.


    Blue Hillock City was named Blue Hillock because there was a hillock 1.5 kilometers from the city. It was a hillock covered by a field of blue tulips. When the season of blooming came, the hillock was so beautiful it made people never want to leave. For that, it was well-known across the entire Continent of Witchers.


    Even though it wasn''t the blooming season currently, Blue Hillock City was still crowded and lively. Especially when night fell, nobles and merchants on lavish carriages that weaved through one after another entertainment establishments came in endless streams, making the city even more so lively than it was in the day.


    Bleia was high in the sky under the curtain of night. The bright moon shone behind her, complementing her already slim and perfect figure.


    If someone in Blue Hillock city raised their head to appreciate the moon at this moment, they might have seen the silhouette of an elegant and perfect young lady. A pair of large bat wings were opened wide against the wind behind this beautiful girl, adding a touch of mystery and wickedness out of nowhere.


    Even Bleia wasn''t sure when, but she had fallen in love with this feeling of looking down from high above the skies.


    The ignorant city at her feet clamored, ignorant of the terrifying disaster that was about to come. An unrestrained feeling of absolute control rose in Bleia as she looked down from above the night skies.


    This feeling was perfect and alluring!


    The raging winds high up in the sky swept the blood-red cape and made it billow along with the wind. Leather wings lightly flapping, Bleia''s slim body remained still, proudly standing in the skies, as if it was forged of iron.


    This Blue Hillock City was initially Worm controller Blake''s hunting grounds, but after Bleia went to him for a "heart-to-heart" talk with a huge smile on her face, Blake requested to go to the few small mountain villages by the west of his "own initiative".


    Thus Bleia was in charge of this human town, Blake was responsible for blockading the human villages to the west and Leon had to slip into the depths of the forests in the back and capture more flesh ingredients for Keoghan.


    Bleia wasn''t the least bit worried or concerned even though she was forced to part with Leon. She might rely heavily on Leon''s plan usually, but this did not mean that she was an idiot without a brain of her own.


    There would never be an idiot amongst those who managed to become Mages.


    Bleia was already thinking of her action plan for the coming period as she rode the night winds to this small city of only 20,000 people.


    Undercover operation!


    If she wanted to go undercover she had to hide but just going into hiding alone won''t give her information about the outside world. That''s why she needed a more high-profile and more efficient means of going undercover.


    Looking down from the skies, Bleia quickly noted down several important locations from the outline of the buildings. The locations she noted down were all areas where the crowd was the densest and where the lights were the brightest.


    Bleia bit her lip and let out a shriek, then folded her wings and dove down to the city at her feet. Her entire body was like a sharp arrow shot out of a bow. When she was 30 meters away from the ground, Bleia fluttered her wings and her body turned into a cluster of black shadows, merging into the boundless darkness.


    ...


    Tulip Hotel.


    Even amongst the numerous entertainment spots of Blue Hillock City, Tulip Hotel was the most famous and the most classy one of them all.


    It was already late in the night, but still, the plaza before the door of Tulip Hotel was parked full of lavish four-wheeled carriages. On the borders of the carriages carved out of fragrant rosewood, were crest after crest of prominent families.


    In one of the grandest and most lavish rooms of the hotel, four people, one man, and three women were entangled intimately together into a heap of flesh on an exquisite bed. But just as the bald-headed man was on the verge of climax, the door of the room suddenly opened. A tall, graceful and sexy beauty in red armor walked in.


    A bunch of thugs that looked like goons surged in behind the beauty, surrounding the beauty with their numbers. All of them looked at her in anger, but no one dared to block her path. Amongst the group, the few leaders had blood all over their face, with a fresh red swollen handprint on each of their faces.


    His "pleasure time" interrupted, the bald man was extremely angered. Wrapping the blanket around his body, he got out of bed, ignoring the exposed bodies of his female companions.


    Ear-piercing screams rang out in the room!


    "Shut up! Scream and disturb our guest here again...and I''ll toss you naked into Downwater Works.


    Downwater Works was the most well-known ghetto in Blue Hillock City. If they landed there, their fates were obvious. They weren''t scared of being abused by the men, but more scarily were the occasional stories of cannibalism and the hordes of hungry men in there.


    Thus the very next moment, all the screaming stopped!


    "You are the one in charge here? "The Bleia who had broken in had gotten rid of all her inhuman traits. Her appearance was just like that of a female mercenary with tremendous strength.


    But with a slight smile and a ripple in her blue eyes, an intangle power of seduction instantly charmed all the men in the room. Even the few fellows who were beaten up by her had lost the anger in their eyes and were looking at her in a perverted manner.


    "Who are you? How dare you break into my place! Heheh...Young lady, have you never of heard of me, the Bald Eagle? "The man laughed sinisterly as he ran his hand across his bald head.


    Even though he was also affected by Bleia''s innate power of seduction, he was a man of cruel and merciless means as well. The effect of Bleia''s seduction was much less severe, allowing him to maintain his clarity of thought. Of course, this also had to do with Bleia having no intention of seducing him!


    This was just a passive effect due to Bleia''s own ability of seduction!


    "What? You want to talk to me in front of so many people? The great Bald Eagle needs such a display of power just to talk to a weak little girl? "


    The bald man snorted coldly and sent a message to his subordinates with a look of his eye. Soon, someone had gotten his right-hand men, Quicksword Jake and Blackblade Ender to come over.


    The two seemed as if they had put on their clothes in a hurry, but from their steady strides and sharp gazes, it was clear that they were nothing like the goons earlier.


    "Boss..."


    "Boss..."


    The two stood behind the bald man. One was lightly tapping the slender sword by his waist, while the other took out a heavy dagger and toyed with it with his agile hands. The looked at Bleia with cold eyes, occasionally letting out a wicked laugh.


    The bald man managed to calm down with his right-hand men finally by his side. The useless subordinates awkwardly exited the room under his instructions, bringing with them the three naked girls who were pale in the face now.


    When the door had been shut, the bald man threw aside the blanket and slowly equipped the leather armor, bracelet and shield piled in a corner of the room.


    Fully dressed, he crossed his arms and stared arrogantly at Bleia:"Speak! Now you can tell me your goal! "


    Threads the color of blood slowly begin to surface deep within Bleia''s blue pupils. Her heart was filled with endless joy when she looked upon the three people before her.


    Three Pseudo-Mages!


    These three warriors of another world had power equal to pseudo-Mages!


    Bleia smiled. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    A moment later, the door to the room opened wide again.


    The countless goons who were waiting with weapons in hand were shocked to find their arrogant and overbearing boss nodding and bowing before the beauty in red armor. The two right-hand men had also shrunk behind the beauty. They brought a chair over for her to sit on, then offered tea and water. It almost seemed like they were afraid of not offering satisfactory service to the beauty.


    Bleia smiled slightly and sat on the chair. She then used a handkerchief and lightly wiped off the bloodstains at the corner of her mouth.


    On the necks of the bald man and his two subordinates, a pair of small injuries was quickly healing, leaving behind only an undetectable scar.


    Bleia had the ability to Embrace ever since she became a vampire Mage. With this ability, she could create hordes of blood servants loyal to herself. Sadly, she would lose a bit of her blood essence every time she created a new servant. So Bleia could only choose important figures as the target for her Embrace.


    And this bald man who had all of Blue Hillock''s underground world in his palm was undoubtedly a person she had to gain control over. Controlling him alone gave Bleia immense control over the entirety of the city in an instant.


    With the help of Bald Eagle, Bleia quickly understood the power structure and situation of Blue Hillock City.


    The true owner of Blue Hillock was naturally the castellan, Count Vanlier. Bald Eagle was only his subordinate who hid in and managed the underground.


    So, late in the night of the second day, Bleia was secretly sent into the castle after an elaborate dress up.


    Even the 50-year-old Count Vanlier, a man who had a little black beard and the elegant appearance of a gentleman, was astounded by this foreign beauty sent over by his loyal subordinate.


    So, Bleia was boldly sent to the Count''s bed under everyone''s gaze, passing through a troop of elite bodyguards.


    And on the second night Bleia entered Blue Hillock City, its ruler had become her most loyal blood servant and slave.


    In truth, with Bleia''s current power, she could take over this city without much resistance. But to do so without any commotion and without being noticed, she needed to resort to other means!


    To ensure her control was deep and thorough, she even took the effort to Embrace the Count''s remaining subordinates. Of course, these were all individuals who were at a level equal to Pseudo-Mages. In this other world where arcanology was incomplete, the foreign existence of such a thing as a vampire was beyond the limits of the imagination of the natives of the plane.


    By focusing on the important figures, Bleia had become the true owner of Blue Hillock City in just 3 days. She was now a true "Monarch of Darkness" that was hidden away from the rest of the world.


    And the information she had gotten from both official means and underground means quickly and continuously streamed back to the Mages'' base.


    Soon, a message about Witcher Knights drew her attention.


    ...


    1893 Words

 Chapter 172 - 172: Revenge

    A squad of witcher-knights were stationed in Blue Hillock City, since it was the closest city to the Great Greenland Forest.


    Based on the information provided by Bald Eagle, this squad of witcher-knights had left their posts seven days ago. They went into the Greenland Forest after hiring some local mercenaries but had yet to return.


    This meant that the witcher-knight squad was already active in the forest before the Mage squad had entered this world!


    Bleia didn''t dare delay this news. Quickly, she sent it back to the Mages'' base while at the same time she informed Leon, who was catching magical creatures deep in the forest.


    Leon was leading his group of golems in the extermination of a tribe of man-eating demons when he received Bleia''s alert.


    There were a total of twenty-seven members in the man-eating demon tribe; twenty-two of them were adults, while five were children. With a height of 3 meters, a massive physique nearing five hundred pounds, and Strength that could easily reach 14 points, each and every adult male demon had power that could rival a pseudo-Mage. Even the slightly weaker female demons were as powerful as advanced apprentices.


    If a tribe like this was left to the natives to exterminate, it would probably require three hundred to five hundred well-equipped and expertly trained elite warriors to do so. Even if they succeeded in the extermination, at least half the group would die in the attempt!


    Yet in the hands of an Mage, such a task was extremely simple.


    If all he wished to do was slaughter the lot of them, Leon could just summon the Fire Lord, and it would be done. But if he did that, his plan of capturing live specimens would not come to fruition!


    Instead, Leon used a bottle of Weakening Drug to pollute the demons'' water source. While they were weakened, Leon summoned six terrifying stone serpents and captured the entire tribe in one fell swoop.


    An adult male demon possessed 16 points of Physique and 14 points of Strength. Coupled with their incredible regenerative abilities, these demons were comparable to slightly weaker Body Refining pseudo-Mages. Unfortunately for them, this Weakening Drug had been synthesized specifically for this demon tribe. Once ingested, both their Physique and Strength fell below 10 points and severely limited the demons'' power.


    On the other hand, a stone-serpent golem at the pseudo-Mage level had 16 points of Strength and 18 points of Physique. Only when the demons had been infected did the serpents surge forward. They didn''t even attack the demons; instead, they merely used their stone bodies to forcibly constrict the demons into one spot.


    It was then Leon''s turn. Using the Scroll of Voodoo to cast Sleep, he caused all twenty-seven demons to fall to the ground, one after another. Thick wooden bats and stone clubs tumbled from their hands, smashing holes into the ground.


    After instructing the stone serpents to open their mouths and swallow the sleeping demons, Leon could finally turn his attention to the communication crystal..


    Witcher-knight squad...entered seven days ago...


    This information attracted Leon''s attention.


    Calculating the number of days, Leon figured the squad had entered the Greenland Forest before the Mages had arrived. Thus, their goal couldn''t possibly be the Mages'' base. The knight''s mission had to be something else.


    Could it possibly be that some native casters had hidden themselves in the Greenland Forest? And by doing so, did they draw the witcher-knights into the forest? It seemed far-fetched. But given the witcher-knights'' purpose, Leon might just be right!


    Therefore, Leon had the stone serpents send the captured man-eating demons back to base, while also summoning 10 wind critters and dispersing them into the surrounding woods to look for the witcher-knight squad''s tracks.


    The wind critters were low-level golems Leon created using beginner-level wind attribute crystal cores. They weren''t very powerful, and looked liked clusters of swirling wind only one meter high. Their Strength, Physique and Spirit were all less than 5 points. Frankly speaking, their battle strength was completely non-existent. Their only advantage was their high agility and the ability to fly.


    Honestly, this is a redundant statement- it would actually be weirder if a mini-whirlwind made from green air couldn''t fly!


    Leon attached a thread of his Spirit to all ten of the wind critters before letting them go. As they silently floated above the forest canopy, their light green bodies were almost invisible against the background of the blue skies. They wouldn''t attract the attention of enemies.


    This quality was precisely why Leon created them- to be his sentries, his eyes in the sky!


    Ten wind critters meant ten different points of mental sight. Naturally, the information sent back by the critters was also extremely massive. If Leon had to rely only on his Spirit, he could probably only maintain a vague command on each critter. But with the help of the chip, Leon decided not to waste any Spirit on instructing the wind critters on their flight path. Instead, he left it all to the chip.


    The chip would direct the wind critter to meticulously search and patrol above the forest, using the most optimum flight path to cover as much area as possible. Now, Leon only had to find a safe place to rest and silently wait for good news from the chip.


    As expected, when night fell, the chip had good news.


    The witcher-knight squad had been found!


    ...


    On a mountain ridge, forty kilometers away from the Mages'' base camp, three or four campfires had been lit. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though there were many dangerous magical beings in the forest that weren''t afraid of fire- and were even sometimes actually attracted to light- the knights had trekked several dozen kilometers worth of mountain roads after an arduous battle, and needed the fire.


    The mercenaries swiftly set up their tents and sat around the campfire and started to prepare a feast for dinner.


    A wild boar caught on the way here was skinned, had its organs removed, and was washed in the river. The mercenaries then put a wooden stick through it and slowly roasted it over the fire. The experienced mercenaries rotated the stick while they used brushes to evenly slather the boar with spices and sauces they had prepared beforehand.


    An amber-hued oil seeped from the pork. It had been roasted to a perfect golden color. The oils dripped onto the flaming coals below, sizzling and releasing a fragrant, thick aroma that filled the air.


    The joy of a magnificent victory filled the entire camp.


    The ones bustling about the camp were all the hired mercenaries. The thirteen witcher-knights, on the other hand, were helping each other out of their heavy armor and performing basic treatment on their wounds.


    Today their squad successfully located the den of heretics, hidden deep within the Greenland Forest, and trapped all seven of the heretic spellcasters within. After an insane battle, the knights managed to capture a single spellcaster and killed the other six. Everyone in the squad had been injured, but there were no casualties as of yet- much to the knight leader''s relief.


    As for the four mercenaries who had died in the battle, they were beneath the consideration of the leader of the knights. Mercenaries put money before anything else, and as long as he gave them the remainder of the promised reward, they would be nothing but thankful. Not even a drop of dissatisfaction would enter their hearts.


    Mercenaries had always done these kinds of dangerous jobs!


    Ever since they accepted the request, they had all mentally prepared for the possibility of never returning. Now that they had completed the mission, and Sir Knight had promised them grand rewards, even the pain of losing four of their friends was quickly replaced by their excitement for the future.


    Laughter was everywhere in the camp, and a boisterous atmosphere filled the place.


    A scrawny silhouette, bound tightly at the hands and feet, formed a strong contrast to the celebrating knights and mercenaries. Strictly speaking, he was still a teenager who had yet to come of age! Extended periods of malnutrition made his entire body weak and skinny. His body, hidden underneath a tattered grey robe, was extremely scrawny, to the point you could see his ribs.


    The skin not covered by his clothes was covered with blackish green bruises and numerous small scars. A rope was tied around his mouth, holding a rough stone that acted as a gag. This was to prevent him from casting spells in secret!


    Unable to chant or use hand seals, the boy- who had just recently awakened to that strange power- was completely incapacitated. He could only slant his body and lean on the roots of the trees, glaring at each smiling face in the camp with eyes of vengeance.


    These were all his enemies!


    It was these people that made him run from place to place, made him homeless despite having a family, and forced him to roam about lonely forests and faraway lands where nobody lived, like a lonely phantom. If it wasn''t for a kindhearted "companion" that led him to the house in the woods, he would probably have ended up being some beast''s meal within Greenland Forest.


    But the calm and peaceful days didn''t last very long. The forest camp that the wandering spellcasters had created was destroyed by the witcher-knights who had tracked them down. And his companions...the companions he had been living with for half a year died underneath the swords and blades of the knights- just like that!


    The knights were murderers, and the mercenaries were their accomplices!


    A flame was lit in his heart as he looked upon their smiling faces. Anger, sorrow, vengeance.... these uncontrollable emotions slowly rose within him, and he had to grit his teeth to hold back his tears.


    If I get the chance to escape, I will use the most cruel and most insane methods to kill all of them! One after another!


    He screamed madly in his heart, but he knew that this was only a delusion.


    His mood quickly changed, and despair engulfed his soul once more!


    At this torturous moment, he opened his eyes wide. Lifting his head in surprise, he stared unflinchingly at a spot above the camp.


    There was something odd there~


    This...this was the unique elemental flux of Wind Elementium!


    There was clearly nothing there in the dark sky above the rowdy camp. However, this teenager sensed the unique concentration of Wind Elementium there thanks to the elemental talent that he had awakened.


    Natural concentration of Elementium? Impossible!


    Just eight minutes ago, there was nothing odd there. There was no way Wind Elementium would concentrate at that spot for no reason!


    The very next second, the teenager had to grit his teeth to avoid shouting out in surprise.


    Three more unique concentrations of Wind Elementium had appeared in the sky, slowly circling there.


    It seemed as if...as if they were searching for something!


    Something was about to occur! Something was about to happen in the camp!


    Hope burned in the teenager''s eyes as he silently observed the surroundings of the camp.


    Soon, he made an even greater discovery.


    ....


    1876 Words

 Chapter 173 - 173: kills

    There was movement beneath the ground!


    He was the only one to sense the elemental flux; perhaps because he was the only one present with any spellcasting talent.


    This world''s arcanology was incomplete and broken. Regardless, he was still able to successfully awaken his elemental talent and become a spellcaster. This demonstrated the monstrous compatibility between his soul''s talent and one of this plane''s laws. If he had been born in the World of Mages, he would certainly have become a powerful warlock that could master spells effortlessly.


    Warlocks were an extremely unique existence, even amongst spellcasters. Most warlocks gained the ability to cast spells due to suddenly awakening the power of their ancestral bloodline, while other warlocks awoke due to their soul''s unique talent.


    Draconic Warlocks and Blood Mages often arose because of their bloodlines, while Necromancers, Alchemists, and Destiny Mages stemmed from inborn talent. The two classifications were distinct and separate, with no chance of a warlock being born with both bloodline and talent!


    In any complete material plane, as long as Elementium was present, there would always be genius talents that could awaken their spellcasting abilities under the influence of the planar laws. Unfortunately, the Witcher Knights had already secured an indomitable position in this plane. As such, the existence of smaller spellcasting groups had been suppressed.


    This was much like the World of Mages. There, Mages were unmatched and ran rampant, squashing the potential of all physical classes. Jobs that once required warriors, rogues, or priests were now dominated by Mages.


    Using the flexible and mysterious nature of spells, along with the division of spell masteries, the Mages managed to create specialized branches to mimic and replace once unique jobs. Body-Refining Mages could be seen as a replacement for the warrior job, while agile Mages like Bleia were no weaker than the strongest assassins. Even priests were replaced by countless alchemical tools, potions, or variant spells.


    Upon closer inspection, one would find that the Mages had slowly made up for their own deficiencies over the tens of millions of years of their development. In doing so, they had become a persistent nightmare of untold small and mid-sized planes.


    Even though the teenager had been bound and could not move, his talent and innate ability still allowed him to see more than the others in the camp. He held his breath and focused on his senses, silently waiting for the arrival of a change!


    ......


    Thirteen witcher-knights and eleven mercenaries.


    Amongst them, there was only one witcher-knight with the ability of a pseudo-Mage. He seemed to be the captain of the squad. There were three knights with the ability of advanced apprentices, while the rest were all rookies at the beginner level.


    They were also equipped with standard knight''s armor, longswords, and longbows. This meant that they had an outstanding mix of close and mid-range attacks, as well as their powerful defense. Observing close range through a wind critter, Leon realized something peculiar about the knights.


    More accurately, he found something mysterious on the knights'' equipments!


    There were obscure patterns made of complicated lines on their shields, longswords, and bows. Furthermore, some crystalline jewels had been embedded in them. A normal person would have thought of them as decorations, but Leon could feel traces of magic on them.


    Beginner-level runic carvings? !


    Using the mysterious patterns to form simple runes, coupled with the magic stones and elemental crystals as energy sources, these knights had found an alternative way of tapping into the powers of Elementium.


    Leon watched the camp silently from a hidden spot and couldn''t help but think it was amusing.


    A bunch of imposter elementium users had replaced the actual spellcasters. This made Leon, who had come from another plane, silently wonder at the oddity and twistedness of the developments here. As expected, if you visited enough realms, you could witness all sorts of odd and unusual situations.


    The World of Mages was definitely a high-magic plane where human Mages were at the top. But this might not be the case in other planes. From what Leon knew, the goblin Grand Duke that Snorlax had been in secret contact with lived in a small plane where it was goblins who held the superior position.


    Humans'' role had been reversed there, and they were the slaves of the "short and stupid" goblin race. However, that kind of treatment was still considered decent. In certain notable planes, humans and humanoids were the livestock of larger magical creatures. Their situation was truly lamentable. A fate so terrible, most could not bear to dwell on the idea.


    After silently contemplating, Leon went back to watching the knights. Those mercenaries, on the other hand, were not worth his attention.


    A bunch of fools that dared to pretend to be swordsmen because they had leather armor and worthless swords, who dared to call themselves godly marksmen just because they had a hunter''s bow on their backs, and who dared to call themselves powerful warriors simply because they had a rotten wooden shield....these kinds of people had neither ability nor talent. All they had was a little strength.


    Thus, Leon ignored them after a quick look at their gear.


    Leon observed them for half an hour. Once he had sufficient information, and the golems had reached their positions, Leon gave the order to attack while he remained hidden in the woods.


    The one in charge of this attack was naturally the chip. It was exceptional at managing and organizing resources. The main force of this attack was the poor Lightning Giant, who had been relegated to be a backup for so long. Using the Fire Lord might have yielded the best results for an all-out attack, but Leon wanted to capture some prisoners. Since the Fire Lord only had indiscriminate and overbearing spells, Leon was worried that these small fries wouldn''t be able to survive.


    Therefore, the Lightning Giant who had been sidelined was now back as the main force on the battlefield!


    [ Author: The Lightning Giant''s entrance will always be so cool. It even brings with it its own sound effects.]


    Sudden flashes of lightning instantly illuminated the night sky, and as the giant appeared in the sky, there was an ominous rumbling of thunder.


    Some mercenaries that were still indulging in the feast had yet to clear their heads. They stopped eating and looked about confusingly while muttering. "So weird! The weather was clearly good. Why''s there lightning?"


    Some of the more alert fighters lifted their heads. Their expressions suddenly fell when they saw the terrifying humanoid wreathed in lightning floating in the sky.


    The difference between the well-trained witcher-knights and the motley crew of mercenaries was evident when faced with this imminent danger. Immediately the witcher-knights tossed aside their silverware and wine glasses, then sprinted to where they had put their equipment. The mercenaries, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at the mysterious giant. It was only until they saw the knights'' actions that they started scrambling for their weapons.


    The inside of the camp was in chaos!


    But why would the Lightning Giant give them the time to equip themselves?


    The giant raised its large, hazy hand as a terrifying thunderstorm quickly formed above the camp. The bright moon and brilliant stars of a once beautiful evening had become covered by a world of piercing lightning and roiling black clouds. One after another, forked lightning struck down from the clouds across the length of the entire camp.


    The effect was still limited by this low-magic plane, where magic was weaker. Otherwise, the magnitude of the thunderstorm could still increase several times. Even so, a weakened thunderstorm already brought about catastrophe to the people panicking below.


    Every blast of forked lightning would change direction when nearing the ground, blasting towards the metal swords and armors of the knights and mercenaries. The intense high-voltage currents crackled through their bodies. Every blast of lightning would affect three or four people before dissipating.


    With every lightning bolt that fell, a few pained silhouettes would stagger and fall within the camp.


    The lightning giant had already reduced the lethality of its lightning as much as possible, under Leon''s request, and concentrated on stunning and crowd control.


    Although the thunderstorm wasn''t considered powerful, having 20 points of damage at best, it still managed to cripple most of the mercenaries in the blink of an eye.


    However, as expected, the witcher-knights were a special job that often crossed paths with "heretic spellcasters". Even faced with an overwhelming flood of magical attacks, they did not lose their cool or scatter. Instead, they squatted, raised their small shields, and activated the unique "rune arrays" within. Using the small energy shields, they blocked most of the falling lightning blasts.


    Protected by the cover from their companions, some of the witcher-knights even pulled out their metallic longbows to start firing waves of elementally charged magic arrows.


    Enchanted longbows? No! It was only a simple and crude embedded crystal. Compared to the developed and perfected enchanted weapons of the World of Mages, the energy efficiency of these crystals were disgustingly low.


    This was such a crude magic bow that even a beginner apprentice from the World of Mages wouldn''t choose to craft such an item.


    Even though these bows were a crude means of utilizing magic, they were already the best magical tools on this plane. The reason the witcher-knights were able to dominate and oppose nobility all over the country was precisely thanks to this "trash equipment" that Leon couldn''t care less about!


    While everyone in the camp had been distracted by the Lightning Giant, the clay golems that had been lying in wait, underground, finally surfaced under the instructions of the chip.


    The knights that had been concentrating on the Lightning Giant felt the ground give out under their feet. The very next moment, they had sunk into a mud pit that appeared out of nowhere. The shocked knights furiously struggled to get free.


    Sadly for them, something more surprising happened!


    The mud pit that had trapped their lower bodies instantly turned back to ordinary dirt. In the blink of an eye, six of the thirteen witcher-knights were magically trapped by the earth. As the knights scrambled to save their companions, clusters of dirt in the camp began to swell, gathering into multiple clay golems.


    Under the knights'' frightened gaze, the clay golems charged towards the knights on legs that were as thick as pillars. At the same time, the figures'' fan-like clay hands and heavy fists swung down in a cascade of blows towards the knights. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The knight captain let out a battlecry as he drew his longsword. With his energy shield in one hand, and a magic longsword with elemental flames in the other, he parried the strikes of the clay golems. Under his directions, the remaining knights also put on their mail, grabbed their weapons, and rushed forward.


    The witcher-knights formed a loose circle, protecting their trapped companions behind them while starting to engage the clay golems.


    Without elementium attached, mundane weapons could not possibly damage the clay golem''s sturdy body. But with the magical weapons, along with the ability to use a type of special knight battle technique, the knights were miraculously able to force a stalemate against the clay golems.


    ...


    1886 Words

 Chapter 174 - 174: level...

    If Leon was still that Mage apprentice with only a couple of golems, the "battle" before him might actually be a little more stimulating and exciting.


    Sadly...


    The number of low-quality golems, like the clay golems, in Leon''s storage belt had already hit triple digits. Even intermediate golems like the stone serpents were being summoned in squads. Leon''s golem army was already shaping up nicely, with the exception that his collection of pseudo-Mage level golems was still lacking.


    The clay golems were extremely tough to deal with when they appeared in such large numbers.


    In all honesty, a clay golem with the power of an intermediate apprentice should have a difficult time fighting against a disciplined witcher-knight. The golems made of clay weren''t as tough as stone golems or steel golems. The crude magical weapons and knight battle techniques of the witcher-knights could reliably destroy half a clay golem''s body with a single strike.


    Unfortunately, this group of witcher-knights evidently lacked experience fighting against a large number of elemental golems. They had no idea that there was an extremely important elementium core within each elemental golem. Far too many of their attacks were wasted on the clay golems'' dense limbs and their soil-like heads.


    Every clay golem that had sustained heavy damage to their limbs would sink beneath the ground. Once they repaired their bodies and emerged again, they were no different from a brand-new golem.


    In the eyes of the witcher-knights, this group of over forty clay golems was an an unending army that continuously sprang from the ground. It was not something that could be destroyed by human strength.


    At the start of the battle, every time an eye-catching knight battle-technique was executed, it would cause two or three clay golems to crumble and fall, resulting in the knights cheering in excitement. But now, as the golems endlessly rose from the dirt, the knights became too exhausted to deal with the heavy mud fists and unexpected mud spears.


    While coughing up blood from their accumulated injuries, more and more witcher knights were bashed to the ground by the clay golems'' fists, and the circle where the battle was taking place slowly began shrinking. Soon, only the knight captain and his two deputies were still resisting. The clay golems surrounding them, however, had already formed three or four layers around them.


    Seeing that the battle was basically over, Leon stopped hiding. With determined strides, he walked out from the darkness. Slowly, he stepped into the disheveled camp.


    His appearance instantly drew the attention of the last three people!


    These three instantly understood Leon to be the mastermind behind tonight''s attack when they saw his black robed silhouette.


    They looked at each other, grit their teeth and made a firm decision in an instant.


    The two deputies shouted as they tossed aside the badly battered shield. Quickly, they drove the flame longswords to the limit of its power and charged towards Leon, cutting down all the clay golems in the way as they did so.


    But just halfway, they were stopped by the horde of golems.


    The two deputies let out another battlecry and their faces flushed red. While they still had the strength left, they threw the two dense flame swords forward. The impact of the swords caused most of the golems in front of them to collapse and fall to the ground.


    The knight captain took advantage of the opening made by his deputies. White light flashed around his body. He became like a sprinting jaguar, breaking through the scattered blockade of golems. Intense flames flared about the longsword in his hand as he slashed at the evil heretic with all his might, the sword leaving behind several afterimages.


    The hot wind slightly lifted the hood from Leon''s head, allowing the airborne knight captain to lock eyes with Leon''s burning pupils.


    Even though the captain''s charge was so powerful, and his burning longsword was but a short distance away from the heretic''s brow, there was no trace of fear or hesitation in his opponent''s burning eyes.


    The knight captain''s heart shook.


    It was the first time in his life he had seen a pair of eyes burning.


    Not a metaphor, nor an illusion, but an actual pair of flaming eyes that were spewing out terrifying jets of flame.


    His flaming longsword blazed like a torch and was now less than a meter away from the heretic''s head. At this distance, with the speed at which he was charging at, his strike would land in a fraction of a second.


    As the captain mustered up all his strength to deliver a crippling blow to those fearsome, flaming eyes, the ground erupted. The ground in front of the heretic''s feet split apart and a large, imposing monster emerged.


    Coincidentally, the captain''s flame longsword sliced into center of the terrifying monster''s stone head!


    Stone shattered; dirt and sand fell to the ground...


    The longsword cut through layers of stone before finally becoming stuck in the thick and dense stone.


    The pseudo-Mage level stone serpent broke apart the ground, bringing with it the flame longsword stuck in its head, as well as the captain himself. As the serpent fully rose from the ground, it exposed its full size of ten meters.. Tons of dirt, sand, and stone tumbled down from its large mouth and around its pitch black eyes, knocking the captain around.


    Even so, the knight captain still did not let go of the longsword stuck in the stone serpent''s head.


    The two deputies, on the other hand, had collapsed due to exhaustion after that last blow. Several clay golems charged forward and quickly restrained them.


    Right now the only person who could still move was the knight captain, still dangling from the stone serpent''s head.


    Leon impatiently snapped his fingers when he saw the opponent''s stubborn and futile struggle. A thunderous blast of lightning from the sky struck the captain. In the very next second he fell like a piece of rotten wood, smashing a hole in the ground where he landed.


    Having cleaned up the last of the resistance, the camp was finally silent.


    One after another, clay golems began cleaning up the camp in an orderly fashion.


    The rubble from the aftermath of the battle was cleared away, and the shattered ground patched up. The campfire was lit again, and a new skinned boar was placed on the rack above the fire....


    The teenager bound to a tree shivered. For a moment he felt like time had reversed back to when events had just started. The surroundings before his eyes were still the same. The only difference now was that the sole person in the camp was the mysterious man in the black robe.


    Of course if you counted him, the prisoner, as well, then there were two!


    "Can you roast?" The man in the black robe said, suddenly turning to look at the teenager.


    The unexpected question caused the teenager to be at a loss. First he nodded, then he shook his head. For a moment, even he wasn''t sure what his reply was.


    "You better get it! Or I''ll kill you!"The man in the black robe released a stream of fire at the tough leather rope binding the teenager, incinerating it into ashes: "Come and help me roast the meat! "


    The teenager flexed his numbed limbs, dusting off the ashes left on his skin.


    The black ashes dispersed, revealing his undamaged skin below.


    The corner of his mouth twitched.


    It''s important to note that the ropes were binding his body tightly and were pressed into his skin. Yet the mysterious spellcaster was able to wield fire to incinerate the rope and leave his skin untouched. This...this terrifying elemental control was worthy of worship!


    In his heart, this mysterious black robed man that had appeared out of nowhere was a powerful deity sent from the heavens to save him. How else would a human be able to control elemental fire to such a precise degree?!


    His heart filled with faith, the teenager took the rock out of his mouth and ran to where the mercenaries had left their stuff, drinking until he was full. Then, he washed his hands and face before walking to the campfire and doing his job of roasting the meat.


    Leon sat by the campfire, but ignored the teenager. He was still silently communicating with the chip in his mind.


    "Beep; battle report...


    "Twenty-three total plane natives captured, of which thirteen are witcher-knights, ten are human mercenaries. One person escaped....


    "Golem squad. Thirty-seven clay golems mobilised, one pseudo-Mage-level stone serpent mobilised. Casualty number is 0...


    "Initial battle strength estimate: witcher-knights are equal in power to apprentice Mages. Individual power merged with primitive magical weapons and knight battle techniques, suited for large-scale battlefield melees..."


    Leon was slightly stunned.


    "How did someone escape? Where is this guy? "


    As Leon had that thought, the chip instantly switched to the viewpoint of a wind critter far away.


    A scrawny and agile mercenary was running for his life in the dark and lightless woods, not even taking a single look behind him. The protruding branches whipped and slashed him, leaving wounds all over his body, but he would not slow down his steps even a little.


    Honestly, Leon had cleared the forest way too thoroughly, causing all the wild beasts to vanish. Otherwise, with the mercenary''s reckless sprint, he would have eventually ended up in the belly of a wild beast. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Beep; this mercenary took advantage of the chaos and escaped the camp. Asking host; should the Lightning Giant be sent to capture or eliminate him?"


    Leon''s eye gleamed for a second before he coldly said, "Based on the direction he''s running, he should be headed for the human town in the west! Worm controller has set up a large web there. Hopefully, that mercenary has the luck to break through. No need to care about him. If he wishes to die, then let him have a taste of Worm controller!"


    "Right. I felt like these knights have very average power individually. They''re only normal people who''ve received special physical training. Why would you rate them as powerful as apprentice Mages?"


    "Beep; the evaluation this time is a conclusion drawn from the combined strength and power of the two parties, viewed from all angles and perspectives...Witcher-Knight is a unique job class that requires the aid of many external objects to unleash their strength. Their standard equipment should be a powerful mount, customized magical equipment, and powerful individual battle techniques. With all this taken into consideration, a fully equipped witcher-knight should not be weaker than an apprentice Mage of the same level..."


    Leon couldn''t help but fall deep into thought when he heard this.


    ...


    1799 Words

 Chapter 175 - 175: Ignorance

    Warm sunshine pierced through the spotty canopy, spilling onto Mok and making him feel a little relieved.


    Some birds nesting in the trees nearby were startled and let out calls high above the canopy, breaking the peace of the woods.


    Even though his head was bruised and the corners of his mouth were swollen from an entire night of running frantically and blindly through the dim woods filled with branches, vines, and bushes, ultimately he succeeded in escaping the nightmare that was in the woods.


    Mok kept turning his head to look, even though nothing had been pursuing him, as if some invisible demon was following right behind him.


    Suddenly, it was bright. The massive forest ended right before a green grass field below a gentle slope. Mok could see the sharp corners of a village''s wooden houses and the chimney smoke from afar.


    Mok felt relieved when he saw this.


    Stumbling out of the woods, Mok ran towards the small mountain village without another look back.


    That was the village of Colca!


    As a small village on the edge of the Greenland Forest, it was not very prosperous. However, it was still a good place to replenish food and water stocks. Therefore many mercenaries and adventurers that made a living in the Greenland Forest enjoyed resting in Colca Village.


    It was deadly silent in the small village.


    Logically speaking, this was the time the village hunters were at their busiest, forming parties and venturing into the woods to check if their traps had caught anything. This was the time when the elderly of the village gathered to chat at one end of the village; while the women started drying animal leather that had just been tanned...


    Mok looked in confusion at the empty village before him. He didn''t even see any of the rowdy brats that were always playing in the village''s clearing.


    Was everyone in the village absent?


    No, someone was in the village!


    Mok was a mercenary after all. Even though he wasn''t good at fighting or killing, his observation skills were well-honed. He could vaguely see the light reflecting off eyes behind each tightly shut wooden door. He could even hear several people breathing heavily.


    "Hank! Thor! Dhaka! Are you here? It''s me, Mok! Why are you all hiding? Do you not recognise me? I''m Mok of the Black Bear Mercenaries..."


    Having heard Mok''s shouts, the door of a wooden house in the village opened. The familiar silhouette of the hunter Hank appeared behind the door. Mok didn''t know why, but Hank did not welcome him warmly as he had done in the past. Instead, he stood silently in the shadow of the door, slowly letting Mok inside.


    The frightened Mok had spent an entire night running through the forest. He had long since been exhausted and hurriedly ran into the house.


    "Hank, I don''t care what you have, just get me something to eat and drink first. I still need to rush back to Blue Hillock City after I get a quick rest. Let me tell you something, Hank. You need to warn everyone in the village not to enter the mountains again for the time being. There..."


    Mok had adjusted his eyes to the darkness inside and was shocked to find all twelve of the village''s hunters inside. They stood silently in the house, their faces hidden by the shadows that obscured their expressions.


    "Are you having a meeting? Don''t you know how to light a lamp?"


    Mok''s words were interrupted by the room turning completely dark. Hank had closed the door!


    With the door shut tight, the inside of the wooden house became even dimmer and more ominous!


    Mok shivered. For the first time, he realised the strangeness of the situation before him.


    He had just taken a step backwards when someone grabbed him from behind. Another two men charged forward, gripping his arms and shoulders with their large, firm hands.


    "What are you doing? It''s me... it''s me, Mok..."


    Mok struggled with all his might. His right hand tried reaching for the dagger at the back of his waist, but the three people surrounding him were thoroughly restraining him. Mountain hunters naturally possessed great strength. And since there were three of them holding him, Mok was unable to fight back.


    Mok, who was cursing and screaming, was approached by a hunched silhouette.


    He had white hair, a white beard, and a face full of wrinkles. It was the elderly village head of Colca Village, Grampa Norham.


    Before Mok could even say Norham''s name, the old man with the compassionate face abruptly opened his mouth. And it didn''t stop opening. The corners of Grampa Norham''s mouth were torn from opening his mouth wider than it could go. It was torn all the way to the base of his ears.


    But it wasn''t a mouth he opened. It was... it was a hideous mandible split into four parts! Small sharp teeth lined the edges of the mouth. It was horrifying to look at! Within the mandibles, a hideous and odd scorpion scurried out of the bloody red throat.


    Grampa Norham slowly walked forward and used the mandibles to pry open Mok''s mouth, spitting the hideous scorpion into his mouth.


    Mok was deathly terrified at this point. He squirmed and struggled with all his strength, letting out muffled and sorrowful wails from his mouth.


    Sadly, nothing he did mattered!


    The horrifying scorpion successfully squeezed its way inside his throat. After a moment, the three men let go of his arms, but Mok was no longer struggling. The pained expression on his face had vanished, turning into a numb and vacant look.


    He put down his arms. A dark red glint lit up deep within his pupils. Like the other hunters, he waited silently in the darkness for his master''s orders.


    At the same time, a nearly invisible wind critter was floating above the wooden house. It seemed to be silently waiting for something. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hpmh! Leon, you''ve overstepped your boundaries!" A mental flux that sounded like the screeching of insects suddenly rang within the consciousness core of the wind critter.


    "This is not overstepping my boundaries! This is just tracking!" Leon''s listless voice was also transmitted through this temporary mental link. "As you can see, I''m tracking my prey! Should I go to Keoghan and complain about you intercepting my prey while I''m hunting?"


    "Hmph! You can go complain if you wish to! Keoghan gave me the order to seal off the mountains and woods here and not let anyone through. I''m merely following my orders. What about you, huh? A powerful flame Mage, yet you let a mere mercenary walk through your territory untouched. Perhaps you should explain your incompetence to Keoghan!"


    "There''s no need... since you''ve intercepted the prey, I''ll let the issue slide. I''m leaving!" Once Leon finished speaking, the wind critter slowly rose, as if it was about to leave.


    "..." Blake, who had been hiding in the darkness, immediately became vigilant.


    For as long as Blake had known him, Leon had never been such an easygoing person. He couldn''t help but feel something was wrong with Leon giving way so easily this time.


    Just as Blake was racking his brains for an explanation, a mental flux was transmitted from the wind critter that was high in the skies now. "Oh right, Blake. Do you always neglect to check your targets'' bodies before turning them into bugmen?"


    Having said that, the wind critter dashed to the woods without even looking back.


    Just then, the temperature of Mok''s body started rising rapidly. Almost instantly, his entire body was converted into a human bomb. When his blood and flesh heated up to the critical limit, he exploded with a bang.


    Most of the "bugged" hunters were standing close together in the house, causing Mok''s explosion to drag the other seven bugmen to their deaths. They melted in agony, riddled with holes by the bone fragments and boiling blood that went flying everywhere.


    Blake had placed a heart-devouring bug, that he bred personally, inside each of the bugmen. In that instant, eight heart-devouring bugs had died. It was easy to imagine the Spiritual pain Blake felt at that moment.


    The very next moment, Blake''s angered screams and curses filled the skies.


    Sadly, the wind critter had already escaped!


    ...


    When Leon brought his prisoners back to the Mages'' base, the teenager followed beside him.


    The teenager''s name was Edwin. His hometown was in a faraway place known as Clyde. There, they produced fragrant grape wine and were famous for having breathtaking scenery. Unfortunately... after he awakened that odd talent, he was forced to leave his hometown and lead a life of vagrancy and hiding.


    Even if he hid in the depths of the Greenland Forests, he would still be tracked down and trapped by the witcher-knights, who were as crazed as mad dogs. Six of the seven people with whom he had lived together for half a year were now dead. He was the only survivor. The witcher-knights had only spared him because they wanted to publicly execute him in the city.


    However, his life had completely turned around after last night. From now on, he was on a completely different path!


    It had only been two or three days, but the base had undergone great change once again.


    Standing tall was a stone tower three levels high. A dozen robotic beasts were levitating on the outside of the tower, carefully carving unique rune patterns on the walls of the tower.


    This was not a true Mage''s tower yet, but after being strengthened with Runes of Toughness, Runes of Magic Resistance, and Runes of Divination-Obscuring, it sufficed as a temporary residence for the Mages. The crafting of higher quality magical items and potions required the use of alchemy labs and alchemy stands.


    That was why the construction of an Mage tower was of utmost importance!


    Upon returning this time, Leon realised that the voodoo beasts in the outer rim of the base had doubled. Furthermore, Leon found traces of the beasts he had delivered previously on some of the stronger Mage-level voodoo beasts.


    These included the Bloodthirsty Man-eating Demons, the Wild Giant Apes and the Toxic Giants...


    These powerful Mage-level voodoo beasts were very crudely crafted. Their biological systems were unstable. Just one look, and Leon could tell that these were inferior products created on the spot. Although these beasts would not suffer any loss to their strength and would easily reach the level of Mages, their life force would only sustain them for one to two months before failing.


    Just as Leon was passing the prisoners over to Keoghan, the teenager Edwin was looking over everything in the base with feelings of worship.


    This was the holy land of spellcasters of his dreams! This was a place he was willing to defend with his life!


    ...


    1819 Words


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 Chapter 176 - 176: A Brewing Storm

    Blue Hillock City, Tulip Hotel.


    A pale but mean-looking thug strode across the crowded lobby and went past the suites filled with waitresses. He walked along an inconspicuous alley into a hall guarded by several tough men, before finally turning into a remote location at the backyard of the hotel.


    The ones waiting here were all young but amazingly talented people. There were even exceptional individuals amongst them that the castellan had recruited from several major cities nearby. Their talents were in various fields, but there was a common similarity to their appearances. The men were handsome, while the women were beautiful. Everyone one of them had pale complexions, vaguely resembling ancient nobility that never went out in the sun.


    These young men and women gathered in small groups in the hall, corridor, and on the sofas, having passionate conversation with each other. Strangely, the use of odd words such as ''blood treats'', ''Embrace'' and the sort permeated their conversations.


    Swiftsword Jake was used to this scene. He quickly went past everyone, and rushed to the secret room at the innermost section of the building. The group of people might look like they were flirting with each other, but in truth, they were spread out and positioned in such a way that they closely guarded the secret room.


    Should any outsider that didn''t belong to their ''clique'' enter, they would likely be brutally torn to pieces in minutes.


    The youths guarding the door took a good look at Jake before silently opening the wooden door behind them.


    There was almost no furniture in the secret room, with the exception of bed so large it could be considered opulent. Two extremely attractive women, that were hardly wearing anything, laid on both sides of Bleia, diligently serving her.


    A naked young girl hung on the room''s ceiling, pinned by daggers on her limbs and chest. Drops of bright red blood seeped through the wounds, dripping down the dagger. Flowers of blood slowly bloomed on the bodies of the three people on the large bed, drop by drop, dyeing them crimson.


    The three, however, were not worried by this at all. In fact, the two beautiful ladies even used the tip of their tongue to catch the dripping blood, letting out seductively lewd moans as they did so. They were thoroughly enjoying it!


    The scene within the room was so extravagant and seductive, yet Jake didn''t dare to stare. He bowed and spoke softly, "Mistress, the witcher-knights you had us observe have made a move. Around a hundred people suddenly surged into Blue Hillock City today. Though they tried to be covert, I''ve already sent someone to probe them. They are witcher-knights from outside. They''re spread all across the city, but the leaders have already made it to the camp!"


    Bleia suddenly sat up and coldly stared at her subordinate, "You have already probed them? You didn''t startle or alert them, did you?"


    Bleia''s blood red pupils lit up, and instantly the debaucherous atmosphere within the room vanished. All the blood servants immediately stopped what they were doing and anxiously waited for instructions from their master.


    Bleia''s threatening stare terrified Swiftsword Jake. Hurriedly he explained, "There''s no need to worry, Mistress! We did not use any of our own men to probe the knights. We had several street urchins annoy the targets. Some of them saw the unique runic weapons of the witcher-knights under their robes."


    Bleia finally nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this. Relaxed, she lied down once more.


    "Do not forget your identity. You are a gang subordinate to a local noble. Just monitor them. Do not overstep your boundaries. As long as you do not do anything that oversteps the boundaries of your identity, they will not suspect you. Also, I need to know their purpose here!"


    "This is simple! Mistress, the leader of that group of knights had already gone to visit the castellan in secret when I came here to report to you!"


    "Mm? They went to visit Vanlier? Hahaha... this is rare good news!"


    ...


    Witcher-knight camp.


    As Ninther strode back from outside with anger on his face, his direct subordinates were diligently organizing their equipment and treating their weapons and armor. These jobs were usually done by squires or servants, but now they had to do it themselves.


    "Sir, did you get anything out of the meeting with Count Vanlier?" A deputy walked forward, and helped him unclasp the thick robe on his body. The other deputy also stepped forward and helped him remove the heavy armor, revealing the intricate silk underclothes beneath.


    "Hmph! What could I have gotten?! Each of these nobles is slimier and slipperier than the one before them. He claimed that the witcher-knights here were not under his jurisdiction, and therefore he had no idea where they went. He only knows that they hired some local mercenaries before entering Greenland Forest." Ninther sat down heavily in a chair, his face still fuming with anger.


    Using certain means, he determined that the plane invaders had appeared in the Greenland Forest. Rushing there with a large number of followers, he arrived only to find that the witcher-knight squad stationed there was absent. From the explanations of the apprentice knights that had stayed behind, the squad had moved out upon hearing news of a group of heretics.


    Even though exterminating heretics was the duty of each and every witcher-knight, Ninther wished they hadn''t heard of that goddamn news at this critical juncture. After all, all one hundred of the witcher-knights here were reassigned here from other places; they were utterly unfamiliar with the environment inside Greenland Forest.


    It was a complete joke to have a bunch of horse-riding knights search for enemy tracks in a forest. If the party had a dozen people who were familiar with the local environment, everything would have been much easier!


    "Sir!" A tall knight strode in from outside, "There are some fresh faces outside the camp. I''ve had some people look, and it seems they are the spying subordinates of the local gang. What do you think we should..."


    "Ignore them!" Ninther waved his hand frustratingly, "We entered the city with so many men. That Count Vanlier is probably deeply concerned! It''s normal to have some eyes on us. We''re heading to the forest the day after tomorrow anyway, after a quick rest. If they want to follow us, then let them do so."


    Then, Ninther called for the tall knight, "Edward, come and take a look. Which route is the most suitable for when we enter the mountain the day after tomorrow? Perhaps we should split into ten smaller squads. This should make the search go faster!"


    Right now, a large parchment had been placed on the wooden table. On the parchment, lines of different thickness and colors illustrated the geography around Greenland Forest, as well as the direction of rivers.


    The entirety of Greenland Forest was wide on the northern end, and much narrower on the southern end, making it look roughly like a gigantic drumstick covering several hundred square kilometers. The central area was the Haynes Mountains, while the forest itself shared borders with three large provinces.


    The Blue Hillock City they were at was located near the southern end of the forest, where it was at its most narrow. The city was also the most suitable outpost for the vanguard of an army in the south, in the Duran province. A little further, and there were only small towns and villages with very low populations. They were sufficient as a restocking point for small groups of mercenaries, but not for a large witcher-knight army.


    Indeed, this knight army numbering over a hundred men was only a vanguard for the arriving main force. An army of knights numbering up to three thousand men was gathering at the capital of Duran province. Based on estimates, it would take them another 15 days, at their quickest, before they could arrive.


    The sole mission of the vanguard was to establish a base for the main force, then to investigate the location of their enemies. Even a little information would be good.


    Such a large-scale gathering of witcher-knights was the first in a hundred years. A gathering of knights on the same scale was also happening far away in the north, up in the two other provinces bordered by Greenland Forest.


    The gathering of so many witcher-knights was certain to incite fear and terror among the local nobles. The nobles were prone to believe that the secret movements of the knights were a sign of the king stripping the nobles of their power. It was extremely likely to cause local backlash from the nobles.


    Thus, finding the enemy quickly, defeating them, and exterminating them was the main problem the vanguard leader had to solve.


    Supposedly, even two of the three Dragon Knights in direct service of the king himself had left their posts and were rushing here to eliminate this group of invaders that could bring disaster to this plane. Apparently, even the legendary Holy Knight Sir Willis would personally command the battle against the plane invaders then.


    That''s a Holy Knight that was at the Fourth Grade!


    One has to note that he''s the only Fourth-Grade Holy Knight of this plane!


    Ninther could feel his heart aflame when he thought of having the chance to fight and charge alongside this legendary war god of a knight. He was willing to sacrifice his own life for the holy mission of "protecting the world", thus fulfilling the oath he made when he became a witcher-knight.


    Eliminating the darkness, protector of the weak, fearless!


    Ninther silently chanted the motto of the knights, the glint in his eyes becoming brighter as he did so.


    ...


    The abnormal situation in Blue Hillock City was quickly transmitted by Bleia back to the Mages'' base.


    But the four clan Mages were busy with constructing the temporary Mages'' tower as well as creating guardian voodoo beasts. None of them could spare any energy to reinforce Leon, Bleia, and Blake.


    The only thing they could do now was construct a large-scale illusion barrier as soon as possible, reducing the chances of the enemy finding the camp from the skies. As for this wave of a hundred witcher-knights, Leon and the rest had to find a way to kill them themselves.


    If they let the opponent split into multiple squads and wander about the forest, who knew if they would accidentally wander into the illusion barrier.


    Even though there were plenty of disaLeonents and discord between them, when the hostile army was arriving, Leon and the rest could only swallow their grudges and work together. Therefore, they met in a hidden valley to discuss their action plan. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    1796 Words

 Chapter 177 - 177: Evaluating

    The location of the meeting was set in the mountain ridge at the edge of the forest.


    Leon was wearing a black robe, calmly sitting there as he poked the crackling fire with a stick. The campfire before him flickered, bright one moment, dim the next.


    The impromptu meeting point seemed empty. With the exception of the trees swaying in the wind, there was nothing, not even the golem army Leon always brought with him.


    It didn''t take long before a sound came from the trees in the west. A man, also in a black robe, came out of the woods with a group of subordinates who walked with abnormal postures.


    It was Blake and his bunch of bugmen!


    It seems Blake had absolutely no trust in his two companions, even though he chose to attend the meeting. He even brought the bugmen force that he had just managed to amass for his own safety.


    Shortly after stepping out from the trees, Blake stopped. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was not friendly enough with Leon to share a seat and drink with him by the same fire. Moreover, he wasn''t an idiot. Wasn''t the pile of rocks by Leon''s side, that looked like a natural formation, his stone serpent in disguise?


    Two clay golems were hidden in the earth beneath the fire, while a fire elemental would probably leap out of the fire itself at any moment. There were even those almost invisible wind elementium golems floating above the top of the trees nearby.


    If Blake had gone to Leon''s side, it would be no different than putting your neck before the fangs of a tiger. When that happened, your life was all up to the tiger. Blake would never do something idiotic like that!


    After he arrived, Blake kept observing Leon''s golem army that was hidden all over the place. Leon, too, was assessing Blake''s bugman army.


    It seems they had been able to retain their external human shape. They were only stiff and slow in their movements. With Leon''s really ''good'' eye for evaluating things, he could tell that the bugmen were not significantly stronger then they had been in their previous lives. This meant that Blake didn''t intend to rely on them for battles.


    If their individual strength had not increased, then the bugmen were definitely for another special purpose! Was it to have them be the host body of numerous scorpions? Or do they have some special ability to transform?


    For a moment, even Leon had no clear idea of the use of Blake''s bugmen army.


    Ever since he became an Mage, Leon''s greatest feeling was that the constraints of law and morality on him had vanished. His comprehension of the fire-elemental laws let him sense the existence of the plane consciousness for the first time, and indirectly let him experienced the power and profundity of the Mages.


    Anyone that became an Mage had terrifying means that drew directly from the planar laws. Even a low-level apprentice spell would have the powerful ability of affecting the soul and interacting with plane laws- if it was cast by the hands of an Mage.


    This made battles between Mages extremely precarious. Even a slight misstep could put you in big trouble!


    When Blake was still an apprentice, he only had the ability to split into bugs and share damage between all his bugs. These abilities could easily be dealt with as long as you prepared specialized means to do so. But now that Worm controller Blake had become an Mage, along with this period of time that he used to improve and cover up his deficiencies, his powers and methods were once again mysterious and unknown.


    Even Leon was not willing to break into open conflict with such an unpredictable opponent without complete certainty of victory.


    Just as the two were assessing each other, while staying a hundred meters apart, Bloody Bleia arrived!


    She didn''t come alone.


    The flapping sound of beating wings rumbled endlessly as seven bloodsucking bats emerged from east of the woods. They landed on the ground and turned into humans. The first of them was naturally Bleia, whom Leon hadn''t seen in several days. The ones following behind her were the army of blood servants she had just amassed.


    These little fellows had just completed their transformation into vampires, and had no chance to experience the power of the Mages. As such, they bared their fangs and threatened everyone present the moment they landed, in a show of loyalty towards their mistress.


    Leon and Blake ignored their provocation, paying attention to the individual power they had.


    Of the seven blood servants, three were powerful men that could rival pseudo-Mages, while the other four were as powerful as advanced apprentices.


    This amount of power might not be comparable to the subordinates of the other two yet, but one needed to factor in the fact that Bleia had created this army in the matter of several days. Once Blake included the factor of time, he had no choice but reevaluate Bleia''s power.


    Three Mages!


    Three Mages that advanced on the same day!


    As they gathered once more in this other world, even though their wary eyes were still filled with distrust, they all considered each other as strong and worthy opponents in their hearts.


    At least for Blake, this was the case. He had always thought of Bleia as a decorative character. He had absolute confidence he could crush Bleia without Leon''s meddling. But now, it seemed Bleia would be as terrifying as Leon if she was given the chance to show her power!


    Leon couldn''t help but laugh bitterly in his heart when he saw Bleia''s gloating expression.


    Bleia was still too driven by her need to show her superiority.


    Even though they were already inseparable ''strategic allies'' and ''battle companions'' whose lives were intertwined, Leon''s excessively dominant position in their relationship had provoked Bleia''s fragile and sensitive heart.


    Bleia''s actions this time were both meant to intimidate Blake, as well as to flaunt her strength in front of Leon!


    Blake might only be able to see the strength and power of Bleia''s subordinates, but Leon had done extensive research on her body. He could see past her superficial strength to see her weakness.


    How could there be no price for creating blood servants?


    The Embrace might look like she was taking the blood from the victim, but in truth, she was transfusing part of her blood essence into the victim''s body to achieve complete control over the victim.


    With Bleia''s power, there might not have been a problem if she had taken her time to create the blood servants, along with the nourishment of plenty of blood treats. But for the sake of looking strong, she had Embraced so many blood servants in such a short time. This also meant that she would be lacking a large amount of her blood essence in the short term.


    This was a tremendous loss that was hard to be mitigated, even with days of devouring blood!


    Now that the three had arrived, the battle conference began.


    First, Bleia gave a simple description of the witcher-knights'' strength.


    The witcher-knights that were about to advance into the Greenland Forest this time numbered 117. Most of them were low-level witcher-knights. There were only fifteen of them that were Spellbreaker Knights, who had power rivaling the Mages. This also meant that in the following days of fighting in the woods, the three of them would have to deal with enemies five times their number, as well as an army several dozen times larger than their own forces.


    Without the fifteen Spellbreaker Knights, any number of witcher-knights were only prey waiting to be hunted. But with spellbreaker knights now in the mix, their hunt was going to be significantly harder.


    One mistake and they could lose their lives!


    None of the three here had any intention or spirit to bravely sacrifice themselves. The only reason they were here was because the situation gave them no other choice. Moreover, they wanted a taste of plane wars. As long as there was benefit to be gained, they would do the job. Of course, the dangerous tasks were something no one wanted to do.


    Mages were a group of cold and selfish individuals. All their plans and schemes were for themselves, and themselves only.


    Everyone wanted the jobs that gave huge rewards with no risk. And everyone wanted to avoid the jobs that were risky and demanded great sacrifice!


    According to Bleia, the group of witcher-knights intended to split into twelve smaller groups once they entered the Greenland Forest. Then they will keep a certain distance from each other while sweeping through the entire forest.


    Leon and Blake were naturally delighted to hear this news!


    In their eyes, a scattered iron fist was a lamb waiting to be culled. It may be a thorny encounter, but it was far from enough to deter them.


    However, the enemies were way too spread out. There was only three of them. It was hard to completely keep track of the enemies'' movements. Should any of the enemies accidentally wander into the Mages'' base, the situation would be out of their control.


    The Continent of Witchers might strongly reject the existence of spellcasters, but the witchers themselves still used primitive magical equipment. If any of them had some kind of long-distance communication tool with them, they would be able to reveal the location of the Mages'' base; the three of them would fail their mission that way.


    Perhaps an even stronger wave of witcher-knights would attack the Mages'' base directly, under the lead of higher grade knights. Then, not only would the Mages'' camp be in danger, even Leon and the others would have nowhere to rest, caught between the two and crushed to oblivion.


    So after the three had a quick discussion, they agreed that they could not let the witcher-knights wander about just for the ease of hunting. They had to find a way to contain the knights before they even entered the Greenland Forest.


    And doing so required them to have a full-on battle with the knights!


    All three of them were decisive Mages. After a brief sumBleia of the information they had, they quickly produced a simple battle plan and divided the tasks between themselves.


    Fifteen minutes later, Blake turned back, bringing with him his bugman army and retreating into the woods, disappearing in the depths of the forest.


    Bleia let out a whistle, and instantly her blood servants turned into bloodsucking bats, beating their wings as they circled around her.


    Leon called out, seeing that she was about to leave.


    "Bleia, catch!"


    A clay urn the size of a fist flew towards Bleia, who was about to take off.


    Bleia caught the urn. Still confused, she shook it. The sound of a viscous liquid sloshing about came from inside. Her eyes lit up. She opened the urn and the thick and pungent odor of blood filled her nose.


    The bloodsucking bats circling around immediately became excited.


    Bleia smiled as she kept the urn. The next instant, she vanished from the spot in a red flash!


    ...


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 Chapter 178 - 178: Missing

    Colca Village had become a ghost village!


    This colossal news started to spread quickly through Blue Hillock City. Soon, it found its way to Ninther''s ears.


    According to mercenaries who frequently entered Greenland Forest, the Colca Village, near the edge of the forest, had become a ghost village overnight. All the villagers had vanished! More surprisingly, everything within the village had been untouched. Be it food, clothing, the houses, or even the animal leather and mountain herbs treasured by the villagers- all of it had been left where it was. The only thing missing was the living.


    From villagers, hunters, all the way to the hunting dogs, the cows and the sheep- as long as it was a living thing- everything had vanished, with not a single track that indicated that they had left.


    The few mercenaries that passed by were terrified, and blamed it all on the supernatural. Immediately, they ran all the way back to Blue Hillock City and reported the incident to the castellan.


    And so, in a single day, all sorts of rumours took Blue Hillock City by storm!


    Some said that a monster had appeared in the forest. Some claimed that the villagers were infected by some sort of plague. Some were even more preposterous, spreading the news that some terrifying heretics had appeared there...


    As everyone in Blue Hillock City panicked over the incident, Ninther had already invited the mercenaries into the camp and had to describe all the details they had seen.


    That very night, all one hundred of the witcher-knights suddenly left Blue Hillock City, rushing swiftly towards Colca Village where the mysterious disappearances had occurred.


    Twenty kilometers of mountain road was nothing for the witcher-knights, who were used to traversing long distances. Moreover, most of the knights here were elites from all over the country. Their mounts were also no ordinary warhorses, but specially trained magic colts.


    These magic colts were larger and stronger than ordinary warhorses, possessing fangs and sharp teeth similar to beasts of the woods. More terrifyingly, special scales that were akin to scale armor grew on their bodies, allowing them to shrug off attacks from sharp weapons.


    These magic colts played a significant part in ensuring the witcher-knights were able to ride unchallenged throughout this entire plane.


    These magic colts were only available for the elites amongst the witcher-knights, so it was hard to even see one in a place as rural as Blue Hillock City.


    Thanks to the magic colts'' beast-like agility, and sharp claws that excelled at climbing cliffs, the witcher-knight army managed to quickly arrive at Colca Village, situated in the middle of the mountain.


    When they arrived, it was almost dawn already. A thin ribbon of white light had already surfaced on the horizon far away.


    Still, walking into the desolate village still sent shivers down the spines of the knights.


    Most of the witcher-knights stayed outside the village. Only the elites who had advanced into spellbreaker knights followed Ninther on their horses into the small village. Besides proficiency in all sorts of knight battle techniques, some of these elites also possessed several other unique skills.


    Several dozens torches the size of an arm were placed all over the village!


    Multiple witcher-knights who were skilled at tracking immediately started a detailed search of Colca Village. Soon, some hidden clues started to surface.


    Plenty of odd bug sheddings and broken insect exoskeletons were found. They even found large amounts of torn clothes, and human limbs that hadn''t been cleanly devoured, in a straw house.


    Judging from all the clues, Colca Village had been attacked without warning two nights ago.


    The direction of the attackers pointed towards the northwest of Greenland Forest nearby, while the attacker themselves seemed to be some kind of terrifying magical insectoid creature.


    Just as the elite knights gathered to discuss their plan of pursuit, a horrified yell came from the direction of the witcher-knights outside the village.


    "Bugs...bugs..."


    "They are bugs..."


    "Everyone be careful!"


    The chaotic noise caused Ninther, the leader of the army, to have a change in expression. Almost instantly, he leapt onto his magic colt and slapped it on the back, charging out of the small mountain village.


    The witcher-knights outside the village were in complete disarray now. Under the light of numerous torches, the knights closest to the forest were stamping their feet without stop, as if they were fighting with something. Three witcher-knights had already fallen beside them, no longer moving even an inch.


    Ninther had just ridden his magic colt there when he was shocked by the horrifying scene before him.


    Scorpions; lots of scorpions, waves of scorpions, mountains of scorpions...


    Countless black scorpions were already crawling on the bodies of the three witcher-knights that fell to the ground. The odd sounds of armor and bones being chewed didn''t stop. Very quickly, two of the five knights, still struggling amidst the swarm of bugs, were stung by the black stingers of the scorpions and fell in a daze.


    The other three grabbed onto ropes tossed over by their companions, and were fortunate enough to have been dragged out of the swarm.


    "Where did these bugs come from?" Ninther asked loudly.


    "From the inside of the forest! They swarmed out of the forest and attacked us while we were resting..." An elite knight that had stayed behind shouted back.


    "Set fire to them...use fire to burn them..."


    Following Ninther''s command, torch after torch was thrown into the swarm of bugs, falling like raindrops in the ocean. Some witcher-knights even disassembled the hunters'' wooden houses and threw the straw and wooden boards into the fire. As the crackling sound of burning fat, and the pungent odor of scorched flesh filled the air, the rampaging swarm was finally scared, retreating back into the forest like a tide.


    "Sir, look!" A witcher-knight suddenly exclaimed.


    Ninther followed the direction he was pointing at, and with the help of the strand of dawn light, he was able to see a mysterious black silhouette in the depths of the forests, where the swarm of bugs had disappeared.


    It was a mysterious silhouette completely covered in a black robe. It had a large frame, and a pair of ghostly green eyes that were silently looking over from under the shadow of its hood. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Heretic!" Ninther said, his rage saturating every syllable of the word.


    There was no need for his instructions. Already, a dozen rune bows had been drawn into full moons. Qiang! Qiang! Qiang!...a series of cracks could be heard as the bowstring were released. A dozen flame arrows streaking red light slashed through the dark sky, turning the spot where the silhouette was standing into a burning field.


    The odd, black-robed silhouette only flickered for a second at the edge of the sea of fire, before vanishing into the depths of the woods.


    "Chase!" Ninther waved his arm vigorously, and turned his head to shout backwards, "Edward, you lead the army forward. I''ll go intercept him with some troops!"


    Having said that, Ninther brought along seven or eight companions. They drove their magic steeds to their limits and quickly disappeared into the dark woods.


    The red sun was already halfway past the horizon. The darkness in the woods was slowly receding.


    The thin mist slowly dissipated under the sunshine, spreading moist air inside the forest.


    The mysterious silhouette constantly flickered in the depths of the woods far away. Ninther had shot several flame arrows with his bow, but the shadow had managed to dodge them all while still retaining its speed.


    The magic colts were like terrifying demons, dashing through the woods, scaling cliffs and crossing rivers with ease. The magic colts only needed to jump, aided by the boost of their sharp claws, to cross a small hill nine meters high. The colts could run as if they were in flight, regardless of how rocky and uneven the roads were, as if they were sprinting on flat ground.


    The well trained witcher-knights bent their bodies and leaned onto the backs of the magic colts. They rode on the colts as they jumped and sprinted across vines, bushes, and woods with weeds half the height of a human, closely tracking the mysterious flickering silhouette.


    This was not recklessness or fearlessness on the part of the witcher-knights; rather, it was part of their combat style and methods.


    On the Continent of Witchers, the heretics were few in number and always the targets of pursuit and chase, never able to form an organized or powerful force. Thus, the witcher-knights would always track the heretics relentlessly once they found them, rarely wondering about boring and pointless things like the possibility of the opponent setting a trap.


    Yet they had no idea that as they were riding on their horses and speeding across the dense woods, several other mysterious silhouettes was already on their tail, quickly approaching them from above the forest canopy.


    This was a group of odd bloodsucking bats.


    They had wide bat wings and agile movements, effortlessly weaving through the dense foliage, silently closing in on the group of witcher-knights.


    The knight at the rear of the formation was a veteran. His magic colt was already fairly old, and it couldn''t keep up with the stamina and explosive movements of its companions. Seven minutes of riding had put a distance of a dozen meters between him and his companions in front.


    With the speed of the magic colts, this distance could hardly be called falling behind. But even so, this distance still caused him to be caught in an ambush.


    Even though he hadn''t heard anything, the senses honed from numerous years in the service alerted him to something odd behind him.


    Vigilant, he grabbed the hilt of his sword, bent his body, and turned around slightly to look.


    There was no movement at all in the dark woods. Not a single enemy appeared in his sight.


    Was the bad feeling in his heart just him being oversensitive?


    Just as he was hesitating, he caught a glimpse of something odd above him from the corner of his eyes.


    The enemy was above!


    A bloodsucking bat that had swooped down in front of him suddenly charged forward before he could do anything. In a fraction of a second, Its furry body transformed into a young man with blood-colored eyes and sharp claws.


    The young man in the air knocked the witcher-knight off his magic colt, and the two started a savage fight as they tussled. Before they had even landed, more bloodsucking bats charged forward, transforming into vampires. They ignored the knight''s attempt to resist and struggle, quickly leaping on him.


    In just a few seconds, the witcher-knight had been drained of blood and killed, savaged by the attacks of half a dozen vampires. Just then, the witcher-knight closest to the rear of the group up ahead faintly heard the sound of savage fighting and thrashing behind him as he rode. When he turned back to look, all he saw was a mouth lined with sharp teeth rapidly closing in on him.


    ...


    1853 Words

 Chapter 179 - 179: Bleia vs Knights

    The red sun had already risen above the horizon, but the depths of the woods were still dimly lit.


    As the witcher-knights were hot in pursuit, dashing across the dense woods, groups of bloodsucking bats flanked them from behind. Swiftly, they pounced and tackled the witcher-knights in the rear, one after another.


    With their leathery wings and the ability to fly silently, along with their ability to shift rapidly between their batform and human form, none of the witcher-knights were able to defend against the sudden attack when they dove down from above.


    Of course, any knight that made it into this army was no weakling. Even if they were caught by surprise, they were still able to counter attack, severely wounding the attacking vampires. But their bravery in the face of death was useless against the vampires. All they had to do was devour a little fresh blood, and all sorts of serious injuries would be healed in a matter of seconds.


    And so, with their tactic of tackling and then surrounding...then tackling and surrounding again, the groups of vampires took turns and were able to silently kill seven of the witcher-knights.


    Until...


    A pained scream rang through the forest!


    Half of the witcher-knights heard the tragic scream from behind them, even as they were busy chasing the heretic. They turned their heads and were surprised to find a bunch of strange demons tackling one of their companions that had fallen behind, quickly becoming overwhelmed in a swarm.


    A spellbreaker knight let out a battlecry, and tugged on the reins of the warhorse. The magic colt lifted its front limbs, and turned around while its body was still in the air. It kicked a giant tree with its thick hind legs, and rushed forward with the momentum.


    Two dozen witcher-knights in the rear turned around following his battlecry, but their movements were not as smooth or natural as the spellbreaker knight. As a result, they were twenty or thirty steps behind him.


    However, their arrows arrived before they did!


    With a loud snap of the bowstring, a flame arrow streaked through the air and pinned a vampire to a tree behind him. The arm-length bolt had sunk into the vampire''s heart, securely pinning him to the large tree. Only a small length of the bolt protruded out of the vampire''s chest.


    A human would have died from a pierced heart. But this vampire was still lively, vigorously trying to struggle free. The vampire ignored the burning from the arrow''s elemental flames and grabbed the end of the arrow with his sharp, clawed hands, trying to pull it out with all his might. Sadly, it wouldn''t budge.


    With no other choice, the vampire used its limbs to leverage itself against the tree trunk, pushing his body out from the end of the arrow. This action undoubtedly caused the wound on his chest to become even larger, leaving behind a hole one could see through.


    But the vampire didn''t care about the injury and leapt on the witcher-knight that was still struggling on the ground. A moment later, when he climbed up from the opponent''s body, the terrifying gash on his chest had already disappeared. The exposed skin was still white and smooth.


    "Monsters...These are a bunch of monsters..."


    The spellbreaker knight that saw this roared. He tossed aside the runic bow- it was too weak-and drew his runic sword. As his palm ran across the cool blade, a layer of magic flames swallowed the sword, turning it into a terrifying torch.


    With a shout, the colt beneath him suddenly accelerated, and piercing through the crowd of flying vampires. A dozen flame trails crisscrossed in the sky and slowly dispersed. The dozen vampires, that had just finished with the broken corpse of the fallen witcher-knight, suddenly split into several pieces and exploded into a rain of blood, flesh, and pieces of bones.


    These were low-level vampire spawn after all. They were far less intelligent and resilient than true vampires. Even their bloodsucking regenerative abilities were significantly weaker. Thus, they could only die a horrible death under the combined strength of the spellbreaker knight''s battle-technique and flaming longsword.


    The success of the spellbreaker knight boosted the morale of the waning witcher-knights. They activated the runic swords in their hands, shouting as they charged towards the remaining vampires.


    This was the terrifying strength of the knights of this plane? Suppressing the strength of arcanology, diverting their attention to strengthening the physical body, as well as the use of special battle techniques?


    Bleia pondered silently, before opening her blood-red eyes.


    After that amazing strike, the spellbreaker knight turned around and shouted to boost the morale of his companions. Just as he slapped his colt and was about to begin another charge, his muscles tensed, and his body stiffened. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The magic colt below him already felt what he was thinking. Under his urging, the magic colt slowly turned its body. The spellbreaker knight''s eyes flashed. His cold eyes landed on the top of a tree far away, which was shrouded by leaves.


    A hundred meters away, on top of that tall tree, the layers of branches and leaves had hidden the enemy''s body, but they could not hide those terrifying pair of crimson eyes. When his gaze met with the enemy''s, a heavy air of blood spread across the battlefield.


    This was a heretic that was as powerful as he was! Was today''s occurrence a trap they had laid out beforehand? No, I must relay this news to Ninther...


    Faced with the situation before him, several ominous thoughts surfaced in knight''s mind. But just as he was distracted, the pair of bloody eyes suddenly disappeared..


    This was bad!


    The spellbreaker knight gathered his focus while raising his left arm. The small shield on his arm activated to form an oval energy-shield that covered the front of his body entirely.


    The energy shield had just barely formed when a swift impact smashed into it. Five terrifying claw marks appeared on the the semi-translucent shield.


    The spellbreaker knight grunted, and used the energy shield to divert the slim silhouette pushing against it. A flame blade slashed forth from his right hand.


    Normal witcher-knights could only use the runic weapons to achieve a combined strike of physical and elemental force in melee range, while relying on the runic bows for long-ranged attacks. But spellbreaker knights were able to rely on a unique way of attacking to infuse elemental energy into the invisible shockwaves of their blows, forming a mid-range knight battle technique.


    The range of such knight battle technique attacks were not very large. Most of them could reach five to ten meters away. Once they exceeded this range, the shockwave would disperse, and the attached elemental energies would naturally disperse as well, causing the might of the attack to severely deteriorate.


    But this kind of elemental shockwave, that could extend freely and escape the constraints of the weapon itself, could bring about horrifying damage to enemies within ten meters. The crude elemental shields conjured by normal heretics could not defend against the double blow of elemental damage, and the shockwaves'' ability to break through defenses.


    As such, the deciding factor for any witcher-knight advancing to spellbreaker knight was their ability to condense and unleash this unique shockwave!


    Of course, this was a secret closely guarded by the witcher-knights. Today, Bleia was about to use her body to personally experience the terrifying power of the knight battle-technique.


    The flame blades were like burning scimitars slashing through the skies, quickly chasing after Bleia''s retreating silhouette and stopping her from escaping.


    A fierce grin appeared on Bleia''s pretty face. She didn''t retreat. Instead she stepped forward, her sharp claws slashing and leaving behind eight layers of visible bloody marks in front of her. In the next second, the blood marks clashed with the flame blades, combusting into a small firestorm.


    The countless fine flame-blade shards caught in the violent explosion flew everywhere, whistling through the wind like bullets shot from a gun. Normal elemental shields would not be sufficient to defend against such concentrated and wild attacks!


    The spellbreaker knight tightened his grip on the shield in his left hand, and the sword in his right hand. While staring at the burning field, a blast of wind struck from above.


    The spellbreaker knight looked up in surprise, just in time to see Bloody Bleia dropping down from above.


    The explosion of the flaming fragments had also wounded Bleia. Most of the flame-blade shards had been deflected by her summoned crimson protection. Layers of blood-red roses dispersed the numerous attacks.


    However, some of the shards still managed to pierce through her blood-red defense, leaving scratches all along Bleia''s body and limbs. The fine shards remained embedded in Bleia''s body, their fires still persistently burning...


    Yet even faced with such wounds, Bleia was not any less courageous. She did not retreat to treat her wounds, but chose to sneak above the enemy to attack once again.


    The unexpected sneak attack did not give the knight enough time to form the shockwave within his body. He could only tightly grip the magic colt with his legs and drive it forward. He rested his back on the horse''s back, the shield on his left hand blocking Bleia''s claws that struck down again.


    The sharp claws screeched as they slashed on the semi-translucent shield. The violent impact was not completely deflected. The shield was pushed down, causing the spellbreaker knight''s back to crash heavily into the magic colt''s spine.


    The colt beneath him let out a pained whinny as it continued to run forward.


    Bleia, who had been pushed away by the tremendous recoil, immediately unfurled her bat wings and leapt towards the knight as if she defied physics itself. A blood red longbow suddenly appeared in her hands, and a mysterious scarlet, crystalline arrow converged on the half-drawn bowstring.


    "Go!"


    With a shout, a hundred blood red arrow images filled the space between Bleia and the spellbreaker knight.


    Goddamn, what is this attack!?


    The spellbreaker knight, who had never seen a close-ranged Mage attack like this one, was shocked. He swung around and instantly and sent a cross cut from his sword, neutralizing most of the scarlet arrow rain. The energy shield on his left hand was directed about frantically, barely deflecting some of the arrows that shot past the cross cut.


    Even so, both him and his mount were peppered with blood arrows that had managed to pierce through his shield and battle technique, covering them with numerous wounds. If it wasn''t for the protection of his runic armor, and the scales of the magic colt, the attack just now would have severely wounded them.


    The spellbreaker knight let out a battlecry and turned his horse around, charging towards Bleia, who was catching up on foot.


    One of them was a mysterious vampire Mage from a different plane; the other a powerful spellbreaker knight that stood high in this plane. The two powerful beings of different races with different combat styles, savagely clashed against each other, just like that!


    ...


    1858 Words


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 Chapter 180 - 180: Bait

    Theoretically the vampire Mage and the spellbreaker knight were fairly even in power.


    However, the racial advantage was evident when the two started fighting with all their strength.


    On one hand, you had a terrifying vampire whose race could be found in all high-magic planes, while on the other you had a normal human who had only strengthened his physical strength and comprehended some special uses of Elementium crystals. The spellbreaker knight might be able to force a stalemate against Bleia by using his skilled and potent knight battle-techniques.


    However, once the battle had turned into a critical fight on the edge of life and death, the terrifying traits of Bleia''s race became the deciding factor. Her resilient Physique and regenerative ability far outclassed her opponent and gave her the edge. After three rounds of battle, Bleia had the advantage on the battlefield and was slowly turning the advantage into a complete beatdown.


    Bleia, being a vampire Mage, did not need to suck the blood directly out of her opponents to regenerate. As long as she did a substantial amount of damage, she could gain an endless stream of blood energy from her opponent''s blood that splashed everywhere. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An opponent that became stronger as the fight went on, whose strength did not decrease as their wounds increased, was the scariest nightmare for the spellbreaker knight. It didn''t matter how severe a wound he dealt to Bleia. As long as Bleia was able to deal an equally severe wound to him, he would never have a chance of defeating her!


    For that one moment, the spellbreaker knight thought he was fighting against himself...no, fighting against his own blood! Every slash he made wasn''t making his opponent bleed, it was making him bleed. His opponent only needed to trade him blow-for-blow, and she would go unscathed in this fight.


    He would only continue to weaken!


    The angered shouts and cries of many witcher-knights could be heard from the nearby battlefield. They must have met the same problem as he did! If this had been a normal situation, he would have broken through the opponent''s blockade, gathered with his companions, and fought together against this powerful enemy.


    However, he couldn''t do that today.


    The demon before his eyes was clearly the that terrifying group''s leader and had strength far above them. If he led her to his companions...there would probably not be a single one of them who could escape from her mysterious shadow that was as fleeting as a phantom and constantly flickering about.


    He was still hanging on with all his might, waiting for reinforcements and help from his companions.


    The knights in front would most definitely realize that thirty witcher-knights had fallen behind and send people to look for them. As long as he join up with one or two of his spellbreaker knights, defeating this terrifying blood demon was not an issue with their cooperation and teamwork.


    As expected, the unique sound of magic colts sprinting rang out in the woods far away.


    The spellbreaker knight, who was completely exhausted and pale in the face, instantly got his energy back and continued to fight with vigor. Sadly, as he waved about his flame longsword and sent out two flame blades to push away the demon, she charged forward instead of retreating as he predicted. She cancelled the protection of her crimson armor, allowing the flame blades to slice through her body and explode like fireworks behind her.


    Using the opportunity she bought with her severe injuries, she dodged past the knight''s sword and shield and leapt onto his body. She wrestled with him using all her savage might.


    The spellbreaker knight might be wearing a complete set of knight''s armor, but there were gaps in between each individual piece. This doomed him to the fate of being torn at by Bleia''s cruel bites and rending claws.


    Thus, the witcher-knight reinforcements watched bleakly as a spellbreaker knight, who they hailed to be strong and valiant, was tossed off his horse like an emptied waterskin. The magic colt whinnied in pain before also falling, a bloody hole on the back of its head spurting blood out in a fountain.


    The terrifying person bathing in blood had a voluptuous figure, but in the eyes of everyone present, she was no different than a demon merely wearing the skin of a seductive beauty.


    Bleia extended her wide bat wings, floating in the sky with blood covering her body. She raised her chin and using her lithe tongue to swallow the blood slowly dripping from her bloody hand.


    Behind her, a dozen witcher-knights had been tackled off their colts by the vampires flying in the sky. The knights screamed in terror with all their strength as the vampires swarmed them. As for the other witcher-knights, only their corpses remained, strewn about the woods. The magic colts that had lost their owners stomped, sprinted about, and ran away in a panicked frenzy, soon disappearing in the miserable morning mist...


    Ninther, who had led the reinforcements back, let out an angered howl that spread throughout the battlefield. He waved his runic sword, thick as a pillar of flame, and drove his colt forward in a frenzy.


    Bleia grinned wickedly before turning around, beating her leathery bat wings and flying up into the canopy. Her blood servants, that just had a feast of their own, let out howls as they followed her away from the battlefield.


    With the vampire''s phantom-like flying speed, the witcher-knights would have no chance of catching up with them in the woods.


    Ninther rode his horse slowly around the terrible battlefield within the woods, having chased away the vampires. The grotesque appearance of each corpse was shocking, but Ninther forced himself to look at each corpse, one by one. Ninther got off his horse and kneeled before the spellbreaker knight''s shrivelled corpse, and silently chanted the knights'' motto, sacred in the hearts of every witcher-knight.


    Slowly, the knights got off their horses and recovered the bodies of their companions who fell in battle.


    The entire woods were filled with a dense sorrow.


    "This is a kind of heretic we have never seen before! They should be the group of people our superiors were looking for." The calm and steady Edward rode his horse to Ninther''s side and asked softly, "What do we do next?"


    "Why did they suddenly attack us?" Ninther slowly asked softly as he stood up.


    "Er..." Edward couldn''t help but be stunned, "We''re enemies. Isn''t it natural that they came to attack us?"


    "No!" Ninther raised his face, a brilliant gleam shining in his light brown eyes, "Based on their coordination in both their baiting and their attack, they are beings with extremely high intelligence. Currently, only two heretics have shown their faces, but there are fifteen spellbreaker knights on our side. In a situation with such a huge difference in numbers, they still chose to show their faces and set a trap. All this just because they hate us?"


    "You are saying..."


    "If they revealed themselves here, then there must be a reason- they had no choice but to reveal themselves! And if I''m not wrong..."


    "Their den is nearby, so they have no choice but to find a way to draw us away!"


    The two spellbreaker knights, Ninther and Edward, looked at each other and instantly understood what the other was thinking. They didn''t continue to speak, instead turning around and carefully recovering the body of their companion.


    ...


    Leon was sitting crossed-legged on the crest of a far-off hill, but his Spirits had extended all the way to the battlefield fifteen kilometers away.


    He didn''t personally participate in this battle, but thirty of his wind critters were spread over the entirety of the wide battlefield, giving him perfect vision over every action taken his allies and enemies.


    Bleia had led her numerous blood servants and vampire spawn in an ambush, killing one spellbreaker knight and twenty-three witcher-knights. This could have been said to be a perfect result. Unfortunately, Ninther was a decisive man. He gave up on pursuing Blake, and turned back to drive away the vampires, saving the remaining eleven witcher-knights.


    This tiny blemish might not be much! As long as Blake and Bleia had enough time, as well as enough space to battle in, they could slowly chip away at this hundred man witcher-knight army. There wouldn''t be any problem. Even the fifteen-wait, no- fourteen spellbreaker knights would no longer be able to disrupt or prevent this from happening.


    When the Mages who possessed all kinds of odd techniques were pit against the spellbreaker knights who only had powerful melee attacks, their advantage in battle wasn''t just a little. It was an overwhelming and complete advantage. If they were taking turns to fight on an arena, just Bleia alone could wipe out all fourteen men from the squad of spellbreaker knights.


    But if they all swarmed simultaneously, Bleia could possibly only deal with two people at the same time with her current power. She would probably have a hard time if she faced three spellbreaker knights at the same time. Any more than that, and Bleia would have to run.


    Blake was about the same as Bleia. The limit to the number of people he could battle at once was three spellbreaker knights.


    Leon, on the other hand, could deal with five spellbreaker knights at once if he coordinated well with the Fire Lord. Of course, if that happened, he wasn''t sure if he would be able to successfully retrieve the Fire Lord after the battle.


    Regardless of how they calculated, as long as the opponent managed to join together, their advantage over the three was extremely obvious. To have only killed a single spellbreaker knight in that battle, this was way too innefficient!


    Just as Leon was spacing out and thinking, the witcher-knights in the distance started to move.


    They split into twelve squads, keeping a distance of less than thirty meters between each other, slowly riding their horses in a fan formation as they moved towards the location of the Mages'' base.


    Now it was Leon''s turn to curse and swear!


    With no choice left to him, Leon could only cast a spell to signal Blake and Bleia to return to his side.


    "What''s the matter? Why are we not continuing?" Bleia had just consumed all the blood in the body of a spellbreaker knight. She was in an agitated state, with energy flowing all through her body. It was obvious that she was unhappy that they had abandoned the plan of baiting the opponent.


    Blake who was standing alone by the side, didn''t go close to the two. He silently waited for Leon''s reply, his ghostly green eyes hidden under the shadow of his hood.


    "I''m afraid the plan will no longer work!" Leon smiled bitterly and helplessly, "The enemy''s leader is also a perceptive man. Their actions are very decisive. It seems they''ve seen through our plans. Now we can only fight them head on."


    Bleia was obviously skeptical about this. Silently, she commanded a squad of vampires to flank and tackle witcher-knights at the edge of the formation- only to find that the squad of witcher-knights were led by two spellbreaker knights.


    Moreover, as the vampires were occupied with the witcher-knights, the other squads of witcher-knights had quickly come to their aid. Under the two-fold attack of runic bows and blades, the group of twelve vampire spawn were decimated before they could even kill a single witcher-knight.


    Blake was equally skeptical, and sent a clone made of scorpions to bait the enemy, only to have it be destroyed by a terrifying volley of flame arrows from the witcher-knights.


    The direction of the army''s search still did not change!


    Only then did the two finally believe that the plan had failed and agreed with Leon''s proposal of a head on battle.


    The three immediately split up and began to prepare!


    ...


    2000 words


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 Chapter 181 - 181: Lava

    It was decided that the location for the final battle was would be a valley that was slightly flatter.


    Of course this location was not the most ideal place for the final battle. However, this was already the best spot that Leon could find that was located between the witcher-knights and the Mages'' base.


    Due to the continuous harassment by the vampires and the bug swarm, the witcher-knights had to tighten their formation to avoid exposing any openings to the enemy. This caused their marching speed to be as slow down to a tortoise''s speed. But even so, they still arrived at the decided battlefield at midday.


    This was a place with sparse vegetation and less mountainous terrain. On both sides were rocky hills and flowing streams. Mountain ranges and steep cliffs were everywhere to be seen. If the witcher-knights wanted to continue north, this was the best location for an army their size.


    But now, this place had turned into a place of risk and danger that struck despair into the hearts of the knights.


    A frightening volcano stood in the path of the witcher-knights.


    This was a volcano created by human means. Even though it might lose to natural volcanoes in terms of might, it still had the terrifying ability to determine the outcome in such a small battlefield.


    Two tall, human-shaped forms stood by each other at one end of the valley. Their domineering bodies were completely covered in red and black rocks. Intense red heat radiated from their bodies, scorching the rocks on the surface of their forms and turning them into half-molten lava.


    Their legs, thick as flame pillars, were stuck in the lava pool below. There was dark red lava that was slowly flowing in a hundred meter radius around them. The green grass and tall trees around the lava were slowly being lit up by the intense heat. They withered, yellowed, dried out, and slowly tiny sparks of flame started to spread...


    With the lava pool at the center, the entire valley had become a piece of scorched earth. The ashes of plants at the edge of the field went all the way up to one''s ankle.


    Even though they were forced to fight the witcher-knight army head on, Leon chose to pick a battlefield whose geography would be beneficial to himself. The two steep and mountainous slopes on each side prevented the witcher-knights from surrounding and flanking him.


    If the witcher-knights dared gather around the lava pool, Leon didn''t mind using his overwhelming and terrifying spells to teach them the terror of meeting an elementium Mage on the battlefield!


    A bizarre battlefield, and a bizarre enemy. The witcher-knights were at a loss, having never been in such a situation before. It wasn''t the first time they fought with a heretic, but every time it was the heretics that would be running and hiding from them. It was only when they had been driven to their wit''s end that the heretics would turn around and fight back like a mad dog.


    But...in a situation like the one before their eyes, the heretic was the one that appeared before them, bearing a dominating aura as if he wanted to exterminate them. This was a completely new and unknown feeling for the knights!


    The feeling was a fresh one, but the death trap set by the enemy was also truly terrifying.


    The hearts of every witcher-knight were heavy when they looked at the ever-expanding lava pool and the charred trees that had been reduced to charcoal.


    If they wanted to charge at an enemy like this, wouldn''t they have to ride their colts into the pool of lava, wading through a hundred meters of burning rock to get close to the enemy? It might only take five seconds to cross a hundred meter gap when they drove the colts to the limit, but on that viscous and flowing lava, could the colts even sprint? How many companions'' lives, those who had been with them for years, would need to be sacrificed to pave a bloody path to the opponent?


    Countless questions surfaced in everyone''s hearts, instilling a sense of tragedy and grief into each and every one of their actions.


    From on top their magic colts,the fourteen spellbreaker knights slowly stood before the battlefield, examining the terrifying territory their enemy had chosen.


    This was a new enemy!


    This meant that the three heretics had shown their true faces now, if they included the two enemies that appeared previously.


    Ninther rode out of the knights'' formation and drove his colt two steps forward, coldly looking at the tall silhouette standing in the bubbling pool of lava. Two tall humanoids wreathed in flame. One was the heretic, while the other was an evil golem he had summoned.


    Ninther had to admit that the heretic before him was more worthy of his admiration, and even more terrifying, than the two sly and wicked heretics earlier.


    Even before they had started the battle, this fellow had successfully used this unique battlefield he had created to weaken the morale of the witcher-knights. Even though all the witcher-knights were fearless and willing to sacrifice themselves, when confronted with the thought of becoming a stepping stone for others to reach the enemy, a sense of grief and tragedy had replaced the passion and vigor they needed for an all-out fight.


    It was no longer an impassioned battlecry that rang in the hearts of the knights, but a tragic aria for the sacrifice they would have to make!


    When the warriors stepped foot on the battlefield, they weren''t thinking of how to fight to their best abilities, of how to forge a brilliant victory with their burning blood, but of how they were to sacrifice themselves. This...this definitely can''t be called a high morale!


    Clap clap clap...


    Ninther extended his gauntleted hands and started clapping in awe of the opponent''s unpredictable psychological tactics.


    The sound of clanking metal had a ring of arrogance and determination to it, driving away the pointless worries of the witcher-knights. All the knights raised their heads and looked at their great leader, who had led them from one victory to another. Slowly, the grief and sorrow in their eyes faded, replaced with the coolness and determination unique to the noble knights.


    Even if they were fated to die today, they would die with the pride, grandeur, and dignity of a witcher-knight! After all, the one leading them was the pride of all witcher-knights¡ªSpellbreaker Knight Ninther!


    Seeing that he had managed to raise the morale of his companions, Ninther solemnly instructed, "Alvar, bring one squad with you and cover the left...Anthony, you cover the right with two squads...be cautious, be careful of sneak attacks from the two other heretics that have yet to show themselves. Prioritise defending and guarding. Do not recklessly chase after the enemy!"


    "Understood!" The two spellbreaker knights bowed and accepted their orders.


    "Benson, bring 3 or 4 squads with you. Cut some trees to make a path immediately. Be swift..."


    "Understood, I''ll be on my way!" A spellbreaker knight with a mean face, and an especially large body, replied loudly. He got down from his horse and immediately led a group of witcher-knights towards the closest patch of trees.


    "Edward, when the opportunity of an attack presents itself later, you, Daniel, and Joseph will each lead your own troops and guard the rear. I''ll lead the charge with the rest of the spellbreaker knights and kill this overconfident heretic in one blow."


    "No, Ninther, let me lead the charge! The army needs your instructions. It''s better for me to lead the attack!" Edward widened his eyes and rebutted immediately.


    One after another, the remaining spellbreaker knights offered to lead the charge!


    "No, it must be me who leads the charge!" Ninther extended his hands and stopped the knights, "Once the battle starts, not much instructions will be needed. The enemy''s plan is simple. The heretic wants to throw us into chaos before him, forcing us to go around or split up our forces. It''s only then that the other two heretics have a chance to ambush us!


    "Thus, it is the man standing before us that is their leader, as well as the shield on their side. What we need to do is use our most powerful and savage attacks to shatter their shield and cause their plan of obstructing us to fail.


    "Then, the two heretics hiding in the darkness will lose the element of surprise and be forced to enter the battlefield in order to salvage the losing fight. That is the moment you will surround and attack them with all your might!


    "So I beg of you, allow me to take on the burden of leading the charge!" Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone looked at each other after having heard Ninther''s explanation, and could only nod in aLeonent.


    Indeed, they had to use their strongest and sharpest squad of witcher-knights to break the opponent with brute force. WIthin the witcher-knights, it was definitely Ninther who was the swiftest and greatest knight. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been the leader of this knight army at such a young age.


    The witcher-knights in front of the lava pool immediately regained their discipline and order under the Ninther''s instructions. The ones in charge of covering the rear went to cover the rear; the ones in charge of cutting down trees to pave a road, went to cut trees. Most of the remaining witcher-knights patrolled the battlefield, wary of the movements of the tall burning humanoid in the sea of flames.


    The nine spellbreaker knights, with Ninther as the leader, had gathered at the front of the lava pool. They held their breaths and concentrated as they waited, looking as if they were about to enter a death charge.


    But their battle plans were merely something they came up on their side only; the unpredictability and chaos of the battlefield was far above their expectations. With Leon''s powerful abilities, he would never let them destroy the advantageous battlefield he had crafted with such care!


    As the group of witcher-knights, who had removed their heavy armor, moved heavy logs and large boulders to the edge of the lava pool, both Leon and the Fire Lord raised their up hands high and jointly cast a fire spell¡ªMeteor Shower.


    Under their will, large swathes of rolling flame clouds gathered in the skies of the valley. Then, one after another, fiery meteors plummeted from the sky, dragging with them a thick black tail. Their target was the witcher-knights who had removed their armor, and whose defense had been greatly reduced.


    "Defend, everybody defend..." A spellbreaker knight with a loud voice shouted.


    More witcher-knights made it to the front of the formation. The runic bows in their hands had been drawn to a full moon, and one after another, flame arrows were shot out to intercept the blazing meteors crashing down.


    Most of the flame meteors were shot by the arrows and exploded into fireworks before hitting the ground. The shattered flames spread out to form an even greater burning sea, but the terrifying physical impact of the flame meteors had been mitigated.


    Resisting the low temperature of the sea of flames was no problem for the witcher-knights, even without their heavy armor!


    ...


    1892 Words


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 Chapter 182 - 182: Surrounded

    With Leon''s habit of thinking things through before acting, there was no way his assault would end right here once the fight had started!


    Leon, who had long turned into the terrifying Flame Fiend, gripped the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his left hand while starting to loudly chant the obscure and profound words of a spell.


    Following the powerful magic chant, the edges of the lava pool began to boil and swell. One after another, frightening fire spirits, magmakin, and lavahounds bathed in viscous lava rose from the pool, roaring as they charged up the shore.


    The witcher-knights were long prepared for the opponent''s counter attack. Over thirty witcher-knights, armed to the teeth, let out battlecries as they rode their horses and stormed forward, engaging with the fire beings at the edge of the lava pool.


    Once again, a towering gigantic shape rose in the center of the pool as everyone was engaged in an intense skirmish. It was the Fire Deity! As a summoned being, it was not as reserved as the golems. The moment it appeared, it strode across with heavy steps, approaching the shore and bringing with hit a sea of flames that stretched towards the sky.


    The witcher-knights could only continuously retreat under the pressure from the terrifying heat wave and the streams of flame. They had to avoid the fire damage that was coming from everywhere. Under the lead of the Fire Deity, the previously disadvantaged flame beings received a huge boost in morale. Immediately, they started another charge at the knights!


    The several hundred square meter large lava pool was slowly edging forward with the help of the fire creatures. It almost seemed as if the entire valley was eventually going to become a new volcanic region.


    However, the knights'' retreat was only a feint. Once the fire beings, and the ten-meter tall Fire Deity in particular, had left the lava pool, the spellbreaker knights led by Ninther immediately struck them with their fiercest attacks.


    The spellbreaker knights raised their small shields, and used energy shields to deflect the downpour of fiery rain. Enduring the violent blows of fire, knights used the runic swords in their hands to slash at the large body of the Fire Deity. The knights had already swapped out the magic crystals that they used beforehand. This time, it was no longer a flaming torch that appeared when the spellbreaker knights activated their longswords, but the power of frost, with ice crystals and snow floating about. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Countering fire with ice. It was obvious that the knights had their own unique experiences and battle techniques when fighting against heretics.


    The powerful knight battle techniques that were shrouded in the freezing power of ice slashed at the Fire Deity, tearing its body and freezing it, causing the Fire Deity''s movements to become slower and stiffer. Surprisingly, an Mage-level Fire Deity was unable to endure even a single round of the spellbreaker knights'' blows, shattering into pieces and howling as it crumbled.


    The fragments of the fire-attribute Fire Deity were covered, amazingly, with ice shards of various sizes. Even the terrifying flames themselves were frozen within the light blue ice crystals.


    Ninther lifted a huge ice crystal the size of a cart with his sword, and tossed it into the lava pool, where it landed right before Leon''s gigantic body. The object frozen within that crystal was the large head of the Fire Deity. Its terrifying expression was perfectly preserved, trapped in its death howl.


    Was this a terrible attempt at provoking him? Even though these kinds of tricks couldn''t possibly have any effect on Mages, who were famed for their intelligence, the efforts of the witcher-knights'' commander were still commendable and worth some kind of response!


    Leon roared loudly, his large Flame Fiend body stepping through the boiling lava, striding towards Ninther.


    Ninther was excited when he saw this. Immediately, he put away his runic sword and started using ice arrows to shoot at Leon, retreating as he continued to shoot. It looked like he wanted to draw his opponent out of the lava pool.


    The roars of the Fire Lord who remained behind was even louder, so loud it even shook the earth. One after another, frightening area damaging fire spells covered the skies as they shot towards the witcher-knights. The Fire Lord had no intention of avoiding the fire beings at its side when it cast the spell. In fact, it consciously threw all of the most violent and explosive spells towards the frontline.


    The Fire Lord''s attacks mostly consisted of area damage spells, while Leon''s attacks consisted of concentrated single-target spells. Fearsome spears the size of a human''s waist flew towards the enemy repeatedly, and every so often, the creature would even point and cause a terrifying lava pillar to blast out from beneath the body of its target.


    Two witcher-knights that were closer to the edge of the fire pools were the ones blasted into the air by the lava pillars, then blown to pieces by the flame spears that sped through the air. Their bodies had been burned to unrecognisable char and ashes by the rain of fire before the blood and flesh even hit the ground.


    The tragic state of their companion''s death angered many witcher-knights. One after another their ice arrows, filled with vengeance, shot towards Leon like a violent tempest. Unfortunately, all of the arrows were blocked by three pieces of Lava Shield orbiting about Leon''s body.


    As compared to the Flame Shield, the Lava Shield had better fire resistance, as well as a greater resistance against physical damage. Naturally, it did not fear the damage of such a meager rain of arrows.


    After walking forward a bit further, Leon stopped fifteen meters before the edge of the lava pool. He laughed loudly as he attacked the witcher-knights with multiple deadly single-target spells.


    The damage of long-ranged spells was greatly reduced on the spellbreaker knights as compared to the witcher-knights. All the spellbreaker knights had mastered mid-ranged knight battle techniques and could intercept the incoming fire spells. After a few ineffective attacks, Leon focused his firepower on the weaker witcher-knights.


    Ninther was angry. He could no longer hold back after seeing Leon sniping two or three of his weaker companions.


    If he could not draw this evil heretic onto the shore, then he would go into the sea of flames to attack him!


    Under Ninther''s silent hand signals, all the witcher-knights started shooting waves of ice arrows as if their lives depended on it. Surprisingly, the target of the ice arrows was not Leon and instead they all landed on the lava in front of Leon.


    The power of ice that exploded from a small ice arrow couldn''t even form into a snowflake before it was devoured by the boiling lava. But even the hottest lava cannot resist a constant bombardment of ice arrows! The lava pool around Leon solidified at a visible speed. A layer of light blue ice crystals appeared on the surface of the lava, suppressing the heat and flames from below.


    This kind of ice crystal couldn''t keep the lava frozen for very long, but it didn''t need to be for long!


    The spellbreaker knights, that had been waiting for an opportunity, surged forward under Ninther''s lead, and their target was obviously Leon, who had been trapped in the middle of the ice crystals.


    Finally!


    Ninther wanted to draw Leon onto the shore, but Leon also wanted to draw the spellbreaker knights into the lava pool!


    Both parties circled each other with their mind games, yet at the same time they both understood each other''s intentions. And so one side had a trick within a trick, while the other decided to go along with the other''s ploy. As for who would gain an edge in the end, that naturally depended on who was more powerful!


    It was an exaggeration to say that Leon was not nervous at all, looking at the spellbreaker knights who were roaring as they charged towards him. After all, he was about to have a deathmatch with nine spellbreaker knights that were of the same power level as him! Until now, Leon''s interaction and battle experience with these spellbreaker knights was still too limited. He didn''t have a complete understanding of their battle tactics and couldn''t analyse them to come up with a solution.


    Thus Leon was also taking certain risks in baiting the enemy himself this time!


    Ever since he started on this journey of becoming an Mage, Leon had always hid behind the scenes in battles. The ones doing the heavy lifting had always been the golems that he crafted. This effectively reduced the risks and dangers that he personally had to face, but also caused him to fall behind in refining his personal combat skills.


    The group of spellbreaker knights before him were a sizeable threat, but they were far from pushing him to the edge of life and death. Therefore, Leon was planning to take this opportunity to train his combat skill. Otherwise, if he truly met a powerful enemy that the golems couldn''t deal with in the future, he would have to pay for his weakness with his blood!


    Therefore, even though he knew he could get out of the awkward situation here with a simple Fire Teleportation, Leon chose to stay here and fight without any hesitation.


    Leon roared loudly, and burning streams of flame blasted out of the three-meter tall Flame Fiend. Under his agitation, the lava pool started to vibrate violently, and the speed at which the newly formed ice crystals were melting sped up abruptly.


    Explosions erupted where the ice crystals were at their weakest, and hot air currents surged up in a rush from below. If any magic colt were to walk over those spots at this moment, it would definitely have been scalded, burned, and blasted several dozen meters up into the sky.


    The ice crystals that had once formed a sheet of ice, had been blasted into several small islands and crystal shards with barely enough space to stand on, floating amidst the lava pool. The blistering pillars of air rose and fell, one after another. This turned the lava pool into the devil''s playground, filled with traps everywhere.


    Even though Ninther, still high up on his colt, knew that this could be a killing field that the heretic had crafted for the knights, he still charged forward with no hesitation. The nimble and swift magic colt leapt from piece to piece of the shattered ice crystals as if it was flying. Within two leaps, it had already closed in on Leon.


    And so, on one end was the leader of the three powerful Mages, and on the other was the leader of the witcher-knights- the two had their first contact on the battlefield!


    The runic sword, covered in a thick shroud of ice energy, heavily slashed onto the Lava Shield that was floating before Leon. The powerful physical impact instantly slashed an opening the size of a fist on the Lava Shield. The overwhelming power of frost surged through the shield, freezing a large patch of raging flames on Leon''s chest.


    Leon, on the other hand, didn''t give ground either.


    Using the momentum as he turned his body, he swung his sizeable flaming hand, crashing into the magic colt Ninther was riding on. Instantly, the colt turned into a sizzling fireball as it was blown away.


    Leon wanted to add in a powerful single-target spell for good measure, but the spellbreaker knights following behind Ninther had already arrived, leaping towards him. Leon had no choice but to give up on the idea. For a moment, the bombardment of fire spells at close range and the powerful physical attacks of the Flame Fiend''s body were executed to perfection, precisely dealing with the attacks of the spellbreaker knights that had surrounded him.


    ...


    1987 Words


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 Chapter 183 - 183: Battle

    The scene before him was very much like the arcade games from his previous life.


    Except now he was the one playing the part of the villainous Boss.


    His three Lava Shields were two meters tall, one meter wide, half a meter thick and made of countless molten rocks that still burned with patchy flames. Red-hot lava was still dripping out of the gaps between the stones.


    The spellbreaker knights that leapt in succession were all swinging the runic sword in their hands with all their might. Knight battle techniques rained blows of varying colors, crashing onto the Lava Shield and whistling through the air as they did so, shattering the magma, causing lava to splash everywhere.


    The spellbreaker knights could only dash past Leon and try to hit the Flame Fiend with their most destructive attacks at the moment his back was to them. This was because there weren''t many ice crystal shards left around Leon''s Flame Fiend body that could be used as a foothold.


    Leon, on the other hand, had turned into a an ungainly giant. He used the Lava Shield to block enemy attacks, while savagely attacking the weak opponents before him; with his fearsome hand shrouded in blistering flames, with his five-meter long flame whip formed from concentrated flame Elementium, and with fire spells that radiated terrifying Elementium flux.


    Some spellbreaker knights were able to bend their bodies or leap to dodge Leon''s terrifying attacks with their agile bodies. But there were always some who failed to dodge. Faced with a whip that was cutting through the sky, they could only cower and maximize their shields to mitigate the opponent''s attack.


    Faced with Leon''s Strength of 20 points from the Flame Fiend Transformation, the spellbreaker knights'' pitiful average of 14 Strength was not even worth looking at.. They only had to have minimal contact with the whip, and they would turn into Angry Birds, blown away far off into the sky.


    But the most troublesome attacks from Leon weren''t his slightly clumsy physical blows, but the Ring of Fire that was everywhere.


    Leon, who had a Flame Body and had transformed part of his body into Elementium, successfully mastered the Ring of Fire once he advanced to a flame Mage. This was a domain-type fire spell!


    When Leon bellowed and activated the Ring of Fire, a light red Elementium barrier shaped like a sphere enveloped a hundred square meters area around him. Everything in this area started burning!


    The ground was burning, the grass and the trees were burning, even the sky was burning...


    Everyone that entered Leon''s Ring of Fire had to endure a astounding 13 points of fire damage every second. This level of energy damage was equal to a single offensive spell he activated back when he was a beginner-apprentice!


    There was a lava pool below, and Leon with his vicious attacks from above, along with the continuous fire damage they had to endure every second...


    Only the spellbreaker knights, that had some elemental resistance, were able to endure such devastating battle conditions. If it had been a witcher-knight, they wouldn''t even need to be attacked by Leon; just the elemental damage within the Ring of Fire was enough to reduce most of them to ashes.


    The spellbreaker knights had fought with mage-level casters countless times, across several centuries'' history of exterminating heretics. But if one wanted to discuss the difficulty or mysteriousness of a fight, the terrifying flame humanoid before them could easily outclass ten normal heretics added together.


    The spellbreaker knights rode on their magic colts, leaping on the bobbing ice crystal shards and slashing at Leon''s Lava Shield with various angles every so often. In the blink of an eye, two of the three shields had been destroyed. Even the only one left was badly damaged and couldn''t hold up for much longer.


    On the other hand, two of the nine spellbreaker knights had been hit by Leon''s melee attacks, and were sent flying out of the lava pool, screaming in pain. The magic colts under them also fell into the lava.


    The lava pool below Leon looked like a dark red patch. It wasn''t very flashy, but everything in the pool was terrifying half-molten magma. The moment the magic colts fell in, oily black smoke started rising from their hair, skin, blood, and flesh. Their skin and flesh sizzled as they burned, a sound so terrible no one could bear hearing.


    The colts had no time to even whinny in pain, and had already been devoured by the roiling magma, leaving only a cluster of bubbles on the surface of the viscous dark red liquid.


    There were a sizeable number of witcher-knights at the shore, enduring the flame damage from the Ring of Fire, shooting ice arrows into the lava pool with all their might to create ice crystal footholds for the spellbreaker knights. After shooting three to four waves of arrows, they had no choice but to swiftly retreat out of the area covered by the scarlet barrier. But just those short ten seconds inside the barrier had already caused all of their exposed skin to be covered with horrifying blisters. Even slightly touching those blisters sent pain straight to the heart.


    They suffered so much even though they were only on the edge of the barrier; the spellbreaker knights surrounding Leon and enduring his attacks had to endure ten times the punishment that they did.


    The two spellbreaker knights that were blown out of the battle were indeed courageous men. Immediately, they got fresh mounts from their witcher-knight subordinates and immediately charged back into the lava field.


    Since the start of the battle, Leon had only suffered inconsequential and insignificant injuries, having used the many protective layers of defensive fire spells. Now that most of his defensive spells were about to be broken, he finally started to retreat and swap positions with the Fire Lord.


    This was actually a very common sight in fights between casters and close-ranged melee fighters!


    With the protection of defensive spells, casters could bring about intense elemental damage to their opponents without suffering even a single bit of damage, as if they were the mightiest beings alive. But the moment their defenses were broken, they would almost certainly be killed in a flash by their opponents if they chose to continue engaging the opponents at a close range.


    So the moment things were turning sour, Leon threw out two Flame Shockwaves, blasting back the spellbreaker knights around him. Then, he retreated with large strides, trying to get to the center of the lava pool.


    However, Ninther had been waiting for an opportunity and would never let him escape at this critical juncture. Once more, he drove his magic colt forward, leaping from shard to shard and finally jumping towards Leon.


    Leon laughed twice, grimly and chillingly. He waved the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his left hand several times, and four lava pillars rose from the lava pool in one go, sealing Ninther''s path forward.


    But it seemed as if Ninther had given up on any thoughts of retreat. He was not forced backwards. Instead, he stepped on top of his magic colt and leapt from it with a shout, amazingly leaping over the lava pillars that were blazing into the sky.


    He was able to leap over, but his magic colt could not do the same.


    Thus, following pained and tragic whinnies and howls, the magic colt crashed straight into a lava pillar, its entire body quickly engulfed by the bone-melting lava. The colt''s whinnies stopped. Only some hair, flesh, and charred bones scattered about the black smoke and cluster of flame, before finally settling down and sinking into the lava pool below.


    In an instant, even this last shred of the colt''s existence had vanished!


    Leon had no time to pay attention to the valiant way in which the colt died. All of his attention had been drawn by the shape that was leaping across.


    What was it, did Ninther want to duel him one-on-one? The hero against the demon king?


    Leon halted his retreat. His empty right hand instantly turned into a terrifying large hand, shrouded in onyx smoke and intense flames, and grabbed towards towards the flying Ninther.


    Ninther might be able to resist the Ring of Fire''s damage with his body''s magic resistance, but the overbearing heat from Leon''s body went up to three thousand degrees. If it was converted to fire elementium damage, it would go up to 110 points. Let''s not talk about a human. Even a metal pillar would turn to putty in three seconds if it was gripped tightly by Leon''s flame hand.


    But before the large hand could close its grip, a flashing cerulean blade sliced through the palm and cut Leon on his broad chest that was bereft of elemental protection.


    Leon jerked his head back and let out a pained roar that rang throughout the woods.


    "I''ll kill you, Ninther!"


    Ninther, who had activated his Evil-Killing Slash at a close distance, should theoretically have fallen into the lava pool at this point. But he had already prepared for a situation like that and suddenly threw out an odd flying metal claw, which attached itself to Leon''s arm. With a slight jerk of the rope, he leapt towards the sky once more.


    Leon loudly roared as his two hands smashed against his own chest. The flames from inside the Flame Fiend''s body followed the cracks on the surface of its body and blasted through in terrifying streams of flame.


    These kinds of indiscriminate radial attacks were the scariest!


    The spellbreaker knights were mage at trading blow-for-blow, as well as using their concentrated knight battle techniques to shatter their opponent''s single-target elemental attacks. However, when faced with this kind of unreasonable and indiscriminate attack, their expressions would sour as they could only hide their bodies behind the energy shield, that covered an area of one square meter, and resist this wave of flames.


    Even with Ninther''s rich battle experience and skillful fighting techniques, he could only endure the attacks of his enemy at this moment.


    Boom. A muffled blast rang out.


    Ninther was like a tiny boat thrown about in a violent storm''s surging waves as he was blasted far away by the ferocious shockwave and streaming flames. The metal claw that connected him to Leon didn''t even lasted two seconds. Already, it had turned into a pool of red hot slag, blown and scattered all over the place.


    Ninther was blown twenty meters away. It almost seemed like he would fall into the edge of the lava pool, but already a swift spellbreaker knight had already driven his horse close, skimming the lava''s surface as he caught Ninther and successfully bringing him back to their side.


    Leon loomed at the center of the lava pool. He raised his left hand and looked at the wide gash on his chest. He could a feel an intense pain that pierced his heart.


    After his Flame Fiend Transformation, this elemental body was mostly filled with molten rock and swirling magma; yet it was also filled with potent flame energy that had been steeped in Leon''s will and Spirit.


    At this moment, that flame energy was an extension of Leon''s consciousness, and the places where the flame energy extended to was Leon''s body. Thus, even though it was burning lava that bled out of the large hand and chest wounds that Ninther caused, the one that was hurting was still his consciousness that was suffused throughout this form.


    Leon plunged his left hand into the lava pool below him. After a short while he removed it, and this badly wounded left hand was as good as new again. Once more, he bent his body to scoop up plenty of lava and spread it on his chest. His injury there healed instantly as well.


    The unexpected injury triggered Leon''s rage. He roared loudly as he launched a new wave of attacks!


    ...


    2007 Words


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    Gift campaign!


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    - 100 Power Stones = 2 chapters


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    - 1000 Power Stones = 8 chapters


    - 3000 Power Stones = 10 chapters

 Chapter 184 - 184: Counterattack

    How terrifying were two flame giants fighting at their full strength?!


    The witcher-knights could tell you this with their intense and personal experience.


    The Flame Fiend that Leon transformed into, as well as the Fire Lord, endured numerous ice arrows as they walked to the edge of the lava pool. Instantly, the fire spells that filled the skies turned the witcher-knights'' shelter into a terrifying sea of flames.


    One after another, clay golems coordinated with the stone serpents, and appearing on the battlefield. Every time they appeared out of nowhere, the monsters would pick up a surprised witcher-knight and tossed him into the lava pool. The rest of the job was finished by Leon and the Fire Lord!


    Using this method, Leon had already killed four witcher-knights in a row.


    To draw the spellbreaker knights to him, Leon took the extra risk himself, boldy leaving the lava pool and bringing the Fire Lord onto the shore with him. Even the rough muddy shore melted into part of the lava pool, flowing with red hot lava as the two flame giants stepped onto it.


    Thus when the Flame Fiend strode across the shore, it left behind a dark red trail of lava behind.


    This was a rare chance. Even though Ninther knew it had to be a trick, he couldn''t help but lead his spellbreaker knights forward and surround the enemy.


    Ninther wanted to force Leon into a direct confrontation and Leon didn''t seem to have much of a choice. If this battle started to go overwhelmingly in his favor, the spellbreaker knights that could see no chance of victory would most likely give up on this battle.


    And to let a still-organized witcher-knight army retreat from the battlefield might make the job of surrounding and exterminating them too hard for Blake and Bleia, who were meant to flank them. With their strategy revealed, they would most likely attract even scarier and difficult opponents.


    From the start of battle, Leon had already made the resolution to decimate the knight army.


    For this purpose, he took the risk to go to the frontlines, in order to attract the attention of the spellbreaker knights here and create the best opportunity to cripple and destroy this witcher-knight army later.


    Now, the ensuing battle quickly reached a most intense stage.


    Eleven spellbreaker knights formed a small group, surrounding Leon and the Fire Lord, as they charged and slashed within. Leon and the Fire Lord were knocked about, as the defensive spells on their bodies were cut into wisps of flames as quickly as they formed them. Scores of slashes and cuts covered their entire bodies.


    Even so, the two flaming titans managed to bring out their battle strength to their limits and resist the knights. At one point, they even managed to instantly kill a spellbreaker knight, who wasn''t able to dodge, with an elegant combination attack.


    Though in doing so, Leon had also lost two advanced-level stone serpents and one pseudo-Mage level stone serpent.


    As Leon was slowly becoming unable to endure the non-stop attacks from the enemy, he finally waved the Fire Lord''s Scepter and summoned another Fire Deity.


    In a flash, three tall and enormous fiery giants stood side by side, with two pseudo-Mage level stone serpents and a dozen clay golems on the edges. Leon had finally formed a battle line that was capable of both defense and offense with his army of golems.


    The stone serpents and clay golems were in charge of defense, obstructing the spellbreaker knights'' reckless and relentless charges. The three flame giants were in charge of releasing fire spells with all their might, trying their best to turn everything around them into a sea of flames.


    At this moment, the spellbreaker knights finally realized the huge difference between the heretic before them, and the heretics that they had always fought before. There were always powerful heretics among the ones they fought in the past. But as long as the witcher-knights were willing to make some sacrifices to shatter the tough shields of their opponent, they would only need a single strike to kill them.


    Yet the heretic before their eyes had immense Strength, Physique, and incomparable elemental attacks that other heretics did not have. Even though his speed was lacking, the weakness was covered by the lava domain he had created for himself. To use the opponent''s weakness to attack was simply too hard!


    If there weren''t so many golems sacrificing themselves at every turn, and if there weren''t the immensely powerful Fire Lord, then the powerful spellbreaker knights only needed three or four people to defend against Leon''s attacks, and the rest could swiftly execute him.


    But now, as the lava pool continuously expanded, the places where they could safely stand were rapidly decreasing, and the damage that they dealt to the evil heretic was quickly decreasing as well.


    Once the battle had reached this point, Ninther had no choice but to make a painful choice.


    Admit the loss of this battle and quickly lead the remaining troops out of this sorrowful and upsetting battlefield, Or continue hanging on, waiting for that opportunity to seize victory that might be right around the next turn. As long as they could kill this flame giant and obtain the victory on this main battlefield, the other two heretics hiding in the darkness were no big deal.


    It was precisely because Leon kept showing up and giving them occasional chances, that the entire spellbreaker knight squad was chained and bound to the lava battlefield. Having already suffered so many losses, if they retreated without any results to show for it, it would be a fate even worse than death for the spellbreaker knights that thought of glory as their lives.


    Leon used this precise psychological unwillingness and hesitation of his enemy to drag the battle into the state it was in now.


    But after the second spellbreaker knight was killed under the coordination of Leon, the Fire Lord, and the Fire Deity,Ninther made the painful decision.


    The long and sombre sound of a horn rang across the battlefield. The witcher-knights started to retreat from the battlefield, one after another. They were ready to end this painful suffering where no light could be seen at the end of the tunnel.


    The spellbreaker knights continued harrying Leon and his golem army to allow the witcher-knights a smooth retreat. Blow after blow of powerful knight battle techniques reduced the clay golems into mud, splashing everywhere.


    Sadly, the difference in the depth of their strategic thinking caused Ninther to fail to realize the difference between himself and the enemy in who they chose to target. The spellbreaker knight squad he led placed the deciding factor on defeating the enemy leader, Leon. However, Leon had placed all of his hopes of victory on defeating this group of spellbreaker knights!


    Why would it matter how many more witcher-knights there were? Even if was only Leon alone, he was confident he could exterminate all of his enemies within these vast mountains. The only one that concerned him were these spellbreaker knights. Thus, even if he let all the witcher-knights go, he was determined to not let a single one of these spellbreaker knights leave alive.


    Following the retreat horn being blown, the witcher-knights quickly retreated from the valley. A gap of about two hundred meters appeared between the spellbreaker knight squad and the witcher-knight army.


    Seeing this, Flame Fiend Leon let out a roar that shook the skies. It was finally the time for the decisive blow!


    The first sacrifice was naturally the Fire Deity that could be summoned at any time.


    It shook its ten meter tall and terrifying bod, and charging into the middle of the spellbreaker knight''s squad formation. Then it blew itself up, generating a terrifying explosion that seemed as if it would rend the skies and rip the ground asunder.


    The sudden blow instantly destroyed the formation the spellbreaker knights had created.


    Since the start of the battle, the twelve remaining spellbreaker knights used their well-trained riding skills and potent knight battle techniques to weave about the battlefield. They constantly charged and rode about, using their dazzling horsemanship to ride about and draw the enemy''s attention as they looked for chances to dash in once more.


    Often times a spellbreaker knight would have just landed an Evil-Killing Blow on the enemy before continuing right past the target, while a second knight would already be charging, his Explosive Cross Slash waiting to be executed. Meanwhile, a third knight would be accelerating and ready to charge at any time...


    It was precisely thanks to this constant attacks and well-honed intertwining and positioning that they were able to crack the defenses and slay the enemy, regardless of how powerful they were.


    But now an artificial volcano had appeared in the middle of the battlefield, following the Fire Deity''s terrifying explosion. Intense heat, scorching streams of flame, blazes that filled the skies as well as molten lava that went flying everywhere.... all of this completely disrupted the attack patterns of the knight squad. Everyone could only attempt to flee the vicinity of the volcano with all their might, with no time to care about their formation or attack pattern!


    And this was precisely what Leon wanted.


    This kind of magma hell and this harsh environment might be unbearable for humans, but the Flame Fiend and the Fire Lord they were like fish in water. They laughed loudly. With a strange motion they vanished from the spot, appearing next to a spellbreaker knight that had been isolated from his companions.


    Two clusters of explosive flames that suddenly appeared out of thin air frightened the spellbreaker knight''s colt. Yet before he could even react, Leon and the Fire Lord''s great shadows had already appeared within the flames.


    Flame Teleportation!


    The moment they appeared, the two large flame beings extended their palms, and instantly engulfed the spellbreaker knight''s body with all sorts of violent and ferocious fire spells.


    Firestorm.


    Flame Pillar.


    Ignite.


    Chain of Fireballs.


    Leon, who was had yet to display all of his strength, held back no longer. He executed his fire spells to the very limits of their power. Under the combined effort of Leon and the Fire Lord, how could a spellbreaker knight with merely a basic elemental resistance hold out against this degree of fiery bombardment?


    The opponent''s tough body was swiftly torn to pieces by the vicious spells. Even the magic colt beneath him exploded into tatters of flesh, sent flying in all directions. But before their bodies had been blown out of the centre of the explosion, they had already been turned to dust and ash by the shocking flame streams and violent shockwaves.


    "Edward!" Ninther''s pained cries could not save the life of his companion.


    Edward was his most capable assistant in the knight squad, and was also an exceptional spellbreaker knight that was only second to himself. But when faced with the combined power of two Mage-level opponents, no amount of anger and unwillingness could make the spellbreaker knights, who had no special means of preserving their lives, any more than a pile of meaningless flesh no different than an ordinary mortal.


    "Retreat...retreat...retreat quickly!" Ninther gritted his teeth several times. Finally suppressing the desire to charge at Leon and fight to his death, he loudly shouted at this companions that had been blown and scattered all over the place.


    Sadly, Leon would never let them run away just like that in this situation!


    Boom! Boom! Two bursts rang throughout the battlefield as two Flame Teleportations were executed. The Flame Fiend Leon had transformed into, and the Fire Lord, had teleported into the path of retreat, securely standing at the mouth of the valley between the spellbreaker knight squad and the witcher-knight army.


    A new blood bath was about to begin!


    ...


    1984 Words


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 Chapter 185 - 185: Extermination

    If the battle before was just a more intense battle to slay evil, the battle now was a bloody brawl that concerned their very lives.


    The Fire Deity''s self-destruction had created a terrifying crater in the middle of the valley. The lava in the pool far away was quickly flowing here. Streams of fire radiating unbearable temperatures were filling the hole bit by bit, igniting everything in their path.


    It probably wouldn''t take another fifteen minutes before the entire valley would be covered in boiling magma, turning the entire place into an even larger lava pool.


    Thus, with a powerful enemy before them and a sea of flames catching up behind them, the only escape route for the remaining eleven spellbreaker knights was to break through Leon''s blockade.


    This was the only way they could live.


    Odd screeches rang out from the woods around the valley. Large groups of bloodsucking vampires swarmed out from within, hurtling towards the witcher-knights that wanted to turn back and save their leaders. As for the woods that the witcher-knights were in, the earth beneath them violently split open. Countless horrifying scorpions surged forth from below the ground, instantly disrupted the formation of the witcher-knights, who had no one to direct them.


    Having sent all their subordinates to deal with the witcher-knights, Bloody Bleia and Worm controller Blake turned into a red flash and a cluster of black smoke, rushing out of the woods and leaping over Leon and the Fire Lord to charge straight at the disorganized spellbreaker knights.


    Leon whistled and called over his Lightning Giant as well as two pseudo-adept level stone serpents, and had them blockade the mouth of the valley in his place. He and the Fire Lord, on the other hand, grinned wickedly as they disappeared in a blast of elemental flame that appeared out of nowhere.


    Now that the spellbreaker knights'' formation has been disrupted, it was the perfect time to take advantage of the chaos to slaughter the lot. Even Bleia and Blake couldn''t resist the urge to attack- why would Leon, who had worked so hard to create this situation, let up now?


    Don''t think that just because they were powerful adepts that came over from another world, that they were able to slaughter the knights. Even though their physiques and equipment were superior, allowing them to crush and overwhelm these spellbreaker knights that claimed to share the same grade as them, slaughtering the knights en masse was still an impossibly difficult task compared to driving them off.


    In a one-on-one duel, Bleia and Blake had a seventy to eighty percent chance of victory. But if they were to face two enemies at the same time, their chance of victory would drop to forty or fifty percent. Leon, on the other hand, had the Fire Lord, which was like having an adept-level clone following beside him. As long as he found an opportunity, he could instantly teleport to his opponent''s side and the two flame giants would bombard the enemy with spells.


    A spellbreaker knight that could resist one round of such a bombardment- not one existed!


    The clay golems were also endangering their lives to entangle and disrupt the spellbreaker knights at all costs, under the Leon''s instructions. They didn''t need to face the enemy head on. All they had to was go underground and hinder the movements of the magic colts.


    At one moment, the battlefield was crowded with eighteen clay golems, three advanced-level stone serpents, the three adepts, and the Fire Lord. Such a chaotic scene might be disaster for the spellbreaker knights, but for the adepts possessing odd and mysterious abilities of their own, there was no better battlefield.


    Bleia had her bat wings, and her speed was several times that of the spellbreaker knights in such a constrained area. In this harsh environment, she weaved about the crowd and often used her crimson longbow to shoot at the spellbreaker knights, while occasionally closing up to the enemy''s side and using her sharp claws to engage in a bloody melee.


    Bleia had taken full advantage of her speed!


    Blake, on the other hand, was still as mysterious as usual.


    The black smoke he had turned himself into constantly dispersed and gathered around the enemy. Sometimes, he would turn back into his human form, laughing wickedly as he opened his mouth and let out swarms of flying bugs that filled the skies. Other times, his body would simply scatter into tens of thousands of odd scorpions and instantly swarm the enemy.


    When he was attacked by the enemy, he would just turn back into black smoke and quickly escape to another place.


    The spellbreaker knights could only employ fire against such an opponent. Not even their frost swords could do anything to Blake. After such a prolonged battle, the spellbreaker knights still didn''t know if Worm controller was man or bug, not to mention trying to find his weak spot!


    The exceptional magic resistance and flexible runic weapons that the spellbreaker knights took pride in were no longer useful when faced with these arcane casters from another world.


    It didn''t matter how badly they wounded Bleia; as long as someone amidst the spellbreaker knights was bleeding, Bleia''s wounds would heal by themselves within a matter of seconds. It didn''t matter how many times the evil swarms of bugs were dispersed; when they flew to another spot and gathered, the black-robed Blake would appear once more.


    It was constant torture for the spellbreaker knights to fight against these tenacious and undying cockroaches. If they still had their stamina, if their formation was still tight, they might be able to kill Bleia and Blake by accumulation of damage due to their advantage in numbers and their constant attacks.


    But now, under the corrosion of the lava pool, they could hardly even find places that were safe to stand. In such a situation, even their survival was a problem- not to mention surrounding the enemy!


    If Worm controller Blake and Bloody Bleia could be said to bring chaos and suffering to the spellbreaker knights, then Leon''s entrance could be said to have spelled death for them!


    Not even Blake dared to let both Leon and the Fire Lord land an entire round of spell bombardment on him. Leon, who was an expert with fire Elementium, was able to have a might of over 140 points with every fire spell he cast. The crude equipment of the knights were fashioned to defend against physical attacks, and could hardly resist this level of spell damage.


    Fire Core Explosion!


    Chain of Fireballs!


    Firestorm!


    Flame Pillar!


    Doomsday Volcano!


    Flame Wall!


    ...


    ...


    One after another, powerful fire spells were released by Leon and the Fire Lord. Every spellbreaker knight that they targeted would be blasted into oblivion, shattered into pieces. Not even a corpse would be left.


    While Leon blew up four spellbreaker knights in one go, Bleia had only been able to take down one spellbreaker knight. Blake, on the other hand, had also only killed one spellbreaker knight.


    There was no way around it. After all, fire spells belonged to the battlefield. The lethality and damage of fire spells would always be the greatest in a war. Even though Bleia was the same grade as Leon, she was only an agile assassin in the end. Her efficiency and ability of direct skirmishes on the battlefield was insignificant compared to Leon.


    Worm controller Blake, on the other hand, leaned towards being an evil adept. His abilities were numerous and bizarre, often catching his opponents by surprise. Yet when it came to brute force, his abilities were awkwardly weaker!


    To avoid Leon getting all the kills, they could only charge forward with no regard for their lives, battling two spellbreaker knights at a time each. Thus, the only one left for Leon was Ninther, who was now completely alone!


    Compared to his charm and elegance at the start of the battle, Ninther had now turned into a lone wolf cornered by a hunter.


    The shape of his once delicate knight''s armor had been bent due to the absurdly high temperatures of the surroundings. Scorch marks, from being burnt and exposed to smoke, covered the armor. All of his hair, skin, and nails had fallen out, replaced with blisters and burns that were constantly bleeding. With every blow that he dealt out, the blisters on his body would burst, and blackish pus and blood would go splatter everywhere.


    The him at this point was bathed in blood!


    He didn''t even know how many magic colts he had swapped out. The magic colt he was riding right now was also severely wounded and exhausted.


    Ninther suddenly laughed, bitterly watching Leon as he slowly walked towards him. He got off the magic colt with much difficulty and patted it on its back.


    "Go. If you have the opportunity to escape then go!"


    Perhaps the colt understood Ninther''s words. It let out a long whinny, took a look at the mighty Leon, and quickly ran away in fear. Without the burden of the knights, it might actually be able to find a way out through the steep stone cliff surroundings before the lava arrived.


    With great difficulty Ninther, who had chosen to stay behind, took off the red hot armor. He gripped the runic blade tightly with his bloody, burnt hands. He looked calmly upon Leon, who was striding over, as if he was about to die alongside the enemy.


    Leon shook his head when he saw Ninther''s provocative eyes. He waved his hands, and the Fire Lord strode past him towards this final enemy.


    Disappointment filled Ninther''s eyes.


    This enemy was far too careful. Even when he had the absolute advantage, he still didn''t let it go to his head. He was willing to let go of the sweetest fruit of victory in the entire battle!


    It''s important to note how much of an honor and glory it was, as the commander of such a large battle, to personally take the head of the enemy leader! Yet the opponent let go of this chance so easily and simply!


    For the first time, Ninther started to understand why he had lost today.


    The opponent... all of the opponents, from the mastermind to the summoned beings, were a bunch of fellows that didn''t give a single damn about a knight''s honor!


    Ninther had activated inumerable knight battle techniques from the start of the battle until now. Both his stamina and will were at their limits. Looking at the flame giant that was slowly nearing, he pulled out two Elementium crystals pulsing with energy, and stuffed them into his mouth. He ran towards the opponent while screaming.


    One of the Elementium crystals was red, while the other was blue. Clearly, they were one fire crystal and one ice crystal.


    The two Elementium crystals of opposing elements, along with the last bit of blood essence he forced out, would be able to deliver critical damage to the opponent once he self-destructed, even if he couldn''t kill the opponent.


    This was his only means of damaging his enemy at this point!


    Leon silently smiled, a cold expression on his face, as he looked upon the charging Ninther and the chaotic elemental flux in his body.


    Before Ninther could self-destruct, the Fire Lord vanished in a blast of fire. The earth beneath Ninther loosened and a stone serpent with its mouth wide opened rushed out, completely swallowing him. The stone serpent then swiftly sunk into the ground again.


    A short moment later, a muffled bang echoed from deep within the ground.


    The entire valley silently shook. Countless deep cracks appeared as the earth quaked. The woods nearby shook along with the ground.


    At that moment, countless leaves fell, and dust filled the skies!


    ...


    1972 Words


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 Chapter 186 - 186: Plane Feedback

    The witcher-knight army that had desperately hung on until now had finally crumbled!


    The decimation of their leaders only brought despair to them.


    Edward had died, Anthony had died, Alvar had died, Joseph had died...the list of the dead horrified the soldiers. Now that Ninther''s name had been added to the list, it was enough to destroy the witcher- knights'' confidence and will to continue fighting. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Daniel, Benson, and the two more spellbreaker knights had yet to die, and were still fighting to the death with the other two heretics. But if the witcher-knights wanted to save them, they had to first get rid of the swarms of vampires and bugs, then break through the army of elemental golems standing at the entrance of the valley.


    After all this, they still had to deal with that terrifying flame humanoid.


    The low and tragic sound of the retreating horn rang out again.


    The witcher-knights finally retreated, even leaving behind their companions that were still tangled up by the vampires and the bugs!


    The once proud and high-spirited witcher-knights were now like dogs that had lost their homes and their will, running in shame with their tails between their legs. Their chaotic and frantic shapes could be seen everywhere in the vast, primal woods as they escaped. The pained whinnies of magic colts could be heard all across the forest.


    Before they could thoroughly escape this desolate battlefield, a horrifying screech that frightened their souls came from the skies above the woods. Multiple gigantic shadows swooped above the canopy, letting out terrifying screeches to let the world know of their arrival.


    A feeling of dread surfaced in the hearts of the already frightened witcher-knights. Quickly, all of them whipped their colts, crashing through the woods, trying futilely to use their speed to outrun the terrifying black shadows. Their will to battle and their spirits had been broken. They didn''t even have any intention to stop and test the enemy''s'' strength. They were only thinking of how to leave this land of nightmares as fast as possible using the speed of the magic colts!


    But the ominous creatures above them hadn''t appeared for long, when a group of terrible magical creatures appeared in the woods in front of them. Based on their appearances, it seemed their races included almost all of the powerful beings that could be found in Greenland Forest. They were all of difference races and species, but they had one common characteristic- their ghostly green eyes...


    Leon stood on the entrance of the valley, looking distantly in the direction the witcher-knights ran.


    He could also see the silhouette of the winged dragon knights flying above the skies of the woods. The situation below was obstructed by the sea of trees and was unknown to him, but now that even the winged dragon knights had been sent out, why wouldn''t the other voodoo beasts be as well?


    It seems that even though Mage Keoghan had rejected Leon''s request for help, he still made some arrangements of his own behind the scenes. Now that Leon and the other two had managed to defeat the enemy in one blow, he could only come out from the shadows and finish the rest.


    Bleia and Blake, who were fighting two spellbreaker knights and trying to obtain spoils of wars of their own, were having a tough battle. Regardless of which battle Leon tried to join, he would be shouted at angrily and firmly rejected.


    There was no choice. If any spellbreaker knight was blasted by Leon and the Fire Lord''s combined force, he would be left without even a corpse. This was what made Bleia and Blake so very angry!


    Otherwise, if all fourteen spellbreaker knights had been perfectly captured without being harmed, they would have been the perfect materials for these two to increase their power!


    Thus, the only four spellbreaker knights left on the battlefield were spoils of war that they coveted. If any outsider tried to close in, they would attack them with their fiercest means.


    From this, it could be seen how imposing these two people who were eager to improve their bloodlines were!


    After looking about the battlefield and ensuring that his battle was over, Leon groaned and reversed his Flame Fiend Transformation.


    As the red hot magma fell from his skin, and the molten rocks slowly solidified, Leon let out a pained groan.


    He had constantly been on the frontline of battle today, so the number of attacks he had to endure was also the most numerous. The elemental golems might not have physical senses and wouldn''t be exhausted, but he did, and he would.


    During the Flame Fiend Transformation, most of the damage would be healed by the magma that he took in, but the pain he felt would still be clearly imprinted in his memories. After transforming into a Flame Fiend, his Physique was greatly improved, and so most of the damage would be mitigated by his powerful regenerative ability, reducing the amount of pain he felt.


    But now that he had reversed the transformation, his Physique was quickly decreasing, and the bodily pain that had been suppressed instantly came back to him, causing even Leon, who claimed to be calm and tenacious, to groan in pain uncontrollably.


    However, pain wasn''t the only thing that the battle brought him. Leon could vaguely feel that his Spirit had improved by a decent amount. And the source of the increase in power was very clearly the planar laws.


    Even though he was an Mage from a different plane, he had analyzed the plane''s laws. For every enemy he killed, he was able to obtain plane feedback from the planar consciousness. This was an indescribably unique feeling, like a peculiar form of energy he had never felt before.


    The source of the great increase in his Spirit was precisely this mysterious and amazing plane feedback!


    As an invader from another plane, he was most certainly hated and marked as a hostile force by the planar consciousness. Yet when placed in this mysterious world governed by the planar laws, he could still obtain the reward he deserved from those laws. As long as his actions fulfilled the basic requirements of the planar laws, then even the master of the plane-the planar consciousness itself- could not stop him.


    When a undeveloped and immature planar consciousness used the strength of the plane to form a perfect and self-contained plane world, the dense layers of planar laws would often limit the planar consciousness itself!


    Leon had killed the citizens of its plane, but it could only obey the planar laws and give Leon the rewards he earned for killing. What an absolutely ridiculous thing!


    But in a material plane where a planar consciousness had been born, this was a normal occurrence!


    The hazy planar consciousness might be able to push the world towards a certain direction, through those that could feel its will, but it could not topple or change the planar laws it had personally created.


    Moreover, this was a small-sized plane of knights. Even the planar consciousness itself wasn''t too bright and aware. To form a clear and coherent thought, and then send that message to its citizens, was a task that was impossible for an undeveloped planar consciousness.


    Even the planar consciousness of the far larger and much more mature World of Mages could not do something like this, much less this small-sized plane!


    Thus Leon and the Mages boldly attacked this knight''s plane, never concerned about ''it'' informing the plane''s powerful beings through dreams and sending them to intercept the Mages.


    It wasn''t that ''it'' didn''t want to, it was that ''it'' could not do that!


    A newly born planar consciousness was like a baby still growing in the womb. It might be able to reflexively act against things that pose a danger to it, without anything resembling an adult thought process, it could not form a proper response.


    Thus, even though the most powerful beings of the plane had mastered part of the planar laws, and felt the existence of the planar consciousness, they could not construct a stable and clear mental link with the consciousness. They may be able to feel the unease and anger of the planar consciousness, but they would have a hard time finding out the target of those feelings.


    At times like this, exceptional prophets became invaluable!


    In all large material planes, top-class prophets would always be a valuable and strategic asset that was deeply valued by large organizations.


    Sadly, in this plane where the witcher-knights dutifully carried out their tasks, it was hard to have such a prophet that could see into the plane''s future. Of course, this was only because Leon was poorly informed. If it wasn''t for the Sixth Grade Great Mage on their side, the location of their Mages'' base would probably have been exposed to the most powerful beings on this plane!


    Although the Sixth Grade Mage was always cooped up within the base, his existence was extremely crucial for this forward base!


    It was hard for Leon to have a clear picture of all these things.


    Right now he was immersed in his own mental world, checking out the bodily data the chip had gathered.


    "Leon, First Grade human Elementium Mage. Body has been elementalized. Flame Mastery. Strength: 1.5; Agility: 0.8; Physique: 1.4; Spirit: 1.3.. "


    Er, he had only been to this other plane for fifteen days, and his Strength had increased by 0.1, his Physique increased by 0.2, and his Spirit increased by 0.4.


    This kind of terrifying improvement was rare for him ever since he became an Mage.


    Now, even if he diligently meditated everyday, the increase in his Spirit was often decimals with three to four zeroes before the number. If it wasn''t for the aid of his chip, he would have thought he wasn''t improving!


    Without exceptional talent or a massive amount of rare resources, most Mages could only rely on the slow grind every day to raise their Spirit.


    It was natural that people like Eclivel and Keoghan had advanced for several hundreds of years, yet were still First Grade Mages. Going along this normal route would make it almost impossible for one to advance to a Second Grade Mage. The main reason for this was probably the slow increase in Spirit.


    Leon had the help of the chip. The efficiency of his deep meditations were several times those of others. Yet even he could not stand the crawling speed at which his Spirit increased. If it was any other person, they would probably have fallen into despair at the lack of a path forward!


    At this moment, Leon was instead able to understand Mage Eclivel''s feelings. If he hadn''t been driven mad by the slow grind day-by-day, he probably would not have resorted to such extreme choices or means.


    Perhaps he had already gone completely mad as he planned the blood ritual!


    ...


    1838 Words

 Chapter 187 - 187: Arrive

    The Mages'' base became even busier after the victory.


    The winged dragon knights beat their wide fleshy wings, rising and landing all about the camp, sending the witcher-knights to and fro. These exceptional spoils of war were sent into Mage Keoghan''s lab the moment they reached the base, and what was waiting for them was a terrifying nightmare they had never experienced in their lives.


    Leon saw the native teenager amidst the people bustling about with work. He was now an important assistant for Mage Keoghan, helping him do some auxiliary tasks in the modification and construction of voodoo beasts.


    Keoghan passed the work of checking the inventory for fresh ''materials'' to the teenager, and walked over when he saw Leon return.


    "You did well this time! Lord Sarubo mentioned your name just now. It seems the Lord has been paying attention to you!" Keoghan couldn''t help but pat Leon on the shoulder and praise him.


    It was obvious that Mage Keoghan felt respect and admiration for Lord Sarubo from the bottom of his heart.


    But once he thought of the fact that nothing in the Mages'' base could escape the vast yet fine mental senses of Lord Sarubo, Leon felt a shiver go down his spine. But he could only respond kindly to Keoghan''s act of intimacy. He even chose to ignore the bloody handprint left on his shoulder.


    "Why''s that little fellow still alive?" Leon asked curiously.


    When he passed the teenager to Keoghan, Leon had thought he would come back to find his body attached to another voodoo beast!


    "Our plan here is to rule this plane, so local puppets are a must. He has an exceptional talent. As long as we perform some slight modifications, he could easily become one of the best spellcasters from this plane. When the time comes, it''s easier if he represents us instead of having us do everything." A wicked grin appeared on Keoghan''s cold face.


    "How are the resources in this plane? How large of a benefit can we get?"


    "From the current analysis, the assets with the most strategic value are the white-starred alocasias, the fire-dragon herbs, the royal-blood herbs, the seasoul stars, the spacestones and the breeding flowers."


    "There are spacestones and breeding flowers in this plane?" An expression of disbelief appeared on Leon''s face.


    All material planes developed from tiny little pseudo-planes, and the time taken for such development often required several hundreds of thousands of years. Thus, in the course of its long development, the inside of a plane had a high possibility of containing spacestones that drifted from the depths of the galaxy.


    This spacestone was one of the main materials used in constructing long-range teleportation arrays.


    Even in the resource-rich World of Mages, these were a strategic resource strictly controlled by high grade Mages. A normal Mage clan would not have access to it.


    The breeding flower, on the other hand, was also an interesting thing.


    It''s a rare plant, but also a unique herb.


    Using the breeding flower as the main ingredient, the alchemist Mages can brew a mysterious potion that allowed powerful Mages to give birth. It''s important to note that in the development history of the Mages, it was extremely difficult for Mages above the Second Grade to have an offspring.


    On one hand you have a high grade Mage, and on the other you have a normal human. The chance of having a normal offspring was astronomical. If both parties were high grade Mages, the chances become even lower.


    After all, Mages were a group of individuals that constantly changed, modified and mutated their body in the process of advancing, almost as much as magical creatures. Moreover, a great deal of the mutations were natural, random mutations. Don''t look at how most high grade Mages still retained a human appearance. If you were to take a detailed look at their bodily essence and source, you would realise they were quite different from humans.


    Some high grade Mages'' mutations were even more thorough, to even have mutated their soul''s essence into something completely unrecognizable. If a high grade Mage got together with a similar partner, their chance of giving birth to a normal human baby was almost zero.


    Frankly speaking, their chance of giving birth to a magical creature was higher than giving birth to a human child!


    Thus, why was it that the Mage clans placed so much importance on the continuation and legacy of family bloodlines, such that they encouraged the low grade Mages to quickly leave behind some bloodlines and offspring for the clan? This was the main reason!


    If a talented Mage appeared among the descendants of a large clan, he wouldn''t even need to expend the effort to find beauties. His family would automatically find all sorts of attractive women, even all sorts of races for him to pick from.


    This was both a boon for the Mage as well as a means for the clan to continue their bloodline!


    Therefore, any means or medicine that could aid the chances of conceiving became a rare resource that was in great demand by high grade Mages. The breeding flower was one such amazing plant, that allowed the superior genes of both the father and mother to perfectly merge and give rise to a baby with amazing and powerful talent.


    As for whether the baby was still a human, no one really cared!


    The discovery of breeding flowers in this insignificant knights'' plane was undoubtedly going to bring about immense benefit for the Sarubo clan. And as the clan grew, they, as the batch of Mages who led the excavation of the new plane, would also be greatly rewarded.


    The veteran Mages might not care about such rewards, but for newly advanced Mages such as Leon, who had no wealth at all, this meant that he would not need to run about outside to gather resources for a hundred years.


    In a situation where he was not pressured to find resources to advance, Leon had at least two hundred years of leisure time to slowly accumulate knowledge and research the direction of his future development.


    After exchanging a few more words with Keoghan, Leon returned to the row of stone houses, decided on a random house, shut the door, and went to rest. At the battle in the valley this time, he had participated fully and functioned as the core of the strategy- all the way from the start of the baiting, to the counterattack, to the final battle.


    And accordingly, his Spirit was drained and badly ''bruised''. These losses would not recover by themselves. He could only rely on a long rest to fix them!


    At least there would not be any threats around the Mages'' base after exterminating those witcher-knights. There would be a period of peace! As for when the next batch of enemies would arrive; that was out of Leon''s control.


    Understanding this, Leon let go of all his concerns, summoned the Lightning Giant to protect him, and fell into a deep sleep on the stone bed.


    While he was sleeping, Bleia had returned to the base, bringing with her two withered spellbreaker knight corpses. Even though such spoils of war didn''t have much value to them, Keoghan still gladly received them.


    After all, as compared to Blake, Bleia had brought something back. Blake hadn''t even left a withered corpse behind. However, he did have a group of odd black beetles the size of a washing basin. There were about twenty-one or twenty-two of them. It looked like they were his newest gains.


    Mage Keoghan was a veteran Mage that had advanced for three centuries after all. He was able to swiftly determine that these were a group of carcass beetles, based solely on their unique appearance. Even though these were only young beetles, they still had terrifying power.


    Carcass beetles could be considered a kind of horrifying magical creature that lived in groups.


    They had tough shells that didn''t lose to Body Refining Mages. They could fly, tunnel, and use their sharp teeth or claws to attack their enemies. Adult carcass beetles even boasted superior magic resistance, such that even spell attacks below 100 points of damage couldn''t scratch their bodies.


    With all of these advantages together, a swarm of carcass beetles were not an enemy an Mage wanted to make.


    The scorpions he used to feed with flesh and Spirit previously were too inferior, and couldn''t be used in important battles, or fights between Mages. But now that the carcass beetles had appeared, it meant that Blake had managed to raise his evil bug swarm to a level that matched him as an Mage.


    When all these carcass beetles matured, then Blake would become a terrifying individual- even amongst the First Grade Mages!


    Bleia gritted her teeth and left after walking to and fro where Leon was resting for a bit.


    An entire army of witcher-knights had died in the woods. If she didn''t seal the news quickly, the entire Duran province might be alerted. Therefore, Bleia hurried back to Blue Hillock City in order to use her influence there to nip all kinds of troublesome news in the bud before they could spread.


    Blake, who had a similar burden, didn''t stay in the base for long, and quickly left for the woods. He needed to set up bug traps on all the key entrances to the mountain to avoid any news from getting outside.


    There were two mountain villages and a small town on the edge of Greenland Forest. He had only taken down Colca Village. If the hunters or adventurers from the other village or town broke into the battlefield and found something, their efforts to conceal the truth would have been for nothing.


    Coincidentally, the batch of carcass beetles he had just bred needed a large amount of blood to grow. This time, Blake had already planned on conquering the remaining village and town. He could snuff out all sources of information getting out while also increasing his own strength; why wouldn''t he do it?!


    ...


    It took four days before Leon finally woke up from his deep slumber!


    He didn''t want to wake up so early, but the odd energy flux by his side made it hard for him to sleep, so he had to wake up ahead of time.


    He had just opened his eyes when he felt a strong and intense flux in space.


    This space flux was so familiar, and so hard to forget, that Leon could determine what it was immediately.


    Interplanar ultra long ranged teleportation!


    The last time their group had been brought over from the Sarubo clan''s pseudo-plane platform was through such a ultra long ranged interplanar teleportation. The teleportation that time was a painful and torturous experience for Leon, so he remembered it very clearly!


    But even though he understood the nature of the space flux, more questions surfaced in Leon''s mind. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    According to Mage Keoghan, the second batch of Mages should be arriving one month from now! But now... Leon checked the notification on his chip- they had only been on this knights'' plane for no more than 18 days, 11 hours, 33 minutes, and 31 seconds.


    The question had just surfaced in Leon''s mind when he revealed a cold grin.


    As expected of a Sixth Grade Mage that could manipulate and toy with others!


    He had said it would be one month, but in truth he only needed 18 days to send the reinforcements over. Thus, even if there were traitors among them, or if any of them had been captured by the natives of this plane, the information they would reveal would be inaccurate and hardly cause any impact on the following actions.


    That projection of Lord Sarubo probably tricked even Keoghan!


    ...


    1973 Words

 Chapter 188 - 188: Upstaged

    When Leon removed the defenses on the door, unsummoned the Lightning Giant, and walked out of the stone house, he realized that several Mages were also standing outside of their respective doors, looking at the crude tower.


    The expressions on their faces were varied.


    Seeing that Leon had come out, everyone nodded and greeted him, then went back to staring at the tower.


    Just then, shockwaves caused by the spatial flux could be seen!


    Several spatial folds, that looked like ripples on water, started to spread out in all directions. When the ripples reached the defensive array, the two forces clashed and sent out more ripples in other directions. There were already plenty of spatial shards all over the place.


    Fortunately, the previously set up defensive array managed to prevent the spatial flux from spilling over, and prevented the shockwaves from spreading beyond the illusion barrier. Otherwise, with the intensity of the spatial shockwaves, the most powerful beings of this plane would have been able to detect the fluctuations of this area through the planar laws they had mastered.


    The spatial flux became even more dense.


    Finally, the rippling spatial folds collapsed into one spot within the tower, and following an explosive ripping sound, a teleportation door slowly opened.


    No one in the base was able to get any information about the teleportation this time, and so no one knew about the size and quality of the reinforcements. Everyone had lost their interest in talking at that moment. They just silently waited on the spot for the final result.


    An hour after the teleportation door had disappeared, the entrance to the tower gradually opened. Groups of Mages walked out from within, with Sir F¨¹gen at the lead.


    The ones that had arrived were Second Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen and twenty three other Sarubo clan Mages.


    These clan Mages were clearly veterans that were usually stationed in all the lesser planes. Therefore, they needed no instructions. Already they were flying about, doing simple surveys of the Mages'' base, and making adjustments based on their observations.


    Sir F¨¹gen, on the other hand, walked towards Keoghan and the rest, and began to ask detailed questions about the situation around the base.


    Robotic beasts, voodoo beasts, and stone golems were summoned to clean up the buildings within the base. The pockets and bags of the clan Mages were all filled to the brim. It was obvious that they came prepared, and so their movements were especially crisp and swift.


    Just as the few of them were speaking, several buildings on the edge of the camp had been demolished. The robotic beasts waved about with their metallic arms and grabbed the bricks and stone, sending them to the outside section of the base. The stone golems were quickly flattening out the ground.


    Looking at what they were doing, it seemed as if the reinforcing Mages were unhappy with the original layout of the base, and it seemed as if they wanted to demolish everything and start over. More of the Mages were gathered near the crude tower, pointing and gesturing here and there, like they were discussing the construction of a new Mages'' tower.


    Keoghan and the other veterans who stayed in the base stood respectfully beside Sir F¨¹gen, carefully answering each of his questions. When F¨¹gen heard that two Mages had gone undercover outside the base and had successfully taken over control of the villages around the forest, as well as a small human city, a satisfied smile appeared on his usually cold face.


    As they were speaking, a few Mages commanding a group of stone golems had appeared before Keoghan''s voodoo beast lab. When he saw them about to use their stone fists to demolish the lab, the native teenager ran out while screaming, flailing his hands as he stood before the lab.


    An Mage floating in the sky waved his hand, and a huge bush of thorny, dark green man-eating flowers appeared from beneath the ground, restraining the teenager in an instant. Then, the Mage flew in front of the teenager and used his black fingertip to cut open the teenager''s skin. He took a little blood and tasted it, nodding in satisfaction.


    The next moment, the Mage laid out a soul array on the teenager''s head, looking as if he was about to squeeze out all of his soul''s memories.


    The edge of Keoghan''s mouth twitched a little as he turned around and explained to Mage F¨¹gen softly, "Sir, this native youth has a bit of casting talent. I was thinking of raising him to be our eyes and ears, as well as our puppet. Don''t you think..."


    "There''s no need!" Sir F¨¹gen didn''t seem to care about what his subordinate was doing, "It''s just a lowly native anyway! We can arrange for such things once the situation of this base has settled. Absorbing his soul''s memories will help the newcomer Mages to more quickly understand the situation and this world, and greatly increase their work efficiency. This is beneficial for the base''s development!"


    Keoghan stuttered for a moment, took some deep breaths, and didn''t say anything more.


    In the time they used to speak, the soul array that the Mage was drawing had been completed. Following the pulses of white light that gathered in the array, the native teenager slowly stopped moving. His entire soul''s consciousness had been extracted by the array, gathering into a white bead.


    The Mage put the bead to his head for a few seconds, then opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction. He then tossed the bead to the Mages beside him, and soon everyone had used their Spirit to inspect the teenager''s memories stored in the bead, quickly understanding the basic situation on this plane.


    More talented Mages could already fluently interact with the native''s language and words. For these Mages who possessed powerful Spirits, browsing through another soul''s memories took just a matter of seconds.


    Perhaps the entire life story of that native teenager took only three to five seconds of their time to understand! S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The voodoo beast lab had finally been demolished, and the voodoo beast ''material'' that took great efforts to obtain was exposed. A few interested Mages flew over and started rummaging about, taking away with them the few surviving witcher-knights and the withered spellbreaker knight corpses.


    As for the rest of the ''trash'', they were thrown out, along with the bricks and stone.


    "Sir, what should we do?" The smile on Keoghan''s face didn''t go away as he bowed and asked respectfully.


    "The Mages'' tower in the base needs to be constructed quickly. There''s nothing for you to do here in the meantime. I''ll send two Mages to take over the human city. You will follow after them and help them with their jobs. Be careful, don''t let the forces and organizations here disturb the base. That''s all I ask of you!" Finished speaking, Mage F¨¹gen turned around and left to gather his subordinates.


    The stiff and unnatural smiles hung on everyone''s faces. They had lost the desire to talk to each other, and just silently lowered their head to think. The atmosphere was tense and sombre.


    ...


    When night had arrived once more, the seven people, including Leon, had arrived in Blue Hillock City.


    The group consisted of five veterans of the base here, and two Mages that had just been sent over.


    Everyone hid their silhouettes and silently floated through the night sky, three hundred meters above the ground, looking down upon this boisterous human city.


    Blue Hillock City was a tourist spot famous throughout the country after all. Moreover, it bordered the resource-rich Greenland Forest. Added together, all of these geographical advantages caused the city to have a very large concentration of the rich and noble. They were the leaders of commercial chains, or nobles that came here to play, or artists that have long heard of the beauty of this place...


    Regardless of which they were, their presence in this city brought about a lot of liveliness and activity, causing the city''s nightlife to be colorful and extravagant!


    Without letting them wait for too long, a scrawny creature of darkness rose from the shadows of the city, batting its wings and swiftly flying before them.


    "Sirs, this one has come to fetch you under my master''s orders. Please come along with this one..."The bloodsucking bat instantly transformed into a well-dressed young noble, bowing respectfully before the Mages.


    Before he could finish speaking, the Mage leading the group raised his left hand and a stream of flame hit the youth''s shoulder instantly, burning him and causing him to screech in pain.


    "From now on, I am the master here! "The Mage coldly said, "Bring me to Mage Bleia!"


    Everyone''s gaze jumped for a second. They clearly didn''t expect this Mage Muret that Sir F¨¹gen sent over to so boldly rob Bleia''s position of leadership here before he had even met Bleia. Even though Sir F¨¹gen had told them to aid this Mage Muret, the reckless and rude manner in which he was treating Bleia had exceeded everyone''s expectations.


    Keoghan snuck a look at Leon.


    However, Leon was still smiling and looking at the night scene of the city below, as if he wasn''t aware of what was happening.


    The youth that had come to welcome them was only a vampire spawn after all. His position was even lower than those blood servants that Bleia had personally Embraced. Faced with the wrath of a powerful Mage, he didn''t dare to argue or struggle, instead begging for mercy with all his might.


    Mage Muret waved his hand and extinguished the fire having, relieved some of his anger.


    The vampire spawn didn''t dare to delay. Immediately, it endured the intense pain and turned into a bloodsucking bat, flying down towards a spot in the small city below.


    The others followed along.


    The place Bleia ''received'' the others was still the same hidden bedroom as last time.


    The well-dressed young nobles in the shadows of the garden, corridors, and corners gathered together to gossip, curious as to the identity of these mysterious guests that arrived all of a sudden.


    Bleia used her Embrace to turn the more powerful and influential people into her subordinates. The other group of vampires comprised mostly of young nobles were ones she created through other means. As for the vampire spawn with even inferior status, they didn''t even have the right to enter this hidden area!


    The Mages entered under the watchful gaze of the numerous vampires, walking into the terrifying pool of blood Bleia had specially ordered for herself.


    The opulent and extravagantly large bed had now disappeared, replaced with a large, five-meter square blood pool. Bleia comfortably rested in the pool, enjoying the service of four beautiful vampire girls around her.


    One was softly massaging her arms, while another was holding a golden cup, waiting for her to take a drink. The last two were using toothpicks to send peeled grapes straight into her mouth...


    It wasn''t spring water that was rippling about the pool, nor was it a warm and comfortable hot spring, but thick and viscous blood!


    ...


    1866 Words

 Chapter 189 - 189: Conflict

    The arrival of the Mages did not affect Bleia''s enjoyment of her blood bath.


    Keoghan and the rest were not fazed.


    However, Muret and Latour, the two Mages that had been assigned here, had a grim and sour expression on their faces. They were so black they was practically dripping ink!


    The two had already felt the anger and resentment of the other Mages on the way here. But as veteran Mages of the clan, they only had disdain for this bunch of fresh blood in the clan.


    A bunch of Mages that had never experienced a plane war were no different from a chick that had just learned to walk. So what if they were full of resentment? Did these people dare to oppose the clan''s orders?


    Yet what surprised them was that even though several more experienced Mages hadn''t confronted them, a tiny vampire that hadn''t advanced for even half a year had appeared and was publicly challenging them.


    "You must be the newly advanced Mage Bleia! You should have received Sir F¨¹gen''s message. From now on, Blue Hillock City will be managed by the two of us. You must hand over all the puppets and spies you control immediately!" The two Mages looked at each other, and Mage Latour, who was the assistant, went forward to talk with Bleia.


    Bleia lazily stretched her body in the blood pool. Her snow white skin and the blood red water contrasted with each other, making her even more mysterious.


    "Blue Hillock City is right here. Take it if you want to! I''m too lazy to think about all that! But some of the people here are already my blood servants. Their existence is part of my power. You wouldn''t want to take away my wings and fangs, would you?! Mmm? ..."When she finished speaking, Bleia snorted and looked upon the two Mages with contempt in her scarlet eyes.


    "How bold! You dare oppose Sir F¨¹gen''s orders?" Mage Latour was a gloomy person by nature, but his face was flushed after being provoked by Bleia''s patronizing attitude.


    "This is considered opposing orders? Sir F¨¹gen wants me to cooperate with you; I am very cooperative! As long as you don''t touch my subordinates, you can do anything you want with Blue Hillock City. I have no objections! Unless you are saying that the two of you added together are not enough to control this small city full of normal humans? If that''s really the case, then I can''t help but laugh..."


    "You..." Latour''s gaze suddenly became extremely threatening.


    They had already gotten ahold of the basic information about the city before they arrived. Objectively, Bleia had done a very good job, seeing how little time she took to completely gain control of Blue Hillock City! When it came to the authorities, she controlled the ruling nobility of the city; when it came to the underground, she controlled the head of the thugs and all the other shady figures. It could be said that most of the critical positions in Blue Hillock City had already been replaced with Bleia''s subordinates.


    In such a situation, how were they supposed to control and manage Blue Hillock City while still avoiding her subordinates? Were they supposed to go and take control of the city guards and thugs in the streets one-by-one? Ignoring how counterproductive and time consuming this method was, even if they did manage to do it, wouldn''t that make the puppets they controlled the subordinates of Bleia''s own underlings?!


    Latour was enraged when faced with such explicit provocation. He was still under the effects of the planar laws'' suppression, but he didn''t want to just endure the scorn of a female vampire Mage.


    Latour roared as his scrawny face started to stretch forward, turning into a snout that resembled a canine animal. Thick and heavy black hair quickly grew out, instantly covering his entire body.


    Fangs, claws, black hair, green eyes...


    These were all classic traits of wolves, and exposed Mage Latour''s identity. He was a Bloodline Mage. The only thing that was yet unknown was which magical wolf was his chosen bloodline path!


    But before Latour could complete his transformation, a fountain of blood came crashing down. The next moment, a crimson silhouette cut through the blood and started to fight with Latour, weaving about like a phantom as it did so.


    No one in the room was fazed. Everyone put up an energy shield and kept out the blood that was splashing everywhere. It seemed they had no intention of interfering in this conflict.


    The fire on Mage Muret''s body had just ignited when he turn his head and looked at Leon, who was giving him a wide smile. Two clusters of flames burned in the eyes of both Mages. Two silent streaks of flame clashed with each other, leaving sparks in the air as they shot towards each other.


    Just as quickly, the fountain of blood had fallen back into the blood pool.


    Bleia stood proudly above the blood with her snow white feet exposed. The crimson armor on her naked body only covered her chest, her shoulder and the parts below her navel, leaving most of her elegant white skin exposed to the air.


    There were five terrifying claw marks that went straight to the bone on her right arm that were still giving off a black smoke that wouldn''t go away. This was clearly the special effect of Latour''s claws.


    But compared to Bleia''s light wounds, Mage Latour was almost completely bathed in blood.


    Even though both of them were bloodline Mages, Bleia''s vampire bloodline was Mage at agility, while Latour''s wolf bloodline was famous for being ferocious. In such a narrow area, both parties couldn''t possibly use all their strength or initiate an actual deathmatch. Thus, Latour was clearly disadvantaged in this battle of speed in such narrow quarters.


    In the short few seconds just now, Bleia had already left several dozen of wounds on Latour''s werewolf form with her claws. Moreover, as the blood spilled out of the wolf''s body, a red radiance vaguely flickered across Bleia''s body. Under the suppression of the red radiance, the black smoke on her arm wounds was slowly dissipating while the edges of the wounds were showing signs of regeneration.


    After turning into a werewolf, Latour''s intelligence had an obvious degradation.


    Triggered by the numerous wounds on his body, blood began to show in his ghostly green eyes. He opened his wide fanged mouth and breathed heavily, letting out white breath as he did so. His body crouched slightly, and his hind legs covered in black hair pressed against the ground. A low growl rumbled in his throat as an intense and savage fighting intent quickly gathered about his body. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A curling grin appeared on Bleia''s pretty face. Her large leathery bat wings opened with a woosh. The blood pool beneath her was almost boiling, and fountains of blood were rising and falling. A bloody mist gathered around her, wrapping around her like a crimson cape.


    Several blood servants outside the room started screeching in anger. Their eyes turned blood red in an instant, and they bared their fangs and threatened the werewolf. They had sealed the entrance, and were waiting for Bleia''s orders to rush forward and fight the enemy to their deaths.


    In the world of vampires, blood servants had no choice but to obey the source of their bloodline. This kind of control even outclassed most of the contract spells that existed.


    "Enough! Everyone stop..." Mage Muret could no longer stand the sight. He shouted in a solemn tone, "Sir F¨¹gen sent us here to deal with a problem, not for you people to create more trouble! If anyone else moves they will be defying my authority..."


    As he spat out the last word, Muret''s entire body burst forth with flames that reached the sky, turning into a human torch. The temperature in the room instantly went up to a thousand degrees. Some of the wooden materials that were exposed outside instantly started smoldering, letting out crackling sounds.


    A few vampires that were close to the door couldn''t endure the high temperature, and quickly dehydrated. Their previously smooth white skin instantly became withered, dry, and wrinkled. In less than three seconds, the front of their bodies had been completely burnt black. There was even black ash that was slowly falling off.


    Leon flicked a finger, and a red barrier emerged from his body, enveloping the room. The elementium flames that was violently surging forth from Mage Muret''s body paused at that moment, as they could no longer spread their high temperatures and heat outside of the red barrier.


    Muret finally looked at Leon once again.


    "To think that you chose fire as your mastery! Very rare indeed... I wish to have a good conversation with you if we have the opportunity!"


    Once he finished speaking, Muret turned and glared at Latour, who was about to explode in anger, before raising his head high and leaving the room first.


    The vampires standing guard by the door gave way under Bleia''s instructions. They bared their fangs and attempted to intimidate him, but none of them truly dared to attack a veteran Mage!


    The werewolf Latour growled and roared, finally managing to use his will to suppress the savage fighting spirit, that had almost burst within him, with much difficulty. A shroud of black smoke rose, and Latour changed back from his werewolf form, becoming a human once again.


    The regenerative abilities of werewolves were indeed exceptional. The scratches all over his body had vanished in less than five seconds. Latour glared at Bleia with his ghostly green eyes, then turned to look at Leon for a moment before silently walking out of the room.


    Both parties had separated on bad terms, so naturally there was no possibility of sitting down and having a peaceful discussion.


    The two Mages were still fuming and took the skies. They quickly found a noble''s manor they found to their liking 1.5 kilometers away from the city. They didn''t even bother to hide their identity. The two broke into the manor, and in less than fifteen minutes, they had become the new owners of the land. The original owners of the manor had either been turned into corpses, or converted into puppets under someone''s control.


    And so, Muret and Latour settled on the outskirts of Blue Hillock City!


    Bleia finally reverted from her state of combat after the two annoying fellows had gone. She softly landed on the edge of the blood pool, looking at Keoghan and the rest amusedly.


    "What, all of you had your necks pushed so low you can''t raise your heads? A bunch of guys, and yet you are all cowards. Don''t think I''m an idiot! All of you don''t stick your necks out, yet still bring those two guys to rampage at my place. Were you guys about to let me be the cannon fodder? Let me be the one who sticks her neck out? Let me tell you all something. If you don''t compensate me for my losses today, don''t even think I''ll let you treat me like an idiot next time!"


    A wicked grin appeared on the faces of Keoghan, Kiel, and the rest. For the first time, they felt like Bleia''s straightforward personality was a pretty good thing.


    As Mages, fair and equal trades were the key to ensuring long term cooperation and benefits.


    Their identities were awkward and unsuited to having a direct conflict with those two fellows. Paying a little price and having Bleia do it in their place was a natural thing to do.


    The sounds of intense bargaining rang out within the room!


    ...


    1961 Words

 Chapter 190 - 190: Knight Appears

    Herdurand City.


    It was the time of the day where the sun was at its brightest. The large square before the spacious and majestic city hall had been filled with a large crowd. People could hardly even move about. Groups of city guards armed to the teeth pushed the crowd about with the halberds in their hands, ensuring that the surging crowd didn''t go into the large empty space in the center of the square.


    It was the start of spring, and the light winds that blew about still brought with them a little chill. Even so, the city guards in charge of keeping order were still very exhausted and sweating profusely.


    The citizens squeezed into the square. Regardless of gender, they were all holding bouquets of fresh and beautiful flowers in their hands. They stood on their toes and grabbed onto poles, desperately looking about the horizon, as if they were waiting for something. There, in the blue skies, was nothing worth noting except for a few white clouds floating about.


    A squad of witcher-knights and a squad of the governor''s guards, with their distinct armors, were facing each other as they stood on both sides of the city hall. The two parties couldn''t be said to be tense, but the atmosphere was still solemn and stern, as compared to the mood in the square below.


    Whenever the gazes of the witcher-knights on their magic colts swept across the other side, there would be a slight and unnoticeable sense of disdain in their eyes. Yet when their eyes looked towards the skies, an excitement hidden in their expectant eyes would surface.


    The personal guard belonging to Grand Duke Lington could be called ferocious and powerful when compared to common city guards. But the warhorses under them were clearly inferior to the witcher-knights'' magic steeds, who possessed superior size and ferocity.


    And if one also put into consideration the runic swords of the witcher-knights, the gap between the personal guards and the witcher-knights was so large it couldn''t be crossed.


    On the Continent of Witchers, only those who had sworn their loyalty to the king and passed the witcher-knights test could get the standard equipment of magic colts and runic weapons. And these were resources that were strictly kept in the hands of the central government. The outside world had no means of getting colts and runic equipment in large amounts, causing the witcher-knight army to become the strongest armed force on the Continent of Witchers.


    As most of the witcher-knights thought of themselves as knights that served directly under the king, they did not recognize the authority of local nobles when they were out on missions or stationed in various places. Thus, every year, the forces of the local nobles would have plenty of disagreements with the witcher-knights over laws and jurisdiction.


    This caused the forces of the local nobility and witcher knights to often engage in armed conflict when disagreements intensified. Hating each other had become a common occurrence between the local forces and the witcher-knights.


    However, the insignificant enmity between subordinates did not affect the courtesies and good relations between the higher-ups.


    The long table used for city council meetings had been pushed to one side in the bright and spacious city hall. It was now filled with plate after plate of fragrant delicacies and drinks. Delicate stir-fried foie gras, steak covered in sauce, golden lamb that had been perfectly roasted...


    However, no one was paying attention to the food at this moment. Everyone were waiting impatiently for the arrival of those few important figures.


    At the entrance of the hall, nearly a hundred men wearing the armor of spellbreaker knights stood in two straight lines, raising their heads and looking about. A dozen Radiant Knights had gathered together behind them, and were silently conversing. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    By the standards of the Continent of Mages, these radiant knights were all terrifying and powerful beings that had reached the Second Grade. Yet on this day, even they were not the protagonists. Instead, they were merely members of the crowd, waiting impatiently for the arrival of the true protagonist.


    As Second Grade members of their class in the witcher-knight group, the radiant knights'' power was naturally much stronger than the spellbreaker knights. The spellbreaker knights usually wore a full set of knight''s armor. Most of their body would be hidden beneath the tough armor.


    With the runic armor''s twin resistances to physical and magical damage, the defenses of spellbreaker knights had reached an outstanding degree. In the few wars against evil on the Continent of Witchers, it was the spellbreaker knights that endured the spells of the heretics head-on, charging through their lines with brute force and killing them.


    It was easy to imagine how powerful their defenses were!


    Compared to the spellbreaker knights, the armor of the radiant knights had dramatically shrunk instead.


    The delicate and fancy armor was no longer a clumsy full-body armor, but individual armor parts that could be removed easily. These armor parts would only cover the chest, groin, shoulder, the arms, and some other key parts of the body. To ensure agility and swiftness of movement in battle, the rest of the radiant knight''s bodies were covered with leather armor, or even left exposed.


    If a spellbreaker knight could be said to have mastered simple weaponization of the runic energies, a radiant knight had reached the level of using runic energies to enhance their physical strength.


    What few armor parts the radiant knights wore all had mysterious patterns carved on the inside. When they met the enemy, they only needed to activate these runic arrays to draw power from the rune energies, turning them into a powerful runic knight.


    The reason they were called radiant knights was because their bodies would radiate a soft glow, like the runic weapons, when they drew the runic energies into their body. At that moment, they were essentially a human-shaped magical weapon.


    Would a rampaging magical sword need defenses and armor? Of course not! All they needed to do then was attack, attack, attack...


    The impatient crowd had been there since the rise of the sun until now, but not one person was dissatisfied or slacking off. Even Grand Duke Lington, who was always calm and measured, was pacing about the city hall and occasionally looking at the skies faraway.


    It was obvious that the protagonist of today''s welcoming feast was an extremely important person, such that even Grand Duke Lingtom was waiting expectantly, silently enduring the torturous wait!


    Finally, amidst everyone''s anxious waiting, a crisp ring sounded from a bell in the watchtower at the city''s wall far away.


    Everyone was excited. They put their hands above their brow and looked to the west.


    They came!


    They really came!


    It was a bright and sunny day today, and two tiny black dots had appeared on the edge of the horizon in the distance.


    In less than two minutes'' time, the two black dots gradually grew larger.


    A loud dragon''s roar rumbled across from a distance, causing everyone that heard it to be stunned and nervous.


    But before they could figure out the source of this odd and unwarranted fear, the two black dots had already appeared above Herdurand City, their great and massive bodies on display before the crowd.


    These were two terrifying Green Dragons, with bodies that were twenty meters long. If you included the long tail, covered with bony thorns and a spindle-shaped end, that the dragons were dragging behind them, the total length of the two Green Dragons were a staggering thirty meters.


    Like alligators, they had jaws that were filled with sharp teeth, and the lines of their long faces were clearly defined. Layers of fine emerald dragon scales perfectly covered every inch of their bodies. The dragon claws beneath their bodies were thick and powerful, the sharp edges gleaming with a cold light.


    The common Green Dragon of a normal material plane only had one pair of wings, but the Green Dragons of this plane had two pairs of wings. This undoubtedly gave them an even more terrifying flight speed!


    As the gigantic bodies of the Green Dragons circled above the square, the olive-coloured eyes of the dragons looked down upon the crowd below. They couldn''t help but raise their heads and let out a resounding dragon roar that shook the heavens and the earth.


    The dragon''s mighty auras fell upon the crowd below!


    A commotion instantly occured amidst the crowd in the square.


    Many timid women and children let out screams, creating chaos in the crowd.


    The dragons seemed to have an odd liking to creating chaos, as the depths of the Green Dragons'' eyes glimmered for a moment. They were clearly happy with their handiwork. Jefferson, who was seated on one of the Green Dragon''s backs, let out an expression that was neither smiling nor crying.


    As one of only three Dragon Knights on the continent, Jefferson had ridden the Green Dragon Ysondre and visited countless human cities. Every time he saw a dense crowd, the Green Dragon, that had just reached adulthood, would do something like this. Just looking from this point, it wasn''t without reason that many ancient tomes listed the Green Dragons as an evil dragon.


    Jefferson patted the neck of the Green Dragon and signaled Kalyk, who was on the other dragon. The two Green Dragons dove downwards, beating their wings and landing on the emptied space in the center of the square.


    The winds created when the gigantic dragons beat their wings was akin to a small storm. The crowd near the centre was blown all about. The flowers and the hats on their heads disappeared in an instant, as if they had grown wings.


    The crowd had waited this long to witness the great dragons. Now that they had seen the strong and overbearing silhouette that resembled a mountain flesh crouching in the square, everyone was so frightened that they held their breath.


    All of the nobles, along with the knights that had been waiting in the city hall, walked out one after another, welcoming the two great dragon knights with their impassioned gazes and claps.


    The atmosphere had suddenly become lively.


    Yet as the two parties were shaking hands and exchanging greetings, several hooded figures in the crowd were watching the occurrences in the square with greedy and fervent gazes from a long alley.


    Once everyone had entered the city hall, the hooded figures exchanged looks and secretly slipped into another alley.


    "Not only have the radiant knights shown up, even the dragon knights have. We have to report this information to Mistress Bleia!"


    "Very well- I''ll go immediately. The rest of you stay here and continue monitoring. If those two dragon knights make any significant movements, we must hurry and report it...."


    "Yes, I understand..."


    "You should leave soon. Be careful on the way."


    After a quick conversation, a cloaked figure took advantage of the commotion in the city and snuck out of Herdurand City. When he reached a place with no one around, he turned into a puff of smoke, emerging as a bloodsucking bat and taking to the skies, undertaking the 200 kilometer trip to Blue Hillock City.


    ...


    1877 Words

 Chapter 191 - 191: Scheming in the Night

    The banquet was still going on.


    Attractive noble ladies dressed in beautiful clothes, girls as shy as fawns, as well as seductive and alluring beauties...


    These beautiful women, that were usually out-of-reach and cold to most suitors, were all flocking around Jefferson. Either giggling while covering their lips with their silk fans, or blushing while pressing themselves onto him, or sending seductive gazes from afar. Though the beauties here were far less distinguished than those in the royal court, there were many of them, each with their own appeal, like flowers waiting to be plucked at his whim.


    After much effort, Jefferson managed to free himself from the ladies and met with the dozen radiant knights that had been patiently waiting in a secret room behind the city hall.


    "Vieri, tell me! How has the preparation been going?" The moment he entered the room, the faint smile on Jefferson''s face had vanished, replaced with a dense killing intent.


    After greeting Jefferson and bowing to him, the radiant knights took their seats. Vieri, who was in charge of the operation this time, stood up to explain their progress in rallying the knights.


    "...7 knights from Gotland City, 11 knights from the City of Cobar, 8 knights from Schaeffer City. As of now, the witcher-knights that have rallied in Herdurand City number 1513 men. The knights'' camp is being expanded; the supplies and equipment are arriving in a timely fashion. The reorganization and training of the troops is being overseen by Knight Gutt.....the vanguard knights are led by Ninther and have arrived in Blue Hillock City. No information have been sent back thus far..." Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jefferson suddenly interrupted Vieri''s report, "How long has it been since Ninther set off?"


    "It''s been seven days!" Vieri hesitated before speaking, "They reported three days ago when they reached Blue Hillock City. It seems they found something odd there. But they haven''t been in contact since..."


    "Send some people to get in contact with them as soon as possible. Make sure they don''t go in too deep. You may have heard about the plane invasion this time. This is not a foreign creature accidentally wandering into our plane. It''s a more powerful material plane that has their eyes set on us. To avoid them planting their roots here, we have to chase them out before they cement their position."


    A Third-Grade Dragon Knight was almost the most powerful being on this plane already. Jefferson''s words undoubtedly had immense authority. Thus, the numerous radiant knights present couldn''t help but look at each other, their minds filled with shock and fear.


    Finally, it was Vieri who couldn''t help but ask, "Sir Jefferson, do we know which plane the invaders are from?"


    "It doesn''t matter which plane they are from. All you need to know is that their plane is of a higher grade than ours!" Jefferson was also filled with worry, "As long as they''re not from those terrifyingly large planes, there''s nothing to fear! This is our world after all. Even if they managed to force their way in here, they''re still subject to the suppression of the planar laws and can''t exhibit much of their strength. Don''t you people forget, Sir Willis has the power of a Fourth Grade- the limit of this plane!"


    The radiant knights present nodded in agreement with the words of the great Dragon Knight Jefferson.


    The power limit of this plane was Fourth Grade. No outsider could exceed this limit. Even if the intruder possessed the power of a Fourth Grade, once they broke into the knights'' plane they would be suppressed and weakened by the planar laws. What would they use to fight against Sir Willis, whose power reached the absolute limit of Fourth Grade then?


    Even if the invaders'' power normally exceeded the Fourth Grade, they would be suppressed to a maximum of Fourth Grade once they entered the knight''s plane. And when that happens, who knows who will be the final victor! However, the witcher-knights have the home field advantage. If it came down to a battle of life and death, they would always have a numerical advantage over the trespassers.


    This was the sole consoling thought of all the people present!


    But just as this group of witcher-knight higher-ups was gathered together and immersed in their discussion, four black shadows were silently roaming about the night sky above the castellan''s castle. A bloodsucking vampire the size of a washbasin, with deep black fur all over its body, folded its wings and slowly crawled on top of the roof of the room the knights were gathered in.


    This was a nation of knights after all. Their control and application of arcanology was still crude and superficial in every aspect. If this had been the World of Mages, any random magic alarm or protective array would have been able to completely cover the secret room, shielding it from any scrying attempts from the outside world.


    However, arcanology was not widely applied in such a manner here. Thus, as these high-grade knights were gathered to have their secret meeting, their main means of security was having some witcher-knights standing guard and patrolling.


    Surely, they would be able to stop most means of spying from the outside world through such means. But when their enemies were not humans, and instead a bunch of mysterious Mages from another plane, their guards and patrol squads were rendered excessively crude, basic, and insufficient.


    Even if they were to wrack their brains, they wouldn''t expect the spy to be right above them. Even the witcher-knights, with their vigilance and sharps senses, couldn''t detect a bloodsucking bat when it stops beating its wings and slowly glides down from the dark night sky.


    Seeing that one of their companions had successfully landed atop of the secret room, the remaining bloodsucking bats quickly flapped their wings and flew towards the square in front of the castellan''s quarters.


    Far away, even with a distance of a kilometer between them, they could still clearly see the two giant green dragons lying on the brightly-lit square.


    Right now, several carts were slowly being driven into the square.


    The carts weren''t loaded with food such as grain, fruits and vegetables. Instead, one after another were filled with large domestic animals letting out sorrowful shrieks of panic and fear. From the looks of it, it was the Charost beast that was most often raised by the natives of this plane (Author: a kind of creature that is similar to domestic pigs on earth.)


    Perhaps because they could smell the unique stench of dragons-the creatures at the very top of the food chain-the cows, goats, and the charosts began to panic once they entered the square. Loud and noisy bleats and shrieks filled the air of the silent square.


    The two green dragons instantly raised their slender necks when they heard the final calls from their food. Their large mouths opened slightly, and the light green saliva dripped from between their crystal-white fangs. Their saliva was clearly quite acidic, dripping to the floor and and leaving tiny sizzling holes in the stone floor.


    The two green dragons couldn''t hold back their desire to feed. They instantly got up from the floor and leapt to the side of the carts in one movement. With one bite of their jaws they shredded the wooden cart dividers and dragged the domestic animals out, pinning them with their claws while tearing at them and feeding.


    Even though green dragons were a top-level magical creature, they were still wild beasts by nature. As such, the sight of their feeding was extremely savage and bloody. They didn''t even care for the human servants around them when they fed.


    The cart driver quickly jumped off the cart and ran when he saw the dragon leaping over. If he was too slow, he would either have fallen to his death as the dragons lifted the cart into the skies with their jaws, or he would have turned into a dessert for the dragons'' meal.


    It was clear that these two green dragons had enjoyed countless offerings from the humans, as they were especially picky even while they feasted. For many of the domestic animals, they would only pick the fattest and juiciest parts of their meat.


    Using their large bodies, they pushed their food over and pinned them down with their sharp claws. Then, they used their sharp scythe-like fangs to bite into their favourite parts, throwing aside the rest of the body that they didn''t want. The entire process was truly bloody and cruel! In just a few moments, the once neat and clean city square had turned into a bloody slaughterhouse filled with the stench of blood, and littered with the broken remains of domestic animals.


    Of course, those few tiny things flying about the dark horizon far away did not escape the green dragons'' powerful sense of smell and elementium.


    The green dragon Ysondre lifted its head, looking at the insignificant bugs, faintly radiating traces of darkness, with its amber-coloured eyes. After a few moments of painful deliberation, it gave up the urge to fly into the sky and hunt them.


    It was only a few tiny weaklings radiating feeble amounts of dark elementium flux. They probably posed no harm to this human city. Moreover, his master had repeatedly warned him not to hunt as he willed in human cities.


    Thus, with the fest still before him, Ysondre quickly forgot about the annoying bugs and focused on enjoying the humans'' offering.


    This was the first time vampires had appeared in the knights'' plane- otherwise there was no way the green dragon Ysondre would have let them be so easily. If the green dragon could hear the conversation of the vampire spawn a kilometer away, Ysondre would have sworn to turn them into dust, even if it had to chase them to the ends of earth!


    "I didn''t expect these green dragons to eat the food offered by the humans!"


    "Yes, this might be our chance..."


    "Yes, it has to be the blessing of our blood ancestor. For these two giant lizards to be such idiots..."


    "Hurry up and inform our respected blood ancestor and have her find some way to get some powerful poisons. If we could incapacitate these green dragons, we might have a chance to taste dragon blood..."


    "This idea is ingenious! You lot stay here and look, I''ll go and inform our respected blood ancestor..."


    The vampire spawn flew about the dark night skies, closely monitoring every action of the green dragons, while exchanging passionate words. Soon, a bloodsucking bat turned around while beating its wings as it took to higher skies, flying towards the direction of Blue Hillock City.


    Yet at this moment, the Great Duke Lington was also having a secret meeting with his subordinates in another secret room within the castellan''s quarters.


    "Have we still not figured out their goal?" It was the Great Duke Lington who spoke, a huge frown on his face.


    "No clear goal." A veteran general wearing golden armor, his face worn with age, shook his head and spoke, "Perhaps even they themselves aren''t sure what their goal and target is?"


    "But I''ve personally gone outside the city to see their base, which is constantly expanding. The expanded base could fit 3000 witcher-knights at the very minimum." A young general solemnly commented.


    "3000? So many of them..."


    "God! That''s 3000 witcher-knights! Even during the last war against the heretics there weren''t so many witcher-knights rallied together!"


    "We can''t let them go on like this. Even with the current numbers of witcher-knights, they already pose a serious threat to our Herdurand City."


    "How many more troops can we draw from the surrounding cities?" Great Duke Lington calmly asked.


    "There are currently twenty-thousand city guards stationed in Herdurand City. If we include your ten-thousand personal guards, we can maintain a numerical advantage of approximately 25 to 1 against the witcher-knights. But if their numbers keep increasing, we would have a hard time maintaining the balance in combat strength. Sir, as you should know, making city guards go against witcher-knights with a numerical advantage of less than 20 to 1 would be no different than sending them to their deaths!"


    The veteran general''s words drew everyone''s agreement, and they could only lower their heads in frustration.


    They had to have an absolute numerical advantage. Using mere strategy to pit a mundane army made of normal humans against the supernaturally-powered witcher-knights would be a hopeless endeavour!


    \\When faced with the overwhelming number of witcher-knights, as well as the numerous spellbreaker knights, radiant knights, and the two dragon knights that were so powerful that they struck despair into their enemies, no one could come up with any courage or will to fight..


    Right now, everyone could only pray as hard as they could that the blade of the witcher-knight army wasn''t pointed towards themselves!


    ...


    2160 Words

 Chapter 192 - 192: Scheming Against Dragons

    It was close to dawn when Bleia snuck into Herdurand City.


    Besides her army of blood servants and vampire spawns, the three Mages Leon, Keoghan as well as Ferrier followed her into the city.


    They broke straight into the noble''s mansion closest to the city square. In less than eight minutes, they had completely taken control of all fifty or so residents within the entire mansion. If it wasn''t to avoid any outsiders from detecting abnormality, the more efficient way of doing things would be to kill those residents. Now, they had to have Ferrier, who was Mage in brewing potions, turn them into obedient puppets using Heart-Loss Powder.


    Ferrier sounds like a very feminine name, but in truth the owner of the name was a very rugged and burly man. According to Keoghan''s words in another, more private conversation, Ferrier was truly a female when he advanced to an Mage. He had only turned out like this after an accident during an experiment.


    Of course, this was only referring to Ferrier''s appearance. As for whether Ferrier''s gender identity and anatomy was male or female, there was no way to find out. At any rate, Leon and the rest had absolutely no interest in this!


    Leon had long despaired when it came to the group known as Mages.


    There was no way there could be a normal person amongst those that could advance to Mages!


    The passion and thirst with which Mages pursue knowledge was no less than that of the great scientists back on Earth in Leon''s previous life. However, while the scientists on Earth had an ingenious brain and countless amazing ideas, most of their time was spent huddled up in their labs, not being able to turn the various ingenious and unbelievable ideas in their brains into reality.


    Thus the scientists on Earth thought a lot, but hardly ever put to actions their thoughts. Constrained by the limits of their power, as well as financial situation, most of their ideas could only remain as dreams.


    But the Mages of this world had no such constraints!


    They were like a group of liberated mad scientists- with not just the insanity of scientists, but the ability to turn their insanity into reality!


    The latter was what was the most terrifying!


    The first thing the group did after they had settled in was to set up a hidden barrier within the mansion, and use the strength of spells to hide the overly obvious elementium flux radiating from everyone''s body. Then they hid in their rooms, secretly spying on the two terrifying green dragons curled up on the square, snoring as they slept.


    Leon removed his black Mage''s robe, and changed into noble''s hunting attire that was good to move around in. This was to avoid staying conspicuous. The attire was a body-tight clothing nobles would wear when they went out on outings, or to play and hunt. The lower half was a pair of leather pants, designed for horse-riding. The upper half had two rows of buttons down the front, much like tight-fitting vests from Earth in Leon''s previous life.


    With Leon''s height of two meters, such a neat, crisp and delicate costume coupled with the long crimson hair over his shoulders and his handsome looks made him look extremely gorgeous.


    It had only been a short time since he became an Mage after all. He had yet to have been twisted by the evilness and strangeness of the spells of Mages. Thus, with a little dressing up, Leon instantly transformed into a handsome noble youth.


    Bleia, on the other hand, had changed into a bright red muslin dress. She was as beguiling as a bottle of thick and fragrant wine, wine so captivating it could draw most human males in and drown them.


    With how the two were dressed, they were a very fitting pair, like a handsome noble youth together with a seductive noble lady. One would look forward to the fantastic scene of the two dancing together amidst a crowd.


    However, it looked extremely unnatural and twisted when the other two Mages put on the human nobility''s clothes. The look of an Mage was too strong on them. The cruelty and savagery of Mages between their brows couldn''t be wiped away.


    But neither Keoghan or Ferrier seemed to care. The two looked at Leon and Bleia, and a wicked smile surfaced uncontrollably on their faces.


    Two brats that had just advanced to Mages. There were still too many emotions and marks of a human on them. Still too much passion. Now is the time indulge in debauchery, to immerse themselves in pleasure. Only once they had experienced near a century of the vicissitudes of life, only once they had enjoyed all the pleasures of humanity- beauties, authority- will they finally realise that the infinite knowledge is the only thing worth their lifelong pursuit on the journey of Mages.


    Thus when they saw Leon and Bleia, they couldn''t help but recall the period of debauchery and indulgence when they themselves had just advanced to Mages. Naturally, the expression on their faces was really weird.


    Leon was in no mood to slowly consider the odd mentality of the two elderly Mages. He went to the front of the large wooden window and pulled aside one edge of the curtain. Leon silently assessed the giant green silhouette of which he could only see a vague outline from the distance.


    Because he could not cast spells freely here, Leon had to rely on the chip''s passive probing ability to silently feel the power of the two green dragons.


    "How is it? Did you find anything? "Keoghan went to the other side of the wooden window, and snuck a look out of it much like Leon was doing.


    "These should be two barely adolescent green dragons. One is male and the other is female. As for their power....I can''t get a good enough look from here, so I only have a simple estimation..."Leon''s forehead was all scrunched up. Clearly, the green dragons'' power was the most important thing he had to figure out.


    "Oh? You can tell whether its male or female? "Keoghan, who was standing right beside paused for a second, rubbed his eyes and stared intensely at the dragons, but still, the only thing he could see was their emerald scales with their perfect and smoothly flowing lines. Keoghan couldn''t see any distinguishing characteristics on their bodies that betrayed their genders.


    "Hurhur..."Leon let out an awkward laugh: "Don''t think of finding any obvious gender characteristics on their bodies. You need to look at their dragon horns and their build. The one on the left has horns that are large and rough, the degree at which they curve is also larger, along with the slightly larger build makes it definitely a male...The one on the right has shorter and slimmer horns, and a slightly slimmer build as well which makes that a female..."


    Having Leon explained these to him, Keoghan looked at the dragons one more. As expected, he managed to spot these tiny differences that differentiated the dragons.


    "These are also things you read from books? "Keoghan asked, shocked.


    "It is introduced in the seventh chapter of the third volume of The Tome of Giant Dragons...There are also some descriptions pertaining to this in the sumBleia of the Encyclopedia of Dragonspeak...and also..."Leon replied in a serious manner.


    "Wait. Wait. Wait...Where did you read all these books? Have you actually been planning to go dragonslaying? "Keoghan was so stunned his mouth was wide open.


    "It''s all stuff I happened to flipped through at the Underground World''s Mages'' tower''s library, I just happened to memorise them..."


    "..."


    Keoghan tilted his head and looked at Leon like he was a monster. He couldn''t help but mutter: "You little brat, do you actually have perfect memory? I don''t understand...I don''t understand..."


    Then, Keoghan couldn''t help but follow up with a question: "Since you can identify the genders of the dragons, can you tell the power of the two dragons before us? "


    Leon twitched his mouth and replied: "Even green dragon whelps have Mage-level power. These dragons are already adolescents, so their individual grade must be above Second Grade...But considering that they are still young, and the lack of elementium in this plane, they must not have reached Third Grade yet...Their power levels are probably just barely above Second Grade, or in the middle of Second Grade..."


    Leon nodded. He agreed with Leon''s judgement.


    Even though the two green dragons had yet to reach a shocking Third Grade, just their power of Second Grade was enough to roll over the four of them. To put it in more blunt and pessimistic terms, just these two green dragons were enough to obliterate the Mages'' forward base!


    While the two were softly conversing, Bleia pushed open the door and walked into the room.


    "We got the things. They are all at the kitchen downstairs. "Bleia couldn''t help but cover her nose, and wave her hand before it: "They really stink! I am definitely not touching them. "


    Ferrier smiled slightly, and turned to leave the room.


    Dragon feces were something most people would avoid. However, for potions masters such as himself, they were a very decent ingredient for brewing. Moreover, wasn''t the purpose everyone dragged "him" out here to have "him" brew a potion specifically designed for dragons?


    The dragons, having a powerful physique and exceptional magic resistance would be immune to most low-grade spells. Normal poison and paralyzing drugs would also have no effect. Thus, trying to kill them through poison was only a fantasy, but using them to incapacitate them for a while was still possible.


    External curses and offensive spells had no way of piercing the scales of the green dragons. Crossbows and daggers were naturally even less effective. Thus, any external attacks were unlikely to have effect without alerting the Third Grade Dragon Knights.


    Using potions to drug a dragon would be a very unreliable means in most situations, but it was the most suitable in the situation now.


    To ensure that the two green dragons'' life was comfortable, the city hall had even specially hired a group of paupers to take care of them. Transporting fresh livestock for them, cleaning the remains of their meals as well as their feces...This work was extremely dangerous and most peasants would never do such work. It was only the paupers who were willing to do anything for a spoon of rice that would take such risks.


    Thus Bleia sent out a couple of vampire subordinates to bribe some of the pauper servants with large amounts of money and have them secretly cart out some of the green dragons'' feces and saliva. With these things, Ferrier, who was a professional potions master, could brew a potion specifically targeted at, and strong enough to knock out the green dragons!


    Ferrier set up a small secret room downstairs to focus on mixing the potion, while Bleia sent out large numbers of her vampire subordinates all across the city to gather information regarding the inner workings of Herdurand. Leon and Keoghan, on the other hand, were guarding by the window, silently observing the two green dragons.


    The operation was designated for tonight, as information shows that there will be another large-scale feeding session tonight before midnight. Therefore, if they had any plans, it had to be based around this feeding session.


    Yet, just as dusk arrived, something happened on the square!


    One of the dragon knights exited the castellan''s quarters under the company of the crowd. After some quick farewells, he leapt onto one of the dragons and took to the skies, whistling towards the east.


    That was where Blue Hillock City was!


    ...


    1974 Words


    S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 193 - 193: Hunting Green Dragons

    Two green dragons.


    One left, one remained.


    This undoubtedly made the operation at night even easier.


    However, the dragon that left left some bad implications in everyone''s minds.


    The place the opponent was flying towards was very likely to be Blue Hillock City. Moreover, they were a Second Grade Green Dragon, along with a Third Grade Dragon Knight. This combination made for up the knights'' weakness of easily being kited by spellcasters. If something happened to the Mages'' base or Blue Hillock City, their efforts before would be utterly wasted.


    There must not be any damage back there!


    Thus, Bleia snuck out of Herdurand City and cast a spell to communicate with the three remaining Mages in Blue Hillock City, sending the information regarding the dragons and the dragon knights back.


    The original plan to hunt continued.


    The speed at which the dragon flew was exceedingly fast. If something truly happened back in Blue Hillock City, it would be pointless for them to give hurry back anyway. Therefore, why not stay here and continue with the plan? After all, with their elaborate plan, hunting the green dragon was entirely possible. Letting this opportunity go would be a pity.


    Thus these courageous and bold fellows quickly gathered one last time in the mansion, then left the noble''s mansion separately, each of them with a wicked grin on their faces.


    ......


    The green dragon Rissana was bored.


    As a teenage female dragon, Rissana was only 118 this year. This was the point in the long life of dragons where they were the most active and energetic, and where they most longed for wealth.


    As she had only left the dragon cliff for less than six years, Rissana had yet to have the time to create a den that belonged solely to herself. The knights'' kingdom had built a luxurious and grand palace for her, and filled her quarters with shiny gold coins. But there were no treasures that truly caught her eye!


    In these six years, she did not have the chance to go out on her own to plunder and loot wealth. Most of the time, she could only curl up in the superficial palace and sleep to pass the time.


    Her days were dry and boring!


    This was a continent ruled by humans.


    All kinds of large and small human cities were spread across the continent, each of their treasuries filled with wealth that would make a dragon drunk with joy. Sadly, most of these human cities had owners, and were under the protection and guardianship of the knights'' kingdom. And there were plenty of terrifyingly powerful beings that struck fear in the dragons within the knights'' kingdom!


    To obtain wealth and authority that belonged to her, Rissana the female dragon that had just come of age responded to the summons of the great knight Kalyk, becoming the contracted partner of a powerful Third Grade knight.


    Rissana had heard from Kalyk, that the venture this time was to go into Greenland Forest on a crusade against some evil invaders or something. Rissana was not interested in this!


    She couldn''t be bothered to care about these tiny bugs that squeezed their way in using the loopholes of the planes.


    Who was she? She was Rissana, the youngest, most beautiful, most powerful Second Grade green dragon in the most recent hundred years of the dragon cliff''s history! The young dragons that pursued her could fill an entire dragon''s valley; the poems praising her beauty could be read for three days and three nights in a row the human knights that envied her power could form mountains and seas...


    But now she could only curl up on the wet and cold stone floor, toying with the corpse of a human servant with one of her sharp dragon claws, passing the time by in boredom.


    This was an extremely unlucky fellow, to have stood in front of the great Rissana when she was in a bad mood. Rissana had only breathed slightly more heavily, and the dragon''s breath that brought with it a light green poison mist had already crippled the unlucky fellow.


    This unlucky guy was still able to struggle and twitch on the ground initially, but after Rissana let out another two poison breaths in her boredom, he completely stopped!


    The other human slaves serving her were all shivering in fear, their faces a pale white. A disgusting smell of urine even came from one of them. Thus, Rissana lashed out her long thorny tail, that was like a meteor hammer, and the pitiable fellow was turned into a spread of unrecognizable meat paste.


    Just as she was getting increasingly bored and was contemplating killing another human to relieve her boredom, the sound of cart wheels rang from the streets outside the square. The sorrowful shrieks and cries of the livestock couldn''t stop as the carts carrying their load entered the square one after another.


    Was it time to feed?


    The green dragon that had just enjoyed a feast yesterday and wasn''t too hungry was lazing around and couldn''t get her spirits up. Rissana raised the tip of her nose and sniffed. Instantly, she straightened her body, her large dragon eyes fixated on one of the carts.


    These were a bunch of goats whose bodies seemed to somewhat skinny. These were goats that had been domesticated and bred for food, thus the taste of their meat was far less delicious than wild goats. But the green dragon could smell a tinge of the smell of Dragondrunk Fruit on one of the goats.


    Dragondrunk Fruit was a unique fruit that giant dragons loved to gorge upon. Don''t judge them on their small size, for these Dragondrunk Fruits had the special ability to cause giant dragons to fall into an intoxicated state and start hallucinating. Of course, the effect of Dragondrunk Fruit wasn''t so obvious on other living beings, and was limited to mostly dragons. Thus, this was a fruit that must be planted near any dragon cliff or dragon valley.


    Giant dragons were never good at taking care of such fragile plants. Moreover, they had a large appetite, and the amount they gorged down every time was shocking. Therefore, giant dragons would usually enslave some weaker races, for the explicit purpose of having them tidy their dens, guard their territory and most of all, to take care of the orchards of the giant dragons that they so love.


    Rissana did not expect to smell Dragondrunk Fruit anywhere outside the dragon valley. Did this goat accidentally eat Dragondrunk Fruits somewhere?


    Still with some questions in her head, Rissana lowered her large head and opened her mouth. With a light curling of her agile tongue, the special goat had been dragged into her mouth, and she had already started chewing.


    The goat''s blood that had an intense odour to it brought with it a tinge of the taste of Dragondrunk Fruit, but upon more careful tasting, it seemed odd, as if there was some other mysterious substance mixed in the goat''s blood.


    This feeling...this feeling was somewhat odd! Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The green dragon that was silently tasting her food opened her eyes wide. Something wasn''t right. It seemed like she could no longer feel the existence of her tongue...


    When she realised the unusual circumstance, an intense feeling of paralysis quickly spread in her mouth, and very rapidly went to her stomach. Rissana could no longer support her heavy dragon body. With a loud thump, her body crashed into the square.


    The four hiding in the noble''s mansion didn''t dare delay once they saw the green dragon fall. Immediately, they used all the means at their disposals to rush to the green dragon.


    Mage Ferrier who was a potions master had indeed specifically strengthened the effect of the potion with the dragon as the target, but attempting to completely incapacitate a Second Grade green dragon with such crude materials, and especially a green dragon who had a poisonous physique herself, was but a pipe dream.


    Thus, the paralysis potion Mage Ferrier created could only paralyze the green dragon for three minutes. If they were not able to find a way to kill the green dragon in these three minutes, once the effect of the drug wore off, none of them would be able to escape the pursuit of an angered dragon!


    The first to reach the green dragon''s side was Leon, even though Bleia had the greatest speed amongst the four.


    A flame pillar that went straight towards the sky appeared in the middle of the square, and the Flame Fiend Leon had transformed into walked out of the fire with a wicked grin on his face. With a quick wave of the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his right hand, a Fire Deity engulfed in violent flames appeared nearby.


    It looked about its surroundings, before roaring and charging towards the mass of city guards standing on the outside of the square.


    That was not the end of it. Leon strode forward, and the Scroll of Voodoo automatically flew into his left hand, its pages rapidly flipping. Every time the parchment stopped on a page, a powerful fire spell would instantly form, violently blasting onto the green dragon''s large body.


    A savage Fire Core Explosion had just arrived, and another pillar of red flames would blast into the skies with the green dragon at its center. The fire had just slightly died down and another Magma Fireball would have crashed into the dragon''s body...


    It was literally one violent fire spell with every step Leon took. When Leon''s three-meter-tall body arrived before the green dragon''s body, all five instantaneous spell stored within the Scroll of Voodoo had been expended, and the surroundings of the green dragon''s body had been turned into a flaming sea of magma.


    Besides the powerful flame damage, the five violent spells Leon hurled out earlier also had tremendous physical damage. The green dragon''s curled up body had been blasted black. Even the ground where it lay on had caved downwards severely, forming a crater much like where a meteor had hit.


    However, even after enduring the bombardment of such violent spells, Rissana''s dragon body still didn''t show too many signs of damage. While the individual dragon scales at the center of the explosions had been distorted and somewhat deformed by the high heat, but the defense of the dragon scales that were both resistant to magical and physical attacks still deflected most of the damage from Leon''s spells.


    Leon threw aside the Scroll of Voodoo, seeing that the effect of spell damage wasn''t very good. He tossed out Fire Lord''s elementium core, then let out a loud roar. The flames all over his body started to wildly compress within his body, quickly gathering into a gigantic executioner''s blade in his hand.


    At the same time, Bleia''s silhouette, quick as a phantom, had also appeared in the square.


    The crimson longbow in her hand was instantly drawn to a full moon, and a single arrow with crimson runes vaguely floating about it formed on the bowstring. Very soon, once her imposing aura and power had reached their peak, Bleia let out a shout, and the blood red arrow turned into a flash, immediately sinking into the green dragon''s chest.


    The green dragon was covered by emerald scales all over its body. However, while the scales on the spine and the sides of its body were the thickest and largest, the dragon scales on its throat, below its neck, and on its abdomen were the thinnest and lightest.


    Leon''s bombardment earlier was mostly focused on these light dragon scales, and had already somewhat damaged the dragon. Under the collapsing of the scales, bright red flesh was exposed.


    Bleia''s full power shot from her crimson longbow had sunk into a part where there was no longer any dragon scales.


    The arrow pierced the body, and the violent bloody energy exploded within the flesh of the green dragon!


    A blood fountain suddenly spilled out from the abdomen of the green dragon. One could see broken bodily organs, pieces of meat ground into paste and purple-black dragon blood in the sticky pool of blood water.


    Even though her body had been paralyzed with no means to move, the green dragon Rissana still let out a sorrowful and pained moan. The call for help was obvious.


    Just then, Keoghan who was enveloped in black smoke, and Ferrier who had grown a pair of green wings of wind behind his back also arrived on the battlefield.


    The numerous vampires that Bleia had brought, on the other hand, turned into a swarm of bloodsucking bats beating their wings as they surged into the square. Their target was the city guards standing guard near the square!


    ....


    2133 words

 Chapter 194 - 194: Race Against Time

    In just fourteen seconds, Leon and Bleia had already completed their first round of attacks on the green dragon.


    These attacks brought about tremendous damage to the green dragon.


    If a similar amount of damage had been inflicted on a radiant knight, it would probably be more than enough to severely wound them. However, when it was inflicted on a green dragon''s massive build, it was barely a light injury.


    On the fifteenth second, Keoghan and Ferrier took over and started the second round of attacking the green dragon. Meanwhile, Leon and the Fire Lord had come together to cast a large-scale fire spell in unison.


    One after another, screeching bloodsucking bats circled around the surroundings of the square. Every time they saw city guards closing in, they charged down with an ear-piercing screech. Their bodies were still midair, and they were already rapidly transforming into their human forms. They charged recklessly into the mass of city guards, triggering wave after wave of bloody slaughter.


    The Fire Deity that Leon had summoned earlier mainly relied on fire spells as its main means of attack. Its threat against the green dragon''s powerful magic resistance was negligible. Therefore, Leon sent it to the outer rim to recklessly bombard the buildings around them and cover the few paths that led to the square with seas of flame.


    Leon and Ferrier were able to successfully complete the second round of attacks on the green dragon with the help and cover of these servants.


    As a potions master, Ferrier had secret leather pouches hidden all over his Mage robe and belt. He flew above the green dragon, and with a light twitch of his fingers, vials and test tubes of all kinds and colors were clenched between his fingers.


    Five vials fell in an elegant curve and dropped on the body of the green dragon Rissana. They shattered, and swathes of grey smoke engulfed part of the dragon''s body. The grey smoke behaved like a living being. It didn''t spread out rapidly, as smoke usually did, and instead closely gathered about the body of the green dragon, squirming and writhing.


    The dragon''s scales that were enveloped by the smoke quickly became tarnished and corroded.


    The emerald scales turned into a lead-grey colour, before once again turning into a colorless white. Without the protection of the scales, the grey smoke came in contact with the flesh beneath, and the sound of sizzling flesh being corroded could be heard everywhere.


    Three more test tubes were thrown downwards, shattering on the green dragon''s long and curved horns, as well as on its back. Immediately, several rings of maroon curse-halos started to flash over the dragon''s body. Even though the dragon''s powerful physique resisted most of the power of the curses, some of their effect still managed to penetrate the green dragon. Even the flames of anger in its large eyes dimmed a little.


    Ferrier didn''t try to close in on the dragon. Instead, he stayed midair with the wings of wind, incessantly throwing all sorts of potions and drugs onto the green dragon''s body. Each vial would create some unique magic effect when it shattered. Perhaps it would be curse halos, or perhaps it would be corrosion spells, or offensive spells...


    Ferrier also summoned Bloodsucking Vines and Blood Snakes with his vials, and had them drill their way into the green dragon''s body to harmfully attack its flesh.


    As for Keoghan, his attacks were even more bizarre.


    He charged towards a bloody injury on the green dragon''s abdomen. With a shout, he enhanced his right hand with a Spell of Sharpening and a Spell of Puncturing, then thrust it fiercely into the flesh.


    Green dragons possessed tough, tense flesh. Even without the protection of dragon scales, it would be as tough as normal enchanted leather armor. Thus, Keoghan could only thrust his right arm in up to his wrist before stopping. Moreover, Keoghan''s right arm came into contact with the green dragon''s tough muscles and dragon blood, which had powerful acidic properties. His arm was instantly wounded all over. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Keoghan didn''t mind the injuries on his arm. He let out another shout, and completed a unique transformation. The right hand he had thrust into the dragon''s abdomen suddenly became thick and soft. Even the color of the exposed skin outside had turned into a green-grey color.


    In the blink of an eye, Keoghan had completed a transformation of part of his body into a tentacle, and through that he continuously injected large amounts of blood and flesh, that were infected with uniquely epidemic viruses, into the body of the green dragon.


    Instantly, it seemed as if the flesh and blood within the green dragon''s body was boiling. The dragon scales all over its body swelled up and down, as if there were countless beasts of blood and flesh drilling recklessly within its body.


    The green dragon was suffering in tremendous pain, and once again let out a sorrowful cry that shook the heavens and earth. Her call for help was evident.


    In truth, when the green dragon''s distressing call had first rang out across the sky, everyone''s hearts were struck with fear by a powerful flux of power from inside of the castellan''s quarters in the distance.


    A human-shaped silhouette of light, dressed in an untidy fashion, charged out from a palace somewhere, roaring as he strode towards the direction of the square. In response to this, a dozen light silhouettes came out of the buildings around the palace, one after another, letting out battlecries as they charged towards the square.


    These human-shaped silhouettes were naturally the radiant knights stationed within Herdurand City. Once their power had been activated, the runic energies around them poured into their bodies, immediately turning all of them into beings of light.


    Judging from the radiant knights'' positioning near the palace, it was obvious that the focus of their protection was on the great dragon knight. As for the green dragon Rissana¨C would a powerful giant dragon fear the sneak attack of unknown enemies?


    Amongst the mass of radiant human shapes, there was one that was obviously a great deal brighter than the rest. His existence was like a miniature sun that illuminated the entire night sky. Every action he made brought with it powerful might and a terrifying feeling of absolute dominance.


    As he yelled and tramped towards the square, powerful energy shockwaves rippled about his body, almost as if the heaven and earth were mildly shaking with each heavy step he took.


    Sadly, he couldn''t fly.


    The radiant knights couldn''t fly either!


    This was perhaps the greatest tragedy befalling all individuals of knight or warrior classes. Just as the world had blessed them with incomparably powerful and tough physiques, as well as terrifying strength without equal, they had also been robbed of their agility.


    Regardless how they blustered and cursed, even breaking through walls and houses as they headed in a straight course for the square, it remained a fantasy for them to cross 1.5 kilometer distance with a single step.


    Rissana''s repeated cries of sorrow had obviously greatly worried the dragon knight. He roared as he smashed through multiple walls, wildly rushing towards the square.


    To save time, he even used Charge, a battle technique knights only used when assaulting enemies, to cross the distance.


    After twenty-seven seconds of chanting, the powerful fire spell Leon cast together with the Fire Lord had finally been completed.


    A single red dot, bright as the Morning Star, appeared in the inscrutable pitch-black sky in everyone''s view.


    The red dot started to become bigger, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, bringing with it clouds of flame that filled the skies. It pierced through the clouds and quickly crashed down from the sky, going straight for the Second Grade green dragon that had already suffered so much abuse.


    Meteor Crash!


    This was a powerful spell with frightening might.


    Only a powerful elementium golem, with attributes of both fire and earth like the Fire Lord, could launch such a devastating spell. Leon''s function in the joint casting this time was only to provide the Fire Lord with plenty of fire elementium, shortening the chanting and channeling time of this superior spell as much as possible.


    The Third Grade dragon knight Kalyk, still one kilometer away, opened his eyes wide in anger as he saw the terrifying might of the flaming meteor falling from the sky. He shouted loudly as he concentrated energy in his hands to form a spear, throwing it towards the flaming meteor with all his strength.


    The meteor had been engulfed in flames due to friction when it pierced through the clouds, turning it into a literal flaming meteor. The energy spear crossed two kilometers of space and sped towards the meteor. However, before it could make full contact with the flaming rock, the spear had already been evaporated by the intense heat and clouds of flames that filled the skies.


    But the flaming meteor was still affected by the impact of this powerful blow near the side, causing a slight shift in its trajectory. It brutally crashed to the green dragon''s side.


    The meteor didn''t get a clean hit, and the square had to endure its terrifying kinetic energy.


    A deep hole appeared where the meteor had landed, and densely scattered cracks like spiderwebs appeared in the stone floor around it, spreading outwards. The city square went silent for three seconds, before erupting from the violent impact.


    The stone floor, rocks, and the buildings on top it were the first to be blown up. They quickly became debris in the explosive shockwave spreading outwards in a ring shape, turning into a storm of countless fine rocks that ferociously blasted outwards.


    Even though Leon and the other three had already made preparations, gathering around and erecting a secure barrier, they were still pushed outwards for nearly a hundred meters by the ferociously explosive shockwave.


    Meanwhile, the green dragon in the core of the explosion was the greatest victim.


    A small part of the explosive shockwave ravaged the dragon scales on its body, while the sharp bone protrusions all over its spine were even softened and snapped by the high heat. The intense searing jets of flame burned away all the exposed flesh, while one of its wings had been hit by the meteor, turning into meat paste, before further being reduced to ashes.


    The magma pillars that spilled forth from the meteor''s deep crater fell onto the green dragon''s body, sizzling as they roasted and scalded its flesh.


    The mournful calls of the green dragon Rissana, on the other hand, gradually grew weaker.


    As the local authorities had prohibited large groups of witcher-knights from being stationed within the city, most of the soldiers in charge of patrol near the square were merely city guards. As such, they were also the greatest victims of this horrifying spell.


    In a battle of powerful beings, normal humans were only tiny ants that could be killed with a wave of a hand!


    Even half of the numerous vampires that Bleia had brought along were engulfed by the terrifying streams of flame that incessantly surged forth, reducing them to cinders. It was natural that the human warriors, who had not a bit of ability to defend themselves, suffered even more losses. Even if one disregarded the terrifying flames that reached nearly a hundred points in terms of attack strength, just the rain of rocks blasted out by the shockwave was sufficient to turn them into sieves with bloody holes.


    Yet even under such a ferocious blow, everyone could still sense the weak life force of the green dragon amidst the flames and magma.


    The potent life energy of this Second Grade green dragon was shocking!


    Even after such a severe blow, it... it still hadn''t died.


    What''s more, everyone could sense the anger that had been suppressed to its limit slowly gathering in the green dragon''s body. Once this powerful strength erupted, it would turn the world into a sea of flames and anger!


    ...


    2015 wordsPricing Word Count2015Full attendance Word Count2015

 Chapter 195 - 195: Chaos

    It was theoretically possible for a group of First Grade Mages to scheme and slay a Second Grade giant dragon.


    But in truth, it was extremely difficult, so much so that it wasn''t viable.


    The greatest problem was with the giant dragon''s ability to fly.


    However, today, four First Grade Mages who had yet to experience planar wars almost succeeded in accomplishing a terrifying and shocking feat¨C dragonslaying!


    But ''almost'' was ''almost'' after all!


    Leon and the others could only give up in pity when their attacks on the green dragon could hardly extinguish the last dying flames of its life, while the fuming knights were closing in on the square.


    There were too many variables and unexpected elements in today''s battle. Thus, one should not look down upon the power of giant dragons based on today''s events.


    Firstly, if it was a Second Grade green dragon, with freedom of movement, then even ten more First Grade Mages couldn''t have done anything to it. Therefore, Mage Ferrier''s astounding dragon paralyzing drug was the largest factor for success in this battle.


    Secondly, today was a rare occasion where green dragon Rissana was left alone!


    In its daily life, Rissana would either be together with the Third Grade dragon-knight Kalyk, or peacefully sleeping within her beautiful palace. Naturally, there were strict patrols of witcher-knights outside the palace in charge of her protection.


    However, the delicate political relationship of the actors within Herdurand City caused Great Duke Lington to put up a strong front against stationing large groups of witcher-knights in the city. Thus, the green dragon that lived in the city square could only have city guards as her defenders, while the servants serving the giant dragon were temporary hired hands from the ghetto.


    All of these details ultimately brought about a life-threatening disaster to the green dragon. In less than three minutes, she had been beaten to the brink of death by four Mages who had been waiting for this moment.


    Unfortunately, be it Leon''s transformation into the Flame Fiend and his desperate slashes with the giant executioner''s blade, or Bleia lying on the green dragon''s bloody chest and drinking its blood with wild abandon, or Keoghan''s transformation into a giant tentacled monster constantly devouring the dragon''s flesh, or even Ferrier''s incessant infection of the dragon''s wounds with terrifying viruses and plagues...


    Even when every single one of them used all the terrifying means at their disposals, or when the green dragon Rissana''s last flicker of life was so dim it seemed like it could go out the very next second... still, the green dragon did not die!


    Under Leon''s command, the Fire Deity at the outer rim of the square launched a counter-charge towards the knights who were rushing over with heavy steps. Sadly, just as it reached halfway there, a dozen Crescent Moon Slashes, Evil-Decimating Slashes, Holy Radiant Swords, and other similar powerful knight battle techniques containing the anger of the knights, crashed into him.


    The radiant knights only needed to rely on their powerful bodily strength to activate the violent runic energies; unlike the spellbreaker knights, that needed to rely on runic weapons to even use knight battle techniques. The Fire Deity exploded in a fiery death as it was hit by a dozen knight battle techniques charged with highly concentrated energies. It didn''t even have the chance to struggle!


    The radiant knights had now charged to the edge of the square. They were barely five hundred meters away from Leon and the others. Only a hundred meters more, and they would be in range to blast Leon and the others with their knight battle techniques. When that happened, they were confident that they only needed one wave of attacks to completely wipe these annoying pests off the face of this plane.


    The scene of the Fire Deity being instantly destroyed by the radiant knights was deeply alarming. Seeing the powerful opponents that were quickly closing in, Leon and the others could only give up on their urge to slay a dragon, regardless of how unwilling they were to do so.


    Without another word, Leon retrieved the Fire Lord and leapt away with a Flame Teleportation.


    Leon vanished in a gigantic cluster of fire that suddenly appeared, only to reappear at the edge of the other side of the square, appearing in a pillar of fire. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon waved his large hand with a wicked grin on his face, and violent Chain Fireballs blasted the city guards around him, sending their flesh and bones flying everywhere. Once the flux of the flames around him had stabilized, he turned his body and once again swiftly cast Flame Teleportation.


    Keoghan and Ferrier were not very Mage at flying, and they didn''t dare to delay. Each of them used the best of their abilities, either turning into black smoke, or growing a pair of wings of wind, and rapidly fled the battlefield as well.


    Only Bleia was too greedy, desperately devouring the flowing dragon blood, even as the acidic and poisonous blood stained her completely green. Only when the radiant knights were almost three hundred meters away from her did she reluctantly take to the skies. The giant bat wings on her back suddenly opened, and she quickly escaped from the square.


    "Hmph. Bloody reptile, stay! " A cold snort full of anger suddenly rang out, and then a single dreadful sun, burning with power, rose amidst the numerous radiant knights, indiscriminately radiating shocking power flux in all directions.


    Third Grade Dragon-Knight Kalyk!


    Following his angry shout, an energy spear formed from concentrated runic energies quickly gathered in his hand. As Kalyl threw it with all his might, it turned into a beam of light that slashed through the skies, directly shooting towards Bleia who was flapping her wings in the sky.


    Bleia turned her body a little, revealing light glowing on her crimson longbow, and a dozen blood-coloured arrows hit the tip of the energy spear. Unfortunately, it was like a mantis trying to stop a cart. The blood-colored arrows had less than 13 points of attack strength and were like bubbles beneath a sun when put before the concentrated energy spear. They disappeared almost instantly. Even though their numbers were superior, they could hardly pause the unstoppable advance of the spear.


    "Don''t block it, dodge. Quick!" It was too late when Keoghan and Ferrier shouted.


    The energy spear shot towards Bleia''s chest with a might that seemed as if it would rend the world apart.


    With a Third Grade dragon knight''s concentrated runic energy, the explosion from the spear would be enough to blow Bleia to bits, with not a single bit of flesh or blood left.


    At this dangerous moment, an explosive fireball appeared from the sky and exploded beside Bleia. The violent flame shockwaves had no effect on the energy spear either, but it managed to blast Bleia away at a key moment.


    The energy spear did not pierce Bleia''s torso; it only managed to go through her leg.


    The energy storm that erupted the very next moment engulfed a large half of Bleia''s body like a blender.


    Bleia''s broken body shot out like an arrow from the energy storm that suddenly erupted, ultimately able to prevent the closely following energy ripples from catching her entire body. When she escaped from the energy tide, only a small part of her perfectly seductive body was left. Everything below her chest was gone.


    Such a terrifying wound would have been lethal to any other person, but on a vampire, it still wasn''t fatal.


    Thanks to the nourishment from the large amounts of dragon blood she had sucked earlier, the missing lower half of her body quickly started to grow again. Bleia continued her speedy flight.


    "Quick, let''s leave!" Keoghan shouted.


    The Mages escaped desperately, without even pausing to look. Four mysterious trails of different colors were drawn in the sky, slowly dispersing after a long time.


    These few Mages were masters in the art of escaping, but the vampire horde that had stayed behind to cover their rear were exterminated by energy spears the moment they took to the skies. Only some smarter ones transformed into bloodsucking bats, weaving through the crowd instead of taking to the skies, and quickly escaped into the surrounding alleys.


    Using such methods, a few vampire elites were successfully able to escape knights'' pursuit, hiding in the underground sewers of Herdurand City.


    ...


    The sudden attack by the mysterious heretics instantly shook the city of Herdurand.


    For the rest of the night, troop after troop of witcher-knights charged into the city, taking it under their control. They then searched for evidence of the outsiders by going through each and every house.


    Naturally, the normal citizens had no ability to resist the witcher-knights and could only let them investigate their houses. However, rich merchants and influential nobles would not accept such humiliation lying down. Armed conflicts of varying scale happened all over the city.


    Sadly, the giant-dragon partner of the honorable Third Grade dragon knight had been severely injured, and was on the brink of death. This had utterly enraged the authorities of the witcher-knight army! Therefore, amongst those who dared to stop the advance of the witcher-knights in their search, the servants and guards were killed without exception, while the merchants and nobles were caught and imprisoned in the witcher-knight''s camp.


    For one night, the entire Herdurand City was in chaos!


    The angry merchants and nobles blocked the entrance to the castellan''s quarters, unceasingly expressing their greatests protests towards the city hall. But the rulers of the city, led by Great Duke Lington, never showed their faces. As such, various malicious rumours started to spread. Many citizens were secretly discussing the possibility that the Great Duke Lington had been put under house arrest by the Lord dragon knight.


    Just as chaos happened back there, the Greenland Forest several hundred kilometers away welcomed an important character.


    Riding a flying giant-dragon at nearly a thousand feet in the sky was not a very comfortable or casual business. At this height, just the wind blowing at you could take away every last bit of warmth in your body. Even a person wrapped in coats and furs would feel the chill all the way down to their bones.


    But with Jefferson''s powerful Third Grade dragon knight physique, he wouldn''t feel even a bit of discomfort in such an environment.


    He bent down to look at the sea of trees that stretched on and on. Everything in his vision was a verdant green that went up and down. It was probably delusional to try and find a troop of a hundred witcher-knights in such a vast forest.


    Jefferson lightly tapped the green dragon beneath his body. Ysondre understood, and folded his wings to rapidly dive downward, stretching his neck and letting out a long dragon''s roar that rang across several dozen kilometers as he did so.


    He couldn''t find that troop of witcher-knights, but as long as they were still in this forest, they would naturally find a way to contact him when they heard this signature dragon''s-roar.


    Thus, the green dragon unfurled his large dragon wings slightly less than a hundred meters away from the canopy. It circled about the mountainous sea of trees, occasionally letting out loud, clear roars. With the giant dragon''s stunning flight speed and loud voice, the witcher-knights should be able to hear it, as long as they weren''t deaf.


    Sadly, even after several rounds of circling about the vast forest that stretched for several hundred kilometer, they still had not detected any sort of feedback from the forest beneath them.


    Had Ninther brought the troops deep into the woods?


    Jefferson frowned, but the doubt in his heart was extinguished the moment it rose.


    Ninther was not like those newly advanced spellbreaker knights that were prone to rash decisions. If he had planned to bring the knights deep into the forest, he would have sent someone to inform the others of his actions. However, Jefferson had not managed to get any useful information from Blue Hillock City. It was almost as if the hundred-man army of witcher-knights had completely vanished in the woods.


    It seemed there was something odd about this stretch of woods!


    ...


    2047 Words

 Chapter 196 - 196: Returning to the Base

    Extra Chapter.


    ....


    100 Power Stones = 1 Chapter. (Goal achieved)


    ....


    In the Mages'' base.


    A group of Mages were gathered in one corner of the base. Their heads were raised, silently gazing at the black dot constantly circling far away on the horizon.


    Beside them, an extremely large illusion barrier hid the entire valley, causing it to blend into the woods around it. From the skies, one couldn''t tell anything was odd with the scene.


    Meanwhile, behind them the entire Mages'' base was as busy as an enormous construction site. Countless robotics beasts, voodoo beasts, and elementium golems were busy working, while the outline of an Mage''s tower was slowly appearing.


    A nine-level Mage''s tower that stood two-hundred meters tall was supposed to be erected here, according to the original plan. As compared to the mid-tier Mage''s tower in the World of Mages, this tower would prioritize defense and offense, while the non-combat facilities within would be greatly reduced.


    Such an Mage''s tower might not be very comfortable to live in, but when the World of Mages wanted to rapidly expand outward, it was a necessary war fortress. Every time Mages arrived in a foreign plane, the first thing to do was to construct such a simplified war tower.


    Once they built the tower, the Mages who had entered the plane would be free from the planar laws'' oppression within the Mage tower''s radius. This created a beneficial battle environment for the Mages on their home territory.


    Currently, the three underground levels of the Mage''s tower had been completed. However, above ground, only a basic structure for the first two levels had been constructed. Under the command of the Mages, several robotics beasts were carefully carving arrays on the inner walls of the tower.


    This was another world after all. It wasn''t possible to use the exceedingly costly interplanar ultra-long-range teleportation to transport all of the construction materials over. Thus, all of the luggage the second batch of Mages brought with them were rare materials and resources. The stones and timber used to construct the tower, on the other hand, could only be gathered here.


    If this were a normal Mage''s tower, the body of the tower would be built from numerous layers of compound rocks. The outer wall would be constructed of strongly magic-resistant materials, such as obsidian and steelrock, while the inner wall would use special rocks with excellent magic conductivity such as augite, bloodstone, and volcanic rock.


    Of course, the specific rocks which were selected to construct the tower would be adjusted based on the individual attribute of the Mage stationed in the tower. An Mage''s tower built in this fashion would naturally contain a living environment that was compatible with the stationed Mage''s attribute, and could greatly accelerate the rate of the Mage''s growth.


    Sadly, the lack of resources in this world turned all of this into mere fantasy. This simplified war tower could only be built out of resources gathered in the woods. The materials used to form the tower were all taken from the mountains nearby.


    The Mages had already commanded the large number of elementium golems to excavate a nearby hill, completely mining out everything inside. It was with such a method that they were barely able to keep up with the huge consumption of rocks for the Mage tower''s creation.


    These normal rocks didn''t have such outstanding magic properties as the precious rocks usually used for construction, and their quality was hardly satisfying. In order to compensate for the inadequacies of the wall itself, the Mages had to carve large numbers of Strengthening arrays on the tower walls.


    This undoubtedly caused an even greater consumption of rare materials and resources!


    The initial investment of resources required for the invasion of another plane was astounding.


    Don''t think of it as just a simplified war tower. Even this structure alone could exhaust several decades worth of a small-sized Mage clan''s reserved resources. Moreover, if the war turned sour, the Mages and resources that could be successfully retrieved from the other plane were very few. Most of the investment would have been for nothing.


    This was why plane wars were both the only shortcut for small and mid-sized Mage clans to grow, but also an appalling nightmare that could destroy the foundations of a clan.


    As such, every Mage clan was extremely cautious when faced with an unknown plane. They would seal all information, to avoid opposing clans from finding out their plans, while amassing large numbers of resources. This would allow them to construct their war tower in the shortest time, such that they may have a solid foundation in the following plane war.


    Indeed, the true plane war had yet to start!


    The several battles that Leon and the others had engaged in were at best overtures and appetizers before the start of the plane war. A true planar war was infinitely more savage and bloody than a normal war. It was not something that the likes of Leon and the rookies would be able to imagine with their inexperienced minds!


    Looking at the black dot persistently circling on the horizon, an Mage couldn''t help but start cursing in anger. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    No one would dare make any large actions within the camp while there was such a threat circling above their heads. The progress of the construction would inevitably be affected.


    "Sir F¨¹gen, don''t you think we should send some voodoo beasts to lure it away?" Someone couldn''t help but suggest.


    "We cannot act recklessly! Right now, there isn''t a single Mage within the base that is a match for a Third Grade dragon knight. If we exposed the location of the base, it probably wouldn''t take more than a couple of hours before the most powerful beings of this plane appeared. Then, the expansion plan the clan has prepared for several decades would have to be given up!" Mage F¨¹gen shook his head coldly and rejected the suggestion of his subordinate.


    "But allowing the dragon knight to keep circling around here is not a solution either!" An Mage sighed, "The illusion barrier can only extend up to a height of 80 metres. Once the war tower is erected, it would definitely be the most obvious landmark in this stretch of woods. As long as the dragon knight isn''t blind, he would definitely see it. When that happens..."


    "Hmph," Mage F¨¹gen shook his head and spoke, "What do you take the dragon knights of this plane for? To use a Third Grade dragon knight as a patrol scout? In my opinion, this dragon knight is searching for the last group of witcher-knights we exterminated. As long as he can''t find them, he will definitely... hmm?"


    Just as they were speaking, the dragon on the horizon far away suddenly stopped his actions. After a quick pause and a loud dragon''s roar, the dragon knight drove the dragon southwest without any hesitation.


    Based on the direction, he was probably returning to Blue Hillock City!


    Mage F¨¹gen was stunned for a moment, before turning back and giving out an order, "Immediately contact Muret in Blue Hillock City. Check if anything important happened. I have a feeling that the dragon knight was in a hurry when it left earlier, almost as if something had happened!"


    "Understood!" The few Mages behind him bowed and accepted the order, then promptly turned to leave.


    A short while later, an Mage hurried back.


    "Sir F¨¹gen, big news! Big news!"


    ...


    It was the early morning of the second day when Keoghan and the other three returned to Blue Hillock City.


    Before they could even sit down and take a breather, a personal order from Second-Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen had already been brought before them. Thus, they once again rushed towards the Mage''s base!


    There, Sir F¨¹gen asked details about their actions in Herdurand City.


    All the clan Mages who stayed in the base looked at each other in amazement when they finished hearing Mage Keoghan''s retelling of events. They could hardly believe what they heard. Even Sir F¨¹gen lowered his head and remained silent after hearing the entire thing.


    Assaulting a Second Grade green dragon? Throwing a city closely guarded by hordes of soldiers into utter chaos, while beating the other dragon-knight''s dragon partner to the brink of death?


    Such an absurd and unbelievable story. Even the most cliched novels about heroes and dragons wouldn''t beat this, would it? This was a Second Grade dragon!


    In all seriousness, even if it had been Sir F¨¹gen who had engaged a dragon alone, he probably wouldn''t have been able to do much to a Second Grade green dragon! After all, dragons could fly and possessed shocking magic and physical resistances. Moreover, adolescent dragons even possessed Dragontongue magic. Wasn''t this equivalent to a combination of both elementium Mages and body refining Mages? And a combination that could even fly!


    This was why dragons had the terrifying ability to challenge enemies above their Grade levels, regardless of what plane they were in!


    The only reason the Third Grade dragon knight would choose Second Grade dragons as their partners was because they had absolutely no means to beat these Second Grade dragons that had thick hides, could fly, and spit their saliva all over the place!


    Yet the four Mages before him, with two of them being rookies that had barely advanced for a half a year, together managed to beat a Second Grade green dragon to the brink of death? It sounded unbelievable. But judging from the clues, it seems this was the only thing that could the dragon knight''s odd actions previously!


    It was undoubtedly important to search for the witcher-knights in the forest, but it was far more important that his companion''s partner had been beaten to the brink of death back in their home base¨C so important that he had no choice but to rush back to Herdurand City.


    After thorough deliberation, F¨¹gen could only choose to believe them.


    But with this happening, it was hard to predict how the following events would unfold!


    First, they exterminated a witcher-knight vanguard army composed of a hundred men. Now, such a bold assault happened in Herdurand. If the opponents were not able to figure out that the invaders they sought were hiding nearby, they would be a group of complete morons!


    Cutting off the legs of a Third Grade dragon knight was indeed fairly good news, but this came at the price of the enemy possibly arriving earlier. Whether this was for better or worse was very debatable.


    Sir F¨¹gen didn''t dare let these few people out to Blue Hillock City anymore. He had finally recognized that this couple of Mages were not people that abided by conventional rules. If he let them out, they would surely create another huge commotion in a few days. With a bitter smile on his face, he could only keep them in the base.


    Leon and the other three, on the other hand, had also obtained spoils of war from Herdurand City. They needed a safe, quiet place to digest and turn them into part of their strength. And so they easily agreed to stay. Bleia, in particular, could be said to be the one that benefited the most out of the four.


    Vampires would always be busy chasing after the blood of the powerful!


    Keoghan, Ferrier, and Leon had at best obtained some green dragon flesh and blood as excellent crafting materials. But Bleia could directly convert the consumed dragon blood into blood energy to increase the limits of her power. This terrifying ability was the scariest trait of the vampires!


    And so, Bleia went into seclusion the moment they returned to the Mage''s base!


    This was the third time Bleia had gone into seclusion. For Bleia, each solitude was a chance to massively increase her power!


    ...


    1968 Words

 Chapter 197 - 197: Skirmish in the Woods

    A small five-person adventure group trekked through the woods with difficulty.


    From their formation, it was clear that this was an adventuring party with powerful combat strength.


    An extremely strong warrior was carving a path at the very front, using the large sword in his hand to cut a narrow route through the dense vegetation. A scrawny rogue was following behind the warrior, his mousy eyes, cautiously on the lookout, incessantly drifting about the shadows around them.


    Besides those two, there was an archer with an arrow already knocked, his expression alert. There were also two powerful spellbreaker knights who had taken off their heavy knight''s armor, and were currently only wearing chainmail.


    The bushes were dense, and the trees stretched forever.


    Coming into this place, and all you would see is darker and lighter shades of green. It was honestly difficult to even find any other color.


    The thick and knotted roots of ancient trees, the resilient vines that wound together, the bushes and vegetations that grew everywhere, as well as all sorts of wildflowers and weeds that couldn''t be named, were more than enough to completely fill the spaces between each of the large, ancient trees. It was undoubtedly an exceptionally tortuous task for any traveller, without preparation, to walk through such primitive woods.


    Flowing rivers, streams in the mountains, and solemn valleys... these were all common sights in the woods. If the terrain had been flat, crossing through these places would not take more than a couple of minutes. Yet here in this dense forest, they often had to take two to four hours of great effort to pass through.


    The warrior, rogue, and archer were veterans who often spent their time doing jobs in the Greenland Forest, and were therefore unfazed by the difficulty before them. However, the two spellbreaker knights that were closely following behind, now without their magic colts, were having an absolutely difficult time getting used to the pain of journeying through the hills and rivers.


    The had only gone less than four kilometers into the woods, yet the two spellbreaker knights were already sweating all over. The simple chainmail on their bodies felt as heavy as a mountain.


    Even so, neither of the spellbreaker knights expressed their discomfort, and neither of them suggested a rest. They grit their teeth and endured, walking behind the three adventurers step by step, exploring the woods before them slowly.


    The group finally stopped for a break after arriving at the bottom of a small cliff.


    The two spellbreaker knights painfully dragged their heavy bodies to the side of a flowing mountain stream, scooped up the cool water and had a hearty drink. The warrior who led the party did the same.


    If it hadn''t been for the path he cut open, these two knights, who were used to wrapping themselves up in their tin cans, would never have been able to reach here by themselves.


    The archer was a middle-aged man with a lean build, sharp facial features, as well as a piercing glare. He didn''t rest by the side of the river and drink deeply like his companion. Instead, he leaned on an ancient tall tree at the bottom of the cliff, constantly assessing his surroundings while occasionally turning his ears to listen for movement in the woods.


    Any trace of strange sounds and he would have his finger on the bowstring. If he felt anything out of place, the sharp arrow on his bow would instantly shoot out.


    The rogue, on the other hand, was an agile fellow. While everyone was resting, he climbed to the top of the cliff and looked about, periodically leaning down and using hand signals to communicate with the archer.


    "How is it? Did Jack find anything?" A spellbreaker knight couldn''t help but ask once he was done drinking.


    Jack was the rogue''s name.


    The archer shook his head, his face white as a sheet, "Nothing at all! This forest is way too quiet. I have been making a living in Greenland Forest for five years, and I have never seen the woods be so quiet; so quiet, not even a small animal can be found! Sir, this forest has been enveloped by an ominous feeling. Why don''t we go back?"


    The slightly younger spellbreaker knight, his face full of determination, sternly replied, "You lot cannot go back now. We hired you to come here for the purpose of finding the den of those heretics. Before we find anything, none of us here are allowed to go back! If you escape on your own, you will still receive the harshest punishment when you get back. So let go of your pointless thoughts, and focus on how to safely complete the mission!"


    The older spellbreaker knight took out an old parchment map from his arms, and started to evaluate their current location. It was obvious that the road that they still needed to search was very long, evident from the bending and curving route drawn on the map. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The warrior shrugged and put on a helpless expression upon hearing the spellbreaker knight''s words. Meanwhile, frustration and hesitation appeared on the archer''s face.


    While he was in a daze, a vine dangling from the tree he was leaning on curiously moved without any wind blowing. Silently, the vine that almost touched the ground started to curl like a snake, raising itself upwards.


    The tip of the vine split apart, revealing a set of sharp teeth like that of a beast.


    Just as the vine was slowly inching forward, its sharp teeth about to touch the archer''s exposed neck, the rogue on the cliff leapt downwards. The throwing daggers in his hand screeched through the air and slashed past the archer''s ears, hitting square on the tip of the vine.


    "Clang!" The crisp and clear sound of metal clashing. The archer''s body trembled. Aware of the danger, he didn''t turn around, and instead flipped forward instantly.


    The vine wasn''t cut or damaged by the throwing dagger. It even let out a metallic sound similar to clashing swords when it was hit. The lunging vine didn''t manage to bite the archer''s neck, having been stopped by the dagger. It''s sharp teeth bit nothing, letting out an odd grinding sound as the teeth gnashed together.


    It evidently knew it had been exposed, as a weird cracking sound rang out from the roots of the old tree beneath the cliff. The tree pulled out its fine yet dense roots from the ground, entangling and fashioning them into limbs that resembled human legs, before slowly walking towards the humans.


    Moreover, the dozens of vines dangling from its body started to move, their tips splitting into mouths with sharp teeth, letting out terrifying snapping sounds.


    "Dammit... what kind of monster is this!" The warrior roared as he waved the large sword in his hand and charged forward.


    As a small adventuring group, he was the only one who could charge forward, do frontal assaults, and other sorts of dangerous activities. His two other companions couldn''t take on such an odd and powerful magical creature from the front. On the other hand, the two spellbreaker knights, as the employers, had the right to remain neutral until the adventurers failed.


    The archer quickly put some distance between himself and the tree-shaped magical creature. Snapping sounds came ceaselessly from the bowstring in his hands, as one arrow after another shot towards the enemy in a straight line. This was the first time he had ever seen a magical creature like this. With no means of identifying the enemy''s weakness, he could only choose to attack the enemy''s thick tree trunk.


    The rogue clearly had the same idea, as the envenomed throwing daggers in his hands were also desperately thrown towards the enemy''s thick body.


    Unfortunately, most of the their attacks were brushed aside by the madly waving vine serpents. Even when some arrows and daggers made it through, they didn''t seem to have any effect.


    Evidently this terrifying magical creature was not scared of attacks from such small sharp weapons!


    The warrior slashed the tree several times, sending wrinkled and rough tree bark, as well as tree sap, flying everywhere. But before he could do more damage, a thick root came up from the ground, binding his legs and making him fall flat.


    The ancient tree moved its forked ''legs'', slowly moving towards the warrior. The vine serpents dangling from its branches snapped their jaws, as if they were about to devour the warrior whole.


    The two spellbreaker knight looked at each other and nodded, before immediately activating the runic equipment on their bodies. The small shield bound to their left hands emitted a semi-translucent energy shield, while a sliver of elementium flame appeared on the runic sword in their right hands, before slowly extending to the rest of the blade.


    Energy shields and flame swords.


    These two spellbreaker knight were also experienced soldiers. They knew that fire was undoubtedly the greatest counter to such beefy plant-type creatures.


    One spellbreaker knight stepped forward, the flame sword in his right hand slashing forward vigorously. The flame blade extended outwards and left a burning crescent moon trail in the air, slicing through the roots binding the warrior.


    The roots broke, sending viscous green sap flying everywhere.


    The ancient tree-shaped creature shook in pain, and all the vine serpents moved to the front of the trunk, snapping at the spellbreaker knights.


    One had to admit that the spellbreaker knights, with their runic equipment, were the natural enemies of all magical beings!


    The energy shield with no elemental alignment could block curses and almost all spells, with the exception of spells with penetration effects. They also had exceptional defense against physical attacks. This ensured the personal safety of the spellbreaker knights. With the addition of the flame longsword in their hands, which dealt double attribute damage of both physical and fire types, they could deal incalculable amounts of damage to the enemy.


    If this ancient tree, with its tree bark armor, had been left to the adventurers to deal with, at least seven or eight casualties would have been needed to take it down. But with the spellbreaker knights'' powerful defense and offense, they were able to set the ancient tree on fire, while only paying the price of the warrior being lightly injured.


    Indeed, when the spellbreaker knights cut a deep opening on the ancient tree''s body and used the flames to ignite the green sap, the entire tree started to let out ear-piercing scream. It was like that of a human''s as it painfully burned in the sea of fire.


    The three-man adventure group was naturally ecstatic at being able to successfully eliminate such a powerful magical being.


    However, before they could loot the spoils from the burning body of the ancient tree, the two spellbreaker knights gravely shouted, "Hurry up and come back! Get ready. The true enemy is about to arrive!"


    The three-man group was horrified.


    Such... such a powerful magical creature still wasn''t the enemy''s main force?


    Just as they were hesitating, the overwhelming sound of thrashing winds suddenly filled the entire woods nearby.


    A large black shadow started to emerge from all over the woods, screeching as it surged towards them.


    "Bat swarm! It''s a bat swarm..."


    The next moment, their shouts were drowned out by the bloodsucking vampires that surged forth like a tide!


    ...


    1907 Words

 Chapter 198 - 198: Slaughter

    In less than seventeen seconds, the three-man adventure group had turned into corpses.


    The two spellbreaker knights remaining stood back to back and were fighting off the vampire swarm with their energy shields and flaming longswords.


    It was unfortunate that most of the swarm consisted of vampire spawn, who were much weaker than the first generation of vampires that Bleia had personally Embraced. As they gathered together, surrounded, and circled the spellbreaker knights, not only were they unable to break through the opponents'' defenses, many of their companions were even killed by the runic longswords shrouded in flames as well as and the flame blades that burst forth every so often.


    As the vampires engaged in a brutal fight, a red silhouette appeared on the low cliff beside the battlefield. A slim female proudly stood there.


    Bright red armor, crimson longbow, seductive body, perfect looks, and that pair of crimson eyes glowing bright red...


    Bleia stepped on the stones of the cliff, her flawless figure displayed before everyone. However, her attention didn''t seem to be on the battle before her, and was instead drawn to the woods nearby.


    With the vast sea of trees and dense foliage, it was extremely difficult to see through the layers of green and to see what was below. But now, using countless Magic Eyes spread throughout the vast forest, she was able to see everything within a radius of ten to fifteen kilometers.


    The stationary Magic Eyes, along with the agile vampire scouts, turned the dense forest into her ally. It was no longer an obstacle, but an advantageous homefield that allowed her to launch attacks as she willed, exterminating numerous small squads of witcher-knights at the same time.


    The witcher-knight army had suddenly stationed themselves in Blue Hillock City half a month ago.


    Their arrival had undoubtedly attracted the protests of the Blue Hillock City governor as well as its local nobles. Sadly, when faced with the overwhelmingly powerful dragon knight, the local forces had no choice but to keep their heads down and obediently follow the instructions of the opponent.


    Meanwhile, the authorities of Blue Hillock City that had been turned into Bleia''s blood servants had settled down, and were continuously feeding information about the witcher-knights'' movements to the Mages'' base.


    The two dragon knights had finally been able to determine that the evil invaders were most definitely hiding in the southern area of Greenland Forest, a vast area of dense trees that stretched for a hundred and fifty kilometers. And the opponent''s identity was obvious! It was the heretic Mages that came from the World of Mages!


    This was clear from examining the injuries of the poor green dragon.


    Amongst the massive planar world in the infinite sea of stars, the World of Mages was always a nightmare that small and mid-sized material planes were never able to get rid of.


    This was a terrifyingly large-sized plane that very much favored invasions!


    A group of evil Mages that chased after knowledge with an impassioned madness, while ignoring all rules of society, lived within the plane. They had twisted minds and travelled about the depths of the sea of stars in groups, using their evil magic to find weak planes that could bring about resources and wealth for them.


    They appeared fair and just! Everywhere they went they shouted for fair trade and equivalent exchange, as if they were a group of casters that kept to a strict set of principles. But the moment they realized the opponent didn''t possess sufficient power to resist them, they would put on another face.


    The Mages would use powerful martial strength, terrifying voodoo beasts, and horrifying plagues to weaken the wills of those who opposed them, then forcibly enslave their enemies.


    They would prop up obedient puppets in every plane they conquered, turning them into leaders and having them order the natives to excavate mines, dig for jewels, and use every bit of their strength to exploit all the precious resources of the plane.


    In the hearts of all the weak and small material planes'' natives, the Mages were a bunch of horrifying spellcasters that had twisted minds and insatiable greed, possessing powerful and evil magic to back up their desires.


    Once these Mages were allowed to break into a plane and put down their roots, the only thing awaiting the plane was endless humiliation and a life of slavery that lasted for a thousand years. It would last until the last bit of the plane''s resources had been exploited!


    Therefore, the moment they determined that the invaders were a group of evil Mages, the higher-ups of the knights'' army hastened their actions.


    The witcher-knights haven''t finished rallying? Then we rally while we fight!


    The resources for a planar war have yet to be prepared? Then we prepare while we fight!


    The enemies'' den has yet to be found? Then we search while we fight!


    The first group of witcher-knights that gathered in Blue Hillock City numbered around 2300 men, while the spellbreaker knights, that had the power of First Grade Mages, had also reached 150 men. The radiant knights that represented the higher-ups of the knight''s army, and who had power rivalling that of Second Grade Mages, numbered 20 men.


    There were even two dragon knights with the power of Third Grades.


    Sadly,Dragon Knight Kalyk''s dragon partner had been gravely injured, and could only be sent back to Dragon''s Cliff to rest for the moment. This caused the witcher-knight army to lose an extremely mobile force!


    The army of the witcher-knights had already been amassed. They only needed to determine the true location of the enemy''s den, and then they would be able to charge forth with the force of lightning to thoroughly exterminate the enemy.


    Unfortunately, due to the complex environment of Greenland Forest, the dragon knight''s numerous high-altitude investigations yielded no clues as to the location of the evil Mages. With no other choice, the higher-ups could only send out large numbers of small squads, paired together with adventurers and mercenaries, to launch a large-scale sweep of Greenland Forest''s southern area.


    Meanwhile, to stop the knights'' search operations, the Mages had emptied all of their reserved resources to construct a large batch of grim voodoo beasts, sending them into the surrounding woods.


    Thus, countless savage and horrible battles that were bloody beyond imagination erupted in this vast sea of trees stretching for hundreds of kilometers. Of course, the number of human mercenaries, knights, and voodoo beasts that fell under the dappled shadows of the canopy was countless as well.


    After a dozen days of bloody back and forth, the higher-ups realised that their search squads, led by witcher-knights, might be able to stave off the voodoo beasts that used all sorts of weird and peculiar abilities. But the moment they met the evil Mages wandering about the depths of the woods, they were dead, without even the chance to send out even the simplest of information.


    Therefore, to increases the survivability of the search squads, most of the squad leaders were replaced with the powerful spellbreaker knights. These spellbreaker knights travelled in pairs and would mostly be able to survive even under the assault of Mages, as long as their luck wasn''t absolutely terrible. Moreover, they would be able to bring back exceptionally valuable tactical information.


    On the other hand, thirteen Mages were pulled from the base, along with the vast numbers of voodoo beasts, and sent to the woods in the south to hinder the knights'' continuous searching. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The vast number of voodoo beasts fought alongside the evil Mages, and created a line of extermination within the southern woods of Greenland Forest, engaging the endless hordes of knights squads in repeated bloody and cruel pursuits and hunts.


    However, as individual radiant knights started to impersonate spellbreaker knights, going undercover in squads, the situation on the battlefield started to become increasingly chaotic and terrible. Everyday, one could hear news about the extermination of knight squads or of Mages being killed.


    For example, in the battle that was happening below the cliff now, Bleia clearly had an overwhelming advantage in combat. As long as she joined the fight, and broke the united defenses of the two spellbreaker knights below, the swarm of vampires would most definitely be able to devour the two.


    However, Bleia, who was standing proudly on the cliff, only took a quick look at the battlefield with her bright red eyes before proceeding to ignore it. Even though her subordinate vampire spawn were suffering heavy casualties, she had no intention of helping.


    With their backs to each other, the two spellbreaker knights were still fighting off the attacks of the bats, and started to show signs of worry in their eyes. The slightly older spellbreaker knight kept glancing at Bleia. He finally couldn''t wait and longer when he saw that the opponent had no intention of joining the fight.


    Following a deep shout, the aura around the middle-aged knight started to increase rapidly. Violently surging runic energies gathered within the rune swords in his hands, ultimately turning into a radiant crescent moon, slashing towards the position Bleia was standing at.


    Bleia''s body flashed away from its original position. Her bat wings unfolded and she floated in midair, looking down on this middle-aged knight with a trace of disdain in her eyes.


    When this battle technique that was most commonly used by the knights¨CCrescent Moon Slash¨C landed on the cliff, the highly concentrated runic energies instantly exploded. The strength of the energy was no less than a spell with 150 points of power. If Bleia hadn''t dodged, just that blow alone would have severely injured her!


    It was almost as if a miniature sun had exploded on top of the cliff, as the violent runic energies instantly blasted apart half of the cliffside. The side of the cliff facing outwards started to crumble in a flurry of dust and crumbling rocks. Countless shattered stones and a ton of debris started to roll downwards, instantly flooding the battlefield beneath the cliff.


    After some difficulty, the two knights were able to free themselves from the torrent of dirt and rock, and were finally able to find a spot to stand after retreating a hundred meters backwards.


    Bright runic lights shone on the body of the middle-aged Radiant Knight. He gazed upon Bloody Bleia, still floating in the air, his eyes betraying an expression of thought.


    If she knew that I am a radiant knight, why wouldn''t she retreat? Could it be...


    There was no time for him to think. In the woods one kilometer northwest, a sudden commotion that exceeded the violent elementium flux earlier erupted. The radiant knight''s face fell when he felt the terrifying elementium flux and saw the magic flames suddenly erupt.


    "It''s the Flame Demon!" The young spellbreaker knight couldn''t help but exclaim, his eyes betraying shock and fear that couldn''t be hidden.


    After the bloody battles of the past few days, the knights and Mages had a better understanding of each other''s forces.


    The most terrifying force on the knights'' side was most definitely that group of radiant knights. They were slightly lacking in mobility, but their powerful runic powers gave them incomparably powerful attacks and an impenetrable defense. In all seriousness, the only thing the Mages could do when they met radiant knights was retreat. They had absolutely no chance of beating them in a fight.


    On the other hand, some terrifying characters had sprung up on the Mages'' side as well. Such as Bloody Bleia before him, who was always surrounded by terrifying bat swarms; or Worm controller Blake, who could command tens of thousands of poisonous bugs. There were also other scary Mages with all sorts of odd abilities...


    But none of them were as scary as the Flame Demon!


    When the three-meter tall Flame Demon, clad in brilliant red flames all over its body, stepped onto the battlefield with his two fire golems, the doubled number of fire spells coupled with the Fire Deity''s explosions were enough to instantly kill a spellbreaker knight of the same grade.


    Thus, whenever a knight squad met the Flame Demon in the depths of the woods, it would be the end of their fates right then and there!


    ...


    2051 Words

 Chapter 199 - 199: Demon

    The light of flames flickered in the woods far away. Intense fires ravaged about.


    The death cries of the accompanying mercenaries and the angered roars of the spellbreaker knights could be heard clearly!


    The expression on the middle-aged radiant knight''s face suddenly changed. He had no time to be entangled with Bloody Bleia. Immediately, he charged towards the battlefield in the distance.


    As part of the army''s higher ranks, he knew very well that there were only two spellbreaker knights in the squad there. Facing the terrifying Flame Demon with such a force would definitely result in heart-rending casualties.


    If one were to form an analysis based purely on the Grade of the individual, both the spellbreaker knights and the Mages were at the First Grade, and should have the power to kill each other. Theoretically, the two spellbreaker knights facing the single First Grade Mage on the battlefield there should have the advantage.


    Unfortunately, such an idealistic comparison had never proven true.


    On one hand, you had the evil Mages that came from a powerful plane, while on the other you had close-combat knights from a weak plane. If one were to remove the hampering effect of the plane''s suppression, a First Grade Mage could be said to have an absolute advantage against a spellbreaker knight of the same grade.


    The frail Mages might fear those elusive assassins, but when faced with these tough and beefy knights, they had a clear battle advantage thanks to their class. You are tough? Well, if one spell can''t blow you away, I''ll cast two! If two isn''t enough, I''ll cast three!


    As for a melee fight? Hehehe, no Mage would be idiotic enough to engage in a melee with the tin-can spellbreaker knights. It was delusional for the spellbreaker knights to catch up to the nimble Mages in the dense woods, especially considering their horrendous speed.


    Be it Flame Teleportation, or Shadowstalk, or elementium wings of wind, the Mages had plenty of means to keep a safe casting distance between themselves and the immobile knights. Most of the time, the Mages were the ones kiting the knights. It was very rare that the knights were able to trap and surround the Mages in one spot.


    Of course, not all Mages had such mobile abilities. Just in the past fifteen days, there were already three Mages that had died on the battlefield. The remaining Mages all had powerful movement abilities, as well as powerful and deadly spells.


    With just these two traits, as long as they didn''t bump into radiant knights, the Mages would have over a seventy percent chance of winning in fighting against the spellbreaker knights. This was why the knight''s camp had lost twenty spellbreaker knights, while the Mages had only lost three Mages.


    Because of this, the radiant knight flew into a rage when he saw the terrifying Flame Demon slaughtering their elites in the distance. He charged towards the battlefield as quickly as he could while being cautious of any attacks from Bloody Bleia.


    However, things didn''t turn out the way he thought they would!


    The radiant knight thought that Bloody Bleia would slow him down to the best of her abilities in order to buy time for the Flame Demon. But who knew that Bleia was completely unfazed by his departure? Instead, she unfolded her wings and leapt towards the young spellbreaker knight.


    Now, the radiant knight''s face had truly become dark!


    He finally understood why Bloody Bleia appeared here.


    If he insisted on saving the two spellbreaker knights, then the knight he left here would not be able to escape the fangs of Bloody Bleia. But if he didn''t reinforce the two knights...


    The crackling sound of fire in the distance became even more intense. A bright red flame pillar, almost turning a blinding white, blasted into the sky and enveloped the trees in a hundred meter radius. It was a terrifying world of flames. At the same time, a dome-shaped flame barrier appeared out of nowhere. It was the Flame Demon''s signature, Ring of Fire!


    The middle-aged radiant shook his head in anger and sighed before turning around and charging towards the female vampire, who was still circling around the young spellbreaker knight. Now that the Flame Demon had even activated his Ring of Fire, it was obvious what the fates of the two spellbreaker knights would be.


    Rather than saving two subordinates who were most probably dead, it was more important to protect the companion right beside him!


    Bleia cursed under her breath when she saw the radiant knight hurrying back. With no choice left, she could only escape out of the opponent''s attack radius in a couple of flashes. She might have the ability to kill a spellbreaker knight, but against a radiant knight one grade above herself, she could only retreat. She dared not even expose herself where the opponent could reach.


    The spellbreaker knights were able to combine the external runic energies with the life force within their bodies to create a powerful knight battle technique, similar to an invisible force that could be expelled outwards. This allowed their attacks to break free from the limits of their weapons, and possess somewhat long-ranged abilities.


    Moreover, as the concentration of the energy was far higher than the concentration of elemental spells, these kinds of mid-ranged knight battle technique not only had powerful anti-defense properties, they were even able to completely negate or annihilate the spells of casters while they were in midair. This was where the name Spellbreaker Knight came from!


    And radiant knights were undoubtedly even stronger than spellbreaker knights.


    Their strength mainly came from their ability to utilize runic energies to strengthen themselves, somewhat akin to the body refining Mages of the World of Mages. However, while the body refining Mages used various poisons or extreme pain to exhaust the potential of their bodies and strengthen their physique, the radiant knights used runic energy to temporarily grant themselves immense physical strength.


    Even though their paths were slightly different, both possessed equally powerful physical combat ability.


    Thus, Bleia could use her agility to toy with a spellbreaker, but when she met a radiant knight, retreat was her only option. Fight? With Bleia''s current ability, even breaking through the defense of a radiant knight''s combination of runic energies and their life force was an immensely difficult task.


    Conversely, if the distance between the two was shortened, Bleia could be killed in one blow instantly by the radiant knight if he found an opportunity.


    Bleia''s blood-energy infused crimson armor could only endure up to 110 points of elemental damage. Meanwhile, radiant knights were able to let out blows of combined energy that could reach 150 points with every strike they made. Instantly killing a melee Mage like herself was but an easy task. That was why Bleia didn''t dare move within ten steps of the radiant knight.


    Looking at the sly Bloody Bleia, the middle-aged radiant knight''s heart was filled with immense humiliation that couldn''t be expressed with words.


    This was a weak and powerless Mage who was an entire Grade below himself, yet she was able to render a Second Grade knight helpless with her exceptional agility. The radiant knight''s attacks were indeed powerful, but would it matter if he couldn''t even hit the enemy?!


    In the short delay here, the battle in the distant woods had already reached its conclusion!


    As the terrifying forest fire started to spread outwards, the sounds of exploding fireballs started to diminish before eventually vanishing.


    Countless pairs of eyes on the nearby hills, cliffs, and the top of the canopy were looking towards the direction of the battle. At that moment, many grieving sighs were let out in the depths of the forest at the same time.


    Leon was completely unfazed by the battle''s various onlookers.


    With seven or eight wind critters floating above the forest nearby, and a dozen clay golems swimming under the ground, not even the smallest motions within a radius of five kilometers were able to escape Leon''s senses. It was with this absolute control of the battlefield that Leon was able to completely display the numerical advantage of the golem army, and maintain an absolute pressure on the enemy within a small battlefield.


    Besides the necessary local mercenaries, the squads always consisted of single spellbreaker knight leading two witcher knights, or two spellbreaker knights travelling in a pair. Occasionally, radiant knights would be mixed into the count to bait the Mages into attacking.


    This arrangement and number of personnel was the ideal battle formation that was realized after half a month of bloody battle.


    There were approximately a dozen evil Mages wandering about the forest, usually fighting alone, with the exception of the necessary servants and summons that they commanded. It was very rare for Mages to fight together. This was the case was due to the distrust amongst Mages that hindered any sort of cooperation.


    However, once the knight squads gathered into an army that a single Mage was no longer able to fight against, the Mages would gather together and fight, regardless of how unwilling they were. After a few battles that ended up as bloody slaughters, the higher-ups of the knights'' army had no choice but to split the army into smaller squads and start a game of cat and mouse with the Mages in the woods.


    Most of the time the Mages were the cats, while the knight squads were the mice.


    Every time the were assaulted by Mages, the first casualties were always the mercenaries in the squad. The knights, on the other hand, were able to retreat while using their powerful strength to fight, as long as their opponents weren''t the more powerful and terrifying Mages. Besides being a little flushed, most of the time there wouldn''t be any threat to their lives. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, if the attacking Mage had bad luck and bumped into a squad with a radiant knight, the position of cat and mouse would immediately be reversed. The three Mage casualties had died at the hands of radiant knights in this fashion.


    The Mages that continued to intercept enemies were either quick at escaping, had resilient physiques, or looked on cautiously before they made any moves. As long as they were able to do any one of those, they were able to keep their lives and not die humiliatingly in a dark corner of the forest.


    Meanwhile, Leon had his army of elementium scouts. Along with his unique Fire Teleportation ability, which made him the perfect fit for such a chaotic and messy battlefield, he constantly obtained kills left and right.


    Most other Mages had to be careful and repeatedly probe the enemies, even if they found a squad, so as to not fall into the hands of radiant knights. However, such caution very easily caused the target to be aware of their existence, causing a perfect hunt to become a meaningless chase and pursuit.


    The knight squads in the forest would call for help from each other. If they realized their companions were being pursued, the nearby squads would rapidly hurry over to reinforce them. When that happened, it was the Mage''s turn to run!


    Such a process of probing, counter-probing, pursuing, and counter-pursuing was the least efficient means of fighting.


    However, Leon had enough eyes in the sky to simultaneously track two or three different squads at the same time. Regardless of how well the radiant knights'' impersonations were, some clue that exposed their identity would reveal themselves under Leon''s complete and absolute monitoring.


    Thus, Leon had plenty of time to choose prey that he could devour in a single bite, as well as set up traps beforehand. As the unnecessary probing and hesitations were eliminated, Leon was able to obtain great results every time he struck.


    His chosen prey would never have a chance of escaping, which also saved him from going through the process of pursuing and hunting them down. As long as he was able to control and delay the squads nearby to prevent them from reinforcing his prey, then even two spellbreaker knights were not enough to stop his slaughter.


    If it wasn''t for the Scroll of Voodoo having a cooldown that limited the flurry of spells, and if it wasn''t for Leon reserving nearly half of his strength to deal with any unforeseen events, his destructive speed might even increase further.


    Even so, the terrifying name of the Flame Demon was quickly spreading amongst the knights.


    ....


    2091 Words

 Chapter 200 - 200: Night of Terror

    It was a temporary camp.


    The camp was located in the middle of a pile of rocks.


    The two to three meter tall rocks were messily stacked upon each other. They may not have look very ordered or well-arranged, but they were able to bring about some sense of security for the campers.


    The mist was damp and heavy.


    Even though it was already deep into the night, the travellers camping amidst the pile of rocks had not started a campfire to get rid of the moist air. No one was speaking either. Under the black shadows of the towering rocks, a handful of adventurers wrapped their bodies with thick animal furs and cloth, trying hard to fall asleep.


    However, the scene they saw during the day Had been too shocking¨C so shocking that no one in the camp could sleep.


    "Sylow, do you think we can return home alive?" The hunter, Poole, lightly jabbed the sides of his companion from the same village and whispered softly.


    Sylow was an archer. He was the best archer back in the village they came from.


    Sylow turned his body, but didn''t answer his companion''s question.


    However, Poole vaguely realized that his companion was slightly shaking when he touched him earlier. He didn''t ask his companion the reason, for at this very moment, his body was also shaking uncontrollably.


    That terrifying flame humanoid as large as a demon. That deafening sound of explosion that shook the entire forest. The sea of flames that seemed like they would consume everything. Two lord knights and three mercenaries had so easily died in the sea of flames, becoming yet more souls reaped by the evil Mages.


    Each of those characters were likely infinitely stronger than himself!


    When he recalled the scene he had seen while crouched on the top of the tree that evening, Poole felt like even his soul was shaking. It was almost as if... almost as if he himself had turned into the knight engulfed by the violent flames, only capable of letting out his life''s last sorrowful cry!


    Pressured by the terror in his heart, Poole found the courage to turn around to face a shadow at the other end of the camp and asked softly, "Sir Morse, will we be able to return home alive?"


    "Silence! Do you want to draw those Mages over?" The spellbreaker knight Sir Morse, who was hidden by the shadows, scolded softly. But then his tone became gentle, "Don''t think too much. Our mission is to investigate the surroundings of Serpentfowl Cliff. Just 1.5 more kilometers tomorrow and we can accomplish our mission. Then you will be able to claim your reward from the base. That''s 30 gold sorens! More than enough for you to live comfortably for ten years!"


    Perhaps due to the thought of a peaceful life after obtaining the reward, Poole was able to slightly let go of his concerns. He wrapped himself tightly in the thick fur once more, trying to get a little warmer.


    Poole had no idea that the earth was starting to rise in a spot at the middle of the base as he was trying to fall asleep. As the earth finally gave way, countless black scorpions surged out, forming into five separate black tides of bug that silently streamed into the surrounding darkness.


    After a short moment, Knight Morse''s angered roar rang out in the darkness.


    "Get up... everyone get up... Worm controller is here!"


    Following the flash of light from an energy shield''s activation, the flame longsword in his hand was also ignited. The blinding light of the flame instantly illuminated the crude camp. There were five people in the camp. Besides himself, there were two witcher-knights and two mercenary hunters.


    Unfortunately, when the flickering light illuminated the camp the only ones that were able to leap out of the furs were himself and a witcher-knight named Gurm. The other three didn''t respond at all. Looking from a distance, the only thing they could see were the furs and felts creeping about as the bugs within crawled around.


    "Dammit... " Morse cursed angrily, "Get your weapons and prepare for battle."


    In truth, there was no need for him to remind him, as Knight Gurm was already swatting away the numerous scorpions on his body, using his resilient will to resist the waves of nausea while drawing out his runic longsword.


    These scorpions had repeatedly stung him with their poison stingers once they crawled into his felt, yet oddly enough there was no pain. If he hadn''t been alerted by Sir Morse''s loud roar, he would''ve probably died silently in his sleep like the other witcher-knight.


    The burning flame longsword was vigorously stabbed into the ground, causing a violent flame shockwave to instantly engulf the camp.


    Under Knight Morse''s powerful explosion, the scorpions that had been frantically scurrying towards them were devoured by the ferocious elementium flames. The ear-piercing cries of the dying bugs could be heard everywhere in the camp.


    However, the tunnel that appeared in the middle of the camp suddenly collapsed, spewing forth larger beetles that flowed forth under the illumination of countless tiny flames on the battlefield. They gathered together, forming a terrifying, creeping pile of bugs, slowly rising in height.


    Very soon, a human outline made of the terrifying bug swarm appeared in the camp.


    The two knights couldn''t hide the despair in their eyes when they saw the evil Mage''s odd method of appearance. It was like the insides of their hearts were soaked in snow and ice- all they felt was cold.


    Worm controller Blake had appeared!


    ...


    In a cave under a cliff, six kilometers northwest.


    The bright campfire was still burning strong.


    The entrance of the cave was covered with a thick pelt. Moreover, the outside of the cave was covered by dense vegetation. There was no worry that the light of the fire would be seen from outside.


    The four people in the camp were sitting around the campfire, silently wiping their weapons and armor, with no intention or desire to have a conversation.


    They were very fortunate to have reached this hidden cave before sundown under the hunter''s lead. This was why they were able to set up a camp with a fire to drive away the moist air of the forest. Otherwise, had they camped out in the open, they would never dare to start a fire.


    In Greenland Forest, where it there were leaves and bushes for miles, even a little firelight within the darkness could clearly be seen from ten kilometers away. Even though there were no longer any beasts or magical creatures in this piece of woods, there were still the evil Mages who were far scarier than any wild beast.


    In two days time, this four-man squad had only managed to progress no more than fifteen kilometers, and already they had been attacked fifteen times by voodoo beasts.


    These voodoo beasts roamed the forest in packs. The moment they sensed any humans nearby, they would charge forth fearlessly like a bunch of mad hounds. They could be plague hounds, or mad bulls, or poison dart frogs... of course, they also met an odd creature created by combining winged dragons and human lancers.


    Not a single one of these odd creatures were normal. They either brought terrifying plagues or viruses or were bloody and disgusting creatures that were clearly the amalgamation of several wild beasts!


    It was thanks to the spellbreaker knight''s powerful mid-ranged flame blade that they were able to fight their way here.


    Very fortunately, even though they were attacked by hordes of voodoo beasts, they had yet to meet those evil Mages!


    The southern region of the Greenland Forest was mountainous, while its forest stretched for countless miles. Once one entered the dense woods, it would be hard to tell if anyone was near, even if they were only a hundred meters apart. Thus, it was virtually impossible to totally stop the progress of the knight squad with only a dozen Mages spread out in this large area.


    It wasn''t particularly unusual that they were able to reach here without meeting any Mages. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, back in the evening, they had witnessed a battle far away from the top of a hill that caused the squad to become deathly silent. A group that was not much weaker than theirs had been exterminated under the assault of the Flame Demon!


    Deep in their hearts, the knights were extremely upset with their superiors'' decision to send them on a suicide mission to investigate the forest. However, after a little thinking, it was a reasonable choice. With such a vast forest before them, the 2000-man witcher-knight army could only roam about aimlessly if they didn''t have a specific target.


    When that happened, even the massive amount of supplies required to sustain 2000 men was sufficient to cause the army to collapse, before they could even find the enemy and wage war on them!


    Thus, even though there were witcher-knights painfully dying in the depths of the woods every day, the army''s higher-ups insisted on the plan of having investigation squads search the forest.


    After paying the price of two dozen spellbreaker knights'' lives, and over fifty witcher-knights, they had finally completed the search of the outer area of the forest. The Mages'' defensive line was slowly shrinking. Perhaps in another three to four days, they would be able to completely comb this vast forest of hundreds of kilometers and find the den the enemies were hiding in.


    Then, it would be the wonderful time to rouse their army and exterminate the evil Mages'' den in one fell swoop!


    But while the idea was wonderful, having it come to fruition required even more work and sacrifice. As for whether they would be able to live to see that wonderful moment, the two spellbreaker knights in the stone cave had no idea.


    However, just as everyone was gazing into the fire in a daze, an odd knocking sound rang out from the entrance of the cave.


    "Clang. Clang. Clang.... anybody here?"


    "Who is it?" A hunter replied in shock. Then he realized he was in the middle of nowhere. Where would a door have come from? Where would a visitor have come from?


    "A lonely traveler! If you have no qualms, I''ll be coming in!" The voice from outside sounded really weird. It was stiff and hoarse, completely unlike any human''s voice.


    "Since you have made it here, then come in if you will! No need for any theatrics outside!" The spellbreaker knight Entos slowly got up, light radiating from his energy shield and his flame longsword.


    All of a sudden, he turned to look at his companion, who was sitting beside him, in surprise.


    Heim, who was also a spellbreaker knight, was sitting on the ground, but veins were bulging on his forehead, his head was flushed, and his teeth were grinding together so hard they were letting out a screeching sound.


    "What''s happened to you?" Entos asked loudly.


    "I''m... falling... under... someone''s... control," A simple sentence, but Knight Heim had to pause between each and every word. After he said that, even his eyes started to become red.


    Knight Entos immediately activated the flame longsword in his hand. The elementium flame that suddenly erupted instantly illuminated the entire cave, as well as Knight Heim.


    The first thing he saw was several semi-translucent threads floating behind Knight Heim, who was sitting on a felt. All the threads had dug into his body, while the other ends silently extended to the top of the cave.


    "Dammit, it''s Marionette!" Knight Entos roared in anger, and a flame blade slashed through the air, slicing through those seven or eight odd threads.


    With the help of his companion, Knight Heim was finally able to break free from the control of the threads. Quickly, he jumped onto his feet and shouted, "Everyone get ready. It''s the evil Mage Marionette..."


    Yet just as he was shouting, the two mercenaries who were also sitting beside the fire stood up clumsily. An odd grin appeared on their faces before they leapt towards the knights, weapons in hand.


    ...


    2034 Words

 Chapter 201 - 201: Battle in the Night

    The Mages'' base.


    In a dark and dim stone chamber.


    Eight stone platforms were placed around the empty hall. Odd specimens composed of human body parts and magical creatures were displayed on the platforms. Two or three Mages gathered about the edge of a stone platform, dissecting a specimen on the platform, with serious expressions on their faces.


    A naked man with an excellent build was lying on the platform closest to the stone chamber''s door. The front of his body was widely spread apart like an open book, from the throat all the way down to his crotch. The bright red flesh, the dripping blood, the wicked faces of the Mages¨C all of these created a haunting atmosphere in the chamber that couldn''t easily be described!


    This man had a pug nose, black hair, a square face, and tan yet smooth skin. Just a quick look at his clearly defined muscles and large skeletal structure, and one could tell that he was a strong warrior who was used to frequent and intense training.


    There was a tattoo of a sword and shield on his left shoulder. If any of the natives of this plane that were familiar with the local culture were here they would surely scream in surprise, for the strong man being dissected was an official witcher-knight.


    Three Mages were gathered around him.


    One of the Mages was using a scalpel and a small saw to continuously remove bloody human organs from the witcher-knight''s body. The assisting Mage was continuously casting spells to preserve these freshly plucked organs, before placing them into containers filled with a dark red liquid.


    The third Mage was regularly scribbling on a parchment, recording in detail the oddities they found in Specimen Number One.


    With every light stab and cut of the dissecting Mage''s scalpel, and with every bit of electrical stimulation, the witcher-knight''s body would twitch slightly. His little finger, in particular, would continuously curl up and release.


    This meant that the witcher-knight''s spiritual consciousness still existed in his body, even after all his internal organs had been removed. Moreover, it seemed he was able to feel the pain inflicted on his body.


    "Test Subject Number 1." S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Witcher-knight. Male, body is in healthy condition, age 32 years old..."


    "Similarity of internal organs to normal humans is as high as 89%..."


    "Some parts of the organs show light inclinations of change..."


    "The bones in his upper body are tougher and larger. His surface skin is tough and tight. His bodily strength is approximately equal to an advanced apprentice..."


    "Assimilation of foreign energies found in the heart, liver, and various other internal organs. The effect of the mutated organs is somewhat similar to magic-infused organs..."


    "There are signs of over-exhausting the source of his life force. Initial estimates suggest that this is caused by the corrosion of the foreign energies..."


    "Magic scans confirm that the subject does not possess elementium talent..."


    "Initial conclusion: witcher-knights possess beginning symptoms of both body refining and magic-infusion. Their true identities are closer to human knights whose bodies have been strengthened by runic energies! As they don''t possess any elementium talent themselves, the runic energies rapidly exhausted their life force while strengthening their bodies!"


    The witcher-knights'' favourite mount¨Ca magic colt¨Cwas lying silently on a nearby stone platform. Its body had also been thoroughly dissected and divided into several separate pieces.


    The Mages showed expressions of disdain towards these magic colts.


    Too primitive! Too crude!


    The so-called magic colts were a mixed breed of human warhorses and a certain special wild beast, that were then fed some drugs that stimulated their bodily strength as they were raised. These gave them some of the traits of the forest beasts, giving them powerful climbing abilities, and therefore becoming the standard mount of the witcher-knights.


    Placed even deeper in the depths of the dark stone chamber were no longer ordinary witcher-knights, but spellbreaker knights with even more muscular bodies. However, they had all become the test subjects of the evil Mages now. All the secrets hidden in their bodies would be completely and utterly exposed.


    Compared to the witcher-knights, traces of elementium talent could be detected on the bodies of spellbreaker knights, who managed to advance one Grade further. Furthermore, most of the vital organs within their bodies had been irreversibly infused with magic. In all seriousness, the spellbreaker knights were a bunch of defective products who had spellcasting talent, yet forcibly went on the path of magic-infused knights.


    Analyzing the currently known data, these few Mages couldn''t help but predict that the Fourth Grade Holy Knight who stood at the top of the knights'' plane would surely have even more outstanding elementium talent. Yet very unfortunately, he didn''t choose the path of a spellcaster, instead stepping on the strange path of a magic-infused knight.


    If this prediction proved true, it meant that the Fourth-Grade Holy Knight was essentially an Mages of sorts that went down the wrong path. Of course, with how lacking the elementium energy was in this plane, it would have been a reasonable decision to give up on the path of Mages and to go down the path of magic-infused knights.


    After all, the deformities and incomplete nature of this plane''s development was not something a mere native of the plane would be able to control. To be able to become a Fourth Grade powerhouse on a small plane with such limited elementium energies demonstrated how much talent and potential he really had!


    The gathered data from the test subjects'' dissections showed that the witcher-knights were merely a group of pseudo-magic-infused knights that had been polluted by runic energies, and had power equal to intermediate or advanced apprentices.


    The First-Grade Spellbreaker Knights, on the other hand, were a group of actual magic-infused knights. Their physiques were approximately equal to pseudo-Mages in the World of Mages. This was why the spellbreaker knights were constantly at a disadvantage in battle, even though they were of the same Grade as the Mages. However, with the help of their runic weapons, they managed to have attack power and defensive abilities that rivalled those of Mages.


    Frankly speaking, the knights'' plane was a small plane after all. After ten million years of development and evolution, they had indeed developed a unique structure and system of power. Yet in terms of the individual power of those of the same grade, they were still lagging too far behind the World of Mages.


    The roaming First Grade Mages that dared to attack the knight squads, led by spellbreaker knights in the Greenland Forest, fully demonstrated the massive disparity in the strength between both parties.


    On one hand, you had a large-sized plane that was infamous throughout the multiverse. On the other, you had a weak and isolated small-sized plane. These two planes may have similar definitions of a First Grade being, but when put together, the difference in power was very obvious.


    Of course, the reason the Mages put so much effort into dissecting and researching the witcher-knights was not just to collect some information and data, but to better improve their efforts in cultivating plagues and viruses that were targeted specifically at the knights.


    As the only native force on the plane that could put up a fight against the Mages, all they needed to do was take down these knights. The remaining native humans would not be able to resist the Mages and their powerful abilities. A human army, that numbered in the tens of thousands, was a complete joke when put before the Mages. A simple plague spell would cause a powerful empire to become a land of death and tombstones in the matter of months.


    Once they lost the protection of supernatural powers, the strength of normal humans was completely insignificant before the Mages!


    Thus, a large bug-breeding grounds and a runic energies research lab had already been constructed right beneath the stone chamber. With plenty of witcher-knight flesh for specimens, a unique plague insect that fed on runic energies was already being bred.


    If this plan succeeded, the Mages would be able to kill these annoying witcher-knights that stood in their way of conquering this plane without lifting a single finger.


    At the same time, the construction of the Mages'' tower was quickly moving forward.


    As of now, the four lower levels of the Mage''s tower had already been constructed. The top of the structure had almost extended outside of the illusion barrier area of coverage. With all the current commotion, the additional construction activities had to be halted until the situation was slightly calmer.


    Due to the uniqueness of the tower''s structure, there was no way of completing the array carving by each level. The arrays had to be carved all together after the Mages'' tower had been completed, such that the arrays would be connected together to form a complete defense system. Moreover, if necessary, a large-scale ceremony had to be completed to activate the soul of the tower, and to fully integrate all elements within the war tower.


    These detailed jobs couldn''t be done when the enemy was almost knocking on the door. Thus, to increase the odds of victory, the Mages had no choice but to fall back on that which they were most skilled: poison and plague.


    ......


    Leon stood alone on the tall cliff, silently looking down on the dark forest that was shrouded by shadows below him.


    Dark clouds filled the skies, and no light from the moon or stars could get through.


    This was a good night for killing!


    During the time he silently stood here, four elementium disturbances that could be observed with the naked eye had erupted in the woods far away, one after another. The most powerful elementium shockwave had even blown away half of a mountain!


    The violently surging elementium flames even caused Leon, who was fifteen kilometers away, to feel intense waves of heat on his face. The shockwave that followed soon after blew his hood off, exposing his cool and calm face.


    The four elementium disturbances hadn''t occurred in the same spot, but spread across four different areas. The frequency of the elementium disruption that exploded each time was different. The elementium within the disturbances all had slight differences.


    With the help of the chip''s highly efficient data-gathering and analyzing abilities, Leon was able to deduce the identity of the Mages involved in the fight from the elementium that drifted here.


    The one fighting in the battle 3.5 kilometers southwest was Worm controller Blake. One had to mention that his abilities had greatly improved in this period of accumulation and powering up. The battlefield he was in was the quietest, and the elementium that drifted here was the least amongst the four battles in the night.


    If it wasn''t for Leon''s high vantage point, as well as the chip''s powerful computing abilities, he might have entirely missed the shockwave from the battle.


    A fight had also broken out 7.5 kilometers to the east. The two parties involved were body-refining Mage Kiel, and two spellbreaker knights. After a tough battle, the spellbreaker knights retreated from the battlefield, but not without paying the price of one death, and severe injuries for the surviving knight. Kiel had also received some damage in the fight, and could only let the severely injured knight walk away.


    Leon couldn''t help but feel like this was a waste. He quickly sent this information to Bleia, who was roaming about the woods far away.


    The battle 15 kilometers in the northeast was the most intense. The spellbreaker knight, that had been forced into a position of certain death, self-destructed. The method with which he used to self-destruct was similar to how Ninther did it.


    This made Leon suspect that all spellbreaker knights knew of such an annoying way to self-destruct.


    The one who forced the spellbreaker knight to self-destruct was an odd Mage called Marionette. It seemed he was a peculiar fellow who was able to manipulate the bodies of others.


    However, neither of these three battles were the focus of Leon''s attention.


    The only battle Leon was paying attention to was the one happening 23 kilometers to the northwest.


    Because this battle was between a radiant knight and Second-Grade Mage F¨¹gen!


    ...


    2048 Words

 Chapter 202 - 202: Battlefield

    In the bloody battles of the last few months, three Mages had fallen to the sneak attacks of radiant knights.


    This was already a fairly sizeable loss for the Sarubo Clan.


    After all, the bottom line for the Sarubo Clan was set at eight Mage losses in this planar invasion. If the numbers of Mage casualties exceeded a certain number in this plane, it would cause a drastic effect to the Sarubo Clan''s ranking within the Zhentarim Association.


    If the Sarubo Clan reassigned Mages from their subordinate lesser planes to fill in the vacancies of the clan headquarters, it would cause an immense impact to the stability of their rule over their two subordinate planes.


    Thus, faced with the frequent assaults of the radiant knights, the only Second Grade Mage of the base, Sir F¨¹gen, had no choice but to personally step onto the battlefield and teach these ''magic-infused knights'' a bloody lesson!


    This was a moonless night!


    The Mages were exceptionally active tonight. Besides the ten Mages who had always been fighting on the frontlines, Sir F¨¹gen brought five more Mages with him to join the battle.


    An unfortunate radiant knight had already been identified. The remaining knight squads around him were being dealt with by other Mages, while this radiant knight hiding in the knight squad naturally became the target of Sir F¨¹gen''s hunt.


    It was obvious that Sir F¨¹gen didn''t really trust Leon and the others. He had specifically brought his direct subordinates from the base to deal with the other knight squads and clear out the battlefield, displaying a desire to keep other Mages from coming close. Leon, who had long wanted to spy on the secrets of Second-Grade Mages, could only fall back on such a method to gather information.


    Ever since he became a First Grade Mage, Leon felt lost concerning his future path. He didn''t dare progress recklessly without gathering enough information and figuring out the proper way forward. However, most of this information was something that newly advanced Mages were unlikely to come into contact with.


    At least, before Leon signed a more intimate contract with the Sarubo Clan, he would have no chance of gaining access to such information!


    If Leon were able to collect a little information about Second Grade Mages at this point, it would undoubtedly become a lighthouse that shed light on Leon''s future path. Even if he didn''t know the means of progressing down this path, as long as he had a direction, Leon would be able to use the chip''s powerful computing abilities to reverse-engineer a method of moving forward.


    It was a blood-colored night, and the raging winds were howling in the night.


    Standing on a high cliff, one could taste the bloody slaughter carried over by the night wind from afar.


    If Bleia had been here, she probably would''ve let out a long howl in excitement!


    Leon thought so to himself, but his eyes were still fixated on a spot in the darkness. Blue light continuously flashed in his eyes.


    The battle had already started!


    One could already smell the ice-attribute particles in the night wind, alongside small traces of fire-attribute particles.


    Leon made an initial judgement that the innate powers of the Second Grade Mage F¨¹gen were probably ice spells. The immense power of his attacks had already completely suppressed the radiant knight.


    In the end, radiant knights were only a group of ''magic-infused knights'' that had very high magic resistance.


    Their strongest ability was their resistance to elemental spells. As they lacked a systematic means of cultivation or meditation, they were wholly unable to manipulate the elementium particles drifting about the atmosphere. Thus, whether it was to attack or defend, they had to rely on runic energies.


    And these so-called runic energies were only magical energies drawn from magic crystals with the use of crude runic arrays, that were then applied to weapons and armor. Such equipment would hardly even be called magic tools in the World of Mages. At best, they were enchanted equipment, and were far inferior and much less efficient than magic tools.


    However, everyone had their own expertise, and the knights were experts in this particular field of utilizing runic energies. The knight plane''s runic arrays were all designed and focused around the concept of merging the strengths of runic energies and the knights. Thus, when it came to the assimilation of runic energies with the source of their life force, their runic arrays did indeed have unique insights of their own.


    Even Leon was interested in capturing a radiant knight himself to investigate the secrets of the runic arrays on their bodies. Once he obtained the knowledge related to their runic arrays, Leon had every confidence that the energy system of his golems would be able to be further improved. Even the Flame Fiend Transformation runes carved on Leon''s body had room for improvement!


    The pitch-black night sky was abruptly lit up by a blue light that appeared. A large halo of ice that could easily be seen suddenly exploded in the middle of the woods. The surrounding ancient trees were instantly sealed in a world of crystalline ice.


    The crackling sound of ice particles in the air crashing against each other rang out throughout the sky. Leon couldn''t help but be impressed by the power of a Second Grade Mage.


    The knights'' plane was a small material plane sorely lacking in elementium energies. A First Grade spell might be able to have an effect of up to a 100 degrees in the World of Mages. However, here, it might only have around 70 degrees of power. Moreover, the radius and duration of its effect would also be greatly reduced.


    Fortunately, most of the invading Mages had plenty of magic tools, spell scrolls, and magic staffs to empower themselves. With plenty of instant-cast spells at their fingertips, they were still able to drown the enemies with attacks, maintaining their advantage as casters while fighting against knights of the same Grade.


    The nighttime battle lasted for another half an hour before finally ending. The result was as expected; Sir F¨¹gen obtained an overwhelming victory.


    As the victorious Mages brought plentiful spoils of war back to the base, Leon was finally able to visit the location of the battle.


    This was the backslope of a small hill. Three gigantic rocks formed a circle, with a flat ground of around twenty meters in radius within it. This was an excellent camping spot for an adventurer''s squad.


    Sadly, this place had been turned into a world covered in ice and snow!


    Leon walked out from the dark forest, confidently strolling about this area of snow and ice. Cerulean light continued to flash in his eyes, hidden by the shadow of his hood. All of his senses were utilized. His sight, smell, hearing, and his taste were all activated to feel the elementium in this camping spot.


    The three-meter tall rock had been covered by a layer of thick ice. Even the campfire in the middle of the camp had been sealed in an ice crystal, with the firewood and the fire itself also preserved within.


    Leon gave the crystal a light knock. It let out a clanging sound. The ice''s hardness was no less than normal steel. Leon was still able to vaguely see the shape and color of the burning campfire through the semi-translucent ice crystal. The bright red flames, and the white-hot center of the fire, could be seen clearly. It was almost as if time had been completely frozen and stopped at that one specific moment.


    Fire in ice? This kind of ice power that could even freeze flames most definitely contained traces of planar laws. Otherwise, it would never be able to create such a situation where two elementium with conflicting attributes were able to co-exist!


    Two human mercenaries laid on the ground beside the rock. Their panicked and worried expressions were still frozen on their faces. Their hands had reached towards the weapons on their waists, while their other hands were pressed against the ground to push themselves up. Sadly, their lives would forever be frozen in that moment.


    One could tell that Mage F¨¹gen had instantly let out a terrifying Ring of Frost when he broke into the camp, immediately getting rid of any irrelevant characters.


    The signs of flame explosions became even more obvious at the other end of the camp.


    Leon kept scanning through the various details scattered about the location, and a scene of the shocking battle that had occured here appeared in his mind. Leon followed the signs of the battle left by these two, continuously walking deeper and deeper into the woods, before finally arriving at the spot where the battle had ended 1.5 kilometers away.


    The trees in a quarter-kilometer radius had been razed to the ground. There were deep rents left in the earth everywhere. The bottom of these gullies were charred by fire, still letting out wisps of black smoke.


    It was absolutely possible to estimate the intensity of the battle from the numerous scorch marks left behind by the radiant knight''s powerful knight battle techniques. But now, a layer of crystalline ice had completely covered all the scorch marks, demonstrating F¨¹gen''s complete control over the battle.


    Here, the radiant knight had been frozen in place by Mage F¨¹gen, with no means of moving even a single step, and forced to passively endure and defend against F¨¹gen''s attacks. This was evident from the angle of attack and contact of the spells!


    Radiant Knights did indeed have very high magic resistance. Even so, they would not be able to resist an endless stream of spells.


    Once the knight exhausted the magic crystals within his runic arrays, F¨¹gen, with his plentiful combat experience, would never give him the chance to swap out the crystals!


    Leon stopped at the center of the battlefield. There was an ice pillar half a meter tall here. The upper half had cracked and shattered, but the lower half was still hard as steel, letting out a dark blue gleam.


    This was where the radiant knight had been defeated and lost!


    Leon sensed the atmosphere once more, now that he was where the battle had happened. There were still some of Mage F¨¹gen''s personal elementium signature left in the ice pillar. However, besides this, Leon felt like there was something else.


    Mm, this was worth bringing back for research!


    Now that he had made his decision, Leon took out his Fire Lord''s Scepter and summoned the Fire Deity. Then he used a summoning core to summon a rock serpent.


    Once the Fire Deity appeared, it started to chaotically blast flames all over the place to quickly destroy any markings left on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the gigantic rock serpent opened its large mouth and devoured the ice pillar, along with the dirt frozen underneath it, before vanishing into the ground.


    After a quick survey of the battlefield, and having made sure nothing was left, Leon finally turned to leave.


    With the help of the night winds, the raging forest fire burned everything left to ashes. When the scene had been reduced to nothing but scorched earth, the dirt near the edge of the earth started to break open. Tens of thousands of black beetles surged from underneath, forming into the silhouette of Worm controller Blake.


    "Dammit, that bastard was here already!"


    Blake cursed once more when he saw the ravaged earth, the billowing black smoke, and the remaining fires before him.


    Then he turned to look at the black skies around him. He couldn''t be sure if the bastard had left any odd eyes or ears around here.


    After lowering his voice and cursing a couple more times, Blake finally turned into a black smoke again, drilling into the ground and disappearing!


    ...


    1977 Words S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 203 - 203: Prelude

    The death of a radiant knight on the battlefield was no less shocking to the witcher-knight army than a massive earthquake.


    There hadn''t been a single record of a radiant knight dying on the battlefield in nearly a thousand years. Of course, this had to do with the fact that heretic casters in this plane were much weaker than the radiant knights, as well as the radiant knights'' own strength.


    Without the accumulation of knowledge nor the legacy of a proper system, the naturally awakened heretics had powerful talent and enviable development potential, but no place to systematically learn arcane knowledge or learn to apply their powers. Moreover, under the strict suppression of the witcher-knights, they were forced to hide their names and hide every time their identities were exposed, living a life fleeing and being homeless.


    Under such conditions, the Continent of Knights'' heretics that awakened their power, naturally, were constrained by the lack of knowledge and resources. They could only suffer as they stagnated around the level of an apprentice Mage. Even if there were occasionally geniuses that would advance to a First Grade caster by accident, they were hard-pressed to gain an advantage over the witcher-knights that travelled in groups. Once they met spellbreaker knights, the only path left to them was a death in despair.


    A caster that was able to threaten a radiant knight had never appeared in this plane.


    But now, the situation had completely changed with the appearance of these powerful invaders!


    The angered knights'' higher-ups had a severe disagreement. Some wanted everyone to remain calm, continue the slow but steady search through the remaining areas, and quickly find out the location of the invaders. While some were extremely angered, believing the previous strategy to be excessively conservative and equivalent to sending their elite forces to be slaughtered by the enemy.


    Both parties had a major falling out due to this issue, and neither side would give any ground.


    As the two Third-Grade Dragon Knights needed to escort the wounded green dragon back to the Dragon Cliff, they were currently missing from the knights'' base. Consequently, under the pressure of this irreconcilable conflict, the witcher-knight army finally split!


    The radicals were unable to hold back their rage any longer. After gathering nearly a thousand witcher-knights, they charged into Greenland Forest without hesitation.


    At that time, the neighing, ferocious magic colts were all over Greenland Forest''s outer area.


    These terrifying beasts looked like the combination of warhorses and magic wolfs. They carried streams of witcher-knights on their backs, sprinting through the dense forest as if they had wings on their backs. It didn''t matter whether it was mountainous areas, steep cliffs, or gushing rivers; they would be able to leap across and continue onward as if they were still walking on flat ground.


    With the magic colts'' extraordinary climbing abilities, a massive army of 7 radiant knights leading 34 spellbreaker knights and 828 witcher-knights pushed forward into the depths of the forest with immense speed.


    The horrifying voodoo beasts, incessantly surging forth from the depths of the woods, turned into piles of minced meat under the impact of the violent knight battle techniques.


    For one moment, nearly a thousand witcher-knights started a wild slaughter against the numerous voodoo beasts within the woods, turning the forest within five kilometers into a bloody abattoir.


    ...


    There was a terrifying battlefield located deep in the forest.


    The witcher-knight army had arrived here. A massive cliff blocked the path before them. To the left was a slope densely filled with trees, and to the right was geography that was flatter and had a spread of the trees that were thinner. As a result, the direction of the army naturally turned, heading towards the right of the cliff.


    Just as the knight army had altered their course, a horde of voodoo beasts numbering in the thousands swarmed forth, instantly shattering their formation and scattering troops, throwing them into chaos.


    Above the cliff and within the dense woods under the cliff, at the area where trees were sparse, behind the valley... in every single location of the area, one could see witcher-knights and voodoo beasts fighting in small groups.


    Everywhere was the sound of blades against flesh, bones being cut, splashing blood, the roar of the knights, terrifying screeching of the voodoo beasts, the booming explosions from violent and ferocious knight battle techniques...


    Not a single patch of silence could be found near the cliff. Burly silhouettes swinging their swords could be found everywhere, as could the ugly forms of the voodoo beasts.


    Meanwhile, hidden amidst this chaotic and messy battlefield, Leon wandered about like a terrifying god of death descended upon humanity, his black robe wrapped about him. He casually admired the cruel and bloody slaughter before him, while using the wind critters to look for a suitable battlefield to join.


    There were eighteen more Mages who were looking for an opportunity around the battlefield, much like he was doing.


    Ever since they heard the large movements of the witcher-knight army, the Mages'' base finally sent out nine Mages as reinforcements, causing the number of Mages on the frontline to reach nineteen people.


    Mages would rarely form groups of three or five like the witcher-knights. The way they were cultivated since youth was far too different. This caused Mages to be accustomed to battling in an unrestrained fashion, without any regards for others. Moreover, none of them would trust another Mage with their backs.


    Thus, they always fought alone!


    Even Leon and Bleia, who had experienced numerous life and death trials together, would usually fight on their own if there wasn''t a need to stick together. They would very rarely fight together.


    Perhaps this was the nature of Mages.


    Leon strolled along a river. On the other side of the river, a group of nearly a hundred witcher-knights were fighting to the death against a group of voodoo beasts equal number in number. After paying the price of three witcher-knights'' lives, they were on the verge of exterminating this squad of voodoo beasts.


    Thus, when Leon walked past the battlefield, still wrapped in his black robe, there were only a dozen feline voodoo beasts resisting against the knights.


    Five spellbreaker knights were mixed into this knight squad. When they saw Leon and his black robe from at a distance, they let out a battlecry and charged towards him with thirty witcher-knights following closely behind.


    A seventy meter distance and a small stream five meters wide was not enough to deter their charge.


    Leon looked at the provoked enemies and shook his head without showing any expression on his face. He chose to avoid the knights.


    He might be able to defeat a squad this size, but the price he would need to pay for it was too large. Moreover, there was another knight squad on the tiny hill beside them. There were two radiant knights in that squad. If Leon engaged them here but became unable to end it quickly, he would very likely attract the attention of those two radiant knights.


    Radiant Knights were not an enemy Leon could deal with!


    Leon extended the hand hidden under his robe. A washbasin-sized Magma Fireball shot forth from the Fire Lord''s Scepter. With a wave of his hand, Leon threw it towards the charging knight squad.


    The spellbreaker knight leading the charge frowned when he saw this. After sharing a look with the companion beside him, two large flame blades shot out from their longswords, intercepting the crimson fireball radiating astounding elementium flux in the air above the stream.


    Boom! A loud explosion rang out in the skies.


    The violent flame shockwave cut the stream in half and the water droplets were instantly heated to their boiling point, shooting everywhere like bullets in the air.


    The charging knights quickly activated their energy shields. Cling. Clang. The sound of a constant stream of blows rang out. They were able to block this wave of attacks without suffering any losses. However, when they finally put down their energy shields and the misty vapor had finally dissipated, they could no longer find the silhouette of the black-robed figure.


    "It''s the Flame Demon!"


    "It is him!"


    "Hurry up and alert everyone. The Flame Demon was spotted. Have everyone be more cautious..."


    Just as the few spellbreaker knights were thinking of a way to spread the news, Leon had already appeared in a low valley two-hundred and fifty meters away. Here, a group of nearly three dozen witcher-knights were trying their best to defend against the endless aerial attacks of three winged dragons.


    Very fortunately, there were no spellbreaker knights or radiant knights. And especially, there weren''t any dragon knights in this squad!


    As such, Leon no longer hesitated when he saw such a feast. The Fire Lord and the Fire Deity appeared at the same time, charging into the knights'' ranks without any regard for their lives. As there were no powerful enemies here, Leon didn''t activate his Flame Fiend Transformation, choosing to fight with his enemies using his Mage form.


    With the frightening prowess of the golems under Leon, just the Fire Lord and the Fire Deity alone were enough to easily take down this group of witcher-knights before him without having to lift a single finger. However, considering the numerous variables that could go out of control around the battlefield, Leon wanted to end the battle as fast as he could and joined the battle as well.


    An Mage-level golem, a pseudo-Mage level elementium being, fighting alongside an Mage of flame mastery. The three masters of flame charged into the battlefield, instantly turning the area into a sea of flames and covering it in countless fiery explosions.


    The Chain Fireballs shot in succession, the Meteor Shower that fell from the skies, and the Firestorm that ravaged over half of the battlefield...this round of ferocious bombardment instantly pushed the knight squad to the brink of their deaths.


    The witcher knights at the center of the explosions didn''t have a chance to retaliate. Already, they had been blasted and reduced to ashes by the countless powerful spells. Only the witcher-knights at the edge of the area of effect were able to barely keep up their energy shields, riding their badly burnt magic colts out of the flame sea.


    But the only thing that waited for them outside the field of fire was the Magma Fireballs that Leon casually threw at them. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These large elementium fireballs, wrapped in a layer of boiling magma on the outside, crashed into the ranks of the surviving knights with a trail of black smoke billowing behind them, suddenly exploding when they hit a witcher-knight.


    The shattered magma shards shot out in every direction. The Magma Fireball''s terrifying lava core splashed in every direction as well, instantly covering a radius of ten meters.


    Not every human could comfortably and easily soak themselves in lava like Leon could. The temperature of the boiling red lava would never go below 2000 degrees. The witcher-knights that were showered in lava would instantly be scalded and burnt by the lava. The flesh on their bodies, their bones, and even the magic colts below them would rapidly melt like wax into a pile of unrecognizable ash.


    The magic resistance of the witcher-knights was still not enough to resist a vicious spell this powerful!


    In under two minutes, Leon had exterminated a squad of thirty-three witcher-knights with ease, without activating his Flame Fiend Transformation or exhausting the instant spells stored in the Scroll of Voodoo.


    ...


    1929 Words

 Chapter 204 - 204: Rallying Call

    The continuous explosions here had naturally attracted the groups of witcher-knights'' attention.


    There were, of course, spellbreaker knights and radiant knights among those groups.


    Yet, when they drove their magic colts and charged onto this battlefield, the only thing they saw was a bloody ground still burning with flickering embers. The earth was full of craters and scorch marks left by the explosion of Magma Fireballs. The previously boiling lava had already solidified into dark red magma.


    However, the heat had yet to completely dissipate. The entire battlefield was filled with intense heat waves that blew against the knights'' faces.


    The only thing left abou thirty witcher-knights were bits and pieces of broken limbs left on the edges of the battlefield. Everything else had already been consumed by the flames and magma, with nothing left to be found.


    The murderer, on the other hand, had long since fled from the scene, disappearing without a trace.


    The knights halted their colts, and looked upon this apocalyptic looking battlefield with their eyes wide open. The anger and frustration in their chests hurt and burned like the boiling lava on the ground.


    "Send my orders out! The army is to keep close and maintain a tight formation. We cannot continue with such chaotic and scattered skirmishes! Have all the knights gather towards the central area!" A radiant knight whose hair had gone completely white, and who had a determined and resolute face, shouted loudly to his soldiers. Behind him, a large flag depicting a sword and a shield billowed high in the wind.


    A long, deep-sounding horn reverberated throughout the woods.


    Leon had just rounded a mountain when he saw another battlefield on a gentle, green-grassed slope. A dozen witcher-knights lay about the entire area. A short silhouette was strolling about, as if it was searching for something.


    When he heard Leon''s footsteps, the short form straightened its body, and a pair of dull and stiff eyes under a hood''s shadow looked towards Leon.


    Marionette!


    Flame Demon!


    Although the two didn''t have any sort of interaction, they were on the same side of the conflict after all. When they met each other on the battlefield, both parties usually nodded at each other before passing by.


    Yet at this moment, the deep and long sound of a horn reached here from across the mountains.


    The two of them may not have understood the meaning conveyed by the horn, but if the witcher-knights were sounding a horn at this moment, then there was no question that they were about to shrink their formation!


    "The enemy is shrinking their formation. What about it? Do you want to take a look together?" Leon turned to gaze at the direction the horn came from, and let out an invitation.


    Once the enemy shrunk the formation their movements would be much slower, but their safety would be guaranteed. If the Mages wanted to continue their attacks, the likelihood that they would bump into spellbreaker knights and radiant knights would increase exponentially.


    At this moment, having a companion at their side to keep the enemies'' numbers in check would be a good thing!


    Marionette was also a veteran Mage, whose elementium affinity was the plant attribute. The only bizarre thing was how he chose to turn his entire body''s flesh into wood. It was rumored that he had the unique ability to use puppet strings to control the bodies of others.


    In truth, this was an extremely strange ability!


    Marionette rolled his stiff and woodlike eyes as he considered Leon''s suggestion, before finally nodding and agreeing.


    The two didn''t speak any more and turned towards the direction where the horn''s sound had came from before hurrying over.


    Even though they had verbally agreed to become companions, Leon did not try to get any closer towards Marionette. Conversely, neither did Marionette. Both parties always kept a distance of at least thirty meters between the them.


    This was actually an unspoken rule between Mages!


    On the battlefield, any living being that dared to come within thirty meters of an Mage would automatically be considered an enemy, even if it was a ''companion'' from the same faction.


    If it was an agile Mage like Bleia, even walking within fifty meters of any Mage would cause hostility and extreme reactions from the opponent. This had nothing to do with vengeance or emotions. It was just a self-preservation instinct!


    After all, thirty meters was the limit most Mages needed to react appropriately to any dangers. Any closer, and some weak elementium Mages would have to worry about being instantly killed by body refining Mages or some strange spell.


    Trust? Come on, this word had never¨Cand would never¨Cexist amongst Mages!


    An Mage letting you within thirty meters of themself was already placing the greatest trust in you! Any closer? Unless you were a servant they had complete control over, or an utter weakling, they would battle before you could even say anything.


    The two sprinted rapidly in the forest.


    Every five seconds, Leon would vanish in a blast of elementium flames that appeared out of nowhere. The next second, he would appear in an empty space one or two hundred meters away.


    On the other hand, Marionette also clearly possessed unique movement abilities. After walking forward a certain distance, he would inexplicably step into a large ancient tree. Much like a drop of water falling into a stream, there was no delay or stiffness. Then, his body would emerge from a tall tree one or two hundred meters away as well.


    The entire process was natural and smooth, completely void of any elementium flux that could be detected by others. This created a strong contrast with the stiff and unnatural movements of his limbs. Anyone looking on would frown at the disparity.


    Of course, with the cautiousness of Mages, they would never show their true abilities with a companion by their sides.


    Leon, for example, had a fixed five second period between every Fire Teleportation he cast. But whether that was the actual cooldown was something that was not known to anyone else. If anyone tried to plot against him using this aspect of the Fire Teleportation, they would likely get a huge surprise when it came down to a fight of life and death.


    Although the two were silently rushing towards the battlefield, they were also sneakily observing each other, gathering information about them. This didn''t mean that they wanted to do anything to each other. It was only an instinct that resulted from the Mages'' wariness.


    Gathering more information constantly might save their lives one day!


    Evidently, Leon was confused as to how Marionette was able to complete a close-ranged teleportation without any sound, commotion, or elementium flux. However, with the aid of the chip''s powerful analysis ability, he quickly found Marionette''s secret.


    Leon, under the powerful elementium sight of the chip, was surprised to find that Marionette''s close-ranged teleportation was not random. In every ancient tree that he walked into and out of, Leon was able to see a magic brand steeped in Marionette''s personal signature.


    These magic brands hidden deep in the trees functioned like location nodes, pointing out and marking a location in space, allowing Marionette to keep his coordinates and position as he teleported about.


    It was no wonder that Marionette walked through the forest so naturally and casually without letting off any elementium flux. He had already planted his own elementium aura within countless trees. This was a decent idea!


    Now that Leon had managed to see through the opponent''s mystery, the confusion he felt earlier also vanished entirely.


    Leon smiled and continued hurrying down the road.


    Meanwhile, as he was secretly observing Marionette, Marionette had undoubtedly also been secretly watching his every action.


    Fire Teleportation. A simple fire-attribute mobility spell, yet the actual conditions of its use were only clear to those who were familiar with it.


    The strengths and weaknesses of Fire Teleportation were so obvious, which made it both a favorite and a headache of fire-attribute Mages.


    Its strength was in its rapid teleportation. As long as it wasn''t an area covered by an elementium barrier, one would be able to teleport anywhere within one''s vision. Moreover, the delay in effect was extremely short.


    Its weakness was the excessively obvious display when one teleported. The caster had to summon a large elementium flame on the spot before the teleportation could be cast. Only then would the caster''s body disintegrate in the elementium flames. After teleportation, a ring of fire would explode on the location visually determined by the caster. Then the caster''s body would reassemble within the burning flames.


    A very simple fire spell, but it was accompanied by a large roaring flame and a blinding ring of fire. The Mage''s enemies wouldn''t even need to see the flames to find the Mage. All they needed was to listen for the sound of exploding flames to track it.


    Honestly, a large exploding ring of fire would actually be hard to miss!


    Thus, the stealth factor of Fire Teleportation was far too terrible, and it was undoubtedly the most flashy among all the close-ranged teleportation spells.


    For an Mage, flashiness meant being exposed, and being exposed meant danger!


    This was precisely what all Mages actively avoided.


    What really confused Marionette was how Leon had so quickly mastered Fire Teleportation.


    It was important to note that while Fire Teleportation was a simple spell, there was a very important prerequisite before one could cast it. It was the transformation of the body into elementium!


    This was a necessary condition. No other means could circumvent this.


    Without an elementium body, it was hard to disintegrate and reassemble your body within the elementium flames. And without disintegrating and reassembling your body, how were you supposed to accomplish the Fire Teleportation that could cross distances of over hundreds of meters?


    This was why Fire Teleportation was generally an exclusive ability of flame mastery Mages.


    But how long has it been since Leon had advanced to an Mage? According to the information from within the family, it seemed to have been less than six months since he advanced? How did he manage to completely turn his body into elementium in such a short time? Could he have turned his body into elementium before he advanced to an Mage?


    Precisely because of how much he knew, Marionette''s mind was swarmed with questions, not able to find the correct answer. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the abilities of each Mage was their most secret treasure, never to be shown to any outsiders. Thus, Marionette could only kept his questions to himself and silently hurry down the road.


    The two also met some other ''companions'' along the way. After a simple greeting, they would join the group and continue on the path.


    Very soon, this small group of five Mages arrived at the target area.


    This was a wide valley that was much flatter than the surrounding geography. While the trees here were equally as ancient, and the leaves just as dense, there weren''t too many bushes or vines in this part of the forest. Therefore, it had become the temporary rallying spot for the knight army.


    The witcher-knight squads arrived from all over the forest and gathered here. The noise of people talking and the horses whinnying could be heard from several kilometers away.


    A tall, large flag bearing a sword and shield emblem billowed in the wind and was stuck to the ground in the center of this place. Seven particularly muscular and mighty knights stood below the flag. Around thirty spellbreaker knights with shining armor, and an aura of might and power, stood around the seven knights.


    When the Mages and the knights locked eyes, a powerful aura surged forth from the bodies of both parties, clashing from a distance.


    ...


    1975 Words

 Chapter 205 - 205: Trying One’s Hands

    Five Mages against seven radiant knights, thirty-two spellbreaker knights and a thousand witcher-knights?


    Of course this was impossible!


    However, even when faced with this army of knights, the Mages kept up their arrogant smiles and looked down upon their enemies with disdain.


    There wasn''t any reason for this; it was just the natural disdain spellcasting classes had for warrior classes!


    If this was a battle in an arena, the five Mages combined wouldn''t be enough to beat a single radiant knight. That said, the prowess of the Mages came in the form of their terrifying mobility and strange spells. As long as there was a large enough space to maneuver about, even a single First Grade Mage wouldn''t fear several radiant knights chasing after him.


    The magic colts may have exceptional survival and climbing abilities, but they could not compare to the Mages'' pure speed.


    The radiant knights had powerful melee combat prowess, yet they couldn''t do anything to keep back these evil Mages that were as annoying as a swarm of vampires. If they drove their horses and charged forward, these Mages would most definitely scatter, while keeping close enough to bait the knights deep into the forest.


    Should the knights really dare to continually chase after the Mages, the witcher-knights in the rear would turn into the prey of any other Mages.


    It''s important to note that most of the witcher-knights'' advantages couldn''t be displayed in this primal forest, with its complex geography and poor environment. Conversely, it was the nimble Mages, who had no unnecessary attachments or concern for others, that held the home field advantage. They were able to strike at any time, while retreating at the first sign of danger with no need for any hesitation.


    The Mages wouldn''t even bat an eyelid even if the hordes of voodoo beasts that were spread across the forest were all killed. Moreover, some Mages would intentionally send hundreds of voodoo beasts to their deaths, all in order to create a chance to ambush the knights.


    As such, the radiant knights could only look on and harass the Mages as they moved around the army, never daring to actually give chase. Last night''s death of a radiant knight was enough proof that an existence powerful enough to kill a Second Grade knight was hiding amidst the Mages.


    Unlike before, the radiant knights could no longer take actions alone while being confident in their safety!


    ...


    The Mages'' faces soured as they looked upon row after row of witcher-knights.


    Harassing and ambushing a few witcher-knights was no problem. However, when the enemy had gathered together into an army, the risk they needed to bear when attacking was incalculable.


    "Any instructions from the base?" Mage Ferrier, whose body was enveloped in a layer of wind elementium particles and bearing a pair of wind wings behind his back, asked solemnly, "They wouldn''t go so far as to make us charge against an enemy formation with radiant knights in there, would they?"


    The few Mages nodded their heads in agreement. It was obvious that they were concerned about the upcoming battle as well.


    Leon silently took a look at all the Mages present and realized that all the Mages who agreed with Ferrier were Mages of more unconventional professions. Not a single one of them were proficient in combat.


    Ferrier was an Esoteric Mage, and most of his research leaned towards synthesizing potions and drugs. If it wasn''t for his dabbling in wind spells, an Mage like him, who was not proficient at combat, would probably be part of the batch of Mages quickest to die on a planar war''s battlefield. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The remaining Mages were all ones who were focused on illusion or array research. They were the same as Ferrier¨C not proficient at fighting on the battlefield. Sending them to a battlefield was a complete waste of their talents!


    However, the Sarubo clan was sorely lacking in men right now. It was not feasible to conquer the knights'' plane in one go with just a handful of combat Mages. Thus, the clan forcefully conscripted these Mages. The Esoteric Mages that spent their lives hunched over in their labs had no choice but to step onto the battlefield and fight with all their might for the sake of the clan, and for the sake of their own lives!


    They may not have killed too many knights earlier in the massive six-month forest battle, but their existence alone kept the witcher-knights'' movements in check. Because of them, combat Mages like Leon, Bleia, Blake, and Marionette were able to find opportunities and openings to launch multiple attack and slay the backbone of the knights'' army- the spellbreaker knights.


    Of the five Mages gathered here, Marionette was undoubtedly the closest to Second-Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen. Everyone couldn''t help but look towards him.


    "No need... to engage head on... delay... until nightfall... the base... will act... "


    The transformation of Marionette''s flesh into wood had evidently affected his throat. Not only was his voice hoarse and dry, his constant stutter also bothered the Mages. However, his words were simple and easy to understand, helping everyone feel relieved.


    All these people were Mages with countless tricks up their sleeves. Now that they had a clear way of proceeding with the battle, action plans were quickly surfacing in their minds.


    "We cannot let them gather together so easily!" Leon took a step forward and spoke coldly, "You guys cover me for thirty seconds, I''ll throw their formation into chaos!"


    Once he said that, Leon didn''t wait for a reply and tossed out the crystal core and summoned the Fire Lord. Then, Leon''s body started increasing in size as flames erupted all over him, quickly transforming into the Flame Fiend.


    The Flame Fiend that Leon transformed into stood side by side with the Fire Lord, loudly chanting and casting a spell. Under their combined channeling, the clear sky was rapidly engulfed by the gathering flame clouds.


    A flame cloud nearly one square kilometer wide roiled and rumbled in the skies, painting the entire world a dark, dim red. One after another, red-hot lava bubbles the size of wash basins expanded within the flame cloud. As the fire and earth elements that gathered slowly increased, the flame cloud could no longer bear the weight of the lava.


    And just like that, in only twenty-three seconds, a large Meteor Shower had already formed.


    As the first bubble popped, a Magma Fireball the size of a human head, filled with concentrated fire elementium, crashed down towards the area the witcher-knights were gathering at, dragging a long black tail of smoke.


    Then the second fireball, and the third...


    Repeatedly, the black and crimson fireballs crashed downwards, leaving marks of their burning flames in the sky that very slowly dissipated.


    "Dammit. These evil Mages!" The white haired radiant knight shouted his orders, "Meusel, you lead the army away. Get them into formation as you move. Do not let the formation be swept apart by the enemies'' voodoo beasts! Collier, Aneos, the two of you follow me. We will slay that reckless Mage brat."


    As the orders were quickly sent out, the knights'' army gathered here finally moved. The leader was Knight Meusel, who was raising the witcher-knights'' army flag high in the sky.


    Just then, the first wave of meteors reached the tree canopy.


    "Fire... "


    One after another, runic arrow shot out and hit the meteors above the canopy. Even if there were occasional meteors that were able to break through the rain of arrows, a spellbreaker knight would hurry over and strike out with his large blade, generating a terrifying flame blade that would slash forth and split the flaming meteor in half.


    The meteors that exploded in the skies would rain down fire and lava that melted the skin. Fortunately for the knights, without the meteor''s powerful physical impact, the remaining flame shockwave could not harm the safety of the witcher-knights. The witcher-knights raised their left hands, using their energy shields to deflect the flames that rained down on them, while slapping their colts and hurrying out of the area.


    Under the lead of temporary leader Charles, two radiant knights drove their magic colts forward as fast as possible, charging like an arrow towards the Flame Demon, who was still channeling his spell.


    A distance of 750 kilometers was only dozens of seconds away for knights as powerful as themselves.


    The remaining Mages were reluctant when they saw the three radiant knights charging towards them, but they had no choice but grit their teeth and stop them.


    Marionette was the first to act.


    His silhouette flashed, and already his stiff and dull body had appeared beside the three radiant knights. Without uttering even a single word, his hand extended from beneath his black robe. Countless spider-thin threads extended from the tips of his strange, wood-patterned hands.


    It was delusional to ambush the radiant knights with the strength of his attacks. The target of the threads were not the radiant knights on their horses, but the magic colts beneath them.


    Tens of thousands of wooden threads were cast into the sky. They seemed weak and easy to break, but if they ever came into contact with a human body, it would easily break through with no regard for the armor the victim was wearing.


    Knight Charles, who was standing at the front, let out an angered snort. The runic longsword in his hand shone brilliantly, and a Crescent Moon Slash so wide and large that it struck fear into his enemies slashed forth, its sharp edge pointed towards Marionette''s chest.


    The angered blow of a Second Grade knight was naturally far beyond the limit of a First Grade Mage''s defense.


    The Crescent Moon Slash had just left the longsword, but Marionette was shocked when he looked down and found a white mark appearing on his chest. The white mark gave him an immense sense of danger. Already, it was tearing his skin and working its way inside.


    Marionette felt as if his soul had been locked on by the opponent and the Crescent Moon Slash would most definitely hit him.


    This was only a feeling, but Marionette believed this to be true!


    "Dammit! This is the power of faith!"


    The energies surging into the wooden threads became even more violent. More energy threads started to emerge from his fingers, speeding towards the three magic colts. Marionette quickly retreated as he did so, stepping into a tall tree and instantly vanishing from the spot.


    Most of the energy threads were dispelled by the force radiated by the three radiant knights, but some still managed to find their way into the magic colts. The three colts let out pained cries, and their sprinting bodies quickly slowed down.


    The terrifying Crescent Moon Slash turned mid air rapidly cutting in half the tree Marionette was hiding in. The force it radiated then reduced the tree to wooden splinters.


    Marionette coughed intensely as he tumbled out of a tall tree a hundred meters away. Countless fine cracks had appeared all over his body. Even the slightest of movements would cause splinters to fall from his body. Marionette leaned against the tree and straightened his body with difficulty. He raised his head and looked upon the radiant knight with hatred in his eyes.


    Green streaks of blood were slowly dripping out from his eyes, ears, nose, and his mouth. It seemed like he was severely injured.


    To stop a Second-Grade Radiant Knight with the power of a First Grade Mage, and getting away only severely injured, was already a magnificent show of prowess on the part of Marionette! If it had been the other Mages in his position, they would probably never have had the chance to escape.


    Seeing the poor condition Marionette was in the other Mages, who had been raring to go at the knights, regained their cautiousness.


    ...


    1989 Words

 Chapter 206 - 206: Trickeries

    Mage Ferrier flew into the air.


    From a distance, he threw several vials before the path of the charging knights.


    Large pools of purple liquid seeped into the dirt. Less than two seconds later, the ground shook and gave way as a large patch of thorns extended from beneath. The thorn tentacles, thick as a baby''s arm, extended chaotically in all directions. The thorns glowed with a mysterious shine that was unlike metal or wood.


    In a few breaths'' time, this forest of thorns that sprouted out of nowhere had completely hidden the silhouettes of the Mages.


    Sadly, even a wall of thorns such as this one was not able to stop the advance of the knights.


    A thick Crescent Moon Slash stuck close to the ground as it blasted forth, plowing a deep ridge into the ground. Everything that stood before the wailing Moon Crescent Slash split into two, be it hard rocks or thorn walls, and gave way to the knights.


    Before the two other Mages could cast their spells, the three radiant knights had already broken through all the obstacles in their way and appeared before the Mages.


    The two Mages couldn''t care for attacking the enemies anymore. Immediately, the two gave up on the spells they had almost finished casting, hurriedly escaping from the radiant knights'' charge. An in doing so, they exposed Leon who was still channeling his spell!


    Leon had been stuck in place due to his channeling of the spell, but he had always been paying attention to the other Mages'' performance. Marionette''s performance was unexpected and Ferrier''s performance was fairly standard. On the other hand, the performance of the last two Mages was very questionable.


    Even if they were not combat Mages, they would have at least one or two simple and practical instant cast spells, wouldn''t they? Yet they gave up on covering him so easily. It was obvious that they had hostile intentions, and wanted to kill Leon using the knights'' hands.


    Of course, if Leon had been the directing caster of this Meteor Shower and the Fire Lord had been the aid, stopping the channeling of the spell would most definitely have inflicted severe spell backlash on Leon. And in such a moment of life and death, Leon''s fate would be determined by even a slight delay in his movements.


    That said, would Leon ever make such a mistake?


    Leon forcefully stopped the channeling of the Meteor Shower without even blinking. The only thing that happened was the flickering of flames on the Fire Lord''s body.


    Two or three pairs of eyes looking from the shadows of the woods in the distance dimmed, betraying expressions of frustration and annoyance.


    Dammit, that Leon is sly, as expected. Such a massive and powerful spell and he chose not to direct it himself. He let that elementium golem direct it instead! Because of that, forcefully stopping the spell would only inflict most of the backlash on the golem instead of him. The effect on himself was minuscule.


    There was no time to think. Leon reached into the Fire Lord''s body and grabbed hold of the summoning core before vanishing from the spot in a blast of fire.


    His feet had just vanished, when a violent Exploding Cross Slash blasted the ground where he was just standing. Then, the three radiant knights stopped their muscular magic colts before the pillar of dirt that had been blasted into the air.


    Even though they had managed to kill a single Mage, they were able to stop the evil Mage''s spell.


    The three radiant knights seated high on their horses looked down coldly at the Mages desperately running away. They did not choose to pursue them. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Without a sufficiently powerful mount, it was exceptionally difficult to chase after these Mages with their numerous strange means. Moreover, if they accidentally fell into an Mage''s trap, even a peak Second Grade radiant knight like himself wouldn''t claim that he would be able to remain unharmed.


    The powerful green dragon that was beaten to the brink of death in Herdurand City was a perfect example of this!


    In truth, even though they were both at the Second Grade, if one were to compare a radiant knight with a green dragon, a single green dragon would easily be able to defeat three to five radiant knights.


    Green dragons were massive in size. Thus, when comparing across the same Grade, the amount of Strength and Physique it possessed far outclassed the tiny human knights. Moreover, green dragons could fly, let out dragon breaths, and possessed dragon scales with shocking defensive ability. All of these racial advantages added together to give them the prowess to punch above its Grade and challenge a Third Grade knight.


    It was such a terrifying green dragon that got beat to the brink of death under the watch of numerous knights. It was extremely close to losing its life in Herdurand City.


    In accordance with the Dragon''s Pact signed between the Kingdom of Knights and the Dragon Cliff, the two dragon knights had no choice but to escort the green dragon and hurry back to the location of the Dragon Cliff¡ª¡ªDragon''s Valley. Thus, for this period of time, the only higher-ups in the knights'' camp were these radiant knights.


    It was precisely the lack of a firm authority that caused a splinter in the opinions of the radiant knights. This ultimately resulted in an angered decision to break apart. Some of the knights stayed, while the rest marched into the woods, resulting in the awkward situation they were currently in.


    "I''ll chase them even further away? "Knight Aneos couldn''t help but ask with a grave expression on his face.


    "There''s no point! "Charles took a look at the surrounding woods and shook his head: "I can tell that there are some more of those evil Mages hiding in the woods nearby. I fear that something might happen with the main force if we were away for too long! Never mind, ignore these annoying pests. As long as we find their den, I don''t believe that they will keep running about as they are doing now..."


    The two radiant knights, Collier and Aneos nodded in aLeonent. The three knights didn''t pursue Leon and the others. They turned around and whipped their horses, chasing after the main force, disappearing in the depths of the forest.


    Leon had cast a Fire Teleportation. When he once again appeared, he appeared at the hill closest to where Marionette was. The two kept a distance of seventy meters between themselves. Leon had no intention to get any closer.


    Since Marionette was already severely injured, closing in any more would draw Marionette''s suspicion and hostility. Thus Leon stopped his body at a distance and put on a gentle smile on his face.


    "Your injuries aren''t too severe, are they? Is there anything you need help with? "


    Marionette turned his stiff and wooden eyeballs, stared at Leon for a moment, before shaking his head with difficulty.


    Then, he walked with an odd posture to a large tree that was so wide it needed five men to completely hug the tree and thrust both of his hands into the tree trunk. As green halos quickly flashed about Marionette body, the fine cracks quickly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    In contrast, the tall ancient tree shook and shivered.


    The countless green leaves on its dense and rich canopy rapidly withered and yellowed, before falling to the ground one after another. It seemed like only a blink of an eye, and already this resilient tree with rich life force had already reached the end of its life, dried, aged and withered.


    When Marionette finally took his hands out from the ancient tree, the wounds on his body''s surface had all vanished. He appeared full of energy once again. Of course, this was only his outward appearance. As for whether there were any injuries or damage left in his body- that was not for outsiders to know!


    If any member amongst the Mages showed any weakness, it would be the equivalent of shouting "Shoot Me!" at other Mages. Perhaps in the very next battle, this weak member would become the prey of other Mages along with the enemies.


    In a place such as an other plane battlefield, it was too easy to kill another Mage as long as you left no evidence!


    Thus, sometimes, Mages would become even more terrifying and savage after they have been injured! The most important reason for this was that not putting up a facade of strength would invite countless trouble one other Mages saw their weakness.


    In the world of Mages, one needs to be more savage and cruel than others to keep any opportunistic fellows at bay. Most of the time, the companion hiding behind your back was far more terrifying and far more lethal than the most powerful enemy!


    What a wounded Mage needed most from others was not sympathy or help but apathy. It was only when no one was paying attention to them that they could find an opportunity to hide in a corner and lick their wounds.


    Leon nodded at Marionette without speaking another word. He tilted his ear and listened for the terrifying thunder reverberating from a distance, before vanishing from the spot with a Fire Teleportation. From the looks of it, more Mages had launched an ambush on the main force of the knights. From the means of attacks, it was probably the combat Mage nicknamed Thunderbird.


    It was only until Leon''s flashing flame halo had slowly disappeared in the woods far away that Marionette was able to let out a sigh of relief. His right foot had silently been impaled into the dirt in the "confrontation" with Leon earlier. If Leon had dared to move within thirty meters of himself, the wooden roots that broke forth from the ground then would most definitely be enough to buy five seconds of time for himself.


    Then, Marionette would be able to make a choice for himself, be it fight or flight!


    Marionette shook his body, and the massive root that was stuck in the ground quickly shrunk back into his right feet. He turned his stiff wooden eyeballs and stared at a bush a hundred meters away, before turning and disappearing into a tall tree right next to him.


    Nearly eight minutes later, when this area of the woods had gone completely silent, the ground beneath the bush Marionette stared at before he left started to crack. Worm controller Blake emerged from the ground and slowly reformed his body.


    He closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings. There was indeed none of Marionette''s odd soul flux in the forest nearby. Blake''s ghostly green eyes betrayed a hint of anger and frustration.


    A black shell, a horrifying insect''s mouthpart, and countless odd compound eyes of all sizes. Compared to the last time he appeared, the bugmen traits on Blake were becoming increasingly obvious. This time, there were even two tiny black feelers on his bug-like head. The feelers glowed with a strange purple light, as if there was some unique magic contained within them.


    Even though Blake already knew that these veteran Mages were all sly and had strange tricks up their sleeves, he had still been discovered by Marionette when he snuck up trying to find an opportunity. The stare Marionette gave before he left was clearly a warning!


    However, for the fearless Worm controller Blake, such a warning would not be taken to heart.


    Blake turned his bug head about, turning his attention to the rowdy battlefield in the distance. After a few moments of listening, his silhouette started to fall apart, breaking apart into tens of thousands of strange black bugs. They vanished back beneath the ground, silently digging their way towards the battlefield.


    When the area had finally gone silent again, a pair of eyes suddenly appeared on the thick tree trunk of an ancient tree. It blinked several times as it looked at the bug hole left behind by Blake. Then, the pair of strange eyeballs betrayed an expression of mocking joy before slowly disappearing.


    It was only now that this forest area regained its peace and quiet!


    ....


    2049 Words

 Chapter 207 - 207: Battle

    +20 Golden Tickets (Goal Achieved)


    Bonus Chapter!


    .


    The witcher-knight army''s progress through woods was extremely slow!


    If the magic colts were allowed to run at full speed, then covering twenty kilometers in an hour was absolutely no problem. However, if they were allowed to do so, the formation of the thousand-man army would undoubtedly become extremely loose. If they were once again charged by the numerous voodoo beasts patrolling around them, the entire army would instantly be scattered everywhere, turning as loose as sand.


    Moreover, the only ones able to hold their own were the seven radiant knights. The witcher-knights were larger in number, but in the eyes of the Mages, they were just moving delicacies. The spellbreaker knights might be able to resist the evil Mages if they worked together. However, they would instantly attract hordes of hungry wolves if they were ever alone.


    To ensure the integrity of the army''s formation, the radiant knights commanded the witcher-knights to slow down their pace and progress at a speed similar to a stroll through the woods.


    All the wildlife in Greenland Forest had disappeared, converted into horrifying voodoo beasts of all sizes by the Mages. Besides that, some magic traps hidden within the woods had also created quite a lot of trouble for the army''s progress.


    Quicksand traps and gravity traps were the better ones. Fireball traps, acid traps, and noxious cloud traps were lethal for the witcher-knights.


    The Mages had absolutely brought their evil intelligence to bear!


    The magic traps were all set up on the path that the knights had to pass through, while their activation conditions were weird and varied.


    Some of the traps were hidden beneath the ground. Touching a single rock above it would cause a fireball to fly out from beneath. It wasn''t too powerful, but it was sufficient to roast a witcher-knight and his colt to ashes. Some traps were set on branches three to four meters above the ground. The moment a dangling vine was brushed, extremely corrosive acid would pour from above.


    Some of the activation conditions for noxious cloud traps were even stranger. Once the life forces in its proximity reached a certain number, it would explode with a boom.


    Thus, when the witcher-knights bringing up the rear drove their colts by, they would always see several charred black corpses, or some broken bodies whose heads had been corroded full with holes, as well as companions whose bodies had been dyed all sorts of odd colours...


    They could only put their dead companions to a side of the road and perform a small prayer before continuing on their way. However, they couldn''t simply give up on their companions who were severely injured or poisoned.


    With the burden of these sick and wounded the progress of the knights slowed even further.


    The shouts of knights scouting ahead of the formation could be heard occasionally. Every time this happened, there would always be some peculiar spell falling from the sky and landing in the formation. It could be a low-grade Magma Fireball, or a cloud of terrifying noxious poison, or a large patch of acid swamp... Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Most of the spells would be preemptively triggered by countless runic arrows before they could land. Even if there were spells that made it through the rain of arrows, they would be destroyed by spellbreaker knights and their flame blades. Even though they didn''t deal much damage to the knights, the spells kept the knights alert and concerned. As they rode through the forest on their magic colts, they would cast their wary gazes everywhere; from the bushes, to the canopy, to the rocks and pebbles on the ground.


    Even the middle of the formation wasn''t absolutely safe.


    This was because there would occasionally be stealthy voodoo beasts emerging from the dense canopy or the messy piles of rocks along the road. If the knights were not on their guards and got scratched by the voodoo beasts'' foul black claws, even the witcher-knights'' resilient physiques wouldn''t be able to resist the biological poison specially engineered by the Mages for them.


    A normal path through the woods less than ten kilometers long took them two hours to walk through. Moreover, casualties outside of combat numbered as many as sixteen. The seven or eight companions who had been poisoned in particular could only be bound to their magic colts, barely keeping pace with the rest of the army.


    When the sun was at its highest and noon had come, a new problem arose.


    This was an army with no reinforcements. They charged into the forest with no hesitation, and with the absolute resolve not to return before finding the enemy''s den. As such, every member of the army had only brought along three days of food and water when they set off.


    If this had been a simple adventure, such preparations would''ve been enough for them to thoroughly search and explore a forest two-hundred square meters large. However, under such savagely endless battles, the drinking water was very evidently running out too quickly, even though food was enough.


    What was more terrifying was the fact that they had discovered on their way, to their anger, that almost all the streams and springs that could be used for drinking water had been occupied by undead beings radiating a light yellow, pestilent plague cloud. This meant that all the water sources on the ground had been severely polluted and couldn''t be used for drinking anymore!


    Humans were not machines. They could not keep up their alertness and high intensity of combat-readiness for long periods of time. Witcher-knights had physiques several times better than that of a normal human, but after five to six hours of cruel battles and a difficult march, their stamina had inevitably fallen to the absolute lowest.


    With no other choice, the higher-ups of the knight army set up camp on a high hill and allowed the knights, who had been working for the entire day, to have a safe place to rest. The many spellbreaker knights formed patrolling groups of three to five, walking about the woods nearby to prevent those evil Mages from harassing the army.


    The seven radiant knights, on the other hand, gathered in a small temporary camp that had just been set up to discuss their following action plan.


    The evil Mages'' den was located in this stretch of the Greenland Forest, the southern area of which was nearly two hundred kilometers big. After the bloody investigation earlier, the witcher-knights had used their lives to thoroughly check half of the suspicious locations. Thus, what remained before the seven radiant knights was a large forest nearly a hundred square kilometers in size.


    The radiant knights that sat here were all radicals who hated evil with a passion. Otherwise, they would not have been able to tolerate the scattered and gradual investigation method earlier. They wouldn''t have unhesitantly charged into the forest in their fit of anger.


    According to the original plan, they would ignore the Mages scattered around the outer area of the forest, and have the main army march forcefully into the core of the forest. Then and there, they would set up camp and send their subordinates in every direction. They were confident they would be able to find the enemy''s den easily when that happened.


    Even if there were casualties, that would be better than sending exceptional spellbreaker knights and squad after squad of elite witcher-knights to be slaughtered at the hands of the enemy, wouldn''t it!


    One has to point out that in the knights'' plane, where the heretics were perpetually suppressed, the image of the spellcasters as weak and cowardly was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the witcher-knights. Even those higher-ups of the knights'' army had never thought of the invading Mages as an exceptionally powerful force.


    From their perspectives, the Mages were only a bunch of shrewd and treacherous individuals who were good at hiding and setting up ambushes. As long the knights swept through and destroyed their roots with a force like lightning, they would scatter like mice who had lost their den. They would run and hide in fear, no longer capable of putting up any organized resistance!


    In truth, these radical knights'' simple and violent plan was indeed the quickest and most suitable way of dealing with the invading Mages. However, they overestimated their own prowess, and underestimated the means of the Mages.


    If they were able to gather all of their armies, and gathered all the powerful beings of their plane, this plan of absolute simplicity and violence would undoubtedly be the best way forward.


    Sadly, all the powerful beings of their plane at Third Grade or above were absent. In addition, the internal conflict had caused the knights'' army to split. These two factors severely weakened the combat potential of this army.


    Even as this group of radiant knights gathered to discuss their next step forward, the counter-attack from the Mages'' base had already arrived.


    By evening, hordes of terrifying beasts had already fully surrounded the hill that the knights were resting on. Then, under the command of the evil Mages, wave after wave of voodoo beasts charged into the defensive lines set up by the knights, engaging in a cruel, savage, and bloody battle with them.


    It was a large forest. The loose defensive line stretched for nearly two kilometers. The seven radiant knights each led numerous spellbreaker knights and guarded multiple points on their own, stubbornly exterminating waves of frightening voodoo beasts. The hilltop, on the other hand, had been turned into a temporary infirmary. The witcher-knights who were severely injured and could no longer fight were sent here, awaiting treatment.


    Due to the lack of necessary means of treatment, the only method available to the witcher-knights acting as medical personnel was slicing off the rotting or dead muscles with daggers and washing the wounds with large amounts of water before bandaging them.


    This method of treatment might be effective for normal external wounds. However, most of the injured knights in the infirmary had been attacked by voodoo beasts, who had claws contaminated with plagues and viruses. Before the plagues and poison within the knights'' bodies were dispelled, not only would their wounds not heal, they would even worsen and rot as time passed.


    This was only because the witcher-knights all had tough and resilient bodies. If it had been a normal human warrior, all the blood in their body would have coagulated and their flesh would have rotted, ending in death. It was only the witcher-knights that were still able to stubbornly resist against the effects of the plagues and viruses. But this, in another sense, also extended the time they had to suffer and struggle!


    The attack of the voodoo beasts lasted from the evening until the the sky darkened!


    The attack lasted for four hours. Nearly ten thousand voodoo beasts fell on the frontlines of the battle, while the active combat forces of the knights'' army went from the initial seven-hundred people to barely four-hundred people left. With the help of their courageous steeds and powerful runic equipment, the witcher-knights may have suffered severe losses, but the number of actual deaths were very few.


    After four hours of continuous battle, 87 witcher-knights had lost their lives, but the number of knights that lost the ability to continue fighting due to attacks from the voodoo beasts numbered as high as 235 men. Even those knights that continued keeping guard outside carried several wounds. They just had not suffered wounds grievous enough to cripple them.


    Ten thousand voodoo beasts were dead, and most of them were slain by the seven radiant knights. Moreover, in the first hour of the battle, every sharp and fearsome Crescent Moon Slash that blasted forth would carve a path of blood through the voodoo beasts, causing the number of beast deaths to skyrocket.


    An hour of continuous hacking and slashing, along with the occasional activation of savage knight battle techniques into areas where the voodoo beasts were most densely gathered- such intense battles were tough, even for radiant knights.


    They would let out a terrifying Crescent Moon Slash every three to five minutes at the start of the battle. After fighting for a little while, they could only activate a Crescent Moon Slash every fifteen or thirty minutes. By the end of the fight they were completely exhausted and could no longer use their ferocious knight battle techniques. They could only chop at the voodoo beasts with their powerful strength and tough bodies, much like any other witcher-knight.


    The numbers of the voodoo beasts were not countless!


    In the month''s time before this, the Mages had captured all the wild beasts and magical creatures in this stretch of forest, modifying them into voodoo beasts. Yet just today, more than seventy to eighty percent of the voodoo beasts had lost their lives before this witcher-knight army that numbered less than a thousand.


    However, the result of this battle was extremely glorious, for... it was nightfall!


    ...


    2174 Words

 Chapter 208 - 208: Ghouls

    As night fell, the battle slowly stopped.


    Surprisingly, those terrifying voodoo beasts that never tired nor feared death retreated under the orders of the Mages. They hid in the distant woods and for a moment it was hard to figure out their intentions.


    Looking down from above the hill, one could see the ghostly green or blood red eyes of the voodoo beasts all over the dark forest.


    The white-haired Knight Charles leaned on his runic longsword, standing on a corner of the tall hill, gazing at the woods in the distance. It left like a one-ton boulder was pressing upon his heart. Even breathing was difficult.


    In all seriousness, the witcher-knights on this hill were entrenched in this battle because they responded to his rallying call. Now, everyone was trapped on this hill. They could not move and could only wait for the next attacks from the Mages.


    What were those Mages hiding in the darkness plotting? Would they be able to successfully repel the attacks of the enemy, and last until the enemy had exhausted all their strength?


    Countless stray thoughts whirled about his mind and for one moment, he blanked out.


    The sound of footsteps sounded from behind.


    Even without turning to look, Charles was able to tell who it was from their familiar footsteps.


    As expected, the loud and steady voice of Knight Meusel rang out, "The enemy has temporarily retreated! The injured knights have also been treated."


    Charles'' determined expression turned into a downcast one as he spoke in a grave voice, "How are the losses on our side? How many knights are left that can ride a horse to battle?"


    "..." After a moment''s silence, Meusel''s voice had also become much more solemn, "The number of men that can still fight on a horse is 386. The rest... "


    They had lost nearly a hundred men in the first battle within the woods, under the ambush of the stealthy Mages. Another twenty or thirty knights had died on the arduous journey here. After the long and bloody battle earlier, only 386 men remained of the knights'' main force. That meant that the battle earlier had caused a casualty of another three hundred men from the knight''s army.


    Even though most of the casualties were from combat ability loss due to infection by the bio-toxins on the voodoo beasts'' claws, what was the difference between death and having no fighting strength when they were under siege by the enemy? In fact, most of the time, it might have been easier for these severely injured knights to have just died under the claws of the voodoo beasts.


    After all, the witcher-knight army was known for its fast and ferocious attacks, as well as its quick speed across the battlefield. How were they supposed to break through the enemy''s siege with three hundred casualties on their backs?


    The other radiant knights quickly gathered around Charles, firmly and stubbornly waiting for his orders.


    The muscles on Charles'' face twitched slightly.


    How easy it was to just give an order! Yet, behind each order was pile after bloody pile of witcher-knight corpses.


    As the knights'' leader, he knew clearly what order he needed to give out to save the lives of the remaining witcher-knights. However... once the words were about to leave his mouth, his snow white beard shook uncontrollably. He couldn''t say it.


    Abandoning their companions! Giving up on their allies!


    Since when did the sacred and inviolable motto of the knights turn into numbers that could be added and subtracted on a paper?


    The more practical Meusel saw the pain of choosing on his leader''s face and calmly spoke, "It is no longer possible to have everyone break through! Even if we left the sick and injured behind, we cannot get everyone else out. So Charles, please, bring the rest with you and break through! I''ll stay behind with the other radiant knights and defend this hill. You bring some of the knights back to base and... ask for help. Windsor and the others won''t hang us out to dry!"


    Meusel stopped when he spat out the words ''ask for help''.


    As a proud radiant knight himself, it was undoubtedly another extremely difficult task to have Charles lower his head before that stubborn and conservative Windsor. However, the current situation left him no other choice.


    The muscles on Charles'' face shook even more violently.


    Finally, the leader of the radical knights made his decision. He spoke, determined, "No, Meusel. The one returning shouldn''t be me. I bear the greatest responsibility for this reckless march into the forest. So, I''ll stay behind to reinforce the morale of the troops. You, Collier, Aneos, Jos¨¦¨C the four of you lead two hundred men back to request for reinforcements. You can tell Windsor that as long as he is willing to help, I will... I will be willing to hand over all of my authority... "


    All of a sudden, death-like silence filled the scene.


    Pain and struggle surfaced on the faces of all the knights of the radical faction.


    The moment Charles gave this order, it meant that the this faction would always be inferior to the knights of the conservative faction. This was something even more painful than death for the proud and arrogant knights.


    Yet, just as everyone''s feelings were being turned upside down, a scream filled with terror rang out from a corner of the hill. Then, it came like a sweeping storm, as pained screams filled the entire camp.


    "What''s all the fuss about?" Meusel drew his radiant runic longsword and shouted, "Keep calm, the enemy has yet to... "


    Before he could finish, his expression changed.


    A pungent odor of rot had spread throughout the camp along with the night mist that appeared in the woods. Like the cowherd''s flute that enchanted the hearts of the people, when this pungent odor spread throughout the camp, the dying knights lying all over the hill had a sudden and terrifying change.


    The knights could see this clearly as a weak and injured knight lying closest to them started to cough violently. His pale face started to become flushed red. His teeth ground against each other and let out a screeching noise. Milk white foam surged forth from his mouth and nose.


    His eyes were opened wide, so wide that the corners of his eyes had started to split. Purple and black blood started to flow from every orifice. His body started to bend and contort into all sorts of unimaginable shapes.


    When the blood finished flowing, he started to scratch at his own body with all his strength. The strength with which he scratched his body caused deep gashes to be left all over his skin and body. Blood flowed endlessly.


    A witcher-knight in charge of taking care of him stepped forward to stop him. However, even using all his strength, he could not stop the knight''s self-destructive acts and was bitten on the hand instead.


    The radiant knights all had exceptionally powerful physiques, but even they were feeling uncomfortable about what they were seeing. They looked about in fear before realizing the cause of the chaos in the camp.


    The mist!


    No. More specifically, some mysterious substance was mixed into the mist!


    The injured knights within the camp were undoubtedly the ones who were weakest, both physically and mentally. Thus, one could see with the naked eye how some mysterious black particles within the mist surged into the wounds on their bodies like swimming fish. When one looked from a distance, they could see that every injured man on the hill was shrouded in a thick black fog.


    The injured knights within the thick fogs struggled in pain, tearing at the armor and shirts on their bodies, even scratching and hurting their own flesh and skin. It was as if they wanted to tear their skin off.


    As the black fog seeped into the bodies of the injured, their bodies started to change massively.


    The skin on the surface started to dissolve. The bright red muscles and tendons were exposed to the air, causing all the knights to appear extremely red. However, very gradually, the blood-red color started to fade and a sort of sticky and disgusting liquid began to fill the surface of their bodies, completely soaking them.


    The thick muscles and tendons started to meld together. Insufficient stretching caused their bodies to become thin and scrawny. However, it was obvious that the strength in their bones and muscles had greatly increased. They screamed and roared in anger. Initially, it still sounded like the pained and sorrowful cries of a human. By the end, it started to sound like a wild beast, only left with an odd growl.


    Sharp fangs, claws and spines started to grow rapidly. When ''their'' claws unconsciously ran across a boulder, it let out the screeching sound of scraping as bright flaming sparks appeared.


    Right in front of the radiant knights, and right on this hill, a previously injured knight on his deathbed had rapidly converted into an undead. They had been forcefully converted by evil powers into an undead being that had never before appeared on the knights'' plane¨C a ghoul!


    Having been completely changed to an undead, this ghoul turned its body and crouched on the ground. Its eyes, missing their eyelids, suddenly turned around, revealing milk-white and turbid eyeballs, so white one couldn''t see the pupils in them


    Even though they had no pupils, this was no obstacle for the ghoul. Its unique senses made it especially sensitive to life force! It opened its mouth wide, revealing sharp fangs, before letting out a deep and threatening roar directed towards the radiant knights.


    It bent its body, and with a powerful kick of its strong hind legs, the ghoul leapt towards the witcher-knight closest to it like an arrow shot out of a bow. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The witcher-knight was evidently stunned by the scene before him. He stumbled backwards in fear, but never ever thought of drawing his sword and resisting. This... this was a companion he used to know!


    As a radiant knight, Meusel had undoubtedly experienced far more terrifying and strange things in his life compared to the young witcher-knights. He quickly struggled free from the shock and fear. With a quick step forward, he drew his sword and smacked the leaping ghoul''s body with the flat side of the blade.


    "Stay down!"


    The ghoul was smashed and blasted away along with his roar, and crashed into a small tree as wide as a human''s waist ten meters away, knocking it down. Crack! The loud snap of breaking bones cracked in the ghoul''s body.


    However, it was obvious that this blow did not cripple the ghoul.


    It rolled about the ground several times. When it finally got up, most of the bones on the front of its body had been completely shattered. However, it struggled and got up from the ground as if the wounds didn''t bother it, dragging its broken body and leaping towards Meusel once more.


    "Die!"


    Meusel finally recognized the reality. He no longer held back. The large sword in his hand glowed brilliantly, and like a sharp knife sliding through a piece of paper, he silently sliced the ghoul in two. However, the mild pause of the blade he felt when the longsword slashed through the spine of the ghoul caused his expression to sour.


    He was an actual Second Grade radiant knight!


    If even he felt a slight delay when he cut through this monster, how would the other witcher-knights fare against these monsters?


    There was no time for him to think, as the entire camp was instantly engulfed in a rain of blood!


    ...


    1956 words

 Chapter 209 - 209: Counterattack

    Such an evil undead like the ghoul had never appeared on the knights'' plane.


    Some wild undead beings occasionally appeared in rural areas. However, most of those were low-level skeletons with creaking bones, or withered corpses that shambled about slowly. The worst of those were only spectres that had lost their souls.


    As for an elite undead such as ghouls- they never appeared naturally without the existence of an undead manipulator.


    Today, under the infection of the plagues and viruses of the voodoo beasts, along with the catalyzation of the black fog, the injured witcher-knights were unable to resist the powerful magic and were all converted into strong and lithe ghouls. Perhaps because the physiques of this group of knights were extremely exceptional, the ghouls that they turned into also possessed extraordinary strength and physique.


    Of course, the agility unique to ghouls was once again amplified as well!


    They were like a group of humans who had been skinned, then soaked in pungent water for several days and nights. Their entire body had a pale color to it, like the drowned. What''s more, the surface of their body was sticky, moist, and let out an extremely pungent odor.


    The converted ghouls gathered into groups under the horrified gaze of the witcher-knights, launching an attack on the surrounding humans. One after another, surprised witcher-knights were barely able to draw their longswords before they were tackled to the ground by the pouncing ghouls.


    Their sharp claws and immense physical strength made attacks unnaturally powerful. The knights'' armor, as thick as an entire finger, was easily shredded and penetrated as if paper. The ghouls crouched on the witcher-knights'' bodies, baring their sharp fangs and biting the knights on their necks.


    Just a single bite and the knights would lose half their necks. Their bloody cervical spine, shattered throat, the fountains of blood that gushed outward... all of this instantly caused the knights to lose their ability to resist. They could only press their hands against the gaping holes on their necks as they drowned in the blood flowing from their orifices, not even able to let out a final call for help.


    Of course, there were some knights with quicker reactions that were able to draw their runic longswords and fight valiantly against the ghouls that charged forward.


    However, most of the excess fat and unnecessary organs within the ghouls'' body had already been dissolved. Under the nourishment from all the flesh and blood on their bodies, the ghouls'' bones had become extremely large and dense, while their muscles and tendons had become as thick and tough as steel wire. This caused every slash of the witcher-knights to feel like a cut on an extremely tough and old tree. The resistance they felt from their blades shocked them.


    With no choice left to them, all the witcher-knights had to activate the runic arrays on their longswords. As the scarlet or azure runic energies flowed across their longswords, the fight against the ghouls became slightly easier.


    As hard and tough as the ghouls'' bones and bodies were, they were no match for the sharpness of the runic weapons.


    The witcher-knights quickly regained their advantage, pushing the numerous ghouls to a corner of the camp. However, in that mere fifteen minutes of chaos, another forty witcher-knights had become the victims of the ghouls'' sharps fangs and claws. Their flesh that had been ravaged and torn to several pieces, as well as bodies that had been bitten and mauled all over, filled the chests of the witcher-knights with a fiery anger that could burn the skies.


    Those accursed Mages! They should be diced into a thousand pieces!


    Knight Meusel strode forward, and with a single horizontal slash, he released a destructive flame blade that appeared as an unstoppable red scimitar. It slashed forward for fifty meters, finally disappearing when it sliced through a large tree. In the time it sliced through the air, the pale and bloated bodies of seven ghouls had silently split into two, their black and sticky blood soaking the dirt beneath their feet.


    "Do not get caught up in a battle with them, hurry to your colts, we... " Meusel''s loud and powerful voice suddenly stopped, replaced with a face full of shock and fear. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In a corner of the camp, where the knights had placed their colts, the black fog was present and had already engulfed the entire area.


    Under the effect of the magic, colts repeatedly fell to the ground with pained cries. Blood was flowing endlessly out of every pore in their bodies.


    Purple and black blood!


    The magic colts who had spent years as the companions of the witcher-knights were almost dead!


    For one moment, even a radiant knight like Meusel couldn''t help but feel nauseous. Everything before his eyes seemed to blur.


    They were knights, after all! Knights that spent their lives on the backs of horses, dominating battlefields with the help of magic colts!


    The delicate but hard knight''s armor. The delicate shield that could generate an energy barrier. The iron gauntlets, iron kneepads, and metal pads that ensured both agility and defense, as well as the runic longswords and runic bows that were forged from unique metals... disregarding all the minor decorative ornaments, just a set of runic equipment alone weighed forty-five kilograms.


    Only the sturdy magic colts could carry such heavy equipment as well as the weight of the knights. Disregarding riding across mountains and rough terrain, even running two rounds around the camp would have exhausted a normal warhorse.


    The radiant knights saw black before their eyes and almost fainted when they saw their magic colts being slaughtered by the Mages.


    Yet just at this very moment, countless screams, cries, and roars rang out in the woods around the camp. That group of accursed voodoo beasts had chosen to attack again!


    Suddenly, the dark night sky above the hill, along with the canvas of bright stars, had once again been replaced by roiling red clouds. Several hundred lava bubbles of all sizes were forming in the clouds. Every time one of the bubbles popped, blinding red light and burning flames would spill out from within.


    The red clouds shook and thundered. A large Meteor Shower was about to form in the blink of an eye!


    The leader of the knights, Charles, stumbled two steps forward, and coughed out blood on the ground before him. Several of his companions rushed forward to help him up, but he pushed them away. Charles drew his longsword with all his strength, and blinding flames instantly rose on the blade.


    "Leave, hurry and leave... ignore the injured and the magic colts in the base! Quick, have everyone gather and break through in one direction!" Charles waved his large sword and shouted his orders with all his strength, his snow white beard already stained with blood.


    Having given his orders, Charles felt the blood in his body boiling. A violent and imposing force started to gather wildly around him. When his aura of might had reached its peak, Charles let out a shoat that shook the entire forest as he lashed out with the flame longsword in his hand. A bright red blade slashed apart the skies and blasted into the surging red clouds.


    The very next moment, the Meteor Shower that had neared completion went out of control!


    The unstable fire elementium that had been densely concentrated had their internal structure destroyed by that red blade, instantly causing Leon to lose control over the flame cloud. A gigantic apocalyptic volcano erupted above the skies, forming an enormous flame pillar that looked like a mushroom cloud, before turning into a sea of flames and falling to the forest beneath.


    In a hidden valley one kilometer away, Leon crouched within a giant array, violently coughing blood. The flames on the body of the Fire Lord, who was standing next to Leon, let out crackling noises as if it had received severe spell backlash as well. Its usually bright red protective flames had dimmed. The fires on several parts of its body had even gone out completely, revealing the uneven and ugly magma body beneath.


    Leon finally struggled out of the severe spell backlash after a good eight minutes. He took out potions, powders, and medicines of all sizes, immediately swallowing five vials before exhaling.


    Dammit! To avoid being attacked by the enemy''s knight battle techniques, he had even intentionally guided the flame clouds to a height of two hundred meters in the sky when he cast Meteor Shower. Who knew that he still wouldn''t be able to avoid the terrifying attacks of the radiant knight.


    Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!...


    If knight battle techniques had such long range and still retained such terrifying might, what were the Mages supposed to use to fight against them? The Mages would most likely be slashed to death by the knights from a distance when they were still desperately trying to chant their spells!


    It''s important to note that with the exception of very few basic instant-cast spells, most powerful or large radius spells needed chants and hand-signs to be completed. On the other hand, knight battle techniques were able to be used with a wave of a sword and had an astounding concentration of energy.


    Leon knew that the one who disrupted his spell was a Second Grade knight and that it was all too usual for this to be a result when a Second Grade knight fought against a First Grade Mage. However, the utter success so far had caused Leon to become somewhat impetuous! Otherwise, with his usual forbearing and patient personality, he would never have chosen to be the idiot to attack first!


    Perhaps, right at this very moment, countless Mages in the woods nearby were waiting for an opportunity to laugh at his failure!


    Leon recovered a little and took back the Fire Lord''s core that had exhausted most of its energy. He then summoned the Alligator Hunter and sunk into the ground with it. A short moment later a massive flame pillar exploded within the magic array, erasing all signs and traces of him that he had left behind.


    The Mages wandering nearby were far too numerous, so Leon didn''t dare let any part of his body be obtained by an enemy. In particular, blood! Leon himself was capable of casting twelve or thirteen long-ranged curse spells that used blood, skin, and other body parts as catalysts.


    If it was those terrifying Mages that specialized in curses, it was said that even the air one exhaled could be utilized to collect enough personal information about the victim. If they were able to obtain any hair or blood from one''s body and hosted a grand curse ceremony with these items, they could even kill all living beings with your bloodline in one go.


    Moreover, it didn''t matter where they were¨C there was no escaping from this type of formidable bloodline curse!


    As a member of the Mages, cautiousness, care, and keeping a low profile was the best way to stay alive. Never ever offend another Mage without reason. If you had no choice but to start a blood feud with another Mage, remember to kill the opponent when you had the chance, even if you had to pay a painful price to do so.


    Otherwise, any single Mage going into hiding to exact his vengeance on you would make you pay a price hundreds or even thousands of times more painful than you had to pay now.


    ...


    1925 words

 Chapter 210 - 210: Intimidation

    Countless shadows were running through the woods under the dark curtain of the night.


    The witcher-knights, who were once the rulers of this plane, had now become frightened birds fleeing from a bloodthirsty hunter.


    They took off their heavy armor, tossed aside their iron knee pads, and threw away their helmets. Some knights even let go of their runic bows, only keeping the single runic sword and slim shield with them.


    They panicked like dogs without a home, running quickly through the night''s thick and enigmatic mist. Some knights tripped on thick tree roots, while others fell off cliffs of four or five meters.


    Three radiant knights led the charge in front, while the other four led a group of spellbreaker knights to cover the rear. The army retreated as they fought, forcefully opening a path of blood and flesh through the forest, breaking through the heavily surrounded hill.


    Initially, all the witcher-knights were still able to follow behind that radiant flame longsword. However, as the howls in the forest around them started to become more and more frequent, and closer and closer, everyone started to panic.


    Some knights were completely exhausted, while others were heavily injured. Most of them were hanging on by sheer will. They leaned on and encouraged each other as they desperately ran along with the crowd. Of course, there were also some frightened witcher-knights that chose to leave the main force. In just a few seconds, they would disappear into the dark forest.


    Most of the Mages'' attention would be attracted to the main force of the knights, especially in such a cruel battlefield. As long as they could break through the defensive line of the voodoo beasts on the outer rim, then the individual witcher-knights were indeed very likely to escape.


    Honestly, their line of thought was not without its logic!


    However, could the few witcher-knights, without complete armor or their powerful steeds, resist the hordes of voodoo beasts and ghouls when they were so badly weakened? This was undoubtedly a problem they had to solve on their own!


    Finally, an Mage in the darkness couldn''t hold back any longer!


    A dark green ball of light the size of a human head raced out from the darkness nearby, landing right in the middle of a group of frantically running knights. The ball of light exploded, and countless acid arrows radiating bright light shot in every direction.


    The three closest knights were riddled with holes by the acid arrows before they could activate their energy shields. Their heavy bodies fell to the ground, still letting out ear-splitting sizzling as their corpses were corroded with acid. In less than seven seconds, the three witcher-knights were dead and their bodies had dissolved into a pool of green liquid.


    Most of the knights further away were able to activate their shields in time and shield themselves from the acid arrows. Only one knight was a touch too slow and was pierced through the leg.


    The injured witcher-knight let go of his runic longsword, writhing in pain on the ground. No one could bear the blistering sounds as his flesh corroded. A companion he was acquainted with stopped and drew a dagger. He ripped apart the legs of his companion''s pants and was about to slice off the flesh that had been corroded.


    However, what he saw was a large and bloody wound that had been completely rotted. The entire right leg had turned a green color, and the terrifying color was rapidly spreading upwards.


    "Can you bear the pain? This leg is done for!" The companion shouted and tossed aside the dagger. He drew his longsword and raised it high, intending to amputate his companion''s leg to save his life.


    Yet at this very moment, odd breathing and the sounds of sprinting footsteps rang out. A large swarm of voodoo beasts with a few ghouls mixed in surged forth.


    The two terrified knights had no time to even resist. Their shapes were instantly swallowed by the tide of monsters.


    A middle-aged Mage wearing green leather armor was cackling in the depths of the woods. A ball of green light floated before his chest. Occasionally, a green beam of light would shoot forth from the ball, landing in the knights'' formation in the distance. Every time this happened, two or three witcher-knights would lose their lives.


    Just as he was at the peak of his excitement his expression changed, and he rolled to a side of the ground. Almost at the same time, a red flame blade slashed through the air from the darkness, blasting through eleven trees before it gradually dissipated.


    The expression of the Mage in green armor soured.


    If he hadn''t dodged in time, that flame blade would definitely have sliced him in half from the waist downwards. Even if he had cast all the protective spells he had on himself, it wouldn''t have done anything against a knight battle technique of this prowess.


    The difference in power was far too obvious!


    Gah! An old dog flailing in water, and he dares to bite back!


    The Mage in green armor cursed under his breath. At the same time, he tapped the human bone necklace on his chest, and his entire body suddenly became obscure and intangible before quickly vanishing from the spot.


    Before he could escape into the darkness of the woods, a blinding flame longsword whistled through the air and pinned him to an ancient tree behind him. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Mage in green armor howled in pain. Even though the flaming runic-sword had gone through his chest, he had yet to die. Instead, he quickly grabbed a green staff out of the air and tried to escape for the second time.


    Unfortunately, the energy flames on the runic sword became even more intense, instantly reducing his body to ashes and leaving behind a horrifying skull and a green staff on the ground.


    Charles walked forward from the darkness with determined steps, stopping before the tree and drawing his longsword out. He grabbed the Mage''s skull from on the ground, and raised it above his head while shouting into the distant woods, "Come... keep coming! This will be your only end!"


    For one moment, the woods became slightly silent!


    Countless gazes penetrated the layers of branches and leaves, silently staring at the terrifying skull the radiant knight was holding in his hand.


    Just a foolish idiot!


    Many people were coldly mocking in their hearts, but deep inside they were highly cautious.


    From the start of the battle until now, the one torturing and toying with this thousand-man knights'' army had always been a group of First Grade Mages. Even though there were radiant knights within the army that could utterly dominate them, and even though there were seven of them, the Mages had never feared them at all. Some ambitious Mages were even scheming to capture a radiant knight.


    However, at this moment, when they saw the death of that reckless idiot, all the Mages had no choice but to remind themselves to stay cautious. Second Grade Knights were Second Grade Knights after all. Even if they were in an awkward position, they were still extremely powerful beings that could kill them at any time.


    These Mages could play the sly and wicked big bad wolves before the witcher-knight sheep, and even the spellbreaker knights. However, in the face of the mighty radiant knights, they could only curse silently in the shadows. The fragility of Second Grade knights was only when compared to Second Grade Mages. These radiant knights still possessed the ability to dominate First Grade Mages.


    As long as the Mages understood this, they would be able to preserve their lives, even if they had to suffer a little humiliation.


    Several Mages looked at this scene in humiliation, keeping their hatred within themselves and gritting their teeth. That said, the Mages that had always favored beating the enemy with their brains and knowledge would not charge forward because of a moment''s passion.


    The powerhouses amongst the First Grade Mages couldn''t help but wrack their brains for ideas once more!


    ...


    Leon rode high above the back of the Alligator Hunter in the dim woods, quickly pursuing the witcher-knight army.


    Behind him, countless clay golems and wind critters formed a strict blockade, allowing him to constantly monitor every change within two and a half kilometers around him.


    Just as he was quickly sprinting through the forest, a wind critter on the outer rim suddenly sent an odd image back.


    Leon thought for a moment before halting the Alligator Hunter''s advance. He took out his Fire Lord''s Scepter and waited silently.


    Very soon, thunderous crackling rang out, and a man engulfed in tens of thousands of lightning arcs appeared in the skies above.


    Blue armor and a refreshingly bald head, with numerous strange runes carved densely in his scalp. From the looks of it, he was a forty-year old middle-aged man.


    Leon recognized him. He was a combat Mage from their base who was skilled at manipulating lightning, nicknamed Thunderbird.


    In all honesty, even though they were all from the same Mages'' base, most of them wore thick and heavy robes or veils, even hiding their faces with spells. Thus, this was the first time Leon had seen Thunderbird''s true face.


    "You are Leon, aren''t you?" Thunderbird asked coldly, "Go to Spider Valley five kilometers away for a meeting. Boss Hyde invites you to work together to deal with that radiant knight. I''ve already brought the message to you. Whether you go or not is your business!"


    Having finished speaking, Thunderbird did not even linger. With a flash of lightning, he disappeared from the spot.


    Leon raised his head and looked at the lightning scorch marks that lingered in the night sky, somewhat stunned, "A meeting?"


    Almost immediately it seemed as if he understood something, and coldly spat out, "Hmph! It seems there''s finally someone that can no longer stand the arrogance of the Second Grade knights! A meeting? It seems they are planning some kind of action! It wouldn''t hurt to check it out."


    Then the Alligator Hunter turned and sprinted towards the Spider Valley in the distance.


    Spider Valley.


    As its name implied, Spider Valley was a terrifying place that was home to many spiders!


    The moment one entered this valley, one would see the dense white spider webs throughout the dim woods, along with terrifying spiders crawling about the branches.


    Oddly enough, even though the species and colors of the spiders were extremely varied, the largest of the spiders here were only the size of a fist. One would not be able to see any of the Huntsmen Spiders or the Deinopidae, or Ghostface Spiders, that were typically as large as a calf.


    Of course, Leon knew why this was the case.


    That was because he was the one who personally swept through Spider Valley. Any large spiders that had even a little value had already been sent back to the Mages'' base by him. Thus, the Spider Valley was now not exactly true to its name!


    The gathering spot was set not far from the entrance of the valley. When Leon hurried over, there were already four people silently waiting there.


    Marionette, Blake, Phantom and Boss Hyde.


    Leon naturally already knew who Marionette and Blake were. Most of his attention was on the other two.


    In all honesty, this person was not a simple person at all. He was able to have an Mage, who usually only respected knowledge and prowess, acknowledge and call him ''Boss''!


    ...


    1932 Words

 Chapter 211 - 211: Meeting

    Even though Phantom looked like an alluring beauty with a seductive figure, Leon knew that she was a master of illusions. Therefore, his brain consciously ignored her beauty when he looked at this female Mage.


    Who knew if she was hiding a fat, ugly body beneath that shell of seductiveness and beauty!


    Leon could have used the unique penetrating ability of his elementium sight to look at Phantom''s true face. However, an invasive probe against an opponent of the same grade was undoubtedly offensive, and was very likely to invite hostility from the opponent.


    Whenever there were other Mages around him, Leon would consciously shut off his active probing abilities, only allowing the chip to do passive auxiliary information gathering.


    Furthermore, the reason Leon recognized her as a female Mage rather than a witch was because the term ''witch'' was a very specific term in the world of Mages. ''Witch'' referred to those female Mages who possessed ancient legacies. A witch was most definitely a female Mage, but a female Mage was not necessarily a witch.


    Mage Phantom, who stood before him, walked down the path of an orthodox elementium Mage. She had absolutely nothing to do with the bunch of witches that lived on the northern side of the Continent of Mages.


    There were many Mages who specialized in illusion. However, most of them were better in an support role. Not many of them were suited for the bloody battlefield. After all, any Mage would be embarrassed to go out if they didn''t at least have an illusion-breaking staff or spirit concentration necklace on them. With the common usage of such auxiliary tools, the combat ability of Mages that specialized in illusions naturally took a severe blow.


    However, the fact that Phantom was one of the Mages invited here was sufficient to prove that she had her own unique ability and mastery within the domain of illusions. Otherwise, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to be invited to this group of combat Mages.


    Leon shifted most of his attention to that "Boss Hyde" after quickly assessing Phantom.


    It was obvious that Hyde chose the path of an Esoteric Mage. His two meter tall body was large and burly, but there were obvious signs of mechanical modifications on his body. His left forearm had been completely amputated and replaced by a mechanical arm glowing with a bronze sheen. No artificial skin had been placed on top of the arm, and from the exterior, one could see the metallic chains, gears, axles, and countless other mechanical parts inside.


    Just one look and you could tell that many parts of Mage Hyde''s body had been modified. Mechanical arm, mechanical legs, metal eye, numerous strange mechanical equipment fitted on the surface of the body...


    If Leon was allowed to define Mage Hyde''s existence, he would have said that Hyde was most definitely an intricate machine, a... robot that had bits and pieces of human flesh and blood attached onto the surface of the machine.


    Leon was quite curious. If he split apart Hyde''s chest, would he see warm flowing blood or layers of turning gears and rods?


    The prowess of people that went through such cruel bodily modifications lied in their energy output that far outclassed any normal Mage, as well as their numerous peculiar abilities that dazzled their enemies.


    Moreover, it was important to note that the bodies of most Mages were still considerably weak. Without any spells cast on them, they were a bunch of individuals with weak bodies and poor strength that needed to gasp for air after climbing several floors. However, once they were enhanced with spells, they would suddenly become omnipotent gods that could control all within their reach.


    Mechanical Mages, on the other hand, could replace their weak bodily organs with magic-infused machinery that possessed amazing strength through various artificial modifications. In doing so, their bodies would naturally possess magical effects, even without casting spells. Moreover, these effects would last forever. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Mechanical Mages might lose the appearance and pleasures of a human, but they gained supernatural prowess in exchange!


    It was rumored that large numbers of Esoteric Mages gathered at the Castle in the Sky, in the Continent of Mages western seaboard, and that most of them were mechanical Mages. The Castle in the Sky, the Mages'' city that floated ten thousand meters in the sky represented the highest achievements and the peak of magic-infused machinery.


    Even though Leon wanted to find out more about this Mage Hyde, a light mechanical hum rang out and a strange flux appeared around Hyde, obstructing further probes from him.


    Leon smiled awkwardly and nodded at Hyde and Marionette before walking to the side and waiting patiently.


    They didn''t wait long.


    A moment later, thunder rumbled in the skies, and Mage Thunderbird appeared in a flash of lightning. Bloody Bleia and a strange Mage cloaked in a black robe appeared behind him.


    Seeing that everyone he invited had arrived, Mage Hyde cleared his throat and began with an odd mechanical voice, "Everyone, I gathered you here today for the sake of those damned radiant knights. If we let them safely break out of the envelopment we created, all the sacrifices and prices we had to pay would have been for nothing."


    All the Mages chose to remain silent in the face of such a cliche introduction.


    The fight turning sour would likely cause the clan''s expansionist plans to fail, and when they were chased out of the plane by the natives, the clan''s promise of rewards and resources would not be fulfilled. However, if the Mages present were forcefully pushed onto the battlefield as cannon fodder, they would only put out a perfunctory effort, never giving their all and prioritizing their own survival.


    Mage Hyde, who intimately knew the nature of Mages, quickly changed the topic of the conversation.


    "I intend to launch an ambush specifically against that radiant knight. If you wish to participate in this operation, then stay and we will discuss the specifics. If anyone here is unwilling to participate, you may leave now! The only thing I can guarantee, if this plan succeeds, is that everyone will get what they want the most!"


    The expressions on the Mages faces finally changed!


    As Mages upholding the principle of equivalent exchange, they would instinctively choose to avoid any task that proved without benefit or too dangerous to themselves. Ambushing a Second Grade knight was undoubtedly a dangerous task that landed well beyond their abilities!


    However... if they could get the resources and knowledge that they wanted the most by doing so, taking a little risk seemed acceptable.


    The light in everyone''s eyes brightened for a second, as if they were silently thinking about something.


    The Hyde''s mechanical eye swept around and lingered for a moment. He was slightly relieved when he saw that no one had left. Everyone here were powerful Mages that he had chosen after careful consideration. They had strange magic abilities that could not be comprehended by outsiders.


    If anyone here had left, it would have caused disturbances and flaws in his plan. If needed, he would have to lower his criteria and pick people from the remaining Mages who could substitute for those who left.


    "Since no one left, that means that everyone is willing to participate in this plan. Very well, let us begin discussing our wants and needs!"


    No Mage would be willing to tell the public such private information. What happened next was one-on-one negotiations between Mage Hyde and each participant. Hyde''s lips moved slightly, but no sound came out. It was evident that he was secretly conversing with an Mage.


    After approximately seven minutes, Leon got a notification from the chip in his mind.


    "Detecting unique mental connection. Initiator: Mage Hyde. Requesting instructions from host. Authorize connection?"


    "Authorized!"


    The next second, the odd metallic voice belonging to Mage Hyde appeared in Leon''s mind.


    "Greetings, Mage Leon. Time is short and I''ll be direct. If I invite you to participate in this dangerous hunt, what do you want in return?"


    "..." Leon hesitated for a bit before slowly speaking, "I wish to obtain the portion of knowledge that concerns the merging of runic energies and life energies!"


    "Uhh... this request is a little tough! After all, complete knowledge about the merging of energies is most likely in the hands of the massive force behind the witcher-knights. Even if we obtained some fragments of runic knowledge after we kill the radiant knight, trying to reverse-engineer the merging of energies from that is still extremely difficult... "


    "If my judgement is not incorrect, Sir F¨¹gen captured a live radiant knight previously. Surely we must have obtained plenty of internal secrets from his mind."


    Mage Hyde''s body twitched oddly in the distance. His mechanical eye glowed with a bright red shine as he once again earnestly assessed Leon.


    "I do not have the authority to reveal internal information from the base."


    "If I cannot directly obtain knowledge on the merging of energies, I wish to know how I may obtain such knowledge. In other words, I wish to know who else on the Continent of Knights possesses complete knowledge on merging. Of course, it is best if it''s someone I can deal with!"


    "You are truly an Mage with foresight! If I''m not wrong, putting aside valuable resources, the most valuable thing on this plane is their runic knowledge. Lord Sarubo has classified the energy fusion knowledge you are requesting as a Class Three strategic resource. It''s impossible for it to be handed to you. As for the people here who possess the knowledge you seek¨C even though they have not been classified as supervised figures, you will need to hunt them on your own. I can only provide a list of individuals!"


    "That is enough! I accept these conditions."


    The next second, a magical contract woven from Spirits appeared in Leon''s mind.


    The chip dutifully completed a detailed scan of this contract. After eliminating all logical, linguistic and magical loopholes in the contract, the chip presented a detailed contract to Leon. Leon had a quick look, and having verified that there was no distinction from the contents they had just discussed, cautiously left his magic emblem on the contract.


    It took another seven minutes before Mage Hyde signed contracts with the remaining Mages. Everyone started to become more friendly with the contract now in place.


    To ease cooperation later, Mage Hyde had everyone do a basic introduction of their magical abilities. Mage Hyde was naturally the first, as he had to encourage everyone else to speak.


    "Hyde, mechanical Mage, specializing in close quarters combat. Magic abilities roughly includes Energy Lightsaber and Awl of Slaughter... "


    The second to speak was Thunderbird.


    "Thunderbird, elementium Mage, specializing in lightning magic. Currently possess the spells Lightning Storm, Lightning Blast, and Lightning Teleportation... "


    "Marionette, bloodline Mage, specializing in plant modifications. Mastered spells include Puppet Strings and Substitute of Wood... "


    "Worm Controller, bloodline Mage, specializing in bug-body modification. Mastered spells include Bug Manipulation, Splitting Attack, and Damage Sharing... "


    "Phantom, elementium Mage, specializing in illusions. Mastered spells include Realm of Dreams and Spell of Dream Departure... "


    "Flame Demon, elementium Mage, specializing in fire magic. Mastered spells include Flame Fiend Transformation and Ring of Fire... "


    "Bloody Bleia, bloodline Mage, specializing in blood magic. Mastered spells include Bat Demon Transformation and Bloodsucking... "


    "Demon Shadows, elementium Mage, specializing in curses... "


    Naturally, no one would reveal all their cards in such a situation. Thus, the introductions of their spells and magic were incomplete. However, given that Mage Hyde had gathered everyone here, he most definitely had some kind of understanding as to everyone''s abilities.


    Everyone kept silent and listened to Hyde describe his hunting plan in detail!


    ...


    1962 Words

 Chapter 212 - 212: Target

    The battle in the woods raged on.


    Only now the battlefield had shifted fifteen kilometers away from the original hill.


    This was entirely a path of death paved with the corpses of voodoo beasts, leaving an indelible mark in the hearts of every witcher-knight that trod down this road.


    Neither party could sustain the battle at this point!


    On the side of the humans, less than two hundred witcher-knights had successfully made it here from the hill, and each of them carried some injuries. The mental and physical stress they had to bear had reached the limit. Almost all of them were on the verge of breaking down.


    On the other hand, on the Mages'' side, nearly thirty thousand voodoo beasts had been lost since the start of the battle. This was already the entirety of the voodoo beasts that the Mages had created in this past month!


    Even after paying the price of all their voodoo beasts, the only harvest the Mages gained was a bunch of dispensable witcher-knights. The only decent returns were the heads of some spellbreaker knights.


    The spellbreaker knight casualties were extremely heavy. Thirty-four of them had charged into the woods, but only fifteen were able to escape with the army. The rest had turned into piles of bones, or similar results at the hands of the Mages.


    However, the seven radiant knights that formed the higher-ups of the knights'' army stood strong!


    Be it the continuous attacks of the voodoo beasts and ghouls, or the insidious ambushes of the Mages, nothing could shake the rock-hard defense of the radiant knights. Even the black fog enveloping the woods had no effect other than causing them to cough a little blood and become slightly weakened.


    These radiant knights clearly possessed enviable resistance against this sort of terrifying virus that could destroy the balance of runic energies in their bodies. It could also be that their bodies could bear this amount of damage, allowing them to keep on fighting with no impact on their strength.


    The spellbreaker knights and witcher-knights were completely exhausted halfway through their escape.


    They stumbled after the shining forms of the radiant knights as their bodies revolted and struggled under the effects of the diseases. Under the effect of the black fog, the remaining runic energies in their bodies rampaged everywhere, destroying their internal organs and causing them to cough up blood with every couple of steps they took.


    Purple and black blood paste, filled with broken bodily organs!


    The spellbreaker knights had stronger bodies, and were thus able to maintain some modicum of combat ability. However, they no longer dared to draw the strength of runic energy into their bodies. As a result, the runic swords in their hands once again became normal longswords, no longer possessing the keen sharpness they used to have.


    The witcher-knights, on the other hand, had lost all their ability to resist. They trudged painfully along like the sick and injured that they were, mindlessly trailing along with the formation. They had lost all ability to resist or fight, and could only rely on the protection of the spellbreaker knights and radiant knights!


    Perhaps the Mages realized this, as they commanded the voodoo beasts and ghouls not to kill the witcher-knights, but injure and wound them as grievously as possible without killing them, leaving the severely injured to remain in the formation.


    This undoubtedly slowed down the entire army.


    The seven radiant knights and fifteen spellbreaker knights had become the only protection for nearly two hundred witcher-knights.


    Every time the voodoo beasts surged forth in large numbers, the seven radiant knights had to fight on the frontline with all their strength, using their tough bodies and destructive battle techniques to eliminate their enemies. The fifteen spellbreaker knights, on the other hand, stood guard around the witcher-knights, using their lonely figures and dim runic swords to hack at the enemy, slowly shaving away their numbers.


    One could say that this knights'' army was completely exhausted and had limited combat ability after such a long battle.


    It was precisely because of this that the Mages didn''t immediately refuse when Hyde made the suggestion to hunt the radiant knights. Instead, they saw the opportunity before them and became excited.


    ...


    The first wave of attacks were naturally led by the elementium Mages. In particular, Leon and Thunderbird were the most prominent ones.


    After all, fire magic was widely considered to be the most suited for slaughter on the battlefield, even amongst all elementium magic. Thunderbird''s lightning magic also had considerable use. However, lightning goes as quickly as it arrives. It was way inferior to fire magic when it came to prolonged damage.


    When Thunderbird and Leon started chanting in unison on top of a hill a half kilometer away from the knights, an apocalyptic scene once again appeared in the distant skies.


    Above, there were roiling and flaming red clouds, while below you had violent and wild lightning storms.


    When repeated flaming meteors dragged their black smoke tails and crashed into the ground, the forest the knights were in had already been ravaged by violent lightning. Withered dead trees releasing black smoke were everywhere.


    The radiant knights hastened the witcher-knights'' escape from the area covered by the spell, while slashing apart each and every falling meteor with all their strength. However, even with all their efforts, some red-hot meteors still landed within the army.


    The outside of a meteor was a solid magma shell, while its core was made of liquid lava and abundant fire elementium that went up to 3000¡ã Celsius. When they fell to the ground, besides forming a deep crater, the magma shell on the outside would shatter and shoot out in every direction along with the raging fire elementium and corrosive lava inside.


    Without the protection of their energy shields, even the spellbreaker knights would not be able to use their bodies to bear the might of such a terrifying heat wave and lava rain. The witcher-knights? The moment they were engulfed by the meteor''s impact was the moment they were fated to die. What''s even more terrifying was the fact that no one could even find their corpses even after the attack was over and the hot lava had cooled.


    Not just burnt to charcoal and reduced to ashes, but having what''s left of their ashes trapped in the cooled magma. A true case of having nothing left to speak of their existence.


    Even though they only needed to run twenty or thirty meters to escape the area of effect, most of the witcher-knights were too exhausted and weak. They could only struggle within the sea of flames, howling in pain as they crawled forward, suffering until the last bit of their strength and life gave way.


    When they saw their companions howling in pain and stretching their arms for help, the few radiant knights and spellbreaker knights rushed into the sea of flame with no regard for themselves. They grabbed their companions'' bodies and threw them out of the flame sea with all their strength.


    Yet at this moment, under the guidance of the Mage, the burning clouds in the sky started to slowly move towards the area the witcher-knights were congregating in.


    Charles stared at everything happening before him with his eyes wide open. His ears were filled with the pained screams of witcher-knights before their deaths. He turned around in anger. He wanted to charge to the distance and slay that accursed Mage in one slash. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, at this moment, a tall silhouette stopped him.


    "You stay here and lead everyone out. I''ll go!" Meusel grabbed his arm and shouted with a hoarse voice, before turning and striding into the woods.


    Half a kilometer of distance was nothing beneath the feet of an angered radiant knight.


    Just as the Meteor Shower had completed the middle phase and was transitioning into the explosive final phase, the angered Knight Meusel was already rapidly closing in on the caster''s hill.


    Leon and Thunderbird were able to sense Meusel with their own means, even without a message form Mage Hyde. The two Mages didn''t dare to look down upon an angered Second Grade Radiant Knight. The moment Meusel closed in on the hill, the two stopped their spells.


    Knight Meusel rushed to the top of the hill and stared at the two evil Mages cautiously looking at him. Instantly, he realized something.


    Perhaps because he considered this possibility before he came, Meusel had stopped his old friend and come here himself. Looking at the scene, Meusel knew that the scenario he feared most in his heart had finally turned into the reality he saw before him. Meusel was still unfazed. He calmly walked out of the dark forest.


    "Call all your allies out!" Meusel lightly waved his longsword as the hot flames once again engulfed the sword.


    Even though he was completely exhausted, even though he was covered in burns everywhere, even though he was now surrounded by powerful enemies¨C when the runic energies once again surged through his body, the Radiant Knight Meusel stood tall with his sword before him, still possessing the strongly imposing aura that frightened all who looked upon him.


    However, this had absolutely no effect on the Mages, whose wills were so tough that they could hardly be affected by external factors. In a wave of cold cackling laughs, Worm Controller, Hyde, Marionette, and Bleia appeared in the woods behind Meusel, surrounding him in a triangle formation.


    Phantom and Demon Shadows were nowhere to be seen.


    Their spells were mostly supportive in nature. Hiding in the darkness and casting their spells when they were most needed was much more threatening than appearing on the battlefield and assaulting the enemy head on.


    Even though the one they caught in their web was not the knights'' leader that they had expected, it was still a Second Grade knight after all. No one dared to drop their guard. Instead, they immediately used their most ferocious attacks as they had planned on before this.


    Six Mages and six single-target spells instantly consumed Meusel''s form.


    After the first wave of attacks had been completed, everyone quickly shifted positions, preparing their second wave of attacks as they did so.


    It was an utter fantasy to try and kill a Second Grade knight with a single wave of attacks, especially with the limited might of their attacks. Everyone was already prepared to grind the radiant knight to his death!


    As expected, a brutal flame blade slashed forward, staying close to the ground and slicing right past Leon''s side with millimeters to spare, before striking a row of large trees behind Leon and setting them on fire.


    The next second, Meusel charged out from the swirling elementium vortex with his energy shield in front of him.


    Mage Hyde sprinted forward in response to Meusel''s charge.


    As the only mechanical Mage (a branch of esoteric Mages), he had to be the meat shield when no body refining Mages were present.


    As the two quickly approached each other, Hyde''s thick mechanical left arm started to vibrate slightly before a dome-shaped energy shield appeared in front of him. His mechanical right arm, on the other hand, suddenly started to rotate rapidly, turning into a deadly awl, shooting towards Meusel''s chest.


    The skin on Hyde''s back split apart silently, and six spinning round discs the size of a palm flew out from within, slicing towards his opponent''s ribs from both sides of his body.


    Mage Hyde deserved to be called a mechanical Mage specializing in close-quarters combat. It was just the start of the fight, and he already had a complete and continuous set of attacks.


    ...


    1952 Words

 Chapter 213 - 213: Bait

    Hyde''s tricks were utterly useless before a Second Grade knight.


    Without even using his knight battle techniques, Meusel shattered the spinning blades with simple slashes before slashing horizontally at the awl flying towards his chest.


    Oddly enough, the sharp awl shattered on contact. It instantly split into several dozen tiny spikes, shooting towards every part of Meusel''s body.


    If it had been any other day, such a simple attack would not have even grazed Meusel.


    Today was not Meusel''s day.


    Meusel roared and charged through the barrage with his sword before him. He rushed at Hyde and slashed at his energy shield.


    With just a single heavy slash, the energy shield shattered and blasted Hyde into the woods behind him.


    Meusel let out a muffled grunt as four bright red spots of blood appeared on his body. Those accursed spikes kept spinning even after they had dug into his flesh. Moreover, they kept letting out some sort of strange poison, numbing the flesh near the wounds.


    Meusel slapped his chest heavily. Under the pressure of that violent force, the four spikes shot out of his body. Sticky white pus came out of Meusel''s wounds along with the spikes, leaving a trace of a bitter almond smell in the air.


    Meusel performed a simple treatment for his wounds and prepared to charge over to kill that accursed Mage. However, all of a sudden, something tugged at his legs, as a patch of thorny vines reached out from beneath the ground. There was a terrifying snake''s head at the end of each vine, biting at the knee guards on his legs.


    Meusel raised his head, his gaze instantly landing on the Mage near the edge of the forest whose actions closely resembled those of a wooden puppet. The Mage was standing slightly right beside a tree. Both of his feet were buried under the earth, while his hands were plunged into the trunk of the large tree. One could vaguely hear the gurgling sounds of something being sucked.


    The surrounding Mages took advantage of the opportunity provided by Marionette restricting the radiant knight, letting out their fiercest attacks without hesitation.


    Blake, who was not far away, raised his right palm. A black hole suddenly appeared on the middle of his pitch-black palm as countless terrifying flying bugs buzzed and flew out from within, swarming towards the radiant knight. A dozen abnormal beetles with black shells, green wings, and odd spots on their backs silently hid within the swarm of bugs.


    Bleia did not charge forward recklessly when faced with a Second Grade radiant knight. Instead, she unfolded her wings and flew into the air, drawing her crimson longbow into a full moon, as the savage and ferocious blood energies instantly reached their peak.


    Schwing! A crisp crack rang out.


    The arrow left the bowstring!


    Meanwhile, above the air, a bright white lightning pillar as thick as a bucket blasted down. Its target was also the radiant knight who was stuck to the ground.


    Almost instantly, Marionette had restrained the enemy and three Mages had let out ruthless attacks, plunging Meusel into a dangerous situation.


    Faced with simultaneous attacks from both the front and behind, Meusel raised high the runic sword in his hand. He waited for the energies in his body to gather to their limits before shouting and thrusting the sword deep into the ground.


    The next second, the murderous and unstoppable runic energies seeped into the ground and exploded!


    What kind of might did the all-out explosive attack of a Second Grade knight possess?


    Leon, who was standing fifty meters behind Meusel, instantly saw a patch of red through his elementium sight. All sorts of energy calculations projected by the chip rose exponentially, as blaring warning alarms rang continuously.


    However, these abstract calculations and data were insufficient to capture or describe even one ten-thousandth of what Leon was seeing before him.


    The ground was shattering. The forest was shaking. The entire sky turned a slight shade of crimson...


    Cracks as fine as spiderwebs quickly spread outwards through the ground, with the runic sword as the epicenter. The speed they spread at was obviously incomparable to the few thick, large, and wide cracks that struck fear into everyone''s hearts. Numerous alarming fissures with no bottom in sight quickly extended outwards in a haphazard fashion. Wherever it spread, the large trees collapsed and the ground gave way, as gigantic dust pillars repeatedly blasted into the sky!


    On the ground, a violent ring-shaped whirlwind had swept through the area, flattening everything on the ground like an invisible razor. Countless grass roots, dirt, and withered leaves were swept away by the whirlwind, blasted into the woods nearby.


    There were no longer any trees, grass, or plants in a hundred meter radius around Meusel, just a bare patch of land. Even a layer of dirt had been blown off from the surface of the earth. A hundred meters away, countless towering ancient trees fell outwards in a ring, perfectly showing the world the terrifying energy contained within a Radiant Knight''s fearful blow.


    No one''s attack could break through that defensive layer under such a destructive shockwave. It was only when the violent energy slowly started to dissipate that things could be seen.


    The tight formation they had formed around Meusel was now utterly scattered.


    The slender Bleia was obviously not known for her strength and she was blown far away by the first wave of energy. She was nowhere to be seen.


    Blake was not much better. He having trouble standing up and was forced to transform into his bugman form in order to anchor himself to the ground with his numerous pairs of arthropods. Even the flying bug minions he summoned had all been sliced and diced by the wind. Only the dozen carcass beetles struggled and gathered together, forming a shield of bugs and protecting him from the impact of the following force shockwave.


    One had to note that at that very moment, besides the violently flowing air waves, there were also countless force shards within the shockwave. Force shards that were comparable to sharp weapons hid within the tide-like energy waves and were sufficient to cut any being caught within them to pieces.


    Marionette, who endured most of the force attacks head on was in an even worse condition. Not only had all the roots on his legs been severed, even his body that was exposed above ground had been riddled with cuts and holes. Just counting the visible wounds, there were three or four penetrating wounds that went right through his wooden body. The other, more minor wounds were even more numerous.


    Marionette''s life force instantly fell to its lowest after having received such severe injuries!


    Yet at the moment, the domineering Meusel had just drawn his sword from the ground. He stood straight with his muscular body, looking at the Mages'' poor condition as a contemptuous smile appeared on his face.


    "You rats that only know how to hide and run, now I''ll... " Meusel''s voice thundered like lightning. However, he couldn''t finish his sentence. His expression suddenly changed as he coughed out purple, black, and pungent blood from his mouth.


    The next moment, even his body started to shake a little.


    The Mages had good vision and instantly saw some things that resembled pieces of broken internal organs within the blood.


    "Kehkehkeh... " A cold and sinister laugh rang out from a distance, with a little metallic ring to it, "You knew that this patch of woods had been covered with terrifying viruses, and yet you still dared to draw runic energies so violently into your own body? As expected, the ignorant are the most courageous! Now you feel the backlash from the energy, don''t you? How about it? How many more attacks like the previous one can you launch? The more energy you draw upon here, the quicker you die. Kehkehkeh... in my opinion, you are better off lying down and waiting for your death!"


    Metal clanged as a mechanical figure pushed aside the dust and branches on his body and rose from beneath the ground, striding towards Meusel, who was leaning on his sword.


    The remaining Mages had appeared nearby, one after another, tightly surrounding Meusel.


    "Do it!" With Hyde''s loud shout everyone attacked, and another wave of relentless attacks devoured the knight''s body.


    ...


    A kilometer away, Charles, who had just led everyone through the heavy siege and was currently resting in an area with few trees, suddenly stood up and gazed in the direction behind him.


    He felt a powerful and ravaging energy signature exploding there!


    Yet this signature was so familiar that it caused him put a name to it almost unconsciously.


    "Meusel!"


    With how powerful the Second Grade knights were, they would not usually use such a wasteful energy explosion. This type of energy blast might appear to cover a large area, but in truth it consumed tremendous power to generate and was highly inefficient. It was far inferior in terms of lethality when compared to the concentrated knight battle techniques!


    Only the spellbreaker knights that had barely mastered the utilization of energy favored this sort of grand knight battle technique. The radiant knights, on the other hand, knew that a flame shockwave that covered an area of ten meters was far weaker than a simple yet concentrated slash.


    Meusel was a veteran radiant knight. There was no way he didn''t understand this. Yet he still committed such an amateur mistake. This either meant that he was up against enemies that outnumbered him, or that he was no longer able to control the energies within his body!


    Regardless of which it was, it was obvious that he was in a dire situation!


    "You lead the army and continue forward. I''ll go and bring Meusel back!" Before his wild shout had even dissipated, Charles had already disappeared.


    A strange pair of energy wings appeared behind Charles, giving him the ability to fly across short distances. Tall trees whistled past his body, the dense branches hitting his face and body as he flew by.


    He had already directed most of his energy to the wings and no longer had any additional strength to protect himself. Thus, he kept his eyes opened with all his strength, clumsily adjusting his speeding body and trying his best to avoid the trees. He no longer had any strength to avoid the dense branches and vines, and could only endure them with his tough body.


    A distance of a kilometer was quickly covered with the ability to fly.


    A short moment later, the barren battlefield appeared in his vision. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Meusel crouched and shrunk his body on the half-collapsed hill, trying his best to defend against the spells flying at him like a thunderous storm from all around him.


    Fire, lightning, blood arrows, wooden spikes, sharp awls...


    Terrifying spells of all variety rained down on Meusel''s body. They were on the verge of riddling him with holes and turning him into a human strainer.


    Charles, who was watching all this happen before him, roared violently. His energy wings folded slightly, and instantly he landed besides Meusel. He waved his large sword, and a terrifying force blasted outwards, annihilating all the attacks around him in a brilliant scarlet sword radiance.


    "Meusel, hang on, I''ll... "


    Charles waved his longsword with one hand, shattering one spell after another that shot towards him, and grabbed Meusel with his other hand, trying to charge out of the battlefield.


    However, before he could finish his sentence, something sudden occurred.


    ...


    1929 Words

 Chapter 214 - 214: Courage

    Ever since he had charged into the battle, Charles had already prepared himself for all kinds of situations.


    He would never dare to look down upon the cunning of Mages.


    Unfortunately, what had happened now was beyond even his imagination.


    He... was attacked by Meusel!


    Meusel''s eyes were wide open, but his gaze was not focused. Tears of blood streamed down from the corners of his eyes as an odd growl came from his throat. The bright radiance of energy shone from his hands as they plunged deep into Charles'' waist. Some unknown substance was continuously being injected into Charles.


    Charles endured the intense pain and put his left hand over Meusel''s chest. The dense light of concentrated energy quickly gathered on his hand. He just needed to expel the power and he would easily be able to shake off Meusel''s attack.


    However, when he looked at Meusel''s familiar face, and felt the weak heartbeat beneath his palm, Charles hesitated.


    This was an old friend he had known for over forty years after all!


    Even though he had been manipulated by the evil Mages and became their accomplice, his fire of life still hadn''t been extinguished after all. If Charles actually blew him away with an energy blast, Charles would probably personally extinguish Meusel''s last flickers of life with how weak he already was.


    Tears couldn''t help but flow down Charles elderly face when he thought of this. His palm pressed against the chest of his old friend and started to shake!


    Meusel had probably lost a long time ago. The scene of the Mages surrounding and attacking him earlier was probably an act they put up in advance. All of it, every single bit of it, was just to draw him in!


    It was only now that Charles saw everything clearly.


    The feet of his old friend Meusel had been pierced by a patch of wooden thorns and spikes and fixed to the ground, while seven or eight strange translucent threads rising from the ground had pierced multiple parts of Meusel''s body. This was most probably the reason for Meusel''s loss of control over his own actions!


    Moreover, several unknown substances were continuously entering Charles'' body with Meusel''s hands as the funnel. Some of these were microorganisms, wildly devouring his flesh and organs, while others were unknown curse halos, unceasingly exploding within him and quickly weakening his body and mind.


    Besides all this, the evil Mages around the battlefield were not holding back at all. One after another, powerful spells fell upon him like raindrops with no regards for Meusel, their ''ally''.


    In his one moment of hesitation, the downpour of spells had already flooded him and Meusel.


    The violent elementium explosions and the mad and chaotic elementium tides erupted without end in that one small area, turning the entire place into hell on earth. Even a Second Grade radiant knight could not endure elementium corrosion of such power!


    As Knight Charles let out a pained roar that shook the forest, and charged out of the energy storm vortex like a mad tiger, the only thing he still adamantly held onto in his left hand was Meusel''s broken body.


    Indeed, after that wave of ferocious attacks, the radiant knight Meusel, who was already on the brink of his death, reached the end of his life. His heart had stopped. Meusel''s body, having lost the protection of his energy shield, was riddled with holes and corroded everywhere by the violent elementium tide, depriving him of his human shape.


    Not just Meusel, even Knight Charles was in a terrible condition currently!


    His left eye had been blasted away and blood surged out from the large, bloody, and gaping hole that was left. His body looked like it had just been dragged out from a mincer. Deep and terrifying wounds could be found all over his body.


    The moment he charged out of the energy vortex, he let go of his runic longsword and stabbed his right arm into his own waist. Bam! The sound of a muffled explosion rang out, as a small energy explosion released within his own body. Purple and black blood flew everywhere, along with shattered and shredded meat.


    When Charles drew his bloody hand out from the gaping wound on his waist, he was holding between his fingers a strange beetle that screeched incessantly.


    Even though the strange bug had been temporarily stunned by Charles'' energy explosion, the moment it left Charles'' body, it immediately started to move again. It screeched continuously while biting at Charles'' hand.


    Charles let out a battlecry and tightened his grip. The strange beetle was finally unable to endure the strength of a Second Grade knight, instantly crushed into a pool of blood.


    Deep in the forest, Worm Controller blake suddenly let out a muffled grunt as the strange beetle died.


    It was clear that the death of this carcass beetle larva had also inflicted some backlash on him.


    The sudden show of strength from Charles had also made the wounds on his body even more unbearable. The flesh on his ribs had almost been blasted away by the energy that exploded in his body earlier. He stumbled about for a bit before finally falling to his knees.


    The severe injuries on his body, along with the bothersome curses in his body had turned into the straw that broke the camel''s back. The backlash from drawing large amounts of runic energy into himself, along with the squeezing of his body''s potential during his daily trainings, had finally caused him to be unable to suppress his internal injuries.


    He kneeled on the ground, but the world before him was still spinning unceasingly. He could feel the pain from all over his body, the wounds throbbing and hurting, slowly washing away the last remnants of his consciousness.


    "You evil... a...depts... " Charles cracked lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to use the last of his strength to curse at his enemies. Sadly, his broken body didn''t let him continue.


    Charles dropped to the ground, fainting just like that.


    One had to admit that the bodies of the Second Grade radiant knights that had been engulfed in runic energies for long periods of time had most definitely reached supernatural standards. His body was so broken that he would hardly be recognized as a human, and not much flesh was left on his abdomen. Most of his organs had been crushed to mincemeat. Yet, even with such horrendous wounds on his body, he was still alive.


    It was clear how strong the Second Grade Radiant Knights were!


    However, with such severe injuries, his broken body had long lost its self-regenerative properties. Even if the Mages were to stop attacking, he would eventually reach the end of his life.


    Numerous Mages gathered around Charles. After quickly examining his condition, they burst into a passionate discussion.


    At this point of the battle, the harvest of two radiant knights was already extremely satisfying for the Mages. Moreover, the knights'' leader was among the two. This was an important figure that was hard to come by. Moreover, messengers from the frontline had reached the base, and the witcher-knights at the edge of the forest were quickly mobilizing in large numbers, rapidly closing in on this location.


    Having gone through an entire night of intense battles, the Mages were more than willing to retreat.


    This arduous battle of one day and one night had caused the witcher-knights to suffer heavy losses, losing nearly two-thirds of their forces. However, the casualties on the Mages'' side was no small deal either. The voodoo beast army that they had taken great pains to construct had been completely exhausted, and even one Mage had died in battle. If it wasn''t for them obtaining a force of elite ghouls, along with their capturing of two radiant knights, this battle could be said to have drained away the foundation of their strength!


    As a result, the Mages could only command the remaining voodoo beasts to retreat when they saw the large number of witcher-knight elites swarm into the forest.


    The surge of reinforcements gathered with the remnants of the army at a mountain pass ten kilometers deep in the woods.


    When he rode his magic colt into this patch of the woods, Windsor was shocked by the tragic scene before him.


    Once, the mighty witcher-knights were the greatest pride of this world.


    Every time there was news of heretics on the rampage somewhere, this group of proud knights would jump onto their magic colts and rush to slay the enemy. It could be said that wherever they went, evil would be vanquished and darkness would be exterminated! It was their generosity, passion, and willingness to serve that allowed this plane to become prosperous.


    Even during the two Heretic Wars in history, most of the records contained praises of the witcher-knights'' valiant deeds and heroic actions, smiting evil wherever they went. Perhaps those heretics may have been able to rampage for a short while, but the moment the proud knights found them, they would crumble like dolls made of clay and the world would become bright and peaceful once more.


    However, the scene before him shook Windsor to his very core.


    Deep in the dim forest, the witcher-knights that had disposed of their armor were strewn all across the battlefield, with the terrifying bite marks of voodoo beasts left on their bodies and on their faces. Their gazes were empty and dull. They leaned against each other for support as they stumbled about. Even when they saw their companions arrive for reinforcement, no joy or surprise showed on their faces.


    If it hadn''t been for the slight rising and falling of their chests, Windsor would have thought that this was a group of stone figures crafted from clay and blood.


    Finally, when a familiar face stained with mud and blood appeared before Windsor, he couldn''t help but halt his magic colt.


    "Jos¨¦! What kind of attack happened to you lot? How did you suffer such heavy losses after only a single day? Where is Charles?"


    A series of questions were thrown at him, but the radiant knight named Jos¨¦ could only give a weak response.


    "All gone... all gone... " Jos¨¦ mumbled, "They are all gone."


    When they heard his tragic and pained cry, the remnants of the army, so exhausted that they had lost their emotional restraint, finally started crying.


    A sorrowfully heartbroken and tragic atmosphere filled the woods. The reinforcements couldn''t help but shed tears for their companions! sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Too cruel! Absolutely too cruel!


    This witcher-knight army numbered one thousand men when it first entered the forest a day ago! But now, after scouring the entire mountain pass and even counting the radiant knights and spellbreaker knights, only a mere hundred and seventy-two men were left.


    Moreover, the knights that were fortunate enough to survive all carried severe injuries and were both physically and mentally exhausted. Their emotions and spirits were in their most terrible state. Windsor could no longer see any of the witcher-knights'' pride and glory on them.


    Not just the normal witcher-knights, even the few powerful radiant knights were all currently in a deplorable condition. They had ghastly complexions and gaunt faces. The severity of both their internal and external injuries were shocking!


    Windsor gazed into the dark woods in the distance. With his brilliant sense for war, he could feel the existence of the enemies! If it had been in the past, he would most definitely have led his subordinates into the darkness to start a slaughter, revitalizing the spirits and passion of his companions with the blood of his enemies.


    But now, the dark woods had become more terrifying than ever before! Even he, a Second Grade radiant knight, couldn''t help but feel fear.


    Perhaps waiting for a new wave of reinforcements before continuing the search was the right plan?


    He thought so silently.


    For the first time, Windsor lost his courage.


    ....


    2000 Words

 Chapter 215 - 215: Valley

    Dragon Cliff.


    This was a taboo name for all the humans living on the knights'' continent.


    There were still plenty of bards and poets spreading grand stories of Dragon Cliff''s beauty in inns and bars of all sizes across the continent. However, the existence of Dragon Cliff remained as stories for most people. Rarely had people ever truly seen the place for themselves.


    It was rumored that it was the place the dragons lived in. It was rumored that endless wealth was hoarded there. It was believed to be the graveyard of many arrogant individuals that dared to challenge the dragons in hopes of becoming dragon knights.


    But where was the Dragon Cliff? No one knew!


    This was a silent valley in a vast mountain range.


    This mountain range stretched for long distances in all directions. A large forest grew atop the mountains, covering an area of nearly five hundred kilometers. Here, mountain peaks that pierced the clouds and dizzying cliffs were everywhere.


    Moreover, due to the dense foliage and numerous wild beasts in the woods, this had become a dangerous place that no man dared set foot on. A true no-man''s land.


    Right in the center of this beautiful and silent valley, a tall cliff stood amidst the clouds. This was the legendary and elusive Dragon Cliff.


    It was the time of afternoon where the sun was at its brightest. The great green dragon Aufreyr, who had just had his lunch at the outer rim of the forest, beat his large webbed wings and cruised about the Dragon Valley before finally landing near a small lake.


    Some bulls, gazelles, zebras, and other herbivores were drinking water from the lake when they were frightened away by his presence. They ran far away before turning back and looking at this uninvited green dragon with cautious eyes. It was only until they realized he had already fed that they were able to relax.


    Aufreyr crouched by the lake and drank his fill of lake water before contentedly folding his wings and strolling through the grassland by the lake.


    The weather was so perfect that he couldn''t help but want to take a good nap.


    However, as the guard of Dragon Valley, his duty was to watch the entrance of the valley to prevent any outsiders from entering. Thus, he could only let out a frustrated snort and blew out a cloud of light green mist from his snout. It was only then that he managed to dispel that strong desire to sleep.


    All of a sudden, Aufreyr straightened his body, raised his snout, and started to sniff.


    He had detected an odd aura amidst the natural fragrance of the grass and flowers here. An aura that did not belong to Dragon Valley.


    It was a human! Moreover, it was a human he knew!


    Aufreyr''s thick and strong hind legs gave a good kick to the ground and his heavy body shot upwards. Under the powerful beating of his wings he left the ground with some difficulty, flying towards the direction of the valley''s entrance.


    Dragons'' bodies were far too large, such that it was slightly difficult for them to take flight from the ground. As a result, most of them liked to build their dens near the top of cliffs, where outsiders found it difficult to approach. From that height, their vision was unobscured, making it extremely convenient for them to tackle enemies from above.


    Aufreyr flew across the grassland of nearly ten kilometers and saw a familiar shape by the entrance of Dragon Valley.


    This was a tall and burly human.


    Golden hair that reached the shoulders, golden circlet, golden armor, golden armband, golden bracer, and golden boots. This human radiated the debauchery and vulgarity of the newly rich from the top of his body to the very bottom. Golden radiance shone from every accessory and bit of apparel on his body, making it hard to look at him directly.


    However, it was such a vulgar human as this that radiated a powerful strength that was unmatched by most mortals. Even when the green dragon Aufreyr, with his body that was as large as a small hill, dove down at him while letting out a loud dragon''s roar, he had no intention to dodge. Instead, he opened his arms and walked forward.


    With a muffled thud, the large green dragon gracefully landed on the ground, forming a large crater one meter deep and three meters wide into the green grassland before warmly embracing the human.


    In truth, the so called ''embrace'' was just the green dragon lowering his head before the human and allowing him to hug it.


    "Willis, since when did you have the time to come to Dragon Valley? Is that human king finally willing to let you go?" The green dragon tried his best to lower his voice, but when he spoke, the air around him still shook and quaked. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s a long story, Aufreyr! I''ll tell you when we have the time. I wish to see Clan Leader Raistlin now. Please relay this message to him!"


    "Uh... " The green dragon hesitated, "Willis, the clan leader has been extremely angry ever since you guys sent back Rissana in that condition. The few elders in the clan are trying their best to save Rissana now. I fear... "


    "Aufreyr, I am also a member of Dragon Valley. Did the clan leader expressly forbid me from entering?" Willis questioned loudly. When he was angered, even a Third Grade green dragon could not endure the mighty and dominating power he radiated as a Fourth Grade Holy Knight.


    "He did not!" An awkward expression appeared on the green dragon''s long face as he spoke, "Very well, I''ll give it a try! As for whether the clan leader will see you, that''s something I cannot guarantee!"


    Having finished speaking, Aufreyr turned his large body around and opened his mouth, letting out a long and loud dragon''s roar that had a certain cadence to it at the tall Dragon Cliff thirty kilometers away.


    After a short moment, an even louder dragon''s roar rang back from the tall Dragon Cliff.


    "Well, the clan leader has agreed to see you! Come with me!"


    The green dragon took to the sky once more, with as much difficulty as before, sending powerful gusts in all directions that blew away the dust nearby. Willis, the Fourth Grade holy knight covered in his golden armor, also pounded his chest. In the midst of strange contortions and expansions, he rapidly transformed into a green dragon that was far more magnificent than Aufreyr.


    The two green dragons roared and flew towards Dragon Cliff standing in the distance.


    As compared to the vast stretch of forest outside the valley, there weren''t many tall and ancient trees in the valley. There were only large patches of green grassland here, with sparse lakes adorning the green like stars in the night sky, giving this place a mysterious beauty as if it did not belong to this realm.


    As the dragons flew closer, the tall and towering Dragon Cliff finally revealed its true appearance.


    This was a tall cliff that took up an area of over four square kilometers. Numerous dark and dim caves dotted the steep walls of the cliff. Many green dragons stretched their slender and ferocious heads out of their caves when they sensed Willis'' arrival, letting out dragon roars to greet him.


    The transformed green dragon Willis responded in kind, with a loud and clear dragon''s roar.


    For one moment, the deafening roar of dragons filled the entire Dragon Cliff, making the place exceptionally lively.


    On a patch of grassland at the bottom of the cliff, a group of green dragon whelps that were only three to five meters long were playing by a clear lake. They beat their small and tender wings, occasionally flying into the sky with much difficulty before crashing face first into the lake. Some whelps were playfully chasing after a few herbivores, scaring them and sending them running in all directions.


    It was obvious that these whelps had yet to master their dragon breath. There would always be some clumsy ones that flew too low to the ground and failed to fold their wings in time. They would crash into the ground, before crouching and crying in pain.


    Whenever this happened, one or two of the green dragon parents would fly out of their caves, diving down and skillfully piercing the body of a herbivore with their sharp claws before tossing it to their whelps'' side.


    Then a group of whelps would surge forward, breathing out poison mists or spitting green saliva on the prey to kill it. They would leap forward joyfully when the prey had finally succumbed to the poison, and use their fine fangs that had just grown out to bite the flesh on the prey''s body.


    It was such a bloody and cruel scene. Yet in the eyes of Willis, a green dragon himself, it all seemed so warm and sweet. As a half-dragon, the blood that flowed in his body was the blood of dragons!


    The place the green dragons'' clan leader Raistlin met Willis was the meeting hall.


    This wide hall located in the middle of the tall cliff, at its very heart, was large enough to host twenty or thirty dragons at once. With the exception of the Dragon''s Altar at the top of the cliff, it was the most sacred place of Dragon Cliff. Raistlin would only gather the dragons here to talk when they faced a difficult decision.


    Thus, when Willis transformed back into a human and walked into the meeting hall, a bad feeling had already risen in his heart.


    There were three dragons waiting for him here.


    Green Dragon clan leader Raistlin and green dragon clan elder Singe and Phantim!


    They all had the terrifying prowess of Fourth Grade beings.


    "I welcome you, my child." Raistlin''s loud voice boomed throughout the hall and caused the walls to tremor, "I hope you bring us good news this time!"


    "I wonder what kind of good news father wants?" Willis asked gravely.


    "We smelled the evil aura of Mages on Rissana, whom you sent back. I hope your visit this time has nothing to do with them!" Raistlin lowered his body and put his imposing head before the two meter tall Willis. His large amber eyes stared unblinkingly at Willis.


    "Oh great father, I may have brought news that you do not wish to hear!" Pain appeared on Willis'' face as he spoke, "The king of the humans asked me to bring you a message. He wishes for the powerful Dragon Cliff to send green dragons to reinforce the frontlines, on the goodwill of all the past annual offerings the humans have provided us. It is said that the battle there is going terribly. The Mages hide in Greenland Forest and bring about terrible deaths and losses to the witcher-knights!"


    "What is your stand then?" Not a single emotion was betrayed on Raistlin''s ferocious face, "Tell me, my child!"


    "I... " The struggle was becoming increasingly obvious on Willis'' face, "Naturally, I do not wish the flames of world war to spread to Dragon Valley. Neither do I wish to see my brothers and sisters fall under the butcher''s knife of the Mages. However... given that the Mages have already arrived, should we not stand out and defend our own ranch? After all, this is our territory. Our territory that we have managed for over a thousand years!"


    ...


    1927 Words

 Chapter 216 - 216: Preparing

    Raistlin exchanged looks with the other two green dragons before speaking in his booming voice once more.


    "You disappoint me, my child! After all, as a half-dragon with a sheltered upbringing, you have never experienced the bloody and savage plane war! Did you think you could rule over everything else in this plane with the Fourth Grade you achieved through your dragon blood? Wrong. You are wrong."


    Raistlin straightened his body and roared in anger.


    "Fourth Grade is nothing! A Fourth Grade being can only barely qualify as a proper recruit in a plane world! Who are the ones invading this time? Mages! The evil Mages!


    "I''m sure you have heard of the cruelty and savagery of the Mages! And given that to be the case, do you think we should still enter this war for the sake of some meager human offerings? When the evil Mages have already cast their gaze on this unfortunate plane?"


    Willis'' face was one full of pain and struggle when faced with questions of the green dragon clan leader Raistlin, his father.


    "But... but father, the invading Mages this time are extremely weak. If we gather all of the dragons in Dragon Valley, we can still chase them out of this plane!"


    "Haha... my child, you are too naive! You have spent too much time on this peaceful and warm material plane, so much time that your thought process is confined within the narrow perspective of those pathetic humans. So what if you fight off this wave of Mages? The Mage clan invading this time might just be a small force. However, if they fail in their invasion, they would most definitely sell the coordinates of our plane to other forces and organizations. Then an even more powerful Mage force will be the one to invade this world.


    "We, the dragons, have already dealt with the evil Mages in countless other plane worlds. Their greed and cruelty is rarely seen even amongst the few powerful large planes. If we had sufficient prowess, we could naturally keep them outside of our territory once and for all. But we do not! We are only Green Dragons, an insignificant branch of the Emerald Dragons of the Dragon''s Plane


    "Even if we mobilize the strength of the entire clan and force a stalemate, it still wouldn''t be any good. The breeding and development of a dragon is counted in thousands of years. A new batch of Mages will invade before our new members have even come of age!


    "When this world''s coordinates were exposed before the evil Mages, its fate had already been determined!"


    Willis closed his eyes in agony.


    As the offspring of green dragon clan leader Raistlin and a native human girl, Willis had the mixed bloodline of human and dragon. On one hand, he was a citizen of Dragon Valley; on the other, he was the highest authority of all witcher-knights in the human''s kingdom and the most reliable right arm of the human king.


    Now he came here bearing the trust and faith of the king, yet he could not convince his conservative and stubborn father. The pain he felt in his heart, as someone split between two factions he loved dearly, was indescribable.


    "Father, I know you have no attachment or feelings for those humans. However, your son has travelled hundreds of kilometers to ask of you just this one request! Are you willing to let him go back with empty hands? Please, I beg of you, save the humans and the lives on this plane!"


    Raistlin was obviously put in a difficult position when confronted with Willis'' emotional appeal. He turned around and argued loudly with the two clan elders. The atmosphere was tense.


    Finally, Raistlin turned around once more and roared loudly at Willis, "I respect your decision. If you wish to fight for the humans, you may leave. If any dragons in Dragon Valley wish to follow you, I will not stop them. Remember, the doors of Dragon Valley will always be open for you. I''ll welcome you back with open arms any time you are tired, my child!


    "You can leave now!"


    Willis nodded in anguish when he heard his father and clan leader''s words, before turning and leaving the meeting hall.


    A short moment later, Willis'' impassioned war declaration rang out from above the skies of the tall Dragon Cliff.


    For a moment, the dragons raised a commotion as they roared in reply.


    Half a day later, three green dragons trailed behind Willis as he dashed across the sky


    and disappeared at the horizon''s edge.


    Green Dragon clan leader Raistlin, who had transformed into a human with Ultimate Transfiguration, stood at the large cave entrance of the meeting hall. He gazed at the silhouettes of the disappearing dragons and spoke softly.


    "Singe, did we make the right decision?"


    Fourth Grade green dragon elder Singe walked to his side. His massive dragon eyes were steeped in age and glowed with the light of wisdom.


    "I''ve tried my best countless times to divine the future. The leader of the invading Mages is a terrifying Sixth Grade Great Mage. It is virtually impossible to defy him with the power of our clan. Even if we tried our very best, the most we could do is delay the fall of this plane by one or two hundred years. Such a result is meaningless for us green dragons!


    "Unless you are able to ask for reinforcements from our progenitors¨Cthe Emerald Dragons¨Cwe cannot do anything by ourselves. We will only be defeated along with this plane.


    "I am only referring to the future vision I''ve seen through the Dragon Altar. This is only the image that has occurred the most among the myriad possible futures. As for what is to be done, that is up to you, the clan leader, to decide! After all, the fates of all forty clan members in the Dragon Valley lie solely on your shoulders!"


    Raistlin gazed into the distance, the light in his eyes dimming and growing faint.


    ... Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It had been thirteen days since the last great battle.


    The witcher-knights that retreated from the forest gave their base up, redirecting their army to the outskirts of Blue Hillock City.


    The conclusion of this bloody battle also gave relief to the Mages.


    They took advantage of this rare resting opportunity and swarmed into the depths of the woods, massacring the animals and creating new voodoo beasts en masse. Some Mages with unique tricks up their sleeves were also sent to Blue Hillock City, relentlessly harassing the knights'' base.


    Leon took this opportunity to hide in his underground lab, conducting all sorts of research in secret.


    Just a few days earlier, the third batch of reinforcements arrived.


    This time, only two Mages came.


    One male and one female. However, they were two Third Grade Mages!


    Their arrival instantly filled the entire Mages'' base with confidence.


    The very next day, the construction of the tower resumed again after its lengthy delay.


    At this point, a simple illusion barrier was no longer able to hide the existence of the war tower. If the opponent sent out any more dragon knights, they would be able to clearly see the tall tower the moment they entered Greenland Forest.


    The two Third Grade Mages stayed in the camp to slowly get used to the change in planar laws, while the remaining Mages were busy with their own things. Leon had also successfully obtained the information he needed from Mage Hyde.


    A hitlist.


    A list filled with the names of the rune grandmasters on the knights'' plane!


    Sadly, almost all of the rune grandmasters were located near the capital of the knights'' kingdom and were under heavy protection. Thus, if Leon wanted to get his hands on the profound knowledge on merging runic and life energy, there was no avoiding a long trip to the capital!


    And with the current situation, it was impractical to leave the Mages'' base to go on a trip in the human''s world.


    At least until the end of the next battle, Leon could not leave the Mages'' base.


    The battle in the woods last time had caused tremendous damage to the witcher-knights. However, with the fifteen days of rest and recuperation they received, fresh blood from all over the continent had been able to arrive one after another, replenishing the numbers of the army outside Blue Hillock City. The number of witcher-knights had reached a historic five thousand men!


    The storm of war started to brew once more over the edge of Greenland Forest.


    The higher-ups in the knights used high and extravagant rewards to attract bounty hunters, adventurers, mercenaries, and even rogues and thieves of all kinds. Greenland Forest was almost akin to an exceptionally lively market because of this. Every day, countless small squads of human adventurers wove their way through the woods, playing a game of cat and mouse with the evil Mages and their terrifying voodoo beasts and ghouls.


    Even though most of the squads never returned, as they were turned into materials for the Mages to create more voodoo beasts, there were one or two fortunate squads. The knight commanders pieced together the bits and pieces of information they brought back, and finally managed to get a basic understanding of the forest''s interior.


    The Mages'' tower in particular was extremely conspicuous and was hard to conceal from the scouts. All the higher-ups were alerted to its existence and it became a thorn in their hearts, a concern that made them lose sleep night after night. If it wasn''t for the fact that the powerhouses of the knights'' army had yet to arrive, a new battle might have already started.


    It was in such a tense situation that Leon excavated an underground palace of his own in a spot three and a half kilometers away from the base.


    Using the large number of clay golems and alligator hunters under his command, Leon dug a small underground palace fifteen meters underground, turning it into his personal laboratory and spending every day in there.


    There were over twenty rooms in the underground palace, and important magic experiments were being conducted in every one of them.


    Four or five glowstones were placed on the dim and wet stone walls of the corridors. They let out a dim light-green radiance, barely enough to make the surrounding area visible.


    Leon appeared in the corridor, still engulfed in a thick and heavy robe. After a slight hesitation, he turned and entered the first stone room on the left.


    A massive ice pillar was placed on the stone pedestal in the middle of the empty stone room. There was nothing else besides that. However, just this massive ice pillar alone was obviously no common object. Its mere existence caused the temperature of the stone room to drop to a shocking -157¡ãC.


    Snow and ice crystals covered the entire room. Even the floorboards, the ceiling, and the walls were entirely covered under a layer of bright blue ice. If these walls hadn''t been reinforced and protected by magic arrays, Leon was sure that the chill would spread out of the room, turning the entire underground palace into a world of snow and ice.


    The only thing Leon could do in the stone room was stand before the ice pillar and use his own elementium fire to continuously roast the ice pillar. Then he would close his eyes and sense and feel the traces of planar law released from the pillar as the ice melted.


    Indeed, this ice pillar was the product left behind in the fight between Second Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen and the Second Grade Radiant Knight. Sir F¨¹gen had conjured the power of the planar laws to freeze the enemy within to capture him alive. For that reason, the remains of this ice pillar were also a manifestation of planar law of ice fragments.


    If Leon hadn''t used his fire against it, this force of ice and snow would automatically absorb water elementium from its surroundings to maintain its existence. It would probably be at least one or two months before it would melt on its own. In this period, any living being that dared to touch the pillar would have to endure chill damage as high as thirty degrees.


    This was almost as much as the all out attack of an advanced apprentice!


    It was clear how powerful Second Grade Mages were. Just a simple spell casually cast would have such terrifying might. Thus, Leon needed to slowly sense the intricacies of the planar law powers within the ice pillar to find the innate difference between First and Second Grade Mages!


    ...


    2120 Words

 Chapter 217 - 217: Maze

    Leon was finally able to melt away a thin layer of ice on the ice pillar after fifteen minutes. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was doing the burning, but the one performing a detailed analysis of the ice pillar''s contents was the chip.


    After all, the chip was tens or even hundreds of times better than him at data collection and analysis. Moreover, this was only because the chip had been restricted by the limits of his Spirit. The chip''s ability would continue to improve and expand as his Spirit slowly increased.


    Thus, Leon gave up on comparing himself with the chip and focused on melting the ice pillar bit by bit. Then he focused on analysing the contents of the ice crystals, the peculiarities of the arrangement of spirit elementium, as well as the forms created by the combination of the spirit elementium with the material elementium.


    Leon could feel the existence of spirit elementium everywhere inside the ice pillar.


    From his past understanding, material objects were material objects, while elementium were elementium and Spirit was Spirit. All three were distinct units with different forms of existence, different characteristics, and different ways of functioning. However, after the analysis of the ice pillar before him, Leon was shocked to find that his past understanding and distinction of these substances had been shattered.


    These three didn''t seem to be independent units that could never assimilate or merge!


    In Leon''s understanding, material objects were visible, tangible objects that existed in the physical world. From anything as small as dirt, firewood, rivers, to something as big as lakes, seas, mountains, or entire continents. These were all parts of the material world, and were objects that could be sensed with human senses. Thus, material objects were the foundation of the material world!


    The Earth in his previous life was similar in this regard with the alternate world he was currently in.


    On the other hand, elementium was a mysterious substance that was invisible and intangible. It existed everywhere in the entire universe, like a boundlessly vast sea, engulfing the entire multiverse.


    From the perspective of the multiverse, all elementium was at a perfect balance. However, if one were to just observe from a limited area, elementium behaved like tides, ebbing and flowing. They varied in quantity and density, never quite the same in different parts of the multiverse.


    In truth, the multi-faceted portrayals and features of the material planes had a very direct connection to the density of elementium particles in the area they existed in.


    Earth differed entirely from this alternate world in this aspect.


    Many mysterious and amazing ancient myths and legends about gods and deities existed back on Earth. Those ancient gods and deities seemed like they were omnipotent, capable of ravaging seas and claiming the skies. However, in the Earth Leon used to live, no one had such amazing ability.


    If Leon had remained in the past, he might have only thought of these ancient stories as fantasies and dreams of people in the past. However, he no longer thought so!


    It was very likely that Earth in the past was a world filled with elementium energy that allowed the people of that time to possess the chance of overcoming their weak physical bodies to master and manipulate great power. However, with the ebbing of the elementium tide, the elementium energy on Earth started to fade once more. Humans were once again cast back to their mundane selves, forced to abandon arcanology and go back to the path of technology.


    Thus elementium, this mysterious substance, was the true reason behind changes in material planes!


    But what exactly was elementium?


    Normal humans had no way of observing elementium particles with the naked eye. Even if you spent every day soaked in elementium particles, and countless particles entered and exited your body with every breath you took, you still wouldn''t have the means to sense and verify their existence.


    The only way humans could make contact with elementium particles was through meditation. By doing so, they used their Spirit as a bridge, allowing their tangible physical bodies to contact the intangible elementium particles.


    It was precisely because of the existence of elementium particles that Spirit became a source of power!


    Normal humans could stare all they wanted or move about all they wanted, but nothing they did would cause a change in the world. Their weak and feeble strength was insufficient to do anything to an entire material world. However, when a Great Mage just stared or stomped even once, the elementium directed by his Spirit would form into a force that could shake and challenge planar laws, change the colors of the sky, and shift the paths of mighty rivers.


    In the past, Leon had very clear distinctions for the three, and came up with detailed lines and traits that distinguished each of them. However, when he vaguely sensed the existence of Spirit elementium in the ice pillar, the knowledge construct he had created in the past unavoidably started to fall apart.


    He was fortunate that he was able to successfully transform his body into elementium when he was still an apprentice Mage with the help of the Fire Lord''s Scepter. This caused his mastery over fire elementium particles to become even more skillful and practiced, allowing him to ultimately become an Mage and rapidly improve into a powerful fire Mage.


    Many books mentioned the term ''Spirit elementiumization'' in their discussions of future advancement for Mages. However, none of them mentioned anything on how Spirit elementiumization was supposed to be done. At one point, Leon had suspected that this was the doing of the Mage clans. By cutting off access to such knowledge, the clans would be able to use it as a means to attract talent to serve them.


    The only way First Grade Mages could hope to improve was to join clans with ancient Mage legacies and obtain this missing knowledge from them. Otherwise, the only other path left to them was to waste year after year slowly exploring the endless darkness, trying to find a path forward.


    Even though Mages had extremely long lifespans relative to mortals, their lives were still limited when compared to the infinite and endless pursuit of arcane knowledge!


    Supposedly, given that Leon had only advanced to an elementium Mage, he would probably have to waste the first hundred years on completing and reinforcing the elementiumization of his body. It was only one hundred years later that he would be able to start exploring the issue of the elementiumization of his Spirit. However, he had miraculously completed his body''s conversion and was already starting to worry about the elementiumization of Spirit a hundred years early.


    Leon would naturally expend all his efforts to explore and research when he got ahold of such a rare chance to examine Spirit elementium.


    Leon''s compatible attribute was with fire elementium particles, while the compatible attribute of Second Grade Mage Sir F¨¹gen was clearly the mutated ice elementium. The massive difference in both of their attributes caused Leon to clearly feel the backlash of the plane''s laws of ice when he extended his Spirit, and probed into the spirit elementium released by the ice pillar after it had been melted.


    When he held the ice pillar with both hands and slowly burned it, an icy force that chilled him to the bones also started to pass through his Spirit connection and started to manifest on his body. When Leon finally let go of the ice pillar and concluded today''s research, his legs had already been frozen to the ground. If he even moved a little, countless ice crystals would fall from his body.


    Disregarding these external effects, even his Spirit had become visibly slower and weaker. This was clearly the effect of the chill''s suppression on his talent for fire.


    This was only the remnants of a spell cast by a Second Grade ice Mage, yet it could already obviously suppress his talent for fire. If the opponent that Sir F¨¹gen had fought then wasn''t a Second Grade knight, but him instead, then Leon would probably have been frozen into an icicle before he could even cast a spell!


    First Grade elementium Mages were only using their bodies to sense elementium particles and guiding them with their Spirit. What about Second Grade elementium Mages? What was the form of their spells and how did they cast them?


    For Leon, these questions were mysteries with almost no solution!


    Leon couldn''t help but let out a long sigh, "I really wish I could dissect a Second Grade Mage right now!"


    Almost immediately after he had spoken, he shut his mouth and looked around. It was only after Leon realized that he was in the underground maze that he dug himself that he finally let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, he silently reminded himself that watching their speech was the only way the weak could protect themselves in this mysterious alternate world!


    Leon quickly went into the second stone room after he exited the first one.


    A tall, large human lied on this stone platform, his chest already spread apart for the world see and every hidden part of his body exposed for curious eyes. Leon had also modified the stone platform itself into a unique magic array, causing the platform to slowly guide all sorts of elementium energies into the different internal organs of that man.


    Now what Leon had to do was to continuously observe and record daily the effects and changes caused by the elementium energies on the bodies'' organs.


    The one lying dissected on the platform was a spellbreaker knight. If he had been put into the World of Mages, one would see him as an existence that was on par with Mages.


    If Leon had dared to so boldly dissect and research an actual Mage in the World of Mages, the only fate awaiting him would most definitely be being pursued and hunted by all Mages. It was only in such an alternate world that he had the chance to capture an Mage-level existence, much like himself, and dissect him like a white rat with no worries of any consequences.


    He would even be allowed to conduct some of the more secretive and taboo experiments.


    This might be the most appealing part of planar wars for the Mages!


    Meanwhile, numerous armor fragments and some unrecognizable objects filled the entire stone platform of the third room. The knight''s armor was placed at the very center of the stone platform, and it was obvious what the runic arrays within them were.


    After so many bloody battles, the number of witcher-knights and spellbreaker knights that the Mages had killed and captured had reached a certain level. They were finally able to have a basic understanding of this plane''s unique runic knowledge.


    In conclusion, the runic knowledge of the knights'' plane was far more primitive when compared to the World of Mages. It was only in the one area of merging runic energies with the physical body that the knights had their own unique understanding and improvements.


    If the Mages were able to make this knowledge their own and performed some minor modifications and improvements, it would undoubtedly be able to allow Mages that manipulated powerful elementium powers to also possess the same durable and resilient physical prowess of the knights. This could also, in a way improve, the combat ability of the Mages themselves. As a result, this was most definitely knew knowledge that everyone sought and desired!


    However, the rune shards that Leon collected only reached as high as the level of spellbreaker knights, and there was not much new knowledge that was worth analysing and building upon within them. Leon could only replace quality with quantity, collecting all sorts of different runic arrays and attempting to rely on the chip''s powerful data analysis and deductive abilities to help him access a higher level of runic mystery.


    Of course, this was only a side project. If he truly wanted a complete set of the knowledge about merging runic energies, he had to personally travel to the knights'' kingdom to collect them.


    ...


    2032 Words

 Chapter 218 - 218: Rose Manor

    Blue Hillock City.


    Numerous witcher-knights had gathered here, turning this place into a rowdy military camp.


    Knowing that he could not contest the witcher-knights with his own forces, Blue Hillock City''s castellan Count Vanlier decided to just leave the castellan''s quarters to the knights and moved to Rose Manor located outside the city, living a life of seclusion.


    However, he would occasionally host ballroom dance parties at the manor out, of respect for the witcher-knights, and warmly invite the young knights to participate. Count Vanlier had even specially invited the most famous chef from Herdurand City, as well as the numerous noble ladies, socialites, and beauties in Blue Hillock City to entertain the young knights. Every day, the knights would live a life of debauchery, surrounded by beauties and luxuries.


    The noble knights, who had just experienced the traumatizing battle in the woods, seemed to have found the meaning to life once more. They tasted smooth wine and gourmet food, surrounded themselves with beautiful women, and talked with merchants that offered up empty praises, sinking utterly into a life of pleasure and enjoyment.


    Duke was one such knight!


    As someone born from a small noble family, he had always had the great dream of owning a runic sword of his own and riding a magic colt across the continent. His father, a small baron in a rural area, sold the only manor they had and sent him to the witcher-knight trainee camp.


    Moreover, he was diligent and fortunate enough to not only become a witcher-knight, but also accidentally advanced to a spellbreaker knight after fifteen years of rigorous field experience.


    He instantly became the pride of his family, as well as a famous witcher-knight leader back in his hometown.


    Countless successes in his hunts for heretics had strengthened his faith in the witcher-knights, turning him into a faithful believer of the great Holy Knight Sir Willis. Thus, when the new Heretic War was about to break out, he led his companions and hurried here, joining the ranks of the witcher-knight army that went into the forest.


    A single bloody and cruel battle in the woods allowed him to see the terror of the evil Mages for the very first time. Every time he recalled the hordes of evil voodoo beasts swarming like a tide out of the darkness, and his poor companions that turned into the ugly ghouls, his heart would bleed and his soul would tremble!


    He would wake up from nightmares every night since he returned from the forest, drenched in sweat and soaked in fear. Almost all of the knights that returned with him faced the same problems that he did.


    It was precisely because of this that the knights'' higher-ups had not stopped the knights from attending Count Vanlier''s extravagant dinner parties. In fact, they gladly encouraged and sent these emotionally damaged knights over to the parties.


    Their defeated knight''s convictions could be compensated with the rich wine and good food, and their losses in battle could be won back on the bed.


    Handsome men and beautiful women were everywhere in the brightly lit hall. Even elderly men with several decades under the belt would dress handsomely as they walked about socializing with everyone.


    Most of the beautiful ladies were wearing bright low-cut dresses, revealing their white backs and their deep cleavage, while the men wore delicate and elegant noble''s suits or neat and smart hunting attire, waving their wine glasses about as they had joyful conversations and invited the ladies to dance.


    Male servants wearing neat uniforms pushed small silver carts into the room and placed delicate food on a longtable decorated with a sky-blue tablecloth. This was food reserved for individuals with certain status. Bronze candlesticks were placed on the table, along with tin cutlery and drinking horns decorated with silver rings.


    Meanwhile, one after another, beautiful maids wove through the guests with bright smiles on their faces, putting rich wine into the hands of the generously drinking guests.


    A small band was diligently playing at one corner of the hall. Once in a while, some bards or dancers would dance on the spot, further livening the atmosphere in the hall.


    On the other hand, outside of the hall were numerous quiet and peaceful corridors, gardens, pergolas, fountains, and lawns. These spots filled with greenery and flowers were the places that men and women flirted.


    Moreover, there were specially designed small bedrooms at the back of the hall. They were lavishly decorated, but more importantly, they had exceptionally sound-insulated walls.


    However, right in the middle of this pleasant evening of enjoyment, several black shadows secretly gathered in a hidden wine cellar in the corner of the manor, quietly discussing something.


    "Has the target been decided? Our mistress is getting impatient!"


    "Please tell the mistress that we have decided on the targets. It will be a total of three spellbreaker knights. We will find a way to have them stay over tonight and when that happens... "


    "You must be careful. Keeping you here as a hidden piece was not an easy task. The mistress does not want you to be exposed too early. So remember, you must be absolutely careful and have a detailed and proper plan before acting!"


    "Yes, Sir Bald Eagle, you can count on me!"


    "Mm!"


    The black shadows exchanged a few word in the darkness, then quickly went in their own directions.


    One of the silhouettes suddenly turned into a furry black mass, silently beating its wings as it sped across the many buildings in the manor. Shortly, it arrived at a delicate, small building two levels tall located at the back of the manor.


    It passed through a vent specially left open at a corner of the house and went inside before transforming once more in the master bedroom of the building. It turned into an elderly noble with a slightly balding head and wearing a delicate sleeping robe.


    He lightly pulled on a special string by the corner of the room, and the two large doors at the side of the master bedroom opened as a group of beautiful maids walked in and swiftly changed the elderly noble into a smart suit. The butler wearing a tuxedo stood obediently by the side, waiting for the Count''s orders.


    "Have all the guests arrived?" he asked with a voice thick with the accent of nobles. The elderly noble raised his arms and let the maids arrange his costume. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "They are all here! Especially the ones master had mentioned to me. I have already sent people to entertain them!" The butler hurriedly took one step forward and replied softly.


    "Where is Duke now?"


    "Half an hour ago he was still conversing with the president of the Wade Chamber of Commerce in the front hall. Now, he''s flirting with the Sera sisters by the grapevines in the gardens!"


    "And Barral?"


    "He was dancing with Madam Shearfre in the hall fifteen minutes ago. Now... he''s already inside guest room number seven."


    "Drisek?"


    "He''s been drinking with Knight Tomard and Knight Raul in the side hall. Apparently, he''s already drank six bottles of grape spirits. I''ve had people send another five bottles over."


    "Mm! You''ve done a good job." The elderly noble nodded in approval.


    Just as the elder was about to step forward into the front hall, the obedient butler suddenly stopped him.


    "Master, this one has some news to report to you."


    "Oh? What is it?" The elderly noble asked in astonishment.


    "Sir Collier has arrived."


    "Collier? Do you mean that Radiant Knight Collier?" The elderly noble was surprised and immediately asked again. He lowered his head and let out a wicked laugh before striding out confidently.


    Since even a radiant knight had graced him with his presence, there was no reason he shouldn''t show his face as the host of this party!


    Thus, after a short moment''s wait, the loud announcement of a servant rang out from outside the door.


    "Count Vanlier has arrived!"


    ...


    Countless black shadows shifted and countless voodoo beasts roared...


    Everyone ran as fast as they could amidst the flickering light of torches. Their hurried and dramatic breathing could be heard clearly.


    A scarlet flame cloud was roiling in the skies as meteors wrapped in burning flames whistled through the air as they crashed into the earth. Loud explosions and bright fires accompanied them as each of the meteors landed. The woods would tremble from the impact of the meteors.


    Every time this happened, even Duke couldn''t help but tremble along with the forest.


    Because what came next was the terrifying flame shockwaves and the branches, stones, and debris that covered the skies.


    The meteors that were destroyed midair would turn into rains of fire that fell from the sky, engulfing the entire forest in their burning embrace. The only thing Duke could do was keep his energy shield up, protecting himself from the rain of fire, running forward with all his strength amidst the shaking and trembling of the earth...


    Suddenly... a pale white monster so ugly and revolting one would gag at the sight of it emerged from a bush at the side, tackling the witcher-knight in front of Duke, biting and devouring the knight with its sharp teeth.


    When Duke raised his runic longsword with his trembling hands, the ghoul suddenly raised its head and looked at him. Then, it squatted before leaping high up into the air, launching itself at Duke.


    Duke looked at the terrifying fangs and claws becoming larger and larger before his eyes before screaming and waking up from his nightmare, sitting upright in the bed. The two beautiful ladies lying naked on the bed mumbled something before turning over and returning to their peaceful sleep.


    Duke wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. He looked around the room before realizing that he was no longer on that terrifying battlefield, but in a comfortable and warm nest instead. Duke couldn''t help but smile when he recalled the euphoria and intimacy of the night earlier. He leaned back as he tried to fall back into a sweet sleep.


    For some reason though, he had a vague feeling that there was something dangerous hiding near him. However, after an entire night of debauchery and enjoyment, even his wits and sensitivity to danger had fallen to their absolute lowest.


    Just as he was in a daze and wondering about the source of this unknown sense of danger, two bright red dots appeared within a dark spot in the room. This pair of red glowing lights appeared suddenly, and before he had even noticed it they were right before him, instantly drawing his attention.


    For some unknown reason, whenever Duke looked at the red lights his mind could no longer function properly. Even though he subconsciously felt something was off, his will, weakened by the pleasures of the past few days, was no longer sufficient to continue resisting the effects of those red lights.


    Pain and struggle appeared on Duke''s face, but he was never able to shift his gaze away from those lights. Moreover, as strange patterns and flux started to appear from within the red glow, his will started to sink further and further in while the expression on his face started to become more and more peaceful and calm.


    Finally, he no longer struggled!


    "It''s done, Bloody Bleia. I''ve put this guy under my control for now! It''s up to you next." A sweet and crisp female voice rang out from the darkness.


    "Mm, thank you Lady Phantom. I''ll deliver the things you requested as soon as possible once we return to the base. I''ll have to trouble you for the other two as well!" Bleia''s voice also sounded out in the darkness.


    The soft sound of moving cloth could be heard in the room as the female Mage known as Phantom exited the room, leaving the poor prey bewitched by her illusions to Bleia.


    For a long time, Bleia had only been able to Embrace a group of pseudo-Mage level vampire subordinates in Blue Hillock City. She never had the opportunity to try and do such a thing to the more powerful witcher-knights, nor the spellbreaker knights that had even more powerful mental wills and magic resistances.


    Thus, Bleia took advantage of this brilliant opportunity and bought Phantom''s help at a tremendous price to have her crack the wills of the spellbreaker knights and shake their faith and determination. Even if Bleia failed to Embrace these knights under the cover of the illusion, the spellbreaker knights would only think of the experience as a new nightmare, and the secret hidden in the Rose Manor wouldn''t be exposed.


    Bleia grinned wickedly as she closed in on Duke in the darkness!


    ...


    2128 Words

 Chapter 219 - 219: Storm

    Inside a secret underground hole near the edge of Greenland Forest.


    Wild patches of grass kept the narrow entrance completely hidden.


    A one meter long carcass beetle with green wings and a black shell covered with corpse spots flew over, staying close to the ground. A dead human was impaled on its four razor-sharp legs. Judging from the human''s clothing, he was a low-level mercenary that entered the Greenland Forest in hopes of getting the large reward offered by the knights.


    The carcass beetle circled above the entrance, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, it folded its wings and landed near the entrance. It very quickly dragged the mercenary''s corpse with it and disappeared into the underground cave.


    After it entered the cave, it dove downwards, going through narrow and winding paths before finally entering a large cave twenty meters underground.


    The cave had been turned into a massive bug''s nest. The ground and walls were covered in an odd moss. It was soft to the touch, and would give way when someone stepped on it. However, the moss was exceptionally durable and had surprisingly strong resistance against acid and poison.


    A dozen dirt piles that looked like anthills were located in the middle of the large cave. However, these piles weren''t made of any ordinary dirt, but a filthy substance made from mud mixed with wood splinters and the bloody remains of devoured and digested human flesh.


    The top of the dirt piles were completely filled with pitch-black holes. On a closer look, one could vaguely see odd larvae crawling within the dirt. Even though they were only larvae, their ear-piercing screeches, ugly appearance, and their terrifyingly savage and violent presence all hinted at their identity as horrifying monsters.


    The carcass beetle that just flew in circled in the air. When it passed by one of the bug''s nests, it moved its scythe-like legs violently. The human mercenary''s corpse was instantly torn into pieces of meat, falling onto the nest as his blood rained down.


    The larvae in the nest started to screech in excitement when they smelled fresh blood. They extended their white translucent heads from the holes, violently devouring the pieces of meat that fell on the dirt pile. Ear-piercing screeches burst out from the other nests that didn''t get fed, filling the entire cave with deafening noise.


    As several carcass beetle entered and exited the cave, and as the fresh blood rained like a downpour, an opening was finally created in a nest by the larvae inside. Over twenty carcass beetle larvae crawled out, laying on the carpet of moss as they began the first significant evolution of their bug lives.


    Their milky white and semi-translucent bug shells immediately started to solidify and harden when exposed to the cold, damp air. Then, with loud cracking sounds, a seam that extended all the way across their backs started to form, slowly expanding towards each side.


    When the crack had become large enough, a wicked bug''s head peeped out from within, letting out its first metallic screech into this cold world.


    Dozens of kilometers away, in a patch of dim woods, Blake was coldly looking upon a human mercenary squad from the darkness. Blake suddenly turned towards the direction where the bug nests were, as if he had heard that terrifying bug screech in the distance. Blake let out a wicked smile.


    ...


    In the Mages'' base.


    The height of the war tower was quickly increasing.


    In just a dozen days, the 213 meter tall war tower with two underground floors and seven ground floors had been completely constructed. Now it was undergoing the hasty process of magic modification.


    This simple and crude war tower had not been built from expensive and valuable materials. Instead, it had only been constructed with common rocks and loose sand reinforced with magic. The quality of such materials made it inevitable that the tower could not take too much of a beating.


    Even disregarding bombardment from knight battle techniques, the terrifying weight of the tower itself would be enough to completely crush the foundation of the building to dust.


    Thus, as the Mages'' tower slowly grew in height, a dozen Mages were tirelessly working away in the tower, carving multiple Strengthening Arrays on the large stone slabs to improve the weight-bearing capacity of these stones. Moreover, these temporary arrays had to be carved in a way that did not hinder future defensive arrays that would be carved in the tower once it was constructed. As a result, even though the work seemed simple, every single array had to be engraved in a calculated position, with great attention paid to the way the arrays connected and related to each other. This was not something that just any Mage could do.


    Besides the construction of the Mages'' tower, the most lively place in the base was the voodoo beast crafting laboratory. Large numbers of forest beasts were sent to the base from far away, and in less than an hour, they would all be turned into oddly-shaped voodoo beasts, swarming into the forest in waves.


    The job of guarding and defending the outer rim of the base was left to that group of elite ghouls. Each of them had prowess that rivalled that of advanced apprentices. They were a group of tireless guards, hiding in the bushes and the trees, preventing any living being from coming within one and a half kilometers of the base.


    Besides these loyal guards, some Mages with strange abilities were also active near the edge of the forest, unceasingly monitoring the border for any activity. These reckless fellows, that stepped into these woods for a little reward and land, had never been able to take another step out of the woods.


    The thing that caused the most damage to the knights in the last battle was undoubtedly the plague virus. It was the existence of this virus, that specifically corroded runic energy and magic colts, that caused the witcher-knights to turn into pathetic soldiers, losing the mobility they had prided themselves for.


    Such an effective tool had to be used to its fullest potential.


    Over this period of modification and improvement, an even more contagious plague virus had been created and had already been sent to the Mages hiding in Blue Hillock City through discreet means. Given their personality and abilities, the Mages would probably already have turned Blue Hillock City into a dead city filled with tombstones, if it wasn''t out of fear of provoking the enemy into showing their hand too early.


    The numbers of witcher-knights in the camp outside Blue Hillock City was rapidly growing day by day.


    It seemed as if the powerful forces behind this plane had finally realized the danger of the Mages and were rapidly gathering all the strength they could muster. On the other hand, the Mages'' base had been able to get news of the knights through discreet means. In particular, they knew that the most powerful being on this plane, the Fourth Grade Holy Knight Willis, had obtained reinforcements from the mysterious Dragon Valley and was hurrying over here.


    It was easy to foresee that the moment he arrived here would be the moment the witcher-knights moved out against the Mages.


    The only thing both sides could do now was to continuously build up their own military strength and increase the advantages they had.


    The witcher-knights and the Mages. These two factions were like mad machines of war that were continuously accelerating and rushing towards each other at a terrifying speed. Perhaps the very next second, they would clash with all their strength.


    As for who would be the final victor¨C that had yet to be decided. The only thing known for sure was that this was destined to be a massive battle of life and death. A war that would be etched into the annals of history!


    ...


    It had been twenty-one days since the last bloody battle in the woods.


    It was a bright, sunny afternoon and the call of war had finally arrived.


    Leon, who was silently conducting experiments in his underground lab, paused for a moment before taking out a communication crystal. The crystal flashed with a blinding light.


    Leon extended his Spirit into the crystal, and Sir F¨¹gen''s cold voice instantly rang out in his mind.


    "All Mages are to return to base immediately. All Mages are to return to base immediately. Mages that have yet to return to base in an hour will be executed as traitors. Crow, Plague, and Bloody Bleia are to continue with the original plan. Keep hiding undercover and wait for more instructions... "


    War had finally arrived.


    Leon''s heart sank for a moment as well.


    No Mage could be confident in their own safety in a planar war such as this. Even the calm and collected Second Grade Sir F¨¹gen probably had a decent chance of dying here. After all, when the battle started, he would most definitely be an important target marked by the enemy''s powerhouses.


    As for the two Third Grade Mages, even though it had been quite a while since they arrived, they had yet to take a single step out of the Mage tower. There was no telling how much of their strength they could exhibit while under the powerful inhibiting effect of the plane''s suppression. A First Grade Mage needed one day and one night to become completely used to the planar laws here. A Second Grade Mage needed five to seven days to get used to the change.


    How many days would a powerful being like a Third Grade Mage need to do so?


    Leon quickly tidied his lab with this question in mind, before leaving the place with a single Fire Teleportation.


    Other Mages, busy with their own tasks all over the forest, also received Sir F¨¹gen''s message and hastily concluded the tasks at hand before quickly turning and heading towards the base.


    Blake didn''t return immediately upon receiving the message. Instead, he rushed over to the area where the underground cave was located. When his silhouette, hidden underneath thick robes, appeared before the entrance to the cave, odd noises rang out from within.


    One after another, terrifying carcass beetles with wicked appearances slowly climbed out from within, gathering around Blake as they let out sharp screeches. Blake''s bug head, hidden underneath the shadow of his hood, also continuously let out odd screeches as if he was communicating with these beetles.


    Thirty-Nine carcass beetles!


    Each of them had terrifying power that rivalled pseudo-Mages.


    If they were all gathered together, none of the First Grade Mages could fight back against them. The only option left would be to run and save themselves.


    Blake finally felt a sense of elation and pride when he looked at these loyal bug troops that surrounded him.


    That damn Bleia and that accursed Leon. Now that I have my bug army, what will you use to compare with me?


    Blake strode towards the base feeling extremely satisfied.


    The carcass beetles took to the skies with their black shells and green wings. The wings on their backs beat rapidly as they flew above the canopy, closely following behind Blake like an ominous gray cloud.


    The skies were filled with flying Mages. Mages sitting atop their giant magical flying tools, Mages slashing through the air with green wings on their backs, Mages rushing towards their destination after transforming into beasts.... sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For one moment, the scattered Mages were all hurrying towards the same place.


    The Mages'' base!


    ...


    1925 Words

 Chapter 220 - 220: The Power of the Dragons

    Outside Blue Hillock City. Rose Manor.


    Having sensed the oddity outside, Bleia moved silently to a large window in her room and lifted the curtain, gazing at the black dots in the distance.


    They had yet to arrive, but already the terrifyingly vast and intimidating dragon''s aura surged forth.


    The dragon''s aura of might. This seemed like an intangible and mysterious thing, but its effect on normal living beings was very real and unavoidable!


    Be it normal warhorses, or the livestock kept at every other house, all the animals would go into a panic when they sensed the dragon''s aura falling from above like a mighty tide. And when they smelled that unique stench of large draconic lifeforms scattered by the wind, their limbs would tremble and give way. They would crouch on the ground in fear, not being able to move even a single step from where they were.


    One, two, three, four, five...


    Bleia''s crimson pupils glowed mildly as she quickly understood what the black dots in the distance represented. Even Bleia couldn''t help but wrinkle her soft eyebrows as the numbers continued to increase.


    Damn, there were five dragons! This battle was not going to be easy!


    In the time she hesitated, a gale had raged across the skies above Rose Manor as the five dragons cut across the air and flew towards Blue Hillock City.


    Bleia saw the dragons more clearly this time.


    There were two Third Grade dragons and three Second Grade dragons amongst the five dragons. Moreover, four human knights wearing strange armor had been riding on the backs of those dragons. Based on their looks, Bleia determined that they were most likely the Fourth Grade Holy Knight, along with the three Third Grade Dragon Knights.


    This strength was more than enough to crush the Mages'' base in a head on fight!


    Meanwhile, at this one moment, countless pairs of eyes in discrete areas all over Blue Hillock City were closely following this group of flying dragons as they landed in the camp outside the city.


    It wasn''t long before the news was sent back to the Mages'' base.


    Thus, that was how the scene of Second Grade Sir F¨¹gen calling the Mages back came to happen!


    While the Mages hiding in Blue Hillock City were still trying to determine if the high-grade Mages would choose to rest before marching out, the witcher-knights'' camp in the distance had already burst into action.


    Squad after squad of witcher-knights leapt onto their colts, fastened their supplies on the saddles, and charged out of the military camp in an orderly fashion, hurrying towards Greenland Forest in the distance.


    So determined? It seemed like the enemy came prepared!


    The undercover Mages couldn''t but think so silently to themselves.


    The dragons took to the skies once more, circling the sky as they let out dragon roars that rumbled through the air, before chasing after the vanguard and following them into the vast woods.


    Willis rode on the back of the Third Grade green dragon Aufreyr. They had just barely entered Greenland Forest and already, even from a distance, they could see that tall and terrifying war tower standing alone in the sea of trees.


    This tower was so tall and magnificent that even those towering ancient trees were nothing but insignificant dots before it. Even from dozens of kilometers away, the vast stretch of woods could only hide its insignificant and unimportant foundation, while the very tip of the tower was obscured by the clouds in the sky.


    There was no need for any magical lighting or special effects. Just the sheer magnitude of this tower was impressive enough!


    This was the foundation of their plans that the evil Mages had built upon this plane? It was as intimidating as the ancient records described.


    Willis gazed at the war tower in the distance. He did not recklessly lead the dragon knights in a charge towards it, but instead chose to circle above the witcher-knight vanguards and guide their way towards the Mages'' base.


    In all of the countless battles in the past, the witcher-knights had never been able to make it to the Mages'' base. There were many reasons for it. The first of which was the sheer size and density of foliage in Greenland Forest. Moreover, the geography of the forest was mountainous and rugged, causing the witcher-knights that had air presence to only be able to charge about aimlessly in the woods.


    This sort of undirected strategy had no efficiency to speak of.


    Thus, all the battles in the past were initiated by the Mages, causing crippling damage to the knights every single time.


    Now that they had dragons in the sky guiding their way, the knight army became like an agile snake. They wove their way across countless trees, climbed past hills and mountains, cut through streams and rivers. They crossed ravines and bottomless cliffs, recklessly heading towards the Mages'' base.


    Oddly enough, it seemed as if the Mages themselves had realized that maintaining harassment outside of the base had lost any real meaning for this final battle. As a result, the Mages no longer fought with the witcher-knights for control over parts of the forest. They withdrew all their forces and turtled within a two and a half kilometer radius of the tall tower, forming defensive lines that were tough to crack.


    Moreover, the defensive lines were only spread out in the direction the witcher-knights were coming from. It seemed they had no defenses on the other three sides.


    Did the enemy not have enough forces to defend the tower on every side? Or was this some sort of trickery?


    Willis stood above his dragon as he thought to himself silently.


    He thought of commanding the witcher-knights to take the long route, flank the Mages, and charge them at their weakest spot. However, after a quick moment''s thought, he gave up on the idea.


    Who knew if there were any ambushes or traps in those empty areas! Rather than take the uncertain risk, it was better to clash directly with the enemy and crush all of their preparations with the knights'' courage and numerical advantage.


    He no longer cared about the number of casualties in today''s all-out battle. As long as they were able to chase away this batch of terrifying Mages, it would be worth it even if all six thousand men of the army had to die here!


    Six thousand witcher-knights! This was almost eight percent of the entire plane''s witcher-knights. If they were to all die here, then even the knights'' kingdom, with their tremendous influence and power, would find such a loss hard to swallow!


    Death was easy. However, to rebuild an army of this size needed two to three hundred years at the very least.


    Only Willis and the three dragon knights knew how determined he was this time. Those radiant knights could only listen to orders when put before these Third and Fourth Grade knights.


    With the help of the magic colts, the long line of witcher-knights rapidly closed in on the frontline.


    Finally, at an area one kilometer away from the enemy''s defensive lines, Willis had the green dragon land on a cliff and stop the army''s advance.


    The witcher-knights had travelled for over two hours and took the cliff as a temporary camp, getting off their horses and taking a rest. They ate and drank a little, preparing for the massive battle that was to come.


    With the dragons as lookouts in the sky, the witcher-knights no longer needed to worry about surprise attacks from the evil Mages.


    Six thousand witcher-knights might not look like a lot when stretched into a long line. However, when they were all gathered together, they formed a domineering crowd. Almost every inch of the one kilometer radius of the camp was filled with the busy shapes of the witcher-knights.


    All of a sudden, black clouds appeared in the sky above an area where the knights were most densely gathered. In the blink of an eye, a raging lightning storm was almost completely formed. The witcher-knights beneath the black cloud hurriedly got onto their magic colts and spread out in every direction to avoid the terrifying spell.


    The green dragons circling in the skies discovered the Mage''s location almost immediately. They dove down and covered the area where the mental flux came from with their devastating poison breath.


    Thunderbird lived up to his name as the fastest and most mobile Mage.


    When he realized he had been locked onto by the dragons, he immediately sped out of the dense woods. In a series of lightning flashes he escaped the attack range of the dragons.


    One after another, terrifying dragon breath razed the ground from above!


    This previously lush forest instantly turned into a land of death and decay. The green trees, vines, thorns, and bushes corroded and withered in the green poison mist in a single second, turning into dead and dry plants.


    The dragons were extremely fast while flying. In just a slight dive, they had already closed in on the Mages'' defensive lines.


    When the powerful bodies of the four green dragons sliced across the canopy, countless terrifying spells of all colors blasted into the skies, chasing after the dragons.


    The very next second, the four green dragons personally demonstrated to the world once again why the dragons were able to become rulers of the skies even amongst all the planes in the multiverse!


    Their lithe and agile bodies rapidly turned and rolled in the skies, as the spells locked onto them followed closely behind and drew bright and pretty lines across the sky. With every barrel roll, some of the spells would collide and explode in a blast of explosive fireworks.


    When the spells behind them had reached an insignificant number, the green dragons turned around with great agility and neutralized the last few spells with thick green dragon breath.


    Then they let out sky-rumbling roars as they flew upwards into the sky, full of pride, and once again showed off their elegant bodies high in the air without sustaining even a single scratch.


    If it wasn''t out of fear of affecting his allies'' morale, Leon would have burst out in applause for the green dragons'' performance.


    What were the rulers of the skies? What were the rulers of all living beings in a plane? This was a raw show of the dragons'' immense strength!


    All those impractical fellows that fantasized about slaying dragons only needed to look at their performance to understand the massive difference in strength between them and the dragons.


    Compared to the dragons, the Mages looked like a bunch of human-shaped magic sticks that could only stand about as they cast their spells. In terms of the practicality and flexibility of combat, the dragons were far superior when compared to the Mages!


    However, most of the Mages were not bothered by this.


    Compared to most of the magical creatures of the material planes, the spellcasting ability of Mages was not particularly amazing. However, back in the World of Mages, they still very firmly held the dominant position and assumed a dictatorial role!


    Why? It was nothing special. It was just that the Mages had wisdom and knowledge, as well as the awareness to use external factors to their advantage!


    ...


    1894 Words


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 Chapter 221 - 221: Thwarted

    The Mages hiding in the darkness of the woods showed no fear, even when faced with these mighty and terrifying green dragons. Moreover, the gazes they directed at the dragons had become even more passionate and intense.


    How cool would it be to have a dragon as a pet!


    Perhaps because the dragons'' performance had provoked him, an Mage slowly rose into the skies from the forest a kilometer away from the dragons and confronted them from a distance.


    The Mage had a wrinkled face and was wrapped in a black robe. He held in his hand a long staff glowing with powerful magical radiance. Indeed, it was the one and only Second Grade Mage in the base, Sir F¨¹gen.


    A single Second Grade Mage was no real threat when pit against a group of adolescent green dragons. After all, even the weakest amongst them was at Second Grade! Moreover, the dragons'' powerful bodies and ability to fly were unmatched even across all the material planes, allowing them to easily challenge enemies above their Grades. It was an easy task to fight against a human with the same grade as them, especially if it was an Mage, who were known for their weak and frail bodies.


    A young green dragon that had left the Dragon Valley for the first time, and had only participated in a planar war for the first time, roared and charged out from the formation. It seemed like he wanted a duel with this Second Grade Mage that had appeared out of nowhere!


    The other green dragons in the sky roared in unison, and the massive soundwave caused the entire forest to tremble.


    They did not stop the young green dragon''s impulsiveness out of their desire for glory. Instead, they were cheering for him in Dragontongue.


    The young green dragon became even more excited. He flapped his fleshy wings and rose even higher into the sky. When his aura had reached its very peak, he let out a loud dragon''s roar that seemed as if it would rend the clouds apart, before diving quickly down at the insignificant and weak enemy.


    This was a terrifying lifeform that was over twelve meters long from head to tail, and six meters tall when it stood upright. Dark green dragon scales the size of bowls covered his entire body, gleaming and shining brightly in the broad daylight. The dragon''s massive head was two meters long, with light green poisonous mist smoking out of his snout, making him seem all the more mysterious and terrifying. Whenever he roared, one could see the ghastly concentrated ball of acid at the back of his throat.


    Large and wicked spikes started on the back of his neck and went all the way to the tip of his long tail. Whenever he beat his large, finely-scaled wings, a powerful gale would flow about his elegant and perfect body.


    A green dragon!


    A young green dragon that had just grown out of being a whelp, and had just barely reached maturity!


    He might only be the Second Grade, but when his powerful body with flowing curves was displayed before everyone, it seemed as if his grade was no longer that important.


    Bringing with him an overpowering aura of might and his devastating roar, the Second Grade green dragon fell from the sky. Like a green meteor descending, he charged towards Second Grade human Mage F¨¹gen with an unstoppable momentum.


    An ominous feeling rose in Willis'' heart as he was directing the knights in the woods faraway. He frowned at his companion''s recklessness, but he couldn''t find anything wrong or odd when he scanned the battlefield nearby.


    This undoubtedly put him even more on edge!


    The green dragon was charging! The distance was closing!


    In the blink of an eye, less than a hundred meters were left between the dragon and the accursed human Mage.


    Disdain glowed in the green dragon''s amber eyes when he saw that the human had no intention of dodging. He, who had plenty of hunting experience in the woods, had already simulated countless action plans in his mind to deal with different situations.


    If the human Mage dodged to the left or right, he would turn his head in the instant he passed by and engulf the Mage in terrifying dragon breath. If the opponent dodged downwards, he only needed to fly down slightly and his sharp and thick dragon claws would instantly pierce the weak defensive barrier and tear the Mage the pieces.


    Engaging directly with a green dragon? Not even magical creatures that were famed for the strength of their physical bodies dared to do something so suicidal!


    Yet the human Mage before him still behaved oddly and completely out of his predictions. Even when a terrifying green dragon was charging at him, he still chose to stand there calmly while he cast a spell. Even the loud dragon roars could not overpower the clear and crisp notes of his magical chanting.


    Sir F¨¹gen blasted a green beam into the woods beneath him. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Almost immediately, the previously quiet woods suddenly came to life!


    Continuous frightening green vines that were as thick as water jars rose into the skies, rapidly entangling the body of the charging green dragon and pulling it towards the ground. Terrifying wooden spikes gleaming with a metallic sheen covered the vines. As they tightened their grip on the dragon, the spikes crunched against his scale armor, letting out a screeching sound as they clashed.


    Caught by surprise, the green dragon could no longer maintain its flight, crashing into the dense woods beneath like a falling meteor.


    A massive pillar of dust rose to the sky as a powerful shockwave spread through the woods. Everyone could clearly see that the woods in a hundred meter radius around the dragon had been completely flattened by this deafening impact. Countless broken trunks, branches, and wood splinters shot out in every direction under the force of the violent shockwave, further damaging the trees around the area of impact. Numerous leaves fell from endless trees.


    Meanwhile, the Second Grade green dragon had just climbed out of the massive crater and was shaking its head in pain. Suddenly, countless Mages appeared from the woods around it and spells blasted at it one after another.


    The green dragon straightened its body in anger and was about to unfold its wing to escape from these despicable and shameless enemies. However, its body suddenly faltered as several thick green vines burst forth from the ground once again, rapidly entangling the dragon and keeping it bound to the ground.


    The very next second, the violent spells exploded and devoured the green dragon''s silhouette amidst its fearful and angered roars.


    The green dragon did indeed have exceptional magic resistance, but it also had limits. When faced with so many terrifying attacks, even he couldn''t help but cry out in pain, despite his powerful defenses.


    The surrounding Mages were well aware of the green dragons'' high magic resistance. As such, they did not use pure elementium spells, instead opting for spells with more mixed attributes and physical damage.


    Repeatedly, spells like Crimson Fireball, Magma Fireball, Violent Soundwave, and Space Distortion violently raged against the green dragon''s body. The large dragon scales were blasted into pieces and the flesh beneath was quickly eaten away by the horrifying tide of spells.


    Just as the green dragon frantically struggled against the tide of spells and the green vines, even more opportunistic fellows swarmed out of the forest. Bloodthirsty magic wolves with rotting coats of dark fur, violent apes betraying a reckless and fearless light in their bloodshot eyes, slim and small bloodsucking bats screeching as they flew, as well as seven or eight odd beetles with green wings and black shells spotted with corpse spots...


    These beasts took advantage of the green dragon being entangled by the vines and endured the bombardment of the Mages as they leapt onto the green dragon''s body, frantically devouring the exposed flesh.


    The pain of being eaten alive put the dragon through intense agony. It opened its large mouth, and a terrifying breath of poison mist covered its own body.


    The extremely corrosive poison mist instantly killed large swathes of the enemy.


    All the beasts engulfed by the poison mist melted into a sticky green liquid in an instant, as if they had been thrown into a pool of acid. Even their tough bones couldn''t be preserved when they came into contact with the mist. The frail vampire spawn were the weakest of all. Contact with the mist would melt them into a pool of green liquid in three to five seconds as they screeched in agony.


    Only those odd beetles seemed completely unbothered by the poison breath of a Second Grade green dragon. They continued to stubbornly bite away at the green dragon''s flesh. The green vines seemed to possess powerful corrosion resistance as well, as they did not burn away under the green dragon''s breath.


    The green dragon was extremely angered. Its wounded body struggled desperately to break free of the vines, while its bony dragon''s tail that resembled a massive meteor hammer swung upwards, finally crushing one of the odd beetles into a fine paste of blood.


    A peculiar bug screech rang out through the woods, and the beetles seemed to have received some sort of instructions. All of them crawled to the underbelly of the dragon, crouching and eating at the flesh there. This was a very advantageous position. With the dragon''s massive body, and its immobility in this situation, it was extremely hard for it to have its attacks reach its underbelly.


    Loud dragon roars filled the skies, and instantly the sky was blotted out by the massive bodies of the green dragons!


    The other three green dragons, still carrying the dragon knights on their backs, dove downwards like arrows shot from a bow, trying to save their companion.


    Sir F¨¹gen, who remained levitating above the canopy, waved the staff in his hand several times and once again summoned countless green vines to rise into the skies from the surrounding woods, wrapping towards the charging green dragons.


    Slash. Slash. Slash...


    Three blinding suns suddenly rose on the backs of the dragons. Violent and concentrated energy blades clashed with the green vines. The vines that were able to resist even the powerful poison breath of a green dragon were unable to endure the Third Grade dragon knights'' violent attacks, instantly being shredded to pieces and falling apart.


    In the time the green vines retreated, the three dragon knights slashed at the trapped green dragon''s side and the vines extending from beneath the ground were quickly cut.


    The unrestrained green dragon broke free of its bindings in anger, forcing away its enemies with a large breath of green poison mist before taking to the skies with all its strength, struggling and stumbling as it did so.


    Sadly, its badly wounded dragon wings were no longer able to support its continued flight through the sky.


    Its left wing was completely broken, dragging behind its body and unable to be unfolded. The tip of its right wing had been cut off and several large holes had appeared on it. The wounds on his chest, below his ribs, and on his abdomen were the most severe. Large patches of dragon scales were missing and the wounds were bloody and messy. One could see the thick tendons and white bones within the green dragon''s body through the missing flesh.


    Such terrible injuries had clearly robbed it of its ability to fly.


    After struggling slightly in the air, the green dragon cried sorrowfully as it fell downwards.


    Sharp winds whistled in the sky. An even larger and more muscular green dragon dove down, enduring the tide of spells and grabbing its companion''s body with its strong hind claws. It beat its wings and flew into the sky with strenuous effort.


    The dragon knight standing on the back of the green dragon waved his longsword, and one after another, bright flame blades blasted out, destroying the incoming spells in terrifying flashes of sword light. Even so, the spells that made it through his defenses and blasted on the two green dragons still caused them to let out muffled grunts of pain.


    Dragon scales and dragon skin had exceptional magical and physical resistance; any other flying magical creature would already have been shot down from the skies.


    Two massive green breaths engulfed the nearby woods. The other two dragon knights had come to help with the remaining green dragons. The evil Mages quickly scattered and ran through the terrifying dragon breath and the dragon knights'' terrifying blade radiances, finally giving the two surrounded dragons some breathing room.


    The green dragons were finally able to fly away from the Mages'' battlefield with much difficulty!


    ...


    2144 Words

 Chapter 222 - 222: Faith

    Neither side seemed to have sustained any deaths in this first battle, but the knights had clearly lost a powerful ally.


    Willis felt anger rise in his heart at his green dragon companion''s severe injuries, but he grit his teeth and suppressed his emotions.


    He waved his hand and the witcher-knight army, already waiting in formation, started to advance slowly.


    The humiliation and pain the Mages inflicted on him would be paid back tenfold... a hundredfold. And the price they will be paying in would be their lives!


    Willis could already tell that the number of Mages on the other side were not very many. There were at best only two dozens of them. Moreover, most of them were low-grade Mages. There wasn''t a single high-grade Mage among them that could make him feel fear and respect.


    If that was all the force the enemy had, Willis was certain that the army was not needed. He alone, along with the dragon knights, would be more than enough to exterminate these evil Mages.


    However, for some odd reason, every time Willis looked at the gigantic Mages'' tower in the distance, an indescribable and irrational fear would rise up in his heart. It was almost as if... as if there were some terrifying demon there, its mouth wide open, waiting for him to enter.


    It was precisely this sense of fear that caused Willis to recall the green dragons and have the witcher-knights advance instead. If there were truly any terrifying traps in that tower, the six thousand witcher-knights would be enough to force it out.


    What Willis needed to do was lead the green dragons to drive in the most ferocious killing blow, once all the hidden enemies had shown their ugly faces.


    The green dragon squad was a dagger to slit the enemy''s throat, while the witcher-knights were a hammer to crack the enemy''s tough shell. He knew this very well!


    Eleven muscular and powerful radiant knights appeared at the front of the formation. The intense light of energy radiated from their bodies. They would be the ones to lead the most savage charge at the enemy later. The ninety-eight spellbreaker knights formed groups of two, with a group of a hundred witcher-knights following behind each pair.


    They were in the middle of a vast stretch of forest, with no flat paths for them to start a charge. However, the knights in shining armor still pulled down their visors and pushed their magic colts forward slowly. The might and glory of an army several thousand men strong still caused the onlooking Mages to feel a little nervous.


    The knights'' army had slowly begun to accelerate!


    Sir F¨¹gen looked at the iron knights slowly closing in. While caressing the snake-eye ring on his left little finger, he coldly ordered, "Start Operation Plague!"


    With his order, strange ripples started to repeatedly spread across the forest. Wherever the ripples passed through, the witcher-knights and the colts under them would start to go into a panic. Some of the magic colts would even frantically jump about while whinnying, tossing the knights off their backs.


    The colts were behaving abnormally, but the knights weren''t much better either!


    Some witcher-knights started to clutch their throats tightly, painfully breathing as they did so. It felt like their internal organs had been set on fire. The searing pain was unbearable. For one moment, the entire witcher-knight army was in chaos as witcher-knights struggling in pain could be seen everywhere.


    The muscles on Willis'' face started to twitch violently.


    Dammit! This wasn''t a spell. It was a scheme!


    With their bodies'' exceptional strength and magic resistance, no spell could silently invade the bodies of witcher-knights. However, just looking from above, over half of the six thousand witcher-knights were having an extreme reaction to the ripple earlier. This could only mean that the evil Mages had long ago done something to their bodies. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Willis knew the only way they could so was through poisoning the food and water in the military camp.


    These idiots! Not realizing it even after they had long been poisoned!


    Willis glared angrily at Windsor, the radiant knight leader standing right beside him. He drew the large knight''s sword from his waist and stood tall on the back of the green dragon Aufreyr as he shouted loudly.


    "Eliminating the darkness, protector of the weak, fearless!


    "This is the day we die in battle for our conviction and glory as knights.


    "Charge! Charge! Charge!"


    Something extremely odd happened. As Willis loudly shouted the motto that the witcher-knights firmly believed in, a faint golden radiance, so faint it was hard to be seen, started to glow within his body. The radiance was like a powerful dispelling halo. Wherever it went, the light would instantly cause the witcher-knights to return to normal.


    The knights, now freed from the pain and chaos they were struggling in earlier, did not have elementium sight and naturally could not easily see this golden radiance. They thought of their recovery as an effect of their strength of conviction. They drew their runic longswords, loudly chanting the motto of the knights, and charged forward with all their might.


    As the witcher-knights that chanted the motto slowly increased, the golden radiance began to surround every one of them, so dense it looked as if all of the knights were wearing golden armor. With the help of this golden radiance, most of the plague virus that had been ignited by the mysterious ripples within the witcher-knights'' bodies was eradicated, allowing them to regain their ability to fight.


    Even if there were viruses remaining, most of them were suppressed within the depths of their bodies with no opportunity to cause any trouble.


    Bastard! What was this? Shouting two stupid sentences allowed them to endure the effects of the plague viruses? How are we supposed to fight now?


    At this moment, countless Mages roared and cursed frantically in their hearts. Only Mage F¨¹gen narrowed his eyes and stared at the holy radiance in the distance that had expanded into a massive golden sea. He muttered resentfully in his heart, "The power of faith! Dammit! It''s the power of faith!"


    It was only now that he truly understood why the Fourth Grade Willis was called a Holy Knight. It seemed Willis had basic mastery over the use and function of the power of faith, and was already able to use it on a battlefield.


    Much like the elementium powers used by the Mages, the power of faith was also a kind of power. Moreover, it was a power that was at another level when compared to elementium abilities.


    One could say that elementium powers were the concentration of large amounts of elementium particles, using Spirit as a medium to bind them together and allow them to display their unique traits. However, the power of faith was much more intangible.


    The source of it was the soul. When many souls believed devoutly in a certain idea, an unknown force would naturally gather and concentrate into the manifestation of this idea. Even if it was just a normal wooden carving or a stone statue, as long as there were enough people worshipping it, unknown power would gather around it, allowing it to have mysterious powers that would be incomprehensible to outsiders.


    At this moment, the Fourth Grade holy knight had become the bastion of faith for all of the witcher-knights and was obviously the object of all their faith and devotion. When he loudly chanted the inspiring knights'' motto, he lit a fire in the soul of all the witcher-knights.


    The power of faith that had accumulated over decades started to spread, allowing the numerous witcher-knights to be miraculously healed, and allowed them to regain their combat strength.


    Mage F¨¹gen was able to provide the most logical explanation, using his vast knowledge of magic, when faced with this odd phenomenon. However, the witcher-knights involved had no idea that this was the case. Ignorant fools were the most fearless. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because their hearts and beliefs were sufficiently pure, all of the witcher-knights thought of this phenomenon as a miracle of the great holy knight.


    Thus, their burning conviction became even more resolute and passionate!


    Bright red or blue runic energies started to spread rapidly across their runic longswords as they raised them high above their heads. With ear-deafening roars, the witcher-knights rushed towards the war tower.


    Dammit, we need to find a way to eat away at these knights'' power of faith! Otherwise, these fellows protected by the power of faith were like a bunch of knights bearing powerful energy shields. Even all the Mages added together would not be enough to stop their ferocious attacks.


    Mage F¨¹gen roared loudly in his heart while twisting the snake-eye ring on his finger, sending a message to a person in the distance.


    "We are all counting on you! Find a way to blunt the knights'' edge! The clan will compensate you doubly for all the losses that result from this. Do it!"


    Leon, who had been hiding in the forest all along, received Sir F¨¹gen''s magical message, and could only shake his head bitterly. The Mages'' base might actually fall if he didn''t put some effort into this massive battle today. With the skin gone, what can the hair adhere to? Once the base had been destroyed, they, the invading Mages, might not have the chance to successfully retreat back to the clan''s pseudo plane.


    Even Leon felt a chill creep within his heart when he thought of being stranded in this alternate world and being pursued by hordes of witcher-knights.


    Screw it! I''ll give it my all this time!


    Leon made his decision. His hands reached into the front of his robe and unceasingly tossed out shiny golem summoning cores one after another. As the dense elementium particles quickly gathered, a massive dust cloud rose at the area he was in. The intensity of this earth elementium flux was so great that even Holy Knight Willis, standing at the back of the army, couldn''t help but look in Leon''s direction.


    Dong. Dong. Dong...


    The sound of heavy footsteps rang out from the dust cloud, as golem after clay golem, as tall as a human, marched out and charged at the witcher-knights'' formation.


    It would have been fine if it was only a dozen elementium golems. However, as the yellow dust cloud continued to expand, and the surging clay golems continued to increase, even some Mages who were originally looking on with disdain in their eyes couldn''t help but betray a solemn expression.


    This fellow. Through what means was he able to control so many elementium golems at once?


    The yellow dust cloud rumbled as something even more shocking happened. A massive snake made solely of rock and stone emerged from within, quickly slithering outwards. Everyone frowned when they saw its large body, as wide as water tanks, and when they felt the ground tremor.


    But this wasn''t over yet.


    One, two, three...


    When five stone serpents emerged from the dust cloud and charged towards the battlefield behind the clay golem army, all of the witcher-knights couldn''t help but feel nervous.


    Dammit! How were they so many of them?


    ...


    1879 Words

 Chapter 223 - 223: Hunting

    The expected collision did not happen!


    Leon hadn''t had a brain stroke yet. He wasn''t nearly dumb enough to have the clay golems clash head on with the witcher-knights wrapped in their steel armor.


    Of course, if these were all stone golems instead of clay golems, Leon wouldn''t mind appreciating a glorious clash between steel and stone! However, it was probably best to forget it since they were made of clay.


    Clay golem after clay golem sunk into the dirt beneath them before they even made contact with the witcher-knights. Numerous dirt pillars half as tall as a man and as thick as a child''s arm rose from the ground, spreading across the path of the knights'' charge.


    The witcher-knights were the most powerful force on this plane after all. Each one of them had exceptional riding skills and agility. They commanded the colts under them to leap up and dive low, sometimes even jumping towards a tall tree and bouncing off of it to avoid the impediment of the dirt pillars.


    Moreover, the radiant knights and spellbreaker knights standing at the very front of the formation were using all their strength to let out violent blades of flame and ice, ravaging through all the obstacles on their way forward. The clay golems responsible for hindering the army''s progress could only change their battle plan when faced with such powerful enemies. They started to create swamps that covered large areas to slow the enemy down.


    Numerous forests of dirt pillars and endless patches of quicksand and swamps filled the battlefield. Even though the clay golems hadn''t killed a single witcher-knight, they had effectively slowed them down and stopped their march forward.


    While the witcher-knights fell into slight chaos, some clay golems would emerge from the woods nearby and attack the enemy using Spear of Mud as well as Earth Spike. Small skirmishes between clay golems and witcher-knights erupted everywhere on the battlefield.


    The clay golems'' ferocious attacks disrupted the neat formation of the knights, splitting the entire battlefield into countless smaller, chaotic battlefields.


    It was unfortunate that the clay golems'' attacks were still on the weaker side. The mud spears they threw at the witcher-knights were unable to pierce that layer of golden armor formed by the golden radiance that gathered about the knights. Some clay golems that were unable to escape into the ground in time had even been hacked to pieces of dirt and stone by the furious knights.


    The nearly one hundred clay golems were disappearing at a speed that was visible even to the naked eye!


    The only ones that managed to cause some damage were the five stone serpents. Every time they dug up out from beneath the ground, the rocks and sand they sent everywhere, as well as their savage bites, were able to throw entire knight squads into complete disarray. Regardless of how powerful the knights'' armor of faith was, it wouldn''t be enough to endure the twelve-ton weight of the stone serpents'' bodies. All of the witcher-knights that were targeted by the stone serpents were inevitably squashed into blood paste.


    However, every time the stone serpents rampaged about the battlefield, their massive bodies would be hacked at by numerous violent knight battle techniques, sending rocks flying everywhere as their bodies slowly cracked and fell apart. If they took too much damage, the stone serpents could only burrow into the ground and wait for their bodies to slowly regenerate.


    Most of the time, this group of pseudo-Mage level stone serpents could only throw the enemy lines into disarray. It was impractical to count on them to slaughter the witcher-knights en masse.


    Leon had transferred the battlefield command of these golems to the chip in his mind after he summoned all the golems he had. With the detailed and dynamic commands of the chip''s superior computing power, as well as its complete understanding of the overall situation in this battleground, this group of golems might continuously suffer casualties but they also effectively contained the momentum of the knights'' army.


    With the aid of the chip, Leon no longer needed to put in his own effort to command hundreds of individual fights. All he needed to do was to focus on himself and live up to his title as a master of pyromancy.


    Leon freely roamed about the battlefield.


    He turned into a terrifying Flame Fiend three meters tall, with violent elementium flames surging about his body, and slowly walked into the battlefield one step at a time. The soft black dirt would be turned into half-molten boiling lava everywhere he went. A red and black path of magma could be clearly seen where he walked.


    Leon gripped the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his right hand and held the Scroll of Voodoo open in his left. The pages of the ancient tome incessantly flipped on its own, adding a sense of mystery to Leon.


    Leon was not willing to use up the six instant-cast spells stored within the Scroll of Voodoo. To maximize his combat strength, he had replaced the spells within it with all kinds of powerful large area-of-effect fire spells such as the devastating Fire Core Explosion and Firestorm.


    Use them to slaughter these witcher-knights before him? Honestly, Leon was not willing to waste it on these small fries!


    Leon slowly strolled forward, lightly waving the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand as he did so and lobbing several Magma Fireballs into the areas where the witcher-knights were packed the densest. Meanwhile, Leon blasted the fools that dared to rush at him into pieces with violent Chain Fireballs. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The armor of faith might be able to help them endure simple spells, but when faced against the continuous bombardment of the Chain Fireballs, even the thickest armor in the world wouldn''t be able to save them.


    Brave knights repeatedly charged forward while shouting the knights'' motto, only to be blasted to the ground by the exploding fireballs. Before they could even get up, the next fireballs would arrive and cause the damage to quickly stack up, break through the armor of faith, and blast apart the armor on their bodies before they were consumed by the surging tide of fire.


    The witcher-knights were humans with blood and flesh after all. Without the protection of their shields and the blessing of their faith, even the most exceptional magic resistance would be no more than a joke before the savage fireballs!


    Fireballs exploded everywhere, sending blood and flesh splashing in every direction!


    The witcher-knights targeted by the Chain Fireballs had no means of escaping the area that was ravaged by flames. Their bodies, along with the bodies of the magic colts beneath them, would be torn into unrecognizable pieces of flesh in a matter of seconds.


    Moreover, the runic arrows they shot in retaliation were mostly blocked by the Magma Shields constantly spinning around Leon''s body. Ever since Leon''s protective spell had been upgraded from the Fire Shield, to the Inferno Shield, to the current Magma Shield, his defensive strength had gone up exponentially.


    Now any attack with less than 150 points of damage had no chance of destroying the Magma Shields in one shot. Attacks that dealt less than 150 damage could still deal some harm to the shields. However, the shields quickly regenerated as Leon continuously used his Spirit to repair them.


    As such, even though the Magma Shields had already been filled with runic arrow, they were unable to wear away at its defensive strength.


    Even the occasional arrows that made it through were unable to pierce the magma armor on Leon''s body. As intense waves of flame surged out from Leon''s body, those arrows would be burned white hot before melting like wax and turning into puddles of molten iron.


    On the other hand, there were witcher-knights that tried to charge forward and engage in close range with Leon. Leon''s answered that with a flurry of strikes from his flame whip. The flame whip composed of pure and concentrated flames would cause intense burns wherever it hit a person''s body. If it managed to wrap around a knight''s body, Leon would immediately set the person on fire the very next second.


    Leon might be an elementium Mage, but when he transformed into the frightening Flame Fiend he would have astounding combat strength that rivalled the actual Abyssal Flame Fiends. Fireballs were his means of attacking from a distance. The flame whip was his answer for fools that tried to close in. Any closer, and Leon would use his colossal burning executioner''s blade.


    A three meter tall flame humanoid waving around a massive executioner''s blade made of flame and magma was enough to cut down swathes of enemy without the use of any battle techniques.


    It was such a dominating weapon that even being close to it would cause one to feel an overpowering sense of oppression, as well as a burning sensation that ravaged the entire body. Moreover, Leon''s Ring of Fire extended for thirty meters around him and was a domain-type spell. Any living beings made of flesh and blood that came within thirty meters of himself would have to endure fire damage as high as 13 points per second.


    This also meant that a fit, empty-handed human male entered Leon''s Ring of Fire, he would die before two seconds had passed. The witcher-knights fared slightly better, but even they could only endure the burning for twenty-seven seconds at the very best. Moreover, this was with the help of the armor of faith. Otherwise this duration would be cut in half.


    Everywhere he went, Leon would leave behind the struggling shapes of countless witcher-knights. And everywhere he walked past he would leave behind the charred remains of squad after squad of witcher-knights.


    Of course, Leon''s unscrupulous and bloody killing had drawn the anger of the radiant knights. They slapped their horses and raised their runic longswords, bright as torches, high above their heads and roared as they charged towards him.


    Leon had no intention of confronting radiant knights.


    Every time this happened he would pause for a moment, and with a blast of magical flames his massive flaming body would vanish. The very next second, the terrifying Flame Fiend would appear in another area a hundred meters away.


    The messy, chaotic battlefield was clear as day like an open book in Leon''s mind, with the wind critters looking on from above and the clay golems below. Not a single change in any of the battlefields within one and a half kilometers of Leon could escape his perception.


    Every second, countless streams of vague information would flood in from the numerous points of consciousness Leon had established on his golems. And with the chip''s filtering and analysis of the massive amount of data, Leon was able to clearly grasp an understanding of the battles around him. This allowed him to constantly go where it was the most advantageous for him.


    The battlefield he entered would never have radiant knights fighting in them. The path he walked down would never put him within a large group of spellbreaker knights. As for those determined witcher-knights¨C as long as they didn''t band together in excessively large numbers, they were unable to cause any real harm to Leon.


    The battlefield was chaotic, with numerous opportunistic Mages sneaking into the battles to start a slaughter along with the hordes of clay golems and voodoo beasts rampaging about the enemy lines. Even those radiant knights that wanted to pursue Leon could only chase behind him for a bit before having their attention drawn away by a new enemy and falling into another round of battles.


    Through the sacrifices of a large number of clay golems and voodoo beasts, Leon turned into a predator on the battlefield, fearlessly hunting his prey!


    ...


    1972 Words

 Chapter 224 - 224: A Display of Power

    Leon shook his head when he saw Knight Windsor standing at a distance, engulfed in the bright radiance of runic energy. With a single Fire Teleportation, he left the spot.


    A hundred meters away, in an area sparse with trees, a group of a hundred witcher-knights under the lead of two spellbreaker knights were hacking away at a group of wolf-like voodoo beasts.


    All of a sudden a halo of flames exploded amongst their ranks.


    A bright red light flashed before his eyes and as everything in his vision blurred and shook, Leon appeared on the scene.


    Once everything in his vision started to stabilize, Leon straightened his body and looked at the witcher-knights around him still seated high on their magic colts. A wicked grin appeared on his face made of flame and magma.


    A light-red Ring of Fire blasted outwards from his body, instantly covering an area thirty meters around him. All the trees, bushes, vines, and plants in the area started to wither and burn. Even the ground itself became scorched earth.


    Weng. Weng. Weng...


    The sound of snapping bowstrings rang out from runic bows as runic arrow after runic arrow, shrouded in concentrated ice energies, froze the Magma Shield into a bright blue shield of ice. Occasionally, three or four runic arrows would slip through and embed themselves in Leon''s thick body of flames, leaving a fleeting blue flash in the sea of bright red flames.


    Leon roared loudly, waving the Fire Lord''s Scepter in his hand continuously. He summoned the terrifying ten-meter tall Fire Deity before tapping the scepter once more and ferociously bombarding the area around him with violent Magma Fireballs.


    The courageous witcher-knights wove about his body, using their ice longswords to leave striking sword cuts on Leon''s body and shield every time they passed by. However, the only thing waiting for them was the violent and savage Magma Fireballs and Chain Fireballs.


    Leon had realized that those so-called ''powerful'' and ''devastating'' spells had no place on a chaotic and dynamic battlefield. There was no time or space to cast such spells.


    You would lock onto a worthy enemy and start chanting and preparing a powerful spell such as the Fire Core Explosion. However, the moment you were done preparing, you would awkwardly realize that the enemy had long since ran away, or that another wave of enemies had appeared before you, hiding your target from sight.


    Whenever this happened, your only choice would be to waste the powerful spell on some low-level, weak ''trash'' that wasn''t even worth killing. This was intolerable for the Mages! They had to precisely manage every bit of their Spirit consumption at every moment!


    However, a mere elementium fireball, while quickly cast and launched, only had an attacking strength of a mere 30 points. It was hard to deal lethal damage to the enemy through their armor of faith and knights'' armor with such a weak attack.


    After some consideration, the swiftly cast yet sufficiently powerful Magma Fireball become the natural choice for Leon''s battlefield slaughter!


    The Magma Fireball itself possessed 45 points of fire elementium damage, along with around 15 points of physical damage when the fireball exploded. Moreover, the fireball sent lava splashing in a ten meter radius. With the 30% flame damage increase from his flame mastery, Leon forcefully elevated a simple and crude fire spell to a powerful area-of-effect spell.


    If a witcher-knight was hit directly by a Magma Fireball, his mortality rate was a 100%. Meanwhile, those individuals that were engulfed by the lava splash in the ten meter radius also had a mortality rate of 34%. On the other hand, while much stronger than the witcher-knights, the spellbreaker knights did not dare to engage Leon within the sea of flames either.


    Leon''s Flame Fiend Transformation combined with the Ring of Fire was too overpowering. The witcher-knights did not dare to even enter the area covered by the faint red light, choosing to roam around the outside while retaliating with their runic bows.


    Only the two spellbreaker knights, along with four or five fearless witcher-knights, dared to charge to Leon''s side and trade blows with him. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Magma Shield floating around his body was finally unable to endure the combined attacks of the two spellbreaker knights and exploded into several magma pieces. Leon''s body had also sustained a dozen slashes from the witcher-knights.


    Intense flame waves and terrifying lava surged out from the slashes, instantly igniting a witcher-knight stopping by Leon''s side. He held his charred face filled with blisters in his hand as he crouched on his magic colt, screaming as he escaped from the battlefield.


    Leon, on the other hand, let out several muffled grunts.


    After all, once he had completed the Flame Fiend Transformation, the flame and lava on his body was equivalent to his blood and flesh. Continuous attacks would cause damage to him even with his now boosted Physique.


    Leon violently ordered the Fire Deity to self-destruct. Taking advantage of the enemies being stunned by the ensuing flame shockwave, he quickly cast a spell and instantly killed a spellbreaker knight with a powerful Fire Core Explosion. He then re-positioned himself in a blast of fire.


    Leon didn''t choose the middle of the witcher-knight as the destination of his Fire Teleportation this time. Instead, he appeared in the woods beside a group of three hundred witcher-knights.


    The sudden explosion of his flame halo was still as conspicuous as ever. As a result, the moment Leon appeared, he was instantly greeted by a hail of ice arrows and four or five savage energy blades.


    The Magma Shield Leon had just concentrated around himself once more instantly started to tremble and fall apart.


    Leon grit his teeth and endured this series of attacks as he waved his scepter and summoned another Fire Deity. Then he raised his right hand high above his head and launched a Magma Fireball at the group of witcher-knights.


    The knights, however, were clearly prepared. Another wave of ice arrows and energy blades instantly shredded the Fire Deity to pieces, blasting the Magma Fireball in the air and causing it to explode in a cloud of flames as it did so.


    Leon let out another muffled grunt. The Scroll of Voodoo in his left hand started to flip rapidly before stopping on a page with a Meteor Shower stored within it. Leon hesitated for a moment, as he was still unwilling to waste this powerful instant-cast spell on this group of witcher-knights. He could only wait for the cooldown of Fire Teleportation before moving away once again.


    There wasn''t just one or two Mages roaming about like Leon in this chaotic battlefield. Every Mage that dared to fight alone had their own unique style of combat, as well as their own unique means of slaughtering enemies.


    The ones that drew Leon''s attention the most were Blake, Marionette, and Hyde.


    After going just a few days without seeing him, Worm Controller Blake''s abilities had improved significantly.


    There were no longer just ordinary scorpions and flying bugs swarming around him. Thrown into the mix were a group of odd beetles half as tall as a man, with black shells and green wings. The black shells on these beetles were extraordinarily tough. Even the witcher-knights shining runic longswords could not deal any damage to them, only leaving behind a shallow mark on the shells.


    The knights needed to hack away at the same spot numerous times before they could pierce through the armor and deal lethal damage. On the other hand, this group of strange beetles only needed to from groups of two to three and they could easily tear apart a witcher-knight.


    Even the armor of faith could not stop the beetles'' sharp claws from piercing the knights'' bodies.


    Leon saw with his own eyes the toughness of these beetles. A black beetle was hit by a spellbreaker knight''s violent flame blade. It flipped about in the air several times before regaining its balance, with no damage done to its beetle shell. This clearly demonstrated that the outer shell of the black beetles had even more resistance towards elementium and energy damage compared to physical damage.


    Carcass beetles!


    Who knew that Blake had actually managed to cultivate a swarm of them.


    Even Leon grimaced when he looked upon the three dozen carcass beetles swarming about Blake. He started to slowly think about how he would win if he battled with Blake.


    On another battlefield one and a half kilometers away, the Mage known as Marionette had also drawn Leon''s attention.


    Marionette''s movements were slow and stiff. However, he was still able to remain mobile with his ability of teleporting between trees.


    His style of combat was not as violent and unrestrained as Leon''s. Instead, there was an indescribable wickedness and ruthlessness to it.


    He would hide within the trees, waiting for small numbers of witcher-knights to walk by before gaining control over them with his strange puppet strings. After doing so for some time, he would gather a witcher-knight squad of around twenty or thirty men beside him.


    He would then direct this group of puppet knights to attack other witcher-knights. What happened next would be an internal conflict between knights!


    Should the witcher-knights ever pull their punches against the friends they knew so well, against their allies betrayed expressions of pain, they would likely die under the swords of their ''companions''.


    However, it was obvious that the success rate of Marionette''s puppet strings when controlling witcher-knights was not very high. Moreover, the number of puppets he could control was limited. Thus, the battlefields he was involved in were hardly ever as conspicuous as Leon''s, with his Flame Fiend Transformation.


    The other person that attracted Leon''s attention was the powerful Boss Hyde.


    He looked like a robot with metallic tentacles all over his body. Sharp tentacles gleaming with a metallic sheen danced about everywhere around his body. Every witcher-knight that stepped within twenty meters of him would be pierced by numerous sharp tentacles.


    These sharp tentacles had been enhanced with Spells of Piercing and were not something the knights'' armor could defend against.


    They danced in the air, agile and lithe as if they were metallic serpents, launching terrifying piercing attacks from any angle around their enemies. On the other hand, the runic longswords of the witcher-knights, steeped in runic energies, could do absolutely no harm to the tentacles other than sending bright sparks flying everywhere.


    When the enemies surrounding him reached a certain number, countless spinning blades would swarm out from within Mage Hyde''s body, forming a scary wall of blades around him. And all Mage Hyde needed to do was to quickly walk through the ranks of the knights with the wall of blades around him.


    With a single charge he could cut through the entire formation, leaving behind him a bloody path filled with severed limbs.


    If he met an enemy he was unable to beat, Mage Hyde would instantly turn into a metallic top, drilling into the ground and escaping into the distance.


    ...


    1849 Words

 Chapter 225 - 225: Strange

    Compared to the numerous odd tricks up the Mages'' sleeves, the means of fighting available to the knights of this world were way too primitive and crude.


    Even though the spellbreaker knights and the Mages were of the same grade, and weren''t too different in terms of their level of strength, they had no methods of restricting and containing the Mages other than a couple of their battle techniques such as their Flame Blades, Explosive Cross Slashes, and Crescent Moon Slashes.


    In comparison, the Mages had confusingly strange spells and unthinkable means of slaughter. Together, these factors allowed the Mages to easily kill a spellbreaker knight with a single wave of attacks.


    The difference in power between beings of a higher plane and beings of a lower plane was immensely huge, even when compared with the same grade!


    With no other choice, the eleven radiant knights could only split up. Each one of them tagged an Mage and followed closely behind their target. This effectively stopped the Mages'' hunt. Yet at the same time, doing so split up the knight army''s most powerful fighting force.


    Once all of the radiant knights had been lured away, the numerous arrays hidden underneath the battlefield finally activated simultaneously.


    Corrosive acid swamps, wetlands with poison mists, bloodsucking forests filled with vampiric magic vines, quicksand traps... all these terrifying lands of death started to appear one after another, filling up every single piece of land in this stretch of forest.


    The numerous voodoo beasts and ghouls even took advantage of this unique geography that had sprung up to start guerrilla warfare against the witcher-knights. Once a witcher-knight was lured into these areas, there was almost no chance for them to escape alive.


    A radiant knight had charged into a bloodsucking forest to save a dozen-man knight squad and faced the most horrifying nightmare of his life in there.


    Countless bloodsucking magic vines burst out from the ground, wrapping towards him from every direction, their vines gleaming with a metallic sheen. Moreover, dreadful thorns filled the surface of each and every one of those vines, and a horrifying mouth with sharp teeth could be seen at the tips of the vines.


    The radiant knight had to endure immense danger before managing to escape, horribly disheveled by the experience. When he made it out, there were still a few severed vines on his armor. These vines continued to wriggle and move, their sharp wooden thorns scratching against the metal parts. The knight''s magic colt, on the other hand, had been completely covered in a nasty green sap. Wisps of green smoke from corroding flesh rose from its body, letting out a pungent odor.


    The knights'' leader Windsor gazed at the battle from a distance and saw with his own eyes how a group of eight witcher-knights had fallen into an acid swamp when chasing after some voodoo beasts. Half of the knights had accidentally fallen in along with their colts, and were completely dissolved into skeletons within a dozen seconds. The rushing ghouls tackled the remaining knights to the ground, starting another round of bloody fighting.


    There were also the forests filled with poisonous mists. A witcher-knight squad walked into the mist, and one could only hear the angered shouts and roars from within, along with the howls of savage beasts. Not one person could see what was happening inside. That squad of witcher-knights never appeared again.


    Several deadly pieces of land were like death traps that ate humans whole. Any witcher-knights that walked into them would not be able to walk away unscathed. Moreover, the traps had split the wide forest into separate and smaller battlefields, causing the witcher-knights to be unable to rally again and launch their massive charge!


    "Sir?" Windsor grimaced at the sight and turned to the Holy Knight Willis.


    "Have them push forward while keeping an eye out for the hazardous areas. No matter what, we must crush the enemy''s Mage tower! I''ll have the dragon knights act in coordination with you." Willis'' mighty figure stood tall on the back of the green dragon Aufreyr as he replied determinedly.


    "Then I''ll lead the army at the front. It''s up to you here, Sir!"


    Already, after a mere hour''s battle, almost six hundred witcher-knights had already fallen in these woods. Their sacrifices had only caused the deaths of around a thousand voodoo beasts and ghouls.


    Those evil Mages, on the other hand, were like poisonous snakes hiding within their pitch-black holes, waiting silently for the best opportunity to attack. When you finally saw them, it would most likely be their vanishing silhouette after they dealt a killing blow.


    Windsor, who had been commanding the army from the back, was finally unable to hold back his anger when he saw all this. He led the 1500 men in the reserves and charged forward fervently.


    Holy Knight Willis stood behind the army, raising his head and letting out an odd and resonating roar. Three green dragons hiding in the woods behind him took to the skies amidst the roars, carrying the dragon knights on their backs. They unfurled their massive, leathery wings and rapidly glided across the canopy, swooping towards the magic traps on the battlefield.


    Every time they flew over those areas, they would open their mouths wide and let out a massive dragon''s breath. The dense green poison dragon''s breath would sink into the acid swamps and poisonous mist forests, ravaging the entire area.


    Countless voodoo beasts would run out, screeching in pain, as green poison mist slowly rose from their bodies. They never ran far before the ghastly miasma took their lives. One after another, the voodoo beasts collapsed in the forest, their bodies rapidly rotting and falling apart. It was a horrifying scene to behold.


    The ghouls were undead beings themselves and were therefore immune to poison attacks. They climbed up to the canopy with their agile bodies, jumping from the treetops, trying to grab onto the dragons'' bodies and drag them to the ground.


    Most of them were unsuccessful and were blasted away by the violent winds stirred by the green dragons'' flight. Even the occasional ghoul that managed to grab ahold of a dragon would be split in half by the dragon knight riding on the back.


    The green dragons continued to dive downwards, spewing their poisonous breath before pulling back up and going for a dive once more.


    After two or three waves of such attacks, the magic arrays hidden in the ground were finally destroyed. Some of the magic traps started to falter, and the woods returned to normal. However, the pale-white bones and charred bodies left in the empty spaces of the woods served as a clear reminder of the terrifying events that had taken place there!


    ...


    Inside the war tower.


    A dozen Mages were busily and frantically working.


    Their movements were rushed, but not disorderly. Each of them was commanding a large group of robotic beasts, trying their best to finish the last bit of construction.


    The battle on the frontline was well underway! S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The voodoo beasts that the Mages'' base had accumulated over the past fifteen days had been mostly exhausted. And while the elite ghouls were powerful, they were few in number, rendering them inconsequential in such a large battle.


    With no other options left to them, the Mages at the frontline could only rely on the arrays they had set up earlier to hinder the enemy''s progress. However, with the interference of the dragons, the magic arrays were slowly being destroyed and the situation on the battlefield was quickly souring!


    The battlefield had slowly inched forward from two and a half kilometers to a mere kilometer away from the Mages'' base. Some scattered witcher-knights had already been able to break into the area of the base. Even though they had been immediately exterminated by the numerous guards, it still fully highlighted that the Mages were running out of time.


    One hour? Half an hour?


    If they were unable to complete the construction of the war tower before large numbers of witcher-knights flooded into the base, then the fragile tower would not be able to endure the assault of the dragons!


    Thus, when the alarms from the frontline consecutively went off, all of the clan Mages brought out their best efforts, working hard to complete the tower.


    There were a male and a female in a hidden room within the tower. The two Third Grade Mages stood before Mage Sarubo''s human-shaped projection, silently conversing.


    "Lord Sarubo, let us go out to hold back the enemies for a bit! As long as we are able to eat away at one or two of the dragons, we should be able to slow down their progress. This will give us more time to complete the tower!" The one speaking was a female Mage in a green robe, her face hidden behind green mists. However, the greed and excitement in her tone when she said the word ''eat'' was very obvious.


    The purple-robed Mage standing beside her hadn''t hidden his face, but the strange purple eyes spread all over his body sent chills down the spine. Numerous blinking purple eyes could be seen on his neck, face, and his hands. Moreover, it was clear that these eyes weren''t some sort of carving or tattoo, but actual eyes.


    Whenever the eyes were opened wide, and rolling about looking in every direction, anyone would feel a chill right to the bones, feeling fear and respect that came from the bottom of their heart!


    "Indeed, Lord Sarubo. Let me and Sanazar go out and rampage through the enemy ranks. Exterminating those dragons should not be a problem!" Surprisingly, the purple-eyed Mage that seldom spoke opened his mouth and agreed with his companion.


    "No! The two of you rely too much on your physical strength. Even now, you still have yet to complete your analysis on the different planar laws. How much of your prowess can you display under the suppression of these planar laws?" The human projection finally opened its eyes and asked coldly.


    The purple-eyed Mage frowned before replying uncertainly, "Around 45%, I would say!"


    The green-robed female Mage gave a forced smile, "I can only use 35% of my full power."


    "Hmph... " The projection snorted in disdain, "With this little strength, you are, at best, at the peak of Second Grade. It might be no problem for dealing with a few tiny dragons, but if you expose your strength now, the Fourth Grade Holy Knight might choose to act!"


    "Sir, since they have already arrived, why are they not attacking with all their might? What is that Willis fellow waiting for?" The purple-eyed Mage asked, puzzled.


    "Kehkehkeh. You think he doesn''t want to act? I''m the one who''s intimidating him! I''ve split a strand of my Spiritual consciousness and have been using it to pressure and intimidate his will ever since he stepped foot into the woods. This will cause him to feel an unknown terror, yet be unable to find the cause of it. It is because of this that he has become so conservative and passive. Otherwise, he would have brought the dragons and charged straight towards the Mage tower the moment the battle started. Do the two of you think you could stop his attacks?"


    The Third Grade Mages looked at each other, and the respect they felt for Lord Sarubo became even more reinforced.


    To be able to plant the seed of an idea and a feeling within the mind and will of a Fourth Grade planar powerhouse without him noticing, and being able to affect his important decision-making in doing so. This kind of ability was unthinkable!


    The two Mages no longer spoke, but shut their eyes and continued to analyze those annoying planar shackles.


    ...


    1972 Words

 Chapter 226 - 226: Defensive

    The flames of war had slowly inched forward!


    Several areas along the defensive lines had been breached. The witcher-knights rode tall on their magic colts while waving their blinding longswords, frequently appearing at the edge of the Mages'' base. They engaged in deadly battle with the voodoo beasts, robotic beasts, and ghouls standing guard there.


    If the surroundings of the base hadn''t been littered with numerous magic traps, the hordes of witcher-knights would probably have long since swarmed into the base and started their siege on the war tower.


    Even so, the space left for the Mages to maneuver themselves was slowly decreasing as the frontline gradually closed in to the Mages'' tower. A final fighting force was slowly assembling in front of the gates of the tower. Thirteen Mages were defending this spot to their deaths, not giving even an inch of ground.


    Over three hundred summoned beasts and puppets of all kinds were active in this flat, five hundred meter wide battlefield. The weaker voodoo beasts and robotics beasts had already fallen under the butcher''s blade of the witcher-knights.


    The forest to the side of the tower had received even more devastating damage. Vast stretches of flame and ferocious storms were raging everywhere. Once the violent flames had started it was hard to extinguish them. In the blink of an eye, the woods in a radius of several dozen kilometers had been engulfed by a sea of fire.


    Squad after squad of witcher-knights scrambled out of the forest, rallying outside the Mages'' base.


    There were still burn marks on their bodies and faces, left by the licking of flames, while fine cuts and scratches left by wind blades could be seen on their armor. Even though walking through this horrifying place had caused them severe losses, they still pushed forward with all their strength while keeping the hope of victory and hatred for the Mages fresh in their hearts. Finally, they arrived at the base of the domineering Mages'' tower.


    The witcher-knights gathered in pairs as well as groups of three, replenishing and reorganizing their ranks. The nine radiant knights took the lead and led barely four thousand witcher-knights to continue their charge through the Mages'' last defensive line.


    If one turned back to look at what had been left behind on the path here, they would see that the losses were devastating!


    In this narrow strip of forest was less than five kilometers long, yet the massive knights'' army had paid the price of two radiant knights, thirty-three spellbreaker knights, and two thousand witcher-knights to get here. Such terrible losses had exceeded everyone''s expectations!


    This stretch of forest had turned into a graveyard. Everywhere you looked, you could see the broken corpses of witcher-knights and the scattered remains of their loyal colts. Now, all was being consumed as the forest fire spread throughout the land.


    If it hadn''t been for the dragons'' and dragon knights'' continuous destruction from above that destroyed most of the Mages traps, the casualties would likely be significantly larger!


    Compared to the sacrifices of the knights, only two Mages had fallen in battle.


    This also meant that there were a total of seven Mage casualties out of those sent to the knights'' plane by the Sarubo clan. This... this was extremely close to the mental baseline that the clan''s higher-ups had set for themselves. Once the losses were more than nine, the clan wouldn''t be able to rapidly exploit this plane even if it did manage to conquer it.


    The roots of the clan in the World of Mages needed Mages to guard this plane. The two lesser planes in their possession also needed Mages to keep them in check. Withdrawing the main force of Mages within a lesser plane for a short period of time to engage in a planar war would not cause too much effect or impact to the situation in the plane. However, if the main forces of the clan were held back in a certain place for long periods of time, or suffered tremendous losses, the rule of the clan would start to destabilize.


    The successful invasion of the knights'' plane could bring about massive profits for the Sarubo clan, but maintaining their grip over the plane required the presence and of a powerful force. It was the same for the other two lesser planes. If the clan''s main forces were gone for too long, the native resistance would start a new wave of rebellion once they caught wind of the situation. When that happened, massive losses would ensue for the clan!


    Thus, after two Mages had died to the ambushes of dragon knights, the clan''s elders finally decided to strategically withdraw, pulling the defensive line all the way to the gates of the tower.


    As of now, the internal construction of the tower was still keeping eleven Mages busy at work. Only thirteen Mages were left standing guard before the doors, including Second Grade Mage F¨¹gen.


    The ones standing at the very front of the formation were several Mages with tough Physiques. Three of them stood at the very front, with a large swarm of summoned creatures supporting them on the side. Leon and Mage Hyde also possessed supernatural Physiques after their transformations and were thus placed on the right and left flanks to help the defense.


    Most of the Mages stood inside the defensive circle, continuously launching large and powerful area-of-effect spells into the dense knights'' ranks. Those Mages that weren''t proficient at fighting were mostly masters of unorthodox professions. Some of them were throwing out numerous vials or summoning creatures with all sorts of odd abilities, while others dragged out their bags of spell scrolls, frantically casting them at the knights.


    Two Mages, who were masters at curses, were wildly casting, tossing curse after curse of various colors into the areas the where the concentration of the knights was the most compact.


    The witcher-knights at the front had just gotten within thirty meters of the Mages when some disgusting and colorful curse halos fell onto their bodies. Nausea started overcoming them, robbing them of all their strength. It felt like a layer of thick mud had encased their bodies, making even simple actions like raising their hands and feet immensely slow.


    This caused the knights'' most ferocious push to appear in hilariously funny slow-motion.


    Moreover, countless terrifying magical plants continuously burst forth from the ground, entangling, piercing, and sucking the blood of the knights, creating tremendous trouble for the witcher-knights as they struggled forward with difficulty.


    The witcher-knights in the rear couldn''t charge forward with all the chaos in front. They could only sheath their blades and draw their runic bows, sending flame and ice arrows raining down upon the Mages'' defensive circle.


    Such meager elementium damage could not possibly have been any threat to the Mages under ordinary circumstances. However, the enemies were numerous and the Mages were exhausted.


    The three body-refining Mages started to expand and grow into imposing giants. They strode across the battlefield and crushed every witcher-knight in sight under their feet, all while maintaining a protective barrier using all their strength to block the knights'' long-range attacks.


    The body-refining Mages were all immensely powerful and might have been able to endure such intense and concentrated attacks. The blood giants, vine monsters, stone golems, beholders, and other such summoned creatures following beside them, on the other hand, were much weaker. One after another they fell to the ground as they fought, their backs filled with arrows before they disappeared.


    Soon, the valiant knights were able to force their way through the numerous magic traps with their bodies of flesh and blood. They broke into the Mages'' defensive circle and started a melee fight with the them.


    The three body-refining Mages stood guard in front, while Leon was responsible for protecting the left flank.


    Here he had to defend a long and seventy-meter wide defensive line all by himself. All of his golem army had been completely exhausted in the woods earlier. The only ones that could stand before him were the Fire Lord and the Lightning Giant, as well as two pseudo-Mage level water golems.


    Once upon a time, the lightning giant had been Leon''s most reliable and powerful combat golem. However, with his advancement to an Mage, these pseudo-Mage level golems were no longer able to keep up with his footsteps. Even if they occasionally appeared on the battlefield, they would end up as disposable tools.


    Still, no matter how terrible his situation was, it was much better than Mage Hyde''s on the other side.


    No matter what, Leon still had four subordinates to split his pressure with. Mage Hyde had to defend such a wide battlefield alone.


    His robotic body allowed him to have endless stamina as long as he still had Spirit. If it had been any other Mage, just running around clearing up the charging knights would have completely exhausted him.


    Back in the woods, they could still fight while running, fight while flying, or just switch to another area when they met someone they couldn''t defeat. Here, even if the enemy was a squad of spellbreaker knights, the only thing that could be done was to grit your teeth and push forward, defending the base with your life.


    Reinforcements? As long as no radiant knights appeared, the Second Grade Mage F¨¹gen would never lift a single finger.


    Thus, Leon was fortunate enough to be able to spare some of his attention to appreciate the might of Mage Hyde.


    If one considered the nature of Mages, one would come to the logical conclusion that Hyde had hidden part of his powers. However, when the ones charging at him were a group of five spellbreaker knights, hiding any strength would become a difficult task. That is, of course, unless he no longer wanted to live.


    The very next second, Mage Hyde turned into a massive squid with a dozen thick, metallic tentacles. With the exception of his head and smaller portions of his body concentrated in the center, retaining their human shape, the other body parts quickly reassembled into several deadly sharp metallic tentacles, furiously lashing towards the spellbreaker knights.


    No wonder Thunderbird had called him Boss Hyde. He definitely had overwhelming might when it came to melee fighting. Under Leon''s stunned gaze, Boss Hyde sliced the five attacking spellbreaker knights into scattered pieces of flesh.


    Moreover, the price he paid in return were only some trivial wounds!


    Three of the metallic tentacles had been cut off, while another two had sustained different degrees of damage. When Mage Hyde transformed back from squid form to his human form, large areas of his body''s surface were missing. The numerous rapidly spinning gears and bearings in his body started to creak and grind, as if the running of his machinery had started to fall apart. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At this moment, Leon''s luck seemed to have come to an end!


    A radiant knight appeared before him, leading two spellbreaker knights and a hundred witcher-knights in a savage sprint. They roared and let out battlecries as they rushed forward. At this moment, Second Grade Mage F¨¹gen was having a massive fight with two radiant knights at the front of the defensive circle. Even the three body-refining Mages had to silently retreat from the area.


    Due to the limited space on the battlefield, the Flame Fiend Leon transformed into found it difficulty to create a magma pool that was vast enough to hinder the enemy, while the golems under his control were not sufficient enough to hold back such a powerful assault.


    Leon could only bet with his life on the line, shouting as he prepared to fight!


    ...


    1953 Words

 Chapter 227 - 227: Blazing

    With Leon''s current strength, transforming into his Flame Fiend form would cause all of his body''s attributes to increase exponentially, making him much more powerful.


    However, everything has two sides to them!


    It was exceptionally hard to control the massive body of his Flame Fiend form, causing Leon''s movement and attack speed to become severely reduced while he was transformed. The power of his attacks may have increased, but he was much slower. If he met agile opponents like Bleia in this form, his attacks wouldn''t be able to hit their mark.


    Then again, the Flame Fiend''s combat style was more focused on defense and counters, and was therefore much less reliant on his speed.


    Violent fire spells bombarding enemies from afar was the long-ranged combat style. Mid-ranged fighting was a mix of the flame whip and instant cast fire spells. If the enemy managed to close in, then the tandem use of the lava pool and Ring of Fire would still deal massive damage to the enemy.


    Unless the opponent was immune to fire, they could only endure the terrifying flame damage while also hacking away in a furious skirmish with the Leon''s Flame Fiend Leon form.


    As such, Leon didn''t try to avoid the swarming enemies when they charged at him. Instead, he let out a devastating roar and prepared for battle.


    The very existence of the Flame Fiend itself had turned the area he was standing at into a black and red world of magma. Burning waves of flame shot up from the ground everywhere. He stood in the boiling lava and bent to pick up a gigantic magma rock from the ground. It was five meters wide and four meters thick. Leon held it before him and used it shield his body.


    With the temporary magma shield, Leon was able to bear the ice arrow bombardment of the one hundred knights.


    Meanwhile, the two water golems behind Leon had cast a snowstorm in the path of the knights. Savage blades of ice and snow whirled within the chilling winds and covered the knights'' bodies in a layer of ice crystals.


    Some knights with weaker resistance had even been frozen to the spot along with their magic colts, with no other option left to them but to raise their energy shields and bitterly endure being sliced by the sharp ice. Most of the witcher-knights were able to make it through the snowstorm successfully, and appeared before the lava pool where the magma bubbled and the flames burned.


    The radiant knight who led the charge was a middle-aged man with firm muscles all over his body. He had short dark brown hair, intense eyes, a straight nose, and a wide mouth. One look and you could tell he was a tough and stubborn man. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He let out a shout, and the magic colt stood up on its hind legs as two energy blades slashed from 20 meters away at the massive magma shield Leon was holding.


    Shattered rock flew everywhere as magma splashed in all directions. A deep cut in the shape of a cross appeared on the shield.


    Leon peeked out from behind the shield and revealed a wicked smile. A magma fireball the size of a washbasin whistled through the air and flew towards his opponent. Sadly, the magma fireball didn''t make it to its target. Two spellbreaker knight slashed out with energy blades and chopped it into four pieces while it was mid air. The fireball exploded in the air, sending a rain of lava pouring down on the knights.


    As the knights quickly drove their colts away to avoid being burnt alive, the lightning giant that had been hiding in the skies suddenly appeared, bringing with it all the rage of lightning and thunder. Three or four witcher-knights that didn''t manage to defend themselves in time were instantly blasted to smithereens, falling sideways from their colts as their charred remains fell apart.


    At the same time, the Fire Lord that was standing silently behind Leon had also finally completed his casting. As he raised his hands high up, a Scarlet Firestorm instantly exploded in the center of the knights'' ranks and ravaged an area of a hundred meters.


    In Leon''s mind, the chip had already beamed over inspection data that indicated that the eye of the firestorm had reached a tremendous energy level of 117 points.


    To Leon''s understanding, the knights of this plane lacked armor that provided them with resistances. Even the runic equipment on the radiant knights could only endure energy damage of up to 100 points, while the spellbreaker knights'' armor were only able to take 40 points of damage. The witcher-knights, on the other hand, could only defend against energy damage of around 15 points.


    Such terrible armor might be enough to deal with the naturally awakened heretics of this plane. However, it seemed so frail and weak when used against these evil Mages from another world.


    Countless witcher-knights struggled in agony under the combined attacks of the Scarlet Firestorm and the lightning storm, desperately trying to escape from the spells'' area of effect. Their hair, skin, and armor fused together under the sweltering heat. If they weren''t able to escape from the Scarlet Firestorm within three seconds, their bodies would melt like candles into a mess... a mess of unrecognizable grey pulp!


    The middle-aged radiant knight yelled in anger as he saw all this happening around him. He leapt down from his magic colt and ran towards Leon with large strides. The steel warboots he was wearing rapidly turned red as he stepped into the lava. his powerful energy radiance clashed with the intense fire elementium, sending sparks flying into the sky.


    You finally entered!


    Leon had hidden behind this provisional shield all this time, but the chip in his mind had been functioning at its maximum speed. It fed the massive amount of data it had been collecting into the battle-monitoring system and was quickly sending feedback to Leon, providing him with the most ideal action plan for this situation.


    Sir F¨¹gen was engaged with enemies, while the enemy Leon had to face was also a Second Grade Knight. From the difference in the level of their existences, he had no possibility of clashing with this enemy head on!


    Running wasn''t an option either.


    If he abandoned his position, there weren''t too many places he could escape to. Moreover, he would have to face the anger of the Mage leaders if he turned back now. Even though it was far more dangerous to battle with the radiant knight using all his strength, he would at least be able to have an excuse if he retreated from the battlefield, even if he failed to stop the knight and ended with severe injuries.


    He also had the aid of the chip. Combined with the might of the golems, it wasn''t completely implausible that he might be able to cripple or even kill this radiant knight.


    It was most definitely impossible for him to defeat the enemy with his current abilities. However, the chip gave a 17% possibility that he would be able to kill his opponent. That said, the price he would have to pay for this...


    Leon grit his teeth and made his decision when he looked at the radiant knight storming across the lava.


    Kill!


    The twenty meter gap was quickly closed. Leon raised the massive magma shield with both of his hands and threw it with all his strength just as the powerful radiant knight reached him. This magma shield whistled as it flew out, smashing towards the opponent as viscous red-hot lava continued to flow on top of it.


    The scalding heat wave blasted towards the knight even before the stone had reached him!


    Clang! A metallic sound rang out.


    A single powerful slash from a runic longsword filled with energy radiance split the one-meter thick magma shield in half. It was no longer able to bear the radiant knight''s domineering strength nor the damage from the runic energies. The two halves flew past each side of the knight, grazing him as they passed by.


    The radiant knight, having cleared all obstacles between him and his enemy, took a massive leap into the sky. The shining runic longsword drew a terrifying cross in the sky, slashing towards Leon.


    The Flame Fiend that Leon had transformed into was exceptionally tough and durable. It even had numerous magical protections and an armor of magma. However, all of these added together was not much stronger than that magma shield. If he stood still and let his enemy hack away at him, then his entire body might actually have been penetrated by the enemy.


    The Flame Fiend, its entire body made of black-red magma and terrifying flames, took a step backwards. Its massive hand of magma reached outwards, intercepting the radiant knight''s longsword.


    Aooooo...


    A howl of pain and agony rang out. Leon raised his head and screamed. The hand he extended forward had been pierced by the longsword all the way to the hilt. Moreover, the violent runic energies within the longsword were surging out, sending blade beams flying everywhere and mincing Leon''s entire right arm into a rain of fire.


    It was at this moment!


    The mental flux from Leon''s mind quickly trembled as he endured the intense pain from his body. As he stumbled backwards, the Fire Lord behind him finally activated the spell it had been preparing for so long.


    Fire Prison!


    The molten lava Leon had painstakingly created quickly gathered and rose under the radiant knight''s feet, forming a prison and trapping the knight within.


    The middle-aged radiant knight raised his head and assessed the prison before him. The entire cage glowed with a red light as the radiance of fire flowed across the entire structure. Thick magma pillars held up the walls of the cage with red-hot magma flowing down each of the pillar. The space between the bars was not enough for him to escape.


    The radiant knight raised his runic longsword and a savage bladestorm instantly engulfed the Fire Prison. The magma pillars half a meter in diameter were unable to endure such powerful energy corrosion and instantly snapped in half. Sadly, before the knight could escape, the lava in the pool surged upwards and repaired the damage done.


    During this time, the lightning giant in the skies had appeared within the prison in a flash. A blinding elementium storm engulfed the space within the prison before the radiant knight could attack again.


    The lightning giant had self-destructed!


    The ferocious tides of lightning crashed against everything inside inside the prison again and again, causing tremendous damage to the entire Fire Prison in the process. If the Fire Lord hadn''t been maintaining the prison with all his strength, it would likely have collapsed long ago.


    The expression of the radiant knight trapped inside quickly changed. He frantically drew from the powerful energies in his runic equipment to fill his body and endure the damage from the lightning explosion.


    At any other time, thirteen seconds might pass by in the blink of an eye. However, at this very moment, thirteen seconds felt like an eternity of suffering!


    Finally, after the explosions from the lightning giant''s self-destruction had finally calmed down, the radiant knight prepared to concentrate his energy to break out from this accursed prison once and for all. At that moment, another elementium golem appeared within the Fire Prison.


    A water golem!


    The next second, ice powers that sent chills down to the very bone ravaged uncontrollably within the cage, turning the inside into a world of ice and snow.


    Eleven seconds later, another water golem charged into the cage and self-destructed!


    ...


    Having endured the continuous self-destruction of three elementium golems in a row, the radiant knight coughed up blood as he hacked at the magma pillars and broke free.


    Just when he was finally able to stabilize himself, he raised his head to find an extremely menacing and blinding scarlet light staring him in the face before it completely engulfed him.


    It was Blazing Light!


    ...


    2023 Words

 Chapter 228 - 228: Exterminating

    A sun slowly lit up between Leon''s palms.


    This wasn''t any spell that Leon had cast before. Nor was it some sort of magic-infused item. It was a concentration of pure heat and light!


    Leon had abandoned all the external forms of spells and instead concentrated all of the core of his fire powers. He manifested them using the powers of planar laws, causing Blazing Light, the purest form of power, to appear.


    It didn''t have the mixed physical and fire damage of the Magma Fireball, or the terrifying flame shockwave of the Explosive Fireball, and especially not the amazing radius of the Scarlet Firestorm. But having abandoned all of this, what was left to the Blazing Light was intensely concentrated light and... heat.


    It was just a ray of light!


    Its attack radius was not wide. Concentrated within Leon''s palms, it was only as large as an egg and its external form was like a thicker Scalding Ray.


    However, when it shot towards the middle-aged radiant knight''s chest, a massive hole was instantly melted in that delicate and perfect golden armor. Furthermore, the flesh and blood under the armor instantly withered and vaporized when it came into contact with the ray of light. A massive hole had been burnt in the radiant knight''s stomach before he even had the chance to dodge or defend.


    The flesh, blood, tendons, and bones around the wound had also been charred black and sealed the blood vessels. As a result, not a lot of blood appeared around the wound despite it being such a massive gaping hole.


    This was not the end of it. The extreme heat from the light ray quickly sent terrifying energy into the body of the knight. The middle-aged radiant knight felt like he had swallowed a sun. Extreme heat and light radiated from within his body. The light and heat boiled his blood and burnt his body. The excess energy continuously spread out from his skin pores.


    For this one moment, he... he thought he was almost cooked alive!


    The radiant knight''s face paled. Large drops of sweat ceaselessly flowed down his forehead and face. However, before they could even drip down, they were quickly heated and turned into vapor by his boiling hot skin, vanishing without a trace.


    He roared loudly, as surging runic energies flowed from the tip of his sword and formed a barrier of pure energy before him, temporarily blocking that terrifying ray of light. Despite that,as light and heat continued to gather on the barrier, a small indentation started to form and was quickly increasing in size.


    The radiant knight held his hand over the gaping hole on his stomach while using the other hand to muster as much runic energy as he could. He stumbled backwards with all his strength, as if he was trying to escape from the attacking range of the light ray.


    Leon adjusted the direction of the light in his hands with much difficulty, trying his best to place the focal point of the light on the knight. Unfortunately, this attack was an application of fire planar laws that he had just recently thought of. His use of it was extremely ungainly and controlling it was very difficult. Thus, the range of the attack was a pathetic twenty meters. Blazing Light had a great deal of trouble staying locked onto agile targets.


    Two spellbreaker knights charged forward on their magic colts as fast they could, trying to use their bodies to block that terrifying ray of light. They were quickly stopped by the Firelord, and a desperate fight of life and death quickly broke out between the three.


    Seeing that the enemy had almost escaped from his attack range, Leon could only wave his hand and disperse the Blazing Light. He had only been channeling Blazing Light for seven seconds, and already Leon''s massive magma hands had been burnt black as char. Even Leon''s body of flames could not endure such extreme heat!


    Moreover, his right hand was the one he had just regenerated from lava. Looking at the wounds from Blazing Light, he would probably have to find an opportunity to regenerate it again. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon looked at the stumbling and retreating radiant knight, and a cold smile appeared on his ghastly, flaming face. The Scroll of Voodoo hanging on his waist silently flew into his hands and started flipping.


    Not a single one of the six instant-cast spells stored within the Scroll of Voodoo had been used from the start of battle until now. Was it not so that he could use it at a key moment? Now that there was a radiant knight''s head hanging in the balance, would there be a moment more important than this?


    With no hesitation in his mind, the flipping pages of the Scroll of Voodoo finally stopped. A bright flame halo burst forth from the page.


    Fire Core Explosion!


    This single-target fire spell could be said to be the most powerful one amongst the spells Leon had mastered.


    Destructive fire elementium concentrated to their limits would suddenly explode on a spatial node, causing space to collapse and create an area of complete energy annihilation. All living beings caught within this area would suffer destructive and devastating fire energy damage. Initial estimates suggested that the fire elementium damage at the core of the explosion would reach a shocking 115 points.


    It was only because the radius of effect was only a mere one meter that it had been classified as a single target spell!


    The Fire Core Explosion did not explode on the body of the radiant knight, as he was still protection by his energy barrier. Instead, it blew up in front of the knight. Even so, the suddenly exploding spell had successfully annihilated the radiant knight''s energy shield, catching his runic longsword and right arm in the destruction.


    The radiant knight howled in agony.


    The longsword, carved full of unique runic lines, started to let out black smoke. Some of the runes of the blade itself had even been destroyed by the powerful attack. The knight''s entire palm was bloody beyond belief, revealing the black and red tendons beneath, along with his pearl white bones.


    Hua hua hua...


    The pages continued to flip.


    Another magic halo surged forth from the Scroll of Voodoo.


    Explosive Flames!


    This was an area-of-effect spell that closely resembled the Scarlet Firestorm. However, the area covered by the Scarlet Firestorm was supremely massive, causing the fire damage within to be only around 30 points. It was useful for clearing wide areas of a battlefield, but it wasn''t much use against a powerful enemy. Explosive Flames was much more concentrated compared to the Scarlet Firestorm. Its radius was only five meters, but the damage within reached a shocking 70 points.


    This was extremely high damage that could cause dreadful wounds to most enemies!


    Without the protection of the energy barrier, the Explosive Flames successfully engulfed the radiant knight in its area-of-effect. A strange magic rune appeared beneath knight''s feet, and raging flame energies instantly devoured his form.


    The second spell had just been cast, yet Leon didn''t even stop to observe its effects. With a slight nudge of his consciousness, the Scroll of Voodoo in his hands continued to flip.


    Doomsday Volcano!


    Fire Core Explosion!


    Meteor Shower!


    Leon activated five instant-cast spells from the Scroll of Voodoo in one go, one after another.


    As it was the most powerful spell he currently had, Leon had stored two instances of Fire Core Explosion beforehand. It it wasn''t out of consideration for the varying circumstances he could face in the future that might call for different types of spells, Leon would most definitely have stored six Fire Core Explosions within the scroll!


    Even so, the activation of five powerful spells in one go had still brought about a terrifying nightmare for the radiant knight.


    It felt like five powerful fire Mages were attacking him simultaneously at that moment. Moreover, it was as if it were five of the cruelest and savage Mages that were attacking him.


    The excessively rich fire elementium concentrated in a narrow area had severely destroyed the elementium balance there. The scorching heat and terrifying elementium fires gave him the illusion that he was trapped in a plane of pure fire elementium.


    Even a mountain of metal would melt into a pool of liquid under the assault of such powerful fire spells. How much better could a radiant knight with a body of blood and flesh fare!


    A First Grade Mage challenging and succeeding in slaying a Second Grade being would never happen in the World of Mages. The strict planar laws and the massive difference in power caused any hopes of using tricks or superiority to compensate for the difference in grade to turn into a mere dream!


    This also indirectly reflected the strictness of the Grade system within the Mages'' plane.


    However, it was no longer such an absolute situation in a planar war!


    As the surging elementium flames slowly dispersed, a person that had been ravaged by the spells, so much that he no longer looked human, fell out from within.


    The blood and flesh on his body had been withered and carbonized, and the molten armor had fused with his bones, making him look like a golden skeleton from afar. The grim heat had caused his remaining bones to continuously let out white smoke, as if this last remaining part of his existence would also crumble into ashes.


    His runic longsword, knight armor, muscular body, his short brown hair... all the traits that belonged to that radiant knight had completely vanished, leaving behind an unrecognizable skeleton.


    Leon stumbled and reverted his Flame Flame Fiend Transformation.


    Those short seven seconds of Blazing Light had eaten away at the the purest core and source of his body''s fire powers. This was not something that could be recovered by drinking a couple vials of potions. The only way to recover it was to meditate diligently, day after day, in order to have a chance of accumulating by relying on the powers of planar laws.


    After his Blazing Light, the flame spell bombardment had only exhausted to spells within the Scroll of Voodoo. It had not drained any of his Spirit. Otherwise, he might have had to watch the enemy escape before his eyes!


    However, the major exhaustion of his Spirit had completely robbed him of all his strength. He could only grab the golden skeleton with one hand and the Scroll of Voodoo with the other as he stumbled back towards the tower.


    "Worm Controller, you take Flame Demon''s position!" Mage F¨¹gen''s voice rang out from afar.


    It seemed that Mage F¨¹gen was still closely monitoring the battles from behind, even as he was entangled with two radiant knights.


    With this Second Grade radiant knight as his spoils of war, no Mage would still object to his ''desertion'' in the middle of combat. After all, putting themselves into Leon''s shoes, how many among the First Grade Mages here could have the terrifying might needed to exterminate a radiant knight by themselves?


    If it had been any other Mage, they would probably be hounded by the radiant knights, not to mention unexpectedly turning the tables!


    Even those combat Mages that took pride in their abilities couldn''t help but sneak peeks at Leon, even as they were engaged in their own battles. The proud Mage Hyde was included amongst them.


    ...


    1915 Words

 Chapter 229 - 229: Acknowledgement

    Exterminating a Second Grade radiant knight?


    Some Mages might arrogantly think it possible if they hadn''t had any contact with such an opponent. However, after several battles over the course of the invasion, and their multiple run-ins with the radiant knights, all of the First Grade Mages had long since given up on such impractical thoughts.


    The Second Grade knights on this plane might be slightly weaker. However, when they slashed at enemies with their radiant runic longswords, even their most basic physical attacks were as powerful as 60 points of damage, when converted to the measurements used by Mages. Those ferocious knight battle techniques, on the other hand, could even reach a terrifying 120 points of damage.


    This also meant that the Mages'' magical protection and elementium barriers were not enough to shield them from the knights'' attacks if they got close. The most common strategy the knights employed against casters was to raise their energy shields above their heads and charge through the bombardment of spells. Then they would reach the casters'' sides to chop them, and all would be well.


    Simple, violent, direct!


    In fact, so simple that it even seemed laughable.


    But it was precisely with such a strategy that the knights were able to forcefully exterminate all the naturally-awakened casters on this plane. Until they met this bunch of evil Mages from the World of Mages...


    Leon retreated from the battlefield, dragging the golden knight skeleton with him. Meanwhile, Blake led his swarm of carcass beetles and took over his position. The two inevitably passed by each other.


    Blake''s face was obscured by the shadow of his hood. Only his disgusting and protruding lotus-shaped mouth part could be seen. At the instant they passed by each other, he turned and looked at Leon. He spoke with his unique screeching voice, "You are very powerful!"


    Then his gaze mildly swept past the Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s left hand, before rushing onto the battlefield with his bugs.


    The disgusting feeling Leon felt in his heart finally started to dissipate after Blake''s slimy and sticky gaze left his body. When Blake said the words, "You are very powerful!", his bloody and maniacal gaze, his ear-piercing screeching voice, along with the hidden implications behind his words, deeply unsettled Leon.


    If it wasn''t for the Fire Lord silently waiting behind him and one single powerful spell he had specially reserved to defend himself still stored within the Scroll of Voodoo, Leon might have even suspected that Blake was thinking of attacking him!


    Even though Leon was extremely weakened now, he still reserved some strength for a counter-attack. If anyone was unable to suppress their greed, he would be sure to use his most vicious attacks to shatter their foolish thoughts.


    Mages were like large and greedy lone wolves. In usual circumstances, they could band together to devour the enemy. However, if anyone within their pack showed any weakness or lethargy, they didn''t mind getting rid of these weaklings!


    This cruel competition might make it difficult for the Mages to cooperate wholeheartedly, but it also succeeded in repeatedly creating cruel, savage, terrifying, and powerful individuals that could face any situation by themselves.


    In a complex and dynamic battlefield, so called ''teamwork'' wouldn''t be of very much help. In fact, it was the well-rounded Mages that had a better chance of survival. One couldn''t fault the non-combat Mages for treating planar wars as a massive threat to their lives.


    In a chaotic battlefield, you wouldn''t have a body refining Mage to help you deflect the hordes of enemies, nor an elementium Mage to erect an elementium barrier for you. You certainly wouldn''t have an Mage that would bring you along as they retreated... you would always be fighting alone when you were placed in a battle.


    Here you solved all the difficulties you faced by yourself!


    If you ever fell into a dangerous situation because of your own weakness, you couldn''t count on any ''companions'' to valiantly come and save you. The best they could probably do is throw a fireball in your direction and drag a few enemies down with you.


    In the battle happening currently, for example, even though the three body-refining Mages, Leon, and Hyde had set up a crude perimeter, there were still numerous small fries that made their way through. Those Mages being ''protected'' at the perimeter had to deal with the pesky fellows in front of them while exterminating the knights in the distance.


    The auxiliary Mages that lacked self-defense abilities and had to rely on their ''companions'' protection were the quickest to die in such a situation. Perhaps this was why most Esoteric Mages chose to put some effort into elementium spells as well!


    The battles at the perimeter were bloody and brutal, but so were the fights within the perimeter.


    Before Leon could get his exhausted body back through the crowd of Mages, a small squad of witcher-knights charged at him while yelling a pointless battlecry. "Exterminate the evil!" Of course, they quickly fell under the Fire Lord''s violent fire spells.


    The fact that Leon had an Mage-level golem as a bodyguard made him pretty untouchable!


    That said, Leon had to take a surprising five minutes before he could cross a hundred meter distance. Over three dozen witcher-knights had fallen behind him.


    When Leon finally made it to the Mages'' base after much difficulty, every single Mage couldn''t help but greet him, even as they were still engaged in their respective battles. The Mages were generous with paying respects to a companion who could kill a Second Grade radiant knight all by himself.


    Having greeted the Mages and notified Mage Keoghan, Leon slowly withdrew behind the gates of the tower. He found a safe spot within it and started a basic treatment of his body''s wounds.


    He took out a Tree of Life leaf and put it in his mouth, then retrieved several bottles of ointments and started to spread them on his severely burnt hands. Leon also swallowed a bottle of potion that stimulated his Spirit to facilitate a rapid recovery. It was only after he had done all this that he sat down, grit his teeth, and endured the intense pain from all over his body.


    Right now, deep in his eyes, the chip had sent out a report on the condition of his body. It was in a terrible state.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human (Half-Elementiumized)


    Gender: Male S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Class: First Grade Elementium Mage


    Attributes: Strength 1.5 (0.4) | Agility 0.9 (0.6) | Physique 1.4 (0.5) | Spirit 1.3 (0.1)


    Condition: Spirit exhausted. Severe injuries in the process of recovery...


    The numbers in the self-report were the current actual attributes of his body. It was only when comparing the two sets of numbers that he could truly feel the damage to his body.


    Leon sat cross-legged on the ground, silently waiting for his body to recover. Meanwhile, the tall and mighty Fire Lord guarded the tower gates while helping the potions master Ferrier in his extermination of the witcher-knights that made it too close to the tower.


    It seems that the clan placed quite a lot of importance on Ferrier''s talent for potions. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have assigned him to a rear position.


    With the aid of the Fire Lord, Mage Ferrier could finally catch a breath after having struggled until now with his unrefined combat skills. He turned and looked at Leon, who was putting on an expression of intense agony, before tossing a small green vial to him. Ferrier shouted, "Spread it on your wounds; it can ease the burns from your source power''s flames!"


    Leon caught the vial and held it before him.


    Green liquid sloshed within the transparent vial. He opened the cork, and a unique aura belonging to life energy wafted out.


    Leon lowered his head and looked at his hands. He couldn''t help but smile bitterly as he shook his head.


    His white and slender hands were black as char now. Moreover, fine cracks had covered the entire surface of his skin. If he exerted even a little force his burnt skin would start cracking, revealing the black finger bones beneath.


    The Leaf of Life he kept in his mouth was slowly but surely healing the burns on his hands. However, the burns this time came from the violent fire-elemental laws radiating from the Blazing Light. His hands would not be able to recover before he managed to remove the strands of planar laws within his wounds.


    The newly grown flesh would instantly be deprived of their moisture by the heat from the fire-elemental laws, causing his hands to remain charred and burnt. Even though he was the source of these fire elementium laws, the backlash from them due, to his amateur handling of the powers, was still extremely terrifying.


    If he didn''t find a way to absorb or neutralize these strands of planar laws, his hands would never be able to recover. This meant that he would not be able to weave hand signs and cast spells with his hands in the short term!


    Leon poured a drop of the potion onto his left hand to test its effects. Crisp crackling sounds rang out at the very moment the fragrant green liquid made contact with his withered flesh. Pieces of charred skin started to crack. Small wisps of flame rose from under the flesh and were gradually extinguished as they were engulfed by the green liquid.


    That patch of skin gradually started to heal, becoming smooth and radiant once again.


    Leon nodded at Ferrier with a smile on his face. He confidently spread the green liquid all over the charred portions of his hands. As the crackling continued, strands of fire-elemental laws continued to be extracted and slowly dispersed in the air. At the same time, Leon''s hands were slowly recovering, becoming white and slender once again.


    On the other hand, the intense pain and itching from the process of the skin breaking and flesh growing had been suppressed by Leon using his powerful Spirit. Only Leon himself fully understood the experience he was going through now!


    In the meantime, a chilly gust of wind had blown into the tower. Mage F¨¹gen, wrapped in a layer of snow and ice, appeared inside and quickly found a corner in the hall to treat his wounds.


    "This is yours now!" Mage F¨¹gen casually tossed a massive ice crystal towards Leon. One could vaguely see the radiant knight encased within. "Use this to get on the good side of that little vampire lover of yours. Who knows, maybe you will make your way into her bed immediately! Kehkehkeh... "


    Even Leon was speechless when this strict and cool high-grade Mage started teasing him. That said, the perfectly preserved body of a knight was far more valuable than that worthless pile of charcoal and bones he had.


    Thus, Leon quickly kept the frozen knight! Greed was still glowing green in his eyes as he did so.


    He knew very well that this meant that the leaders of the Sarubo clan had acknowledged his efforts. This was probably their gift to him for fighting with all his strength!


    ...


    1872 Words

 Chapter 230 - 230: Attack

    The Mages'' defensive circle was shrinking.


    Now all of the Mages had been pushed back against the tower gates. They erected a sturdy elementium barrier there, barely defending against the dragon breaths from the green dragons.


    In this period of time, another Mage had fallen under the blade of a radiant knight.


    Tacna. An illusionist that was said to have learned some wind spells as well. Sadly, his talent for illusions couldn''t be utilized to their fullest when facing numerous enemies, and his simple wind spells were unable to help him escape the pursuit of his enemies.


    As such, he was bogged down by a group of reckless witcher-knights on the chaotic battlefield before finally falling under the sword of Radiant Knight Windsor.


    At the last moments of the battle, Bleia, Phantom, and Demon Shadows brought large numbers of ''reinforcements'' back with them. This allowed the Mages'' defensive line to endure for another thirty minutes.


    Even disregarding everyone else, just Bloody Bleia alone had brought five spellbreaker knight vampires back with her.


    In their human forms, the knights had powerful defense and devastating melee attacks. Moreover, the moment they were in any sort of danger, they could instantly morph into bats and scatter in any direction. The addition of this fresh blood undoubtedly gave the Mages an opportunity to take a breath.


    The Mages retreated right up to the gates, using them as the last line of defense. The three body-refining Mages formed a solid defense along with the vampire knights. They were the meat shields for the rest of the Mages. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All of the witcher-knights that dared to attack the gate first had to endure wave after wave of spells before they even had the opportunity to engage in melee combat with the body refining Mages. It was at this time that Leon was able to observe the body refining Mages combat style at a close distance.


    Body Refining Mages often appeared to be muscular men with tough bodies and intimidating size. They rarely wore the light robes of Mages, instead choosing leather or metal armor as their defensive wear. Even their choice of weapons resembled mercenaries and warriors rather than spellcasters.


    As Mages that relied on their Physique and Strength to crush enemies, the most powerful weapon they had were their bodies. Even if they knew some spells, the main purpose of those spells were to enable them to close distances and engage in melee combat.


    Their height of two meters might not be advantageous when chasing after the horse-riding witcher-knights, but if the two ever clashed and charged into one another, the witcher-knights would most definitely be the ones that ended up wounded.


    All sorts of magical lights flashed on the bodies of the body refining Mages. They stood intimidatingly before the gates, knocking any witcher-knights that came into their sights off their horses, before tearing them apart with their hands. No obvious injuries had been left on their bodies, despite the gallant and reckless attacks of the witcher-knights.


    It was almost as if their flesh had been forged from steel. Metallic reverberations would emanate from their bodies when swords clashed against their flesh.


    The only ones that were able to wound them were the spellbreaker knights.


    If it was a fair duel, the elite spellbreaker knights might have had powerful bodies that could rival the body refining Mages. However, under the numerous enhancements multiple magic halos, the attributes of the body refining Mages increased exponentially. This made them far superior to spellbreaker knights.


    What was the effect of Strength and Physique being magnified and increased exponentially?


    Leon''s scanning vision had a very clear view. Every punch thrown out by these body refining Mages could deal an astounding 40 to 50 points of damage. Their full-strength attacks could even reach a tremendous 100 points of damage.


    This... this was almost as powerful as Leon''s best fire spell!


    Vicious physical attacks were coupled with their impenetrable physical defenses. These were probably the iron tools that body refining Mages relied upon to wrestle victory away from stronger opponents!


    While these body refining Mages had mastered some spells, they were not used in order to attack the enemy. These spells served an auxiliary role, allowing them to fully unleash their physical strength.


    Moreover, these body refining Mages were not barbarians that could only use their muscles. All of the armor and weapons they wore on their bodies were magic tools that had been carefully chosen. Some of them could boost the speed at which wounds healed, while others allowed them to cast spells like wings of wind or haste, compensating for their lack of mobility spells.


    The witcher-knights had no hope of organizing into a proper formation with these three human-shaped slaughter machines before them. They were tossed and scattered about like loose sand. Meanwhile, the swarm of vampire knights had found an opportunity to kill more enemies. They formed a second line of defense, along with Blake''s carcass beetles, continuously exterminating the witcher-knights that sprinted forward recklessly.


    Don''t judge the body refining Mages by their muscular and barbaric appearance. They were as sly and crafty as any other Mage. The moment they met a radiant knight they couldn''t deal with, they would instantly retreat back towards the gates. Then it would be the Mages'' turn to bombard the knights with a furious storm of spells.


    Radiant Knights might be a whole grade higher than the lot of them, but even they had to avoid the rain of spells. Their bodies and armor could only endure elementium damage below 100 points.


    Once all these spells stacked together, the damage they could wreak was extremely shocking!


    In this world, the only ones that could endure a bombardment from a dozen First Grade Mages, and make it through to slaughter them, were probably those Third Grade dragon knights. In comparison, the Second Grade radiant knights were still incapable of doing this.


    As the three Third Grade dragon knights stepped onto the battlefield, the situation quickly took a turn for the worse. The gates were now at risk.


    The tower gates weren''t very large. Their width of five meters might be enough for three or four witcher-knights to charge forward simultaneously, but it was only enough for a single dragon.


    As a result, the battle quickly intensified when a dragon and a man appeared before the gates.


    The Second Grade Green Dragon Ysondre shattered the barrier in front of the gate with a single green breath, and Third Grade Dragon Knight Jefferson walked in with firm steps.


    The first to charge at him was Kiel.


    He had obviously activated some sort of special magic, allowing him to temporarily transform into a three-meter tall giant. Unique black armor appeared around his almost naked body, with a terrifying horn on the spaulders.


    Kiel moved forward with brutally heavy steps that sent tremors across the ground. He bent his body and ran towards Jefferson. Behind him, countless magic halos were falling towards the dragon knight like an unending rain. Most of these were single-target spells, with the occasional crowd control magic.


    Dong! A muffled boom rang out.


    The horn on Kiel''s shoulder had clashed with Jefferson''s longsword. The violent energy ripples caused terrifying creases to appear in the surrounding space.


    Jefferson stood still on the spot, not taking even a single step backwards. Kiel, on the other hand, was like a ball that had just been smacked hard, flipping about as he flew across the room. For one moment, no one knew how badly wounded he was. The Mages could only see that there were large pools of blood left everywhere he went, along with pieces of shattered armor.


    Kiel''s body was still tumbling in the air when two green magic halos sunk into his body, greatly easing the injuries he had. Three more supporting magic halos flashed, and his physical body was reinforced once more.


    Kiel was able to stand up right as he landed, and he began to down bottle after bottle of healing potions. Sadly, as a body refining Mage, his resistance to potions had also increased exponentially. Even if he drank a gallon of potions that had once been effective in the past, the effect was still insignificant.


    That said, insignificant help was still better than none. Kiel could only drink as much potion as he could in order to recover from his wounds.


    As Kiel was trying his best to recover, the second body-refining Mage Munro had charged forward!


    Once again, he was defeated in a single blow!


    First Grade Body-Refining Mages were still too frail when pit against a Third Grade dragon knight. If it hadn''t been the massive enhancements to their bodies that shortened the gap in power, just that brief contact with the knight might have caused them to die.


    The spells continued to fall on Jefferson''s body like rain.


    They turned into bloodsucking vines that grew rapidly and binding him to the spot, or turned into strange clouds of mist, crackling as they corroded the forcefield of life around him. Some were even terrifying elementium spells that engulfed everything nearby in a savage elementium tide...


    Yet all of this could not stop the dragon knight''s advance.


    The bloodsucking vines were like spiderwebs caught in a wheel. As Jefferson walked forward, the thick and ghastly vines snapped in pieces, sending green sap flying everywhere. The poison mist and elementium spells might be immensely powerful, but they were unable to quickly wear away the thin layer of life forcefield around him.


    This life forcefield formed, from the merging of runic and life energies, might be intangible, but it most definitely existed. It had powerful defense that vastly outclassed the elementium barriers the Mages used. Be it elementium spells, curses, illusions, or soul spells, none of them were able to break through this life forcefield and damage the knight''s body.


    The only way to stop the dragon knight''s advance was to engage in a frontal physical assault.


    Even though every Mage that charged at Dragon Knight Jefferson was immediately knocked away, they could only continue to do their best to slow his advance.


    After the three body-refining Mages had become casualties at Jefferson''s hands, it was the bloodline Mages'' turn.


    Once they turned into magical creatures themselves, they also possessed powerful physical strength. The only difference was that they had not learned many melee battle techniques like the body refining Mages did.


    Once Hyde with his robotic body of tentacles and Bleia with her crimson shadows had been severely wounded, the only ones left were the Esoteric Mages.


    However, when compared to the trash-like stone golems and earth elementium that crumbled in a single hit, the strange, massive shape formed by Blake''s carcass beetles exhibited surprising strength.


    The carcass beetles'' tough shells, along with their odd ability to share damage amongst themselves, allowed them to constantly scatter and reassemble, weaving about the Third Grade dragon knight and buying the Mages a lot of time.


    However, Jefferson soon ran out of patience. With a single ferocious Inferno Whirlwind Slash, he suddenly turned into a storm of slicing blades, and disaster fell upon Blake''s swarm of bugs.


    ...


    1865 Words

 Chapter 231 - 231: War Tower

    The brutal battle was still ongoing.


    The powerful Dragon Knight Jefferson was finally pushed back by the Mages.


    The severe injuries inflicted on every one of them was the price they had to pay in exchange. Even Second Grade Mage F¨¹gen was no exception.


    With the Mages'' help, F¨¹gen was finally able to find a chance to wound his opponent with an explosion of his ice crystals, forcing the knight out of the tower. But when yet another dragon knight walked steadily into the gates of the tower, everyone despaired!


    Goddammit!


    The Mages had lost their will to hang on and were starting to consider their escape plans. Just then, the entire war tower suddenly shook.


    Complicated and intricate magical patterns and runes simultaneously appeared all over the walls, floors, and ceiling of the hall. A long awaited elementium aura surged forth, putting the Mages at ease. It was almost as if... as if they had suddenly returned to the World of Mages!


    Had the war tower been activated?!


    Expressions of surprise and joy appeared on the Mages'' faces.


    A translucent dome of light radiating a rich elementium aura shielded the gates of the tower, trapping the shocked Dragon Knight Kalyk within the tower. A savage green dragon was furiously tackling and tearing at the dome of light from outside. Sadly, all of his attacks were futile.


    Its sharp dragon claws and corrosive breath could not do anything to that thin dome!


    Kalyk''s heart was filled with fear. He turned around and slashed at the dome with all his strength. He stopped his pointless actions after realizing it was all a waste of time. Instead he turned and glared at the weakened Mages.


    "Little fellows, this is your misfortune!" The expression on Kalyk''s face became unusually wicked, "Since I can''t get out, I guess it''s time for you to die! Cry! Scream! Then you can go to your deaths... "


    The Mages did not appear to be afraid at all, even in the face of Kalyk''s threat. Rather, a strange smile appeared on all of their faces. Kalyk could no longer bear the strange atmosphere in the hall. He was about to step forward and start his slaughter when a soft and wicked voice rang out.


    "Cry? Scream? Those sound like what you are about to do right now! Little bug of an inferior plane, don''t act arrogant because you have dragons backing you. Now I, Lord Violeteye, will face you!"


    As the voice rang out, a mysterious Mage in a purple rope appeared in a corner of the hall. Strange purple eyes were everywhere on his body, coldly staring at the Third Grade Dragon Knight Kalyk.


    A Third Grade Mage!


    The mental flux radiating from his body was one that truly belonged to a Third Grade being. This... this was a Third Grade Mage!


    The Mage''s appearance caused Kalyk to feel an indescribable discomfort. It was as if intangible shackles had cropped up and chained him. Even breathing became difficult. Moreover, a ferocious aura emanated from his body like a violent tide, continually dissipating under the restraint of these intangible shackles. Every single one of his actions now felt feeble and weak.


    Dammit, what is this?


    Kalyk was no longer able to hide the shock on his face. His eyes started to dart about the room, looking about for the source for his weakening. However, the very next second, the Third Grade Mage before him had completed a terrifying bloodline transformation. With a twist of his body, he had turned into a monstrous seven-meter tall purple-eyed giant.


    Its massive and bloated body. Its indigo-coloured skin. Its ferocious and wicked appearance... yet its most eye-catching feature was still the purple eyes spread across its entire body.


    As the Evil-Eyed Giant charged towards Dragon Knight Kalyk with a thunderous bellow, Mage F¨¹gen rushed up to the second floor of the tower. The other Mages quickly recovered from the magnificent sight before them and rapidly left the hall.


    This was a battle between Third Grade powerhouses!


    With their powers being as weak as they were, this group of First Grade Mages didn''t even have the chance to observe the two battle. Participating in the fight was out of the question. Even the shockwaves from the fight would easily crush the Mages. The Mages quickly followed after F¨¹gen and ran.


    The Mages felt greatly at home when they ran through the crude stone tunnels, like a sort of coziness from having returned to their source plane. Even though they had managed to get used to the planar laws here in the knights'' plane, it was only ''getting used to''. It was much different compared to actually assimilating with the planar laws here.


    Thus, when the familiar aura of their homeworld appeared in the Mage tower, these First Grade Mages who had just formed their core of laws were the ones who were most sensitive to its effects.


    The core of laws was both an enhancement and evolution for them, as well as an indirect form of restriction. Without the core of laws, they wouldn''t be able to easily command the planar laws of the World of Mages. Moreover, the improvement of their powers from then onwards only required them to continuously strengthen their core of laws. All they needed to do was strengthen the connection between their soul''s consciousness and the planar consciousness and help the two to assimilate further.


    That said, it was precisely the core of laws'' existence that placed a powerful brand on their bodies and within their soul''s consciousness. A soul brand from the World of Mages.


    Regardless of how many planes they conquered, or how many worlds they had travelled to, or even the location they were at within the multiverse, their bodies, minds, and souls would always belong to that great World of Mages!


    This was determined from the day they were born in the World of Mages!


    It was only when they were in the World of Mages that their souls, bodies, and minds could truly be liberated. Only in the World of Mages could their soul be at peace and serene. If the World of Mages ever faced a catastrophe, the Mages relying on the world would also find their paths forward shattered. Progress would be difficult.


    This was the fundamental reason for the existence of the Mage faction!


    Mages were always evil and selfish. They worshipped the accumulation of knowledge and resources, but preferred to use their intelligence and vast knowledge to defeat enemies. When Mages became sufficiently powerful, they would have the ability to leave the plane and survive and grow independently.


    Yet no matter how powerful they became, the World of Mages would always be their roots. It would always be where the source of their souls were. As such, the powerful Mages that had extended their reach to numerous worlds formed a loose faction of Mages to fight and resist the invasion of other powerful races and planes in the multiverse, in order to protect their roots and their home.


    Leon and the others had all advanced to First Grade Mages in the World of Mages. They were chained the moment they formed a core of laws within their spiritual consciousness'' space. Their soul consciousness had already been bound together to the World of Mages'' planar consciousness. Be it fortune or failure, their fates were bound together!


    Thus, even the breaths of the Mages became smoother when they were suddenly basked in the World of Mages'' aura. One could see with the naked eye countless elementium particles spreading out across the tower from the stone walls. Particles of all colors gathered around the walls, making it look like they had all put on radiant and colorful clothing.


    Leon was a fire elementium Mage so the particles surrounding him were all rich fire elementium particles. As he inhaled the surging fire elementium, Leon could feel an incomparable sense of comfort spread throughout his body and mind. It was like every single pore of his body was desperately taking in these long-awaited particles.


    This was just a vague feeling he had, but in his mind, the chip was able to give him the most objective data report on what was happening.


    "Beep, environment monitor report. Fire elementium density quickly rising...


    "11%...


    "12%...


    "13%...


    "..."


    The Mages had long gotten used to the cruel and limiting environment of this small, elementium-sparse plane. Now that this world''s planar chains had suddenly been severed, all of the Mages were overjoyed. In the depths of their hearts, the sense of approval and belonging they had for the World of Mages was quickly becoming stronger.


    They were only guests in this world. Their roots still belonged to the World of Mages!


    At this one moment, almost all of the Mages were thinking something similar.


    Violent and turbulent explosions rang out from the other end of the long corridor. Even the tower started to shake slightly. This had to do with the massive battle on the first floor, but was also caused by the ferocious attacks of the witcher-knights outside the tower.


    This war tower was a crude and simplified version, after all. Its defense could not be compared to a proper tower. Thus, the Mages could not allow the ants outside to so freely continue their attacks.


    "My companions, the war tower has been activated!" Mage F¨¹gen raised his arms and yelled loudly, "Now get back to your own positions, and we will let those ignorant native reptiles know our power!"


    As F¨¹gen gave an impassioned declaration of war, the sound of the chip rang out in Leon''s mind.


    "Detecting mental connection request. Requesting instructions from host. Connect?"


    "Connect!"


    Leon had just given his order to the chip when that uniquely cool and chilly mental flux belonging to F¨¹gen sent a set of coordinates to him.


    The Mages present didn''t say any more. All of them ran to their positions.


    Leon''s battle position was in a hidden magic room on the third floor. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The inside was heartbreakingly crude and simple. With the exception of a mysterious array in the middle of the room, there was absolutely nothing else in here. No decorations or furniture at all. Several magical arrays flowing with powerful elementium energies were exposed on the tough walls of the room. Just looking from here, Leon could see the energy circuits, the energy nodes, the runic arrays, the converter arrays... all of these things, both familiar and unfamiliar, were exposed to him.


    If this was an actual Mages'' tower, all of these arrays would be hidden behind a wall. Why would they ever be exposed without any protection? Leon could be sure that even a single simple fireball to the wall would be enough to cause a massive flaw to open up in the tower''s defensive system.


    Just from this, one could infer how much of a rush the Mages constructing the tower had been in!


    The simple array before Leon was no problem for him, even though it had only been awhile since he became an Mage.


    Leon stepped into the array and stood in the magic circle at the very center. A stiff, robotic voice with a strange accent spoke in his mind.


    "Welcome, Mage Leon! You have been given access to this array. You may now control this offensive array. Activate array now?" This was the voice of the spirit of this war tower. However, it seemed that it was still in its most crude and primitive stage of intelligence, which was why the offensive arrays required actual Mages to function. Without the Mages, the arrays would not be able to function at their fullest capacity.


    "Activate!"


    With Leon''s words, a whole new scene of the battlefield slowly appeared before his eyes.


    ...


    1967 Words

 Chapter 232 - 232: Slaughter

    The entire room disappeared from Leon''s vision when he activated the array.


    It was as if the war tower had become completely transparent. Leon''s sight and senses could extend undeterred to any corner of the battlefield.


    This was a unique angle, looking down at the battlefield from high above in the air. It was like Leon had suddenly become an invisible man floating forty meters above the sky, silently observing the dense crowd and rain of runic arrows below. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A muffled boom rang out, and a massive stone crashed somewhere close above Leon''s head. A large dragon with fine green scales all over its body flew from the skies not far away. It opened its mouth and unleashed a terrifying dragon''s breath onto the tower.


    Meanwhile, the Third Grade dragon knight standing firmly on its back was waving his radiant longsword. One after another, extremely concentrated energy blades slashed onto the tower''s structure from a distance.


    A large crack appeared on the transparent body of the tower before him. However, it was quickly repaired under the circulation of elementium energies. Still, a fine crack was left on the surface. It was clear that the tower that had just been activated would not be able to bear much more if the opponents were allowed to continue their ferocious attacks.


    Leon let out a deep growl, and his Spirit seeped into the array beneath him. Almost immediately, massive amounts of fire elementium flowed into his body through the tower.


    Without an Mage''s control, such an offensive array might only be able to just keep shooting out magic fireballs at the enemies. However, with someone like Leon at the controls, the might of its attacks instantly increased by several levels.


    Wuuu...


    A Magma Fireball as large as a plate whistled as it flew out of the tower, crashing towards the green dragon flying in the sky and the dragon knight on its back.


    This sudden attack clearly shocked the two. The green dragon''s massive body turned slightly to avoid the fireball attack.


    However, just as the Magma Fireball was about to pass by the green dragon''s neck, it suddenly exploded.


    The next second, a violent sea of lava and magma shards devoured the two. The scattered flames from the explosion also brought about death to the knights below.


    A tragic and deafening dragon''s roar rang out throughout the battlefield. The green dragon, engulfed in red lava, beat its wings and flew even higher into the sky, finally succeeding in escaping the Magma Fireball''s area of effect. On the other hand, the dragon knight on its back had a radiant life forcefield about him. It was obvious that he had not received any damage.


    The dragon and rider were not wounded, but the witcher-knights did not have such outstanding ability themselves.


    The knights, still drawing their bows and shooting runic arrows at the tower gates, had been showered by the rain of fire from above. An area of nearly 50 square meters had been set ablaze. They knights could only raise their energy shields and escape the area.


    Some who were slower at running even had their clothes lit on fire and were frantically scrambling to put it out.


    Yet this Magma Fireball only appeared to be a starting gun. Another four or five spells of various colors shot out from within the war tower in the next few seconds. All of them landed right in the areas that the witcher-knights were most concentrated in.


    A strange, dirt-yellow halo landed on the ground, and the six witcher-knights within the halo suddenly felt their bodies become heavier. They kneeled on the ground with muffled grunts. Two witcher-knights at the edge of the halo were able to struggle and escape. The three in the center of the halo had been completely flattened against the ground. Blood flowed incessantly from under their thick armor. It was obvious that all the flesh and bones in their bodies had been crushed by the terrifying gravity.


    A gray halo flashed somewhere not far off. Countless strange shadows suddenly surfaced in the air. These shapes were like shadow creatures with no physical forms. They continuously rushed into the bodies of the witcher-knights within the halo. Every time a shadow entered their bodies, the witcher-knights would let out a pained grunt.


    Those that were able to escape were still saved; they only took some shadow damage. That said, those that weren''t able to make it out of the halo were kneeling on the ground, coughing up black blood everywhere. Ruptured fragments of their organs could be seen in their blood.


    What was more terrifying was a crackling blast of Chain Lightning.


    When the terrifying electric serpent weaved about the crowd, every witcher-knight that came into contact with it would instantly be burnt to char and fall to the ground. Just a single attack, and nine witcher-knights fell to the effects of the frightening electric spell.


    The devastating Chain Lightning gradually dispersed after exhausting all of its energy. All it left on the battlefield were large numbers of black corpses and a pungent charred smell.


    Leon''s face also betrayed an expression of shock at the continuous bombardment of spells.


    The terrifying might of the war tower on this battlefield was stunning!


    If he was on the battlefield, a First Grade Mage like himself would have to find a way to stop the enemies'' progress while killing them. Moreover, he would have had to do a fine analysis and estimation of the rate at which he was burning through his Spirit in order to reserve some strength to deal with unexpected situations.


    In all of the previous battles, Leon had only been using sixty percent of his strength when attacking the enemy. Another twenty percent was used to maintain and control the situation on the battlefield, while the last twenty was reserved for emergencies. This was a high efficiency that he managed to achieve with the golems as his helpers. If it had been any other Mage, even using forty percent of their strength on killing enemies would be a remarkable result!


    But now that he was within the war tower, his safety was guaranteed. Moreover, with the endless amount of energy surging into his body from the tower, along with the enhancement provided by the array beneath him, he could almost bring out 100% of his powers.


    The Flame Demon! A master of flame manipulation!


    As a powerful elementium Mage with fire mastery, the abilities Leon had chosen for himself were in fact most suited for a battlefield. Once he no longer needed to worry about his safety, and could exhibit all the might of his fire spells, the battlefield turned into an apocalyptic hell of magma.


    A large and wide Inferno Wall sealed the tower gates. The witcher-knights that wanted to continue to hack away at the elementium barrier could only grit their teeth and endure the burning of the magical flames.


    A massive Meteor Shower instantly covered the area before the gates. Meteor after meteor crashed from the skies, smashing gigantic craters into the ground. Terrifying flame waves spread out again and again, leaving no place for the knights to escape to.


    As long as a group of witcher-knights larger than five appeared in Leon''s vision, a Magma Fireball would instantly whistle through the sky and land squarely on their heads. It didn''t matter whether the Magma Fireball exploded on its own or was intercepted by the knights. The horrifying magma rain would still pour down without exception.


    Only those perceptive spellbreaker knights and radiant knights were able to dodge the continuous bombardment of Explosive Fireballs. The only thing they could do was shift from one field of fire to another field of fire. They were constantly surrounded by exploding magic fireballs and seas of fire that rose to the sky.


    Although most of the spells directed at them were intercepted, the unique continuous burning effect of fire spells gave them no place they could stand still on around the Mages'' tower.


    It hadn''t even been fifteen minutes since the offensive arrays were activated, and already two spellbreaker knights had failed to defend against the endless storm of Explosive Fireballs and Magma Fireballs, dying amidst the towering sea of flames.


    It was the same even in the sky.


    There were two Third Grade green dragons amongst the dragons circling the tower. However, the moment they tried to close in on the tower, they would be chased away by the flurry of spells. None of them dared to fly within five hundred meters of the tower.


    No matter how powerful their magic resistances were, they still had to avoid a dozen powerful spells blasting towards their faces.


    The tragic scene of the witcher-knights being tortured by the endless wave of spells below the tower caused the dragon knights to be extremely upset. Regardless of how much they tried to get the dragons closer to the tower, they would be forced away by the storm of spells.


    They were able to send debris flying and make rocks crumble with every knight battle technique they launched before the tower had been activated. But now, their violent energy blades would be stopped by a shining elementium barrier outside of the tower. They couldn''t inflict any damage whatsoever.


    This translucent elementium barrier completely angered the dragon knights. All the battle techniques they fired out would be blocked by the barrier, but the spells fired from within the tower could still blast towards them.


    This annoyed feeling of having to endure attacks while being unable to return them caused the two dragon knights to yell in anger. Still, there was nothing they could do.


    Moreover, their companion, the Third Grade Dragon Knight Kalyk, was still sealed behind those tower gates by that translucent elementium barrier. They didn''t dare to imagine what he might be going through!


    The army was in utter chaos. No one had any idea on how to continue their attack against the tower. Just then, the space above the tip of the tower distorted and two silhouettes mysteriously appeared.


    A female Mage in a green robe, wrapped in a cloud of green smoke, and a male Mage in a purple robe with strange purple eyes all over his body. Intense mental flux radiated from both of their bodies. It was two terrifying Third Grade Mages!


    "Kalyk! It''s Kalyk!" Dragon Knight Jefferson''s mournful voice rang out in midair.


    They saw very clearly. The head that the purple-robed Mage held in his hand belonged to Dragon Knight Kalyk.


    The armor that dragon knights always wore had disappeared. His messy hair fell haphazardly across his face. The expression on his obscured face was hideous, and blood could be seen at the corners of his wide-open eyes. The exposed injury on his severed neck was not neat at all, with blood still dripping downwards.


    From the looks of it, the head had been forcefully twisted off of his body!


    The grisly death of their companion sent the dragon knights into a rage. Blood instantly rushed into their eyes as they drove their green dragons forward. The other two green dragons looked at each other. They let out a long and mournful dragon''s roar and followed after their companions.


    Four green dragons. Two of them were Third Grade while the other two were Second Grade. Along with two Third Grade dragon knights riding on their backs, this was an absolutely terrifying formation in the knights'' plane. Yet at this moment, there was an odd sense of solemness and tragedy about them, as if they were about to go to their deaths!


    A dragon''s roar rang out from the forest in the distance. The green dragon Aufreyr took to the skies and rushed towards the battlefield with the silhouette of a mighty knight on his back.


    The Fourth Grade Holy Knight Willis was finally unable to tolerate it any longer. He was going to fight with his own hands!


    ...


    1999 Words

 Chapter 233 - 233: Mutated

    The War Tower.


    Due to rushed work, the facilities here was extremely rudimentary.


    With the exception of an elementium pool that spanned five entire levels, there were no other magical facilities in the two underground levels.


    Moreover, even the currently functioning elementium pool looked extremely crude and clumsily crafted. The walls of the pool were uneven, with plenty of plant roots and rotting leaves that could be seen from cracks in the walls. It was clear that the dirt used for construction had not been properly filtered.


    Eleven Mages floated above the elementium pool, continuously retrieving magic crystals from their storage spaces and tossing them into the pool. Yet the magic crystals piling up below their feet were vanishing into the elementium pool at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.


    A standard Mage tower would constantly absorb drifting elementium particles from its surroundings and gather them in its elementium pool once it was activated. In doing so, the tower would be able form a stable source of elementium energy. Part of these energies would be used for the tower''s upkeep and daily energy use. The rest of the energies would accumulate within the elementium pool, serving as a reserve.


    The longer an Mages'' tower was functioning, the more shocking the amount of magical energies it would have in reserve.


    Under normal circumstances, attacking an Mages'' tower such as this one would not be worth the effort. Without a way to exhaust the massive reserves of energy, it was virtually impossible to break into the tower.


    However, the war tower had just been activated. What energy reserves could it possibly have? As such, the Sarubo Clan Mages could only throw in large numbers of magic crystals to maintain its functioning and to sustain the tower''s energy consumption.


    Moreover, the tower was currently in the middle of a terrifying planar war. The tower''s elementium barrier had to endure up hundreds of ferocious attacks every second. All of this naturally burned away at the magic crystals within the elementium pool!


    The energy consumption was extremely high, especially when you considered the bombardment of spells every five seconds and the dozens of large-scale spells that blasted towards the witcher-knights outside, sending them into disarray.


    All of this consumed the magic crystals in the elementium pool!


    Even with eleven Mages frantically tossing magic crystals into the pool, the energy reserves still seemed to be slowly running out. This was undoubtedly a cause for concern.


    With the rapid circulation of destructive magical energy within the tower''s defensive system, there would occasionally be minor explosions and damage here and there. Every time the Tower Spirit''s monotone voice rang out in the room, one of the Mages would have to rush to the damaged spot to fix the array.


    There was no choice. The construction had been too rushed and the tower''s defense system had barely been completed in the nick of time. They were already extremely lucky that the tower could function properly! At least they hadn''t been blown into the skies by a major mistake in the arrays. The slight errors, on the other hand, would have to wait until this war was over!


    However, with the start of the fight between the Third Grade Mages and the green dragon squad, the energy consumption quickly skyrocketed.


    Each clan Mage held in their hands a magic spatial tool with massive storage. They all opened the tools to their limits and tilted them downwards at the pool. Crystalline and transparent magic crystals fell like rain from the sky, building up yet another small hill in the middle of the elementium pool.


    Mysterious and profound runic arrays floated about the walls of the pool. The arrays flashed with radiant light, and the magic crystals were crushed to powder by magical energies, turning into pure elementium energy that flowed into the arrays. These energies were then sent to every corner of the tower through the circuits on the walls.


    Every time the Mages'' tower shook intensely, a layer of the magic crystals would be consumed. And when the Mages in the tower launched yet another wave of magic bombardment, the magic crystals in the pool would rapidly melt, like snowflakes left under the hot sun.


    The clan Mages responsible for maintaining the energy supply held their emptied spatial tools with bitter expressions. They took out another storage tool from under their robes. They opened the tools by chanting their passwords, grit their teeth, and continued to pour crystals into the pool.


    It was important to note that these were from the exhausting accumulation of the Sarubo Clan over the past hundred years!


    Every magic crystal could be be traded for 150 gold Mage coins back in the World of Mages. Even a conservative estimate would put the number of crystals they had just emptied into the pool at thirty thousand crystals. Yet this was just the start of the battle! The consumption of magic crystals would undoubtedly increase to a frightening degree as the battle continued to intensify.


    This battle was most definitely burning away at mountains of gold with every moment that passed by!


    Of course, outsiders would not be able to understand the pain and troubles of a clan Mage.


    High in the upper levels of the tower, a dozen Mages happily steed in their offensive arrays, using the best of their abilities to turn the continuous supply of magical energy into terrifyingly powerful spells and blasting them at the witcher-knights in front of the tower.


    A bunch of knights with only arrows and longswords? Trying to attack a fully activated war tower with no siege machines or effective organization?


    Today, the Mages used their most destructive spells to educate these arrogant frogs in their wells. And their tuition fee would be... their own flesh and blood!


    Leon freely controlled the offensive array and formed the surging magical energies into one powerful spell after another. Then he used his Spirit to direct the spells and launch them at the most suitable location. With the tower''s defense system active, Leon exhausted virtually none of the magical energies within his body while launching a continuous wave of powerful spells.


    Countless auxiliary arrays had been crafted around the offensive arrays. These arrays were able to affix special effects onto the launched spells, such as range increase, polarization of attributes, and penetration. With these additional effects in play, even Second Grade radiant knights couldn''t endure their insane magical blitz!


    However, at this moment, most of Leon''s attention was still focused on the Third Grades'' fight happening above his head.


    He had to retreat during the Third Grade fight in the hall previously, and was sorely upset that he couldn''t see it with his own eyes. But now, two Third Grade Mages battled against a group of green dragons and dragon knights above the tower. Leon''s excitement and shock was imaginable.


    One had to say that these two Third Grade Mages were absolutely terrifying existences! They were like actual demons!


    The purple-robed Mage that personally killed the Third Grade dragon knight seemed to be a bloodline Mage. He once again turned into a monstrous purple-eyed giant, standing above the air as the purple eyes on his body continuously shot out hundreds of terrifying purple beams. Each individual purple beam might not have been very powerful, but when a hundred of those beams were concentrated on a single person, their might was incomparable.


    Leon also suspected that these purple beams had some sort of special magical effect. Otherwise the green dragons wouldn''t avoid them as frantically as they were. It was almost as if the dragons themselves couldn''t be immune to the effects, even with their amazing physiques.


    That green-robed female Mage also appeared to be an impressive individual. With a twist of her body, she turned into a terrifying Flying Venom Dragon and forcefully fought with the dragons.


    Flying Venom Dragon? Purple-Eyed Giant?


    Leon quickly scanned through his mind and found the relevant information.


    Flying Venom Dragon. A magical creature of the poison attribute. A hybrid dragon that could go up to the Fifth Grade. If one were to truly trace its roots, it was not a pure-bred dragon. In fact, it was one of the tens of thousands of hybrid dragon races that the dragons had created.


    It was rumored that the dragons'' unbridled lust and Ultimate Transfiguration, that allowed them to transform into any race, had allowed them to continue undertaking their ambitious plan of ''seeding'' the worlds, regardless of size or race. Thus, unique hybrid dragons with dragon bloodlines could be found on almost any material plane.


    And the Flying Venom Dragon was one of many hybrid dragon races!


    They looked just like a green dragon that had been skinned. The surface of their bodies were covered with a layer of pungent and viscous green liquid instead of scales, and their most powerful weapon was their terrifying venom spit. If one were to look at the racial traits of the two dragons, the toxicity of the flying venom dragon''s poison was three times that of the green dragon''s, while its corrosiveness was five times that of the green dragon''s.


    Perhaps because they were too ugly, the progenitors of the green dragons, the Emerald Dragons, refused to acknowledge their identity as a branch of the green dragons. This caused a feud between the flying venom dragons and the source of their bloodline¨C the green dragons.


    Also, both of these dragon races had the same progenitor and source of bloodline. This meant that as long as the flying venom dragons continuously devoured their progenitor green dragons, they would be able to rapidly strengthen their bloodline powers. Every time a flying venom dragon met a green dragon, a massive battle to the death would ensue!


    The purple-eyed giant seemed to be a branch of the Ancient Giants.


    In the period of time when the multiverse had just been born, and the order within the planar worlds had yet to be established, the most powerful race active amongst the worlds were all varieties of giants.


    Sand Giants, Evil Giants, Hundred-Eye Giants, Hermit Giants, Forest Giants, Solar Giants, Oceanic Giants, Cloud Giants, Flame Giants, Stone Giants...


    These terrifying giants, that easily reached a hundred meters tall, had ruled the material planes for up to a million years. Sadly, with the change of the planar laws, their powerful strength turned into a burden instead, and the giant races quickly retired from the stage of history.


    While most of the powerful Ancient Giants had vanished, their bloodline had passed down over the tens of thousands of years, creating powerful bloodline creatures.


    Today one could still find Frost Giants, Storm Giants, Hill Giants, Cyclopes, and Hundred-Arm Giants in the material planes. These were all giants with the blood of Ancient Giants.


    However, Leon had never heard of the purple-eyed giant that the purple-robed Mage had turned into. He had reason to suspect that this was most likely a mutated bloodline that resulted from some sort of magical pollution. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This meant that this was a mutated bloodline that had come out of a magical laboratory!


    Leon could see the shadows of the ancient Hundred-Eye Giant and the Beholder in this purple-eyed giant. As for whether there were even more odd bloodlines in the mix, that was not something that Leon could tell.


    ...


    1896 Words

 Chapter 234 - 234: Defeat

    Blood and flesh was everywhere on the ground.


    The dragons roared in the skies.


    The witcher-knights used to be unstoppable in their own plane, but had finallly been forced to bow down before the might of the evil Mages.


    They, who had never experienced the cruelty of planar wars, could only charge forward with their hot blood and reckless valor. Still, they were unable to smash apart that translucent light barrier glowing with elementium radiance. Meanwhile, they were subjected to a rainfall of violent spells, tragically falling one after another.


    There were as many as 3,900 witcher-knights that had made it through the forest of death and to the tower. However, with the activation of the war tower, their numbers quickly dwindled. It was merely a fantasy to dream of breaking apart the tower with just their physical bodies!


    The entire battlefield was soaked in a storm of blood as the witcher-knights fell to the ground one by one, screaming and struggling.


    There was no longer a single patch of untouched land around the tower.


    There were only exploding fireballs, sizzling acid swamps, and blinding lightning prisons...


    Countless heads, with their expressions of shock frozen on their hideous faces, were kicked about by the scrambling knights as they ran about. Numerous broken corpses with all kinds of symptoms of death laid haphazardly about the scorched earth and pools of blood. Flesh and charred bones mixed with all sorts of filthy substances, leaving none of the corpses recognizable to anyone.


    Shattered longswords, twisted runic bows, fragmented colt corpses, as well as the broken bodies of knights... they were everywhere on the battlefield, leaving an indelible mark on any who the saw scene!


    Compared to the battle between the powerful in the skies, the battle on the ground no longer affected the outcome of the war today. The future of this plane rested solely on the backs of those shapes in the sky!


    The activation of the war tower hadn''t only given the Mages a platform to exert their strength to the fullest. More importantly, it used its powerful control over elementium to forcefully create a free zone around the tower that freed the Mages from the effects of the local planar laws.


    Here, the Mages from another world no longer needed to endure the fetters of the planar laws. They could finally use all of their abilities. When the Fourth Grade Holy Knight Willis magnificently appeared in the skies before the Mages'' tower, a strange illusory silhouette appeared before his path.


    It was Mage Sarubo''s soul projection!


    Due to the upper limit of powers within this plane, Sarubo could only exhibit prowess equal to the peak of Fourth Grade, even if he projected all of his strength here. It might not sound like much of an advantage! However, this was a Fourth Grade projection with the vast knowledge and mind of a Sixth Grade Great Mage.


    Thus, when the two finally clashed, even the intense Third Grades'' battle instantly lost its spotlight.


    If one said that low-grade Mages still relied on the might of powerful spells or physical strength to fight with enemies, then the battle of high-grade Mages was a matter of manipulating, utilizing, and countering with planar laws.


    The Fourth Grade human-shaped soul projection stood silently in the air. No matter what methods Willis used, he was unable to even touch it. Be it the poison mist dragon breath of the dragon beneath him, or his own violent and ferocious knight battle techniques, they would all pass through the projection, blasting the tower behind instead.


    It was like... like that human projection didn''t even exist on this plane! Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As Willis contemplated how to change this helpless situation, the counterattack arrived.


    The projections attack took the form of numerous grey beams. Every time one of these beams landed on a green dragon or dragon knight, it instantly caused the affected limb to wither and the blood and flesh to die. The terrifying aura of death could only be neutralized by life energy several times greater than the aura.


    Willis'' powerful knight battle techniques had lost their advantage against these odd death beams, and his fragile human form could not resist corrosion by these death energies. With no choice left, Willis roared and transformed into a massive green dragon with fine scales covering his entire body. He had to use his tough and resilient dragon scales and his powerful life energies to delay the damage of the the death energies.


    Besides the death beams, the projection also continuously shot out sharp bone spears. Each spear had powerful penetration abilities and could drill a hole through the tough dragon scales. Almost instantly, the Third Grade Green Dragon Aufreyr had been riddled with holes and fell with from the sky with a cry of agony.


    A one-sided fight. A completely one-sided fight!


    Even though the two were both at the Fourth Grade, the projection''s strange abilities were enough to crush Willis in all aspects. After all, Willis only had his overpowering physical strength. Based on Willis'' combat style, Leon was sure that he had an extremely unique dragon bloodline.


    This knights'' leader, respected by all witcher-knights, was most likely a half-dragon. Moreover, the fact that he was able to successfully cross the threshold into Fourth Grade probably had much to do with the dragon blood flowing through his body.


    Given this, it seemed that the Dragon Valley behind the knight''s kingdom wasn''t as simple as he previously thought!


    The witcher-knights on the ground were no longer a threat to the war tower. Under F¨¹gen''s lead, all of the Mages joined hands and cast a terrifying large scale spell. A single monstrous ice crystal bombardment later, and a Second Grade green dragon was sealed within a three-meter-thick ice crystal.


    With the powerful addition of the war tower, the already disadvantaged green dragon squad was instantly thrown into disarray. The three green dragons who remained, with the dragon knights still on their backs, were chased about by the terrifying monsters that the two Mages had turned into. Defeat was just a matter of time for them.


    Thirty minutes later, following a pained dragon roar, the Green Dragon Willis fell from the sky. His large dragon wings had been shackled by white bone-chains that had appeared out of nowhere.


    However, the projection didn''t take the opportunity to dive down and deal the killing blow. Instead it raised its head and gazed at a large cloud on the horizon. He spoke coldly, "Are you not going to act after looking on for so long? Since when did ambushing from the back become a habit of you dragons?"


    The white clouds in the sky dispersed.


    Two exceptionally large dragons revealed themselves.


    Streamlined dark green dragon scales, wicked and terrifying horns, large wings covered with fine scales, powerful hind legs, and their gigantic snouts filled with sharp teeth...


    Judging from the dark color of their dragon scales and their tremendously powerful dragon''s aura that caused others to tremble in fear... these two were Fourth Grade Dragons.


    Unlike Willis and his mixed-bloodline, the two dragons that appeared now were actual Fourth Grade dragons. Moreso, they were adolescent dragons at the peak of their life cycle.


    The majestic dragon in front slowly beat its wings as it hovered in the sky. Its large amber eyes stared unblinkingly at the projection before it. Respectfully, the dragon said, "O powerful Mage, the Taerar Green Dragons greet you!"


    The words the dragon spoke were naturally in Dragontongue. Most people wouldn''t understand it, but how would the Mages known as "servants and guardians of knowledge" not be able to comprehend?


    The war tower''s bombardment had paused under instructions from Mage F¨¹gen. The skies regained their peace.


    Both parties involved in the war looked at the projection as well as the two dragons that had arrived.


    In this sort of cruel planar battlefield, the true determining factors in the conclusion of this war were these powerful individuals. No matter how intense the battle below was, or how many casualties, once the powerhouses on your side fell, turning the tides was but a simple matter!


    It wasn''t just the Mages within the tower that were waiting silently for orders from their leaders. Even the bloody and frantic radiant-knights below had stopped their attacks and gazed at the sky, waiting for their fates to be decided.


    No. Not just their fates, but also the fate of this entire plane!


    "The Taerar Green Dragons? I seem to have heard this name before. If I''m not mistaken, they are... they are the subordinate race of the Thalgus Emerald Dragons!" The projection hesitated for a second.


    Although the Mages could understand Dragontongue, it was still difficult for them to speak in the language. This had to do with the vocal chord structure of dragons as well as their unique pronunciations. Thus, Mage Sarubo''s projection could only reply with the commonly used language of the Mages.


    "Your vast knowledge deserves my respect. I, the clan leader of the Taerar Green Dragons, Raistlin, am here because I wish to bring away my clan members!"


    "Only your clan members?" There was a toying tone to Mage Sarubo''s words.


    "Only my clam members!" Green Dragon Clan Leader Raistlin''s words were incomparably firm.


    With a dragon''s voice, even their whispers would be thunderous in the ears of normal people. Not to mention Raistlin had roared out these words firmly like he was making an oath.


    Under the war tower, in the forest and on the hills...


    Countless witcher-knights, spellbreaker knights, and radiant knights looked at each other when they heard this, but no one knew what the dragon and the Mage were talking about. Only the few green dragons and Willis, whose wings had been bound and was struggling to get up, understood Raistlin''s words.


    "No... we cannot give up!" Willis struggled to raise his head and roared loudly with all his strength, "They are all my subordinates, I cannot abandon them like this. Lord father, we still have a chance of victory! If we work together, we will definitely be able to defeat these evil Mages... "


    Mage Sarubo''s projection smiled coldly as a wicked and chilly grin appeared on his face.


    Raistlin bent his body slightly, calmly looking at the struggling Willis with his large eyes.


    "Willis, my child, are you still unable to recognize your identity even now? These humans are only your subordinates and your men. But now the ones facing death are your actual clansmen! Do you intend to let Aufreyr and Ysondre die for a bunch of your subordinates?"


    An expression of agony and struggle appeared on Willis'' face.


    He looked around him and saw the green dragon Ysondre frozen within a thick ice crystal, as well as Aufreyr lying in a pool of his own blood with white bone spears still stuck in his body.


    Willis closed his eyes painfully. Large tears trickled down his face.


    Even though he didn''t want to acknowledge it, he knew it very well. They had lost this war!


    This plane had lost all hope!


    ...


    1851 Words

 Chapter 235 - 235: Post-Battle Reward

    The dragons left!


    Even the three dragons that had been wounded took to the skies with the help of their companions. They disappeared on the horizon without even looking back.


    None of the dragons turned to explain the situation to the witcher-knights and naturally none of them tried to help the knights retreat.


    The resolve of the witcher-knights instantly crumbled when they saw the dragons take to the sky and leave. Be it the two abandoned dragon knights, or the numerous wounded witcher-knights, all they could do was stare wide-eyed as the cruel reality unfolded before them.


    Their past glory and valor was now scattered to the winds, never to be regained!


    A deep and rumbling horn rang out, signaling the surviving knights to finally start their retreat!


    For a moment the entire forest was filled with the frantic witcher-knights, fleeing like hounds that had lost their homes.


    They no longer cared about their injured companions or their knight''s honor amidst their panicked retreat. They threw away their swords and knives, took off their armors, and drove into the woods, running away from this tragic land of defeat without ever turning back.


    The Mages did not pursue the defeated knights. Instead they withdrew all of their remaining forces back into the war tower and started to distribute amongst themselves the jobs to be done.


    The reason the Mages weren''t in the pursuit wasn''t because they were generous individuals. Far from it. In fact, it was because there was no need for the Mages to do so.


    When the rulers behind the scenes of this plane had actively abandoned them, these witcher-knights were no longer a threat. If the witcher-knights were allowed to live, it was very likely that they would surrender to the Mages once the their rule had been solidified. Then the Mages would instantly get their hands on an elite group of subordinates!


    ...


    Fifty kilometers away, a group of green dragons crouched on top of a tall cliff, silently gazing in the direction of the tower.


    "Lord Father, why did you give up such a good opportunity earlier? The enemy was only a single Fourth Grade Mage. With the strength that we had, we could easily have taken him down!" Willis asked angrily.


    It was clear that he was still extremely upset about Raistlin''s decision.


    "You are still too young. You understand too little about the Mages!" Raistlin turned his large dragon head slightly, "Singe, you tell him!"


    As a clan elder, the Green Dragon Singe was also the dragon prophet of the clan.


    Almost every dragon clan would have a dragon prophet of their own. Moreover, the prophet''s status was only below that of the clan leader. They were also the main, no, the only way the dragons could communicate with the great Dragon God!


    "Cough, cough... " The Green Dragon Elder Singe finally spoke, "Willis, you cannot blame your father for his decision. That terrifying Mage was not someone we can deal with. He is not a Fourth Grade Mage. Rather, he is a... a Sixth Grade Great Mage!"


    "So what if he is a Sixth Grade Great Mage?" Willis straightened his body in fury, "The upper limit of strength that this plane can contain is only Fourth Grade. The most power he could draw out here would be the peak of a Fourth Grade. If we threw everything we had at him, we could have exterminated his projection, crushing his foothold here in this plane!"


    "Things are not as simple as you think!" Elder Singe shook his head painfully, "He is a Sixth Grade Great Mage. This means that if he ever activated his personal origin domain, he could still break through the limit of this plane and project all of his strength here. Even though the price he would have to pay for doing so would be expulsion by the planar forces, as long as he could kill us in an extremely short time, the remaining low-grade Mages would still be able to gain control of this plane!"


    "That is why I said that this world''s fate had already been determined when its coordinates were revealed to the evil Mages! If us Taerar Green Dragons had been any more powerful, we might have been able to beat them back where they came from. But if the price we needed to pay for that was you, Aufreyr, and the other dragons'' lives, I would rather give up on this plane!" Green Dragon Clan Leader Raistlin looked down on the surrounding forest silently. His large dragon eyes were filled with an indescribable sadness.


    After all, this plane had been the home that the Taerar Dragons had managed for several thousand years. It was impossible for them to not feel heartbroken now that it had been forcefully taken over by the Mages. The Taerar Dragons were still too weak. If they fought with the Mages, more than half of the adolescent dragons would forever be left on the cruel battlefield.


    And this was something that Raistlin would never be able to stand for!


    "... " Willis dejectedly lowered his large dragon head.


    Even though he was reluctant to admit it, he knew that this was the only thing that his father could do for the sake of the clan!


    "Let''s return!" Raistlin suddenly unfurled his wings and roared angrily, "The Mages movements will be quick. We must hurry back to Dragon Valley. Moving the ancestors'' graves and shifting the Dragon Altar; all of these need time! Let''s go!"


    The few green dragons rose to the skies, accompanied by their loud and magnificent dragon roars, beating their wings and heading towards the distance.


    ...


    The battle had concluded once and for all.


    However, the flames of war that had been ignited were not that easily extinguished.


    The war tower, having experienced a brutal plane war, had finally ceased functioning and revealed its bruised, battered, and ugly body.


    The materials used to hurriedly construct the tower were not proper magical stones. Naturally, its functions couldn''t be compared to a proper Mages'' tower. During the war, all of the tower''s flaws had been hidden by the activation of its powerful defense system. It had seemed so impenetrable.


    However, once the magic radiance surrounding the tower dissipated, the Mages were finally able to see the deep fissures and countless fine cracks that ran along the tower''s structure. Some of this damage had been caused by external attacks, while others were caused by inferior materials bending under the stress of massive energy circulation.


    In conclusion, the war tower would hardly be able to exhibit the kind of incredible dominance it had previously without a large-scale renovation.


    Just as the clan Mages were busy clearing up the battlefield, creating new voodoo beasts, and guarding the tower, Leon and the other Mages who performanced well on the battlefield received an audience with the great Lord Sarubo.


    Moreover, it was a private audience for each one of them.


    The location of the audience was set in a dim, dark, and mysterious hall. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Having experienced the massive battle earlier, Leon finally had a basic understanding of Sixth Grade Great Mage Sarubo. He was definitely a powerful Immortal who had elementium affinity with negative energy and walked the path of an Undead Mage.


    That said, Leon had absolutely no idea which class advancement Sarubo specifically chose.


    Mages that had negative energy affinity could choose to deepen their elementium affinity and walk the path of the Dark Mage, master of magic curses. Alternatively they could also learn knowledge about biological dissections, commonly belonging to the Esoteric Mages, and craft undead creatures, walking down the path of a Summoning Mage that used undead to do their bidding. Of course if he didn''t prefer entrusting his strength to other external entities, he could also walk the path of a Necromancer that strengthened his own body.


    Other than these mainstream Mage class advancements, there were countless other powerful Mage classes that one could choose based on their own affinity and preferences. It was extremely hard for Leon to figure out the Great Mages'' path based solely on his performance today.


    However, there was no doubt that he was powerful.


    At least the dragons had chosen to yield before his intimidation instead of pitching their all into a final fight!


    As such, Leon displayed his utmost respect when he finally met this powerful Sixth Grade Great Mage''s projection in the dim hall, paying full respects to his vast knowledge and terrifying prowess.


    "I have always been monitoring your growth!" The Great Mage surprised Leon the moment he spoke, "You are a fellow with plenty of talent for an outsider. You might be weak now, but there will be a day when you become strong."


    Leon bent his body to hide his shock.


    "There''s no need to panic or fear!" The face of the projection was obscured within the shadows, but his tone was mild and gentle, "Foreign souls like you aren''t that rare of a sight in the World of Mages. As long as you have completed your advancement in the World of Mages, it means that you have obtained the Will of the Plane''s acknowledgement. Your identity as an Mage cannot be stolen from you by anyone!"


    Leon could no longer hide the shock on his face.


    "You are still too weak to understand these things." The Great Mage was clearly in a good mood today, and unlike what he commonly did, he explained, "Lethon. The World of Mages we live in. Every year several dozen, and even up to hundreds, of planar eruptions will happen here. These creatures or souls that came from outside might be a potential threat for weak planes. However they are a hard-to-come-by assistance for large planes like Lethon."


    "Are the Mages not worried that these outsiders could endanger the plane''s development?" Leon couldn''t help but ask.


    "Endanger the plane''s development?" The Great Mage''s projection nearly laughed at the idea, "Little fellow, you have pretty wild ideas. Even us Great Mages don''t dare to disrupt and steer the development of an entire plane. And a small First Grade Mage like yourself dares? Hahaha... "


    "But... but isn''t it mentioned in the books that the most powerful Mages are able to embed part of their personal origin laws into the planar laws, thus allowing their own laws to become part of the planar laws?"


    "As you have said, only the most powerful Mages can do that! In our World of Mages, the ones that can do that need to be at least an Eighth Grade Mage! And how many Eighth Grade Mages are there in our world? Three. Only three!"


    Leon was stunned for a second.


    There were only three Eighth Grade Mages in the World of Mages? This number seemed to be the same as the number of large Mage organizations in the World of Mages. Could it be...


    "Alright, there''s no need for suspicion or doubt. The reason I called you here is because your performance in the planar war was exceptional. As your reward, you can now take this Flame Fiend''s heart for yourself."


    Having said that, a massive heart the size of a skull was tossed into Leon''s hands. Its heavy weight left even Leon breathless.


    The crimson flesh, the thick tendons, and the disgusting aura of corruption. The large heart was still beating stubbornly, and one could vaguely feel an intense aura of life radiating from it.


    The heart of a Flame Fiend.


    This was a powerful Flame Fiend''s heart!


    The Flame Fiends had always been Second Grade creatures from the terrifying World of Abyss.


    Just as Leon was still reveling in joy over the Flame Fiend''s heart, the projection spoke once again.


    "I heard you are extremely interested in the runic knowledge of this plane. Very well. I have a task here for you to complete! You need to... "


    Leon quickly stored the Flame Fiend''s heart and paid attention to the Great Mage''s words.


    ...


    1998 Words

 Chapter 236 - 236: Dragon

    100 Power Stones. (Weekly goal achieved)


    1 Extra Chapter


    ...


    Skandre.


    As the capital of the knights'' kingdom, Skandre was undoubtedly a magnificent and glorious city.


    It had been built on the mountain, with no city walls to speak off. Most of the architecture had become part of the mountainous geography.


    One was able to see the entirety of Skandre standing atop Mount Mingsu.


    Tall obelisks and domed hall roofs could be seen everywhere in the extensive palace. Fine corridors connected the numerous buildings as maids in court dresses hurried to and fro. If one were to look at an even closer angle, they would even able to see the tiny ant-sized human figures crowded in the busy market.


    The neat, orderly streets and the rowdy traffic all contributed to a pleasant and peaceful atmosphere that permeated Skandre!


    Yet at this moment, something was happening within the highest palace located on Mount Mingsu. Edward VII, an elderly yet energetic man, leaned against the edge of a wide balcony, looking silently upon the vibrant city below. Behind him Knight William, dressed in his exquisite knights'' armor, loudly made his reports while holding his helmet with one hand.


    As a radiant knight at the peak of Second Grade, and on the verge of advancing to Third Grade, Knight William was the Captain of the Guards. And as the king''s most trusted man, bore the great responsibility of the capital''s safety.


    These days, most of the capital''s defense had been redirected from the city as the knights followed Willis and the three dragons knights into Greenland Forest to exterminate the invaders. As the capital''s Captain of the Guards, the burden on Knight William''s shoulders had been getting heavier.


    "Is there still no news from Willis?" Edward VII interrupted William''s report with a frown on his face. He asked with a great deal of concern in his tone.


    "Still no news as of yet. The last message we got was from Blue Hillock City seven days ago. Apparently, the knights have successfully found the invaders'' den. Even though they have been met with stubborn resistance, the overall progress is still considerable. It is only the lack of supplies and reinforcements that keep them from crushing the enemy''s last foothold. That said, Count Vanlier of Blue Hillock City has already sent all of his subordinates to help with the transportation of supplies. News of victory is expected within four or five days!"


    This was clearly good news, but Edward VII still could not drive away the haze in his heart. He wasn''t sure why, but it felt like there was some illusory or phantom voice from the void sending messages of warning to him.


    What was happening? Even though victory was right before him, where did this lingering worry from the bottom of his heart come from?


    "Have there been any odd actions from the heretics in prison?" Edward VII suddenly stopped walking about but turned and asked loudly.


    "This... " Knight William betrayed an awkward expression, as if there was something he wanted to hide.


    "Speak... tell me quick... " Edward VII lunged forward and grabbed William''s shoulders. He was practically shouting at this point, "Has there been anything odd?"


    "Those heretics that claimed to be sages and prophets have killed themselves in their cells. Almost all of them were frantically screaming before their deaths... " Knight William hesitated for a second, but finally spoke, "It seems they had all been spouting insane words like... evil befalls and the dragons betray!"


    "Evil befalls, the dragons betray?" Edward VII took a step backwards in shock when he heard this and started mumbling to himself in his panic, "Impossible, this is impossible! The dragons signed the Dragon Covenant with my ancestors. There is no way... "


    Before he could finish his words, a deafening dragon''s roar rumbled across from the distant horizon.


    Almost immediately a wave of ferocious and chilling dragon''s aura instantly covered the capital.


    Knight William rushed forward, grabbed the balcony railing, and looked closely into the distance. He then turned around and shouted, "My king, it''s a flight of dragons. A flight of dragons... "


    It had been one thousand seven hundred years since the founding of the knights'' kingdom. The kingdom had a history of friendly relations with Dragon Valley and the two parties had even signed the Dragon Covenant. This was what allowed the kingdom to gain the aid of the dragons in the continuous battles against other races, as well as helping suppress the rebellious nobles. Today, several magnificent and elegant palaces had even been built behind Mount Mingsu to serve as the quarters of the dragon companions to the three dragon knights.


    Despite their alliance, it was an unavoidable issue that the dragons radiated their terrifying aura of might everywhere they went. It was not something that common folk could bear. Thus, in accordance with the Covenant, no dragon was to harass or break into any city of the kingdom. And this Covenant had been properly upheld for up to a thousand years!


    But today, the dragons suddenly arrived in a flight. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This... what were they trying to do?


    The panicked sounds of horns continuously blared out on the mountain ridges to the side of Mount Mingsu.


    Lookouts had been constructed there, and it was obvious that the diligent soldiers had also discovered the appearance of the dragon flight.


    As the sound of horns passed throughout the entirety of Skandre, the citizens of the capital started to swarm out of their homes, looking about in confusion.


    It was clear that they didn''t understand the meaning of the warning!


    Two bright spots of light flashed on the faraway horizon. Then the rocks near the lookouts started to crumble, and the soldiers stationed there fell along with the platforms they had been standing on.


    Edward VII, who saw this happen right before his eyes, felt a tug in his heart.


    The dragons... the dragons were publicly assaulting the kingdom''s military facilities? The situation at hand was clear, even without an explanation for it!


    The silhouettes of the dragons slowly expanded under the two''s fearful gazes. A dense aura of strength so thick that it could drive men to suicide fell upon the city. The dragons had arrived at the City of Skandre.


    The dragons that were present were obviously adolescent green dragons. Even their appearances were extremely intimidating!


    Their bright and reflective dark green dragon scales were all at least as large as washbasins. They had lean bodies with protruding bones and wicked claws that gleamed with a metallic sheen. Terrifying bone spikes covered their backs from head to toe, reflecting with a chilling light under the sun.


    Their bodies weren''t as fat or bloated as some large beasts in the forests, and their fine scale armor grew closely against their skin. Their perfect and flowing body lines provided them with the monstrous ability to dominate the top of the food chain on this plane.


    Chaos spread throughout the capital when the dense aura fell upon the city.


    Countless civilians that had never experienced such aura ran about frantically, screaming for their lives as if this was a scene out of the apocalypse.


    The leading dragon radiated an imposing aura and looked down upon the panicking humans as he raised his neck to let out a great roar of satisfaction.


    This dragon''s roar seemed to be an order!


    As the roar rumbled across the sky, a dozen massive green dragons also followed his lead and let out reverberating roars, before beating their wings and flying towards the tallest or most lavishly decorated halls in the city.


    From his lookout spot high atop Mount Mingsu, Edward VII clearly saw one terrifying green dragon dive downwards at the massive storehouse of a famous merchant and let out a thick green dragon breath.


    The human guard stationed there instantly dissolved into a pool of green liquid amidst his tragic screams!


    Having gotten rid of the pesky bug, the green dragon tackled the storehouse. It used its thick dragon claws to tear apart the roof, revealing the mountains of wealth and goods within.


    The shattered beams and bricks of the roof fell down in a cascade. The dragon reached forward with its claw, gripping box after box of treasure before beating its wings and flying towards the largest square of the city.


    Numerous dragons flew in every direction. All of them had a sense of purpose and direction when they flew, either heading towards merchant storehouses, storage facilities for auctions, or even the city''s treasury itself. All guards and soldiers that dared to obstruct their paths would be reduced to withered bones under their poison-mist breath. Even unarmed civilians and servants were attacked if they were near where the green dragon was.


    Storehouse after storehouse was reduced to debris, while treasuries were torn apart as treasure chests and mountains of gold coins were grabbed by the green dragons before being piled together at the city square.


    There, three green dragons had transformed into large, muscular men. They were busy packing their spoils into boxes with neat and orderly movements!


    Under Edward VII''s shocked gaze, the flight of dragons beat their wings, took to the sky, and broke into his palace. They started ransacking there as well. Whenever their gigantic bodies landed on a roof, the bricks and tiles would fall like an unending rain.


    Countless weak and frail princesses and princes escaped their palaces under the escort of guards and maids, screaming as they did so. He even saw with his own eyes his favourite concubine crushed under a crumbling building before she could escape.


    A chaotic gale blew in front of him and Edward VII stumbled backwards.


    The dragon in the lead, with the most domineering physique, flapped its wings and slowly rose from below. Its emerald dragon eyes, large as washbasins, were staring unblinkingly at the two men on the platform.


    Knight William had already drawn his radiant longsword and was standing before the king. He was fully prepared to fight, but he didn''t dare to make any sudden or reckless attacks against this gigantic Fourth Grade green dragon.


    Edward VII also managed to stand up with the help of numerous guards that came to his side.


    "Why? Why?" Edward VII screamed with all his strength, "Lord Nagupta, we signed the Dragon Covenant. Why are you suddenly attacking our cities?"


    "Attacking?" A human-like expression appeared on the large dragon''s thin and long face: "No, no, no, you are mistaken...this isn''t an attack! We green dragons have always been noble creatures that keep their promises. We would never do such a shameless thing as breaking an agreement between the two of us."


    "Not an attack? These actions are not an attack? You lead a flight of dragons right into the capital of your ally to rob and steal everything within it... and you dare say this isn''t an attack?" Edward VII''s voice had become completely hoarse. His frantic and angered hand waving also caused him to be unable to stand firm.


    After all, he was 143 this year. Even though he had taken good care of his health, he was still an elderly man in this knights'' plane, where the limit of a human''s lifespan was two hundred years.


    As he questioned the dragon with all his voice, his shaking right hand retrieved a red gemstone the size of a pigeon''s egg from around his neck and extended it outwards at the dragon.


    When Edward raised the ruby high in the sky, a shining light of energy emanated from within the gemstone, forming ancient and mysterious words within the air before them.


    "The Dragon Covenant is right here! I order you to withdraw from this city!" Edward VII roared with what was left of his vigor.


    "Haha... ancient covenants need to be acknowledged, but the tradition of dragons shouldn''t be abandoned either. We are not here to attack you this time. Rather, we are here to collect our protection fees. Human king, you have had a thousand years of protection from the Taerar Green Dragons. It is now time for you to pay your fees." The Fourth Grade Green Dragon Nagupta''s massive eyes swept across the gemstone projection with disdain as he spat out these words. He then turned and flew towards the city below.


    Edward VII raised the gemstone high above his head. He coughed out purple-black blood before his body gave out and fell to the ground.


    ...


    2080 Words

 Chapter 237 - 237: Cursed

    Leon reached Skandre five days after the dragons had raided the city.


    Standing on a tall peak on Mount Mingsu, Leon very clearly saw the pitiful capital and its sorrowful civilians walking about the debris and waste.


    Along the way here, Leon had seen every human city of decent size raided by the dragons. This was the seventh human city he had seen that had been raided by the dragons. Moreover, it was the one that had been the most severely destroyed.


    After all, this was the greatest and most magnificent city of radiance in the knights'' kingdom¨C Skandre!


    Sadly it had now been reduced to a broken city buried under rubble and crumbling walls.


    Countless civilians that had lost their homes in the chaos were rummaging about the destroyed buildings, looking for food and clothing. Winding lines of refugee carts filled the streets of the city. Shouting and whinnying were everywhere to be heard. Dust and smoke lingered in the sky...


    The buildings at the foot of the mountain were mostly still in decent condition. That was the civilian housing area and had not been raided much by the dragons. The damage to the architecture got increasingly worse with the height of the mountain. Leon saw that the more delicate and magnificent the building, the more severe the damage was.


    It seemed that the dragons were extremely well-versed in the art of raiding and robbing!


    Leon took off his hood and allowed his handsome face to be exposed under the sun.


    Leon couldn''t help but sigh in his heart when he looked down upon the tragic capital before him.


    Once upon a time, the dragons had been the greatest trump card and protector of the human kings, as well as the solid foundation for maintaining their firm rule.


    Since the appearance of the Dragon Valley in this plane several thousand years ago, the human kingdom had built a strong rapport and alliance with the dragons.


    The dragons enjoyed the offerings of the humans, while the humans enjoyed the protection of the dragons.


    All of the powerful magical creatures in the wild and the ambitious nobles ruling over their own land considered the dragons of Dragon Valley to be the true rulers of the knights'' plane. Their so-called king was only a pathetic bug kneeling before the dragons!


    One Thousand Seven Hundred years ago, the Edward family was a small local noble as well. However, they offered many treasures to the dragons and promised countless more. With the dragons'' blessing, the Edward family rose to prominence. They defeated the other nobles, collapsed the ruling kingdom, and formed the knights'' kingdom.


    It was the Dragon Covenant that allowed the Edward family to bring about an era of peace and prosperity lasting 1,700 years. However the massive annual tributes they paid to the dragons had also, at some point, caused the kingdom to fall into a crippled state, unable to maintain their absolute control over the plane.


    With a calamity now in their faces, not even the kingdom''s perpetual loyalty and obedience could stop Dragon Valley from breaking the kingdom''s spine and squeezing out the last bit of wealth and treasure from it.


    It seemed he was still one step too late!


    Those shameless dragons had completely robbed this city of everything it had.


    That said, Leon wasn''t here for worldly wealth or money. He was here for a mission assigned by Lord Sarubo. Of course, it was also for that energy-merging knowledge he craved for.


    He could only hope his targets were still alive now that the entire capital Skandre had been reduced to rubble.


    Walking on the only stone path into the city, Leon saw people everywhere. Expressionless and exhausted, they pushed carts and herded their livestock, surging out of the city with their families. Mothers cried with their children in their bosoms, elderly men leaned against the remains of their homes without any expressions on their faces. Adults with vengeance, hate, and anger painted on their faces... their expressions were never the same, but they were all equally dishevelled and on the brink of tears.


    Leon had seen too many such expressions on his way here!


    This was the great capital famous throughout the kingdom. It had enormous wealth that was without end. As a result, it drew a lot of attention from the dragons as well.


    Everyday for the past five days, flights of dragons arrived from the distant horizon, raided the city, then left with their backs and claws full of their spoils.


    The merchants and the rich of the city had all escaped this city cursed by the dragons in order to avoid their raiding and robbing. The only ones left here were poor civilians with nowhere else to go.


    However, as the dragons'' rampage continued, the city also gradually became increasingly empty. Even those civilians with nothing to their name had no choice but to painfully leave this familiar piece of land they had grown up on and move to somewhere new.


    Leon entered Skandre City by wading through such a chaotic crowd.


    Leon had tried his best and found a gray and old travelling cloak. Still, with every step he took, the edge of the cloth would lift up, revealing the delicate robe underneath with its shining magic runes. Some bad-intentioned crooks might not understand these patterns, but it didn''t stop them from understanding its value.


    A group of unfortunate fellows with dishevelled clothes and mean appearances quickly appeared behind Leon. Every one of them was holding some sort of weapon, be it a club or a shiv.


    Leon passed by a tall tower with only half of its height remaining and turned into a small alley. Light gleamed in the eyes of the crooks. Their opportunity had come. The lot of them quickly strode after Leon.


    The fight didn''t last long.


    If it wasn''t out of fear of being discovered by the dragons, he would have only needed a simple fireball to eradicate all of these idiots. But now, Leon could only wield his fists and punch the crooks to the ground with his raw strength.


    As the group of rogues were rolling about the ground in pain, Leon grabbed ahold of a scrawny man''s chin and lifted him from the ground.


    "Where is the capital''s Runeforge Camp? Bring me there now, or else... " Leon''s iron grip suddenly turned red hot, burning a black handprint onto the man''s face.


    "Heretic, you are a heretic... " The stumbling men instantly recognized Leon''s identity and fell into a panic.


    Leon was only a fire elementium Mage. He didn''t possess much in the way of knowledge about the soul, otherwise he wouldn''t need to use threats on these people to have them show him the way. Sadly, even after thoroughly interrogating every one of them, he still did not managed to get any information on that Runeforge Camp.


    Just as Leon frowned and contemplated how to clean up these crooks, the crisp sound of a child rang out from the rubble beside him. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "These people couldn''t possibly know where Runeforge Camp is located!"


    Leon was slightly shocked. He released his Spirit and quickly locked onto this newcomer.


    He was a teenager, skinny to his very bones. He looked to be twelve or eleven, his hunched body hiding behind a crumbled wall. His aura was immensely weak. Without externally releasing his Spirit, Leon hadn''t managed to sense him closing in.


    "You know Runeforge Camp?" Leon turned his head and looked at this fellow that showed up of nowhere, "You are a caster as well?"


    Leon very vaguely saw a trace of elementium aura about the child.


    "Follow me if you want to find out where Runeforge Camp is!" The skinny teenager''s face was a pale yellow color, not unlike a malnutritioned stray on the street. Still, using his elementium sight, Leon saw the massive life energies hidden in his body.


    Having finished speaking, the youth wove several hand-signs and a light green rune appeared between his palms. Immediately after that, similar runes flashed above the heads of the crooks present.


    In a matter of a few breaths, the youth dispelled the runes and turned to leave. Meanwhile, the crooks had already fallen asleep one after another. It seemed they had suddenly forgot everything.


    A very crude way of weaving signs, much like the certain means of a branch of curse Mages.


    More importantly, the spell that was completed using these hand-signs radiated extremely insignificant elementium flux. Even though Leon was only ten meters away from him, he had to rely on the chip''s powerful scanning powers to catch the elementium flux frequency.


    It seemed that the casters of this plane were still able to stubbornly survive, despite heavy suppression by the witcher-knights. They had even developed some interesting tricks in doing so.


    Leon patted the dust of his hands and quickly followed after the youth.


    A loud dragon''s roar suddenly reverberated across the skies of the capital. The people remaining in the city immediately ran around looking for hiding spots. Almost instantly, not a single silhouette remained on the streets or alleys.


    Countless eyes, filled with anger, looked out from hidden spots in the city, closely staring at the three lithe figures quickly circling about the sky.


    The youth also hid in a crumbling house, looking at the dragons'' movement through a crack in the roof. The three green dragons circled several times before lunging towards a palace at the waist of the mountain. Soon the screams and cries of women and the angry roars of men could be heard from the distance.


    Zeng zeng zeng...


    A dozen crossbow bolts clashed against the leading dragon''s scales, sending sparks flying everywhere, but none of them did any visible damage to it.


    These three dragons were clearly teenage dragons that had just come of age. Their hunting experience was greatly lacking when compared to the veteran green dragons from several days ago. The three dragons roared angrily at the retaliation from the pathetic bugs before them and let out large clouds of poison mist in return.


    The world quickly fell silent once more!


    The three dragons leaped into the halls and immediately started their savage raid, wreaking havoc on the building as they did so.


    The scrawny youth looked on quietly as this hideous occurrence continued. He knew he should feel satisfaction and joy at the price the nobles were paying. However, for some reason, his heart was filled with an indescribable anguish, rage, and a trace of sorrow when he saw this happening.


    He turned his head and saw no pity or sympathy on Leon''s handsome face. Finally, he couldn''t help but speak


    "Will you also enslave us in the future, like the dragons are doing?"


    ...


    1798 Words

 Chapter 238 - 238: Variable

    Perhaps knowing he couldn''t get the answer he wanted from Leon, the youth didn''t wait for one. He turned and ran out of his hiding spot.


    One hour later, at a slum at the bottom of the mountain, Leon finally met the man behind the youth.


    It was an old man with a black cloth wrapped around his eyes.


    Leon couldn''t ''see'' any trace of magic circulation about him, nor sense any powerful mental flux. Yet for some reason, a sense of respect surged within his heart when he saw him.


    A sage? A diviner? Or a prophet?


    This blindfolded old man lived in a small and tiny grass shack.


    Leon had seen numerous odd characters in the nearby alleys on his way here. These people looked exactly like that youth that led him here. There was nothing remarkable about them on the surface, but their weak bodies always hid a powerful, volatile-yet-suppressed strength.


    Moreover, it was evident that these people were hiding near the shack, closely guarding this blindfolded elder.


    This blindfolded old man was obviously an important figure amongst the ''heretics'' of this plane!


    Leon finally understood how the skinny youth had so easily found him. With someone like this... pointing the way, even his arrival must have been well within the opponent''s expectations.


    Leon really despised these fellows that spent their days looking into fate and the future. Even though they had the unique ability to communicate with the plane, it was considered as a commonly seen elementium magic. Their tricks and powers couldn''t be stopped or deflected by any means.


    As such, no one dared offend an Mage with divining powers in the World of Mages. Otherwise you might die without even knowing the cause!


    "Welcome, guest from another plane! I am Mas."


    The old man introduced himself as such. He didn''t use the hostile word ''invaders'' in his speech. Rather, he used the neutral ''guest''. This fully expressed his desire for a cooperative relationship!


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you here, Mr Mas. I am Leon, an Mage from the World of Mages. I''m sure you already have some understanding as to my purpose here, don''t you?" Leon swept his hood behind his head and revealed his face before politely performing a proper Mages'' greeting.


    Mas betrayed a bitter smile when he looked upon Leon''s young and handsome face.


    "We have already tasted the godly might of the Lord Great Mage in your base. That little kid Goth tested his patience and was reduced to ashes by your Great Mage. Even people like myself were involved in the planar backlash and lost our eyes! Lord Great Mage can counterattack an enemy thousands of miles away through the planar level¨C that is more than enough to deserve our respect!"


    That happened?


    Leon was slightly shocked, but he didn''t show it on his face. He continued to sincerely look at Diviner Mas.


    Sage, diviner, prophet. These titles referred to the same group of individuals, but the change in the title matched the difference in their abilities.


    Sage. Almost all that started practicing divination had this title.


    They didn''t always get feedback when they connected with the planar consciousness, and even when they did, the feedback they got would be chaotic and fragmented. These people were able to divine fortune and misfortune and were more likely to walk down a path beneficial for themselves.


    Diviners were even stronger than sages. Almost every single one of their divinations were able to result in feedback from the planar consciousness. That said, the feedback was mostly limited to themselves. The amount of information they got from the feedback would also be related to the amount of power they had.


    These people had an elementary mastery over the power of fate, and were able to peek at fragments of the future through the planar laws. They commonly became the leaders of their race or clan and enjoyed an extremely respected status.


    Prophets were even more terrifying.


    They were often casters with immense power themselves. Not only could they see the future, they could even use their powers to distort or even change the flow of fate to some extent. It was because of this skill that Mages who were also prophets were extremely terrifying existences, even in the World of Mages.


    Thus, even though Leon had no talent for divination, his background in the World of Mages and the superior knowledge he possessed allowed him to see through the depths of Mas'' powers.


    In truth it was completely out of Leon''s expectations that Mas was able to develop into a diviner under the witcher-knights'' cruel suppression.


    These people might not have much in the way of combat or attack skills, but they had the tremendous ability to see through the functioning of the planar laws. They were like eyes suspended above the long river of fate, gazing coldly at the men engulfed within.


    To Leon''s understanding, there were plenty of diviners in the Silver Union back in the World of Mages. They willingly gave up their magic powers, all in order to get a better look at the river of fate. They hid within the Silver Union''s Diviners'' Tower and never took a step in the outside world. Yet they still knew of everything happening everywhere on the Continent of Mages.


    They never participated in conflicts or abused their powers. They continually and dutifully did their jobs as the eyes of fate. Day in and day out, they transcribed scrolls and organized their notes. They worked hard, writing down every single thing that they managed to divine, then stored them in hidden rooms within the Tower.


    Many powerful Mages had to personally visit these powerless ''madmen'' to clear up confusions about the past. They used their most precious, valuable knowledge and resources to obtain a chance to enter the Tower and do away with their doubts.


    But now, when a diviner from another plane stood before Leon, he couldn''t help but start wondering.


    Would he be able to see his future path to power if he used the eyes of this other-world diviner? S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Diviner Mas started chuckling as Leon''s mind was contemplating the idea.


    "Sir Leon, don''t count on me to help you. Every prophet is tightly bound to the plane they were born on. Even if I drained all of my strength, I would still never be able to extend my vision to a place as far away the World of Mages."


    "But did you not divine my arrival?" Leon asked, confused.


    "That is because you are now in this plane and away from that Great Mage!" An expression of frustration appeared on Diviner Mas'' face, "If you continued to stay by the side of the respected Great Mage, I would never dare to cast my vision anywhere near. However, when you left Greenland Forest, the path of your fate crossed mine. Thus I was able to see you and the purpose you bear!"


    "Sir Mas, as a man of powerful ability from this plane, do you not feel repulsion and dislike for my identity?" Leon thought for a moment before asking this difficult question.


    "Fate! What is fate? Most people misunderstand and believe that we rule above fate. That we can change fate because we can see through it. Diviners that hold such thoughts hardly ever survive." Mas paused for a second here, as if he just thought of someone or something.


    It was a while later before he returned from his memories and continued, "In truth, these people are all mistaken. Even the most powerful prophet in this world is ultimately a slave of fate. No one can be the master of fate. Fate is a shackle, tightly chaining everyone and everything together. The path of everything''s fate is silently revolving around certain rules and laws. There is no possibility of breaking out of that."


    Leon listened silently.


    "What is fate?


    "This is a question whose answer every prophet has sought for their entire lives, to no avail.


    "Some prophets believe that fate is a certain end that results from the systematic operation of all the rules and laws in the world. As long as all the conditions remain the same, there will only be one result. When the numerous results, ends, and conclusions accumulate, they form fate.


    "Meanwhile, some prophets believe that fate is a unique force that exists independently, outside of the ordinary rules and laws. Even though it coincides and walks along the current world most of the time, it also concurrently and continuously changes as it does so. The river of fate is winding and extends to infinity. It might even be divided into many levels, filled with unpredictable variables at every level. Thus the direction of the river of fate''s flow is also ever changing. It is also accepts and admits new factors.


    "This viewpoint clearly puts fate on an extremely high pedestal. It believes that fate is one of the most superior, powerful, and highest-order force laws in the multiverse. This higher-order law is not something that ordinary and inferior creatures can hope to control or manipulate. The only thing they can do is to understand and accept it, then use it to their advantage.


    "In all seriousness, every single person, every single substance, and every single elementium within the multiverse has their own unique fate. And this fate, this path they are to walk on can become more or less certain, more or less strong, and more or less definite with the existence of the fate''s host, as well as the multiple factors in the multiverse.


    "However, if a plane chooses to go into isolation, then everything within the plane would become fixed and predictable. At a certain point, even the plane''s fate itself will become predictable!


    "Thus every planar world has to admit outsiders intermittently if they do not wish to become a stagnant pool of water. In doing so, they create variables for the fate of the plane. It''s just that most of the time, even the plane''s power of fate cannot determine whether this variable will be a beneficial or harmful one."


    Leon''s body couldn''t help but tremor as he listened to this other-world diviner''s enlightening knowledge of fate.


    At this very moment he felt like he vaguely understood the reason he had accidentally appeared in the World of Mages.


    Possibly, maybe, perhaps... he was one of the ''variables'' the World of Mages had drawn in from the multiverse!


    ...


    1750 Words

 Chapter 239 - 239: Transaction

    The conversation with Diviner Mas was pleasant and delightful!


    Mas sensed what was going through Leon''s mind to varying extents.


    When two smart men gathered together, discussions were easily completed. There was no need for roundabout small talk or probing questions. In a matter of sentences the two of them quickly arranged a possible future frame for collaboration.


    Although Leon couldn''t make decisions in place of Lord Sarubo, he could recommend this batch of people to him. This was the main reason Diviner Mas was in such a hurry to meet Leon!


    It was only after the talk that Leon found out Mas wasn''t alone. There was a large group of casters who had potential as Mages gathered around him. On the way here all the people Leon had seen possessed, at the very least, power rivalling advanced apprentices. Moreover most of them had pseudo-Mage level casting abilities.


    Their leader Diviner Mas was a terrifying Second Grade.


    Sadly, the class characteristics of prophets required them to abandon all casting abilities in exchange for the more powerful powers of divination. Even though his Grade was exceptionally high, he did not have much offensive ability. Quite the contrary¨C most of the time he needed the protection of his followers.


    That said, it was clear how powerful his ability was. Mas had been able to gather such a large group of individuals around him and settle in the heartland of the knights'' kingdom.


    This was mostly because Mas and his followers formed a mutually beneficial relationship.


    Mas relied on his followers to protect him, while he was able to provide a blessing of fortune for these people while also allowing them to escape the pursuit of the witcher-knights.


    Such a group could only have appeared in the cruel and distorted environment of the knights'' plane.


    Regardless of what their plans were, Leon was relieved to have these locals to help coordinate the Mages'' actions. The execution of his mission in Skandre city had just become that much easier.


    In less than half a day Leon got his hands on the information he wanted. It was information about Runeforge Camp and the location of the king.


    Leon bore two missions on this trip to Skandre City. The first was an assassination order personally assigned by Lord Sarubo. Leon was ordered to kill Edward VII as soon as possible to catalyze an internal conflict within the kingdom. The second was Leon''s personal mission. The energy merging knowledge he needed was hidden in that Runeforge Camp.


    He was determined to get his hands on that knowledge.


    Runeforge Camp was, in truth, the largest and most well-hidden weapon-manufacturing facility in the knights'' kingdom. The standard runic equipment that all witcher-knights wore were forged at Runeforge Camp.


    For a long time, Runeforge Camp had been a special location countless local nobles had tried to infiltrate. The entire world knew of the witcher-knights'' power. The first was the unstoppable charge of their magic colts, and the second was the tough defense and offense that their runic equipment afforded them.


    Any noble that had ambitions of taking the throne for themself would think about stealing the secrets of forging runic weapons, then secretly train their own runic warriors.


    Sadly, Runeforge Camp was one of the most important and classified locations in the kingdom. Almost none had successfully escaped once they entered. If it wasn''t for Mas providing the information, Leon alone would probably not have been able to find the location of the camp.


    Late at night.


    In a crude and run-down wooden hut.


    Leon sat silently by the only table in the room by himself. He used the dim candlelight to read through the information in his hands.


    He had just requested this information and already someone had sent it over before nightfall.


    The information was very detailed and complete. It not only provided an accurate location of the camp, it even included the spread of buildings within and their separate uses, as well as the strength and numbers of the guards at every spot.


    In all honesty, the person who first founded Runeforge Camp was a genius!


    They had hidden Runeforge Camp within Mount Mingsu to keep it away from public sight. Which is to say, Runeforge Camp wasn''t a place constructed on a large flatland. Rather it was hidden in the belly of the mountain.


    There were only two paths that lead inside. One was through the witcher-knight headquarters, located on the waist of Mount Mingsu, while the other was through the back of Mount Mingsu.


    The former was the main path, commonly used for transporting materials and supplies. It was always guarded by three to five radiant knights and outsiders had virtually no chance of breaking in through there. The latter was a small cave dug into the middle of a cliff, used for dumping the waste from the manufacturing of the runic weapons.


    The cave was three hundred meters above the ground and the cliff it was on was treacherously steep. There was almost no possibility of scaling it. Tough metal railings had been fitted on the entrance of the cave as well. It was only opened temporarily for dumping waste. There would also be guards and patrols securing the area at all times. Ordinary men had no chance of sneaking in.


    Having finished reading all the information, Leon quickly started to construct a three-dimensional model of the camp in his mind with the help of the chip. As the numbers of the workers, craftsmen, and guards were slowly entered into the model, a realistic representation of Runeforge Camp came to life.


    With the firsthand information on Runeforge Camp now in his hands, what he needed to do now was think of a way to break in and make his way to the drafting room, located at the heart of the forging area. All of the information and parchments regarding the runic equipment was stored there.


    On the other hand the force stationed there was enough to make Leon wince.


    Normally, there were always five radiant knights guarding the camp. Three of them were responsible for defending the knights'' headquarters, while the other two were stationed within the camp a single room away from the drafting room.


    However, with the frequent raids on the capital by the dragons, many radiant knights had been reassigned to ensure the safety of the palace. The number of radiant knights stationed at Runeforge Camp was currently at its lowest. Just two. One stayed at the knights'' headquarters, which was near the entrance of Runeforge Camp. One was stationed inside Runeforge Camp.


    This was undoubtedly already great news for Leon! S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Still, a fully-armed and prepared radiant knight was a massive mountain he had to cross.


    He had to sneak into the drafting room without alerting anyone. If even a single guard spotted him, the radiant knight would be alerted.


    Leon might have been able to rely on the complex geography back in Greenland Forest, along with the mobility of his spells to toy with the radiant knights. However, trapped within such a narrow underground path, he would lose most of his mobility. The moment he met a radiant knight would likely be the moment he died in his pursuits as an Mage.


    Though he might have personally killed a radiant knight before, the circumstances were different. The radiant knight was worn out, while Leon had been preparing to kill the knight. It was a valiant result that he had only achieved after giving up so many of his golems. What he had to face now was a fully intact radiant knight with a home field advantage!


    He quickly simulated up to hundreds of break-in attempts in his mental space, but every attempt ended in a failure due to the radiant knight''s interference. The chip was left with one final conclusion. If Leon didn''t find a way to eliminate that radiant knight, his plan of robbing the drafting room would remain a dream.


    Besides this extremely troublesome problem, the assassination mission tasked him by Lord Sarubo was also a tough one.


    Edward VII was hidden in his palace at the peak of Mount Mingsu, protected by a large group of radiant knights and spellbreaker knights. That was the only place left untouched by the dragon flight, and consequently it had complete and intact defensive facilities.


    To defend against the possibility of a dragon attack, the amount of military force amassed there was truly impenetrable. The possibility of Leon breaking through all that defense and killing the king was miniscule.


    The more he read the parchment, and the more he understand about the palace, the more helpless he felt about his task.


    His power as a First Grade Mage might have been enough for him to live a good life in the World of Mages, but it was still a difficult and dangerous thing to walk about a planar battlefield. It was like walking on thin ice. A slight misstep and he would die!


    Just as Leon was engulfed in frustration and hesitation, footsteps sounded from outside the wooden hut, quickly followed by light knocking.


    Diviner Mas personally came to visit him!


    "I''m sure you have seen the information. What do you think about your odds for the two missions?" Mas had just sat down and already he couldn''t help but ask.


    Leon was honest as well. He spoke frankly, "If it''s just me alone, there is no possibility of completing either of these tasks!"


    "Do you intend to give up?"


    "No! Not at all!" Leon smiled slightly as he said, "If it''s just me, it''s not possible. But if I had Sir Mas'' help, I''m sure things would be different!"


    Leon could clearly see how unbelievably detailed the information provided to him was. There was no way that this was information those half-ass casters obtained on their own. The only way this could have been obtained was through the prophecy powers of the diviner before him.


    If he had such a powerful ability, he might be able to use his amazing prophetic powers to find loopholes and flaws in this sturdy defense that outsiders were not privy to. Wasn''t this what he was the best at?


    That said, Leon probably needed to give something in exchange for using Mas'' powers. After all, the information provided by Mas was more than enough for Leon to recommend them to Great Mage Sarubo.


    If he wanted the full cooperation of Diviner Mas, Leon had to offer something new and of value!


    For the rest of the night, the two negotiated within the wooden hut.


    Starting from the next day, Leon never took a single step out of the hut. He remained within the building, furiously writing on parchment after parchment. In just three days, he had completely transcribed some of the more common magic books from the World of Mages.


    This included the meditation techniques provided to the apprentice Mages, methods to train the Spirit, the branches and paths of the Mage system, as well as basic templates of some apprentice-level spells.


    With a complete magic system as reference, Diviner Mas could continuously cultivate more and more casters in this plane as long as he could survive the impending disaster. This was something that Lord Sarubo would never give him.


    Of course, in order to ensure Mas upheld his end of the aLeonent, Leon had sealed most of the content when he transcribed the scrolls. Without him personally undoing those seals, all the parchments would turn into ash in a blazing fire.


    Now with the full cooperation of Diviner Mas, Leon finally had a small chance of successfully completing the missions!


    ...


    1947 Words

 Chapter 240 - 240: Assault

    During the night, Skandre lost the rowdiness and liveliness it had in the past.


    With the exception of some sparse light near the palace and the city center, the rest of the city had been plunged into a deep and heavy darkness.


    Once night fell, a light rain washed over the city.


    Very few people could be seen on the broken streets. The homeless civilians shivered in unstable houses, using what remained of their roofs as shelter.


    This was the eleventh day since the dragon raid started on Skandre City.


    For the first few days, the dragons had only set their sights on the rich and powerful in the upper city area, rarely ever harassing the lower city and civilian areas. However, once they had robbed the wealthy of all that they had, their vision fell on the civilians. The civilians that formed sixty percent of the entire population of the city.


    The dragons that had raided on the first couple of days had been adolescent dragons. They had used their powerful strength to crush the guards of the merchants and the nobles, then smashed apart the cellars and storehouses that were filled with resources and wealth.


    Skandre City might have the most powerful land army on the Continent of Knights, but the weakened Edward VII had commanded and reassigned all of the high-grade knights to the palace surroundings and forbid them from having any conflict with the dragons.


    Thus Skandre City lost all military protection it had, turning into a hunting ground for the dragons. Everyday, dragons flew thousands of kilometers here just to rob and steal.


    As the cities the dragons needed to raid slowly increased, the adolescent dragons in Dragon Valley eventually weren''t enough for their raiding needs. Even some whelps on the verge of adolescence had been sent out, following behind the larger dragons to practice their hunting techniques and sharpening their fangs.


    Under such cruel devastation, Skandre City was like an injured patient at the brink of death. Every day it struggled at the edge of life and death, waiting for its last breath.


    Leon was wrapped in a thick black traveller''s robe, like a phantom in the darkness. He followed behind Leaf and Razor, silently weaving through the pitch black alleys of the lower city area.


    Leaf was the teenage boy that had previously brought him to Diviner Mas. No. Teenage girl! Due to severe malnutrition at a young age, the fourteen year old girl Leaf was extremely thin, making it hard to distinguish any gender characteristics from her appearance. When she was found by Mas, the innate talent she awakened was similar to the Thought Manipulation mastered by curse Mages.


    Due to the lack of a systematic cultivation system, as well as proper resource utilization, Leaf didn''t manage to find a caster who could teach her after her talents had awakened. This caused her to have no spells, other than the few innate spells she awakened naturally.


    Leon couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh after a serious appraisal of her body condition. A little girl that had immense innate casting talent combined with a powerful pseudo-Mage level Spirit, yet all her other attributes were so poor they couldn''t even compare with ordinary civilians.


    The thirteen year old teenage boy Razor was also in a similar condition.


    Razor''s talent was the extremely unique metal affinity. He was naturally able to manipulate and control some metal weapons. He also had pseudo-Mage level powers, but had not mastered a single spell. Moreover, the quality of his physique was also in shambles.


    As a previous street urchin that was even lower than livestock, he had no relatives or even a name of his own. Even the name he had now was given to him by Diviner Mas, when Mas gave him shelter.


    However, even though they weren''t very good in combat, their understanding and familiarity with Skandre City was incomparable to outsiders. And what Leon needed was locals exactly like them!


    They turned down countless alleys in the dark, even going above two or three abandoned civilian homes. Soon a three-level tower appeared before them.


    They had to pass by such towers if they wanted to sneak into the upper city area from the lower city area.


    Looking from a distance, they could see three city guards gathered together and making small talk under a dim torch st a small arch-shaped gate.


    While Leaf went forward to deal with the guards, Razor went up to Leon. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hey, big guy. Is your world really that powerful? I heard from the old man that you Mages are powerful fellows who can conquer most the multiverse!"


    Two shrouds of flame burnt silently under the shadow of his hood. He wasn''t upset at all by this overly curious brat. In fact he even felt an indescribable closeness with the kid due to how similar in age they were.


    A lot of the time, Leon couldn''t help but feel relieved that he had been born in the World of Mages, where Mages had a dominant social position. If he had unfortunately fallen into a terrifying place like the knights'' plane, he wouldn''t have so easily made a name for himself, even with the help of the chip.


    "Mages aren''t as powerful as you think. There are countless other races and planes that are superior to even the Mages in the entire multiverse. You should be glad that we Mages were the ones invading your plane. If it had been the Scourge Lords of the World of Disaster, your entire plane added together wouldn''t even be enough for them to devour in a single bite!" Since they had plenty of time, Leon didn''t mind entertaining the kid.


    It was only when Leaf waved her hand that the two quickly walked over to the dimly lit gate.


    The three city guards were still wearing their old standard leather armor. They held their spears in one hand and leaned against the wall, still retaining their postures from when they were conversing. Their eyes were opened wide but their gazes were unfocused and lifeless. They didn''t even react when Leon and Razor walked by.


    Leon could very clearly see a strange rune flashing on their foreheads.


    The three silently passed through the gate. When they disappeared into the darkness in the distance, Leaf cancelled the runes, allowing the three city guards to wake from their stupor. However, that short pause earlier had not disrupted their conversation. They were still engaged in their small talk as if nothing had happened.


    "Quite an impressive ability!" Leon gave a rare compliment.


    This little girl was able to discover such a unique way of using her talents even without any guidance. It was clear that she was also an extremely talented individual. It was unfortunate that she had been born on this knights'' plane. If she had the fortune of being born in the World of Mages, she might have become a powerful Mage!


    "Of course." Razor clearly admired Leaf and immediately spoke in excitement when he heard Leon''s compliment, "Sister Leaf is an irreplaceably important character amongst us. Her ability is the strongest, apart from that old man and the few instructors!"


    "Shut up, Razor!" Leaf, who had been walking in front, suddenly scolded quietly, "If you can''t control your mouth, I''ll make you unable to speak for the rest of the night!"


    With her unique ability to manipulate thought, all she needed was a simple psychological attack to the subconscious and she could temporarily rob others of their ability to speak. After all, the people of this world didn''t have such simple and practical defensive thought magic accessories like the Soul Brooch.


    The young Razor stuck his tongue out at Leaf and quickly shut up.


    Instructor?


    Leon smiled slightly and silently contemplated.


    Leaf was already a pseudo-Mage level thought manipulator. If that was the case, the instructor Razor spoke of could only be an actual Mage-level existence. How unbelievably powerful were these guys'' talents? To be able to successfully advance into real casters while under the cruel oppression of the witcher-knights?


    Once they passed through that gate, they had made it into the upper city area.


    Compared to the low buildings and old wooden huts of the lower city area, almost every building in the upper city area had gardens of their own and were all magnificent mansions. Their target this time lived in a mansion close to the palace. It was natural that it would be difficult to sneak their way in there.


    Leon''s terrifying magic abilities might allow him to easily turn this place into a sea of fire, but it was extremely hard for him to sneak his way into the heart of the enemy''s place without drawing attention. Fire Teleportation was a decent mobility spell, but that blast of fire and sudden explosion of the halo was far too conspicuous.


    If he didn''t want to draw the attention of every guard in the upper city area, he had to rely on the power of these locals!


    The three stopped at times, plunging into dark alleys to avoid well-armed patrols.


    After a dozen days of raids, the upper city had been badly damaged. Fallen walls and broken beams were everywhere; crumbling buildings could be seen all around.


    This area, set between the upper city area and the palace area, was a place that only the most powerful and respected of Skandre City could live in.


    Right now, dim candlelight pierced through the second floor window of a delicate mansion. This meant that the owner of the bedroom hadn''t slept yet, despite the night''s rainfall.


    Daphne lightly pushed apart the wooden windows and leaned on the lattice. She gazed silently into the dark night sky.


    It was only at this time of day that those accursed dragons wouldn''t come whistling in and disturb her peaceful and fulfilling life.


    The street next to hers had just been raided by the dragons. Greena''s house was razed and a dozen of her servants had died. John''s home, on the street to the right, had also been visited by the dragons. Everything of value inside had been completely taken away.


    Every day, she and her other young companions would have to gather in the palace to avoid being hurt by the dragons. It was only at night that they were allowed to return to see if their homes were still standing.


    Such an oppressive life was just way too terrible!


    Daphne was filled with resentment every time she thought of her father having to constantly stay in that rowdy Runeforge Camp. He wasn''t even able to stay by her mother''s side!


    ...


    1783 Words

 Chapter 241 - 241: Conspiracy

    The bedroom door opened and a gentle noble lady walked in with soft steps.


    "Daphne, it''s time for you to rest!" The lady walked over and hugged her shoulder, pulling her over to the large, delicate bed, "Get some rest. We still have to go to the palace tomorrow morning!"


    Daphne sent her mother away with reassuring words before letting out a sigh. Once she closed the door she turned around, only to see a strange pair of ghostly green eyes staring her in the face.


    Leaf lightly put the young, slim girl in the nightdress on her soft bed. She turned and said, "I have hypnotized her. She won''t wake up until tomorrow morning. Hurry up and do what you want to do!"


    A tall figure walked out from the darkness in the corner of the room and walked silently to the bed.


    He lightly lifted up the girl''s nightdress and stopped when her white waist was exposed.


    Leon extended his right index finger and quickly drew a strange fire rune on the girl''s stomach. The entire rune flashed and radiated an evil crimson light. It faded two or three seconds later, disappearing into the girl''s stomach.


    "It''s done! "Leon put his hand down and closed his eyes to sense for the fire rune within the girl before nodding in satisfaction, "Let''s return!"


    Leaf deftly tidied the girl''s nightdress and covered her in the soft velvet blanket. She then turned and leave.


    They silently snuck out of the mansion. Leon turned back and took one last look before turning into a dark alley. He let out a soft sigh before pulling his hood up, covering his face and merging back into the darkness.


    This was the power that a diviner possessed!


    The same radiant knight, and the only way he could think of dealing with him was how to kill the knight in a direct confrontation. But in the hands of the powerless Diviner Mas, he could use odd and unique ways to solve the problem.


    Such as using an opponent''s relatives to draw them away at the crucial moment. In doing so the dangerous battle could be avoided!


    Lions and tigers can only talk with their fangs and claws, but a fox was so much more sly.


    Leon finally understood how Diviner Mas was able to survive right beneath the noses of the witcher-knights.


    The reason Mas was willing to contact him was probably because he saw benefit to be gained through the power of fate. There was no way he could have obtained the fundamental magic books from the Great mage!


    Due to the difference in planar laws, these books were not completely suited for the casters of this plane. However, with a system for reference, they could save hundreds of years of uncertain experimentation. Perhaps, with their current knowledge and power, they could easily construct an advancement system in a mere hundred or two hundred years that completely suited the casters of this plane.


    But how would this affect Leon in any way?


    Why would it matter if these casters chose to continue serving under Great mage Sarubo, or started trouble by choosing to go independent?


    Perhaps it was because both parties had needs that could be fulfilled by each other, while having no direct clash of interest. Diviner Mas was willing to cooperate fully with Leon and even he had to pay a price in doing so.


    Leon was sure that the powerless old man would instantly vanish from his sight if he ever thought of killing him and he would never see Mas again. What came next would most likely be an endless pursuit from the leaders of the witcher-knights.


    Diviners indeed had intricate and incomprehensible uses of their powers!


    Even though they might not have any strength by themselves, they could utilize the forces around them to achieve their goals. The people being used wouldn''t even know they had become a tool for the diviners. They would continue to believe that this was fate''s choice, and remain willing to be a tool of fate.


    Such a utilization of power was extremely interesting to Leon. However every time he thought about the price of manipulating fate, he couldn''t help but give on up the idea. Losing all of your own power was too scary.


    Rather than slowly weave a net around your enemies and waiting for them to walk to their deaths, it was much better and more satisfying to burn your way there using blazing infernos and scorching flames to reduce the enemy to ashes with your own hands!


    As expected, the more violent and hot-blooded fire elementium mage job was much more suited for him!


    ...


    The afternoon of the second day.


    It was almost always the time for the dragon''s raid today.


    When the loud dragon''s roar echoed from the distant horizon, all the remaining civilians in Skandre City instantly scattered to the winds. They went into hiding, silently waiting for the dragons'' assault.


    It was a sunny day and the sunlight was pleasantly warm.


    Three small fellows followed behind the Second Grade Green Dragon Sears. They unfurled their wings and slid across the canopy, gliding rapidly across the mountainous forest.


    The three brats behind him were all First Grade young dragons. In his eyes they were all just naughty kids who only knew how to play all day long. It was honestly a rather large psychological burden for him to bring this bunch of kids, who had too much curiosity and playfulness, on a raid.


    But what choice did he have! Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were over two hundred human cities of all sizes scattered across the Continent of the Knights. If they wanted to harvest everything before moving Dragon Valley, a lot of manpower had to be put in. The strong and powerful adolescent dragons had to cover tens of thousands of kilometers everyday just to raid the faraway human cities.


    In comparison, bringing a couple of dragon babies to a familiar place five hundred kilometers away for some light training was already an easy job!


    Even though he called them baby dragons, these were already terrifying demons in the eyes of the humans. They were five meters from head to tail with a wingspan of four meters. Wicked and terrifying fangs, powerful hind legs, sharp dragon claws, and that inviolable dragon''s aura of might... perhaps they could only be considered weak and immature babies in the eyes of adolescent dragons!


    As the dragon flight continued forward, Sears bent his body and looked down proudly upon the forest beneath him. A wave of powerful aura instantly covered the entire stretch of land.


    Under the gaze of his sharp eyes, the entire forest had already fallen into chaos. Countless creatures escaped from their dens, running into the distance without ever looking back. For one moment the creatures of the forest were in a frenzy, panicking as if the end of the world had arrived.


    The three young dragons behind him were extremely excited. They followed Sears example and raised their necks to let out bellowing roars that rang throughout the forest.


    All of a sudden, the whelp at the rear of the formation turned and looked behind. He lifted his snout and sniffed before excitedly beating his wings and diving downwards.


    The animals in the forest fell into even more chaos. All sorts of screeching and howling filled the woods as the beasts ran into trees and sent branches snapping and flying everywhere.


    Amidst this chaos, the lunging whelp sunk his powerful hind legs deep into the back of a razor boar as large as a calf. His sharp dragon fangs clamped on the boar''s neck the very next second.


    One large shape and one small one rolled about the forest in the dense foliage. Their large rolling bodies crushed all the bushes in their way into the ground.


    Razor boars were violent and ferocious animals, fierce creatures even within the woods, but even they were prey when faced with green dragons. Even if its opponent was a little green dragon less than a hundred years old!


    Just as the whelp bit its prey to death, and was bending its body to tear at the boar''s leg, wind blew in the sky above. Sears showed its wicked and terrifying body once more.


    "Little Chelsea, stop being so greedy. There''s still a human city ahead waiting for us!"


    The whelp was enjoying its feast and wasn''t willing to give up on the food before it. It growled sharply at Sears before continuing eating.


    Sears turned back and looked at the two other whelps who were eyeing the meat greedily and reluctantly said, "Remember, don''t stay for too long. We will head for the human city first. Remember to catch up after you are done!"


    Having said that, he took the skies and circled the it with the two whelps. Then he beat his wings and flew forward, disappearing past the hill in the distance in the blink of an eye.


    Six silhouettes wrapped in black cloaks silently watched the scene unfold from a low hill five hundred meters away.


    "It worked, Sir Leon!" Diviner Mas still looked as powerless as usual. He held a staff longer than his body in one hand and spoke in a soft voice, "That little dragon fell for it! We can begin the operation now."


    The shapes cast aside their cloaks, revealing fit bodies under leather armor and cloth robes. They leapt off the low cliff and rapidly moved towards the area the green dragon was feeding at.


    Leon slowly pushed his hood back and nodded at Diviner Mas, "Your ability is impressive! I hope there will be a pleasant conclusion to our cooperation!"


    Leon''s silhouette vanished in a massive blast of fire as he said that.


    Boom.


    Leon''s body disappeared from the spot.


    Then flames burst forth in the distant woods as a tall and imposing man of fire suddenly appeared there. It roared and charged at that green dragon whelp.


    The suddenly exploding wave of fire ravaged the cliff, but all of the flames and the shockwave were blocked by a translucent defensive barrier.


    A young girl with a light blue mark on her face stood before Diviner Mas. Her hands were raised high and that barrier was erected by her.


    "Was that intentional? He needs our help yet he acts so hostile towards us?" The girl stabilized the energy output from her hands while complaining at Mas.


    "It doesn''t matter whether it was intentional." Mas shook his head as he sighed, "He''s a smart man. He understands that we both need each other''s help. In a fair trade, there is no such thing as someone asking for a favor from the other! It is a fair trade."


    "Then did he intend to intimidate us with this?"


    "No! This is only the nature of them mages. They might claim to be a group of individuals pursuing knowledge, but it doesn''t fundamentally change their evil, cruel, and dark nature. They worship knowledge, but are not humble in any way. Their knowledge is vast but they are never compassionate. More accurately, the reason the World of mages is so powerful is because it gained power through the continuous robbing and exploiting of other planar worlds!"


    "Then will we be able to escape their control in the future?"


    "There is a chance in the future! But now, if we do not wish to forever be servants and slaves to others, we must learn what we can from the mages!"


    ...


    1928 Words

 Chapter 242 - 242: Shifting the Blame

    Just as the two were having their conversation, the battle in front had already started!


    When he strode towards the dragon, Leon''s two meter tall body had already swollen up to three meters in height. Ferocious elementium flames surged out from everywhere around his body, turning him into a terrifying human of flame in a matter of seconds.


    Thick magma armor appeared out of nowhere, quickly covering the body of this flame humanoid. Leon''s steps became heavier and heavier. The originally red flames had become even thicker and denser, with a little more crimson to their color.


    The dragon feasting in the distance stopped its tearing actions and raised its head. It looked cautiously at this scary figure that had come within a hundred meters of itself.


    It had seen plenty of wildlife and magical creatures in its life, but this was the first time it had seen a lifeform like this. A humanoid creature? In his simple and shallow mind, humanoids were equivalent to weakness and cowardice. He had never seen such a terrifying humanlike creature!


    The opponent wasn''t at all intimidated by its domineering aura, and was even challenging it actively!


    The whelp growled angrily. It knew something was wrong. It unfurled its wings and beat them rapidly, ready to take off at any time.


    Yet just as it was about to take to the skies, hovering just above the ground, Leon''s large silhouette suddenly disappeared. The next second, a flame halo blasted forth above the back of the whelp. Leon''s fist brought with it the massive weight of his body and smashed downwards.


    Dong! A muffled boom rang out.


    The green dragon let out a pained howl and fell downwards.


    It didn''t fall straight to the ground. With an agile twist of its body, the whelp turned and faced Leon. Its thick hind legs and razor-sharp claws instantly ripped Leon''s magma armor into shreds.


    Scorching jets of flames burst forth from cracks in the armor, sizzling as they fried the whelp''s claw. Leon''s heavy magma fist followed up with yet another blow to the dragon''s head. The whelp ignored the blow. It endured the intense pain and continued to frantically scratch away at Leon''s chest with its claws, as if it wouldn''t stop until it had dug his heart out.


    Leon had also taken severe damage with the shattering of his magma armor. He shouted in anger, and the surging elementium flames combined with the Ring of Fire. The temperature of his flame streams increased exponentially. At this point, it was almost enough to melt a pillar of iron.


    The green dragon and the Flame Fiend were entangled together. The drastic increase in temperature made the whelp feel like it had been plunged into a sea of lava. Sweltering heat relentlessly surged into the seams in its scales and wounds on its body, constantly burning its flesh and blood.


    It felt like... it was about to be cooked! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The whelp struggled frantically and finally managed to use its hind legs to kick Leon away as they wrestled on the ground. It then swiped at Leon with its tail as he was flying through the air.


    Leon''s massive flame body turned into a fireball, crashing and snapping three tall trees before falling into the foliage below.


    The green dragon whelp got up from the ground with some difficulty. The front of its body had been roasted red and white from close contact with the Flame Fiend earlier. The pungent odor of burned flesh rose into the air along with black smoke.


    The whelp bent its body in agony and allowed its boiling flesh to press against the black dirt. It was only then that the pain lessened. Its angry dragon eyes stared closely at the location where the flames rose from. Its sharp senses kept a close check on every motion around him.


    There wasn''t just one enemy!


    That flame humanoid was the most terrifying one.


    But it also felt three others quickly gathering elementium aura in three other directions.


    Casters as well! It''s those evil casters!


    The whelp couldn''t help but panic.


    In all the guidance and teachings it had received since its birth, the description of the evil spellcasters were the most scary!


    If it had already come of age, the magic resistance of its dragon scales would increase massively and allow it to resist their terrifying magic attacks. However, it was only a whelp near adolescence. Its magic resistance was far from being able to ignore elementium attacks!


    The dragon whelp didn''t dare continue waiting.


    Its powerful hind legs kicked against the ground and its slightly burnt wings beat quickly. It wanted to return to the safety of the sky.


    However, once more, as its body had just risen from the ground, the dense vines from the trees nearby charged towards it and instantly bound its large wings before it could reach the canopy.


    Even though most of the vines were torn apart by its powerful wings, the whelp was no longer able to control its stumbling body. It fell to the ground once more with a painful cry.


    It crashed against the tough dirt and fell into a daze. A ferocious roar rang out from the woods and a fierce barbaric humanoid figure charged at the whelp with its body bent down.


    There was no explanation or conversation. One green dragon and a human clashed together just like that and started a savage battle. They wrestled and bit at each other like wild beasts.


    It was undoubtedly a humiliating experience to have a spellcaster fight like a warrior in such a crude way. However, to prevent the dragon from returning to the sky, both Leon and Cobalt, who turned into the barbaric giant, could only use their bodies to keep it bound to the ground.


    As the two were battling intensely in the forest, the vines on the trees and the thorns on the ground quickly wrapped towards the dragon''s limbs and wings. It was the doing of the girl named Flower.


    Li''l Hawk, the other caster hiding in the forest, pressed his lips together and whistled. The call of eagles echoed back from the distant sky. A dozen black shadows dashed onto the battlefield like piercing arrows and joined the battle.


    As the three casters fought with the whelp, Leon got up painfully from a bush. Viscous crimson lava slowly flowed out from the shattered magma armor on his chest, quickly forming a river of lava before his body.


    Even though his Physique and Strength would multiply when he transformed into the Flame Fiend, his close combat prowess was still at an absolute disadvantage against a whelp five meters long and half a ton heavy.


    He grabbed a large rock from the ground nearby and roasted it with terrifying heat rays from his eyes. After the rock had been softened by the intense heat, he pressed it against his chest. It was only now that he had managed to seal the injury on his chest.


    Leon looked at the battle in the distance. He endured the throbbing pain from all over his body and closed his eyes while he silently started to prepare a powerful spell.


    To avoid leaving any obvious magical markings on the battlefield, he couldn''t cast any of the area-of-effect spells like Meteor Shower or Fire Core Explosion. The only choice Leon had left were the spells with physical damage.


    Compared to the even fight between Leon and the whelp, the three native spellcasters were still at a complete disadvantage even when fighting together.


    The lunging eagles had no way of piercing the dragon''s scales, and nearly half died from a single poison breath. These flying beasts couldn''t do anything to hurt the whelp. The only thing they could do was interrupt its line of sight.


    The surging vines and thorns were also corroded away by the poison mist.


    The only one that could somewhat restrain the whelp was the berserked giant.


    Unfortunately, the green dragon had managed to use its larger size, sharp claws, and powerful attacks to deal terrible damage to Cobalt.


    But this was enough.


    The whelp''s fate had been determined when Cobalt managed to stop it in its tracks! Leon gained the chance to successfully cast his spell.


    Perhaps because it also sensed the terrifying might gathering around the ferocious flame humanoid, the green dragon tried its very best and broke free from the barbaric giant''s assault. It bent its body and charged rapidly towards Leon.


    Now that the opponent had finished gathering power, taking to the skies would only cause him to become a moving target. Thus the whelp gave up on escaping and instead launched an attack at the flame humanoid.


    Leon let out a violent shout. His large magma hands extended forward and a flame whip crossed a twenty meter distance, striking the whelp''s side. This blow was extremely powerful. The whelp stumbled and crashed against two trees before falling before Leon.


    Leon''s spell had also completed at this moment. He raised his hands, and a terrifying sawtooth blade formed of magma and wreathed in flames quickly formed.


    The whelp''s tragic and agonizing howl rang throughout the woods. Several seconds later, the woods regained its unnatural silence.


    Leon stepped on the dragon''s neck and pulled out the sawtooth blade with much difficulty. Dragon blood flew everywhere, spattering the red-hot magma armor and corroding it, filling it with green patches here and there.


    "Set up quick. The dragons will be back shortly!" Cobalt had transformed out of his berserked, barbaric giant state, turning into a middle-aged man with a stubble and a body full of tough muscles. He pressed against the wounds on his chest and shouted into the distant woods.


    A girl wrapped in green leather armor ran out from her hiding spot. Under the effects of her powerful plant energies, this entire stretch of forest started to change rapidly.


    The scorched earth was quickly covered by growing bushes. The charred and withered trees rapidly regained their life and color. The marks of battle were slowly vanishing. In less than five minutes the forest had returned to the state it was before. All marks and traces left by magic had been completely covered and hidden.


    The sound of footsteps. A teenage boy wearing an animal skin coat leapt out from the bushes holding an unconscious human in each hand. From the looks of their bodies, and from the looks of their clothes, it seemed they were... two powerful spellbreaker knights!


    ...


    1757 Words

 Chapter 243 - 243: Assaultt

    A sorrowful roar echoed throughout the mountains.


    The green dragon, along with the two whelps that returned to search for their missing companion, dove into the woods. A short moment later, a mournful roar that caused even the ground to shake rumbled across the forest. The dragons took to the skies with their lithe bodies, circling above the trees as if they were looking for something.


    But no matter what they did, they couldn''t accept the reality that their companion had died.


    Finally, amidst a wave of sorrowful dragon roars, the adolescent green dragon dove into the woods and picked up the whelp''s corpse. It beat its wing and flew to the horizon with no hesitation. The two other whelps followed closely behind him, bringing the two spellbreaker knight corpses with them.


    It wasn''t until after the woods had regained their peace that Leon and the others walked out from the bushes.


    "Just like that?" Leon gazed into the horizon and spoke with disbelief, "Those dragons are not stupid. Would they really believe such simple misdirection?"


    "The dragons are not stupid. They are just too reliant on their prophecies!" A strange smile appeared on Diviner Mas'' pale and elderly face. At this point, Leon really thought he had a lot of potential to be a scammer on the streets. Mas continued, "As long as I''m around, everything they see through their prophecies will only be what I choose to let them see. Moreover, the dragons have also been looking for an excuse to raid the palace. It''s just that the excuse they''ve got this time is a little larger than they expected!"


    Leon nodded in aLeonent after quickly thinking about it.


    Due to the existence of the Dragon Covenant, the green dragons were not shameless enough to outright rob the palace. However, the fact that most of the dragons raiding Skandre in recent days had been dragon whelps, that caused havoc and massive deaths with every appearance, was enough to reveal the dragon''s plan to create an excuse.


    If the witcher-knights couldn''t resist the urge to fight back against the green dragons, they would have a proper excuse to tear apart the Covenant and horde a lot more wealth before retreating from this plane.


    Sadly, they didn''t expect that the excuse they were looking for came at the price of a whelp''s life.


    This might have been their only miscalculation!


    "When will they come to take their revenge?" Leon followed with a question.


    "Before the break of dawn tomorrow!" Mas spoke with utter certainty, "So if Sir Leon has anything he wants to do, you best use tonight''s time to its fullest. Otherwise who knows what will be left of the kingdom in the all-out fight tomorrow!"


    "Very good! If all works out well, I''ll leave tomorrow after completing the two tasks. I''ll lift the magic seals on the scrolls before I leave!"


    "Then... let''s hope for a successful and pleasant cooperation!"


    "I also look forward to working with Sir Mas in the future!"


    This last sentence was Leon''s sincere thoughts.


    Leon had truly felt the benefit of having a Diviner as an ally over the past few days of cooperation. No matter what they did, things almost went down well. Even the few risks they had to take were within their control and expectations. If he wanted to have massive plans for development in the future, cultivating a loyal prophet was a must. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That lucy seemed to be a very good candidate!


    Witch of Fate? A witch bearing the name of Fate. It was certain that they walked down the same path as Mas. Mmm. When Leon returned, he would most definitely take his time to train lucy.


    ...


    The back of Mount Mingsu.


    Mount Mingsu was deathly silent and dreary when night fell.


    Ever since the construction of Runeforge Camp, the back of Mount Mingsu had turned into a restricted area. The witcher-knights sealed all the entrances into the mountain and constantly patrolled the place to ensure there were no trespassers. Along with the steep and dangerous geography of the place, with its many dangerous cliffs, no man or creature travelled this area.


    Leon had only managed to sneak in with the cover of nightfall. Two other casters had followed behind him. One was the transforming ''Mage'' Cobalt, and the other was that plant-attribute ''Mage'' Flower.


    Leon had witnessed their abilities in the fight earlier.


    Their Spirits were slightly stronger than pseudo-Mages of the World of Mages, but their use of spells and magic was far more inferior. In an all out fight it was uncertain if they would be able to beat the most powerful pseudo-Mages.


    Their prowess, in fact, matched their identities.


    A small plane with no knowledge or resources. How could they possibly hope to cultivate any kind of powerful individuals?!


    It hadn''t been long since night had fallen. Leon kept a tight count of the time. He drew a small magical array in the cave they were hiding in and silently triggered the fire rune in the distance.


    Almost at the same time that Leon cast his spell, Daphne, who had just returned home, fell to the ground in pain. She felt like seven or eight burning furnaces had been crammed into her body. An endless wave of heat radiated from within her, slowly boiling every bit of her blood.


    After consulting many doctors¨Cto no avail¨Cthe news of her daughter''s condition finally spread to the ears of that radiant knight stationed in Runeforge Camp. Naturally, faced with the bad news that his daughter''s life was hanging by a thread, he unhesitatingly rushed out of the camp and returned home.


    This news quickly found its way to Leon as well, with Diviner Mas'' lookout spotting the radiant knight walking into his house.


    The assault started almost immediately!


    Below a cliff at the back of Mount Mingsu.


    The metal waste falling from above had piled into a mountain a dozen meters high. The smoking waste sizzled against the wet ground, causing the entire place to be filled with a pungent odor and thick mist.


    In the past, some scavengers and wanderers would sneak here in the dead of night to scavenge for valuable things amongst to waste to sell for money. However, with the start of the dragon raids in Skandre City half a month earlier, no one came here anymore.


    Leon and the two others easily found their way to the bottom of the mountain using the dark of the night as cover.


    Leon raised his head and looked up through the mist. He could vaguely see a cave on the cliff three hundred meters above. The entrance was only four or five meters wide, with the edge of the cave gleaming from the light reflecting off its metal fence.


    Leon did a quick calculation. A single Fire Teleportation wasn''t enough to get him to the cave. If there wasn''t a foothold somewhere in the middle, he would have to find another way up.


    According to the plan they had agreed on, the plant-attribute ''Mage'' Flower found a spot beneath the cliff. She dug a hole in the ground and buried the seed of an Ironthread Vine. A single frail vine as thick as a finger quickly grew against the cliff as she chanted.


    As Flower''s chanting proceeded, the vine continued to grow and its roots started to grow thick and large in size as well. In a matter of seconds it had formed into stairs that reached into the sky, crawling all the way to the bottom of the cave on the cliff.


    "It''s done! Get up!" Mage Flower whispered under her breath.


    Under her orders, three massive leaves grew from the vine. The three stepped onto a leaf each, and they shot straight up through the mist like a modern elevator.


    Soon the three found themselves right before the cave.


    The three Mages could very easily sense any movements inside the cave using their Spirit.


    No one was there.


    This was expected.


    It would be weird if the knights expected enemies to break in from such an impossible location. Thus the guards in charge of this place''s security didn''t have a fixed station at the opening of the cave. Rather, they were supposed to check this location every once in awhile. Moreover, with the chaos in the capital, it was unclear if the guards would even come to patrol on a fixed and consistent schedule.


    The leaf slowly lifted Leon to the side of the cave, allowing him to get a clear look at everything inside.


    Inside of the cave was a small tunnel. There were specialized sliding rails on the ground covered with dust and metal waste.


    The only thing blocking Leon''s path were several metal fences that were thick as a child''s arm. Rust and cobwebs covered the entire structure, but it was clear it had been installed to keep out any trespassers.


    To avoid alerting any possible guards, Leon didn''t choose to jump inside with his Fire Teleportation. Instead he gripped the upper portion of two metal bars tightly and silently drew from the fire powers within his body.


    No flames appeared; only terrifying and intense heat.


    The two metal bars quickly turned red and liquified in Leon''s grip, before flowing down the cave.


    A path appeared before their eyes!


    "Come in. Let''s finish this quickly!" Leon softly ordered before going into the cave.


    Runeforge Camp, without a radiant knight''s protection, was like an unsecured playground in Leon''s eyes. He could do whatever he wanted. Those spellbreaker knights stationed within were not even worthy of being put on his list of enemies.


    A dozen steps into the tunnel, in the side of the wall, was a small stone resting room for three guards. Leon casually threw a fireball into the room as he strode by before continuing on his path.


    Before the vicious fireball exploded behind him, Leon had already walked out of the waste dumping area and had progressed towards the entrance of the Runeforge Camp through a large and wide tunnel.


    Indeed, he was not rushing towards the heavily guarded forging area or drafting room. Instead he headed towards the camp''s entrance.


    There were no more radiant knights in Runeforge Camp, but there was still one stationed in the knight''s headquarters outside. If he caught wind of the raid and rushed over, he would very likely stop Leon and the others from escaping. Thus Leon, who was already planning to go all out on the troops in the Camp, walked unhesitatingly towards the entrance. The first thing he had to do was to cut off all connection the camp had with the outside.


    When the first fireball exploded behind the camp, every single guard in Runeforge Camp had been alerted. Countless guards surged out of their shelters and camps, and after a chaotic scrambling they finally managed to find the source of the explosion.


    Under the orders of the camp commander, scores of guards grabbed their weapons and headed into the stone tunnel, running towards the location of the explosion.


    ...


    1851 Words

 Chapter 244 - 244: Stalemate

    The entire Runeforge Camp was located in the belly of the mountain, which had been emptied to make space for the infrastructure.


    Aside from the large halls of the central living and forging areas, almost all of the other areas were just long stone corridors connected with each other. It was undoubtedly a difficult task to find any enemies who had managed to sneak their way into such a complex web of tunnels.


    The two local Mages that had followed Leon into the camp didn''t continue moving forward. They stayed in the waste dumping area and used the narrow corridors as a choke point to stall the enemies.


    Their presence drew most of the attention of the enemies to the back of the camp. The camp commander wouldn''t alert the radiant knight at the headquarters before the central area was at risk.


    And this gave Leon the chance to sneak by!


    The tunnels stretching across the entire Runeforge Camp were extremely complex yet connected. This allowed the commander to easily redirect the guards around the areas. However, at this moment, the nature of the tunnels also provided Leon with a great deal of convenience.


    Having combined the map provided by Mas with the chip''s high-speed battlefield data collection system, all of the enemies within Leon''s sensory range were marked in his mind. Leon wove through the stone corridors with the help of the chip, using the confusing crossroads and the shadows to avoid the reinforcements and quickly head to the entrance of the camp.


    He might be able to avoid the moving guards, but there was no avoiding the lookouts stationed at the exit of the tunnels.


    Leon chose to make his way through these enemies forcefully. He emerged from the dark tunnels into the brightly-lit area. Before the lookouts could even sound the alarms, terrifying streams of flame had already engulfed their bodies.


    No human warrior could endure more than two seconds of the flame streams shot from Leon''s hands. Such a short period of time was not enough for them to sound the alarms.


    Thus Leon casually strolled through the one and a half kilometer long tunnel and reached the entrance at the very front of Runeforge Camp.


    To prevent enemy attacks, this place was armed to the teeth and the security was extremely strict.


    A hundred meter long stone tunnel was the only path into Runeforge Camp. Numerous guardhouses and crossbows were positioned along the sides of the tunnel exit. All of the materials and resources transported into Runeforge Camp had to be checked and verified multiple times before they were allowed into the camp.


    Sadly, all of the defenses were designed to deal with an external threat.


    It was probably because the person that designed this airtight underground fortress never expected enemies from the inside!


    Leon no longer needed to hide when he reached this point.


    Under everyone''s horrified gaze, his silhouette stepped out from the darkness and transformed into a terrifying Flame Fiend. Magma Fireballs exploded one after another down the long stone tunnel.


    The result of such intense and dominating attacks was the collapse of half of the tunnel. Even Mount Mingsu shook slightly from the impact of the explosions.


    Leon looked at the massive rocks that had completely sealed the tunnel, and turned his focus to the camp guards.


    The sound of crossbows bolts whistled through the air. Countless camp guards shouted as they rushed at Leon. There was even a spellbreaker knight and three witcher-knights mixed in with their ranks.


    Sadly the narrow geography and the cluster of guards made it hard for everyone to surround Leon.


    Leon completely ignored the human warriors, whose blades were clinking against his magma armor, and focused his firepower on the more dangerous targets. Even without using the Scroll of Voodoo, just three Magma Fireballs, along with two Explosive Fireballs, made quick work of the few individuals that could have been a threat to him.


    Violent elementium flames and splashing lava quickly turned the spot the spellbreaker knight was standing at into a magma hell. Many human warriors were scalded and burnt by the flames and lava, running through the crowd and shouting for help as they were turned into human torches.


    Sadly no one could save them now!


    The remaining soldiers couldn''t even save themselves.


    The human warriors around Leon weren''t even worth his time. He didn''t need to lift a single finger. Every person within range of the Ring of Fire clutched their throats and breathed painfully. Yet with every breath they took they were inhaling air at terrifying temperatures.


    This scorching air caused their windpipes and lungs to ignite like charcoal.


    At the end, even the clothes on their bodies had started burning. The swords and spears they held in their hands were heated as red as flames, sizzling in their palms.


    The Flame Fiend didn''t need to attack. All Leon had to do was stand amid the soldiers and they would die one after another while clutching their throats in agony.


    Everything turned to dust where the Flame Fiend walked!


    Even the stone floor beneath their feet had started to glow red and soften. Red hot lava was surging everywhere, quickly turning the places where they stood into an area not unlike a magma pool.


    It was only now that the commander of the camp realized the urgent and critical nature of the situation they were in. Sadly, the military strength left within Runeforge Camp was not enough to stop a rampaging Mage.


    When the two native Mages finally met up with Leon in the tunnel leading to the forging hall, the remaining hundred or so guards were gathered in a corner, barely hanging on using the tough defensive structure and their runic arrows.


    The transforming Mage Cobalt tried to force his way into the hall several times, but he was rebuffed at every attempt by a concentrated barrage of runic arrows. After all, the place was small and narrow and didn''t afford him much room to dodge about. Cobalt couldn''t have endured the focused fire without any defensive spells or magical equipment.


    Leon''s Flame Fiend form squeezed into the tunnel with a lot of difficulty and joined back up with the two Mages. This was an underground passage after all. Most of the ceilings weren''t even four meters high, making it challenging for the Flame Fiend to maneuver its way about inside.


    The two native Mages looked at each other when they saw the Flame Fiend''s terrifying demonic shape striding towards them in the tunnel. They could feel the suffocating heat in the air. Leon''s terrifying power filled the two Mages'' hearts with immense respect for the evil Mages.


    Leon''s burning red eyes swept across the two''s wounded bodies and nodded in acknowledgement, "Good job, you two! Leave the rest to me!"


    Mage Cobalt wanted to warn Leon of the four spellbreaker knights and the dozen witcher-knights still in the hall, but the silhouette of the Flame Fiend had already vanished before their eyes. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The next second, a massive flame halo exploded in the very midst of the crowd gathered in the hall. The Flame Fiend''s massive body appeared in a blazing radiance.


    Flame Shockwave!


    Ring of Fire!


    Violent and vicious waves of fire were amplified by the two fire spells, instantly turning Leon''s surroundings into a raging sea of flame. The remaining camp guards that were still able to put up a fight were quickly set alight without any resistance. They ran about screaming in pain.


    The only ones that were able to survive Leon''s double flame attack were the spellbreaker knights and witcher-knights. They raised the energy shields in their hands and charge at Leon''s side while under the heavy assault of the Flame Shockwave. Their runic swords turned into freezing blades. With a single slash they cut through the Lava Shield.


    However, in the small moment where their blades were halted by the Lava Shield, Leon had already managed to summon a Fire Deity with a slight wave of the Fire Lord''s Scepter. It did only one thing when it appeared. Its only job.


    Self-destruction!


    The self-destruction of the pseudo-Mage level Fire Deity instantly brought about annihilating damage to the entire hall.


    Every single inch of the stone floor beneath their feet shattered. Even the resilient rock walls had an entire three-finger deep layer shaved off of them by the destructive Flame Shockwave.


    The camp guards at the center of the explosion had been instantly vaporized. Not even a fleck of their ashes could be found after the fire. The witcher-knights and spellbreaker knights by Leon''s side fell to the ground and coughed up blood in agony. Leon quickly picked them off as he shot out Explosive Fireballs at each and every one of them.


    When the two native Mages walked into the hall, the entire place had already been turned into a horrifying hell of boiling magma and a burning sea of flames. The enemy? Many apologies, but with how weak they were it was hard to find even a speck of their remains!


    The only people that could match Mages were spellcasters of the same Grade. Normal humans? They had no chance of ever matching up against the might of Mages!


    Meanwhile, the improvement in Leon''s abilities was extremely apparent.


    From his initial cautiousness against the spellbreaker knights, to the now reckless and easy slaughter, Leon''s use of fire spells had improved by several levels. He was already starting to develop his own combat pattern and style.


    The violence and prominence of fire spells was becoming increasingly obvious!


    "Let''s go. It''s time to reap the fruits of our victory!" The Flame Fiend''s body shook slightly. The chaotic flames slowly dissipated and the magma started to solidify as the elegant and mysterious Leon appeared once more.


    He nodded at the native Mages and turned towards a corridor by the side of the hall.


    This was the central hall of the entire Runeforge Camp. There were many passages that led to different areas from here. And the place Leon headed towards was, naturally, the drafting room where the blueprints and classified documents were stored.


    Looking at how easily Leon dealt with the situation, the two Mages couldn''t help but look at each other again, their faces full of frustration and dejection. They were both First Grade spellcasters, but wasn''t the difference in combat power way too large?!


    In the past they were only able to feel the prowess of the evil Mages through Diviner Mas'' descriptions. But when the opponent''s terrifying powers were displayed right before their eyes, the massive shock that went right through their bodies and into their souls stomped their past pride and arrogance into the ground.


    They might have felt a little better if the opponent was intentionally using his overwhelming prowess to intimidate them. After all, that meant he noticed and cared about how powerful they were! But it was precisely Leon''s nonchalance that caused the two native Mages to feel increasingly upset.


    Their existence had been completely ignored!


    How were they any different from being Leon''s lackeys?


    "You go and check for anything of value in the drafting room! I''ll check about the forging area. We might be able to find some good stuff!" Mage Cobalt held his hand over his heart and spoke, before stumbling into another passage.


    Mage Flower shook her head in helplessness and dejection before walking towards the drafting room.


    ...


    1912 Words

 Chapter 245 - 245: Harvest

    Runeforge Camp; drafting room.


    The two bronze doors were wide open and the bodies of two witcher-knights were spread before them.


    Heat still emanated from where the lock had been as red-white iron liquid slowly dripped down.


    This was an old storeroom. Disorganized piles of parchment sat on the stone platform in the middle. Some of them were spread wide open, others not so much. There were even emptied ink bottles and used quill pens scattered across the platform.


    Several ancient wooden stands along the stone walls took up the rest of the drafting room. Many wooden chests, parchments, and gray sacks were stacked on them.


    When Flower hesitatingly walked into the room, Leon had already begun to inspect the items on the stands. It was clear that Leon had an oddly sharp eye for item identification. He was able to figure out the value of any object in a matter of seconds.


    The common or worthless objects were put back onto the stands while the expensive and valuable items vanished in the blink of an eye.


    "Spatial storage equipment!" Mage Flower couldn''t help but gasp in envy.


    A spellcaster with space affinity had appeared for a short period of time within the knights'' plane. He had made his name by crafting spatial storage equipment. Sadly, even a genius like that had died a painful death under the witcher-knights'' butcher knife.


    The few spatial storage items scattered across the knights'' plane had all come from his hand, but not only were they few in number, they were often in the hands of a select few powerful individuals. A First Grade spellcaster like herself had only heard rumors of them, but had never seen one with her own eyes.


    Leon turned around and saw the female caster taking out a large sack. It seemed she was about to use the most inefficient method and physically lug all of the loot out with her. He couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh. Even though they were both casters, their situations were so different simply because of the worlds they had been born in.


    Leon removed a storage waist-pack from his belt and casually threw it over to Flower. There wasn''t much storage space within the pack, but it was more than enough to carry a bunch of simple casting materials.


    Leon ignored her joyful and excited toying with the pack and drew his attention back to the massive pile of scrolls and drawings.


    Almost all of the runic knowledge, life source knowledge, and theories about this plane''s system of operation, gathered throughout the thousand-year history of the kingdom, had been stored here. The treasury of the palace high above them was likely home to more materialistic and valuable objects such as antiques, treasures, or unique items.


    Leon''s storage belt had limited space and there was no way he could bring everything here with him. He needed to do some filtering and selection! Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon randomly picked up an ancient scroll and swept through its contents. Most of it was crude guesses and assumptions about the source of life... useless stuff. Next!


    He picked up another scroll. This one was full of elementary and basic rune drawings... useless. Next!


    He lifted a volume of books this time. Hundreds of arrangement methods for different runes were listed within it in great detail. It wasn''t very useful but it could still serve for comparison and reference against the runic knowledge of the World of Mages, so there was still some research value to it... basically useful. Kept!


    Leon grabbed a drawing on the table. It was a visualization of the meridian lines in the human body, much like those he had seen back on Earth. The intellectuals of this plane had probably succeeded in merging runic energies with the life energy within the human body after an in-depth study of human anatomy! This was useful. Kept!


    Just like that, Leon flipped through one document after another, tossing aside those that contained only crude or known information. He only put the documents that were rare or had immense research value into his storage belt. Apart from these necessary drawings, drafts, and informations, Leon also found some exceptionally valuable ores and special magic stones on the wooden stands.


    Jade Moon Stone, Talasite, Dawnstone, Star of Elune, Nightseye, Living Ruby, Empyrean Sapphire, Shadowsong Amethyst, Crimson Spinel. All of these magic stones were exceptionally valuable, even back in the World of Mages, and were being used as supplementary materials in the forging of runic equipment. Leon couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh at this.


    This plane''s lack of a systematic caster framework caused their alchemical knowledge to be severely lacking as well. Without the use of profound alchemy ordinary human craftsmen would be hard-pressed to draw out the actual powers of such valuable magic stones. They could only shatter the stones and use the natural elementium affinity or natural traits to enhance their runic equipment with special effects.


    This... this was possibly the most wasteful way of using the stones!


    Of course, there was something that excited Leon even more than that. He had found three spacestones the size of his fist in an inconspicuous gray sack! Clearly, the people of this plane had also realized the oddity of these stones. However they couldn''t understand their actual purpose or usage, and could only let them lie in this dim and dark hidden room.


    With the size of these three spacestones, any single one of them would allow a person to buy a small dukedom eight square kilometers large in the Zhentarim Association''s territory!


    Leon had to breath several times before he managed to calm himself down. He only continued to dig for treasures after making sure he had properly stored the spacestones.


    Honestly, when you managed to break into a hidden room belonging to the rulers of a plane, anything you found in there would probably be a treasure worth entire cities.


    Thus the next thirty minutes was Leon''s most exhilarating adventure ever since he came to this plane!


    Golden Apple. The main ingredient for resurrection ceremonies. Consumable.


    Orb of Deception. A tool that allowed one to perfectly hide their identity and faction. No known spells could see through its effect.


    Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal. It allowed long distance voice communication and its effect could not be cancelled by any magical defense or planar barriers.


    Emblem of Fire. An odd magical object that originated from the fire elementium plane. The wearer of this emblem would be able to enter the fire elementium plane under the guise of a normal fire elemental.


    Shandera''s Sheepstick. An ancient spell that could turn its target into a bleating lamb was sealed inside. (Unless the target was immune to transfiguration effects.) Duration: Five seconds. Ignores armor and magical resistance.


    ...


    ...


    Leon would have been content to get his hands on a complete copy of the runic knowledge. Yet with what he was gaining now, he couldn''t help but feel like he had underestimated the potential profits of a planar war.


    In terms of size and resources, the World of Mages was hundreds of times larger than the small world of the knights'' plane. That said, regardless of how large and rich in resources the World of Mages was, the number of powerful individuals that fought for those resources was also despairingly large.


    The knights'' plane might be lacking in natural resources, but when all of it was used for only a single Mage clan, the profits were tremendous.


    The resources and knowledge that Leon managed to gather from this crude and tiny drafting room would probably have taken him over a thousand years to amass back in the World of Mages. In particular, top grade resources such as the spacestones and the Golden Apple were not items that he would have had a chance of coming into contact with at his level.


    If he hadn''t gone on this mission alone and had managed to sneak into one of the kingdom''s treasuries, then, with his status as a First Grade Mage, he would never have been able to get his hands on these treasures.


    In comparison, the normally rare materials like Mithril, Underground Wrought Gold, magic agates, arcane crystals, and Khorium ores didn''t even make Leon feel even a little excited.


    Yet, just as Leon and the others happily examined their newly gained treasures, a deafening boom rang out from the passage in the distance. The next moment the entire Runeforge Camp shook slightly.


    The enemy was breaking through the collapsed tunnel at the entrance!


    Leon instantly understood the source of the commotion.


    It was time to retreat!


    The better his harvest here, the more cautious Leon became. Moreover, the main attraction¨C the drafts of the runic equipment, the rare rune illustrations, the explanation of runic energies, and the guide to utilizing runic energies were all in his possession now. The remaining items scattered about were no longer as important.


    Leon gave Flower a heads-up and quickly walked out of the drafting room. When he reached the central hall once again, the loud booming sounds in the distance had gotten a lot closer.


    Just then, the guy called Cobalt showed up, already transformed into a muscular and massive three-meter-tall barbaric giant. All of the items that he was lugging behind his shoulders, holding in his hands, and carrying around his waist were gleaming runic equipment. Leon even saw three complete sets of Second Grade radiant knight armor among them. Most of the other items were also standard First Grade spellbreaker knight gear.


    Leon was excited to see this equipment. He casually threw an Mages'' waist storage pack at Cobalt. Following the Mage''s principle of fair trade and exceptionally good oratorical skills, Leon easily managed to exchange a set of Second Grade radiant knight armor and runic weapons with Cobalt.


    Mage Cobalt was naturally happy to accept such an unexpectedly good trade!


    Soon the three gathered together and quickly hurried to the back of the camp with all of their spoils.


    Just as they reached the cave behind the mountains, the entrance of the camp was finally broken through by three radiant knights.


    The impact of their ferocious strength sent crumbling rocks flying everywhere, smashing craters all over the stone passage. A tall and radiant silhouette walked out of the dust and debris, intimidatingly assessing everything before his eyes.


    Rocks were still falling hazardously behind him in the narrow passage.


    One after another, lithe forms moved through the passage and quickly ran towards every location in Runeforge Camp.


    "Find those damned invaders! I want to slice them into a thousand pieces... " The radiant knight''s angered shout rang throughout the camp.


    Leon felt the massive commotion echoing through the underground tunnel. He grabbed the shoulders of his two ''companions'' and the three disappeared in a massive fire pillar.


    ...


    1812 words

 Chapter 246 - 246: Conflict Escalates

    Nighttime. The knights'' kingdom was in turmoil.


    The actual battle reports had come in from the frontlines. More than half of the six thousand witcher-knights had died in Greenland Forest, while the survivors had been scattered in the wild and were unlikely to regroup anytime soon.


    The cause for the delay in information was due to that accursed Count Vanlier taking up arms and rebelling. He had publicly surrendered to those evil invading Mages.


    Only five radiant knights remained out of the leaders that went to battle. They led a hundred of their subordinates back to Herdurand City, and that was how news of the battle got back.


    The sudden betrayal of the dragons!


    The departure of Fourth Grade Holy Knight Sir Willis with the dragons!


    One of the three dragon knights had died in battle, while the other two had been caught in the Mages'' base.


    The terrifying Mages'' tower remained standing in the depths of Greenland Forest, now impenetrable and unassailable!


    ...


    Bad news repeatedly came. Finally, the elderly king was unable to go on and started coughing blood.


    Just as he got news of the dragons'' betrayal and the dire straits of his kingdom, news reached his ears about an attack on Runeforge Camp, the most important location for the knights. This increasingly angered all of the witcher-knights!


    The many radiant knights that stayed at and guarded the palace led their indignant subordinates out on the hunt, recklessly searching for suspicious individuals within Skandre City.


    Just like that, Skandre City instantly turned into a terrifying storm vortex, viciously dragging everyone involved into itself and tearing them to pieces!


    A night of unrest.


    When dawn broke, Skandre City finally regained a little of its peace.


    Yet, at this moment, the prisons of the capital had already been filled to the brim with crying and pleading prisoners.


    Before the shaken population could even calm down, a wave of violent dragon roars rumbled across the distance.


    A massive flight of dragons had come!


    Having experienced seventeen days of dragon raids, everyone in the capital had long gotten used to this terrifying sound.


    But today was obviously different.


    Not only were the dragons much earlier than usual, they were all circling above the palace. It seemed they did not come with good intentions!


    For a time, the skies above the palace were entirely covered by the wicked and intimidating bodies of the green dragons.


    Twenty-three adolescent green dragons. Five Third Grade green dragons, seven Second Grade green dragons, and eleven First Grade green dragons were here.


    They circled in the sky as the lead dragon let out a vicious roar. The weathered stone surfaces of the nearby mountains started to crumble and fall during the thundering roar, rolling down towards the bottom of the mountain in a landslide.


    Having let out the anger and dissatisfaction in his heart, the green dragon beat his wings and hovered above the palace while letting out yet another massive roar.


    "Edward VII, get your filthy ass out here. Hand over the dragon-slaying murderer, or we will raze your palace!"


    "Get out here... "


    "Hand over the murderer... "


    ...


    The dragons roared, one after another. The deafening sound caused even the palace itself to tremor.


    Countless palace guards hid within the watchtowers and above the palace walls. They held bows and crossbows in their hands and prepared for a fight at any moment, yet no one dared to start an attack.


    For the longest time, the magnificent and mighty dragons were the patrons of their hearts. They were their most powerful companions that they lived in harmony with. Every single human couldn''t help but have mixed feelings about the situation now that they had become enemies.


    Their capital had been utterly ravaged, their cities attacked, and the people angered. Yet, after such a long time under the dragon''s protection, everyone still hoped, deep in their hearts, that the dragons would come to their senses and reestablish their friendship with the kingdom!


    It was such a mentality that caused the citizens of the capital to have mixed feelings towards the dragons. There were those who hated them, and those that wished for friendship, while even more were in a state of uncertainty...


    Confusion and uncertainty towards the dragons; towards humanity and the future!


    Eight radiant knights anxiously gathered before the king''s bed, placed in a luxuriously grand hall. They helplessly watched on as a group of doctors tried their very best to save the king, whose face was flushed an unhealthy red. However, their king was clearly at the brink of his death. It was clear that he wasn''t going to regain consciousness.


    "What do we do? The dragons are knocking at the gates. How are we supposed to negotiate with the dragons without the king?"


    "Indeed. The dragons do not come with friendly thoughts. A bloody battle is imminent! But the king... "


    The radiant knights frowned deeply as they discussed. None of them had any idea what to do in the current situation.


    In the end, the most veteran radiant knight amongst them took off his helmet, revealing his pale white hair and weathered face as he spoke, "This is a time of difficulty for the kingdom. As knights of the Edward family we cannot abandon the throne in such trying times."


    Several radiant knights straightened their faces and replied in unison, "We will defend the kingdom with our lives!"


    "I''ll give out orders now. August, Andeni, the two of you stay here. Make sure that the king remains unharmed!"


    "Understood!" "Understood!"


    "Sarah, Claire. Find the princes immediately and evacuate the palace. Return immediately if we are able to make it through today. If... if war breaks out, don''t care about what happens back here. Take them east. The further the better!"


    The two were both female knights. Their expressions were saddened when they heard this, but they forced their tears back down and nodded in acknowledgement.


    "The rest follow me to see what the dragons want."


    "We will stand with you!"


    Amidst some vague sobbings, the four radiant knights sorted out their equipment and marched out of the palace with tragic and passionate valiance.


    Yet, just as everyone was distracted by the tense standoff in front of the palace, a fully armed radiant knight was hurrying towards the back with two spellbreaker knights following closely behind. It was a time of turmoil and chaos. Large numbers of witcher-knights were stationed in various locations in the palace and even the palace guards were in a panic.


    At this time, the powerful radiant knights were like the foundation of the entire kingdom''s backbone. Which ignorant guard would dare to stop and search a radiant knight at such a moment?


    Thus, Leon successfully made his way near the hall with Cobalt and Flower following closely behind and managed to hide in a room right next to the large hall.


    At the front of the palace, the elderly radiant knight that strode out had attracted the attention of the dragon flight.


    The dragon at the lead with the massive body folded its wings when it saw the four radiant knights walking out. It landed on the large platform.


    "Human, call your king out. Today, he must hand over the Gem of the Contract, as well as the dragon-murderer. Otherwise, we will raze this place to the ground." The green dragon roared.


    "O respected dragon ambassador, what is it that angers you so? We of the knights'' kingdom have always been the loyal companions to the great dragons for the past thousand years. Yet now, it is you that are viciously attacking the capital and assaulting our cities. And today you even come here to demand some Gem of Contract and murderer from us! Is this something companions and allies do to each other?"


    "Puny human, don''t try and show off your speaking skills. The great Wrathion will not sit here and listen to your useless words. Have your king come out or I''ll force my way in!" The dragon in the lead was violent and aggressive. It was clear that he had no intention of letting this end peacefully.


    Leon, who was peeking from a side hall in the distance, let out a breath of relief.


    Fortunately for him, the leading Third Grade dragon had an excessively overbearing personality. Otherwise, if both parties had any sign of peaceful negotiation, he would probably have to take the risk and incite a conflict. He only needed to run to a group of ''ignorant'' witcher-knights and order them to attack the dragons to start a complete bloodbath.


    Luckily, the dragons were far more reckless than he thought. Such a forceful method of negotiation. It would be weird if the knights didn''t react negatively!


    As expected, just as the elderly radiant knight drew his shining runic longsword to halt the march of the lead dragon, chaos broke out! No one knew whether it was started by a runic arrow shot by a panicking witcher-knight, or the dragon breath of a young green dragon, but a terrifying battle quickly exploded! S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Under the terrified gazes of countless palace guards, numerous acidic poison and wind poison dragon breaths rained down like a storm. All of the human warriors that were caught in them died a painful death before they could even escape.


    The warriors that were engulfed in the wind poison fell to the ground, their faces a deathly black. They had been killed instantly by the poison. Those that were showered with acidic poison had their flesh dissolved like melting candles, turning into viscous green liquid and leaving only a pile of charred and withered bones behind.


    Bows and crossbows on the ground fired in unison. Waves of fire and ice arrows slashed through the sky, barring the dragon flight.


    Clinking noises echoed throughout. Countless arrows were swiped out of the skies by the dragons'' wings and tails, but some arrows still found their way into gaps in the scales of the younger dragons.


    For a moment, grunts and cries of pain rang out incessantly from the dragon flight.


    A few adolescent green dragons quickly dove down and used their massive bodies to shield the young dragons. Under the orders of the adolescent dragons, the dragon flight quickly took to the sky and gradually left the range of the crossbows.


    But this didn''t mean that the dragons were going to retreat. In fact, it was the precursor to a ferocious attack.


    Dragon roars rumbled through the skies. With two adolescent dragons in the front, and three juvenile dragons following closely behind, five massive green dragons beat their wide wings and dove downwards at the palace at high speed.


    The five green dragons opened their mouths wide, and large balls of horrifying acid quickly gathered behind their throats.


    The next moment, five dense acidic poison breaths had ploughed several paths of death through the crowd below. The crossbows attacks from the ground were mostly deflected by the dragons'' scales. Even the occasional bolts that found their mark into flesh wasn''t enough to interrupt the dragons'' wild breaths.


    The first group of dragons had just finished unleashing their ravaging breaths. Just as they turned their bodies and took to the skies once more, a second group of dragons had already started their high-speed dive. Behind them, a third group of dragons was already in formation, looking for the best diving angle...


    ...


    1901 Words

 Chapter 247 - 247: Dragons

    Dragons were apex predators at the top of the food chain for all native beings of material planes.


    If any witcher-knight had doubted this truth in the past, today was the day bloody reality would correct them!


    It was easy to imagine the depth of despair in the humans'' hearts! Their barrage of arrows did nothing as rows of five dragons groups dove from the skies and whizzed through the air, leaving paths of deaths in the wake of their terrifying dragon''s breath.


    Skandre City had no city walls, having experienced a thousand years of peace and prosperity with their long allied history with Dragon Valley. Moreover, there were no defense facilities within the city that could threaten the dragons. Weapons such as catapults and ballistae were completely absent from the army''s arsenal of weapons. Thus the well-equipped palace guards could only run about in the face of the decimating dragon''s breath before dying painfully in the midst of the green smoke.


    The only things that were able to damage the dragons were the violent sword techniques of the high-grade knights.


    Sadly, after numerous spellbreaker knights had managed to hurt the first few waves of dragons, when they were at the lowest point of their dives, the following dragon attacks were quickly adjusted to put the knights at the center of the damage.


    The magic resistance of the spellbreaker knights was still insufficient to help them endure the dragons'' bombardment.


    Large clouds of wind poison breaths, along with quick and accurate acid shots, quickly singled out and eliminated the high-grade knights who were mixed in with the guards.


    The four radiant knights, on the other hand, were engaged in an intense battle with the Third Grade Green Dragon Wrathion. Their attention was wrapped up in the platform in front of the palace. None of them could spare any strength to help their dying companions and subordinates.


    Only two of the four radiant knights had gone down the path of violent knights. Their runic energy enhancements allowed their strength to increase tremendously, giving them the ability to threaten a Third Grade dragon in close combat. The other two radiant knights had placed their focus on speed and technique. Even though this gave them more agile and lithe movements, it also limited their ability to break through the dragon''s tough scales.


    The four radiant knights circled around Wrathion''s massive body, avoiding his terrifying jaws, ferocious wing attacks, and his monstrous tail. It was only when one of them had managed to draw the dragon''s attention that the others would charge forward and unleash their most vicious sword technique on the dragon''s weak spot.


    Regardless of whether the attack was effective, the attackers would immediately retreat from the radius of the dragon''s attacks. None of them could possibly receive an attack from the green dragon Wrathion, be it his breath, bite, swipe, or his tail whip.


    The dragons used two types of breath. One was the area-of-effect, damage-over-time, poison mist breath. This was also their favorite attack when they dove at enemies. At close range, the green dragons were still able to rapidly fire acid breaths at enemies.


    The acid breath didn''t cover a very large area, but it could be rapidly fired. Moreover it was still a very threatening attack. Even with their defense and magical resistance, the radiant knights didn''t dare take on the acid. Within a thirty meter radius this breath, that possessed both corrosiveness and toxicity, could easily dissolve their flesh and turn them into a pile of bones.


    The imposing Wrathion dared to land on the ground an engage in a brutal melee with the four powerful radiant knights because of these menacing attacks of his.


    In less than fifteen minutes, eight inch-long gashes had already appeared on his gigantic body. His right armpit had been badly wounded by destructive sword techniques. Patches of dark green scales had been blasted away, leaving only a large and bloody wound behind.


    Such injuries may have looked scary, but they were only moderate injuries to the tough body of a dragon!


    On the other hand, two of the four radiant knights had already retreated from the battlefield.


    One of them had been hit on the chest by the green dragon''s tail. Even though he had blocked the blow with his longsword, the tremendous impact still managed to shatter his ribcage and cause him to continuously cough up blood. The other knight''s right arm was completely dissolved by acid and he could no longer hold up his longsword.


    Even the two remaining knights were exhausted and injured all over. It seemed they were barely hanging on using the last vestiges of their strength.


    They couldn''t have changed the conclusion of this fight. Through their immense physical strength and monstrous magic resistance, the dragons had always dominated the world. These were the sources of their dominance, and was what allowed them to challenge powerful individuals above their Grade. Thus, in truth, the Third Grade green dragon before them already had powers rivalling that of an ordinary Fourth Grade.


    The four radiant knights were only at Second Grade. The fact that they were able to inflict such damage on a Fourth Grade being with just their mortal bodies was only due to their reckless and desperate way of fighting!


    For a time the entire palace, and the entire peak of Mount Mingsu, was filled with the tragic cries of human guards and the ravaging gales brought about by the rapid dives of the dragons. Groups of people were running about everywhere as more and more of the earth became scorched under the corrosive dragon breath. The sight of scattered bones and pools of green liquid shocked and stunned everyone that looked upon them.


    Moreover, half-molten bodies of palace guards could be seen everywhere. They were on the palace walls, the rooftops, the towers, in the streets!


    Leon and the two Mages, who were watching the tragedy unfold before their eyes from the safety of the side hall, all had differing feelings and emotions about it. As native Mages of this plane, Cobalt and Flower were content to see the palace guards rightfully paying their dues as they were cruelly slaughtered. Yet, at the same time, they couldn''t help but feel a trace of indescribable sorrow at the scene! Leon, on the other hand, was a human from another world. He had absolutely no sympathy to spare for these people.


    This was actually a very common mentality amongst all plane worlds!


    The Mages firmly believed that only humans from the World of Mages could barely be considered as the same race as them. This was because those humans were shared their bloodlines. In the eyes of the Mages, the humans of other worlds were no more than groups of humanoid creatures.


    This was much like the attitude of players in online games back on Earth. The Mages were a bunch of invading player-characters, while the natives were only NPCs that happened to look like humans. Thus the Mages would never feel a slight bit of guilt at slaughtering such natives.


    Leon thought that he would find it difficult to cross that line. Yet, as he watched humans from another world die en masse at the hands of dragons, he found that his emotions were extremely calm. It was like he was watching a play, a show performed on stage. He couldn''t help but sigh at this discovery. The past few years of difficulties in the World of Mages had undoubtedly tremendously changed him! S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now that the time was ripe, Leon didn''t intend to dawdle. He reached into the air and drew a crimson runic line in front of his eyes. When one strange flame-shrouded rune had been completed, Leon blew at the rune lightly and it instantly vanished.


    Leon took out oddly-shaped orb and swallowed it in one go.


    "Alright, the runic seal on the books I gave you have been removed!" Leon turned back and calmly said, "Send my greetings to Diviner Mas."


    Having said that, he didn''t wait for the two native Mages to reply. He pushed apart the doors and strode towards the hall in the distance.


    "How is it? Is there a response from Sir Diviner?" Mage Cobalt couldn''t help but turn his head and ask, "Don''t let that Mage trick us!"


    Mage Flower pressed her right hand against her forehead. She closed her eyes and sensed with a spell for a minute or two before finally opening her eyes and nodding, "The magic seal has indeed been removed. Sir Diviner wants us to return immediately! Let''s go!"


    Mage Cobalt nodded silently. He gazed at the silhouette of that terrifying Mage, shrinking away in the distance, before turning and retreating from the palace with his companion back to where they came from.


    They weren''t here to help Leon in the first place. They were only here as personal ''bodyguards'' to make sure that nothing happened before he removed the runic seals on those books. The agreement between both parties had actually been completed when the dragon flight had attacked.


    Diviner Mas had used his wisdom to help Leon draw away most of the radiant knights. If Leon was still unable to kill Edward VII, that could only be the fault of his own weakness.


    ...


    It was still that delicate and spacious bedroom.


    The tightly shut doors were forced open by a stumbling figure.


    They were wearing the blinding knight armor that belonged to the radiant knights. Terrifying marks that indicated it had suffered corrosion by the green dragons'' acid could be seen everywhere. Even the visor had been badly damaged by an external force and had its shaped twisted and distorted. Blood covered the rest of his exposed skin, making it hard for anyone to recognize the knight''s identity.


    The two radiant knights guarding the hall were shocked for a second. They had already drawn their runic longswords in preparation for a confrontation. However, they both let out a sigh of relief when they saw the person''s costume.


    As they moved forward to help their companion up, the injured knight started screaming in a hoarse voice, "Quick... reinforce them... "


    Before the knight could finish his sentence, he had already fallen to the ground. His head rested limply against the floor. It was clear he was unconscious.


    "The situation in front must be extremely urgent. Otherwise they wouldn''t have sent someone back to ask for help. I''ll go take a look. You stay here and guard the king!" The more experienced radiant knight quickly made a decision. After barking out some simple orders, he rose and rushed towards the front of the hall, where the fighting was at its most intense. Several spellbreaker knights followed behind him.


    Even though the radiant knight that stayed behind was extremely anxious, he could only suppress his worries and do his job. Then his attention was drawn towards his companion that had fallen to the ground.


    As high-grade knights, their Spirits might not be as sharp or powerful as spellcasters, but they were still far superior when compared to ordinary people. He was able to recognize the aura of any of his companions after slight contact. Yet his senses were acting up today. Even though he could very clearly sense an aura of familiarity about his ''injured'' companion, he couldn''t place a name or face to the person.


    Did the dragons cast some odd spell on him?


    He lifted his companion''s body in his confusion, and turned him face up. Just as he was about to take off that distorted and damaged helmet, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. It felt like a burning rod had stabbed all they through.


    He looked down in surprise, only to find his ''companion''s'' hand in his stomach. The hand was muscular and glowing red like fire. Moreover, it seemed like his ''companion'' was still thrusting his hand even further inside.


    The next moment, a terrifying blaze of fire had ignited in the room.


    A menacing Flame Fiend had come to life, right in his embrace!


    ...


    2017 Words

 Chapter 248 - 248: Mission Complete

    An enemy!


    It was only when the Flame Fiend form was revealed that the radiant knight was able to determine the identity of his ''companion''.


    The Flame Fiend''s rapidly expanding magma hand had pierced through the knight''s armor and flesh, intensely burning in his stomach. The tremendous pain, along with his anger and hatred for the enemy, instantly threw the radiant knight into a berserker rage!


    Any other human would have exploded and died if they had been injected with such violent fire energy. However, the radiant knights were well acclimated to ice and fire energies, having handled them for long periods of time. The flames in the knight''s body could wound him but not kill him. In fact, he started his counter-attack using the massively increased Strength and Physique from his berserked status.


    The radiant knight had no time to draw his sword. The moment he went berserk, he charged at Leon. He raised an iron fist and launched a heavy punch at the Flame Fiend''s chest, instantly shattering a Lava Shield. The unstoppable fist continued on its path, sending the massive Flame Fiend flying backwards.


    The Flame Fiend''s steel-hard chest had completely collapsed. The sound of breaking bones could clearly be heard within the room.


    A large and bloody wound appeared where the Flame Fiend''s hand had been pulled out of the knight''s stomach. Purple-black blood and shattered organs surged out of his body from the pressure of the vicious fire energies. However, even this blood and flesh didn''t make it to the floor. They were vaporized by the intense heat as they were falling to the ground.


    The radiant knight let out a muffled grunt. He stumbled two steps forward in agony before dropping to the ground on one knee.


    Leon had crashed to the ground ten meters away. When he finally managed to get up, viscous blood-fire surged up his throat and he coughed it out onto the stone floor before him. On the ground, the Flame Fiend''s purple blood burned with a strange fire.


    Their enemy was right before them. The two raised their heads and locked onto their opponent with hateful gazes.


    It isn''t wise to wait. I had best kill the opponent while he''s badly injured!


    A resolute thought rose up in both of their minds at almost the same time.


    The radiant knight extended his right hand outwards. Amazingly, strange red flames started to surface on his hand. He grit his teeth and pressed the energy flames against the wound on his stomach.


    Amidst the sizzling sounds of burning flesh, the radiant knight experienced an intense pain that he had never felt before. That said, he had succeeded in using the searing energy flames to exterminate the remaining elementium flames within his body, as well as managing to use the fire to seal his massive wound.


    This was an extremely crude and simple treatment. Even now, any simple action would send pain shooting throughout his entire body. The more he exerted his strength, the more wounds would appear under the charred flesh. Purple-black blood would continue to flow down slowly. Even so, sealing his wounds still allowed him to regain a portion of his combat strength!


    As long as his movements were quick and the battle short enough, he would still have an opportunity to properly treat his wounds at a later time.


    Leon, on the other hand, had already swallowed four or five potion bottles of various colors. His bones and flesh cracked and snapped, and the shattered bone fragments were expelled from his body of magma. His collapsed chest started to swell under the guidance of some mysterious energies.


    Still, the energy storm left behind in his body by the knight''s attack was still ravaging his insides. For a moment this made it hard for him to gather enough magic to cast any spells.


    The spellbreaker knights gathered about the hall shouted battlecries and charged towards Leon.


    They too understood the situation. Both the radiant knight and the enemy had sustained damage from the earlier entanglement. As long as they were able to buy a little time for the radiant knight to recuperate, their chance of victory would increase greatly.


    Yet this group of spellbreaker knights that had not engaged in the battle of Greenland Forest would never know how wrong they were. Distance was never a disadvantage for a powerful Mage. Rather, it was an advantage!


    The Scroll of Voodoo, always by Leon''s side, had already silently appeared in his hand as he was trying to catch his breath, and was secretly flipping through its pages on its own. A short moment later the Scroll of Voodoo stopped on a certain page. A blinding magic halo burst forth.


    Flame Halo of Repulsion!


    This was a unique spell that contained both fire damage and the ability to physically knock back enemies!


    Successive flame shockwaves spread outwards, with Leon at their center. Everyone that came into contact with the flame halo had to endure the burning of flames as they stumbled backwards awkwardly.


    A single spell and all of the knights had been blown away, with the exception of some powerful knights that focused on honing their Strength and Physique. The remaining knights could no longer get close to Leon or interrupt his spellcasting!


    The sound of flipping pages continued...


    The pages finally stopped, and yet another powerful spell was used.


    Fire Core Explosion!


    This was one of the most powerful and mighty spells among the ones that Leon had mastered.


    The destructive flame energies quickly gathered around the radiant knight under the guidance of Leon''s gaze. In a single instant it could easily turn into a fierce explosive blaze, causing immense elemental damage to the opponent. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The radiant knight had just completed his rudimentary treatment, but he was still exceptionally sensitive to elementium flux. The moment the wild elementium energies started to move, he instantly let out a battlecry and kicked off against the ground, successfully escaping from the Fire Core Explosion''s area-of-effect. At the same time that his body left the ground, his runic longsword started to glow brilliantly. A terrifying energy blade quickly slashed through ten meters of space to land on Leon''s body.


    The Flame Fiend''s massive size ensured that he could never be as agile as a human knight. Even though Leon could see the blade slashing towards him, the only thing he could do was try his best to step to the side. Energy quickly gathered around his flame-red eyes as he dodged, shooting out a beam of Solar Ray and slicing towards the charging enemy from the side.


    Pu...


    Szz...


    Two different sounds rang out at the same time, with two distinct but muffled cries of pain mixed within!


    Fortunately, Leon had consciously prevented his vitals from being hit. Even though he had been hit squarely by the slash, the concentrated and lethal attack had only managed to tear a large gash from his right chest to the shoulder. Boiling lava at intense temperatures splashed out of the meter-long wound. When the lava landed on the smooth marble floor, it instantly heated up the ground to an unbelievable degree, softening and and liquefying the marble.


    On the other hand, the Solar Ray shot from Leon''s eyes had been blocked by the radiant knight''s sword. Astounding heat gathered on the blade. Elementium energies clashed with runic energies, emitting a burning and blinding light as they collided.


    The radiant knight quickly made a grabbing motion in the air with his left hand. A blinding energy spear quickly formed in his grip. He threw it with all his strength, putting a hole right in the stomach of the Flame Fiend. At the same time, the pages of the Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s hands rapidly turned. A Scarlet Firestorm instantly appeared where the knight was, returning the knight''s blow with one of Leon''s own.


    Single-target spells might have been concentrated and powerful in a close-combat fight. However, melee classes could easily dodge or counter such attacks using various methods and skills. Thus, in order to ensure that the enemy was constantly damaged, Leon had no choice but to exhaust a large-radius fire spell.


    Leon was an elementium Mage with fire mastery after all. Any fire spell would become much more powerful if he was the one doing the casting. Thus, again and again, the two enemies clashed at a distance of less than ten meters. And once again the two ended in a painful stalemate!


    Yet at this time, the numerous guards in the hall had already made their way here and were bombarding Leon with a rain of runic arrows. Spellbreaker knights were mixed into the crowd, waving their swords about as they tried to charge at Leon''s side.


    That said, none of these could directly threaten Leon''s life. As long as he had five seconds of time to catch a breath, he could use the four powerful remaining spells in the Scroll of Voodoo to wipe them out.


    Sadly, where was he to find these five seconds in such a terrifying and crowded battlefield?!


    If he endured the enemies attacks and used an instant-cast spells to exterminate these annoying flies, the radiant knight might already have recovered from the previous round of attacks. The radiant knight would then easily be able to deal a killing blow in a composed and calm fashion.


    There was even scarier news. Leon''s powerful Spirit senses had already detected another massive life force rapidly speeding towards the hall.


    A radiant knight!


    The radiant knight that left earlier had realized something was wrong and was rushing back to the hall.


    There was no time to hesitate anymore. Leon instantly activated the Scroll of Voodoo once more.


    The spell he chose this time was still the Flame Halo of Repulsion, with its powerful repulsive effect!


    As the swarm of human guards were reduced to ashes in the shockwave, and the spellbreaker knights were busy enduring the burning damage, Leon quickly took out a grey and inconspicuous wooden stick from his storage belt. He gripped it in his hand and decisively pointed it at the radiant knight.


    "Iivaiyrda*Norhan! Sheep Transfiguration Hex!"


    Green light flashed across the wooden stick. The radiant knight that the stick was pointing at promptly burst apart into white fog with a muffled boom. Only a cute and petite lamb was left on the spot.


    At the same time, the chip''s notification rang out in Leon''s mind.


    "Hex completed. Effect is reduced by 40% due to powerful mental resistance. Duration: three seconds."


    Just a mere three seconds!


    This wasn''t enough for Leon to forcefully slay someone above his Grade!


    Just then, a powerful impact of ferocious energies shattered the doors of the hall. The other radiant knight broke into the room angrily, glowing brilliantly with runic light.


    Leon let out a silent sigh. He knew he no longer had a chance to kill the badly wounded knight. He could only take one step backward and vanish from the spot with his Fire Teleportation. Just as his silhouette disappeared, a terrifying energy blade slashed at where he had been.


    A blazing fire halo appeared suddenly Leon was right before Edward VII''s bed. A raging inferno surged in every direction. The doctors by the king''s side quickly turned into human torches. The light of the burning flames filled the room. When the light finally dimmed, only charred bones were left of the poor doctors.


    However, when this heat wave surged towards the dying king, it was blocked by an invisible energy barrier. It didn''t manage to hurt the king at all! The energy barrier hadn''t been activated through a magic or runic array. Rather, it was an energy barrier that emanated from a mysterious ruby necklace floating before the king''s neck.


    It was clear that this was no common object. In that moment of danger it was able to activate an energy defense on its own, protecting itself and the king within.


    An energy field?


    Leon was so shocked he almost shouted out loud.


    Energy fields were a self-defense mechanism unique to higher life forms. Even without the power of spells, these lifeforms would be able to form a defensive energy membrane, with their powers functioning as its core. These energy fields were able to block most external attacks. Some high-level magically enhanced objects had similar traits.


    This ruby couldn''t possibly be a lifeform.


    Which meant... that it was, at the very least, a high-level magic-enhanced object!


    Leon no longer hesitated. He held nothing back from his Scroll of Voodoo. Two instantaneous spells violently blasted forth, immediately shredding the energy field to pieces with their forceful power. Then the two spells quickly shot towards Edward VII, severing his head with sharp blades.


    Before the two radiant knights could leap over, Leon grabbed the head and the ruby necklace, leaving the hall in a blaze of Fire Teleportation.


    It was time to escape!


    ...


    2161 Words

 Chapter 249 - 249: Dynasty

    Thirteen days later, in the Mages'' base.


    The last time he saw the base, it was still a ghastly scene covered in blood and flesh.


    A raging forest fire had razed nearly thirty-five kilometers of forest at the southern end of Greenland Forest. The ashes and dust left behind rose to the skies and covered the sun. Even Blue Hillock City had received three consecutive days of black snow!


    Corpses and broken bodies were scattered all across this smoking black scorched earth.


    The charred remains of magic colts and witcher-knights could be found at the center of some of the worst fires. Only a pile of ashes could be found on the ground where they used to be. Everything had been reduced to nothing. Just ashes and dust. It was only when you looked at the edge of the battlefield, brushing away the layers of thick ashes, that you might be able to find some odd substances formed from a mixture of melted bones and metal armor. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In all honesty, over a thousand witcher-knights still remained when the radiant knights sounded the retreat. However, having lost their faithful mounts, hope of victory, their stamina, and their will, they couldn''t possibly have outrun the ravaging forest fires with their two legs.


    The truth was that only a small minority of witcher-knights managed to escape from the planar war with their lives. This was the main reason that the knights'' kingdom hadn''t been able to get any information for a long period of time.


    Of course the revolt of Blue Hillock City Castellan Count Vanlier had also played a sizeable part in the lack of information!


    As he was the first native force that surrendered to the Sarubo Clan, Count Vanlier received great rewards from the Mages for his loyalty. According to the words of nobles that had pledged their allegiance to the Mages alongside Count Vanlier, the great Mages chosen by the heavens were a group of wise men and sages that possessed vast knowledge and the truths of the world.


    A friendly and amiable Mage had even personally elevated Count Vanlier''s bloodline, allowing him to turn from a normal human into a noble, long-lived species. From then on he was freed from the shackles of sickness, aging, and death. There was no longer a need to worry about the threat of death!


    Moreover, after Count Vanlier had been ''cleansed'' he even gained the ability to fly as he willed using his own strength. The terrified nobles immediately changed their standpoints and started to praise of the greatness and virtue of the Mages.


    The nobles had once pledged their loyalty to the knights'' kingdom. But now they claimed and accused the kingdom of being a puppet government that exploited the common people and wagged their tails before the dragons.


    These rumors corresponded with the dragon disasters that had been ravaging the human cities in recent time, quickly spreading throughout the entire continent.


    For a moment, "accepting the Mages and driving away the dragons" became the most popular opinion among the lower working classes in the Continent of Knights!


    When Leon snuck his way back to Greenland Forest through areas controlled by the knights'' kingdom, what he saw surprised him.


    He originally thought that the Mages would only forcefully conquer the plane, and that Mage Sarubo would never have cared for these worthlessly small civilians that were as insignificant as dust. However, from what he had seen, it seemed that even a powerful Mage understood the strength of the masses.


    They were misdirecting the masses and attracting them, pulling the opinion of the lower working classes towards the Mages!


    This was the quickest way to quell the possibility of resistance movements within a plane.


    Even if they used overbearing means to exterminate the knights'' kingdom, there would always be stubborn loyalist forces hiding behind the scenes. These people would continuously provoke the dissatisfaction of the masses, stoking their anger and weaponizing it against the Mages. If the plane''s order was disturbed for prolonged periods of time, the Sarubo Clan''s profits gained from this plane would inevitably take a hit.


    Thus, Leon couldn''t help but be impressed by the changes in the natives that he observed on his way back.


    Exterminating and absorbing the ruling classes was the simplest and quickest way to grab ahold of the most profits! On the other hand, absorbing the middle classes and attracting the lower classes to their side was a necessary means to crush support for resistance forces.


    Just looking at the tricks and schemes the clan was using, it was clear that the Sarubo Clan Mages had their own deep understanding of the conquering and managing of a plane.


    Leon could even make bold guesses based on what was already happening. The Mages'' base only needed to send out some Mages with good appearances. Once they displayed their so-called ''miracles'' before the public, they would easily be able to win the favor of the masses. Then all they needed to do was successfully drive away the dragons from the entire kingdom and the plane itself would truly become the property of the Sarubo Mage Clan!


    Lord Sarubo had a long discussion with the green dragon clan leader during the last planar battle. Could they have decided on this plan during that time? No matter how he looked at it, Leon thought that the current actions of the dragons were most definitely just a ''performance'' they were doing in tandem with the Mages!


    After all, there was no way this plane could still belong to them. The dragons being able to take this chance to amass and rob a massive amount of wealth before they left was, perhaps, a sort of compensation! Meanwhile, their actions created an opportunity for the new rulers of this plane¨C the Mages. This was an opportunity to steal the hearts and win the favors of the masses.


    Of course, with his status as a First Grade Mage, Leon could not possibly come into contact with such core secrets of the clan. He had only come to a simple conclusion after a basic evaluation and deduction of what he had observed on his way back to the base. Even though the chip''s conclusion was a little dark and cruel, Leon firmly believed it to be the truth.


    This was perhaps because he was an Mage himself now!


    The new Mages'' base could no longer be considered a base. It was more like a rapidly developing city.


    The nearby trees had all been burned to ashes. This saved the Mages the trouble of cutting them down.


    When Leon returned, plenty of construction projects were underway. Several stone towers rose from the ground. Patches of mountainous land had been reformed. Under the command of the Mages, groups of voodoo beasts pushed around debris, flattened ground, cleared the area... they were extremely busy with work.


    Of course most of the previous voodoo beasts had been destroyed in the last battle. This new batch of voodoo beasts had clearly been a rushed job. Most of them looked like centaurs. Their lower bodies were that of beasts. Dense dark hair, scale armor, wicked physiques, and terrifying claws. These were clearly magic colts. A muscular human body had been stitched to the top of the beast''s body. It could speak and was agile enough to use weapons and tools.


    Wasn''t this an abomination made from the lower bodies of magic colts and the upper bodies of witcher-knights?


    They even had an extremely nice name. The Runic Knights!


    Indeed, these voodoo beasts would all be equipped with standard runic equipment in the future. These beasts would be a troop of powerful armed forces that the Mages planned to cultivate in this plane.


    The Mages couldn''t possibly always remain in this plane. Most of the administration had to be handed over to the native nobles to be completed. All the Mages needed them to do was hand over the required resources and wealth on time.


    The method of dealing with these puppet nobles, backed by the Mages, was fairly simple. On one hand, you had to entice them with sufficient benefits, while on the other, you kept them honest with overwhelming force.


    The runic knights were the most powerful force that the Sarubo Clan planned to leave behind to maintain their rule.


    Lord Sarubo still met Leon in that war tower.


    Ever since the war tower had been constructed, the human projection looked no different from a clone of Lord Sarubo himself. Leon couldn''t tell that this wasn''t an actual human instead of a consciousness projection, even when he looked at Sarubo face to face!


    The first thing he did when they met was, naturally, hand over the mission items.


    Lord Sarubo had sent Leon to the knights'' kingdom''s capital with two missions. The first was to kill the ruler of the kingdom, Edward VII. The other was to obtain a complete set of runic knowledge.


    Leon had successfully completed both of these tasks.


    He handed over Edward VII''s head as well as a complete set of the drafts of runes and the scrolls that contained knowledge about them. After a quick inspection of the items, Lord Sarubo nodded in satisfaction.


    Of course, Leon had made the best of his time on the way back. With the chip, he had scanned every piece of information from every document, draft, and scroll, saving them all within his mind. As a result, he quite willingly handed over the research.


    Lord Sarubo picked up the ugly human head that had been treated with some preservation spells. He casually threw the head into a strange array that had appeared from the floor.


    The magic array hovered in the air one meter above the ground. The entire array was formed from three layers of brilliant magic halos and countless strange runes mixed within it. The human head landed within the array and bobbed up and down in midair. As several shining magic halo analyzed the head, a dark trace of the head''s bloodline power was extracted from it. The substance floated above the head.


    When the trace of bloodline power had been completely extracted, Lord Sarubo opened his eyes and and drew in midair with his fingers. A powerful rune formed in the air and was cast into the array.


    The war tower shook slightly. A massive amount of energy that shocked even Leon circulated through the defense system and surged wildly into this phantasmal array.


    The trace of bloodline power looked like a single strand of red thread, slowly floating in the array.


    For just that one instant, Leon felt like he could see through the shadows and saw thousands upon thousands of strange faces packed tightly within the floating red thread. They were old, young, or even infantile... their ages were different and their expressions were each distinct, yet all of them had a vague planar law connection with this trace of bloodline power.


    The name of a powerful and mysterious spell surfaced in Leon''s mind when he saw this scene.


    Bloodline Curse!


    This was a top-grade spell with extreme power. It was also one of the most vicious and cruel curses in existence.


    Edward VII was undoubtedly the most powerful man within the Edward Family of the knights'' plane. Countless bloodline descendants, sons, and grandsons had been born, with him as the bloodline source. If one were to include the many bastards left by the royal family in the outside world, it would be an impossibly difficult task for the Mages to completely exterminate the Edward Family''s bloodline.


    But it was different now that they had the Bloodline Curse.


    Moreover, they had the bloodline source, Edward VII, in their hands, as well as the Great Mage as the host of the spell coupled with the massive energy reserves of the war tower. Under Leon''s shocked gaze, the rune that the Great Mage had just sent into the array vanished into thin air. The bloodline power had acted as a catalyst for the rune.


    Leon''s sharp senses could feel the deep stirring of a certain planar law the instant the rune vanished!


    For some unknown reason, a slight bit of enlightenment rose in Leon''s heart!


    The lives of all that possessed the Edwards royal bloodline within this plane had probably reached their end!


    As expected, like an invisible needle continuously popping phantasmal bubbles, the spectral faces within the trace of bloodline power started to disappear one after another, their faces letting out agonizing cries as they vanished.


    The disappearance of a face meant the death of someone in the distance!


    Leon gulped uncomfortably.


    Even though Leon was an Mage himself and had stained his hands deeply with blood, he was still thoroughly shocked and intimidated by such a brutal way of exterminating an entire bloodline. It was as if it was no more than a game.


    The Edward dynasty had been thoroughly extinguished!


    ...


    2160 Words

 Chapter 250 - 250: Level 1.1

    Now that everything was completed, it was finally the best part. The part Leon had been looking forward to¨C the rewards!


    He had only risked his life a little in the planar battle earlier, and had already been rewarded with a Flame Fiend Heart that was compatible with his affinity. What kind of rewards awaited him now that he had so successfully completed two missions?


    The uncomfortable feeling from witnessing the Bloodline Curse at work was quickly fading away.


    For some reason, Leon was becoming excited!


    A magic crystal card worth a hundred thousand magic crystals, and one standard Mages'' tower. These were Leon''s final rewards from this trip to another world.


    Such a reward was extremely extravagant.


    It was important to note that most Mages received around thirty to fifty thousand magic crystals worth of profit in each planar war they participated in. Yet Lord Sarubo had instantly inflated Leon''s reward to one hundred thousand. This was clearly an acknowledgement of his prowess and diligence.


    That said, a hundred thousand magic crystals was completely insignificant compared to the reward of the Mages'' tower.


    This Mages'' tower that Great Mage Sarubo had personally promised Leon was completely different from the swampy tower he had lived at in the past.


    When all was said and done, the swamp tower was still considered a property of the Sarubo Clan. Mage Anderson was only managing the tower as the Mage stationed there. The Mages'' tower Leon had been rewarded was going to be Leon''s personal territory. It would be owned and managed by him and him alone.


    This also meant that from now on, Leon would have a safe space that even the Sarubo Clan cannot enter or take away as they willed. Such an Mages'' tower was worth at least two hundred thousand magic crystals back in the World of Mages.


    However, such a reward clearly couldn''t be given out in the knights'' plane. Leon''s new tower had to wait until they returned to the World of Mages. He would have to pick a suitable location, and then the Sarubo Clan would be responsible for the following cost of materials and construction.


    This was obviously one of the methods that the Sarubo Clan used to incentivize and attract talent to stay!


    If Leon wanted to get this reward, he had to sign a new contract with Great Mage Sarubo. He was not to leave the Sarubo Clan for another hundred years. Leon thought for a moment and agreed.


    After receiving his rewards Leon left Sarubo''s room, only to be called over by Mage F¨¹gen. The reason F¨¹gen was in a rush to see Leon was because he needed to ask him about his future plans.


    Now that the knights'' plane was well in the hands of the clan, the Sarubo Clan''s rule would quickly spread throughout the entire world. Many Mages were needed to fill in the power vacuum left after the collapse of the knights'' kingdom. At the same time, the Mage forces in the two lesser planes as well as the main headquarters couldn''t be absent for too long. They needed Mages to return to their stations there.


    Thus, Mage F¨¹gen actively asked for Leon''s opinion to see which was more preferable for him.


    Leon had to ask several questions before he found out that the other Mages in the base had already made their decisions before he came back. He might not care about the other Mages'' choices, but there were two people he was concerned about. Bleia and Blake had both chose to stay in the knights'' plane!


    He couldn''t help but feel that their choices were odd.


    Then again, after a little thought, it seemed perfectly reasonable!


    Both Bleia and Blake were bloodline Mages. The way they increased their powers was vastly different from elementium Mages. In all honesty, both of them walked on a bloody path of slaughter!


    As a vampire Mage, Bleia''s growth revolved around large amounts of fresh, high quality blood. This was a scarce resource in the World of Mages. However, all of those fleeing witcher-knights, spellbreaker knights, and radiant knights here could be her prey. As long as she was diligent, she could obtain massive profits from her time here.


    If this was the World of Mages, the Mages there couldn''t possibly allow her to go around hunting and ambushing Mages for their blood.


    Similarly, Worm Controller Blake needed large amounts of high quality flesh and blood to cultivate even more carcass beetles. Staying in the knights'' plane and exterminating the remaining knights was a decent choice for him as well!


    As compared to these two ''old friends'' that could get stronger and stronger through constant killing, Leon was only an elementium Mage¨C and elementium Mages could not improve in the same way they did.


    What was more important and crucial to elementium Mages was their understanding and utilization of the planar laws. All of this required the accumulation of an immense amount of knowledge and technique. There were no shortcuts to be taken. With the help of the chip, Leon could avoid going down the wrong path and being misguided and might also need slightly less time to accumulate knowledge. Still, gathering an immense amount of knowledge was a long and drawn-out process.


    Moreover, this knowledge was not readily available in the knights'' plane.


    After deep consideration, Leon decided to return to the World of Mages.


    After all, that was the Mages'' place of origin. It was much easier to gather knowledge there than anywhere else. As for the resources he needed for his future development? His bulging, full storage belt already had that settled!


    Leon had intended to see Bleia before he left, to reinforce their relationship. Sadly, there were many internal affairs to be settled in the knights'' plane. All of the Mages that had chosen to stay here had already been assigned posts all over the plane. Thus, Leon could only follow the twelve Mages back across the space vortex and return to the clan''s pseudo-plane.


    Leon once again saw Lord Sarubo''s actual body here.


    The first thing Lord Sarubo did when he saw everyone was extend a bony hand towards them. He made a slight grabbing motion, and some unusually brilliant fragments had been extracted from everyone''s souls.


    Leon felt a stinging pain in the depths of his soul, which quickly faded after a while.


    Leon couldn''t help but be intimidated as he looked at the soul fragments that Great Mage Sarubo had extracted from the Mages. He started communicating with the chip.


    "Chip, can you determine what Sarubo extracted from my soul?"


    "Beep, inspecting chip data library... bzzzzzt, error detected. Data missing from data library. Warning. Warning. Chip data library has received slight damage. Some data has been lost... "


    "Chip, could you be more specific? Which data?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Beep, data related to the coordinates of the knights'' plane... "


    So that''s what it was!


    Leon finally understood.


    The information Great Mage Sarubo had extracted from everyone''s souls was the coordinate information of the knights'' plane.


    Now that the plane had already become the third lesser-plane belonging to the Sarubo Clan, it was also Great Mage Sarubo''s personal property. If the coordinates of such a developed material plane was exposed, it could very well attract many schemes and hunters from his enemies.


    As a result, the first thing Sarubo did when the clan Mages came out of the knights'' plane was wipe away any memories about the plane''s coordinates.


    This clearly wasn''t the first time that the veteran clan Mages had experienced this sort of thing. They were extremely calm and measured when their memories were taken from them. On the other hand, Leon, Keoghan, and a few other Mages betrayed an expression of fear and doubt. That said, anyone who could still stand here alive had to be sly and scheming. They quickly suppressed and hid their uncertainties.


    "Good job in the planar war this time. Your contributions will be noted by the clan. When you go back, all of the rewards that have been promised will be realized. Mm, you may return now!" Great Mage Sarubo''s head was still bent low beneath the shadow of his hood. Still, his low voice still echoed within everyone''s mind.


    The Mages bowed in acknowledgement.


    They exited the large magic hall, nodded and greeted each other, then left in their own directions.


    Leon, Keoghan, Ferrier, and Kiel were clearly headed for the World of Mages. Thus they walked together and successfully used the long-range teleportation array within the pseudo-plane to return to the Mages'' tower at the clan headquarters.


    All four of them couldn''t help but let out a muffled grunt when they walked out of the teleportation array.


    Body Refining Mage Kiel, who had the toughest Physique, only held his head as he fell into a daze for a moment. He quickly recovered. Potions Master Ferrier on the other hand, who had the weakest Physique, had completely fallen to the ground and found it difficult to even get up. Leon and Keoghan also tightly gripped their fists as they silently endured the pain brought about by the backlash from the planar laws.


    Their bodies, minds, and souls had all been contaminated with a trace of the other plane''s aura, having stayed in the knights'' plane for such a long time. Thus there had to be a period of re-adaption to the World of Mages.


    Harrison, who was stationed in that tower, felt the commotion from the teleportation array. He appeared in the hall almost immediately after the four Mages had arrived. He quickly understood what was happening when he saw the Mages in pain.


    Under his orders, seven young apprentice Mages quickly came forth and helped the Mages to their own quarters to rest.


    The resilient Kiel waved his hand and pushed aside the two apprentices next to him. He had basically recovered after this short moment''s rest. The mastery that body refining Mages had over their bodies was enviable!


    Leon''s physique was also rather special.


    Having completed the elementiumization of his body, there weren''t as many flaws now as he had when he was an actual human. Thus he was the second Mage to recover after Kiel.


    He waved aside the apprentices and silently watched as Keoghan and Ferrier were sent back to their quarters by the apprentices.


    The clear and crisp notification of the chip continuously rang out in Leon''s mind as waves of planar backlash continued to wrestle with his powerful Spirit in the depths of his soul.


    "Detecting penetration of strange energies. Initial analysis suggests that these energies are extremely beneficial to an Mages'' Spirit. Requesting instructions from host. Block these energies?"


    The shit? Block these energies when they are beneficial to Spirit? Do you think I''ve got shit for brains?


    Leon instructed unhappily, "No need to stop the energies. Continue monitoring!"


    "Understood! Continuing monitoring... "


    In his mind, the graphs indicating Leon''s bodily attributes were rapidly increasing. Every single attribute was shooting up at an amazing rate, and the speed at which they were increasing was accelerating as well.


    Finally, when the sudden change in attributes had stopped, Leon managed to see for himself the change.


    Name: Leon


    Race: Human (half-elementiumized) Male


    Class: First Grade Mage


    Attributes: Strength 2.6 | Agility 1.1 | Physique 3.7 | Spirit 6.3


    Condition: Healthy.


    ...


    1897 Words

 Chapter 251 - 251: Chaos

    Plane feedback!


    This was plane feedback!


    Leon shouted out silently in his heart.


    Even though he had yet to fully comprehend the mechanisms and principles of these planar feedbacks, it didn''t stop him from reveling in the joy of having his powers increase exponentially.


    Countless planar law chains were incessantly merging with certain contents within his mind. All of this was happening at a planar law level that Leon couldn''t access with his naked eye or his Spirit. If Leon had advanced to a Fourth Grade Mage, he might have realized that all of the contents of his mind that were merging with the laws were runic knowledge that he had brought back from the knights'' plane, as well as the resentment of powerful individuals that he had slain.


    The planar laws trembled slightly. The ends of the planar chains had completely sunk into Leon''s soul. They were slowly merging with the complete set of runic knowledge Leon had just obtained. Even though most of the runic knowledge was similar to the World of Mages'' widely used system, the part about merging energies was completely new content.


    Most of Leon''s plane feedback had come from this particular knowledge!


    The fact that Leon''s base attributes could explode up to two or three times their original value was mostly thanks to this completely new knowledge of merging runic energies.


    The other Mages might have been able to obtain varying amounts of knowledge concerning the merging of runic energies, but who could compare with Leon? He had robbed the knights'' kingdom treasury of knowledge¨C the drafting room of Runeforge Camp! The knowledge fragments that the Mages brought back with them from another plane had helped the World of Mages in completing part of its planar laws. As a result, the planar consciousness had naturally rewarded them with positive feedback!


    Of course, Leon got the most out of this process. Even the gains of the other three Mages added together would not compare to half of Leon''s.


    The resentment of powerful knights that clung onto Leon''s body had also provided him feedback from the plane. This sort of resentment couldn''t be obtained by just any random acts of killing. One had to slaughter, with his own hands, a powerful individual that had been acknowledged by the plane to gain such resentment.


    Having slain mountains of witcher-knights, scores of spellbreaker knights, and even a radiant knight, the amount of resentment that had gathered about Leon was tremendous. All of these resentments had been exchanged for an immense plane feedback.


    If one were to look at it from this point of view, the World of Mages actually encouraged killing beings of other worlds. The cruel, evil, and invasive nature of the Mages had infected the entire planar consciousness as well. This caused the World of Mages to become a chaotic, evil, and savage planar consciousness towards other worlds!


    That said, the Mages possessed a trace of elegance amidst their brutality, as compared to demons of the lower realms. They were calm and measured madmen. It differed from the utter chaos and insanity of the abyssal demons!


    However, these planar secrets that occured at the level of the planar laws was not something that Leon could access as he was now. Thus the only thing he could do, apart from passively receiving the plane feedback, was to record every change to his body using the chip. This could be useful for his future research.


    ......


    The abnormality of the returning Sarubo Clan Mages didn''t draw any attention from the outside world.


    Of the seven Mages that set off from Feidnan City''s Mages'' tower, only four had returned. Bleia and Blake had chosen to stay in the knights'' plane. Another Mage had unfortunately died on the planar battlefield.


    Even though the war this time had successfully given the Sarubo Clan complete control over a lesser plane, the headquarters had to endure the consequences of the sudden decrease in their number of Mages.


    The reason the Sixth-Grade Great Mage Sarubo had given such extravagant rewards to Leon was to keep him in the clan for a hundred years. This was done in order to ensure that the clan could successfully last through this period of weakness. The Sarubo Mage Clan had to wait for the resources from the knights'' plane to be sent back before it could regain or even exceed its previous strength.


    Before they were able to do so, they had to keep a grip on powerful new Mages like Leon in order to avoid their weakness from attracting their enemy''s attention!


    The Zhentarim Association''s Forest Territory. This was a place where countless Mage clans stood and survived. The complex geography, along with the complex relationships of the clans, caused this to be an area of intense conflict where battles broke out every so often and tensions never ended. Large-scale Mage conflicts had been forbidden in this area. However, small-scale territory wars and the skirmishes between individual Mage clans were not included in this rule.


    Big fish eat small fish, and small fish ate shrimps!


    If any Mage clan showed weakness in its affairs, all of the territory and resource sites it owned would instantly be attacked and conquered by the surrounding Mage clans. Every so often, news of wars and battles between clans and clan leaders would spread throughout the entire Zhentarim Association.


    Moreover, news of the massive decrease in active Mages in the Sarubo Clan headquarters could not be hidden from the public. This meant that, in the short term, the thirteen worldly territories and nine resources sites belonging to the Sarubo Clan would most likely attract the greed of their enemies.


    Some small skirmishes were unavoidable!


    Now that Leon had performed so outstandingly in the plane war, and had signed a new Mage contract with Lord Sarubo, he could be considered a trustworthy core Mage of the clan. Thus, some of the core secrets of the Sarubo Clan were gradually being exposed to him.


    The Sarubo Clan. A mid-tier Mage clan within the Zhentarim Association. They had seventy-three official First Grade Mages, four Second Grade Mages, and two Third Grade Mages. The number of Mages in even higher grades were not something that Leon could access with his current status.


    It was with such a meager force that the Sarubo Clan had to defend their headquarters, while managing three lesser planes and a pseudo-plane that served as a transit hub between these four locations. If the Mage forces were split between all of these worlds, there would be a slight shortage in manpower in all of the locations. The number of active forces were not enough.


    In recent times the clan had gathered most of its Mages on the newly acquired knights'' plane, causing a power vacuum in the other areas. Thus, the most urgent task was to gather the limited manpower they currently had to drive away the greedy enemies looking at them. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a result Mage Keoghan, who was being raised as one of the clan''s core Mages, had to deal with the worrying clan wars the moment he returned from the planar battlefield.


    The Sarubo Clan''s territories had already received severe provocation from their enemies for the past two or three months. A viscount''s territory, about fifty square kilometer wide, had been invaded by the lord of a neighboring territory. The defensive strongholds on their outer rim had been lost one after another. The viscount could only turtle within his castle at the center of his territory with his remaining troops, barely fending off the attacks of the enemy.


    The territory was in danger of being taken over!


    At the same time, several resource sites belonging to the Sarubo Clan had also sent back alerts of a similar nature.


    A severe conflict had broken out between the apprentice Mages stationed there and the apprentice Mages of a neighboring clan. They were desperately asking for Mage reinforcements from the clan headquarters!


    The trading firms and arcane shops that the Sarubo Clan had stationed in the territories of other clans had also reported incidents of robbery and raiding. The managers of those establishments were all frantically requesting help from the headquarters!


    Wave after wave of messages asked for help, and multiple magic notifications were streaming back to Feidnan City''s Mages'' tower like rain in a downpour. As there were too few Mages stationed in the headquarters previously, they could merely suppress the problem. Apart from sending out some pseudo-Mages and elite apprentices to stabilize and delay the damage, they had no means of solving the actual problem.


    This was why the first thing Keoghan had to deal with was such a chaotic and annoying situation.


    Of course, this didn''t necessarily mean that a certain Mage clan was intending to wage a full-on war against the Sarubo Clan. The reason this situation had broken out was most likely because the other Mage clans had gotten wind of the Sarubo Clan''s abnormality. Thus they wanted to apply pressure on the clan through several means in order to test the waters.


    If the Sarubo Clan''s weakness proved to be true, then they wouldn''t be able to send out enough Mages to deal with the provocations of the neighboring clans. The loss of a few world territories, and even a couple of resource sites, would be a natural result! As long as the Sarubo Clan was able to drive away the enemy with overwhelming force, all of these harassments and problems happening at the borders of their territory would instantly vanish.


    In the end, the battle between Mage clans was still determined by the strength of their Mage forces.


    It was fantasy to dream of occupying large numbers of resources without enough Mages to defend them!


    Drive them back! Smash all the claws that the enemies extended into our territories!


    Similar battlecries and calls for action had become the unanimous opinion of all Sarubo Clan Mages.


    The clan Mages were all highly confident in themselves, having just survived a brutal plane war. They shouted out their opinions during the clan meeting organized by Keoghan. Everyone agreed to beat back the ambitions of their enemies with even more brutal attacks than the ones launched at them.


    Thus, what happened next was a frenzy of mission assignments!


    The silhouettes and shadows of enemy clan Mages had already been reported at several battlefields. If they didn''t hurry over, they wouldn''t be able to keep the clan''s profits intact!


    After a quick discussion, Mage Kiel was headed towards Kerala. There was a First Class resource site there that absolutely could not be allowed to fall into the enemy''s hands.


    A First Class resource site. This was one of the ways the Mages classified resource sites. The value of the resources cultivated within the sites could be divided into three classes. Third Class was the lowest. Usually, these sites were in charge of cultivating some low-level magic creatures or more common resources. The magic swamp Leon had come from belonged to the Third Class!


    Second Class resource sites often cultivated unique Mage-level resources. On the other hand, First Class resource sites often contained resources of strategic value to the clan''s development. This was why the safety and security of these sites had to be guaranteed.


    Mage Ferrier would be heading to Emerald Hills. An important batch of goods had been stolen from there. They desperately needed an Mage to go over and defend the location.


    Mage Loris would continue to stay in Feidnan City.


    Thus, the task of going to Locker Castle in Kartia Hills and saving the losing viscount fell on Leon and Keoghan''s heads. It was rumored that several enemy clan Mages had already appeared there. A slight mishandling of the situation and the whole thing could escalate into a small Mage skirmish!


    ...


    1972 Words

 Chapter 252 - 252: Gearing Up

    Kartia Hills, Locker Castle.


    How strong of a castle could a mere viscount have?


    In fact, since its very design and construction, Locker Castle wasn''t meant as a purely defensive war fortress. It was constructed as a noble''s castle, a semi-villa that was meant to be more comfortable than impenetrable.


    The square of the castle was a garden itself. The main building took up a space of six hundred square meters, and the thin walls were only three meters tall. For the sake of its aesthetics, the entire castle had foregone any bunkers or watchtowers. Instead delicate artistic sculptures of half-naked beauties were littered across the place.


    The width of the wall, that was supposed to stop the enemies, only had enough space for two soldiers to walk side by side. There wasn''t even enough space to place any facilities for war.


    Such a defense system might be sufficient when dealing with wandering bandits and robbers, but it was clearly ill-equipped to deal with an elite army sent out by the lord of another territory.


    Honestly, if it hadn''t been for the large numbers of elite apprentices that the clan had sent over, Locker Castle would probably have fallen seven days ago.


    However, ever since Viscount Donald''s subordinate scouts had found signs of Mages in the enemy''s base, the entire city had fallen into a panic. It didn''t seem long before the castle would fall. Even those elite apprentices of the Sarubo Clan no longer dared to take a single step out of the castle. The only thing they had done for the past few days was fling some fireballs at the enemy forces from on top of the wall.


    The prowess of Mages was well-known!


    It wasn''t just the soldiers and civilians who were cowering in fear. The normally arrogant apprentices were also nervous and anxious when they heard of the news. The two pseudo-Mages and the six advanced apprentices always gathered together during the day. However, the nature of their discussions was never how to stop the enemy''s advance, but how to escape in time should the enemy Mage decide to act.


    As for confronting the Mage? Many apologies, but such a thought had never crossed through their minds!


    Fortunately for them, the Mages from the clan had arrived before Locker Castle fell.


    Keoghan and Leon had arrived at Locker Castle in a wagon at dusk. The enemy''s patrolling cavalry, responsible for sieging the city, had tried to stop them. A single Magma Fireball reduced their efforts, as well as themselves, to ashes.


    After losing eleven of their ranks, the remaining cavalry frantically escaped back to their camp in the distance. No more enemies were sent to stop this slow-moving wagon after that.


    Wasn''t the reason they were sieging this tower to force the Sarubo Clan Mages to show themselves? Now that the Sarubo Mages had shown themselves, this was no longer a mundane war for territory. Rather, it was a showdown between two Mage clans.


    This was a good chance to evaluate the strength of the Sarubo Clan Mages!


    ...


    The welcoming dinner for the esteemed Mages was held in the spacious guest hall on the first level of the castle.


    When the pitch black wagon finally stopped before the gates of the castle, Viscount Donald, the six elite apprentices, and a whole host of nobles were waiting by the sides of the road. They looked fervently upon their saviors.


    Even though the clan had already notified them of the Mages'' arrival, they had no idea which of the Mages would be sent as reinforcements.


    That was why the elite apprentices immediately let out a breath of relief when they saw the familiar face of Mage Keoghan. Relaxed smiles appeared on their faces. However, the tall and foreign figure that followed after Mage Keoghan caused them to mutter silently amongst themselves.


    A young and handsome face showed beneath the loose cloak. Black eyes weren''t all that uncommon, but when paired with the long brown hair spread across his shoulders, and the crisp body-tight suit he was wearing, the perfection of his two meter tall muscular body was perfectly brought out.


    Leon''s gentle and elegant air was mixed with the cruelty and depravity of an Mage, merging to become his own uniquely wicked quality.


    This Mage was extremely young!


    For a moment, shock and surprise betrayed the faces of the young noble women. But then, they were attracted by that Leon''s unique air of wickedness. All of them blushed deeply as they shyly turned their faces away.


    Viscount Donald might be the lord of this castle, but even he was humble before Mage Keoghan, who represented the clan. The viscount quickly strode forward and waved away the attendants. He personally raised his arm and helped Keoghan down from the wagon.


    "Sir Keoghan, you are finally here!" A fawning smile was plastered on the viscount''s face, "If you had been even a little later, this humble one would have had to die for the clan!"


    Mage Keoghan let out a cold laugh.


    He knew Viscount Donald far too well. If anything had happened to the castle, the viscount would have been the first to escape along with his wives and concubines. That said, Viscount Donald went back a long way with Keoghan''s family. The basic courtesies still needed to be kept up.


    It was only now that the viscount noticed Leon, who was standing right behind Keoghan. He couldn''t help but hesitate for a moment when he saw this unfamiliar Mage.


    "Sir Keoghan, this esteemed Mage is?"


    "This is the newly advanced clan Mage Leon. He will be managing the situation here with me this time!" Keoghan did a simple introduction.


    The viscount couldn''t stop himself from muttering under his breath when he heard that Leon was a newly advanced Mage.


    "Sir Keoghan, is Sir Kiel, Sir Ferrier, and Sir Loris not coming?"


    His words clearly betrayed his doubt in Leon, the newly advanced Mage. If he hadn''t been a friend of Mage Keoghan, the disrespect he had just shown would be enough to be punished by any other Mage.


    "Hmph! The internal affairs of the clan is none of your business." Mage Keoghan interrupted the viscount unhappily, "That''s enough. There''s no need to talk about irrelevant things. Have all this people leave! Mage Leon and I are still waiting to hear the latest battlefield report!"


    Having said that, Keoghan acknowledged the two pseudo-Mages standing at the front row and walked towards the castle. The four advanced apprentices, on the other hand, had been completely ignored without even so much as a glance.


    The temporary meeting started in a room on the second floor of the castle.


    Even though they were over a thousand people in the castle, only ten had the right to walk into this secret room.


    Mage Keoghan, Mage Leon, the two pseudo-Mages, the four advanced apprentices, Viscount Donald, and his most trusted knight. This knight was also the commander of the viscount''s army. Otherwise he wouldn''t even have had the qualifications to enter this room.


    "In your last report you mentioned that there were traces of Mages in the enemy camp. Do you have something more detailed?" Keoghan started asking impatiently the moment he sat down.


    Even though he had a lot of confidence in Leon and himself, it would still be a troublesome situation if there were too many Mages.


    "There are three." A pseudo-Mage wearing a black eyepatch on his right eye replied softly, "Lanja and I caught a noble from the enemy''s camp. He claimed that there were three Mages in the camp. It seems one of them is Mage Carlos from the Mikayne Clan. We don''t know much else about the other two... "


    "Carlos... " Mage Keoghan frowned slightly and turned to tell Leon what he knew of this Mage.


    Three Mages? This was not going to be easy!


    ...


    Just as a meeting was happening in Locker Castle, another meeting was also happening in the distant enemy camp.


    This was a large and spacious leather tent. The furnishings inside were extremely delicate and extravagant. Even the floor had been covered with a soft and comfortable carpet. Even though they were camping outside, there was a fine bronze furnace right beside the tent. Fragrant smoke emanated from the furnace.


    Three mysterious Mages were seated at the back of the tent. Three pseudo-Mages were standing behind the Mages, betraying excited expressions. Only Lord Tras and his generals could sit in front of the Mages. The remaining nobles and knights had to stand around the tent, silently listening to the Mages'' orders.


    A young pseudo-Mage with a pigeon perched on his shoulder stood in the middle of the tent, loudly reading out the most recent report.


    "Leon. Male. Hardly twenty years old... "


    Surprised praises sounded out in the room, but this didn''t stop the young pseudo-Mage from continuing his report.


    "Time of advancement: Approximately three months ago. Location of advancment: a Third Class resource site of Sarubo Clan¨C their magic swamp. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s said that there had been two other young Mages that had advanced along with this Leon. They are Mage Bleia, who''s a vampire, and Mage Blake, who has a unique pseudo-bug physique.


    "However, they haven''t been seen around since they entered the Sarubo headquarters at Feidnan''s Mage tower. This time, it seems only Mage Leon has come along with Mage Keoghan... "


    The purple-robed Mage sitting in the middle couldn''t help but let out a cold laugh after impatiently sitting through the report, "A little fellow that had just advanced three months ago! He probably hasn''t even stabilized his Spirit! Even a guy like Keoghan has been sent out. It''s clear that the Sarubos don''t have many forces left!"


    An elderly Mage sitting to the left of the purple-robed Mage and holding a cane in his hand asked softly, "Do the reports mention anything of this Mage Leon''s spell masteries? What are his innate talents?"


    The young pseudo-Mage lowered his head and scanned through the report once more before shaking his head and speaking, "O respected Mage Cochran, nothing specific is mentioned about this Mage Leon''s abilities in this report. After all, he had accidentally advanced in a rural and remote area. Our information on him is still incomplete!"


    "Have you guys not gone to the resource site he stayed in to gather more information?" Mage Cochran frowned in dissatisfaction.


    "My apologies, Mage Cochran. We have secretly sent men over to investigate." The young pseudo-Mage froze before quickly explaining, "But... it seems that an accident had happened during the advancement of those three Mages. Mage Anderson of the Sarubo Clan had died, along with all the other apprentices in that resource site. This... this is why the information we have on them is so incomplete!"


    "That craven Anderson died?" The three Mages looked at each other, smiles of disdain appearing on their faces.


    The old and steady Cochran still wanted to ask some questions, but he was stopped by Carlos, who led this Mage mission.


    "What is everyone worried about?" Carlos let out a sinister laugh, "Apart from Keoghan being slightly bothersome, our only opponent is a newly advanced fellow. When the fight happens we will have one person deal with him while the other two team up against Keoghan. Do you think they could have any chance to turn back when that happens?"


    Everyone nodded in agreement.


    Mage Cochran was actually slightly concerned, but Mage Carlos'' analysis was perfectly logical, so he kept silent.


    The third Mage, who was shrouded in a black mist, remained silent throughout the discussion. It seemed like he had absolutely no interest in it.


    However for some reason even Carlos, who seemed to be leading the discussion, betrayed fear and respect when he looked at this man.


    "Then it''s decided! We will begin our final battle with the enemy at noon tomorrow. We must crush these Sarubo Mages!" Mage Carlos shouted fervently.


    Everyone bowed their heads and acknowledged the order!


    ...


    2001 Words

 Chapter 253 - 253: Game

    The second day.


    Once again the siege began at dawn.


    A sparse line of a thousand men gathered before Locker Castle. The warriors in the front held shields in one hand and raised crude, thick wooden boards over their heads with the other. They slowly advanced towards the gates of the castle. Behind them were the militia in light leather armor, carrying spears and bows.


    Lord Tras'' personal guards still remained within the camp and had not marched onto the battlefield. All of these guards were heavy infantry that wore thick metal armor. They carried solid oak shields and wielded heavy weapons such as flails, claymores, and morning stars.


    Looking from a distance, they appeared to be a group of terrifying slaughter machines wrapped in layers of steel!


    Their numbers weren''t large. There were only three hundred of them.


    However, just these three hundred heavy infantry had cost Lord Tras almost all of his wealth. This was an elite unit he had formed over ten years and after squeezing every last drop of wealth from his territory. Tras had used this steel war chariot to raze the lands of four barons in skirmishes that had happened in the neighboring territories. This army had allowed him to rise to prominence as a powerful lord.


    That said, given the number of apprentice Mages that were stationed in Locker Castle, the elite unit was very likely to suffer heavy losses. To prevent this from happening, Viscount Tras could only send forth those armed civilians and mercenaries to wear down the strength of the apprentice Mages.


    Soon, the battle erupted when the marching army reached within fifty meters of the city walls!


    The arrows, dense like a swarm of locusts, poured from the sky. Many fire arrows were mixed within the barrage. Even though they had the wooden boards to block the arrows, there were still people continuously succumbing to arrows that slipped through the gaps. Sparks of flame danced on the wooden boards, quickly spreading across the dry wood.


    Finally, the advancing army was attacked by the defending apprentice Mages.


    Three smoking magic fireballs and two light green acid balls arced downward from above the walls, landing right in the vanguard of the advancing troops.


    The suddenly exploding fireball instantly engulfed an area ten meters in circumference, quickly turning all of the warriors within into human torches. They tossed aside the weapons in their hands and frantically ran about.


    Green acid mist exploded in the areas where the acid balls landed. Every single warrior that was caught in the mist started to let out agonizing and haunting cries. The exposed flesh of a human warrior who had been directly hit sizzled as it quickly melted away. In just the blink of an eye he had been reduced to a pile of charred bones.


    Most of the other warriors had only been splashed with some acid on their armor and clothes. These kinds of attacks were not as lethal as fireballs, as long as they were able to amputate the body parts that were being corroded by acid.


    The warriors in the vanguard started to hesitate in the face of these horrifying spells. Even the speed at which they were advancing slowed considerably.


    Behind the formation, the commander of the barrier troops started to shout at the soldiers.


    Under his urging, the warriors let out a yell and pressed on with their crude defensive tools.


    The sieging army hadn''t taken another twenty steps before the second wave of spells fell upon them.


    However, at the same time the wave of attacks blasted at the soldiers, five blazing fireballs rose from the advancing army and shot towards the city walls.


    Spells had been cast form the enemy ranks!


    Above the walls.


    A Sarubo advanced-apprentice had just tossed a magic fireball, yet already he saw five intimidating fireballs rapidly closing in on him.


    "Quick, cover me!"


    The advanced apprentice rapidly retreated backwards while casting all his defensive spells on himself. Around him, five or six castle guards quickly covered the apprentice Mage behind them with their large shields.


    Dong. Dong. Dong...


    The five fireballs exploded almost simultaneously, and their might was undeniable. The serious damage formed by the stacked attack was not something that could be stopped by mere metal shields.


    A violent and ferocious ring of fire exploded on the walls, instantly ripping everything within ten meters to shreds before reducing them to ashes.


    The seven guards that had covered the advanced apprentice died instantly. Even their bodies had been blown into several pieces and completely disfigured. Only the advanced apprentice had managed to escape from the area covered by the fireballs, his face full of soot and smoke.


    This fortunate apprentice quickly hid in the crowd while taking out blood stopper ointments and healing potions to treat himself. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Bastards! Those Mikayne apprentices were playing dirty!


    The Sarubo apprentices were immediately enraged. With no regard for their Spirits, magic fireballs were relentlessly thrown towards the areas that the enemy apprentices were hiding at. The opponent didn''t let up either. They erected colourful defensive barriers around themselves and counter-attacked as they moved around dodging the enemy spells.


    For a moment exploding fireballs were everywhere, both below and above the castle walls!


    Leon stood silently in an opulent bedroom on the third floor of the castle. He had pushed aside the curtains and was gazing at the battlefield in the distance. He couldn''t help but frown.


    This was unexpected!


    Not unexpectedly strong, but unexpectedly weak!


    Having experienced the brutality and terror of a plane war, Leon couldn''t help but feel the intensity of battle and the spells in the World of Mages were far less cruel and bloody when compared to a plane war.


    More significantly, the actual difference was reflected in the deathly determination and wills of the combatants!


    On a planar battlefield, there was no escape except for death. Someone had to die. Once a battle was lost, not only did the soldier have to lose his life, even the land they lived in became a lesser plane that submitted to all the wills and whims of the conquering plane. It was because of this that plane natives were often extremely courageous and valiant in battle. They wouldn''t stop until they died.


    In comparison, the battlefield before him was so loose and feeble that it felt like the actors involved were playing house.


    The soldiers on each side must have known that they were not the main characters on the battlefield. Thus each and every one of them was acting excessively conservative and defensive. There were almost a 1500 men in total above and below the city walls, yet the most intense battle and most casualties were only because of those ten apprentice Mages.


    Ever since the start of the battle, more than half of the hundred casualties were victims of the Mages traded blows. The actual deaths from the soldiers'' bows took up less than thirty percent of total deaths.


    "What a boring game!" Leon let go of the curtain and mumbled in dissatisfaction.


    He returned to a wooden table and continued toying with the Second Grade Molten Giant''s crystal core. Meanwhile, the chip in his mind was processing large amounts of data at a high speed.


    The runic knowledge he had gained from the Runeforge drafting room was certainly complete and detailed. Leon was finally able to further explore the deeper secrets of merging energies with this knowledge.


    Of course, these runes were knowledge from another plane. More research and investigation was needed to transplant and shift them to the World of Mages for practical use. Thus, Leon had been continuously calculating and deducing the formation of these runes ever since he came back to the World of Mages.


    After excluding the one hundred and twenty-two basic runes, and twenty-three variations of runes that already existed in the World of Mages, only twenty-eight out of the one hundred and seventy-three runes obtained from the knights'' plane were completely new runes that had never before appeared in the World of Mages. Thus, if Leon wanted to use the runic knowledge he had obtained in the World of Mages, there was only one thing he could do. He had to slowly discover and find out the possible variations and functions of these twenty-eight runes in this world.


    For the past few days, all he had been thinking about were all of these strange runes. With the high-speed operation of his chip, new rune variations of those runes were produced for use in the World of Mages. Leon had to then test and use these runes on several levels and aspects to determine whether the types of runes he had created could replace those otherworldly runes.


    This was undoubtedly a process that took up a massive amount of time!


    Leon had already met once with the goblin Snorlax since his return.


    He passed over most of the useless resources for Snorlax to trade away, and collected the elementium cores that Snorlax had gathered in the meantime. Only fifty-six of the ninety-eight elementium cores gathered were suitable for modification into golems. Thirty Four of these were pseudo-Mage level, while twenty-one of them could make advanced-apprentice-level golems. What was most exciting for Leon was the existence of an Mage-level poison core within the pile of crystal cores.


    Leon''s golem army had been completely exhausted in the other world''s battlefield. He desperately needed to replenish his arsenal. Currently he had no other useable golems with him, apart from the Fire Lord. This weakened his combat strength by more than thirty percent.


    Yet at the same time, the clan''s crisi had sent him running around everywhere. He just hadn''t had the time to rebuild his golem army. This was very much a cause of annoyance for Leon.


    Before he left, Leon had used his newly gained status to exchange for an Mage-level meditation technique from the Feidnan Mage tower. Just this exchange alone had cost him twenty thousand magic crystals and seven clan contribution points. It was easy to imagine how expensive his was. After that brutal fight of life and death in the other plane, Leon had only received a hundred thousand magic crystals and twenty contribution points!


    That said, given the effect of his meditations, this price was well worth it.


    His previously unbudging Spirit had finally started to change. This was undoubtedly a great motivator for Leon. As long as he persisted in his meditations, there was a chance of raising his Spirit to 20 points!


    And raising Spirit to 20 points was one of the fundamental conditions for advancing to Second Grade.


    According to the chip''s estimates, if Leon wanted to raise his Spirit from the current 6.3 to 20, with no external help besides daily meditations, the shortest amount of time he would need would still be a hundred and seventy-one years. Moreover, this was after the chip had finished optimizing modifications to the meditation technique.


    Those ordinary Mages who had neither knowledge or resources would be occupied with collecting these things, even while they engaged in their meditations and research. If they wanted to rely on meditation to reach the 20 point Spirit limit, it would take them at least three hundred years.


    For example, Mage Anderson had already advanced to First Grade for almost three hundred years. Yet his Spirit was only at a measly 9 points. That was a massive distance from 20 points. Perhaps this was the main reason he had chosen to take such a huge risk to try and advance using the blood ceremony!


    If Anderson hadn''t attempted this, with what little powers he had he would most likely have been one of the first to die in the plane war!


    Just as Leon was drawing and repeatedly outlining strange green runes in the air, the sound of light footsteps rang out from outside his room. A maid''s voice was promptly heard.


    "Sir Leon, Sir Mage Keoghan asks you for a meeting!"


    "Is the battle about to start?"


    "Indeed! Sir Keoghan wants to you to be prepared!"


    "Understood!"


    Leon waved away this newly constructed and unstable rune and assessed the equipment he was wearing. Once he was sure he was done preparing, he opened the door and strode outwards.


    ...


    2051 Words

 Chapter 254 - 254: Flame Demon

    This pathetic excuse of a war, that more resembled a game and warm-up, finally ended when the Mages strode onto the battlefield.


    The attacking and defending parties were still fighting dispassionately in front of the castle.


    Even though warriors were dying under the barrage of arrows and bolts every minute, soldiers fell from their siege ladders, and shouts echoed throughout the battlefield, the center of the conflict always revolved around the apprentice Mages.


    As the fight started to escalate in intensity, a Sarubo pseudo-Mage suddenly turned into a massive Beholder. It dragged two or three strange tentacles behind its body. Floating three meters into the air, it charged down the wall and slaughtered everything in its way.


    The blinding lightning shooting out of its strange narrow pupils clearly had some sort of unique paralyzing effect. Every single person that tried to close in on the monster would start shaking intensely when they were engulfed in the brutal electricity. Then they could only looked on as their flesh and bones were carbonized in the heat. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Moreover, all types of projectile attacks would be stopped by a semi translucent forcefield. Nothing could do damage to the Beholder.


    Just like this, a single transformed pseudo-Mage had thrown the attacking army into chaos.


    With no other option left to them, a body refining pseudo-Mage of the Mikayne Clan yelled and rushed to confront the Beholder.


    The two engaged in a great battle before the castle gates.


    This lit a fuse, and soon the remaining apprentices and pseudo-Mages quickly joined the fray.


    The center of the conflict started to continuously expand outwards, eventually forcing the ordinary soldiers on both sides to put off their own battles to avoid stray spells.


    Seeing that the apprentices on his own side were not gaining any ground, Viscount Tras waved his hand angrily. The three-hundred heavy infantry that had been standing at attention started to march forward.


    They formed a long wall of steel and iron, cooperating with the apprentices on their side and repeatedly denying their opponents the space to maneuver. Moreover, all of the powerful spells the apprentices hurled at them were absorbed by the tough magic-resistant shields they wielded. None of the spells did any significant elementium damage.


    Even an Explosive Fireball that a pseudo-Mage had fired from under the cover of his ally had only managed to blow away three of the heavy infantry when it landed. After a short period of rest to recover from the impact, three of these people stood up once again and quickly returned to the formation.


    An Explosive Fireball that could deal 40 points of damage had only killed two ordinary warriors?


    This was unacceptable!


    As the warriors of steel started to close in, countless terrifying alchemical arrows started shooting out from their ranks. These explosive arrows exploded on contact and were extremely expensive. Each of them cost a hundred and twenty gold coins. Each individual arrow could deal nearly 11 to 15 points of damage.


    In small numbers, these arrows couldn''t do much to the advanced apprentices and pseudo-Mages, who all possessed some form of defensive spell. However, should the arrows rain down like a torrential storm, even the Sarubo pseudo-Mages would have to start shifting about to dodge the attacks.


    Still, these bulky soldiers wrapped in armor like steel cans weren''t the only guys they had to deal with. The enemy apprentices were still there. As the warriors of steel continued to pile on the pressure, the Sarubo apprentices quickly found themselves at an obvious disadvantage. Defeat was imminent!


    Honestly, if it hadn''t been for the clan Mages looking on coldly from behind, this group of death-fearing fellows would likely have already retreated to the safety of the castle. However now they could only grit their teeth and weather the storm, trying their best to stall the enemy. Otherwise who knew what their punishments might be?


    ...


    Leon quickly reached the castle walls and stood silently by Keoghan''s side.


    The nobles who gathered around Keoghan bowed and greeted him, but Leon didn''t respond.


    "How is it?" A wicked smile appeared on Keoghan''s face, "What do you think of the battle right now?"


    "It''s nothing more than a child''s game!" Two crimson sparks lit up deep within Leon''s black eyes.


    "That bastard Tras is really willing to spend. He''s even got those explosive arrows for standard equipment. And just like that, he''s already thrown away thirty to forty thousand gold coins... " Viscount Donald complained with a hateful expression.


    The two Mages ignored his words and continued to gaze at the enemy''s base.


    "When the battle starts, they will try and go for you as the rookie. That will be where they try and win this battle! You should be careful!" Mage Keoghan gave a kind reminder.


    Having experienced a plane war, and without much conflict of interests between the two of them, Leon and Keoghan had become much closer.


    "I''m only worried they don''t show up!" Leon gave a chilling smile, "Oh, right. There''s no punishment for killing enemy Mages in such a battlefield, right?"


    "Punishment?" Keoghan laughed out loud, "We of the Sarubo Clan have far more connections in this area than those fools!"


    As they conversed, a Sarubo advanced apprentice''s defensive spell was blasted to pieces by three explosive arrows. Just as he fumbled about to erect another defensive barrier, an acid arrow flew over and embedded itself in his right leg.


    Pop!


    The acid arrow exploded, covering his entire body in sizzling acid. Even his face wasn''t spared.


    "Aaaaaah... "


    The advanced apprentice screamed painfully and frantically ran backwards, all while downing as many potions as he could.


    A few of the enemy''s advanced apprentices saw the opportunity before them. Their eyes lit up in excitement and they quickly chased after the Sarubo apprentice.


    The Sarubo apprentice Mages were retreating as they fought. Their formation was pushed to the brink of breaking.


    "It''s about our turn now!" Mage Keoghan nodded at Leon before black smoke shrouded his body and lifted him to the skies.


    Even though the enemy apprentices were at an immense advantage, some of their attention was still placed on the Mages standing on the castle walls. The moment they saw those Mages move, they quickly started retreating without hesitation! Even though a juicy prey was right by their jaws!


    Keoghan''s body was engulfed in the thick black smoke as he silently floated onto the battlefield.


    At the same time, the sound of a terrifying flame explosion boomed as Leon''s tall body appeared beside one of the Sarubo apprentices.


    When they heard the explosion, the apprentices anxiously gripped their staffs and scrolls tightly . They were ready to deal with anything that came at them. It wasn''t until they saw that the figure in question was Mage Leon that they let out a sigh of relief and bowed to greet him.


    "Take this. Go back and recuperate!" Leon casually threw out a bottle of Potion of Life.


    The advanced apprentice that had been covered in acid frantically caught the potion and bowed in gratitude. The blast of acid earlier had not only claimed one of his legs, but had also disfigured him. He might be able to make his skin go back to normal with the potions he carried, but he would have to find some other way to regrow his right leg.


    That said, now that he had this bottle of high quality Potion of Life, he wouldn''t need to call in favors to fix his leg!


    As the apprentices hurriedly stumbled back to the castle walls, Leon and Keoghan slowly marched towards the enemy camp. One in the air, one on the ground.


    The three hundred magic-resistant heavy infantry standing in their way had never been considered a threat.


    But there were always idiots in this world!


    Seeing that the young Mage walking over hadn''t erected any sort of protective spell, Tras gave a hidden order. All of a sudden focused streams of explosive arrows shot out from within the ranks of the infantry.


    Their target was Leon!


    Even though Tras knew that there was no chance he could use these explosive arrows to kill an Mage, he knew that he would win the first small victory of the day if he could just cause Leon to panic a little!


    All of the Sarubo Clan members looked on in anxiety as they saw the barrage of explosive arrows shoot towards Leon.


    Hurry and erect your defensive barrier! Quick...


    At this moment, countless people were shouting anxiously in their hearts.


    And also at this moment, under the gaze of every single person on the battlefield, a massive pillar of flame that stretched into the sky exploded on the battlefield.


    Flames instantly enshrouded the tall, handsome, and young Mage. The violent elementium flames quickly cloaked his entire body. No, they didn''t cloak his body. Rather his entire body had turned into flames and lava.


    The dense concentration of flames turned a crimson color, painting a dark scarlet silhouette in the evening sky.


    "A flame Mage! Dammit, he''s a flame Mage... " Carlos, who had been watching silently from the camp, betrayed a sour expression.


    As Carlos cried out in shock, layers of fire and streamers of flame had already covered Leon''s body. The imposing Ring of Fire had also emerged from his body and was quickly expanding outwards.


    Phew phew phew...


    The sound of numerous arrows continued to whistle through the skies.


    The moment the explosive arrows came into contact with the Ring of Fire, their forged steel heads started to turn a bright red from the raging heat. The arrows quickly clashed against the dense fire elementium. Before an arrow could even entirely enter the Ring of Fire and reach Leon''s side, it had already been reduced to liquid metal.


    Before they could be activated, the explosive arrays carved on the arrows had already been damaged and destroyed alongside the arrows! And so an unexpected attack had instantly been crushed!


    The boiling-red pools of metal fell to the ground, burning the black dirt where they rested and sending smoke billowing into the clouds.


    Meanwhile, the vicious flames emanating from Leon''s body were still ravaging every piece of land and inch of space around him. The air was burning. The ground was burning. Everything that could ignite was burning!


    Leon''s body suddenly started to expand within the blazing inferno as a thick armor of lava rapidly covered his entire body and hid his face. A flaming Lava Shield also formed in midair and started orbiting his domineering form.


    The Lava Shield had dense magma rock at it very core, with red-white lava slowly flowing around it. Blazing flame streams and surging elementium flame shrouded his shield. Any living being would have to endure the continuous assault of heat and flame if they came close to Leon.


    Leon completed his Flame Fiend Transformation and raised his burning visage. His eyes, blazing brightly like two suns at noon, had locked onto the quickly retreating soldiers.


    "You still want to leave after attacking me? Kehkehkeh... I''ll let you have a taste of the terror of Mages!"


    Having said that, Leon raised both of his hands high up. The wicked hands formed of magma and flames blazed intensely, and a massive spell was instantly completed amidst his battlecry.


    Meteor Crash!


    Editor Ryu: "he wouldn''t need to call in favors to fix his leg!" Hahahaha... Leon owns you now, boy. Don''t you know not to trust greeks Mages bearing gifts?


    ...


    1918 Words

 Chapter 255 - 255: Battle Begins

    On the battlefield.


    Everybody looked on intently.


    As Leon shouted and cast his spell, the sunny skies quickly turned crimson red. High above the layers of clouds, a massive and blinding meteor was crashing down, leaving a blazing trail as it plummeted.


    Roiling flames, burning fires and a terrifyingly unstoppable momentum...


    The meteor had yet to land, but already everyone''s hearts were beating furiously. They held their breath and looked on in terror as this apocalyptic disaster quickly crashed towards the retreating army of steel.


    "Idiots! He wanted to bait you into attacking him. That''s the only way he has any excuse to exact vengeance on you and your men! Have them run for their lives!" Carlos furiously scolded the foolish lord. Green light flashed around him, as if he had just cast Godspeed on himself. Without even bothering to hide himself he rushed towards the battlefield.


    The old Mage Cochran couldn''t help but shake his head as he watched the tremendous might of the falling meteor, "As expected, fire Mages are the most suited elementium Mages for the battlefield. Especially a terrifying person that has chosen fire mastery like this one. It seems your bunch of iron can-heads are not gonna come out of this unscathed!"


    Having said that, Mage Cochran raised his hand and waved, summoning a green wind bat. He mounted the bat and rushed towards the battlefield as well. The strange Mage, perpetually shrouded in black mist, had also turned into black smoke and was dashing towards the burning fields.


    The arrogant Lord Tras was left behind, alone. His face was black and green with anger, and he ground his teeth forcefully. He didn''t believe that this young Mage¨Cwith a single blow¨Ccould decimate the steel army he had put so much effort into. However, the two predictions from Mage Cochran and Mage Carlos put him on edge. An ominous feeling rose in his heart.


    This army of steel was the culmination of over a dozen years of hard work!


    Many anti-magic materials had been mixed into the alloy when he had forged the magic-resistant armor of his army. The World of Mages'' standard market price would have put a single set of armor at the price of at least four thousand gold coins. The elite warriors that wore those armors had also displayed powerful strength worthy of such expensive equipment.


    Ordinary, intermediate, and beginner apprentice-Mages couldn''t even scratch the armor with their spells. Even advanced apprentices would have to retreat when faced with the magic-resistant armor and the magic explosive arrows. None of them would dare to challenge such a threat head on.


    The biggest proof of this army effectiveness came in the form of the battle earlier. An explosive fireball fired by a pseudo-Mage had only managed to send two of the soldiers to their grave. Moreover, those two heavy infantry hadn''t died from the spell and elementium damage. It was the shockwave and impact from the fireball that had shattered their internal organs.


    It was clear how well these armors defended against magic damage!


    Thus, even as the two Mages foretold their deaths, Lord Tras chose to calm down and gaze at that terrifying meteor drawing a long red trail across the sky.


    Under the everyone''s gazes, the meteor finally crashed destructively into the ranks of the army.


    Time seemed to have stopped for a moment. Even everyone''s vision seemed to pause for s second!


    This temporary pause might have been a single instant, but it felt like an eternity.


    A frightening shockwave finally shattered the silence, putting all of the meteor''s violence and ferocity on full display.


    The ground was shaking and the sky was bleeding!


    The blazing meteor left an impact crater on the ground twenty meters in radius. The massive impact had shattered the meteor as well. Fragments of stone and rock shot outwards, with tremendous force behind each and every projectile.


    What came after the barrage of meteor fragments was the terrifying shockwave.


    Deafening winds were like invisible blades, quickly blowing outwards in a circle. Wherever the shockwave passed through the ground would give way and debris would be sent flying. Every single thing that had once rested on the ground was instantly thrown into the distance.


    And after the shockwave had passed, down came to incinerating sea of flames.


    Of the three hundred men, seven or eight had been instantly erased by the impact of the meteor itself, without leaving even a trace of their corpses. When the rain of meteor fragments ravaged the area, most of the soldiers had been able endure the disaster with their sturdy shields. Only a small number of them had their heads split open by the fragments.


    However the shockwave that came next was truly unstoppable.


    Under the impact of the vicious and billowing airwaves, countless soldiers fell to the ground and started coughing blood after being blasted away. They couldn''t endure the sudden and intense change in air pressure. Their eardrums were punctured and their internal organs were shattered.


    Then, with all of them rendered helpless and weak, the sea of flames fell upon the land!


    Most of the three hundred soldiers had been devoured by this terrifying sea of flames, just like that. Only the lucky ones that were at the edge of the explosion had managed to crawl away and escape the damage. Still, their bodies had already been ignited by the elementium fire. All of them screamed and cried as they burned. The only thing they could do was roll about, trying in vain to put out the ravaging flames.


    The center of the battlefield had instantly been plunged into a storm of blood and gore. It was a terrifying sight to behold!


    The horse whip in Viscount Tras'' hand fell silently to the ground.


    His gaze was unfocused and his mouth was agape. He looked at the scarred and scorched battlefield in disbelief. In his moment of shock, he had completely forgotten to send medics to save the remaining injured knights. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Two hundred men!


    At least two hundred men!


    That terrifying meteor had just took away at least two hundred of his most elite units, scoured far and wide.


    Moreover, there were still countless human torches crying in agony at the edge of the field of fire. They ran about screaming for help, their noises gradually growing weaker and weaker before they fell to the ground, never to get up again.


    "Sa... Sav... Save... them... " Tras had wanted to shout with all his strength, but his voice only came out weak and soft. He even stuttered as he gave his orders.


    Tears of pain and sorrow fell from the corner of his eyes.


    It was over... all over! The steel army he had invested everything into had been decimated by that Mage in a single blow.


    Viscount Tras'' mind instantly snapped. His entire being was like a stray dog that had its spine ripped out. He could hardly even remained seated on his beloved horse.


    Kill him! You must kill him!


    Viscount Tras let out a manic roar within his heart. He straightened his body and looked at the mighty silhouette of the Flame Demon through his teary eyes.


    ...


    A single blow had crushed nearly seventy percent of the heavy infantry''s combat forces.


    Leon looked at the struggling soldiers from a distance. He didn''t finish the job with another blow.


    According to the rules of the Zhentarim area, no Mages were to involve themselves in worldly wars. It was only when themselves, or the clan''s profit, were involved that the Mages were allowed to enter the war. Even so, they were not allowed to launch any attacks at the nobles or their subordinate forces.


    Of course, idiots that actively provoked the Mages and infringed upon their honor were not included in this rule.


    As such, no Mage could fault Leon for returning the soldiers'' attacks with such a devastating blow. However, now that the opponents had suffered such heavy losses, he stopped. If he continued to press the issue, despite having exacted his vengeance, even the Zhentarim Association wouldn''t let it slide.


    Leon''s three meter tall flame body stood on the spot, silently waiting for the arrival of the enemy Mages.


    Two hundred meters to his left, Keoghan had just landed on the ground. He couldn''t help but exclaim happily when he saw the dire state that the heavy infantry had been reduced to, "Idiots, the lot of them, set on fire. Burn them, scorch them, send the ashes back home to their mothers! That arrogant Tras is probably lying in a pool of his tears right now."


    The two didn''t mind fighting together. However, as Mages, both of them had different styles of combat. Leon''s hundred-meter-wide Ring of Fire was indiscriminate. Even Keoghan had to burn if he walked into its radius.


    As a result, the two had to keep a distance of one to two hundred meters in order to avoid interfering with each other.


    The two raised their heads at the same time and stared at the three Mages that had gracefully landed three hundred meters away from them.


    "Carlos... Cochran... McThran!"


    Keoghan clearly kept a close account of all Mages in the neighboring clans and organizations. Just a single glance and he could recall their names. His tone became especially heavy when he swept past the strange cloud of black mist.


    Meanwhile, Keoghan was already communicating with Leon in secret. He quickly gave a basic introduction of the three Mages before them.


    Carlos. First Grade Curse Mage (a branch of elementium Mages). Subordinate to the Mikayne Clan (Hostile). Known to be cruel and scheming. Well-trained at all debuffing and weakening curse spells.


    Cochran. First Grade Summoning Mage (a branch of esoteric Mages). Subordinate to a neutral Mage organization known as ''Wheel of Time''. Well-trained at summoning otherworld creatures.


    McThran. First Grade Dark Mage (a branch of elementium Mages). Subordinate to the Black Glove Association (Neutral). Personality traits remain unknown. Natural affinity with dark elementium. All of his attacks have a strong corrosive effect.


    Leon couldn''t help but ask once Keoghan had finished his introduction, "Are Mages not forbidden from participating in worldly conflict by the Zhentarim Association? With how brazen they have been, are they not concerned about punishment?"


    "Hmph! Rules are dead things while humans are well alive!" Keoghan let out a muffled grunt, "They must have signed some sort of hiring agreement with Tras. And so, this suddenly turns into something that involves their ''personal benefits'' and therefore... "


    Keoghan didn''t continue; Leon already understood.


    It seemed all the rules of the Mage''s Association were only meant to be formalities and courtesies. The existence of the rules were only to avoid large-scale Mage conflict. No one cared about small skirmishes and fights.


    In the end, the cause for this battle was because the neighboring forces wanted to make a quick buck by profiteering off of the Sarubo Clan''s weakness. It had nothing to do with fairness or justice. Even the excuse for war had long been forgotten!


    If the Sarubo Clan wanted to protect its properties and regain its strength, it would have to display much more viciousness than its preying neighbors. Otherwise, if they waited until the higher-ups were able to come back, all that would be left waiting for them might just be broken and burned ruins.


    ...


    1896 Words

 Chapter 256 - 256: The Might of Mages

    There were no war declarations like the ones ordinary human nobles so liked to use.


    Nor were there any insincere greetings.


    A fight between Mages erupted the moment everyone involved had arrived!


    The old Mage known as Cochran continuously waved his hand about in the air. Every time, a strange flashing rune appeared and a terrifying, otherworldly creature would step out of nowhere.


    Manticores, Destrachans, Ogre Magi, Wyverns, Formian Worker Ants, Yeth Hounds...


    Though none of these creatures were excessively powerful, each and every one of them had a strength that rivaled pseudo-Mages. More importantly, their numbers seemed... a little over-the-top!


    These otherworld creatures had traversed space under the influence of magical power. They leapt towards Mage Keoghan the moment they appeared. Keoghan let out a wicked grin and moved forward to engage.


    Of course, Leon couldn''t possibly remain idle now that the fight on the other side had already started.


    Leon smiled graciously as he looked upon the two Mages that were gazing coldly at him.


    Have the summoning Mage stall Keoghan while the two offensive Mages defeat me first? In truth, their plan was pretty solid. That said, it depends on whether they had the power to back it up!


    The battle between the three Mages started when Leon strode forward.


    Carlos, the curse Mage, quickly moved about, ensuring that he was always outside of Leon''s intimidating Ring of Fire. Carlos muttered chants under his breath and waved a withered and rotted wooden wand at Leon, sending black and grey curse halos shooting towards him.


    Some of the curse halos vanished after entering the Ring of Fire, their spell structures torn to pieces by the terrifying flame streams. Most of the remaining halos were blocked by the quickly spinning Lava Shields, leaving only a few to actually afflict Leon with curses.


    However, while the number of effective curses were extremely low, they just didn''t stop coming!


    Leon let out a muffled grunt. The light from his bright-red flame body dimmed. It was clear that he had been affected by the curses.


    Confusion!


    Stamina Drain!


    Spatial Confusion!


    ...


    Dammit, what were these damned spells!


    None of these curses did anything individually. However, when accumulated, they became a massive burden for Leon, who still had to deal with another enemy. The disastrous consequences of being affected by the curses at a key moment in battle were not something he even wanted to think about!


    Leon let out an angered roar. Ferocious fire energies surged out from his body, instantly erasing all of the debuffs on him. A crimson radiance gathered around his eyes as a terrifying Solar Ray shot towards Carlos'' heart.


    Carlos, who had been wandering outside the Ring of Fire, let out a wicked laugh and instantly vanished from the spot. Mage McThran had vanished along with him.


    This was bad! Something was wrong!


    Leon narrowed his eyes. His body paused for a moment before disappearing.


    A blast of fire accompanied by a soft boom appeared along with Leon at a spot a hundred meters away. His large and mighty body stumbled for a bit before recovering. A large cloud of strange black smoke was lingering by the right side of his waist. His crimson body of magma, originally hidden under the blazing fires, had been corroded by the black smoke. The entire spot had turned a purple color.


    Carlos and McThran had also reappeared in another spot.


    Mage Carlos seemed to be fairly unfazed. Other than some slight burn marks at the edge of his purple robe there was no indication of injury. On the other hand, the black smoke surrounding Mage McThran had thinned by a lot, revealing a scrawny but tall silhouette.


    Moreover, one could vaguely see clusters of small fires burning stubbornly at the edge of the smoke.


    The two scheming Mages had worked together and launched a sneak attack in the time Leon was launching his own attack. Leon would probably have suffered several crippling losses if he hadn''t escaped then and there!


    Leon called upon his fire powers and tried to extinguish the strange smoke lingering on his waist. That said, the black smoke wasn''t any trivial spell either. It was extremely hard to put it out.


    With no other choice left to him, Leon dug into his wound with his sharp magma claws, brutally cutting off the entire piece of his magma flesh and throwing it to the ground. He then bent down and scooped a huge handful of lava from the lava pool beneath him to seal his injury.


    In the meantime, that repulsive Carlos had already resumed his disgusting act, revolving around Leon and tossing his curse halos about. McThran, on the other hand, had turned into a cloud of black smoke and let out a sinister laugh. He dashed about the air, avoiding the Magma Fireballs that Leon had thrown at him.


    Every time he saw some lack of agility on Leon''s part he would take advantage of it. The black smoke would dive into the Ring of Fire, enduring the burning effect of the elementium fires while leaving strange wounds on Leon''s massive body.


    Leon would lose all sense of the parts of his body that had were corroded by the black smoke, rendering the wounded spots weak to Carlos'' evil curses.


    Just fifteen minutes after they started, Leon already found himself being suppressed by their well-coordinated attacks.


    Leon silently shook his head and let out sighs in his heart.


    A higher-order plane was a higher-order plane after all. The strength of the creatures within were not something lower-order planes could match.


    Half a month earlier he was still causing a slaughter in the knights'' plane, butchering First Grade spellbreaker knights as if they were chickens and dogs. Now, back in the World of Mages, he was having trouble dealing with two First Grade Mages simultaneously.


    Fire spells may be the most suited elementium spells to slaughter, but they had plenty of flaws and insufficiencies when it came to the skirmishes and battles between Mages.


    What use were powerful fire spells if they couldn''t connect with enemies? How effective could the terrifying Ring of Fire be if it couldn''t engulf the enemies within itself? If Leon didn''t continue to think of ways to enhance his abilities against the equally mobile and flexible Mages, he would lose any advantage that he might have had.


    Leon roared in rage. It was finally time to use all his powers.


    He tossed out an elementium crystal core, and all of a sudden the Mage-level Fire Lord stood beside him. The massive Fire Deity had also emerged from the blazing flames on the other side.


    The pseudo-Mage level Fire Deity was hardly a qualified subordinate at this point. However, it could still make a little impact with its self-destruction!


    At that same time Leon extended his right hand, and a flame whip made of concentrated flame energy instantly formed in his hand. With the whip, Leon could make it much harder for McThran to break through Leon''s defenses. The Scroll of Voodoo had also appeared silently in Leon''s burning left hand. Its pages had already started flipping incessantly.


    None of the Mages involved in this fight were idiots. The strange form of the Scroll of Voodoo had already caused Carlos and McThran to knot their brows in frustration.


    Soul Equipment!


    This was most definitely a Soul Equipment! sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unfortunately, they couldn''t tell what effect the Scroll of Voodoo had. After all, all Soul Equipment had their own unique ability. It was hard to determine their effects just through their appearance. If they slipped up and gave the fire Mage brat a chance, this soul equipment could probably turn the tides in a single blow!


    The two Mages proceeded with this in mind. Naturally, they slowed down their actions and became much more conservative with their attacks and defense.


    Leon wouldn''t let them wear him down just like that. As a fire Mage, and an elementium Mage that was particularly good at creating his own home field advantage, he was going to snatch the upper hand back. Thus, as the three terrifying flame demons roared and attacked with impunity, the battlefield quickly converted into a massive pool of roiling lava.


    The foothold left for the two enemy Mages was quickly shrinking!


    ...


    The few Sarubo Clan elite apprentices were standing by the castle walls, gazing in awe at the battle of the Mages.


    If one were to describe the battle between the apprentices as explosive, the battle that was happening now was a volcano! It was as if a gigantic, live volcano had just been plunged into the battle. The raging fires and violent spells ravaged the land, severely altering the geography around Locker Castle.


    Even though the castle was five hundred meters away from the battlefield, everyone could still feel the oppressive heat and wind pressure pressing against their faces. The thundering sounds of explosions continued without end. Any single spell that an Mage shot out was enough to cause the onlookers'' hearts to clench tight in terror.


    If any of the Mages got too engrossed in their fight, they might very well accidentally wipe the castle away along with them.


    They weren''t sure if that terrifying Mage Leon was the most powerful Mage present. However, they were certain that he was the absolute scariest!


    The large patches of lava pooled on the ground, the layers of black and red flame clouds in the skies, and the blazing air inbetween.


    This domineering Mage Leon had forcefully turned this place into his home field, all by himself. He had demonstrated to the entire world and to these future Mages, in the most raw and most insane way possible, the terror of a powerful Mage!


    He also perfectly displayed the tremendous destruction that an Mage was capable of. Anyone looking on would feel fear creep into their hearts!


    Near the end of the battle, the entire battlefield had turned a bright red. Even the two pseudo-Mages couldn''t see through the elementium tides and peek at the progress of the battle.


    ...


    Leon''s full prowess was only unleashed once the entire battlefield had turned into a sea of flames.


    With his elusive Fire Teleportation, and his agile speed within the sea of flames, he was no longer plagued by his limited agility.


    The vicious fire spells also gave him incomparable damage at long distances. Even a Magma Fireball fired off half-heartedly could deal astounding amounts of damage. Moreover, the Flame Fiend Transformation had caused his Physique to go up several times. The seven points of Physique he now had were nearing the levels of body-refining Mages.


    This meant that he had both terrifying long-range attacks as well as powerful melee strength!


    Leon, who had always been on the receiving end in this battle, seemed to finally have a chance to turn the tables with the home field advantage finally set.


    ....


    1821 Words

 Chapter 257 - 257: Death of an Mage

    100 power stones = 1 chapter. (Weekly goal achieved.)


    Extra chapter.


    ...


    Dong!


    An intense explosion erupted.


    Leon''s massive flame body appeared within the sea of flames. The tremendously wide Ring of Fire instantly shot out from his body. For the first time, Leon was able to catch Carlos within the burning zone before he could escape.


    Carlos'' gray defensive barrier was turning a bright red under the heat of the elementium flames.


    The very next second, two ferocious Magma Fireballs exploded right next to him!


    However, all of a sudden, a strange smoke of pure gray suddenly appeared. It formed the shape of a skull and dove into Leon''s body, causing his vision to go completely black. He had been temporarily blinded.


    Carlos took full advantage of this window of opportunity and scrambled out of the Magma Fireball''s explosive radius. One could still see the burn marks left all over his body as he frantically scurried away. He made a smart choice! Almost at the very instant Carlos had left, a gigantic magma hand rose from the lava pool below, smashing at where Carlos was with all its strength.


    Dong!


    The entire ground trembled.


    A terrifying black and red handprint half a meter deep was imprinted in the dirt. The roiling lava quickly filled the crater.


    Then the mighty Fire Lord burst forth from the ground. It bent its body slightly and let out a silent roar in the direction that Carlos had disappeared.


    Leon, who had just finished launching his attacks at Carlos, had also received McThran''s blows at the same time. The two passed by each other, lashing at each other with all they had. Leon''s savage whip had dispersed nearly half of the black smoke shrouding McThran, while McThran had also successfully left behind a cloud of black smoke the size of a grindstone on Leon''s back.


    In the meantime, Leon had made countless attempts to bombard the enemy with the six instant-cast spells within the Scroll of Voodoo. However he could never quite catch McThran''s figure.


    The layer of smoke enveloping McThran wasn''t just corrosive, it also had the unique ability to shield McThran from any sensory detection. Consequently, Leon had never managed to lock on to the Mage despite having battled him for so long.


    This was also part of the reason for the awkward situation that Leon was dealing with.


    Even though Leon was trying his best to corner Carlos with the cooperation of the Fire Lord, the latter''s strange curses would always interrupt him at a key moment and prevent him from landing any crucial hits. Moreover, McThran would continuously harass and wound him as he chased Carlos about.


    His elementiumized body of flames might not have any fatal weak points, as compared to a human body, but it still played an important role as the carrier of Leon''s spirit consciousness. If the carrier fell apart, Leon''s spirit consciousness would lose all protection he had. Leon would be then be rendered helpless to every whim and fancy of the enemy!


    Leon immediately changed his battle plan, perhaps because he too realized the danger he was in.


    The next second, his tall body crashed into the sea of flames and instantly vanished from sight.


    This time, he had actually vanished. There were none of the telltale signs of a Fire Teleportation.


    Moreover, he didn''t show up after vanishing. It was almost as if his entire existence had melded into the sea of fire.


    And thus, the Fire Lord was left alone in the battlefield, trudging about with heavy footsteps as it desperately pursued the sly Carlos. The Fire Deity, on the other hand, had already fulfilled its mission and died!


    As expected of a veteran dark Mage; Carlos was both extremely proficient with his element and possessed exceptional battle awareness. Every time he repositioned himself, he would shower the large area beneath him with dark elementium halos. These scattered dark elementium weren''t meant to damage his opponent. Rather, they were used to put out those terrifying elementium fires.


    However, even as Carlos did his best to put out the sea of elementium flames, the Fire Lord continued to spread the gift of fire as he chased after Carlos. With one in hot pursuit of the other, the entire battlefield was quickly stirred into a mess.


    As all of this was happening, Leon''s spirit consciousness went undetected, flowing within the sea of flames.


    Every time he reached the center of a fire, the blazing elementium flames would form a strange face of fire. The face had no body. Its eyes blinked as it looked about, quickly dissipating if Leon didn''t find any enemies.


    Then, the very next moment, Leon would form another face at another spot in the field of fire, scouting for any signs of enemies.


    But while he was searching for McThran, the reverse was true for his opponent as well!


    A cloud of strange black smoke weaved between the gaps in the burning fires as it communicated with Carlos, who wasn''t very far away. The two had never cut off their mental connection.


    "This brat is very well-hidden! He''s completely elementiumized his body and can hide anywhere in the flames! It''s way too hard to find him with such an inefficient way of searching!" Finally, McThran couldn''t help but throw out his suggestion. "You try and attack his elementium golem to draw him out. We will try and surround him once more!"


    "Hmph... " Carlos laughed sinisterly, "Why shouldn''t you be the one to bait him? That brat hasn''t even used the soul equipment in his hands. If you want to test its might you are welcome to do so. I''m not dumb enough to be a target for that!"


    "If that''s the case, then we will both act together and crush that elementium golem first! Without a subordinate like that, his home field advantage will gradually shrink, and things will get easier and easier!"


    "Very well! Wait for my signal, and we will act on my count!"


    Carlos was rapidly moving through the blazing inferno. Again and again, he showered the ground with dark elementium halos made of gray mist, instantly extinguishing all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around himself. Behind him, the clumsy and slow Fire Lord was striding over. The ground trembled with every step it took. It raised its arms and tried to reform the sea of flames as it shot out several Explosive Fireballs at Carlos.


    Yet at this very instant Carlos, who had always been running away, turned around. He dodged the fireball speeding towards him, while gathering massive amounts of dark elementium in his hand to form a terrifying spear. The spear shot forward, piercing the Fire Lord''s Lava Shield, and embedded itself deep in the Fire Lord''s chest.


    At the same time McThran suddenly appeared behind the Fire Lord. His hands, both shrouded in black smoke, plunged deep into the Fire Lord''s blazing magma body. Large black patches quickly spread across its body. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Fire Lord might have Mage-level abilities, but it wasn''t an actual intelligent lifeform!


    Its resistance wound up the two veteran Mages, but there was no escaping its deathly fate at the hands of their combined attacks.


    Leon sensed the warnings sent from the Fire Lord. His massive body quickly started reforming at the closest spot to the battle. Unfortunately, the sly Carlos had already exterminated all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around him beforehand. As a result, Leon was still a good hundred and twenty meters away from the Fire Lord, even after emerging from the flames.


    Black spots and gray shadows quickly spread throughout the Fire Lord''s gigantic body. Inevitably, they started to creep onto its most important part¨C the golem core.


    Leon grit his teeth when he felt the core at its limit. He gave his last order to the Fire Lord. Self-destruct!


    Having accompanied Leon for six months, and having crushed one obstacle after another, the Fire Lord could be considered the most powerful golem Leon had. Yet today, Leon could only choose to give it up in this border skirmish between two Mage clans.


    Leon''s resolution had also exceeded the two Mages'' expectations and better judgement. The unique existence of golems had also turned the elementium core into a miniature elementium bomb! Especially when it was the self-destruction of an Mage-level golem. The terrifying might was enough to frighten even two veteran Mages.


    Carlos had been wandering at a distance from the Fire Lord. He was able to retreat the moment he sensed the Fire Lord''s abnormality. However, McThran wasn''t so lucky. He was battling with the Fire Lord at melee distance. It was too late for him to escape when he finally sensed the boiling and chaotic elementium tide within the Fire Lord.


    Boom! A massive explosion shook the ground and the heavens.


    A towering mushroom cloud slowly rose to the skies.


    Violent gales blew in every direction, bringing with them the incinerating flames of the explosion. In just a single instant it had collapsed half of the outer castle walls five hundred meters away. Horrifying heat and flame streams blasted out, reducing all life without elementium protection to ashes before blowing even the ashes to the winds.


    Buildings near the castle had crumbled and fallen apart. Even the heavily guarded side of the castle facing the battlefield had also been charred soot-black under the heat of the terrifying flames. The buildings that were even closer to the walls had softened and collapsed as if they were made of mud or molten cheese.


    If even the castle, shielded by a castle wall, had been reduced to such a state, what would one expect of the exposed armies of Lord Tras?


    Terrifying fires ravaged across their ranks. The poorly equipped vassal troops were instantly burnt to ashes, leaving weird human-shaped scorch marks on the ground. The ninety warriors of steel, that had fortunately escaped from the last attack with their lives, were also engulfed by the tide of fire before they could escape this time.


    Their numbers were instantly cut in half!


    After the fire passed by, the scattered and remaining troops weren''t even enough to form a battalion.


    Even Keoghan and Cochran, who were still engaged with each other, had to stop their fight as they looked on in shock. All of their attention was now on that terrifying field of fire.


    Wasn''t this just a border skirmish between Mage clans!? How... how did such a big commotion come about? Were they having a battle of life and death?


    Meanwhile, at the core of the explosion.


    The Fire Lord''s massive and magnificent body had already vanished.


    Only a fifty meter wide and ten meter deep crater was left on the spot. Boiling lava roiled within the crater. Monstrous heat and flame streams, upwards of four thousand degrees, had completely shattered the space above the crater. Colorful dark red auroras floated about, painting a beautifully tragic image.


    However, any clear-headed Mage would never be tricked by the beauty before them. Neither would they ever come close to those phantasmally pretty lights. Because... those were the elementium mirages projected by the space outside the plane after the space within the plane had been shattered.


    No First Grade Mage would be able to escape if they were caught in this zone of shattered space. They simply didn''t have the defensive capabilities.


    A completely burnt figure climbed out of the bubbling lava at the edge of the crater. He slowly walked forward, stumbling as he tried to leave the site of the explosion. A long trail of burning black footprints were left behind as he walked...


    Magical energies flashed about the figure, and the last remaining wisps of fire on his charred body were finally extinguished.


    McThran opened his cracked, burnt lips and exhaled. Hot breath came out of his mouth. So hot, there were even sparks of flames as he breathed. He took out a potion from his bosom to treat himself, but all of a sudden, he stopped.


    Right before him was Leon. Leon''s blood red eyes were like a raging inferno and were trained right on him. The Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s hand was madly flipping.


    A massive surge of elementium energies were quickly gathering!


    "No... we can talk... " McThran screamed with all his might.


    Sadly, everything he still had to say was devoured by a new wave of flame and fire!


    ...


    2079 Words

 Chapter 258 - 258: Death of an Mage

    Dong!


    An intense explosion erupted.


    Leon''s massive flame body appeared within the sea of flames. The tremendously wide Ring of Fire instantly shot out from his body. For the first time, Leon was able to catch Carlos within the burning zone before he could escape.


    Carlos'' gray defensive barrier was turning a bright red under the heat of the elementium flames.


    The very next second, two ferocious Magma Fireballs exploded right next to him!


    However, all of a sudden, a strange smoke of pure gray suddenly appeared. It formed the shape of a skull and dove into Leon''s body, causing his vision to go completely black. He had been temporarily blinded.


    Carlos took full advantage of this window of opportunity and scrambled out of the Magma Fireball''s explosive radius. One could still see the burn marks left all over his body as he frantically scurried away. He made a smart choice! Almost at the very instant Carlos had left, a gigantic magma hand rose from the lava pool below, smashing at where Carlos was with all its strength.


    Dong!


    The entire ground trembled.


    A terrifying black and red handprint half a meter deep was imprinted in the dirt. The roiling lava quickly filled the crater.


    Then the mighty Fire Lord burst forth from the ground. It bent its body slightly and let out a silent roar in the direction that Carlos had disappeared. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon, who had just finished launching his attacks at Carlos, had also received McThran''s blows at the same time. The two passed by each other, lashing at each other with all they had. Leon''s savage whip had dispersed nearly half of the black smoke shrouding McThran, while McThran had also successfully left behind a cloud of black smoke the size of a grindstone on Leon''s back.


    In the meantime, Leon had made countless attempts to bombard the enemy with the six instant-cast spells within the Scroll of Voodoo. However he could never quite catch McThran''s figure.


    The layer of smoke enveloping McThran wasn''t just corrosive, it also had the unique ability to shield McThran from any sensory detection. Consequently, Leon had never managed to lock on to the Mage despite having battled him for so long.


    This was also part of the reason for the awkward situation that Leon was dealing with.


    Even though Leon was trying his best to corner Carlos with the cooperation of the Fire Lord, the latter''s strange curses would always interrupt him at a key moment and prevent him from landing any crucial hits. Moreover, McThran would continuously harass and wound him as he chased Carlos about.


    His elementiumized body of flames might not have any fatal weak points, as compared to a human body, but it still played an important role as the carrier of Leon''s spirit consciousness. If the carrier fell apart, Leon''s spirit consciousness would lose all protection he had. Leon would be then be rendered helpless to every whim and fancy of the enemy!


    Leon immediately changed his battle plan, perhaps because he too realized the danger he was in.


    The next second, his tall body crashed into the sea of flames and instantly vanished from sight.


    This time, he had actually vanished. There were none of the telltale signs of a Fire Teleportation.


    Moreover, he didn''t show up after vanishing. It was almost as if his entire existence had melded into the sea of fire.


    And thus, the Fire Lord was left alone in the battlefield, trudging about with heavy footsteps as it desperately pursued the sly Carlos. The Fire Deity, on the other hand, had already fulfilled its mission and died!


    As expected of a veteran dark Mage; Carlos was both extremely proficient with his element and possessed exceptional battle awareness. Every time he repositioned himself, he would shower the large area beneath him with dark elementium halos. These scattered dark elementium weren''t meant to damage his opponent. Rather, they were used to put out those terrifying elementium fires.


    However, even as Carlos did his best to put out the sea of elementium flames, the Fire Lord continued to spread the gift of fire as he chased after Carlos. With one in hot pursuit of the other, the entire battlefield was quickly stirred into a mess.


    As all of this was happening, Leon''s spirit consciousness went undetected, flowing within the sea of flames.


    Every time he reached the center of a fire, the blazing elementium flames would form a strange face of fire. The face had no body. Its eyes blinked as it looked about, quickly dissipating if Leon didn''t find any enemies.


    Then, the very next moment, Leon would form another face at another spot in the field of fire, scouting for any signs of enemies.


    But while he was searching for McThran, the reverse was true for his opponent as well!


    A cloud of strange black smoke weaved between the gaps in the burning fires as it communicated with Carlos, who wasn''t very far away. The two had never cut off their mental connection.


    "This brat is very well-hidden! He''s completely elementiumized his body and can hide anywhere in the flames! It''s way too hard to find him with such an inefficient way of searching!" Finally, McThran couldn''t help but throw out his suggestion. "You try and attack his elementium golem to draw him out. We will try and surround him once more!"


    "Hmph... " Carlos laughed sinisterly, "Why shouldn''t you be the one to bait him? That brat hasn''t even used the soul equipment in his hands. If you want to test its might you are welcome to do so. I''m not dumb enough to be a target for that!"


    "If that''s the case, then we will both act together and crush that elementium golem first! Without a subordinate like that, his home field advantage will gradually shrink, and things will get easier and easier!"


    "Very well! Wait for my signal, and we will act on my count!"


    Carlos was rapidly moving through the blazing inferno. Again and again, he showered the ground with dark elementium halos made of gray mist, instantly extinguishing all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around himself. Behind him, the clumsy and slow Fire Lord was striding over. The ground trembled with every step it took. It raised its arms and tried to reform the sea of flames as it shot out several Explosive Fireballs at Carlos.


    Yet at this very instant Carlos, who had always been running away, turned around. He dodged the fireball speeding towards him, while gathering massive amounts of dark elementium in his hand to form a terrifying spear. The spear shot forward, piercing the Fire Lord''s Lava Shield, and embedded itself deep in the Fire Lord''s chest.


    At the same time McThran suddenly appeared behind the Fire Lord. His hands, both shrouded in black smoke, plunged deep into the Fire Lord''s blazing magma body. Large black patches quickly spread across its body.


    The Fire Lord might have Mage-level abilities, but it wasn''t an actual intelligent lifeform!


    Its resistance wound up the two veteran Mages, but there was no escaping its deathly fate at the hands of their combined attacks.


    Leon sensed the warnings sent from the Fire Lord. His massive body quickly started reforming at the closest spot to the battle. Unfortunately, the sly Carlos had already exterminated all fire elementium in a hundred meter radius around him beforehand. As a result, Leon was still a good hundred and twenty meters away from the Fire Lord, even after emerging from the flames.


    Black spots and gray shadows quickly spread throughout the Fire Lord''s gigantic body. Inevitably, they started to creep onto its most important part¨C the golem core.


    Leon grit his teeth when he felt the core at its limit. He gave his last order to the Fire Lord. Self-destruct!


    Having accompanied Leon for six months, and having crushed one obstacle after another, the Fire Lord could be considered the most powerful golem Leon had. Yet today, Leon could only choose to give it up in this border skirmish between two Mage clans.


    Leon''s resolution had also exceeded the two Mages'' expectations and better judgement. The unique existence of golems had also turned the elementium core into a miniature elementium bomb! Especially when it was the self-destruction of an Mage-level golem. The terrifying might was enough to frighten even two veteran Mages.


    Carlos had been wandering at a distance from the Fire Lord. He was able to retreat the moment he sensed the Fire Lord''s abnormality. However, McThran wasn''t so lucky. He was battling with the Fire Lord at melee distance. It was too late for him to escape when he finally sensed the boiling and chaotic elementium tide within the Fire Lord.


    Boom! A massive explosion shook the ground and the heavens.


    A towering mushroom cloud slowly rose to the skies.


    Violent gales blew in every direction, bringing with them the incinerating flames of the explosion. In just a single instant it had collapsed half of the outer castle walls five hundred meters away. Horrifying heat and flame streams blasted out, reducing all life without elementium protection to ashes before blowing even the ashes to the winds.


    Buildings near the castle had crumbled and fallen apart. Even the heavily guarded side of the castle facing the battlefield had also been charred soot-black under the heat of the terrifying flames. The buildings that were even closer to the walls had softened and collapsed as if they were made of mud or molten cheese.


    If even the castle, shielded by a castle wall, had been reduced to such a state, what would one expect of the exposed armies of Lord Tras?


    Terrifying fires ravaged across their ranks. The poorly equipped vassal troops were instantly burnt to ashes, leaving weird human-shaped scorch marks on the ground. The ninety warriors of steel, that had fortunately escaped from the last attack with their lives, were also engulfed by the tide of fire before they could escape this time.


    Their numbers were instantly cut in half!


    After the fire passed by, the scattered and remaining troops weren''t even enough to form a battalion.


    Even Keoghan and Cochran, who were still engaged with each other, had to stop their fight as they looked on in shock. All of their attention was now on that terrifying field of fire.


    Wasn''t this just a border skirmish between Mage clans!? How... how did such a big commotion come about? Were they having a battle of life and death?


    Meanwhile, at the core of the explosion.


    The Fire Lord''s massive and magnificent body had already vanished.


    Only a fifty meter wide and ten meter deep crater was left on the spot. Boiling lava roiled within the crater. Monstrous heat and flame streams, upwards of four thousand degrees, had completely shattered the space above the crater. Colorful dark red auroras floated about, painting a beautifully tragic image.


    However, any clear-headed Mage would never be tricked by the beauty before them. Neither would they ever come close to those phantasmally pretty lights. Because... those were the elementium mirages projected by the space outside the plane after the space within the plane had been shattered.


    No First Grade Mage would be able to escape if they were caught in this zone of shattered space. They simply didn''t have the defensive capabilities.


    A completely burnt figure climbed out of the bubbling lava at the edge of the crater. He slowly walked forward, stumbling as he tried to leave the site of the explosion. A long trail of burning black footprints were left behind as he walked...


    Magical energies flashed about the figure, and the last remaining wisps of fire on his charred body were finally extinguished.


    McThran opened his cracked, burnt lips and exhaled. Hot breath came out of his mouth. So hot, there were even sparks of flames as he breathed. He took out a potion from his bosom to treat himself, but all of a sudden, he stopped.


    Right before him was Leon. Leon''s blood red eyes were like a raging inferno and were trained right on him. The Scroll of Voodoo in Leon''s hand was madly flipping.


    A massive surge of elementium energies were quickly gathering!


    "No... we can talk... " McThran screamed with all his might.


    Sadly, everything he still had to say was devoured by a new wave of flame and fire!


    ...


    2069 Words

 Chapter 259 - 259: Lucy

    McThran was dead!


    A veteran Mage with decent prowess had died for no reason in a completely insignificant battlefield!


    This shocking truth was hard to swallow for both sides of the conflict.


    Kartia Hills was a territory no bigger than sixty square kilometers, with one mid-sized and two small-sized cities, as well as seven or eight human villages. Even if all of the mansions and villages within Kartia Hills were razed and converted into its worth in magic crystals, it still wouldn''t be enough to compensate for the loss of a veteran Mage.


    The true reason the three Mage forces had allied with each other to attack was to test the waters. If the Sarubo Clan had indeed taken huge losses in the plane war, they would take a strategic retreat and voluntarily surrender some benefits that it couldn''t defend. They would trade time for space to recover their strength.


    In fact, such border wars happened on a daily basis within the Zhentarim area. Countless Mage clans and organizations were involved in the various tussles and disagreements. However, it was extremely rare to see an Mage die in one of these conflicts.


    As the invading party, Carlos of the Mikayne Clan had no choice but to declare their loss. The two parties finally sat down to have a tough negotiation on the war reparations.


    The conquered cities had to be returned and the raided villages had to be reimbursed. The Mikayne Clan even had to compensate the losses of the Sarubo Clan with large amounts of rare resources. As long as the Mikaynes had no intention of escalating the tensions into a full-blown clan war, the curtains would be drawn on the incident today.


    As for how the Mikayne Clan was to compensate the Black Glove Association for the loss of McThran, that was their problem to deal with.


    Leon and Keoghan immediately returned to Feidnan City after hastily concluding the affair.


    That said, after this battle, Leon''s terrifying moniker as the Flame Demon spread far and wide.


    Battling two veteran Mages at once, yet still being able to forcefully exterminate one of them while he fended for himself. Such prowess was almost entirely unheard of in a newly advanced Mage!


    It was said that numerous Mages had personally hurried over to Locker Castle, after the conclusion of battle, to examine the marks of battle. Every Mage that set their eyes upon the place put on a grave face of apprehension!


    In all honesty the location was thoroughly in ruins. It was no longer a place fit for humans to live in.


    It was as if a violent volcano had erupted there. One could see horrifying magma left behind after the flowing lava had cooled. There were some odd bulging magma rock formations littered across the field. If anyone cracked these open, they wouldsee barely damaged metal armor within. However, the flesh of the soldier within had completely fused with the molten armor. They couldn''t ever be separated cleanly.


    Locker Castle had also been badly damaged. A large portion of the castle had been melted and softened into a mud-like consistency during the fight. When the heat finally dissipated, and the rock cooled, all of the architecture had solidified into all kinds of weird shapes.


    Fortunately, with the amount of reparations the Mikaynes were paying, Viscount Donald would have more than enough to build five castles.


    Moreover, after this incident, all of those underlying currents that called for probing the Sarubo had been put to rest. Most of the clans and organizations that had wanted to benefit from the Sarubo''s weakness had gone quiet, and resumed their stance of observing rather than attacking.


    However, at the same time, Leon also drew the ire and vengeance of the Black Glove Association!


    Leon did some basic research after returning to Feidnan. It turned out that the Black Glove Association was a small organization with only seven Mages. With the exception of their Association Head, who was a Second Grade Mage, McThran was their most powerful First Grade Mage.


    Leon smiled to himself and completely disregarded the possible repercussions. That Second Grade Mage couldn''t possibly try and do anything to him now that he had the support of the clan. Otherwise the Third Grades of the Sarubo Clan would make short work of the Black Glove Association.


    On the other hand, in his bloodlust, Leon would never back off from a fair fight between two First Grade Mages. That was why he had no reason to fear the Association.


    Given Leon''s massive contribution to the Locker Castle fight, Keoghan had personally took out a portion from the war reparations to compensate his losses in battle.


    Twenty thousand magic crystals, five clan contribution points, large numbers of Mage resources, and three Mage-level elementium cores.


    With these in hand, Leon chose to turtle up within the Mages'' tower and work day and night to recover his fighting strength.


    In all honesty, McThran''s strange black smoke and Carlos'' powerful curses had still left a tremendous effect on him. Leon only managed to recover to his best state after seven days, once he had completely dispelled all of the negative and malignant spells within his body. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Through the battle this time, Leon had very clearly seen his own strengths and weaknesses. This allowed him to plan the path he wished to take in the future.


    Fire spells were undoubtedly the strongest in the battlefield. This had been well verified. That said, the tremendous might of fire spells couldn''t be unleashed to their fullest in the small skirmishes between Mages.


    One could even say that Leon had absolutely no chance of obtaining victory two against one if it hadn''t been for the Fire Lord''s self-destruction and the powerful instant-cast spells of the Scroll of Voodoo.


    Thus, strengthening himself was the only path forward if Leon wanted to ensure his continued advantage in battle.


    However, an increase in Spirit was not something that could be hastened. The only way his Spirit could increase would be through persistent daily meditations. Of course, the other way was to go searching for suitable Spirit potions or food materials with beneficial effects.


    But this too was a drawn-out process that required a great deal of time!


    Leon''s best hope of quickly strengthening himself lied in magic golems and the runes from the knights'' plane. Moreover, he had already promised the Mage in the Underground World that he would visit the Castle in the Sky for the competition. There were only six more months before then.


    After some careful consideration and thinking, Leon decided to first deal with those runes from the knights'' plane. He would first use them to strengthen the magic runes on his body, as well as his magic golems, before delving into other things.


    His trip to the other world had also reaped him plenty of resources and rare materials. He needed a period of time to settle down and accumulate missing knowledge to reinforce his foundations.


    And so, for the next month, Leon didn''t show his face outside of the Mages'' tower. He hid deep within it, always lingering in the magic labs and conducting his experiments.


    Of course, it was not as if he had completely cut off any contact with the outside world. He still had some connections to have people run errands for him. The little loli Lucy finally returned from her mission mania on the third day of his seclusion. She immediately went to find Leon.


    Honestly, after three or four months apart, Lucy''s improvement was shocking, even to Leon. At the speed at which she was improving, she might very well advance to Mage in a year and a half.


    "Hand it over!" Lucy extended her small hand the moment she barged into Leon''s room.


    "What?" Leon was confused.


    "My souvenir, of course!" Lucy rolled her eyes, "You went to tour another world for a whole couple of months. You couldn''t possible have not brought any gifts back, could you?"


    Leon was speechless.


    "This... Lucy, I think I''m your master! Not the other way round. You, a servant girl, want to get something good from me without doing anything? Hmmmm... "


    Lucy instantly switched from her pouting face to a bright smile when she heard this.


    "Oh my dear master, my beloved master, is there anything the cute Lucy can do for you?"


    Leon''s head hurt when he saw Lucy''s shameless transition. He let out a cold laugh and spoke, "Wouldn''t you know what a servant girl can do? You grew up in nobility after all."


    "Sleep with the master?" Lucy let out an overjoyed laugh as she exclaimed, "Sure! Of course! What do you think about tonight? Your cute Lucy will come warm your bed tonight!"


    Leon planted his face into palm. He was utterly speechless now.


    Even though he knew Lucy was a talkative person, Leon couldn''t maintain his cool and calm attitude when the one talking had the appearance of a seven-year-old loli.


    He did a quick calculation. Lucy was almost seventeen already. Still, it was hard to treat her as someone of similar age to himself with this loli body and face.


    With how arrogant she was, Leon would have long tossed her aside if she was any less talented. However, having personally witnessed the wonder of a top-tier fate-wielding ''scammer'', Leon couldn''t help but be intrigued by the title Lucy bore on her back. The title of the ''Witch of Fate''.


    If... he was able to personally train a prophet that was loyal to his cause, it would have tremendous significance for his future development.


    It was precisely because of this thought that Leon had immense hopes for Lucy. Leon wouldn''t be ungenerous if it meant a chance to forge a good relationship between her and himself.


    Leon raised his head and thought for a moment. The only thing he had that seemed to be useful to her yet not appear too stingy would probably be that!


    Having come to this thought, Leon waved his hand. All of the magic barriers within his dwelling were instantly activated. A layer of light radiance appeared everywhere on the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor. Now, even the fellows who had absolute authority of the tower couldn''t listen in on his secret without alerting Leon''s sensory detections.


    "You... what do you want... to do?" Lucy took a step backwards frantically. Her hands grabbed her collar tightly, and her eyes darted about the room as if she was terrified.


    "Hmph! Only ghosts would be interested in that beansprout-like body of yours!" Leon commented in an upset tone, "You wanted a gift, didn''t you? Here, this is my gift to you!"


    Leon took out a gray pouch and very reluctantly passed it to Lucy.


    "All''s good as long as you are not setting your sights on me! What''s this? It looks really ugly... " Lucy pinched her nose while picking up the pouch with two fingers.


    The pouch clearly was not any sort of magic-infused item. It was just a normal pouch sewn from rough linen. Not only was it old and in tatters, there was even a stuffy and rotten smell coming from within.


    Lucy instantly lost all confidence in its contents with how unpresentable the pouch was.


    She pinched her nose, pushed back her disgust and took out a strange grey stone the size of a fist from within the pouch.


    "This is the gift you brought me from another plane? A stupid stone!"


    Lucy rolled her eyes and threw the stone aside.


    However, at the very moment the gray stone left her palm, it drew a brilliant silver line across the air. Before the stone even reached the ground, the silver line started to vibrate, and a small opening had opened in the space in front of Leon''s and Lucy''s eyes. The stone moved as if it had a brain of its own. In the blink of an eye, it had almost vanished into a space wormhole and disappeared from this plane.


    Lucy''s sharp voice finally rang out.


    "A spacestone!"


    ...


    2018 Words

 Chapter 260 - 260: Heart

    A spacestone!


    Before any display of its power, the gray and dirty stone looked just like any ordinary pebble from the roadside. However, when its power finally activated it lasted for only a short moment. In the blink of an eye it began disappearing in front of the two.


    Lucy wasn''t idling about as she screamed either. She reached forward with her small hand and pierced through space, forcefully yanking the spacestone out.


    Leon watched the whole thing unfold before him speechlessly. The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.


    The odd spacestone!


    And what was even weirder¨C Lucy''s space affinity!


    Leon had seen it all with his own eyes. Lucy had reached into the spatial rift barehanded. She wasn''t concerned about being sliced by the space fragments at all! Of course, the chip''s high-speed motion capture had discovered a thin membrane of space wrapped about Lucy''s white and delicate hand. The membrane was as thin as a cricket''s wing.


    This membrane of space arose due to her affinity and had to be the main reason she was able to casually make contact with space fragments without getting hurt!


    Lucy grabbed the spacestone tightly and pressed it against her forehead to feel the profound space flux within it. The smile on her small face grew wider and wider.


    All of a sudden, Lucy leaned over and kissed Leon on the face. She then took a step backwards, held her skirt in her hands and performed a perfect maid''s curtsey.


    "Thanks for this, Master! I really like this gift."


    Lucy then ran out of the room, quick like the wind.


    It was clear that she could no longer wait to use the spacestone in some special experiment of hers.


    Leon actually understood Lucy''s excitement very well.


    She was currently stuck at the pseudo-Mage level. The only thing she needed to do to advance to an Mage was to master a strand of planar law that related to her affinity. Then she would have to use this strand of planar law as the nucleus in order to form her consciousness core.


    Spacestones, on the other hand, were undoubtedly some sort of physical manifestation of the spatial laws of the multiverse. Invariably, every single of one of them would contain extremely unique spatial law powers. And this was particularly suited for Lucy''s affinity! As long as she was able to draw this strand of spatial law power into her space of consciousness, the key step of advancing to an Mage, the formation of the consciousness core, would be a breeze.


    Once Lucy advanced to an official Mage, she would instantly become a powerful Mage with her unique space affinity.


    Even Leon felt his stomach turn once he thought of her skills being enhanced. Spatial Cut, Spatial Traversal, and the indomitable Spatial Shatter. Leon could only get slapped around in a one-on-one fight against an Mage-Level Lucy, if he didn''t have the help of his golems and Flame Fiend Transformation.


    Thus, to maintain his dominance as the master, enhancing his own strength was necessary!


    Leon sealed the door once more and got up to walk to a hidden room within his dwelling.


    He had sealed all of his spoils of war from the knights'' plane here. These were the stepping stones of his future dominance.


    Leon walked to a wooden table and pulled away the black cloth covering it. A disgusting aura of corruption instantly pressed against his face.


    This was a Flame Fiend''s heart, the size of a skull. It''s crimson flesh, thick tendons, pulsing life energies, and chaotic aura unique to the underworld all mixed with each other, turning into the special and strange aura of blood and slaughter specific to abyssal creatures.


    The Flame Fiend''s heart had been detached from its body for a long time. However it still retained extremely powerful life force thanks to the stimulation of magical energies. A crimson aura shrouded the heart as it beat, causing everyone that looked upon it to feel nausea.


    Leon extended a single finger and gathered just a trace of magical energy at the tip. He touched the Flame Fiend''s heart. Almost instantly, a cluster of dark green abyssal flame ignited at the area Leon had touched.


    This flame clearly had the wicked, corrosive, and devouring traits of the World of Abyss. It quickly spread from the Flame Fiend''s heart to Leon''s finger.


    Even with his elementiumized body of flames, Leon could feel slight pain from his fingertips. It seemed that this abyssal flame had the ability to burn through his body of flames and directly damage his mental world.


    Leon frowned. Strong elementium fire quickly gathered at his fingertips and extinguished the abyssal flame using superior numbers.


    As expected, this was a source of powerful strength!


    Leon bent his body and held his breath. Blue light flashed deep in his black eyes.


    "Beep. Detecting live sample of a unique being. Basic data has already been recorded. Please name the sample... "


    "Flame Fiend''s Heart."


    "Beep. Live sample Flame Fiend''s Heart has been recorded."


    "Show me the sample data for this Flame Fiend''s Heart!" Leon ordered, and instantly a three-dimensional projection of the Flame Fiend''s Heart surfaced in his mind, slowly rotating around. Meanwhile, a flood of information was displayed beside the projection, completely filling up Leon''s mental space.


    Leon shut his eyes to focus. He filtered out all of the excessively trivial data, leaving only the basic biological information that was convenient to his understanding.


    ...


    Muscle activity 46%. Can be improved...


    Energy storage capacity 1155 points. Can be improved...


    Energy output threshold 135 points. Can be improved...


    Life energies conversion efficiency 41%. Can be improved...


    Abyssal aura retention rate 18%. Can be reduced...


    ...


    Leon opened his eyes and straightened his body. He looked intently at the heart, unable to suppress his excitement and intense desire.


    With the slow increase of Spirit, this Flame Fiend''s Heart might be his last hope at maintaining his absolutely dominant strength!


    Ever since the first day he received this heart, Leon had been thinking about how to utilize the powerful strength within it. According to the massive number of calculations and filtering done by the chip, the only time Leon could use the Flame Fiend''s Heart was during his Flame Fiend Transformation.


    It was only during the Transformation, when his Physique and Spirit were amplified several times, that Leon could completely master and use the power of the Heart. Otherwise this energy heart taken from a Second Grade Abyssal Flame Fiend would turn out to be an unstable incinerator, instantly reducing Leon''s human form to ashes.


    Having run through hundreds and thousands of methods of utilizing the energy heart, the chip presented Leon with a single feasible solution.


    The Flame Fiend''s Heart would be sealed within his body on normal occasions, and Leon would use his powers and aura to slowly modify the heart. Then, when it came to a battle, Leon would unseal the Heart after completing his Flame Fiend Transformation, allowing the Heart to become the energy-supplying core of the Flame Fiend''s body.


    Just like that, Leon would be able to reinforce his battle strength!


    However there were a couple of problems to be solved before this could be done.


    First, Leon had to do away with the thick abyssal aura that was shrouding the heart. Or at least, he would have to suppress the abyssal aura to an acceptable thickness. Otherwise, if he used the heart for extended periods of time and assimilated with the heart, the chances of him being contaminated and turned into an abyssal creature would also increase.


    Even though abyssal creatures were well-known for their prowess, and Leon was not averse to possessing any sort of power, the chaos and violence in their nature was not something Leon wanted in his blood. From Leon''s understanding, abyssal creatures were basically brainless magical creatures with +10 Physique, Strength, and Spirit, but also with -100 Intelligence.


    Was power without control still power?


    Thus, before he was able to eliminate this factor from the Heart, Leon had to be very careful with his use of it. He would not become overly reliant on the Heart.


    Secondly, according to the chip''s scans, there were still many areas in the Flame Fiend''s Heart that could be improved. If Leon wanted to maximize the benefit he got out of this, he would have to use up a massive amount of resources.


    The data the chip provided was plentiful, but the most important info was what he had filtered out.


    The muscle activity of the heart determined the working efficiency of the heart. A mere 46% meant it could only operate at half of its peak strength.


    The energy storage capacity and energy output threshold, on the other hand, determined the current power level of the Flame Fiend''s Heart. As the magic organ of the Abyssal Flame Fiend, the energy heart could store a certain amount of flame energy within itself. This meant that it could store 1155 points of flame energy while in a non-combat mode. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And all of this was energy Leon could draw upon during a fight!


    However, regardless of the amount of storage capacity, the output threshold still limited the strength of the flame energies that Leon could use.


    135 points meant that every single one of Leon''s fire attacks could not exceed 135 points.


    Of course, this was still far beyond Leon''s current powers.


    It was important to note that most of the spells of an actual First Grade Mage were around 60-80 points. It was only because Leon had chose fire mastery, and in doing so gave up the spells of all other elements, that he was able to push the might of his fire spells all the way up to 115 points.


    This energy level was already Leon''s limit.


    However, even at half capacity, the Flame Fiend''s Heart still had a shocking energy output threshold of 135 points. It was clear how powerful Second Grade Flame Fiend''s were!


    Moreover, an energy storage of 1155 points would be enough for Leon to fire eight attacks at 135 points with more than enough to spare. This...this was why the heart was so significant to the enhancement of his powers!


    On the other hand, the life energies conversion rate of 41% also meant that Leon would be able to convert his own life energy into flame energy, even if he was in combat. This kind of ceaseless supply of power would turn Leon into a terrifying instrument of war.


    As long as he lived he would have an endless supply of power to tap into!


    Sadly, there was still much to be done before he could use this powerful heart. All of this would take time.


    Leon nodded in satisfaction and put the black cloth back over the heart.


    Even though the black cloth looked very ordinary, the moment it was draped over the heart the thick abyssal aura that filled the room instantly disappeared.


    This evidently meant that this ordinary-looking black cloth was also a magical tool! A magic tool that was used specifically for covering all kinds of energy auras!


    Apart from the Flame Fiend''s Heart, other things were also stored within this hidden room. Namely: two spacestones, four Mage-level elementium cores, the mysterious Golden Apple, the Orb of Deception, the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal, the Emblem of Fire, and Shandera''s Sheepstick.


    However, most of these treasures were still far out of reach for Leon''s current abilities. If he wanted to see through all of the arcane knowledge contained within these items, he would likely have to wait until he was several Grades higher!


    ...


    1943 Words

 Chapter 261 - 261: Otherworld Runes

    Feidnan City, Mages'' Tower.


    Leon sat silently by the desk. A parchment had been spread open before him. He was slowly writing out a strange and odd rune based on his memories.


    After the chip''s careful organization and filtering, twenty-three variations of existing runes and twenty-eight all new runes were found. The rune variations referred to otherworld runes that were extremely similar to the runes in the system of the World of Mages. The only difference came about due to the different power systems of the two planes.


    However, apart from the rune-variants, there were still twenty-eight all new runes that had never existed within the runic system of the World of Mages. If Leon wanted to modify them into runes that were usable for Mages, he would have to explore and create the runes himself.


    After three days of non-stop calculations, the chip had finally managed to decipher one of the new runes and was trying its best to convert it into a form that was functional within the World of Mages.


    For example, the rune written on the parchment right now meant ''restoration'' back in the knights'' plane. If this rune was carved in an array back in the knights'' plane, it would be able to double restoration and regenerative power. However, when written in the World of Mages, this was not the case. As the rune was finally finished, a light purple glow started to gather about the parchment.


    Then, an odd hand-monster-thing crawled out of the paper, slowly looking about.


    There was a really strange eye at the middle of the hand-monster''s palm.


    It''s eye was about the size of a human''s, but its color was truly frightening. What was more horrifying was how it kept blinking and darting about the room as if it was monitoring the place.


    Leon sat there unmoving, but already the fire energies within his body were slowly gathering together. He asked in a sombre voice, "Are you a magical creature, or are you some sort of otherworldly creature? Can you understand my words?"


    A notification rang out within his mind.


    "Detecting abnormal field activity invading host''s sensory organs. Initial estimates suggest illusion activity. Requesting instructions from host. Interrupt?"


    The hand-monster finally gave up on its pointless wandering and turned to face Leon. Its strange eye suddenly shut tight. When it finally opened once more, the eye had turned a blood red color and a tide of red mist blasted towards Leon''s face.


    Leon was no longer able to tolerate the thing. He let out an angered shout and a violent Magma Fireball exploded right in front of him.


    Lava Shield appeared at the same time, successfully stopping the magma fragments and boiling lava from splashing everywhere. The odd hand-monster had also vanished completely. Even the desk had been completely ravaged by the spell, leaving only a mess in its place.


    Leon let out a sigh in annoyance. He waved away part of the magical defenses around his dwelling and mentally communicated with the tower''s spirit.


    "Help me restore the room!"


    "Scans discover severe magical damage. Estimated repairs require 35 magic crystals. The cost has been deducted from your tab."


    After the mechanical voice of the tower''s spirit disappeared, visible changes started to occur to the room, which was badly corroded by the explosion and the lava.


    The floor that had lots of craters melted out of it started to swell, and soon returned to its previously undamaged state. Even the smoking and boiling lava vanished entirely, as if it had been removed by an invisible eraser.


    Just a short moment later, Leon''s dwelling had been restored!


    He once again put up the magical defenses around his room before sitting down at the desk once more to communicate with the chip.


    "Chip, did you record the occurrence earlier? Were there any abnormalities to be noted?"


    "Beep. Host had been subjected to an illusion attack. Source of attack is the unknown mystery rune!"


    "Illusion attack?"


    Leon couldn''t help but start brooding.


    How did the Rune of Restoration turn into a rune-variant of the illusion series? The difference between the two was way too large! Was there an error in the chip''s calculations? Or were there just parts of the otherworld runes that he didn''t understand?


    Honestly, thinking back, the experience earlier was far too realistic. Even now, in his mind when he closed his eyes, he was still able to see the strange hand and its excessively lively eyeball. All of that was just an illusion?


    At the last moment, the eyeball had launched an attack at him. If he hadn''t resisted, would he have walked away unscathed?


    Leon quickly shook his head and dispelled this dangerous thought even though he still had questions on his mind.


    No. He was going to try something so dangerous! Illusions were a powerful force in this world, and anything that was powerful must be dangerous in its own right. Thus, even if he was sure it was illusion, he would still have to set up the necessary defenses and preparations.


    After thinking about it, Leon still felt like it had been far too little time since he became an Mage. The various resources he had in reserves were far too lacking. For example, he had almost no means of defending against illusory and mental spells. He was relying entirely on his greatly increased Spirit to endure their effects. This was unlike his nature as resourceful Mage.


    All of the items he had used for such purposes, while he was an apprentice, were completely insufficient now that he had advanced to an Mage. If Leon wanted to get some magic items and magic equipment that Mages could use, he would probably have to wait until his trip to the Castle in the Sky.


    After all, the Castle in the Sky was the home of the esoteric Mages, and most definitely the go-to place for magic items of expert quality and quantity. Even some of the more powerful magic items that had appeared in the Zhentarim area had mostly come from the Castle in the Sky.


    It seemed the research on otherworld runes would have to be put on hold until he managed to collect some magic equipment that bolstered his mental resistance.


    Just as Leon was silently considering his future research paths, a familiar mental flux radiated from the magical defenses.


    Leon connected Keoghan''s mental link without hesitation.


    "Come to the twelfth floor, Lady Sanazar is back!"


    Leon''s heart shook for a second. Lady Sanazar was an actual Third Grade Bloodline Mage. Her true form was an extremely terrifying Flying Venom Dragon. Leon had personally witnessed her might back on the planar battlefield. She had forcefully driven the green dragons back.


    If a powerful Mage like herself was sent back to this world, that meant that the occupation of the knights'' plane was going very smoothly. The clan finally deemed it ok to send her back to stabilize the clan''s situation.


    Leon didn''t dare delay. He quickly came out of his dwelling on the seventh floor and hurried to the twelfth floor to meet this current manager of the clan.


    Sanazar was a Third Grade female Mage. However, her face was always clouded by strange green mist, obscuring it from outside gazes. When she stood high on the stone seat and gazed down coldly upon everyone, all of the Mages couldn''t help but lower their heads. None of them dared to look at her directly.


    The Mages would feel slight stinging pain all over their bodies if they even stood slightly closer to Sanazar.


    This was the energy radiation from Lady Sanazar''s body, due to the excessively powerful concentration of magical energies around her. As long as she didn''t actively hold her power back, this group of puny First Grade Mages could only silently endure the pain. Again, no one dared to voice any dissatisfaction or complaints.


    If one were to compare a Sixth Grade Great Mage to a small nuclear reactor, the Third Grade Sanazar would be nuclear material with powerful radiation. Leon and the other First Grade Mages would at best be nuclear waste.


    Thus the Mages, who were as powerful as deities compared to ordinary mortals, once again felt fear and uncertainty when put before the high-tier Mages.


    Right now, only three Mages, including Leon, had been stationed in the Mages'' tower. Even if one were to include the three Mages stationed outside the tower, there were only six Mages being stationed in the Sarubo headquarters. This number was genuinely pitiful for a mid-tier Mage clan.


    Thus it was clear that the death of eight clan Mages in the knight''s plane had greatly reduced the strength of the Sarubo Clan.


    This was possibly the reason that Great Mage Sarubo was so quick in sending Sanazar back to guard the base.


    The World of Mages was the roots of all Mage clans after all. Only if the roots were thick and strong could qualified Mages be continuously pumped out and sent towards all sorts of planes to ensure the continued prosperity of the clan. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Mage Sanazar rested comfortably and lazily on the stone seat, silently listening to Mage Keoghan''s report on the clan''s situations and the activity of neighboring clans. It was only when she heard Leon had fought two Mages by himself, and even killed an Mage from the Black Glove Association seven days ago in a border war, that her gaze landed on Leon.


    Suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, Leon felt his body tense up. That stinging pain started to intensify.


    Leon endured the pain in silence before finally hearing Lady Sanazar speak.


    "I had heard from Lord Sarubo about you before I returned. He said you are the smartest and most ambitious of the clan''s First Grade Mages this time round. Very good! An Mage without ambition wouldn''t have the spirit to explore and adventure. However, ambition without intelligence to back it up will only cause adventure to turn into misadventure, sending you to an early grave in a situation where your power was lacking."


    Having said that, Sanazar turned to Keoghan and instructed.


    "Send a message for me to that old fogey at the Black Glove Association. Just tell him that I, Sanazar, am back. And if he tries anything against our Sarubo Clan, I''ll personally visit them and devour them whole!"


    The brutality and violence in her words was frightening.


    Moreover, Leon had a feeling that her promises of ''devouring whole'' wasn''t so much a threat as something she really wanted to do.


    "Moreover, the clan is sorely lacking in fresh blood, so you lot can''t be slacking off either. From today onwards, every clan Mage has to take a few apprentice Mages under their wing and be responsible for their guidance and learning. The clan will provide you guys with double the clan contribution points for this!"


    Everyone had, in fact, expected this.


    Thus, they nodded in agreement without saying anything.


    "Very well. Since no one has anything to say, then we are done here! In the future, go look for Keoghan if you have anything you need. Do not interrupt my sleep, or else... "


    ...


    1867 Words

 Chapter 262 - 262: Experiment

    Feidnan City, Mages'' Tower.


    Leon met the five apprentices assigned to him in his room.


    Two pseudo-Mages and three advanced apprentices. All of them were very young.


    In general, anyone that could make it to a pseudo-Mage or apprentice Mage by fifty years old had the potential to become an Mage. And these individuals were the ones the clan were willing to expend resources in order to cultivate! On the other hand, all of those apprentices that had made their way to advanced apprentices through grinding and time were well aware of their own situation. They knew it was virtually impossible for them to become Mages. All of them had already given up on that path and went on to the worldly realm to enjoy the offerings of local nobles.


    There was one female each among the pseudo-Mages and advanced apprentices assigned to Leon. They were fairly pretty and beautiful. However, using his elementium sight, Leon could still see the light residue left on their faces from magical facial reconstruction.


    The apprentice Mages bowed respectfully as they waited on Leon. They didn''t even dare to breathe too loud. It was clear that even they had heard of Leon''s terrifying name as the Flame Demon. However, one could tell from the excited gleam in their eyes that they were still extremely satisfied that they were able to become the disciples of the famed Flame Demon. Their excitement and joy was hard to hide.


    No one knew why, but even the reckless Lucy showed up for this meeting.


    She put her hands on her waist and stood beside Leon. Her eyes circled the two female apprentices, darting about as if she was scheming something.


    "This is the first time we have met each other. Give me a simple report on your names and research direction!" Leon slowly spoke.


    The five apprentices looked at each other when they heard their teacher''s instructions. The slightly scrawny male pseudo-Mage was the first to step forward.


    "Kodar. Affinity: Dark Elementium. I just turned into a pseudo-Mage last year. My main research focus is biological mutation. I have some understanding of beast modifications as well... "


    "Meryl. Affinity: Earth Elementium. I turned into a pseudo-Mage this year. I intend to walk the path of an elementium Mage. I do not have any secondary professions currently... "


    "Am. Affinity: Fire Elementium. Advanced apprentice. I know how to do a bit of magical material processing... "


    "Toril. Affinity: Illusions. Advanced apprentice. Also a potions master... "


    "Lena. Affinity: Water Elementium. Advanced apprentice with no secondary professions currently... "


    Leon listened silently, blue light flashing deep in his eyes.


    Using his elementium sight, he had already captured the bodily attributes of his apprentices. He had them do a basic report on themselves to make it easier to create a profile of them and complete their basic information.


    Thanks to the amazing information processing abilities of the chip, Leon got notifications from the chip on the five apprentices the moment they were done introducing themselves.


    Amongst the five apprentices, one has the potential the continue improving.


    Another''s potential has been completely depleted. The fact that they have made it this far is thanks to the help of potions.


    One of them has immense potential for developing in this direction...


    While he already had an estimate of his apprentices'' quality, Leon didn''t show any emotion on his young and handsome face.


    "Now that you have been assigned to me, you will be considered as my apprentices from today onwards. I will even consider accepting anyone with good performance as my actual disciple." Leon looked at the apprentices and saw excitement in their eyes, "Also this is Lucy. She is my personal maid, as well as your senior. You can come find her if you have any trouble in the future!"


    Upon hearing Leon''s words, Lucy instantly puffed up her chest as if she was the boss.


    The few apprentices looked at each other and bowed to Lucy in unison. The two young pseudo-Mages looked a little upset about it.


    In the World of Mages, the difference between an apprentice and a disciple was extremely large.


    The identity of an apprentice only meant that you had studied under an Mage. When necessary, you could use your identity as his apprentice to receive his shelter and help. However, a disciple was entirely different. A master-disciple relationship was more akin to a magical contract. Both sides would have an even closer and more well-defined relationship.


    Sometimes, when an Mage died of an accident, his disciple would have the right to inherit his property.


    Thus, most of the time, the Mages were unwilling to create more trouble for themselves. As a result, most Mages would have plenty of apprentices while having close to no real disciples.


    "According to the tradition of the Sarubo Clan, now that you are my apprentices, you possess the right to obtain free knowledge from me. Every seven days you will have a chance to ask me questions. Advanced apprentices may ask me one question while pseudo-Mages may ask two. Moreover, the subjects I am involved in include elementium golem creation, animism, dissection, nervous system studies as well as fundamental potions studies... if any of you are willing to be my experiment collaborator, you will be able to share the fruits of my research and have free access to my personal lab!" Leon spoke without expression.


    The few apprentices couldn''t help but betray an expression of hesitation and thought when they heard his words.


    Even though they were all considered valuable assets by the Sarubo Clan, it was still a dangerous thing to collaborate with an Mage in their experiments. Not anyone dared to try something like that.


    Most Mage experiments include taboo and forbidden topics. The risk was obvious.


    Even though participating apprentices would be able to enjoy the fruits of the experiment and research, the damage to their minds and bodies was uncertain. No apprentice confident in their future would choose this path under normal circumstances. Only the fellows that had depleted their potential or were in desperate need of funds would take the risk and volunteer as experiment collaborator to attract the teacher''s attention and favor.


    "O'' respected teacher, we were wondering what your experiment involved?" The pseudo-Mage named Kodar couldn''t help but bow and ask.


    "It is related to illusions!"


    All of the apprentices looked towards Advanced Apprentice Toril. He was the only one with illusion affinity among them. He was clearly the most suited to become the ''experiment collaborator'' from their group!


    Toril felt the burning but intangible pressure from everyone and had no choice but to take a step forward. He bowed and said, "Teacher, I am willing to participate in your experiments on illusions!"


    "Oh... " A gentle smile appeared on Leon''s face, "Are you doing this voluntarily?"


    "Indeed!" Toril put up a very reluctant smile that looked even more terrible than if he was sobbing, "It is my honor to be able to participate in your experiments!"


    "Very well then, let''s sign a contract!"


    Leon nodded in satisfaction. He waved his hand and grabbed a scroll out of the air. This magical scroll, forged of pure fire, had appeared out of thin air and was slowly hovering before Toril.


    Toril rubbed his eyes, leaned against the scroll, and carefully read through every clause in it. After confirming that the content matched Leon''s words, he carefully left his emblem on the scroll.


    The scroll crackled and disappeared in a whirlwind of fire.


    "If there''s nothing else, you may leave. Toril. Make some preparations and come over at seven tonight!" Leon was in a very good mood, having found an experiment collaborator like he had wanted. Even his smile was wider than usual.


    The apprentices bowed together and slowly left.


    Lucy''s rolled her eyes and quietly followed them out.


    One hour later she returned triumphantly, like a little fox that managed to steal the chicken from the farmer.


    "How was it?" Leon put down the book in his hands and asked lazily, "How many of them did you beat?"


    "Five! All five of them got beaten up by me." Lucy spoke arrogantly and in disdain, "With what little prowess they had, I could take them on all at once!"


    Leon frowned when he heard this, "You didn''t hurt that Toril, did you?"


    "Of course not!" Lucy had been in a good mood ever since she got a spacestone from Leon, "I know he still has a job to do tonight, so I only trapped him in my Spatial Prison. He surrendered after realizing he couldn''t do anything!"


    "The others?" Leon asked curiously.


    "I beat them black and blue! All of them are going back to treat their wounds." Lucy waved about a small fist like she was the queen of violence.


    Leon tilted his head. He could totally imagine everyone''s helplessness before Lucy''s impenetrable Spatial Barrier. Honestly, if it wasn''t for his powerful golems, Leon with just his fire affinity would have an impossibly hard time suppressing Lucy.


    With her unbelievably broken space affinity, Lucy had unimaginable offense, defense, and mobility. Just these three were enough to make Lucy nearly undefeatable against ordinary pseudo-Mages. They couldn''t beat her, nor could they even run from her.


    People who battled with Lucy were in for an experience of pain and agony!


    ...


    Dusk fell, and Toril had already appeared at Leon''s dwelling.


    Leon''s task for him was extremely simple as well.


    He gave him a knowledge crystal used to store Spirit. There were ten extremely unique magic runes hidden within the crystal. What Toril needed to do was to write out the runes one by one, and as he did so, he needed to record his experiences.


    Leon had even set up a hidden room for this specific purpose, to have Toril finish this series of seemingly simple tasks. Of course, he had already hidden many monitoring crystals in every corner of the hidden room. These crystals would very clearly display Toril''s every action to Leon, who would be sitting in the room next to this one.


    To encourage this advanced apprentice chosen to be his lab rat, Leon had even promised to provide Toril with three books related to potions studies. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thus, Toril unhesitatingly walked into the room.


    ...


    1714 Words

 Chapter 263 - 263: Accumulating Power

    The experiment was extremely successful.


    Even more so than Leon estimated. In fact, much more so.


    Toril finally stumbled out of the room with a stack of scrolls in his arms. Apart from his pale face and his slightly dazed appearance, he seemed to be fine.


    Leon passed Toril the three books he had promised him and sent him back to rest. He then started to examine the scrolls Toril had passed him.


    As expected, two of the ten scrolls were completely blank, despite having runes inscribed on them prior to the experiment. Toril didn''t seem to have realized this.


    Leon thought for abit. He did a quick reorganization of the eight verified runes and tried out their effects, successfully getting eight whole new runes that had never appeared in the runic system of the Mages.


    With these eight runes, today''s experiment was not a complete failure. At the very least, didn''t Leon manage to get something out of it?


    However he was still extremely curious about the two runes that had disappeared for no reason. He had a vague feeling that the direction of his research had gone off-track.


    In all seriousness, the new runes that had been engineered by the chip were all auxiliary lesser-runes. Not a single rune crucial to the merging of runic energies had been uncovered yet. As if... there was a deeper layer of secrets hidden within these runes that he hadn''t grasped.


    What were runes?


    In the end runes were just a form, a manifestation of planar laws!


    The earliest recorded origin of runes began in the research of magic patterns. Some powerful magical creatures were able to unleash supernatural powers despite being ignorant of the knowledge and reason behind it. Magic patterns would naturally form on the bodies of such creatures. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Mages were originally an ordinary group of mortals. They started to notice the existence of magic patterns while battling against the magical creatures, and slowly started to use the patterns for their own might. First, they carved these same magic patterns onto their own bodies, allowing them to possess some unique supernatural powers.


    The encouraged Mages started to collect more and more of these patterns, accumulating them and starting to simplify and modify the patterns. After tens of thousands of years of groping in the dark, they finally managed to forge the runic system of the current age, indirectly reinforcing the dominance of the Mages in the process.


    Thus, in truth, runic studies could be said to be the subject of study that was closest to the true form of planar laws!


    These otherworldly runes from the knights'' planes had yet to be deciphered after such a long time, especially those core to the entire runic system. Even basic rewritings of these runes had not succeeded. This was a clear sign that there was something deeper to the creation of the core runes.


    What was it?


    How profound could the runic knowledge be when it came from a group of low-level natives of a lesser plane? A lesser plane that hadn''t even formed a functional system of magic casters!


    Wait a moment...


    Leon paused all of a sudden.


    Not all of the creatures in the knights'' plane were low-level lifeforms... there were still high-level lifeforms from the outside... the green dragons.


    Leon''s eyes gleamed. He felt like he had just discovered something important.


    He had brought plenty of valuable information and history texts back from the Runeforge drafting room. However, all of his attention had been focused on the rune-related content, never ever really reading through the kingdom''s history.


    Now that Leon realized the potential link, he immediately corrected his mistake and spent the entire night rearranging the so-called ''history'' of the knights'' kingdom.


    As expected, Leon uncovered some hidden secrets behind the back of the kingdom''s history.


    The profession of witcher-knight had only appeared after the green dragons became the patrons of the kingdom. Moreover, high-grade witcher-knights always seemed to be related to the dragons in one way or another.


    This gave Leon sufficient reason to suspect that the true source of the runes weren''t the natives of the plane, but the dragons of the Dragon''s Plane.


    Having suddenly understood this, Leon didn''t give it a second thought. He immediately used his right as an Mage to move all the information and books that the Sarubo Clan had about dragons back into his room. This tireless study might have been an arduous process, but it greatly completed his knowledge of the dragons.


    As a powerful race that dominated many material planes, the Mages kept a detailed research record on the dragons. As a result, the chip''s progress on deciphering the runes became even smoother after the inclusion of this data.


    The chip could churn out some whole new runes almost every day by reverse-engineering these otherworldly runes. As for which of these runes were valuable and which of these were useless, that was a job left for Toril to determine.


    As expected of an advanced apprentice that had illusion affinity, he had extremely powerful illusion resistance. Even though the fragmented runic illusions often put him in a daze, and certainly had on one occassion nearly trapped his spirit consciousness in an illusory dimension, he still managed to pull through.


    Moreover, the large number of books and free resources that Leon had provided him with spared him from the trouble of running everywhere to scavenge for resources. He could stay within the safety of the tower and calmly progress with his research. However, the price he had to pay for this was the testing of four or five new runes every single day!


    That said, as Mage Leon''s experiment collaborator, he had the opportunity to meet Leon almost every day. Thus, he was no longer limited to a certain number of questions per week. If one were to speak just in terms of his treatment, Toril''s status was almost equal to an actual disciple of an Mage.


    And this seemed to be the main reason he was willing to stay, despite the risk!


    Lucy, on the other hand, had quickly become the boss of Leon''s apprentices. Moreover, after bringing her group of lackeys to beat up the other apprentice groups in the tower, she quickly became the boss of all of the apprentices in Feidnan''s Mage tower.


    Lucy''s terrifying space affinity ensured that all the other apprentice Mages, even powerful pseudo-Mages in their ranks, would not be able to the beat her. Apart from the actual Mages, who could crush her with absolute strength, there was no match for Lucy''s powers. She had undoubtedly entered the ranks of the most powerful pseudo-Mages.


    Meanwhile, the goblin merchant Snorlax, that had succeeded with Leon''s blessing, continued to lean more and more towards him as his fame as the Flame Demon continued to spread.


    The World of Mages was also a chaotic world where strength ruled supreme!


    Most businesses such as trade companies, trade unions, and arcane shops were owned by Mage clans and forces of all sizes. As a lonely outsider, Snorlax had to endure being pushed about by these organizations even as he tried to set up shop.


    Thus, Snorlax only dared to maintain his business within Feidnan City. If he took even a single step out of this area, his small business would instantly be devoured by his competitors.


    However, with Leon''s increasing status in the Sarubo Clan, Snorlax had increased his efforts to butter up to his apprentices.


    Leon''s apprentices enjoyed the cheap resources Snorlax provided them with, while Snorlax indirectly drew a large group of bodyguards and martial power around himself. The two parties benefited from each other and quickly formed a symbiotic little group.


    Leon didn''t really about all of this and left them to their own devices. He himself was completely devoted to the deciphering and verification of the runes.


    Two months quickly passed by and Leon had successfully deciphered six of the twenty-eight new runes. This sounded like a very small amount, but it was more than enough to extend his knowledge on merging runic energies to the level of the Second Grade radiant knights.


    This meant that Leon had completely mastered the secrets of the Second Grade radiant knights. He could start forging an army of powerful runic knights if he so wished.


    That said, the strength of the Second Grade radiant knights was found in themselves. The runic system only served an auxiliary role. Thus, even if Leon had forged a set of runic equipment with capabilities that matched the Second Grade, he still wouldn''t have the men to unleash its powers and use its powerful offensive abilities.


    Even without this, Leon seemed to have plenty of Second Grade-level resources at his disposal!


    The Second Grade Molten Giant core he got from the Underground Lava Ocean, the Flame Fiend''s Heart that Lord Sarubo had bestowed upon him, and the corpse of the radiant knight he had killed in the knights'' plane. Unfortunately, Leon wasn''t a professional Necromancer. Otherwise creating a couple of powerful Undead would be a simple matter.


    With this runic knowledge in his hands, Leon started to get busy.


    The resources he asked Snorlax for were already here and his treatment of the Flame Fiend''s Heart was quickly underway. There were still four Mage-level elementium cores and a Second Grade molten giant core waiting to be dealt with. Meanwhile, upgrading the Flame Fiend Transformation runes on his body with the new knowledge he''d acquired had become his top priority.


    Even if Leon somehow managed to squeeze out some free time, he still had to use it to design and forge some runic equipment that suited his abilities and talents...


    All of these tasks completely filled Leon''s daily schedule. There was absolutely no time to rest!


    The four Mage-level elementium cores that he used to practice crafting golems failed twice. In the end, Leon only managed to craft two golem cores. One was the Decayer, while the other was the Roaring Monster.


    The Decayer was an Mage-level golem completed by using a poison elementium core. It looked like a slime monster made entirely of viscous green matter. It had some unique abilities, such as Acid Spray, Poison Halo, and Splitting Multiplication.


    The acid that the Decayer spewed possessed extreme corrosiveness and toxicity. It could corrode the enemy''s defenses very effectively. Its splitting multiplication also allowed the Decayer to split into two smaller Decayers, after receiving excessive amounts of damage. This would allow it to output even more firepower.


    As of now, the Decayer could split up to three times!


    This also meant that the Decayer could potentially turn into eight Mage-level, acid-spewing cannons after some time on the battlefield.


    The Roaring Monster, on the other hand, was forged from an earth elementium core. On the outside, it looked like a five-meter-tall giant stone humanoid. Its unique abilities included Trembling Earth, Stone Toss, and Rock Armor.


    In all honesty, Leon particularly loved these kinds of golems with immense defensive abilities. They allowed him to fully display the destructiveness of his fiery talents.


    And this Roaring Monster was undoubtedly the meat shield and bodyguard that Leon so desperately needed!


    ....


    1864 Words

 Chapter 264 - 264: Heart

    Time flew by, day by day.


    In the meantime, the resources Leon had been accumulating were vanishing at a rapid rate, gradually turning into part of his strength.


    The Second Grade molten giant-core had also been successfully turned into a terrifying elementium golem¨C the Infernal Tyrant.


    Of course, due to the limitations of Leon''s own abilities, this Infernal Tyrant couldn''t possibly exhibit the full strength of a Second Grade. In fact it was weaker than even the weakest of Second Grades. Still, the earth and flame energies contained in each and every one of its attacks had the amazing ability to crush a First Grade Mage.


    After a detailed analysis by Leon''s chip, the normal attacks of the Infernal Tyrant were estimated to reach a terrifying degree of 110 points of damage. This was only slightly inferior to Leon''s most powerful single-target spell. Moreover, the earth-fire hybrid spell that the Tyrant possessed could even go up to 191 points of damage.


    This... this was close to the lower limit of a Second Grade Mage''s attack!


    The defensive spells of an ordinary First Grade Mage could usually endure between 90 to 130 points of damage. This meant that the Infernal Tyrant''s most powerful spell could potentially kill an ordinary Mage in a single blow. That is, if the spell wasn''t avoided or negated by the enemy.


    With the birth of the Infernal Tyrant, Leon was finally able to sweep away his frustration of losing the Fire Lord. Once again, he stood tall. Leon was much more confident in the trip to the Castle in the Sky now.


    ...


    Within his room.


    The entire place had undergone massive modification. It no longer looked like the way it used to, but rather resembled an operating theater.


    The furniture had already been cleared from the room. Only a single neat and orderly stone platform was left in the middle. Several dozen complex and intricate robotic arms floated above the platform. All sorts of surgical tools could be seen at the tips of the robotic arms.


    Scalpels, surgical scissors, blood vessel forceps, forceps, needle holders, tissue forceps, sponge forceps, right angle forceps, surgical needles, cutting needles, bone nibbling forceps, and many more...


    All sorts of machinery could be found on the table; tools like knives, hammers, drills, chisels, needles, and even saws. Leon had borrowed all of these from Keoghan. Their original use was actually for the modification and creation of voodoo beasts...


    As today was the big day he transplanted the Flame Fiend''s Heart into himself, Leon had woken up early and summoned Lucy. She was to lead the other apprentices and guard the door for him. Leon would hide within the room and accomplish this difficult and complex task of transplanting an organ all by himself.


    To avoid any interruptions by outsiders, Leon had decided not to use the magic labs of the Mages'' tower. Nor did he ask for help from Mage Keoghan. Even the reason that he gave for summoning his apprentices was a lie. He told them he was going to be engaged in a dangerous magical experiment. Not a single word had been said of the Flame Fiend''s Heart.


    Caution was Leon''s way of protecting himself, having learned from his long stay in the World of Mages.


    The only person he could partially trust in this foreign land was Bleia. Lucy and Snorlax, on the other hand, were still pending verification. It would depend on their attitude and performance henceforth.


    After a long, dark, and sweet sleep, the beeping alarms of the chip rang out in his mind. Leon finally woke from his deep slumber and slowly opened his eyes.


    This was a peaceful sleep, a relaxing rest he hadn''t had in a long long time.


    No dreams, no meditation¨C just sleep. Leon had completely recovered from the exhaustion and tiredness he had accumulated over the past few weeks.


    He rose from his bed, stretched, and did some simple warm up exercises. He only stopped after the chip had completed the examination of his body.


    "Beep, self examination completed. All attributes normal. Host body has been restored to optimal state... "


    Leon nodded in satisfaction and looked down to examine his tall and muscular body.


    He wasn''t a body refining Mage, and didn''t have those perverted muscles that were tough as steel. However, his two meter height and perfectly crafted figure still gave him the perfect body. Well-built muscles, crimson and radiant skin, as well as the strange tattoos littered across his chest and back.


    A head of long crimson hair flowed down behind him, reaching all the way to his waist. When put together with the crimson light in his black eyes, Leon radiated a wicked aura of mystery and wisdom.


    He had no choice in this matter. After undergoing the elementiumization of his body, crimson had become his standard color. This was a magical shine radiating from the concentration of massive amounts of flame elementium. Ordinary concealing spells could no longer hide the crimson color he radiated all over his body. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though there wasn''t any dirt on his body, Leon put himself through a firebath out of habit.


    The elementium flames blazed suddenly, pouring out from every pore on his body, forming a thin layer of crimson fire over his body. All of the dirt and dust on his body would be completely burnt by this layer of fire, leaving nothing behind to taint his skin.


    The ordinary sleeping robe he had on instantly turned to dust and vanished.


    Leon didn''t bother with clothes anymore. He walked out of his bedroom naked and arrived in the workroom he had converted into an operating theater.


    Leon shut his eyes and examined the magical defenses within his room. He confirmed that all of the defenses that he had were activated. This place was now completely defended and covered.


    He then calmly lay on the cool stone platform.


    There was a metal headband resembling a helmet placed on one side of the platform. Leon picked it up and put it over his head.


    When his Spirit seeped into the metal headband, all of the several dozen robotic arms hovering above the platform sprang to life, creaking as they did so.


    Leon snapped his fingers, and five extremely clear mirrors of fire appeared at various angles above the stone platform. With these flame mirrors, Leon could observe the experiment from every angle without obstruction.


    The light from the surrounding walls quickly faded, plunging the room into darkness. A dozen crystal lights shone down upon the stone platform. The light was bright and gentle, clearly illuminating everything on and around the operation platform.


    At this moment, Leon was extraordinarily calm.


    "Chip, you may begin!"


    With this order, the chip immediately took over the controls of all the operating machinery.


    Cold steel flashed in the air. A magic mechanical arm had floated to Leon''s chest and stabbed into it with a sharp scalpel. A ripping sound rang out and the flesh was split apart.


    The speed at which it moved and the accuracy at which it cut was stunning!


    Even Leon wouldn''t have been so decisive and quick in his movements if he had been the one at the steering wheel.


    Perhaps because his physique was unique in some way, the scalpel hadn''t cut through any large blood vessels. Blood wasn''t spilling and splashing everywhere. Moreover, with Leon''s current Physique of 3.7, his flesh and skin was as tough as an Iron Rhinoceros, even without the use of any magic.


    If it had been any ordinary mortal''s weapons, slicing through Leon''s skin would have been a difficult task on its own. All of the machinery used for the operation today had clearly been enhanced with magic!


    Having completed its task of slicing open Leon''s chest, the scalpel arm quickly moved away. Another machine, this one with two humanoid arms, flew to Leon''s side and lightly pried open his chest.


    Thus Leon''s human heart, protected by his thick sternum and ribs, was exposed to the world. Even though this heart had been slightly mutated by the high concentration of fire elementium that surrounded Leon, its basic function and form was still very similar to that of the human heart.


    Leon looked on calmly. He didn''t interfere with the chip''s control.


    Even though he was the true owner of this body, he couldn''t possibly compare to the chip when it came to its decisiveness and accuracy in the operation. The chip was far superior when it came to the fine details of a delicate surgery.


    The saw and bone cutter flew over, and the ear-grinding noise of bone being cut rang out from Leon''s chest. If it wasn''t for the Spell of Sharpening and Spell of Reinforcement he had cast on the tools, they would never have been able to damage Leon''s magically protected flesh and bones.


    The vibration of the metal blade as it sliced through his bone, as well as the intense pain of his flesh being pried apart, was transmitted to Leon''s soul. He could only endure it as he watched on with wide-open eyes. He had to see every single detail of the operation with his own eyes, in order to provide the chip with sufficient information to maintain its precise control.


    The ribs were slowly extracted, one after another, until Leon''s heart was finally exposed.


    The saw and the bone cutter shifted away as more machines surged forward. They started the delicate task of detaching the heart from the body and the rest of the internal organs. Every time a blood vessel was cut, a thin heat ray would shoot forth and seal the vessel.


    Leon also started to control part of his body. He tensed all the blood vessels in his body in order to slow the flow of blood and prevent it from flowing out of his chest.


    A crimson light shone in the darkness.


    The Flame Fiend''s Heart, already treated several times by now, slowly levitated to the operation platform, carried above a floating tray. A magical robotic arm slowly picked it up and held it above Leon''s chest.


    Leon''s eyes scanned across the Flame Fiend''s Heart, taking note of the numerous strange runes that filled the crimson tendons and flesh of the heart. These runes, that were as small as sesame seeds, completely covered the inside and outside of the Flame Fiend''s Heart. Together they formed an extraordinarily complex and profound runic array.


    A sharp pain shot through Leon''s body. The last main blood vessel that connected his heart to his body had been severed. The slowly beating heart was removed by a robotic arm.


    There was no time to wait or pause. The new Flame Fiend''s Heart was instantly plunged into Leon''s chest. Then, countless tiny robotic arms swarmed forward, using unimaginably intricate maneuvers to reattach the vessels to this new organ.


    The process was complicated, but it was by no means messy. A dozen robotic arms worked in unison, the sound of them creaking as they worked rang out in the room...


    After advancing to an Mage, Leon''s life force and Physique had long exceeded that of an ordinary mortal. Moreover, with his elementiumized body, he couldn''t die even after having his heart removed.


    Still, this heart transplant operation couldn''t go on for too long. Otherwise his body might be affected, causing a reduction in his basic attributes.


    Honestly, due to the elementiumization of his body, he could no longer use the means that the body refining Mages used to strengthen their bodies. It was simply no longer effective. Consequently, it would be extremely difficult to raise his Physique if it ever fell.


    And having learnt of the violent, barbaric, and rampaging combat style of the Flame Fiend Transformation, Leon could no longer give it up in exchange for a weak and pathetic guerilla form of combat. It would be unbearable!


    Thus, the entire transplant operation quickly concluded under the unbelievably precise and accurate control of the chip.


    ...


    2004 Words

 Chapter 265 - 265: Agreement

    A light boom rang out in the room.


    As the new Flame Fiend''s Heart beat for the very first time, Leon felt a burning stream flowing through his body. The powerful and plentiful feeling of having excessive amounts of energy coursing through his veins was so uncomfortable that even Leon couldn''t help but let out a groan.


    Even though most of the heart''s abilities had been sealed away by the runes, it still used to be the heart of a Second Grade being. The power of a Second Grade abyssal creature was still too much for Leon to handle.


    Possession of powerful strength demanded the possession of an equally powerful body!


    The abyssal Flame Fiends of the lower realms were massive creatures that easily grew up to four meters in height. The resilience of their Physique could even compare with the dragons themselves. Even though they had bodies of flesh and blood, burning lava coursed through their veins. It was the evil and violent powers of flame that surged within their bodies.


    Leon had brought suffering upon himself by transplanting the magical organ of such a powerful creature into himself. Apart from the overwhelming flame energies, what was more painful was that chaotic, violent, and brutal aura of the abyssal Flame Fiends.


    If Leon hadn''t completed the elementiumization of his body, he might have just turned to ash with the first beat of the Flame Fiend''s Heart.


    Even though the Flame Fiend''s Heart had now successfully integrated with his body, he still felt pain all over his body. It was as if his blood was slowly being heated up and turned against him, used as a blazing inferno to reduce his body to ashes.


    Fortunately, the sealed Flame Fiend''s Heart only beat twice in a single minute. This ensured that Leon wouldn''t be burnt to death by flame energies that went out of control.


    In truth, this was only a short-term imbalance in his bodily systems brought about by the Flame Fiend''s Heart introduction. As long as he had a period of time to rest and get used to his new heart, the problem would go away on its own. Once that happened, Leon''s Physique might even have a chance of improving, thanks to the positive influence of the powerful Flame Fiend''s Heart. This would bring him closer towards the resilience and savagery of a berserking Mage.


    Leon endured the intense pain and slowly sat up. He lifted his body from the stone platform.


    Leon looked down. The ghastly cut on his chest had already been sealed by heat rays, leaving a long and ugly scar running across his flawless skin. Such a massive wound would completely heal in half a day, given his Physique. Of course, that was provided he had enough to eat. Moreover, it had to be quality food.


    Leon stumbled for a bit before regaining his footing.


    Even though power surged through his body, the only thing he felt was nausea and dizziness. These contradictory feelings clashed against each other in Leon''s mind, torturing him and plunging him into agony. He frowned in pain.


    Leon waved and his magical equipments flew out from the darkness. Once again, he was fully armed. As the designs for the runic equipment hadn''t been completed, Leon was still wearing the soft Mage''s robe so commonly worn by elementium Mages.


    The more traditional and conservative Mages still preferred their tall and pointy hats, but Leon had absolutely no interest in such outdated fashion.


    With the emergence of large amounts of magic equipment, there was a countless array of powerful options to choose from. The old-style Mage''s robe, Mages'' hat, and flying broom that only featured a few enhancements were unpopular among the Mages these days. Only some old stubborn fools in the more conservative and ancient organizations remained. They continued to persistently refuse to use this newer equipment.


    However, Leon had no such issues!


    He was a classic pragmatist. There was only one thing in his mind when choosing his equipment¨C its power and its effects. Old and new didn''t matter.


    A casual wave of his hand swept a wave of fire through the room. All the blood stains and marks he had left behind were erased in a single move. Even the bone fragments that had been chipped off his bones when they were cut were reduced to ashes. Leon would never leave behind a chance for potential enemies to peek at the secrets of his body.


    Although Leon had half a mind to keep his original heart, he still destroyed it out of safety concerns.


    It was only after Leon had completely combed through his room that he released the magical defenses he had placed on it.


    Thus, the pseudo-Mages and advanced apprentices under him swarmed into the room and quickly cleared away the stone platform and robotic arms. Leon ignored them and asked the tower''s spirit for a couple sets of magical energy meals. He wolfed it all down.


    The previously beneficial magical energy set meal was no longer effective or helpful for his Physique. However he was still able to derive immense sensory pleasure from eating gourmet food that suited his elemental affinity.


    The tower''s spirit sent him a message as he was enjoying his meal.


    A certain Mage Angus from the Underground World Mages'' tower was trying to contact him long-distance. The tower''s spirit was trying to ascertain Leon''s response.


    Angus? Wasn''t he the Mage that made him promise to visit the Castle in the Sky? If Angus had managed to find his way here, he probably had some basic information on Leon already.


    Leon, who already planned to visit the Castle in the Sky, agreed instantly.


    A black rift slowly appeared in mid-air. A strange plant that resembled a sunflower crept its way out of the rift. Large amounts of light gathered on the surface of the sunflower. The light flickered and the silhouette of a black-robed Mage appeared.


    It was Mage Angus!


    "So glad to see you again, Mage Leon!" A strange smile surfaced on Angus'' cold and uncaring face. He put extra emphasis on the word ''Mage'' when he greeted Leon.


    After all, Leon had only been an apprentice Mage that he could knock around the last time they met. Just one year later, and Leon had already advanced to an official Mage with equal status to himself. As such, even this Mage Angus was not confident that Leon would obey the contract they had agreed to earlier. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The contract was one meant to bound an apprentice Mage to his words. It had limited effect on an actual Mage. As long as Leon was willing to pay the necessary recompense, he could choose to ignore the terms of the contract. On the other hand, Mage Angus would never take the risk of offending a mid-tier Mage clan in the central area all for the sake of forcing Leon into obeying the contract.


    This was why Mage Angus couldn''t help but betray a trace of nervousness and concern when he saw Leon. He could see Leon''s powerful figure and feel his mental flux, fierce as fire, lashing against his face.


    "Nice to meet you, Mage Angus!" Leon nodded and replied politely.


    "Are you still willing to obey the terms of the contract we agreed to in the past?" Angus asked testingly.


    "Of course!" Leon smiled, "I have great hopes for the trip this time!"


    Mage Angus was visibly relieved after hearing Leon''s answer.


    In his original plan, having Leon participate in the apprentice level Golem Wars was already enough. That would ensure that their clan''s benefits would be protected. Now that Leon had advanced to an Mage, the potential profits would be upwards of ten times greater if he managed to win in the Mage-level Golem Wars.


    Of course this made him nervous!


    However, any sort of lying or trickery in the face of an actual Mage of equal status was a despicable and treacherous act. Thus, Angus immediately came clean. He wanted to sign a new contract with Leon, and promised great profits that could even move Leon.


    It was clear that the profits the Byron Clan stood to gain from the Castle in the Sky were extremely massive. Why else was he so willing to offer such generous pay!


    With only three months left till the Golem Wars, Leon only had two months to prepare. He would then have to leave for the Castle in the Sky.


    The two made some small talk before agreeing on a meeting points for the trip. It was only then that both parties ended their conversation on a satisfactory note and cut off the long-distance magical communication.


    "You are preparing to go to the Castle in the Sky?" Lucy had been beside him the whole time and had overheard the conversation between him and Angus.


    "Why? You want something?" Leon stared at her amusingly.


    It seemed Lucy had figured out his temperament. She knew that he was a master that didn''t care too much for status and ranks. This was why she dared to sit in for the conversation of two Mages.


    "Why don''t you bring me and Snorlax along!" Lucy suddenly became extremely excited and happy.


    "Why?"


    "Because the Castle in the Sky is the most prosperous place for trade and merchanting across the entire Continent if Mages. That goblin of yours has to go to the Castle in the Sky if he wants to fulfil his dream of becoming a great goblin merchant!" Lucy continued to dance about as she explained, "There are all sorts of innovative and interesting golems and machines there, not to mention all kinds of odd voodoo beasts, precious and rare magical creatures and materials, as well as countless types of esoteric Mages. However, even all this added together couldn''t compare with the sheer marvel of the Castle in the Sky itself!"


    "The Castle in the Sky is the true alchemical magnum opus of the World of Mages!"


    Leon listened to Lucy''s lengthy ramblings. He couldn''t help but yawn and said nonchalantly, "What does that have to do with you?"


    Lucy''s emerald eyes opened real wide. She flashed her sharp canine teeth and said angrily, "How could I not follow after my master? After all, I am your cutest and most precious personal maid. Is there anything to question about this?"


    Lucy''s eyes were narrowed together. She tried her very best to act her cutest.


    It was clear that Lucy was extremely interested in this Castle in the Sky. The arrogant girl was trying to suck up to Leon to get him to agree to the idea.


    "Very well, we will go together!" Leon thought for a moment and turned to pass some instructions to Lucy, "Go and pass the news to Snorlax and get him to prepare for the trip. If the Castle in the Sky is as great as you say, we should try and get a spot for Snorlax to stay there!"


    If he wanted to create a new force that belonged to him and him alone, he would need an endless stream of resources and information. If that was the case, it was much better to have Snorlax stay on the Castle in the Sky rather than in Feidnan City.


    Leon also wanted to take this opportunity and see for himself this marvel of a city floating in the skies¨C the Castle in the Sky!


    ....


    1909 Words

 Chapter 266 - 266: Assaulted

    Two months later.


    Right before the break of dawn. The mist still clung in the air.


    A black carriage slowly rumbled out of Feidnan City.


    The tall architecture of the city was quickly left behind as the carriage rushed forward. Large patches of farmland started to appear on both sides of the road. One could vaguely see the scattered farmhouses and villages through the thick and dense mist.


    As the sun hadn''t rise yet, the road was still very dimly lit. It was very easy to damage the precious carriage when driving in such weather. As a result, there weren''t very many people walking on the roads of Feidnan City. This was even truer the further they got from Feidnan City. Human buildings were built further and further apart. Tall and massive trees started to appear more frequently and in greater density.


    Leon pushed the curtain aside and was greeted with a face full of cold, moist air. It was a refreshing and slightly cooling.


    Just five kilometers out of the city, and already the forests on both sides felt a little primal and overgrown. This scene allowed Leon to imagine the past. Several years ago, humans, under the lead of the Mages, had forged their way through this primal forest with great difficulty and created settlement after settlement. He could imagine their pain and suffering as they fought tooth and nail against the creatures of the woods for every inch of the land they owned...


    In the earlier records and books about Mages, Leon had often read about Mages being the guardians of humans. They would aid the nobles in managing their lands and fight off the attacks of terrifying magical creatures. They would eliminate the vicious beasts and ensure the security of the human settlements.


    But that was all in the ancient past!


    Leon could very clearly trace the development of the Mages over the past couple thousand years. The Mages had slowly risen above the human nobles, eventually rising to the the very top, to the ruling position of the entire race. They had then forcefully united the massive Continent of Mages.


    The status of the Mages and the nobles had completely reversed at this point. The previous rulers of humanity now cowered before the powerful Mages. The nobles were now the representatives and servants of the Mages. The ordinary humans also became insignificant to the Mages, turning into the weak and pathetic ''lower races''.


    The strict rules of high-grade Mages forbade Mages from using the humans as experimental subjects as well as forbidding Mages from massacring ordinary mortals. Otherwise, the Mages might have long stripped the mortals of all they had. Even they themselves would have become the lab rats of the Mages'' experiments, or pitiful slaves driven to their deaths.


    Just as Leon mulled over the history of the Mages, the coachman turned back and spoke.


    "Master, this trip is going to take a while. You had best take the time to rest well!" The coachman was a middle-aged man with an honest face. However, with his powerful elementium sight, Leon could very clearly see Snorlax putting on a fawning smile beneath the face created with the Spell of Concealment.


    "Mm, good work!" Leon nodded slightly and let go of the curtain.


    "Hmph! Good work?" Lucy, who was curled up by a side of the carriage, and who was clearly still dazed from waking up, yawned as she said, "This is just part of his duty! It''s what he''s supposed to do. Oh right. Aren''t you a powerful Mage now? Couldn''t you use your status to rent a Socrates Condor? We could get to Motta City in a single day!"


    Feidnan City was the headquarters of the Sarubo Clan. It was considered private property. As such, no flying ships were allowed to land within the area. Thus, they would have to go to the public City of Motta, one hundred and fifty kilometers away. It was only there that they could rent a flying ship to hurry to Silver Union territory.


    "We have plenty of time anyway. It''s a good experience to cruise about like this. We get to see the local customs of the Zhentarim Area." Leon let out a gentle smile.


    Lucy started rubbing her eyes, then stared earnestly at Leon, as if she was looking at some monster before her.


    "Fine fine fine!" As if realizing that his excuse was a little too forced, Leon couldn''t help but explain himself, "The tower spirit gave me a warning a few days before we left. It seemed to have sensed someone casting divination magic on me!"


    "Divination magic?" Lucy was suddenly excited, "You are saying someone is plotting against you?"


    "You are excited now that we have enemies?"


    "Of course! Think about how boring this trip would be otherwise!"


    "Have you never considered the situation seriously? If the enemy dares to plot against me, they would include every variable and factor in everything about me. That includes you. Are you not afraid of death at the hands of our enemies?"


    "Tsk tsk... why should I be afraid if you aren''t afraid?" Lucy spoke in disdain, "Since you already know about the enemy''s existence, you must have made arrangements to prepare against them. Otherwise, do you think you would ever volunteer as bait? With your personality?"


    "..."


    ......


    Noon.


    The black carriage slowly pulled onto a gray road amidst a sea of trees.


    This road, that should have been filled with travellers, merchants, and carriages, was now extraordinarily silent. All of the carriages stopped by the road. All the humans and the horses and the cows lay by the roadside, deep in slumber.


    Snorlax instantly halted the two handsome white horses at the sight of this. Before he could even let out a warning to his master, a light breeze of fragrance found its way into his nose. And so, the next second, Snorlax and the two horses pulling the carriage collapsed.


    Leon pushed aside the curtains and looked at the scene before him. He leapt off the carriage and inspected the strange scene. He frowned. A bright red layer of fire hovered around his mighty figure. It was this layer of fire that prevented Leon from succumbing to the odd potion.


    Leon''s elementium sight had a clear view of what was happening. The moment he stepped out of the carriage, the moist forest air surged towards him. Some transparent powder mixed in the air crashed against the red layer of fire.


    They sizzled as they burned.


    Red flames sparked across the bright red layer and all of the powder was reduced to ashes.


    Inside the carriage Lucy, who had been pumped up for a good show, had already collapsed and was sound asleep. The tricks of an Mage were not something she could defend against as a pseudo-Mage, even if she was one of the most powerful pseudo-Mages alive!


    Three silhouettes of varying sizes appeared in the woods from the right. Their faces and figures were hidden beneath thick cloaks. They silently observed Leon.


    Leon hesitated for a moment. He didn''t try and wake Lucy or Snorlax. Rather, he sorted the equipment on him and followed the three mysterious Mages into the depths of the woods.


    After walking for five hundred meters, they arrived in a forest clearing.


    The trees here were far less dense, with a pond just two hundred meters away. Apart from the tall trees and the low-lying bushes, not a single person could be seen in the area. This was a good place to settle any conflict.


    "You should know the purpose of our ''visit'', don''t you?" One of the shorter cloaked men asked softly.


    His voice sounded like that of a middle-aged man. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Black Glove Association?" A grin appeared at the corner of Leon''s mouth.


    The short cloaked man pushed his hood down, revealing a green and wrinkled face, along with a hooked nose and a head full of dirty green short hair. He wasn''t a human!


    The Head of the Black Glove Association. The one and only Second Grade Green Dwarf Mage¨C Pyro.


    Leon felt liked a heavy rock had been dropped onto his heart when Pyro''s sinister green eyes locked onto him. Even breathing seemed more difficult.


    "Is it fine for the Head of the Black Glove Association to so publicly kill an official Mage of the Sarubo Clan? Are you not worried that Lady Sanazar will personally visit you lot?"


    "Of course we wouldn''t be able to endure the rage of Lady Sanazar... if it was us of the Black Glove Association that killed you today. However, if the ones responsible for your death wasn''t the Black Glove Association, even Lady Sanazar would not have a reason to persecute us! She wouldn''t dare break the orders of the Zhentarim Association and hurt the innocent us, would she?" The green dwarf Pyro spat out coldly.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Lord Pyro''s words are easy to understand... " The scrawny and tall one of the trio suddenly pushed his hood down as well. The man laughed wickedly, "Because he won''t be doing anything today. We will!"


    This scrawny man had a pale complexion with dried and wrinkled skin. His voice was low and hoarse. However, when he uttered the last sentence, his head suddenly turned 180 degrees, revealing a woman''s face behind his head. ''His'' voice also suddenly changed to that of a female''s.


    The female face had her eyes shut tight. A strange smile was plastered across her face, but there was nothing odd about the way she spoke. Moreover, she... wasn''t a mask or a face drawn onto the head. She was an actual woman.


    "Two-face Kane!" Leon gasped.


    Even though it hadn''t been long since he ascended to an Mage, he still made sure to do his studies and had a detailed understanding of all the famous Mages of the Zhentarim area. With the extreme efficiency of the chip at his disposal, he kept detailed tabs on all the Mages, both famous and lesser-known, that belonged to any Mage clan, academy, organization, or force within the Zhentarim area.


    Green Dwarf Pyro hadn''t been lying. Two-face Kane didn''t belong to the Black Glove Association. He was a powerful wandering Mage.


    Kane. Born to a normal noble''s family in the central area of the continent. He and his twin sister were verified with magic talent at a young age and were sent to a small Mage academy to study. His experience was similar to Leon''s. He and his sister met a particularly terrifying and evil Mage.


    He and his twin sister had decent talent, as well as an extremely unique innate mental link. Consequently, they fell into the favor of an evil Mage and were chosen for an extremely dangerous experiment on the merging of lives.


    What happened next was easily predictable.


    The terrifying life-merging experiment had forged the souls of the brother and sister together. They shared a single body, with two faces, one in front of the head and one behind. The two shared one body with two souls, taking turns to use a single body.


    The sudden stimulation of their soul energies had allowed the twins to suddenly advance to Mages. Moreover, the chaotic nature of the merger had allowed them to break free of the Mage''s control.


    Two-face Kane and Sabrine, who now simultaneously possessed the strength of two Mages, reinforced with an innate mental link, instantly began a slaughter. They butchered all four Mages and twenty-seven apprentices that lived in the small Mage academy before running away and disappearing from the public eye.


    As his soul was chaotic and his personality distorted, the Two-face Mage Kane spent most of his days wandering in the central area of the continent, avoiding the capture of the Mage''s Association''s Department of Corrections. On the other hand, most Mage clans ignored him. They didn''t want to deal with such a powerful Mage, and as such, they let ''him'' and ''her'' go unnoticed and unrestrained for all this time.


    However, who knew? The Black Glove Association was willing to fork over large sums of money to purchase their services!


    Leon helplessly put on a bitter smile.


    ...


    2037 Words

 Chapter 267 - 267: The Two-Face Mage

    The Head of the Black Glove Association, the Green Dwarf Pyro, quickly retreated with the other Mage. The battlefield was left to the two Mages facing off.


    As long as they weren''t involved directly in the battle today, the Sarubo would be hard-pressed to find a proper excuse to take revenge for Leon.


    Leon hesitated for a moment before putting away the wooden idol he was gripping in his hand. He didn''t crush it.


    This was a magic talisman Lady Sanazar had given him.


    She had agreed to teleport over to his location and obliterate his enemy, as long as he crushed the wooden idol within a fifty kilometer radius of Feidnan City.


    However, it was clear that the enemy had expected this as well. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    None of the Mages of the Black Glove Association were acting personally. They had hired a powerful wandering Mage to do their job instead. Leon would probably be in trouble if he summoned that violent Lady Sanazar now. After all, even if she teleported over, there would be no one she could kill. It was easy to imagine how mad and annoyed she would be then.


    Moreover... Leon was confident in his abilities, even if he was facing the infamous Two-face Mage. His abilities had improved recently and he had been itching for a chance to test his skills.


    As Leon was pondering his next step, the Two-face Mage had already started to move without any hesitation.


    The first to attack was the sister, Sabrine. She was a master of the rare sonic magic.


    She shut her eyes and opened her mouth as wide as she could. Her hands pressed against the side of her mouths as she screamed. The powerful sonic waves sent ripples across the air. Strange patterns formed in midair as the waves quickly spread towards Leon''s direction.


    Leon couldn''t hear anything. Rather, there was nothing to be heard.


    Mage Sabrine''s Death Scream had long since exceeded the range of frequencies that ordinary humans could hear. The scream was in the range of ultrasound.


    Every single object placed in front of Sabrine had disintegrated the moment the soundwave passed by them.


    The tall trees would first crumble into wooden pieces of various sizes. Then the pieces would disintegrate into wooden splinters the size of a thumb. And finally, the splinters would be blasted away, turning into unrecognizable wooden dust as they did so....


    Grass was sent flying in every direction, as if an intangible hand had ripped them from their roots and tore them into pieces. Even the green sap propelled forward and splashed everywhere, bringing with them the terrifying kinetic energy of the sound wave. They riddled everything in their way full of holes, as if they were bullets shot from a gun.


    Even Leon''s Lava Shield strained from the impact of the resounding soundwave.


    The Lava Shield, that had always been known for its extraordinary physical and elemental defense, was like paper before the soundwave. Its combination of black-red lava and tough magma rock was ineffective. The shield cracked and peeled away. The black-red lava started boiling and exploding. Just one more push and the entire shield would crumble into pieces.


    At the same time, the chip in Leon''s mind was sounding the alarms.


    "Warning. Warning. Detecting intrusion of high frequency ultrasound. Advising the host to leave the area immediately. Tremendous damage is expected to be inflicted on the host body... "


    Dammit! The opponent''s soundwave attack had penetrative effects. The Lava Shield was unable to deflect all of its effects.


    Leon endured the uncomfortable feeling in his chest and threw a Magma Fireball towards the enemy. He then paused for a bit before vanishing from the spot with his Fire Teleportation. After all, the soundwave attack was a directed spell. As long as he could avoid facing it head on, he would be able to avoid the effects of the soundwave.


    The screaming Mage Sabrine instantly increased her efforts. The flying Magma Fireball exploded in midair as its magma shell was damage by the high frequency.


    Leon appeared in a blazing fire fifty meters to the left. The moment he revealed himself, the Two-face Mage turned its head. All of a sudden, Leon found himself facing Kane instead of Sabrine. Kane had been silently chanting in the back all this while. He was already in the final casting stages of a massive large-area spell.


    "Hermedes, Freezing Tide!"


    The last words of the chant was completed. Kane made a circle with his arms, and a large blue ice crystal blasted towards Leon, accompanied by a chilling blizzard.


    Leon had already lost his Lava Shield and had already used up his only mobility spell. His expression soured. He took a step backwards and waved the Fire Lord''s Scepter he was holding in his right arm. Flames flashed above the scepter and a massive Fire Deity appeared before him, shielding him from the assaulting Freezing Tide.


    The pseudo-Mage level Fire Deity, who had helped Leon deal with so many enemies in the past, was hardly enough to help him now.


    Even if it summoned a massive fire pillar with all its strength, it was still unable to ward away the chilling winds and the ice crystals. A short moment later, the five meter tall Fire Deity was sealed within a block of ice. It was frozen stiff in the position it was in before, still trying its best to fight back.


    A few seconds later the ice shattered, and the Fire Deity was reduced to a handful of ice.


    The poor Fire Deity. It didn''t even get the chance to self-destruct this time!


    Meanwhile, Leon took full advantage of the short time the Fire Deity had bought with its life. The Scroll of Voodoo in his hands quickly flipped through its pages. A Fire Core Explosion quickly formed and shot towards the enemy.


    However, before this most powerful spell of Leon''s could even land, it was negated by Sabrine once more. The head turned around again and a Death Scream blasted in his direction.


    Thus, with the violent storm of icicles still shooting towards him, Leon had no other option left but to reposition himself with the Fire Teleportation again.


    In the following battle, Leon tried multiple times to use his Fire Teleportation to close the distance between himself and the Two-face Mage. He wanted to use his most ferocious instant-cast spells to throw his opponents off their flow. Sadly, he was beaten back by the well-prepared enemy every single time. As painful as it was, Leon couldn''t help but acknowledge that there were Mages that could completely counter his abilities!


    Leon chose the path of fire mastery. This allowed the might of his fire spells to be far superior to other Mages. However, the Two-face Mage was a difficult opponent. The elder brother, Kane, was an ice Mage, the exact counter to Leon''s flames. The sister, Sabrine, was a master of soundwave attacks. These attacks were naturally penetrative and could easily break through defenses. Leon would have a hard time dealing with her attacks, even if he transformed into the tough and resilient Flame Fiend.


    Moreover, the siblings had an innate mental link. While one was controlling the body to stall Leon, the other would be able to start chanting for a spell behind them. When the massive spell was at its last stage of channeling, the siblings would switch places once more, blasting Leon with their most powerful spell.


    With their dual-soul advantage, the Two-face Mage pressed on, completely driving Leon into a corner. Leon had no choice but to dash all around the battlefield, desperately searching for a weakness in the enemy''s defenses.


    Honestly, Leon had never been in such an awkward and terrible position, even counting the outnumbered fight at Locker Castle.


    Leon quickly moved about the battlefield, returning the enemy''s vicious blows with the instant-cast Magma Fireball. In the meantime, he was listening to the chip''s suggested strategy.


    "Beep. Collection of enemy''s data has been completed. Data comparison and analysis suggests that the host only has a 34% chance of victory in this battle... "


    "And if I send the Decayer forward?"


    "Chance of victory rises to 41%... "


    "Along with the Roaring Monster!"


    "Chance of victory rises to 53%... "


    Leon silently wiped away the cold sweat.


    His chance of victory was not much more than 50%, even after using his two Mage-level golems. They were supposed to be part of his standard strength. How was he supposed to feel about this? Just a few days earlier, he had been fantasizing of crushing opponents of equal Grade to him!


    "And if I send the Infernal Tyrant along with them?"


    "Chance of victory rises to 128%... "


    "What if it''s just me and the Infernal Tyrant?"


    "Chance of victory will be 93%... Warning: this percentage does not factor in any hidden powers the enemy might possess!"


    "That is enough!"


    Leon quickly communicated with the chip and made up his mind.


    The mediocre Roaring Monster and Decayer were not enough to turn the tables on such powerful opponents. If he wanted to end this fight as decisively as possible, he would have to use the most powerful force he had at his disposal¨C the Infernal Tyrant!


    On the other hand, there was the Flame Fiend Transformation! But there was still that terrifying side-effect to worry about. The new runes hadn''t properly set yet. Consequently, Leon had no intention to take the risk of transforming in the short term.


    Leon no longer hesitated now that he had made up his mind. He exhausted yet another instant-cast spell from the Scroll of Voodoo to deflect Kane''s Freezing Tide. Then, he found an opportunity to flee to the outer rim of the battlefield and instantly tossed the brilliant golem core to the ground.


    The next second, a massive amount of fire elementium swallowed the green forest whole. A radius of five hundred meters had been engulfed in fire and smoke. Blinding red light filled the entire battlefield.


    Violent fire elementium gathered together under the horrified gaze of Two-face Mage Kane. A four meter tall demon of flame slowly rose beside Leon.


    This imposing demon had power rivalling the peak of First Grade. What''s more, its control over flame energies was far superior to the Flame Fiend that Leon always turned into.


    When Leon transformed, fire and flame streams would surge all over his body. This looked extremely intimidating, and also made him a terror as he burned down everything around him, but it was also an extreme waste of flame energy. The flame demon that had appeared in a blazing inferno appeared very different from Leon''s Flame Fiend form. The flames around his body was a dark crimson shade, appearing to be much more subdued and concentrated.


    Leon was right next to it, and had a perfect view of its body.


    This terrifying ruler of flames had not only subdued the ruthless fire, but had even concentrated them and turned them into a solid state, using the fire to forge his own body. Muscles, bones, and even internal organs formed of clusters of flame burned before Leon''s eyes. The dark crimson fire slowly blazed on around the Tyrant''s body, without any of its usual recklessness and violence.


    This was a true being born of fire¨C an Infernal Tyrant!


    The few Mages near the battlefield couldn''t help but pay attention to the Infernal Tyrant. Even though it had yet to make a single move, everyone could feel its might.


    Dammit! Where did this bastard get his hands on an elementium golem of this level?


    For a moment, everyone brooded silently in their minds. Some were angered, while some were curious. Everyone had their own thoughts about the situation!


    ...


    1961 words

 Chapter 268 - 268: Tyrant

    "Dammit, do Kane and Sabrine still have a chance?" The green dwarf Pyro asked grudgingly.


    The black-robed Mage beside him took out a handful of bone fragments from his robe and scattered it before himself. He knelt to look at the bones before shaking his head in disappointment.


    Murderous light gleamed in Pyro''s green eyes, "I spent that fortune to hire you, and this is what you tell me?"


    The black-robed Mage spoke calmly, "Sir, as a Second Grade Mage, I am sure you have a perfect understanding of the mechanisms behind divination magic. The more we know about the opponent, the more capable we are of eliminating factors beyond our control. This brat has been hiding in the Mages'' tower this whole time. It was already a difficult task to pierce through the defenses of the tower and predict the path of his fate. Moreover, I am certain that Lord Kane had an eighty percent chance to beat this brat when we made our preparations three months ago."


    "You mean to say he suddenly obtained a golem of this level within these three months?" Pyro quickly calmed down and asked in a collected manner.


    "Indeed!" The black-robed Mage nodded, "This unknown factor has already informed me of the truth. The sudden increase of his prowess had occurred right after the last time I successfully used divination magic on him. It is clear that his fate had suddenly shifted during these three months. It is unclear how this happened! I suspect... he carries with him something that can affect even fate. A unique artifact, a magical item, or perhaps... a person!"


    Pyro wasn''t very good with all this talk about fate. However, even if he didn''t understand the mechanics behind it, he knew one thing for certain. His failure today was a certainty! As a decisive person himself, he didn''t bother to wait and see the result of the fight. He immediately turned and disappeared into the depths of the forest, bringing with him this ''failure'' of a diviner.


    Feidnan City, Mages'' Tower.


    Lady Sanazar leaned against a soft bed. Her body was tilted such that she could observe the battle that was being displayed on the light screen floating before her.


    Sanazar was the one who gave Leon the wooden idol, but she had clearly omitted a crucial detail. As long as he kept the idol by his side, Sanazar would be able to observe everything happening within a hundred meter radius of the idol without the use of another magical medium.


    Thus, Sanazar had immediately activated her water mirror after sensing the elementium flux from the wooden idol. The first scene she saw was the appearance of the Infernal Tyrant.


    Of course, such an insignificant fight between First Grade Mages was nothing to a Third Grade Mage like herself. However, even she couldn''t help but be interested in the fight when she saw the rampaging flame golem.


    A weak First Grade Mage that had just advanced possessed an elementium golem that had power close to a Second Grade Mage. This was quite unthinkable. It was almost certain that this little fella had secrets of his own. If it wasn''t for Lord Sarubo''s orders, she would totally drag him back and split his head open to see what he had hidden within...


    The brutal and savage Sanazar suppressed her curious desire and put herself in a more comfortable position to enjoy the battle in the mirror.


    ...


    It was all well and dandy for the boss resting in her bed to be entertained, watching from afar. However, this was a matter of life and death for the Mages engaged in battle!


    The Two-face Mage, who had possessed the initiative in the battle earlier, was now in an awkward and trying situation.


    They weaved nimbly between the rain of fireballs, occasionally destroying the unavoidable ones. As long as the fireballs were unable to make direct contact, the ice shield orbiting around them would be enough to defend against the attacks.


    They had no extra strength to dodge the flame shockwave and splashing lava from the explosion of the Magma Fireballs. The only thing they could do was to endure the damage with the ice shields formed from water elementium.


    Light blue frost floated around Mage Kane. He casually strolled past a flurry of fireballs. It seemed like a breeze to him, but in truth, he was extremely anxious at this point. A path of frost was left behind him wherever he went.


    If an enemy ever stepped upon this path of frost, they would instantly be frozen to the spot by the ice energy that surged forth. Although the effect wouldn''t last for very long, that short pause would be unavoidable. Kane, as the owner of this path of frost, would be able to appear anywhere on it at any time he desired to.


    This path of frost wouldn''t last for very long. It would melt in just five minutes. However, this short amount of time was more than enough for Kane to turn the battlefield to his advantage.


    Any Mage would perform at their best within an environment that was advantageous to them. They would be able to battle in a style unique to their own abilities. That said, Kane had clearly run into trouble today!


    Leon was a master at creating a homefield of lava and magma. Kane also excelled at creating his own home field.


    Leon had his amazing Fire Teleportation, and Kane had his Frost Path Teleportation.


    One a master of ice, and the other a master of flames.


    The two were similar in strength, and fought with similar styles, causing the battle to quickly spiral into a tense conflict and stalemate between the two of them. At this time Kane''s sister, Sabrine, became the key to determining the outcome of the fight. With her terrifying soundwave attacks that could penetrate even the most resilient of defenses, she could easily turn the tables in the fight.


    However, the situation was quickly flipped on its end after Leon summoned this beast of an Infernal Tyrant.


    It became an overwhelming force of nature the moment it appeared.


    Its powerful attacks, that reached up to 135 points in power, caused even the simplest of Magma Fireballs to become devastating blows that Kane and Sabrine had trouble dealing with.


    Sabrine was the one defending against the first Magma Fireball that the Infernal Tyrant hurled at them.


    Piercing Scream and Death Roar. Two soundwave spells had to be launched at this inconspicuous fireball to even destroy it. Yet still, the position where the fireball had exploded was a little too close to Sabrine.


    The lava corroded through her defensive magic and splashed onto Sabrine. She let out another piercing scream.


    But it wasn''t a spell this time, it was just her natural reflex after experiencing intense pain!


    As a pair of siblings sharing a body, Kane was Mage at mobility and magic defense, while Sabrine was better at offense with her penetrative abilities. With no choice left to them, Kane had to come out from within and replace Sabrine. He summoned layers of ice shields to cover their body.


    The injured Sabrine quickly retreated within their body, treating her wounds and preparing her next spell.


    If the Magma Fireball was truly nothing more than a one-off attack, Kane was confident he could hold on for a little longer with his mastery of defensive magic. However, it was only when the demon of flames started bombarding him with gigantic fireballs that he realized something horrific. The enemy''s attack remained steady at 135 points of damage! Every single attack was as powerful as the last one!


    He grit his teeth and deflected four Magma Fireballs. The Ice Demon Kane was already at his limit!


    He cursed angrily at this unbelievably powerful golem, going through several dialects as he did so. Ice Demon Kane gathered all the water elementium he could and converted it into ice energy to put out the flames eating away at his robe.


    Meanwhile, as he awkwardly dealt with the fires, he still had to change his position constantly. The use of the large trees to block the Tyrant was the only thing slowing its march. Kane didn''t even dare to engage in a melee after seeing the Tyrant''s black-red hands and its terrifying body forged solely of concentrated flames.


    Ice shields could be re-summoned if they were destroyed. Ice barriers could be repaired if they were riddled with holes. However, as the battle progressed, the only thing that kept happening were the flames that ignited all over Kane''s body. They burned and roasted his flesh, leaving him grimacing in pain. He couldn''t keep up his defense for much longer.


    Because that accursed Tyrant was now starting to cast an area-of-effect spell!


    Most Mages were actually very well protected during a fight between Mages, thanks to the existence of defensive magic. Consequently, area-of-effect spells were rarely cast during a duel, as the power of such attacks were usually spread out over a large area, causing them to be much less powerful. Even the occasional uses they saw in battle were often for the purpose of restricting movement.


    But this damned demon of flames... it... it could even deal 110 points of damage with a massive area-of-effect spell. Kane was so mad at this fact that he desperately wanted to shout out in anger at that moment!


    110 points!


    Even Kane, who thought very well of himself, could barely reach such intensity with his attacks. And this was assuming he used his most powerful single target spell! Yet the opponent was able to do more damage with a sea of flames that he casually tossed out than an attack that he had to prepare for an extended period of time. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kane had no choice but to teleport rapidly along his frost path. He had to avoid the pain of being roasted alive.


    The Infernal Tyrant might not have been very smart, and thus could only chase after Kane blindly, throwing fireballs as it did so. However, Leon was able to take perfect advantage of the situation. He instantly let loose a slew of seven of eight Magma Fireballs.


    These weren''t meant to hurt Kane. Rather, it was to destroy his path of frost!


    Kane had clearly attached his Spirit flux to the frost path that he had laid across the battlefield. It was through that mental connection that he was able to lock onto a position and teleport there when he needed to. However, now that the path had been blasted in four or five separate segments, they had been completely disconnected. Even though the path hadn''t been utterly eradicated, the fragmentation of the path still caused most of it to be mentally disconnected from Kane.


    In a single blow, Kane''s mobility had been greatly stunted! There was less space for him to move about now!


    In the meantime, Sabrine had also shown herself several times. The violent Screeching Blast she''d unleashed had even minced one of the Tyrant''s arms to pieces.


    Sadly, this had absolutely no effect on a blazing monster hell-bent on attacking. Especially not a monster with no concept of pain or fear. A massive halo of fire blasted apart, and a new arm of black-red fire formed once again.


    At the same time, having lost the protection of Kane''s ice shields, Sabrine was once again injured by the terrifying flames!


    This time, it wasn''t just their robe being ignited. Even their body, hair, and flesh started catching fire...


    At this point, the siblings were no longer hoping for a victory, but an opportunity for escape.


    Unfortunately for them, just the Infernal Tyrant alone would be enough to deal with. However, they still had another opponent¨C Leon. He had turned into a Grim Reaper, moving about the edge of the battlefield and shutting down every opportunity of escape they had.


    Finally, the Infernal Tyrant made a final move. A terrifying Firestorm ravaged the battlefield. Kane and Sabrine''s screams rang out simultaneously, echoing in the burning winds.


    The next second, a completely charred and unrecognizable figure stumbled out of the sea of flames. But Leon was already waiting at the edge of the battlefield, the Scroll of Voodoo in hand.


    A ferocious Fire Core Explosion erupted on their bodies. This pair of sibling Mages that had plagued the central continent for many years had finally reached the end of their lives!


    ...


    2081 Words

 Chapter 269 - 269: City

    Four days later.


    Leon and his party had successfully reached Motta City.


    As the only public city within a two hundred and fifty kilometer radius, Motta City did not belong to any force or organization. This was a public territory carved out by the Zhentarim Association.


    Leon could already see the lofty Mages'' tower piercing through the clouds, even before he had entered the city.


    Pale radiance flashed across the grey white tower walls. Magic halos shone brilliantly all over the tower before rising towards the top of the structure. Even though clouds were obstructing his vision, Leon could still make out some black dots circling about the top of the tower. These dots flew among the clouds, occasionally landing on and taking off from the tower.


    A long queue had formed before the city gates. Guards in black armor were checking for documents in an orderly fashion. There were men, women, children, and elderly within the crowd. Chattering voices filled the air.


    Leon''s black carriage appeared to be completely unremarkable when compared the row after row of carts, all filled to the brim with a variety of cargo. However, a guard spotted the carriage. A short moment later, a guard captain hurried towards the carriage, bringing with him a troop of guards. They quickly cleared the crowd away and allowed the carriage to move into the city.


    There was no need for a reason or an explanation. The Sarubo crest embedded on the side of the carriage was the best pass anyone could ask for.


    No one on this massive stretch of a continent had ever tried to impersonate the venerable Mages. That was because the consequences were unbearable. Death was the best outcome the impersonator could hope for!


    This was a grand and beautiful city!


    An unending stream of people crowded the streets. Load-bearing carts drove across the stone road. All sorts of cargo was piled on the transports, most of them being luxury goods like cigars, wine, oil, and tea.


    Leon lifted the curtains and looked outside. Men and women of all races and culture passed by the window. A vague feeling of bizarreness rose in his heart.


    The population on the Continent of Mages had long gotten used to their own methods of recognizing important people they couldn''t afford to offend. Leon''s carriage might be unremarkable, but the Mage''s clan crest on the side of the carriage was a bright red warning.


    The crowd turned away from the carriage, walking as far away as they could. No one dared to stop the carriage as it thundered through the city.


    "You and Snorlax go and look for a place to stay and reserve a seat for us on a floating ship. I''ll pay a visit to the Mage''s tower!" Leon gave simple instructions and leapt off the carriage. He pulled the hood over his head to hide his appearance and slowly disappeared into the crowd.


    The first thing to do when visiting a territory was to pay a visit to the local Mage organization. This was a tradition and habit of most Mages! After all, most local Mage organizations would make some of their Mage facilities open to the public. This often included a public library.


    And habitually gathering knowledge was one of the most common things for Mages to do!


    Lucy was still sulking over the fact that she had missed the battle between Leon and the Two-face Mage. She had fallen asleep and had not been able to witness the fight with her own eyes. She looked on as Leon disappeared into the crowd. She propped up her in her palm angrily and spoke, "We will go to the floating ships first!"


    The coachman Snorlax had transformed into shouted, brandished the horse reins, and drove the horses forward.


    As a rare public territory within the Zhentarim Area, this place was completely open for any Mages to visit. Even Mages that had fallen out of favor in internal conflicts or clan wars could recuperate here, and replenish their stocks of more common Mage resources.


    Some Mages that harbored ambitions of starting new clans would use the public Mages'' tower as their stepping stone. This would be where they gathered their forces and honed their strength before they obtained a territory of their own. They would establish public Mage academies here, taking in and accepting apprentices with no prominent backgrounds or upbringing.


    Through such a method, they would be able to establish a small force of several Mages and several dozen apprentice Mages in less than a hundred years. The next step forward for them would be forging a territory of their own. They would have to try their best to survive and wriggle between the cracks left by the numerous clan and organizations, slowly building up their strength and numbers.


    All the useful land within the Zhentarim area was already under the control of the various clans. Stealing crumbs from under their jaws would be a matter of absolute strength and power!


    Succeed, and they would become a member of the one thousand clans thriving within the Zhentarim area. Failure, and the only option left for them would be to retreat back to the public territory. They would have to continue amassing their forces and accumulate strength for their next attempt!


    The reason the Black Glove Association had been so active in helping out in the previous clan war was for the same reason. They too wanted to obtain a land of their own, to raise their flag and to create a clan that belonged to them!


    Sadly, the most powerful First Grade Mage within their organization had been murdered. The Two-face Mage, whose services had cost them, had also failed in their mission. This meant that the Black Glove Association''s efforts, and their efforts for the past hundred years, had been for absolutely nothing. The Second Grade green dwarf Pyro would have to wait another hundred years before he could regain the strength needed to form the Pyro Clan.


    A Second Grade Mage!


    This was most definitely a significant and important individual even amongst the Mages!


    If such a person wanted to join a clan, he would be warmly welcomed into the core of the clan. All sorts of precious resources would go to cultivating and strengthening them.


    However, even a powerful Mage like this one would be hard-pressed to defend against any existing small-sized Mage clan if he ever wanted to establish his own clan.


    With the amount of wealth he had obtained from the knights'' plane, Leon could purchase a land of over a hundred square kilometers wide within the Zhentarim area. However, what use was that? With greedy clans and starving organizations all looking on in interest, what was he to use to defend his land after he bought it?


    Perhaps the very first one to invade him would be the clan that sold him the land.


    Resources and territory was extremely important on the Continent of Mages, but the strength to defend your resources and territory was even more crucial!


    Leon walked among the crowd, slowly progressing towards the Mages'' tower.


    Ordinary people started to decrease in number, while the number of apprentices wearing uniforms of various academies started to increase.


    There were middle-aged men within these apprentices, as well as elderly men. However, most of the apprentices were still young men and women in their twenties. These people were mostly Beginner and Intermediate apprentices. Only a few Advanced apprentices were mixed in with the crowd, and not a single pseudo-Mage was in sight.


    This was expected!


    After all, the quality and talent of the students in a place with plenty of public academies had to be greatly inferior when compared to the Mage clans. The clans were also far richer in resources, having territory and resource sites under their control. The lack of resources and the inferior talents of the student pool were what led to this situation, where the general prowess of the student population was extremely weak.


    Moreover, even if the Mage academies succeeded in cultivating a pseudo-Mage, they would never let them go out so easily. These pseudo-Mages would be a valuable asset of the academy, and would be very well protected.


    Leon was cloaked in a black robe. Even though he was not wearing any insignia or emblem that betrayed his identity, the unique mysteriousness and pride of an Mage still told the apprentices who he was. Everyone who saw him frantically bowed to pay their respects.


    The apprentices that managed to survive in the crowded Motta City were not naive. They might not be very talented or powerful, but they were extremely good at recognizing people for who they were.


    Even though Leon had kept a low profile, the edges of his Mage robe still showed with every step he took. The robe was packed full of mysterious and profound magical patterns and runes. A single delicate silver chain bound the Scroll of Voodoo to Leon''s chest. The magic book glowed with a golden runic light as he walked. Anyone could tell that this was no ordinary item.


    Two slivers of dark crimson hair flowed down the sides of the hood onto his shoulders. Sunlight shone upon the hair, causing them to look like two clusters of burning flames. A cold face with well-defined features and a pair of eyes that gleamed like stars were hidden underneath the shadow of his hood. Just a single peek would leave a memorable impression on anyone who looked.


    ...


    Leon marched confidently into the doors of the tower.


    A dozen apprentice Mages that had been guarding the door instantly saw Leon walking in. Their eyes lit up. However, before they could even react, a round-faced apprentice with short hay-colored hair was already standing before Leon. He bowed.


    "O respected Mage, this apprentice Thor is at your service!"


    The other Mages quickly betrayed an expression of frustration. That said, they didn''t dare to cause any trouble before an Mage. The only thing they could do was glare at Thor before leaving to attend to their own business.


    Leon didn''t mind these little tricks of the apprentices. He lifted his head and looked around the place.


    Neat and clean marble floors. Fresh air with a dense concentration of magical energies. Rows of small stone rooms by the walls of the tower. Tunnels and corridors that sprawled in every direction...


    There were many people moving about here, but the place was fairly quiet.


    All the apprentice Mages walked in groups of three to five, carrying heavy stacks of scrolls and parchments in their hands. Even if they needed to speak, they would lower their voices. No one dared to create a commotion within this arcane hall.


    Leon''s first impression of this place was its similarity to the atmosphere of universities back on Earth.


    "Bring me to the public library here. I want to go through some information!" Leon instructed.


    "Understood! The library prepared for visiting Mages is on the fifth floor. Please come with me!" The apprentice Thor was clearly used to such requests. He politely paid his respects and led Leon towards a floating disc in the corner of the hall.


    This floating disc was akin to the elevator of Earth. However, it didn''t run on the strength of machinery or the power of electricity. Around twenty or thirty people could stand on this five meter wide floating disc. That said, Leon had observed that not a single apprentice dared to set foot on the disc.


    This seemed to be a privilege of Mages!


    Thor controlled the disc using the control panel, and a thick stone slab engraved with delicate carvings slowly started to float towards the top of the tower. One could see apprentice Mages walking around with books in their arms as they passed by the corridors on each level.


    The fifth floor of the tower.


    The apprentice Thor stopped after bringing Leon before a radiant door of light.


    "Sir, this here is the Mage-level public library. Only Mages are allowed inside, so... "


    "Mm!" Leon nodded in understanding. He waved his hand casually and threw three magic crystals to Thor.


    "Sir, this is too much!" Surprise and joy surfaced on Thor''s face, "Just one crystal would be enough!"


    "I have two servants. A short while later, a female pseudo-Mage called Lucy might come and look for me. Don''t forget to call her over!"


    "I understand, Sir! Thor will do as you say." Thor guaranteed resolutely.


    Leon smiled slightly before walking into the door of light.


    ...


    2096 Words S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 270 - 270: Departure

    A small library was behind the door of light.


    The entire place was no bigger than twenty to thirty square meters. There was a row of wooden shelves by the wall. Books were scattered across the shelves. Weak and pale light glowed on the surface of each and every book. It seemed that they were protected by some sort of magic.


    There were very few Mages in the library as well. Only two Mages stood by the shelves, silently flipping through the pages of their books.


    "Did you just arrive? To avoid any trouble, it''s best that you wear your organization emblem on your chest!" An elderly Mage sitting at a desk by the entrance put down the book he was reading. He frowned as he advised Leon.


    It seems even a public territory would run some background checks on wandering Mages!


    Mages like the Two-face Mage were wanted criminals for the Zhentarim Association. Ordinary public territory would probably be restricted from access for such Mages.


    Leon took the silver crescent moon emblem of the Sarubo Clan out of his storage and pinned it on his chest. The elderly Mage responsible for watching over the place was stunned for a second before speaking, "You are from the Sarubo Clan? I don''t recognize you! Could you be the Flame Demon people have been talking about recently?"


    The two Mages who were focused on their reading raised their heads when they heard this. They too started to assess Leon.


    "Is there any problem?" Leon asked curiously.


    "Of course not! It''s just that... " The elderly Mage paused for moment, "I heard the conflict between the Sarubo Clan and the Black Glove Association is pretty bad. Some of the Mages from the Black Glove Association are fairly active within Motta City. You best be more cautious when entering and exiting the city!"


    Leon could tell that the elderly Mage was well-intentioned. He smiled as he nodded in acknowledgement, before walking over to the nearest bookshelf.


    He randomly picked up a hardcover book with a blue front cover...


    Gulliver''s Travels.


    It seemed to be a record of an Mage''s travels. Even though it did not involve any profound or complex magical knowledge and theories, there was still reference in learning about the unique magical creatures and plants described and recorded within the book.


    The price of this book was ten magic crystals.


    Leon put it aside.


    Such a book wasn''t very valuable, but it was still good to increase the available data within the chip''s data library!


    Leon picked up an ancient parchment. It seemed as though a certain potion recipe had been drawn on the parchment. It was a potion of the poison series. However the brewing, ratio of the involved materials, as well as the precautions, had all been censored by a pale magical light.


    It cost four hundred magic crystals!


    Leon hesitated for a moment before putting it back on the shelf.


    He had no intention to become a potions master in the short term. Moreover, a physical poison attribute recipe like this one wasn''t too useful to an Mage. Spending four hundred magic crystals on this was unnecessary.


    Leon picked up a couple of other books. Most of them contained extremely ordinary and fundamental theories. Occasionally, he would discover books with better and improved magical models. However, these books would be extremely and unbelievably expensive. Leon couldn''t help but shake his head in disappointment as he made his way through the books. He had flipped through almost half of all the documents here, but he had only managed to pick out three books of some limited value.


    In truth, this was unavoidable!


    After all, this library was only a public library that the Motta Mages'' tower opened to the public. Only wandering Mages or those with limited finances would visit this place.


    The truly valuable knowledge was clearly stored in another place, and was only available to the actual members of the Mages'' tower. Only groups of Mages with no roots to speak of, such as the Black Glove Association, would be willing to use this place as a headquarters. If they took on some of the daily duties of the tower, they could be recognized as an official member of the tower. They would then be one of the protectors of the public territory!


    "Hey. Sarubo brat. There''s a little girl looking for you outside... " The elderly Mage called to Leon.


    "Understood!" Leon took the three books to the entrance and forked over the magic crystals to the elderly Mage. The elderly Mage quickly started to removed the protective enchantments that had been placed on the books.


    When Leon walked through the door of light, he saw Lucy.


    Thor didn''t seem to be present. It seemed he had been sent away by Lucy.


    "I have already reserved the tickets for the ship that leaves tomorrow afternoon. We will be staying at Brucelan Inn tonight!"


    Lucy appeared to have accepted her fate as a servant after this period of time. She was no longer as upset and temperamental as she used to be. Once she had calmed down, she was an extremely smart and helpful servant. Her intellect as a pseudo-Mage saved Leon from plenty of unnecessary trouble!


    Leon followed Lucy to the inn and ordered the waiter to send the food to their room. He, on the other hand, quickly recorded the contents of the three books into the chip''s data library before continuing his research on the strange otherworld runes.


    Having received the warning and reminder from the elderly Mage, Leon dismissed his original plan to stroll through Motta City. He decided to stay in the inn for the remaining time instead.


    It was only when Lucy and Snorlax came to remind him that it was time to board the ship that he stopped his research!


    ...


    When Leon brought Lucy and Snorlax to Motta City''s flying stop, he could see a flying ship slowly landing on the green fields on top of a hill.


    There were no hot-air balloons or propellers attached to the transport. The bottom of the flying ship was glowing with brilliant golden light. A faint pulsating magic array was generating air currents beneath the ship, allowing it to land steadily on the ground.


    The flying ship that Leon had flown in last time seemed to have an edged bottom. It was clearly less capable of bearing a load when compared to the flat-bottom flying ship before him.


    A crowd buzzed about the landing platform.


    Several carts filled to the brim with cargo were already waiting here. Muscular and strong workers were shouting chants as they carried cargo out of the ship and moved a new load of cargo back onto the ship.


    Some individuals wearing Mage robes were casually conversing on the fields around the platform. They also appeared to be waiting to board.


    In just a single hour, all of the cargo had been loaded onto the ship.


    Thus the passengers, Mages, and the nobles started to board the ship. They stood by the railing of the ship and waved at the people below it.


    Shouts and sounds of crying rang out from the field below the ship as relatives said their farewells.


    Soon, the energy flux emanating from the array at the bottom of the ship intensified. The ship trembled as it was wrapped in a thick layer of wind particles before slowly taking off from the ground.


    Far away in a wooden hut, two Mages gazed at the ship as it gradually rose into the clouds. Their eyes were filled with hatred and anger, as well as an intense frustration and resentment.


    "Sir, are we letting him leave just like that?" A middle-aged Mage with sharp features spat resentfully.


    "What else can we do but let him leave?" The other Mage was the head of the Black Glove Association¨C Green Dwarf Pyro, "This is Motta City. It is not a place where we can do whatever we like! That old fogey has already warned me. If I dare to kill any visiting Mages within Motta City, they will deny shelter to all of us! Then the toxic loaches of the Sarubos would probably be waiting to swallow us whole!"


    "This Flame Demon fellow is pretty alert as well. He hid within the inn for the entire time he was here. All of the plans we had made for him ended up useless. Was he tipped off by someone?" The thin Mage with sharp facial features was still resentful over the entire incident.


    "I already know who! It''s probably the fault of those old fogeys again. They secretly warned the brat!" A vicious light gleamed within Pyro''s eyes.


    "Sir, you should be more cautious within the Association as well!" The thin Mage hesitated for a moment, "I heard... "


    "What?"


    "I heard some organizations have already made contact with Fernand and Valier!"


    Pyro was shocked for a moment.


    He had spent over two hundred years to gather this group of six First Grade Mages. It was already heartbreaking to have lost the most powerful, McThran. If the remaining Mages were drawn away during this time of turmoil for the Association, how was he to accomplish his dream of a Pyro Clan?


    "What have you heard? Tell me all about it. Quick... "


    The two Mages started to converse quietly within the shelter of the wooden hut.


    Leon, ignorant to all of this happening, was standing by the edge of the ship. He silently looked down upon the scenery below him.


    The higher the flying ship flew, the smaller everything on the ground appeared to be.


    Even the lofty Mages'' tower seemed to be slimmer and smaller, like a thick cigar placed on the top of a huge cake.


    Looking from above, the territory of Motta City looked like a mix of gray-white ground and structures of every color. The surroundings of the city was filled with vast stretches of golden wheat fields and rectangular human towns. If one were to look even further into the distance, one could see the mountainous forest and the gray paths winding through the trees.


    The roads that the humans had paved through the forest twisted and turned. Some slimmer and more narrow paths occasionally branched off the main road. From a distance, the gray-white paths looked like blood vessels spreading across the green forest.


    The surrounding temperature had clearly dropped as the flying ship continued to rise in altitude. The chilly winds blew across the deck, causing everyone to shiver in cold.


    This tiny problem was clearly not of an issue to a certain Mage. A layer of pale red light surfaced on his body, and Leon was warm once again.


    Ever since he picked fire mastery, all of the other elementium particles had basically started to distance themselves from Leon. This meant that it was much harder for Leon to cast spells of other elements with his own strength. He was committed to the path of fire manipulation! S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thankfully, there was still such a thing as a magical wand in this world. A magical wand enchanted with the Spell of Watercraft could prevent Leon from dying of thirst in a desert. A magical wand enchanted with Fly could prevent him from falling to his death.


    If these options were unavailable, he still had golems of various elements and forms stored within his storage belts. All of these could be used for various purposes.


    Leon was never concerned about his safety, even if he was high above in the skies a thousand meters above the ground.


    He quickly got used to the scenery below the ship. It was no longer worthy of his attention. Thus, he shifted his gaze to the ship''s deck.


    The few nobles on the ship had clearly been unable to endure the chill at this altitude. Most of them had retreated into the comfort of the cabin, leaving only Mages on the deck. Pale magical glows enveloped their bodies. Clearly, all of them had some form of magic and means to drive away the cold.


    ...


    2020 Words

 Chapter 271 - 271: Ship

    The ticket price of the flying ship was calculated on a per person basis.


    It wasn''t really expensive, but neither was it cheap. Two hundred magic crystals for every passenger.


    This basically made it impossible for ordinary peasants and low-level apprentices to ever take a ride on the flying ship!


    Leon would never receive more than ten magic crystals per month back when he was an apprentice Mage. If one deducted the basic cost of borrowing books, renting the lab, and purchasing magical materials from his income, he would barely have any crystals left at the end of each month.


    And if he wanted to increase his income? The only way would be to take on the apprentice missions put out by the Mage''s Association.


    However, such missions often required travelling to faraway places. Moreover, there would occasionally be a need to take the risk of venturing into hazardous areas. It didn''t matter whether it was the wild plains, the ancient woods, or some hidden ruins. All of these would contain hidden threats that were lethal to apprentice Mages!


    Two hundred magic crystals was an unimaginable sum of money for most low-level apprentices. Only pseudo-Mages would be able to bear such a cost. Thus, almost all of the people on the deck, with the exception of Snorlax and Lucy, were Mages.


    Most of the Mages had already obscured their faces using elementium particles. One look and Leon could tell that these were lone wolves that didn''t like being involved with others. Those Mages that didn''t hide their faces were mostly wearing cloth robes. Their expressions were peaceful and calming, as if they didn''t want to initiate any form of conflict with others.


    Leon contemplated for a moment.


    He had heard of such Mages in books that discussed these types of Mages.


    These Mages disliked conflict. They preferred to do research in silence, slowly accumulating knowledge and spending most of their lives in their labs.


    This was why they were known as scholar Mages.


    Now that Leon had already chosen fire mastery, it would be difficult for him to walk down the path of the scholar Mage. That said, his personality was not suited to being a scholar in the first place. Leon had always been enhancing his own combat prowess ever since the chip activated. The magical research he conducted was only for the sake of modifying and strengthening his abilities.


    Even though he was extremely interested in the creation of golems, he knew very well his own place in the world. Being a combat Mage was his true profession. Golem creation was only a secondary profession that acted as an auxiliary source of power for him!


    Scholar Mages, on the other hand, were the exact opposite.


    They rarely experimented with combat techniques or the art of killing. Instead, they took on secondary and auxiliary professions as their main specialty. Thus, countless non-combat professions continued to develop. These were the potions masters, enchanters, golem masters, summoners, alchemists, and array masters.


    These people formed a massive branch within the Mages. These were the esoteric Mages.


    These people, whose motto was ''Knowledge is power!'', had to do something to distance themselves from the maniacs that liked to engage in battle and murder. Thus they put on silver robes and formed a completely distinct Mage organization in the west of the continent¨C the Silver Union.


    They might not have much individual prowess in combat, but their strange powers and sheer numbers allowed them to force their way into the ranks of the top three most powerful Mage organizations on the Continent of Mages.


    And Leon''s destination this time was the heart city of the Silver Union¨C the Castle in the Sky.


    It was rumored that all of the silver-robed Mages had rallied together, put together all of their wisdom, and merged a tremendous amount of otherworldly knowledge to forge a mighty city over the course of a thousand years. An Mages'' city that floated in the skies!


    It was precisely because of this miraculous Castle in the Sky that the Silver Union was able to remain influential and powerful, even after ten thousand years. It was because of this magnificent feat of knowledge that the city had become the holy city for all esoteric Mages on the Continent of Mages.


    Every year, all newly advanced Mages that wanted a future as an esoteric Mage would treat the Castle in the Sky as their ultimate destination for pilgrimage. They would personally visit the city, regardless of what difficulties they might face. Moreover many newly advanced Mages, having experienced and fallen in love with the learning atmosphere and amount of resources available in the city, would simply choose to stay there.


    This undoubtedly strengthened the talent and power within the Silver Union!


    There were countless talents and geniuses within the Silver Union''s territory as well. Along with the various potions, magic items, magic equipment, and golems available there, the place was also a hotspot for trade. If other Mage organizations and forces wanted to get their hands on these top-grade resources, they would have to traverse thousands of kilometers to visit the Castle in the Sky and deal with the Silver Union.


    All of these advantages added together caused the Castle in the Sky to become the most prosperous and lively trade city on the Continent of Mages. It was where talent, knowledge, and resources congregated!


    However the journey to the Castle in the Sky was not an easy one.


    Currently, several major areas within the Continent of Mages had been developed. The Zhentarim Association''s territory was located in the central area of the continent, while the Silver Union reigned over the territories to the west. These two major forces were the closest to each other.


    Sadly, a true connection of transport between these two places had yet to come to fruition.


    The Wendu territory in the westernmost land of the Zhentarim Association was still 185,000 kilometers away from the Silver Union''s territory. Most of the primal forest that connected the two territories were Third Grade areas that had yet to be explored. There was absolutely no way to pass through these areas.


    Third Grade areas referred to terrifying locations where even Third Grade Mages would have to worry for their lives.


    The Great Mages that chose to leave the continent had worked together to exterminate all creatures above Fifth Grade. This was to ensure the preservation of the Continent''s ecosystem, as well as to encourage the other Mages to continue working hard. This caused an extremely delicate balance to exist between the Mages and the ferocious magical creatures.


    However, the settlements the humans had carved out took up only twelve percent of the total landmass on the entire Continent of Mages. Consequently the magical creatures had a far larger space to live in as compared to the humans. Their numbers and variety were far superior to the humans.


    The primal areas surrounding the human settlements had been completely explored by the Mages. These places were fairly safe. Still, not even First Grade Mages would remain safe if they walked over five thousand kilometers into primal territory. And if it were about a whole fifty thousand kilometers deep into primal territory, all Mages below Second Grade would most certainly die!


    Therefore, since ancient times, countless Mages had died for the cause of connecting the human settlements, their bodies left behind and buried in the depths of the wild forests. It was thanks to their relentless attempts and arduous exploration that the Mages were finally able to find a path through the vast stretches of forest. A narrow corridor in the air.


    The numerous flying ships crafted by the Silver Union travelled along this occasionally dangerous aerial corridor, ceaselessly transporting resources from all over the continent to the Castle in the Sky. They would then ship the top-grade products manufactured in the city to every corner of the continent.


    As the flying ship that Leon was flying on was still within the Zhentarim Association''s airspace, it was still relatively safe. However the moment they reached the Wendu territory they would have to face the 185,000 kilometer-wide forest. They would have no choice but to take on certain risks then!


    Leon took a couple more looks at the amazing scenery below the ship before getting sick of it. He turned and entered through the narrow cabin entrance.


    The cabin was the same as any ordinary cabin. Leon walked down ten steps and appeared before a narrow and dimly lit corridor. Five doors stood on each side of the corridor. A bronze plaque had been fixed to each of the doors with a single fundamental rune carved upon each door.


    Some meant ''flora'', while others meant ''sun'', and some others ''knowledge''...


    None of the runes on the plaques were repeated. These were clearly used to allow Mages to distinguish between the different rooms!


    The runes on some of the bronze plaques were already lit up. It seemed there were already Mages occupying these rooms.


    Only Mages were allowed to stay in the first and second levels. Even Lucy, who was a pseudo-Mage, could barely get a cabin on the third level. This was the same level as the human nobles. On the other hand, servants like Snorlax could only squat in the damp, dark fourth level.


    The low-class servants were not allowed in the upper levels during the flight. This was to prevent them from affecting or interrupting the good moods of the Mages and noble lords. Their meals and biological needs had to be dealt with on the fourth level. They had to endure any sort of humiliation or bullying in silence. Otherwise the guardian Mage responsible for guarding the safety of the ship had the authority to throw them overboard.


    Even though Lucy already had some understanding of the situation, she was still unavoidably upset when she had to endure this inferior treatment. She pouted and walked towards the end of the corridor with Snorlax. The steps to the lower levels were there.


    After all, this was a world where Mages reigned supreme. If Leon wanted to let them stay by his side, he would likely draw the ire of the other Mages. Some privileges were reserved only for Mages!


    This was a classist atmosphere that the Mages had intentionally created. It could not be easily shattered.


    Leon randomly picked an unoccupied room and pushed the wooden door open.


    Perhaps due to the rune on the plaque detecting magical energy, it started to let out a pale glow.


    This room was simply a small cabin room. There was a wooden bed affixed to the corner of the room. The bedsheets were fairly clean. Apart from this, the only furniture in the room was a small desk and chair. These were made of redwood and seemed to be fairly sturdy.


    A window the size of a washbasin was placed in the wall, right above the bed. The window was made of a transparent crystal glass. The material was most likely hard vulcanized crystal. Such crystal glass might look thin, but it was difficult to break with ordinary knives and swords.


    Leon performed a basic inspection of the room. Having confirmed that there were no hidden arrays or special energy fluxes in the room, he closed the door and sat on the chair.


    He reached into his storage belt and rummaged around for a bit. Finally, Leon pulled out a thick and heavy book with gold lining and a black cover. He started flipping through the pages, focusing all of his attention on its contents.


    A small line of words appeared in his sight at the lower right corner of the page he had flipped to. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The soul reigns above the material, and the mind is the product of the material and the Spirit.


    ¡ª Kane.


    These... these were Kane''s notes on magic. Kane of the Two-face Mage.


    Password of the Mind!


    Honestly, the fire spells that Leon had mastered all prioritized might. They had tremendous firepower. This truly made him powerful and gave him an edge in combat, but it also prevented him from obtaining any decent spoils from combat.


    This ''Password of the Mind'' had been a fortunate acquisition. If Leon hadn''t been agile and quick enough to grab it from the enemy''s storage belt, it probably would have perished in the ferocious flames, along with all the other items the Two-face Mage had on them!


    ....


    2081 Words

 Chapter 272 - 272: Duels

    Four days later.


    After passing by seven public cities, the flying ship finally landed in Guardia Port, located in the Wendu area.


    Any further west and they would have been crossing through the unpopulated primal forest. The small flying ship they were on couldn''t possibly be up to such a difficult task. If they wanted to successfully reach the Silver Union territories, they would have to transit to another, more resilient, transport. An aerial fortress¨C the floating battleships.


    When Leon, Lucy, and Snorlax finally descended from the flying ship, they were immediately greeted by the sight of a terrifyingly massive ship. All of them were shocked.


    This was a gigantic ship, completely black on the outside. Its size was at least ten times that of a normal flying ship. Three towering masts were situated on the front, middle, and back of the ship. A massive sail, much like the ones used on ordinary ships, had been placed on the top of the masts. However, Leon sensed that these masts weren''t driven by wind.


    Leon''s vision was extremely sharp. Even with a quarter of a kilometer distance between himself and the ship, he could still see the strange runes and magical lines drawn on the surface of the masts. The masts reflected a cold metallic gleam under the bright sun. Just a single look was enough to tell of its resilience and toughness.


    There were countless portholes on the body of the ship. However they had all been covered with thick metal boards, blocking everything within from sight. Even so, Leon, with his experience from the previous world, knew very well that battleships couldn''t be divorced from cannons. These portholes were most likely where the cannons fired out of.


    The only thing Leon wasn''t sure of was the type of magic weapon hidden within the ship.


    There was also a two-level forecastle on the ship. However, it didn''t seem to have been constructed for shelter. It appeared to be a platform for Mages to cast their spells from.


    The pitch-black floating battleship was parked on the hill, standing silently against the backdrop of the sky. From a distance it looked just like a scary steel monster. It radiated a cold and powerful aura.


    This was likely the floating battleship that the Silver Union had specifically created to pass through the dangerous aerial corridor!


    When Leon finally shifted his gaze away from the battleship, he realized they hadn''t landed in a city. Instead, they had landed on an airport used specifically for transporting cargo and transferring passengers.


    Rows of large and sturdy wooden buildings could be seen by the edge of the forest. Countless humans and servants of other races and odd appearances were walking in and out of those buildings. It was clear that those were the warehouses of the airport. On the other side, far away from the forest, rows of stone buildings towered. Numerous people dressed like Mages stood before the empty space in front of the stone houses. They pointed and gestured towards the port. It appeared as if they were discussing something.


    A tall and slim tower stood at the middle of the airport. Mysterious runes glowed on the surface of its walls. Faint detection waves scanned across the air. Their range extended to the forest over several kilometers away.


    A watchtower!


    These towers didn''t have much space inside. It was not possible to station too many Mages within them, nor was it possible to outfit them with large and powerful war machines. The towers were mainly constructed to watch for possible threats.


    A vast and mountainous stretch of black trees extended behind Leon.


    This was the outer rim of the human settlements within the central area. There were no longer any signs of human population in the forest surrounding this place. Naturally, there were no large-sized settlements in sight either. However, occasionally, there were still hunting parties and adventure parties that were active along the edge of the forest. Some Mages searching for materials would also make their way into the forest.


    A low and hoarse voice rang out beside him as he surveyed this airport.


    "Welcome, Sir Leon!"


    Leon turned and immediately found Mage Angus'' wrinkled old visage staring him in the face.


    "I''m glad to see you again." Leon nodded in acknowledgement.


    "You have just arrived, haven''t you? You should find a place to rest first! The tickets to the Castle in the Sky have already been arranged. We will set out in three days time." Mage Angus was clearly much more polite compared to before.


    "Isn''t there a floating battleship right over there? Why the long wait?" Leon asked curiously.


    "The floating battleship is ready, but we don''t have enough Mages!" Angus gave a simple explanation, "Even though we have been developing this aerial path for over a thousand years, and already have a basic understanding of the magical creatures spread along the corridor, the route is still an extremely dangerous one. To ensure everyone''s safety, the floating battleship always stays in the airport for a couple of days. It will only take off once a sufficient number of Mages have gathered for the trip."


    "Sufficient number of Mages?" This was the first time Leon had heard of this, "Approximately how many Mages do we need?"


    "Usually, sixty Mages should be enough. The number of required Mages can even be reduced if a couple of high-grade Mages show up."


    Leon couldn''t help but be stunned by this number.


    Sixty Mages?


    Even the Sarubo Clan wouldn''t be able to gather Mages in such numbers or scale. Yet a single trip to the Castle in the Sky required so many Mages. According to his understanding, these floating battleships would take off every fifteen days.


    Based on this, it was easy to calculate the number of Mages travelling to and from the territories. This was an unimaginable number!


    Mage Angus gave an understanding smile when he saw Leon''s expression of shock.


    "No need to be surprised. There''s much more to be surprised at once you arrive at the Castle in the Sky. The number of Mages there will blow your mind. Let''s go. I have already arranged a place for you to rest. Just wait here patiently for three days. Another flying ship will arrive here in three days'' time. We will have the required sixty Mages then!"


    So that''s how it was!


    Leon was finally able to put his questions to rest. He brought along Lucy and Snorlax and followed Angus to the row of stone houses.


    The rooms here was also extremely crude and simple. Only a table and chair was placed in the room, apart from the wooden bed. Not a single unnecessary piece of furniture had been put in the room. Of course, if the Mages didn''t like the facilities here, they only needed to travel ten kilometers to the east. A small human city had been founded there. There was plenty of entertainment to be found there.


    However, Leon had no intention of seeking entertainment. He quickly settled in his room before dragging Mage Angus to a hidden room for a discussion. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After all, he still knew nothing about the specifics of this trip. Leon had no idea of what to do or how to do it after he arrived at the Castle in the Sky. This was far too passive for Leon. He preferred to always have an action plan in his back pocket!


    If the request was only to win a small contest for the Byron Clan, he wouldn''t be worried. However, now that he wanted to leave Snorlax on in the Castle in the Sky, he would have to plan ahead. The more he understood about the situation, the better his chances.


    As Angus started to give an in-depth description of the whole thing, Leon finally started to understand the basic governing structure and rules of the Castle in the Sky, as well as an initial idea of this so-called tournament he had to participate in.


    According to Angus, the Castle in the Sky was not just a simple Mages'' city. The entire city was split into three circles. The inner circle, the central circle, and the outer circle.


    Only high-level members of the Silver Union were allowed into the inner circle. The main control core of the Castle in the Sky was located there. Moreover, the famous Diviner''s Tower, the Vortex Tower, the Obelisk, and the legendary Storm Fortress were all located within the inner circle.


    The only way inside was to join the Silver Union and rise to become one of the parliamentary members. Otherwise one would never be able to take a single step into the place for as long as they lived!


    The central circle was the main area of activity for the normal members of the Silver Union and the esoteric Mages. Only Mages that had been recognized by the Silver Union were allowed to stay and study in the place.


    Most trading activities was concentrated around the outer circle of the Castle in the Sky. Non-Union members were also allowed to set up shops there. However, the right to own a store in the outer circle was decided by a test every ten years. This test came in the form of a fair and just Esoteric Duel.


    The Esoteric Duels came in many forms. There were the duels between potions masters, the duels between alchemists, and the duels between golem masters... all arts that were categorized as those of esoteric Mages were included as possible forms of duel.


    Apart from the shops managed by the Castle in the Sky, the shops available to outsiders was limited. As is the case in an economy, high demand begets high prices and intense competition! Any Mage clan or organization that wished to possess a shop on the Castle in the Sky had to find a way to win the Esoteric Duels in order to win the right to stay in the city.


    Every existing shop would have to accept challenges by outsiders during the years of the duels. Both sides would invite esoteric Mages to fight for them in a fair and just duel. The winner would stay, and the loser would have to leave the Castle in the Sky!


    The Byron Clan''s shop had a long history of over seventy years. This was also the main way their clan obtained high-grade resources. They couldn''t afford to lose this shop.


    This year, their shop had received a difficult challenge from the Gerto Clan. As the challenged, the Byron Clan had the right to choose the topic of the Esoteric Duel. Naturally, they chose the Golem Masters'' Duel.


    In truth, this was also one of the rules that the Silver Union had intentionally created to elevate the status of the esoteric Mages across the continent!


    By facilitating these duels, all Mage clans and organizations that wanted a spot on the Castle in the Sky had to try their best to cultivate a capable esoteric Mage. If they couldn''t cultivate one themselves, they would have to hire an esoteric Mage from the Castle in the Sky.


    The status of the esoteric Mages rose in this manner, swiftly and quickly rising to become irreplaceable parts of the clans and organizations. Some talented but poor esoteric Mages would be able to take advantage of this opportunity to gain enough resources to further their research.


    However, this spelled trouble for Mage clans who didn''t have enough resources to train an esoteric Mage themselves.


    After all, the cost of doing so was not something that a small-sized clan could ever hope to shoulder. A proper esoteric Mage, be it an alchemist that could craft magical items, or potions masters and golem masters, required a massive investment of resources to become qualified in their fields.


    Most esoteric Mages came to be after hundreds and thousands of failures in their research and cultivation. The amount of resources lost in the process was an astounding number that could throw anyone into shock.


    ...


    2008 Words

 Chapter 273 - 273: Plan

    The discussion with Angus lasted through the night.


    Leon had managed to grasp a basic understanding of the rules of the duel. In general, there were two ways in which a Golem Master''s Duel could be carried out. The first was the mass melee, where numbers decided the victor. The second was the golem duel, where quality was key to winning.


    Every golem master had an upper limit to their Spirit. The number of golems they could control simultaneously was limited by their Spirit. Thus, the mass melee duel was a test of the golem master''s Spirit limit and their control over the golems with the limited Spirit they had.


    They second form of the duel, the golem duels, was the one that was most preferred by the majority of the golem masters.


    The two opposing golem masters would send a single golem each. The elaborate golems they painstakingly crafted would then battle on the stage, much like a duel between humans. The golem that was more powerful and better crafted would be the victor.


    Of course, this was also a test of the golem master''s skill at crafting golems. The more skillful and powerful golem masters would always be able to imbue their golem with more strength and combat prowess. However, it was in truth a test of financial strength. The more money the clan had, the better the quality of the golem.


    A terrifying golem crafted purely of Underground Wrought Gold would destroy a golem made of ordinary magical metal, even if the difference in their crafters'' skill was astronomical. Even a master wouldn''t be able to beat a rookie if he had a colossal amount of rare materials to work with.


    According to Angus, the Gerto Clan that had challenged them this year had recently been stockpiling all sorts of rare metals. It was rumored that the opponent was secretly crafting a unique combat golem for the sole purpose of winning the duel this time. That said, the Byron Clan hadn''t been able to get any specifics.


    After Leon parted with Angus, he immediately locked himself into the stone room. He started an intense research of this profession known as golem master.


    Of course, golem master was just the general name for Mages of professions of similar types. If one was to be detailed about the specific professions, they could probably churn out a dozen different branches of golem masters. They crafted a huge range of things. From animated statues, to magical puppets, mechanical constructs, robotic beasts, alchemical lifeforms, biological creations, elementium golems, magic-driven machines and many more...


    The difference between each and every branch might not be obvious to an outsider. However, from the perspective of a golem master, every single branch had massive differences in their very nature.


    For example, the golems crafted by Leon¨Cwho was, frankly speaking, only half of a true golem master¨Cwas completely distinct from animated statues and magical puppets.


    Usually, animated statues and magical puppets consumed various precious magical metals in the process of their creation. Good magical conductors were used to craft the core of the puppets, while strong magical resistors were used to forge an unbreakable body for the puppet.


    Humanoid joints, actuating mechanisms, hidden energy channels and delicate control circuitry... these made a proper magical puppet.


    The energy source that powered these puppets was the energy crystal embedded within their bodies¨C these were the magic crystals so often used as currency.


    Compared to the magic golems, these puppets often featured tangible and solid bodies. The true job of a golem master was designing the intricate patterns and arrays that went into the internal structure of the puppet. The better the connection between the core and the rest of the body, the more agile and smooth the movements of these heavy and colossal puppets.


    A magic golem was, as its name implied, nothing more than an elementium golem.


    They had no tangible bodies before they were summoned, only a summoning core carved full of complex magical arrays. They relied on their core to gather wandering elementium energies to create their temporal forms. The magical arrays would draw from their surroundings, then shape the elementium into the desired form of their bodies.


    From a perspective focused purely on strength, a magic golem was clearly far inferior to the animated statues and magical puppets. This was because these animated beings often had actual tangible bodies that were tough and resilient. That said, magic golems had an advantage that magical puppets could never hope to possess¨C the ease of transport.


    Magic golems could disperse their temporal forms when they weren''t needed. They could turn into a crystal the size of a pigeon''s egg, perfect for carrying about in a pocket. On the other hand, animated statues and magical puppets easily went up to four or five meters in height. They were often gigantic metallic creatures with tremendous weight that reached a dozen tons. Moreover, they couldn''t be folded or shrunk in size. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was no way you could drag them along with you on your adventures, regardless of how powerful they were. A tremendous number of magic crystals had to be burned just for them to walk. The consumption would go up exponentially if they ever engaged in combat.


    This was why animated statues and magical puppets were often only used as static defense.


    They could patrol and guard castles and towers, and in doing so, prevent enemy attacks. They were much more efficient compared to Mages or human guards when it came to this particular job. They could even recharge using the energy pool within the Mage facilities when they rested. This would save a large number of magic crystals for the golem master.


    However, Leon had heard rumors of a unique spatial storage tool that could be used to store animated statues and magical puppets. Only the most powerful and skillful golem masters could craft this magical gear. They were known as golem talismans. However, these golem talismans cost a lot to make. They were almost as expensive as the most powerful of golems. As a result, these talismans wouldn''t possibly find their way into widespread manufacture and use. They could only be used to carry powerful elite golems.


    All of these reasons combined was the reason Leon believed magical golems were more suited to him.


    However, when it came to a duel with an actual golem master, cost and transport were no longer factors that mattered. The only important thing was the combat effectiveness of the golems.


    Both of the participating parties were First Grade Mages. They couldn''t possibly create magical beings that exceeded their own Grade. In this particular case, the lack of a stable and resilient form would be a definite disadvantage for a magical golem when it was pit against a metallic puppet. If Leon wanted to obtain the final victory, avoiding a frontal clash was the only way forward!


    Even though Leon was extremely confident in the Infernal Tyrant, he felt it was best to prepare some strategies for the upcoming battle. After all, it was hard to predict what kind of situation might occur during the fight. Otherwise there was a possibility of the Infernal Tyrant losing. Especially if it faced a golem crafted of precious metals that it couldn''t damage.


    After all, absolute strength would be able to crush any sort of fancy tricks and maneuvers!


    ...


    Time was always precious for an Mage!


    Three days of waiting might be tiresome for an ordinary person, but this wasn''t enough time for an Mage engulfed in his research to even take a nap.


    Three days later, a new flying ship arrived, bringing with it fifteen Mages.


    And thus, having gathered a sufficient number of Mages, the floating battleship quickly took off!


    The battleship had much more room compared to the flying ship. However, most of the room was reserved for the massive amounts of cargo it was carrying. What was left of the space was also used for the much needed war machines. The rooms that the Mages stayed in wrtr still as small as they were on the flying ship.


    The Mages were both the guests and the guardians of this ship.


    There were only five Silver Union Mages stationed on every floating battleship. Moreover, their job was mostly maintenance and management rather than combat. If the battleship fell under attack during its journey, it was the responsibility and obligation of the Mages onboard to defend it.


    Every single Mage on board had already signed the relevant magical contract with regards to this.


    If an Mage refused to help when needed, the Silver Union would have the right to exile them from the ship. It didn''t matter how powerful of an Mage you were. Your fate would be sealed the moment you were thrown off the ship!


    Lucy grumbled unhappily when she heard of the terms Leon had to agree to, "Those Silver Unions Mages are way too calculating! Isn''t this basically double-dipping? They take your money and make you a free bodyguard for their ship at the same time!"


    Snorlax nodded vigorously as well, fiercely expressing his approval of Lucy''s statement.


    Leon smiled and said, "This is their territory. Of course we have to play by their rules. Be a little more careful, you two. Try not to make such offensive statements once we reach the Castle in the Sky. Otherwise, even I can''t save you if you anger the Silver-Robed executors!"


    Angus curiously observed this trio.


    An Mage, a pseudo-Mage, and an odd green goblin!


    With such a massive difference in their statuses, it was hard to imagine how they came together.


    In the World of Mages, only Mages of equal status were worthy of association. The rest could be reduced to servants or human resources. There was no possibility of equal status between different classes.


    An Mage might appear to be caring and kind to a pseudo-Mage. However, this pseudo-Mage would have to be his disciple or his direct blood relative. There was no possibility of good treatment outside of this.


    As for an Mage talking nicely to a green goblin? The only far-fetched possibility where this could occur would be in the case of an experiment. After all, you wouldn''t want to frighten your test subject and ruin your experiment!


    However, the scene before him was clearly out of the norm.


    The newly advanced Mage Leon was clearly interacting with that pseudo-Mage girl and that green goblin on a fairly equal level. This was seen as a humiliating act in the eyes of most Mages.


    Leon had only just advanced to an Mage after all. Perhaps he had yet to discard his past habits and attitudes. He would probably change once he had gotten used to the life of an Mage!


    Mage Angus told himself so. He didn''t step forward to correct Leon''s ''mistake''.


    All of the cargo the battleship needed to transport was already within the ship. The moment the number of Mages was sufficient, the passengers started to board the battleship.


    This was the first time in his life that Leon had seen so many Mages gathered together.


    Even the mobilization of the Sarubo Clan''s full force during the last planar war had not reached such terrifying numbers. Only two or three dozen Mages had appeared on the battlefield back then. Today, however, all kinds of Mages of odd appearance and fashion had appeared before him. They wore clothes of all kinds, leather armor, magic armor, and metal armor, forming a massive crowd. Yet despite their numbers and their status, they quietly queued up in an orderly fashion as they boarded the battleship.


    This... was a shocking sight to behold! Leon could feel the dryness in his mouth and tongue as he witnessed this scene!


    If you lived like a hermit in a small and rural territory, your status as an Mage would afford you an extravagant life of luxury. A life of debauchery that trumped even those of the nobles. You would be the center of attention during the banquets and feasts, the target of affection of the beautiful noblewomen and pretty ladies.


    Wine and beauties. Absolute power. All of this would go to your head, causing you to believe yourself to be the ruler of this world.


    However, it was only when you stepped out of this cage of your own making, and travel to this place, that you would realize the truth. You were just as insignificant as you used to be as an apprentice Mage.


    ...


    2091 Words

 Chapter 274 - 274: Battleship

    The floating battleship slowly rose above the horizon like a graceful leviathan.


    Numerous mysterious arrays were pulsing on the bottom of the ship. A massive amount of wind particles were being ejected out of those arrays, sending the ship dashing across the skies like a fish swimming in water. It quickly disappeared into the vast sea of black trees.


    The moment the battleship entered the forest, the three massive masts towering on the ship''s deck started glowing. A huge semi-translucent barrier of light covered the entire ship. Runes flashed about on the barrier as strange energy ripples flowed over it. There was no specific order or pattern in which the energy moved, but Leon could tell that they served some sort of purpose.


    He closed his eyes to sense the flow of energy.


    Light Refraction, Concealment, Aura Obscurement, Spirit Avoidance...


    The Spells of Light Refraction and Concealment were used to hide the ship from sight, while the Aura Obscurement was to prevent the life aura of the passengers from leaking outside and attracting unnecessary enemies. Spirit Avoidance was a spell used on small lifeforms. It would guide those critters to subconsciously move away from the battleship, preventing them from crashing into the ship and diminishing the effect of Concealment.


    Sadly, these spells were only useful against lower lifeforms and lower-level magical creatures. They were absolutely useless against the truly powerful magical creatures that lurked within the forest.


    There were still some other runes floating around the barrier enveloping the ship. However, Leon''s knowledge of runes was limited and he was unable to decipher every spell contained within the barrier.


    He stood upon the deck and bent to look down. A tiny silver stream wound between the sea of black trees.


    A flock of blue birds slowly flew past below the battleship.


    Flame-red crowns, light-blue leathery wings, and long and colorful tails. They appeared to be mutated rocs. They shouldn''t underestimate rocs because of their pretty appearance. They were true carnivores. Each and every one of them were savage and ferocious in nature, with an extremely territorial behaviour.


    However, even a mutated roc was no more than an ordinary creature. It had no elementium abilities or control over magic, and was no danger at all to Mages.


    Thus, this flock of rocs didn''t even notice the battleship when they passed by!


    The woods seemed somewhat different from the ones Leon was used to.


    Back in the Zhentarim area, he had seen his fair share of vast forests that extended over hundreds of kilometers. However, those trees almost seemed to be green. Here, all the trees were a dull grey and black color.


    It was a bleak and mildly odd color!


    Leon had a unique feeling ever since the battleship had entered the black forest. It felt like there was a trace of chaos and violence mixed within the energies. The sky and the earth had a certain atmosphere to them. An extreme atmosphere. So desolate and depressing that one couldn''t help but want to scream in anger and frustration.


    Perhaps this was the original appearance of the Continent of Mages!


    The floating battleship silently glided through the skies, not attracting any attention from the ferocious beasts beneath it.


    The Mages on the ship were many in number. Of course, there were some amongst them who already knew each other. The Mages quickly gathered in groups of two or three and started to talk amongst themselves. Some, more sociable Mages, were taking this opportunity to walk around, making as many new friends as they could. Even though their advances would be occasionally rejected, most of the Mages were willing to talk. After all, conversation with another Mage meant a chance to exchange information and research.


    Leon was also brought along by Mage Angus to greet some Mages Angus was acquainted with. Some of them were powerful Mages that were famous even within the central area of the continent.


    Leon was not opposed to this.


    He had two lives'' worth of experience. He knew very well that connections were a hidden resource. Sometimes they could even prove to be more valuable than individual strength!


    There were both males and females amongst the Mages they visited.


    However, all of the younger Mages were decent-looking, even if they weren''t just outright charming.


    Most male Mages clearly cared less about appearance when compared to the female Mages. On the other hand, there would almost always be scars and marks of accidents on the bodies of the veteran Mages. This was a result of continuous exposure to dangerous and taboo experiments.


    There was one such Mage amongst those they visited. All of his body was intact, with the exception of his face. All the flesh and blood had been corroded away, leaving only a thin and wrinkled layer of skin clinging to his skull. He looked like a talking skeleton when they conversed.


    Mage Angus secretly sent a magical voice transmission to Leon and told him the truth behind the Mage''s appearance. The damage to the face had been caused by a failed magic experiment.


    If it was simple flesh wounds, Mages had plenty of tricks up their sleeves to repair the damage. Even missing flesh could be regenerated. However, if the damage from the magic had reached all the way to the source of their souls, it would be virtually impossible to heal.


    In comparison, the female Mages were much more conscious of their appearance. Leon could always detect the marks of magic modification on their bodies and faces. Of course, only Leon could detect such minor and fine modifications with such accuracy. After all he had the chip, and the chip was completely unmatched in terms of its efficiency at gathering and comparing data.


    Most female Mages were extremely pretty, with exceptional figures. They would always draw the gazes of the male Mages whenever they engaged in a conversation. They didn''t seem to mind the unscrupulous looks of the male Mages. They would even actively flirt with the males, as if they perceived their body and their beauty as a resource to be traded.


    Tall, muscular, and handsome young Mages like Leon, in particular, were their preferred targets. Their fiery gazes, flirtatious words, and lewd acts were unbearable for Leon.


    He already knew this was the nature of Mages. Many no longer cared for the habits and behavior of worldly society once they became an Mage. They were much more willing to speak their thoughts and indulge in their desires. However, such an ''open'' and public manner of flirtation was still unbearable for Leon!


    Lucy, who was trailing behind Leon like a little bug, was pouting with her tiny mouth. She glared angrily at every pretty female Mage that came close to Leon, continuously grumbling under her breath. Her voice was extremely soft, and no one could hear what she was saying.


    Lucy might be arrogant, talented, and confident in becoming an Mage. Still, she didn''t dare to do anything before these Mages that might offend them.


    She might be an exceptional future witch with unlimited potential and terrifying talent amongst the apprentice Mages. However, potential was potential. Before Lucy could convert this potential into power, any simple incident could spell an early end to her future as a ''Witch of Fate''.


    There were countless examples of individuals who didn''t know how to restrain themselves and, consequently, brought upon themselves the anger and wrath of others. All of these unfortunate idiots were once shining talents with bright futures!


    Thus, even if only for the sake of her life, Lucy didn''t dare to openly provoke a whole group of female Mages. For some reason though, every time Lucy looked at these female Mages, be they trying to seduce Leon with innocence, elegance, or eroticism, she felt an anger surging from the bottom of her heart.


    This bunch of shameless hags! The only thing they knew how to do was wave about the two pieces of meat hanging from their chests to seduce men. A complete disgrace for witches all over the world. Serves them right to be the vassals and servants of male Mages...


    Leon could sense the bubbling emotions behind him. He let out a bitter smile and brought the grumbling Lucy back to their cabins after giving Angus a heads-up.


    For the next few days Leon stayed within his room, never taking a single step outside. He was ceaselessly researching for a way to imbue the golem cores with the power of the otherworldly runes. Every time Leon was exhausted from his work, he would meditate rather than sleep. He did all he could to regenerate his Spirit as fast as possible.


    Meanwhile, he was slowly getting used to the energy surges from the Flame Fiend''s Heart. The explosions of energy that happened twice every minute were gradually becoming bearable. Unfortunately, there was still a faint trace of abyssal aura surging forth along with the flame energies. Even Leon wouldn''t have been able to detect these traces of abyssal aura if it hadn''t been for the chip. The chip''s ability was so fine that it could even monitor the cells of the body at a genetic level. Without it, he wouldn''t have been able to detect the abyssal aura slowly but gradually corroding and modifying his body. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In just a matter of a dozen days, some of his organs were already showing signs of becoming infused with magic.


    This was both bad and good news for him.


    The good news was that the infusing of magic with his organs was strengthening his Physique. Ever since he transplanted this Second Grade Flame Fiend''s Heart, the speed at which his Physique was increasing had almost exceeded the speed of his Spirit increase. He had, at one point, almost considered becoming a body refining Mage instead.


    His powerful body, as well as his intangible and wicked aura of charm, gave him a strangely attractive feel.


    However, the bad was equally obvious.


    If the magic-infusion started to go out of his control, his existence would probably move away from that of an Mage''s. Instead, he would start to become more and more like the demons of the lower realms!


    On one hand, he coveted the increase of power brought about by the abyssal aura. On the other, he feared the possibility of falling to the level of an abyssal creature. As a result, Leon ordered the chip to closely monitor every single change occurring within his body.


    On his fifth day on the ship, one of his organs reached eleven percent infusion. Leon took out a vial of potion from his belt and drank its contents without hesitation.


    The viscous and purple liquid had just slid down his throat, and already a pungent odor had permeated the entire room. An indescribable and odd feeling started to spread in his mouth and stomach, before gradually emanating towards the rest of his body.


    Leon raised his hands and watched as wicked traces of crimson smoke started to seep through his skin, before they dispersed in the air.


    Since he already knew the dangers that the Flame Fiend''s Heart posed to himself, Leon had already prepared potions to deal with the situation. The potion was able to slowly but surely extract the abyssal aura from within his body. Of course, Leon was unable to craft these potions by himself. He had exchanged for these potions with Ferrier using a dark blue gem the size of a fist.


    He would have to control the quantity of the potion he ingested each time, such that it would be able to extract the abyssal aura without triggering a decline in his Physique. The only downside was the terrible smell. He was stinking.


    An intolerable odor was emanating from all over his body!


    ...


    1968 Words

 Chapter 275 - 275: Danger

    The attacks on the battleship didn''t stop once it passed five thousand kilometers into the black forest.


    Fortunately, the flight path the Silver Union used was one they discovered after a thousand years of bloody exploration. This path already avoided the hunting and living territories of the high-grade magical creatures. Even though the attacks were many, most of the enemies were only First Grade creatures that lived in groups. The number of Second Grade creatures that appeared could be counted on a single hand.


    With the cooperation of the numerous Mages on board, along with the powerful barrier erected around the ship, they had been able to drive away the creatures.


    The floating battleship was cruising at a thousand meters in the sky. Normal magical creatures with no flying abilities couldn''t even reach them.


    Leon had personally witnessed a terrifying Second Grade Hill Giant climbing out of the ground when the ship passed by a large black chasm.


    The giant was at least thirty meters in height. It was literally a moving hill.


    The Hill Giants were a branch of the Earth Giants. They were naturally tough, resilient, and immensely strong. Every part of their body was pieced together with large grey and white rocks. Like the dragons, they loved their sleep. Every time they ate and drank their fill, they would find an area with dense earth elementium concentration to dig underground and find a spot to sleep.


    The reason the floating battleship chose to fly through the Giant''s territory was because it had no ability to fly whatsoever. Moreover, the giant was usually hiding underground and sleeping most of the time. It was very unlikely to draw the giant''s ire by driving through its territory.


    However, their luck clearly wasn''t so good this time. They had arrived just as the Hill Giant awoke.


    It sensed the thick aura of human blood and flesh coming from the sky and slowly climbed up from below the black chasm. It lifted its humanoid head, opened its massive mouth, and let out a deafening and wrathful roar at the battleship.


    All of the magical creatures in the black forest were extremely territorial. There was no room for diplomacy. They would fight you with all they had the moment they found you trespassing in their homes.


    That was why the Hill Giant didn''t give up. He strode across the land with heavy footsteps, destroying a wide path through the forest as it crashed through the trees, closely following below the ship. Every time it got close enough, the Hill Giant would roar with all his might and raise his massive stone hands up into the skies. The yellow-brown earth elementium would instantly gather together to form a massive rock.


    It would then throw the boulder towards the ship, the rock whistling through the air as it did so.


    The Mages on the ship bent over the railings to look at the giant. All of them went pale when they saw the massive rock shooting towards them. It was a rock that was almost as large as a house after all! Even Leon could feel his heart tighten for a moment, but his eyes were locked on to the flying rock. Data was quickly being collected and analyzed.


    "Beep.


    Main composition of rock: earth elementium and various impurities.


    Density of rock: 1.73 kilograms per centimeter cubed.


    Size of rock: Approximately three meters cubed.


    Weight of rock: Approximately 5.24 tons.


    Estimated maximum possible height reached by rock: 729 meters... "


    "What is the altitude of the floating battleship now?"


    "Beep. The current altitude of the floating battleship is 1142 meters... "


    Leon was finally able to set aside his concerns after going through the detailed data provided by the chip. Instead, he focused on observing the body data of the Hill Giant.


    These higher-grade creatures were extremely powerful, and had a massive amount of energy stored within their bodies. These energies would cause a defensive field similar to a barrier to form around their bodies. Usually, the chip would not be able to penetrate through the barrier from such a distance and collect any data. However, now that the Hill Giant was continuously attacking the ship, the chip was able to analyze the strength of its attacks and the consequences of its actions on its surroundings. Through this data, the chip was able to indirectly calculate and provide a basic estimation of its strength.


    Race: Hill Giant.


    Class: Second Grade Earth-Attribute Higher Lifeform.


    Size: 31-33 meters in height, 8-10 meters wide.


    Weight: 97 tons.


    Attributes: Strength 27 | Agility 10 | Physique 25 | Spirit 14


    Even without the use of any of its earth abilities, this Second Grade Hill Giant could easily roll over any human Mages of the same grade simply by relying on its terrifying weight and Physique.


    Leon didn''t expect anything of the Second Grade Mages waiting on the ship. If any of them were to try to duel the Hill Giant, they would be completely crushed and reduced to dust.


    The Grade of a lifeform was a good basic indicator of its strength, but it was not absolute.


    Some powerful races born for combat would have tremendous bonuses to their power. What Grade they were at didn''t truly reflect their complete prowess. For example, the Hill Giant''s massive size had provided him with immense bonuses to his Strength and Physique. These additional attributes made it a far more terrifying foe when compared to ordinary Second Grade body refining Mages.


    Leon repeatedly looked over the Hill Giant''s attributes projected by the chip, and couldn''t help but be awed by the creature.


    This was just one of the Second Grade magical creatures that existed in the black forest! Moreover, it wasn''t even the most powerful one! The Hill Giant was considered a magical creature with barely average abilities!


    If the floating battleship wasn''t cruising at such a high altitude, and all sixty Mages were walking on the ground, disaster would probably befall them. The Hill Giant only needed to use its hill-size body to charge through the Mages'' ranks and they would suffer grievous losses.


    Leon might have made a name for himself as the Flame Demon, but even he wasn''t sure if his Magma Fireballs would do anything to the enemy''s defensive barrier and body of rock.


    The most likely outcome of battling with such a monster was death. He would probably be crushed into human paste before he could even blast a single rock off the giant''s body!


    The rocks whistled and soared through the air. The kinetic force driving them upwards was slowly exhausted, and they fell towards the ground once more.


    Every rock would cause the Mages to gasp in terror.


    The runic arrays at the tail of the floating battleship glowed brilliantly. The ferocious wind particles blew on with even more strength than before, and the ship charged through the clouds, quickly speeding away from the giant''s territory.


    The Hill Giant was initially able to follow behind the ship with its massive steps. However, as the ship continued to accelerate, the giant was gradually left behind.


    Finally, when the battleship disappeared into the horizon, all that the Mages could see was a speck standing on top of a cliff, roaring angrily in their direction.


    After leaving the Hill Giant''s territory, the battleship had also passed through the territory of a strange mirage beast.


    An Mage suddenly pointed at the forest and cried out, "Look... what''s that?"


    Everyone hurried to take a look.


    Everything seemed so peaceful within the depressing black forest. It was so silent and quiet, as if nothing was happening.


    However, everyone could feel a deep dark shadow flowing through the forest beneath the thick tree branches and dense foliage. The shadow was stalking beneath them.


    "That''s a mirage beast!" A Silver Union Mage wearing a silver Mage robe explained with a smile on his face, "It''s a strange magical creature that''s similar to the corruptor. It is able to create fantastical illusions akin to mirages in the desert, then silently devour the creatures caught in its magic. It is also Second Grade, but it is far more terrifying when compared to the Hill Giant. Avoiding the Hill Giant in the black forest is no problem as long as you are being cautious. However, there is absolutely no chance of escape from a mirage beast!"


    "I have also heard of this creature!" A tall and skinny Mage quickly added, "They like to press their bodies against the ground, creating images of clear lakes, beautiful gardens, and mansions full of treasures above their bodies. The realm of illusion is, in fact, their stomachs. They would lure their prey inside, and then the prey would have their bodies dissolved by the illusion while being completely oblivious to the situation."


    "Thank god they don''t have any means of attacking over long distances!" An Mage finally expressed everyone''s thoughts.


    The Mages nodded in agreement.


    The Silver Union Mage was clearly dissatisfied with everyone''s attitude. He shook his head and warned, "Don''t go feeling relieved. The most trying part of this journey comes after we pass through the mirage beast''s territory."


    "What is there after this?" An Mage asked. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Winged Lions!" The Silver Union Mage frowned as he spoke, "The next territory we are passing through belongs to the Winged Lions. Everyone had best be careful!"


    There were many Mages on board, but not all of them had heard of these creatures known as the Winged Lions. Thus, the voices of chattering Mages quickly filled the ship.


    Some more familiar and friendly Mages had started exchanging information with each other.


    Leon paused for a second.


    Winged Lions?


    He had heard of these magical creatures before.


    Ordinary humans always had trouble distinguishing the Winged Lions from the Gryphons. They were extremely similar creatures, with traits of lions mixed within. However, they were two entirely different beings.


    Gryphons were winged beasts with the heads of eagles and the bodies of dragons. This meant that they had heads and beaks of eagles, and the bodies and claws of dragons, as well as a pair of large fleshy wings.


    Usually, adolescent gryphons were no more than First Grade magical creatures that lived in groups. Other than their decent physical strength, their power lied in their speed and ability to make diving attacks from the sky. Their screeches and cries also had a trace of ability to disrupt and confuse.


    Other than these traits, there was nothing remarkable about the gryphons!


    Adolescent Winged Lions, on the other hand, were Second Grade magical creatures that lived in groups. They would usually live within a family unit, consisting of two Second Grade adolescent winged lions, and three to five First Grade winged lion cubs.


    Compared to the gryphons, the winged lions were lions with massive wings.


    They were able to cast light-attribute spells, along with possessing tremendous physical strength. One could say they were the natural enemies of certain types of dark-attribute Mages!


    All of the dark Mages wearing black robes couldn''t help but frown deeply when they heard the Silver Union Mage''s caution. They had clearly heard of this annoying light creature as well. If they were to come into conflict with the winged lions, all of their curses, corrosive attacks, and acidic attacks would be rendered completely useless. They would be reduced to spectators in the fight.


    The floating battleship flew above the forest, twisting about the narrow path amongst the towering mountain peaks. The ship was trying its best to pass through and avoid all of the hazardous areas.


    Still, a long and low growl rang out in a nearby cliff. Three to five black shadows took the skies, quickly gliding in their direction.


    ...


    1957 Words

 Chapter 276 - 276: Lions

    They were Winged Lions!


    Two dozen Mages were already in position under the Silver Union Mage''s organization, silently waiting for the arrival of the Winged Lions.


    The Silver Union used this flight path once every fifteen days. They knew very well what race and grade of magical creatures would appear at which areas. Other than situations where extremely dangerous creatures were migrating, or when the creatures of the black forest were falling into a riot, the path was a safe one.


    However, there were always exceptions, especially within the black forest, where no one could estimate the danger lurking within. Unknown terrors were always lying in wait.


    Powerful magical creatures would usually own a large territory of their own. They were the only kings within this territory and they would never allow other creatures with similar strength to enter their territory or hunt within it.


    Higher-grade magical creatures were almost always as intelligent as actual Mages. They knew how to split their territories into an inner living area and an outer hunting area. However, there would always be contentious areas within neighboring territories.


    Thus, the conflict between magical creatures often broke out within the black forest!


    The reason the flying battleship decided to go through this path despite knowing it to be the territory of the Winged Lions was simple. Just fifty kilometers to the west was the territory of a large group of wyverns.


    Even though these wyverns were only First Grade lower magical creatures, and were far weaker to the Winged Lions, they had strength in numbers. Over a hundred of them flew together.


    This, coupled with their bloodline as hybrid dragons which gave them tremendous strength, powerful bodies, and the ability of flight, meant they did not fear the Winged Lions at all.


    In fact, if one were to consider every single factor, the Winged Lions were slightly weaker than the pack of wyverns!


    The floating battleship gradually decelerated. Once it had slowed down to a certain speed, it started to weave in and out of the clouds, sticking to the mountain ridge as it flew forward.


    Now that the ship had slowed down, the excess energy saved from powering the ship was used to strengthen the outer barrier. The thickness of the barrier increased slightly.


    Winged lions were wickedly fast in the skies. Trying to get rid of them by outrunning them was a complete joke. It was much safer to stave off their attacks as the ship traveled!


    Leon had been assigned to the front-middle of the ship. There was an Mage standing five meters behind him, and another five meters in front of him. They stood in silence, waiting for the winged lions to attack. Their job was simple. They were to retaliate with their strongest spells when the winged lions tried to tackle the defensive barrier.


    It might be tough for them to hurt the winged lions with what little power they have, but the main purpose was to exhaust the winged lions and drive them away.


    Leon was still wondering why the Silver Union didn''t just gather a group of powerful Mages to exterminate these winged lions. After all, they weren''t all that powerful. Exterminating them would make the flight path even safer for everyone. The chip quickly provided him with an answer!


    The reason they didn''t choose to exterminate these winged lions was precisely for the safety of the flight path!


    A forceful extermination might ensure the safety of the flight path in the short term. However, at the same time, it would also create a power vacuum in the area. The magical creatures were intelligent beings as well. The moment the powerful ruler of this area was gone, other powerful creatures would choose to move into this area.


    If that happened, getting used to the attack patterns and habits of the new magical creature would bring about a whole new host of problems for the Silver Union!


    Thus, after lengthy consideration, they decided to allow these powerful but non-threatening magical creatures to stay. This was the wisest and most well-informed decision the Silver Union could come up with.


    After all, once the territories of the magical creatures were settled, the Mages only needed to prepare certain tricks to deal with each trouble that popped up. In doing so, they could easily pass through the area with minimal losses.


    Lion roars echoed from below the ship as Leon was absorbed in thought. Five radiant silhouettes appeared before his vision.


    Winged lions... so these were winged lions!


    Leon looked into the distance and saw several odd beasts that closely resembled lions.


    The winged lions were no different from the ordinary lions commonly seen in forests. The only difference was how much more powerful and muscular they were.


    In particular, the two winged lions flying in the front, one male and one female, were as muscular and massive as a rhinoceros. A pair of wings made of shiny silver feathers extended from their ribs. The pair of strange twisted horns growing from their heads was also an extremely obvious trait.


    The three First Grade winged lion cubs behind them were several sizes smaller than their parents. That said, their ferocious and savage appearance still betrayed their status as the kings of the forest.


    The floating battleship had already removed the magic cloak on the outer layer. A semi-translucent barrier enveloped the ship, protecting it as it made its escape.


    A brilliant silver light radiated from the bodies of the winged lions. They beat their wings and dove towards the battleship, making an elegant and perfect curve in the air. As the position they were attacking was the other side of the ship, Leon didn''t start attacking them. Rather, he turned around to look at how the Mage opposite him dealt with the lions.


    Leon didn''t know which area of Zhentarim this Mage came from, but he could see that the Mage was wearing green leather armor, black pants, and a machete at his waist. He was even holding a massive bow as large as himself in one hand. Right now, the gigantic bow had already been pulled into a crescent moon. Black light glowed around it. Leon could vaguely see the shape of an arrow gathering within.


    This Mage was clearly an experienced veteran as well. He didn''t fire his magical arrow early. Rather, he was patiently waiting for the best timing to strike. An adolescent winged lion had reached the barrier. The twisted horns on its head rammed into the barrier. Blinding white light surged forth from the tips of the horns and clashed against the runes on the barrier.


    The barrier started to weaken and thin out. Just a moment more and the horns would pierce through the barrier. The Mage finally struck.


    Ci. A sharp whistle in the air...


    A black magical arrow shot out of the barrier, quick as lightning, and embedded itself into the winged lion''s protective barrier.


    The magical arrow exploded before the winged lion could even react. A large cloud of black mist enveloped the front half of its body. Sizzling sounds could be heard as the mist corroded away at the defensive force field.


    The winged lion, caught by surprise, had been blasted away. It somersaulted in the air several times before finally expanding its wings and stabilizing itself.


    The front half of its body had been stained a black color by the spell shot at it earlier.


    The adolescent lion let out a raging roar as a blinding white light quickly engulfed its body, expelling all the outside energies that had found their way into its body.


    A short moment later, the white light faded away and the winged lion was completely recovered. Even its wings, that had been corroded to a black color, had become white once again.


    Light-attribute recovery spells!


    Leon licked his lips. Envy was showing in his eyes.


    The winged lion beat its wings and circled around the outside of the ship. Its ferocious gaze was trained on the Mage that had slightly wounded it earlier. The lion let out a few angry roars and continued to fly around the battleship. It was calmly looking for the weak spots in the defensive light barrier.


    Leon couldn''t help but feel a strong desire burn in his heart as he looked upon these winged lions flying through the skies. He desperately wanted to leap out and catch one to serve as his own familiar. Flight, combat, and recovery? These magnificent steeds were the most suited to be the mounts of Mages!


    Those odd horns on their heads, in particular, seemed to be extremely powerful. They could gather light particles and use them to attack the enemies. Or they could use the light elementium to heal and regenerate their own bodies. The effect of their magic was no less effective than that of Mages that specialized in healing magic.


    If he owned a winged lion like that, wouldn''t it just be like always having a healer by his side? If he ever sustained combat injuries, he would no longer need to pinch his nose and swallow those strange potions with unknown contents!


    Leon clearly wasn''t the only one with such thoughts. Almost all of the Mages looked at these magnificent flying beasts with burning desire in their hearts. However, everyone knew very well what they were made of. They wouldn''t make such unwise moves such as trying to capture a Second Grade winged lion.


    The Mages had the advantageous position while they were within the battleship. Every time the winged lions wanted to dive and attack the barrier, they would fire their spells in unison and force the enemy to disengage. No one was dumb enough to charge out into the sky and start a battle of life and death with this group of winged lions!


    Meanwhile, Leon was also doing his best. A winged lion cub flew past the side of the ship he was on. The chip provided Leon with the speed and flight course of both the cub and the ship, and he was able to throw out a Magma Fireball in advance. Once the winged lion cub reached the position of the fireball, Leon immediately detonated it.


    A resonating boom! sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The cub was completely engulfed by the explosive flames and boiling lava.


    When it finally made its way out of the explosion with a tragic howl, much of its body had already been charred black. Sharp magma fragments had pierced through the defensive force field around its body and had found their way into its flesh. Blood spilled from the sky.


    The winged lion cub''s cry had also attracted the attention of the other winged lions.


    Several beams of white light shot towards the cub, and its terrible wounds vanished in an instant. It had regained its earlier magnificence.


    However, having been wounded once, the cub no longer dared to close in on the battleship so recklessly. It unfurled its wings and distanced itself from the ship. Then it started to shoot out white light from its horns, using it to assault the defensive barrier from a distance.


    This white light was extremely pure light energy. It was difficult to intercept these attacks with magic. The light elementium that clashed against the defensive barrier would also explode and cause light bursts every so often, causing all of the Mages who were looking to be blinded by light.


    The duration of the blinding effect wasn''t very long. It only lasted three to five seconds.


    However, it wasn''t hard to imagine the disaster that might have occurred if there wasn''t a layer of defensive barrier between the Mages and the winged lions!


    As Leon battled, he gathered data on the winged lions with the help of the chip. The feedback from the chip proved a terrifying fact. If he engaged in a fair duel with one of those First Grade lion cubs, he would have no more than a thirty percent chance of victory.


    Of course, this percentage was calculated without the inclusion of his golems and his Flame Fiend Transformation. This was also the meager chance of victory that most Mages had!


    Leon could truly feel the strength and terror of the magical creatures that resided within the black forest.


    Without the battleship''s cloak, the protection of the barrier, or the aid of numerous magical tools and items, the human Mages were no more than fodder when pitted against these wild beasts!


    No wonder the three Mage organizations on the Continent could last this long!


    If the human Mages hadn''t gathered together and united their strengths, they would probably have been overwhelmed and replaced by a tide of powerful magical creatures. Their rule over the World of Mages would have come to an end.


    ...


    2134 Words

 Chapter 277 - 277: Kingdom

    The battle with the winged lions was more like a game!


    It was no matter of life and death.


    The floating battleship continued to maintain a thick defensive barrier as it slowly flew away from the winged lions'' hunting area.


    The adolescent winged lions also seemed to be uninterested in damaging the ship. Rather, they were training the cubs to fly and hunt. Even though they would occasionally tackle the barrier with all their might, they spent most of their time circling above the ship, roaring and trying to intimidate the Mages.


    Both parties fought as they flew, and finally, when the floating battleship crossed a raging river, the winged lions stopped their pursuit. They hovered in the air and roared threateningly at the ship before returning home.


    It seemed that this ten meter wide stream was the border between them and another group of magical creatures. A blood war would probably erupt between the two if the winged lion crossed the border!


    The battleship gradually started to accelerate after leaving the winged lions behind it. It continued to cruise along its planned path within the forest.


    According to the Silver Union Mages'' briefing, the next area they were passing through was the first danger zone along the flight path¨C the den of the harpies.


    In truth, Leon was so shocked by the news that his eyes almost fell out. The weak harpies were the first dungeon boss they were facing?


    How was this possible?


    Leon''s impression of the harpies was that they were extremely weak. These creatures with the heads of female humans and the bodies of vultures should be extremely low-level magical creatures. A single magical fireball would be able to kill an entire group of them.


    How were they more dangerous than winged lions and Hill Giants? How did they form a danger zone on their own?!


    A lot of the Mages were clearly as confused as Leon.


    Thus, the Silver Union Mage gave them a basic explanation on the characteristics of harpies.


    Indeed, most of the harpy tribes that the Mages met in the wild were extremely useless and weak. So feeble and frail that they were no threat at all. The reason was because the size of the harpy tribes were often way too small.


    Harpy tribes with only around a hundred members weren''t even worth an Mage''s time. Ordinary mercenaries and adventurers only needed sufficient preparation, and they too would be able to exterminate an entire tribe.


    This was because there were no low-level harpies with magical power within these tribes. The only thing they could do in a fight was drop some boulders from overhead and dive at enemies with wooden spears in their claws.


    That said, the harpy tribes had a very prominent characteristic.


    The moment the number of their tribe members swelled above five hundred harpies, a harpy witch with magical powers would be born in the tribe. They would shed most of the feathers on their bodies. Other than their wings and the claws of their feet, they were basically no different from human females.


    Moreover, if there were over a thousand tribe members, a terrifying head witch would be born among the harpy witches. This was a powerful caster that was no weaker from human Mages. They even had the agility of assassins to go along with their tremendous magical powers.


    The harpy tribe they were about to come into contact with was a massive tribe of over ten thousand harpies. Thus, there were over a thousand harpy witches born within the tribe.


    A thousand agile spellcasting harpy witches. This was a fearsome opponent no matter where it was on the Continent of Mages. Even powerful magical creatures like the winged lions wouldn''t recklessly offend this swarm of harpies. They would drown in their numbers within moments.


    Thus, the obstacle before them was no mere harpy tribe.


    It was a fearsome harpy kingdom! Not only did they have an extremely intelligent leader, they also had proper distribution and composition of classes spread across all the harpies.


    This meant that they had commanding officers, spellcasters, and so many warriors they could blot out the sun. It was a risky venture every time the floating battleship passed through here.


    However even if this place was a danger zone, it was still possible to pass through if everyone worked together.


    This was much better than trying to break through the surrounding death zones!


    Right now, the battleship was already fifty thousand kilometers deep into the black forest. If they strayed from the flight path at this point, it was very likely that they would stumble into the territory of Third Grade magical creatures.


    Their chances of escaping the attack of a Third Grade magical creature were almost non-existent with how weak they were.


    There had already been three such cases of battleships being destroyed by Third Grade magical creatures over the past hundred years. All of the passengers involved died. Even though the Silver Union sent out top-grade Mages to exterminate and exact vengeance on the responsible magical creatures, the dead would never come back to life.


    Thus, even if they knew the might of the harpy kingdom, they had no choice. The Silver Union could only choose to fly across the border areas of the harpy kingdom if they wanted to avoid the more terrifying Third Grade creatures.


    ...


    Three days later.


    The first brutal battle since Leon boarded the ship broke out because of a coincidental meeting!


    They had, very unfortunately, walked into a hunting party sent out by the harpies.


    It was a small party of no more than thirty harpies, and most of them were just ordinary harpies. They were two mutated harpies amongst their ranks. One of them was a harpy assassin, while the other was a low-grade harpy witch.


    These stubborn fellows were complete idiots. Even though they were much weaker when compared to the Mages, they still insisted on blocking the way of the ship. Almost all of them were killed in a single wave of spells. Sadly the two mutated harpies were able to escape.


    The very next day, the floating battleship was surrounded as it flew over a chasm. The harpy army had hurried over the moment they received word about the ship!


    The floating battleship cruised forward with great difficulty. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The harpies were circling and flying around the egg-shaped barrier. Their piercing shouts were so loud they could even shatter the eardrums of anyone listening to them.


    Most of the harpies didn''t have any control over magic elementium. They beat their gray wings and charged at the defensive barrier with wooden spears in their claws. These crude attacks might work against ordinary beasts, but they were completely useless when used to attack a defensive barrier.


    As such, a thousand harpies attacking in unison achieved absolutely nothing. Other than causing some ripples across the barrier, they only thing they achieved was exhausting a little of the ship''s reserve energy. They had absolutely no chance of cracking the defensive arrays!


    However, there were some unique individuals that had undergone mutation among their ranks.


    Harpies were usually creatures with gray feathers and ugly appearances. They looked more like birds than humans. However the mutated individuals had already shed the feathers on their bodies. Only a few patches of blue feathers remained on their joints.


    Their exposed skin was white and smooth. Their figures were slim and curvaceous, with exceptionally delicate and perfect facial features. However, their eyes were as red as blood, their fingers crooked and sharp, and a pair of horrendous claws grew beneath their thighs where their feet was supposed to be.


    Honestly, if one were to ignore those ugly wings and claws, these harpy witches could be said to be extremely beautiful humanoid creatures!


    According to Leon''s understanding, some mixed-blood harpy witches had joined the Mage organizations on the East Coast. Those were the mixed-blood descendants born of human Mages and harpy witches.


    Of course, this also proved that some human Mages had really unusual tastes!


    The Mages attacked with all their strength to drive the harpies away. They couldn''t be allowed to deal more damage to the defensive arrays protecting the battleship. Spells of every color and effect exploded like fireworks around the ship. One after another, the harpies were engulfed by powerful elementium vortices.


    A snowstorm enveloped most of they sky, the chill quickly applying a layer of light blue frost over every single harpy caught in it. Countless harpies tried their best to beat their gray wings, but they could only feel their wings becoming heavier and heavier.


    Eventually the harpies started to fall from the sky, screaming as they did so.


    They quickly regained their ability to fly after they left the area covered by the snowstorm. Still, the appearance of the storm had disrupted the pace and rhythm of their attack, sowing chaos into the ranks of the harpies.


    A wind Mage standing not far from Leon released a wind spell with a large area-of-effect. The peaceful skies were suddenly filled with danger and terror. Invisible tornadoes of wind hid in the air. Any harpies that accidentally stumbled into this area would be sliced to pieces by the swirling winds. Pungent mists of blood would erupt in the air.


    Leon, on the other hand, didn''t summon his golems or use his Flame Fiend Transformation. Instead he took out his Fire Lord''s Scepter and behaved as any other fire Mage would, slowly firing off one fire spell after another.


    He ceaselessly chanted and cast spells. His loud and firm chanting of profound and difficult spells rang out, and a red pillar of fire was conjured in mid air. Powerful ripples of fire spread out from the pillar. All of the harpies engulfed by the ripples would be burnt to death.


    Even those that survived had their wings charred and ruined, and were sent falling a thousand meters towards the ground.


    The ordinary Mages had no ability to fly after their feathers had been completely reduced to ashes.


    As Leon continued to channel several powerful fire spells, he looked about at the chaos going on around him. Periodically, fire would burn in his eyes and a powerful Scalding Ray would shoot out towards the harpies.


    It was way too much of a waste to use Solar Rays against these unarmored and unprotected harpies. The inferior Scalding Ray was more than enough to get the job done!


    The Scalding Ray shot out continuously, piercing through the bodies of the harpies and sentencing them to a painful death as they fell from the air. Black patterns would spread all over their body as they fell.


    The poison from the Scroll of Voodoo would quickly take their lives even if the Scalding Ray hadn''t managed to kill them.


    Feathers and blood filled the air around the battleship.


    The harpies were being slaughtered by the Mages!


    ...


    1822 Words

 Chapter 278 - 278: Hunt

    Three slim and beautiful silhouettes were gathered together deep in the back ranks of the harpy army as the Mages recklessly exterminated the attacking harpies. It seemed they were in the middle of some sort of discussion.


    "It is almost time!" A head witch with a pair of snow white feet and a red feather robe draped over her shoulders instructed, "Lana, make sure you act quickly later. Catch as many as you can once Natalia breaks through the barrier with her innate ability. You must leave the moment you receive the signal. Otherwise it would be a troublesome affair trying to save you after the barrier closes. Do you understand?"


    "Understood!"


    "Understood!"


    The two witches standing beside her bowed respectfully.


    Ordinary harpy witches were similar to the apprentice Mages in human society. They had some elementium casting ability, but their Spirit was still insufficient for their spirit origin to be elevated to the next level. Only harpy witches that had reached First Grade could change their appearances.


    An ordinary harpy witch would shed their feathers when they advanced to First Grade. When they advanced to Second Grade, their trademark claws would also morph into human feet. If they were fortunate enough to advance once more and turn into Third Grade harpy witches, their physical bodies would be no different from a human Mage. The only difference would be in their bloodline.


    All three of the harpy witches had beautiful feet rather than the claws so commonly associated with harpies. This meant that each of them were harpy witches over Second Grade, and had already completed their second evolution.


    An army of a hundred First Grade witches gathered around the three Second Grade harpy witches, silently guarding them.


    Any male would probably fall into a daze if he was standing among their ranks. Every single one of the witches here had pretty faces, alluring figures, and ample bosoms. Strangely enough, not a single male could be seen among their ranks!


    The head witch finally gave the order and the army of witches moved out after hiding for so long.


    Piercing screeches rang out in the sky. One after another, the agile and elegant harpy witches flew out from the ranks of the ordinary harpies. They quickly circled around the battleship, hurling wind blades and lightning balls at the defensive barrier.


    The addition of this army of spellcasters instantly caused the resilient defensive barrier to tremble intensely. More and more of the mysterious runes appeared on the surface of the barrier.


    The types of magic the harpy witches could cast was extremely limited. It was usually limited to just wind and lightning magic. The strength of their attacks was also pathetic, ranging between thirty to fifty points of damage. However, regardless of how weak they were, there was no stopping the strength of their numbers. There were a hundred of them after all. The wind blades and lightning balls continued to crash against the defensive barrier, placing tremendous stress on the magic arrays.


    "Stop attacking the ordinary harpies. Shoot those damned spellcasters out of the sky! Hurry, hurry, hurry... " The Silver Union in charge of coordinating the Mages was in a panic. He shouted all over the ship as he took out a Fireball Wand from his waist, instantly shooting five fireballs towards those harpy witches.


    The other Mages instantly adjusted the direction of their attacks, focusing their fire towards the spellcasters.


    ...


    Inside the cabin.


    Lucy was lying beside the window of the tiny room with nothing to do. She rested her head on her tiny hands, looking on as the colorful battle erupted outside.


    One after another, the ugly and savage harpies tackled the barrier. They used their spears, their beaks, their claws, and anything they had to tear at the semi-translucent defensive barrier. At one point, the disgusting faces of the harpies had even come within ten meters of Lucy. There was an impenetrable barrier and a window between the two.


    Moreover she was already a pseudo-Mage, and a cute pseudo-Mage who had mastered spatial magic at that! Still, there was no place for her on the battlefield like this.


    At the start of the battle all of the servants, followers, and apprentices had been ordered to stay within the cabin. As such, she could only look on coldly as the harpies were brutally slaughtered. Reduced to cinders, electrocuted, having all the water in their bodies extracted by dark magic...


    There were all kinds of magic, and the harpies could attest to this. After all, they were the ones dying in a variety of odd and peculiar ways!


    Lucy''s eyes suddenly lit up when those harpy witches appeared. She pressed her face against the window, looking enviously at the plentiful bosoms of the witches bouncing about as they flew quickly around the ship. She looked down at her seven year old body and her flat and smooth chest. Her expression instantly soured!


    Dammit! Even a bunch of humanoid monsters are larger than me! Bastards! You lot aren''t even humans, what''s the point of having such large breasts? Curses upon you hags...


    However, just as Lucy was indulging in her own stupid thoughts, a light ripple in the air caught her attention. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Spatial flux? Hm? Why would there be spatial flux here?


    Lucy closed her eyes and tried to sense the spatial flux. The spatial ripples hadn''t occurred within the defensive barrier. Rather, they were coming from the outside. Didn''t this mean... the one manipulating space wasn''t an Mage on the ship, but a harpy witch?!


    Even though Lucy was still angry at Leon, she was fully aware of how reliant she was on him right now. Thus Lucy quickly contacted her so called ''master'' using their mental link.


    ...


    Spatial flux?


    Leon fell deep into thought the moment he received Lucy''s message. He was doubtful.


    Spatial Magic wasn''t so easily mastered!


    Time and Spatial Magic were heralded as the hardest to learn within all the branches of magic. Usually an Mage wouldn''t even be able to learn these magics if they didn''t have the necessary affinity.


    The Fire Teleportation that Leon himself had mastered might look like Spatial Magic, but its true nature was just a clever use of fire magic. It was completely different from Spatial Magic.


    Harpies, on the other hand, had even more mediocre talents when compared to Mages. Most of them only had wind affinity or lightning affinity. Wasn''t the chance of one of them awakening a spatial affinity way too low?


    Even though it was a reminder coming from Lucy, Leon wasn''t too convinced. However, considering the power of spatial magic, Leon decided to play it safe. He quickly and subtly cast a small spell on himself.


    Apart from this, he didn''t share Lucy''s warning with the Silver Union Mage. After all, this was information he himself wasn''t too sure about. If it proved to be wrong, he would end up as a joke amongst the other Mages.


    However, a massive disturbance occurred at the back of the ship as Leon was still hesitating!


    The sudden appearance of the harpy witches had drawn the attention of all the Mages. Powerful and mighty spells blasted towards their dancing figures, leaving colorful fireworks in the air as they exploded.


    Yet, as their gazes were drawn to the witches, the Second Grade Harpy Witch Natalia had taken the opportunity to sneak over to the other side of the barrier.


    A black vortex appeared in her hands and she pressed it against the impenetrable barrier. A large hole suddenly opened in the barrier, which was supposedly able to defend against all elementium damage. The runic energies of the barrier were absorbed by the strange black vortex, causing a massive opening in the defense system.


    The Second Grade Silver Union Mage who was silently guarding the magic arrays at the core of the ship raised his head up in shock. He could sense a breach in the defensive barrier.


    What was happening? Had the defensive barrier been destroyed? No, everything was still functioning!


    A strange flux suddenly appeared on the deck of the floating battleship as the Mage was still recovering from the shock. The space had been shattered and a rift had opened in mid air. Two strange harpy witches walked out of the rift and appeared before the human Mages.


    Some Mages were still caught up in slaughtering the harpies on the outside. The two harpy witches with perfect figures and light blue wings moved before the Mages had even noticed the trouble behind them.


    A sharp and piercing scream filled the entire ship. All of the Mages affected by the strange soundwave felt their vision blur. They were no longer able to control their bodies or draw upon their magical powers.


    The two Second Grade harpy witches used their agility to dive towards the Mages, quickly capturing several Mages and throwing them into the spatial rift before coming back for more. They had already caught five human Mages in a matter of seconds.


    All the Mages on the ship started to panic as this occurred. They threw their most powerful spells at the enemy that had mysteriously appeared on board, while desperately avoiding capture by the harpies.


    However, any Mage would be hard-pressed to escape the piercing screams and agile shapes of these Second Grade magical creatures. Leon was an unfortunate one as well. He was right within the hunting range of the two harpy witches!


    A creaking sound started to ring out in the air. The spatial rift that had been forcibly torn open was slowly closing under the powerful regenerative ability of space itself. The rift trembled slightly. It was obvious that it couldn''t last much longer.


    A massive wave of runic energies surged forth around the hole in the defensive barrier, reducing the massive opening into a small hole the size of a fist. The defense system of the ship would once again be complete the moment this hole disappeared. At that point, the two harpy witches would no longer be able to escape using the spatial rift.


    "You two hurry up... I can''t keep it up for much longer!" Natalia shouted at the two harpy witches as she did her best to maintain the hole in the barrier.


    The two harpy witches looked at each other and made a decision.


    "We will capture one last round of Mages!"


    The two silhouettes let out another piercing scream as each of them dashed towards a target of their own, quick as lightning.


    And the target of the head witch was Leon!


    ...


    1766 Words

 Chapter 279 - 279: Arrival

    The harpy head witch was extremely fast!


    There was no way Leon could possibly escape her grasp at the speed at which she was lunging at him.


    Thus Leon stopped moving. His fire elementium started to boil and surge around his body. Just half a second more, and Leon would be able to turn into elementium and teleport from the spot.


    Unfortunately a stunning scream found its way into his ears right as he was about to complete his spell.


    Leon stumbled as he lost control over his body, which had just turned into flames. He had failed to escape in time.


    The head witch''s cool hand gripped his body before he could calm himself down and think of anything else. Violent lightning energies surged into Leon''s body, instantly crippling him and taking away every ounce of strength he had left in his body.


    The head witch grabbed his body and quickly dashed towards the crumbling space rift.


    Leon barely managed to regather his scattered thoughts during this short buffer. He looked at the space rift right before his eyes and used what was left of his strength to wave his Fire Lord''s Scepter. He then activated the small spell he had prepared in advance.


    Boom. A muffled explosion rang out.


    The Fire Deity suddenly appeared on the deck.


    Before it could even announce its arrival upon this realm with a massive roar, its flaming body was replaced by Leon''s tall figure. The Fire Deity mysteriously appeared in the witch''s hand and was brought along into the spatial rift.


    Fire Deity Summon!


    Puppet Substitution!


    This wasn''t a teleportation spell of the spatial magic series. Rather, it was a flame golem substitution that was completed using the mental signature left on the Fire Deity.


    The head witch almost seemed to have realized the change at the moment she charged into the spatial rift. However, she could no longer stop the momentum of her body. She and the other harpy witch disappeared into the spatial rift, and the pitch-black vortex finally closed.


    The hole on the defensive barrier had finally disappeared as well.


    The floating battleship shook vigorously for a moment. Ferocious and violent runic energies surged out of the core of the ship, reinforcing the defensive abilities by a hundred, even a thousand fold, completely wiping out the spatial disturbances left behind by the harpies.


    The harpies outside the boat seemed to have received an order. They quickly scattered in every direction, screeching as they did so. They beat their gray wings and flew every which way as they retreated from the battle.


    For a moment, the entire sky was filled with gray silhouettes. The mutated harpy witches were mixed within the crowd, making it hard for the Mages to identify the culprits of the earlier attack!


    Peace returned to the battleship a short moment''s latter. The shrouded sun once again shone upon the Mages.


    They looked at each other aimlessly, still stunned from the terrifying attack that had occurred earlier.


    What happened just now?


    Everything was going smoothly! They were doing their best to slaughter the reckless harpies, how did... how did a couple of harpy witches break inside of the barrier and kill... no, abduct six of them?!


    Leon was in shock as well. Even the Flame Fiend''s Heart that had been sealed in his chest started to beat rapidly, causing his blood itself to boil intensely. He had to expend a lot of his energy before he was able to suppress the fiery riot happening within his body. It was a long time before he calmed down.


    When he turned his head to gaze at the distance, he could no longer see the harpies'' fleeing silhouettes on the horizon. The Mages looked around the deck. There were six less Mages on the ship, and some of them were acquaintances of other Mages that were taking this trip.


    Leon was still confused about the harpies abducting the human Mages, but the chip quickly filled in the details with its large library of knowledge.


    The harpies were an usual race. There were only females in their tribe, but never males. This meant that the harpy kingdom was a kingdom of females. There wasn''t a single guy that lived with the harpies. Thus, they had to rely on other races if they wanted to mate and leave offsprings for the tribe!


    The harpies were usually isolationist creatures. It was only when an individual harpy had reached mating season that they would go out to hunt for males of other races. They would then catch them and bring them back as mates. The harpies might seem absolutely weak and pathetic, but their genes were extremely strong and resilient. It didn''t matter what sort of odd race they mated with, the offspring would always be a harpy of pure bloodline.


    Of course, some Mage scholars believed in another theory; a theory that the offspring of the harpies were of mixed descent. However they would abandon all the offspring with impure bloodlines, choosing to rear only those with pure bloodlines. This was how they managed to retain the purity of the tribe''s bloodline!


    According to ancient texts, the offspring of harpy witches and human Mages were more likely to have magical talent.


    As such, there were many cases of human males being abducted as mating tools in areas close to harpy settlements. However cases like today, where they actually succeeded in abducting Mages, had never been heard of!


    All the Mages on board couldn''t help but cast their gazes at the coordinating Silver Union Mage.


    "Are we not pursuing them? Are we letting them take away our companions just like that? " An Mage couldn''t help but demand angrily.


    "How do we chase them? Where do we chase them to?" The face of the Silver Union Mage instantly soured, "These are the depths of the Black Forest! Any change to the flight path could spell doom for this ship. Do you really think that we should invade the harpy kingdom for the sake of some unfortunate fools? There are over ten thousand harpies and over a thousand harpy witches there... "


    The Mages fell silent!


    Everyone was upset about the situation. Yet the moment that the thought of death crossed their minds, any dissatisfaction or ideas of saving their allies quickly vanished.


    The Silver Union Mage turned and eyed Leon. He nodded and said, "You are very lucky!"


    He then announced loudly, "The Silver Union will be responsible for the compensation of the clans and organizations those Mages belonged to. However, all of you should already have prepared yourself for such an outcome the moment you stepped on this ship. We will try our best to fix the loopholes in our defensive barrier. We assure you that such a thing will not happen again! ... "


    The silver-robed Mage continued to ramble on with an encouraging and motivating speech, but all of the Mages were still frowning deeply. They had lost all their confidence for the journey forward.


    Just then, the Second Grade Mage of the Silver Union emerged from under the deck. He took a long cold look at everyone.


    "I know what you are afraid of! I can represent the Silver Union in giving you our word. The same thing will never happen again. To think that two mutated harpy witches had appeared amongst the ranks of the harpies, and that one of them was the rarely seen space caster. This was completely out of our expectations. I have already made the necessary modifications to the array. It is absolutely impossible for them to launch another attack like that one. So everyone can put aside your concerns, and we can continue on our way!"


    Having said that, the Second Grade Mage went back under the deck, returning to the core control room.


    The Mages could only look at each other helplessly. There was nothing they could do but accept the reality before them. One by one they returned to their rooms to rest.


    Leon smiled as he listened to Mage Angus'' words of care and concern, before silently returning to his room.


    It was only when Leon locked the door and sealed the room with a simple magical array that he betrayed his true feelings. His face fell, and the smile was replaced with a frown. He sat on the crude wooden chair as he recalled the fight earlier.


    If he had been slightly weaker, or even without his preparations in advance, all of his ambitions would have gone down the drain. He would be reduced to the terrible state of being a mating tool of the harpy witches!


    A massive kingdom of over a thousand harpy witches. There didn''t need to be too many adolescent witches amongst their ranks. One tenth of them would mean a hundred harpy witches waiting to mate with you. Moreover, the rate of pregnancy with Mages was never high. They were beings with extremely low rates of birth. Thus, if once wasn''t enough, then twice, and thrice...


    Just thinking of the nightmarish hell of being a prisoner and mating slave was enough to make Leon cringe in fear. He could feel the muscles on his face start to twitch uncontrollably. An unrestrained anger filled his heart. He was so frustrated that he just wanted to go out on a killing spree.


    Leon instantly identified this as a side effect of the corruption from the abyssal aura. He didn''t dare to delay. He quickly took out several vials from his belt and swallowed their contents.


    These were all potions that could calm the nerves and suppress his emotions. Even though drinking them in large doses would cause certain side effects, Leon knew his emotions were running out of control, and was not going to fret over some insignificant consequences.


    Perhaps the accident in the harpy''s territory hadn''t been an accident, but a premeditated attack. This was why the battleship''s journey was unusually smooth and unobstructed after the harpies had succeeded in their abduction. The Mages quickly and successfully left from the harpy kingdom.


    Fifteen days later, the floating battleship passed by the territory of the Forest Spirits.


    Both parties clashed in a tremendous fight, and the battleship managed to charge through the place, suffering some damage in the process....


    One month later, the floating battleship passed through the Frost Giant''s territory.


    Once more, they were able to forcefully make their way across using the resilient defenses of the ship...


    Two months later, the battleship was attacked by a large flock of thunder rocs at the final danger zone along their flight path.


    The defensive barrier had even been breached twice. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Two Mages died before they managed to drive away the enemies...


    Finally, on the seventy second day since the Mages boarded the floating battleship, they passed through the Black Forest. They had finally arrived in the territory controlled by the Silver Union.


    The floating battleship dragged its broken body across the sky, slowly cruising out of the Black Forest.


    Leon stood at the bow of the ship, gazing at the plains in the distance. The everlasting stretch of black was slowly fading away, replaced by the long-awaited green plains and brown earth.


    A tall Mage''s tower stood silently in the horizon. The striking brilliance of magical arrays flowed along the length of its structure. Several magical ripples scanned the entire area. A small watchtower had been placed every few kilometers along the edge of the Black Forest. A weak magical flux could be felt emanating from them.


    The massive Mage''s tower and the smaller watchtowers worked together, forming a defensive web to protect this land that humans so desperately needed to survive.


    Several black shadows appeared in the distant skies, as if they had discovered the ship.


    A group of Mages riding on gigantic eagles were hurrying over!


    The Silver Union Mage appeared in front of everyone once again. He announced loudly and excitedly, "My friends that have come from faraway places, and journeyed over such long distances, welcome to the territories of the Silver Union.


    "The Silver Union welcomes your arrival!"


    ...


    2021 Words

 Chapter 280 - 280: Sigma City

    The Mages flew for another seventy kilometers before arriving at the first city under the rule of the Silver Union¨C Sigma City.


    As one of only two entrances into the Silver Union''s territory, the magnificence and liveliness of Sigma City was beyond compare. Even Mages from prestigious clans in the central area would drop all their arrogance and pride and use their utmost effort to learn of all the rules and regulations within the Silver Union''s territory.


    Leon had gained a basic understanding of the situation on the way here.


    The Silver Union''s territory stood at the west coast of the continent, and there was one group of individuals you should never offend while you were here. The silver-robed Union Mages.


    Of course, if you were confident in your ability to kill a silver-robed Mage without being discovered... Leon saw plenty of those small watchtowers along the way. There were also numerous mysterious spherical constructs patrolling in the air.


    All of these appeared to be part of a massive security system.


    It was pure fantasy to even dream of killing a silver-robed Mage without being discovered.


    With the help of divination magic and image replaying magic, the murderer would easily be identified as long as a single clue was left behind!


    The best way to ensure your own safety and prosperity here was to avoid conflict with the silver robes.


    The second group of individuals that one shouldn''t provoke were the esoteric Mages. It didn''t matter how broke or how bad they appeared to be faring.


    The Silver Union was an organization formed from a group of esoteric Mages. The silver-robed Mages were the executors of the Union, while the esoteric Mages were the very foundation of the Union. This was why the esoteric Mages had incomparable status within the territories of the Silver Union. There was already obvious oppression and bias against Mages of other branches.


    Fortunately the authorities of the Silver Union weren''t short-sighted fools. They would often take the side of the esoteric Mages in cases of conflicts and tensions between Mages. However, they would always ensure that the talented Mages of other branches were still well-treated and given due respect.


    The floating ship finally ended its journey at Sigma City.


    Travel within the safe territories was usually carried out using the smaller flying ships. The flying battleship was reserved solely for the journey through the Black Forest.


    The Mages quickly went their own ways after they got off the ship.


    Everyone had their own distinct reason for coming to the west coast. Even though they all had to visit the Castle in the Sky eventually, it was still a twenty day trip from Sigma City. Thus everyone went on their own ways, on their own errands as they headed towards the Castle in the Sky.


    The Byron Clan also had an outpost here in Sigma City. However, the outpost was located in the west side of the city. Leon and Angus would have to walk through half of the city to make their way there.


    Leon could see that Mage Angus was in a hurry. It seemed he was desperate to reach the outpost for an update on the situation. Leon, on the other hand, wanted to observe the local culture. After all, this was his first time in a territory controlled by one of the massive Mage organizations.


    The two had a quick discussion. Mage Angus settled on a meeting spot before hurrying to the outpost with the few clan members he had brought with him.


    Leon, Lucy, and Snorlax were left alone.


    This was a completely different city. A unique city.


    There were no towering walls around the city, or massive watchtowers built around its perimeters. Its streets were neat and orderly and its buildings were tall, large, and made of marble. Apprentice Mages wearing short grey robes were everywhere in the streets, along with muscular mercenaries and adventures.


    However the loaded carts and carriages were even more numerous. There were also merchants, warriors, wanderers and civilians in the crowd.


    Perhaps due to the humid and warm weather, most of the locals wore clothes made of thin and light cloth. They dressed in an extremely colorful fashion. All of their clothes were dyed in bright colors: white, red, blue, yellow, and so many more. The ordinary humans were wearing long sleeved tunics, loose pants, and leather boots. Their expressions were relaxed and joyful, unlike the dull and depressed expressions that the citizens of other human settlements so often wore on their faces.


    Every so often, Leon would see some Mages walking through the streets, their massive stone golems and steel statues rumbling behind them. The crowd made way for them as they passed, but none of them seemed especially fearful of the Mages.


    The Mages here seemed to have integrated with the civilians. There wasn''t much mystery or obvious difference in class between the two parties.


    If Leon was to give an evaluation of his own, Zhentarim was extremely large and rich in resources. However, there were too many clans within Zhentarim, causing countless conflicts and battles throughout the years. Even after the formation of a loose alliance of the clans, the ability of the Zhentarim Association was still limited. They could not restrain the clans or execute any of their laws in an efficient manner. There wasn''t much they could do.


    It was much different here.


    This was a territory ruled and owned solely by the Silver Union. This was why law and order was very well upheld here. No outsiders dared to challenge to authority of the Silver Union here!


    Moreover, the Silver Union''s policy of welcoming travellers and encouraging trade resulted in a huge influx of outside Mages and elites. The arrival of these talents undoubtedly accelerated the speed at which knowledge and resources gathered about the Silver Union.


    This place was clearly much more lively and much more peaceful when compared to the Zhentarim area!


    Leon''s tall figure of two meters in height was a curious sight when compared to two tiny fellows who were only one meter in height. They drew plenty of gazes as they walked down the street. However anyone that dared to come close to Leon would instantly feel an aura pressing upon them. This was the calm, wise and ruthless aura unique to Mages, as well as mental suppression from a being above them on the food chain.


    Leon looked silently at the crowd as they panicked and hurriedly made way for him. The apprentice Mages were also looking over with expressions of shock. He was a little speechless at their reaction. In the end, he silently retracted his aura and tried his best to suppress his mental flux.


    He was far too used to living in the Zhentarim area. He didn''t need to consider the effect of his mental suppression when he went out in public. Leon still retained his beliefs from his previous life, and believed that all life was equal. He wouldn''t ever treat the ordinary mortals as livestock and servants. However, the arrogant and prideful attitude of the Mages had subtly shifted his attitude as well.


    In comparison, the Silver Union had intentionally created a much more equal societal atmosphere. This was a superior decision when compared to the Zhentarim Association, as so many more elite and talented individuals were still able to demonstrate their abilities, even though they weren''t Mages. If Leon had the freedom of choice, he genuinely believed the environment in the Silver Union would be far more suited for him!


    "Are we just going to stand here all day?" Lucy tiptoed and tried her best to see over the crowd. She appeared to be extremely excited to go touring around the city, "That place seems really lively!"


    Snorlax also spotted some creatures of other races mixed within the crowd. These were either the servants of Mages, or humanoid creatures that had obtained proper citizenship. They mingled with the apprentices, warriors, and the mercenaries, chatting happily as they carried the corpses of several magical creatures on their backs. They walked into store after store and arcane shop after arcane shop, trying their best to sell their spoils of war from hunting.


    Leon cautiously removed Snorlax''s Spell of Concealment and he went back to his appearance of a goblin.


    He stood in the crowd and looked at the people''s reaction to him. It was only when he saw that no one was disgusted or shocked that Snorlax was able to let out a sigh of relief. For the first time in his life, he would be able to puff his chest and stand up straight. He was finally able to show his true appearance in a human city ruled by an Mage with no fear for how he was treated.


    "I love this place!" Snorlax screamed frantically at the bottom of his heart.


    Leon felt the passion and joy from his two followers and couldn''t help but let out a small laugh as he shook his head. The three of them quickly made their way into the crowd once more.


    Having retracted and suppressed his mental flux, Leon looked just like a young noble with an extraordinary temperament. He was handsome and charming. Even without the suppression from his Spirit, his two-meter tall body was still an intimidating sight. All the pedestrians would naturally make way wherever he walked. No one dared to stand in his way.


    Leon''s gaze wandered about the shops by the side of the road as he walked.


    A florist, tailor, grocery store, leather dealer, pharmacist, a pet store...


    Leon even saw an interesting shop on the way. Tolson''s Lost and Found. It was a small business that helped citizens find their lost possessions using divination magic. The owner of the store was an advanced apprentice. Clearly he was looking to use his magical talents to earn a little pocket money!


    The florist shops, on the other hand, didn''t sell ordinary flowers. It wasn''t roses, tulips, or blue lilies that they sold. Rather, the products they offered were Mage resources. These were things like Glowmoon Flowers, Solar Flowers, Golden Ginseng, and Dragonbone Grass. These plants were either useful for apprentices'' meditation, cultivating and improving bloodline powers, or were just common materials used by potions apprentices...


    The tailor''s also sold apprentice and Mage robes with special magical enhancements. They even sold some Mage storage tools within their shops.


    The leather dealers bought the corpses and skins of magical creatures from the adventurers or apprentices. They also paid for the blood, bones, and flesh of these magical creatures.


    The flesh of magical creatures was imbued with elementium. As long as the poison could be extracted from their flesh, the meat would be a perfect magic-infused material for cooking. The bones could be carved into simple decorative ornaments and accessories with the proper work put in. These accessories would have certain magical powers.


    While Mages would never need such weak items, they were considered precious and valuable objects by apprentices and the nobles.


    Leon finally understood, after a walk through the streets with Lucy and Snorlax. As the eastern entrance into the Black Forest, Sigma City only sold resources targeted at the middle class. Ordinary citizens would never be able to afford these items.


    Leon shook his head in pity after a quick tour.


    These resources might be useful for Lucy, but they were too ordinary and common for a true Mage. It seemed there was probably a particular place where Mages went to trade when they were looking for resources.


    Leon turned and looked at the massive Mage''s tower standing at the center of the city. He turned to leave some simple instructions with Lucy and tossed a magic crystal card her way. Leon then left Lucy and Snorlax to their own devices as he headed in another direction.


    ...


    1982 Words


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 Chapter 281 - 281: Core Magics

    It was a necessity to gather local knowledge wherever you went.


    This was almost an instinct engraved into the souls of each and every Mage!


    Even though it might not be possible to get his hands on any rare or unique knowledge, Leon would be happy to collect any knowledge on the west coast and its cities. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The flying ship going onwards to the Castle in the Sky arrived on their second day in Sigma City.


    Having experienced the local culture within the Silver Union, Leon and the others set out towards the holy city of the esoteric Mages¨C the Castle in the Sky.


    Night.


    Leon was draped in a black robe. He sat by his table, continuously writing on a scroll with a white quill in his hand. It seemed he was calculating something. Countless symbols, formulas, and numbers filled the parchment. Blue light gleamed within his black eyes as his quill continued to scratch against the parchment. It was clear that the chip was also calculating something at a very high speed.


    In honesty, most of the calculations and deductions were completed by the chip. Leon''s job was organizing and writing out the numbers that the chip output. He then used these numbers as a foundation and started considering his future development.


    His sense and control over the other elementium particles had gradually weakened after he chose fire mastery. Yet at the same time this allowed his fire spells to have more room for improvement.


    It didn''t matter whether it was the range of the Fire Teleportation, or the splash damage of the Magma Fireball, or the core damage of Fire Core Explosion. All of his spells had reached the very limits that his Spirit could allow. The one hundred and fifteen points of fire damage that the Fire Core Explosion could output was already at the very limits of what First Grade Mages could usually do. Most ordinary Mages could only do between eighty to a hundred damage with their spells. Those who could do above a hundred were so few they could almost be counted with two hands.


    A system of fire spells quickly built up within the data library as the chip continued to expand the amount of knowledge it had. Leon vaguely saw the path forward, and the path to self improvement, with the gradual deciphering and inclusion of the otherworldly runes to his powers.


    According to the chip''s calculations, Leon''s use of his powers in past combat had been extremely inefficient. It was almost the most inefficient way he could have used them. Regardless of whether it was his spells, or the exponential increase in Physique brought about by his Flame Fiend Transformation, Leon had never been able to bring out their might to its fullest.


    Rather, they existed in a state of extreme waste and inefficiency!


    Leon would always choose a different style of combat depending on his enemy. The long-ranged elementium Mage style, the magic-enhanced melee combat style, or using both together.


    He had yet to form a cohesive, consistent, and systematic style of combat. Most of the time, Leon relied on his wasteful and excessive output to overwhelm and crush the enemy.


    This might not be much of a problem if he was the one with the upper hand. However, such a crude and savage way of fighting was bound to backfire if used against an enemy more powerful than himself. Leon wanted to take this opportunity while revamping his abilities to decide on some core magics. He would then forge his own style of combat around those core magics and spells.


    Having experienced numerous fights, Leon clearly felt the importance of mobility spells for a combat Mage. That was why the first spell Leon thought of when deciding on his core magics was the Fire Teleportation he so frequently used.


    In all honesty, Leon might not even have had a ten percent chance of surviving all his past battles if he hadn''t been able to cast Fire Teleportation. Leon was only able to escape death when faced with powerful enemies because of it. Otherwise, his only option would have been a fight to the death.


    If he wanted to settle on a combat style, it would have to revolve around Fire Teleportation.


    The mobility spell was decided. What about the offensive spells then?


    There was a period of time where Leon believed his core offensive spell was Fire Core Explosion. After all, it was the most powerful and lethal fire spell in his arsenal. However the data that the chip collated indicated otherwise. The spell that Leon used the most in battle was the quickly cast Magma Fireball.


    Leon only needed half a second to summon a Magma Fireball with his current abilities. However, if one was to include the strain that his Spirit could endure, along with the disparity in the speed at which elementium gathered, Leon could only consistently summon two fireballs in three seconds time.


    The Magma Fireball itself had forty-five points of fire damage, along with fifteen points of magma and explosive physical damage. The magma would even splash in a ten meter radius. When paired with the thirty percent bonus damage from his fire mastery, a single Magma Fireball could deal a terrifying sixty points of damage.


    This might be much lower than the one hundred and fifty five points of the Fire Core Explosion, but the Magma Fireball could be fired at a tremendous speed!


    Where on a chaotic and intense battlefield would you be able to find a safe place to calmly chant your spell and channel such a powerful attack? In comparison, instant-cast spells like the Magma Fireball were far superior, as they allowed the caster to control the pace of the fight.


    Even if there was truly a need for a powerful spell to crack the enemy''s defense, Leon could store six of them within his Scroll of Voodoo for use in any situation. There was absolutely no need for him to risk his life and chant in the middle of enemy fire.


    Thus, the first group of core magics was decided. There were three of them. The mobility-type Fire Teleportation, the offensive Magma Fireball, and the defensive Ring of Fire.


    There was a good reason why Leon chose the Ring of Fire as his defensive spell over the Lava Shield!


    The Ring of Fire might be significantly inferior to the Lava Shield when it came to physical defense, but it was far more efficient when it came to defending and damaging enemies at the same time.


    A barrier of fire that easily engulfed an area of a hundred meters. No enemy would recklessly step into this area while they fought with Leon. The ten points of fire damage per second would never stop. You would have to endure the damage for as long as you were within the Ring of Fire.


    Moreover, the combat potential of these three spells could still be greatly improved. All that Leon needed to do now was organize the spells into a proper system, and create a combat style revolving them.


    Someone knocked on the wooden door, just as Leon was busy with his calculations for the potential improvements on the three core magics'' magical models.


    Dong. Dong. Dong.


    " Who is it!"


    Leon couldn''t possibly be in a good mood after being interrupted at such a key moment.


    "Sir Leon, it is me!" Mage''s Angus'' voice rang out from behind the door.


    Leon hesitated for a moment before clearing away the documents on his table. He covered the parchments of paper that contained secrets about his own body before walking to the door and removing the magical defenses.


    Mage Angus complexion looked pale and terrible. He had visited in the dead of the night, and it seemed like he had something he wanted to talk about. Still, he was hesitant to speak.


    "Sir Angus, we can already be considered friends after such a long trip together. Is there anything that can''t be said between friends?" Leon could see his discomfort, and took the initiative to ask.


    "This... " Angus couldn''t help but hesitate once more before finally speaking, "I just got news from the clan. There might be trouble for the duel this time!"


    "What happened?"


    "The Mage from the challenging clan has actually created a Steel Knight. Apparently, the golem is extremely powerful. It has already defeated the esoteric Mages of two firms. It is chaos in the clan right now... "


    Leon''s eyes focused, "Your clan intends to ask for a truce?"


    Angus nodded reluctantly, his voice hoarse and dry, "Very possibly. The clan has already sent some ambassadors in secret. If their conditions aren''t too strict, the clan will be willing to give up on the duel and admit defeat!"


    Angus quickly consoled Leon when he saw him falling deep into thought, "You have no need to worry. The clan will still give you the promised rewards even if the duel doesn''t take place. That much I can ensure!"


    Leon shook his head as he laughed out loud, "That''s not what I am worried about. I am only disappointed that I might miss a chance to have an exchange with another esoteric Mage."


    Angus laughed as well, "Do you still need to worry about this once you arrive at the Castle in the Sky? The duels and challenges for the shops might only happen once every ten years, but the arena there is never empty. As long as you are confident in your golem and are willing to bet on it, you can go to the arena every single day if you so wish!"


    The two made a little small talk after this, and Angus finally left.


    Leon went back to his table and started to think of his plans for the future.


    His original plan was to win the duel for the Byron Clan. Then he would take the opportunity and leave Snorlax in their care at the Castle in the Sky. After all, Leon couldn''t possibly stay at the Castle in the Sky for long periods of time. Snorlax, as a goblin, would also find it virtually impossible to make a name for himself if left alone.


    It might be rude and pushy to put forth such a request if the expected esoteric duel was canceled and the promised rewards already given to him


    How was he supposed to leave Snorlax in the Castle in the Sky then?


    It was important to note how much force was needed to defend your place in the Castle in the Sky. There was a Second Grade Mage from the Byron Clan stationed in their shop! If even such a force found it hard to defend themselves, how was a goblin with no combat ability whatsoever to survive in this savage and competitive place?


    The more Leon thought about it, the more he realized how far ahead of himself he was getting.


    He was alone right now. The two so-called subordinates he had were extremely weak. One was only a pseudo-Mage, and would soon be starting a ''Battle of Fate''. Her fate was unknown and unclear as of yet. The other had Mage-level Spirit, but had absolutely no way of using it in combat.


    These two were completely useless when it came to conflicts.


    Right now, Leon was in the process of improving his abilities and influence. He needed to gather all the strength and resources he had, cultivate them, and ensure that all his resources would grow and increase in number. He didn''t have any excess energy to set up for the future.


    If the Mage force he envisioned succeeded in the future then it would be possible to do so, allowing him access to more options in the future. However, what he should do right now wasn''t to spread his energy too widely. He had to pull back all the fingers he had extended outwards and form a solid fist to ensure that his each and every punch would be a powerful blow!


    ...


    2010 Words

 Chapter 282 - 282: Castle

    Twenty days later.


    Leon was extremely excited to see the legendary Castle in the Sky. He woke up early in the morning, had his breakfast, and quickly hurried to the deck.


    The deck was already crowded with people. Even the Mages who always hid within their rooms had appeared in the crowd. Everyone was silently waiting for the Castle in the Sky to appear before their eyes.


    The flying ship wove between the clouds. White fluffy clouds were shredded into pieces as wind particles were ejected from the magical arrays, leaving a white path of clouds behind the ship as it continued forward.


    All of a sudden light shone upon the excited crowd.


    The ship had passed through the clouds and into a clear stretch of sky.


    The sky was so blue.


    Gray roads ran in every direction across the endless grass fields. Alchemical castles were scattered across the fields, and pastures filled with cows and sheep could be seen everywhere.


    And right in between the heavens and the earth was a great, magnificent, holy, and yet mysterious, city floating in the air, silently awaiting their arrival.


    From a distance, the Castle in the Sky looked just like an upside-down pyramid. The top was large and round, while there was an edge at the bottom of the structure. The bottom of the city was clearly dirt that had been dug from the ground. All of the dirt had been turned into the shape of an inverted mountain after receiving the magical treatment.


    A massive lake of nearly seven square kilometers could be seen right below the Castle in the Sky.


    With just a single look at its size and shape, anyone would easily be able to infer the origin of the Castle in the Sky!


    There was some sort of repelling force field around the Castle in the Sky. All the clouds floating in the sky were pushed aside by an invisible barrier in the air when they neared the Castle. There was a complete absence of any clouds within a fifteen kilometer radius of the Castle.


    The ship had plunged right into this absence from the layer of clouds.


    An odd sound of grinding gears rang out in mid air, and several massive boulders that had been suspended in the air slowly moved towards the ship.


    "This is the first inspection before we are allowed into the Castle. Everyone, please do not resist, and in particular, do not attack those robotic guards!" A silver-robed Union Mage loudly instructed the Mages on the ship. Due to some sort of mysterious spell and authority he had been granted on the ship, his voice was transmitted to every single lifeform here, even though he wasn''t all that loud. Even those Mages who remained shut in their rooms were able to hear him.


    Robotic guards?!


    Leon looked at these huge rocks doubtfully.


    There were five of them in total.


    Each of the boulders were three meters tall and two meters wide. Their surfaces seemed fairly rough, with dirt and sand mixed between the cracks of the rocks. There were even some vines and small plants that grew on them. They looked just like boulders that had been removed from the peak of a mountain.


    However, the moment they reached the boat, their true nature was revealed. Blinding light emanated from within the rocks, and countless complicated rune patterns and magical symbols appeared on their surfaces. The boulders started to shake and tremor, and pieces of rock started to shift and move to reveal several black holes on the boulders.


    Some metallic arms extended from the holes and reached towards the ship.


    A strange bloodshot biological eyeball moved about at the ends of the robotic arms. These eyes moved from right to left as they scanned everything within sight.


    The eyeballs let out a strange blue ray as they slowly scanned every single person on the ship.


    The five boulders surrounded the ship, keeping a perfect perimeter around it. A complete net of blue light enveloped the ship, making sure that nothing went unnoticed. Even the thick hull of the ship wasn''t able to stop these blue rays. Even the people in the cabins were completely exposed to the eyeballs.


    Of course, the Mages had already heard the Union Mage''s reminder, and none of them tried to cast spells to obstruct the blue light. These rays were clearly a sort of low-level magical scan. They were usually used to identify lifeforms, as well as check for magical effects such as Concealment, Transformation, and parasitic lifeforms. None of the Mages'' secrets would be probed.


    It was all well and fine when it scanned the Mages. However the blue ray stopped for a moment when it reached Snorlax. An identity talisman that hung around Snorlax''s neck started to shine with a magical brilliance of its own, and the blue light continued its scan. The alarms had not been triggered.


    Leon had specially visited the silver-robed Mage to get his hands on this talisman.


    Without it, beings of other races such as Snorlax the goblin would find themselves buried underneath bureaucratic procedures and red tape. The magic emblems of his contracted master Leon, as well as the guarantor Mage Angus, were contained within the talisman. If Snorlax lost this talisman, he would either be detained or exiled by the guards of the Castle in the Sky.


    The inspection didn''t last for long.


    The boulders retracted their metallic arms once the blue light had scanned every inch of the ship. Once again they transformed back into ordinary-looking rocks levitating in the sky as they slowly left.


    Leon looked around the area. Almost every ship that made it out of the clouds was surrounded by several robotic guards and had to undergo inspection. The brilliant blue light could be seen on every single ship.


    Their ship continued forward after the inspection was completed. It slowly closed in on the landing platforms on the outer circle.


    As the distance continued to decrease, the mysterious veil over the Castle in the Sky was slowly lifted and its true face was revealed before the eyes of the Mages.


    Most of the Mages here had already read of countless descriptions of the Castle in the Sky. However, they were still stunned by its sheer scale and magnificence when they saw its true appearance.


    If one were to look from above, the Castle in the Sky looked just like three rings, each contained within another. These rings clearly segmented the city into three distinct parts. These was likely the inner circle, the central circle, and the outer circle!


    All the fantastical buildings were built along these rings. Every single piece of land there was worth their weight in gold. Numerous buildings and plants were packed together tightly on every inch of the land, leaving no space unused. The area between the three large circles had been partitioned by a sort of mysterious power. It was virtually impossible to cross through with sheer force. The only way across was to use the special bridges built between the circles.


    Looking down from Leon''s angle, there were plenty of wooden buildings hidden in the shade of the trees. Yet at the same time there were also plenty of stone houses and futuristic metallic architecture. Tall towers, round and dome shaped palaces, odd and bizarre architecture from the cultures of other races... this place looked like some sort of exhibition for unique buildings. All sorts of strange and exotic buildings could be found here.


    The crowd, as small as ants to eyes up in the air, walked through the broad white streets. The city seemed to be extremely lively.


    An actual mountain had even been moved into the inner circle. Several massive and magnificent feats of architecture had been constructed on that mountain. They had the high ground, looking down intimidatingly upon the entirety of the Castle in the Sky.


    Some more boulders levitated above the Castle in the Sky. These were even larger and bulkier. They seemed to be guarding the numerous entrances above the Castle. Several Mages could be seen entering and exiting through those entrances as they rode on their massive flying mounts.


    Leon surmised that the mountain location was a military facility where the soldiers were stationed. It was probably part of the huge and strict defense system here.


    The smaller alchemical guards existed in even larger numbers. They were part of the city, along with the massive load-carrying birds in the sky. They were what made up the orderly and bustling city.


    The flying ship was stopping at a flight platform on the outer circle.


    There were one of these platforms almost every two and a half kilometers. Numerous ships landed and took off from these platforms, filling the place with activity.


    Leon, Lucy, and Snorlax walked down from the flying ship under Angus'' lead. They stepped upon the clean and spotless marble floor of the Castle in the Sky. They looked at the fantasy scene right round them, their faces still full of wonder and disbelief.


    Warm sunlight shone down from above, showering this alchemical city in its warmth. Countless shards of light reflected off of the surface of the beautiful buildings.


    This made the Castle in the Sky seem that much more gorgeous, like a city shrouded in gold and glory!


    Most of the people walking past Leon and the others were also Mages. Some apprentices were mixed among their numbers, and even some beings of other races walked in the crowd, dressed in opulent and elegant clothes. Ordinary men weren''t even allowed to set foot upon this city. After all it, was a great city. One that represented the greatest alchemical achievements of the World of Mages.


    Leon paid extra attention to the workers on the flight platform. The workers doing their best to remove the cargo were tall and powerful steel statues, every single one. They might be a little clumsy, but they were tens and even hundreds of times more efficient than their human counterparts.


    The ones coordinating their actions were apprentice Mages.


    It was fairly clear at this point. The lowest class citizens in this Castle in the Sky were these apprentices!


    Several alchemical carriages stopped before them, right after Leon and the others stepped out of the flight platform.


    Golden carriages, golden wheels, golden servants. Even the two horses drawing the carriage were golden in color...


    The two handsome golden horses stopped before Leon. They let out a snort and stomped their hooves, just like a real horse would.


    However, Leon was able to see much more than their appearance with his Spiritual sense.


    These weren''t actual lifeforms. They were alchemical creations, or commonly known as alchemical lifeforms.


    "We will meet at 167 Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street!" Mage Angus was the first to hop onto a cart. He gave a slight nod in Leon''s direction before driving away into the distance.


    The alchemical horses, despite being made completely of metal, were not dull or slow in their actions in the slightest, even when they were at the height of their sprint. Their tough metallic hooves didn''t even ring out as expected when they trod against the clear marble floor.


    The carriage was like a small raft in a lake. It calmly and quickly navigated through the crowd and soon disappeared into the city.


    Leon looked upon this fantastical scene before him with a tremendous shock in his heart. He couldn''t help but be reminded of the fictional sci-fi worlds back on Earth. The chip, too, had been ringing non-stop ever since he left the ship.


    "Beep, discovered unknown alchemical creation... "


    "Beep, detecting unknown force field... "


    "Beep, detecting unique lifeform... "


    "... "


    Every thing here had completely exceeded his expectations. He felt like he had been placed in a future version of Earth itself.


    Did arcane knowledge, when brought to its limits and fullest potential, ultimately end up back on the same path as technological civilizations? sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucy was uncontrollably shouting and pointing at everything she saw while Leon was frozen in thought. She couldn''t help but gasp in wonder every time she saw a mysterious object she had never seen before.


    Snorlax on the other hand, was crouching on the floor, touching the alchemical carriage and inspecting the horses. He even used his teeth to bite into the carriage and the wheels, just to confirm his suspicions about the material. The infatuated smile on his face betrayed his thoughts. Snorlax must have believed that he had arrived in the legendary city of gold!


    "Let us go as well!" Leon closed his eyes for a moment to calm himself down, before turning to give instructions to his two followers, "Let''s settle down at a place before we go out to tour the city!"


    The three got into the alchemical carriage before them.


    "To 167 Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street!"


    The alchemical carriage immediately started moving the moment Leon gave his orders!


    ....


    2158 Words

 Chapter 283 - 283: Combat

    They sped through the streets.


    The carriage afforded them a perfect view of the scenery outside.


    Dark and moist caves, twisting and slanted wooden huts, tall fortresses of solid stone, alchemical castles full of mystical elements... everyone felt like they had walked into a city of fantasy. They could see mysterious and strange buildings everywhere along the streets.


    There were plenty of people walking to and from some of the buildings. These places were extremely lively. On the other hand, some of these buildings were too scary and grim and there weren''t very many customers walking into them. There were even some buildings that had such bizarre designs that it was hard to even determine their purpose...


    It was clear that the Silver Union hadn''t set any regulations on these lands after they sold them. If someone wanted to turn it into a shop after they bought it, it was their choice! Turn it into a warehouse? They could do as they like! There was absolutely no problem either if they wanted to temporarily convert the building into a haunted house!


    As long as you paid your rent on time, and ensured that your business did not, in any way, compromise the Castle in the Sky, no one cared what you did on your own land.


    This was probably the main reason for all of the peculiar architecture in the outer circle!


    The Castle in the Sky was split into the inner circle, the central circle, and the outer circle. The respective areas they took up was in a ratio of 1:3:6. The outer circle had the most surface area among the three. The total number of shops leased to the non-Union members numbered three hundred and forty eight.


    This might seem like a lot, but it was a meager amount when split between everyone on the Continent that wanted one of the shops.


    The demand for land was extremely competitive, especially when you considered the parties involved in the competition. There were plenty of terrifying individuals who didn''t belong to any Mage organization who were looking for a place to settle here. These fellows were often powerful Second Grade Mages who weren''t willing to be subjected to the restraints and obligations of belonging to a group. There were even Third Grade Mages among these people.


    Thus, it was particularly important to be cautious about every single inconspicuous person and shop you saw in the outer circle. If you had no idea of their background and identity, it was best to not offend them. Manners should always be upheld. A slight misstep and you could offend one of these powerful individuals keeping a low profile. These people had plenty of tricks up their sleeves to kill you without being found out.


    The alchemical cart slowly stopped before the Byron Clan''s shop.


    "Two magic crystals!" The alchemical steed turned around and spoke in human tongue.


    Leon was surprised for a moment, but quickly tossed two magic crystals in the horse''s direction. They swallowed the crystals and slowly galloped away.


    An apprentice was already waiting on the spot. The Byron crest pinned on his chest told Leon that this was the right location. The apprentice quickly led Leon and his party into the backyard. Most of the shops here served several purposes at once. The front of the buildings were stores, while the backs were constructed as residences.


    Byron Materials!


    The store''s name was simple and efficient. The main products of the store were the unique resources from the Underground World. In particular, the most valuable materials they sold were the Nighteye Stones and Ghost Mushrooms.


    A middle-aged female Mage was waiting for Leon in the backyard. Her appearance was fairly mediocre, but the red robe she was wearing was extremely eye-catching. However, what stood out even more was her strength!


    Leon was slightly shocked for a moment when he saw her for the first time. He quickly walked forward to greet her with the proper Mage''s greeting.


    Even the usually bold and audacious Lucy was being respectful. She dragged Snorlax all the way to the other side. She didn''t dare to even eavesdrop on the conversation between the two Mages.


    "You are the golem master that Angus hired? You seem really young, aren''t you?!" The female Mage in the red robe asked coldly.


    "My greetings to Lady Nunnally! I am Leon, an Mage of the Sarubo Clan."


    "You don''t seem to be an esoteric Mage!"


    "Indeed, my Lady! I am an elementium Mage. It was only because of my unique insights on elementium golem creation that I caught the eye of Mage Angus."


    "Elementium golems? Those things probably aren''t as powerful as metallic golems, are they? Do you have any confidence in the esoteric duel this time?" Even though the red-robed lady was a Second Grade Mage, she was extremely hesitant when it came to these specialized areas of knowledge.


    "Mage Angus has already informed me of the situation on the way here. It seems something has happened to the duel... "


    "Nothing has changed!" The red-robed female Mage replied firmly, "They were far too demanding with their conditions. There is no way we could have accepted them! The duels will continue. Now, I ask you, do you have any confidence of beating the enemy''s golem knight?"


    "My lady, I wish to take a look at the statistics and abilities of the enemy''s golem before I give you my answer." Leon put some thought into it, but didn''t give a direct answer.


    "This is for you!" Lady Nunnally tossed an image-recording crystal to Leon, and gave a frigid ultimatum, "You have a single night to think this over. Give me an answer tomorrow morning. If you are not confident in beating the opponent, we will have to find some way to get an actual esoteric master to represent us!"


    Esoteric masters were specialized Mages. A golem master who was an esoteric master would be someone who had already decided on golem creation as his main profession. These people might be extremely weak themselves, but all of their golem creations were extremely powerful.


    Trying to hire an esoteric master within the Castle in the Sky was a very difficult task! The number of resources and favors that needed to be called in was unbelievable. If the Byron Clan had to resort to this measure, their victory would be an agonizing one. They would probably have to give up all of the store''s income for the next ten years to pay back the debt they would accrue in doing so.


    However, this shop was a crucial existence for the Byron Clan.


    Other than the profits from selling resources from the Nigond area, the shop was also a shortcut for the Byron Clan when purchasing resources from all over the continent. All of the Mage resources used within the clan would probably be cut in half the moment they lost this foothold at the Castle in the Sky.


    It would be ten times harder for the clan to cultivate their Mages then.


    This was extremely disadvantageous for the development of an Mage clan!


    The Second Grade Mage of the Byron Clan was understandably nervous and upset about this whole affair.


    Nightfall.


    Leon hid within the residence that the Byron Clan had prepared for him, earnestly and carefully browsing through all the contents within the image-recording crystal.


    Contained within the crystal was an image recording of the opponent''s golem knight in action.


    The battle didn''t last very long, but it was enough for the chip to glean large amounts of useful information for Leon to use.


    The chip successfully retrieved the basic statistics and attributes of the golem knight after combing several times through the details.


    Golem Knight.


    Combat Golem. Awakened Construct.


    Three meters in height.


    Made entirely with some sort of metal that gleamed a dark black color. The appearance of the golem was that of a knight''s. It had heavy armor, a shield in its left hand and a sword in its right. Its melee combat abilities were far superior when compared to ordinary magical statues and golems.


    Basic Attributes: Strength 14 | Agility 9 | Physique 12 | Spirit 7 | ...


    This was a combat golem that had undergone several modifications and enhancements. Not only did it have an immortal body made of magical alloy, it even possessed terrifying amounts of strength. However, the most troublesome aspect of the golem was its intelligence insane combat instincts!


    Indeed, this cold and metallic golem made purely of magical alloy surprisingly possessed elementary intelligence. Calling such a thing a magical golem was a slight to its true nature. The more suitable name for it was a construct lifeform.


    A construct lifeform that had undergone several construct awakenings. A construct lifeform that possessed elementary human intelligence. Of course, if it was able to raise its intelligence that much more, pushing its Spirit from seven points to eleven points, it would immediately go from a construct lifeform to a metallic lifeform.


    A unique lifeform with metal for a body and elementium energy for blood¨C a metallic lifeform!


    Construct lifeforms were still considered as servants of Mages. However, a metallic lifeform was of equal status to the Mages.


    Ordinary golems couldn''t possibly possess intelligence. Their creators would have to mix in some powerful spiritual consciousness during the Construct Awakening to create a certain chance of the golem awakening to elementary intelligence. It wasn''t possible to create intermediate intelligence with any magical means known to Mage-kind. The golems would have to slowly evolve and improve upon their intelligence to raise it to intermediate.


    The Golem Knight shown in the image crystal didn''t just seem to possess elementary intelligence. It even seemed to have retained some battle techniques belonging to actual knights. This was a clear indication of the golem''s origin. The spirit consciousness that the opposing esoteric Mage had awakened in the body of the Golem Knight was most definitely the soul of a high-grade knight.


    Moreover, it would have to at least be a Second Grade knight!


    It was virtually impossible to find such a powerful knight on the Continent of Mages. The soul could only have come from a lesser plane.


    Moreover, the enemy spared no cost or resources when constructing the golem. Even the shield and sword it held in its hands were rare, valuable products.


    The heavy tower shield was mainly made using Mansordar Alloy, famed for its resilience and toughness. The magical resistant Star Iron was mixed into the shield, allowing it to have fearsome physical and magical defensive abilities.


    The knight''s longsword was made purely of eternium. It might be slightly softer when compared to the Mansordar Alloy, but it was an extremely good conductor of magical energy. The sword made it very easy for the golem to cast its battle techniques. The edge of the sword had even been plated with a layer of adamantite, giving it basic Piercing and Armor Reduction effects.


    Honestly, this sword and shield pair could already be considered as elementary magical weapons. They were so much more powerful than the usual magic-infused weapons.


    Even Leon wasn''t as confident as he had been after witnessing the impressive performance of the Golem Knight. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just the rare metals used in creating the Golem Knight would cost at least 70,000 magic crystals. If we were to include the time and effort put into its creation, along with the soul of the Second Grade knight, the golem alone would cost a 120,000 magic crystals at the very least.


    The Second Grade Molten Giant Core that Leon had used in creating the Infernal Tyrant couldn''t possibly sell for more than fifty thousand magic crystals.


    Even though Leon was reluctant to do so, he had to admit that his Infernal Tyrant didn''t seem to have a chance against the Golem Knight, even when considering his odds from every perspective and every angle.


    Just the amount of resources spent on their creations was enough to tell of the massive difference in their abilities!


    ...


    2009 Words

 Chapter 284 - 284: The Mushroom

    The basic attributes of the Golem Knight were as follows: Strength: 14 | Agility: 9 | Physique: 12 | Spirit: 7


    The Infernal Tyrant, on the other hand had: Strength: 9 | Agility: 7 | Physique: 11 | Spirit: 18


    Each of the golems had their own respective advantages.


    The Golem Knight was extremely strong and powerful, with a tough shield and a sharp sword. Its melee battle techniques would also make it very easy for the golem to endure the bombardment of spells and close in on the enemy. However, it only had seven Spirit. This meant that the amount of energy it had stored within itself wouldn''t be enough to sustain its consumption over a long period of time.


    This was perhaps its only flaw!


    The Infernal Tyrant, on the other hand, had sufficient Physique and Strength to roll over most Mages and golems. However, these statistics were utterly pathetic when compared to the Golem Knight. That said, it had a massive amount of Spirit that allowed it to continuously cast spells without fear of running out of energy. Still, the Tyrant was probably inferior in combat against the Golem Knight.


    Of course, this was mostly because of the difference in their equipment!


    The Golem Knight''s body was made of ordinary magical alloy. This was the only way they could have done it. They had no other choice. After all, if all three meters and seventy six tons of the metallic golem were made with Mansordar Alloy, the cost of creating the Golem Knight would probably go up by about five times.


    The Gerto golem master had used magical alloy to forge the golem''s body and gave it a tower shield made of Mansordar. This was to lower the manufacturing cost while also maximizing its combat potential. In doing so, the golem master had ensured the best balance between cost and combat strength. The insertion of the high-grade knight''s soul further cemented the utter dominance of the Golem Knight among golems of the same grade.


    The Infernal Tyrant was better at long-ranged attacks in comparison.


    Thus, the battle between the two was actually very similar to a fight between an elementium Mage and a body refining Mage!


    The Infernal Tyrant''s elementium body wouldn''t be able to endure the blows from the fearsome adamantite sword, if the Golem Knight got close. The Infernal Tyrant would be severely weakened if its body was torn apart. Victory would truly be out of reach then!


    As such, the key factor to victory in this duel was the Tyrant''s ability to keep its distance from the enemy and slowly wear it down with a continuous bombardment of fireballs.


    Still, this was too precise of a control and combat strategy for the Tyrant to execute, even with its eighteen points of Spirit. Intelligence was not entirely the same as wisdom. This was something that all Mages knew very well!


    If Spirit was all that mattered, why would there be a need to accumulate knowledge day after day? Why should Mages dedicate their efforts to improving their battle and casting techniques? All that the Mages would need to do was hide in their Mages'' tower, drinking their potions and meditating endlessly to increase their Spirit...


    Thus, if Leon wanted to have the Infernal Tyrant perfectly execute this strategy of kiting and harassing its opponent, he would have to do it himself. He would have to be in the fight. He would have to control the Infernal Tyrant''s body and use the chip''s powerful calculation abilities to execute a complete beatdown.


    And if Leon wanted to carry this out, he would have to do some modifications and adjustments to the Infernal Tyrant!


    The second day.


    A long list of items was placed before Lady Nunnally when she appeared before Leon.


    Contrary to Leon''s expectations, the Second Grade Lady Nunnally wasn''t upset at his demands at all. She was extremely happy and excited, and quickly turned around to order Angus to gather all the items for Leon.


    It seemed that Lady Nunnally had been humiliated in the previous negotiation with the Gerto Clan. This was why she utilized all her authority to fully support Leon when he indicated his confidence in the duel.


    The fight was scheduled to happen seven days later. There wasn''t much time left for Leon!


    ...


    Liana''s Mushroom Cottage.


    This was the home of a witch, located in the middle of a small, dark swamp.


    A land of no more than seven thousand square meters felt like a massive black swamp due to the effects of certain strange magical arrays.


    There were pungent and murky pools of water all over the ground. The thickness of the slowly flowing water was extremely disgusting. Wet mist rose from the ground, gathering all over the dark swamp and blotting out the warm sunshine that was everywhere in the Castle in the Sky. The dark swarp appeared all the more gloomy because of this.


    Leon held Alice''s hand as they slowly walked between these pools of mud. He didn''t dare to let the murky water touch either of their legs.


    The chip''s data had already informed him of the true nature of this liquid. All of the pungent water was poison with extreme lethality. Even the air within the swamp had been filled with poison. An ordinary person would have instantly died if they took a single breath of the air here. Only an Mage like himself could continue breathing like normal.


    Still, every time he took a breath, the intense heat within his body would have to kill thousands upon thousands of poisonous and harmful viruses. His body was no longer afraid of these biological poisons after it was elementiumized! Consequently, every time he exhaled, a visible breath of black air would be expelled along with his breath.


    These were the corpses and remains of the dead viruses.


    Most of the resources for modifying the Infernal Tyrant had already been prepared by the Byron Clan. However there were still some rare materials that were missing. According to Lady Nunnally, the Second Grade witch that lived here in this Mushroom Cottage, Liana, had stocked up on some of these materials. This left Leon with no choice but to personally visit Liana.


    The reason Lady Nunnally gave for not visiting herself made Leon completely speechless.


    Lady Liana seemed to be a witch with a really odd witch complex. She had an extreme and utter disdain and hatred for all ''fake witches''!


    In her opinion, only those that upheld the traditions and beliefs of the ancient witches, and those with the legacies of the ancient witches could be considered true witches. The truth of the witch''s path was in their choice of fate and their subservience and loyalty to the Witch Queen. Those who no longer believed and hailed the Queen as their patron could only be called female Mages, not witches.


    Unfortunately Lady Nunnally, who called herself a witch, was one of the individuals that Witch Liana hated so much!


    Leon could already see through the mist and the trees before he even set foot in the dark swamp. He could vaguely make out the Mushroom Cottage. However, there was still an odd and vague distance between himself and the cottage, despite walking for awhile and frequently changing his direction as he went.


    He turned back and looked, but even the entrance he came from had completely vanished.


    The dirty water started stirring, as if some odd magical creature was moving beneath. The ghost trees started waving in the wind as well, creating an extremely frightening atmosphere!


    Leon could feel the shivering from Alice''s hand and smiled, "Are you scared now, Alice?"


    "Hmph! I''m definitely not scared!" Alice was still keeping up a tough front, "You think I have no idea of the tradition of us witches?"


    "What tradition?"


    "All the witches believe in the Witch Queen. All killing is forbidden between fellow witches. Those who break this rule would become the common enemy of all witches!"


    "Oh? There was such a thing?" Leon asked curiously, "Then if it was you who accidentally fell into the poison puddles, would it be considered their fault?"


    "Of course! Otherwise, any witch would be able to use such ''accidental'' means to get rid of other witches they don''t like!"


    Alice had just finished speaking when a cloud of white mist quickly gathered by the pool of water beside her. The mist formed into the shape of an elderly'' woman''s face. It was a hideous and deathly pale face.


    "Little brat, don''t be so sure of your words. You aren''t a real witch as of yet. Killing you wouldn''t be a violation of our vows!" The old witch in the mist cackled sinisterly.


    "But I''m already a candidate for the Witch of Fate now! If you kill me, that would be considered interfering in the selection of the Witch of Fate." Alice might look young, but she was still extremely knowledgeable. The words she spoke rang true.


    "Aren''t you a feisty one? Very well. Thanks to this little brat, I''ll make an exception and meet you two!"


    The pool of murky water quickly returned to being a pool of water after the old witch said that.


    The ghostly trees started to let out screeching noises as they slowly crawled to two sides, revealing a path as they did so.


    The Mushroom Cottage appeared right before them all of a sudden, cutting right through the mist.


    Leon held Alice''s hand as they walked forward onto a gray grass field in the middle of the swamp. The Mushroom Cottage was located in the middle of this field.


    The field wasn''t very large. It was only about seven hundred square meters in size.


    The Mushroom Cottage was even smaller. It was only one and a half meters tall and less than five meters in radius.


    However it wasn''t the size of the Mushroom Cottage, but rather its rundown condition and crudeness that surprised Leon. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This Mushroom Cottage resembled one of those broken huts you''d see in the ghettos of the poor.


    It was crumbling and slanted, with plenty of cobwebs hanging off the roofs. Even the moss and other plants that grew on the Cottage appeared to be pale and deathly, without any signs of life.


    "Come on in! The two of you." A piercing old voice came from within the house.


    Leon grit his teeth. He had no other option but to bend down and enter the Cottage with Alice.


    To his tremendous shock, the inside of the house wasn''t as small and cramped as he expected. Even with his height, he was still able to stand straight. There was even fifty centimeters of space before he hit the ceiling.


    The Cottage also had a second layer on the inside. Leon could see through the cracks and make out a crude and simple study room.


    A large pillar stood in the middle of the house. It was twisted, slanted, and filled with moss all over.


    A massive, ugly cauldron was boiling above a roaring fire pit in a corner of the house. Its contents seemed to be some sort of unknown green soup. There were all sorts of odd contents bobbing about the pool of liquid. White eyeballs, the arms of unknown creatures, and even human skulls...


    An indescribably pungent odor hung in the air. Leon''s took a single breath and his face went green.


    Dammit, there was poison in this soup!


    ...


    1911 Words

 Chapter 285 - 285: Contract

    Leon had to drink three or four antidotes before completely getting rid of the poison within his body.


    Even he, with his elementiumized body and powerful resistance to poison, he had to stop breathing in order to not take in any more of house''s air.


    However, Lucy had a completely different reaction to the smell. She was standing on her toes, trying her best to take in as much of the ''heavenly smell'' as she could. It was as if she was smelling the most delicious and fragrant delicacy in the world. If it wasn''t for Leon holding her back, Lucy would probably already be gorging on the stew in the cauldron.


    Leon took a quick look around the cottage.


    Several black metal hooks were hanging down from the ceiling. All kinds of jars and bottles of various colors were hanging from the metal hooks. The containers were filled with a dark and murky liquid, with the eyeballs of various magical creatures soaking in the jars.


    There were both large and small eyeballs, flat and round ones, and even some with eyeballs dragging their bloody veins behind them as they swam to and fro within their containers...


    A large green jar swinging before Leon''s eyes had a giant''s eyeball immersed within the liquid. Leon could tell this was a giant''s eye because of its sheer size. A single eye alone had taken up all the space within the one meter tall jar.


    The massive eye even blinked when Leon walked forward to take a closer look!


    "Beep. Detecting high-energy magical organ... initial estimates suggest the organ to be at Second Grade!"


    "Are you able to tell what creature this eyeball belonged to?" Leon silently conversed with the chip.


    "Beep. Data reference and examination completed. Estimates: Cyclops, 63%... Beholder, 21%... Evil Giant, 4%... the remaining matches only have a 1% compatibility. Is there a need to display the data?"


    "No need!"


    The Cyclops was a fearsome giant that had both powerful physical strength and tremendous control over the earth. A Cyclops might be slightly weaker and smaller than the Hill Giant that Leon saw in the Black Forest, but it had the odd ability of petrification.


    This was what made it an extremely powerful Second Grade magical creature!


    As Leon''s vision continued to move about he noticed a wooden desk in another corner of the room. It was extremely messy and disorderly. There were plenty of ink bottles tipped over, spilling ink all over. Numerous yellowed scrolls and parchments spread across the table. A massive and unstable stack of books, so high it almost touched the ceiling, was teetering on the verge of falling....


    A strange witch with messy hair was crouched upon this equally messy table. She wasn''t very tall. In fact, she might have been slightly shorter than Lucy. The witch had to stand on the tall wooden stool to be seen.


    She seemed to be wearing a black Mage''s robe.


    However, Leon couldn''t even be sure of this!


    The wrinkled robe she was wearing was just way too dirty and stained. There were oil stains, ink blotches, and all sorts of unknown potion stains on the robe. The original color of the robe had already been completely covered by a thick layer of dust and dirt. Only a single trace of an elegant and beautiful golden thread at the corner of her robe suggested that this was an Mage''s robe.


    Leon had even suspected, when he first saw her, that Witch Liana was a member of the Death Witches. After all, he had seen far too many items related to death ever since he walked into this cottage. However Lucy, who was still holding his hand, had secretly told him the truth using a mental connection. Liana was a Witch of Despair. Her area of expertise was hope and revival.


    Well, it might be a little out of his expectations, but Leon had to silently accept the truth!


    "Tell me your intent in coming here! You aren''t the first fool to trespass into my Swamp of Darkness, but you are the first one to be able to make it here alive. If you don''t have a good reason for this intrusion, kehkehkeh... " A sinister laugh slipped from the old witch''s wrinkled face. Her set of yellow and missing teeth were revealed as she smiled. Still, Leon was more terrified by her eyes. They were like those of a dead fish; not budging even a single inch.


    "Respected Lady Liana, I am here because I wish to purchase a bottle of Dead Soul''s Water. I heard that your Mushroom Cottage was the only place in the Castle in the Sky where I could get it. This is why I had no choice but to risk your displeasure to stand before you!"


    Leon could only tell the truth when placed before a crazy and powerful witch like Liana. Who knew if this hag had some disgusting spell she could use to verify the truth of his words.


    "Dead Soul''s Water? The one used to protect wandering and exposed souls from damage once they left their bodies?" The old witch stared at Leon with her stale dead eyes and commented coldly, "It seems you have already done your research before coming here. What do you wish to exchange for a bottle of Dead Soul''s Water?"


    "A top-grade Nighteye Stone, a twig from a Tree of Life, and a hundred grams of Stardust from the Spaceworld." Leon didn''t dare to hesitate. He instantly took out all of the items that were prepared for the trade. Of course, none of these items were his possessions. They were materials given to him by the Byron Clan.


    The Dead Soul''s Water was a Second-Class Rare Material. Its market price was around seven thousand magical crystals. All three of the objects Leon offered were worth above three thousand magic crystals each. When put together, they were more than enough to purchase Dead Soul''s Water.


    Unfortunately, the only person in the entire Castle in the Sky who could synthesize the Dead Soul''s Water was this Lady Liana. The success of the trade depended on her mood. Leon held his breath and waited for her reply after placing three crystal boxes on the table.


    "A fair price! However..." A sinister smile suddenly appeared on the old witch''s face, "I am not in a good mood today, so I choose to refuse your offer!"


    "..."


    Leon felt utterly speechless for a moment.


    He didn''t dare to argue with such a terrifying Second Grade witch.


    "Hey, old hag, don''t go overboard!" Lucy couldn''t help but interrupt their conversation, "The stuff we are offering you is already worth way much more than you Dead Soul''s Water. What reason is there to not accept the trade?"


    Leon''s face changed. He quickly pulled Lucy behind him and shielded her.


    "My lady, she is only a child. Please forgive her for her ignorance!"


    "What are you scared of?" Lucy was still running her mouth off behind Leon, "She''s a witch and I''m a witch candidate. My identity alone guarantees that she won''t kill me! Why should I be afraid of her?"


    "Kehkehkeh... interesting. Very interesting... " The old witch let out a cold laugh, "It''s been so many years, and this is the first time someone has been so arrogant before me. Young boy, I''ll make an exception and give you a chance. As long as you turn this little brat''s magical contract over to me, I''ll give you a bottle of Dead Soul''s Water. How is it? Pretty good conditions, aren''t they?"


    All of a sudden, Lucy''s body trembled. She tightened her grip on Leon''s hand and no longer dared to speak anymore.


    Leon forced a smile as he slowly backed away, "Lady Liana, Lucy is only a companion of mine accompanying me on this trip. We... "


    The old witch Liana extended a wrinkled and ghostly right hand at them before he could even finish speaking. She made a grabbing motion in the air. Leon and Lucy simultaneously felt a sting in their souls. An illusory and intangible magical contract suddenly appeared, hovering in the air.


    "A slave contract!" Blood red light gleamed in the depths of the old witch''s deadly dull eyes, "Well, aren''t you a brave one!? To think of enslaving a candidate for the Witch of Fate. Do you intend to humiliate all the Northern Witches in doing so? If you dispel this slave contract and hand over that pathetic excuse of a loser, I''ll let you leave alive. I''ll even let you leave with the Dead Soul''s Water. Otherwise don''t blame me for getting rid of a certain loser for the sake of the dignity of all witches!"


    The entire Swamp of Darkness started trembling at her words.


    Thicker and heavier mists started to rise from the ground, causing the already dim house to go completely dark.


    Leon felt all of the magical eyeballs in the various containers turn and look towards him at this very moment. A suffocating feeling of death hanging above his head rose in his heart.


    "Speak! Will you hand over the contract and leave with the Dead Soul''s water, or will you die right here on this very spot? Speak... " The old witch''s fearsome voice echoed within the small and silent cottage, sending chills all the way to Leon''s bones. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Gegegegege...


    Slight sounds of chattering teeth rang out from behind him.


    Even the reckelss and fearless Lucy was frightened now.


    The subtle tremors in the air started to become more and more frequent. Perhaps with only one more second, Lucy would be able to open a spatial rift large enough for both of them to escape.


    Sadly, there was no such thing as ''perhaps'' when you were confronted with a Second Grade witch!


    The spatial rift disappeared the instant it appeared.


    Psst. The spatial rift hadn''t even stabilized before it disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, leaving a bright green mark glowing in the air.


    "Now you think of escaping? Kehkehkeh... too late!" The old witch extended a finger, and a ghostly face made of gray smoke instantly appeared beside Leon. The apparition laughed sinisterly as it dove into Leon''s body.


    The next second, Leon froze. He could feel his intimate connection with the fire elementium being completely cut off. As if... as if he had suddenly been placed in an anti-magic barrier, and there was no longer any fire elementium around him.


    Leon''s tall body stumbled, almost falling to the ground.


    Having completed the elementiumization of his body, there was no difference between himself and fire elementium. He was fire elementium, and the fire elementium was himself. Now that his Spiritual connection with fire elementium had been cut, Leon didn''t even have the energy to support his own weight.


    Dammit, there was such a flaw to body elementiumization? Why have I never heard of this in any of the books I read? Is this the ability of high-grade Mages? The ability to cut off the connection of lower-grade Mages to their elementium particles?


    Leon lost a lot of strength now that his connection to the fire elementium was severed. He pressed his arm against the twisted pillar to support himself. This was the only reason he didn''t collapse to the ground.


    Hissssss...


    An odd sound came from beneath as a massive black Python thicker than his leg crawled up the pillar and found its way around Leon''s arm. The black python rose its head high, slowly closing in on Leon''s face.


    Leon could even feel the pungent breath brushing against his face when the python hissed.


    The old witch''s voice rang out once more.


    "Last chance to make your decision! Hand over the contract, or...


    "Die!"


    ....


    1962 Words

 Chapter 286 - 286: Witch

    "Beep. Detecting intrusion of unknown forcefield. Host''s Spiritual senses are rapidly weakening."


    "Beep. Detecting dangerous high-energy magical lifeform closing in. Recommending the host keep distance from said lifeform."


    "Beep. Detecting foreign mental-suppression-causing intimidation effects on the host. Requesting instructions from host. Counter-attack?"


    "Beep. Detecting... "


    "..."


    Liana''s death threat rang in his ear, and the chip in his mind continued to beep ceaselessly. Repeated alarm bells went off in his head, almost driving him insane.


    However, it was precisely the danger and urgency of the situation that caused Leon''s Spirit to become even sharper and more focused.


    Leon was surprised at what he was seeing. His elementium sight provided him feedback based on the enemy''s hostility. The entire Mushroom Cottage was painted a bright red, as every single possible minion of the witch was glowing crimson. However, only the old witch''s crooked and short body was reflected in his vision as... a huge yellow spot!


    Red represented hostility. The deeper the color, the greater the hostility of the enemy. Green represented friendliness, while yellow was neutrality. Yellow meant that the opponent didn''t have any strong opinions towards him.


    How was this possible!


    The old witch was literally placing him at the brink of death. It seemed like she was able to kill him the very next second. How was it possible that she was neutral towards him?


    As Leon was still stuck hesitating, the yellow spot quickly started to turn red.


    It seemed Leon''s hesitation had angered her and cause her to slowly become more and more hostile towards him!


    No. No. This old witch''s goal isn''t as simple at this. She wasn''t too keen or eager on killing him, even after discovering that Lucy had signed a slave contract with him. She was still neutral. It was only when he started hesitating that she actually contemplated killing him...


    Leon''s mind rapidly turned as he scoured his heart for every single tradition and secret of the Witches of Despair that he knew of.


    Leon asked probingly, "Will Lady Liana let me go if I willingly let go of this contract?"


    The old witch might have the odd ability to force the magical contract to materialize, but there was no way she had any way to change the contents of the contract.


    After all, magical contracts were fundamental rules protected by the planar laws. It was only when the two parties involved in the contract willingly gave up on the contract that it could be dispelled. Even a Great Mage had no means of bypassing the planar laws to modify or get rid of the contents of a contract.


    Leon had merely expressed his intent to give up on the contract and he could already see Liana turning into a bright red spot under his hostility vision.


    "Very good! Very good!" The old witch''s voice suddenly became gentle, "You can let go of the contract now. Once the contract disappears, the girl stays, and you can leave with the Dead Soul''s Water!"


    If it wasn''t for the chip''s amazing hostility sensor, Leon might actually have been tricked by her facade. The old witch might have expressed approval, and even squeezed out an ugly smile, but Leon knew the truth. He could feel the shivers running down his spine as he gained a perfect understanding of her true feelings.


    Now that he knew what she was looking for, Leon immediately acted without hesitation.


    "Uelr Ar!" Leon made a grabbing motion with his left hand as he shouted. The Scroll of Voodoo silently appeared in his hand. The thick grimoire instantly opened, and its tough kraft paper pages rapidly flipped over and over. Soon the book stopped on a certain page.


    Scarlet light glowed on the book. One by one, each and every rune, symbol, line, and image on the page started to glow. The shape of a boiling fireball rapidly appeared above the page. Crimson radiance gathered about and filled the shape. The silhouette slowly turned into a real fireball. A fearsome, one meter in diameter fireball.


    Leon guided it with his Spirit, the Explosive Fireball instantly locking onto the old witch and her sinister smile. It whistled as it was launched across the air.


    There was less than five meters between the two. The fireball was fast and furious. It had appeared before the ugly witch almost the very instant it was fired.


    At the same time, Leon waved his left hand and pushed Lucy towards the door of the Mushroom Cottage. He whispered silently and quickly, "You leave first. I''ll follow after you as soon as I can. Hurry... "


    Lucy was completely stunned and confused by what was happening.She turned around to look in a daze as she ran towards the door.


    All of these actions might have seemed extremely complicated and lengthy, but it lasted no more than two or three seconds for everyone involved.


    The Mages were known for their Spirit. The speed of their thought processes were much faster than the average person. The extreme detail their Spiritual senses could go into allowed them to think and move extremely quickly. While the ordinary person might still be stuck in thought, an Mage would already have gone through seven or eight lines of thought and would already be putting those thoughts into action.


    Leon continued to monitor the old witch''s reaction through the chip''s sensors.


    There was a powerful forcefield around the witch. There was no way the chip could see through the forcefield and observe anything about her intent. However, when the witch was using every bit of her Spiritual strength to suppress and beat down Leon''s Spiritual senses, the chip was able to use the minor and subtle changes in the Spirits and elementium around them to do a quick, basic analysis on her intent. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An ability that afforded Leon such detail might not be very useful in an actual battle.


    With how powerful the Second Grade Liana was, Leon couldn''t possibly endure a single Second Grade spell. Even if he was able to analyze the enemy''s intent, would it matter? He still wouldn''t be able to block or dodge the attacks.


    The difference in their strength remained!


    Combat techniques and experience only mattered in a battle between equals. A battle with someone above his Grade? That was an act of pure suicide!


    Leon''s use of the chip to monitor Liana''s hostility wasn''t for the purpose of winning the fight. It was to verify his theory on the witch''s actions!


    As expected, when Leon ''courageously'' attacked Liana, the hostility coming from her quickly dissipated. And when Leon tried his best to ''protect'' Lucy and let her leave, all of the remaining hostility disappeared. The yellow color was even starting to shift towards a light green, indicative of friendliness.


    Bingo. He made the right gamble!


    Leon was rejuvenated by the sight of this. He immediately turned and ran without hesitation.


    Now that the stage had been set, it was up to the old witch on how to conclude the act!


    A short moment later, Leon and Lucy were bound by the terrifying black python and brought back to the witch.


    To Leon''s shock and horror, the fearsome black python was also a Second Grade magical creature. Moreover, it seemed to be Liana''s magical pet. It shook and its tail, and its black and scaled snake''s tail extended up to a dozen meters. It easily bound Leon, who had lost all his spellcasting ability, and dragged him back along with Lucy.


    The Explosive Fireball that Leon fired from his Scroll of Voodoo was swallowed by the black python in a single bite. The fireball exploded, and the only thing that happened was some slight black smoke came out of its nostrils.


    It had swallowed and devoured an explosive fireball and had not sustained a single injury. Leon was utterly terrified. His confidence that came from killing a Second Grade knight on the knight''s plane was instantly shattered into a million pieces.


    Dammit! Why was there such a massive difference between Second Grades from the World of Mages, and the Second Grades of other planes!?


    "Not bad! Kehkehkeh... " A frightening smile appeared on the old witch''s face, "To raise a hand against a Second Grade Mage for a little brat. No wonder this little brat was so willing to be your slave! Not bad. Not bad. Not bad at all... "


    Confused expressions appeared on Leon''s and Lucy''s faces. They were completely dazzled by what was happening.


    However, only one was truly confused. The other one was just putting up an act!


    The old witch Liana looked at the two people staring at her in confusion and leapt off the wooden bench with difficulty. She walked to the wooden table. She held a long staff in one hand, and lifted the black robe dragging against the ground with the other. She narrowed her eyes as she assessed the two, before nodding in satisfaction.


    "I know both of you are extremely confused. Still, this old hag doesn''t have that much time to explain to either of you. Hey. Kid. Your little maid will need to stay here at my place for up to ten days. You can come and fetch her ten days later! I''ll properly educate her on how to become a true witch in this time! And you... can leave."


    Witch Liana waved the staff in her hand and Leon felt light flash before his eyes.


    He found himself standing alone at the entrance of the swamp the very next second.


    With a black pot in his arms!


    Leon raised his head. The mist was getting heavier. It was hard to see through the Swamp of Darkness anymore. A complex and indescribable feeling was betrayed in his eyes.


    A short moment later, he shook his head and left.


    ...


    Seven days later.


    Guriad Arena.


    As a specialized arena for esoteric duels, Guriad Arena was famous throughout the outer circle. Many esoteric Mages loved to come here and settle their disagreements with a good duel.


    Today, the Byron Clan from the Zhentarim Dagon area and the Gerto Clan from the north of the Silver Union''s territory were using a golem duel to fight over possession of the right to stay in the Castle in the Sky.


    If the Gerto Clan won, the Byron Clan would lose their last outpost in the Castle in the Sky. They would no longer have any ability to purchase resources from the very center of the Silver Union. If the Byron Clan won, the Gerto Clan would have to pay massive compensations as the challenging party.


    It was said that the amount of resources at stake was enough to bankrupt a small clan!


    That was why this particular golem duel had drawn the attention of numerous shop owners and Mages stationed in the city.


    Some of them wanted to personally witness the fall of the Byron Clan, while others only wanted to collect some data on the battling golems. The fight hadn''t start yet, but already the seats were sold out.


    ...


    1844 Words

 Chapter 287 - 287: Arena

    A circular amphitheater, an oval stage for combat, an impenetrable energy barrier, and an arena full of passionate spectators...


    Guriad Arena. In terms of design and architecture, it wasn''t much different from Leon''s past life memories of the Colosseum.


    When Leon finally entered the arena alongside the Byron Mages the whole arena went silent. The Mages and apprentices remained quiet in their seats, assessing Leon and the Byron Mages with odd and doubtful gazes.


    Some Mages who were familiar with each other couldn''t help but start murmuring when they saw Leon. Leon could only see their mouths move, but not a single sound came out of their throats. It was obvious that they were communicating using magic.


    "No need to get nervous! The Byron Clan will help you deflect any kind of variable or interference that might come from the outside. You just do your best to beat the opponent." Mage Nunnally ground her teeth as she sent a voice transmission to Leon, "Remember, you must win!"


    Even though she knew that this would probably put more pressure on Leon, the path to retreat was already shut off for the Byron Clan. Thus, after giving Leon a wicked and mean ''encouragement'', Nunnally sat down and waited for the outcome in silence.


    Angus let out an awkward laugh. He looked at Leon with an expression that suggested at the complexity and difficulty of the situation, but he didn''t say anything more.


    The stage where combat took place was around five hundred meters in diameter. The floor had also been magically hardened. The entire place could endure the chaos and damage caused by a fight between two magical golems. There were about two hundred seats in the spectator stands. All of them were already filled. There were about forty to fifty Mages amongst them, while the rest of them were elite apprentices from various clans.


    A commotion started up just as Leon was calmly observing the place.


    "Here they come! It''s here... "


    "Quick, look! That thing is here again... "


    "We get to see the Golem Knight in action again ..."


    "..."


    The noisy voices of chattering Mages and apprentices filled the arena as they talked about the Golem Knight.


    Leon stopped looking around and turned to see the opponent he was about to face. A tall and powerful metallic golem entered the arena, following behind a group of Mages. The group hadn''t even gotten close, yet already Leon could hear the heavy footsteps of the metallic golem and the unique sound of its grinding joints.


    There were seven Mages in all, both male and female.


    All of them were wearing an emblem with a roaring bear''s head on their chest. These were the Gerto Clan Mages.


    The one walking at the very front was a bald and muscular man wearing a thick and heavy bronze armor. As a Second Grade Mage himself, he was the clan leader of the Gerto Clan. His eyes clashed with Mage Nunnally the moment he walked into the arena. A deep-seated hatred was carved into his gaze.


    Leon couldn''t help but have suspicions when he saw this happening. There were probably some other tensions and conflicts between the two clans other than the bet with the golem challenge. At this point, there was no longer any room to back out. Thus, Leon gave up on mulling over unnecessary thoughts and shifted his attention to his opponent¨C the golem master and his Golem Knight.


    Leon''s eyes swept across the seven Mages and quickly identified the golem master.


    Of course, this wasn''t because the golem master was any different from the other Mages. He had already seen a portrait of this golem master in the information the Byron Clan provided him with.


    This was a short, crafty old man with wrinkles over all his face and a white goatee below his chin. Leon could sense his aura. He didn''t seem to be much more powerful than Leon himself. His Spirit probably didn''t even exceed ten points. Otherwise there was no way Leon would be able to detect the strength of his aura.


    Leon had finally gotten a basic understanding of First Grade Mages after all this time.


    One could be considered an Mage once they successfully formed their Mage core and were able to sense the strength of the planar laws. Under normal circumstances, a newly advanced Mage would have no more than one point of Spirit. The basic condition for becoming a Second Grade Mage was raising that one point to twenty-one points.


    Thus, the greatest amount of Spirit that a First Grade Mage could have was twenty points!


    A First Grade Mage at their very peak would have twenty points of Spirit, while a newly advanced Mage would only have one point of Spirit. Although true combat ability wasn''t defined purely by the amount of Spirit, the difference between an Mage at their peak and a rookie Mage was still extremely obvious.


    First Grade Mages would often treat the first ten points of Spirit as a threshold for a certain standard. Mages that passed this threshold of ten points were called elite Mages. Those who never crossed this threshold would almost always remain as rookies and amateurs.


    The Mage Anderson that died at the Leon''s hands, on the other hand, had advanced for three hundred years already. Yet he still hadn''t manage to break the threshold of ten points. These fellows that had no potential for improvement could only be known as veteran Mages, even to their graves. They had no qualification to call themselves ''elites''.


    In truth, nearly sixty percent of all First Grade Mages on the Continent were unable to cross this threshold in their entire lifespan.


    The Gerto golem master before him, Rouneau, had already exhausted most of his life force, yet his Spirit remained on the level of any other Mage. It was clear that he had no chance of breaking through to Second Grade.


    This was one of the awkward truths that esoteric Mages had to face.


    They spent too much time searching for the best formulas, scouring for their ideal rare metals, ceaselessly improving and modifying their golem arrays, and trying their best to forge the ultimate golem... every single one of these tasks were enough to grind away at the years of an esoteric Mage. All of these tasks added together would quickly exhaust the entire lifespan of an esoteric Mage''s brilliant and amazing life!


    Thus, in general, there were very few Third and Fourth Grade Mages amongst the esoteric Mages, and even fewer Great Mages above Fifth Grade.


    Even most of the high-grade Mages that the Silver Union had right now didn''t advance to their level through their own efforts. It was mostly because they made immense contributions in their research that they were able to get the Union to invest heavily in them. Most of them were high-grade Mages that had risen to their level through the accumulation of an uncountable number of resources.


    These people were known as the Chosen Ones among the esoteric Mages!


    This was a source of hope for those who were untalented and unfavored. If they knew they had no hope for advancement, they could throw themselves into their research as esoteric Mages. If they ever came up with an innovative branch of knowledge, or a new line of thought, they could possibly be noticed by the Silver Union Senate, and be selected as a Chosen One.


    Sadly, Golem Master Rouneau was not someone with immense potential either. He had not been selected as a Chosen One. This was why his power was almost equal to Leon''s, despite his seniority. He even seemed to be slightly weaker than Leon.


    However, the fight today was a fight between golems, not a fight between their masters. Leon took a quick look at Rouneau and shifted his gaze to the Golem Knight behind him.


    This was a metallic golem that had the appearance of a human knight. Platinum-colored armor, a full helm, and a massive sword and shield on its back. Its movements might not have been as agile and smooth as humans, but they were far more organic than your regular golem.


    The silver-robed Mage waiting by the stage spoke, seeing that both parties had arrived.


    "Now that you have both arrived, please let your chosen esoteric Mage enter the stage! Remember, Mages are not allowed the attack each other. Only your golems are allowed to fight with each other. Any party that violates the rules will be awarded the loss. Please be careful with your spells! Very well, you may enter the stage now!"


    The silver-robed Mage might only be First Grade, but he represented the Silver Union. Even the Second Grade Mages of the two clans didn''t dare to be disrespectful to him. Leon and Rouneau quickly stepped up and stood before the silver-robed Mage.


    The silver-robed Mage looked at the Golem Knight first. An expression of great desire and admiration appeared on his face. However he couldn''t help but be stunned for a second when he looked towards Leon "You are Leon? Representing the Byron Clan? Where''s your golem?"


    Leon took a summoning core out of his belt and threw it to the ground. The sound of a fiery explosion rang out, and a massive and powerful giant rose from the flames, standing silently beside Leon.


    "An elementium golem!"


    "To fight an magical puppet with an elementium golem. The Byrons must have gone mad... "


    "Indeed. Are the Byrons such fools? To use an elementium golem against a magical puppet... "


    A wave of noise rose as chattering and murmuring spread throughout the crowd, quickly drowning the Byron Clan Mages with their voices.


    Mage Nunnally coldly scanned the entire place with her Spiritual flux. All the clamoring died down instantly. A Second Grade Mage was almost always respected, regardless of where they went. Before they humiliated and insulted the Byron Clan, they would have to consider whether they had the ability to endure the wrath of a Second Grade Mage.


    Everyone had a clear understanding of the situation.


    The Byron Clan had clearly sent an elementium Mage to this duel. The golem he used for the duel was even an elementium golem. Either of these factors alone were enough to lose them the duel. Both of these factors together probably spelled certain defeat.


    So what if an elementium Mage was good at a fight? The Mages weren''t allowed to cast spells at any target but their own golems in an esoteric duel. The strength and prowess of an elementium Mage was completely wasted here. Moreover, the elementium golem had too weak of a body. It wouldn''t be able to endure the violent and brutal blows of the magical puppet. It seemed that today''s outcome had already been sealed in fate.


    The silver-robed Mage couldn''t help but let out a sigh and waved his hands to have the two enter the stage.


    Rouneau led the Golem Knight onto the stage and Leon brought his Infernal Tyrant along with him. A temporary entrance had been made in the barrier, and the two entered from there.


    As the entrance slowly disappeared, the arena once again became an enclosed space.


    When looking from the inside, a grey barrier of light had completely covered the place. The view of the outside had also been obscured by a layer of mist. Neither Leon nor Rouneau could see the spectators nor hear any of their noise.


    This was set up to prevent outside interference in the duel! S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Leon brought the Infernal Tyrant to one side of the barrier and waited for the start of the duel. He turned just in time to catch the sinister smile on Rouneau''s face.


    "Kid, you had best yield quickly! Don''t get too heartbroken when your golem is torn to pieces!"


    Leon shook his head as he laughed. He had no intention of talking to someone that was about to lose to him.


    "I hereby announce, that the duel has started!" The silver-robed Mage''s voice rang out within the stage.


    Leon instantly took out a vial of grey potion and swallowed everything in one gulp.


    ...


    2027 Words

 Chapter 288 - 288: Golems

    Everything went black for a short two seconds.


    When he finally regained consciousness, he was placed within a crimson sea of fire.


    No, he hadn''t been thrown into a fire, but... it was his spirit consciousness had been inserted into the Infernal Tyrant''s control core. He had become an actual Infernal Tyrant!


    The crisp mechanical voice of the chip rang out in his mind the moment he woke up.


    "Beep. Spirit relocation completed. Connection passage stable. Consciousness relocation complete. Compatible affinity.... all factors have reached expected targets. Requesting instructions from host. Begin control? Warning. Amount of Dead Soul''s Water protecting spirit consciousness is limited. Estimated time remaining for spirit relocation: 2 hours, 17 minutes, 39 seconds. Countdown begins... "


    A giant screen of light filled with numbers appeared in his mind. The countdown timer until the effect of the Dead Soul''s Water was lost was written in the notification.


    "Assert complete control over this body. Prepare for battle!" Leon calmly replied. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His Spirit frequency quickly adjusted and Leon was finally able to ''see'' everything that was happening.


    The ''Leon'' right now was no longer in his original body. He had transferred all of his spiritual consciousness into the control core of the Infernal Tyrant.


    Without the nurturing of the body''s flesh and blood, a human''s soul would typically fall into a state of constant weakening and withering. The reason Leon had to obtain the Dead Soul''s Water was to protect his soul from the cold chill of the crystal core. Without it, he probably wouldn''t have been able to exert enough strength to win the battle!


    It was a patch of bright red the moment Leon relocated his consciousness. He couldn''t see anything or hear anything. It wasn''t until he adjusted his Spirit frequency to that of the Tyrant''s that he was able to sense anything.


    The Infernal Tyrant was an elementium golem. The way it ''sees'' and ''listens'' had massive fundamental differences compared to human beings. They might have humanoid features such as a mouth, ears, and nose. But these were just appearances that the Tyrant imitated with the use of its flames. The main way it sensed the outside world was with the use of Spirit.


    Why was it that even a cold metallic golem needed the Spirit attribute? That was because Spirit was the only thing that allowed them to sense the material world, to differentiate between enemies and allow them to carry out the orders of their creators. Without Spirit, a metallic golem would be nothing more than a deaf and blind golem with no ability to see or hear!


    Leon had been put into an elementium body, and removed from his familiar human shell. Without his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, he could only rely on the powerful Spiritual senses of an Mage.


    Leon''s spiritual appendages extended from the control core, following along the energy network within the Infernal Tyrant''s elementium body, and finally reached out of the Tyrant''s head, where the eyes were supposed to be. Every single material object was revealed in their most basic and original forms.


    The world that had lost its color, feeling, taste, and temperature was presented in Leon''s mind in a completely different form.


    He ''saw'' the floor beneath him in a different manner, he ''saw'' the various elementium particles wandering about in the air in a different light, and he ''saw'' the enemy waiting on the other side of the stage¨C the Golem Knight!


    A intense and brilliant shroud of light enveloped the Golem Knight''s body. Powerful energy radiated colorful and blinding lights, preventing Leon''s spiritual appendages from probing into its body.


    However, with the elementium sight''s powerful ability to see through energy and the chip''s detailed recording of every single piece of data, Leon slowly became able to see through the body of the Golem Knight. The metallic armor started to become semi-translucent. Some energy passages flowing within the runic circuits were revealed.


    Bright surges of energy were flowing through the numerous circuits. They continued to surge and circulate throughout the body, providing needed energy to all parts of the golem''s metallic form. There were even some small energy hubs functioning and outputting energy in certain crucial body parts. These hubs stored the energy and then output energy to entirety of the golem''s body. Pure and bright yellow energy coursed through these artificial ''blood vessels'', allowing the Golem Knight to exhibit terrifying combat prowess!


    The Golem Knight''s main energy reaction was located slightly below the middle of its chest, while its consciousness control hub was located where a human heart would be. That part of its body was protected by the thickest pieces of armor. Trying to break through the armor with physical and magical attacks from the outside was destined to be an arduous and futile task.


    Still, someone had to do the job, regardless of how difficult it was!


    Leon''s consciousness moved slightly, and the huge Infernal Tyrant instantly took two steps forward. Its giant fists of flame were gripped tightly into a fiery ball of destruction as it bent its body and let out a warcry at the Golem Knight.


    As Leon completed his battle preparations, Rouneau in the distance had also given a series of commands to the Golem Knight before him. He patted the golem''s cold steel back and shouted excitedly, "Fight, my warrior! Defeat the enemy and tear that flame giant to pieces... "


    The Golem Knight reached backwards with its hands as Rouneau shouted. It grabbed the massive tower shield and sharp knight''s sword and readied itself. The Golem Knight then bent its body and charged at the Infernal Tyrant like an actual human knight.


    A three meter tall metallic magical puppet and a four meter tall flame golem charged at each other simultaneously. The overwhelmingly ferocious momentum of the fight instantly lit up the atmosphere in the arena. Even the apprentices in the spectator''s seats were gripping their fists in excitement, gritting their teeth and waiting in anticipation of a fiery fight! A tremendous clash the likes of two planets crashing into each other!


    The distance between the two rapidly closed.


    The Infernal Tyrant, with its mastery over the elementium, quickly extended one of its hands. A chain of Explosive Fireballs fired off, shooting towards the charging Golem Knight. This chain of fireballs were all the size of washbasins. The temperature at their cores reached a terrifying two thousand degrees. The surrounding air had already been twisted and the light refracted by the sheer heat of the fireballs shooting through the air.


    The Golem Knight raised the tower shield in its left hand and braved the gauntlet of fireballs, recklessly continuing its crusade towards the enemy.


    Beng. Beng. Beng....


    The Explosive Fireballs crashed against the shield and exploded. Violent and oppressive flame shockwaves formed as they blew up in the air. Again and again, the shockwaves spread across the air between the two golems. The shattered fragments of the fireballs landed on the hardened stone floor and continued to burn stubbornly.


    Dong. Dong. Dong...


    Muffled explosions rang out repeatedly, but the Golem Knight had made it. It stepped through the sea of fire, enduring the violent storm of flames, and charged at the Tyrant.


    The very next second, a blinding and fearsome blade light sliced through the air. The giant flame humanoid had been cut into shreds of fire.


    Boom. The sound of a fire coming to life.


    The Infernal Tyrant appeared far behind the Golem Knight, under Leon''s control. The Infernal Tyrant continued staring at the enemy a hundred meters away. It was still following through its downward slash. The Tyrant raised a magma hand shrouded in flames as an unstable Magma Fireball formed in less than half a second.


    It shook its hand lightly, and this enhanced Magma Fireball launched towards the Golem Knight''s back. The Tyrant then took a step backwards and made a grabbing motion with its hands. Several spears of flames with mesmerizing patterns across their shafts quickly formed as the flames gathered. The Infernal Tyrant ceaselessly threw the spears at its opponent.


    The Golem Knight quickly locked onto the Infernal Tyrant once more, with the help of Rouneau''s remote control of the puppet. It turned around and easily deflected the rain of spears, then readied its sword and walked towards its enemy.


    As the two golems were playing catch-up, Rouneau raised his head to look at Leon, who was standing still at the edge of the stage. He let out a cold laugh in his heart, "Spirit transfer? Heh. This might make your golem a little more agile, but the golem core will be destroyed when you lose this battle. The spirit consciousness nested within will take tremendous backlash damage when that happens. The effects are severe for a newly advanced Mage like yourself. If you are lucky that might mean a reduction in your Spirit, and if you are unlucky, your spirit consciousness might just be shattered, turning you into a madman. Hmph! What an ignorant young man. I''ll teach you a lesson you will never forget!"


    Leon once again used his Fire Teleportation to put some distance between himself and the Golem Knight. The originally clumsy fellow suddenly made a sharp turn and quickly locked onto the Infernal Tyrant''s location. A massive amount of energy was ejected from its back.


    The energy blast pushed the Golem Knight forward, and its clumsy body suddenly became quick as a bird in flight. It shot through the air like a cannonball, carving two ditches into the ground as its leg dragged against the floor. It was almost upon the Tyrant in less than a few seconds.


    Five meters!


    In all seriousness, this was the first time the two golems had been so close to each other since the start of the fight.


    The next moment, the Golem Knight placed the shield on its back and gripped the sword with both of its hands. It unleashed a ferocious series of blows towards the Infernal Tyrant.


    Leon slowly retreated.


    As he retreated, he used the roaring flames to slowly roast the metal body of the opponent. He continued to dodge the storm of lightning-fast attacks as he did so.


    Any other golem might have been able to rely on their resilient steel bodies to trade blows with the Golem Knight. However, the Tyrant only had a body made of elementium. It didn''t matter how resilient the body was, it would never be able to compare to the true steel of the opponent.


    The Infernal Tyrant lost one-tenth of its elementium body in a few seconds.


    The intense flames and scorching heat from the Tyrant''s body had also started to soften the golem''s body. The decorations and delicate patterns at the borders of the armor had already been marred and damaged.


    That said, the damage wasn''t significant at all. The Golem Knight had a metallic body as thick as four fingers put together. The magical alloy also had decent elementium resistance. The Infernal Tyrant would probably have to keep at it for another fifteen to thirty minutes before it could melt through the armor with its flames.


    And so, the two gigantic Mage golems crashed together in a deathly battle under the excited gazes of the crowd!


    ...


    1879 Words

 Chapter 289 - 289: Battle

    The ravaging flames continued to spread across the stage into a sea of fire.


    Two massive creatures fought with each other in the middle of the flames.


    Both of them were golems without a single piece of flesh on their bodies, yet the intensity of their fight was still enough to excite the audience.


    The Golem Knight was a melee golem. It might have had some mid-ranged attacks, but against a powerful opponent like the Infernal Tyrant, it would have to connect with its blade to deal any significant damage. The Golem Knight gave up on its defensive tower shield. It had to prevent the opponent from using Fire Teleportation to leave its attack range, and the only way to do that was to stall the Tyrant by going all out with its sword techniques.


    Every time the Infernal Tyrant wanted to disengage with a Fire Teleportation, it would be interrupted by a savage battle technique. The Tyrant would then be forced to stay in place and endure the ceaseless blows from the Knight''s sword.


    Its flaming left arm was severed and instantly regenerated...


    The two legs below its body were cleaved into two and instantly regenerated...


    The blade cut right through the Tyrant''s right shoulder, sending flaming sparks through the air, and it instantly regenerated...


    A massive hole stabbed into its stomach and it instantly regenerated...


    The Infernal Tyrant was the most loyal and resilient target practice. One by one, it used its flame body to endure the slashes from the rampaging knight. It did so even as flames went flying everywhere and sparks filled the air.


    As expected of a terrifying golem born from fire; the Infernal Tyrant bled flames even as it was repeatedly injured. Its severed arm fell to the ground and burst into a massive fire. Its legs exploded into a sea of flames. Even the ''blood'' flowing out of its wounds was boiling magma.


    Fire!


    Fire everywhere!


    Extreme flames that burned without fuel. The Tyrant''s severed body parts became a fearsome threat when paired with the Ring of Fire, which had been activated around the Infernal Tyrant. A hundred meter section of the battlefield had already turned into a black and red world of perpetual magma.


    The hardened stone floor had been scorched into viscous magma. The temperature of the air rapidly rose as the fires continued to burn. The temperature surrounding the two golems had reached a shocking seven thousand degrees.


    All substances unprotected by magic would instantly vaporize at this terrifying level of heat. Even the stone floor, enhanced with magic, couldn''t endure the heat. It started to become magma. The two golems were practically fighting in fire and lava.


    In truth, the Infernal Tyrant could probably still escape from the Golem Knight''s harassment by using both Leon and the chip''s precise controls. Still, Leon gritted his teeth and stood his ground in order to reach for the final victory.


    Indeed, at this point, it was hard to tell who had the upper hand!


    The Golem Knight boldly hacked away at the Infernal Tyrant. Every slash of its longsword, and every punch of its massive fists, would bring tremendous destruction to the Tyrant''s flame body. The severed body parts might be able to regenerate using flame elementium reserves within its core, but the loss of flame energy was certain. It was hard to replenish these energies from the air in a short period of time. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The reason the Infernal Tyrant was able to rapidly create a home-field advantage for itself was due to this rapidly exhausting fire energy.


    Leon had only been focused on one thing as he controlled the Tyrant during this period of time!


    Leon had locked onto the Golem Knight''s right knee joint and was focusing the Blazing Light gathered in his hand right at that joint. He intended to use the fearsome and pure Blazing Light to melt the metal at the Golem Knight''s knee joint, causing the metal to distort under the heat and the stress of the weight it had to bear. This would severely weaken its mobility.


    It seemed that Golem Master Rouneau had used a humanoid design in the creation of the Golem Knight. This gave it swift limb movements and made it convenient for the golem to launch some of its more powerful knight battle-techniques. While this gave the Golem Knight agility far beyond the means of other ordinary metallic golems, it also inherited the flaws of a human construction.


    Its joints were its greatest weakness!


    Both the energy reactors and the control cores were hidden beneath its thick armor. This was where its defense was the strongest. Ordinary attacks could not break through its tower shield and knight''s sword to crack that shell. As such, Leon went for the second best option and tried his best to damage the opponent''s lower joints.


    Mansordar Alloy was also used to create that part, and it had the same defensive capabilities as the magic-resistant tower shield. However, even the toughest of metals had their limits! The Infernal Tyrant was a top-grade golem casting the fearsome Blazing Light. Even if the Golem Knight intended to protect its joints, it was no match for Leon''s mad resolve to melt it with overwhelming heat!


    The two temporarily separated from each other after fifteen minutes of arduous fighting. Both of them were already badly damaged and could hardly continue fighting.


    The Infernal Tyrant had lost 46% of its energy reserves and certain parts of its body had already been destroyed over ten times. With the help of the chip''s detailed sensors and guidance, the Tyrant was wounded, but not dead. The golem core was still untouched.


    The Infernal Tyrant, despite its miserable appearance, was quickly able to return to peak condition after consuming 7% of its energy reserves. The Golem Knight on the other side of the arena also seemed to be in decent condition. After stepping out of the lava pool, it quickly brandished its sword and charged at the Infernal Tyrant.


    Just like that, the second round broke out in a new battlefield outside of the lava pool!


    The audience of Mages and apprentices silently watched. Their expressions were somber and serious. For the first time since the fight started, they had lost their confidence in the outcome of the battle. That was because they saw very clearly what was happening. The Golem Knight''s knee was no longer as flexible as before, when it had initiated its second charge at the imposing flame golem.


    Rouneau, who watched from a distance, was completely shocked at the situation. This wasn''t how the fight was supposed to go!


    As a golem master himself, Rouneau knew very well the strengths and weaknesses of metallic golems.


    Ordinary metallic golems were made of magical alloys with exceptional physical defense and acceptable magic resistance. This ensured that they had a perfect defense against piercing and slashing weapons, such as swords and spears. However, such golems were vulnerable to blunt, heavy weapons. They couldn''t endure the ferocious blows of maces, axes, and flails for long periods of time. The impact of such heavy blows could easily damage and displace the magical arrays and runic circuits within the golem''s body.


    This was why most ordinary magical puppets and animated statues were made to be as round and large as possible. They used their thick metallic bodies and heavy weight to bear the brunt of heavy blows and to reduce the impact on their fragile inner makings.


    Rouneau had fused a high-grade knight''s soul into the Golem Knight in order to maximize the benefits from using a precious Mansordar tower shield and a magical sword. The Golem Knight had been created with the slim figure of an agile fighter to bring out the soul''s combat abilities.


    The weakened defense could be compensated for by the tough tower shield. This Golem Knight had both the offensive abilities of an agile fighter and the defensive abilities of a shieldbearer.


    It was because of the knight soul''s exceptional defenses, offense, and battle techniques that the Golem Knight had the powerful combat strength to crush the golem constructs of two shops in a row.


    Still, he never expected his Golem Knight to face an enemy as powerful as the Infernal Tyrant at this time and place.


    The enemy''s elementium golem demonstrated unimaginable prowess in melee combat under the precise control of its golem master. One golem was a metallic puppet made of steel and iron, while the other was an elementium golem shrouded in flames. Yet the Golem Knight was unable to gain the upper hand in a melee fight!


    Rouneau saw what had transpired earlier. The flame-being had dodged every single one of the Golem Knight''s powerful battle techniques, even before they were launched. The flame golem had even used parts of its body to minimize the damage from the attacks it couldn''t dodge. None of the attacks could exhibit their true might.


    The Tyrant''s attack, on the other hand, was firm and stubborn. It continued to damage the Golem Knight''s joints and weaken its mobility.


    Rouneau couldn''t help but feel his heart burn with anxiousness as the two massive creatures continued to wreak havoc on the stage.


    Initially, he was still able to remain silent and uninvolved in the fight between the two. After all, the knight''s soul inside the puppet was far more proficient at combat than he was!


    However, Rouneau went into a rage when he witnessed an infuriating scene. The fearsome flame golem had traded a massive wound on its body for more minor damage to the knee joint.


    Dammit! This enemy even knew how to trick the Golem Knight''s battle instincts!


    The Golem Knight would always be faced with choices in battle; whether to strike and inflict more damage on the opponent, or to defend and prevent the enemy from continuing to wound its leg.


    But the flame humanoid was always exposing its own weaknesses to the Golem Knight and tricking the Knight into attacking it. While the Knight was preoccupied with dealing damage, the flame golem would slowly dole out damage to the knee joint, little by little.


    The Golem Knight only possessed a rigid soul that was the product of a forced fusion. It would recklessly continue to attack as long as it judged that the damage it caused greatly exceeded the damage it received. This particular trait was being exploited by the accursed flame golem.


    The opponent exhausted large amounts of its energy reserves to trade for some insignificant damage on his golem. However, the damaged location was extremely unique. It was the Golem Knight''s right knee joint.


    Rouneau didn''t dare leave the Golem Knight to its own devices once he understood what was happening. He forcefully gave a new command and made the Knight prioritize defending or dodging when its legs were attacked


    Unfortunately, the Infernal Tyrant was already counter-attacking at this point!


    ...


    The image before Leon''s eyes shook intensely.


    Multiple beeps rang out in his mind as the chip continued to issue alarms and warnings.


    "Beep. Warning. Warning. 78% of energy reserves exhausted. Estimated combat time remaining: 25 minutes, 17 seconds."


    Leon had let the Infernal Tyrant suffer tremendously in order to try and cripple a single leg. Sadly, even after exhausting most of the Tyrant''s energies, the opponent remained wounded but not crippled. It still retained powerful mobility and offense.


    The Golem Knight had also become increasingly careful under Rouneau''s instructions. There were fewer chances for the Infernal Tyrant to attack.


    At this rate, the opponent only needed to defend and counter-attack, and they would be able to exhaust all of the energy remaining in the Infernal Tyrant.


    Leon gritted his teeth and decided on a gamble! A risky gamble to turn the tides!


    ...


    1965 Words

 Chapter 290 - 290: Destruction

    Wuuu.


    The knight''s sword slashed at the Infernal Tyrant, causing violent winds to blow in every direction.


    The blade missed by fifty centimeters, but the ferocious air pressure still sliced apart the protective layer of fire on the Tyrant''s chest. A white mark was left behind on its chest.


    The sword had just swept by, and already the tower shield slammed into its face. Again, even before the shield had arrived, the powerful wind pressure had already put out the flames on the Tyrant''s body.


    Even the insignificant air appeared to have turned solid at this moment!


    The energy reserve bar in Leon''s mind instantly fell by 2%. He had no choice but to give up on enduring the shield slam and quickly retreated. He frantically threw out Explosive Fireballs as he backed away, preventing the enemy from following up on its previous attack. Two Solar Rays shot out from the Tyrant''s eyes and sliced horizontally towards the Golem Knight''s neck.


    Explosive Fireballs continuously exploded between the two golems. The concussive flame shockwaves caused the two giants to stall in place, like tiny rafts rowing against the tide. It was hard for them to take a single step in the elementium storm.


    An Explosive Fireball could deal over 70 points of damage and was no small threat, even to an official Mage. However, neither of the magic golems were damaged by the multiple explosions.


    One was a metallic golem made of steel and iron. It could completely ignore all damage under 80 points. Any damage above 80 points would also be mitigated and reduced by the magical alloy''s magical resistance. An attack had to deal at least 100 points of damage to have any hope of leaving behind a visible wound.


    The Infernal Tyrant, on the other hand, was completely immune to weak fire damage. Only swift and fierce physical attacks, like those from the Golem Knight, could cause lasting energy loss.


    Leon hadn''t fired the Explosive Fireballs in hopes of dealing damage to the enemy. Rather, he was counting on the shockwaves from the explosives to break the Golem Knight''s combo chain. Otherwise, there was a real possibility that the Tyrant could just be chained to death.


    This was the truly fearsome skill of high-grade knights!


    You were never sent flying with a slam of a shield or the slash of a blade when you engaged in a melee. Once they landed the first battle technique on your body, you would lose all control over the fight. The only option left would be to slowly retreat backward as they continued to overwhelm you with their lightning-quick slashes until you were sliced to ribbons.


    Leon''s Tyrant hadn''t managed to dodge this string of attacks in the last bout. It was chained several times by the Golem Knight and instantly lost 17% of its energy reserves. Thus, Leon was now always primed to fire some Explosive Fireballs to interrupt the Golem Knight''s chain skills.


    Leon was now able to predict the Golem Knight''s actions to a certain extent. He used his elementium sight''s ability to see the flow of energy within its body as well as the chip''s analysis.


    Every time the energy in the Golem Knight''s body started to gather at the right wrist, the shoulder, and the waist, it meant that it was about to launch a Spinning Slash. Every time energy gathered at its feet and back, it meant that it was about to Charge. And when energy gathered at the legs and the right wrist, it was very likely to be a Forward Stab.


    After such a long time in combat, the chip had perfectly captured and analyzed all of the tricks and techniques the opponent possessed. The price the Tyrant had to pay for this knowledge was the loss of 85% of its energy!


    The Infernal Tyrant had never been hit by any of the enemy''s attacks once the chip completed its analysis. In fact, every time the opponent was about to launch an attack, the Infernal Tyrant would be able to predict the direction of the attack and instantly reposition itself. It would then take the small window of opportunity where the Golem Knight was stuck in its attack motion to repeatedly attack the Knight''s right knee joint.


    There was originally a knee guard on that spot. However, that piece of armor had been completely melted and destroyed by Leon''s constant effort. The Golem Knight''s ball-shaped knee joint was completely exposed.


    Perhaps because of Rouneau''s command, or the battle instincts of the Golem Knight itself, it quickly took up its massive tower shield and started protecting its lower limbs the moment it realized its knee joint was exposed.


    Though in doing so it lost its mobility. Both its movement and attack speed had been reduced by over 40%.


    Leon took this opportunity to control the Tyrant and put some distance between the two golems. He then started to bombard the Golem Knight at a distance. One after another the Magma Fireballs and Fire Core Explosions sailed through the air and ravaged the slow, immobile Knight.


    Pure elementium spells weren''t that effective against metal cans like the Golem Knight. Single-target spells that had both physical and elementium damage, like the Magma Fireball, had far more condensed and concentrated energy. Of course, Blazing Light was also very effective in dealing damage!


    However, Blazing Light was comparatively harder to form and required constant channeling. This made it easier for the Golem Knight to catch up and attack the Tyrant. Leon tried to cast Blazing Light several times, but he had to give up the idea in the end. Instead, he ravaged the opponent with streams of Magma Fireballs.


    Leon had even turned off his favorite Ring of Fire to reduce the energy consumption rate. The only two spells he was using were Fire Teleportation and Magma Fireball. Even if only two or three out of every ten attacks hit the opponent, it was more than enough to wear away at the Golem Knight.


    The lava splash from the Magma Fireball was extremely thick. It would cling to the Golem Knight''s body and continuously inflict small amounts of damage to the armor. The fragments of rock that formed after the magma cooled were also the greatest enemies of mechanical gears. They would easily get stuck in the turning gears and cause them to twist and deform.


    At this point in the battle, almost everyone with a pair of eyes could see that the Golem Knight''s past glory had faded. Even though it still had the initiative on the battlefield, it was dealing minimal damage to the Infernal Tyrant. Most of the time it was only chasing behind the flame golem''s ass.


    On the other hand, the Infernal Tyrant had complete control over the pace of battle after finally getting over that difficult start. It nimbly moved across the stage and continuously wore away at the Golem Knight''s body bit by bit with an unending assault of Magma Fireballs.


    Only the outer layer of the armor appeared to be melting, but that didn''t mean the Knight was winning. When it failed to destroy the elementium golem''s core in a melee fight, it had lost its control over the entire fight.


    Its injured right leg was also a major cause for concern!


    The tower shield might allow the Golem Knight to protect this point of weakness, but it was also a burden on the Knight''s speed. The Knight could no longer catch up to the Tyrant. It might have been able to do so if it tossed aside the shield, but then the joint...


    For a moment, even Golem Master Rouneau fell into a daze. He hesitated and no longer barked commands at his golem.


    Just then, Leon decided to launch an attack of his own initiative.


    There was no choice. The Infernal Tyrant had exhausted over 89% of its energy. There was no possibility of wearing down the enemy with a marathon. He had to conclude the battle soon.


    The Fire Lord''s Scepter suddenly appeared in the Tyrant''s hand. A massive pillar instantly exploded in front of it, and the equally massive body of the Fire Deity appeared on stage.


    Everyone was shocked for a moment.


    After all, the ten-meter-tall body of the Fire Deity was far too intimidating and deceptive.


    However, all the Mages let out a sigh and shook their heads in disappointment once they used their Spiritual senses to get a feel for the Fire Deity''s true power level.


    What use was a pseudo-Mage level elementium being in a golem fight of this level?


    The Fire Deity bent its body and charged towards the Golem Knight before the audience could lament any more.


    A distraction? Self-destruction? Or just...


    The Fire Deity self-destructed before Rouneau even had the time to give another command to the Golem Knight.


    A flame halo ravaged outward with the sudden explosion, instantly enveloping the Golem Knight in all its wrath and fury. Even the earth and skies turned into a chaotic sea of flames. A cage made of pure elementium fire materialized out of nowhere as the violent fires and the fearsome streams of flame coursed all over the stage. The Golem Knight had been trapped within.


    The next second the Infernal Tyrant''s domineering body, shrouded in flames, appeared beside the flame cage. A mysterious smile appeared on its black and red face and an odd black grimoire flew into its hands.


    The Scroll of Voodoo!


    As a piece of Soul Equipment, the Infernal Tyrant was able to use the Scroll of Voodoo once Leon had transferred his spiritual consciousness into the Tyrant''s core.


    A deep and powerful roar rang out in the air. The Infernal Tyrant quickly channeled the powerful spells contained within the Scroll and several Fire Core Explosions detonated against the Golem Knight''s body.


    The Fire Core Explosions each dealt up to 191 points of damage. Every single one of them could send an unprepared Mage to their grave. Six unbelievably powerful Fire Core Explosions had burst within the flame cage. The accumulated magic effect was enough to send chills down the spines of every Mage present.


    The center of the explosion had reached a terrifying ten thousand degrees. The damage to the Golem Knight was enough to destroy it.


    The Golem Knight could tell it was at a disadvantage. It frantically shielded its body with the tower shield and gathered all of its energy to charge through the flame cage. Unfortunately, the damage to its leg limited the speed at which it could move. The jets of flame quickly caught up after it barely broke out of the cage.


    The Golem Knight, despite being able to endure the seven thousand degrees earlier, was no longer able to tolerate the heat this time.


    The surface of the tower shield had turned a bright red from the heat and quickly softened. The molten liquid continuously flowed down. The shield was getting thinner and thinner. Finally, the shield completely eroded and scorching fires engulfed the Golem Knight''s body, making a mess of its delicate armor.


    All of the patterns and border carvings had melted in the heat like wax near a fire.


    The Golem Knight tried its very best to escape from the blazing fire, only to find a shadow towering over itself.


    A massive black-red silhouette stood before it.


    Boom. A massive explosion. The monstrous flame humanoid smashed one of its arms into the Knight''s weakened chest. It pulled, and a mechanical heart pulsing with magical energies was forcefully removed from the puppet.


    The Golem Knight stalled when it lost its control core. Its whole body glowed a brilliant red. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Three seconds later a shocking explosion erupted on the stage. The energy balance within the Golem Knight''s body had gone out of control. It had self-destructed!


    ....


    1975 Words

 Chapter 291 - 291: Banquet

    The victor had been decided.


    A joyous Mage Nunnally and smiling Angus greeted Leon as he stepped out of the arena with the Infernal Tyrant.


    The Gerto Mages stared angrily at them, their faces full of killing intent.


    Both parties looked at Leon and the Tyrant, but no one paid any attention to the disheveled and defeated Rouneau.


    "Very well. The esoteric duel today has concluded." The silver-robed Mage stepped up as the mediator, "Shop 167 of Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street will continue to be managed by the Byron Clan. As the losing challengers, the Gerto Clan has to pay their compensations to the Byron Clan within three days. If the compensation is not paid on time, the Silver Union will exile the Gerto Clan and all property they have in the Castle in the Sky will be forfeited and put up for auction. I hope this will not be the case. Very well, now that the duel has come to a close, you may all leave."


    The silver-robed Mage took one last look at Leon and his golem before silently leaving.


    "Let''s go! We have to go back and have a proper celebration after this!" Even a cold and grim fellow like Mage Angus couldn''t help but betray a smile. It was clear how significant of a victory this was for the Byron Clan.


    The Byron Mages surrounded Leon, and together they returned to their clan outpost in high spirits.


    Nunnally smiled coldly as she spoke to the bald-headed man, whose face was turning a deathly green, "We can settle our debts in the future, Nako. I hope to see the compensation paid as soon as possible. You know where I''ll be. I''ll be waiting for the good news!"


    Every single muscle in the Gerto Clan Head''s body tensed up when he glared at Nunnally. You could hear the crackling and popping sounds from snapping muscles in his body.


    "Nunnally, you bastard. I want you dead... I''ll make sure you die a horrible death... "


    However, even a Second Grade Mage didn''t dare to start a fight here, regardless of how angry he was. The Silver Union''s esoteric Mages might not have been worth much in a fight, but their army of magical golems was a fearsome lot.


    The consequences of attacking Nunnally here would be severe. Despite being Second Grade, not only would Nako be unable to escape the Castle in the Sky, even his clan would be completely destroyed in the punishment that came after.


    Fortunately, the Gerto Clan had already won two esoteric duels before this. Even though these were the more rural areas of the outer circle, and were far less prosperous than Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street, it was enough for his clan to establish a foothold in the city. Still, Nako''s heart bled when he thought of the massive amount of resources he had to give to the Byron Clan three days from now.


    ...


    The fight at the arena propelled Leon to fame within the Twelfth District of the outer area.


    The outer circle was like the face of a massive clock. Champs ¨¦lys¨¦es Street, where the Byron Clan stood, was located at the twelve o''clock position, which was why it was also known as the Twelfth District. There were around two dozen shops here, and every single one of them was backed by famous Mage clans from the Continent. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The fact that Leon''s name had spread among them was thanks to the might of the Infernal Tyrant!


    Outsider Mages like Leon were the most popular within the outer circle. The price of hiring them was far cheaper than the esoteric masters. The strength of these outsider Mages might vary, but a successful gamble on one of them could allow a clan to come back to life and preserve their spot in the Castle in the Sky.


    Leon''s representation of the Byron Clan this time meant that it was possible he could represent their clans. Thus, every single outer circle clan was extremely willing to associate with a pseudo-esoteric Mage who had a bright future ahead of him.


    ...


    Dusk.


    The dark curtain of night had enveloped the Castle in the Sky, but lights were glowing brightly at the Byron Clan''s place.


    A small celebration banquet was being held in the hall on the first floor. All seventeen shops of the Twelfth District had sent representatives to the banquet to celebrate and congratulate the Byron''s victory.


    With the conclusion of the esoteric duels, most of these seventeen clans had successfully defended their land. However, there were still five new clans that had managed to replace the previous shop owners. Everyone was taking the Byron Clan''s banquet as an opportunity to scheme and establish deals under the table.


    The old clans needed to reach new agreements, and the newer clans needed to make concessions or demonstrate sufficient influence to join their social circles. Some of the weaker clans also needed to establish alliances to ensure their continued prosperity.


    As such, almost every clan representative and stationed Mage were extremely busy during this banquet. They repeatedly went into hidden rooms and met with one representative after another. The only ones who had fun at this banquet were the newly advanced clan Mages that had been sent to the Castle in the Sky to experience and learn the intricacies of negotiation.


    The banquet wasn''t a very large affair, but the decorations were quite unique.


    The walls and floor had been decorated with glowstones. With how brightly they lit up the hall, no other lighting was needed.


    A dozen dinner tables were placed in an orderly fashion in a corner of the hall. Gold and silver plates and bowls filled the tables. Only delicacies were served. There were dishes like pan-seared ox''s kidney, quails stuffed with spices and fruits, shortbread with lark and partridge meat fillings, steak cooked with wine and onion, dormice soaked in honey...


    The waitresses serving the Mages in the hall were beauties of various races and appearances. There were the slim and light cat girls with delicate facial features, grey cat ears, and bushy tails on their backs. There were the succubi of the lower realms. Tall, curvaceous, pale skinned, seductive figures with tiny horns on their heads, bat wings on their backs, tails of bone, and hooves for feet.


    Apart from these two, there were also female elves with soft bodies and pointed ears, as well as tiger girls with fierce personalities and fur growing by the side of their faces. Leon even saw a fifty-centimeter dwarf girl among these beauties...


    Of course, without exception, they all had a tiny runic brand beneath their flimsy dresses. The Byron emblem was in the middle of these runic brands. The runic arrays surrounding the emblem served the purposes of sealing, locating, and various other functions that Leon couldn''t decipher.


    Leon already knew that the World of Mages was a massive plane that had enslaved thousands of lesser planes. The resources taken from these planes were endless, and the slaves that they had obtained covered a huge range of races.


    Of course, he had never had the opportunity to come into contact with these high-quality resources when he was only an apprentice. It was only now that he had become stronger and made a place for himself alongside the stronger Mages that they were now being presented to him.


    A beauty of another race might have been the princess or queen of an enslaved race back in their own plane. Here in this brightly lit Mage''s banquet, however, they were nothing more than slaves and maids that could be toyed with in whatever manner the Mages enjoyed.


    Some of the younger male and female Mages were surrounding these servants and talking about their appearances. They would even occasionally undress them and touch their bodies all over as if they were extremely interested in their biological construction.


    Leon was also favored by the young female Mages, with how handsome and charming a newly advanced Mage he was. Three or four young female Mages from various clans had surrounded him and were passionately flirting with him.


    Honestly, the moral limits of the young men and women had been completely removed when they became Mages. As talented individuals being cultivated by their clans, their futures were bright ones. This was why all of them were more willing to indulge in the pleasures of life, using the authority of their position to enjoy beauties and delicacies! After all, what awaited them afterward was a long and arduous journey of accumulating knowledge!


    They were still young and had no right to join the leaders of the clan, which gave them plenty of time and energy to pursue pleasure and enjoyment. Leon had heard plenty about how debaucherous and wasteful these youths were in their private lives. Every single one of these young male and female Mages had a harem of pretty boys and ladies waiting on them at home.


    However, those were only their sexual partners. If they really wanted an actual partner for life, they would have to choose from Mages of the same Grade.


    As long as two young Mages favored each other, they would instantly get into a relationship. The bold and direct nature of these female Mages when it came to carnal relationships was too much for Leon, the ultimate hermit, to deal with.


    There were also other, smaller social circles in the hall aside from these youths.


    One of them was the bloodline Mage''s circle.


    Those who could step foot in here were all elites among the bloodline Mages. The greatest indicator of this was the dense bloodline aura they radiated, as well as their obvious appearances. Most of them were similar to the creatures their bloodline came from.


    The Synos Clan managing the Black Rose was a clan of bloodline Mages. Their clan''s bloodline legacy was that of the Shadow Serpent. This was a terrifying shadow creature that was widely known to be able to reach the ranks of Sixth Grade.


    That was why all of the Mages from the Synos Clans had a black serpent''s head in place of a human one. It was the same whether they were male or female. All of them looked like a serpent. Their bodies also showed vague signs of blurring, as if they were constantly under the protection of shadows and darkness.


    These bloodlines Mages clearly disliked intimate relationships with Mages of other races. Their considerations and priorities when picking a partner or lover were focused on the opponent''s bloodline concentration and their Grade level. Appearance and personality was only a secondary thought.


    There was also a group of mutated Mages in the hall that had undergone severe body modifications. Perhaps parts of their bodies had been replaced with that of wild beasts, turned undead, or replaced with mechanical parts. Either way, the marks of magical modification had been left on each and every one of their bodies.


    There wasn''t much left about them that was human!


    ...


    1836 Words